#and I lasted 8 years of back and forth with you wondering EVERY TIME

[darklydeliciousdesires]

I saw your requests are open! I would LOVE to see Alfie with number 8, “I want to see those pretty lips wrapped around my cock.” 🥵

I’m all about dark too if you feel like it. Thank you! 😊

Can do, one order of Alfie with a large side of dark!

Warnings - Dark!Alfie & smut below the cut. Minors DNI.

The wood emits an odour of damp, the drips from the leaky pipe above it moistening the surface, adding to the overall old, musky fragrance of the cellar. Long ago, it was used for storing wines of the finest vintage, but now the space serves as something else entirely.

The leaky pipe continually drips onto the beam above, your hands and wrists wet, yet not enough for you to struggle free from your rope bindings. How many years does it take wood to rot, you wonder at times. One snapped beam would equal your freedom.

Would you truly want to leave here, though? That would of course mean leaving him.

He might be the one who keeps you in this state of torment, but imagining a life without it is perhaps bleaker than the surroundings you're held prisoner within. Who and what would you be, if not Alfie's plaything?

The sound of heavy footfalls creaking the floorboards above signals his impending appearance, the creaky cellar door opening, the lamp he carries with him finally bringing a little illumination into the darkened space.

He descends the stairs carefully, sniffing, clearing his throat, the scent of him cutting through the musk and the dust, Alfie placing the lamp down on the table.

"'Ello, poppet. Want me to let ya down for a bit, do ya?"

You nod. "Yes, sir." You used to cuss him out, spit in his face, kick him, bite him, but now you know, it all goes a lot more smoothly if you show what he demands. Obedience.

"Good. Right, come on, then. Let's get this rope untied, yeah." Reaching to the hook connected to the upright support strut, he unwinds it, the tension slowly slipping from your wrists and arms as the tightness is loosened. He only lets you go when he has use for you. Falling asleep standing up has become a talent you have mastered, although your weary bones ache for a bed.

Walking to you, he watches as you shake a little life back into your arms, your bindings still tight, the rope that once tied you to the beam above shaking gently. "Still pretty, ain't ya? Bit pale, though. Then again, I suppose ya would be for not seein' no sunshine for a couple 'a months, innit?"

His chuckle, all foreboding grit and rumbling darkness, sets your skin on edge. It's thrill laced with trepidation, an exotic, potent mix, goose pimples rising as your blood begins to run hotter, Alfie reaching for your face. His thumb skims your cupid's bow, eyes touring you as he leans in close.

He smells of rum and deviance, his breath warm where it flutters against your cheek. “I want to see those pretty lips wrapped around my cock.”

You know exactly how to oblige him, sinking to your knees, waiting patiently as he unfastens his trousers. You can already see the outline of his colossal erection through the black fabric swathing it, your captor pulling himself free, pumping his bulky shaft in a gold ring-adorned grip a few times before steering it to your mouth. "Open wide, love. Yeah, that's a good girl."

He shows no mercy, pushing forth between your lips, his hand fisting in your hair and making you take every last, fat inch of him. You choke him down, sucking gently to begin with, your tongue working the underside of his shaft as he slips back and forth.

The wet heat encasing him has him grunting deeply, cock twitching against your tongue. "Yeah, darlin'. You suck cock like a good'un, don't ya?" He moves faster, fucking your mouth with greater purpose, the need to spill into your throat consuming him.

It never takes too long, your mouth just too delicious an outlet for him, the thrill of knowing he's using you as nothing more than a mere toy adding to the ecstasy that rockets through him. He spurts thick and plentiful onto the back of your tongue, his cum dripping down your throat, his eyes two shards glittering at you through the low light.

It's the sight of him above you like that which burns itself into your brain, keeps you warm and lit up when the illumination is gone, when he's tied you up again and left you all alone in the dark once more.

Sometimes, it's in the darkness where we find the light. You understand only too well that Alfie's darkness is absolutely no exception.

[deathblacksmoke]

Dramamine—Part 9

Pairing: Noah Sebastian x Nick Ruffilo

Series Summary: Cynical, brooding bartender Nick meets too-earnest, pretty boy singer Noah when The Rabbit's Foot starts hosting an open mic night.

CW: a little bit of angst and self-doubt, a little bit of backstory, self-serving pretty flowery apologies, and i made the boys kiss again

*Content warnings are updated by chapter*

Word Count: 1.7K

dividers by @cafekitsune 💐

He’s about ready to own up to it when Autumn walks in, admit what he’s done and face the consequences. He’s pissed her off before and survived — he doesn’t doubt he can do it again.

She sidles up beside him at the register and he’s going to tell on himself when she says something that makes his eyes widen. “Nick texted you?”

His mind reels, wondering how she knows. When he glances over, he’s expecting anger in her expression, or at the very least annoyance. Instead he finds her smiling at him, expression soft.

“How did you know?” he inquires, wracking his brain for an explanation but coming up with nothing. His stomach turns when he envisions Autumn pounding on the door of Nick’s house, or barging into the bar, berating a stranger for something that shouldn’t be her problem. Autumn, as always, coming to his rescue when he can’t do it himself.

He feels sick.

“Do you remember my friend Jasmine?” Autumn offers, and there’s a beat when he questions the relevance of the question. He remembers her vaguely — she and Autumn were friends while Noah was living in Baltimore, a coworker from the university. They’d met once, when Noah came home for the weekend, but he didn’t stick around. It just didn’t feel like home anymore. He was happy that she had someone like Jasmine to fill the void he’d left when he vanished.

He distantly wonders why they don’t see each other anymore before his heart drops, remembering what happened to her. He sees her face, his mind traveling to the photo on the end table in Nick’s living room. Her pretty dark hair, her kind smile.

He doesn’t know how he didn’t connect it, and he feels painfully foolish. Not knowing what else to say, he nods.

“He’s a good guy, Noah,” Autumn utters, a sigh on the edge of her voice as if she hates to admit it. He knows that she’s right, and just recently he would have done anything for her to think so, but right now it makes him feel like he’s out of people on his side. He still needs her on his side. “He’s been through a hell of a lot, but he wants to fix this.”

He imagines how the conversation might go tonight. His mind conjures the image of an apology, at Autumn’s instruction, but yet another letdown. It isn’t the first time someone hasn’t wanted him, and he’s sure it won’t be the last. Already, he’s itching to disappear again. Asheville might be nice this time.

It already took everything in him to come back here. It took even more out of him to open his heart again, and he really thought he’d picked the right one this time — it felt right, didn’t it?

His mind shifts suddenly back to the last time something felt right, the overwhelming joy he’d felt, and rapidly to the look on Aiden’s face when Noah had the nerve to ask if he wanted to get married, to the bellowing laughter and the pity painted across his face that read oh, you poor thing. When he got home from work the next day, half of the apartment was emptied out. He didn’t see him again, but every inch of Richmond stunk of the 3 years of memories they made together.

He knows what it’s like to want to disappear. He knows how hard it is to come back. It isn’t the same, but he knows how it feels for your life to stop dead in its tracks.

It’s a little past 8 already, anxiety bubbling up in his gut as he’s pacing back and forth across his living room. There’s a part of him hoping that Nick doesn’t show, leaving Noah to fill in the blanks on his own, fizzling out slowly and painfully but without a direct and detailed hit to his ego.

Autumn and the guys have gone out to give them privacy, and the thought of being left alone for even a moment after Nick shatters him all over again makes his chest ache. He doesn’t want them to be here to watch it happen, but he still wishes they’d stayed. He can’t be by himself.

His spiral is interrupted by three knocks in quick succession.

He’s nauseated, shaking with nerves, but he can’t deny that he misses Nick. He misses his face, his voice, the way his lips spread into a smile seemingly against his will. At least he’ll get to see him one last time before he disappears from Noah’s life for good, another black mark on his romantic history.

When he swings the door open with shaking hands, he finds himself unprepared for what he sees on the other side. Nick, looking more timid than Noah’s ever seen him, with a hastily put together bouquet of flowers and the most hopeful expression in his eyes.

It’s not at all what he expected.

“I’m sorry I’m a little late, I—” Nick starts, unsteady on his feet and jittery. Noah won’t let himself get his hopes up, but the urge to reach out and touch him is almost unbearable. This was a terrible idea. “I didn’t ask Aut what flowers you like, so…I hope you like hydrangeas.”

He envisions Nick at the shop, agonizing over which flowers to choose to let Noah down easy. He imagines him speaking with a kind stranger who passes by behind him, asking for advice, hurriedly placing together blue hydrangeas, baby’s breath, eucalyptus leaves, and hoping for the best as he rushes out. It’s a lot of effort to put into a heartbreak.

And Noah does love hydrangeas. An awfully pretty flower to sit in a vase on his coffee table to taunt him as he agonizes through his loss.

He guides Nick inside and tries not to let his mind drift backwards to their last encounter on this couch. It’s a struggle every time he’s in this room, not letting himself relive every moment, the floating feeling to the sinking, empty nothing.

They should have done this somewhere else. He’s not looking forward to adding another painful memory to the living room’s history, especially if he wants to stick around after this one.

Each second Nick spends fiddling with his hands instead of making eye contact and getting on with it drags. The bouquet sits sadly on the coffee table and he wonders if he should busy himself with putting them in a vase with water, a distraction from the impending whatever, but he doesn’t want to waste the water. He should probably throw them out.

“You can rip the band-aid off, Nick,” Noah starts, and he isn’t expecting the surprised and hurt expression that casts itself across Nick’s face. His eyes get so sad, concern obvious, and it’s only then that Noah wonders if this might be a different kind of visit altogether. Even through the overwhelming feeling of dread, he feels awfully soft for him. “It’s okay, Nicky, I’m listening.”

“I’m so sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t want you, or that you weren’t making me happy,” Nick starts, and Noah feels as the weight begins to lift off his shoulders, as the tightness in his chest loosens. Nick takes a few deep breaths, a sort of shaky breathing that Noah recognizes. He doesn’t want to let himself have hope, but he watches as the nerves he recognizes in Nick take a different shape than he’d expected. “I haven’t been that happy in a long time, Noah, and I didn’t think it was something that I deserved. It scared the shit out of me.”

It’s against Noah’s own will when the tears start falling. There’s a tiny but clawing part of him that still thinks this is bad—that these flowery, pretty apologies are just an elaborate setup for a letdown that makes Nick look good at the end of it all. When Nick reaches out to place a shaky hand hesitantly on Noah’s knee, still speaking but Noah can’t make out a single thing through all the whooshing in his ears, Noah feels hope for the first time. He forces himself to focus.

“I’m sorry, I’m listening,” Noah says, and the smile Noah loves shows itself for the first time this visit—a wide grin spreading across Nick’s face although his nerves are still so blatant. Nick reaches out to touch Noah’s face, and he almost wants to shy away but doesn’t. He lets Nick trace a thumb over his cheek, wipe away his tears, just in case this is the last time he can have this.

“I know I still have a lot to do to make it up to you, but you deserve to be really happy, and I want to be the one to make you happy,” Nick says, and there’s such sincerity in his tone that it’s unmistakable. There are tear tracks down his cheeks, too, and Noah knows he means it. “If you’ll let me give it a try. I may not be any good.”

It’s something they’ll have to talk about further. They’ll have to spend a lot of time working through it, and Noah will have to give him a lot of shit, but his focus narrows in on one thing. And that’s having him.

He scoots himself closer to Nick, watches him relax as Noah places a hand on his cheek. 

“I would never ask you to unlove her,” Noah says, to which Nick is quick to nod. “Just talk to me. Make a little room for me.”

“I promise I will,” Nick responds, placing a hand over Noah’s on his cheek and the poor thing is still shaking. Noah hasn’t felt so steady in a long time.

He pours his heart into the kiss they share, finding himself praying that they can keep this. That for once, he can get what he wants. He feels that hope grow just that little bit bigger when Nick’s lips move to his cheek, a sigh of relief pressed into the skin of Noah’s face.

“No boy has ever bought me flowers before,” Noah whispers, feeling Nick’s grin spread once more, pulling Noah ever closer.

tags: @concretenoah . @circle-with-me . @darksigns-exe . @ladyveronikawrites . @agravemisstake . @monotoniscreaming . @cookiesupplier . @bngurngheart . @jiizzy . @screamsinsilver . @iknownothingpeople . @anameunmusical . @sitkowski . @baddestomens . @itsafullmoon . @collapsedglasshouses

[fandomshifter]

COME WHAT MAY, I WILL LOVE YOU UNTILL MY DYING DAY

[ Ford x Reader - Set during season 2 ]

[ Hey guys, I started this fanfic not knowing if I'm going to finish it and posted it on an alt account, but I thought u would be better off posting here! I'm going to try to finish it or write one-shots instead, but unfortunately, I do go back to college in 2 weeks, meaning I won't be posting a lot again! Hope you enjoy this chapter!! ]

CHAPTER 1

When I get back, I'll lay around

Then I'll get up and lay back down

Romanticize a quiet life

There's no place like my room - I know the end

Gravity Falls, Oregon. A small hidden town surrounded by dense woods, with little to no information surrounding it. It's the perfect place for introverts who hate social interaction.

That's what you keep telling yourself every day you wake up. Light filtered through your blinds as you lay there staring at the ceiling. Today is another day. Taking a deep breath, you sit up and run your hands down your face before throwing off your duvet.

"Let's fucking go." You mumble to yourself. You finally get off your bed and start to get ready, grabbing clothes and a towel. It's always good to start a Monday morning with a nice shower.

You slowly trudge to the bathroom, clothes and towel in hand. The bathroom was quite small, a couple of patterned rugs covering the floor. Most of them had patches of bleach and hair dye staining them from your teen years. You place your clothes down on a chest of draws you have in the corner of the room and turn the shower on.

It takes a while for it to finally heat up, but when it does, you jump in and let out a sigh at the feeling. You take your time washing your hair and cleaning yourself, making sure you clean every spot before getting out and wrapping a towel around you. Now it's time for the fun bit. But first, you quickly run to your room to grab your phone before running back to the bathroom, shutting the door behind you. You scroll through songs, deciding on what to play while you get ready, before you remember the supernatural episode you watched last night, and it was decided.

'Heat Of the Moment' by Asia starts playing, and you place your phone down out of the way.

You start brushing out your hair and put it out of the way so it can dry for a while. Next underwear, you put them on, your slightly damp skin making it harder for you to put your bra on. But you manage with a bit of effort. You carry on your routine, taking time to do each stage. The last thing you do is put your clothes on. Some dark orange flared jeans with flowers embroidered on the side of the pants leg and a black top shaped like a butterfly. You pick out some jewellery such as necklaces, rings, and earrings. Taking a quick look in the mirror at your facial piercings, you decided not to change them today.

You fix your hair up how you like it, grab your phone, and make your way downstairs. It was about 8:00 in the morning, which means you had at least 30 minutes left to get to work. Mabel had offered to make breakfast for you before your shift started, and you could never say no to her. So you walk past your kitchen and go towards a cupboard in the living room, which stores your bags, jackets, and shoes. Today, you wanted to wear something comfy on your feet in case Dipper dragged you on another expedition or you needed to save the twins....again. Worn in doc Martins, it is then! You grabbed them along with a brown leather jacket and a satchel with all your important things. Your important things included a journal you kept notes in, several pens and pencils, money and so on and so forth. It had taken 10 minutes to get your last few things sorted before you made your way out the door, locking it behind you.

You liked the woods, they where peaceful ( most of the time ). It was things like this that made you walk instead of drive to work. The scenery was so beautiful that sometimes you wondered why so many scary and terrifying creatures lived here. You softly hummed as you walked towards the mystery shack, the album 'Wasting Light' playing in your ears. It was a short-lived walk because of your fast pace, because soon the mystery shack came into view. Despite the fact that the whole shack was a fraud, it brings a smile to your face every time you see it.

You see a face peek at you through the window, and the next thing you know, you're on the floor with a child wrapped around you.

"Who gave you coffee this morning ?" You ask with a laugh, as you practically rip Mabel off you.

She shrugs, "I'm just very excited you took up my breakfast offer." Her eyes have a sparkle in them, and she offers her hand out to help you up. You accept her help and stand up, dusting your trousers off.

"Loving the sweater today, Mabel, I'm still waiting for you to make me one." You say poking her shoulder jokingly. She laughs and salutes, "I'm on it, also your top is soooo COOL!" She says as she skips her way through the door to the shack.

"Did you like fairies when you were younger? You seem like you did from your outfits ?" She questions, you let out a snort and nod your head,

"Mermaids & faries but only in the Barbie movies." Mabel starts frantically asking questions about Barbie movies. You try to keep up, but she is talking way too fast for your brain. You have fast talking & then you have Mabel.

"Morning, Kid." Stan says, giving you a nod. He's sat at the dining table, reading the newspaper with a coffee next to him. Dipper is reading the Journal, like usual. You give him a pat on the shoulder, and he mumbles a small 'hello'.

"You still trying to find the author, or is it something different this time ?" Stan groans, "Don't encourage him kid please, he already summoned the dead last week cause he wanted to 'prove something'." You let out a small chuckle, and Dipper rolls his eyes.

Mabel has already started making breakfast when you go back to talk to her.

"Dipper seems a bit stressed, doesn't he ?" You whisper to Mabel. She looks at you and nods.

"Ever since that incident with Bill, he's been having nightmares, I really worry about him." She says sadly. These 12 year olds have been through it.

"Wait... Did you say Bill ?" You ask eyebrows furrowing together. Mabel looks at you confused, "Yeahh ? Why, you know about him or something ?"

"No,no... I just read the pages about him in the journal." You say quickly. She looks you up and down before shrugging.

"Anyway, do you need some help ?" She shakes her head, and you go sit at the table with Stan and Dipper.

You take your journal out of your bag and start finishing off some notes you took yesterday on your 'solo mission' as you like to call it. Dipper looks over at your journal, and you can tell he's reading it, so you slide the book over to him. Stan looks between the two of you, then at you, "Not you too, I thought you were just the babysitter." He jokes.

When you first joined back at the Mystery Shack, you helped out around the place, making new things and cleaning up. Now it's more like, make sure the kids don't get hurt or die, because they are doing something stupid like fighting wax figures or time travelling. Stan doesn't know about any of this, of course, but you like to think that's the role you take on. The babysitter.

After a few minutes, Mabel starts placing plates of pancakes in front of everyone.

"Wow, and you didn't set the alarm off, i would have when i was your age." You say honestly, and Stan elbows you slightly, and you both let out a small laugh.

"So what are we doing today then, guys ?" You ask, looking between the twins as you eat your pancakes. Mabel and Dipper look at each other, then look at Stan, who is too busy eating to acknowledge them, then finally look at you.

"What do you want to do Y/N ?" Dipper asks. Your eyes widden.

What. WHY ARE THEY ASKING YOU, YOU'RE INDECISIVE!!

"I don't actually know." You say calmly, "I have an idea tho if it's okay with your grunkle." At the word 'Grunkle' Stan looks up.

"What ?" He says, looking between all 3 of us.

"Can I take the kids out for a very safe and very fun adventure orrr ?" You ask looking at him. He squints his eyes at you while thinking.

"Sure, I don't see why not, I trust you after all." He says with a smile. "But I want them back before dinner." You and kids nod at him.

The 3 of you quickly finish your food and clean the dishes before making your way to the woods.

"WAIT!" Mabel yells before rushing back inside the Mystery shack. She runs out about a minute later with 2 backpacks in her clutches. "Here you go, Dipper, adventure packs!" She exclaims before putting her backpack on. Dipper does the same before mumbling, 'Why didn't I think of these?''

"Right, let's go!" You say, leading the twins into the woods.

"Okay, so I brought you out here because I saw something the other day, and I really didn't think it was real at first, so I thought you guys should see it too." You say as you step over a couple of big roots.

"What was it, is it something from the Journal ?" Dipper questions as he holds back a branch for Mabel to get past.

"Well, it's not from yours, but it's from mine. See, I have had this journal since I was little, and I could write. I re-wrote some of the old things in this new journal, and the thing I saw was something from years back." You explain, the twins nod. Mabel then squeals at the sight of something.

"What is it ?" You and Dipper say in unison.

"ITS A CAT!" She whisper yells. You make a face that makes Mabel grab you by the sleeve of your jacket and pull you to where she was.

"Look there!" She says, pointing through some bushes. She was right. There was a cat just laying right there. You look at Mabel then Dipper, who's just as confused as you.

"I'm taking it home with me." You say before stepping through the bush.

"Wait, it could be a trap!" Dipper yells, you turn and put your hands on your hips, "how is a sleeping cat a trap ?" He let's out huff, and you turn back around to face that cat.

"Hello, kitty." You whisper. You notice a note next to the cat, and you pick up the note, along with the cat, who seems quite content with being slung onto your shoulder.

"My house isn't far from here, so we can put the cat there and continue trying to find the thing I wanna show you, or we can watch a film and eat junk food ?" You ask. You wanted to show the twins this thing, but kids need to be kids, so you gave them the option.

"Junk food!!" Mabel yells, you turn to look at Dipper, and he has a smile on his face.

"What movies have you got ?"

Once you made it back to your house, you rang up Stan and asked if he wanted to join you. He asked why you weren't out adventuring, and you explained the cat, whose name you found out was Misty. Grunkle Stan said he would bring movie supplies, which meant more snacks.

While you were waiting for Stan you set out what you had at your house. The kids were sat on the sofa, Mabel, with the cat in her lap.

"Did the note say anything else ?" Dipper asks as he puts his hand out for the cat to sniff before patting its little head.

"Yeah, it says she has a problem with her nasal passage. Basically, she has a blocked nose constantly, but it doesn't harm her or anything."

You say,

"Ahhhh, explains why she is so snotty." Mabel giggles. "Are you going to keep her ?" She asks. You roll your eyes at her, "Of course I'm keeping her, finders keepers." The twins giggle at that,

and so do you.

Stan finally shows up for the movie, bringing Wendy and soos. The more the merrier! You sit down on your chair while the others take up the sofa and bean bags you brought down.

"So what are we watching ?" Stan asks.

"Well, I'm a sucker for making people watch classic movies. It's what my parents did with me, so I settled on Bill & Ted's excellent adventure." Stan chuckles at your reply,

"Good pick, kid."

"What can I say? My parents gave me good taste in movies and music." You say with a laugh as you play the movie.

You guys ended up watching both movies, and you think you gave Mabel a new boy crush. Woops! At least she doesn't live you, so it won't be you dealing with it. It's late by the time you guys finish both movies.

"Wanna do movie day again ?" You ask the twins,

"Yes, definitely absolutely!" Mabel replies, before giving you a hug and rushing to Stans car.

"What about you, Dipper ? I think it would be good for you, have a break from adventures, you are 12 after all." He looks up at you and nods his head. You pat his head, and he goes to the car with soos and Wendy.

"Thanks for all this today, I really appreciate it, kid." Stan says, you let out a small laugh.

"I will never understand why you call me kid. I'm 34, but you're welcome. I'm more than happy to do it again, friend." He let's out a huffed laugh before heading to his car.

[beomgyuslilracha]

the ceo's son ✧.* [ pt. 8 ]

⊹ pairing: choi soobin x f! reader

⊹ genre: strangers to friends to lovers

⊹ warnings: none! just a lot of fluff <3

⊹ wc: 6.1k

summary: you've been an intern at c company for roughly over four months now - directly under the ceo as his assistant. everything was going perfectly: you were saving up money to attend uni next year, and you knew that you were under the ceo's good graces to receive a great recommendation when the time came! in fact, he took a liking to you so much that he'd often joke that he wanted to set you up with his son. at least ... you thought it was a joke.

once he returned back to campus, soobin was to be found ditching his classes - despite insisting that he needed to make it back in time - and pacing back and forth in his dorm's living area.

after a brief cry for help from him in the group chat, all four of his friends skipped their own schedules and were now seated on the couch, watching soobin slowly dissolve into complete madness.

"what am i supposed to even say to her?!" soobin asked to no one in particular, running his hands through his hair stressfully.

"uhh, how about 'hey y/n, i like you'?" taehyun offered simply, shrugging as if the matter weren't that big of a deal.

although it may have appeared that way from an outside perspective, soobin personally felt that this was a life or death situation that could seriously cost him everything he had.

the 'everything' in question being his relationship with you.

"no, no, i need something bigger. i need to really...," soobin's thought trailed off as he began looking all around the room, praying for some sort of answer to magically appear in the air. he groaned again in frustration, slowly dropping his entire body to lay sprawled out on the floor.

the confidence he had earlier in the day was long gone now.

"alright, how about this," yeonjun spoke next, scooting forward on the couch to get a better look at his defeated friend. "why don't you take her to lotte world or something?"

soobin perked his head up at the idea, intrigued. "lotte world?"

"ooh, that's actually a really good idea," kai agreed excitedly, his eyes growing wide at the mere mention. "can we go too?"

"do you have plans to confess to someone?" yeonjun teasingly asked the younger boy, shaking his head.

ignoring the little bickering that then occurred between them, soobin sat up and began to think seriously about yeonjun's idea. he knew it would definitely be a lot of fun, and it excited him just to picture experiencing the theme park all over again with you by his side.

and if you agreed to his confession by the end of the night??

he would have to thank yeonjun and lotte world itself for the rest of his life.

"ooh, you know what, you should confess on the moonboat," beomgyu chimed in suddenly, gasping loudly and praising himself for being the one to offer the best idea between them.

"ahh, but you have to do it at night so that it looks romantic," kai cooed now, turning from yeonjun and getting himself excited all over again at the idea of soobin confessing to you in such a cute way.

soobin was practically about to pull out a pen and notepad, wanting to be sure he jotted down an entire plan to lead up to the final moment on the moonboat that evening.

he wanted every second to be perfect with you, and the last thing he wanted was to go without a plan and risk messing it all up on such an important moment. whether it was important to you would still be unknown, but right now it meant everything to him.

"what should i do there first? do you think she'll like the rollercoasters?" soobin questioned them in a panic, every ride in the park running through his mind as he wondered which ones you'd enjoy and which he should avoid.

"how are we supposed to know? we don't know her," taehyun reminded him, unable to help himself from laughing.

soobin did feel bad for having yet to introduce you to his friends, especially after having told you that he would, but he now figured it'd be better this way. if everything worked out, he'd be able to happily introduce you as his girlfriend rather than just a friend.

his girlfriend... his girlfriend!!!

soobin was practically getting giggly just from thinking the words in his mind, he could only imagine passing away completely if they were to actually come true before the end of the night.

he had to use his own hands to press his cheeks together, forcing himself to stop smiling like an idiot in front of his friends. not that they didn't already notice, seeing as he was sitting right in front of them.

though neither of them would dare say it out loud, each of them were truly happy for their lovesick friend.

"wait, wait, hold on," yeonjun stopped their conversation after a while, a sudden thought occurring to him. "soobin, what was she wearing?"

"what the hell, you pervert?" beomgyu interrupted, smacking yeonjun with one of the pillows beside them - this quickly earned disgusted looks followed by the rest of the boys.

"no, i don't mean like that, dumbass!" yeonjun scolded him, yanking the pillow out of beomgyu's hands and attacking him twice as hard in retaliation. "i meant was it comfortable that she could wear to lotte world straight from work?"

soobin's lips formed into a cute 'o' shape in realization, picturing the work attire you were dressed in today. turns out yeonjun did have a point and was not trying to be dirty-minded; he didn't think your clothes would be suitable for an exciting evening at an amusement park.

"so what? should i take her home first or meet her there?" soobin questioned now, worried about having to push his plans with you back slightly.

"i know you don't want to lose precious time with your girlfriend, so you could offer to take her home first if she's comfortable with it," taehyun suggested.

soobin nodded, not even bothering to deny his words - especially considering it was half true and half (hopefully) soon-to-be true.

"wait, should i tell her now or do i surprise her when i pick her up?" soobin asked next, his eyes shifting between all of their expressions for an answer.

yeonjun seemed to be the only one rolling his eyes. soobin was one question away from practically asking them to handle the entire night for him.

"i think it'd be cute to surprise her! she'll be so excited and you'll get to see how happy she gets," kai cheered, even wiggling his fists in a cute gesture.

beomgyu was quick to agree with kai, but more so on the terms that you'd be supposedly impressed by soobin taking charge and making the plans in front of you rather than asking for permission.

"i'm not sure, i think she should know beforehand to have time to prepare," taehyun countered, thinking logically and being the only one to actually take you into consideration rather than just soobin. "besides, if she says no, it'll be better for her to say so now rather than to his face."

surprisingly, yeonjun agreed with taehyun in this case. he also thought it would be unfair to you to have no say in the decision and be caught off guard.

with the votes now being split 50/50, this turned the predicament back entirely onto soobin's shoulders.

slumping back to the ground in defeat, soobin began to think over which would be the best option when it came to you.

he wanted to surprise you and impress you, for sure, but he also didn't want to do so at the risk of upsetting you for not having any say in what he had planned.

this night was going to mean so much to him, he didn't want to risk screwing it up before it could even start.

・❥・

you sat at mr. jeong's desk, spinning around in his chair from boredom, waiting for the two men to eventually return from an afternoon meeting they were required to attend outside the office.

while you waited, you figured it wouldn't hurt to pull out your phone for a quick minute to occupy yourself for the time being.

surprisingly, you ended up receiving a vague message from soobin just as you had unlocked the screen.

binnie <;3: by any chance, do you like surprises?

you: mmm that depends

you: i like nice surprises but i hate scary ones

binnie <;3: noted!

binnie <;3: see you after work <3

your heart flipped in its own response as his last message came through, though making you feel ridiculous for reacting at something as small as a text heart.

it wouldn't even be the first time that either of you sent a heart to each other, but it still managed to make you giddy every single time.

after a second, it then dawned on you that soobin was clearly intending to surprise you with something after work. could it be a gift that made him think of you? was he going to bring someone along with him to meet you? did he simply just have good news to share??

there was an endless list of possibilities that you were going to end up driving yourself mad if you continued to think about it any longer.

you sighed to yourself, realizing you should have just lied and said you didn't like surprises - at least that way you could know what to expect already instead of thinking about it all day now.

what made it worse was that you wouldn't have anything to work on until mr. choi came back, leaving you with nothing else to do except think about the supposed surprise he could have planned.

you debated on messaging soobin back to forgo everything you just said earlier and to tell you what he was planning, but you were able to talk yourself out of it.

and by 'talk yourself out of it', you really just meant that mr. jeong's timing of walking back into the office forced you to hide your phone before you could do it.

at least it worked out for the better, seeing as you were finally given more work to distract yourself and it allowed for soobin to keep whatever his surprise was to himself.

by the time you were finished for the day, the thought of the surprise had actually been pushed completely out of your mind.

at least, up until you were leaving mr. choi's office and was suddenly grasped from the side - with a large hand quickly covering your mouth to muffle the yelp that you had let out in fear.

"shhh, it's okay, it's just me!" soobin's voice whispered in your ear, waiting until he felt your body relax in his hold before letting you go.

before saying anything, you first turned around and began smacking the idiot on the arm for doing something so stupid. "you do not do that to a woman, choi soobin, what is wrong with you??"

"ahhh, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry," soobin whined, grasping at his arm and cowering away from you playfully until you finally stopped hitting him.

not that you hitting him affected him any - in fact, he hardly even felt it - but man did he think you looked adorable anyway, so he enjoyed playing along.

"what are you even doing up here?" you scolded him next, glancing back at the closed doors of his father's office, worried about being caught alone by the man.

"i wanted to see you," soobin whispered simply, catching your eye and flashing his dimples when he saw your cheeks turn a cute shade of pink.

you rolled your eyes and scoffed, turning away from him entirely in a failed attempt to hide how badly you started blushing immediately afterwards.

what was with him today?

"come on, dork," you told him, pressing the button for the elevator quickly so that the two of you wouldn't dwell any longer and risk mr. choi exiting his office to see you both together.

now although mr. choi may have remained a little clueless about his son and intern, neither of you would have ever guessed that a certain assistant had full access to the security cameras.

a silent cupid, if you will.

"so?"

soobin looked down at you, tilting his head in confusion. "so what?"

so what? did he ... not remember?

furrowing your eyebrows together and forming your lips into a pout, you suddenly started to wonder if you had misunderstood the idea about soobin's mention of a surprise.

unless ... oh! unless him showing up to scare the hell out of you was actually the surprise!

well, in that case, he failed miserably on taking note of how you felt about scary surprises.

"sorry, nevermind, i thought there was going to be a different surprise," you shrugged, though feeling secretly disappointed.

it was your own fault, though, considering you raised your own expectations on such a vague message. the cute boy just wanted to see you and there you were, making yourself sad because you wanted more.

"but i haven't told you the surprise yet?"

your entire demeanor perked up, looking up to meet soobin's eyes with a giant smile you couldn't even suppress if you tried. "you haven't?" you echoed excitedly, bouncing slightly on your toes.

you were beginning to make it extremely difficult for soobin to keep himself together when you looked this cute. it was taking everything in him to not throw his entire plan for the evening out the window and just confess to you right there in the elevator of his father's company.

"nope, i'm waiting until we get outside," he told you, making your heart leap from eagerness now.

the second the elevator doors opened to the lobby, you grabbed ahold of soobin's hand and practically raced to the exit doors while pulling him in tow. you just couldn't wait any longer!

"okay, now tell me, tell me, tell me!" you chanted excitedly, bouncing up and down once the two of you made it out the doors and onto the pavement sidewalk.

"i just want to say that you are welcome to say no if you're not comfortable, okay?" soobin first disclaimed, heeding taehyun's advice from earlier about making sure you were completely okay with what he had planned.

you brought your excited bouncing to a halt, now being a little cautious about what soobin may have had in mind.

after earning a simple nod from you, soobin took a deep breath and finally came right out with it. "would- would you want ... to go to lotte world with me ... tonight?"

well, he sort of came right out with it.

stunned, your mouth gaped open and your eyes widened. after a brief recovery, you squealed excitedly and jumped up for soobin to catch you in his arms as you engulfed him in a hug. "yes, yes, oh my God! it's going to be so much fun!"

if he was being honest, soobin barely heard what you just said. all he knew was that you were excited and you were in his arms in the absolute best way possible.

had you not slowly pulled away to signal for him to put you down, he was pretty sure it would've been impossible for anyone else to get him to let you go.

he didn't know exactly what it was, but he knew that you belonged in his arms. it felt perfect; it felt right. his arms were meant to hold you and you alone.

"is that okay?"

soobin suddenly shook his head to focus back into reality and not in his daydreams, allowing him to realize he had to have missed something you just said. "what was that?"

puffing air through your nose in amusement, you repeated your question. "i asked if we could stop by my apartment first so i can change?"

"oh, of course, yeah!" soobin quickly agreed.

it was all part of the plan anyway, so it worked out that you suggested the idea before he could.

・❥・

arriving to your apartment for the second time, it was going to be the first time that soobin would get to see the inside for himself.

he knew you lived with your best friend as your roommate, but he was still eager to see all the details that resembled you all over the place. he could imagine that the cutest things would belong to you. or maybe you had a homier vibe that radiated warmth and comfort instead. unless you liked a more minimalist type of style that wasn't very showy.

regardless, he was chewing on his bottom lip excitedly behind you as you were searching for your key to unlock the door.

once you finally opened the door, soobin was first greeted by the appearance and general smell of a clean apartment. there was some sort of floral fragrance in the air, and it took only a second for him to spot the open candle at the dining table.

first impression alone had soobin feeling ashamed for ever taking you anywhere near the filthy hole he had to call a dorm.

"make yourself at home! just give me one second to change, okay?" you told soobin after handing him the guest house slippers, quickly taking off your own shoes and rushing to your room to change.

it took only a second for soobin to drive himself crazy with how cute you were, all from glancing down at the little bunny design on the guest slippers.

he wondered if he should invest in house slippers solely meant for you back at his dorm...

finally walking further into the apartment, soobin was practically creating a mental shopping list of things he wanted to get for you back at his dorm. he already included the house slippers, candles, a fuzzy throw blanket similar to the one that he found neatly folded on your couch, and was even heavily considering getting you your own mug for the kitchen.

it took him a second too long to remind himself that you two were still just friends at this moment, so it was completely insane for him to start practically moving you two in together.

but still ... he wanted you to at least visit more often.

there was still a movie that needed to be finished as well, which soobin would be sure to remind you of later.

as he continued to wait for you, soobin then found himself in front of a shelf full of picture frames. some were of, who he assumed to be, your roommate, but he instantly caught sight of the ones with your adorable smiling face.

he picked up a certain frame that consisted of you as a child, smiling and laughing about whatever it may have been back then, and never did he expect you to look even cuter than you do now.

taking a quick glance behind him to ensure you weren't coming back, soobin pulled out his phone and took a picture to save for himself. he then got carried away snapping more pictures of you from each frame.

so carried away, in fact, that he took no notice of the new presence that had entered the room.

"what the hell are you doing?"

soobin jumped in fear, letting out a small scream from having been shocked unexpectedly - especially from being caught red-handed. turning around, his entire face turned beet red when he realized that it wasn't even you that had caught him.

chaewon lifted up an accusing brow, her arms crossed as she eyed the creep who still held a photo of you in his hands.

she recognized him to be that soobin guy from the night before, but she had no reason to understand why the hell he was standing in her apartment taking creepy shots of your pictures.

"i- i'm ... i was just-," soobin stuttered, his gaze shifting between chaewon, his phone, and the picture frame still in his hands.

rolling her eyes, chaewon walked over to the creep and casually pulled the frame out of his grasp to place back onto the shelf. despite him being practically an entire foot taller, she found it incredibly hilarious that he was acting so nervous and shy.

"so you're soobin, huh?" she asked him rhetorically, since she knew full well who he was, taking a few steps back to get a better look at him up close.

thinking back to how you described him to her, he did appear to give off an aura of a gentle giant. chaewon felt better that she didn't get any bad vibes from him, or else she would have kicked him out then and there without a second thought.

"yes, i'm choi soobin. i'm friends with y/n," soobin quickly introduced himself, bowing way too formally.

considering chaewon was your best friend, he was incredibly desperate to make a good impression on her. it did not help, however, the situation that she caught him in.

"calm down, i'm not interviewing you," chaewon laughed, now understanding what you meant every time you had referred to him as your 'cute dork'.

"right, sorry," soobin found himself apologizing, feeling all the more nervous.

could you hear him silently screaming for help?

if you did catch his telepathic waves, you ignored it.

you were too busy practically having a panic attack in your bedroom trying to figure out something to wear. this was practically a date, so you needed to dress cute, but you also needed it to be something practical for an amusement park.

curse the cute boy for doing this to you!!

"so you're the one whose crazy father is trying to set you guys up together?" chaewon quizzed him suddenly, crossing her arms and causing soobin to find her all the more intimidating.

"yes, well-"

"and you're the one who let your friends message her and ignore her the other day?" chaewon interrupted with another question, smirking as the boy in front of her was about to panic.

"well, yes, but i didn't-"

"and you're also the one who's secretly in love with her?"

"yes, but i'm-"

this time, it was soobin who cut himself off. both his and chaewon's eyes widened twice their normal size, surprised at how easily it came to him to answer.

chaewon just wanted to watch him stutter like an idiot for an answer, she didn't expect him to say yes right away!

"but you're what?" chaewon urged him to finish, genuinely curious as to what the end of that sentence was going to be.

still blushing profusely, soobin took a quick glance towards your bedroom door one more time. either to ensure you weren't on your way out or to silently scream for your help, he couldn't be sure.

"but i'm ... i'm confessing tonight," soobin finally mumbled, his eyes quickly averting down to his fidgeting hands in embarrassment. he couldn't believe he was admitting this to your best friend right now.

chaewon gasped in a delighted surprise, throwing her entire intimidating demeanor from a second ago out the window. "you are? oh my God, that's so great! she's going to be so happy!"

if she was being honest, she didn't even realize that she had just casually exposed your own feelings to the boy without even thinking about it. hearing that the boy you were crushing on felt the same for you just made her so excited!!

lucky for her, though, it was still subtle enough that he didn't even manage to catch on to her words.

"do you think she'll say yes?" soobin asked her, desperation laced in his voice as he looked at your best friend expectantly for a response.

if anyone would know what to expect from you, it would be her.

smirking now, chaewon glanced over to see that your bedroom door was slowly beginning to open. "let's put it this way, lover boy. i don't know all about you just because i'm a good guesser," she told him in a low voice, taking her leave to walk towards the kitchen once you finally stepped out.

"hey, cutie, where are you going?" chaewon called out to you playfully from her new place in front of the kitchen counter.

"soobin's taking me to lotte world!" you answered her cheerfully, practically skipping over to stand beside soobin and wrap your hands around his arm.

"ooh, lotte world? sounds like fun~," she commented, secretly biting her tongue to prevent herself from making any remarks that would hint at soobin's plan for the night.

she already couldn't wait for you to come back so she could hear every single detail.

"so you're ready?" soobin asked you, looking down and noticing your change of clothes.

you nodded excitedly, dragging him along with you out of the apartment after bidding a rushed goodbye to chaewon. you were so happy to be going with soobin that you didn't want to waste a single second on your way.

in contrast to your usual way of traveling, this time you and soobin would take the subway in order to reach lotte world much quicker and with greater ease — seeing as it would take roughly 10 minutes to reach the exit directly connected to the park.

what neither of you were prepared for, though, was the mass of people that filled the subway - a mixture of families headed home from work and a few headed for a long night of drinking at whatever bar or club they could find.

all the seats were filled from what you both could see, but soobin managed to find an unoccupied handrail for the two of you to share. soobin made sure to stand in between you and the men that occupied the seat beside the rail, not wanting to risk any chance of either of them making you uncomfortable.

you stayed rather silent during the trip, for many reasons.

the first reason being that you felt shy with so many people surrounding the two of you, and it embarrassed you to have complete strangers hearing your conversation.

not that anything you'd say would be embarrassing at all, but it was your own anxiety that made you nervous.

the second reason was that you couldn't bring yourself to speak even if you wanted to. the cause behind that being soobin's gentle hand resting carefully on your waist, protecting you on the off-chance that you lost balance at all during the ride.

even with a layer of clothing in between, soobin's touch still emitted sparks coursing through your veins.

could he feel them too?

was he even aware of how he made you feel at all?

in this instance, soobin was clueless. he was more focused on everyone around you, watching carefully for anyone's possible lingering stares or wandering hands.

he was never a fan of the subway, having heard many horror stories - and seen many dramas - of creepy men that would take advantage of women. never would he ever want you to deal with anything like that, not as long as he could be there beside you to prevent it.

in which case, left him paying no attention to your blushing cheeks or the goosebumps on your skin from the position of his hand.

・❥・

in a matter of no time, though it felt like years to you, the both of you finally exited the subway and walked a short ways to reach the south gate entrance.

despite your insisting to help cover at least half of the entrance fee, soobin hushed you and ended up covering all the costs for himself - even going as far to splurge on magic passes to prevent any waiting for a few of the popular rides.

"soobin, you can't keep doing that," you pouted, feeling worse than you should that he kept paying for you everywhere you went.

meanwhile, it didn't bother soobin in the slightest. he adored being able to treat you to anything and everything you wanted, just as long as it made you smile.

besides, it was his father's money. he did want you two together, right? in which case, soobin was sure he wouldn't mind either.

"come on, what do you want to do first?" soobin asked you, intertwining your hands perfectly together that it felt as if it were the most natural instinct in the world.

after only a second of pondering, your eyes landed on the sign of the closest ride - with an estimated wait time of only 20 minutes. luckily for you both, the 'premium' magic pass that decorated your wrists would allow you to skip the line.

"let's go here," you urged soobin, tugging cutely for him to follow behind you as you led him to the adventures of sinbad.

seeing as you got to skip the waiting, you and soobin were placed in the perfect spot at the very front of the ride. you were, unfortunately, joined later by a lone rider to make a set of 3, but it didn't bother either of you that much.

you still held each other's hand and giggled happily together for every twist and turn - even 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing at the dragon animatronics.

it was barely the first ride out of many, but you already didn't want the day with soobin to end. you hadn't been to lotte world ever since you were a child, so creating this new memory with the adorable boy beside you meant everything.

you truly wished you could live it forever.

"i know where we're going next," soobin laughed beside you, now being the one to tug at your hand to follow him to the conquistador next door.

only this time, you hesitated. you used your free hand to grasp at his wrist to gain his attention, wanting to stop him from going any further. "actually, that ride's really cramped, i don't know if i want to go on that one," you told him.

it was true that the ride was very cramped, seeing as it held almost up to 60 people at a time, but he and his friends never really saw that as a problem before.

the only other person he knew who wasn't a fan of the ride was huening, but that was because ...

soobin looked back over at you to study your face, realizing that you looked a little nervous every time you watched the mechanical boat go upwards. figuring it was a little more than just a cramped ride that made you reluctant, he chose to play along and avoid teasing you just this once.

"you're right, we can go on something else," he reassured you, squeezing your hand gently and leading you away from the ride.

after discovering your new fear, soobin mentally created a list of rides to avoid and not bother suggesting on the chance that they would make you uncomfortable. he wanted to make this night a wonderful experience for you, and he was not about to risk anything.

the drunken basket, however, was a bit of a question mark. he figured it couldn't hurt to ask, seeing as it wasn't that high up.

"would you be okay going up there?" soobin asked you, pointing towards the currently spinning basket ride.

if you were being honest, watching it spin around made you dizzy just from looking at it, but you refused to skip any more rides and ruin the evening for soobin. if you kept saying no to anything that made you worry, he may end up having no fun with you at all.

"yeah, looks like fun!" you lied through a forced smile, taking deep breaths after he turned around in order to comfort yourself before you reached it.

declaring yourself as a party of two, the worker allowed you both to your own basket before shutting the tiny door that would supposedly keep you in.

staring long and hard at the metal disk in the center, you suddenly grew even more nervous at the thought of getting motion sick.

"we don't have to spin it if you don't want to," soobin reassured you, smiling gently as he noticed your nerves once again.

"no, no, we can! just not too much, okay?" you told him, focusing on your deep breaths once again.

once the ride started, soobin ignored your protests and ended up scooting over from his place across from you to sit directly by your side. he used one arm to hold you tightly against him, allowing you to tuck your face into his coat, while his other hand turned the disk around only a couple times.

he was curious, he couldn't help himself.

besides, you felt safer being held so closely to him, so you didn't mind one bit. for a second, you forgot you were even on the ride at all.

once it was over, the two of you ended up stumbling around a bit on your way down - soobin more than you - and you opted for waiting off to the side for a second so that you could regain your balance.

"oh, binnie, look!" you cheered excitedly, pointing over to a nearby attraction that piqued your interest.

it took soobin a second to follow where you were pointing, his heart distracting him as it flipped over from hearing your name for him fall casually from your lips.

"the mirror maze?" he finally asked, tilting his head and smiling at you so cutely.

if he had known before that something like this would have you smiling so brightly and adorably at him, he would have suggested lotte world ages ago.

"yeah, do you want try it?" you asked him, bouncing on your toes in a failed attempt to prevent yourself from getting overexcited.

now how could soobin possibly say no to someone as cute as you?

not that he would ever dare to deny you anything in the world.

"sure, cutie, let's go."

... cutie?!

had soobin not said it in such a cute, cooing way, that simple sentence had the potential to sound a lot flirtier, which could have easily made you lose your mind without any effort.

not that you weren't already.

after soobin swore he had the entire maze memorized and insisted he lead you through, it made it all the funnier to watch him walk face first into the first mirror.

from there, it was as if everywhere he tried to turn was a mirror, causing you to laugh at him the whole time. you would ask if he'd like any help, but apparently he would rather play on false confidence that he supposedly knew where he was going.

"i think they change the mirrors," soobin tried to justify, practically looking like a mime as his hands touched over every mirror surrounding the two of you.

"i'm sure they do, binnie," you teased him, having a much easier time than he had as you finally took charge and guided yourself through each turn to find the exit.

once the two of you finally made it out, soobin began jokingly gasping for air as if you had been trapped in there for days.

your heart swelled as you giggled, adoring how cute he was every time he made you laugh.

intertwining your hands together once more, with both of your hearts simultaneously racing, you began to work your way through the crowd in order to spot anymore attractions to enjoy before moving on to the next floor.

of course, your eyes refused to miss the bright, shining lights of the camelot carousel practically screaming at you.

"aww, binnie, let's ride the carousel!" you chanted happily, walking backwards as you dragged him by hand and watched his cute little dimples flash at you.

normally soobin wouldn't care for the carousel, but he would ride it 100 times over for you if you simply told him so.

from once believing that the carousel was a rather boring ride, soobin was suddenly convinced that it was the best attraction out of the entire park. watching you laugh, smile, and cheer so giddily made the ride appear so much brighter than before.

he couldn't resist taking his phone out to capture just how pretty you looked from his view, despite your protests and lies that you weren't. it took him only a second to decide to make you his lock screen, and it took even less time to choose which of the many was his favorite.

there was something about the way you looked at him in one of the pictures that had his heart swelling, flipping, and racing all at once. he didn't want to get his hopes up, but it almost looked like ... maybe, just maybe, there was a deeper feeling to your eyes whenever they looked at him — just like how his shined every time he looked at you.

sighing in content, he couldn't help but to think that everything about the night was running smoothly.

you were happy, soobin was happy, and his entire plan was on track to take you to magic island for the end of the night moonboat ride, where he would then confess to you.

and then ... soobin made a slight miscalculation.

[ to be continued ... ]

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a/n:

okay FIRST OF ALL, i may have practically gone to lotte world myself with how much i'm studying that damn park map. i didn't want to talk out of my ass and start naming things that weren't there, so i aimed for accuracy and i beg of you to pls acknowledge me for it 😭

secondly, i was originally going to make this one LONG final post buuuuut ... let's just say it ended up being way longer than i expected and i figured you guys would rather enjoy a two-parter anyway <3

PLS PLS enjoy it !!! the second part is still currently in progress, so look forward to it very soon while also enjoying part 1 !!

~

taglist:

@sha-aesthic @wccycc @yjusei @ihrtgyu @strawberrydaichi @seodami @sparkswhoz @o934pm @dongmeiii @cannedturtle @intrrverted @fanfangying1304 @n0tprettybutt1red @human-misery @baekberrie @softcabur

[ bold = couldn't be tagged :( ]

[riitah]

[late night talks] - geto suguru x gn!reader

SYNOPSIS: to put it short, you had insomnia. very bad insomnia.

ever since you found out about the jujutsu world and why you saw these strange creatures everyone insisted weren’t there all throughout your life, you just...couldn’t sleep.

so here you were, roaming the dorm hallways, your steps careful, light. but your peaceful stroll was interrupted by a certain classmate -- not that you minded, but still.

“what are you doing up so late, (y/n)?

WORD COUNT: 1.9k

HONORABLE MENTION: special thank-you to my beta reader “henry rumpelstiltskin III of the nuclear sock kingdom”! you caught a lot of typos for me in this one ✨

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is like, just a fluff piece. More of spending time quality time with Geto than anything too intimate. High school reader and Geto 🎉

Also, falling asleep cuddling Geto sounds so comforting ngl

Trees. Branches. And the occasional (howling) whisper of the wind. Perfect for falling asleep.

For most people, anyway.

For you, it’s been at least 23 hours since you last slept. Only 8 if you counted the 30-minute nap you took during class. And four since you tried every method to get your brain to fog up like it did whenever your teacher droned on and on about the importance of controlling your cursed energy flow.

Please just let me sleep. The teacher’s gonna yell at me again for doing it in class.

The wooden ceiling only stared back at you, offering no support whatsoever.

With a sigh, you sat up. The bed creaked at the movement, and your blankets fell from your shoulders, exposing you to the chilly night air. You pulled your knees to your chest, waiting for sleep that won’t be due until probably a few hours later.

I wish I could talk to someone right now.

It was weird. During the day, you had so much anxiety about everything that you could barely concentrate on what was happening. But now that you had the time, there was nothing.

Though you could probably start with this pre-existing world that you had just been tossed into a few weeks ago. Your parents were more open-minded than you had thought and immediately agreed to enroll you into Jujutsu Metropolitician Technical High -- or whatever it was called, you didn’t really pay attention -- as soon as they realized it was safe.

You had snorted at that. Was the school safe? Maybe. But was the job it was preparing you for safe? Not at all. A part of you wondered if they had some bias to begin with; after all, it meant that the things you saw all throughout your childhood -- things that everyone thought were your imaginary friends though you had constantly denied it -- and continued to see throughout your middle school years were real, and you weren’t just crazy.

It did bring some comfort knowing that other people saw these things too, but other than that, knowing that you had to fight them someday -- for a living, too -- made your heart fill with dread.

Maybe this wasn’t the right path for you. You had always been content with taking over your family’s soba shop, anyway.

Is it too late to unenroll myself?

15 minutes passed in silence as you rocked back and forth, and the clock lighted up to show that it was officially 2AM. Deciding that there was nothing better for you to do anyway, you left the warm comfort of your sheets and sat on the edge of the bed. Your bare feet brushed against the cold floor as you felt around for your slippers, sending goosebumps rising all over your skin.

After a few moments, you had found them (somehow, they were lying all the way at the corner of the bed). Gently, you slipped into them, and then stood up. Hoping that the walls were thick enough to prevent the sound of your footsteps from reaching your dorm neighbors, you took light steps towards the door.

After making sure that nobody was on the other side, you slowly opened it, holding your breath. Thankfully, it didn’t creak on its hinges, and you exited your room.

You couldn’t describe it very well, but the air out here was crispier and sharper, somehow. The environment was still as unfamiliar as ever, however, and you longed to be back home, away from all of this nonsense.

You looked out the window. The moon was surprisingly bright tonight, illuminating the hallways and casting long shadows along the walls.

You took a careful step forward. No sound.

You tested the floorboards a few more times before you were comfortable enough to walk around without taking six seconds per step.

This is peaceful.

You quietly hummed to yourself as you walked down the hallway, trailing two fingers that occasionally bumped into the wooden framework along the cool glass.

“(Y/N)?”

A familiar voice suddenly interrupted your night stroll, and you jumped. You turned your attention away from the stars and directed it at the person who called out your name.

Suguru, you realized. He was your deskmate, and always had a friendly smile on his face whenever the two of you talked. You weren’t best friends, but you were far from acquaintances.

Far enough for you to have caught feelings for him and for you to crave for something more.

“What are you doing up so late?” He closed the distance between the two of you by a few meters, his tone concerned.

“I, was, uhm--”

You gawked at his face for a few moments. His hair, which was usually up in a bun, framed the sides of it, giving him an almost ethereal look in the soft lighting. And his features were--

“You were...?” he repeated, amused, dragging you out of your thoughts.

You cleared your throat, embarrassed. “Taking a walk. I couldn’t fall asleep.”

He had a thoughtful look on his face. “I see.”

“So. What are you doing up so late?”

“I needed a glass of water. The training was pretty intense today. Wasn’t enough to tire you out, though.”

“I think we both saw how I walked right into Mei Mei’s crow. It’s okay, you can laugh.”

He cracked a smile as you rubbed at the area where the bird had hit you with its beak. And it was starting to throb again.

“You wanna talk?”

“Huh?”

“You clearly have a lot on your mind.”

“Says who?”

He shook his head. “Keeping it all in isn’t healthy, so what’s up?”

You reluctantly agreed and sat down, leaning against the wall. He did the same, taking a seat right next to you.

“It’s just been kind of stressful lately. Actually, ever since I started coming here, I couldn’t fall asleep. Like at all.”

He nodded in understanding. “It’s pretty hard getting used to this place.”

“Really? You seem to be taking it all in pretty well, though.” Despite also coming from a normal, non-sorcerer family, he had fit right in at this school since day one. Unlike you.

He chuckled at your response. “Trust me, I’m struggling behind closed doors. But it gets easier.”

Does it, though?

“I’m really worried about everything.” You looked down at your hands, playing with your fingers. “I don’t know if I want to get involved in all this curse stuff. I don’t exactly have the courage to face these things, you know? I thought I just needed to deal with seeing them all the time, but no, I have to fight them, too.”

“I get it.”

“You do?” You looked at him, puzzled.

“To a certain extent. Sometimes I get anxious about dying and wonder if I made the wrong choice.”

“How do you...’get rid’ of that fear?”

“The thoughts don’t go away, but remembering that I’m doing it to help people helps a lot. By taking on this role, I’m helping those who can’t protect themselves from these curses. We sorcerers exist to protect non-sorcerers -- that’s what I believe, but it’s not wrong to want to run from it all. We just have to get stronger so our chances of dying slim down.” He tilted his head to one side, looking at you with a kind smile. “I personally think you’d make a great sorcerer someday, (Y/N). Even if you don’t think so right now.”

Your cheeks heated at his words. After mumbling a quick thanks, you changed the subject to something else, the majority of your anxiety seemingly having dissipated into the air after hearing what he said. He didn’t question it.

You didn’t know how much time had passed as you two talked about random things, the topics ranging from home life to funny moments at your middle schools. By the end of the conversation -- which was marked by your yawns slowly integrating themselves into your sentences and your slow responses -- you felt as if you had known him your entire life.

He walked you to your room’s door, still laughing at the story you told him earlier. “Well, goodnight, (Y/N),” he said, wiping a tear from his eye with a finger. “I was mildly annoyed at having to get out of bed, but I’m glad I did.”

You grinned back at him, your hand on the doorknob and twisting it. “Likewise.”

The door didn’t open.

You turned to look down at it, confused, and twisted it again.

Still nothing except for a rattling sound.

You glanced at the position of the door in the hallway, eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sure this is the right door...”

Oh, crap. I think I locked it out of habit when I closed it.

“Is it locked?” Suguru asked, peering over your shoulder. “You can sleep in my room if you want.”

Your heart skipped a beat at his offer, but you shook your head. “Yeah, it is. And I can’t do that.”

“If you’re worried about anything happening, I’ll sleep outside. Make yourself comfortable.”

“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant--” You turned to him and shook your head frantically. “Suguru, I trust you a lot. I just don’t want you to lose sleep. Especially since you stayed awake for me.”

“Then I’ll take the floor,” he suggested.

“I’m not letting you sleep on the cold hard ground in your own room...”

“And I can’t have my friend who’s staying over sleep on the ‘cold hard ground’ either. You’ll catch a cold both ways.”

“Friend,” huh.

You stared at him. He stared at you back.

“...”

“...”

“I mean...I wouldn’t mind if we just shared the bed... Unless it would be too uncomfortable for you?”

He chuckled for the second time that night. “Not at all. I’ll take your reply as a yes, then?”

You nodded meekly, and he guided you to his room by placing his hand on the small of your back, sending shivers up your spine. His door unlocked with a soft click and he let you in first.

You couldn’t see very well, but from what you could make out, it was a lot tidier than you had expected. The floor wasn’t littered with dirty laundry or empty instant ramen boxes everywhere, at least.

The overall layout of the room was the same in every dorm, so you made your way to where you remembered your bed being. And thank god you were correct, because you tripped on something and fell face-first.

“You okay?” Suguru called out as he made his way to you, his voice worried.

“Yeah.” Yours was muffled, your face still buried in his blankets that smelled too much like the laundry detergent your family used, too tired to get up. “I just tripped a little.”

“Sorry about that. I didn’t get much of a chance to clean it today,” he apologized. “Ah, you’re finally worn out, aren’t you?”

“Mmhm...”

He turned you around and you felt his arms go behind your back and under your legs, but you were too tired to care. He lifted you up and gently placed you on one side of the bed before slipping in next to you.

His chest was pressed against your back despite his best efforts to maintain some distance, allowing you to feel his heartbeat. It was fast but rhythmic, and gradually slowed after he pulled the blankets above the both of your shoulders.

All of that had alerted you from your sleepy state, and you thought you were back to not being able to get a few hours in because of the proximity, but you were wrong. No sooner had you uttered a soft “goodnight” back, you had fallen asleep, the last thing on your mind being you reminding yourself to go out late at night more often.

Not hearing the quiet “I love you” from the person behind you that followed.

[calekinnieplus]

So... apparently I've reached the end of the Main Story. That's... surreal. I've done it.

Of course, there's still the side stories left, but I'll definitely read them soon.

But man, oh man. The last few chapters Hit me where it hurts. Klein is asleep. We don't know when he'll wake up. The apocalypse is coming.

But hey, at least he high-fived his niece? T^T

(Still crying over that, don't mind me-)

It was a long road. Some weeks were filled with binging, others - less so. Nevertheless, I've read the main story. It took less than a year, good on me. I wrote down the date I reached a certain chapter, every 100th chapter, I wrote it down.

Here it is:

5 Jun, downloaded epub, read 1st chapter

Chap 69 - 25 Jul

Chap 100 - 30 Jul

Chap 200 - 4 Aug

Chap 300 - 7 Aug

Chap 400 - 9 Aug

Chap 500 - 13 Aug

Chap 600 - 22 Aug

Chap 700 - 24 Aug

Chap 716 (50%) - 25 Aug

Chap 800 - 29 Aug

Chap 900 - 3 Sept

Chap 1000 - 22 Sept

Chap 1100 - 18 Oct

Chap 1169 - 26 Oct

Chap 1200 - 28 Oct

Chap 1300 - 8 Nov

Chap 1332 - 22 Nov

Chap 1394 - 27 Nov [Main Story - The End]

Ohhh man. It's crazy.

I have a lot of good impressions from this novel. Some more melancholic than others. Others, on the funnier side. Overall, it definitely had an impact.

Klein is a character that, at surface level, you'd think is boring, but when you actually pay attention to his thoughts, his feelings, and his decisions, you're blown away.

Klein's a food connoisseur who likes to try various dishes, but definitely has a sweet tooth. He's someone who likes to lampoon, in good or bad times. He's loyal to his friends, making sure to pay back what he owes. He's kind and tries his best to lend a helping hand when he can. He's selfless in the way he decided to confront a terrifying entity that was rivaled by God Almighty, to keep his promises to people that placed their faith in him, to protect those he holds dear to his heart, to bring forth hope for everyone.

He's a miserable existence, plagued by the madness ever-present in the Beyonder characteristic that he consumed. A lonely existence, separated from his previous friends and family by force and his current friends and family by choice. Fighting against what seems to be an impossible foe, fighting to break a cycle of madness and pain to protect humanity.

He's also... Klein Moretti. One of my favorite characters that deeply hurt me when he was hurt, that made me panic when he was panicked and made me happy when he achieved victory against all odds. Thank you.

Lord of the Mysteries is a wonderful novel. Each volume had a story that built up spectacularly for the ending, each story making me sympathize with characters we only saw a few times.

Although some characters were more fleshed out than others, although there were some moments I didn't enjoy in full, that's only natural. It definitely projected a picture I could marvel at and it was undoubtedly a good choice on my part to pick this novel up heh

I shall continue to read the side stories, but consider this my thanks towards Cuttlefish and the story itself for the wonderful experience.

And to everyone who enjoyed my ramblings and reactions to my binging, thanks for being here with me. It was a great time!

ONWARDS, MY FRIENDS!

[chaotic-on-main]

Chapter 8: June - Part Two

☾ Pairings ➼ Levi Ackerman x fem!mute!Reader (she/her pronouns), set in a modern semi-fictional world

☾ Summary ➼ Due to childhood trauma, you find yourself an adult without the ability to speak. After years of working on it, you have found ways to live without a voice. Now here in your late 20s, you are 5 months in getting used to a new town. On a fateful day in late November, you and your adopted sister visit a local bookstore-café, unaware of the friendships about to blossom. Throughout the months, one friendship in particular develops into something more.

☾ Content/Warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, oblivious feelings, romance, angst, mention of minor character deaths, trauma, illness, adoption, mentions of fire, disabilities, alcohol use, very light nsfw mentions, references to child abuse, smoking and alcohol abuse mentions, domestic violence mentions, light assault

☾ Author's note ➼ AAAAAAAA okay last part before shit starts ramping up. I HOPE Y'ALL ARE READY. This one might be a little rough as it's still some set up but hey, that's what makes slow burns so good right? See y'all with the next part soon. But in the mean time, beach episode anyone? :3

ALSO IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MY SUMMER EVENT CELEBRATING 250 FOLLOWERS YET PLEASE GO HERE!! I AM ACCEPTING REQUESTS UNTIL JULY 31ST!

☾ Word Count ➼ ~7.1k (whoops)

The smell of cooking meat wafts into your bedroom, waking you up gently from your deep sleep. You pop an eye open and are greeted by bright sunlight shining through the open glass door, the salty breeze making the sheer curtains around it dance. Shrieks of laughter make their way up to you from the beach below. Reaching over to your phone, you check the time and see it is barely past three in the afternoon.

Considering you didn’t get back to bed until late, you’re not surprised to have slept in so long – though part of you wonders why no one had come to wake you earlier. You turn onto your back and stare up at the ceiling, a smile creeping up your face. Last night was nice, strolling on the beach with Levi in the dead of night. You recall the way he said goodnight to you softly before closing his door in front of you.

You lie there for a moment longer, focusing on the noises coming from the other side of the bedroom door. The sounds of metal pans and dull chatter slip under the crack, too muffled to really make out words but there’s a few bursts of boisterous laughter from Erwin. You hope Levi got to sleep in as much as you did.

It takes a bit to assemble yourself, humming to yourself as you do. You even make your bed, thinking about what Levi might say if he saw you do that. The thought makes you blush. Once dressed, you do a double take in the mirror then nod to yourself before throwing the bedroom door open.

At first glance, you see Hange busy at the stove, their hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. Levi is at the bar drinking a cup of tea as he scrolls through his phone. His eyes slide over to your movement in his periphery but says nothing. Instead, he leans over and pours another cup of tea, dropping in a couple spoonfuls of sugar as well as some milk. He slides it to the seat next to him on the bar then goes back to his cup, not looking your way.

“There you are!! Good afternoon!!” Hange yells over to you while they flip what looks like a piece of grilled chicken.

After sitting down on the stool next to Levi, you give him a grateful smile. When you take a sip of the warm tea, you sigh internally at the smooth flavor. Levi knew how you liked your tea and never failed to get it perfect every time - you adored him for that. Setting it down carefully, you look around the rest of the living space.

‘Where’s Erwin?’

“He’s on the phone.” Levi says, pointing behind him.

You follow his finger and find it pointing to the main balcony attached to the living room. Erwin is pacing back and forth as he speaks through the mouthpiece, his best customer service smile brightening up his face. A laugh shakes his upper body as he continues to converse.

‘What is he doing?’

“Who knows with him.” Hange cuts in as they take the grilled chicken out of the pan and place it into a glass dish sitting off to the side. There are already a few pieces of the same chicken piled into it.

“They had a little farmer’s market this morning out in the square that I just had to visit. I saw a flier for it in the elevator yesterday. You would not believe the things they were selling.” Hange says cheerily. They reach over to you and set down a small bowl of mixed fruits before plucking a blueberry off the top and popping it into their mouth. “Speaking of, I know what we’re doing tomorrow night and you and Levi are not allowed to say no.” Hange then turns around to check on the sizzling meat.

You eye Levi, curious to see if he had any idea what Hange meant but he just rolls his eyes, grumbling something about ‘shitty-glasses’ under his breath. You shrug to yourself and start digging into your fresh fruit starting with the plump strawberries hiding at the bottom.

The sound of the sliding door opening and closing behind you makes your ears twitch. You swivel in your barstool mid-bite to the sight of Erwin walking over with a big smile. He’s wearing his light blue button down that matches his eyes perfectly, unbuttoned to show his white t-shirt underneath.

“That should be the last of the plans and reservations made for this week.” Erwin chirps. The weariness he wore yesterday is completely dissolved. In place is the essence of pure joy.

“Nice! Good job, Erwin. But uh- what are these ‘plans and reservations’?” Hange inquires as they lean against the island with their chin sitting in their palms, the spatula they were using currently dripping oil all over the counter. Levi scowls and shoves a paper towel underneath.

“Well, tomorrow we’re going to visit Liberio’s local museum. They have a lot of history and culture here that I think we would all be interested in. Then there’s a block party in the town square to celebrate the beginning of the summer. Hange should have told you that already, though.” Erwin chuckles as he sits himself down on the last barstool next to Levi. He pulls his phone out and starts scrolling for something.

You take this chance to side-eye Hange, shooting them a raised eyebrow. They lift their hands up in defense and turn to focus on the last chicken breast currently popping in the pan.

“Hmmm. Oh!” Erwin sits up as he finds what he was looking for. “The day after tomorrow, I scheduled a lovely all afternoon spa date for you two.” Erwin’s crystal blue eyes flick up over his phone screen to look at you and Hange, though their back is still turned.

“I can’t imagine you scheduled the spa for us, Erwin?” Levi mutters over his teacup before taking a sip.

“As much as I think it could be fun, no. You and I are going golfing.” Levi sputters on the dark liquid, staring at Erwin in disbelief.

“Seriously?”

“Just a small game. It’s been a while.” Erwin says nonchalantly as he continues to scroll through his digital itinerary.

“Just let me stay here.” Levi’s tone is dry, but you can’t help but laugh internally at the bratty disposition he gave off. His eyes narrow at his blonde friend.

“It’s too late, we’re both reserved for the course at 9am.”

Levi only huffs in return.

“Then we’ll meet up before going out to dinner. I’ve seen nothing but great reviews at this one place down the street. Apparently, the owner’s eighteen-year-old son is a prodigal chef.”

‘Oh yeah, I read about something like that before we left home. How did you get reservations so last minute?’ You pop a raspberry in your mouth while you eye him with surprise.

“I had these reservations set months ago. I just had to call and ask if we could add a couple more chairs.” You don’t press after that, pinching your lips together in a thin line.

“Last but not least is the Liberio Summer Festival.” He continues. “After that, we have one more day to rest up before we fly back home to Paradis.” Erwin locks his phone before placing it down onto the marble countertop. 

“I think these are all great ideas.” Hange comments with a smirk. Your blond friend scoffs in amusement.

“You thought of half of them, Hange.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been thinking about stopping by some local shops too. Sounds like we’ll have time to do that tomorrow afternoon, huh?” Hange says as they shut the stove off and then turns to wiggle an eyebrow at you.

You’re in the middle of wiping off the sticky colorful fruit on a napkin as they direct the attention to you. You shrug but shoot over a reassuring smile regardless. You’ve never been one for shopping, but it made Hange happy and that was enough for you.

The rest of the conversation dwindles into today’s plans for the beach. Hange cuts in and excitedly showed off the chicken that they had just finished cooking. They were happy to announce that they just needed a little more time to prepare but then you all could leave. You hear them mention something about a beach picnic for dinner, but your ears quickly tune them out as you find your mind wandering elsewhere.

Levi’s steely gaze falls on you for a moment. You both exchanged a look. At the time, you think it’s from the ridiculous antics your sister was up to as usual. But if you had looked harder, you would have seen there was something else there dancing in his eyes. He looks away and back down to his almost empty teacup as he grumbles something to Hange.

You excuse yourself a bit later to gather your things for the beach and Hange follows so they can grab their own bag from their messy corner of belongings. You note their bathing suit top peeking out from their loose shirt and wonder how long they have been up.

“Don’t forget to change into your bathing suit.” Hange shoots you with a finger gun and then slips out of the door, shutting it and leaving you in silence. Your hands hung midair as you were signing to them before they had left. They drop to your sides as you roll your eyes.

 A sigh escapes your lips as you walk over to your suitcase sitting on the floor. You had stuffed your swimsuit in a small compartment meant to separate it from the rest of your clothes in the off chance it was still wet when you packed later. Reaching in, you feel the soft texture and you’re instantly suspicious. This isn’t the bathing suit you had packed.

When you pull it out, your fears are confirmed. Sitting in between shaking fingers is the pink two-piece Hange had semi-jokingly gifted for your birthday last month. You don’t know how they found it considering you had shoved it so far back into your closet.

You thrust your hand back in the same pocket to check just in case and come up empty. You dig through the rest of the neatly organized suitcase to make sure you didn’t place the original somewhere else. You find nothing.

Long gone is the black set you had packed a couple days ago, leaving you with this abomination as your only option. Considering you had to leave soon, there was no time to go out and buy another. If you had a voice, you would have screamed your now dead-to-you sister’s name. Instead, you stomp your feet and take a shaky breath. You resign yourself to your fate and start changing.

.

By the time you all make it down to the sand, your phone reads a few minutes before 4:30 in the afternoon. It had taken a little longer than planned to get the beach-side picnic packed. Hange had found a large wicker basket the owners currently used for blanket storage that they claimed would be great to transport food in. Levi had adamantly disagreed, but Hange promised they would clean it out before putting the blankets back in. That was that.

Now, you sit under the protection of a comically large umbrella in the comfort of your baggiest clothes. Levi sits next to you covered up about the same. He hadn’t worn shorts since you all had gotten here so seeing his extremely pale legs in the sunlight was almost blinding. Before you had even left, he covered himself in sunscreen, grumbling under his breath about ‘not taking any chances.’ He didn’t appreciate the laugh he got out of you for saying that.

The beach wasn’t too packed to begin with, something you and Levi both sighed in relief at. There was enough space in the back to find the spot you all settled into easily. A couple walks by as they swing their toddler between them, tiny giggles escaping into the summer breeze. A few teens scream in delight a little way off, laughing and yelling at each other. Erwin and Hange are digging around in the wet sand looking for shells in front of you, the sound of their chatter getting lost in the summer breeze.

A loud rumbling comes from your stomach as you stretch your legs out onto the beach blanket. Your face heats up from embarrassment at the noise and you hope it wasn’t loud enough for Levi to hear. Unfortunately, he has sensitive hearing.

“Hungry?” He looks over to you, his eyes shaded in black sunglasses. You can’t tell if he’s even looking at you.

You give him a small nod, puffing your cheeks out. This is what you get for only eating a bowl of fruit for lunch. Levi’s hair flutters in the wind, pushing it back and out of his face. You can already see the sweat sheening on his face from the excessive summer heat.

“Oi! Shitty-glasses!” He shouts to Hange who was currently on their way to you as he spoke.

“What, shorty?” They grab the water bottle they had set out earlier and unscrew it as they sit down on their towel a few feet away.

“When’s dinner? Your sister’s stomach is about to eat her from the inside out.” He points to you with a thumb.

“I’m thinking about another hour. Can you hang in there until then?” Hange frowns to you with concern.

You didn’t want to interrupt their fun, so you sign a ‘yes’, resulting in a wild grin from your sister. You could wait a little longer, you hope.

“Great! You two are missing out. Get your asses up!” Hange tucks their bottle under their clothes to keep it from the sun and push up from the ground.

Erwin trots over, saltwater dripping off of him with every step. With his blond hair slicked back, you could have sworn he was made for the beach. He resembles what you would imagine the god Apollo would look like. Meant for the sunshine.

“Why are you two still sitting here, fully clothed at that? The water is this way.” He points behind his shoulder. He beams his award-winning smile down to the two of you as he waits for a response. He doesn’t get much from Levi other than an eye roll. You fidget with the blanket underneath you, curling your fingers into the cloth. The anxiety you had pushed down from earlier starts to bubble up again.

‘I’m just keeping Levi company.’ You sign what you believe to be half-truth. Before you all had left Paradis, Levi had warned he wasn’t going into the ocean. He had said something about it being gross and that fish defecated in it all day. So, Levi wanted to stay on the blanket, and you decided to stay with him.

“Then I guess Levi has to go in.” Hange glances over to Erwin with a smirk. Erwin starts to step over to Levi, still dripping wet from his plunge earlier.

“Don’t even think about it.” Levi’s voice comes out in a low warning. You can already see the gears turning in everyone’s head and you were afraid of what might happen if you let things continue. In a hurry, you stand yourself up and place your hands out to calm everyone down.

‘Fine, fine. I’m coming. Leave Levi out of this.’ You sign with shaky hands. You dreaded this the moment you saw yourself in the mirror before leaving. Hange nods in approval and crosses their arms as they wait. The corner of their lips twitched in anticipation at what they knew was about to happen.

Your fingers tremble as your thumbs lock into the belt loops of your shorts. Carefully, you slide them down your legs, being careful not to fall over as you step out of them. As if you were pushing off the inevitable, you fold them neatly and place them on top of the beach bag that sat next to the food basket.

Taking a deep breath, you grip the soft fabric of your shirt and lift it over your head. You hear a sharp intake of breath followed by a little cough and you don't have to look over to see who did it. Your face is about the same shade as the bathing suit you had so desperately tried to hide.

Now, the suit was really cute, you won’t deny it. And it was very flattering on your body as well as against your skin tone. But it was not a style you would have chosen yourself nor like anything you’ve ever tried on before. It was salacious in nature despite the fact that it covered the important bits.

The top has built-in cups that push everything up and together, giving even those on the smaller side an illusion of a heavy bust. You were afraid that any wrong move you made would result in a spill out from how low cut it was on you. Your bottoms were high waisted, much to your relief. But with the high waist came the high hips so your thighs and most of your ass was on full display. It hugs your body just right, and you never felt more vulnerable.

Hange wolf-whistles at the sight of you, prompting you to use the shirt you still had in hand as a cover up. You can’t bring yourself to look at anyone, mortified at the unwanted attention.

“See, what did I say? She looks cute, does she not?” Hange wraps her arm around your shoulder, almost knocking you over. You hug the shirt closer to your chest as you stare down to the sand your toes are currently digging in.

“Hange, why do I have a feeling she didn’t pack the suit?” Levi’s voice cuts in. Your eyes flicker to him quickly before looking away. Despite Levi’s casual tone, the tips of his ears are bright red and you’re pretty sure it’s not from the heat.

“Okay fine, I swapped it out. But she looks good!”

“Her comfort is important, Hange. She’s obviously not comfortable.” The way Levi dismissed their question while simultaneously coming to your aid makes your heart jump.

“Okay you guys, there’s nothing to be done about it now.” Erwin looks to you now, a gentle smile gracing his also rose-colored cheeks. “You don’t have to go in. We can stop for another suit before the next beach day.”

You were uncomfortable, yes. But…

Your eyes glance over at the waves crashing towards the shore. Multiple people splash around with joy, indicating the water must be nice today. You were looking forward to this day, and you would be mad at yourself for allowing your discomfort to ruin it. You fold your shirt and place it on top of your shorts before putting on a smile for everyone.

‘No. I’ll be okay.’

“Thatta girl. Let’s get you slathered up with sunscreen first.” Hange walks around to one of the beach bags and grabs one of the aerosol sunscreen cans they had bought earlier in the day. Even for a hot day, the impact of the cool mist hitting your skin creates goosebumps all over your body. You cough at the chemicals going up your nose after they spritz your face.

Once satisfied, they toss the can back into the bag before turning and jogging back into the clear ocean where Erwin currently floats in. You twist around to face Levi, ignoring the palpitations your heart is currently going through. His gaze snaps up to yours, eyes still covered by his dark spectacles.

‘Are you coming?’ You shoot him a soft smile.

“Just go.” He mumbles quietly. His words hold no malice, but you can’t help but internally recoil at his short response. You nod in his direction and take off towards the water. Had you looked behind you, you’d notice that you never left Levi’s sight.  

You hesitate as you get to the shore, just as you did last night. The frothy seawater quickly makes its way to your bare feet, crashing over them and retreating just as fast. You laugh to yourself at the feeling of the sand displacing from the rushing water underneath your toes. The water is much warmer than when you had first greeted it so many hours ago. With a child-like grin, you run into the opposing current.

.

You had been splashing around with Hange for about 20 minutes when the sudden dizzy spell hits you. With the waves bouncing you up and down, you feel tingles in your feet that were currently suspended from floating in the salt water. You needed to get out.

Without saying anything to your companions, you start wading back to the shore as best you can. You didn’t realize how far out into the ocean you were until now. With each stroke you made back to land, the more static that filled your head. You blink hard a few times trying to fight the lightheaded feeling as your feet dig in the wet sand in an attempt to push yourself forward more.

By some miracle, you’re able to make it back to where the waves just crash on land before your legs collapse from under you. You’re able to catch yourself so you don’t face-plant into the firm sand beneath you, but your arms are shaky and the water slamming into you doesn’t help. Hange’s and Erwin’s shouts from behind come to you muffled. You shake your head, trying to knock back the nausea that came from feeling like the earth was spinning.

Suddenly, there’s a hand on your back as another pulls your chin over to look into the stormy gray eyes of Levi. His face is laced full of worry as his eyes scan your weary features. The blood rushing to your ears is almost as loud as the ocean and because of that, you have a hard time understanding anything he’s saying now. It takes a moment for you to realize he isn’t even talking to you, and instead to the people coming up from behind you.

Your eyes shut tight as you feel him lifting you off the ground and into his arms. He holds you close to his chest as he starts speed-walking back over to the spot you all had claimed. With the motion of his steps mixed in with the world already spinning around you, your nausea grows worse.

You grab the shirt Levi still had on in a tight fist, hoping it will help ground you. You notice his shirt is currently getting soaked from your wet body, adhering to his seemingly toned chest underneath. If you weren’t on the verge of throwing up, you would have been more aware of how fast his heart was racing holding you so closely with such little clothing on.

“Don’t worry about it.” Levi grunts down to you. He kneels into the soft blanket and sets you down gently before reaching over into the basket. Pulling out a soda, he makes quick work of popping it open and bringing it to your lips. You blink a few times at him. The worry behind his eyes is ever present as he watches you carefully. Your hesitation, however, makes him scowl.

“Drink.” He orders.

If you weren’t on the brink of passing out, you would have found this situation embarrassingly intimate. You put your mouth on the metal lip and Levi helps to tip it for you, carbonated sugar dancing on your tongue as it goes down. It’s like this for a couple minutes. Levi tipping it back every few minutes, and you're staring anywhere but his face.

Eventually, the world feels like it’s slowing down. The sounds around you trickle in with clarity and you’re finally more aware of your surroundings. Your eyes trail back over to Levi, still on his knees next to you with the can in hand. His eyes haven’t let your face, nor has the concern lessened. You shift around to get comfortable and notice that your shirt has been placed back over your head somehow.

Gently, you place your hand over Levi’s and push it down and out of your face.

‘I’m okay, now. I think.’  You sign, your hands still visibly shaking.

“You dumbass, this is why we should have eaten earlier.” Levi’s voice is gruff. He shoots daggers over to where your sister currently sits.

“I didn’t pay attention. That’s on me, I admit. We’re eating now, though.” Hange’s voice is drenched with guilt. They nod over to Erwin who was currently pulling out plates as well as miscellaneous covered dishes filled with what you expect is dinner.

“How is she?” Erwin asks as he pops open the top of the chicken salad Hange had made earlier.

Levi’s eyes meet your gaze again, waiting for your response.

‘Better.’ You offer a small smile. In truth, you did. The soda brought your heart back to a normal rhythm and you could finally feel your fingers.

“She says better.” Levi mumbles. He sits back down on the blanket before gingerly rubbing at his knee he had been kneeling on.

“Good, let’s dig in then.” Erwin smiles over to you as he hands you a plate filled with chicken salad, crackers, and various chopped up veggies.

Hange crawls over to you, most of their skin now dry from sitting out in the sun during this whole ordeal. They lean against you, resting their head on your shoulder. You can’t see their face very well from this angle, but you suspect they might be frowning.

“Sorry, my little berry. I’ve messed everything up for you today.” You see Levi open his mouth to say something, but you subtly shake your head. He closes it quickly and looks away.

You pat Hange’s head in reassurance with your other arm, feeling the grainy sand that currently sits between their hair strands. Erwin starts talking about something marine life related and you find yourself checking out as you slowly eat at your plate. And just like that, the group is back to silly conversations and taunting statements. The whole time, you find yourself throwing appreciative glances over to Levi and sometimes he’ll catch you, but he says nothing about it.

.

The sun hangs lower by the time you all finish cleaning up after yourselves. There were probably a couple hours until sunset. Erwin had asked if you wanted to come back into the water with them but denied their offer, instead opting to use this time to sunbathe. In all honesty, you still needed time to recalibrate after almost passing out. They were much more understanding and left you to your own devices. And Levi, of course, stayed behind with you.

Unfortunately, with the absence of Hange, you struggle a bit with the sunscreen. You were able to get everything in the front but when it came to getting your back, you found yourself fighting with the canister. That is, until you feel slim fingers taking it from you after you spray your hair for the third time.

“Tch, if you need help just say so.” Levi grumbles from behind you. Your heart jumps by his sudden proximity to you, his voice practically right by your ear. You hear him shaking the can before quickly spraying a layer of mist along your back, making sure to get your shoulders well covered as well.

“Some of the sunscreen isn’t sitting right. You might need to rub it in.” You glance back at Levi, eyebrow raised. You raise your hands to where he can see without having to turn around.

‘I can’t reach back there, dummy. Will you help?’ You keep a calm and collected face. Internally, however, you were freaking out at your request. With Hange gone, you had no one else to ask. A moment passes. Just as you think he had left in refusal of your bold invitation, you feel his slender fingers rubbing the oily sunscreen into your soft skin.

This isn’t the first time Levi has touched you, recalling the brief hand holding in the past. Not to mention him carrying you an hour ago. But this is the first time he did it with the sole intention of touching you, even if it was to help you stay protected from the sun. You’re not sure if he was doing it deliberately or not, but the pressure his nimble fingers used to massage the oils in was enough to make you shift your weight in an attempt to fight the feeling that was burning at your core. Levi’s fingers leave you all too soon.

“How’s that?” His voice comes out thickly. You turn back around to face him with a forced smile.

‘Great, thank you.’ He nods stiffly and turns back around before curling back up under the umbrella. You stand awkwardly before remembering why he helped you in the first place.

Taking Hange’s towel they had laid out, you fluff it up to get the sand off before stretching out on top of it. You’re still self-conscious of the fabric that hugs your body, so you find yourself lying face down and in the direction of the umbrella. You fold your arms under your head and rest your cheek against them. A content sigh escapes your lips from the sun rays kissing your skin. 

 It stays like this. You can hear Levi a few feet away, shuffling in place every couple of minutes. You also hear the cacophony of seagulls off in the distance, probably in search of food. There’s more laughter, some from Erwin’s very distinctive spirited self. All this mixed with the crashing of waves really adds to your blissful mood.

Your mind wanders, gravitating towards Levi as it always does. You can’t imagine this is his favorite place to be right now, despite his willingness to walk with you last night. You pull your head up to where your chin rests in between both folded arms and you stare over to Levi. He currently sits with his feet tucked under him in a crossed position, currently messing with something on his phone. Sitting up on both elbows, you snap to get his attention.

His face raises up slightly, but you can’t tell if he’s even looking at you with how dark his sunglasses were. Had you read his mind, you’d have known he was doing his best not to glance down where your breasts currently sit squished against the towel. His face gives nothing away, but his heart skips a few beats at the sight of you and the thoughts that lingered. Levi clears his throat before sitting forward and setting his phone down. You had his undivided attention.

“What?”

‘Just checking on you.’ You purse your lips at him. You get a sense of simmering attitude just threatening to bubble up in him.

“I’m fine.” He mumbles, shrugging his shoulders.

‘You don’t sound fine.’ You narrow your eyes at him.

“Well, it’s hot and this grainy shit is very annoying.” He sweeps at the sand that had transferred onto the blanket earlier. You raise an eyebrow at him and frown.

‘Why didn’t you stay back then?’

“Someone needed to make sure you wouldn’t drown.”

‘You don’t trust Erwin or Hange?’ Levi huffs at that.

“That’s funny.” He says without humor.

‘Want me to go drown so you don’t have to worry about me anymore?’ You stick your tongue out at him.

“Sure, just make it quick. I think I can fit in some time to clean the kitchen before Hange comes back to wreck it.” Your shoulders shake in silent laughter at his serious disposition. The corners of his mouth quirk up as well. You puff your cheeks out, your smile fading from your face slowly.

‘It’s not fair to you if you’re so miserable, Levi.’

“I’ll be fine. Stop worrying about me and focus on yourself, tch.” Levi mindlessly pulls at the small grains of sand still plaguing the area around him. A moment later, he pushes his sunglasses up so it’s holding his hair back, his whole face on display for you. “Are you having fun?”

You rest your chin in your palm as you eye him, giving him a nod in response. Due to the angle, Levi’s unblinking gaze peers through his long eyelashes. That feeling you had earlier, that burning sensation through your core. It’s ever present as you both continue to watch each other. Your eyes flicker down to his pouty lips before looking away shyly. After some silence between you two, you decide to lie back down, tucking your face into the crook of your elbow.

After a while, your back starts feeling like it’s on fire, so you turn over to give your front an opportunity for some sunlight. You tilt your head back to peep a glance up at Levi to see what he was doing, only to catch him staring straight back. He mumbles a sorry and looks back down at his phone clenched in white knuckles. You can’t help it, a smug smile teases at your lips as you flatten back out. Maybe this bathing suit isn’t so bad, you start to think.

You get about another fifteen minutes of peace until you hear Hange’s quiet laughter. Your first mistake is believing they were coming back for a drink break, so you kept your eyes closed. A shadow passes by and then suddenly you feel a cascade of warm water fall on your face.

You’re in such shock that you sit straight up and splutter at the water that has gone up your nose and straight down your throat. Everything burns from the excessive salt. You wipe your eyes in time to see the culprits running back to the ocean. Hange is laughing so hard that they’re not paying attention and end up tripping on their own feet. They take a nosedive into the surf.

You push yourself up from the now soaked towel and run after them, almost losing footing in the hot, soft sand. You’re still able to find enough momentum though. Erwin’s in the middle of laughing at Hange’s misfortune with his back turned to you that he doesn’t see you in time to stop you from tackling him from behind.

Erwin, of course, isn’t fazed by any of this. He stands almost half a foot taller than you with broad shoulders, so you were not taking him down any time soon. At best, you were able to koala around him.

You’re not sure how he did it but suddenly you were being picked up like a surfboard by his big hands and then tucked under an arm like a football. No amount of kicking and hitting makes him stop his amble into the ocean. During this whole time, your hoarse laughter escapes from your lungs.

Before you know it, he stops just as the water is up to his knees and stands staring off in the distance. Erwin is purposefully oblivious to your protests as he scans the distance with his hand as a visor to block out the setting sun. Suddenly, he stiffly picks you up like a surfboard again and your eyes widen at the realization of what he is planning to do. With your feet still kicking as they dangle below you, in one swift movement Erwin chucks you a good few feet away into the air. You only have time to pinch your nose before you crash back into the blue water like a cannonball.

When you break the surface, you come out laughing and coughing at the salty water you accidentally ingested. Hange is back on the surf and sitting down as the waves crash around them, laughing along with you. Erwin, however, is back at the umbrella talking to Levi. They’re too far away to hear what they’re talking about, but you can tell it’s a calm argument. Much to your surprise, you see Levi getting up just as Erwin turns around to head back. He has a satisfied grin, mixed with slight mischief. This wasn’t going to go well.

Eventually, Levi makes his way down to right where the furthest waves meet the sand and stands next to Erwin. His shoes are off as is his shirt. All that adorns his short stature is a pair of swim trunks and his sunglasses. Lean muscles ripple all throughout his body as he stands with both feet planted into the moist sand. He crosses his arms over his chest, eyebrows knit in annoyance.

“Okay, I’m here. Happy?” He calls out to all of you, voice loud to be heard over the waves.

Hange looks over at the source and raises their arms in excitement while screaming, “Yay Levi! Glad to see you make it. Come on in, the water’s fine!”

“Tch, yeah, no thanks. That water is fucking disgusting.” His eyes land on you as you bob up and down from the waves, his gaze noticeably softening when he sees you smiling at him. Unfortunately for Levi, you were too good of a distraction for Erwin’s antics.

You watch in bewilderment as Erwin lifts Levi up from the armpits like a toddler. The horror-stricken look that blanketed Levi’s face would have been comical if you weren’t so afraid for Erwin’s life. You’ve never seen someone go through the 5 stages of grief in such a short amount of time. Levi accepted defeat the moment right before he’s tossed into the water a few feet from you.

You guard your face from the inevitable splash, mouth agape at the audacity of Erwin’s actions. Hange starts laughing even harder until a wave larger than the others comes out of nowhere and hits them square in the face. Erwin loses it after that.

When Levi resurfaces, his anger is palpable. He starts to wade towards Erwin who was currently doubled over on his knees in a fit of laughter but your fingers clamp over Levi’s forearm to stop him. In a knee jerk reaction, he yanks his arm out of your grip and whirls around on you. The dark look in his eyes diminishes quickly as he realizes it’s you. The anger never leaves his face though, every muscle tense with his jaw locked.

You grip Levi’s arm gently and start tugging him opposite of where your friends currently sat laughing. Keeping yourself afloat in one place was hard enough on your own, but dragging someone behind you was another story. Fortunately for you, Levi doesn’t resist as you trudge through the sand and ocean currents to the shore. Eventually you both make it until you’re ankle deep in water and you turn to face him.

Levi’s face is contorted less so than before, only showing pure annoyance. His eyes don’t meet yours, instead staring off to somewhere off in the distance. You release his arm and reach over with both hands to cup his face in them, twisting his face in your direction. His eyes widen, stunned at your sudden touch.

One of his hands reaches up, three fingers curling around the back of your hand and pulls it down off his face. He continues to hold on to your hand though, refusing to let go. 

“Don’t even think about apologizing.” His voice comes out gravelly. His eyes narrow over your shoulder, probably to Erwin if you had to guess. You pull your hand out of his to sign, but you can feel the lingering warmth of his skin still pressing into your palm.

‘I won’t. Are you okay?’

“No.”

‘Do you want to leave?’ Levi’s eyes drift back to yours, and you can see the gears turning in his head.

“The beach or the ocean?” He kicks his feet in the clear shallow water. Levi is obviously uncomfortable. You recall the way he had stuck up for you earlier in his own Levi way, and it was your turn to help him, if he wanted it. 

His gaze softens as he stares back at your sun kissed face. He grips your wrist and starts walking back to the group’s belongings, tugging you along with him. As he passes Hange and Erwin who are currently eying the two of you, he flips them both off. You don’t get to see their reaction as you’re being pulled away quickly.

When you both get back, Levi grabs two towels stuffed into one of the bags. He hands one to you before using his own to ruffle his hair dry. When he pulls the towel off, your heart threatens to explode at the sight. Levi’s hair sticks up in different ways and you can’t stop the blush from creeping into your cheeks. He wasn’t being fair, being this attractive.

You walk over to your clothes, planning to pack everything up once you dry yourself off more. He surprises you, however, by sitting down in the shadows of the early evening sun instead of getting his things to leave. His knees pull up against his chest as he looks up to you and offers a hand. Was his face pink from the heat or…?

“I’m fine. Just come sit.”

‘Are you sure?’ You frown down at him as you wring the saltwater out of your hair. He says nothing and instead continues to watch you intently. You roll your eyes at him and lightly take his hand. You lower yourself down next to him, shoulder to shoulder with him facing the horizon.

You were fine spending the rest of your life watching the ocean glitter gold under the setting sun with him by your side. Content, even.

.

You could have sworn you only blinked once, but the bright sands you were once staring at suddenly turned into the soft cloudy lavender sky and the jaw of one Levi Ackerman. He carries you against his bare chest, both arms cradling you in a bridal style. Your eyes blink slowly from sleep, the distance between blinks growing longer with every rhythmic step that Levi took. You were about to be lulled back into sleep. As if one more defiant act, you glance up. Those eyes of his, your favorite shade of steely gray, stare down at you just as you shut your eyelids for the last time. You hear him whisper just as you’re drifting away.

“I’ve got you.” 

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☾ Previous Chapter: June Part One

☾ Next Chapter: June Part Three

[kinfanfiction]

Bernard x Elf!Reader - Chapter 2 - One Cup of Cocoa

A/N: An author’s note isn’t exactly necessary for this chapter, but I just wanted to say I plan to post a new chapter every day until the day after Xmas! The timeline of this fic directly coincides with how many days there are until this year’s Xmas! Also lmk if you guys are interested in me making male/nb versions of this fic! P.S. Sorry for posting this so close to midnight I lost track of time :,)

     There’s one week until Christmas, which always throws the elves of the North Pole in for a loop. People all over the world are traveling for the holidays so Bernard and Santa are busy trying to find the new addresses to deliver gifts to. The last of the toys are being hurriedly made, causing a few injuries around the workshop, which means you can no longer afford to spend the whole day with baby animals like you’d hoped. Now, you had to fill in all around the workshop. Though, you weren’t surprised, The week before Christmas was always like this. There’s always a distinct difference between 8 days left and 7. You were just glad you and Bernard got to relax a little before crunch time. 

     You went down to the conveyor belt to begin working on a toy train. You were careful, but quick. You were just about finished with the task when you were called over to the candy station to make stocking stuffers. You quickly handed off the train to the elf next to you and ran over to help make candy canes. You immersed yourself in the craft of candy making. You wore special gloves to protect your hands and carefully spun out beautiful and delicious confections. You were back and forth between candy and toy making for a bit before being sent outside to help mitigate polar bear traffic. You bundled yourself up, wondering why you were suddenly on traffic duty. You walked out to see Bernard directing elves to different tasks. You hadn’t seen him since the night before. He turned to face you, a hint of both surprise and joy in his expression. “Y/n!” He exclaimed as you walked over. 

     “Morning Bernard! What sent an elf out of commission for traffic control?” You questioned, to which his eyes widened thinking about the answer. 

     “A polar bear stepped on him. He’s fine now, but the sight of him spilling his guts onto the snow wasn’t pretty.” He said, shaking his head. You cringed as the image of that moment entered your head. “Be extra careful, alright?” He requested, looking concerned at the thought of something like that happening to you. You nodded, worried about that yourself.

     “Don’t worry, I will be.” You assured, before getting to work and taking note from the actions of the other elves around you. You weren’t exactly used to this task, not that you hadn’t done it before, but it’d been a few years. Bernard stayed outside working with other elves, making sure the reindeer were fed and whatnot, but he still made a point to keep an eye on you while you navigated your way through the flow of traffic. He was nervous, he worried about you getting hurt, but you did well, and soon someone else was there to take your place. Eventually, you got a chance to return to caring for the baby animals, but it only lasted about a half hour before you were back at the toy conveyor belt.

     By the end of the day, you felt entirely worn out, after all the running around you’d been doing you felt as if you could barely stand to walk anymore. Then, as you were about to pass out by a pile of fresh butterscotch, Bernard walked by and noticed you. His expression softened from one of intense focus to one of sympathy. You were much more easily exhausted than he was, he’d always known this, and he wanted to make sure you wouldn’t pass out with your head on a table and wake up with a neck cramp. He shook you awake and slumped your arm around his shoulder, getting you to stand up out of your seat. You woke up quickly, and realized what was going on. “Wait, I have more butterscotch to make, that batch wasn’t done yet.” You mumbled, and he continued to walk with you. 

     “Tomorrow.” Was all he responded with, and the two of you walked out of the workshop. The cold night air shocked you, and suddenly you were completely awake and ready to walk on your own. Bernard let you go, and stuffed his hands in his pockets as you continued to walk together. 

     The walk to your house was quiet, you were looking around at your surroundings, and Bernard was looking at you. When you noticed this, you decided to break the silence. “Today was hectic.” You stated with a chuckle. 

     He nodded and hummed, “Mhm, it sure was. How was traffic?” He asked as if he didn’t already know the answer. 

     “A little nerve-racking, but I managed to help out well enough.” You spoke with a shrug. 

     “That’s good- not good that it was nerve-racking, but it’s good you managed.” 

     “Yeah, though I much prefer jobs inside the workshop.” You spoke with a sigh.

     “I can make sure you aren’t assigned outside jobs in the future if you’d like.” Bernard suggested, which made you instantly shake your head. 

     “No, it’s okay, you don’t have to do that. I wasn't saying that to get out of doing the job, just because I like some tasks better than others doesn’t mean I’d ever try to skip out on a task where I was needed. That wouldn’t be fair to the other elves.” You explained. “You’re the head elf, you out of anyone understands always doing everything asked of you every day without complaint.” 

     Bernard laughed abruptly, “Oh, I complain all the time. Believe me, if I had the option to skip out on a few tasks, I would.” 

     “Well, you don’t have the option, so I shouldn’t either.” You spoke decidedly.

     Bernard smiled softly for a moment before speaking, “Well, I thank you for your solidarity.” 

     The two of you arrived at your door for the second night in a row, and you felt like you weren’t ready to see him go. “Why don’t you come in for some hot cocoa?” You suggested. Bernard wanted so badly to say yes right away, but he had other responsibilities. “I can’t, I have to go back to the shop and finish some paperwork. I’ll see you tomorrow though, alright?” He turned to leave, practically tearing his eyes away from you. Then you grabbed onto his sleeve, and he knew he didn’t stand a chance. He was going in for a cup of cocoa, and there was not a single piece of paperwork in the North Pole that could prevent that.

     “Please. Just one cup and a little bit of company? I’ve hardly seen you all day.” You pleaded. The two of you were so close and yet lost so much time together to the work you had to do all year, every year in preparation for Christmas. Any small moment together meant the world to you. You trusted each other with your life, your deepest, darkest secrets, your strangest thoughts. There was no one you cared for more than Bernard, and there was no one he cared for more than you. 

     He sighed and dropped his head. “It’s impossible to say no to you.” He admitted aloud, before turning back around and walking into your house.

     Bernard sat by the fireplace while you made a batch of hot cocoa on the stove. The warmth of the fire was felt throughout your small home, and it calmed you as a stark contrast to the way the bitter night air made you feel. You based your recipe off of Judy’s, who was of course the hot chocolate expert, but you liked to add a candy cane into yours. You knew Bernard liked the candy cane too, with some marshmallows on top. 

     You handed Bernard’s cocoa over to him and sat down. He was watching the fireplace intently, like he had a lot on his mind. “What’s up?” You asked. He snapped out of his trance and looked at you, stirring his cocoa with the candy cane as he thought about his response. In truth, he was thinking about you, and work. He was always thinking about you and work. For years, he contemplated when would be the right time to tell you how he felt, and he always thought about doing so on Christmas, but every year, when Christmas came, he couldn’t find the courage. Though, as of late he wondered how much longer he could hold this secret in. He trusted you with everything, except his heart, and in a way that made him feel like he was betraying you. From your perspective, if Bernard kept any secrets from you, you were completely oblivious. Of course you felt deeply for him, but you never tried to explore the idea of having romantic feelings for him. You saw him as your best friend only, and you assumed he felt the same. 

     “Oh, nothing, I’m just uhh.. nervous about Christmas approaching, and I hope I get everything right this year.” He said, which was true, it just wasn’t the whole truth. 

     “You always get everything right, try not to overthink it.” You insisted, subconsciously copying him by stirring your cocoa as well.

     He laughed, “Me? Not overthink? Please, you’ve known me what, 800 years? When have you ever known me to be someone who doesn’t overthink?” 

    You laughed with him, “Fair point, but hey, better late than never, right?”

    His laughter faded into a rested smile, “Yeah, better late than never.” He said as he looked towards you. 

     The two of you made eye contact, and as you looked into his eyes, all you could think to say was, “Your eyes look like pools of honey in the light of the fire.” You always had something to say that just made him fall even more in love with you. “They say eyes are the window to the soul, guess that means your eyes are exposing how sweet you really are.” He wanted to kiss you so badly. It took everything in him not to. The only thing stopping him was the deep seated fear of losing you.

     “You’re too kind to me. What did I do to deserve that?” 

     “Hey! Don’t do that, you deserve every bit of kindness sent your way.” You chuckled and shook your head, “What did you do to deserve kindness?” You paraphrased, “Everything you’ve done since the moment we met is something you’ve done to deserve my kindness. I mean, you don’t have to do anything to deserve my kindness, you existing is enough for that.” He had no idea what to say, so he just smiled and looked into the fire thoughtfully. No one ever talked to him with the level of sincerity that you did. Even if he had to spend the rest of his life hiding his feelings for you, he would still die happy knowing he had someone in his life that cared for him that much. 

    The two of you chatted for a while about work, you told him about the gossip you’d heard about some of the other elves, which you made him promise not to share with anyone else, and in turn he told you about some drama between Mr. and Mrs. Claus, which was of course not incredibly dramatic, but it was entertaining. After a while of talking and slowly sipping your now cold chocolate, you began feeling a little drowsy. Once you finished your drink, you set your cup beside you and stared into the flames before you. Bernard was still sipping on his cocoa, hesitant to finish because he knew once he did, it would be time for him to go. While he was thinking of something new to talk about, you were falling asleep, and as you dozed off, you laid your head on his shoulder. Bernard immediately set his drink down and wrapped his arms around you for support, letting your head fall onto his chest. He hoped you wouldn’t wake up for fear that you might hear the alarming rate at which his heart had begun to beat. For a few minutes he just let you sleep on him, and all he could think about was how much he wanted the rest of his nights to be like this. 

     Once he was sure that moving you wouldn’t wake you, he lifted you up and set you in your bed, before pulling a blanket over you. He picked up both of your mugs off the ground, finally drank the last of his cocoa, and then cleaned them in the sink before putting them back in the cupboard, after that he put a gate in front of the fireplace before heading out the front door, and before he shut it he whispered, “Goodnight, Y/N.”

[spicerackofblorbos]

Chapter 8: June - Part Two

☾ Pairings ➼ Levi Ackerman x fem!mute!Reader (she/her pronouns), set in a modern semi-fictional world

☾ Summary ➼ Due to childhood trauma, you find yourself an adult without the ability to speak. After years of working on it, you have found ways to live without a voice. Now here in your late 20s, you are 5 months in getting used to a new town. On a fateful day in late November, you and your adopted sister visit a local bookstore-café, unaware of the friendships about to blossom. Throughout the months, one friendship in particular develops into something more.

☾ Content/Warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, oblivious feelings, romance, angst, mention of minor character deaths, trauma, illness, adoption, mentions of fire, disabilities, alcohol use, very light nsfw mentions, references to child abuse, smoking and alcohol abuse mentions, domestic violence mentions, light assault

☾ Author's note ➼ AAAAAAAA okay last part before shit starts ramping up. I HOPE Y'ALL ARE READY. This one might be a little rough as it's still some set up but hey, that's what makes slow burns so good right? See y'all with the next part soon. But in the mean time, beach episode anyone? :3

☾ Word Count ➼ ~7.1k (whoops)

The smell of cooking meat wafts into your bedroom, waking you up gently from your deep sleep. You pop an eye open and are greeted by bright sunlight shining through the open glass door, the salty breeze making the sheer curtains around it dance. Shrieks of laughter make their way up to you from the beach below. Reaching over to your phone, you check the time and see it is barely past three in the afternoon.

Considering you didn’t get back to bed until late, you’re not surprised to have slept in so long – though part of you wonders why no one had come to wake you earlier. You turn onto your back and stare up at the ceiling, a smile creeping up your face. Last night was nice, strolling on the beach with Levi in the dead of night. You recall the way he said goodnight to you softly before closing his door in front of you.

You lie there for a moment longer, focusing on the noises coming from the other side of the bedroom door. The sounds of metal pans and dull chatter slip under the crack, too muffled to really make out words but there’s a few bursts of boisterous laughter from Erwin. You hope Levi got to sleep in as much as you did.

It takes a bit to assemble yourself, humming to yourself as you do. You even make your bed, thinking about what Levi might say if he saw you do that. The thought makes you blush. Once dressed, you do a double take in the mirror then nod to yourself before throwing the bedroom door open.

At first glance, you see Hange busy at the stove, their hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. Levi is at the bar drinking a cup of tea as he scrolls through his phone. His eyes slide over to your movement in his periphery but says nothing. Instead, he leans over and pours another cup of tea, dropping in a couple spoonfuls of sugar as well as some milk. He slides it to the seat next to him on the bar then goes back to his cup, not looking your way.

“There you are!! Good afternoon!!” Hange yells over to you while they flip what looks like a piece of grilled chicken.

After sitting down on the stool next to Levi, you give him a grateful smile. When you take a sip of the warm tea, you sigh internally at the smooth flavor. Levi knew how you liked your tea and never failed to get it perfect every time - you adored him for that. Setting it down carefully, you look around the rest of the living space.

‘Where’s Erwin?’

“He’s on the phone.” Levi says, pointing behind him.

You follow his finger and find it pointing to the main balcony attached to the living room. Erwin is pacing back and forth as he speaks through the mouthpiece, his best customer service smile brightening up his face. A laugh shakes his upper body as he continues to converse.

‘What is he doing?’

“Who knows with him.” Hange cuts in as they take the grilled chicken out of the pan and place it into a glass dish sitting off to the side. There are already a few pieces of the same chicken piled into it.

“They had a little farmer’s market this morning out in the square that I just had to visit. I saw a flier for it in the elevator yesterday. You would not believe the things they were selling.” Hange says cheerily. They reach over to you and set down a small bowl of mixed fruits before plucking a blueberry off the top and popping it into their mouth. “Speaking of, I know what we’re doing tomorrow night and you and Levi are not allowed to say no.” Hange then turns around to check on the sizzling meat.

You eye Levi, curious to see if he had any idea what Hange meant but he just rolls his eyes, grumbling something about ‘shitty-glasses’ under his breath. You shrug to yourself and start digging into your fresh fruit starting with the plump strawberries hiding at the bottom.

The sound of the sliding door opening and closing behind you makes your ears twitch. You swivel in your barstool mid-bite to the sight of Erwin walking over with a big smile. He’s wearing his light blue button down that matches his eyes perfectly, unbuttoned to show his white t-shirt underneath.

“That should be the last of the plans and reservations made for this week.” Erwin chirps. The weariness he wore yesterday is completely dissolved. In place is the essence of pure joy.

“Nice! Good job, Erwin. But uh- what are these ‘plans and reservations’?” Hange inquires as they lean against the island with their chin sitting in their palms, the spatula they were using currently dripping oil all over the counter. Levi scowls and shoves a paper towel underneath.

“Well, tomorrow we’re going to visit Liberio’s local museum. They have a lot of history and culture here that I think we would all be interested in. Then there’s a block party in the town square to celebrate the beginning of the summer. Hange should have told you that already, though.” Erwin chuckles as he sits himself down on the last barstool next to Levi. He pulls his phone out and starts scrolling for something.

You take this chance to side-eye Hange, shooting them a raised eyebrow. They lift their hands up in defense and turn to focus on the last chicken breast currently popping in the pan.

“Hmmm. Oh!” Erwin sits up as he finds what he was looking for. “The day after tomorrow, I scheduled a lovely all afternoon spa date for you two.” Erwin’s crystal blue eyes flick up over his phone screen to look at you and Hange, though their back is still turned.

“I can’t imagine you scheduled the spa for us, Erwin?” Levi mutters over his teacup before taking a sip.

“As much as I think it could be fun, no. You and I are going golfing.” Levi sputters on the dark liquid, staring at Erwin in disbelief.

“Seriously?”

“Just a small game. It’s been a while.” Erwin says nonchalantly as he continues to scroll through his digital itinerary.

“Just let me stay here.” Levi’s tone is dry, but you can’t help but laugh internally at the bratty disposition he gave off. His eyes narrow at his blonde friend.

“It’s too late, we’re both reserved for the course at 9am.”

Levi only huffs in return.

“Then we’ll meet up before going out to dinner. I’ve seen nothing but great reviews at this one place down the street. Apparently, the owner’s eighteen-year-old son is a prodigal chef.”

‘Oh yeah, I read about something like that before we left home. How did you get reservations so last minute?’ You pop a raspberry in your mouth while you eye him with surprise.

“I had these reservations set months ago. I just had to call and ask if we could add a couple more chairs.” You don’t press after that, pinching your lips together in a thin line.

“Last but not least is the Liberio Summer Festival.” He continues. “After that, we have one more day to rest up before we fly back home to Paradis.” Erwin locks his phone before placing it down onto the marble countertop. 

“I think these are all great ideas.” Hange comments with a smirk. Your blond friend scoffs in amusement.

“You thought of half of them, Hange.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been thinking about stopping by some local shops too. Sounds like we’ll have time to do that tomorrow afternoon, huh?” Hange says as they shut the stove off and then turns to wiggle an eyebrow at you.

You’re in the middle of wiping off the sticky colorful fruit on a napkin as they direct the attention to you. You shrug but shoot over a reassuring smile regardless. You’ve never been one for shopping, but it made Hange happy and that was enough for you.

The rest of the conversation dwindles into today’s plans for the beach. Hange cuts in and excitedly showed off the chicken that they had just finished cooking. They were happy to announce that they just needed a little more time to prepare but then you all could leave. You hear them mention something about a beach picnic for dinner, but your ears quickly tune them out as you find your mind wandering elsewhere.

Levi’s steely gaze falls on you for a moment. You both exchanged a look. At the time, you think it’s from the ridiculous antics your sister was up to as usual. But if you had looked harder, you would have seen there was something else there dancing in his eyes. He looks away and back down to his almost empty teacup as he grumbles something to Hange.

You excuse yourself a bit later to gather your things for the beach and Hange follows so they can grab their own bag from their messy corner of belongings. You note their bathing suit top peeking out from their loose shirt and wonder how long they have been up.

“Don’t forget to change into your bathing suit.” Hange shoots you with a finger gun and then slips out of the door, shutting it and leaving you in silence. Your hands hung midair as you were signing to them before they had left. They drop to your sides as you roll your eyes.

 A sigh escapes your lips as you walk over to your suitcase sitting on the floor. You had stuffed your swimsuit in a small compartment meant to separate it from the rest of your clothes in the off chance it was still wet when you packed later. Reaching in, you feel the soft texture and you’re instantly suspicious. This isn’t the bathing suit you had packed.

When you pull it out, your fears are confirmed. Sitting in between shaking fingers is the pink two-piece Hange had semi-jokingly gifted for your birthday last month. You don’t know how they found it considering you had shoved it so far back into your closet.

You thrust your hand back in the same pocket to check just in case and come up empty. You dig through the rest of the neatly organized suitcase to make sure you didn’t place the original somewhere else. You find nothing.

Long gone is the black set you had packed a couple days ago, leaving you with this abomination as your only option. Considering you had to leave soon, there was no time to go out and buy another. If you had a voice, you would have screamed your now dead-to-you sister’s name. Instead, you stomp your feet and take a shaky breath. You resign yourself to your fate and start changing.

.

By the time you all make it down to the sand, your phone reads a few minutes before 4:30 in the afternoon. It had taken a little longer than planned to get the beach-side picnic packed. Hange had found a large wicker basket the owners currently used for blanket storage that they claimed would be great to transport food in. Levi had adamantly disagreed, but Hange promised they would clean it out before putting the blankets back in. That was that.

Now, you sit under the protection of a comically large umbrella in the comfort of your baggiest clothes. Levi sits next to you covered up about the same. He hadn’t worn shorts since you all had gotten here so seeing his extremely pale legs in the sunlight was almost blinding. Before you had even left, he covered himself in sunscreen, grumbling under his breath about ‘not taking any chances.’ He didn’t appreciate the laugh he got out of you for saying that.

The beach wasn’t too packed to begin with, something you and Levi both sighed in relief at. There was enough space in the back to find the spot you all settled into easily. A couple walks by as they swing their toddler between them, tiny giggles escaping into the summer breeze. A few teens scream in delight a little way off, laughing and yelling at each other. Erwin and Hange are digging around in the wet sand looking for shells in front of you, the sound of their chatter getting lost in the summer breeze.

A loud rumbling comes from your stomach as you stretch your legs out onto the beach blanket. Your face heats up from embarrassment at the noise and you hope it wasn’t loud enough for Levi to hear. Unfortunately, he has sensitive hearing.

“Hungry?” He looks over to you, his eyes shaded in black sunglasses. You can’t tell if he’s even looking at you.

You give him a small nod, puffing your cheeks out. This is what you get for only eating a bowl of fruit for lunch. Levi’s hair flutters in the wind, pushing it back and out of his face. You can already see the sweat sheening on his face from the excessive summer heat.

“Oi! Shitty-glasses!” He shouts to Hange who was currently on their way to you as he spoke.

“What, shorty?” They grab the water bottle they had set out earlier and unscrew it as they sit down on their towel a few feet away.

“When’s dinner? Your sister’s stomach is about to eat her from the inside out.” He points to you with a thumb.

“I’m thinking about another hour. Can you hang in there until then?” Hange frowns to you with concern.

You didn’t want to interrupt their fun, so you sign a ‘yes’, resulting in a wild grin from your sister. You could wait a little longer, you hope.

“Great! You two are missing out. Get your asses up!” Hange tucks their bottle under their clothes to keep it from the sun and push up from the ground.

Erwin trots over, saltwater dripping off of him with every step. With his blond hair slicked back, you could have sworn he was made for the beach. He resembles what you would imagine the god Apollo would look like. Meant for the sunshine.

“Why are you two still sitting here, fully clothed at that? The water is this way.” He points behind his shoulder. He beams his award-winning smile down to the two of you as he waits for a response. He doesn’t get much from Levi other than an eye roll. You fidget with the blanket underneath you, curling your fingers into the cloth. The anxiety you had pushed down from earlier starts to bubble up again.

‘I’m just keeping Levi company.’ You sign what you believe to be half-truth. Before you all had left Paradis, Levi had warned he wasn’t going into the ocean. He had said something about it being gross and that fish defecated in it all day. So, Levi wanted to stay on the blanket, and you decided to stay with him.

“Then I guess Levi has to go in.” Hange glances over to Erwin with a smirk. Erwin starts to step over to Levi, still dripping wet from his plunge earlier.

“Don’t even think about it.” Levi’s voice comes out in a low warning. You can already see the gears turning in everyone’s head and you were afraid of what might happen if you let things continue. In a hurry, you stand yourself up and place your hands out to calm everyone down.

‘Fine, fine. I’m coming. Leave Levi out of this.’ You sign with shaky hands. You dreaded this the moment you saw yourself in the mirror before leaving. Hange nods in approval and crosses their arms as they wait. The corner of their lips twitched in anticipation at what they knew was about to happen.

Your fingers tremble as your thumbs lock into the belt loops of your shorts. Carefully, you slide them down your legs, being careful not to fall over as you step out of them. As if you were pushing off the inevitable, you fold them neatly and place them on top of the beach bag that sat next to the food basket.

Taking a deep breath, you grip the soft fabric of your shirt and lift it over your head. You hear a sharp intake of breath followed by a little cough and you don't have to look over to see who did it. Your face is about the same shade as the bathing suit you had so desperately tried to hide.

Now, the suit was really cute, you won’t deny it. And it was very flattering on your body as well as against your skin tone. But it was not a style you would have chosen yourself nor like anything you’ve ever tried on before. It was salacious in nature despite the fact that it covered the important bits.

The top has built-in cups that push everything up and together, giving even those on the smaller side an illusion of a heavy bust. You were afraid that any wrong move you made would result in a spill out from how low cut it was on you. Your bottoms were high waisted, much to your relief. But with the high waist came the high hips so your thighs and most of your ass was on full display. It hugs your body just right, and you never felt more vulnerable.

Hange wolf-whistles at the sight of you, prompting you to use the shirt you still had in hand as a cover up. You can’t bring yourself to look at anyone, mortified at the unwanted attention.

“See, what did I say? She looks cute, does she not?” Hange wraps her arm around your shoulder, almost knocking you over. You hug the shirt closer to your chest as you stare down to the sand your toes are currently digging in.

“Hange, why do I have a feeling she didn’t pack the suit?” Levi’s voice cuts in. Your eyes flicker to him quickly before looking away. Despite Levi’s casual tone, the tips of his ears are bright red and you’re pretty sure it’s not from the heat.

“Okay fine, I swapped it out. But she looks good!”

“Her comfort is important, Hange. She’s obviously not comfortable.” The way Levi dismissed their question while simultaneously coming to your aid makes your heart jump.

“Okay you guys, there’s nothing to be done about it now.” Erwin looks to you now, a gentle smile gracing his also rose-colored cheeks. “You don’t have to go in. We can stop for another suit before the next beach day.”

You were uncomfortable, yes. But…

Your eyes glance over at the waves crashing towards the shore. Multiple people splash around with joy, indicating the water must be nice today. You were looking forward to this day, and you would be mad at yourself for allowing your discomfort to ruin it. You fold your shirt and place it on top of your shorts before putting on a smile for everyone.

‘No. I’ll be okay.’

“Thatta girl. Let’s get you slathered up with sunscreen first.” Hange walks around to one of the beach bags and grabs one of the aerosol sunscreen cans they had bought earlier in the day. Even for a hot day, the impact of the cool mist hitting your skin creates goosebumps all over your body. You cough at the chemicals going up your nose after they spritz your face.

Once satisfied, they toss the can back into the bag before turning and jogging back into the clear ocean where Erwin currently floats in. You twist around to face Levi, ignoring the palpitations your heart is currently going through. His gaze snaps up to yours, eyes still covered by his dark spectacles.

‘Are you coming?’ You shoot him a soft smile.

“Just go.” He mumbles quietly. His words hold no malice, but you can’t help but internally recoil at his short response. You nod in his direction and take off towards the water. Had you looked behind you, you’d notice that you never left Levi’s sight.  

You hesitate as you get to the shore, just as you did last night. The frothy seawater quickly makes its way to your bare feet, crashing over them and retreating just as fast. You laugh to yourself at the feeling of the sand displacing from the rushing water underneath your toes. The water is much warmer than when you had first greeted it so many hours ago. With a child-like grin, you run into the opposing current.

.

You had been splashing around with Hange for about 20 minutes when the sudden dizzy spell hits you. With the waves bouncing you up and down, you feel tingles in your feet that were currently suspended from floating in the salt water. You needed to get out.

Without saying anything to your companions, you start wading back to the shore as best you can. You didn’t realize how far out into the ocean you were until now. With each stroke you made back to land, the more static that filled your head. You blink hard a few times trying to fight the lightheaded feeling as your feet dig in the wet sand in an attempt to push yourself forward more.

By some miracle, you’re able to make it back to where the waves just crash on land before your legs collapse from under you. You’re able to catch yourself so you don’t face-plant into the firm sand beneath you, but your arms are shaky and the water slamming into you doesn’t help. Hange’s and Erwin’s shouts from behind come to you muffled. You shake your head, trying to knock back the nausea that came from feeling like the earth was spinning.

Suddenly, there’s a hand on your back as another pulls your chin over to look into the stormy gray eyes of Levi. His face is laced full of worry as his eyes scan your weary features. The blood rushing to your ears is almost as loud as the ocean and because of that, you have a hard time understanding anything he’s saying now. It takes a moment for you to realize he isn’t even talking to you, and instead to the people coming up from behind you.

Your eyes shut tight as you feel him lifting you off the ground and into his arms. He holds you close to his chest as he starts speed-walking back over to the spot you all had claimed. With the motion of his steps mixed in with the world already spinning around you, your nausea grows worse.

You grab the shirt Levi still had on in a tight fist, hoping it will help ground you. You notice his shirt is currently getting soaked from your wet body, adhering to his seemingly toned chest underneath. If you weren’t on the verge of throwing up, you would have been more aware of how fast his heart was racing holding you so closely with such little clothing on.

“Don’t worry about it.” Levi grunts down to you. He kneels into the soft blanket and sets you down gently before reaching over into the basket. Pulling out a soda, he makes quick work of popping it open and bringing it to your lips. You blink a few times at him. The worry behind his eyes is ever present as he watches you carefully. Your hesitation, however, makes him scowl.

“Drink.” He orders.

If you weren’t on the brink of passing out, you would have found this situation embarrassingly intimate. You put your mouth on the metal lip and Levi helps to tip it for you, carbonated sugar dancing on your tongue as it goes down. It’s like this for a couple minutes. Levi tipping it back every few minutes, and you're staring anywhere but his face.

Eventually, the world feels like it’s slowing down. The sounds around you trickle in with clarity and you’re finally more aware of your surroundings. Your eyes trail back over to Levi, still on his knees next to you with the can in hand. His eyes haven’t let your face, nor has the concern lessened. You shift around to get comfortable and notice that your shirt has been placed back over your head somehow.

Gently, you place your hand over Levi’s and push it down and out of your face.

‘I’m okay, now. I think.’  You sign, your hands still visibly shaking.

“You dumbass, this is why we should have eaten earlier.” Levi’s voice is gruff. He shoots daggers over to where your sister currently sits.

“I didn’t pay attention. That’s on me, I admit. We’re eating now, though.” Hange’s voice is drenched with guilt. They nod over to Erwin who was currently pulling out plates as well as miscellaneous covered dishes filled with what you expect is dinner.

“How is she?” Erwin asks as he pops open the top of the chicken salad Hange had made earlier.

Levi’s eyes meet your gaze again, waiting for your response.

‘Better.’ You offer a small smile. In truth, you did. The soda brought your heart back to a normal rhythm and you could finally feel your fingers.

“She says better.” Levi mumbles. He sits back down on the blanket before gingerly rubbing at his knee he had been kneeling on.

“Good, let’s dig in then.” Erwin smiles over to you as he hands you a plate filled with chicken salad, crackers, and various chopped up veggies.

Hange crawls over to you, most of their skin now dry from sitting out in the sun during this whole ordeal. They lean against you, resting their head on your shoulder. You can’t see their face very well from this angle, but you suspect they might be frowning.

“Sorry, my little berry. I’ve messed everything up for you today.” You see Levi open his mouth to say something, but you subtly shake your head. He closes it quickly and looks away.

You pat Hange’s head in reassurance with your other arm, feeling the grainy sand that currently sits between their hair strands. Erwin starts talking about something marine life related and you find yourself checking out as you slowly eat at your plate. And just like that, the group is back to silly conversations and taunting statements. The whole time, you find yourself throwing appreciative glances over to Levi and sometimes he’ll catch you, but he says nothing about it.

.

The sun hangs lower by the time you all finish cleaning up after yourselves. There were probably a couple hours until sunset. Erwin had asked if you wanted to come back into the water with them but denied their offer, instead opting to use this time to sunbathe. In all honesty, you still needed time to recalibrate after almost passing out. They were much more understanding and left you to your own devices. And Levi, of course, stayed behind with you.

Unfortunately, with the absence of Hange, you struggle a bit with the sunscreen. You were able to get everything in the front but when it came to getting your back, you found yourself fighting with the canister. That is, until you feel slim fingers taking it from you after you spray your hair for the third time.

“Tch, if you need help just say so.” Levi grumbles from behind you. Your heart jumps by his sudden proximity to you, his voice practically right by your ear. You hear him shaking the can before quickly spraying a layer of mist along your back, making sure to get your shoulders well covered as well.

“Some of the sunscreen isn’t sitting right. You might need to rub it in.” You glance back at Levi, eyebrow raised. You raise your hands to where he can see without having to turn around.

‘I can’t reach back there, dummy. Will you help?’ You keep a calm and collected face. Internally, however, you were freaking out at your request. With Hange gone, you had no one else to ask. A moment passes. Just as you think he had left in refusal of your bold invitation, you feel his slender fingers rubbing the oily sunscreen into your soft skin.

This isn’t the first time Levi has touched you, recalling the brief hand holding in the past. Not to mention him carrying you an hour ago. But this is the first time he did it with the sole intention of touching you, even if it was to help you stay protected from the sun. You’re not sure if he was doing it deliberately or not, but the pressure his nimble fingers used to massage the oils in was enough to make you shift your weight in an attempt to fight the feeling that was burning at your core. Levi’s fingers leave you all too soon.

“How’s that?” His voice comes out thickly. You turn back around to face him with a forced smile.

‘Great, thank you.’ He nods stiffly and turns back around before curling back up under the umbrella. You stand awkwardly before remembering why he helped you in the first place.

Taking Hange’s towel they had laid out, you fluff it up to get the sand off before stretching out on top of it. You’re still self-conscious of the fabric that hugs your body, so you find yourself lying face down and in the direction of the umbrella. You fold your arms under your head and rest your cheek against them. A content sigh escapes your lips from the sun rays kissing your skin. 

 It stays like this. You can hear Levi a few feet away, shuffling in place every couple of minutes. You also hear the cacophony of seagulls off in the distance, probably in search of food. There’s more laughter, some from Erwin’s very distinctive spirited self. All this mixed with the crashing of waves really adds to your blissful mood.

Your mind wanders, gravitating towards Levi as it always does. You can’t imagine this is his favorite place to be right now, despite his willingness to walk with you last night. You pull your head up to where your chin rests in between both folded arms and you stare over to Levi. He currently sits with his feet tucked under him in a crossed position, currently messing with something on his phone. Sitting up on both elbows, you snap to get his attention.

His face raises up slightly, but you can’t tell if he’s even looking at you with how dark his sunglasses were. Had you read his mind, you’d have known he was doing his best not to glance down where your breasts currently sit squished against the towel. His face gives nothing away, but his heart skips a few beats at the sight of you and the thoughts that lingered. Levi clears his throat before sitting forward and setting his phone down. You had his undivided attention.

“What?”

‘Just checking on you.’ You purse your lips at him. You get a sense of simmering attitude just threatening to bubble up in him.

“I’m fine.” He mumbles, shrugging his shoulders.

‘You don’t sound fine.’ You narrow your eyes at him.

“Well, it’s hot and this grainy shit is very annoying.” He sweeps at the sand that had transferred onto the blanket earlier. You raise an eyebrow at him and frown.

‘Why didn’t you stay back then?’

“Someone needed to make sure you wouldn’t drown.”

‘You don’t trust Erwin or Hange?’ Levi huffs at that.

“That’s funny.” He says without humor.

‘Want me to go drown so you don’t have to worry about me anymore?’ You stick your tongue out at him.

“Sure, just make it quick. I think I can fit in some time to clean the kitchen before Hange comes back to wreck it.” Your shoulders shake in silent laughter at his serious disposition. The corners of his mouth quirk up as well. You puff your cheeks out, your smile fading from your face slowly.

‘It’s not fair to you if you’re so miserable, Levi.’

“I’ll be fine. Stop worrying about me and focus on yourself, tch.” Levi mindlessly pulls at the small grains of sand still plaguing the area around him. A moment later, he pushes his sunglasses up so it’s holding his hair back, his whole face on display for you. “Are you having fun?”

You rest your chin in your palm as you eye him, giving him a nod in response. Due to the angle, Levi’s unblinking gaze peers through his long eyelashes. That feeling you had earlier, that burning sensation through your core. It’s ever present as you both continue to watch each other. Your eyes flicker down to his pouty lips before looking away shyly. After some silence between you two, you decide to lie back down, tucking your face into the crook of your elbow.

After a while, your back starts feeling like it’s on fire, so you turn over to give your front an opportunity for some sunlight. You tilt your head back to peep a glance up at Levi to see what he was doing, only to catch him staring straight back. He mumbles a sorry and looks back down at his phone clenched in white knuckles. You can’t help it, a smug smile teases at your lips as you flatten back out. Maybe this bathing suit isn’t so bad, you start to think.

You get about another fifteen minutes of peace until you hear Hange’s quiet laughter. Your first mistake is believing they were coming back for a drink break, so you kept your eyes closed. A shadow passes by and then suddenly you feel a cascade of warm water fall on your face.

You’re in such shock that you sit straight up and splutter at the water that has gone up your nose and straight down your throat. Everything burns from the excessive salt. You wipe your eyes in time to see the culprits running back to the ocean. Hange is laughing so hard that they’re not paying attention and end up tripping on their own feet. They take a nosedive into the surf.

You push yourself up from the now soaked towel and run after them, almost losing footing in the hot, soft sand. You’re still able to find enough momentum though. Erwin’s in the middle of laughing at Hange’s misfortune with his back turned to you that he doesn’t see you in time to stop you from tackling him from behind.

Erwin, of course, isn’t fazed by any of this. He stands almost half a foot taller than you with broad shoulders, so you were not taking him down any time soon. At best, you were able to koala around him.

You’re not sure how he did it but suddenly you were being picked up like a surfboard by his big hands and then tucked under an arm like a football. No amount of kicking and hitting makes him stop his amble into the ocean. During this whole time, your hoarse laughter escapes from your lungs.

Before you know it, he stops just as the water is up to his knees and stands staring off in the distance. Erwin is purposefully oblivious to your protests as he scans the distance with his hand as a visor to block out the setting sun. Suddenly, he stiffly picks you up like a surfboard again and your eyes widen at the realization of what he is planning to do. With your feet still kicking as they dangle below you, in one swift movement Erwin chucks you a good few feet away into the air. You only have time to pinch your nose before you crash back into the blue water like a cannonball.

When you break the surface, you come out laughing and coughing at the salty water you accidentally ingested. Hange is back on the surf and sitting down as the waves crash around them, laughing along with you. Erwin, however, is back at the umbrella talking to Levi. They’re too far away to hear what they’re talking about, but you can tell it’s a calm argument. Much to your surprise, you see Levi getting up just as Erwin turns around to head back. He has a satisfied grin, mixed with slight mischief. This wasn’t going to go well.

Eventually, Levi makes his way down to right where the furthest waves meet the sand and stands next to Erwin. His shoes are off as is his shirt. All that adorns his short stature is a pair of swim trunks and his sunglasses. Lean muscles ripple all throughout his body as he stands with both feet planted into the moist sand. He crosses his arms over his chest, eyebrows knit in annoyance.

“Okay, I’m here. Happy?” He calls out to all of you, voice loud to be heard over the waves.

Hange looks over at the source and raises their arms in excitement while screaming, “Yay Levi! Glad to see you make it. Come on in, the water’s fine!”

“Tch, yeah, no thanks. That water is fucking disgusting.” His eyes land on you as you bob up and down from the waves, his gaze noticeably softening when he sees you smiling at him. Unfortunately for Levi, you were too good of a distraction for Erwin’s antics.

You watch in bewilderment as Erwin lifts Levi up from the armpits like a toddler. The horror-stricken look that blanketed Levi’s face would have been comical if you weren’t so afraid for Erwin’s life. You’ve never seen someone go through the 5 stages of grief in such a short amount of time. Levi accepted defeat the moment right before he’s tossed into the water a few feet from you.

You guard your face from the inevitable splash, mouth agape at the audacity of Erwin’s actions. Hange starts laughing even harder until a wave larger than the others comes out of nowhere and hits them square in the face. Erwin loses it after that.

When Levi resurfaces, his anger is palpable. He starts to wade towards Erwin who was currently doubled over on his knees in a fit of laughter but your fingers clamp over Levi’s forearm to stop him. In a knee jerk reaction, he yanks his arm out of your grip and whirls around on you. The dark look in his eyes diminishes quickly as he realizes it’s you. The anger never leaves his face though, every muscle tense with his jaw locked.

You grip Levi’s arm gently and start tugging him opposite of where your friends currently sat laughing. Keeping yourself afloat in one place was hard enough on your own, but dragging someone behind you was another story. Fortunately for you, Levi doesn’t resist as you trudge through the sand and ocean currents to the shore. Eventually you both make it until you’re ankle deep in water and you turn to face him.

Levi’s face is contorted less so than before, only showing pure annoyance. His eyes don’t meet yours, instead staring off to somewhere off in the distance. You release his arm and reach over with both hands to cup his face in them, twisting his face in your direction. His eyes widen, stunned at your sudden touch.

One of his hands reaches up, three fingers curling around the back of your hand and pulls it down off his face. He continues to hold on to your hand though, refusing to let go. 

“Don’t even think about apologizing.” His voice comes out gravelly. His eyes narrow over your shoulder, probably to Erwin if you had to guess. You pull your hand out of his to sign, but you can feel the lingering warmth of his skin still pressing into your palm.

‘I won’t. Are you okay?’

“No.”

‘Do you want to leave?’ Levi’s eyes drift back to yours, and you can see the gears turning in his head.

“The beach or the ocean?” He kicks his feet in the clear shallow water. Levi is obviously uncomfortable. You recall the way he had stuck up for you earlier in his own Levi way, and it was your turn to help him, if he wanted it. 

His gaze softens as he stares back at your sun kissed face. He grips your wrist and starts walking back to the group’s belongings, tugging you along with him. As he passes Hange and Erwin who are currently eying the two of you, he flips them both off. You don’t get to see their reaction as you’re being pulled away quickly.

When you both get back, Levi grabs two towels stuffed into one of the bags. He hands one to you before using his own to ruffle his hair dry. When he pulls the towel off, your heart threatens to explode at the sight. Levi’s hair sticks up in different ways and you can’t stop the blush from creeping into your cheeks. He wasn’t being fair, being this attractive.

You walk over to your clothes, planning to pack everything up once you dry yourself off more. He surprises you, however, by sitting down in the shadows of the early evening sun instead of getting his things to leave. His knees pull up against his chest as he looks up to you and offers a hand. Was his face pink from the heat or…?

“I’m fine. Just come sit.”

‘Are you sure?’ You frown down at him as you wring the saltwater out of your hair. He says nothing and instead continues to watch you intently. You roll your eyes at him and lightly take his hand. You lower yourself down next to him, shoulder to shoulder with him facing the horizon.

You were fine spending the rest of your life watching the ocean glitter gold under the setting sun with him by your side. Content, even.

.

You could have sworn you only blinked once, but the bright sands you were once staring at suddenly turned into the soft cloudy lavender sky and the jaw of one Levi Ackerman. He carries you against his bare chest, both arms cradling you in a bridal style. Your eyes blink slowly from sleep, the distance between blinks growing longer with every rhythmic step that Levi took. You were about to be lulled back into sleep. As if one more defiant act, you glance up. Those eyes of his, your favorite shade of steely gray, stare down at you just as you shut your eyelids for the last time. You hear him whisper just as you’re drifting away.

“I’ve got you.” 

☾ Previous Chapter: June - Part One ☾ Next Chapter: June - Part Three

[onceuponaoneshotfanfic]

Around the Corner (Part 8)

Oliver puts his plan into action and the Reader makes a surprising- and wonderful- discovery.

Oliver Wood x Ravenclaw!Reader

3.3k words

Part 7

Warnings: lots of fluff, dialogue taken directly from ‘You’ve Got Mail’ because Nora Ephron is the best

A/N: Here it is, the finale! Thank you so much for reading. This might be one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. I’m really sad to be done, but I’m super excited to share this story with you 💕

~

A few more weeks passed of Oliver sending letters back and forth with Y/N. He took care to avoid the topic of meeting during that time and provided only non-committal answers to her questions.

In the meantime, he enjoyed his budding friendship with the girl he now willingly admitted he was absolutely infatuated with. The two found themselves spending a lot of time together; sometimes they talked about the pen pal situation, with Oliver coming up with more and more ridiculous explanations about who the pen pal was, but more often than not they talked about everyday things like quidditch, their classes, what they did at home during the summer. And Oliver relished every opportunity to get to talk to Y/N as himself, no hiding behind letters; just Oliver.

This new normal led to a Saturday morning sitting by the lake, enjoying the bright sunshine and no impending quidditch matches or tests. Oliver had set down his sweatshirt on the grass for Y/N to sit on and laid himself down on his back, propped on his elbows. He glanced up at Y/N, pretending that he wasn’t soaking in every drop of her beauty.

“Alright, what’d he say?”

A smile spread across Y/N’s face as she unfolded her latest letter. “Read for yourself.”

Pretending he had not just written this exact letter, Oliver skimmed the parchment quickly. “This afternoon?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t too obvious in his acting. Y/N nodded enthusiastically as Oliver handed the letter back to her. “On the quidditch field. How romantic.”

“He knows it’s pretty much my favorite place on the grounds,” she explained, folding the note back up and sticking it in her jeans pocket.

Oliver gazed at her, admiring the slight flush in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eye, thinking about how he’d grown to love so much about her these last few weeks; the way the stuck her tongue out slightly when she was deep in thought, her knack for just the right trivia fact or book reference to sprinkle into a conversation, the head tilt she swore she did not do when she was focused on whatever task was at hand. Then there was her confidence, whether on the quidditch pitch, in the classroom, or just goofing around in front of her friends; her bold kindness, not soft or gentle like other people Oliver knew, but an aggressive love she showed to the people she cared about; and of course, her physical beauty, which he’d always begrudgingly admitted to noticing, but now fully basked in. All these things combined into one incredible person that Oliver wished he had known all these years. Merlin, he’d wasted too much time.

As he studied her, Oliver began to wonder. “Can I ask you somethin’?”

“Hmm?” She looked down at Oliver, smiling what he now thought of as a dazzling smile. “What’s up?”

He thought a moment, choosing his words with care. “D’you ever think, if you weren’t you, and I wasn’t me, if things hadn’t been broken for so long…” He trailed off with a shrug, looking up into her eyes, seeing the same pondering expression he knew his held.

She hummed thoughtfully and turned her gaze to the lake. “We would’ve been friends sooner,” she supposed. “Best friends, probably.” With a shrug, she looked back down at Oliver.

Oliver sat up now, nodding. “Best friends,” he echoed. He met her eyes, searching them for a reaction as he continued. “And one day, I would’ve looked at you, and something in my head would just click.” He snapped his fingers. “And I’d ask you out for a butterbeer, or ice cream, or dinner… and I wouldn’t have been able to wait until the end of the date to lean in for that first kiss.”

There it was, the very thing he was hoping for: a deep flush in her cheeks, her eyes widening slightly with each word out of his mouth.

“Oliver…” she sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear; a nervous habit of hers, Oliver had discovered. She let out the smallest chuckle, clearly lost for words.

He continued. “And we would’ve never been at war, we’d never played those stupid pranks on each other, or said a cruel word to one another. The only thing we’d fight about would be whose common room to hang out in on a Friday night.”

A tiny smile formed on those lips Oliver found himself staring at far too often. “Now, who fights about a silly thing like that?” she asked quietly.

Oliver shook his head gently. “Some people. Not us.”

“We would never,” she agreed.

“If only,” he sighed, almost too quiet to hear.

A pause filled the air, along with the electricity between the two of them. Somewhere in the distance they could hear the sounds of people chattering and hanging out, but in this moment, they were in a world of their own. Oliver almost wished he could freeze this moment, where they were on the same page, both wishing they could somehow turn back time and do things differently. Do things right.

She cleared her throat, starting to get up. “I… I should go, er, get ready-”

Oliver took her hand, urging her to sit back down. “Well, let me ask you something.” Y/N resumed her seat, her cheeks still deep red. Oliver took a breath before continuing. “How can you forgive this guy for standing you up, and not forgive me for this tiny little thing… of making your life miserable since we were twelve?” His hand reached up to gently touch her cheek, which was just as soft as he expected it to be, if not a bit warm. He dipped his head, looking up at her through his lashes. “Oh, how I wish you would.”

They stared at each other, Oliver’s hand still on her cheek. He could see the rapid calculations going on behind her eyes, the same way she would look around the quidditch pitch to find an open teammate to pass to. He could almost swear he saw some tears there, too.

She swallowed hard. “I really have to go,” she finally whispered.

Oliver let go. “Yeah. You don’t want to be late.”

When Y/N stood up, Oliver could see her legs shaking slightly. She bent down and picked up Oliver’s hoodie, handing it to him. “I’ll see you later?” It was more question than statement.

“Of course,” Oliver answered with a small smile, taking the balled up sweatshirt. “I want to hear all about your meeting.”

The tension in Y/N’s shoulders relaxed a bit. “Really?”

Oliver nodded. “Absolutely. Believe me, Y/N, I want you to be happy.”

“Thank you, Oliver.” She turned and walked away briskly, her head down, arms crossed. About halfway across the grass, she turned and looked back at Oliver, who offered a tiny wave.

Once she turned back around and continued towards the castle, Oliver checked the watch on his wrist. He jumped up; he had somewhere to be as well.

~

“I have nothing to wear,” I grumbled as I dug through my trunk, poking through various pairs of jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters that were tucked in among my uniforms, undoing the house-elves’ meticulous folding.

“Want to borrow something of mine?” Penelope distractedly offered from her spot on her bed, where she copied notes from a textbook, watching my panic with only vague interest.

I shook my head. “You don’t have anything to wear either.” Closing my eyes, I paused my search and turned to face Penelope. “Crap. I’m sorry, Pen. I didn’t mean-”

She waved me off, unbothered. “You’re fine,” she chuckled. “You’re nervous.”

“Very,” I admitted, turning my attention back to my trunk. “Seriously, what is wrong with me? Why do I have such rubbish taste in clothes?”

“Okay, okay, I’m here to rescue you.” Maggie stood in the doorway, hands behind her back. “Wear. This.” With a flourish, she revealed the same little blue dress I’d worn to the party in the Gryffindor common room.

The tip of my nose grew warm just thinking of that party. “I dunno Maggie…”

She shoved the dress at me. “You look great in it. I remember the look on Wood’s face when you were wearing that thing. And he wasn’t the only guy looking. I promise, you’re gonna knock this boy’s socks off.”

I stared down at the dress in my hands. It was a cute dress. And there was no denying, especially after this morning, that Oliver had clearly liked the way I looked in it; shouldn’t this guy like it too?

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled, suppressing a grin. “I’ll wear the dress.”

About fifteen minutes later, I stared at myself in the mirror, unable to help admiring how I looked. The dress was even more flattering that I remembered, I’d put on a touch of makeup, and Penelope had done something miraculous to my hair. I slipped on a pair of sneakers, which Maggie assured me was just cute and casual enough.

I gave a quick twirl in front of my friends. “What do we think?”

“Approved,” Maggie declared, giving a thumbs up.

“Very cute,” Penelope agreed, a smile on her face.

With a deep breath and a wave to the girls, I walked out the door and began what I knew would be a long walk to the quidditch pitch.

~

Oliver sat on his bed, parchment in hand. Of all the letters he and Y/N had exchanged, this was the one that mattered the most. He’d read it so many times he lost count; but he just had to read it once more.

Dear Oliver-

I’ve got to tell you before I explode: I’m mad about you. Absolutely over the moon.

You’re the best-looking boy in our year, by far. You have the most beautiful eyes, and your smile lights up any room. When you look at me, I feel like I could melt. And when you talk to me, I feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest.

I’ve liked you since our very first day of Hogwarts. I don’t think you remember the first time we saw each other, but I remember it clear as day. You were looking for a seat on the train, and our eyes locked for a brief moment. You didn’t sit with me, but I wish you had.

I don’t know if you like me back, but I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re amazing Oliver. And I know you’re going to be a famous quidditch player in the future. I can’t wait to watch you play in the Quidditch World Cup someday.

I’m not going to tell you who I am- yet. Maybe someday I will. And maybe someday you’ll like me as much as I like you.

-Your Secret Admirer

Oliver smoothed the parchment carefully, letting the words wash over him. She’d liked him so much. It was painfully clear looking back; that little twelve-year-old girl used to talk to him every chance she got, asked him questions she definitely already knew the answer to, and he’d caught her staring at him on more than one occasion. He remembered now how, after he’d cruelly read the letter in front of everyone, she stopped talking to him. When he tried to tease her the way he often did, she’d snapped at him. He then decided she was a stuck-up snob, and thus their war began.

But there it was, in his hands, proof that, at least for a moment in time, she had been desperately in love with him. And Oliver was ready to find out if she could be again.

~

Has the pitch always been this far? I asked myself as I walked. Somehow, in my quidditch robes with my teammates, it had always seemed like a short stroll from Ravenclaw tower or the Great Hall. But now? I felt like I was hiking across the country.

On my way I saw some people out and about, enjoying the day; I ignored the curious glances from some classmates who were clearly thrown off by my not-so-typical outfit choice. In the distance, I could see the familiar stands and hoops, so I focused my attention there instead of the looks on people’s faces.

Despite the excruciatingly long walk, I stood before the entrance to the pitch much sooner than I had anticipated. My palms became wet as my face warmed up. Would he be there this time? Or was I about to be disappointed all over again?

For the millionth time in the last few weeks, my thoughts tiptoed away from my pen pal to Oliver Wood. He was the first boy I’d ever written a love letter to, after all. Part of me wondered if I’d done the right thing by the lake, choosing this meeting over him. I shoved down the queasy feeling in my stomach, willing myself to ignore the question.

Instead, I walked boldly onto the field, eyes scanning the green for any sign of life. I was a bit surprised to find that no one was hanging out in the stands and that none of the teams took advantage of the free day to practice; in the back of my head I supposed that only Oliver and I were that excessive.

It felt strange to walk around an empty pitch, but I couldn’t help but enjoy the quiet moment, the calm before the- no, not storm. Something better. Much better, I hoped.

Please come, I begged internally as I walked in a circle in the middle of the field. Don’t let me down again.

As I turned around, I spotted a figure strolling through the entrance of the pitch. My heart nearly stopped as I paused mid-step. With a deep breath, I steadied myself and tried to make out the figure walking towards me. After a moment, I saw them perfectly.

“Oliver!” I called with a laugh. “Come on, get out of here.”

As he got closer, I recognized the expression on his face. It was the one he wore when he had something serious to do; a quidditch match, a big test, asking Professor McGonagall to get the twins out of Saturday detention so they could play. And now he wore it as he approached me, one hand behind his back.

When he stood in front of me, I opened my mouth to ask what he was doing-

“Your favorite holiday is Christmas,” he began slowly. “George Harrison is your favorite Beatle because you think ‘Here Comes the Sun’ is the most beautiful song of all time. You make your mum send you photos of your dog every week because you miss him so much. You played football from the time you could walk, and you and your dad go see a match together every summer.”

“What are you-?”

Before I could finish my question, he pulled his hand out from behind his back, revealing the library’s copy of Pride and Prejudice. “You’ve read all of Jane Austen’s novels, and you’ve read this one every year since you were twelve,” he continued. “And you laugh out loud at Mr. Collins’ stupid comments at dinner and you think ‘I send no compliments to your mother’ is the greatest insult of all time and you cry every time Mr. Darcy says-” He took a deep breath. “‘If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.’”

My body was frozen as he gazed at me expectantly. This recital of facts were all things I had told my pen pal in my letters.

My pen pal.

With a gasp, my hands flew to my mouth as realization dawned on me. For once in my life, I was standing in front of Oliver Wood, speechless. He gave a deep nod as he saw the understanding in my eyes and reached into the book for a piece of parchment.

“And you wrote me this letter in our second year,” he explained slowly, his eyes searching mine for a reaction as he held up the parchment. “A letter I obviously didn’t deserve. And I was cruel, and I hurt you. And you understandably hated me.” He let out a small chuckle and shook his head. “So, now I’m standing in front of you, half agony, half hope, wondering if we could, at the very least, be friends? Because you’ve become one of the most important people in my life, and I dunno what I’d do if- if you stopped talking to me.” He took a deep breath, now finished with his speech. Waiting for my answer.

Before my thoughts could even begin to settle, I lifted myself onto tiptoe to wrap my arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. My twelve-year-old self was dancing in circles as Oliver’s lips met mine and his hands found my waist, pulling me closer. His lips were soft against mine, the way I always knew they would be. He let out a small hum into the kiss, the vibration from his chest sending a chill down my spine. He pulled back, planted one more peck on my lips, and smiled at me.

“So you’re not mad?” he asked, leaning his forehead against mine.

“A bit annoyed at myself for not realizing it sooner,” I admitted, laughing. “When did you know it was me?”

“That day at the Three Broomsticks,” he explained. “I saw it was you and… well I almost ran away honestly. But Percy scolded me into going inside.” He bit his lip. “But I was still too cowardly to tell you who I was. ‘m sorry about that.”

I shook my head, which was still reeling. “I don’t blame you,” I assured him. “We… we were awful to each other. It’s like you said this morning, if only things hadn’t been so broken…”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Just means we have some lost time to make up for.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “I’m game if you are.”

“Have you ever known me to back down from a challenge, Wood?”

Oliver laughed and let go of me, throwing his arm around my shoulders as he led me off the pitch, the book in his free hand at his side. “Come on then. I think I still owe you a drink at the Three Broomsticks.”

We strolled across the green grass and out of the pitch, both of us smiling, breathy chuckles escaping every time we looked at each other- which was a lot. His arm felt good wrapped around me, as if it belonged there.

“Y’know, I’ve got about a million questions,” I informed Oliver as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“And you know I’ll answer all of ’em,” he assured me, planting a kiss on the top of my head, ignoring the gawking stares of everyone we passed by. I knew it would be a while before those stares died down.

“That was a very pretty speech back there,” I teased.

He chuckled as we made our way towards the familiar path to Hogsmeade. “Thanks. Been practicing it all week.”

“Yeah, I especially liked… oh what was it you said?” I feigned thinking for a moment. “‘Half agony, half hope’?” I asked with a smirk. “You also read Persuasion, eh?”

Oliver laughed and pulled me closer. “What can I say? You’ve turned me into a Jane Austen fan. I’m tackling Northanger Abbey next.”

“I told you she’s the best,” I said with a dreamy sigh.

Oliver stopped, wrapping his arms around me like he had on the quidditch pitch. “Yeah, but I think you’re my favorite writer.” He kissed me again; I wondered if I’d ever get used to the fireworks I felt when our lips met. “Promise you’ll still write me love letters?”

“Promise.”

[1296-very-good-year]

Just for fun, here are some excerpts from the last wow novel that explored Anduin's mental state (Shadow's Rising) immediately PRIOR to his kidnapping, torture, mind control, and however many years wandering around alone with crippling ptsd:

1) They had reached the fences. Anduin grasped one of the crossbeams and squeezed, the old, battered wood creaking. He wanted to break it. He wanted it to snap. A surge of anger made him close his eyes, as if he were afraid of what Alleria might see there.

The hunt would continue, and he, as king, would find a way to keep faith in their odds of victory. That was his duty. A man had to know his limits, but he could not reach that limit, not yet; too many depended on him now.

The fence beam snapped. Just another thing to fix.

Another in a long, long line of things to mend.

2) He strangely wanted to stay in the crypt, to sit there among the dead and know their pain, their stories. It seemed easier than facing another day of frustration and failure.

3) Jaina: “Alleria and Turalyon tortured that smuggler in front of me. She used the Void to infiltrate his mind while he held him prisoner with chains made from the Light. It looked unspeakably painful.” She rounded the table, searching his face. “My king…I worry that their tactics represent you poorly. Every one of us, every soldier, is in service to your crown. We stand under your banner, and if their actions are sanctioned by your rule, what does that say about us?”

Anduin did not speak for a long while, though his smile diminished. He shook his head, turning away from her, pacing back and forth across the lush green carpet beneath their feet. Finally, he crossed to a large brazier in the corner belching healthy flames. Flattening his hand, he passed it back and forth just above the reach of the fire.

“What does it say?” he echoed. He sounded almost offended that she had to ask. “It says we will do whatever we must to bring murderers to justice. It says we will not forget those lost in war. It says we will not forget Teldrassil, or Lordaeron. It says we will not forget the mak’gora. It says that we will not forget the flames blazing over the Veiled Sea, or the fires reflected in the eyes of a thousand mourning children.”

4) His skin looked worn and blue around the eyes, exhausted smudges painted beneath.

Thrall knew that look well, had experienced it himself many times —the sleepless, sallow ravages of leadership. It had been mere months since he had last clapped eyes on the king of Stormwind, yet he seemed to have aged a full year.

5) Anduin found himself before the great carved fireplace in his bedroom on the floor, legs tucked up to chest, catatonic, eyes unable to close, mind unable to clear, the flames just inches before him searing into his vision until tears poured down his cheeks.

6) Anduin after meeting some young alliance soldiers in a bar while in disguise: They lapsed into song, forgetting all about their new “friend.” But Anduin wouldn’t soon forget them. He looked at each of their faces in turn, memorizing them, wondering how long it would take until they too turned up on a freezing slab beneath the Cathedral of Light, innocent lambs before the slaughter.

7) Anduin to Jaina: "Sometimes I need to be a boy again. I think about all the soldiers giving their life to serve the Alliance, and I think: How? How can they be so young? Those three brave souls inside, they think they’re ready to die. Ready to die for me. It isn’t fair. It…it should make everything stop. The whole world should stop and point at that, but it doesn’t. Everything just rolls on, the world forgets, and I have to pretend like their sacrifice isn’t a cruel, heartbreaking joke.”

8) Anduin made a soft sound of disgust and stood, hovering over her, considering her for a long and tense spell. A wisp of purple energy traveled down his arm, gathering in his palm. It happened in a blink, coming and going, dissipating before Mathias could see for certain what the king had done.

It startled Anduin enough to make him stumble backward. Shaw felt Jaina’s eyes upon him, and he glanced her way. If he was rattled before, the fear etched upon Jaina’s brow shook him to the core. Anduin winced, breathing hard, shaking out his hand before leaning back against the wall. Shaw knew better than to be staring when the king’s eyes began to roam their faces for a reaction.

So.. you know... He hasn't been great for a while.

Also, just considering it now, when Anduin winces and shakes out his hand after calling on the void, is that implying that the Light/Divine Bell hurt him for it? Cuz that's what it reads like to me 🤔

And if the Light has left him, does the Bell still bother him? Or is that gone too? Questions questions.

[withclawandvine]

what we pretend to be chapter 3

Summary: Azriel was a veteran spy, well suited to the sneaking and solitude that comes with a life in the shadows. He was good at it. He wasn’t good at undercover missions, so he couldn’t hide his shock when new recruit and undercover specialist Elain Archeron was already seated at the conference table, looking beautiful as ever. And then it was dropped on them like a bomb: Azriel and Elain would be sent to the suburbs, posing as a married couple to gather intel on a suspicious man who, according to reports, was in communication with notorious arms dealer, Koschei Sokolov.

Author’s note: oh boy this has been a long time coming. i could blame it on my new job or a number of other Life Things but the truth is i’ve been suffering from bnha brainrot (which if you’ve spent any time on my blog, should not come as a surprise haha) but i really wanted to get this done so i could start working on stuff for elriel month this year! so please enjoy, and let the pining begin babeyy !!

Tags: SFW, undercover au, fake married

Word count: 2.1k

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42105033

As soon as the deadbolt clicked into place, Azriel let himself sag against the door. “Fuck,” he sighed. “I thought they’d never leave.”

From the moment Brian and Lynn Forth had entered the house, a headache lurked at Azriel’s temples. Now, in merciful quiet and with nothing else to distract him, the pain pounced. Not for the first time, Azriel wondered if you could be annoyed into physical pain.

From her place on the couch, Elain looked at him with amusement dimpling her cheek. “They were only here for twenty minutes.”

Although he doubted Elain would lie about something so trivial, Azriel checked his watch. Sure enough, it was barely 8:00. That single conversation had felt like a small eternity, or like he’d died and gotten stuck in purgatory, atoning for his past sins on an overpriced couch, while his neighbors smiled through every sentence. It might not have felt so punishing had they learned anything significant, but as it was, the Forths were as vapid as they were irritating.

Lynn had prattled on about the widely-adored previous owners of the house and their eventual retirement to the coast. How eagerly everyone had anticipated and speculated about who would move in next, the disappointment when the previous buyers had backed out at the last minute. And finally, the surprised excitement when word got around that a young couple would be moving in. And young you are—about our son’s age, if I had to guess. There was a pause, Lynn clearly waiting for them to confirm or deny her suspicions, but Elain had merely grinned at Azriel while patting his knee, “Aww, she thinks you’re young.”

Azriel didn’t have to fabricate the fondness in the roll of his eyes.

“Thirty’s not that far off for you, you know,” he’d said, mostly sure it was true. He didn’t actually know how old Elain was. For all he knew, she was already thirty, but he knew that this was the time to be vague. It was better to deflect with a jest of his own than assign an exact age to her.  

“And she did mention the wife,” Elain added when Azriel rejoined her on the couch, this time sitting down across from her—the cushion still uncomfortably warm from Brian—instead of next to her. That was Alex’s spot.

Azriel would hardly consider information they already had on record much of a consolation, but Lynn's comment about the woman’s age was interesting. There wasn’t anything about that in the files. “If she really is about your age, it might be easier for you to form a connection.”

“Galkin will surely get in the way, though.”  

The poor girl seems lonely—hardly ever leaves the house, with or without Ivan. Lynn had said, shaking her head with a troubled frown. Elain and Azriel exchanged a glance, unsurprised by this revelation, but unsure how to probe further. Brian, perhaps observing the small exchange and misreading it as discomfort, had cut in with an apologetic grimace, Lynn, dearest, they’ve only been here a few hours. Let’s not drag them into neighborhood gossip just yet.  

Azriel drug his hands over his face tiredly before his fingers finally settled at his temples, pressing into the tender flesh.

“You okay?” Elain asked, taking care to keep her voice low.

“Just a headache,” he said, but it made Elain frown, as if he’d told her something deeply troubling.

And then she gave a bit of a jolt, “We haven’t eaten yet today!”

Lack of nourishment was one of several potential culprits; he still wasn’t going to rule out the neighbors.

Elain reached for the welcome basket Lynn just threw together! for them on their coffee table and pulled at the artfully curled ribbon holding the crisp cellophane wrapping in place. Azriel watched her set aside the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, a scented candle, and a bag of locally roasted coffee before finding the list of her and Brian’s favorite delivery places and skimming it over.

“Indian or Thai?”

At the mere thought of fresh naan, Azriel’s stomach growled, “Indian sounds great.”

The dining table was still overrun with boxes, so they spread dinner out on the sofa table, promising they’d get to it tomorrow. It was unnervingly real—looking Elain’s messy hair and feeling the ache in his back and arms while they sat cross-legged on the couch, inhaling takeout too fast to talk. Here, inside the liminal space of a half-decorated room and low lamplight, Azriel really could just be somebody’s husband, procrastinating on unpacking.

But then he remembered that the boxes weren’t brimming with tchotchkes, and that getting the equipment inside ready, online, then securely stored could take all day. Whatever couldn’t be mistaken for a personal tablet or basic office equipage would have to be hidden away in filing cabinets or the closet. And that was just the beginning of tasks they had to accomplish to make sure the house was as unremarkable as possible.

Elain dunked a piece of roti in her aloo matar, “We need to meet the rest of our neighbors. Figure out who’s involved.”

“Or if they know anything,” Azriel added. “Even if they’re not working with Galkin.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “At the very least, Lynn seems invested in the neighborhood. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew something.”

Luckily she was also endlessly chatty; getting her to divulge something wouldn’t be a challenge. Anything was better than what they had now. In the grand scheme of things, Ivan Galkin’s connection to Sokolov wasn’t a very significant lead, and one they probably only had because of the risk that came with doing business with someone new. They didn’t know the nature of the collaboration or what either man wanted from the other. They didn’t know what Galkin had to offer that made Sokolov decide it was worth the risk.

With the headache ebbing and his hunger sated, Azriel was painfully aware of his exhaustion. The kind that made his eyelids feel sticky with each blink, the normally thoughtless action becoming deeply unpleasant. It would be easy to blame it on the long day of driving and hauling and arranging, but in all honesty, Azriel had spent the previous night restlessly pacing around his apartment. Half preparing and half wrangling with his anxiety about the mission—about having Elain as his partner. Azriel could count on one hand the missions for which he’d had a partner. It wasn’t just his line of work that made him wary of trusting another person. He’d been a solitary creature his whole life. Hadn’t shared a space since his time in Special Ops, before Rhysand had plucked him out of the military ranks a decade ago.

Despite the anxiety urging him to do so, there was no reason for Azriel to push his body any further tonight. Their equipment wasn’t going anywhere, and even if it was set up, they hadn’t even determined an initial target.

He started tossing decorative pillows from the couch to the floor, but stopped when he felt Elain watching him. He turned to face her where she lingered on the stairs, brows wrinkled curiously.

“Don’t want to scratch a cornea on the beaded ones,” he explained. The one in his hands now looked promising—larger than the average throw pillow, covered in a soft suede.

“You’re not sleeping on the couch,” she said plainly. Azriel blinked at her, wondering if maybe she was messing with him like she had in the car, calling him baby and asking if he was into roleplay.

“We have a lot to worry about already,” she continued. Perfectly serious. “We can’t waste any of our energy on making sure the couch never looks like a bed, just in case people drop by and see it.”

Azriel could argue that people fought or fell asleep watching Sports Center all the time. But Elain was the expert and his spine knew he wasn’t twenty-two anymore, so he helped her fix the pillows and followed her upstairs.

The owner’s suite, situated at the end of the hallway, was decorated in the same earthy palette as the living room. Mostly neutral with rich woods, offset with more vibrant rugs and pillows of terracotta and evergreen. This was the room closest to being completely unpacked, except for the mound of boxes in the walk-in. The amount of clothes was concerning, more than Azriel had in his own closet. How long did the brass think this was going to take? There were half a dozen boxes just for him—suits and ties, jeans, athleticwear, a coat for every season, and finally, pajamas. He pulled the matching set out of the box, eying the baby blue and white striped fabric with disdain. After another moment of deliberation, he changed into only the pants.

Azriel finished getting ready for bed long before Elain, giving him time to situate himself on the side of the bed closest to the window, as close to the edge as he could manage without looking insane. He sat against the headboard, ankles crossed, staring at the communications device in his lap. So far, he’d only typed one sentence of his report, making a note about their visitors, and the small insight into the dynamic between Galkin and his wife.

What more was there to say? The neighbors smile too much and we can’t decide if we should get a French press or regular coffee maker tomorrow.

The thought of Amren reading an update like that almost had Azriel smiling to himself. He tried to recall any other details about the Forth’s visit, but the most pervasive memory was that of Elain’s hand on his knee, her thumb idly smoothing over the material of his pants, the touch warm and grounding. Azriel couldn’t quite remember the last time somebody had reached for him so casually and he had actually let them—much less been even marginally comforted by the gesture.

It shouldn’t matter. Not flinching away from her affections had served the mission. There was no use in thinking about why it was different, or what it might be like next time. Azriel had encountered plenty of beautiful women, even sought them out on occasion, at galas and buildings he didn’t belong in. Dousing suspicion with indulgent smiles and pouring honeyed words in their ears so they might fill his with secrets. It was a tactic he only used in moments of desperation, when subtlety was just as paramount as information itself, and there was no way of accessing someone’s computer or filing cabinets undetected. He needed to find that level of clarity now—let his body go through the motions and his mind focus on the mission.

He was sending his report when Elain stepped out of the bathroom.

Like him, she was dressed in pale blue. He wasn’t sure if the matching was intentional, because the color was where the similarities ended. Instead of pinstripes, Elain wore a silky nightgown trimmed with delicate white lace. Her thick hair had been loosely swirled into a bun on the top of her head, drawing even more attention to her exposed shoulders and the graceful lines of her collarbones. If Azriel had been able to draw air into his lungs, he might have laughed out loud.

One of her hands came up to fiddle with a thin strap, but it was as if she’d snapped her fingers in front of his face. The small, anxious movement dragging Azriel back to himself. Fuck, how long had he been looking?

He watched the ceiling fan spin while Elain darted across the room and into bed, only turning his head when he heard the rustle of the covers as she pulled them over her legs. The warmth in her cheeks had spread, splotching her throat and chest, in stark contrast with the cool blue fabric it disappeared into. Azriel’s eyes found the fan again, every muscle in his body as taut as the silence between them. Until Elain finally said, “Do you think we have time to stop at Target tomorrow?”

Azriel wondered if despite the mountain of clothing stacked in the closet, this was all Elain could find for pajamas. Summer still clung to the air, damp and stifling, but it wouldn’t be long before the wind chased away the humidity and started to bite. Surely whoever was responsible for selecting Elain’s wardrobe should have thought of that. Or at least of him, right now.  

“Sure,” he agreed, praying with everything he had that Elain would dismiss the strain in his voice as exhaustion. “Whatever you need.”

[justsomeoneunordinary]

Tagged by the wonderful @iam93percentstardust, thank you, love ♥️

If any of my followers are into MCU SteveTony, I can only recommend checking Alle's fics out. She's a fantastic writer!

Rrules: list the first line(s) of your last 10 (or however many you have) posted fics and see if there’s a pattern!

I had to skip some fics whose first lines were prompts, which don't count as my own first lines.

1. Zombies and Other Everyday Occurrences: Butsuma barely manages a step onto the engawa before he pauses in his movements and stares.

2. Brothers (And Lack Thereof): “Tobirama!”

3. Lover’s Quarrel (And Why Tobirama Deserves a Vacation): Nezuko’s loud cry wakes him up even before Mito needlessly kicks him in the shins with her ice-cold feet.

4. Vivid Dream: “Hinata!”

5. A Viper’s Venom: The tantou pierces Madara’s flesh just moments after Butsuma climaxes with a satisfied grunt inside Madara.

6. Crossing All the Lines: Sakura turns the bottle of sake she’s holding in her hand back and forth, wondering what Tsunade-shishou would think if she knew what Sakura’s contemplating to do.

7. Sometimes, Some Days: For a woman who has traveled through time, come straight from years of war and witnessed blood, death, destruction and slaughter daily, only to get transported into an era long before her time, long before her family and her friends would be born, Ino is adjusting pretty well.

8. Written in the Water, Live However: Every fiber of Rin’s body feels like it’s on fire as she opens her eyes, yet the first thing she notices is the Sanbi’s giddiness inside her, in contrast to the fury he has infested her with over the years.

9. Written in the Water, Die Regardless: Rin’s blood feels like it’s boiling, and all she sees is red, red, red like blood and fire and fury, and every step she takes burns, but she doesn’t stop running and she doesn’t look back.

10. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Tobirama had been staring at the chat bubble for what felt like hours now.

Pattern: Humor fics tend to have very short lines, sometimes dialogue, other times a direct action. The non-humor fics have a bit longer prose, but either way, I tend to go directly into the action of the story and not dwell on descriptions.

Tagging: @names-are-fucking-hard @domoz @madbuns and everyone else who sees this and wishes to do it!

[whatthefishh]

Delta Squared Chapter 1

A/N: So, this story is somewhat based off of Think Like a Man, I thought our favourite boys would fit these tropes quite nicely and wanted to write something fun and kinda silly! I hope can enjoy, even if you have seen the movie because I did make changes :) This will have several chapters, but hoping to keep it easy to follow. This chapter focuses on the boys and Benny. No smut, no warnings really except a few swear words. 2.4k words

It all starts sometime in May, the boys’ weekly outing causing the fates to set you up in front of the TV at just the right time. Well, sort of started then. 

###

(01:23 am) Tom wtffff

(01:23 am) im hiding in the bathroom from that weird girl who smelled like burritos next to us

(01:24 am) can i come out yet

(01:26 am) dunno

(01:26 am) but brb

(01:26 am) santi’s helping me get this girl off my back

(01:26 am) so the one who was basically following me is gone?

(01:28 am) also what youre engaged

(01:28 am) just show her a pic of Mads

(01:30 am) true lol

(01:31 am) im just gonna come back

(01:31 am) if shes standing right outside the bathroom ill scream

(01:32 am) idk what ur talking about but will made a face so maybe he knows who you mean

(01:32 am) then again that might just be him pining

(01:32 am) for that girl

(01:32 am) who broke up with him bc he quit his job

(01:32 am) the one hes been "dating" for 2 weeks

(01:32 am) OH

(01:32 am) santi and fish are trying to tag team this girl

(01:32 am) tag team?

(01:32 am) santi and fish are drunk af

(01:32 am) doesnt mean theyre not gonna do it

(01:35 am) uh yeah it does but whatever im on my way

###

Benny emerges from the haven of the bathroom, immediately making a beeline for the boys’ table. Thankfully, the girl who seemed to be at his elbow at every turn was nowhere to be seen. Even halfway across the bar, Benny could see Santiago chatting up some poor unsuspecting woman and wonders to himself with amusement which line he went with this time, the player that he is. He’s ridiculously successful at this, always has been, even in their time in Delta Force, his ability to charm anybody and everybody driving the boys nuts. Frankie had apparently given up the tag team idea, and let him run his game, choosing to watch from the sidelines. 

Benny checks his phone to see if he got a text from you, sending one out asking how you’re feeling. He feels bad for leaving you at home, sick, but you had insisted he go out with the boys, claiming you’ll join them next time. You two had been dating for years now, bordering on 8, your relationship having been an undefined thing at first due to his back and forth in the military. Once he had come back for good, it was almost too simple how you two had made things official, falling into a routine as easy as breathing. But still… he hadn’t proposed yet. 

You were a relatively successful hairstylist, owned your own salon, got along with the boys, matched his energy for all the dorky movies he was into, and incredibly chill with his energy it was almost too good to be true. You even dressed up with him in a couples costume of Han and Leia that one halloween, binging the movies with him throughout the month to prepare for the role. So, you could be forgiven for mistaking the little velvet box he got you last valentines day for a ring, screaming out “Yes!” until you opened it to see a simple but pretty pair of diamond studs. You didn’t understand why he was waiting, you two lived together, shared a car, planned for your future; the domesticity of your relationship was so deeply ingrained in your bones, everyone already assumed you were married until they noticed the empty space where your ring should be. You didn’t want to pressure him, though. He was your Benny, your best friend, and you loved him so much. Star Wars posters, figurines, and all. 

You flipped through the channels at home, eventually landing on Oprah, recognizing her guest as Steve Harvey, the host from Family Feud. 

“Welcome back, everybody. We are still here with best-selling author Steve Harvey. (Camera switch to Steve) - Well, what I try to get women to understand is that times have changed, but your playbook hasn't. I've gotten thousands of letters from all kinds of women who can't seem to find a man, keep a man or get what they want from their man. Until you understand how a man loves, how a man operates, how he thinks, until you get into the mindset of a man, you will never win with us in the game of love.”

Despite your better judgement, you stayed on the channel to see what new information he could possibly be adding to the world of love advice.

“We have a question in the audience. (camera turns to woman in the audience)- Hi, Steve. I've been living with my boyfriend for five years and he says that he loves me and he's fully committed. I guess what I want to know is, how come he hasn't popped the question?- (camera turns to Steve) He hasn't popped the question because you haven't required him to.” 

You roll your eyes at the pedantic answer, but stay listening to see if you could get anything useful out of this.

###

Benny catches part of Santi’s words to the girl on his way to the table, and the tail end of it has him quickly covering his mouth to hide his laughter.

“I’m sorry, but Jesus has my heart.” The girl had said.

“Yeah, no, no, no, I get that. I love Jesus, too. They actually used to call me Pope back in the military,” Santiago countered, sure that he’d walk away with her number. 

“You boys won’t believe how Santi’s trynna pick up this girl,” Benny says, jerking his thumb over his shoulder as he joins the others at the table. 

“Oh I can already imagine it’s weird, she gave me crazy vibes just by the way she was trying to touch Tom’s beard after 2 seconds,” Frankie laughed. 

Santi returns to the table sooner than any of them would have guessed, and they assume he got shot down - rare, but it does happen. 

“No luck?” Will asks, a little eager to share his misery with someone else at the table. Will’s most recent venture into finding love ended as pathetically as his last; he was too much of a dreamer to keep a steady job after returning home. Apparently, the women he was going on dates with didn’t appreciate his goal of finding something he was passionate about. He just wanted someone to support him, the same way he would give his full support for his partner. 

Santiago looked at each of his friends’ faces and then broke out into a smug smile, “No, I got it. Cmon, you guys really thought I couldn’t? Have some faith.” 

The last comment had Benny cracking up again, and he checked his phone again to see if you’d replied. 

“How’s Daph doin’?” Will asks his little brother, eyes catching him checking his phone periodically. 

“She’s alright, she-” He starts but gets cut off by Fish.

“She's phenomenal, pendejo, we don’t understand why she’s with you,” Frankie laughs, and Santi joins in. 

“Nobody does! How good is your credit score? Do you even know how to check your credit score?” 

They all laugh at that, Benny included. 

“Daphne is amazing, you guys are right. She even loves my nerdy shit. Will doesn’t even like my nerdy shit,” Benny elbows his older brother. 

“You sure about that? Maybe she just loves you. Deep down inside, she’s probably thinking ‘this is some silly ass shit’” Tom counters with his eyebrows raised, challenging him. 

Out of them all, Tom had the least complicated relationship. He just wanted to make Madison happy, simple as that, and Mads felt the same towards him. He was usually the one giving level headed advice around the table whenever the boys would bring up their lady problems, and as much as they wouldn’t want to hear it at first, they usually conceded, knowing he was being reasonable. 

“Nah, I know her, alright? She is just as into all of that as I am.” 

The night goes on in a similar fashion, catching up and teasing, until Tom stands up, stating that he needs to get back to his fiancé, making the others groan in displeasure. 

“When's the wedding again, Tom? You’ll have all the time in the world, laaaaaater,” Santi gripes. 

“You guys still have to take me out for my Bachelor party, how do you not know when the wedding is? It’s next- No, you know what? You can figure it out and plan it when you’re sober, I’m heading out!”

They all chimed in for their goodbyes, knowing they’d see each other in a few days. Benny started to rise from his seat as well, finishing off the last of his beer before announcing his departure. 

“Gotta get back to my girl, she’s not feelin’ too well.” 

“Yeah, I should go, too, gotta pick up my kid from my mom tomorrow.” Frankie adds, also getting up from his place. 

Santiago and Will share a look which doesn’t go unnoticed by Frankie, who immediately gets defensive, “What?”

“Don’t lie to us Fish, you’re gonna go there tonight and she’s gonna give you your onesie and tuck you in the same way she does for your kid!” 

Santiago’s never let go of an opportunity to rip on Frankie’s relationship with his mother. Everybody knew he was a momma’s boy, but now he uses his daughter as an excuse for why he’s over all the time. She cooks all his meals, she does his laundry for him, they even have matching pyjamas which they wear on their movie nights together. He stops by on his way home from work because she’s made his favourite dish, or picked up those socks he likes from Costco. Santiago is only teasing but it’s become glaringly obvious that for all that he complains about being a single dad, Fish doesn’t really make time for another woman in his life. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Pope. Don’t come asking for her pie next time you’re over.”

“Now hey-” Threats were getting serious, Santiago had to back up a bit. 

###

The first bomb had been dropped. 

The next day had you heading to your local bookstore, with your notebook in hand, filled with scribbles of tips from Steve. You had finished the episode of Oprah, surprised to have found some possibly useful ideas to push Benny to the next step in your relationship. Looking for his book, you tell yourself you’re not tricking him, you’re just trying to move forward in your life together. 

Settling in to read for a bit before Benny came home, you found the chapter that focuses on “The Non-committer”, aka your Golden Retriever boyfriend, which described how you need to require him to step up and propose. Your last birthday, the boys came over for dinner; they treated you like one of their own, which was wonderful! Except that it was your birthday, and you were dressed for a romantic dinner for two. You really were one of the boys. Speaking of which, you looked around, noticing how much your shared apartment looked like a college dorm room, one that housed several boys, not the sophisticated adult space you always envisioned. You develop an idea, one that might upset him but that will overall clean up the place and make it look like two working adults live there. There’s a used bong on his favoured side of the couch for fuck’s sake. 

Yeah, that’s it, the first move has already formed in your head, your calculating gaze sweeping across your living room making note of what you’re going to keep and what’s going in storage. The couch will have to wait for another day, you can’t lift it on your own.

Later that evening, Benny comes home while you’re making dinner, chicken wings and fries - not your guilty mind telling you to make his favourite, nope - and his joyful shout at the smell makes your stomach twirl happily. After all these years, his easy smile and comforting presence is still your favourite thing in the world and you want to never stop seeing it. On his way to kiss your cheek in greeting, he catches a glimpse of the drastically different living room space and stops mid-walk, body visibly frozen in shock. 

“Babe! Did we get robbed?! Where’s all of my posters, my figurines?! How did you not notice we got robbed?!!” He’s rushing to inspect the empty spaces.

“Relax, I just tidied up a bit,” you try to keep your voice even and light. “They’re safe, Vader’s safe. I just thought we could paint the living room.”

He exhales in relief, painting he could deal with, painting he could work with. 

“...and redecorate,” you say under your breath. 

���Redecorate?” Benny echoes, confusion taking up his pretty face. “I thought you liked that stuff, why would you wanna redecorate?”

Dropping the last of the wings into the deep fryer you turn to face him fully. “Because, Benny, it looks like we’re still in college. We’re adults, we make decent money, don’t you want this to look like a real home? One where all of our friends haven’t had sex on our couch?”

“What’s wrong with my couch?”

“Baby, it has duct tape holding the back together. We’ve literally had it for ages, and God knows how many times you’ve spilled your bong on it!”

“This couch has history!”

You just level him with a look, before showing him the couch catalogue you were browsing, pointing out the ones you thought he’d like. 

“I’d rather watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with you again than couch shop,” Benny grumbles.

“I know you would because I caught you watching it by yourself a week later. Cmonnnn Benny, it smells so bad.”

“Okay, fine but listen I’m really bad at this. Can you just do it without me? I trust you to pick one. Please?” He leans in to kiss your cheek and heads straight for the deep fryer, gathering the rest of the food to set out for the two of you. 

Surprise colours your face but you’ll take the win. New couch, slightly more adult space, this was shaping up to be a productive evening. The two of you ate dinner, Benny making loud noises of enjoyment from the guilt-wings you made, watching your post-work show together. These are the moments you loved, the simple comfort of each other’s presence, of having your best friend there at the end of every day. 

[catboii]

← Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 → Full Thread

[Excerpt taken from Agent 23's personal diary]

[Day ####]

Today was interesting. 

I’ve been going into the room and talking to the crow, I’ve been calling it Crowvid because it sounds cute. Like crow, corvid and david all rolled into one. Like a people name. I need to call it something other than “the anomaly”, it just sounds… out of place. And it’s almost big enough to be a person. A small person at least, like a three year old. I almost feel like it’s gotten bigger since I first saw it, but maybe it’s just because it was far away from the camera.

Anyway, I was telling Crowvid that I used to play in a chess club in school, and it tilted its head like it was trying to work something out. So I told it all the rules of chess, and it seemed very interested. I mimed out moving the pieces, and it followed my hand around the floor like a little mime-bird. I gave it a little quiz on which pieces move which way, and it did little jumps diagonally or forward! It wasn’t right most of the time, but it did get a couple right, and there was one or two where it looked like it was thinking, and started taking a step, then looked up at me questioningly. Like on the knight, it took 2 steps forward, then looked up at me, and slowly put one of its little feet out to the side, but didn’t put it down until I nodded encouragingly. When I said it was right, it jumped up and down and flapped its wings. It was so cute. 

I even went over some of the pieces again, and it got them wrong the 2nd or 3rd time. I’m not surprised though, it’s a lot to remember. It took me years to get it right!

[Day ####]

After a few days of the back and forth talking about chess, 23 decides to bring something up to her Overseer. She asks if she can bring the wildlife book in the room, as the creature has been making some major progress, and she wants to prove that it can be safe around other objects. After an apparent review to someone higher than her Overseer, she’s allowed. 

So on the day that she brings it, she shows it to ‘Crowvid’ through the first section of glass. The creature perks up, and then hops over looking excited. Once she’s in the room the animal plops itself down where they normally sit, and she sets the book down, then herself, and opens it to the last page they were on. 

“Ermines, or Stoats, are Mustelids native to Eurasia and North America. They are very brave and sometimes take on prey up to five times their own size!” 

The crow is now settled beside 23’s leg, pressed against it so she can feel it breathing. Or not… It doesn’t seem to be breathing. As she talks, she studies it, watches if its feathers are moving with the motion of breathing or not. After what must be a few minutes, she can’t see anything. Strange. She should write this in her observational notes, but she’s not sure if she wants to.

[Day ####]

On this day, 23’s Overseer had approved a request for her to take a chess set from the Archive into the chamber. 23 was honestly surprised that they had one after she had been searching through the log for over half an hour with no luck, and nothing similar in sight aside from ‘One Complete Connect 4 Set’, but she had still been hopeful. She thought possibly there could be a small plastic set that she could borrow, she didn’t have a set of her own at home, and even if she did, she wouldn’t be allowed to bring personal items into the chambers. If they even had just a little travel set, or one of those ‘5 games in 1’... 

Eventually though, she came across the listing she was hoping for. ‘One Complete Chess Set x1 Board and x34 Chess Pieces’, she wondered at first why there were 34 pieces, when you only need 32, but it was probably the chess nerd in her that was hung up on such a tiny detail. She’d found a set! 

Although, it wasn’t as easy as just grabbing it, stamping something and going on her way. First, she had to sign a lot of forms, one for every single article, each piece has its own complete form, and has a faded letter-number code scrawled on the bottom: White Pawn A-1, White Pawn A-2, etc. Upon the process of signing it out, she found out that there were actually an extra pair of Queens. There's no rule book in the set, so she decided to look up why once she got home, since she had no devices on her to look it up right now.

Once everything's finally checked out, she takes it all down to Crowvid’s chamber, and once inside, sets it up on the floor. The Anomaly even tries to help her set it up. Its awkward and keeps dropping the pieces on their sides as its too big to hover, just tries to take off from the ground and nudge the piece it has along the floor, before it flops down on the floor again, bringing it with them. But it does get them closer to her, and its just nice to interact with it. It becomes a little activity. 23 even tries to see if Crowvid can figure out where each piece goes, and it does get all the pawns in the right places, and the knights and bishops are in the right places after just a little prompt. 

The set is quite big, larger than any board she's played on before, and the pieces are quite heavy, so it can walk over the middle of the board without knocking too much over. She asks it to move one of its pieces first, and it uses a clawed foot to pull a White pawn forward, without even being told which colour to choose. Although the fact that the black pieces are in front of Agent 23 could give that away, if it’s clever enough to take that hint. They make a few moves each, nudging the pawns around, then it hesitates at a non-pawn piece. She reminds it what moves it can make, but forgets to make any hand motions, but it tries to move the piece. It turns out that the piece is too closed in by pawns and it’ll knock them over, so after trying to reach through with a clawed foot, 23 moves the piece for it, and hovers the piece over the possible moves it can make, moving over one space, then the other. The Anomaly nods its head lightly when it’s hovering over a space, and 23 is surprised at the motion, but puts the piece down.

They keep doing this, the Anomaly moving the piece if it can reach, 23 moving for it otherwise. The Agent wins of course, she didn’t want to pull any punches, she just wanted to show it what moves you can make and how to win. The Anomaly seems excited. It jumps up onto her shoulder and she jumps, making a small gasping noise at the sudden contact. The creature jumps too and flies over to the far wall.

A faint alarm goes off with a rotating red light flashing above them. Another Agent enters the first interlock and 23 realises, no; remembers is more accurate, that they’ve been watching the whole time. The new Agent stays in the first interlock but asks Agent 23 if she’s alright. 23 asks them to turn off the alarm and leave… The Agent hesitates for a moment, but looks at the Anomaly, which steps further back, ducking its head with its feathers fluffed up, and they leave. The Alarm turns off. 

23 sits in silence for a while, then puts her hand out to the Anomaly. It doesn’t move. 

Eventually it’s time to end the observation.

[ladyswillmart]

8 Doug Rattmann or 3 Arlen Askew pls. OR a character you haven't wrote at all for 8

I know the object of this was to do microfiction but GUESS WHAT? You get a whole-ass short story! Congratulations! 🎉🌈

I picked 8 - Sunbathing 🌞, ft. Portal's Doug Rattmann et al.

Share and Enjoy!

---🌟---

Not to bring more math into this, but most folks can agree that 50,000 is a nice, round number, one that reasonably applies to a plenty of arbitrary amounts, discrete or continuous. But the further the three-man Aperture Science Surface Expedition Crew sallied forth towards their intended destination, the more they began to wonder just how applicable that particular number was to the particulars of Time. Specifically, a particular time, a particular date, a particular year with too many digits to display properly on most digital watches.

People just didn’t plan that far ahead. Even Aperture Science, peppering the terms and conditions for every new GLaDOS build with very authoritative reassurances of her longevity, phrases like in perpetuity and ad infinitum and ‘til the cows come home, failed to foresee any situation at all whatsoever where the cows actually would come home, and GLaDOS would need to be able to print out a year with more than four digits.

Much less a century with three. Life In General was feeling very much like a high school basketball scoreboard right now.

“So yeah, this is it. Michigan of the 522nd century. I guess,” said Doug, rustling up as much enthusiasm as he could on half a jam sandwich and a cup of Apercaff*. He dozily bunted the dull rubber-capped toe of his sneaker against the broad side of yet another empty pop can, sending it clattering down the sun-bleached remains of W. Umbrage Avenue.

The trio had just hiked across the prairie in front of the Umbrage Dollar Chimp discount store. It used to be a parking lot, lined curb to curb with cars, scooters both legal and unlicensed, pick-em-up trucks and refugee shopping carts from foreign supermarkets. Now it was a scabrous plain of depreciated asphalt, streaked with lush braids of ragweed and dandelions gone to seed, Mother Nature’s repo men. But it wouldn't feel like a proper nature hike until Chell eagle-eyed a row of vending machines by the store entrance, still stuffed with gum, trinkets, rubber bouncy balls, neon slime, nickels, dimes, quarters…

No matter how far they’d stray into the future, it was nice to know that the price of a Homie remained unaffected by inflation.

Back at present—whenever that was—ATLAS squibbled inquisitively as he trailed the bouncing pop can, the way he had for the last dozen or so pop cans that met a similar fate at the end of Doug’s habit-possessed foot.

“Right. Hate to say it. But I think one of us has to say it and I’m already running my mouth so it may as well be me,” he continued, resignedly. “This place looks a lot like the Michigan of the 20th century. Doesn’t it?”

Chell shuffled along somewhere around his 6 or 7 o’ clock, paced and pensive. Doug was usually content in his silence, but when he was on a ramble he did it like an old pro. She chafed her hands, then stuffed them back into the pockets of her woolen wrap skirt—whether or not the world outside was ready for the maxi-skirt to make a comeback, it was happening today. And today been a pleasant enough day for it—for sunbathing, though such pretty blue skies could be misleading. The crisp breeze blowing through them unabated made her incrementally more grateful for the radiant heat of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device strapped to her back.

Of course, she said nothing.

Doug gently chattered on.

“Then again, I don’t know what I was expecting, really. Eh? Ha ha. Fewer beer cans, more dinosaurs?”

Only the distant complaint of a migrating loon broke the ensuing silence.

“Giant chickens?” Doug tried again, mumbling to himself. “They’re basically dinosaurs, and y’know at least one of ours had to’ve gotten out…”

Chell shrugged it off and resumed her silent inventory of the information at hand: Umbrage, MI was a loosely incorporated community established approximately six miles due north of the Aperture Science main facility, commemorated by a tiny red dot on the old gas station map of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that ATLAS kept in his cranial storage compartment.

To Chell, who grew up elsewhere, it was just another Dad Ramble: Whenever they passed through the place (always en route to anywhere elsewhere) he would commence a Dad Ramble about the mid-1970’s, and how the big heads at Aperture founded this small town as one of many solutions to a serious problem with employee punctuality. With necessity as a mother figure, Aperture’s experimental urban planning department invented Umbrage to give their fellow employees and test subjects a place to live, a quick commute and a Dollar Chimp for all their off-brand scented toilet paper needs. Therefore, it was reasonable to assume that the downfall of the Aperture facility would ultimately eliminate the need for such a place.

But something wasn’t right.

Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right and Chell became more and more dissatisfied with each attempt to emphasize the correct word in that sentence. Hoping it would quell her frustration, she focused her observations to the things that were right, or at least not wrong.

Spectacular weather. Cool, if slightly warmer than anticipated. Unbroken blue skies as far as anyone could see. Fresh air, so new to everyone’s lungs that it felt like a lovely heartburn. Normal readings on the Geiger counter.

Birds. Insects. Rubbish.

No people. No vehicles. No misplaced shopping carts. Wrong, getting wronger.

No bodies. Back to not wrong. For now.

From the onset of this sojourn she occasionally spied the same squint of scrutiny in Doug’s left eye. Until now he would keep his own questions to himself:

“So what year d’you think it is, eh?” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his snorkel parka and looked skyward, sighing.

ATLAS parsed the question, but only whmm’d in response as his central optic dilated. They didn’t ask questions like that on Jeopardy!.

“GLaDOS says it’s been fifty thousand years, but I think even fifty is a stretch.”

Chell cleared her throat, mounting a partial retreat into the comfort of her knit scarf before speaking. “I agree with that hypothesis. Guess. Whatever.”

“Eh—?!” Doug snapped a glance backwards, startled to the point of stumbling. To date, the only words she’d ever spoken to him stayed mostly along the lines of Yeah, Nope, Screw it and Dibs on your jam sandwich. And most of these happened this morning.

“Y-you do?”

“Sort of. I mean I think you’re right,” she pressed, carefully. “But if you are right, something’s wrong. I dunno.”

“No no, that’s the bunny.” Doug nodded, uneasily. “Say GLaDOS is right and we spent fifty thousand years in stasis like she said. Sure, all the people would be gone by now. But then everything else would be gone too. None of this would be here at all, eh?”

Waterfalls could erode sheer mountainsides into lakes if given fifty thousand years to do it. Jungles could morph into deserts and vice versa. Rising oceans could carve new coastlines, effect mass extinctions, birth new civilizations and drastically reduce the cost of certain beachfront properties. In fifty thousand years, days would be longer by one SI second and mankind would’ve likely done a runner, especially if faced with the prospect of spending a lifetime of one extra seconds in Umbrage, MI.

All of that, and the Aperture Science Surface Expedition Crew was still expected to believe that the price of a Homie wouldn’t have fluctuated at least a little bit.

“Yeah, right on. But this place makes it look like it’s only been a couple decades at the most,” Chell went on. “Like, it’s totally abandoned but there’s no graffiti, no busted-out windows or anything like that. It’s like everyone just left all of a sudden. Maybe they were beamed into outer space, who knows.”

Somewhere off to an unseen side, ATLAS tottered about the curb obliviously, kneeling to harvest another pop can out of another filthy storm drain.

“Well, the aliens must’ve taken all the vehicles with 'em because I haven’t seen so much as a busted shopping cart in a ditch since we started,” rounded Doug. “I mean, look at the roads.”

“They look like your vegetable garden.”

“You could grow zucchini in these cracks.”

Chell stared at him. “Please don’t.”

“Whmm,” said Atlas, approaching the duo from behind. The mechanoid had been stuck in this activity loop since their departure, scuttling about the scrub, picking up and storing any bits of rubbish that happened to pique his interest. For a mechanoid who had never seen the greater world beyond the agency of management rails and reassembly machines, there was an awful lot to take in.

Doug turned and observed him for a moment; the way the lid to Atlas's rear storage trunk bulged like that of an overfull kitchen trash can did not escape his keen eye.

Oh well—no need to pry any further. He knew this problem would resolve itself eventually. Doug let it go with a light sigh. “Eh? What's that you got there?”

Atlas held his treasure up to the glory of the midday sun. It was another aluminum soda can, the same color as the sky, with its brand name emblazoned across its breadth in conspicuous white block letters:

“Dr. Breen's Private Reserve,” Doug read, quizzically, quickly correcting himself, “No! Dr>Breen's Private Reserve. Huh.”

Chell glared at him. How did he make that sound with his mouth?

“Whmm…?” Atlas probably asked the same question.

“Dr. Breen. Dr. Breen…” Doug repeated the name to himself, quietly, hoping to hit upon some vein of forgotten data.

“Like, Dr. Wallace Breen. Right?” tried Chell.

“Oh yeah. You think so? Sounds familiar.”

“Yeah, I know that name,” she said. “Why do I know that name?”

The two lapsed into synchronized silence, impenetrable but profound, and cold like the light of a long-dead sun, billions of miles away, at last piercing the crust of the sky, only to be hidden by fathomless daylight.

---

*Apercaff, “Aperture Science's most digestible instant coffee substitute”. In fact, the ad campaign featured contemporary superstar-of-a-sort Pia Zadora dressed in the livery of an Apercaff can, shimmying around the Aperture premises' many employee break rooms, crooning I'll be your substitute, whenever you need me... While excising a nice chunk—tens of hundreds of dollars—from the company's seemingly bottomless advertising budget, this advertisement remained an Aperture Laboratories Closed Circuit Access Television exclusive. Miss Zadora herself continues to deny any involvement with the company.