#and uh I eventually left that room and faced my consequences but point is nothing nice happpened

[cupcakeshakesnake]

You hid in the darkness and found comfort in the monsters there

[xwing-baby]

New Opportunity (Javier Peña x f!Reader)

Summary: You and Javier fight over a new job opportunity as it threatens to take you away from him.

Warning: Angst, swearing, hints at smut (nothing descriptive), happy sad vibes, fem!reader (no y/n but use of pet names)

Word count: 2.6k

A/n: I will never give Javi a break, I refuse. Sorry baby but you’re too fun to hurt...

--

“Hey pretty girl,” Javi smirked as you walked into the office, “Is it my birthday?” He looked you up and down greedily.

“Didn’t know office wear was your thing,” You laughed ad shook your head at him, putting a lunch bag down on his desk before wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Never see you in dresses. I like it,” He pulled you in for a kiss, his hands immediately going up your skirt, “and I know what’s underneath,” He added, flicking the band of your stockings. You yelped as the elastic stung your thigh.

“Hey! Hands to yourself, pervert,” you slapped his hand out from under your skirt. Javi chuckled and kissed you again softly, his hands around your waist instead. You sighed into him, allowing the moment to roll on until you broke for air. “I have a job interview today actually,”

“That promotion you were on about?” He asked.

“Uh no, actually,” You took a deep breath knowing his reaction wouldn’t be the best, “A CIA position,” You bit your lip and watched him carefully. He frowned, creasing his eyebrow, searching your face for signs you were serious. You were.

“CIA?” He repeated, raising a brow, “You don’t mind moving back to Bogotá?”

“It- um the jobs not in Colombia,” You said, slowly removing your hands from around him, nervously wringing them together.

“Where is it?” He bristled, taking his hands off you.

“I can’t say,” You said quietly, “it’s classified,” Javi shook his head disapprovingly, and leant back on his desk, crossing his arms.

“Well, it’s only an interview, maybe you won’t get it,” he shrugged going straight into denial. You cringed again.

“It’s the final round,” you admitted. Javier looked away, your heart sunk, “Javi- “He moved away from your quickly, shutting you out faster than you could blink.

“I’m busy, you need to leave,” He said sternly, moving back behind his desk. You tried to protest again but he ignored you. You sighed, this was the reaction you had feared, the entire reason you had not told him yet.

“Sure,” You gulped down your anxiety, trying to remain unaffected. You had only come in to have lunch with him as being around him calmed you down, “I- uh I’ll take my lunch out then,”

“That would be a good idea,” Javier said sharply. You nodded, eyes filling with tears. You pulled out the lunch you had brought, placing his on the table which he gave no reaction too. You rolled your eyes and walked out, slamming the door for good measure.

“Hey sweetheart,” Steve smiled as you walked by. You did not stop to talk, blinking back tears as you left the building. He frowned but didn’t press you, “Do I want to ask what that was about?” He asked jovially as he entered the office. Javier scowled, ignoring him as he tucked his gun into his jeans, and didn't answer. “Guess not,”

The argument, or lack thereof, threw you off your game. You were nervous going into the interview and even worse answering their questions. You could only think of the look of betrayal on Javier’s face, the bitter tone of his voice and how quickly he’d shut you out. You bombed it.

Javier would usually be the one person you would go to in times like this, but he was out of the question. You didn’t want to talk to him either, if he didn’t understand why, you wanted this job so badly, he obviously didn’t understand you as well as you thought he did. You weren’t going to not go for a job you really wanted because he hated the CIA, it wasn’t his job, it wasn’t his life!

You went to a bar and tried to drink away your sorrows but everything tasted bad and just made you nauseous. Your friends, fed up with your moping, left you alone at the bar. You had had enough and decided to walk home, except you turned in the opposite direction and gave in to your sadness and took yourself to the one man that you really wanted.

You stood in the hallway of his apartment block for a few minutes, deciding whether to knock. You had known Javier for a long time before you ever got together and knew that when you got in a fight, he had turned in on himself and ended up at a brothel or drunk himself into a gutter. That was before you’d gotten together, now you had no idea what he would have done. You prayed he hadn’t given up on you entirely and gone to see some of his old ‘friends’. You could hear the television inside his apartment. He was home at least.

You knocked on the door and waited. The television turned off and a few moments later it opened. Just a crack, enough for him to stick his head out but nothing more. He wasn’t happy to see you.

“Hi,” You said sheepishly.

“Hi,” He said, straight toned. He wasn't angry or upset but he wasn’t happy either.

“Can I come in?” You asked.

“I don’t know,” He continued to stare at you, coldness in his eyes you only ever saw him use with criminals.

“I want to talk to you, please,” you added.

“What’s there to talk about? You already made the decision,” He snarled, shutting the door. You stuck your foot in the gap and barged in, your patience wearing thin.

He paced around the living room, seething in anger. You followed him, standing above him on the step.

“For fucks sake Javi! What is the matter with you?” You exclaimed.

“What’s the matter with me? What do you think the matter is? You betrayed me!” He yelled.

“Betrayed you?” You scoffed, “It’s just a job Javi, not some personal attack,”

“It’s not just a job though is it? It’s the fucking CIA and you’re leaving and you never told me. I didn’t even know you were looking for a new job!””

“I was going to tell you when there was something definite,”

“So, you were just going to take it without discussing it with me?”

“I- I Uh,” You stuttered. He had you there. You had rationalised your decision to keep the interviews a secret as a way to protect your relationship but you didn’t think about the consequences, that if you got it you would be springing a finalised move like that on him with no warning. You had got so excited about the prospect that you’d forgotten about him. Javier realised this too and scoffed, disgusted.

“You were the one who insisted we become a couple,” He pointed at you. You shook your head bitterly glaring at him.

“You came to me!” You exclaimed, “You were the one who crossed that line first,”

“Six months together, years of friendship and you were just going to fuck off somewhere classified at the earliest convenience without thinking to consult me?” He asked, a dry laugh biting at the lunacy of your situation.

“Because you would never do the same, huh?” You snapped, “You told Lorraine you wanted to come down here and waited for her opinion, right?”

“That was different,” He snarled.

“How? Because this time it doesn’t benefit you?”

“Get out,” He said coldly.

“This is a great opportunity, Javi,” You changed your tone trying to reason with him, “You know this was never what I wanted, I did what I had to but I-,”

“So, you never wanted me either? You were just doing what you had to?”

“That was not what I meant!” 

“But you’re not denying it!”

“You’re being irrational,”

“Me? Irrational?” He shouted, “You’d rather join those twisted assholes, than stay here?”

“Your personal opinion of-,”

“It’s not opinion! They parade the death and destruction down here like it’s a fucking job well done. They deal with the same people we fight because its advantageous at the time. They are disgusting hungry fascists!”

“Like the DEA is any better,” you rolled your eyes at him.

“No, you’re right, they’re fucking not. All of its a joke, but you know what? There are some good people here trying to make things work without bulldozing entire communities for it,”

“Don’t pretend like you’re a good person. Neither of us are,” you spat, “What difference does it make what three fucking letters I wear? Either way I am still the same person doing the same shit protecting innocent people from people like Escobar or fucking Cali or whoever else wants to try and take over,” You yelled at him. Javier curled his lip and turned away, no long willing to even marry your argument with a retort, “What? Did you really think I was going to stay here forever? Even if I stayed with the DEA, they would move me on eventually!”

“I know!” He shouted, his anger falling in on itself as he knew you were right. “I know,” He repeated much quieter. He was being ridiculous. He pulled his hands over his face and huffed before bringing them back to his hips, defensive but not attacking you anymore.

“I care about you, I do,” You said softer now, “And I apologise for not saying something sooner I just didn’t want to get my own hopes up, talking to you would have made it real. I didn’t want to think about what that meant for us and I should have thought about it,” You sighed, “This is a big deal for me Javi I just wanted your support. But I blew it anyway so I guess you don’t need to worry,” You sat down on the couch heavily, looking up at the ceiling.

Your admission broke his anger and he loosened up immediately.

“What?” He asked, there was no anger in his voice anymore. He spoke softly, concerned and confused, “How?”

“I was flustered going in there. You shutting down like that earlier really freaked me out,” you admitted, still not looking at him.

Javier frowned. He didn’t want you to go but he didn’t want you to fail at it, especially if he was the reason. He dropped his scowl and stepped closer to you again, a softer sympathetic look on his face.

“S ’fine. Argument over right,” you waved a hand at him in defeat, “I am stuck here until the end of my contract. But at least I’ve got you,” you forced a small smile to your lips, trying to convince yourself that missing out on the opportunity was actually okay. He sighed and sat down next to you.

“They’d only be proving me right by not hiring you. Idiots. The lot of them,” He pulled you into a hug, kissing your hair, “And I’m sorry for being a jerk,”

“I forgive you,” you whispered. You stayed in his arms for a while, the two of you calming down together. As the anger slipped away, Javi relaxed into the couch. You curled your legs up, leaning into his chest. You shut your eyes, listening to his slowing heartbeat and grounding yourself in the rhythm.

“I’ll talk to Stretchner,” Javier finally spoke, breaking the silence.

“What?” You sat up and frowned at him.

“I’ll talk to Stretchner. I’ll get you a do over,” he said again.

“Javi, I don’t want any handouts from you. If I failed, I failed,” you protested.

“It’s not a handout. I’m not getting the job for you but I’ll make it fair. I fucked up the interview for you I should fix it,” He said, brushing his fingers through your hair, “If this is what you really want, and if it's what will make you happy, then that's all I want for you,”

“But I’ll have to move,” your bottom lip wobbled, eyes filling back up with tears again.

“I know,” he said softly, running his hand down your jaw to cup your cheek.

“And we won’t be able to be together,”

“I know,” His voice barely audible as he too tried not to cry.

“Javi,” You whimpered. He stopped your protests with a kiss. Desperate and sad he clung to you, hand tight on your arm holding you in place so you couldn’t move, so you couldn’t leave him.

“All I want is for you to be happy,” He whispered, resting his forehead on yours. His eyes were closed so you couldn’t see the tears in the corners of his eyes, “You’re wasted here, but you can do good with those assholes. Maybe make them less awful,”

“I am only one person,” you chuckled quietly.

“But the best one I know,” He smiled, “the only one that I want in my bed and at my side in a gunfight,” You sighed, closing the gap between you again and kissing him softly, “There's no one like you,” He said seriously, “If anyone is going to make a difference it’s going to be you. I mean it,” 

You didn’t know what to say, tears falling freely down your cheeks. Javier brushed them away with his thumb. 

“Come here,” He grumbled, pulling you into his lap, “Let me make it up to you,”

His apology felt horribly like a goodbye. Every kiss he gave you felt like he was trying to make it memorable, make sure your last was as good as the first. You fell into him, giving every single inch of you to him hoping if you gave enough, he would have a piece of you permanently. He took it all, drawing your souls together in what could only be described as an act of love.

Love. That one word would be left unspoken for the rest of time but you didn’t need to say it, you both knew it and there was no use uttering it now. This was the epilogue to your relationship, there was no use starting that new chapter. That would have to be left for a new book entirely. Someone else's book.

Your heart shattered into a million pieces, but you didn’t let him see it. You didn’t cry until you got into the shower the next morning, purposefully locking the door so he couldn’t get in to join you. You cried, covering your mouth as you sobbed so he couldn’t hear you. But he knew. He felt it too, the way you clung to him was different, the way you’d looked at him. It nearly broke him but he didn’t want to upset you anymore. He sat in bed hand on the sheet where you’d lay trying desperately to commit the feeling of your warmth to memory. Then, he did his one last good deed to you and called Stretchner to set up a redo meeting. He would do anything for you, even if it meant having that weasel have a hand up on him.

He left before you got out of the shower, leaving a cup of coffee and a meeting time on a post with a promise of dinner to congratulate you on the kitchen counter.

You tried to get on with your day as normal. You did all your usual tasks, even ones you’d been putting off for weeks, as you tried to distract yourself from the meeting with Stretchner. It wasn’t until the end of the day, you had to keep yourself busy or you’d cry again.

You let out a sigh of relief as you exited the room. You’d done it. You didn’t even need the do-over. They wanted you. The confirmation should have scared you, you thought you’d be more upset but you were happy. Things were about to change dramatically but it was for the better, you hoped.

The building was empty now, Friday’s everyone left early anyway but even the usual hard workers had left. You grabbed your jacket and gun from your desk, ready to head out and work out how you were going to tell Javier the good news.

“L/n,” Javier called as you walked down the hallway. You stopped walking and turned back to him. He had his jacket in hand, standing in the doorway of his office. He'd waited for you. “So?”

“Turns out I didn’t need your do over,” you said, a proud smile pulled at your lips as you couldn’t wait to tell him.

“Seriously?” Javier could help but copy your smile. You nodded earnestly moving towards him.

“Offered me the job right then and there,” You grinned.

“I’m so proud of you,” He smiled but he didn’t move to kiss you like you expected. He stopped still, moving away from you if anything.

“What?” You searched his face for any sign of an issue.

“Well, if you’re taking the job that means-,” He said sadly, looking at his hands.

“I have to stay here for at least a month,” you were quick to interrupt him, “Get things wrapped up and liaise with the new kid taking my job,” Javi rolled his eyes at that, making you laugh. He was going to hate your replacement. “Got a lot of paperwork and a lot of meetings to go through,”

“A month?” He asked, turning his gaze back up to you.

“A whole month,” You smiled softly.

“A whole lifetime to fit into a month,” he mused. That should have broken your heart but the sly smirk picking at his lips changed your heart. You smiled, looking left and right. The corridor was quiet. Nobody was around. Everyone had gone home.

“Want to start on the desk?” You smirked, pushing him back through the office door.

“You read my mind, baby,” He grinned.

-- 

tagging: @hunters-heathen​ @peterssweetpea​ @beskarbabs​ @wille-zarr​ @all-hallows-evie​​

[jungblue]

aphrodite in war | 02

pairing: jeon jungkook x reader

genre: comedy, fluff, angst, eventual smut / greek life, fake dating, roommates, lovers to enemies and back to lovers au

word count: 14,243

description: Everyone knew about the war that had been brewing on the edge of campus for the past two years. Sorority versus Fraternity; a showdown for the ages. However, when the escalating antics between them yields the consequence of possible suspensions for both chapters, the presidents of each house must come together to try and figure out how to end this battle... Which is kind of hard, considering they were the ones responsible for it in the first place.

note: here is an audio post of a beautiful song with lyrics inspired by AiW, which was written by one of my lovely readers!

→ part 01

Red, hot anger had curled its way around your bones, forcibly moving your limbs until you somehow found yourself standing in front of the Lambda house with a single pair of heart-covered boxers in hand; murderous intent leaving Jungkook’s voice indiscernible in the distance as you’d left him standing in front of the defiled Tri Delt house. Maybe he was telling you to wait for him while he began to pull down the rest of the countless pairs of boxers that were plastered along the outside of the sorority. Or maybe he was telling you to not go inside because it would only make it worse to have the furious president of Tri Delt waking up dozens of Lambdas at seven in the morning. You genuinely couldn’t tell what he was shouting as you ripped the front door of the fraternity open and stomped inside. 

It had been over two years since you had stepped foot inside of your neighbor’s house, but it was exactly as you remembered. Red solo cups and crushed cans of beer scattered around the floor as a telling sign that it was indeed the morning after a night of partying, two Lambdas passed out on the couch because apparently the staircase that led to their rooms had been an impenetrable obstacle in their drunken states, and the scent of weed encasing the entire house that seemingly never went away. It was all the same, and you hoped as you went down the hallway to the left, that held a portion of the bedrooms in this house, that a particular person’s room was also the same as it had been before. You banged your fist against the door, scowling as you waited for the person on the other side to answer. 

“What the fuck?” You heard someone say. The voice was scratchy from just being woken up but still recognizable as the person you were looking for; Jimin. 

You banged on the door again, your patience level laying at zero. 

You heard the bed creak and then footsteps began padding across the floor. “Uh, is this the cops?” He asked, probably to know whether he should hide a few things before opening the door. 

You rolled your eyes. “No, I’m not here to confiscate your coke. Now. Open. The. Door.” You spat each word out through gritted teeth. 

“Y/N?” Jimin asked before ripping his door open, revealing a mop of messy bed head framing his bewildered expression. He stood there shirtless, adorning only a white pair of tight Calvin Klein boxers that were doing absolutely nothing to hide his morning wood. 

“Oh, god.” You threw your hand up to try and block out its unavoidable presence. 

Jimin glanced down at himself before raising his head, smirking as he leaned against his doorframe, not even attempting to hide the piece of him that you were trying to avoid looking at. “You’re not exactly decent yourself there, Nips.” He pointed toward your chest. 

Your eyes widened. In your rage you had completely forgotten about the attire you had decided was appropriate to storm the Lambda house in. You immediately crossed your arms over your chest to hide the fact that you were wearing the flimsiest tanktop of all time in combination with no bra. 

“Plus, I’m in my own house,” He started again. “What’s your excuse?”

“Trust me. I would’ve loved nothing more than to never had to of stepped foot in this place ever again. But,” You paused, holding up the pair of heart covered boxers you had ripped off the Tri Delt house because you thought they were the most recognizable among the sea of plain solid blacks, whites, and maroons. “I have a motherfucking bone to pick with someone in this house.”

Jimin studied the piece of fabric that you held up before him before his mouth dropped open. “Fuck, did you sleep with Taehyung? I’m gonna knock his ass out if Jungkook doesn’t get to him first.”

Your face wrinkled in disgust. “Ew, no. There are about a million pairs of boxers all over the Tri Delt house and I’m trying to find out who did it, so thank you for letting me know. Now where is Tae’s room?” 

“Oh, thank god.” Jimin’s expression softened, as if he was relieved that his friend didn’t sleep with you; who they thought of as the devil incarnate. “But no, I’m not telling you. I had nothing to do with that. I went home early last night. But Jungkook can deal with it, just like you can deal with what your girls did.”

“What’re you talking about?” You asked, eyes narrowing. 

“Oh, you don’t know?” Jimin smiled. “Some of the guys texted me before I fell asleep last night saying that when they left Pub they found their cars with words written all over their windows in lipstick.”

Your eyes screwed shut, tongue jabbing at the side of your cheek as you tried to calm the colossal wave of anger that flooded through you for a second time in the fifteen minutes you had been awake. 

What a fantastic day this was turning out to be. 

“Are you serious?” You finally asked, voice a little bit louder than you’d intended.

“Yeah, so you might wanna check your own people before you come into someone else’s house and accuse them of things.” He shrugged. “Might save you some embarrassment next time.”

Heat rushed to your face. You were pissed, but that was only because you agreed with him. “Look—” You started, not really sure what was going to come out of your mouth, but it was the squeak of sneakers running along the wooden floor boards that stopped you. 

Jungkook was suddenly rounding the corner, a mountain of boxers filling his arm. “Y/N, what the hell?” He hissed before dropping them to the ground. 

“What? I was just trying to get to the bottom of this.” You held the heart boxers up one last time before tossing them into the pile next to Jungkook’s feet.

“Yeah, and how’d that go for you?” He pointed towards Jimin. 

“Well, I found out who those boxers belonged to… But…” You trailed off, not wanting to admit what you just found out. 

“But?” Jungkook asked.

“But, she found out that it was only payback for some of her members participating in a little bit of lipstick graffiti on Taehyung and a few other people’s cars.” Jimin smirked next to you as he revealed what you were too embarrassed to say. 

There was a small pause, and then Jungkook was laughing, like he couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. That even after the threat of suspension to these people, they just didn’t care. And you just wanted to understand why. Was it truly because they didn’t care or was it due to the fact that the failed relationship that had acted as the catalyst to this war still held hostility and therefore still felt unresolved. Either way it was an issue that you and Jungkook needed to figure out how to fix. You were already trying to think of other possible solutions to this mess when another door a few feet away opened, and the sleep-deprived face of Taehyung poked its way out. 

“The hell’s going on out here?” He slurred before his eyes locked with yours. “Whoa, seriously what the hell is going on out here?”

A few more doors throughout the hall began to open. Clearly this little altercation had been a little bit louder than you’d anticipated. All of the Lambdas faces twisted in confusion as they found you standing in their hallway for the first time in years. 

“We found your little boxer exhibit,” You finally answered. 

Taehyung threw his hands up. “Hey, I only did it because of the—”

“—Lipstick,” You finished for him. “Yeah, yeah, I got that part already.”  

“Some of us had been drinking and it pissed us off.” Baekhyun shrugged, as he had been one of the guys to join in on this little morning confrontation. “Sorry.” 

“I can’t deal with this. I have a million other things to worry about today.” You rubbed your palms over your eyes in frustration as you remembered the other issue you had to handle once the financial aid office opened for their half day, since today was Saturday. The mystery of your less than lucrative bank account and the implications that it had on your living situation hanging over your head. 

“Well, as a sign of my immense regret and an attempt to repair this terrible relationship between our houses, I do have to say you look great this morning.” Baekhyun motioned towards your minimally covered body. “If you ever wanna hang out—”

You rolled your eyes, deciding to not listen to the rest of the garbage he decided to spew, but it turned out you didn’t even need to tune him out because suddenly a voice sliced through the air like a razor. 

“Watch it, Baek.” Jungkook sounded cold, mouth set in a firm line as he stared daggers down the hallway. 

“Uhm, I’m…” Baekhyun started, an awkward air encasing everyone. “I just woke up. I’m mildly delusional. My bad, Kook.” He tapped at his head and raised his hands as an apology before shutting the door. 

There was silence, a palpable silence that had Jimin, Taehyung and a few of the other Lambdas that had opened their doors grabbing the back of their necks as they stared at the floor. But Jungkook kept his stance, arms crossed over his chest as he continued to stare at Baekhyun’s door. 

After only a few moments of this you just couldn’t take it. You clapped your hands together, trying to let the sudden burst of sound break the tension. “Come on,” You said, pulling at Jungkook’s shirt. “Let’s talk outside.” 

He nodded, finally breaking his glare down the hallway before turning towards Jimin. “Do you think you could give me a ride back to my place in a minute. I don’t have my car.” 

“I can, but why’d you Uber back here last night instead of your place?” Jimin asked, clearly not privy to the events that had transpired between you and Jungkook last night. 

Jungkook’s eyes found yours for a split second before returning to Jimin. “I met a girl from Chi Omega. I was gonna meet her at her place, but it fell through.” He shrugged, a lie so on the fly that it made you wonder how many times he’d done that to you since knowing him. 

“Gotcha.” Jimin nodded, seeming to perfectly understand. “Just let me know when you wanna go.”

“Thanks,” Jungkook said as he joined you in stepping over the pile of boxers still strewn across the floor. “And make sure everyone picks this shit up.” 

“Will do, boss.” Jimin saluted before shutting his door behind him.

After that you made a straight line through the house, not wanting to stand inside this place that held too many memories. You breathed a sigh of relief when you pushed the front door open, letting the fresh air wash over you — albeit the hot, muggy fresh air that reminded you of the fact that it was the end of summer and rain every single day was a constant. 

“I got all the boxers,” Jungkook finally said. 

“That’s great, but it still doesn’t change the fact that my members fucked up first. Plus, I have this financial aid bullshit to deal with.” You pinched the bridge of your nose, trying to flush the stress from your body. “What the hell are we gonna do?” 

Jungkook shook his head and sighed, because like you he apparently also didn’t have any solid answers, but before he could try to offer anything his phone began to ring. He pulled it from his pocket and eyed the contact on the screen. 

“Give me a second. It’s my new roommate that’s supposed to be moving in this week,” He said before answering. 

“What’s up?” He began. 

You stood there for a minute, watching the way Jungkook’s face began to slowly devolve as the person on the other side of the line spoke, and from the expression on his face, it did not seem like it was good news. 

“Are you serious?” Jungkook finally said, grabbing at his hair. “Like I’m happy for you guys, but rent is due next week and you were supposed to be moving in and paying half.” 

It seemed you weren’t the only person having issues involving living situations. 

“I doubt I’ll be able to find anyone this short notice. And if I can’t there’s no way I can pay rent in full this month and have enough to last me the rest of the semester.” 

After that the conversation on Jungkook’s end was mostly just grunts and short responses as he was clearly frustrated and already had his mind focused on possible solutions. 

“Alright, alright, bye.” He hung up the phone, pressing his hands against temples. 

“Well that didn’t sound good,” You said. 

“Yeah, my new roommate apparently worked things out with his ex-girlfriend, so instead of moving in with me, he’s moving back in with her. So now, I have no one to split rent with and am basically fucked.” 

That was actually very unfortunate, but even though you and Jungkook had experienced a somewhat understanding moment last night, it still wasn’t enough to completely erase the hostile relationship the two of you had engaged in for the last few years. So the comment that you replied with was already halfway out of your mouth before you could even think to stop it. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to convince some of your harem of girls to play roomie and split rent with you.” 

Jungkook turned to look at you, eyes narrowing into slits. “Yeah, I might do that actually.” He sounded pissed, clearly not finding any amusement in the comment that you admittedly shouldn’t have made. “And when you get kicked out of the Tri Delt house you should ask that guy from the soccer team if you can move in with him. What was his name? Hoseok?” 

You deserved the response, but it still didn’t make your blood boil any less. “Whatever, we can deal with our fucked up living situations later on. For now just try and think of a way to get our idiot friends to stay in line. We’ll see who has the best idea at Kappa Sig tonight. Did Yoongi tell you about the party? Are you going?” 

Yoongi was a mutual friend of yours and Jungkook’s from high school. He was also in a fraternity, but instead of Lambda Phi Epsilon it was Kappa Sigma, which was located a little further down Greek Drive. When the relationship between you and Jungkook ended he somehow managed to stay impartial and remained friends with the both of you, thankfully. 

“Yeah, I’m going,” He said simply, clearly still embittered from your joke. 

“Good, better start thinking then,” You said and then turned to head back towards the Tri Delt house; any progress you and Jungkook made last night seeming to snap in half as you left him behind. 

Yet, somehow you could feel him staring into your back, the lingering feeling not disappearing until you closed the front door to your house behind you. 

 —————-

You had spent the past half an hour nervously fidgeting in your bed as you waited for the financial aid office to open. As soon as the time on your phone read eight a.m. you immediately dialed their number. However, it was the first week of classes, and that meant that everyone and their mother needed to talk to financial aid, because unfortunately situations like yours were completely common. So even though you called the second they opened it was still a twenty minute wait before you finally heard a voice that wasn’t pre-recorded and asking you to press various numbers depending on your issue or question. 

“Hello. This is financial aid. How can I help you?” The woman on the other side of the line chimed.

“Hi, I have a question about my refund.” Your voice was high-pitched as it shifted into a mode that was more professional. “I received my refund on Thursday, and it was the correct amount. However, when I checked my bank account yesterday my refund had been completely taken out. I was just trying to figure out why that is.” 

She hummed in understanding. “Could you give me your student I.D number and we’ll see what’s going on.”

You rattled off your number and there was a few seconds of silence as the woman on the other side pulled up your information. 

“Okay, it says here…” She paused, presumably reading through whatever she was seeing once more. “That you will be getting your refund deposited back into your bank account, however, it had to be taken back out to adjust the amount. One of your scholarships informed the university that you and a few other recipients did not meet the new community service hours minimum they implemented to receive the scholarship this semester.” 

You felt the blood drain from your face, anxiety making your hands go shaky. “New community service hour minimum?” You asked, trying to understand what that was even referring to, because you knew nothing about the change in hours you were supposed to obtain. 

“Yes, they upped the amount. A few other students have already called to complain about this situation, but the office for that particular scholarship said that they sent an email out last year to inform you guys about the new amount that would be needed.” 

Email? You didn’t think that you ever received an email with any information about that. “Oh… okay… Uhm, I guess I’ll try and figure out what’s going on. Thank you.” 

You hung up the phone and immediately opened up your email app and began to scour through any undeleted messages from last year that you might have overlooked. And after a few minutes of scrolling, there it was, sitting in the depths of your inbox like some monster that was going to destroy you. You clicked on it as some sort of masochistic gesture. You already knew what it was going to say, so you didn’t know why you were even bothering to read it. And yes, there it was, written in bold print at the bottom of the email. A message that relayed the raise in community service hours needed. 

“Fuck my life!” You yelled, throwing a pillow over your face and screaming into it. 

Living in a sorority or fraternity was different than living in a regular apartment or house that wasn’t associated with the university. Instead of paying a monthly amount like a normal living situation, in order to live on campus you had to pay the full amount for the semester up front. Which basically translated to needing to fork over a couple thousand dollars all at once. Which, unless you were rich or incredibly well disciplined at saving money, scholarships and loans were the only option. That had been one of the reasons Jungkook decided to live at an apartment this year instead of at Lambda Phi Epsilon. 

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” You continued to yell into your pillow until your bedroom door was suddenly swinging open; a concerned Sana standing before you. 

“I’m sorry,” She said, walking to the side of your bed. “You totally could’ve been having sex in here, but the expletives sounded more like frustration than fun, so I wanted to make sure.” 

“It’s beyond frustration. It’s devastation.” You threw your pillow across the room to make your point.

“What happened?” She asked as she sat next to you on your bed. 

You took a heavy sigh and explained the entire financial aid situation to her, and ended with the consequence of your entire scholarship debacle. “So I’m not going to be able to stay here this semester. I’m gonna have to find a new place to live.” 

Sana’s mouth dropped, hand twisting into her hair. “Seriously? You’ve gotta move out?” 

You, Sana, and Jennie were best friends that had lived less than ten feet away from each other for the past three year, and you had all hoped for your final year to be the same. But hope was like that. It gave you so much to look forward to, only for it to end in a way that you didn’t at all expect. You had experienced that many times, unfortunately. 

“Yeah, looks like it,” You whispered, arm coming up to cover your eyes.

“No, it’ll be okay.” She squeezed at your arm. “I’ll text around today and see if anyone knows about people needing roommates.” 

“Thanks,” You said, offering a weak smile. 

“It’s not even something to stress over honestly. It’s gonna work itself out.” You could tell Sana was trying to be upbeat for your sake.

You nodded, but there were other issues besides where you were going to live. “But something that is apparently not going to work itself out is the failed peace treaty between us and next door.” 

Sana cocked her head to the side. “Wait… Did something happen? What did they do?” She sneered, having the same reaction as you from earlier this morning. 

“Plastered boxers all over our house.” Sana was about to go on a rant, but you informed her of the whole story before she could. “Because some of the girls wrote shit in lipstick on their cars at Pub last night.”

“You’re kidding me?” She slammed her palm down on the bed. “Who was it? I’m gonna kick their asses.”

The image that brought to your head actually made you laugh, which you were thankful for. You needed some sort of humor in your life on this miserable day. “I have no idea. I got a call from Jungkook this morning about the boxers and ran outside. I haven’t even had the chance to try and figure out who did it.”

“Wait… You were already here?” She asked. “You weren’t at Hoseok’s.” 

Oh yeah, you forgot Sana had left Pub last night expecting to not see you until some time later today when Hoseok brought you home. She still had no idea about Jungkook and that entire emotional disaster from last night. 

“Yeah, about that…” You definitely weren’t going to hide what happened, but you decided that you were going to sugarcoat it a bit. You didn’t like talking about your insecurities, even with your friends, so you decided painting it in a more positive light was for the best, because relatively speaking that actually had been a less hostile conversation compared to others that you and Jungkook had experienced over the years. “Because my bank account got emptied out from the whole financial aid thing, I just felt like going home instead of over to Hoseok’s, but I also didn’t have any money to Uber, so… Jungkook walked me home.”

Sana’s eyes widened, hands cupping either side of her face. “What?!”

“Yeah, he offered to walk me home.” You shrugged, trying to make it seem as though it wasn’t a big deal, but you knew that was going to do nothing to stop the onslaught of questions about to be thrown at you. 

“Wait, wait, wait, so did you guys talk? Did you argue the whole time? Was it just awkward and silent? Like tell me.” She moved closer to you on the bed, curiosity beaming off of her. 

“It wasn’t, uhm, bad actually.” You sat up, avoiding as much eye contact as you could manage without looking like a complete liar. “We talked and cleared the air on things. It was… enlightening.” That wasn’t a total fib. Certain feelings had been revealed, and yes, that might have ended up with you crying, but in the grand scheme of things that was a totally miniscule detail, right?

Sana’s expression twisted into that of bewilderment. “...Enlightening? What does that even mean? What became enlightened?” 

You shrugged, buying yourself time to try and think of some way to fumble through any sort of half decent explanation. “Just our feelings on everything that happened and how we felt. Nothing crazy.” 

She squinted her eyes, finger tapping at her nose. “I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me.” 

“There isn’t. We just understand each other a lot better now.” You knew the longer she pushed the higher the possibility of you cracking, so you decided to bring up the one thing that you knew would flood her mind with thoughts completely unrelated to you and Jungkook. “You’ll see at Kappa Sig tonight. We’re better with each other now.” 

Pink flushed to Sana’s cheeks at the mere mention of Kappa Sig, because in her mind Kappa Sig directly correlated to one of its members; Kim Seokjin, or one of Yoongi’s good friends. 

“I almost forgot about the party tonight,” Sana started. Mission success it seemed as she completely dropped the conversation from before. “Maybe love is in the air, and Jennie’s luck with Namjoon will rub off on me tonight with Jin.”

“Maybe it is.” You smiled. 

Sana gave you a strange look at your response, and you weren’t sure why, but you didn’t get the chance to find out before she dropped the expression and moved on to something else. 

“I’m gonna text Jennie and see when she thinks she’ll come home.” She began typing on her phone before looking back up at you. “You wanna go get lunch or something in a few hours? Get your mind off of the whole financial aid thing while we wait for the party tonight? My treat since you don’t have your refund back yet.”

“That actually sounds great.” Sana leaned in, hugging you before jumping from your bed and heading back to her room directly next to yours. 

You fell back flat against your bed, eyes wandering around your room. The pictures plastered across your walls of all of your friends and family. Posters of your favorite shows and movies. You couldn’t help but think about how in a week or so this wasn’t going to be yours anymore. 

Where you were going to wind up at in the end, well, that was a complete mystery.

———

JUNGKOOK’S POV

Jungkook climbed into Jimin’s truck, slamming the door behind him. He pressed his forehead against the dashboard, palms pressing at his temples to try and relieve even the tiniest amount of stress that was currently running amok through his head. 

Jimin jumped into the driver’s seat a minute later, whistling at the sight of his friend in such a rough position. “You good, man?” He asked. 

“Do I look good?” Jungkook asked, sitting up against the seat. “I’ve gotta find a new roommate in the next week, act like a goddamn babysitter between forty-two grown adults, and worry about Y/N storming around the Lambda house now apparently.” He paused, clenching his hands into fists. “So, no, I’m not good.”

“Kook, just take it easy.” Jimin reached over, squeezing at his friend’s shoulder. “There’s gonna be a ton of people at that party tonight, and I guarantee you at least one person there needs a place to stay or at the very least knows someone who does.” 

Jungkook nodded because he agreed that there were always people looking for places to stay. “What about the other two things?” 

“Oh, you’re fucked on those. I don’t know what to tell you.” Jimin laughed as he hit the gear into reverse. 

“You sound surprisingly calm about that, considering the chapter will be suspended if me and Y/N don’t figure out a way to make things okay between everyone.” 

Jimin shrugged as he pulled out of the driveway. “If I had come out last night and seen my truck covered in lipstick, would I have been pissed? Sure. But, I would’ve just told you so that you could tell Y/N, and she could deal with it. The fact is, that’s how I am, but everyone’s different and you two can’t control that many people without some sort of miracle.”

Jungkook sighed, banging his head back against the headrest. “A miracle, huh?”

“Yeah, a straight up miracle,” He repeated as he drove past the Tri Delt house that was no longer covered in boxers. 

Jungkook’s eyes drifted to the far right window on the second story, a small twinge budding inside of his chest. Words from that night almost two years ago pushed their way to the surface as they never failed to do. 

“It’s nothing that you did… I’ve just been having these… thoughts.”

“Thoughts? What, thoughts of cheating on me? Of being with other people?”

“No! I mean, it’s not how you’re thinking. It’s just… You’re the only person I’ve ever dated, Y/N, and I don’t know if…”

“Oh, I’ll finish it for you, Jungkook. You don’t know if there’s someone better. Just fucking say it instead of going around it like you have been for months now.”

“I don’t think there’s someone better. I’m not ending this because I met someone else. I’m ending this because I can’t look at you and say I love you everyday when I’m having these thoughts, because it just doesn’t seem right. And I’m not saying that I don’t love you. I still do, but that doesn’t stop me from having these feelings of doubt about whether this is the last relationship I ever wanna have, when it’s the only one I’ve ever been in. I can’t just sit there and look at you when I know I’m thinking these things. I can’t do that because I care about you so fucking much, even if you’re looking at me right now like you hate me. I don’t want you to hate me.”

Jungkook wished he could permanently scrub that night from his head. There was so much crying, so much blame, so much anguish, from having to end things with someone that he truly did love. He hadn’t stopped loving you. That wasn’t why he broke up with you. He ended things because he wanted to be sure that the one experience that he’d ever had was the right one. And he knew when he took that risk that he could be throwing away something that was perfect. But he couldn’t be sure until he knew.

He had dated a few people in the two years since that night, and he had found some great relationships with some great girls — but nothing that had lasted. None of them ever felt as if he could see himself with them for years and years to come, and wasn’t that the whole point of dating? And of course, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he had never ended things with you. He thought about it every time he saw you actually. You wouldn’t know that, and no one around him would know that, because there was always something hostile coming out of someone’s mouth. Jungkook had hurt you, and he understood that, but it still didn’t excuse some of the things that you had accused him of over the years, and after a month or so he had gotten tired of playing polite and matched your antagonism; insult for insult, sneer for sneer. 

He wasn’t sure if they could ever fully reconcile. The words had been said and there was no taking them back. He thought last night was actually a step in the right direction, with you revealing why you acted the way that you did. But still, he wasn’t sure if things could ever be civil between the two of you. The embitterment ran so deep on both sides that it seemed almost impossible to even try. 

Jungkook remained lost in these thoughts when through his haze he heard Jimin speak a name that had him fearing for half a second that his friend could read his thoughts. 

“Y/N?” Jungkook asked. 

“Yeah, what actually happened last night?” Jimin glanced over, one brow arched. 

“Uhm, what do you mean?” 

“When I asked about why you were at the house and not at your apartment, you looked at Y/N.” Jimin slapped one hand to his chest. “Don’t think I didn’t notice.” 

Well, he had only looked at her for all of half a second, so yeah, he had kind of hoped that no one would notice. But unfortunately, someone did, and that happened to be his nosy ass best friend. 

“Y/N got stuck at Pub last night with no ride because financial aid fucked up her refund, and she couldn’t get a ride, so I walked her home. That’s it.” Which was true. He had done exactly that, but simply failed to mention the crying and sentimental admissions. 

“So why didn’t you just say that when I asked?” 

Jungkook ran a hand through his hair. He really didn’t want to reveal any of the details from what you’d told him last night, but he knew Jimin wasn’t going to stop asking until he at least told him something of substance. “Because there were other people in the hall listening, and I didn’t want them getting the same ideas as you right now.” 

Jimin smirked. “Oh yeah, and what am I thinking?” 

Jungkook shook his head, turning to look out of the window. “I’m not even gonna say it.”

“Any talk of feelings or gushy bullshit?” Jimin chuckled, clearly joking, but Jungkook hesitated before answering, and that was all his friend needed to assume whatever theory was being crafted inside of his head. “Oh, Jesus, did you guys actually talk about your feelings? Oh my god, did you guys kiss? Fuck?” Jimin was looking at Jungkook frantically now, like he needed the answers to the questions being proposed in his favorite TV show. 

“You’re truly the biggest gossip I’ve ever met.” He leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest as Jimin pulled into his apartment complex. “It’s sad.”

“Your lack of answers is making me lean towards you guys fucking. And if that happened,” He let go of the steering wheel for a second to motion at his head as if it was exploding. “I’m gonna lose my goddamn mind. Like I get it, sex is sex, but after everything she’s said about you since you guys broke up, I just…” He trailed off, shaking his head in disappointment like he had already decided that the two of you had definitely hooked up.

“She said that shit in the beginning because I made her feel terrible about herself, so she wanted to make me feel terrible too. I’m not saying that it’s right, but at this point we’ve both said shit we regret and didn’t mean.” He tried to make it seem more casual by shrugging. “And we didn’t sleep together. Chill out.”

Jimin’s expression was skeptical as he pulled into the parking space in front of Jungkook’s building and unlocked the doors. “Still, something definitely happened, because otherwise you would be talking about how she was acting like a bitch, but you’re not, which means that you weren’t acting like an asshole, which in turn means that something went down, because the last time the two of you were anything less than pissy to each other was when you were still dating.”

Jungkook simply placed a hand on Jimin’s shoulder, forcing a smile. “Your conspiracies are unmatched, my friend.” And then he was climbing out of the truck, shutting the door, and waving his friend goodbye without even looking back. 

However, that didn’t stop Jimin from rolling down his window as he began to back out of the parking space, throwing his final sentiment to the wind. “You guys getting back together was the kind of miracle I was talking about.”

———-

It was currently ten p.m. and the scene on Greek Drive was about two dozen or so Tri Delts making their way towards the most well known party frat on campus; Kappa Sigma. 

Kappa Sig was the blueprint for the types of fraternities that you see in various movies or TV shows. There was never a time when your shoes weren’t sticking to the wooden floors due to the constant barrage of alcohol being spilled by various drunken patrons. Each member had an actual mini bar set up in the corner of their room, which in the next few weeks, once football and tailgating started up, would be the most popular place to score some free drinks — if you were a girl that is. Kappa Sig was also fairly stereotypically frat in who it allowed entrance into its castle of alcohol and sex. Basically, if you were a girl, you were good. If you were a guy, well it was complicated. Usually it was a no go, or you were asked to pay such a ridiculously high cover at the door that no one in their right mind would pay it, or the easiest way: have a friend who had sway within the house. 

So fortunately for you, Sana, Jennie, and the rest of the Tri Delts, it was a non-issue. However, unfortunately, Yoongi, a good friend of yours and Jungkook’s, happened to be the president of Kappa Sig, and therefore Lambdas were allowed free reign. No cover charge and no being turned away, which meant tonight was bound to be interesting. 

“Jennie, hold my hand until we get there.” Sana didn’t even wait for a response and instead opted to simply interlock their fingers. “I need good luck in the crushes-actually-approaching-and-showing-interest department.”

Jennie laughed, swinging their arms back and forth between them. “Well if you can get even half my luck, it should be a good night for you.” 

“Oh, wow. Way to brag, bitch,” Sana said, throwing a hand over her heart. “We’ve got Mrs. Already Dick Whipped over here.” 

“I am not!” Jennie yelled. “He just…” 

“Lasted longer than sixty seconds?” You finished for her with a purse of your lips. 

She pointed at you. “That he fucking did. That and so, so much more.”

Sana groaned next to the two of you. “Ugh, I want that. I haven’t had good sex in months.”

“Well, even if things don’t happen with Jin tonight, there’s gonna be plenty of guys here,” You tried to remind her. 

“Uh yeah, lots of Lambda guys,” She reminded you right back. 

You shrugged. You didn’t like that it had become this sort of unwritten rule that Tri Delts and Lambdas couldn’t get together, but when everyone was pranking or fucking with each other’s stuff, it was kind of difficult to look past that just for the sake of a hookup. 

“Well, Kappa Sig boys for you tonight it is then.” You motioned towards the top of the driveway, the party seemingly already completely started. 

The music was blaring and there was a fairly long line of people waiting to get in, but it only took a couple minutes for you to move through the line and pass over the threshold and into the scene of dimmed lights, packed bodies, and endless alcohol. 

You knew you had a lot of things to worry about, but after the absolutely horrendous two days that you’d had to endure, between suspension threats, disastrous house meetings, crying in front of your ex, the boxer and lipstick fiasco, and financial aid meltdowns, you just wanted to be able to relax and have fun for a single night. You didn’t think that was too much to ask for, and the vodka bottle currently staring at you from the kitchen, seemed to be calling you and saying they were the perfect place to start in order to make that fun, relaxing night come true. 

Once everyone got into the house, the girls broke up into their mini groups of close friends. You motioned to Sana and Jennie to follow you to the kitchen so you could get some drinks. It took some effort but the three of you eventually managed to make your way through the crowd that couldn’t bother to idle anywhere else besides around the counter of various alcohols and plastic cups. Each of you quickly made a sufficiently strong cup of vodka combined with whatever random mixers were available. 

“Okay, now let’s find a comfy couch that isn’t covered in vomit stains to camp out on and get plastered.” You pointed towards the living room, where a majority of the party goers were. 

“A couch without vomit stains?” Jennie clicked her tongue. “That’s a tall order for Kappa Sig.”

“Indeed.” Sana giggled, pointing towards some of the few empty places to sit in the back corner. 

You made your way over there, exchanging hellos with a few people that you knew before plopping down on the couch, all three of you spilling a few splashes of your drinks on each other; not even a drop of alcohol in your systems yet. 

“Well this is a great start.” You laughed, taking a large gulp from your cup that had you grimacing. “Jesus, this cheap ass Pinnacle. Come on, KS, get your shit together.” 

“Well excuse the fuck out of me.” The voice came from someone you recognized immediately. 

You turned around, a wide grin plastered across your face. “It’s okay Yoongi. I still love you even though you’re making us suffer with cheap booze.” 

He sauntered over, sitting down on the armchair beside you. “Well, you’re lucky you’re one of my very good friends or I wouldn’t bless you with my own personal stash.” His smile was devilish as he pulled up a bottle of Tito's vodka.” 

There was a collective gasp from you and friends. “Wow, keeping the good shit all to yourself.” 

“Hey, didn’t I just say I was gonna help you out?” He twisted the cop off and motioned for the three of you to hold your cups out, and one by one he filled your cups up to the very top. “Be wise with this power, friends.” 

“You know, Yoongi,” Sana said from across the couch. “I’d be totally willing to not take advantage of your hospitalities if you’d wanna help me out in another department.” 

“Jesus, Sana!” You already knew where she was going with this. “You’re willing to drink rubbing alcohol instead of Tito’s just to get a good word in to Jin?” 

Sana simply shrugged, zero shame in her methods. 

Yoongi laughed. “Put a good word in? I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Appreciate it.” She raised her cup to his and they cheered in the hopeful union of Sana of Jin. 

Yoongi opened his mouth to speak, but something near the front of his house caught his eye. “Also, can we try to have no brawls in the house tonight?” 

“Huh?” You were confused until you followed his line of sight, a mob of Lambda boys entering the house one by one; Jungkook leading them all. 

“No fighting,” Yoongi reiterated. “Or no more Tito’s for you.” 

You rolled your eyes, taking a sip from your drink that was currently ninety percent vodka. “You haven’t heard? We’re cordial now.” 

“Cordial? A Greek Drive miracle, I guess.” He stood up from the armchair and motioned towards the guys. “I’m gonna go say hey to Kook.” 

You nodded. “Okay, I’ll catch up with you later.”

Yoongi had managed to stay good friends with both you and Jungkook throughout this entire process. You hated the fact that the three of you never got to hang out together anymore because of the tension between you and Jungkook, but, hey, that was life. 

“Don’t forget our deal, Yoongi!” Sana shouted as he started across the living room. 

“I got you, girl. But just so you know our bedrooms are right next to each other so be mindful.” He lowered his hands to the ground, silently saying to keep the volume down. 

“You’re the best!” She said, kissing her hand and throwing it out to the party host. 

“Someone might be getting lucky after all.” You squeezed at her thigh before standing up. “So while you celebrate that, I’m gonna put more mixer in this drink so I don’t blackout by midnight.” 

“You act like you don’t do that every other week.” Jennie laughed. 

You squinted at her. “Rude.” 

“Love you,” She said, making a heart shape with her hands as you made your way back towards the kitchen. 

You gave small smiles as you passed more people that you knew that had just arrived at the party. You glanced towards the door, the Lambda boys still congregating there. You couldn’t help your eyes from catching on Jungkook. He was standing there, grinning at everyone who approached him. He was the type that could be friends with anyone. A bright light that everyone gravitated towards, that no one ever found boring. You bit the inside of your cheek at the gnawing though that never failed to enter your head anytime you saw him. And it was like he could sense that pull, because then he was looking at you, giving a small nod of acknowledgment. 

A tiny, insignificant nod. At its very best, that was what your relationship was now, and that made you feel incredibly empty. 

You screwed your eyes shut for a second, shaking your head, trying to force those things from your head as you finally made it to the kitchen and poured a little bit of the first soda you could reach into your cup; just a little bit. 

And the party continued on like that for the next hour or two. Laughing and smiling with your friends and then hunting Yoongi down to steal some of his personal alcohol, all while catching random glances of Jungkook. It was fun and your buzz was well in effect by the time it was once again the moment to go find Yoongi.

You asked Sana, who was currently talking to Jin in the corner of the living room, if she had seen him. Apparently a very good word has been put in and two seemed to be hitting it off. 

“He went out back.” She motioned towards the sliding glass door. 

You offered a hum of thanks and left them to mingle alone as you made your way to the door and pulled it open. You searched the tiny groups of people that were standing around, not able to find Yoongi anywhere until you noticed two occupied chairs sitting in the distance. One was Yoongi and the other… Well, of course it just had to be Jungkook. 

You took a deep breath, taking a sip of your drink before walking out to the secluded area beneath the giant tree where they were chatting. You did a little run in the last few feet of approaching them before kneeling down next to Yoongi’s lawn chair. his body slightly hiding Jungkook’s. 

“Hello, my spirit bearing friend.” 

“And if it isn’t the spirit stealer herself,” Yoongi said as he grabbed your cup and poured a shot or two inside. “I already had to get another handle of Tito’s from my room. You’re killing me tonight.” 

“It was a bad day.” You poked your bottom lip out as an apology. “I’m sorry.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad.” He motioned towards your cup that he had filled up multiple times already tonight. 

“Well, I fucked up something with one of my scholarships, so now I’ve gotta find a place to live by the end of next week because I can’t afford to stay in the Tri Delt house.” You shrugged, the alcohol making the daunting situation seem less serious than it actually was. “So yeah, bad day.”

“Are you serious?” Yoongi said at the same time that Jungkook leaned forward with this concerned look on his face before saying, “Wait, what?”

“No… It’s, uhm, fine.” You glanced at the ground and began awkwardly scratching at your temple. “I don’t wanna ruin the mood for tonight. I’m gonna start looking for roommates tomorrow, so if either of you guys know of anyone.” You pointed your cup towards both of them with a shrug, trying to make it seem casual. 

Yoongi nodded, and then suddenly a smile was creeping across his face. You knew that expression well. It was the expression he’d made when you were all sixteen and drunk and decided that going to the rope swing down by the lake (the alligator infested lake) in the dead of night was a perfectly sane idea. Or when it was your senior year prom and he convinced you and Jungkook that an impromptu beach trip a few hours away would be fun, and it might actually have been if any of you had thought about money, hotel reservations, or just any sort of planning in general, but you didn’t, so it essentially became a three drive only to end up at a  Denny’s in a beach town instead of your hometown. The point was, you had seen that expression many, many times, and it was one that he made when a bad, impulsive idea started creeping through that brain of his.

“Whatever it is, no,” You said as you pushed some of the leaves and sticks off of the grass so you could sit down. 

“You don’t even know what I’m gonna say!” He exclaimed. “It’s a brilliant idea actually.” 

“Yeah, we know that face anywhere.” Jungkook moved his chair forward slightly so that the three of you were now sitting in a triangle, facing one another. “Ideas that come from that face are never brilliant.” 

Yoongi smacked his lips. “Well, that’s offensive.” 

“What’s offensive is almost getting eaten by alligators because you convinced us by using bogus gator attack statistics,” You pointed out, and Jungkook chuckled at the memory. 

“But, we didn’t get eaten, so it’s fine.” He shrugged. 

“Whatever.” You rolled your eyes. “So what’s this plan cooking in your head right now?” 

The devilish expression returned once more as he began looking back and forth between you and Jungkook. Oh, this was not good.

“Well, you said that you need a place to stay, right?” 

“...Right,” You said hesitantly, not completely sure where this was going until he turned his sights towards Jungkook; the phone call you’d overheard from earlier in the day flashing through your mind. 

“Yoongi, you idiot—” You started to say, but he was already spewing the other half of his grand plan. 

“And Jungkook needs a roommate!” He shouted, clapping his hands together like he’d just invented the surefire way to cure a hangover. “It’s perfect!”

There was a pause between the group, complete silence save from the chatting going on closer to the house — and then there was uncontrollable laughter. You and Jungkook doubled over at the most ridiculous proposal that you’d ever heard in your entire lives. 

Because it was totally ridiculous… Right?

“Why are you guys laughing?” Yoongi asked, looking genuinely confused. “That solves literally all of your problems.”

You caught the tear that was escaping out of the corner of your eye. “Yeah, it’s a great idea in theory Yoongi, if me and Jungkook didn’t have issues.” 

“I mean you guys are sitting here right now with each other.” He motioned between the two of you. “And there’s no fighting going on like there usually is. Plus, you said your houses were cordial now. I thought that meant you guys too.”

You and Jungkook glanced at each other, the amused smiles from Yoongi’s scheme faltering slightly. It had been a long time since you guys had been like this with each other. There was the talk after Pub last night and now you were here, just sitting and laughing with a mutual old friend. It was nice, you had to admit. But living together? That was just totally absurd. 

“Yoongi, that’s…” Jungkook trailed off, shaking his head, but not saying anything concrete. “And it doesn’t actually solve all of our problems… Our houses aren’t as cordial as we were hoping they’d be, even after we told them about President Kwon’s suspension threat.” You had texted Yoongi about the suspension fiasco yesterday and you were sure that Jungkook had done the same. 

“Wow, your members really are fucking idiots.” Yoongi laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “You guys have way more pull than you realize.” 

Your brows furrowed. “What do you mean?” 

Yoongi held one finger up as he sipped from his cup, like he was about to drop some serious knowledge on the two presidents who had no control over their houses. “College kids are like toddlers. They need guidance. Before you guys were sort of like their big brother and sister whose lead they followed because they liked you and thought you were cool — that’s how you guys became presidents after all. Which means now you’re essentially like their parents.” 

You snorted at the idea, but it wasn’t the craziest analogy. You remembered when you were a freshman and first joined Tri Delt. The president back then felt like this motherly figure who you could go to for anything. It was hard for you to think that other people now saw you that way, but maybe they did and you hadn’t fully noticed yet. 

“You’re laughing, but I’m serious,” Yoongi started again. “Okay, so you guys told them they needed to get their shit together, right?”

You and Jungkook both nodded.

“And like I said, you guys are like their parents — their divorced parents who they respect but feel the need to defend depending on whose side they're on.”

Again, you and Jungkook just looked at each other, a tiny piece of understanding falling into place. You and him had just been two people who didn’t work out. You thought it was a simple issue, but you just never realized what the consequences of that would be. People choosing sides. Defending each other’s actions. Getting even. 

It was a mess. A mess that needed to be fixed somehow. 

“Well that’s nice to know,” Jungkook said, breaking you from your thoughts. “But it doesn’t actually help us fix anything.”

That was true. Just because you knew why everyone had so easily fallen into this feud didn’t change the fact that something needed to change. Something had to be done… And as you glanced over at Yoongi, his expression that signaled bad ideas returned once more. It let you know that he had an idea or two about what could be done. 

“Well, maybe you guys could reverse the divorce.” He shrugged. 

It took you a second to grasp what he was trying to say, and then you were sputtering and ripping the bottle of vodka from your friend’s hand. “You’re cut off.”

Jungkook scoffed, an incredulous look adorning his features as well. “Seriously, what the fuck did you smoke, dude?” 

“Nothing!” He grabbed the bottle back from your hand. “Strictly liquor tonight.”

“Like the roommate idea was one thing—” Jungkook started. 

“Oh!” Yoongi cut him off. “So you didn’t think Y/N moving in was the worst idea ever.”  

“I… I…” His mouth was closing and opening, like he truly didn’t know what to say. “Like as a last option it wouldn’t be the end of the world.” 

“What?!” You said, a little louder than you’d intended, but you couldn’t help it. He was actually considering the idea of the two of you moving in together? “Us? Living in the same house?”

Jungkook shrugged. “I mean it’s better than you being homeless and me being broke.”

Your head was spinning, and you didn’t know if it was from the alcohol or that this insane idea was actually being proposed in a semi-serious manner. 

“See, this is perfect!” Yoongi sat the glass bottle down on the grass and reached out to grab at yours and Jungkook’s arms, yanking you closer together. “Just pretend to get back together. If you just said it, no one would probably believe you, but if you guys actually move in together, no one would think that you’d go that far just to get everyone to stop fighting. The Great Greek Ruse! It would be the best story of all time!”

This was crazy. This was absolutely fucking crazy, and you knew Yoongi was half-joking with all of this, but you could tell that there was little bit of hope gleaming off of his eyes. 

You grabbed Yoongi’s face on either side, forcing him to look at you. “You. Are. Fucking. Plastered.” You said each word slowly and deliberately to try and penetrate through the haze of drunkenness to get to the part of him that held actual common sense.

“Yes, I am in fact plastered.” He grabbed your wrists, his excitement only seeming to multiply. “But I would argue that the most logical solutions to problems come from being drunk. There’s no hesitation that an idea seems ridiculous, because everything seems less ridiculous when you're fucked up.”

You fisted your hands through your hair. “You’re crazy. Literally crazy. Jungkook, tell him he’s crazy.” You looked at him for confirmation, but he just sat there, pursing his lips like he was… thinking. Like he was actually considering it. “Are you serious?” 

He threw his hands up in a defensive position. “No, it’s completely crazy. It’s just… Do you have any better ideas?”

“I can’t believe we’re even talking about this right now.” You scoffed, falling back flat against the grass and throwing your hands over your face. “Even if we did try to be that stupid and lie to everyone, they would never in a million fucking years believe that we would ever get back together. We fought in front of them literally yesterday!” 

You peeked through your fingers and Jungkook held an expression that made it seem like he wasn’t so sure that was true. “I don’t know about that. All I did earlier was tell Jimin that we talked last night and two seconds later he had gone off on some tangent about how disappointed he was in me for sleeping with you again — and I corrected him that we didn’t, by the way.”

“Oh, fuck Jimin then,” You hissed, going off topic from this insane fake dating ruse. 

“Come on, you know how it is. Sana and Jennie would act the same way. It’s like Yoongi said, the Lambdas defend me and the Tri Delts defend you. That’s literally how this entire mess started.”

You sighed, sitting back up and raking any stray pieces of grass out of your hair. You didn’t say anything, because you truly didn’t know what the correct response was. Sure, you knew that you needed to figure out a way to not get your chapters suspended… But this idea of pretending to get back together? You tried to imagine the reactions, but you just couldn’t, because again, this was fucking absurd. You were about to verbally reiterate this point once more when Jungkook continued. 

“Look, all I’m saying is that when we broke up they saw how bad our relationship got and they decided to defend us. Maybe if we pretended to get back together, just for a little bit, they’d finally back off because the entire reason they started fighting in the first place wouldn’t even be an issue anymore.” Jungkook shrugged. He fucking shrugged. 

“Do you even understand what pretending to get back together entails?” You began waving your hands around and pointing at your head, because maybe it would help get the point across somehow. “It means acting like we actually want to be together in public. It means no flirting or going home with people on campus or at parties because someone we know might see us. Would you actually be willing to go through that much effort?”

There was a pause and Jungkook just stared at you for a second, and then he started… smiling. This small, sad sort of smile. “What could it hurt to try?” 

You scoffed, and scoffed, and scoffed, because you just couldn’t form words. You had explained it as best as you could, but neither he nor Yoongi seemed to get it. This meant… hugging, touching, kissing, just to prove to people that this was real. That you weren’t lying. That you wanted to be with him… And that he wanted to be with you. 

You knew you hadn’t said anything in a minute or so, just lost in the details and implications of this scheme. You were only brought back to reality by Yoongi, speaking his piece once again. “Y/N,” He started, his voice quieter than it had been when he was excitedly explaining the idea before, “The worst thing that happens is they don’t believe you. But if you actually pull this off, you guys could save your chapters.”

Your mouth went firm and straight. The worst thing that could happen was the members not believing you? You had to stifle a laugh as you glanced towards Jungkook. No, that definitely wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. Not by a long shot. You knew why Jungkook didn’t see this as a terrible idea. He had nothing to lose, but you did.

However, in the end, you thought maybe the risk was worth it. Maybe this fucked up scheme could save you guys somehow.

“Uhm,” You finally started, clearing your throat to try and push your emotions back down into your chest. “So in the scenario that we actually tried this ridiculous plan… How would we go about telling everyone?”

You were staring at the ground, so you didn’t see what expression Jungkook’s face shifted into. You weren’t sure you wanted to know. Was it relief from having a shot at mending the relationship with your members? Or was it regret from you feeding into this idea that he hadn’t actually been taking seriously? 

“Well,” Jungkook started, and you still refused to look at him. “First of all, did you say anything about our talk last night to anyone?”

“Not really. I told Sana that it was ‘enlightening,’ and basically said the same to Jennie. What about you?”

“I told Jimin that we talked about our feelings.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I’m sure he took that very well.”

“He was surprised…” Jungkook paused. “And I think that’s a good thing.”

You finally turned to look at him. “Why’s that a good thing?”

He stood up from his chair and held his hand out to you. You just stared at it for a second, confused at the kindness of the gesture before grabbing it and letting him help you up. He didn’t drop your hand even after you were standing up right, less than a foot of space separating you. 

“Because I think if our best friends look genuinely shocked by what we’re about to do, then it might be a lot more believable.”

Your face twisted in confusion. “Uhm, what’re we about to do?”

Jungkook pursed his lips, hesitant as he opened his mouth to reveal what he was thinking. “I think if we’re gonna pull this off, we need to… show them, not tell them.” It was instant, the way your hand trembled in his. Immediately he was squeezing around your fingers, silently trying to reassure you. “We don’t have to do this. It’s probably not even gonna work… But again, it’s just something to try.”

You knew you didn’t have to do this. You knew it was probably smarter not to do this. But some small part of you wanted to do this. Some stupidly hopeful part of you. 

You sucked a deep breath in through your nose and gave your bottom lip one hard, painful bite. “Fuck it, Kook.” You shifted your hand in his and interlocked your fingers. “Let’s do this.”

His eyes widened, the nickname slipping past your lips like the past two years never even existed. And then he was smiling, this pleasantly surprised smile that you hadn’t seen directed at you in what felt like an eternity. 

“I know it was my idea, but I can’t believe this is actually about to happen.” Yoongi was standing next to the two of you, hands holding either side of his face, like he was about to witness the ruse of the century. 

“Ready?” Jungkook asked. 

“I guess I am.” You shrugged, motioning towards the house. “Let’s do this.”

“Deep breath,” He said before inhaling, and you followed without hesitation. 

“Deep breath.” You nodded after you let the air slide past your lips. 

And then he was pulling you towards the house, hand in hand, the only thing keeping you from devolving into a panic attack was the way he kept squeezing your hand. 

You were approaching the fractured groups of people that stood outside of the sliding glass door, and all it took was one person to notice the two of you, and then suddenly people were pointing and staring, confused expressions appearing like a line of dominos, but you didn’t see any Lambdas or Tri Delts yet thankfully. Though, you knew that wasn’t going to last very long. 

You ignored the attention as best as you could as Jungkook opened the door and led you in through the back of the house. 

“So what exactly are we gonna do?” You whispered to him as you got closer to the living room; the main room of the house, with the most prying eyes. 

He slowed his walk and dropped your hand before placing his palm on your lower back as he continued to usher you forward into the wild circus the two of you were about to create. 

“I’m…” He paused as he pushed through the brush of people blocking the hallway until you were standing in the heart of the party. The lights in the house were all dimmed, but you still felt as though there was a bright, blinding spotlight on the two of you. 

“You’re gonna what?” You asked, looking around to find Lambdas and Tri Delts lounging in every corner. You started to fidget, wringing your hands and gritting your teeth until you felt someone lightly grabbing your jaw and forcing you to look at them. 

“I’m gonna kiss you,” He whispered, hand dropping to cup the side of your face. “I’m gonna kiss you right now, okay?”

Your eyes widened a little, mouth parting. You knew earlier that was what he’d probably meant when he said to ‘show them,’ but now that you were actually here in the moment, with him so close to your face that you could feel his breath hitting your skin… You were freezing up. 

“I’m going to,” He said, leaning in closer. “If you changed your mind just push me back, because I’m really about to kiss you.” 

A small voice in your head replied that you really wanted him to, as sad as that was. But you kept that thought to yourself as you closed your eyes and said, “Do it.” 

His gaze dropped to your mouth and then he closed the gap, a gap that hadn’t been closed in over two years. His lips warm and soft, just like you remembered, suddenly pressing against your own. His hand slid to the back of your neck, the other coming to rest on your hip, the familiar motion in familiar places tugging your fingers like a magnet until they were twisting at the front of his shirt. 

You knew that this kiss needed to be believable. It couldn’t be over the top, like you were trying to put on a show, but it also couldn’t be stiff, like the two of you were forcing it. Which technically, you were forcing it. It was pre-planned and clinical… But it didn’t feel that way. 

You knew every tilt of his head before he decided to move, every light brush of his tongue before it met your own, every touch of his thumb before it grazed along the column of your throat. You knew everything. You remembered everything. And you wished you could say that there was at least one thing that was different. You wished you could say that when he hummed against your mouth, your stomach didn’t twist. But unfortunately, you couldn’t say that. Because it didn’t just twist — it warped into this undistinguishable, untangleable shape; one that you didn’t think anyone could ever hope to be able to unravel. 

It was getting tighter and tighter, tying a knot around your lungs. You thought you’d have to pull away, gasp for air, and maybe ruin this whole charade the two of you were putting on, but all you needed to do was try and focus a little less on Jungkook kissing and touching you, and you’d be able to hear the buzzing chatter that was already surround you on all sides. Your names being shouted in unison breaking you apart.

You pulled back, breath heavy and uneven as you stared at his mouth, and you were at the very least happy that he looked just as uneasy, his eyes dark and hooded and reflecting something that you couldn’t pinpoint. But you weren’t able to just sit there and stare at him forever. You had to face the consequences of what you’d done, and when you turned to face the congregating mob of Lambdas and Tri Delts, complete shock resting on every single one of their faces, you knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Y/N?!” People were shouting your name, dozens of them, and you couldn’t tell who they were, but your eyes were locking with two particular people whose voices pulled you straight to them; Sana and Jennie. 

“Jungkook, what the hell?!” Someone else said in the distance. 

“Okay, literally what the fuck is going on?” Everyone was saying something along these lines to the point that it was just a sea of expletives and confusion, but it was Jimin suddenly climbing on top of the one of the couches that caught the entire room’s attention. 

“I fucking knew it!” He yelled, shirt half-unbuttoned and clearly intoxicated as he jumped up and down on the cushions. “I knew something happened with you two last night, you bitch ass liar!” The upside to that proclamation was that it made this entire scene seem a whole hell of a lot more believable. 

“What happened last night?” Jennie asked, concern embedded in her features as she and Sana pushed to the front of the crowd. 

You couldn’t blame them for these over the top reactions, especially your best friends. They figured that you would tell them anything, and you would. If you actually managed to pull off this ruse, you were going to tell Sana and Jennie the details immediately. But you had to admit, Jungkook was right. Having your best friends raw reactions was making this seem more realistic and not as far-fetched. 

You glanced at Jungkook for a second, giving a small nod that said they were just going to have to improvise this as best as they could. 

“We… There was more to the talk last night than I told you,” You said, finally responding back to the random questions being thrown in every direction. 

“Yeah, I wanted to tell you, Jimin,” Jungkook started. “But it happened so suddenly, and I knew a lot of you guys weren’t going to understand, so we wanted to talk about how we were going to go about telling you guys about this,” He said as he grabbed your hand and interlaced your fingers once more. The small gesture had people gasping as if that was more damning than making out. 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sana rattled off, hands tangling in her hair like her head was about to overheat. “You guys are back together? Y/N, you didn’t say shit about this when I talked to you this morning.”

“I… we’re not back together… yet.” You squeezed his hand, silently telling him that you knew what you were doing. You thought saying you were completely back together was less believable than saying the two of you were simply talking again. “We’re just working through things, and I didn’t wanna jinx it when I was talking to you this morning, but I was going to tell you.”

You could see the hurt flashing through her eyes at you not telling her the truth, even though it wasn’t actually the truth. You wanted to pull her in and apologize, but she would know the actual circumstances soon enough.

“This is in-fucking-sane,” Taehyung said as he also stepped to the front. “Talking? If you’re doing that, you’re basically already back together.”

“Fuck, is that why you got pissed at me for making that comment about Y/N this morning, Kook?” Baekhyun shouted from the back. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know!”

This was actually going a lot better than you had anticipated. All of these tiny coincidences of what you had told your friends or the way the two of you had acted since yesterday were building up to be a pretty convincing lie. 

“You’re fine,” Jungkook shrugged. “You didn’t know — but now you do.” That last part came out a little more harsh; a believable act from the Lambda president. 

“I just don’t get it,” Joy said from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. “You just called him a lying piece of shit literally yesterday.”

Your jaw clenched. This was the part that had worried you the most, the fact that only yesterday the two of you had portrayed a relationship that wasn’t even slightly cordial, and now you were trying to say you had jumped right back into almost being in a relationship? It was a leap, but you were going to have to convince them to take the jump. 

“I know I said that,” You started, clearing your throat to try and sound louder and more confident. “But I only said that because I was feeling hurt. We ran into each other after everything that happened yesterday and apologized. We ended up hanging out the entire night and texting all day today, and… and we talked about things that we haven’t talked about in a really, really long time.” That part was true at least. “Honestly, we weren’t going to say anything for a while, because we thought it would be too sudden for you guys, but we’ve been drinking and we kind of just forgot about how you guys might react. I’m sorry it happened like this.”

Everyone was quiet for a second. You looked around and found a slew of people that belonged to neither house recording this entire debacle. You weren’t sure where the two of you should go from here. Should the two of you stay together for the rest of the night or should you go talk to your friends? You didn’t know the best route to take. However, you and Jungkook had to be the luckiest people in the entire world, because you had a friend like Yoongi, who not only gave you ideas that were so crazy that they just might work, but also could get you out of any hiccups that his said crazy plans might run into.

“So everyone knows about the happy couple now?” Yoongi threw his arms around you and Jungkook, a beaming smile staring out at the crowd of stunned Tri Delts and Lambdas. “Perfect, because I’m shit at keeping secrets.”

“Wait, you knew?” Jennie asked. 

“Yeah, they were both texting me this morning about all of their gross, mushy feelings.” He faked a gag for good measure. “You guys know I’m friends with both of them so they wanted an impartial opinion. Plus, as their very good friend I’ve wanted them to get back together since they broke up, so I may have pushed them along in the right direction.” You weren’t sure if that was what Yoongi actually felt or if he was just saying it for whatever reason. Either way, you were actually happy because it was only adding to the air of believability. “So instead of standing there like you’re devastated, maybe seem happy for this newly rekindled love?”

“Give us a minute,” Johnny said, his tall head poking up from the crowd in the back. “We’re in shock.” 

You finally let yourself look at Jungkook again. He was already waiting for you with a small upward tilt of his lips. To everyone else it probably just looked like a smile between two people who were reconciling, but to you it was a sign of victory. The two of you did it. They believed you — at least for now. 

“Okay, can we at least talk to you in private?” Sana asked, now that the crowd was starting to disperse to simmer over this newfound information. 

“Yeah, let’s talk.” You nodded and then turned to whisper into Jungkook’s ear. “I’m telling them the truth, but no one else.”

“Yeah, I’m telling Jimin and that’s it,” He murmured. 

“Okay,” You said and then quickly pressed a small peck to his lips before dropping his hand and immediately getting dragged away by your friends before you could say a single word. 

You spent the next half hour explaining to them every detail of the Great Greek Ruse Yoongi had cooked up, and by the end of it they were completely slack jawed before disintegrating into a fit of laughter at just how insane the two of you must have been to try and pull off something like that. 

Your only response to them being that there were only a few things in life that could end a war that was saturated in as much hostility as the one between the Tri Delts and the Lambdas; love being one of them — even if it was fake.  

 ———---

The party continued on after that. Your friends not allowing you out of their sights as they bombarded you with every idea that danced through their heads about how to keep the ploy of yours and Jungkook’s fake relationship up for as long as possible, and how the two of you were going to go about hooking up with people without everyone finding out. You were actually thankful for that, because you and Jungkook hadn’t gotten a chance to work out the logistics of how you were going to act in public. 

You simply listened as Sana and Jennie amused themselves with this situation that their best friend had gotten themself involved in when you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You pulled it out, Jungkook’s contact flashed across the screen with a text. You should probably get around to changing his contact name from ‘Jungkook the Jackass’ in case anyone ever caught a glance at your phone. Meet me out front, the text said. 

“I’ll be right back,” You told Sana and Jennie as you lifted yourself off of the couch. “I’ve gotta talk to Jungkook.”

“Tell your lover I said hello!” Sana chuckled, no longer having that hurt like in her eye from earlier now that she was in on everything. 

You quickly moved through the crowd of people that was now beginning to thin as the night got later and later before stepping past the front door. You looked around for a second before you noticed Jungkook standing at the base of the driveway waiting for you. He spotted you, motioning for you to come down. You wondered what he wanted. Probably to just gloat in relief that their idiot plan actually succeeded. 

“Hey,” You whispered as you decided to stand a little bit closer to him than you normally would just in case anyone was watching. “What’s up?” 

He looked around, presumably to make sure no one was in ear shot, and when he found that the coast was clear he turned towards you, an ecstatic grin staring at you. “I can’t believe that actually worked.” 

“I can’t either. Yoongi was right. They really are like toddlers.” You laughed. 

“Yeah, I mean we don’t know for sure yet if this is actually gonna stop them from fighting, but I saw some of the members who I know have had issues in the past actually talking, so I think that’s a good sign.”

“Yeah, I saw them too.” Lambdas and Tri Delts who had pulled some pretty spectacular pranks on one another seen speaking in what looked to be a respectful manner? A complete miracle. “How’d Jimin take the news?”

“Oh, he thinks it’s completely hilarious.” Jungkook chuckled. 

You smiled. “Sana and Jennie think the same.”

“I figured they would. Though seeing them that pissed off was kind of funny.” He paused, looking off into the distance before shoving his hand into his pockets. “But anyways, the reason I called you out here was to give you this.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket and made a fist in front of you. You opened your palm to receive whatever he was trying to give you; a single key suddenly falling into your grasp. “I have a spare in my car, but that’s the key to my apartment — or I guess our apartment now.” He laughed, scratching awkwardly at the back of his neck. 

You had been so focused on the fake dating aspect of this predicament that you had almost forgotten about your living situation. You held it up between the two of you. You couldn’t believe this was actually happening. You were about to move in with your ex, while everyone except for your best friends believed that you were back together. 

“Are we really gonna do this?” You finally asked. 

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to make it work. I think the past two days showed that we can be around each other and not act crazy.”

You agreed that things had definitely shifted, and not just because you had to pretend to be in a relationship now. You wanted to think that you could make it work, that you could put your petty, bitter ways behind you.

And when you told Jungkook that you felt the exact same way about making things work before leaving to go home for one of your last few nights in the Tri Delt house, you truly meant what you had said to him… But sometimes situations happen, and as they say, old habits die hard. 

--------

three days later

You were completely out of breath as you climbed the stairs to your new apartment building, about a dozen duffle bags filled with your various belongings were wrapped around your body as you tried to keep your phone smashed between your shoulder and your ear. 

“Why’d you decide to move out early?” Jennie whined from the otherside of the line. “Did you wanna get away from us that bad?”

You tried to muster a laugh as you attempted to make it up the final few steps without passing out. “Of course I wanted to stay longer, but both of my classes got cancelled, and I’d rather just get it over with than have to deal with it on a Friday like I was going to.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” She huffed. “But I’m still not happy about you having to live with the devil’s spawn.”

You tsked at her. “Hey, we’re all trying to get along now, remember?” 

“I know… But I’m still acting like a bitch to Jimin, I don’t care,” She added quickly. 

“Well, that one I’m okay with.” You chuckled. “But I just got to my apartment, so I’ll call you back in a little bit, okay?”

“Okay, talk to you later.” And then the line went dead and you were fishing for the key that Jungkook had handed you outside of Kappa Sigma on Saturday night. 

You couldn’t believe it had only been three days, but in those three days things had been going okay, actually. There had been no incidents involving either the Tri Delt or Lambda house, and after the everyday, non-stop antics from the past few years, that was as close to divine intervention as you could get. So yes, you could say that maybe you had developed a slight bit of optimism. Everything was working out at the sorority, you actually had a place to live — things truly were going well. But you should’ve known that when things were going well, Jeon Jungkook was always there to throw a wrench in your happiness, because as you wiggled the key inside of the lock and pushed your way inside, the last thing you had ever wanted to see in your entire life was staring right back at you. 

Your ex-boyfriend, who publicly was once again your actual boyfriend, whom you still had occasional feelings of longing for, was currently balls-deep in a girl on his living room couch — which was now also your living room couch.

The door slammed against the wall before you could stop it, both of their terrified faces suddenly turning to you as they immediately yanked a blanket over their naked bodies. 

“Jesus Christ, Y/N!” Jungkook yelled. “You said you were coming Friday!” 

You couldn’t help it. The tiny, petty demon you had tried to squash down in size over the past few days was suddenly bubbling over at the flare of emotions ricocheting inside of your head. Your teeth gritted together, eyes cutting daggers across his skin as you forced a saccharine smile as fake as this relationship. 

“Well, honey, I’m home now.”

[anthrogothic]

Body/Prision

so, here we go to the second part of the fic. ours has been exciting to write this. I hope you like it <3 (originally written in Brazilian Portuguese. sorry for any error).

Third part here

Pairing: Echo x f!Reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: Mentions of trauma, anxiety, panic, a little violence but nothing much and ~some physical mentions~ (and echo being a baby who needs care)

Heading towards the lab, you went through documents and reports on your datapad connected to the data network, finding the files of your newly known atypical clones, seeing that there were still three to meet in person.

One of them, with a rather traumatic past in your opinion. Another look like someone who is difficult to deal with. And lastly, one similar to your fellow nerds from college. Already imagining your scientific conversations.

You find your sweet auxiliary Omega standing at the door of the lab. She is also a clone, young and adorable. With short hair, the same color as the sun (if you remember the last time you saw one).

But with Jango Fett's pure DNA in her cells. Only you and Nala know this. Your conscience always brings you that painful twinge whenever the memory occurs to you.

"Y/N! I was looking for you!"

The girl came running towards you, with a scared face, taking your right hand and pulling you with her.

"Hey Omega, Stars, what's up?"

You almost shuffled your legs trying not to fall.

"I've been sent to help with clone ratings today! But Echo is very upset and I can't get him to calm down!"

Before you could ask for further explanation, you were already being dragged to the door of the room.

Stopping at the door, Omega pushed you inside when you spotted the trembling clone sitting with his back to the door, on top of the gurney, aiming his blaster at the three doctors ahead.

"Echo! I found her!"

The girl's voice was a mixture of relief and determination. The other three doctors in the room are clearly pissed off, hands up in front of the clone.

"Y/N isn't even a doctor, Omega!"

He yelled one of them, straightening and clasping his hands at his sides.

"You should have brought security!" yelled the other.

"She'll do it! She is better than you all!"

Screamed the little girl, pointing a finger at the three. You put a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to calm down. Gently you addressed the clone, froze as he stared into your eyes.

It was him… that clone whose record you were horrified to read. He was pale. With metallic accesses on his shaved head, a cybernetic prosthesis that covered his ears, his right forearm also cybernetic and thinner than most strong clones you know. Only the legs, also robotic, were covered by his blacks. His eyes were frightened and his limbs locked together at his sides, his good hand, shaking, still holding the blaster.

"A-Are you Doctor Y/N?"

His voice was deep, shaky and fraught with anxiety.

You, already with your heart sinking at his state, approached slowly, removing your white jumpsuit and leaving it on a small metal table nearby, catching the clone's attention with your tight black outfit.

"Yes… Echo, right? I assume you have a panic attack due to your accident… you shouldn't be brought into environments like this."

Your voice was calm and sweet. Looking at doctors with dislike in your last words. Echo looked away, clearly uncomfortable. The hand that was armed, wavering, and your hand slowly landing on top of the blaster, lowering it slowly, the clone giving way.

Suddenly one of the already impatient doctors approached abruptly and grabbed your shoulder from behind you.

"Let's go! We don't have time for theaters! Sedation didn't work this time, but nothing a dose would not do well on rebel clones!"

Spotting the syringe the doctor was pulling out of his lab coat, Omega jumped on his arm as she screamed. You turned, startled, seeing the fist that the doctor was already closing to hit the girl. In a rush of adrenaline, you punched him in the nose, he staggered backward, and Omega took the syringe from his hand. The other two came to help the doctor, who pushed them away claiming he was fine, looking at you with hate.

"You're in big trouble, girl! And you too, stuck-up scientist!"

His voice really was scary. But suddenly, Echo's voice came from behind you like thunder.

"Do something with them, and you'll have to come to terms with me and my squad."

His voice, full of hate and gravelly. His arm trembled as he aimed the blaster at the doctor, finger on the trigger.

"Not to mention the possible murder he was going to cause with so much sedative in a clone with a body not yet fully mapped to know the consequences."

Snorted Omega right beside you, all proud with the syringe in her hand.

"Uh, Nala Se will love to hear that."

You said, crossing your arms and looking at the doctor in defiance.

The attacking doctor flinched, growling as he left the room. The other two fearful:

"Please, it's our first week here. Don't hand us over to Nala Se. We just obey orders."

Begged one of the doctors, this one was much younger than the aggressor, probably doing residency with another colleague.

"Withdraw then. And let the rest of the team know the behavior of that bantha in the lab coat! He doesn't deserve to be your supervisor. He is the one who has to be supervised!"

Your voice was authoritative and even. All that remained was for the men to nod and leave the room.

Echo threw himself onto the gurney, breathing wildly and running a hand across his forehead. You stopped in front of the clone and slowly sat down beside him on the stretcher. Instructing him to take a few deep breaths, then slowly exhale for a few more, repeatedly. Echo tried to follow your directions, faltering a few times but picking up his pace eventually.

"There is! We make an amazing team! I told you, Echo!"

Omega's voice trying to bring relief to the tense environment. She continued.

"Y/N is the best! She will be nice to you!"

You, realizing the responsibility that Omega gave you, nodded with the girl's words.

"Well… I'm not exactly a doctor, as we've heard… but I know enough. You can trust me, Echo."

The clone looked at you with less awe, bearing in mind what you did.

"I- I feared that I would go through the physical evaluations again. I know they are mandatory, but... they remind me of the Citadel..."

His gaze roamed the metalized room, filled with stretchers, huge equipment, and light panels.

The doctors just didn't care and sedated him whenever it became impossible to assess him. Putting gadgets into his body, pushing him into big gadgets and treating his cybernetics like pieces of scrap metal.

"I don't want to be a problem again... I know I have obligations as a soldier, but I can't be okay here!"

He squeezed the biceps of his other arm with his hand, trying to stay in control as he felt a new wave of anxiety.

You gently placed your hand on his back, feeling him recoil involuntarily.

"Unfortunately it's standard procedure… but if you promise me secrecy, we can only do the basic assessment, and it could be in your room, a theoretically cozy place for you. I can do that from now on if you want."

Echo sighed, relieved at the option before looking at you again. His expression is lighter. Omega already excited to see her clone brother a little more relaxed. You smiled and calmly guided him to the dorm.

All the way the three of you were shot with stares and comments. You scolding each one with your furious glare, Omega stuck out his tongue at the attackers, while Echo lowered his head every time. His tall stature, allowing you to see his depressed expression from below.

Omega opened the door as you arrived soon after, still next to Echo. Omega pointed to the bunk and you asked permission to sit, Echo, growing more and more stunned by your sweet attitude toward him, nodded.

Placing the small silver suitcase you brought along on the floor, you took Echo by the hand, inviting him to sit beside you.

You asked permission with each movement and touch the soldier's body, trying to be gentle, as if his body were the most sensitive of porcelain. You were curious about his cybernetics, but you chose not to bring it up.

Omega was sitting by your suitcase, legs crossed on the floor, handing out all the little devices you needed to gauge the clone's basic physical parameters, but never looking away from him.

You explained what you were doing and why, warned of any movement or approach of the small devices and their purpose. Echo just nodded, getting a lot more confident in you.

You can't help but notice the tight, visible muscles. The heat radiating from the clone's body. The sharp, attractive shape of his body in that tight black outfit. Feeling the slight reactions whenever your fingertips touched him. The shy look he gave you.

Omega looked uncomfortable, pacing back and forth when you were wearing the last device on Echo's body, checking his heart function.

"Omega, what is it?"

Echo said low but firm, surprising you by the contrast to the voice that trembled earlier.

"I lied to Nala Se, saying that I went to get more supplies with Y/N, that it would take her time to get to the lab, so I could take her to you. If the confusion gets to her ears, she'll find out."

Omega ran her hand constantly over the back of her neck and through hair, the little eyes fearful.

You widened your eyes at the girl, remembering that you was requested earlier and for her boldness with the doctor (as if you didn't know her). Already trying to devise a plan to cover up the improvised procedure with Echo.

"Hm... I can talk to some clone friends to claim that we left Kamino for a few hours… I don't want Nala Se mad at us. And about the fight, well, we just defended ourselves."

You said with a smug smile on your full lips, forgetting your hand resting on Echo's covered chest, your hand already warming the spot. He watched your hand standing there, your skin seemingly smooth, the fingers small and delicate, rising and falling with his breath and causing a strange sensation deep in his racing heart.

The way you welcomed him and tried to keep him safe. You defended him. Just like your brothers before it all happened. He hadn't experienced this in a long time. But like a knife, he slashed his thoughts and threw them aside. He no longer allowed himself to wander through such things, after all, what kind of relationship could he have, being like that.

He came back to consciousness with your movement, withdrawing you hand and standing up, Omega already picking up the small suitcase from the floor.

"A-Are we done yet?"

A slight disappointment was clear in the clone's voice. You crouched down between his spread thighs, looking him in the eye, giving the clone's eyes access to your light cleavage and your silvery cord that went between your breasts.

"We've finished the basics, Echo. You are strong and healthy. I'll be back to do the rest tomorrow, after my shift, if you're comfortable."

Your eyes were like adorable little twinkling stars. So comforting and sincere, just like you, all the time with him. He nodded, a slight smile breaking his pale lips, bringing a slight, sweet swell to his heart.

You stood up, carefully taking the clone's hand, pulling a pen out of your pinned hair, and jotting down your personal communicator code in the palm of his hand.

"Let me know anything, Echo. Drink water and do the breathing exercises before going to bed."

Smiling, you turned around, heading for the door, being caught up by Omega just after she gave your brother a hug. The door closed as you remembered to scold the brave little girl for her attitude earlier.

Echo was left alone. Only with the sound of his heart pounding in his ears in the dim light in the room. The raindrops hitting the glass.

He put his hand where yours was moments ago, reading your code by pulling his palm away from his chest. He was calm. Something impossible after days of evaluations.

But beyond that, he felt real, alive, and eager to see you the next day, as much as his guts and gears wanted to say otherwise.

[talas-starlight]

Lover - Percy Jackson x Fem!reader

SUMMARY: You’ve crushed on Percy for years, him on the other hand? It’s more of a recent development. That doesn’t mean he likes you any less.

(Older Percy & reader - they're like 21) ALSO idk perfectly what happens in trials of apollo so let’s just ✨ignore that ✨ & this isn’t sexual despite what the title may suggest

WORD COUNT: 2.7k

A/N: hi friends this is for @fromthewatertribe​ ‘s 1k follower event!! Im sure most of you have but if not definitely check out their work!! Its soooo good I promises and ugh their Leo fic?! *chefs kiss* anyway idk if this is any good oop I tried

PROMPTS USED: 9 & 11. (they’re bolded)

WARNINGS: swearing, mentions of ptsd & anxiety, kissing stuff lol ish eh idk, mentions of percabeth breakup?? Does that count?

MASTERLIST: here!

An obnoxiously red and orange light filters into the motel room, even with the old and tattered curtains closed, the motels’ sign conquers its way through the fabric. Sighing you flop yourself on the faded, probably twenty-year-old bed. Nose scrunching as some dust raises into the air, consequently letting out a sneeze.

“Bless you.”

“Did you just bless yourself?”

You winced at the reminder someone else was in the room, exhausted after the two-day travel to a motel room in the middle of whoop. “Yeah…”

“You really are something, aren’t you?” At the calm amusement evident in his tone, your heart rate began to slow down. He didn’t think you were crazy.

You let out a breathy laugh. Wow, I wonder how those stains got on the ceiling? Lava monster perhaps? Are those even a thing? Probably.

“Yeah… well, someone has to Jackson.” You glance towards him, he’s sitting at the small, poor excuse of a dining table. Heart rate picking up again as he gives you a small smile, already having his eyes on you this entire time.

“If I don’t, who will?” you continue.

“Touché. In that case, I’ll do the blessing from now on; you deserve a break.” Shooting you a wink. Instantly feeling flustered at his action, you fight the urge to cover your face with your hands.

Oh, Percy, if only you knew you’ve already been blessing me for the past six years.

“Even say…. If we’re in a battle?” you muse.

He gets up from the table and walks towards you. Once he reaches your side of the queen bed, he kneels, grabbing the hand closest to him, while putting his other on top of his heart. “Oh, y/n l/n, even with my dying breath.”

With that, you burst into a fit of laughter. This boy and his sarcasm.

You play along. “Hmmm what a great tale that will be. The one and only, Perseus Jackson, spending his final breath on sweet old y/n l/n. How dare you burden me with such a legacy to live up to! They’ll think I’m your lover, you know. Demigods all around the world will come searching for me, just to gawk at the beauty that stole your heart.”

At this point, Percy has fallen from his kneeling position, completely lying on the ground, overcome with laughter.

“This isn’t funny, Percy! How am I supposed to live with the guilt of knowing I don’t live up to their expectations?! I’m hardly a warrior either, oh the disappointment.”

Gasping for breath, he manages to find his words, “Don’t stress it y/n, you’re plenty beautiful. I just know they’ll all be stunned by your beauty. Don’t sell yourself short… trust me, once they see you, they’ll be envious that my lover was so enraptured by me that you’ll never be able to love again.”

Now it was your turn to laugh. Would that be so bad?

Gasping for breath, eventually, both of your laughs die down, leaving you both breathing heavily. “C’mon Percy, let’s get some sleep. Its going to be a long week of scouting for demigods if we’re tired.”

As Percy nods, silently getting up to go to the bathroom to change, but he can’t help but think to himself that he wouldn’t mind if he was stuck in the middle of nowhere with you. No matter how long.

It had been three days since you and Percy arrived in the town you continuously fail to remember the name of. It wasn’t the only thing you were failing at doing either, because it seemed that for some unknown reason, the school that was supposed to arrive here for their camping trip still hadn’t shown up.

“We should send an Iris message to camp. It doesn’t look like they’re showing up any time soon, and by the looks of things, we’re going to need to have them send someone for more supplies.”

Percy sighed, looking out the window. Was this the opportunity he was looking for? Maybe… he knew he’d be a stupid fool to pass it up. Swept up in his new thoughts, he never replied. “Percy?”

Without even looking at you, he nodded, turning to go to the bathroom, “Yeah sure, I’ll go into the bathroom and make the call.”

Humming in acknowledgement as he left the room, you couldn’t help but stare at the spot he was previously standing in from your position on the edge of the bed. He doesn’t look too good.

For such a great hero, you wondered if this quest was doing him any good. After the first day of scouting the campsite, it was obvious he was already antsy to get home. It seemed no matter how light you tried to keep the atmosphere; it was like something was weighing on his mind. Mostly when you were both in the motel room together, you supposed it was because he barely went on quests nowadays. Understandably so, after all, who could blame him for wanting a break and spend time with his family? This made you feel immensely guilty since you could never give him words of truly understanding what he’s gone through. You’d arrived at camp a few days before him, yet over the years you were never sent onto a major quest. It upset you greatly at first, but you grew to appreciate your time at camp.

Before your mind could delve further into its guilt and self-pity, Percy re-entered the room, sitting next to you with a huff. “It’s all good. They’re going to send Leo with some extra supplies, and he’ll help us for the rest of this quest.”

Accidentally getting swept up in how pretty his eyes were, you tensed up, realising he was staring at you expectantly. Quickly nodding and clearing your throat you looked down to your lap, “ahh, okay that sounds good. I guess we’ll have time to sightsee or something…”

Sightsee? Really y/n? There’s nothing in this stupid town!

An awkward silence filled the room. Due to your previous thoughts, you were unsure how to proceed. This was the first time you were alone with him and had nothing else better to do.

Percy on the other hand, found that the obvious swooning look in your eyes was his green light. “Uhhh actually y/n?”

Oh, please don’t ask me why I basically just drooled all over you for NO FUCKING REASON. Snapping your head back up to look at him, you desperately tried to ignore the pounding in your chest that managed to find its way into your ears, “yeah?”

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

Holy shit he knows, doesn’t he? He knows I’ve liked him this entire time, and he’s going to reject me even though I never even said anything!

“I uhm… look I know we’re kind of on a small quest and all but technically we ARE waiting for Leo and the school to arrive before we continue… and you know we kind of have like at least a day or two until then so I was just wondering…”

“Yeah, Percy? You can just say it, you know; I really don’t mind.” I do mind, but please get this over with before I cry. With your heart rate increasing at an alarming rate and face heating up so much, you wanted Zeus to blast you right then and there.

Percy felt like he was about to puke, he’d never felt this nervous before. Yeah, he had his moments growing up with Annabeth, after all, she was his first girlfriend, but this was different. He wanted this to be different. Sure, he never regretted their relationship, and yes, he knew he’d always remember everything they went through- what he went through but… he wanted a clean slate. He desperately just wanted nothing more than to know that there was at least one person in his life that wasn’t constantly fighting for their lives—someone who didn’t have to live with as much trauma as him.

“W- would you maybe... Gods, do you want to have dinner tomorrow night? Maybe at the diner further into the town?”

HOLY FUCK.

He was interested and honestly, you were over the moon. Breathing out the breath you were holding in, you fail to hide the smile on your face, “yeah, I’d like that.”

His face instantly broke out into a wide smile matching yours. “Wait really?”

Unable to hold back a small giggle, you nodded, “yeah, Percy.”

Staring at yourself in the mirror, you admire the blue dress you found in a charity shop this morning while Percy was sleeping. I can’t believe this is happening.

If you had old even more awkward 15-year-old y/n that you were about to go on a date with the boy you admired from your table during meals (when he was there), you would’ve laughed. Mainly because at that point, he didn’t even know you existed, only having your first conversation during the battle of Manhattan when you were helping Will.

Okay… lets do this.

Walking out of the bathroom, Percy is already sitting on the bed in his usual t-shirt, jeans and converse waiting for you.

“Woah… You look uh-” Never finishing his statement, worry bubbled in your chest.

“Oh, uhm… I- I can change if you’d like?

Jumping up from his place on the bed, his head shook quickly. “NO! N-no don’t do that.”

“Ah uhm… okay? Sorry, it’s just I saw it in a store earlier and uhm… it looked nice, and I just thought that maybe it’d be cool to maybe put in a bit more effort? I mean… not that you don’t look good or anything! I love what you wear, you always look nice! but I don’t know… I don’t get to look nice much and… I just wanted it to be kinda special since we don’t get to… well our lives don’t really grant us these opportunities very often. Or at least for me anyway…”

“Hey, no, it’s okay! I totally get it… you look beautiful.” After hearing your small confession and thought to prepare for your date, his heart felt like it was melting. How could someone be so thoughtful when all he was doing was taking you to a rundown diner who probably only served mediocre burgers?

A small wave of guilt washed through him. Feeling like he would never be able to truly sweep you off your feet or give you that sweet, tooth-rotting love and affection, every day, just like you deserved. After everything, he knew he could try his best but even then, he’d never be able to hide the anxiety or PTSD he had acquired over the years.

You looked up to him with a smirk. “Glad to hear it, lover.”

Cheeks heating up at your comment, he laughed trying to play it off as cool as possible. Taking a step closer to you and flattening his shirt as if it would wipe away its wrinkles, he held out his arm. “Shall we, lover?”

Matching his level of fake sophistication, you linked your arm with his, “with pleasure.”

And with that, you both walked out of the motel, with hopeful spirits. To any onlooker, you both looked like normal young adults.  

“Where the fuck are you?!” Percy’s voice boomed from his end of the phone, supposedly made without any monster risks.  

You winced, slowly and cautiously walking your way out of the forest. The once clean dress was now covered in dirt and had few tears. It went perfectly with your dishevelled, twig and leaf infested hair.

“Space doesn’t really exist, so I’m nowhere. Life is built on social constructs and, since there’s no way to know if we’re really alive or if it’s just an illusion, I can’t be anywhere.”

“Y/n.”

Okay, he was concerned, and you couldn’t blame him. After all, how did you expect him to react after getting separated from you as you were chased into the woods by an Empousai after dinner?

Romance at its finest.  

“Yeah, sorry, I got caught up, but I’ll be there soon.”

Ending the call, you couldn’t help but feel guilty as you replayed the events that just occurred in your head. The date was amazing. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was still sweet. Which led you both to go on one of those cliché night walks. That was nice too, until two Empousai came out of the forest and decided to attack you both.

Percy being…. Well Percy, he swiftly got out riptide and didn’t hesitate to defend the two of you. You, on the other hand, were completely caught off guard only just noticing as one of them turned their focus on you while Percy was distracted.

And what did you do like the perfectly trained demigod you were?

You ran like a headless chicken into the forest.

After a few minutes of running, they tackled you into the ground. Trying and failing failed to shove them off, you suddenly remembered the dagger you strapped to your thigh under your dress and stabbed them.

Clearly not your proudest moments.

Finally making it back to the room, you unlocked the door and let out a huff of relief. “Well… that date didn’t go as expected.”

Percy, took in your current state staring at you with wide eyes… but he didn’t say anything. Is he angry at me? Fuck now he’s going to call off whatever this is, all because I’m an incompetent idiot! I knew I should have tried harder in the sparring activities at camp.

Feeling highly intimidated under his intense stare, you began to play with the hem of your dress, voice going quiet. “Look I uh- I know it probably wasn’t the date you were hoping for but I uhm-“

Before you could even finish your poor excuses, your words are soon lost entirely. Percy stalked towards you with a determined look on his face. Reaching you, he firmly placed his hands on either side of your face, smashing his lips onto yours.

You let out a small, muffled squeak of surprise as your eyebrows shot up into Olympus. Yet unlike your fighting skills, this was something you managed to adapt to at a faster pace.

Eyes fluttering closed, you fisted his shirt, pulling him closer.

Please don’t let this be a dream.

Because Gods forbid if this your one chance, you weren’t letting this moment end that easily.  

Moving your lips against his, the urgency he came onto you with slowly began to dissipate, feeling his soft, but slightly chapped lips move against yours. Deepening the kiss, you let go of his shirt, gliding your hands up his tense torso and along his strong arms, eventually placing your hands on his wrists that were on either side of your face. Applying a small amount of pressure to the inside of his wrists with your thumbs, his mind began to drift into a calming haze as you softly stroked them. It was almost as if you were able to brush away the worry that bubbled in him when he got back to the room, only to find you weren’t there. Yet here you were… safe.

It was intoxicating and calming having him so close to you, his entire being overcoming your senses to a point where you fought the urge to let out a small whimper when he pulled away.

Resting his forehead against yours, chest rising and falling heavily flushed against you; he continued to hold you in his warm embrace. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” He whispers, breath fanning against your face.

Because as much as Percy was afraid he’d let you down, he knew no matter what you were worth every single risk.

“…but I’m going to have to teach you a few things when we get back to camp. We can’t have my lover running away in battle all the time, how will I know if you sneeze?”

Letting out a snort, you playfully hit his chest. “Anything for you, lover.”

A soft smile graces his face as he looks at you adoringly as the word takes on a whole new meaning… because you were right. He’d do anything.

A/N: whelp! i hope you all liked it :)) its not perfect but oh well? 

also i dont have a percy jackson taglist but i gotta tag the holy grail of fic writers for this fandon eep @cabinofimagines​   🙈 🙈

Divider credit: @biskit-rising​

[andypantsx3]

war paint | 9 | thief

pairing: Bakugou Katsuki / Reader

length: 27,765 words / 10 chapters

summary: Desperate times force you to disguise yourself and join the kingsguard. When a suspicious string of crimes strike the palace, however, Captain Katsuki Bakugou starts paying extra close attention. (spin off of in cinders)

tags: mulan AU, secret identity, romance, reader-insert

warnings: aged up characters, some violence, eventual smut

“You look far too happy this early in the morning,” Kaminari commented sourly over breakfast, spooning aimlessly around in his bowl. His hair was a mess as it was most mornings, standing up on end like he’d been struck by lightning, and there were deep shadows under his eyes. He looked like he’d just rolled out of bed.

Sero took a seat at his elbow, looking you over in bemusement. “Yeah, normally you’re asleep in your porridge, L/N. What gives?”

You hid a private smile. For the last week or so, you’d been kept thoroughly occupied by your captain and hadn’t seen much of your two friends, but the week had been something like the happiest of your life. You'd spent every day tangled up in Bakugou, training, talking, teasing. It seemed right that Sero and Kaminari would comment on your mood, since you also felt like satisfaction was spilling out of you, bursting through cracks in your skin like sunlight.

Maybe it was. Maybe they could really see it.

“Just in a good mood,” you hummed, shoveling porridge into your mouth so you didn’t have to follow up.

Kaminari eyed you suspiciously. “You do something to Nishimura? Put a cow pie in his bed?”

That wrenched a laugh out of you. “No, why would I?”

“Uh, maybe because he’s a shit to you,” Kaminari replied through a mouthful of his breakfast.

“Tit for tat,” Sero mused thoughtfully, chuckling.

You made a face. You’d quite honestly been too occupied with Bakugou over the last week to give much thought to Nishimura, though you certainly couldn’t admit as much to Kaminari and Sero. Nishimura hadn’t ceased his bad behavior, but you’d been spending so much time away from him, either on the training field for extra practice, or practicing something altogether different over the top of Bakugou’s desk. Or up against the wall. Or -- one memorable midnight -- back in the baths where the captain demonstrated very thoroughly what he’d wanted with you the night he’d caught you sneaking around.

You’d pretty much forgotten all about Nishimura.

You listened with half an ear as the conversation wandered away from your good mood, shifting to the subject of Lord Jiro’s daughter. Kaminari had tripped over her in the hall earlier this week, and he was now given to waxing poetic whenever she came up. You finished up breakfast as he practically spouted sonnets over the shapes of her earlobes, leaving him with a comment of encouragement as you set back off for the barracks to fetch your sword belt before drills.

As you turned the corner into your room, however, you collided with what felt like a boulder rolling out from within. You jerked backwards clutching your nose where you'd crunched it against the stone, winded by the impact. You looked up in surprise, finding Hasumi, Nishimura's idiot friend, instead. His tall frame filled the doorway to your quarters, broad shoulders thick with impossible muscle, and his eyes widened a little as he caught sight of you.

You looked up at him in question, but he merely grunted something offensive and sidestepped you, making sure to knock one brawny shoulder into yours as he did. He was large, even taller than the captain, and he nearly bowled you over with the force of it.

You stumbled back into the wall, biting down on a swear. That was going to leave a bruise.

Hasumi swept quickly down the hall, not waiting to hear anything you might have to say about his rough treatment. Your temper boiled, and thought about calling after him as you watched him irritably, but thought better of it. If he was here in your building, then that meant Nishimura was back in your room and you would need all the energy you possessed to deal with that. You took a steadying breath, resigning yourself to at least thirty seconds of similar unpleasantries. You wondered if Hasumi’s aggression was any indication of the kind of mood Nishimura was in.

To your surprise, however, the room was completely empty as you stepped inside. Had Hasumi been here to sneak another animal into your bed? You whipped your sheets from your mattress, but found no trace of anything inside, just the worn gray cotton of your pallet cover.

You felt your eyebrows draw together, but you remade your bed, then retrieved your sword and belt, buckling it around your waist. Maybe Nishimura had sent him in to fetch something. At times, Hasumi seemed more like Nishimura’s little peon and less like his friend. You often wondered if Nishimura was even capable of making friends without a shred of human decency in his body.

You thought on it as you walked to the training pitch for morning drills, something about the interaction with Hasumi niggling at the back of your mind. Had he seemed a little flustered when he’d seen you?

The thought was wiped clean from your mind when you arrived at the training field, however, as Bakugou appeared to have replaced your usual morning instructor. The sight of him this early, hair still a little rumpled from evening activities that you may or may not have had something to do with, filled your brain with a satisfied buzz that overrode all capacity for other thought.

Bakugou furthered your distraction with his usual merciless direction, running the battalion through a series of exercises worse than Ojiro had ever set you to. Your focus narrowed only to breathing and keeping upright as he pushed your battalion to your limits. He seemed to enjoy the sight of your suffering especially, red eyes following you around the training field, hungrily tracing the droplets of sweat down your neck where they disappeared into your collar.

By the lunch bell, you could swear you would be feeling the effects of the grain bags you’d hefted in your shoulders for weeks, would be running laps in your sleep for days afterwards. You collapsed in a pile with Sero and Kaminari as soon as drills ended.

“He’s a demon,” Kaminari whined, a tangled heap in the grass. “Why is he like this?”

Sero panted quietly, chest rising and falling in quick little huffs. “He needs to get laid or something.”

You choked. Instantly, Kaminari and Sero’s heads whipped around to stare at you.

“Uh, choked on my own spit,” you coughed out quickly, panicking. “Can’t breathe after all that.”

They seemed to buy it, relaxing back into the prickly grass. You flopped back as well, hating the way your sweat seemed to pool in the band of your chest bindings. Tonight was definitely a bath night; Bakugou would have to be left to his own devices for an evening. He deserved it after the hell he’d just put you through.

You barely roused yourself in time to make it to lunch before the mess hall closed, then swept off to patrol. You were paired with Nishimura again and the evening was expectedly unpleasant. Nishimura seemed more aggressive than usual, needling you with an abandon that was frankly alarming. Now more than ever, he was acting like he had nothing to lose, launching from disturbing comment immediately into the next with hardly any space for a breath. You wondered idly if it would be abusing your relationship with Bakugou to say anything about it -- you resolved to think on it more for the next few days before coming to any plan of action.

After patrol, you climbed into bed with the rest of your bunkmates and waited for them to drift off before stealing back out of the room to the servants’ baths where you washed off the day’s training. An anxious feeling settled over you as you bathed, and you hurried through the motions quicker than usual, not stopping to enjoy the relaxing heat of the pools as you usually did.

The anxious feeling followed you as you dried yourself and dressed, floating after you as you slipped through the dark castle grounds. As you arrived back at the barracks, it became clear why. The barracks were no longer dark, the windows glowing with the light of hundreds of candles.

A random bunk check.

You swore, tearing across the field to your building. You didn’t know the consequences of being found out of bed, but you didn’t like to think of what they would be. Ojiro usually scheduled and led the bunk checks, and while nicer than Bakugou, you’d witnessed enough of his fury to be afraid.

Only, it wasn’t just Ojiro in the doorway of your building.

You pulled up short when you noticed that all of the soldiers that housed with you were lined up in strict rows outside, one notable gap where you should have stood. Heads whipped up as you were spotted. From the far side of the field, Sero gave you an anxious look. Ojiro stood on the steps to your building, and behind him, silhouetted in the light of the doorway, was Bakugou.

Even in the dim light, you could see the line of his broad shoulders was tense, and his fists were clenched where they hung at his sides. Something white was clutched in his left hand. His expression was hard and a stone sank in your stomach. He looked angrier than you’d ever seen him and you couldn’t understand. Surely he’d have guessed you’d have gone to bathe?

“Stay where you are,” Ojiro ordered you over the sound of sliding metal. You watched in horror as he drew his sword, jerking it up to point at you. The air seemed to crackle with roiling energy and a sick feeling slid over you.

You froze, heart beating wildly, staring at Ojiro's sword. Was this protocol? Was it standard to discharge someone at sword point, or was this more? Could you have been figured out just by your absence?

“Ojiro?” you asked the officer in confusion. He frowned.

“Come quietly, thief,” he said, “Lay down your sword and no blood need be spilled.”

Apprehension shot through you like a bolt of lightning. Thief? Because you were out of bed after hours? That seemed like a leap.

“Ojiro, I’m not the thief,” you held your hands up at chest height, opening your palms in the universal gesture for peace. “I apologize for being out of bed and I accept my punishment, but I haven't stolen anything--”

“Explain this, then,” Bakugou’s rough voice bit into the dark night. His expression was stormy as he thrust out the item he’d been clutching in his hand. From this distance, you could make out what appeared to be a tidy letter scrolled on fine parchment in a dark ink. You felt your brow wrinkle in confusion as your eyes traced over the parchment. You couldn’t read it from where you stood but -- your eyes caught on a large varicolored marking at the bottom of the page and your heart leapt into your mouth. Though murky in the darkness and several paces away, it was quite likely the seal of the Todoroki prince.

“I don’t understand,” you said helplessly. Your mind swam with uncertainties. Why did he think you had anything to do with a missive from Prince Shouto?

“This was found underneath your mattress,” Ojiro said. His voice was hard. “It’s the missing treaty from the prince’s study.”

Found underneath your mattress? A feeling of horror settled over you as you flashed back to earlier that morning, where you’d almost collided with Hasumi coming from your rooms.

Hasumi.

All of sudden, things seemed to snap into place. The red flash under the thief’s cloak when you’d fought him in the master of coin’s office - it had been a soldier’s uniform. The pause the shadowy figure had given when he’d caught sight of Nishimura, the way he’d fled rather than fought the two of you. It had been Hasumi.

The thief was Hasumi and he was framing you.

“Ojiro, Captain, I didn’t--! I wouldn’t--!” you started, but an angry noise from Bakugou stopped you.

He leapt from the steps to your building, stalking across the field. He moved like a panther, padding aggressively toward cornered prey. His hand went to his sword, and you barely managed to draw yours in time to block him. The force of his strike nearly tore the sword from your hand and you only just managed to hold on to it, stumbling back from him.

“The debt,” he spat, “Your family’s debt, I should have fucking known.”

He raised his blade again, striking at you like a viper. You blocked him again, darting back out of his reach.

“Captain, I didn’t do it--” you said, but he cut you off with another overhand strike that seemed to carry every ounce of power he had in him. His blade slid along yours with a horrible grinding sound, catching on the grip and almost ripping it from your grasp.

“I thought I understood all the sneaking off,” he shouted, “Thought I had you all figured out.”

You parried another strike from him. “I didn’t do it! I wouldn’t do that to you!”

“Yes you fucking would,” Bakugou shouted, thrusting again. His anger seemed to make him quicker and deadlier that you’d ever seen him before. “You thought you were tricking me this whole time, disguised as a fucking man. You had no idea I’d figured you out until I told you. You were happy to keep on fooling me, fooling everyone in this battalion. What’s one more deception when you've already been lying for months?”

You growled in anger, your temper rising. Your vision tinged red at the edges and your sword felt almost hot in your hands. “I’m not the thief, Katsuki! You're being fucking stupid!”

You aimed a blow at his shoulder but he caught it, moving with almost superhuman speed to throw you off. He whirled around and before you could blink, brought his blade down on yours with incredible strength. As your arm went wide with the force of the strike, his blade whipped up to your chin, as it had all those months ago when he’d fought you and Nishimura.

“Drop your sword,” he said, pressing the flat of his blade into the soft skin of your chin, tipping your face up to his. Your breathing shallowed and you stilled.

It was quiet a long moment, the only sound the huffs of your breath. Over Bakugou’s shoulder, you could see the lines of the other soldiers, Ojiro’s long shadow in the glow of the candles. Sero looked beside himself, twitching like he itched to move, to run. Whether to your aide or away you didn’t know.

“Drop it,” Bakugou repeated. You hesitated and his blade pressed harder into your chin. You let the grip of your blade fall through your loose fingers, heard it clank softly in the grass.

As soon as you had, Bakugou moved, grabbing your arm and twisting to wrench you in front of his chest. His sword pressed diagonally across your shoulder.

“You’re under arrest for treason against the crown,” he growled into your ear. His tone dripped with disdain and his grip tightened painfully. Then, turning to Ojiro he barked out, “Get them back in bed. Show’s over.”

You had only moments to cast one last panicked look at Sero before you were moving, a rough hand pressing you forward. Bakugou marched you forcefully toward his office, sword held steady at your neck. His fingers flexed where he gripped you, nails digging into the flesh of your arm, and the heat of his hands was overwhelming, like he was seconds away from sparking off an explosion and blowing you to pieces.

When you arrived at his office, Bakugou all but threw you away from him, gesturing with his sword to a seat at his desk.

“Captain,” you said, turning to him as soon as he let you go. “I swear it wasn’t me! It’s Hasumi, you have to listen to me. It’s Hasumi!”

Bakugou’s face darkened. “If you’ve known it was Hasumi all along why tell me now?”

“I didn’t!” you cried, taking a careful step towards him. “I just figured it out. He’s trying to set me up.”

Bakugou scoffed. “How convenient," he intoned cruelly, "Just like it was convenient that you, always you saw the thief several times but were never able to catch him. What did you give the others who went along with your story? Are you giving them a cut? How many accomplices do I have to weed out?”

“Katsuki,” you pleaded. “Please listen to me.”

“Don’t,” he grit out. “I heard you that night, outside the barracks. You were begging someone not to let me find out. What if he finds those in my sheets you said. I could have just followed you inside and solved it all then. How stupid I was to have ignored that. To have ignored every warning sign in hopes that you were something more.”

Hot tears pooled in your eyes. “Captain, please. I can explain everything. You have to listen to me.”

Bakugou turned his back to you. The line of his shoulders was hard, and his fist balled at his side. “No. I have no desire to listen to you.”

You stepped closer, your blood pounding in your ears. “Captain.”

He ignored you, stalking over to the door on the opposite wall, the one you thought must lead to his personal chambers. He wrenched it open, almost ripping it clean off its hinges.

“You have until morning,” he said, knuckles white where they gripped the door knob. “I will give you this one opportunity. Go back to your family - you’ve settled their debt. I will tell everyone you fought me and ran.”

You let out a choked noise like a sob, but he shrugged you off as he stepped through the doorway. “Go now. If you’re still here in the morning, you’ll be tried and hanged.”

The door slammed shut behind him with a finality.

You stared after him, the hot tears spilling over onto your cheeks. What felt like years passed as you watched the rough grain of the wood, willing Bakugou to come back out, to take you into his arms and tell you he believed you, that you would figure this out together.

The door did not open again.

[kabootarandishaan]

Riverbed

Summary: The reader has taken in a stray dog and always takes it to the riverbed for walks, one day they see a random purple haired boy and things ensue

One-shot/Series: Part 7

Pairing: Jonathan Joestar/Female reader

A/N: Sorry for the wait I was going through a block. Hopefully ya’ll are still here love ya’ll! Enjoy!

Warnings: None

You looked up at him with pleading eyes hoping for him to stop this right here. He simply looked at Dio and spoke.

"Then a depraved lunatic I am, but you will apologize to her or else you will not leave this shop." His voice was steady and his words were spoken in a way leaving no room for misunderstanding.

You saw his nostrils flare as he closed his eyes. You feared what would happen next. The last thing you needed was for Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando to have a fight in the middle of your store. The news would spread around fast, people would talk and it could ruin what you and your father had worked for.

He gave a curt exhale, which you were not sure was whether out of amusement or anger and slowly turned his attention towards you. You looked down at the ground, trying to avoid anything that could instigate this situation further.

“What is your name, girl?” Although his tone seemed much more controlled you could still feel an overwhelming amount of apathy in his words. “Y/N. Sir.” You were able to regain composure and firmly respond.

“Y/N? A rather decorative name for an otherwise poor-” He was swiftly cut off by a reprimand from Jonathan. Dio rolled his eyes but it seemed the scold was effective as he never did finish his statement. “Y/N, I apologize.” Before Jonathan could intervene you quickly gave a response.

“Mr. Brando, there is no need for that. In fact, I apologize for the inconvenience I have caused you and Mr.Joestar today. Please let your father know that he is more than welcome to acquire his produce free of charge for the remainder of the month. If there is anything else I can do to lessen the impact of your delay feel free to inform me.”

Although giving a month's worth of free produce to your largest client would have an impact on revenue, you would do something to manage it. You always did end up finding ways to make it work.

“I would prefer if next time you could do your job more efficiently. It would only benefit you in the long run.” He turned to Jonathan. “Well, shall we? Or is there any other melodrama you would prefer to perform?” Before Jonathan could answer Dio had already made his way out the door.

Jonathan gave out a deep sigh. “Y/N you should not hav-'' You interjected before he had the chance to finish. “Mr. Joestar, I believe you are running late for an event and I also believe that it is in the best interest of everyone involved that you leave this shop.” You were not abrupt but exhausted.

All you desired at this point was to go home and enjoy time with Nila. Jonathan could hear the exasperation behind your words and felt a tinge of guilt in his chest. “I’m sorry Y/N. I failed to consider that making him apologize would make your job more difficult.” His words caught you by surprise, a feeling of slight guilt washed over you.

You went to say something but Jonathan held his hand before you and gave a sweet smile. He gave you a little nod and made his way to the door. He stopped, his back facing you, and spoke. “Do forgive my brashness but I must say, that kiss was wonderful. I am looking forward to another opportunity to experience it.”

With those last words, he left the shop, leaving you a flustered mess. You quickly closed up the shop and went back to fetch Nila. You saw her lying serenely against a pile of hay. You slowly made your way over to her and gave a gentle rub of the head. “Nila, it's time to go, wake up love.”

You saw her slightly stir before opening her eyes. She seemed to recover quickly as she eagerly lapped at your hand. You laughed and stood up shortly after that. “Look at my luck. I received two lovely kisses today.” You gave Nila one final rub before standing up, you brushed off your gown and slowly made your way home.

It was quite late by the time you had gotten home as you stopped by the market to gather a few things. Just as you entered, the rain that you had been anticipating began pouring down. You wished for nothing more than to head to bed but still had some tasks to finish around the house. After feeding yourself and Nila you tried to organize what little space there was in the home.

You thought to spend some time with Nila considering most of your time was taken up by the shop today. You wiped your hands on the rag by the sink and turned to call out to Nila. The storm had picked up rather quickly and you hoped she was fairing well with all the thunder going on.

“Good thing we made it back in time.” You called out as you were cleaning the dishes. Only hearing silence in return made you turn and you found her fast asleep. The sight made you chuckle, you made your way over to her and knelt down to gently stroke her head.

“I bet you were worn out from bothering that poor horse.” After washing up and changing into your nightclothes, which simply was an old shirt of your father's with a pair of harem pants, you took a candle and walked around to put out the lanterns. You had put out all but one before you heard a knock at the door.

“It’s half-past midnight, father wasn’t meant to come until four more days.” You suspiciously planted yourself in front of the door, carefully placing your hand on the knob. “What is your business?” Firmly projecting your voice to be heard over the aggressive weather outside, you also hoped the stranger on the other side would be slightly taken aback at your low tone.

“Y/N, It is me, Jonathan!” Your eyes widened in surprise. Quickly unlatching the door, the sight before you made you gasp. His otherwise kempt hair had been dragged down with the weight of the water. The white undershirt he adorned had gone almost transparent. As absurd as you found the whole situation you only knew to do one thing.

“Are you daft?! Come inside this instance! What on earth possessed you to come here at this hour in this horrendous storm?! You quickly ushered him inside as he simply gave you a timid stare. He looked almost like a child who had gotten scolded by his mother. “Stand here and do not move while I go and grab you a towel.”

As you quickly went to the cupboard and grabbed a towel you pondered how little it would help considering Jonathan was already drenched. Without putting too much thought into it, you quickly went into your father’s bedroom and opened the old armoire. After your mother’s death, your father had kept away many things that reminded him too much of her.

Some of those items included clothes that your mother had favored on your father. When she was alive your father had always worn brighter colored shirts, lighter blues, and greens. Now he strictly stuck to neutral colors, you couldn’t even remember the last time he had opened this. You grabbed a shirt and pair of pants, hoping that it would fit Jonathan.

There was only a slight difference in height between Jonathan and your father. He had lost some weight in the last few years so maybe they would not be too bad for Jonathan. You carried them back and handed everything over to Jonathan. He continued to only stare at you looking seemingly confused.

“The washroom is to the left of the kitchen. You may dry yourself off and change your garments there. I will go make some tea to warm you up.” He looked as if he were about to say something but you had already turned to go into the kitchen. As you placed the kettle on the stove you heard the door to the washroom close which prompted you to let out a sigh you had not known you were holding.

You had finished the tea and set the table all mostly muscle memory. You did not even realize that Jonathan had already changed and sat down at the table. You automatically turned to go grab some sweets to pair with the tea but Jonathan reached out for your hand, stopping you in your tracks.

“Y/N, please. There is no need for all this. Have a seat. I came here to see if you were alright after what happened in the shop. You had not shown up to the riverbed so I began to worry you were cross with me.” You could not turn to face him as you answered because you feared that he would notice the slight red that began to spread across your face.

“Ah...Yes! Uhh...I guess I am just accustomed to it.” You eventually garnered enough courage to glance down at his hand which was still lightly grasped around your wrist. In an instance, Jonathan quickly let go and placed his hand back in his lap before hurriedly apologizing. “Uh...Uh...forgive me Y/N! I…” You cut him by awkwardly patting his back in an attempt to cover your flustered state.

“I see that the shirt fits well! I will admit that I was slightly exhausted after the interaction at the shop so it had completely slipped my mind to go to the riverbed. It seemed Nila was also weary considering she had fallen asleep soon after we had returned. How do you take your tea? Milk, sugar?”

You realized you were rambling at this point and looked up to meet Jonathan’s soft gaze. You let out a soft sigh and pulled out the chair beside him to sit. You pulled a strand of hair behind your ear and nervously waited to gauge his reaction. You could see a slight upturn at the corners of his lips, he took a glance at the tea set out in front of him and cleared his throat before reaching out.

He placed a cup in front of each of you and grabbed the pot, pouring a generous amount in both. “I have been drinking my tea black since I can recall. They used to tell me that milk, sugar, or honey was too feminine.” He let out a low chuckle. “Can you believe how absurd that is? I think today I would like to try both, please.”

You felt a smile play onto your face without realizing it. Hearing him express his thoughts in front of you without the fear of consequences gave you a small sense of pride. You made him a cup of tea and placed two cubes of sugar. You mixed and placed it before him before fishing a cup for yourself. “I must say I am flattered at the fact you were worried about me. You tempered a storm to make your way over here. I cannot say I have seen anyone do anything close to that, especially not for me.”

“Well, we are no longer strangers Y/N. If I may be so forthright, we kissed one another. After an exchange of that type, I feel it would only prompt me to garner stronger feelings towards you. Actually, I have not been completely honest of my intentions for coming here tonight. I admit that part of the reason for my arrival here was fueled by worry but I must say that I wished to simply talk with you more intimately.”

You stayed quiet for a moment prompting him to nervously take a sip of the tea. “Oh my! This is quite nice! I should have my tea like this more often.” He anxiously smiled, avoiding your eyes before looking up as you lightly placed your hand over his. You leaned in closer and quietly spoke. “I would enjoy nothing more than that. But if I may, I have a question.”

He sighed and a satisfied smile played on his face. “Ask away.” He turned his hand so that he could grasp yours. “I wish not to sound skeptical or insensitive but my intentions with this are only honest. What is the nature of our relationship Jonathan Joestar?

[cherryeol04]

Late Night (M)

Pairings: Jisung x Reader Genre: Smut, humor, romance? Word Count: 3k Author’s Note: I feel like the ending was rushed a bit and not my best. But I wrote this instead of sleeping, so I hope you enjoy another Jisung from yours truly! 💖💖

The dream you had left you hot and bothered in a way that you hadn’t felt for quite some time. That was the sad reality you faced when dating an idol. Going weeks, if not months, without being near each other and the only thing to placate you were sleep deprived nightly messages that half the time didn’t make any sense and rushed good morning texts that usually didn’t make it to you until well in the afternoon. It was a struggle and in times like this, it really showed. It was still relatively early in the morning, you were sure and a quick glance at the clock told you it was only 4am.

Very fucking early in the morning. Way too early to even be horny, but you couldn't deny the fact that you were with the way your pussy throbbed between your legs and a carnal urge was trying to take over your body. The dream had been so explicit and had seemed so real that when you woke up, a wave of sadness washed over you. Just moments ago you had your boyfriend's cock in your hand, his breathy moans filling the room as you worked your tongue over the smooth, mushroom head. The taste that filled your mouth as precum leaked freely into it was so familiar and warm that there was no way you could have been dreaming. But you were and you absolutely hated both your brain and body.

With a groan, you rolled onto your side, hand reaching out to grab at your cellphone - wincing when the light of the screen hurt your pupils. It took a moment to adjust to the light, but eventually you did as you unlocked the phone and went straight to your messages. There were about 45 unread, most coming from the group chat you had with the boys. Normally it was filled with random dad jokes from Changbin, or cute cat videos and ASMR videos from Minho and Jeongin. You skipped it for now. Your mind was set on messaging your boyfriend, though you were almost 100% sure that he wouldn't be able to do anything. You knew Stray Kids was busy preparing for a comeback which meant long hours of practice in every department, meetings upon meetings and countless photoshoots and video shoots for trailers and music videos.

It was very hectic and you had to commend them for their dedication to the job. Their passion for music and being an idol clearly showed in times like these. But as a consequence it left you boyfriendless for months, with only your hand and your toys to take care of you. And while your favorite clit stimulator always got the job done, there was only so much you could take before you really started to crave the real thing. And it seemed like you were finally at your breaking point.

Baby

Are you awake?

Baby

No. Who in their right mind would be awake at this hour?

Baby

Jisung....

Baby

Y/n....

Baby

Come over~

Baby

It's 4am! I got practice at 6!

Baby

Then why are you still awake???

Baby

.....

So when and why did you want me to be there?

Baby

Now, and because I miss you

Baby

I miss you too but that's not a very good reason for me to get a ride across town at 4am.

Baby

I'm horny and dreamt of you

Baby

Oh? Do tell~

Baby

Not until you come over

Baby

😩 I'll see what I can do

Baby

Don't forget your key~

You had to admit, it was rather easy to convince Jisung to come over. Though there wasn't really a guarantee that would come over. It wasn't like he actually drove and could just hop in a car and make his way to your place. He would either have to wake a manager and ask for a ride, or somehow find some sort of public transportation. And walking was certainly out of the picture because it would be way after 6 am before he could even make halfway to your house. A part of you felt sorry for even suggesting he come over, but another part of you hoped he was able to find a ride and get over as quickly as possible.

The dream was still fresh in your mind, plaguing your thoughts as you tried to focus on anything but the idea of Jisung coming over. But it was there, standing proud and erect in the forefront of your brain and you were becoming increasingly aware of just how much you desperately missed his cock. Well, you missed Jisung too, but you were particularly fond of the appendage that hung between his legs. But honestly, who could blame you? He wasn't small, but he wasn't overly big either. If you had to put a word to it, he was about average size, but his cock was absolutely perfect. The skin was tan, much like the rest of Jisung's body which you absolutely adored, the head usually a pale pink unless he was really hot and bothered. Then it became ruddy and looked so divine and juicy enough to eat.

You groaned as your mind wandered further, lost in the memories of the weight of Jisung's cock in your mouth, as it always filled it out nicely. You could feel yourself drooling at the thought, frowning slightly. Get a hold of yourself. There was no point in fantasizing about it yet. A quick touch to your phone screen showed no new messages from Jisung and after double checking your chat with him, there wasn't anything indicating he wasn't coming. There was still hope.

With hopes of distracting your dreadfully dirty mind, you grabbed the TV remote and after fiddling with it for a bit, you turned YouTube back on and just randomly hit one of the videos in your recommended list. It was some movie review channel that was reviewing one of your favorite film series Hellraiser. It was good enough and within mere seconds of the video playing, you were drawn in and actually managed to forget about both Jisung and the dream. For the better part of twenty minutes, you were so engrossed in the video, snickering at the little quipes the reviewer gave here and there while discussing the movie that you didn't hear the door of your apartment being unlocked, or the soft footsteps growing closer to your bedroom door.

So blind were you to the outside world, that it wasn't until you felt cold fingers grazing over your shoulder that you became aware of the presence in your room. Startled, you jerked up, eyes landing on Jisung as he stood there with an almost sheepish expression if it weren't overshadowed but the dark circles under his eyes and you could clearly see just how exhausted he was. A pang of guilt bubbled up in your stomach and you really regretted inviting him over. You regretted all the dirty thoughts you had about what you would do to him if he did show up. At that very moment, you wanted nothing more than to lay him down on your bed and make him go to sleep. Would that leave you incredibly unsatisfied and most likely angry in the morning? Yes, but it would be worth it to make sure Jisung was getting sleep, even if only for a couple hours before he had to be up again.

"You came."

"I did." He flashed you a gummy smile that warmed your heart and you opened your arms towards him. With a soft sigh, he climbed into the bed and practically fell into them, head nuzzling against your chest as you both settled down. Running your fingers through his hair, you hummed softly while placing a gentle kiss to the top of head. "So, gonna tell me your dream?" he muttered and you couldn't help but giggle.

"I suppose so. You did come all the way over to see me~" you cooed teasingly. He snorted and lifted his head, eyes staring up at you curiously and you had to stop yourself from pinching his cheeks because he was just too damn cute. "I had a dream that I could make you cum in 3 seconds."

"Pfft, I wish. The amount of orgasms I could have during the day." he laughed and you rolled your eyes at him.

"I'm serious. All I had to do was get on my knees and you were instantly hard and two licks to your cock and you were cumming." You shifted under him, arms tightening around him with undisclosed desire and you buried your face into his shoulder. God you wanted him so much, that even just telling him the bare basics of the dream had you horny all over again.

"It would take more than two licks, kitten." he practically purred into your ear and you couldn't stop the whimper that left your lips. "But you are right, I would be so hard if you dropped to your knees in front of me." Daring to look at him, you pulled back. What greeted you was such an erotic sight. Even in the dim light of the room, you could see just how blown his pupils were, eyes staring so intensely at you that you physically shivered from the lust flashing through them. "Is that why you called me here? So you could blow me?" he asked, head tilting to the side.

"Uh...yeah?" You didn't sound too sure, but really that had been your intention - to get your hands back on Jisung's cock and be reminded of just how good he tasted. "Please?" You tacked on at the end, just for good measures. He smiled, swooping down into what was anything but a kiss. Your lips barely touched and it left you yearning for me. God damn it. He was such a tease. Pulling away, Jisung flopped over on to his back, arms moving to rest behind his head.

"Well then, have at it." The nonchalance of the situation only fueled your arousal and you were scrambling onto your hands and knees before you knew it. Moving between his legs, you reached up with one hand and palmed over him. His cock twitched slightly at the touch and you could feel it filling out the longer you stroked him. It was hot, you couldn't lie, watching the way it bobbed and lifted, tenting the sweatpants he was wearing. Leaning in, you mouthed at his dick, tongue running roughly against the pilled fabric. Soft groans filled the air and you glanced up, eyes locking with Jisung's hooded ones watching you. His lips were slightly parted and wet, another groan leaving them as your fingers toyed with the head of his cock. With a light touch, you pressed against the slit, grinning as precum soaked through, wetting your finger. Teasing just a bit more, you gathered more of the liquid before sitting up and bringing your finger to your mouth. 

You made a show of it, parting your lips and letting your tongue swipe against your fingertip, moaning lewdly while wrapping your lips around your finger and giving it a few sucks. There wasn’t much of a taste, but that really didn’t matter. You were doing this more for Jisung than for yourself and judging from the way he shifted on the bed, fists clenched tightly in the sheets, it was doing a great job riling him up. “Taste good, kitten?” You pulled your finger out with a pop, licking your lips as a feline-like grin spread across your face.

“Delicious.” Humming softly to yourself, you scooted closer to his body, fingers grasping his waistband and giving a light tug. “Your kitten’s hungry.” you pouted at him, laughter leaving him as he lifted his hips up enough for you to slide his pants and boxers down in one go. 

“Well we can’t have that, now can we?” he mused, raising himself up on his elbows. You gave a hum of acknowledgment, though your attention was currently taken by the beautiful cock that laid so proudly against his abdomen, head already a ruddy shade with a pearl of precum beaded at the top. Reaching down, Jisung wrapped his hand around his cock and gave it a few pumps, soft grunts leaving his parted lips. His thumb swiped over the tip, gathering what precum was there and held it out towards you. “Come on baby. Come and eat.” 

Tossing his pants over the side of the bed, you leaned over him and took the offered thumb into your mouth, tongue swiping against the slightly salty skin - licking it nice and clean. Sucking on it, you smirked at the small ‘fuck’ Jisung uttered before pulling off the finger. Shifting closer, you pressed your lips against his in a deep and heated kiss that lasted for only a few short seconds - a calculated move you made just to tease him for the barely there kiss he had given you earlier. Jisung whined, trying to chase after your lips as you moved away and you pressed your hand against his chest, pushing him back down onto the bed. Throwing one of your legs over his, you settled yourself over him, lowering down and running your tongue from the base to the tip.

“Oh fuck.” The moan he released went straight through you, your pussy throbbing more at the sound and the taste on your tongue. You were tempted to lower your hips down and rub against his leg, but you held back. While you wanted to get off, right now it was about him and fulfilling your dream in some capacity. You repeated the action a few times, stopping just short of the slit and watched with lidded eyes as more precum oozed out and slowly rolled down the side of his cock. “Babe, thought you were hungry?” It was a mixture of a whine and question, and did nothing except make Jisung sound absolutely wrecked and you hadn’t even done anything. Giggling to yourself, you gripped the base of his dick as you enveloped the head with your mouth.

You sank down slowly, tongue working flicking against any part of the velvety flesh that was filling your mouth. You took your time, stopping when you reached your limit and letting him just rest there, hot and heavy against your tongue. God, you had missed this so much, just being so intimate with Jisung. Fingers carded through your hair, tangling in the strands as Jisung breathed heavily, body tense and vibrating slightly with the way he was trying to stop the tremors coursing through him. “Y/n, fuck. Stop teasing and suck my dick.” You didn’t think it was possible, but Jisung sounded even more wrecked than he had before. Humming lightly around him, pulling a sharp hiss from him, you slowly began bobbing your head. Pulling up, you gave two hungry sucks against the head before sinking back down, tongue pressing and rubbing against the vein on the underside of his cock. It was easy to start a rhythm, spurred on by Jisung’s moans. The faster you moved and the harder you sucked, the louder he got and the wetter you became.

Jisung attempted to lift his legs and plant his feet on the mattress, but was stopped when his shin came in contact with your wet panties. Moaning around him, you rocked your hips down against him, whimpers filling the air as you grinded against him. His cock twitched and throbbed in your mouth, your eyes lifting to watch his face. Jisung had his head thrown back, eyes closed as he got lost in the feeling of your hot mouth around him. Every now and again his hips would twitch and try to lift, but he seemed to restrain himself which you were thankful for. You really weren’t in the mood to choke tonight.

Pulling off until just the head was between your lips, you hollowed your cheeks and sucked  while your hand stroked the rest of his cock. “Shit.” he hissed, back arching off the bed. “Fuck I’m gonna cum.” You moaned around him, hand picking up speed as excitement bubbled up inside you. Your free hand came down, fingers stroking over his balls and it was like you pulled the trigger. Jisung tugged harshly at your hair and you popped off quickly, lips parts as you pressed the head against your tongue. Jisung pulsed and throbbed in your grip as he came, long sticky strings of white coating the inside of your mouth and as you swallowed, you were surprised to find that it didn’t taste like the normally bitter cum you were used to. You made a mental note to thank whichever member you had to for helping to change Jisung’s diet for the better. 

You suckled lightly on the tip, milking the rest of the cum out of his body and when he whimpered at the overstimulation, you finally released him from your grip. Sitting up, you licked your lips clean, smiling down at Jisung’s panting form. “Mmm, thank you for the delicious meal.”

“Pleasures….all mine.” he nearly gasped out, letting out a stuttering sigh as he tried to control his breathing. “Fuck that was amazing, as always.” Weakly, he lifted his arms towards you and you crawled up his body and into his embrace. Snuggling against him, you pressed a gentle kiss to his neck, a content sigh leaving you as you let yourself settle down, arousal slowly fading. Jisung attempted to pay you back, his hands wandering lower, but you stopped him and at his confused look, you simply shook your head.

“Not tonight.”

“Seriously? I get a blowjob and you get nothing?” he asked, confused.

“Um, I got to give a blowjob? It’s all I wanted honestly.” You confessed with a shrug. “Next time though.” You left the sentence open, letting Jisung’s mind supply images of what you could do next time and while laying in the comforting silence of the room, halfway to dream land, you swore you heard Jisung mutter something about trying anal. But that was a conversation for another time.

Tags: @jisungsjheekies​ @starryseung​ @luminouskalopsia​ @runningonkpop​ @clandestine-lixie​ @straysrachaa​ @sauceracha​ @mrbangchannie​ (Tag info here! Come Join!)

[gossip-girl-of-middleearth]

Please tell us about the cinema, I beg you

Oh boy...that accursed night. If you think fanfic plots are chaotic, just wait for this story.

Story under the cut:

So, I just got this job at my small town’s local theatre. I genuinely enjoyed it, and was quite content with the way things were going—fun shifts, cool coworkers, and a nice boss. So I thought.

I was only two weeks in when the “incident” occurred.

At the theatre, we had to collect a walkie talkie radio at the start of every shift, and sign it in and out with a piece of paper in the office.

It was a little clunky and annoying when cleaning cinemas with vacuums, but nothing to cry over.

One night, I’m put to work with a new supervisor I hadn’t met before and some new coworkers (they’d all been there a while, but this was my first shift with them).

For a little context, I’m 19, and most of the other employees were like 15-17. So, I was basically being bossed around by pretentious, power-tripping kids. Fun.

King Kong vs Godzilla had just been released, so of course, the theatre was packed that night — 130 people per room.

Now, we usually have 20-30 minute intervals between sessions to clean the cinemas, but with the release of a new movie, it was cut down in half, sometimes less.

I was cleaning the most popular cinema that night, and was first told to take my time, as it needed to be spotless. Also, side note, can people please not throw popcorn everywhere? It’s a pain to clean. Then again, I don’t work there anymore nor ever will, so do what you want, I suppose.

My little coworker told me to take my radio off my belt and put it aside to get a good vacuum going through each aisle, as it apparently made it easier, as the cord would sometimes get wrapped around the radio stem.

Fair enough.

I did so, and left it on the wooden platform of the rows to begin vacuuming. He leaves and I get to work.

However, he comes rushing back a few minutes later and says, “what the hell are you still cleaning for?? We’ve got a hundred people waiting outside???”

I’m over it™️ at this point because I only took this job to see the behind the scenes of how a cinema works. I shrug and go, “okay”

I pack the vacuum up and try to leave hastily, as he’s being very antsy and pushy.

He gets frustrated and grabs the rest of my cleaning crap to leave, and tells me to hurry up behind him.

My hands are full and I can’t grab the radio, so I say, “what about the walkie talkie?”

I swear I hear him say, “leave it, there’s no time!”

I shrug and think it’s weird, but trust him to know better.

However, once I dump my crap and prepare to leave, as a hundred people are pushing in behind me, my intuition tells me to grab the walkie talkie.

I rush back in to where I left it, and find it missing

I have a brief moment of “oh shit”

However, I think to myself, “it’s okay, you only took this job for shits and giggles. If they fire you, you have your other job anyways. What’s the worst that can happen?”

If only I knew.

An hour goes by into my shift, and I’m cleaning another cinema with the same coworker. I’ve kind of shoved the walkie talkie thing to the back of my mind, because I was doing a closing shift that night and could probably get away with not facing my manager about the sign out sheet.

However, at one point the boy goes, “where’s your radio??”

Sheepishly, I say, “uh...I left it in cinema 3, like you told me to?”

He sort of pales and I think this little skinny high schooler is about to pass out.

He starts yelling at me and tells me that I need to get my flashlight and start checking every single row in there.

I go, “fuck no, the movie is still going? You want me to flash a torch in the peoples’ faces during King Kong?? The one cinema hosting the entirety of the sweaty balls side of reddit right now???”

He gets very shitty and says, “I’ll do it myself, wait here.”

By now I know I’m in the shit, but shrug and remember I can always escape through the vents if need be.

Now, there was this really fucking annoying 15 year old boy I was working with that night, who’s the definition of the “well aCtUaLlY” guy irl

He comes sprinting into the theatre I was cleaning, and starts literally interrogating me over this walkie talkie. Like, he thinks he’s the “bad cop” or some shit. Other coworkers closer to my age had already warned me about him before I even met him.

The other boy I was working with apparently couldn’t find it, and just didn’t want to deal with the consequences that night so much, that he called his mum to come pick him up early.

Weakling child.

It was at this point that I quietly arrived at the conclusion of “they think I stole it”

I didn’t understand why, it’s a fucking walkie talkie? What’s the big deal? Go get a Dora the Explorer one to replace it from Target??

I let my inner Mickey Milkovich come out, and play cool.

Him: you fucking stole it

Me:

This 15 year old Ben Shapiro-looking fucker starts grilling me, and literally places me under theatre arrest. I wasn’t allowed to leave the room I was cleaning, in other words.

He gets uncomfortably close—just me and this weird boy in this dark theatre—and goes, “I want you to be brutally honest with me...did you take the walkie talkie? I won’t tell the manager that you did.”

If you guys know me well enough from my blog, then you know this boy suffered a great deal of aggressive sarcasm in response.

He gets pissed (brown-noser), and tells me to continue cleaning, as he leaves the theatre.

Only ten minutes go by until he comes back, but this time with “good cop”.

I roll my eyes, and turn the vacuum off.

They stand at the bottom of the cinema blocking my entrance with their arms folded, and start interrogating me about stealing it.

I give them some more Mickey Milkovich sarcasm, as I had already explained to them a hundred times what happened.

They involve the manager (snitches) and now I’m really in trouble.

They force me to go into the cinema whilst the movie is still playing to look for it. Begrudgingly grabbing my flashlight, and preparing for rightfully angry people as I search their crotches in the middle of a highly anticipated movie, I head inside theatre 3.

Fuck doing that though, I watch the movie instead with the people and eat some popcorn.

Figuring a reasonable amount of time to search had gone by, I sadly leave the cool laser battle scene, and head back out.

Me: “I searched and couldn’t find it.”

Power-complex 15 year old with a punchable Ben Shapiro face: “Did you look everywhere in the cinema??”

Me: “Yeah, I shoved a flashlight up seat 33’s asshole and checked it myself.”

Some more pissy exchanges take place, and I’m told to go clean another cinema.

I’m having fun at this point, because I’ve worked enough jobs to know this situation was being dealt with incredibly immaturely by the other staff.

Regarding accidents like these in the workplace, and given how big the cinema chain is, they should know insurance covers a simple walkie talkie, and that assuming the new employee stole something which is misplaced is a bad way to integrate them into your company. It’s simply a bad look for your business.

I’m cleaning another cinema when all three come in, and tell me they’re going to put cinema 3 on lockdown when the movie ends, and check everyone’s bags.

I’m amused at this point, so I really just go “damn bro that’s wild”

They do exactly that, and it’s as awkward as you can imagine.

People are angry and annoyed—all 130 of them at 9:30pm huddled in a group, having their bags searched for a damn walkie talkie.

After discovering no one had actually stolen it, like I said, they start interrogating me again.

“Are you sure it was cinema 3??? Is your memory perhaps failing you???”

“If I say yes, will I go home sooner?” (my shift ended 15 minutes ago, and I wasn’t allowed to leave)

Naturally, I stayed another 40 minutes, and had to search the entire building. I’m talking arcade, toilets, offices—everywhere.

It is eventually deemed completely lost, and I basically end the night saying, “well, I ain’t about to strip nude for you all for a full body search, and although I’ve never had such a fun shift anywhere else, I’m not a fan of work environments that promote skepticism and cohort-wide distrust. I ain’t coming in next week, or the week after that, or the...well, I think you get the point.”

I leave my badge behind, and basically book it out of the cinema an hour after my shift was supposed to end. I worked illegally longer than I was supposed to, and wasn’t given the legal shift break.

I received text messages and emails from the head office shortly after, asking if I was coming back, and ignored them for a little while, as although I can handle irl confrontation, virtual ones spook me?

Anywho, the walkie talkie actually costs $1000, but as mentioned before, I, an adult, recognise insurance covers these sorts of things, especially in companies as big as these.

So, moral of the story, don’t leave 15 year olds in charge of adults, because most of the time, they’re too young to realise what insurance policies are :)

[arminty7]

𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘦

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Mermaid!Jungkook x Reader [Part 2]

Trapped in this life of expensive wine and judgemental eyes Y/N met an unusual lady who offered her a job at an aquarium a few towns away. Despite being hesitant and uncertain for the future she decided to take the offer as it was her only way out, not knowing that many dangers might come her way.

Jungkook swam his way through the small tunnel in wonder. He didn’t realise what he was ‘walking’ into as he took the entire night to explore a tunnel. He thought it might lead to you, how naive. It is only when he heard the piercing sound of drilling from the small tunnel entrance did he know what was happening, he was trapped. With that, his instincts took over.

Chapter: #2 Swimming in Wine

Words: 4181

Warnings: Mild Swearing // Fluff // Eventual Smut? Idk maybe depends // Jungkook obsessive // Evil Namjoon (im sorry guys) // It might be a little messed up. 

AN - So I know I havent updated in a very LONG time but I am now updating regularly. I have changed the pov and increased my writing ability.

© arminty7 2020 - All rights reserved.

This work shall not be copied, reproduced, translated and/or modified in any way without my permission. In a case where this might happen, legal action will be taken as it would be a criminal act under the law and breaching these terms. Upon reading my work you are acknowledging that this work is mine and that you know the consequences if this work is copied, reproduced, translated and/or modified in any way without my permission.

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You awoke abruptly as a slam of the car door next to you made you nearly jump from your seat. You sat up and looked around as Julie stepped out of the car onto the wet road. Your head feeling cloudy as you noticed you were parked in a parking lot next to a tall building in the middle of the bustling city. Your eyes then followed Julie who walked across the road towards a small bakery. You could smell the food from here as your stomach grumbled loudly. You closed your eyes again, hearing the cars go past as their tires hit the puddles on the ground. The distant honk of horns and the bus going past made you feel somewhat tranquil, wanting to stay like that forever. You were ready to go back to sleep before the sound of the car door opening made your eyes open again.

"Oh, so you're finally awake?" Julie looks towards you with a smile on her face as she ducks her head under the car roof and gets in. She closes the door firmly beside her, with a bag of pastries in her hand.

"Uh yeah I guess. How long was I asleep for?" You don't even look in her direction as you rub your eyes, feeling sleep try to invite you in once more.

"No more than a few hours, although we are just about there. We are staying at my place for a while. Just out of the city in Taelin Shore" (I made it up with the idea of "Tail", it's not a ship name). She looked at you, shaking the bag of pastries in her hand that you didn't even notice till now.

"So when do I start work?" You look at the pastries and then back at her, wanting to focus on what's important. She places the pastries on the backseat and starts the engine, before driving out of the parking lot.

"Well, you will have an orientation on Monday at the aquarium which starts at 9 am till 2 pm. It's only small but I think it's just for showing you the ropes and letting you explore the building." She continues to drive out of the city down the coast, heading for Taelin Shore.

"Wait Monday? That's only three days away. They didn't even give me an interview yet" It seemed unreal at the most, how could they have that much faith in you?

"They don't need an interview. I told you, I know the owner. He trusts my word more than anyone." She smiles, the brown locks of her hair tied back into a messy bun, something you never thought she would wear. At the dinner party, she seemed so elegantly dressed like the other woman there. It was weird to see her in casual clothes and indulging in sweet pastries.

You look at her once more in disbelief, feeling hesitant about this situation. "I barely know you. I heard that you knew my mother but forgive me if that in itself makes me even more concerned". She chuckles slightly, gripping the wheel tightly as she turns another corner. "You might barely know me, but I was around ever since you were born. I just want to help you. I love your mother, but she puts too much pressure on you."

You sighed as you looked out the window realising you reached the coast of Taelin. It seemed beautiful and serene as you drove through the town, going past, looking at the view of the ocean. You were excited but nervous. What if you don't like it here? What if it is the same as back home? A place that kills every  good part of you, forcing you to feel paranoid about everyone you meet? You didn't want to be near that. You wanted to be free. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by the car going up the hill on a small dirt path and parking next to a small beach house that was facing the ocean. "We're here, how do you like it? Nice view huh?" Julie smiles in awe as she exits the car, slamming the car door behind her. You do the same as you both look out towards the view of the vast ocean and the mountains that surround the small town.

Julie points down towards the pier urging you to look over to see a massive building next to the docks. "That's where you will be working in the next couple of days." She smiles, "don't worry, everyone's friendly. It's different here".

You look over at her in doubt, "What about you? How do I know you're different than the rest of them back at home?".

She chuckles before turning back towards you, "I got you out, didn't I?" she pats your shoulder before heading inside. She leaves you with your thoughts.

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[6:43 am]

It was early in the morning, the light from the sun started to shine in your room as you soon noticed that you - again - forgot to close the curtains. Although awake, instead of you getting up to close them, you laid there for a while. The sound of the waves crashing was distant, but you could almost feel the pressure and the weight of the water crashing onto the rocks. You imagined what it would be like to be that rock, every day having to go through the same cycle. Every morning the tide would try and crash down and attempting to break through on the rocks until it is time for the water to come back in. The water could never break the rocks, perhaps that was even more torture.

You sighed, not even understanding your own thoughts sometimes. You groan as you get up from the warm and comforting bed, heading towards the shower. You undressed and turned the shower on, watching the steam build-up in the room, covering the mirror. You preferred hot showers.

After your shower, you left to walk along the beach. Upon stepping outside the two-story house, you feel a gush of wind. The cold pierces your body as the wind flutters through your clothes. You walk down the steps of the patio and walk over to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the water that once again crashes through the rocks violently.

You weren't afraid of the ocean and had spent your whole life in the water. Although, something didn't feel right here. You watched the water down below. I looked peaceful yet restless. With every second it became more violent, the clouds grew dark quickly, and you noticed a drop of water fall onto your forehead. You sighed and looked back down the cliff before seeing a small splash in the water and something with a scaly body. But it was nothing like what you had seen at the aquarium. You felt yourself getting dizzy and started to wonder when the last time you had eaten something. You cursed under your breath for rejecting those pastries Julie got yesterday. You stumbled, backwards and forwards as your vision started to spin. The dark cloud's now covering the sky completely. You had tried to balance yourself, but you had ended up stepping forward to much, descending over the cliff and crashing down into the ocean. Your vision went black.

The water was cold, too cold. You felt the cold sinking into your skin, grasping onto your bones, coating them in ice. You didn't bother to open your eyes as you felt yourself crashing in and out of the water. You could hear the waves and thunder as you reach the surface, before getting pulled under again. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around you from behind. Your toes and the back of your thighs could feel the slimy tail that was swaying beneath the surface. You tried to look over at what has a hold of you. Although it was strong, and you could barely move your body. You could feel its cold hands enveloping around your chest and your waist as your body swayed in the current. You could feel its hot breath on your neck whispering things in your ear before you passed out from exhaustion.

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[Two days later]

Monday - 8:45 am

The morning was quick, slipping your shoes on as you try to make your way down the stairs of the beach house into the lounge room. You couldn't stop thinking about that day. The day where you

woke up on the beach and Julie insisted on calling the doctor even though you assured her everything was fine. It was surprising, to say the least, that you didn't even get hurt. There were tons of rocks as the current was nearly ripping you apart. That was before that thing showed up. It felt like death was surrounding you. Ironic really that it may have saved your life.  

"Hurry up Y/N, I told them you'd be there by 9. You're lucky we don't live far away from the Aquarium". Julie watches you run around the house as you find your bag and keys. You ignore her comments as you rush out the door towards the car, opening the passenger side and getting in.  

"Why don't you let me drive?" You groan, looking at your watch. She gets in beside you and starts the car. "Because dear Y/N, you’re impulsive and from what I heard, it took you seven times before you passed your driving test and you haven't driven since." You roll your eyes as she drives down the dirt road and onto the main road.

You look out towards the ocean, seeing the waves crash onto the rocks on the mountains, slamming on the rocks violently. Your mind wandered for a bit. You could almost feel the hot breath against your neck again, ice-cold arms wrapping around your body. The memory of that strange creature is still vivid in your mind. You didn't tell Julie, of course. She'd probably think you're crazy.

Your eyes wander towards the open sea, seeing the birds glide over the water, how free they looked. The thought of being free sounded appealing, oh how you wanted to be one of those birds, flying across the water, without a care in the world.

But even you knew that in reality, those birds still needed to fight to survive, even they sometimes had to turn against each other.

You sighed, looking towards the road as you see small fish and bakery shops already opened and full of locals. A few minutes passed as the car turned into a car park. "We're here." Julie parked the car.

"You're not coming in with me?" You looked at her pouting a little as she chuckles "Do you want me to?" Your eyebrows furrowed, quickly grab your bag and open the door.

"No" You quickly answer and slam the door, feeling as though she was mocking you a little because you didn't want to do it alone.

"You don't need her Y/N" You tell yourself. "She's just like the rest of them. Just take advantage of the situation until your good on your own. Then let her go. She's just using you"

You make your way towards the entrance, going past the two waterfalls with statues of dolphins spitting out water. The glass doors opened as you enter, and you look at your watch, it was 8:57.

You walk in following the tunnel entrance towards the reception although you couldn't help but wonder where everyone was. Wasn't it opening today? Were you mistaken? You continue towards the reception, seeing a young handsome looking man in a suit typing away on his computer. You clear your throat and the man looks over at you.

"Oh, my apologies miss. We are not open today due to a technical issue, but we will be opening tomorrow at 7 am. Do you wish to make a booking early?" The handsome man looks over at you, his broad shoulders prominent. You glanced over at his name tag labelled "Kim Seokjin".

"Uhh, no thank you. My name is Y/N, Y/N L/N. I'm here for my induction." Your words came out less confident than you would have liked as you looked down at the floor.

"Y/N!?" You flinched, hearing your name being called. You looked over as another man in a black suit walked towards you. He was tall and had blonde hair, slicked back and styled. He held out a hand to you, "Hello, my name is Kim Namjoon. Julie told me so much about you." He smiled at you, displaying his two dimples on each side of his face. Just like the receptionist, his visuals were prominent.

You shook his hand, blinking a few times before realising, "You're... my boss??" you stammered out, his firm strong hands wrapped around your tiny ones. You have to admit, he was well built and his smile was to die for. He chuckled, letting your hand go before directing you past the reception and into the food court of the aquarium. You look back towards the reception, wanting to say goodbye to the receptionist but it was too late as Namjoon led you down the hall.  

As the two of you entered the food court, the room was wide, and it looked like a massive underground restaurant with fish tanks surrounding it. You have never seen anything like it.

"So, Y/N, as you might have guessed this place is quite empty at the moment, just a small a technical issue but it hopefully will be fixed in a few days" Namjoon leads you across the room letting you take a look at everything. You suppose that this is going to be your tour.

"Ah yes, so I've heard" Namjoon smiles while continue walking as you went past an enormous tank that looked like it connected with the other tanks. You glanced at his attire, classic black suit and tie with a white shirt underneath.

Namjoon had stopped and glanced around the room. "This is the food court, although most of the time when you are working you won't be needed here." It just had occurred to you that you didn't even know what position you'd be in. All you knew was that it was a job away from your mother and paid quite a lot of money. Julie was right, you are impulsive.

"So, what am I going to be doing here?" You look over at him as he continues to walk, heading towards another room with a big smile on his face, showing his dimples.

"Well, Y/N-"

"Namjoon! There you are, we have a situation..." A man with a white coat entered the room. He had a concerned look about him but as soon as he saw you it changed into a big smile and you couldn't help but want to smile back at him.

"Hello! My name is Jung Hoseok. You must be the new girl that will be working for us?" You looked at him and couldn't help but feel special as he gave you all his attention. Namjoon looked over at you while you smiled back at Hoseok, you dont know why but you just felt so comfortable around him.

"Ah yes... I guess everyone knows about me, huh" you shyly answered, suddenly finding the urge to fiddle with your earring. It was a nervous habit. "My name is Y/N L/N. It's nice to meet you" Hoseok smiled again before Namjoon cleared his throat, regaining our attention.

"Hoseok... Did you want to speak in private?" Hoseok's smile immediately dropped and he looked at Namjoon with a more serious expression.

"Yes, of course,  Regarding our technical problem, there is some important information you need to know." Namjoon nods his head and looks over at you. "Excuse me, Miss L/N".

You watched them walk out of the food court. You wondered what the technical problem was. Even the receptionist was vague about it. You sighed and took a seat at the cafe. You sat there staring at a fish in a tank. The food court was big and round. The walls surrounding it was just glass tanks, with one in the middle of the circular room, acting as a pillar. You sat in your seat quietly, your mind started to wander back to those callous hands that feel like they never left your body. You felt an ice chill, it petrified you. It felt like you were marked by death.  

You heard Namjoon and Hoseok walk in as you quickly stood up and pushed your chair in neatly. "Everything all sorted?" You press your lips together, trying to get that thing off your mind.

Namjoon looks at you curiously before frowning, 'I'm truly sorry, I don't think I can proceed with this tour. Something very important has come up". You nod, understandingly.

"No, No, I understand. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I can navigate my way around the place." You take a glance around.

This place is way too big...

Namjoon looked over at you. "That won't be necessary, I have organised one of the staff members to come and give you a tour, you will be a trainer just like him. He will be mentoring you. His name is-"  

"Hello Y/N". His voice was sweet. Angelic, but not innocent. A sultry like voice that sounded like a whisper of temptation. You looked over your shoulder to see an elegant looking man with light brown locks walking over to you. His style was neat as he had black-skinny jeans and a white t-shirt, following by a Chanel bag. "My name is Park Jimin," the man said.

Damn the wage must be crazy then huh...

Namjoon sighed and looked at the floor, that was the second time he had gotten interrupted. Namjoon looked over at Jimin and then at you, before stating "This is your mentor".

Jimin looks over at you cocking his head as he smiled at you. "Come on, let me show you the place! Oh yeah, and you can meet Tae! He'd love to meet you." He grabbed your hand, locking your fingers with his as he dragged you out of the food court. "Goodbye Hoseok and Namjoon! Nice meeting you!"

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You sat there next to the water on the platform that stretches over the dolphin's tank. Jimin had taught you how to feed them and the different signals you can do with your hands. When you first saw Jimin, he seemed to like this neat good-looking guy that wouldn't work at a place like this. But here, now looking at him as he is feeding the dolphins with the biggest smile on his face, his hair fluffy and eyes glued to the water, he looked like he belonged.

"Jimin-ah!" you heard someone shout. Jimin stood up quickly and ran off the platform onto the concrete towards a tall looking man, well at least taller than Jimin. "Taehyung-ah! You are 3 hours late! You know you can't always get me to cover for you. You are lucky Y/N was there when I ran into Namjoon today, he for sure would have asked me about you. You know I can't lie to him!" Jimin and Taehyung walked back on the platform and you could finally see Taehyung features.

"Hi, my name is Kim Taehyung. Nice to meet you" he bowed and smiled. His voice was low, that was the first thing you noticed about him. The second thing was his fluffy black hair and you suspected that he recently had a perm. He was soft in every way except he had this dominating presence that could be seen through his eyes. He smiled at you, his box smile making you smile.

"Hello! My name is Y/N. Quite late, are you?" You smiled, and he chuckled. "I swear this doesn't always happen." Jimin scoffed and you tried to hold in your laughter.

"Oh yeah, did you show her around yet?" Taehyung came and sat down on the platform. We joined him, watching the dolphins. Jimin looked over at you "Well we did look around a little, but we haven't been to all the off-limit areas yet".

This intrigued you, "Ooh, now I’m excited. " You spoke with enthusiasm and Taehyung and Jimin smirked at one another. Jimin looked your way "Okay so we can’t get caught there though, it's off-limits to everyone besides Namjoon and Hoseok."

You nodded, curious to see what those "off-limit areas" are. Taehyung sighed, "I don't get why it's off-limits. Those poor fishes all alone... No one to talk too..." Taehyung pretends to cry and puts his hands over his face before taking them off and smirking. You were confused about his comment.  

You look over at Taehyung. He was a character that's for sure. He seemed more carefree than Jimin. Perhaps he didn't like his job as much as Jimin liked it? You weren't one to judge though. You did, in fact, move away from home with barely any knowledge where you're going or if Julie was trustful. You were pretty carefree yourself. But thats because you feel like you have nothing to lose. 

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"Come on! Come on! Hurry up Tae." Jimin whispered loudly.

Taehyung was dawdling behind as you and Jimin were making your way downstairs in the back area of the aquarium. Towards one of the rooms  that were "off-limits". Jimin and Taehyung said they have been working here for years and they have a special key for one of the rooms down here. Apparently it came from the bartender that worked in the food court. Jimin said that the bartender had found it while cleaning and decided to keep it.

"Ah yes, the bartender... watch out for that one" Taehyung chuckled as you guys went through the door using the key. "What do you mean?" you answered, watching Jimin use the key on the door.

"Don't scare her Taehyung! It's her first day, I'm sure he will like her." Jimin sighed but smirked slightly as he opened the doors. As you walked inside you noticed the walls looked like they were made out of stone with little windows that revealed the ocean. There was a long hallway, the ground was made out of sand and as you went down the pathway you could see a moonpool of some sort that had fish in it.

"My little fishes! How have you been?" Taehyung yells out and Jimin shushes him.

"I can't believe this is down here," You say, getting closer the glowing moonpool. Taehyung walks past you, "well no one comes down here anymore. As we said, we have the key. No one has been in, so we figured we are the only ones who have a key to the place."

“But, like how is it here? Under the aquarium?” You wondered, sitting down next to the moonpool. 

“Its connected to the mountains. The aquarium is on the shore but the back of it is connected to the mountains that surround Taelin Shore and this just so happens to be here.” Jimin states, looking around it awe. 

Jimin smiled and looked over at Taehyung, "Its our little hideout but now I feel like it should be Y/N's..." Jimin smiled as he spoke, visably excited and leaned onto Taehyung. You suppose they have been friends since their childhood. You could have sensed it on them.

You gave Jimin a confused expression he looked over at you and handed you the key, "here". You looked at him and stood back. "Wait what? Why are you giving me that? isn't it yours?". Jimin shrugs and puts it in your other hand. "I was once new here as well. I know how it feels, sometimes you just want some peace and quiet." Taehyung then chips in, "It may not seem like it now but when it gets busy, it can be stressful. Besides, we haven't been in here for a while, we don't have any use for it.

You smiled, you did need this. With Julie at home and these two at work, you knew you're going to have your hands full. Just the other day, you wanted time alone... By the end of it, you fell off a cliff and nearly drowned. Perhaps this could be a place for you to be alone. Everyone needed a hideout, right?

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It was the end of the day and Jimin and Taehyung were finished giving you their tour. You were surprised that you felt so comfortable around them. Julie was right, the people here are different.

You stood outside of the Aquarium hugging and saying goodbye to both Jimin and Taehyung as they walked towards their cars to go home. You weren't planning to stay for this long, truth is your orientation ended hours ago. You just wanted to spend more time with them.

You walked over to the pillar at the steps, waiting for Julie to come to pick you up. You sat down on the steps quietly before hearing someone raise their voice as they were heading up the steps. You hid behind the pillar, sittiing there silently. Thankfully, they didn't see you.

You heard Hoseok's voice "You don't understand! We got him! We got him, you hear me? This is a breakthrough of the century! Do you know what we could do now that we have him? The possibilities are endless. This creature is-"

You heard someone interrupt. It sounded like Namjoon, "This creature is the only thing we have going for us right now so would you be so kind to stay quiet! I know you're excited, but we can't let anyone know about this, he's dangerous."

They both went inside. Leaving you to your thoughts.

Honk Honk

"Come on Y/N, It's late!" Julie yelled out from the car. You got up and grabbed your bag before running over to the car.

"I'm coming!"

Tags - @mjlock

AN: Tell me if you like it! 

- Minty ⚘

[your-daily-biaswrecking]

Serva me, Servabo te

save me and I will save you

pairing: photographer!Taehyung x f.reader

genre: angst, some fluff, slight enemies to lovers

word count: 9.1k | reading time: 55 min

chapter summary: you leave the Manor after all and have to suffer the consequences (of being away from Taehyung)

warnings: bitch [affectionate], this is just an emotional rollercoaster and that is all

A/N: Title from the song Truth is by Sabrina Claudio. Also, this is the last proper chapter of this story. An epilogue is all there is left. Thank you for reading this far:)

All chapters  |  Masterlist  |  Read on AO3

Chapter 8: Truth is I'm dishonest

It was only the second time it happened, yet it felt so natural -to be pressed up against his body, to feel his hot breath fan the back of your neck, his arms wrapped securely around your torso- that you feared you had already become accustomed to waking up next to Taehyung. As if it was something that you’ve been doing for years, or perhaps something you’ve been missing out for just as much. In a state between sleep and wakefulness, you nuzzled closer to him, your dreams and reality merging since they both were starring this man, anyway. You took in his scent and the warmth of his company, willing to stay drowsing just a little longer. Because if you had to open your eyes, you would have to face more than you were ready for. But just the act of trying not to wake up is bound to wake you up faster.

“Ames?” you heard the whisper behind your ear, the man that had obviously woken up long ago and had stayed still and silent just to enjoy you in his embrace for as long as he could, had noticed you move, or even your breathing change.

Your eyes shut tighter as if something like that would get you back where you wanted to be. But there was no point; you exhaled through your nose and turned around to bury your face in the photographer’s neck. Your eyes still closed but the privilege of sleep clearly gone.

A hand started rubbing your back, warming you up and you were certain you would be purring like a kitten if you could. “Did you sleep alright?” he asked you, still whispering, even though he had determined you were awake. You could hear the smile in his voice.

You nodded slightly, your nose rubbing against his skin. Your hand traveled around the back of his head and dipped in his hair, feeling like that meant he was even closer to you than before. He took it as a sign to snuggle into you as well, lowering his head in a similar way as your own. You could hear the deep breath he took as to drink you in. You didn’t want to pull away. What if you pulled away, and then you had to leave like you had said last night you would? What if you left and never got a chance to hold him like this again?

Maybe Taehyung could read your mind, or it just so happened that he was thinking of the same thing, because he didn’t move back; not for long. And you said nothing. What could you ever say? The only thing the two of you seemed to be speaking, in any case, was arguments, mockery, or small talk. None fit the moment. Right now you would need something a lot more substantial, something with an expression of true emotion or such. But you’ve both been hiding those well since the beginning, you wouldn’t cave now.

“The housekeepers must be here,” Taehyung told you after he decided he had to be the first to acknowledge the fact that you would eventually need to get out of that bed.

“Right,” you finally spoked your first words for the day, keeping your face yet unseen. “If there are any.”

The boy chuckled before he gently pulled you away to be able to look at you properly. You were taken a little aback by his image; it wasn’t the regular, bright expression, whether that was a teasing or a serious one. Taehyung had just woken up and yet looked somewhat tired; somewhat pale. His small smile on his lips, for sure, but it didn’t reach his eyes exactly. It made you instinctively want to kiss him in an attempt to fix him, which in return scared you into not doing it. Any time you felt the impulse to be loving to him, it scared you, since it was the opposite of your usual compulsions.

His eyes raked all over your person, expression getting even more bittersweet. “I’m sure there are. We can go see for ourselves.”

There it was: the suggestion you were avoiding. Did you really need to uncover the true state of this Manor? Was it more important than staying in this bed with him just some more, even if it was a matter of the supernatural or not? Almost like the answer was no, you buried your face back into his chest. His arms instantly tightening around you, as if to let you know he supported you in your choice. And you would have remained in that position till the end of time if it weren’t for that knocking on the door.

You both jumped. Looking towards the exit was only your second thought- the first being to look at him. But he was already staring at the door wide-eyed.

“You heard that, right?” you whispered.

He nodded, never taking his eyes off the door. Then he moved, releasing you in order to get up, and you almost reached for him, to pull him back.

“Hello?” he asked in a cold voice as he started throwing on whatever clothes were close-by and walking closer to the entrance.

“Uh- hello. Good morning, sir.” It was a woman’s voice that came muffled through the door. A melodic voice, probably belonging to someone young and even pretty. “I’m the housekeeper. Mrs. Kim told me you wanted to talk to me?”

Taehyung looked over his shoulder to meet your eyes, and you both kind of shrugged. Then he pushed the dresser out of the way and unlocked the door, because perhaps he wasn’t sure what would happen, but there was only one way to find out. And what you found was a tall, slim woman in her thirties, wearing a black and white uniform that resembled that of a french maid’s but was clearly different. With her hands fidgeting in front of her hips, she looked at the man in front of her and only glanced at you, not wanting her eyes to invade the private space of the room.

“I apologize if I woke you up, I thought I heard you talk,” she mumbled, lowering her head.

Taehyung quickly shook his head, stretching a hand out for added effect, too. “No, not at all.” He gave you another glance with his lips pressed together before turning back to her. “Do you work here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Right…” It was clear that all Taehyung wanted to do was look at the woman with his own eyes, just to make sure there were no doubts of her existence, and now he didn’t know what else to do. His eyes running to the side, chacing you like they needed your help. “Well, we just-” he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck, “-I guess we just wanted to meet you. Since we hadn’t seen you all this time at all.”

The woman’s eyes widened just a tiny bit. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I should have properly introduced myself.”

That was nice and all, but there was still one question left to be answered. “Yesterday-” you spoke, very lowly, voice almost unable to reach the pair by the doorway. But Taehyung heard you loud and clear, all of his attention and senses already attached to you.

“Oh, that’s right!” he called out. “We wanted to ask you about yesterday. Someone was at the bathroom in the west wing while my friend here was taking a shower. Was that you?”

The girl turned her eyes to the side as she thought about the previous day’s events. “I think so,” she finally said. “I’m sorry, I try not to enter rooms you are already occupying but sometimes I misjudge the situation. I think I only realized someone was taking a shower a little too late.”

Having heard what you wanted to, you lied further down the mattress, trying to keep out of sight under the covers. Because now that the case had been solved, it seemed all that more ridiculous and embarrassing. You felt the need to hide. Even though Taehyung never gave you any reason to feel that way. He just smiled at the housekeeper, thanking her, giving her a joke as an excuse for the awkward conversation, and then let her leave. He chewed his lip when he turned back to you. His mind was troubled, perhaps more than before. Should he get back in that bed with you, or was this your cue to leave? You had already expressed your wish to get out of that house. Could he ask you to stay one more night, or would that give away more than he wanted to show?

There was only one thing he could offer at that moment, that you couldn’t refuse. “Breakfast?”

Even though it had been undeniably established that there were more people there, you still were unable to see any of them as you walked down the corridor to reach your room. The touch of another human was obvious, however, in the little things all over the place: the clothes put away nicely, the made covers of the bed, the smell of cleanness in the air. You changed and moved downstairs to find the photographer making the promised meal. A simple plate of bread and toppings to spread over it with a mug of coffee.

You weren’t in the mood for food but munched on a slice of bread silently as you contemplated your next words, or actions. And Taehyung stayed silent as well, not because there wasn’t anything to speak of, but probably because he was curious to see you try and do that first. And he watched you as you ate, as you kept looking around the kitchen to avoid his eyes, as if that meant you could avoid him.

“So…” you sighed eventually. You had to, eventually, say something, right? You looked at him and thought about how you couldn’t read his expression; eyebrows frown like he was mad, eyes wide like he was begging of something, a smirk on his lips like he was indifferent to anything you had to say. You sighed again. “I guess the Manor isn’t haunted then?”

He chuckled. “I guess not.”

“I mean… you never know.”

“Right, no. We’ll probably never know the truth of what actually happens here.”

He quickly raised an eyebrow before he looked down to take a sip from his coffee. His words felt like they weren’t actually referring to anything abnormal that had occurred. Then again, everything that had happened, and especially between the two of you, was abnormal. So, so abnormal… Perhaps it was you and your relationship who made this vacation metaphysical.

“And what happens here…”

“Stays here,” he finished your sentence. “I remember. Don’t worry.”

This conversation felt so much like a goodbye, and you hadn’t even made up your mind on what to do yet. Maybe Taehyung already knew; maybe he knew you better than yourself. You had told him you would leave first thing in the morning, and even though the housekeeper had shown up, it was in no way assurance for you to stay another night. Would it even be worth it? Who could predict what kind of chaos would ensue and if you would end up scared and wired one more time, just so that you can spend one more day with the photographer you were supposed to hate?

“The sky has cleared up,” he mumbled, looking out the window when you had stayed too long in silence.

You followed his gaze as if it was your first time noticing that the rain had stopped- and perhaps it was. “That’s nice.”

One might think this was an awkward type of small talk, when in reality it was a sad disguise of what was really being said: it was now safe to leave this place. There were now no more excuses to keep you there. If you wanted to stay, you would have to admit it first. You would have to admit that this man was the only reason you wouldn’t leave. Basically, saying you will stay after all was just as bad as saying you had feelings for the man.

And now, you couldn’t do that, could you?

“When are we supposed to check out?” you asked him, even though you knew the answer to that. Perhaps you hoped he would answer something more, perhaps what you were doing was giving him a chance to ask you to stay.

“Tomorrow morning,” he mumbled. His fingertips running along the mouth of his mug. “You can leave whenever you want to, though.”

Great, he did the exact opposite of asking you to stay; he basically told you to leave. No… you knew that’s not what he actually meant. He wanted you to stay, you could feel that he did in a hard-to-explain way. But he would never say that out loud. And how could he expect you to do that when he couldn’t either?

“I…” you murmured. It was hard to decide what the rest of that sentence would be, but now that you had started it, you had to finish it. You had to hurry up and make up your mind, even when your mind was a mess. “I…” I’ll stay, just say it. How much will he really judge you for it? “I will…” stay one more day, it’s not too scandalous. He watched you with a blank face, a face that seemed uninterested when in reality he was burning up inside just as much as you were. And he licked his lips, ready to speak for you. Ready to say what he was really thinking about this.

“I will leave in an hour.” The words surprised you when they reached your ears, as if they hadn’t just left your own mouth. And if Taehyung was surprised too, he hid it well. Simply took in a deep breath and looked away, nodding sharply.

“Very well…” he whispered, his voice almost breaking from how low it was, before clearing his throat.

The way he dismissed you so quickly, got up and left the kitchen, let you know you had made the right choice. Why stay there one more night just for him? Hadn’t you both specified how you felt about each other? How this was nothing but a means to survive this week, and it would be over the moment you stepped through that front door? You would go back to being enemies- or even worse, strangers. And it was what you wanted, wasn’t it? What you truly wanted was to never see him again, not spend a few more hours in his arms. Right?

The fire was out. When you walked into the sitting room to check if you had any books forgotten in there, it was cold and empty. The fireplace was for the first time unlit. So, that wasn’t a magic fireplace. Or if it was, if that fire was really the heart of this living house that had to keep burning in order to stay alive, it had been left to die out. You weren’t sure what that meant, but you did notice the way the hair on your skin stood and the way you immediately left the room as if by instinct.

You didn’t see Taehyung as you got back to your room to start packing up. The longer you didn’t see him, the more certain you were of your choice. You were only confused and acting weird when he was around, to stare at you and put you on the spot, unable to think straight. When he was gone, you could think clearly; and you knew that staying one more night in this Manor for a man you should have nothing to do with wasn’t worth it. Not when he didn't even have to balls to ask you to.

But still, you dragged everything out. You packed your clothes at the slowest pace you could muster. You paused all the time just to stare at the door. You stalled even your breathing as you stalled everything else you could think of. But no Taehyung appeared to stop you. And in the end, you had to drag your suitcase down the stairs and toward the front door. The action alone made your heart race and you weren’t sure if it was excitement for finally leaving the haunted place, nervousness of your last chance to change your mind, or pain of parting from something you had kind of liked. You opened the door and stilled there, looking over your shoulder around the hall, thinking about whether you were forgetting anything.

Kiss him.

The little voice inside your head took you off guard. You were forgetting to kiss him one last time, while you were still in that house where the rules would allow it.

You shook your head. Ridiculous. You did not need to kiss Kim Taehyung goodbye! He isn’t your boyfriend, Amy, get that through your thick skull already. Do you think people kiss their hook-ups before kicking them out of the house? Do you think he is interested in, I don’t know, giving you a big hug and telling you to drive safe? Pulling you back in to beg you not to go? He wasn’t even around. Lost in one of the many rooms of the Manor and avoiding your presence, just like it had all started.

This place had infected you with a disease called Kim Taehyung and you had to get out of there as quickly as possible to get better. You closed the door and didn’t even look back.

But even as you were in your car, on your way far from there, your mind was still tainted. Scenes of the boy and you constantly repeating in front of your eyes, almost making it impossible to pay attention to the road ahead of you. Images innocent, like the ones when you were cooking together or reading by the fireplace, as well as sinful ones. Like the ones where instead of cooking, you were making out on that kitchen counter with his fingers knuckle deep inside of you. And the ones where instead of reading, you were shouting and pulling his hair, about to burst not from the warmth of the fire but something more.

Perhaps it would take a little longer to recover from this affliction.

The way back home seemed shorter than when you were originally going to the Manor. Maybe it just seemed that way because you already knew the route, or maybe you had completely dissociated, barely even realizing you were driving, your mind undeniably elsewhere, and you didn’t notice when or how you finally got there. In front of your house.

You pushed the door open with your back, hands full of your luggage, any kind of focus missing, and it didn’t even cross your mind that you were about to face more people once again, until you heard Yoonji scream. It pulled you out of your trance and your head whipped towards the source of the sound, immediately turning back, your eyes shutting tightly when you registered the naked limbs interweaved together.

“Gosh, Yoonji!” you groaned, shaking your head and closing your eyes even harder, like that would make you unsee things.

“Ames!” she exclaimed, her voice out of breath. “You’re back!”

You sighed and dropped your suitcase. “What have I told you about sex on our couch?” you complained.

“We thought you were coming back tomorrow…” the girl sniffed.

“That doesn’t make it- Is that Jimin?”

“Hello…” his sweet, high-pitched voice ringed through the room. Of course it was.

“Hey, Minnie,” you sighed. “Are you guys decent now?” When they agreed, you turned around to find Yoonji with just a white shirt on that barely covered her butt and Jimin with his black boxers and nothing else. You rolled your eyes. “That’s not what decent means.”

Your roommate ignored your words and ran to you, her arms wrapping you in a big hug. “Bitch, I missed you so much!” You let her rock you side to side, your body limp, and not because you didn’t reciprocate the sentiment. You just had an immense feeling of fatigue and hunger, and perhaps even something you wouldn’t admit, and you thought you would either crack up or sink down.

“How was it?” Jimin called from the couch.

“Put a damn shirt on, then I’ll talk to you!” Not that the view wasn’t pretty or anything, but you knew your roommate you flick your forehead any time you looked at her man, and that didn’t seem fair when he was basically naked there.

“Why are you back today?” Yoonji asked you after she pulled away and guided you to the living room. “I was expecting you tomorrow.”

You groaned. “Uh, right. Long story.”

“I know,” Jimin chirped and your blood ran cold. “I bet she fought with Tae.” Oh, okay, no he had no idea.

But Yoonji took one look at your pained expression and thought she knew, too. “I told you she hated the guy!” she exclaimed, addressing the boy over her shoulder. Excited as if she had just won a bet.

That reminded you of your conversation with the photographer the previous night, about the rumors you had spread. You pointed a finger at her face. “You… you say too much, twit!”

Jimin, now properly dressed, came and sat next to you. “So, what happened? You really couldn’t last another day with him in the same house? He’s an asshole, I know… But, like, did something happen? Should I be worried about what I’ll face when I meet him?”

You sighed. “Nah… Nothing happened. I don’t think he’ll have anything extraordinary to tell you.” At least so you hoped. And as you watched the pair talk back and forth about what they guessed your relationship with Taehyung was the past few days -both of them nowhere near the truth- you decided to change the subject. “So, you two back together I assume?”

“Ah!” Yoonji exclaimed like she had just realized herself. “Yes, what’d you think? Also, you’d know that already if you actually answered your phone, you bitch!” she scoffed at you with her chin raised high.

“I had no signal!”

“You fucking ignored me and you know it!”

You shared an understanding look with Jimin before he started rubbing his girlfriend’s back and giving her some sweet talk to excuse you. And Yoonji immediately succumbed to his touch. They were really cute together, perfectly complementing and balancing each other out, and you were happy to see them like this again. You were always happy to see them together. Although at the moment your smile conveyed something more than pride; something sad. And you almost didn’t want to look at them too long.

“Is that what you wanted to tell me?” you asked Yoonji to bring them back to earth. “With all those dramatic texts and missed calls. That you got back together?”

"Oh,” they both said rather at the same time. And then they glanced between them, communicating with their eyes something you were left out of. You didn’t care, but as I said earlier, you were tired and hungry and you just kind of wanted to be over with this welcoming conversation with the couple, as mean as that sounds.

But they turned to you with rosy cheeks and smiles they were trying to control. It made you worried, really. “We have an announcement to make,” Jimin said.

“Oh, no.”

“We’re moving in together!” Yoonji shrilled.

You were frozen, not knowing how to respond. You really couldn’t do this right now, you already had too much on your mind. You simply didn’t have the mental capacity to process her words. But the two of them stayed staring at you, with their toothy smiles that turned more uneasy the longer it took you to react. So you had to say something, and what you said was a plain: “Why?”

She puffed, her mouth dropping. “Girl, what do you mean why?”

That was the wrong reaction, apparently. “Uh-”

“I asked her to move in with me,” Jimin chimed in with a shy smile. “My new apartment has plenty of room for both of us, there is no reason for you to be squeezing into this tiny place together.”

“Okay…” you grunted. It sounded wrong, like it was happening too fast. But if you think about it they have been together for three years. This is what normally happens with relationships. Just because you have never been in a serious one long enough and still have the maturity of a high schooler doesn’t mean your friends aren’t allowed to grow. “Okay,” you repeated more confidently. “But what are y'all gonna do when you break up every other week, huh? You’ll just be back here half the time, Yoon?”

They both laughed, either because they predicted the question or because they had the same one themselves. But the girl shook her head. “No, no… We won’t break up anymore.” You just raised an incredulous eyebrow at her. “No, I promise! You don’t think we can do it? It’s not like we ever broke up seriously. We can stop whenever we want to.”

It seemed like there was nothing left for you to do but be happy and supportive. Because even if what Yoonji was promising doesn’t happen, it was obvious they both wanted to try. And frankly, that alone was a big deal. That alone was a lot more responsible and brave than anything you had to show for. And she wasn’t wrong by the fact that their break-ups have been a joke up until now, anyway. If they wanted to stop, then you were optimistic they could.

It was a good distraction, too. A whole week of packing Yoonji’s things up, or talking about packing up, helping her move, or talking about moving. It was good. Because that way you didn’t have to talk about anything else. You didn’t have to think about anyone else. Well, you didn’t have to… but that didn’t mean you didn’t. It was hard when everything reminded you of him. Ramen- like what you ate on your first day there. Cards- like the games you played that brought you so much closer. Vogue magazine, cameras, candles, windows, sweater vests, music, coffee… Okay, perhaps some of them were a stretch. But you couldn’t help the fact that your mind searched for and found him in every little thing.

You hadn’t heard from him at all, not even really knowing if he even got back home or vanished in that Manor, but you assumed that you would have known if it was the latter. The silence ached you, yet what did you expect? You had been the one to ask to forget about everything once back in your normal lives, and he was just keeping his promise. Why were you mad he was keeping a promise you made him make? Then again, he is such a dickhead, always doing whatever he wants; if he wanted to break a promise he would. And perhaps that’s why you were mad- because his silence meant he didn’t want to.

If your emotions were a complicated mess, it became obvious on Yoonji’s last day in your apartment. You had decided to make it a girls’ night as a farewell. Very quickly, it turned into a drunken confessions’ time.

“I don’t want you to leave,” you whined at your not-for-much-longer roommate.

She gave you a pout. “Baby, you know we’ll still see each other every day.”

But you shook your head. “No, it’s not the same. I’ll be living alone. You’ll leave me all alone.” You didn’t want to tell her why you hated that so much right now.

“Think of it this way: you’ll have the whole place to yourself! And you won’t have to run into Jimin and I fucking on the couch anymore.”

You laughed before regaining your grumpy expression. “You don’t understand… I love you and I want to spend all my time with you.”

Yoonji frowned at you, chuckling at your weird choice of words. Sure, it was no secret you loved each other very dearly, but what with the alcohol, tears, and all, you sounded different. “Girl… Are you confessing to me?”

You turned to look at the girl as if you had forgotten she was there. And then you cried, throwing a whole tantrum right in front of her. “Ow, come on! Don’t go! Like, you guys fight all the time, anyway. We don’t fight though. We live together in this house so nicely, don’t we Yoon?”

The girl’s face got more serious; not in a bad way. She looked more like a mum or a teacher ready to give you a life lesson. She wrapped her arms around your body and pulled you closer, cuddling you and stroking you lovingly. “You’re worried about how I’ll be…” she mumbled.

You sniffed. “No, I’m only worried about me.”

“I know it looks like that to other people; that we fight a lot and that’s bad,” Yoonji continued, because she knew you were not emotionally strong enough to express what you actually felt right then. And she wanted to console you. “But in reality, if the other person does or says something that hurts you, fighting about it is the best option. Grudging, or pouting, or making a scene is good because you show that this offended you. You establish your boundaries and teach the other person how you want to be treated. And you give them a chance to make things right.”

Up until now, you thought Jimin and Yoonji only fought for the attention. That it was never that deep. Something annoys Yoonji, she makes a scene, they “break up” and then get back together again. Again and again. You could never be like that; if you broke up once with someone, you’d stay broken up out of spite. Even if you didn’t want to.

“But isn’t it always better if you don’t have to fight in the first place?” you mumbled. Isn’t the ideal relationship supposed to be perfect, where your partner never does anything to hurt you?”

But Yoonji shook her head. “People always make mistakes. If you don’t react or say anything, that doesn’t make you cooler than someone who complains. Because their words or actions won’t have hurt you any less. You are still offended and hurt, it’s just that this way, instead of letting it all out and allowing the other person to learn and fix their mistake, you keep it all bottled up. And you suffer in silence, and things that didn’t have the chance to get fixed keep piling up, until one day all those little mistakes become a big one that can no longer be fixed.”

You sniffed, then buried your face in her neck. You hated when Yoonji started being all serious, talking nothing but the truth. She was supposed to be the crazy one between the two of you. If she had reached the point that she was giving you advice, how far down must have you fallen into a close-minded pit?

You sniffed again. “And… that works?” you said, your voice barely over a whisper. “If you just say what bugs you every time, nothing but honesty, that won’t make everybody just tired of you? They won’t just leave you?”

Yoonji chuckled. “Are you tired of me?”

You immediately held her tighter. “Never!” you shouted. And she laughed even more.

“And has Jimin left me?” You quickly shook your head. “I may have had many, many little problems with my boyfriend, but I have never had a big one.”

At that point, it would just be lying if you said she wasn’t right. And anyhow, she was the one with an amazing boyfriend who just asked her to live with him, not you. You keep making fun of Yoonji for always fighting with Jimin, yet right now, between the two of you, who is really happy and who is miserable? She must be doing something right that you aren't. And perhaps that was it; the fact that Yoonji never, ever let something that she didn’t like simply go, whereas you never, ever admitted to having your feelings hurt. If somebody did something you didn’t like, you acted like it was your fault, and it was your duty to endure it with no complaints. But if you never tell the other that what they were doing is hurting you, how do you expect them to change? Time and time again, you get disappointed at people for not changing things you never asked them to.

When Taehyung hurt you by having a girlfriend while trying to get with you, instead of showing that, you avoided him for three years. You pretended you were fine; just didn’t like his character. And when you kissed again, after all this time, you ran away instead of explaining how you were too afraid to trust him as before. And instead of revealing it pained you that he didn’t make any effort to turn what you had into something more, instead of confessing you liked him, you left the Manor.

Even right now… you stay upset that he isn’t contacting you -when that’s what he thinks you want in the first place- instead of contacting him first.

“Fuck it,” you blurt out. “You’re right. You should tell people what hurts you.”

“Yeah, you should,” Yoonji chimed in, raising her beer to you.

“And you shouldn’t hide your feelings, you should just be honest.”

“Exactly! Now you get it!”

Even though it was clearly the alcohol talking, you didn’t back out of your decision. The next day you woke up determined to actually give this a try. You would do whatever you wanted to; what was the worst that could happen? Well, I guess that would be rejection. But, man, who cares? Rejection sounded better than waiting another three years until you get stuck in another haunted house with him for some progress.

In the morning, you drove Yoonji to her officially new house with the very last bag of her things. Which, in and of itself, was heartbreaking. Knowing that you could only hang around for a little while before you had to go back to an empty house, was even worse. Your friends let you stay for lunch, messing around just like the three of you always used to do. The only thing that had changed was the setting. And you guessed that wasn’t that bad after all. You had never seen them happier, and that was enough to make you happy for them while at the same time fidget around with a bit of jealousy.

You didn’t want to go back home alone… And it wasn’t even Yoonji that you missed.

The couple remained in the kitchen to do the dishes -they insisted there was no room for you to help- while you sat in the living room, watching TV. You thought about asking Jimin about his friend, but you weren’t ready for them to know. You had barely decided to talk to him, let alone the people who still thought you hated him.

You eyed Jimin’s phone on the coffee table instead. Then you glanced toward the kitchen; you couldn’t see them, but you could hear them giggling along with the running water. And even though you knew going through someone's phone was shitty, you swore it was for a good cause. So you grabbed it and punched in the password (obviously, it was their anniversary) and found the contacts’ app. Still checking over your shoulder like a paranoid, you quickly searched Taehyung’s name. But come back with nothing. You rolled your eyes when you realized there was no way Jimin would have his so-called soulmate with just his name. And when you took a look at his favorites, the beginning of the list was something like this: “Cutie Pie”, “Honey Bun”, “Ames”.

“Oh, thank God I’m just Ames,” you let out. Then looked at the first two names again. “What the fuck, Jimin? Which one is your girlfriend and which one your best friend? This isn’t right.” You unlocked your phone in your other hand. There was some silence from the couple, which made you sweat as you quickly compared Yoonji’s contact on your phone and Jimin’s. It matched with Cutie Pie. So, Honey Bun it was…

Step one of your plan was acquired successfully. Now all you needed to do was actually use that number.

You put it away, ignoring it for a good half of the rest of your day. Perhaps you had changed your mind. Although the silence of your home was so loud it made your skin crawl. You almost called him. Then you backed away again, opting for another beer instead. And you almost texted him, but you didn’t know what to write. Maybe you were just overreacting to Yoonji moving away and if you just waited a couple of days to get used to the new lifestyle, you wouldn’t even miss him anymore. Or maybe the longer you waited, the more chances you had to get rejected. If he ever did feel something, it might have been already gone. When you left him, or any second after that.

You called him. Your hands literally shaking as you pressed your phone to your ear. One beep and you were wondering if you were making a mistake. Another and you were almost certain of it. You went to lower your phone, ready to hung up, when you noticed you could hear more than the beeping from your end; you could hear a ringing, too. You paused, hesitated, your mind trying to put two and two together. And the call was ended before you had the chance to do it yourself. And the ringing stopped.

It’s not that you actually knew what you would find when you opened your front door; you hadn’t exactly gone through the whole thought process. But you weren’t surprised when you saw the exact man you were looking for only a couple of steps away.

“Tae?” you wondered with your eyebrows frowned.

He was facing away, hunched over his phone in his panicked attempt to silence it, frozen when he heard the door open, and especially so when he heard your voice. But his curiosity got the best of him and he turned around to face you. He knew his phone ringing had given his location away, but he hadn’t exactly expected you to get out because of it. I mean, the sound could have come from anywhere. Were you always this nosy?

But the phone in your hand gave him another idea. “Were you calling me?” he muttered.

You got flustered at his question. Took in a sharp breath, widening your eyes. “Were you waiting outside my door?” you shot back. Two can play this game.

You saw his eyes move around nervously, his expression admitting defeat. Then he licked his lips and dropped his head low. “I was— I came here because I wanted to give you something.”

Your mind raced with about a million different things he could be referring to, but couldn’t decide on one that seemed plausible. “Oh,” you simply mumbled. It suited you well, right? There was no need for an awkward phone call since he was already there; that way you could cut straight to the awkward declaration. “Okay. Come in.”

You pulled to the side, opening the door more for him to pass next to you. Which he did with a small nod and his arms stuck to his sides as if he was afraid he’d get burned if he accidentally touched you. And then he was standing in the middle of your house, looking out of place. Which is when it really hit you; and you burned after all. Your entire body itching in his presence, your stomach in shambles, and you couldn’t tell if it was anxiety or excitement. Or both.

“So… What did you want to give me?” you asked after clearing your throat and determining he wasn’t about to speak first.

He looked you up and down. “Why were you calling me?”

His words had an instant impact on you as your nostrils flared and your cheeks blazed even harder. “I- I asked you first!”

“Uh…” He dipped his hand in the pocket of his jacket, jerking his head to the side like a nervous tic. And he pulled out a white envelope. “This…” he whispered as he slowly extended his hand to you.

That was the last thing you expected. So you frowned at his offering. “What is that?” you wondered, rightfully so. It was light in your hands and you couldn't even have a guess. Taehyung didn’t answer you, waiting for you to see for yourself. So you walked back to the couch and sat down before opening it, letting him follow you.

“These are yours,” he mumbled again.

Photos. The photos he had taken of you. The ones on your picnic, where you were shy at first, then all smiles and blushes after all that wine. The ones where he was hovering above you to capture the way you looked up at him; a view prettier than anything you had seen all day. Your eyes glowed and reflected more than you wanted to show -it was so obvious through his lens- and you asked yourself if he had always been able to see you in that way. The pictures he took of you in the garden. Pictures that seemed so much more mature, as if within just a couple of days you had become a veteran of the sport. They weren’t meek or suggestive like the previous ones; these were just beautiful. Poetic.

“Look,” Taehyung told you with a small smile he was trying to bite back, pointing at one of the pictures where you were crouched on the ground, looking at the camera over your shoulder. “We caught the fairies!” He was pointing at two bright dots blended in your hair. Overexposure of the light and the old machine resulting in the sun being trapped on the film like stars.

When you looked up, you met his eyes. And his face was close, just as much as you would have liked. You couldn’t help but smile, and once he saw your reaction, he revealed the brightest, biggest grin as well.

“You’re really talented, Tae.”

He seemed to get a bit flustered. “It’s easy when you’re that pretty.”

You matched his shy stance. It wasn’t the first time he had called you pretty, but it certainly felt different outside that Manor. It felt different when it was just in your regular home, on that crappy couch, with nothing romantic setting the mood. It was rawer, perhaps even more real.

“Thank you,” you replied, referring to everything. And you spread the pictures out of the coffee table.

Taehyung cleared his throat. “So? I think it’s your turn to tell me why you were calling me now.”

“Oh.” That was a hard question since you hardly knew the answer yourself. You didn’t have a specific reason like he did; mostly just wanted to hear his voice again. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“About?”

You gulped. “Lots.” You found the courage to turn and look at him again, and his eyes were watching you like a soft touch. “I wanted to tell you, well- everything.” His tongue darted out, wetting his lips and catching your attention, as he scooted a bit closer, till his thigh was pressed against yours. Your mind got distracted, looking at his body and almost forgetting what you were talking about. “I have decided that hiding your feelings is lame—” you continued before losing your train of thought, “—and we should speak truthfully; straightforward; no holding back; word for word, exactly what we are thinking.”

Taehyung watched you carefully for a couple of seconds, but you didn’t notice any major changes in his expression. He met your eyes steadily and nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay…” you breathed as well. And you looked at each other for a few seconds as your worry continued to grow, and you felt like you were already making a mistake, and you couldn’t think of a single thing out of the many you wanted to share. “You start!” you blabbed.

The photographer didn’t back down. He bit his lip, frowning as he reflected on the situation. And he hummed in the back of his throat. “Very well…” He thought about it a little longer. “Truth, huh? Well, truthfully… The photos were just an excuse for me to come here. I knew you’d be alone. I wanted to see you.”

He said it all so confidently. And it’s not like it was something that would have never crossed your mind; if you read between the lines it was obvious. But hearing it coming from him was different. It was so much better. Just because something goes without saying doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel good to say it nevertheless. You liked that he admitted it; you liked that you weren’t hiding it anymore. Yoonji was right about being honest.

“Your turn,” he rasped, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Right.” You didn’t know what to say first, not wanting to dive right into the deep stuff. So you picked from where he left you. “I’m glad you came. It’s been a week and I was beginning to think you didn’t want to see me anymore.” Took in a breath, watched his eyes as he blinked at you. “I wanted you to want to see me again.”

Taehyung hummed, nodding along with your words. He scratched his chin. “I didn’t like that you left,” he came clean. “Not so much because one more day there would make any real difference, but I wanted you to choose to stay. I wanted you to want to stay with me.”

You gulped. And suddenly you remembered why you never did that whole honesty thing with people; it hurt when you were the one being held accountable. But you had started it and you weren’t going to back down now. So you nodded to his words as well, looking away for more comfort. “I understand,” you mumbled. “I wanted you to ask me to stay.”

Taehyung shifted in his place, leaning back to lay on the couch with a position that would normally look snugger, but at the moment looked more loaded with pressure. The palms of his hands rubbed his thighs. “Well, I guess then that’s on both of us for not communicating properly, huh?”

You chuckled- it was more of an attempt to relieve some stress from your voice. “This is why I said we needed to talk.”

He was immediately leaning forward again, right in your face. “Okay, what else do you have to say?” You balked. “What about when you said you wanted to pretend what happened there, never happened, and to forget about it right after we left… but now you’re telling me you were waiting for me to come to find you?”

Your lips stuck out in a pout. Why were you being attacked like this? And what were you even supposed to reply to that? You didn’t know either! “I-” you stammered. “I don’t know. I say a lot of things.” Then you looked down between your thighs where your hands were having a fight with each other. “I mean, I even said I hated you so many times. Did you believe that, too?”

It didn’t sound like your best answer, but when you heard the boy laugh, you relaxed a bit. “No, I didn’t,” he confessed. One hand landed on your knee to rub you sweetly. “But it’s hard to always know what you mean and what you don’t.” You chewed on your lip, not taking the liberty to keep the conversation going, mostly just focused on his hold on you. You knew he was trying to meet your eyes, but wouldn’t let him. And then he sighed. “So, what you’re telling me… is that… You don’t want to pretend nothing ever happened? You don’t want to let this go?”

Your eyes flew to the side, trying to find him, but you turned back down before exposing yourself. “When I said that, I meant it… I didn’t want this to be a thing.”

“And what about now?”

But you found the spite to turn the question toward him. “What about you?” you asked as you finally raised your head to look at him. “You said you don’t do relationships. Don’t you want to leave it all behind?”

His eyebrows twitched into a frown. “Are you saying you want to be in a relationship with me?”

“No!” you were quick to counter. And once again, your eyes fell on the floor. Spite short lived.

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “I thought we agreed to be honest.”

You huffed, rolling your eyes because he was right but you hated it. “All I’m saying is that…” You felt like you were on the spot, didn’t like admitting to feelings even after you had made up your mind that it was the best way to go about it. You were really trying, it’s just that this wasn’t something you were used to. So you squirmed around, seeking to put your chaotic thoughts into a sentence. “Well, I don’t know what I want. But I do know that it hurt me when you basically said you could never see this more seriously.”

The photographer hurried to shake his head, his hand on your knee gripping you tighter. “I never said I don’t see this seriously. It’s always been serious to me, Amy. From day one.” His words caused your stomach to flip. And you dared look into his eyes one more time. And they were glistening. “Even if it was just having some meals with you, being your friend, kissing you, or even more, I always treated it with seriousness.”

You pressed your lips together. “But you don’t do relationships,” you reminded him of his own words. “It’s only serious for a couple of days that it lasts?”

“I don’t- I don’t do relationships because I’m not good at them, Amy,” he let out with a sigh. And he looked at you with hurt in his stare. “You of all people know that very well. You’ve been a good reminder of the fact.”

“Me?” It was a rhetorical question since you knew exactly what he was referring to. And you chewed on your lip, nervous about the conversation and about how you didn’t know how to react. Taehyung just kept staring at you, his expression not much changed, as if he had come to terms with this a long time ago. But you hadn’t. “That… I didn’t…” You really didn’t know what to say.

“It’s fine, I get it,” Taehyung relieved you of your duty to reply. “I’m not the best boyfriend. I try to improve, as we all do, but I know I have no right to ask you to give me a chance like that. I still try though, perhaps for the next person in my life that hasn’t heard about my terrible reputation by some miracle. Perhaps I can one day woo someone like that, and perhaps I can even be a decent partner for them, too. I know I won’t make the same mistakes again.” The hand that was lying on your knee moved to touch your own, holding it slightly, as if he was too scared to hold it more. “Just because I say I can’t be your boyfriend doesn’t mean I don’t take you seriously, or that I don’t like you, or even that I don’t want to. I liked every second we spent in that Manor together. But I’m willing to leave it all behind if that is what you want.”

There was a deep frown set on your features as you took in all that he said. Word after word, you analyzed it while you stared right where your hands were linked. And then you looked at him and spoke with the sweetest voice you could muster. “Taehyung, that’s all bullshit.”

It was almost funny how his whole jaw dropped. “What?”

“I asked you to tell me exactly what you’re thinking, exactly how you feel,” you began to explain with a louder, more confident voice than before. “You haven’t said one thing that is actually about you; just keep saying what you assume I think of you or I want to hear.” He closed his mouth then, perhaps because he saw truth in your statement. “When I say I want you to tell me what you want, I mean it. Tell me exactly what you want right now.”

There was a low growl in the back of his throat before he looked up to the ceiling and released your hand. He exhaled deeply. Because he had always been better with words than you, but that didn’t mean he was any better at showing his true feelings. “Well-” he finally began when you guessed he put his own messy mind into some order, “-just like you, I guess I don’t know what I want, either.” He turned to look at you and had a tiny smile on his lips. Perhaps from satisfaction he would say it out loud. “I don’t know how I want this to go from here on, not exactly. For now, all I know is that I would like to kiss you again. Right this moment, even. And after that, I guess I’ll find out.”

Even though you got flustered, you somehow managed not to look away. Keeping your eyes in his to take in all of the rest of his emotions that he wasn’t saying, but much like you in those pictures, he still couldn’t hide. And it was clear it was now your turn to speak. You sighed with a smile that had started to grow and was hard to fight back on your lips. “I get that,” you told him with a whisper. “I think I feel the same way. I’m not sure how I want this to end, but I know I don’t want it to end just yet.”

Both of his hands found yours right away, turning his body until he was facing you more properly. And in classic Taehyung manner, he smirked at you. “So… Does that mean I have permission to kiss you even outside that old Manor?”

Your smile reached its peek, giggling slightly as you leaned in and placed your lips softly on his. Both of your eyes fluttering closed. Taehyung’s hands coming up to cup your cheeks. And the butterflies in your stomach throwing a whole ass rave at his mouth on yours once again. But you pulled back before it got too heated. He searched your face worriedly, afraid he had done something wrong. Though you just wanted to say your thoughts out loud, like you had promised you would.

“Fuck that Manor and the rules we had in there. You have permission to do anything you want to me, Kim Taehyung,” you purred, before throwing yourself back in his embrace.

Epilogue

[hockeylvr59]

Secret Love Part 11 || Cale Makar

Requested: [ ] yes [x] no

Authors Note: So I really struggled writing Chapter 10...Chapter 11 however...took me like two days. So yeah...uh characters are still in Iceland, Days 3 and 4 sightseeing will be posted following this. As always all posts for this series can be found by searching the tag ‘038’ on my blog. Let me know what you think. 

Gif Credit: @j-compher​

Warnings: cursing, oral sex, smut, unprotected (on birth control but no condom) smut

Word Count: 3,819

~~~~~~

If you’d thought day two of your trip had involved a lot of driving, you were in for a rude awakening moving forward.

The morning of your third day in Iceland, you and Cale had slept in until around 8 am before getting up, heading down to breakfast, packing up and then checking out of the hotel. Before leaving Reykjavik, you stopped at a market to stock up on some drinks and snacks, then a gas station for a refill before finally hitting the road heading south.

After about an hour and 40 minute drive, you reached your first stop: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. This waterfall was the perfect photo op because you could actually walk behind the falls. Taking some sillier but also sweet pictures, you continued on to another waterfall about a half hour away. From there, you stopped for lunch before Cale drove on to Dyrhólaey Nature Reserve.

The nature reserve was home to sea stacks and arches and the view from the upper trail was breathtaking. It had only been three days but already you were certain that Iceland was one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  After taking in the views from above, you headed to the lower trail and onto Reynisfjara beach.

There, black sand stretched in front of you as far as you could see. It was so different than any other beach you’d ever been on but it was honestly really, really cool. As cool as the sand was, the rock formations lining the beach were even cooler. After walking tucked into Cale’s side for a little bit you looked up at the cliffs to your left and immediately started freaking out. Jumping up and down, trying not to squeal, you tugged on Cale’s sleeve as if your previous actions hadn’t already gained his attention.

“What are you freaking out about?” Cale asked, mystified expression on his face.

“Puffins!” You squealed quietly, pure glee on your face. “They’re so cute!” The last thing you wanted to do was disturb the birds, but you were so excited to see them it was impossible to keep completely silent. Of course, you kept your distance, simply admiring them from afar.

Cale didn’t seem to know what to do with your reaction but he let you have your moment watching the birds, his lips pressed against the top of your head. As you headed back down the beach Cale rubbed his thumb against your side.

“I take you to see beautiful geological formations but it’s the birds you’re excited about.” He mused, shaking his head.

“Leave me alone.” You pouted. “You don’t just see puffins anywhere you know.” Lifting your chin, Cale kissed you softly.

“As long as you’re having fun and are excited about something I’m happy.” He insisted, his arm pulling you closer into his side.

It wasn’t a far drive to the village of Vik which Cale informed you was where you were staying for the night. Unlike yesterday where you had been going non-stop, not returning to your hotel until after 11pm, today you were already here and it was only late afternoon.

After checking into your hotel, you dropped off your bags and used the bathroom before heading into the village itself to park and walk around. Stopping into the tourist shop, you browsed around looking specifically at all of the locally made products. Eventually, you spotted a set of glass coasters made from the black sand of the beaches you’d just been on. Across the tops, various local scenes were painted. They were simple but beautiful and your fingers lingered across the tops of them.

“Those are nice.” Cale said, appearing over your shoulder suddenly.

“Yeah they are.” You agreed. Picking up two sets, Cale handed you one.

“We should get them. One for the house, one for my apartment.” Cale declared. “That way we both have something to remind us of this trip.”

“That’s really soft Cale.” You murmured.

“Don’t care.” He replied. Though you continued to look around, there wasn’t anything else that spoke to you as much as the set of coasters did and eventually you headed to the register to purchase them.

Walking around the village you took in how cute and quaint it was. Soon after your stomachs started complaining, you stumbled into a small restaurant. There you and Cale split a pizza with pesto for sauce, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, parma ham, topped with a balsamic glaze and parmesan cheese. It was delicious and you left feeling completely stuffed.

You’d called it an early night back at the hotel, settling for a movie on Netflix as you curled up together in bed. A relaxing evening was exactly what you needed to recharge and be ready to continue on your journey.

++

Day four of your trip started by filling up the gas tank and then embarking on an hour long drive to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon.

Just before you reached the canyon, you encountered a small turn off which led you to a viewpoint. Climbing out of the car you walked up the pathway until you reached a platform. As far as the eye could see were moss covered rocks and it truly felt like you had stepped onto another planet.

“Are you sure we’re still on planet earth?” You whispered to Cale. Your boyfriend chuckled quietly in response, his hand resting on your hip. It seemed like the more time you spent alone together, not worried about who you saw or who saw you, the more reliant on physical touches each of you became. You’d never felt so comfortable just being with someone and thinking back on the times you’d seen Cale with Sara, you had a feeling the same could be said for him.

With more pictures clogging up your phones, you continued on to the Canyon itself. It was only a two-minute walk to the start of the canyon from the car and the moment you reached it your jaw dropped.

“Cale…” You whispered. You didn’t even have words to describe how beautiful this place was.

“Woah...sweetheart.” Cale’s thumbs brushed against your cheeks as he spoke and it wasn’t until he pulled you into his chest that you realized you were crying. “Shhh..give your brain a minute to process.” Cale assured you. His patience with you seemed neverending as his hands stroked your back until you finally calmed down.

“Sorry…” You mumbled, wiping frantically at your eyes when you finally pulled away.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Cale insisted. “You’re allowed to be emotionally effected by things. It’s normal. Especially when it’s something as amazing as this.” Cale’s lips pressed gently to your forehead and he dropped his hand from your back to lace your fingers together. “You good to go walk?” He questioned.

It took about 45 minutes to walk all the way up to the top of the canyon and back and you stopped for pictures at various points along the way. You still couldn’t put into words the way this place made you feel; it was all so overwhelming in the best way. As you stood off to the side of the first viewpoint, away from the majority of other tourists, you tugged Cale’s hand until he was close enough you could wrap your arms around his neck.

“Thank you.” You murmured, kissing him lightly. “You always know exactly what I need, you’re always putting me first and taking care of me. It doesn’t go unnoticed, and you don’t know how much I appreciate it. You mean the world to me Cale...I don’t know if I’m quite as good at showing it as you are, but I hope you know that.”

“I do...know that…” Cale responded, kissing you again gently before pulling away, a fondness in his eyes that nearly sent you reeling. Dragging your fingers along his lower back you made up your mind to show him just how important he was to you once you were actually alone.

Back in the car, you munched on some of the snacks you’d brought in lieu of trying to find somewhere to stop for lunch. It took almost two hours to get to your next stop, the Jökulsárlón Iceberg Lagoon.

There, the two of you hopped on a boat tour where you got to taste a piece of 1,000 year old ice as you toured the lagoon. It was incredible to see first hand just how much ice was breaking off of the glacier and it made you more cognizant of the consequences of global climate change.

Right across the highway from the lagoon was Breiðamerkursandur or the diamond beach where fragments of ice wash up after floating from the lagoon out into the ocean. You made Cale climb onto an iceberg so you could take a picture of him and you got some great shots of all of the ice scattered along the shore. Despite the fact that it wasn’t all that cold outside, having been surrounded by ice for the past hour or two left you feeling chilly even if you had dressed in layers.

As you climbed in the car, Cale turned the heat on and you squeezed his knee in thanks. It was just a short drive to your hotel for the night and once you’d checked in, you shed a few layers before heading to the bar for a drink before dinner.

You’d retreated to your room around 6:30pm and Cale hopped in the shower first to clean up. While you waited for him to finish, you dug in your bag trying to decide what to grab for after your own shower. Thinking back to how you had promised yourself you were going to show Cale just how important he was, you unzipped a small compartment where you’d hidden the lingerie you’d bought.

Buying lingerie had been a spur of the moment decision possibly fueled by a few glasses of wine, and the thought of actually wearing it made you nervous. Your sex life with Cale had been fairly tame so far, nothing too out of the box. It had also been completely spontaneous on every occasion. You honestly had no idea how he would react to lingerie and though both sets were fairly tame in comparison to some sets you’d seen online, this was still something new and therefore nerve wracking.

Hearing the shower turn off, you jumped, your heart racing as you grabbed the more modest of the two sets. If you were going to do this, you were going to ease into it. Collecting your cosmetic bag, you hid the lingerie close to your chest.

Slipping into the bathroom as soon as Cale exited, you stripped out of your clothes and stepped into the shower trying not to overthink this. Focusing on shaving your legs and cleaning up served as a bit of a distraction but as you toweled off, your eyes landed back on the lingerie you’d placed on the counter.

You were certain you’d talk yourself out of this if you had to stare at yourself wearing the lingerie in the mirror for too long, so you started with your makeup, doing just a little bit more than you had been lately in order to make yourself feel confident and sexy. Blow drying your hair, you brushed it out before finally reaching for the lace and silk fabric.

Burgundy colored silk sat low on your hips, edged by black lace along both of your thighs. The same black lace covered your chest, ending at the bottom of your ribcage leaving your stomach exposed. It was...sensual but not over the top and when you slid the burgundy silk robe over it, you felt like you might actually be able to pull this off.

Reminding yourself that Cale had nearly lost his shit at the sight of you in a bikini the other night, you took a deep breath before opening the bathroom door and stepping out into the bedroom. Cale was sprawled out on the bed with just a pair of shorts slung low on his hips.

“What do you want to watch tonight?” Cale’s question was asked before he ever looked up at you, but when he did he blinked slowly. “That’s uh...that’s not your usual pajama set…” He murmured.

Blood pounding through your veins, you moved across the room to climb onto the bed beside him. Grabbing the remote from his hand, you turned the tv off before setting the remote aside.

“I was thinking about a different form of entertainment tonight…” You stated, your own voice sounding foreign in your ears. Sliding over Cale’s lap until you were straddling him, your hands ran down along his arms as his eyes did a slow once over of your body. “I think it’s time I take care of you for once.” You husked, raising an eyebrow. Cale hadn’t even seen what was under the robe yet and already he was slack jawed. The power you held over him in that moment sent a rush of adrenaline through you and you slid down the bed, tugging his shorts and boxers down with you.

“You good handsome?” You teased, lightly stroking your fingers over the length of his rapidly hardening dick. Cale couldn’t seem to speak, but he nodded his head and for now that was enough consent. Flicking your tongue along the slit of his cock, you stroked the length of him in your hand until a soft grunt fell from his lips. Only then did you hollow your cheeks, sinking down around him, taking as much of his length as you could down your throat. Bobbing slowly, you felt him twitch and when you pulled back to breathe you ran your tongue along the veins on the underside of his cock.

Following your instincts, plus Cale’s body language and verbal clues, you settled into a rhythm blowing your boyfriend for the first time. You’d seen and felt Cale orgasm enough to know when he was getting close as his body strained beneath you.

“Fuck. Babe. Stop.” Cale gasped, but peeking up at him you knew he didn’t actually want you to stop.

“We’ve got all night handsome...plenty of time for you to recover after coming down my throat.” You murmured before flicking your tongue through his slit again collecting all of his precum. Returning to your efforts, you cupped his balls as you sunk down his length. After just a minute, Cale came with a moan as he spilled down your throat and after swallowing you pulled off of him, sliding your tongue along his skin to clean him up. Cale’s cheeks were flushed as he tried to catch his breath and you slid up his body, settling yourself back over his lap.

“Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?” Cale gasped, his head falling forward to land against your shoulder. Kissing his head, you ran your fingers through his hair waiting for him to become more coherent.

“Just trying to take care of my man.” You hummed. “But if you’re complaining...you don’t have to see what’s under the robe.” As you spoke, you drew his hands up to the tie at your waist, leaving it for him to undo.

The speed at which Cale undid the bow told you that he wasn’t complaining at all and you let him push the robe from your shoulders, his eyes landing on you once more. His cheeks flushed further to match the color of your shorts and his eyes were wider than you’d ever seen them. You let him stare, watching as his tongue ran over his lips leaving them wet and shiny in the dim lighting of the hotel room.

“Fuck…” Cale breathed harshly, drawing out the word. “I must be dreaming right now.” He added. “You’re a fucking dream sweetheart.” Cale’s eyes ran slowly up and down your body like he wanted to memorize every inch. “You bought this for me?”

“I take it you like it?” You assumed, letting out a soft sigh in relief at his reaction.

“What do you think?” Cale grunted, pulling your hips to roll down against his cock which was already hard again.

Laughter bubbled from your chest in reaction and you cupped his cheek as you leaned in to kiss him deeply.

“Good to know lingerie is a hit with you.” You admitted. Cale’s eyes flashed with concern for just a moment before his hand fell to your hips, his thumbs brushing against your bare stomach.

“I don’t know whether I want you to keep this on or take it off.” He declared. Clearly he knew better than he thought he did, because as he spoke his hands slid up your sides, gently gripping the fabric and drawing it up and over your head. Half nude on top of him, Cale’s hands cupped your breasts as he pulled you into a desperate kiss.

“Can’t believe you’re mine…” He mumbled, pulling back. There was something about seeing him like this, flushed red, swollen lips, blissed out from one orgasm already that lit every primal need inside of you. As much as you were his, he was yours and god did you need him inside you.

“Please Cale…” You whimpered, rolling your hips against his.

“Shh…” He soothed, hands gliding across your ass. Sensing that he was going to try and flip you, you kept your weight centered firmly above him.

“I wanna be on top.” You pleaded. “Just need out of these shorts…”

Cale wasn’t responding quickly enough, so you pushed the fabric of your shorts off of your own hips, shifting as little as possible while attempting to kick them off and onto the floor.

“Let me…” You cut off Cale’s statement by raising your hips and lowering yourself onto his dick, a gasp spilling from your throat as you felt him slipping deep inside you.

“Yes…” You hissed, the stretch of your body around him filling you with a warmth and ache that you had missed so much. As you started shallowly leveraging yourself up before dropping back down your eyes met Cale’s deep azure orbs, the look in them heightening your arousal.

“So wet.” Cale eventually groaned. “My girl doesn’t even need foreplay after blowing me to be this soaking wet. Fuck.”

Though one of Cale’s hands fell to your hips, you were the one putting in all of the effort to fuck yourself on his cock.

“You’re so needy...fucking yourself...just using my body for your pleasure. So much for wanting to take care of me tonight.” Sinking down on him again, you purposely tightened your vaginal walls against him, drawing another moan from his chest.

“Hmm...I think me doing all the work...letting you cum inside me while you just lay there is taking pretty good care of you…” You corrected. Your thighs were starting to burn from bouncing on top of him but your orgasm was within arm’s reach and there was no way you were stopping before ensuring you both got to climax.

“My girl is close.” Cale groaned. “Cum for me sweetheart...let me feel that tight heat clamp down on me.”

Cale’s words pushed you over the edge and you sunk down on him in exhaustion as your body shook with your orgasm. Spurts of Cale’s semen filled you from deep inside and you whimpered at the feeling, warm from head to toe. As you collapsed against him, still connected intimately, Cale’s fingers played with the ends of your hair.

“I can’t get enough of you.” Cale whispered a few minutes later, his cock starting to harden inside of you again.

“Again?” You inquired, a little bit in disbelief that his rebound time was this fast.

“Only if you want to.” He assured you. “But I’ll take over, you can relax and enjoy this time.” This time when Cale attempted to roll the two of you over, you went willingly, staring up at him. Before moving, Cale settled your legs up over his shoulders and when he thrust inside of you, you cried out softly at the feeling of him brushing against your g-spot.

“I got you sweetheart...just tell me what you need.” Cale sighed, pleasure lacing his tone.

The sound of your skin smacking together and the squelch of your mixed bodily fluids rang in your ears.

“Talk to me…” You pleaded. “Like before.” You weren’t afraid to admit that hearing Cale dirty talk had pushed you so much closer to orgasm than you would have been otherwise.

“Yeah?” Cale breathed, his cheeks turning bright red again as you nodded. “You feel so good like this sweetheart. You’re even wetter than before. So tight too.” Every movement he made brushed against your g-spot and you couldn’t help the litany of noises that fell from your lips at the feeling.

“You like it when I fuck you like this huh?” He continued. “Your pussy stretches around me so nicely, just welcoming me inside. Do you like being fucked nice and deep like this? Feeling each ridge of me against your walls...feeling me spill deep inside you?” Crying out again, your head tossed back and forth against the pillow, your orgasm creeping up on you quickly.

“You do like feeling me spill inside of you don’t you? That’s why you wanted to stop using condoms. You like being skin to skin with me, feeling me raw you bare. You like being filled with my warm sticky cum, the way it drips out of you if I let it…”

Your vision went black for a moment as your orgasm crashed down on you hard. The muscles in your thighs spasmed painfully, but you barely noticed through the waves of pleasure that rippled through you, leaving you panting. As your body clenched around him again, you felt Cale spill inside of you for the second time tonight.

Carefully he pulled out of you before kissing your lips lightly.

“Be right back.” He declared, disappearing into the bathroom. He returned with a washcloth and after wiping down your thighs, he offered you a hand so that you could go to the bathroom yourself. When you returned to the bedroom, Cale handed you a t-shirt to wear before guiding you under the covers.

“So dirty talk huh…?” He chirped, his nose brushing against the top of your head.

“Shut up and turn the tv on Cale.” You replied, feeling heat flood your cheeks. Chuckling, Cale complied, but as he handed you the remote to pick a show he couldn’t help but get in the last word.

“It’s hot. I enjoyed it.” Shaking your head, you snuggled against him just basking in what was left of the afterglow.

“And for the record...you can always surprise me with lingerie. I’m definitely into that as well.”

Lingerie:

[themilky-way]

under my skin {bucky barnes}

gif credit: friendzoned-by-avengers

pairing: bucky barnes x female! reader

summary: it was the little things about you that enamored him. no matter where he went, or what he did, his mind always wandered to the thought of you. how long until he acts on it? based on only human by robin loxley.

warnings: implied nsfw themes but nothing’s actually descriptive. uh the fucking delicious scent of vanilla because i’m obsessed with it lmao. ALSO if you squint, you’ll find a scene from my previous bucky fic ;)

author’s note: what da fawk 😃 i’m reposting this bc tumblr was  stupid and this wasn’t showing up in the tags??? uhh okay 🤡😃

-------

there were nights when the world around you was still. the streets below the compound were silent, no horns sounding or engines running. footsteps didn’t resonate against the cold concrete of the sidewalk, and no random chatter from pedestrians or local restaurants was heard. for a city like manhattan, you had learned to appreciate nights like these and to never take them for granted. when midnight would strike and send a cool breeze through the open crack of your window, you’d drape a blanket over your shoulders and walk to the large balcony in the living room. the doors remained open behind you, as you knew everyone else was peacefully sleeping, and watched the city in front of you fade into nothing more than the whistle of the wind.

sometimes, a guest would join you. the sound of slippers padding across the marbled tiles would reach your ears, and you allowed yourself to smile. the moments that came with this particular noise were something you treasured, engraving them deeply into your mind so you could be blessed with the opportunity to look upon them again. you’d make out the silhouette that was now next to you, and even though you already knew who it belonged to, you never missed out on the chance to look at him. every now and then you’d come to find out that he was already staring, not creepily, but more of a mesmerized glare. what followed became a routine: you’d smile, coil away as heat rose to your cheeks, and then he’d place a hand on them so you’d look at him. he’d profile every feature on your skin, remembering them so as to be able to touch you again when he closed his eyes later that night. he prepared himself for one of the sweetest moments his life could ever offer him, and in turn showed you just how powerful the movement of his lips on yours could be.

bucky eventually lost count of how many times he’d fall asleep to the sweet, addicting scent of your perfume that lingered on his nightwear. the luscious smell of vanilla would work its way up to his nose, and when he’d catch it, he permitted himself to reminisce the feeling of you. when he did, it almost drove him to the brink of insanity. the sudden recollection of your fragrance when he’d connect his mouth to your neck, or even the purest parts of your body, was enough for him to worship you better than the previous encounter.

but then his mind would change the film and a different image of you appeared. now, you were sitting in front of him, trying your hardest to cure his wounds. the tiny water droplets that ran down your cheek would be wiped by the softness of his thumb, and words of comfort would spill from your lips. as he recounted this scene, his fingers would trace his scars and imagined you were the one doing it. his emotions would depict themselves in the beating of his heart, and he was almost sure that all of new york could hear it. but most importantly, he wished you could hear it. he wanted nothing more than for you to realize the things you did to him; how easily you had bucky wrapped around your finger. if you were to ask him to bring you a star, the one that glowed almost as bright as you, he’d give you the entire galaxy if he could. and he needed you to know that.

so the next evening you stood together in the balcony, and his lips carved into your own, he reluctantly pulled away to reach your ear. warm breath fanned the skin of it before you felt bucky’s teeth graze your earlobe gently, the fingers you had tangled in his hair tugging at the sensation.

“do you know the things you do to me?”

“i think i have an idea,” you breathed out. it wasn’t meant to come out as needy as it did, but you had him so close to where you needed him that you were left with no other option. caught in the spur of the moment, your mouth attached to bucky’s neck, pressing light kisses to the area. it was an act of affection, a demonstration that proved you did reciprocate his feelings.

the minute you dipped your tongue to drag it along the marks you left behind, you knew you were done for. firm, strong hands gripped your sides, pulling you closer to him than humanly possible, and that’s when you caught the impression of him. it released a gasp from your lips, consequently earning a low growl from his. it awoke something in him: a hunger-a desire-whenever he’d swallow the whimpers you made. “sweetheart, if you keep doing that-”

“i know.” that night was the first of many.

it took bucky some time to come to terms with his emotions. it was by no means an easy process; a super soldier trained to assassinate without mercy isn’t exactly deserving of affection. the countless nights spent without rest involved bucky questioning every phrase and touch of admiration you gave him. the nights that you slept in his bed, soft breaths escaping the lips he caressed only moments before, meant the world to him. over the course of this journey, a warmth began to ignite in his chest. something suddenly tugged at the pit of his stomach when you turned the corner of a room he resided in. his heart nearly jumped out of his chest whenever you’d touch him, and one of the things he loved the most was how cool your skin was compared to his.

was this love? what bucky felt? he didn’t believe so at first, pushing the thought to the very back of his brain. but one night, as your bodies’ collided and the soft sounds escaping from you mingled with the air in the room, he let the words slip out. if he were any other person, you would’ve thought it was the pleasure talking, but he wasn’t. and so you muttered the phrase back, and you let him know how much you meant it.

in truth, bucky had unknowingly let you under his skin. he was a smart man-without a doubt. yet here he was, granting this ethereal individual permission to do everything they desired. oftentimes, the possibility of this ending badly kept him preoccupied during most of the day, but when night came around again, his fears ceased to exist.

the soldier noticed that time passed rather quickly when he was in love. days turned to weeks, which then looped into months. he longed for more; whenever tony organized a gala in his ballroom, he’d much rather have his hand pulling you tight against him than converse with sam. he yearned for the public to see you were his, and belonged to only him. thus, when sam and steve dared him to ask the girl he believed was the prettiest to dance, his eyes fell upon you instantly. he got up from his seat, the glass of whiskey he was holding hitting the table a little too harshly, and went over to you. he pardoned himself for interrupting your conversation, politely requested your hand, and excused himself again.

you didn’t hesitate to question his actions, nor to even be nervous of what the others might think, just enjoyed the fact you got to be near him. the interaction was gentle, loving in every reasonable sense as it always was. you swayed nice and slow against his rhythm, the melodies of the live symphony providing the perfect elements for you to catch on quickly.

“be mine,” bucky murmured. he was serious, perhaps more than he’s ever been in his life. the tender way in which he voiced it morphed a cheeky grin on your face.

“i’m already yours.”

“no, i mean actually mine. i don’t want to keep hiding you.” you had never seen him like this. yes, bucky had spoken sincerely with you before, but it was never to the point he might spontaneously combust if he didn’t spill his thoughts. regardless of anything, the man staring at you with great concern was waiting for a response, and you had to answer.

“bucky,” you replied, mocked innocence poking at his name. “kiss me. hard.”

and by god did he kiss you.

[icefire149]

Happy Birthday Dean Winchester!!! 

I wanted to write a little something and this ended up spiraling into something longer than I planned.  (2,231 words) (Also please forgive me for any spelling errors. It’s after 3am) Enjoy!~

/////

For Dean, the weeks and months following Chuck’s defeat went by in a dizzying, unrecognizable blur. Despite Sam and Eileen’s best efforts to take care of Dean, he spent the majority of his time buried deep in the bunker’s archive. A lot of the time Jack is with him.

There was an ache in his chest that feared what stupid things he might have done by now if the kid wasn’t right there. Helping him. Talking to him. Actually getting to bond with him without Chuck’s interference. It was the one good thing in this fucked up situation right now.

So far their search for anything about the Empty was a disaster. There was virtually nothing. More and more often Jack would apologize. With his new position as God, yes, he could make a doorway into the Empty. That much they did know for a fact. But could he put them to sleep? Could he kill them? What would be the consequences of that?

The only other thing that they knew for certain was that the Empty could claw their way into Heaven and tear it all down. That was the only thing that was keeping Jack from snapping his fingers and restoring Cas right then and there.

It was tearing them both apart, but regardless, they continued their search.

Today, Dean opened his eyes and rolled onto his back. It was his birthday. Most years he spent it like any other normal day, but this one….after the Mrs. Butters incident…Sam and him had decided they should be throwing real celebrations. It was one thing when they were living out of motel rooms and the impala. It was completely understandable. But now they have a permanent home. So why not?

He knew now why not…..there was no point in celebrating a man that’s only half here.

Dean closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep the day away. He didn’t realize that he had fallen back asleep until he was startled awake by a pounding on his bedroom door. He shot up to a sitting position in bed, chest pounding and eyes wide with fear. It was a moment before he realized that he was in his room and not….

“Hey Dean? You up yet?”

His heart rate was still slowing, but he recognized the voice. Sam.

“I’m awake now. What’d you want?”

“Lunch is ready. I figured you’d wanna eat by now.”

“Fine. Be up soon.”

When Dean was dressed and ready as he would ever be, he opened his bedroom door. He stood there blinking in confusion for several moments. There were balloons tied to the doors of every room down the hallway.

His stomach twisted uncomfortably as he followed the balloons into the kitchen where the party decorations looked like they threw up. There was a happy birthday banner over the kitchen doorway and balloons….so many goddamn balloons everywhere.

“Surprise!” Jack popped up out of his chair and crossed the kitchen to hug him. “Sam let me decorate for your birthday. He told me I had to contain it to one room though.”

Jack took a step back with a look of concern. “Is that okay?”

“What about the hallway?”

Jack’s eyebrows furrowed. “A hallway by definition isn’t a room.”

That set Dean off in a fit of belly deep laughter. He slapped a reassuring hand onto Jack’s shoulder. “You did awesome kid.”

Jack’s mouth pulled into a beaming smile. He went back to where he was sitting, and Sam came into the kitchen.

“Good. I didn’t think you were ever getting up.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Good to see your face too, Sammy.”

Sam rolled his eyes and started pulling plates out. Dean went and sat by Jack.

“So what’s for lunch? I’m not seeing anything.”

Sam brought the plates over. “Well, you slept through the pancakes Jack helped me make this morning. Eileen should be here any minute with lunch.”

Dean shot Jack a look. “Sorry kid.”

“It’s okay. They were really good.”

“What’s Eileen bringing?” Dean turned his attention to Sam, but before he could answer Eileen came walking through the door.

“I hope everyone’s hungry.” She placed a stack of three white boxes on the table.

The familiar bakery smell hit him instantly. He pointed at the boxes. “Is that?”

Eileen grinned and crossed her arms. “Sam told me you liked pie.”

“Thank you, you majestic, wonderful being.” He turned his gaze to Sam. “You better marry her.”

That got Eileen laughing while Sam ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed.

Dean grinned and made eye contact with Eileen. “I’m so sorry, I know you can do so much better than Sam too.”

She laughed again, and then her mouth curled into a teasing smile. “I know, Dean. I know.”

“OKAY.” Sam clapped his hands together. “Can we move on from the embarrassing Sam portion of today?”

They eventually did. For a long time the three of them sat in the kitchen laughing, telling stories, and eating way too much pie. At one point Sam handed a big gift bag to Dean.

“It’s…from Jack and I.” Sam sounded unsure.

“I hope you like it,” Jack added.

Dean opened it to find several wrapped in tissue paper objects. Soon enough he found out that they were all various framed pictures. Silently, he spread them all out over the table so he could stare at them all.

There were pictures going back a decade. Easily. There were so many smiles and glares and candid shots. Fuck they were all so young looking.

Charlie in her Queen of Moondoor costume. Mom with a bowl of popcorn. Kevin and Sam asleep surrounded by piles of books. Claire on her 18th birthday with the ugly stuffed cat doll. Rowena moments before she hexed the camera. Jack looking amazed at the giant multi-scoop ice cream cone Dean bought him against Sam’s wishes. Kevin and Linda at Garth’s safe-houseboat. Dean, Sam, and Bobby at one of the cabins fishing. The hectic attempt at a family photo from Jody’s. Garth and his family. And Cas…..there were so many just of Cas or ones with him present or ones of just the two of them.

Sam coughed awkwardly. “I know you’ve been saying for a couple years now that you wanted to start printing some of the pictures we’ve been dumping onto one of the old laptops. So I thought….”

“Thank you, Sammy.” He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the pictures. Especially the candid he’d never seen before. It was of him and Cas leaning against the side of the impala, completely lost in their own bubble of conversation. Dean felt like there was a cinder block dropped into his stomach. “You did good.”

And he meant it. Still, it hurt to remember everyone he lost.

“Oh, I think you missed one,” Jack said poking at the bag.

He was right, Dean realized when he reached a hand in and pulled out a smaller wrapped frame.

Sam laughed. “I forgot about that one.”

Dean opened it and burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was a picture from his mark of cain days of him and Crowley in matching cowboy hats. As much as he didn’t want to remember those days, he still couldn’t bring himself to delete the picture. “I miss that dumb son of a bitch.”

“Hey!” Sam chimed in. “That’s insulting to Rowena.”

That had Dean laughing again. “Well, she can take a number kicking my ass. You know the moment Cas sees this he’s gonna use it and me as his personal dartboard.”

The words slipped out before he could even process it. Sam’s smile faded. Dean’s laughter turned into crying. No one said anything while Dean fought to compose himself. He was grateful for that.

When Dean’s face was dry and he dared lift his head up, Jack asked him about the people in the photos.  And that’s how they spent the rest of the afternoon. It was hard to imagine his life without Jack being present somewhere so he was happy to indulge the technically toddler in what the people in the pictures were like. All the stories Dean could pull from his memory. It hurt initially, but after a while he felt lighter.

Later that day Dean was taking a break in his room when Sam peeked in the ajar door. “What’d you need, Sam?”

“I-uh…” He stepped into the room. A neatly wrapped in green box with a card on top was in his hands. “I have one last thing to give you.”

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but isn’t another present going overboard? What gives?”

“It’s not from me.”

“Oh. Hand it here then.” Excited, Dean sat on the edge of his bed and held his hands out.

Sam stepped forward, but he didn’t hand the box over. “It’s from Cas.”

Dean’s hands fell down, and Sam was happy he waited. “What’s in the box?”

Sam placed it on the bed next to Dean. He shrugged. “I don’t know. He asked me quite a while ago to hang onto it.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “I figure he thought you’d be least likely to find it if it was in my room.”

Dean cracked a small smile at that. His chest felt like it split open just to ache again. He knew why Cas asked Sam to hold onto it. “Thanks Sammy.”

Sam left the room, closing the door behind him. It took a while before Dean could muster up the courage to open the card.

His hands shook as he pulled the folded over pieces of paper out of the envelope. Turns out instead of a generic store bought card, Cas wrote him a letter. It was a bittersweet sight. Despite how devastated he normally felt whenever he thought about Cas, he was good seeing his handwriting. In his hands was actually a new message from Cas. A message from Cas to him!

Happy Birthday Dean,

If you’re reading this then that means I failed. I wanted to burn this letter to ashes, but clearly I’m not there to do that. I’m so sorry, truly. I’m not sure what could have happened to bring us here, but I need to confess something important. I know you said no more deals when Jack died, but I still made a deal with the Empty anyways.

When I went to Heaven to bring Jack’s soul back to his body things didn’t go as planned. The Empty was furious Jack’s human half sent him to Heaven. It tore through Heaven like it was tissue paper. I did what I had to for Jack, and for Heaven. My life for his.

I don’t regret it. But the Empty did promise not to claim me until I gave myself permission to be truly happy. I’m still trying to puzzle out exactly what that could be. My family on Earth: Sam, Jack, and you - make me happy each and every day. I need you to remember that.

Please be safe and live a happy life. You are so loved by your friends and family. They need you for the next several decades. I mean it Dean. (I may have been curing you of liver and heart disease every year on your birthday. Well fixing to the best of my abilities the damage you keep causing on those poor organs.)

I hope you enjoy the present I picked out. Quite honestly, I got it because it made me laugh.

I miss you.

Castiel

Dean felt like a tangled mess of emotions. He needed to remember to breathe. Minutes later he carefully tore open the green wrapping paper. Curiosity poked at him. With Cas’ odd sense of humor, it could have been anything in the box.

Under the wrapping paper was a generic cardboard box, but inside were a handful of new cassette tapes. Dean fell over to be laying on his side. Laughing happily for quite a while, he studied each and every tape. They were all cassettes of modern music, specifically the pop artists Cas loved so much. The ones Dean used to tease Cas about while they’d be out on long drives.

He immediately knew which memory Cas was thinking of when he planned this. Dean remembered they were in the impala and Cas wasn’t in the mood for any of Dean’s old tapes. He teased that anything that came out after cassette tapes wasn’t real music. And only real music got to play in the impala.

Closing his eyes, Dean could picture the smug look Cas would be wearing right now. Tears started bubbling free from his eyelids. God he missed Cas with every ounce of his being.

A while later Dean got up and left his room, taking the tapes with him. He went for a long drive circling the neighboring towns while he worked through several of the tapes. If he relaxed enough, he could almost imagine Cas sitting in the front seat next to him, mumbling along to the lyrics of the songs he liked most.

Dean vowed that this time next year things would be different. He was owed a birthday wish and this was it: next year he’d be somewhere warm with his toes buried in the sand, and he’d have Sam, Eileen, Jack, and Cas with him.

[anna-justice]

I Do - Upstead

Summary: It’s the most important day of Hailey’s life and like always, Jay is right beside her.

Warnings: Swearing?

Requested: Yes! #19, “Do you know how hard it is to love someone when you know they don’t feel the same way?”

…

Jay wasn’t exactly sure what he had done wrong that had put him on the path to where he was now: seated in between Adam and Trudy at his partners wedding.

The rest of the unit was buzzing, excited for their friend and coworker. And of course Jay was happy for her, that was all he wanted, for her to be happy. Even if that meant her being with someone other than him.

He sat still in his seat, unphased by the chattering around him. Kevin and Mouch occupied the other seats around them, along with a few more miscellaneous members of the force and several from the CFD. It was a big venue and it was almost entirely full. He was in the second row, the only people in front of him being Hailey’s brothers and their families.

He was trying to keep a smile on his face, it was Hailey’s day and he refused to ruin it. He could mope at home, alone, with the full bottle of whiskey he had bought specifically for this day after Hailey finished off the last one.

…

2 weeks earlier

…

It had been over a year since Hailey returned from New York, but the consequences of the trip hit Jay like a punch to the gut everyday. Hailey was gone for almost three months, leaving a heartbroken and anxious Jay behind. He was convinced that she felt the same way as he did, but after months of nothing leading up to her departure, he figured it was time to move on.

So he tried, after spending the first few weeks in a trance, dragging his feet across the bullpen floor, he went on a date. It was unsuccessful, to put it kindly. He would admit, he was an ass. She was a sweet girl, but she wasn’t Hailey.

A month and several dates later, he met Laney. She was beautiful, funny and very successful. It was by chance that they met, she was a lawyer and she and Jay just happened to cross paths during a case. Jay took it as a sign, she fell into his lap and he was obviously attracted to her. So, they went out and by the time Hailey finally returned from New York, Jay had a girlfriend.

Hailey had spent her entire stay in the big city fantasizing about a possible relationship with her green eyed partner. Which was scary for her, because she wasn’t one to usually day dream, especially about a man. So, when she landed at O’Hare, she had an entire speech prepared.

Just like he said he would be, Jay was there to pick her up. Giving her a tight hug when she reached the mouth of the terminal. It was like she hadn’t even left. Of course she remembered that he had promised her Bartoli’s, she had been waiting for it for weeks, but she wasn’t sure he did.

They were in his truck, where the two had sat together a million times, but something felt different. Hailey didn’t like the uneasy feeling in her stomach, so she spoke up. “You still want to get Bartoli’s? I miss Chicago deep dish.”

Jay smiled softly, chuckling at the phrase that Hailey had texted him so many times over the past few months. He was about to say yes, but then he remembered that he had plans with his girlfriend. His girlfriend that Hailey knew nothing about. “I would love to, but I can’t. I have plans. Can we take a raincheck?”

“Yeah, sure.” Hailey said, trying her best to hide her somber expression. Jay nodded, focusing his eyes back on the road. “Who do you have plans with?” She asked.

Jay’s breath caught in the back of his throat. He had spent the last few weeks developing real feelings for Laney. She was an amazing girl, and he owed it to himself to give their relationship a real shot. But, with Hailey finally sitting next to him again, he couldn’t even remember her name.”Oh, uh, Laney. My girlfriend.”

The last word sent a shock through Hailey’s heart, she had spent months convincing herself that Jay loved her too. Now she realized she was wrong the entire time and it hurt like hell. It felt like her whole world was crashing down around her. “That’s great Jay, I’m happy for you.” She said, as genuinely as she could. She turned away from him, looking out the window to mask the tears gathering in her eyes.

Jay hadn’t been with anyone since Camilla, and they both agree that he was only with her to deal with the pain of losing Erin (and his PTSD). There had been no one since then, and Hailey had just always assumed that she had time. Time to confess her feelings, time to show him how great they would be together. To her, he had always been hers. Apparently she was wrong.

The next night Hailey found herself at a bar other than Molly’s, drinking alone. It was strange, not celebrating her return with her unit, but she didn;t feel like she had anything to celebrate. She started back at the CPD the next day and she needed a quick and easy remedy for her feelings for her partner. At the moment that solution was tequila. That was until a tall, dark and handsome man approached her. She realized that in her half drunken state, if she squinted she could pretend he was Jay.

“Hi, I’m Brandon.” He said, taking the stool next to her.

Hailey gave him a small smile. “Hailey.”

“Can I buy you a drink, Hailey?” He asked.

Hailey smirked, “I’d like that.”

After a night of drinking turned into a first date and then to a second. Hailey found herself with a relationship of her own. And even though she knew that a small part of her heart would always belong to Jay Halstead, she was perfectly okay with trying to be at least content with someone else.

When contentment turned to love and then eventually a marriage proposal, Hailey found herself saying yes. She loved Brandon and Jay was still with Laney, so she decided to give herself a chance at happiness.

And even after all of that, somehow, Hailey and Jay found themselves in their current situation. “The thing that works,” also known as Jay’s coping mechanism, was in full swing. It was an activity that never left them. Even though they were both with other people, they were still partners, still best friends. And unbeknownst to the other, they had both decided that having to share their person with someone else was better than not being in each other’s lives at all.

It had been a while since they had a drink on Jay’s couch together, Hailey had been busy wedding planning and Jay was spending most of that time with Laney, but that wasn’t possible anymore. The reason for that night's drinking antics was Jay getting dumped.

After a year together, Laney chose to end things. Jay told Hailey that the feelings faded and they weren’t happy anymore, but really, Laney told Jay that she refused to love a man that loved someone else. The realization had hit Jay like an 18-wheeler. He had been pushing his feelings for his best friend away for so long and with one sentence they came flooding back with a force like never before. He lost count of how many times he apologized to her, but Laney wasn���t having it. Her only response was “I knew from the beginning that you loved her, it’s my fault. Do you know how hard it is to love someone when you know that they don’t feel the same way?”

Jay wanted to say yes, but he realized that it would be counter productive.She left his apartment in a hurry, stating that she would be back for her things some other time. Jay stood in the middle of his living room for a long time before heading to grab a beer. The “save the date” card pinned to his fridge catching his eye as he closed the door. He felt physical pain as he stared at the photo. Hailey was grinning ear to ear, holding up her hand while pointing to the ring on her finger. He glared at the man whose arms were wrapped around her waist. He downed the whole bottle, barely feeling the buzz, he grabbed his phone and called the last person he should have, but he didn’t care. He needed her, in whatever way he could have her.

An hour later Hailey was sitting in front of him, a glass in her hand. She was trying to console him, it was obvious he was heartbroken, but she didn’t know what to do.

If Jay was honest, the breakup with Laney wasn’t really the source of his sadness. Once again he was alone, drowning in his love for his best friend, only this time she was engaged to be married in two weeks. What the hell was he supposed to do with that? So, while Hailey was trying to help with work through the pain of Laney leaving him, he was nursing his own wound, that she unknowingly kept cutting deeper.

Hailey was a bit of a mess, she was two weeks away from her wedding> A wedding that Jay was supposed to bring Laney to. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, they were supposed to be happy with other people, she wasn’t supposed to love him anymore. She had only allowed him a tiny piece of her heart so long ago and now after all the time he was starting to take over again. She convinced herself that it was only because he was single again, she was letting her mind run wild with “what ifs.” That was all they were, but what if she was making the biggest mistake of her life by letting him go?

…

The sound of music pulled Jay back to reality. The reality that he was pretending wasn’t real. He ignored his friend's sympathetic looks and turned his attention to the aisle like everyone else. Brandon and the pastor came first, standing at the front. Next came Kim, whose arm was linked with one of Brandon’s groomsmen. Next came Vanessa, who walked down with the best man since she was the maid of honor.

The anticipation was eating away at Jay as the music changed and a little girl made her way down the aisle throwing flowers. He recognized her as Hailey’s niece Clara, who was her oldest brother’s daughter.

They all stood as she reached the front and everything else after that seemed to happen in slow motion. The doors at the back of the church swung open to reveal Hailey and Hank, who she had asked to accompany her down the aisle. Jay felt a smile grace his face, she looked breathtaking. She was smiling wide as she walked down the aisle, her blonde hair pinned back with a amiple veil flowing behind it. Her dress was beautiful, yet simple, with a deep neck and long sleeves. It hugged her figure until it fanned out slightly at the waist. For a second Jay forgot that he wasn’t the one standing at the altar.

He was reminded of the depressing fact when the two made eye contact and he watched Hailey’s smile falter. However she recovered quickly as she looked back at her husband to be. When she reached the front of the church and everyone sat down Jay wished the ground would swallow him up. It was over, officially, Hailey Anne Upton was no longer his, not even in his mind. He couldn’t let himself dream anymore, not of her.

It all hit him so fast, the thought of her being Detective Moore instead of Detective Upton (even though Hailey wasn’t one to change her last name) was unfathomable. There would be no more night of him crashing on her and Vanessa’s couch. She wouldn’t stay at Molly’s til last call with him anymore, she would be a married woman. She was going to have someone to go home to, someone that wasn’t him.

He could feel the anger building in his stomach, none of this was Hailey. She had always told him that she didn’t want a big white wedding, she didn’t need one. But here she was, getting married in a church, in a gown with hundreds of people watching. It wasn’t Hailey and everyone here knew that, well everyone except for Brandon.

He was so buried in his own thoughts that he didn’t even hear Brandon say “I do.” Now it was Hailey’s turn and he tried not to read into how nervous she looked.

“Do you, Hailey Anne Upton, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” The preacher asked.

Jay watched as Hailey took a deep breath, she looked around the room, before briefly meeting his gaze. Jay held his breath, this was her last chance, their last chance. Hailey looked back to Brandon. “I do.”

In that moment Jay felt his heart shatter into a million tiny pieces and there was no doubt that everyone around him could see it. He met Vanessa’s eyes and she gave him a sympathetic look, but Jay just shook his head. It took everything in him not to get up and walk out, the pain was becoming too much.

The preacher began again, “Brandon and Hailey’s closest friends and family are here today to bear witness to their union. Will you promise to love and support their marriage in all the days to come? If so, please respond: We will.” As a chorus of “we wills” sounded around him, he stayed silent. He couldn’t bring himself to say it, even for Hailey’s sake. “Now, if there is anyone who objects to this union. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

The room was so quiet that Jay was pretty sure that everyone around him could hear his heart beating out of his chest. He loved Hailey with everything in him, he loved her so much that he was willing to come watch her marry someone else, but he loved her too much to let her make this mistake.

Before the preacher could continue Jay jumped out of his seat and everyone in the room gasped, pulling the couples attention to him. Jay looked at Brandon, who was glaring daggers at him, and felt an overwhelming amount of guilt. But he didn’t care, because the look on Hailey’s face was the reassurance that he needed to continue.

“I love you.” He blurted out, earning another shocked gasp from the congregation. He jumped over Adam and Kevin and made his way into the aisle. “I love you, Hailey. I do. I have loved you for as long as I can remember and I’m sorry, but I can’t let you marry him without knowing that.” He rushed. “I’m going to walk out of here, and if you don’t feel the same way, I hope you have the happiest and most fulfilling marriage anyone could ask for. But, if you think that you could love me even a fraction as much as I love you, meet me outside.” With that, he turned and high tailed it out of the church, avoiding everyone’s gaze as he left.

Hailey stood at the altar in shock, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe. She had no idea what to think. She looked to her bridesmaids, her closest friends, and they both gave her bright smiles. Vanessa grabbed her hand and squeezed, “If you want to stay here, I will carry your train out. But if you want to go to him, I will happily drive the getaway car.” She said in a low whisper.

“Hailey?” Brandon asked, panicking.

Hailey turned back to her, tears in her eyes. She handed Vanessa her bouquet and grabbed his hands, saying the three words that would change her life forever.

Jay paced back and forth outside of the church, it had been several minutes and at first he was convinced that Hailey would follow him out. Apparently he was wrong, and now he had lost her forever. He doubted there was anything left of their friendship left to salvage.

He turned away from the building and started the long walk to his truck, feeling his heart throb in his chest. “Jay!” Someone shouted and he spun around.

Hailey stood there, in her wedding dress, but without the veil and bouquet. He was almost sure he was hallucinating. “You, you came?”

Hailey nodded, her voice shaky from the tears she had shed at the altar. The words, “I’m so sorry,” being repeated to Bradon so many times before she chased after Jay. “Yeah.” She sighed out, shrugging.

They took a few cautious steps toward one another, before breaking into a full sprint. They met in the middle, Jay holding her face as he pushed his lips to hers. Time felt like it was frozen, like the two of them were the only people in the world. Hailey wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer, deepening the kiss.

After a long time Jay pulled away, pressing their foreheads together. “Let’s get out of here.”

Hailey nodded as she smiled big, squealing as Jay swept her off her feet and into his arms. They made their way to his truck, laughing the whole way. When they got there that sat in silence, just smiling at each other. Jay reached across the center console, placing a hand on her cheek and brushing his thumb over the soft skin. Hailey breathed out contently, closing her eyes.

“You look amazing and I’m sorry I ruined your wedding.” He said and Hailey laughed.

“I don’t think you ruined it.” She said, placing her hand on top of his. “Well, at least not for me.”

Jay smiled, “I love you, Hailey Upton. And one day, we are going to do this all again, however you want to and I am going to make you Hailey Halstead, or Hailey Upton-Halstead or just Hailey Upton because as long as you are my wife I don’t ca-”

Hailey cut him off with a kiss, practically throwing herself into him. Jay grinned into the kiss, bringing his hand to her perfectly curled hair. This time Hailey pulled away, pressing one more peck to his lips before putting some distance between them. “Jay Halstead, I cannot wait to be your wife.”

…

A/N: This was so long, I’m sorry! I had so much fun writing this and it might be one of my favorite things I have ever written! I’m sorry if it seemed super unrealistic or all over the place, but I loved writing it so much. Thank you for reading!

[scxrsgxrd]

Office Hours // Subby!mickey

Part One

Hello there! This idea came to me as I was thinking about the work aspect of Mickey’s girlfriend’s life, and how a very bratty Mickey slots into that. This will be the first of two parts, I hope you enjoy it! Thank you endlessly for reading <3

There were emails upon emails to sort through. Multiple numbers to call. Leery men in their ridiculously expensive suits to set up meetings with. And it was only 9am. 

She took in a deep breath and let out an almighty sigh, leaning backwards in her chair and staring at the open laptop on the desk in front of her for what felt like hours, but in reality had only been two minutes. Two minutes. Her hands reached out to the front of her desk, latching onto it as she pulled her chair forward and began to aimlessly scroll through the mountain of emails clogging up her inbox. 

Her mind began to wander as her fingers absentmindedly tapped against her keyboard, sucking in her bottom lip between her teeth as lurid memories of the previous evening quickly pushed aside any notions of productivity for the remainder of the morning. A smirk rolled its way across her lips as she remembered the delicious sight of Mickey laid on their bed, legs splayed as his hands fisted the bedsheets while her special gift to him was positioned near the base of his cock. 

As if on queue, her phone pinged on the desk next to her laptop. Her hands grabbed the device quickly and her eyes scanned over the text from Mickey. A lump formed in her throat as she glared at the screen, her eyes ticking back and forth over the message as she felt her toes begin to curl inside her heels.

I miss you, mommy. And I miss your gift too😘

The text itself wasn’t what had her so riled up, rather the image that was attached. Mickey was on their bed, mirroring the position he had been in the previous night; his legs splayed apart with his back rested against a few pillows propped up against the headboard. He was naked, fully erect, and had his hand wrapped around his cock. Only this time, he did not have her permission.

She felt the heat rise to her cheeks as her jaw clenched. Mickey knew she was booked full of meetings today, that she couldn’t slip off early. He knew exactly what he was doing, and the consequences that would eventually follow.

Another ping, but this time there was a video. She ghosted her thumb over the message, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a few moments before she pressed play. He had scooted over to the edge of their bed with the mirror positioned in front of him, one hand snaked around his cock as the other held his phone. From the reflection she could see a glint in his eyes as he smirked mischievously, cocking his left eyebrow before beginning to stroke up and down his cock.

She silently praised herself for shutting the door to her office earlier that morning as a string of moans and whimpers left Mickey. The volume button on her phone was on the highest level and his moans only increased in frequency as he grazed his thumb over his tip, his hips rolling toward the mirror as he made sure to put on a show for her. She felt her mouth fall open as she watched him collect a string of pre-cum and then bring his thumb up to his plump lips, gazing into the mirror as he began to suck and lick his digit, swirling his tongue over the liquid as he maintained his smirk.

His thumb then left his lips with a quiet popping sound, and Mickey only antagonized her further as he trailed his glistening thumb down his chin and then halfway down his chest before he changed direction. The grip she had on her phone tightened as she watched Mickey’s thumb graze over her his nipple, a drawn out, guttural “fuuuuuck” blasted from her speaker as he used his thumb and forefinger to pinch his nipple gently. And with that, the video ended.

Her chest was heaving and her thighs were clamped together as the video reset to the thumbnail of Mickey staring almost mockingly into the mirror with his hand poised around his cock. Each sentence she typed in response she deleted before she could hit send. She knew the video was meant to provoke her, that Mickey was toeing the line because he knew she couldn’t just leave her office and shoot off home like she would any other day.

“Ma’am? Uh, hey? Hello?”

Her assistant, Kate, stood awkwardly in front of her desk, gazing at her boss imploringly as she anxiously gripped onto the multiple files in her grasp. 

“Your meeting with Mr Cooper started ten minutes ago.” Kate’s gaze flicked between the clock and her boss as she sucked in a deep breath. 

“What? Oh, Kate. I’m sorry.” She shook her head and locked her phone, whatever response she was searching to give Mickey would have to wait. From the look on Kate’s face she could tell that Cooper had taken out his rage over her tardiness on her assistant.

She grabbed her laptop and began to hastily walk her way over to the glass encompassed meeting room, where Mr Cooper was sat glaring at her through the transparent wall, his fingers tapping on the table as his eyebrows furrowed together.

“Ah, Mr Cooper, thank you for your patience.” She flashed a disingenuous smile and held out her hand as she entered the room. Edward Cooper was renowned for his ill-temper, and was therefore the last person she wanted to deal with today. Her patience had already worn thin, and a meeting with Cooper required a lot of patience.

“Finally, she gets here.” He grumbled and ignored the handshake she offered, instead spreading out various documents onto the table before them as he muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t make out.

Her heart rate was still accelerating as she sat down, the video of Mickey was playing on loop inside her head as the man opposite her droned on about his expectations for his company’s next ad campaign. After less than ten minutes she had zoned out completely, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as her inability to reprimand Mickey for his disobedience ate away at her.

Normally she kept her work and home life separate, focusing her energy on her professional duties during her office hours before unwinding from all of the day’s frustrations once she arrived home. But today was different. Mickey’s texts had thrown her off balance and the thought of the painfully long day she had ahead of her only increased her agitation.

“Are you even listening to a damn word I’m saying?”

Her head snapped towards Mr Cooper as he slammed his hand flat against the table, causing a few members of his team to jolt upright in their chairs as his fiery gaze was set on the woman before him.

“This is what happens when you get an account executive who’s a-” He cut himself off abruptly, flicking his gaze back down to the papers on the table while adjusting his tie.

“Do go on, Mr Cooper. An account executive who’s a?” She pushed her chair away from the table and rose to her feet, watching intently as Mr Cooper’s cheeks began to redden.

“As I was saying, the budget may be a little tighter this time, but I don’t think that’s a problem, given your talent and experience.” He began to fumble with the wad of graphs his assistant handed to him as his voice became more strained, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as he cleared his throat.

She began to scan over her copy of the figures when she chuckled and set them back down, she was in no mood to deal with Cooper’s internalized disdain for her and the other women he had been delivering suggestive glances to during their presentations. Not today, and not any day after that.

“I think we’re done here, Mr Cooper.” Her voice boomed around the meeting room, interrupting the still red-faced man as he peered over the top of his glasses at her.

“Done? But we’ve barely started allocating funds for the advertising.” His irate tone had returned, and he flicked to the next slide on the screen at the head of the table, opening his mouth to continue when she took hold of her laptop and strode toward the door.

“Excuse me, missy, but I’m the one here making you the money.”

His sneer sent a shiver through her whole body.

“Money is not my concern, Mr Cooper, but if it was I might point out that I have plenty of other clients that generate a lot more money than you do. So if you wouldn’t mind, get the fuck out of my meeting room.” Her voice was calm, and she flashed him another smile, only this time her smile was made up of pure, ear to ear satisfaction. Once he and the rest of his team had gathered their belongings, she held the door open and gestured toward the elevator with her arm.

His roaring voice could still be heard as the elevator began to descend to the ground floor, demanding to be put into contact with HR to file a discrimination complaint. She shook her head and gently kicked the meeting room door shut, blocking out the quiet whispers and wide-eyed stares she received as she made her way back to the peace and quiet of her office.

Once she was in her chair she kicked her heels off and leaned backwards, letting out a small sigh as she relished in the feeling of accomplishment. No longer would she have a reason to dread Tuesday mornings. She grinned and dug into the pocket of her jacket for her phone, there was no way she could wait until the end of the day to relay the news to Mickey. Mickey.

She had completely forgotten about the texts prior to her meeting, but now her initial rage had manifested into something much more devious. She couldn’t get to Mickey, but there was nothing stopping Mickey from coming to her. 

I miss you too, baby boy. Why don’t you come over to the office at lunch?