#and you can’t even get mad that he wasn’t there in july because it was summer and like he’s allowed to take breaks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

oddinary4bts · 1 year

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The Forgotten Spaces | ch 5 (jjk)

☆summary: you've been dancing on the same dance crew since your teenage years, and you finally have an important role in it. It feels like life is taunting you when your rival comes back after disappearing for a year, ready to tease you every chance he gets. Will the teasing turn into more, or are you going to take him down with you?

☆pairing: photographer and dancer!Jungkook x dancer!female reader

☆rating: 18+ (minors DNI)

☆genre: slow (SLOW) burn enemies to lovers, college!au, slice of life!au, angst (oop), smut and fluff

☆warnings: a cancer joke about eating a burned marshmallow, mentions about Jungkook's injury/scars, alcohol, curses, a hot tub, a game of Truth or Dare; explicit content: hickeys, grinding, fingering, jerking off, big dick!Jungkook, unprotected sex (please don't be stupid), choking; angst

☆word count: 15.7k (oop)

☆series masterpost here

☆a/n: SMUT IS HERE EVERYONE. I hope you enjoy reading this one!! Thank you to @moonleeai for her beta reading on this fic, I won't ever thank you enough, you're the best <3

☆Read What Was Hidden here, the fic that inspired this whole story, written by @daechwitatamic, one of my fav human beings on this app <3 It follows the story of Jo and Taehyung before The Forgotten Spaces

☆☆☆☆☆

For this meeting of our end of the world

It's with you that I want to sing

On the threshold of the memories the dead of today

Them that breathe for us

The forgotten spaces

Je t'écris - Gaston Miron (rough translation by me)

☆☆☆☆☆

Friday, July 6th

It’s a strange thing, how when you’ve been working on something for months, the concretisation of it passes so quickly it’s like it never happened. The auditions were like that: you barely remember yesterday. All you remember is the moment you stepped out of the scene, breath ragged, and Jungkook high-fived the whole crew.

You don’t remember listening to the results. You remember the bubbling excitement as the name of the crew wasn’t said until the very last. But you don’t remember hearing the mention you got. The highest of every crew that auditioned from your state.

Because auditions for nationals are also a competition in and of itself. An innerstate competition, and you still can’t believe you got the highest mention of your level. It’s like a dream, and everything has been moving too slow, or too fast, for you to interpret.

Yesterday was a fever dream indeed. And the whole crew knows that it’s thanks to Jungkook. He refuses every congratulation you’ve all offered him, but it’s him. You wouldn’t have gotten the diamond mention without him.

Diamond… a perfect score. You landed a perfect score on your auditions to nationals.

You will get ripped up to pieces at nationals, won’t you? It makes you anxious, but then again, you’re not sure if it’s because you will have to perform at the top of your art in a few months, or because you’re sitting between Jungkook and Heather on the backseat of Hobi’s car.

Probably the latter.

You’re lucky. You were able to rent a cottage an hour and a half outside of the city, next to a small artificial lake. It was previously rented by another group, but they cancelled a few days ago, which let you have the cottage for the whole weekend.

But you don’t think you’re lucky to be sitting between Jungkook and Heather. Though both of them have been dozing off for a while.

You’ve just been clutching your phone for dear life, because Jungkook’s head lolled to the side until he found your shoulder to be a pillow. It’s not that you mind it. You mostly mind the way Jiho’s been looking at you with the biggest shit-eating grin on her lips. She’s already taken pictures, and you’ve been planning her murder for the last fifteen minutes.

[2:37 pm] Jiho❣️: attached photo [2:37 pm] Jiho❣️: u’re so mad lmao [2:38 pm] You: delete this picture immediately or i’ll end ur miserable life [2:38 pm] Jiho❣️: 😘😘😘😘😘 [2:38 pm] You: 😤😤😤😤😤 [2:38 pm] You: and Scottie deciding not to come???? Even worse [2:38 pm] You: he’s a traitor😩 [2:39 pm] Jiho❣️: u’re just mad bc now u and jk are the only single people attending [2:39 pm] You: last i checked heather and bridget weren’t official official🙄

Jiho snorts on the front passenger seat, and Hobi throws her a curious look. She shakes her head to indicate that it’s nothing, and you watch as she types her reply.

[2:40 pm] Jiho❣️: bitch plz😂 [2:40 pm] You: besides u’re gonna share a room with me🥺

Jiho laughs out loud this time, and you wonder if the glare you bore into her profile has any effect at all. She just glances at you, an eyebrow cocked prettily. You know what that means: no. No she won’t be sleeping with you. You’re going to have to sleep on the couch, because couples get the rooms. Lance made that rule, and even though you were desperate to not let it take effect, everyone but Jungkook was against you.

You’re not usually in agreement with Jungkook. But for that you were, and you hoped the others would take it into account. You’re stupid for thinking that they would.

Jungkook sighs in his sleep, readjusting himself until he’s even closer to you. You gulp, glancing at him with a scared look on your features. You want to push him away, but he looks so peaceful you just let him be.

[2:44 pm] You: why is he sleeping on me tho [2:45 pm] Jiho❣️: i’d sleep on u too [2:45 pm] You: u can if we share a room👉🏼👈🏼 [2:45 pm] Jiho❣️: nice try but no😇

You whine, and Jiho chuckles.

“What’s up with you two?” Hobi asks, and you meet his gaze in the rear view mirror.

Jiho shrugs. “Y/n is just mad that she’s going to sleep on the couch.

“I can let her sleep with you,” Hobi says, ever so the pacifist and kind man that he is.

“Yes!” you burst out.

It gains you a whine from Jungkook and a glare from Heather, before she rests her head back against the window and dozes off again.

“No,” Jiho refuses. “I want my sexy time.”

Hobi burns bright red as you let out, “Ew”.

Jiho winks at you over her shoulder, and then you all fall silent again. The cottage is still at least fifty minutes away, so you steel yourself as Jungkook shifts again. He mumbles in his sleep and you almost let out a startled yelp when his hand moves on your thigh. He’s not holding you, just resting his closed fist on the top of your thigh. But it’s still way too much touching for your comfort, so you push him away.

He frowns but doesn’t wake up, resting his head against the window with a sigh instead. His mouth falls open a little, and you keep a laugh in. He looks stupidly cute like that. It’s a disgusting thought – Jeon Jungkook is anything but cute – but you let it slide for today. Maybe because you can’t bring yourself to care.

You eventually fall asleep, the low music Jiho’s been playing lulling you to sleep. It’s much deserved sleep after all the anxiety of yesterday, and you only wake when the car comes to a full stop, and car doors slam shut.

You wake up with a start, ready to fight whoever made the noises, and you realize you’re alone in the car. With Jungkook, who has a tight-lipped smile on his lips when your gazes meet.

“You drool when you sleep,” he tells you, and you furrow your brow as you wipe your cheek.

Sure enough, you were drooling. It takes you a few seconds to realize he’s got a wet spot on his shoulder, and you reckon you woke up with your head rested against something. Something that suspiciously felt like Jungkook’s shoulders.

“Mmh,” you sleepily let out. “Sorry.”

He smiles. Sweetly. It starts with his eyes, as you’ve realized it usually happens when he smiles genuinely. “It’s all good. You looked peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you up.”

You echo his smile, nodding your head once before stretching your arms. It makes you yawn, which in turn makes him laugh. “What?” you ask.

“You slept like thirty minutes and you’re still tired.”

You glare at him. “I’m always tired.”

“Right.”

It’s a weird conversation, and it’s even weirder that you’re still sitting in the car. So you motion towards the door as you unbuckle your seatbelt, and Jungkook has a light tint on his cheeks as he nods and opens the door before stepping out. He stretches when he’s outside, and you scooch out of the car, imitating him as soon as your feet touch the ground.

“Gosh,” you let out, and he laughs.

“Yeah.”

You glance at him, and then your gaze slides to the landscape surrounding you. To the picturesque cottage that looks even better than what you had pictured, all made of logs. It looks straight out of a fairy tale. It’s cozied up in a little forest, and the wind that picked up earlier today still makes the leaves dance. It’s loud, like the sound of waves at sea, but it’s more constant. It doesn’t recede, and it creates a background soundtrack to the summer afternoon. The sun is still high in the sky, shining bright with not even a single cloud in sight. The air smell of the woods, and bugs fly around aimlessly, or following an aim only they know. The car is parked in the shadows, but you still feel the heat, and you’re glad there’s a breeze.

You take it all in with a bright smile on your lips, and it only grows wider when Jiho and Hobi rush out of the cottage.

“This is heaven,” Jiho declares. “I’m never leaving this place.”

“She says that because she saw the hot tub from the balcony,” Hobi says as he motions over his shoulder to the cottage.

It makes you laugh, and it turns into a giggle as Jiho grabs your hand and pulls you behind her. “While you men unpack the car we’re going to take a walk to the lake.”

“How is that fair?” Jungkook complains, but he’s grinning when you meet his gaze over your shoulder. You offer him an apologetic shrug of your shoulders, and he just chuckles before turning towards the car.

Lance’s car is pulling up the dirt road when you turn on the side of the house. You wave at Chaeyeon and him, but they don’t notice you as Jiho only keeps pulling you behind her.

“Look at this!” she says giddily as you walk to the back of the house. “It’s so pretty.”

It really is. The house is nestled right next to a small lake, with a few trees separating the building and the water. There’s a hot tub on the right, and a small rock path that leads to a quay in the water. You notice a fireplace area, though it’s not a circle of rocks like you had imagined, but an actual metal fireplace with a door that’s currently swinging on its hinges in the wind. Logs are piled beside it, just waiting for someone to ignite a fire.

Jiho’s giddiness is contagious, and you find yourself giggling as she pulls you towards the lake. There’s a small shed down by the lake, and a look through the window shows you two kayaks. It makes you even giddier, and you clap your hands before turning towards the quay.

The quay moves as you step on it. Fortunately, the water is not very deep and the lake is relatively calm even with the wind. You’re able to make it to the end of it without it shaking too much, and Jiho closes her eyes as she tilts her head back. “We should come here every weekend.”

You laugh. “As fun as that sounds like, we can’t skip practice every weekend.”

“We can practice here,” she points out, shrugging.

She’s not wrong, so you just smile and nod before imitating her, taking in the sun. But you feel a little bad for those inside that are setting up the house, so it’s not even a minute later when you say, “We should go help the others”.

Jiho whines, and she opens one eye to look at you. You cock an eyebrow and she rolls her eyes. “Fine.”

You walk back up the little slope until you reach the cottage. When you make it to the front, you see that a third car has arrived: Jin, Valeria, Taehyung, Jo and Bridget are all stretching outside of it. Jo notices you and waves happily.

You think it’s funny that she is here. It’s weird to think that even though she isn’t part of the dance crew, she’s still made her way into the friend group. Like Jin, Valeria and Taehyung, you reckon. Though you barely know Jin and Valeria. But you needed more people to rent this cottage, and considering it was the only one available, you didn’t really have a choice.

You move to their group to greet them, and then you help them unpack the car. You also help Lance, who was the one in charge with food and speakers for music. It takes a moment, but soon enough everything is settled. You’re all already hungry though, so you prepare the first meal of the weekend.

Well, you watch Jungkook, Jin, Valeria and Heather prepare it. You’re on washing dishes duty though, but you’ll only do that after you eat.

It’s fun. Cheerful. A little bubble outside of the seriousness of practice and nationals and auditions that you really can’t remember, can you? The light atmosphere is much needed, and you drink as you eat, and drink some more after washing the dishes. Then you all set out to explore outside, and Lance and Jin have a fire running by the time Jungkook figures out how to get the hot tub working. It’s still hot outside though, so you decide to wait before going into the tub, but Bridget, Heather, Chaeyeon and Jo all move to it. You stay with Jiho and the others by the fire, listening to the cracking of the logs as you talk and talk and talk.

There’s laughter. A lot of it. Laughter that turns more drunk as the evening unfolds, and the sun has set by the time you get up from your spot to go pee inside. The girls have come out of the tub, and they’re taking turns in the shower upstairs, so you head to the downstairs bathroom. You’re on the way out when Jo stops you.

She says your name, offering you a bright smile. “Are you in for some shots before we head outside? I’m taking some with the others.”

Sure enough, Chaeyeon, Bridget and Heather all look at you expectantly, and you don’t hesitate even a second before agreeing. You go outside with Jo and Chaeyeon after, as you all laugh when Bridget and Heather say they’ll take a shower together. You figure it’s better to let them have the house for a time, and you all join the rest of the group by the fire.

They’ve started playing some music and singing over it, and you laugh as Hobi belts a tune as if his life depends on it. Jungkook joins him and your eyes widen a little as you hear his voice.

Jungkook can sing. His voice is melodious, clear and full and round. It’s beautiful, the voice of an angel. You feel struck as you watch him, and he bursts out laughing when Hobi messes up the lyrics next to him.

You’ve stopped walking. And Jungkook meets your gaze, offering you a small smile before returning to the action around him. It strikes you, in a weird kind of way. It makes a weird feeling form in your chest, that same feeling you felt last week when you saved his number in your phone.

It’s not a feeling you like. So you push it aside as you join Jiho in her chair, sitting on her lap and stealing the bottle of soju she’s been drinking from. You need more alcohol in your blood, and soon.

It’s night by the time the group moves again. Some of them decide to go to the lake, but you stay by the fire as Valeria and Jin bring marshmallows out. Heather and Bridget never came out after their shower, and you don’t quite feel like going inside to find them.

Instead, you start roasting marshmallows, and soon enough you’re the elected marshmallow roaster, because you’re the only one who’s managed to not make them catch fire. You make some for everyone, before roasting one for yourself.

Since Jungkook has been the one feeding the fire for the last hour, it also makes it so you’re sitting next to him. The conversation is lively around you, but you’ve noticed he’s silent. He’s just staring at the fire, and it casts a dancing glow on his features.

He notices you looking at him, and his features soften as he turns to look at you. And then he bursts out laughing, and you do too as you notice your marshmallow has caught fire.

“Oops,” you mumble.

“I know I’m pretty but you should focus on the job at hand,” he teases you.

You punch him in the shoulder, before blowing on the fire until it dies. “Still edible if you ask me,” you say as you eye the burned thing on the branch you’ve been using since you started roasting marshmallows.

“Oh, clearly,” he agrees. “If you want to get cancer, that is.”

You glare at him, and he only laughs. “What’s life without a little risk?”

“Boring,” he answers wisely, face falling serious, though he only manages to keep the serious look for a few seconds before he’s breaking into yet another fit of laughter. One you echo before taking a bite of the marshmallow. You hum in delight, and Jungkook says, “What the fuck was that?”

You have the decency to blush. “What?”

“You’re not really the kind of person that moans when they eat good food?”

“I wasn’t moaning,” you let out outrageously.

It gains everybody’s attention around the fire, and Jungkook laughs at you. You shove him in the shoulder again, but he annoyingly barely moves in his chair.

“Who’s moaning?” Lance asks.

Both you and Jungkook look startled for a time, and you glare at him. “No one, Jeon’s just being a little shit.”

“What’s new?” Jiho jokes, and everyone laughs.

The trio that went to the lake comes back – Taehyung, Jo and Hobi. Jo scans the people around the fire, brows knitting together.

“Where are Bridget and Heather?”

The whole group laughs. “They never came out,” Chaeyeon admits. “I’d advise to not go looking for them.”

Jo snorts. “Oof yeah, that’s a no for me.”

It’s not even that funny, yet everyone laughs as the trio settles around the fireplace. Hobi and Jiho share a chair, and you realize there’s no chair for Jo and Taehyung. You’re about to offer yours when they just sit directly in the grass, giggling like the two idiots in love that they are. They lie down after a few seconds, and Jo points up at the sky.

It makes you look up, and you suddenly feel very small, under the immensity of the night sky. It sobers you up, just a little, and you sit back in the chair to get a good look. You admire the stars and constellations, searching for those you know. It leads to everyone doing so, and it also creates a calmer atmosphere, until half the group is dozing off in their chair.

Someone changed the music to softer tunes, and you really listen to the night sounds now, as the melody entwines with the cracking of the logs. Soon enough, Jin and Valeria decide to go to bed. Jungkook immediately teases the older guy, saying that only elderly people go to bed so early. Jin just throws a marshmallow at Jungkook, who receives it right on the forehead. He looks stunned, and he raises his middle finger at Jin as he just laughs where he’s leading Valeria inside. Chaeyeon and Lance are the next to go, and your gaze trails them until they stop to kiss. You give them privacy then, focusing on the fire instead.

It leaves only you, Jungkook, Jo, Taehyung, Jiho and Hobi by the fire, and you sigh in content as Jungkook throws another log into the fire.

“Last one, I assume?” he lets out.

The group mumbles in agreement.

“We’ll party harder tomorrow,” Jiho promises before yawning.

It makes everyone yawn, and you laugh tired laughs as you watch the flames licking up the log.

“We should set up a beer pong table,” you suggest.

Taehyung seems to spark to life at the idea. “I’m so in for some beer pong.”

“What about a tournament?” Jungkook proposes. “Losers have to jump in the lake.”

Jiho winces. “I hope Hobi’s good because there’s no way in hell I’m jumping in the lake.”

“I got you, babe.”

You notice them exchanging a long look. It’s filled with love, grossly so, and you roll your eyes before settling your gaze on the stars above once more. You let out a happy yelp when a shooting star crosses the sky.

“Oh my God!”

Jo is just as happy as you are. “Oh shit!” she echoes. “We have to make a wish.”

You laugh, nodding your head repeatedly. The four others just look at you curiously, before Jo explains that there was a shooting star.

Everyone’s eyes are back on the night sky in no time, and you reckon you might fall asleep like this.

Stargazing, and wishing that you’ll find your own person soon enough.

Saturday, July 7th

“I’ll kill you.”

Jungkook smiles, and the breeze of the afternoon catches in his hair, making a strand fall in his eyes. He pushes his hair back. “I’d like to see you try.”

Something changed. He knows something changed between the two of you. It’s exciting, in a childish kind of way. He feels young next to you, and he’s been following you around all day, claiming that he wants to avoid the couples. Which is not entirely a lie, but he mostly wants to be around you.

It’s a new feeling. Or almost entirely new, because he felt like that around you once before. The night after he told you about his accident. He’s pushed that away since then, but it seems being here, at this cottage in the middle of nature, brings it out.

He’s been failing at pushing it away since last night, and he reckons he doesn’t even want to try anymore.

You put your hands on your hips, tilting your head to the side. Your hair sways in the wind, and he wants to brush it behind your shoulder. He resists, because he’s pretty sure you’ll bite his head off if he does.

“You’re the one that suggested kayaking.”

He did. But throwing you in the water seems like twice the fun, so he’s been teasing you about it as you stand next to the shed.

“Maybe it was just a trap?” he says, winking at you. He takes a step towards you, and you immediately take a step back.

Jo and Taehyung are sitting on the quay, watching the water and talking in hushed tones. Jungkook feels Jo’s gaze on him, and he resists glancing at her.

He knows what she thinks. She’s made it pretty clear in the last week. Maybe it’s contributed to the softness in him whenever he watches you.

Maybe.

“You’re annoying.”

“But yet you came with me?”

You squint your eyes, shaking your head. “Not with you. I came to kayak.”

“Right.”

“I swear.”

He bursts out laughing, and it’s his turn to shake his head. “Of course, of course.”

“Why are you…” you start before letting out a strangled sound. “I’m going back to the house.”

“No!” he immediately says, a little louder than necessary. This time, both Taehyung and Jo look at you two. “I’m just teasing, let me bring the kayak out.”

He’s blushing. He feels it coming up slowly from deep within his chest, so he quickly turns towards the shed and goes in. A few spiders are hiding in their webs, and he swats one away from the first kayak. He almost hesitates to leave it in just to spook you, but he doesn’t really want to spook you right now. Not when his heart is beating just a little quicker.

He doesn’t know if he likes it. But he’ll roll with it for the rest of the weekend, because he doesn’t think he’ll have the opportunity to do so after that.

He brings out the two kayaks before going back for the paddles, and a moment later he’s helping you to sit in yours, holding your hand while you step in it before sitting. Jo and Taehyung are watching now, barely even talking, and Jungkook can’t wait until you’ve moved away from the quay.

He hates the way the couple has been watching you both. It feels like he’s under pressure, and he knows he doesn’t do well under pressure. Except when it came to dance, but that’s long gone now.

He gets into his own kayak as you’re already starting to move away.

“Bye losers,” you say towards Taehyung and Jo.

“Try not to drown,” Jo replies as she waves you off.

You laugh, a crystal clear laugh that makes Jungkook very aware of how Taehyung is looking at him. He catches his older friend’s gaze, furrowing his brow.

Taehyung glances down at Jungkook’s attire – a pair of pants. He looks like he wants to say something, and Jungkook knows what.

He’s not going to wear shorts. Not when it’d put his scar on display to the whole crew. He hasn’t gotten the courage to tell everyone yet, and he doesn’t want to be forced to explain anything. He just wants to focus on being in the present, because he hasn’t done that in a while.

So he glares at Taehyung, clenching his jaw. Taehyung sighs before looking away. Just like that the moment passes, and Jungkook settles in his kayak before quickly following you.

“Is it a race or something?” he asks as he moves closer.

You look at him over your shoulder, a bright smile on your lips that turns mischievous as soon as your gaze finds his. “It is and you’re losing.”

Now, bringing out his competitive side is a bad idea, but that’s who you are, isn’t it?

Jungkook pushes the paddle in the water harder, accelerating his rhythm. It makes you screech, and you quickly do the same. Your lean arms are nothing against his though, and he’s caught up to you in no time. Unable to resist, he splashes water on you.

“Jungkook!” you scream. “I’m trying not to wet my hair!”

“Oh are you?” He does it again, this time purposefully aiming for your head. You dodge but to no avail.

“I’ll murder you,” you threaten, and you send water flying his way.

He barely gets any on himself, and he cocks an eyebrow arrogantly. “Is that the best you can do?”

It pisses you off. He sees it in the way resolve fills your face, and he’s not surprised he’s thoroughly drenched by the time you finally stop. He’s just accepted defeat and let you splash him as he laughs. You laugh too, and he reckons it’s his favourite thing about you.

The way you laugh when you’re being a brat. It’s endearing.

He’s endeared by you. That’s what the feeling is. He’s been trying to put words on it since last night. Last night it was struck. He was struck as you spoke to him with that soft edge to you. And then it turned to endearment.

He reckons he missed you, while he was hiding from all of the crew because of his accident. He really did. Something about you was missing from his life.

He pushes the thoughts away as you stop splashing him.

“Oops,” you say when he meets your gaze.

His hair is wet, and he puts the paddle down to push it back. He doesn’t miss the way your eyes follow his motion, and the furrow of your brows before you frustratingly look away.

“I’m debating making you fall in the water,” he teases, pursing his lips before playing with his piercing.

Your gaze widens. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He moves his paddle in the water to get closer to you, and you quickly move away.

“I would definitely dare,” he tells you. “I’m all wet because of you.”

His brows knit together as he realizes what he just said sounded suspicious. Of course you burst out laughing, before saying, “That’s what she said”.

He rolls his head to the back of his head. “Lame.”

“You’re lame,” you counter-back.

It’s like that for the rest of the time you spend on the water. Even though he threatened to throw you in the water many times today, Jungkook doesn’t really want to do it. He likes the peace between the two of you: he’s not going to do something to fuck it up.

You eventually get bored of kayaking, and you switch places with Chaeyeon and Bridget when the two of you return to the quay. Jo and Taehyung have gone back to the house, but Lance, Heather, Jin and Valeria are there, and you sit with them for a while, just talking.

Mindlessly, Jungkook pulls his shirt up to dry his face from the last of the water you splashed on him before getting out of the water.

He realizes his mistake only when the shirt falls back in place, and Lance is watching him with round eyes.

“What’s that scar?”

Jungkook stills. Unmoving, barely even able to breathe. The air is suddenly less warm, and he can almost see the snow again. His heart constricts in his chest, and he just stares back at Lance as if he’s a doe caught in headlights.

“You don’t just ask people why they have scars, Lance,” you grumble.

It surprises Jungkook that you said something. But then again you’re not the type to back down from a fight.

Lance seems startled by the tone of your voice. He frowns as his gaze slides to you. “It was just a question?”

“It could make people uncomfortable?”

Jin is looking at Jungkook. He’s got a careful expression on his features, and he looks between you and Jungkook a couple of times. As if this moment matters, and truthfully it does matter to Jungkook, because you’re bickering with Lance and it entirely shifted the attention away from him.

Jungkook manages to shrug his shoulders at Jin, who offers him a no-bullshit look. Valeria punches him in the arm, and Jin lets out a startled sound that has everyone looking at him.

The moment passes, and it’s dinner time when Lance moves closer to Jungkook, clearly having waited until you aren’t around to actually approach him. Jungkook steels himself for the questioning, but Lance only says, “Whatever happened, I’m glad you’re okay, bro”.

It renders Jungkook speechless, and all he can do is nod his head at Lance. Lance claps him on the shoulder, and he immediately walks away, as if his job here is done.

And maybe it is, and all he wanted to do was prove that he’s Jungkook’s friend. It makes Jungkook appreciate him ten times more, and then he takes a moment to really look at everyone. The girls are all laughing about a story Jin is telling, and Taehyung is just shaking his head in disbelief where he’s grilling the meat for dinner. Lance moves towards Taehyung to offer help, and Jungkook just stays alone for a moment, enjoying the scene.

The sun is setting, the air is warm and the light breeze from today has fallen. But the air is not still, and it smells of the rich soil of the forest, and of the meat Taehyung is grilling. The sky is still void of any clouds, and it’s turned to a rich golden glow from the setting sun.

Jungkook is stricken, once again, by the fact that he is alive. He’s alive and breathing and even though his leg hurts, he’s standing. He’s standing and walking and yes he can’t dance anymore, but there’s so much more to life than dance, isn’t there?

His eyes slide to you as he thinks the thought. You’re looking at Jin with a little smirk, the one he knows you use when you’re judging someone. But you feel his eyes on you and your gaze meets his. The smirk falls into a small, secretive smile, and Jungkook breathes in sharply.

His heart is beating a little louder, and this time he does push it away. He does try not to think of it, but it’s hard when you look at him like that. With that soft edge he saw yesterday. It fills him with wonder, the same wonder he got from watching the night sky the day before.

You’re like a star in a bleary night. It’s hard to look away from you, and he only does so when Taehyung says the meat is ready. It’s like someone cut the string between you and him, and he almost stumbles forward as he glances to Taehyung.

He gulps, taking a deep, steadying breath before he moves to help Taehyung bring the food to the table. Lance helps too, and the three of them together make quick work of filling everyone’s plate, and Jungkook soon settles down in a chair next to you, right in front of Jo.

Dinner is fun. Cheery, with lots of laughter. Everyone is already a little tipsy from the day-drinking you’ve all done, and Jungkook feels like there’s more than alcohol in his blood this evening. There are feelings, joy and happiness to be here in this moment.

He should live in the moment more often.

“Hey JK,” Jo says, and he raises his eyes from his plate.

His fork is halfway to his mouth when he lets out, “Uh?”

“How is it going with Laura?”

Everything inside of him stills, like it did earlier today with Lance but for a completely different reason this time. He freezes, and he doesn’t miss the way your head immediately snaps towards him at Jo’s question.

Jo has an insufferable smile on her lips, and Jungkook just can’t move.

Laura. She’s a girl from his class that started texting him a few weeks ago. He’s seen her once, just because she said she had questions about her camera and it would be easier if Jungkook answered in person. Laura is a sweet girl. Pretty too, but Jungkook doesn’t know if their talking will lead anywhere. He doesn’t feel like he’s ready to jump headfirst into a relationship.

Especially not as he feels your expectant gaze on his profile.

“Laura?” he repeats.

“Didn’t you go on a date with her?” Jo asks.

Jungkook frowns, shaking his head. “It wasn’t a date,” he points out. “She needed help with her new camera.”

About that. Jungkook brought a camera with him this weekend. He’s been taking pictures once in a while, mostly of nature. Because he’s always been more of a landscape photographer. Maybe because landscapes tend to change less than people. They feel unbreakable, immovable, and it’s reassuring in some way.

“That sounds like the lamest start of a porno,” Lance jokes.

Everyone laughs. Everyone but you and Jungkook. Jungkook only shrugs, before saying, “I didn’t sleep with her”.

You scoff next to him. It aggravates him, something you haven’t made him feel in a while now. His brows knit together as he turns his head toward you.

“You want us to believe you didn’t sleep with her?” you let out.

It’s bitter. And you seem to realize it quite at the same time as he does, because you flush red, and you look away from him to glance down at your half-empty plate on the table.

Jungkook’s features relax, and a smile even tugs at the corners of his lips. He knows what Jo is doing. Especially as he sees the knowing smirk on her lips.

She dared him to find a way to make you jealous earlier this week, when he invited her and Taehyung to the cottage. As if making you jealous is a good idea.

He now sees what she meant. Because you’re playing with your food, a look of confusion creased into your features. It’s cute, and it makes the same feeling arise in him.

Everyone starts talking again, but Jungkook feels the weight of Taehyung and Jin’s gazes on him. He avoids them like the plague, focusing on trying to keep his smile in. He doesn’t want to infuriate you by making a comment.

Especially not when you’ve been forced to team up for the beer pong tournament. Which, turns out you’re a lot better than he thought you would be. Than you said you were, because you make it to the final round, getting beaten by Bridget and Heather out of all people. The two girls celebrate to the sounds of everyone whooping and cheering, and Jungkook can’t keep his smile in.

Tonight promises to be quite the party. And it is. With lots of drinking, and Chaeyeon and Lance having to jump into the lake because they were last in the tournament. It’s funny, but it leads to them deciding to go to bed early, saying something about being cold from the lake.

Jungkook knows exactly what they have in mind when he sees them staring at each other the way that they are. Like they’re alone in the universe, and maybe to them they really are.

He’s surprised when the rest of the group starts to follow Chaeyeon and Lance. The night is younger than it was yesterday when it came to an end, but there’s something in the air. It brings the couples closer together, makes them exchange secretive glances and stolen touches. Jungkook finds Taehyung and Jo making out outside of the bathroom when he goes in to pee, and they never come out after that. Jin and Valeria move in not even five minutes later, right before Hobi and Jiho, and it leaves Bridget, Heather and you alone with him outside.

He’s not surprised when the two girls decide to go to sleep too, even though Jungkook has just started the hot tub at Bridget’s request. It leaves him alone with you and the red solo cup in his hand. It’s filled to the brim and, quite frankly, Jungkook doesn’t feel tired at all. He feels alive, awake and ready to conquer the world if need be.

You look exactly like that too.

“Wow,” you let out once everyone is gone.

Jungkook feels awkward for half a heartbeat. But then his eyes slide to the house, and he notices Jo in the window. She quickly dips out of his line of sight, which makes him understand exactly what happened.

You’ve been left alone outside on purpose, and Jo’s the one that schemed the whole thing.

“They’re boring,” Jungkook says, though he feels like laughing. He hopes you don’t notice.

“They didn’t even go into the hot tub,” you point out. “What a waste of energy.”

He glances at the tub, and an idea forms in the back of his mind. He doubts you’re going to say yes.

*****

You don’t know why you said yes. Going into a hot tub alone with Jungkook sounds like a very bad idea, and the more you think about it the worse it seems to you. Yet you make your way outside after having put on your black two-piece swimsuit, wrapped in a white towel you fished from the bathroom.

The house was eerily quiet when you and Jungkook went in to change. It is still just as quiet as you get out of the bathroom, and aim for the kitchen to make yourself a glass before you go outside. You notice Jungkook is already out there, testing the temperature of the water. He’s wearing trunks, and he got rid of his t-shirt, discarding it on a chair next to the slowly dying fire. He turns towards the window as you’re pouring a glass, probably to see if you’re coming. It’s not your fault when your eyes dip down to his leg.

Even in the darkness you see the angry knot of skin that runs from below his knee and disappears in his swim trunks. It’s ugly, and your heart stops beating for a few seconds as you see it. Jungkook was right when he told you about his accident the first time – the scar on his leg is far scarier than the one on his stomach.

You wave back at him as he waves, a dumb smile on his lips. You focus on that smile, because you don’t want to be thinking of the scar. Don’t want to be thinking about the pain Jungkook must have endured. The pain he is still enduring to this day.

You’re hesitant when you step outside, though you make sure to bring a glass for him too. He’s still smiling when you arrive, and it only widens when you hand him the red solo cup.

“Thought you might want a refill.”

He tilts his head to the side, winking at you as he grabs the glass. “Always.”

You move towards the tub, ignoring the way you feel his gaze on you. It makes you self-conscious, and you don’t want to peel the towel from around yourself. You reckon you can’t get in the water with it though, so you carefully put your glass down on the side of the tub before taking the towel off, leaving it on the same chair where Jungkook’s shirt is.

“It might be a little hot,” Jungkook warns as you move back to the tub. “I adjusted the temperature a little while I was waiting for you.”

You dip your fingers in the water, shrugging your shoulders. “Seems good enough to me.”

He laughs, and his eyes follow you as you climb into the tub. The water is hot, extremely so, but you’re drunk and the jet of the tub looks far too inviting for you to wait.

“Alright then, guess I’ll get in too.”

You watch as he does so, and your eyes once again fall to his scar. It stretches weirdly as he bends his leg, as if it doesn’t really allow him full movements anymore. It explains why his dancing has turned mechanical now, and why he can’t move the way that he did before.

He’s noticed your gaze on the scar while getting in. You know it, because his features have fallen serious by the time he sits in front of you.

“I know, it’s ugly,” he says, and his eyes get lost in the bubbles in the water.

You remain silent for a time, waiting for his gaze to meet yours. When it does, you finally say, “Nothing about you is ugly”.

It’s smooth, the way you say it. It makes his eyes widen and a laugh bursts from his lips. You don’t even know why you flirted with him – you just had an inkling it’d make him fall back into his usual cocky self.

And of course it does.

“You think I’m hot?”

You roll your eyes, before grabbing your red solo cup from where you left it. Jungkook grabs his own, and it takes a few seconds before you’re settled back into your seat. You take a small sip from the glass, letting the rum and coke swirl in your mouth for a second before you swallow.

“I’m not going to answer that question.”

He smirks. “Then I’ve got my answer.”

You squint your eyes, fake glaring at him, and it only makes him laugh.

“You’re insufferable.”

He shrugs his shoulders, and he takes a sip from his glass. He winces then, before raising his eyebrows. “How strong did you make this?”

“Strong enough to have you shut up?”

“Oh please.” He laughs once more. “You know that won’t make me shut up. As a matter of fact, it’s probably just going to make me talk more.”

You chuckle, shaking your head a little. “My mistake.”

Jungkook really is hot, sitting there. His hair is fluffy around his face – it really is a lot longer than it was before. It curls a little at the ends, making a crown around his head. He’s buff too, and it makes you wonder how he manages to work out at the gym even with his injury. And it’s hard not to let your gaze wander to the tattoos on his shoulders, the ink that goes from his hand up to the top of his arm.

He’s attractive, damn him. You hate it, so you say, “So, Laura uh?”

He holds your gaze, his tongue darting out to play with his piercing for a time. “What about her?”

You cock an eyebrow. “You tell me.”

He’s smirking now, and his eyes dip to where your chest disappears in the water before moving up to your features again. “Why do you want to know?”

You feel hot. Not because of the water, though you reckon it really is hot. No, his gaze is burning you, in a way that makes you feel naked. You don’t know if you like it. But two can play this game Jungkook seems to have chosen.

You shrug your shoulders, wetting your lips before smiling. “Just making conversation, Jeon.”

His gaze has moved to your lips. It stays there as he says, “Seems to me like you got a little jealous earlier”.

You refuse to admit that it was jealousy, when Jo mentioned Laura at dinner time. To you, it was just surprise, and you’ve been repeating it to yourself ever since it happened.

“Why would I be jealous?” you ask, brows knitting together as a smile plays on your lips. “You’re nothing to me.”

“Right.” He chuckles, and he drinks from his cup, his gaze burning into yours. “I’m nothing and yet you’re in this hot tub alone with me.”

He’s arrogantly cocky, isn't he? It used to piss you off, but tonight it just makes your blood boil.

“Wasn’t going to waste the opportunity for a hot tub session,” you say, shrugging your shoulders. “Unfortunate that it had to come with you though.”

He fakes offence. “You offend me.”

You snort, and his features relax into a small smile. There’s a moment of silence, where you find yourself too much of a coward to keep holding his gaze. It’s your turn to let your gaze wander down to the spot where his chest disappears in the water, and you drink from your cup.

“Do you want to play Truth or Dare?” he suggests after almost a minute without any of you speaking.

You chuckle. “Are we twelve?”

He shrugs. “Just thought it could be fun.” He pouts a little, and it really does make him look like he’s twelve. “Unless you’re too much of a coward for it.”

“Me, a coward?” you scoff, rolling your eyes playfully. “Truth or Dare, Jeon?”

The cocky smirk reappears. “Truth.”

You don’t know what to ask. At all. Your mind goes empty, until he lets out a laugh that gives you an idea. “What’s the deal with Laura?”

“You really want to know, uh?”

You shrug. “You chose truth, now answer the question.”

He laughs a little, and then plays with his piercing for a few seconds. You watch him do so, eyes falling to his lips.

“We hung out once”, he says.

It’s the same answer as earlier, but you feel like a brat right now. So, you press him by saying, “And that’s it? You’re not going to see her again?”

He ponders for a time, making you wait before he replies, “We’re supposed to go on a date sometime next week”.

You feel like maybe you shouldn’t have asked the question. Because his reply makes you clench your jaw, and you take a sip from your cup to hide it. “Jeon Jungkook on a date? Are you having a fever?”

“She’s nice, just thought I’d give it a try,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. He’s still smirking, and this time it’s knowing.

He knows that the thought of him going on a date with Laura is pissing you off. And you don’t even know why it makes you feel like that. You’re not sure you should be feeling like that when it comes to Jeon Jungkook. He’s barely even a friend.

“Hope it goes well for you,” you say, though it sounds tense.

He shrugs, winking at you. “I’ll let you know.” He pauses for a moment, before asking, “Truth or Dare?”

So the conversation about Laura is over then. And he’s a fool if he thinks you’ll say truth.

“Dare.”

He looks far too happy about your choice. “Chug your glass.”

You frown. “But then I won’t have anything to drink if I don’t want to do some of your dares.”

“Oh, we’re playing adult Truth or Dare? Had I known I wouldn’t have answered your question.” You glare at him, and he laughs, shrugging his shoulders. “Just drink, you can always drink from my glass later.”

Your glare intensifies, if that’s possible, but you still give in. You’re not one to back away from a challenge, and you chug your glass in a few long swigs. Your nose scrunches up as you finish, and you put the cup down.

“Happy?” you let out, and he nods with that same insufferable smirk on his lips. You want to wipe it away, but you don’t really know how. Instead, you only ask him, “Truth or Dare?”

“Dare.”

You hate dares. You never know what to suggest. You don’t feel like making him chug his glass, so you cock your head to the side as you survey him, mind reeling for an idea.

“Go get me another glass.”

He’s surprised. So are you, but you think it’s a brilliant idea.

“It’s so far,” he complains, with that same childish pout he used a moment ago. “Can I change for Truth?”

“You’re annoying”, you say, though you don’t really mind.

Something in the way he’s been looking at you makes you want him to stay anyway.

“You’re the one that wants me to go all the way inside.”

You chuckle, before shaking your head. “Alright then, let me find you a truth.” It takes you about half a minute before you come up with an idea. “How many girls have you slept with?”

He snorts. “Wow, straight to the body count I see.” He falls silent again, and his hand plays with the bubbles in the water in front of him.

“So?”

You think he’s blushing. It’s hard to tell in the dim light – indeed, the only light illuminating the scene is the one from next to the door, and the tub’s purple light.

“I’d say…” he trails off, scrunching his nose as he thinks. “Like twenty-five?”

It’s a lot, but not as much as you expected. Jungkook has a fuckboy vibe to him, and you were pretty sure he had at least fifty.

“Only?”

He furrows his brows. “Only?”

“I thought you had more,” you admit, chuckling as you shrug your shoulders.

He sips from his cup. “Sorry to disappoint.” His eyes glint with mischief, and he adds, “Truth or Dare?”

You hesitate, maybe because something in the way his eyes sparkle makes you think he’s got something in mind. You feel it – anticipation is building in you, and some parts of you can already see the outcome before it unfolds. Like a web of possibilities, and the longer he looks at you like that, the more it closes in to the anticipated one.

“Truth.”

He’s silent for a time. His face falls more serious, darker, and he’s so hot sitting there you really have to look away. “If everyone was single here, who would you fuck?”

You refuse to admit his question makes a drop of pure magma roll down your spine, before it moves forward and settles in your core.

“Jiho.” It’s a lie. You both know it, but he lets it slide – for now. “Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

You hit him with the same question he’s just asked you. His reply is far more cryptic.

“You already know the answer.”

You breathe in shakily, and something tightens inside of you. “Do I?”

His mouth is a little parted, and his tongue darts out to wet his lips before he takes a sip from the cup. He seems to reconsider it, because he chugs the whole thing before putting it down on the side of the tub.

“Do you?”

It confirms the answer. And you don’t know what to make of it. It scares you, somehow, but makes the fire in your burn brighter.

“Truth or dare?” he asks then, and a smirk tugs at the corners of his lips.

“Dare.”

You don’t even hesitate. You’re afraid he’s going to ask you stuff you don’t know the answer to if you choose truth.

“Why don’t you come sit closer, mmh?”

Still no hesitation from you. You’re like the moth and he the flame – you know it’s a bad idea, but you haven’t looked away from his eyes in too long. You’re in a trance, and you think so is he.

You settle next to him. Far enough not to touch, but close enough for every inch between you to fill with electricity. Not that it wasn’t already before – you are just way more conscious of it now.

“Truth or dare?” you ask, and it’s a little breathless, the way you speak.

“Dare,” he says. His eyes are on your lips now, and all you can do for a time is to observe his features. He’s got a mole under his mouth, and a scar on one of his cheeks. It looks old, and it’s so faded you can barely see it.

You have no dare in mind. You feel like you don’t even have any thoughts. You’re stuck looking at his lips, where your gaze settles as you watch his features. “Uh?” you let out.

He chuckles. It’s deep, manly, and it makes you look up to his eyes. “No idea what to ask?”

“You already chugged your glass.”

“There’s nothing else you want me to do?”

There’s a whole lot you want him to do, but a whole lot you don’t want him to do. It’s confusing, and your heart is beating too loud for you to think straight.

“Is there something you want to do?” you ask.

He’s bold. His hand moves up, his fingers lightly touching the side of your neck. “I could kiss your neck.” They trail down until they find a home on your shoulders. “Or I could massage your shoulders, you seem a little tense.”

You are. You are because there is a war of conflicting emotions in you, and you don’t know which side will win. “Massage my shoulders then.”

He laughs, before making you turn. It’s easier to breathe once he’s not in your line of sight anymore, though the moment his hands start working on your shoulders, you tense up again. “Relax,” he murmurs, adding your name at the end.

“You’re making me anxious,” you admit breathlessly.

He stays silent as he works on your shoulders, for so long you think he won’t talk. But then he says, “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

His hands are big, and his fingers are skilled. In a matter of a few minutes he’s undid every knot in your shoulders, and you find yourself able to breathe. You still don’t want to risk looking at him though.

“Truth or dare?” he asks.

Maybe you can be bold too. Maybe you can just focus on every spot where his fingers are digging in your skin. Maybe it doesn’t have to mean anything.

“Dare.”

“Give me a hickey.”

You snort, mostly because it takes you by surprise. “What?”

His hands fall from your shoulders. “You heard me well.”

“Aren’t hickeys bad for you?” you say, though you’ve never really cared about that. You care about it even less when you hear him move in the water.

“I think everything about you is bad for my sanity right now.” He whispers the words directly into your ear, and goosebumps form on your arms.

“Please don’t think this is going to lead anywhere,” you whisper back, right as you tilt your head to the side. You feel the ghost of his lips on your skin, but he straightens before he’s really done anything.

“Then why are you afraid of giving me a hickey?”

It is a challenge, and you don’t back down from challenges. So you turn around, say fuck it, and lean towards his neck until your mouth finds the spot where it connects with his shoulder. You suck, hard, and he hisses as one of his hands moves to your back, as if he wants to pull you closer.

You run your tongue on the spot you’ve sucked, before straightening. He’s got a deep purple mark there now, and you smirk in satisfaction. “Happy now?”

His chest is moving up and down quickly as he breathes. He’s out of breath, and the insufferable smirk is gone now. He seems a little angry, with a crease between his brows. “Yeah.”

You’re about to succumb to insanity. It’s taking a hold of you, choking you up until you say, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he answers.

He seems just as conflicted as you. But the web of possibilities from earlier dwindled down until there’s only one left, and both of you know it.

“Do you want to fuck me?”

Your heart beats once, and then it stops in your chest. Because you meet him halfway, crashing your mouth on his so hard you think you taste blood. You don’t care: insane people do not care about anything. All you want is to feel his lips against yours, and damn him he’s a good kisser.

It’s intense, languid, and his hands don’t take their time before he’s pulling you on his lap. You straddle him, your own hands finding purchase on his shoulders, before moving up until you’ve cupped his face. And you hold him in place as you kiss, never once breaking away for air.

You don’t need oxygen when you’re kissing Jeon Jungkook. All you need are his lips, and he gives you plenty of that. And when his tongue finds yours, you moan in his mouth.

He swallows it like a man starved.

His hands are on your back. Respectfully so, even as he’s devouring your mouth. It frustrates you, because you want more. You want to feel all of him. It makes you grab a handful of his hair, and you pull his head back.

“Fuck,” he hisses.

“I’m not going to fuck you in a hot tub.”

It’s the only intelligent thing you could think of.

“We can –“

Your lips are back on his before he finishes his sentence, and you suck on his bottom lip, tongue darting out to play with his piercing. This time, he grunts in your mouth, and his hands lose their fight against his will not to touch you more. They move down until he’s cupped your ass, and he makes you grind on him.

You moan, and he breaks away from the kiss, just so he can bend down and leave a trail of hot, wet kisses on the column of your throat. You just let your hands loose in his hair and on his shoulders, nails digging in his skin when he decides to suck a hickey on you too.

You grind again then, and you feel the bulge of him press against you.

“We can’t fuck in the tub,” you say, and your voice is unrecognizable even to yourself. It’s lustful, sinfully so, and you’d be embarrassed if he didn’t meet your gaze with his half-lidded eyes.

“We can go in the shower.”

You’ve never been a fan of shower sex, so you say, “As much as that would probably be a good idea, I won’t fuck you in a shower either.”

He’s confused. You can tell by the way he tilts his head to the side. “Where do you want me to fuck you then? In the middle of the living room?”

It makes you chuckle, and an unexpected smile appears on his lips.

“I don’t think we should fuck.”

His grip on your ass tightens as his features turn dark, and he makes you grind on him again. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, embarrassingly so, as you let out a breathy moan. “Right,” he says.

“Fuck,” you curse.

He leans forward again, and this time his lips find a spot right over the top of your bikini. He sucks on your skin, and you moan as you grind again.

It’s uncomfortable. Not his lips on you, no, but the water of the tub mixed with the fabric of your swimwear. If you didn’t know how unsanitary it is, you would let him fuck you right then and there. But you don’t want to get an infection.

“Let’s go inside.” This time, one of his hands moves from your ass, trailing up your side until he’s grabbed one of your boobs. “Please.”

“Anything for you,” he mumbles against your breast, before straightening.

You kiss him again, just for good measure, and then you push away from him, reluctantly so. You feel his heavy gaze on you as you get out of the tub, and you’ve wrapped yourself in your towel by the time he’s followed you.

You forgot how tall he is. Because as he steps closer to you, towering above you, your mind goes blank again and you just let him crash his lips against yours. He’s holding your face, and his thumbs brush your skin gently before he pulls away. He stays close enough for you to feel his warm breath on you, but far enough so that you can’t reach his lips anymore.

“I need to take a shower,” you murmur.

He nods, and you feel it more than you see it. “Me too.”

“Yeah.”

He chuckles lightly, and he straightens to look up at the sky. His hands are still delicately holding your cheeks, and you watch his sharp jawline for a few seconds before he speaks.

“The stars are beautiful.”

You’re not looking at the night sky when you reply, “Yeah”.

He lets you go, then, but his hand falls until he’s grabbed one of yours. His large hand wraps around yours, and you let him do it, heart settling to a calmer beat in your chest.

“Do you want to dance?” he asks.

You stiffen. It feels strange to have him ask that. You almost forgot that he is a dancer too, in his soul, even though his physical body doesn’t permit him to let loose anymore.

“You want to dance?”

He has a soft smile on his lips when he meets your gaze. It’s miles away from the intensity it held just a moment ago, and you can’t help but offer him a smile of your own.

“Yes.”

You don’t want to refuse. Not when it feels like this moment matters. As if you’re about to create a core memory, and maybe you are.

Maybe you are.

The night sky is filled with stars. Distant burning constellations, and they wink at the two of you as Jungkook leads you through a slow dance. His steps are sure tonight, albeit a little mechanical, and his hand on the small of your back feels like a weight anchoring you into the present.

Up above, the stars just shine on and on, endlessly, for eternity. And you feel like eternity. You feel small and big, unimportant yet cataclysmic. He is cataclysmic. He is the start and the end, like the story is weaved into the tapestry of the universe itself.

And maybe it is.

“Thank you,” he murmurs after you’ve moved in time with him for a little eternity – your little eternity.

His voice is heavy. It holds the weight of the universe, and you reach up to cup his cheek, to anchor him in this moment with you.

“I’m happy to be here with you.”

His eyes are shining. Like the stars above, and the ones you’re starting to see behind his pupils. He hasn’t looked away from you since you started dancing, and you from him. You don’t think you can.

“I forgot how it felt to dance,” he admits.

Though he has danced since the accident. You’ve seen him dance, but maybe his heart wasn’t into it. Maybe his heart is in the moment now, maybe it’s beating in sync with all of your steps.

“How does it feel?” you ask, smiling up at him.

“Liberating. Like I’m just one of the stars in the sky up above.”

You don’t know what that feels like. It makes you realize you’ve never truly felt free. Jeon Jungkook looks at peace now, and you can just hope you’ll get to feel like that one day too.

A cool breeze rises around you, and you shiver as it moves on your skin. Jungkook notices, and he dips his head to kiss you again. Softly, gently, and when he pulls away he says, “Let’s go inside, you’re cold”.

You nod your head, even though you never want the moment to end. But nothing lasts in life – not even the stars above. One day they’ll die too, until all that’s left of them is an empty husk of life.

To you, that’s what love has always been like. It hits and leaves nothing of it behind. Maybe that’s why you step away from Jungkook.

“Yes.”

*****

The shower you take is short. Scalding hot, until your skin has turned bright red. Only then are you satisfied, and you step out to dry yourself with a towel. You’re gentle with the towel, and you can still feel Jungkook’s hands on you. Can still feel the weight of his eyes on you.

If you could, you’d leave the cottage now. You’d run while you still can, but you can’t.

You can’t, so you step out of the bathroom and make your way to the living room where you both slept the night before. Where he snored softly until the noises he made were entwined with your dreams.

He’s already sitting on his couch when you arrive. His hair is wet from the shower he took in the downstairs bathroom, right next to the room where Chaeyeon and Lance are sleeping. He’s wearing black joggers and an oversized dark grey t-shirt, and he looks inherently comfortable. As if he’s comfort personified. He pushes his hair back as you come into view, offering you another one of his soft smiles.

You didn’t know Jungkook has softness in him. You feel it now: it’s in the way he looks at you, in the curve of his lips and the openness of his gaze.

“I have an idea,” he says, a little cryptically, and his smile turns mischievous. Childish, playful, and you chuckle.

“What is it?”

“I noticed your couch is tiny,” he says, motioning to said couch. “I thought…” He flushes red, before chuckling.

A blushing Jungkook is not a thing you imagined you would ever see someday.

“You thought?” you press on.

“I thought we could put all the cushions on the ground to make like a bed?”

It feels like you shouldn’t. Like you’re not supposed to be sleeping in the same bed as Jeon Jungkook. Especially not after what just happened outside – both the tub and the dance.

“Sure,” you agree nonetheless. “As long as you don’t steal all the blankets.”

He grins. “I would never.”

It’s cute, and it makes you gaze away.

Jungkook makes quick work of creating a bed for the two of you. You help him to move a coffee table away, and soon enough all the couch cushions form a mattress on the ground. You place the pillows you used last night on one end of it, and you’re sitting down just to test the makeshift bed when Jungkook throws the blankets on top of you.

“Jungkook!” you yelp, though you try to keep it to a minimum level so you won’t wake anyone.

He just laughs, and a few seconds later the room falls into darkness. While you’re disentangling yourself from the blankets, you hear a thump, and Jungkook lets out a series of curses that makes you burst out laughing, probably way too loud.

You don’t care.

“Fuck,” he finishes, and you can barely distinguish his silhouette when you’re free of the blankets.

“What happened?”

“I stubbed my toe,” he hisses through his teeth. “Fuck.”

You just laugh again, before moving until you’re on the side you chose for sleeping. “Just come here.”

“I was trying to,” he grumbles, and it sounds like he is pouting.

You’re starting to know him well enough that you know he is pouting.

Once you’re settled on your side of the bed, lying on your back staring up at the ceiling, Jungkook finally moves towards you. He lies on his side of the cushions, pulling a blanket over him. You both have your own blankets, so sleeping right next to each other doesn’t feel too indecent.

It takes your brain only three seconds before it produces an image of the hot tub, and you’re pretty sure the same thing just happened to Jungkook, because he chuckles lowly.

“What?” you ask.

“Nothing.”

You frown in the darkness. “Doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“Mmh.”

You turn until you’re facing him. His silhouette is dark against the lighter background behind him, but you can barely make out his form next to you. You see it when he moves though, as he turns to face you too.

“What are you humming about?”

He chuckles. “Do you like cuddling?”

“You’re not going to get me to cuddle you,” you immediately reply, and you sound just as flustered as you feel.

“You grind on me in the hot tub and then you don’t even want to cuddle me? Outrageous.”

You scoff, and if you weren’t in the dark he’d see your cheeks turning scarlet. “We both know where cuddling would lead.”

His voice is husky when he speaks. “You think you can’t resist me?”

It makes the ‘never back down from a challenge’ part of you tickle until you find yourself replying, “I’ll be the big spoon”.

He snorts, but he turns until he’s facing away from you. You hesitate for a time, but you eventually move closer to him, until you’ve wrapped an arm around his stomach. You rest your forehead against his back, and you hope he can’t hear the loud beats of your heart.

His body is warm. Comfortably so, and you know you could drift to sleep easily just lying next to him like this.

Why then are you unable to fully close your eyes? Why then do you decide to move closer, until his ass is pressed against you? It makes you gulp, and some wild and foolish part of you wishes you could be under his skin.

You don’t think you could ever be close enough to him to satiate the hunger that’s forming in your core.

Jungkook moves his arm, and a second later he’s wrapping his hand around yours. You let him do it, and you’re surprised when he brings your hand up to press a light kiss on your knuckles.

You wish you were still drunk. Because then you could blame your next words on the alcohol.

“Actually, can you be the big spoon?”

He sounds like he’s smirking when he says, “Yeah, of course”.

A few seconds later the positions are reversed, and Jungkook molds his body to yours, wrapping his tattooed arm around your frame, putting his other one under your head. It fits too well, like it was meant to be, and maybe this moment really was always meant to be.

Maybe you were bound to hate him until you found yourself cuddled up to him in the dead of night at a cottage on the countryside.

“Your hair smells good,” Jungkook says, and he shifts impossibly closer. You feel his lips on your head as he inhales, and the arm around your waist tightens as he pulls you flush against him.

“Thank you,” you answer, breathlessly. Because you are breathless in his arms, you are breathless feeling all of his firm body against all of yours.

Breathless enough so that you shift, and your ass moves against him.

“Uh,” Jungkook lets out. He laughs a little, and his tattooed hand moves up until he’s brushing his thumb on the side of your jaw. “You shouldn’t do that.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you want me to do?”

He thinks for a time. “What I want you to do and what you want seem to be two completely different things.”

It’s a little somber, the way he says it, and you bite your lip. Because he’s right, sort of. You’re not sure you want to have sex with him. But what started in the hot tub is bound to finish someday, is it not?

“You’re confusing me,” you admit. “You’ve been confusing me all weekend.”

His hand leaves your jaw, and he moves your hair out of the way as he leans. His lips press a tentative kiss on your neck, and your ass immediately shifts against him again.

“So have you,” he declares. “You’ve been confusing me for weeks.”

His revelation only makes you want him even more. And you’ve rarely wanted someone the way your body has been craving for Jungkook. Because that’s what it is: your body has been craving for him since the hot tub. And you’re about to succumb to your desires, aren’t you?

“Jungkook…”

He sucks on your skin, but not hard enough to leave a hickey. It still makes heat pool at your core, and you push your ass back against his dick once more.

“Fuck,” he curses. “We should go to sleep.”

Though this time he grinds against you, and you can feel the start of his erection on your ass.

“Right,” you agree.

And you move against him, earning a grunt from him. He murmurs your name, before saying, “I don’t have any condoms”.

All your nerves set on fire. “I don’t care.”

“We shouldn’t…” His sentence is cut short as you grind again, and he sinks his teeth in the soft skin of your neck. It hurts a little, and you know he’s going to leave another hickey on you as soon as he starts sucking.

Your hand shoots behind you, and you grab the back of his head, fingers getting lost in the strands of his hair. His own hand moves down until it settles on your hip, and he guides your movement against him.

He moves away from your neck, pressing a kiss on your shoulder this time. “We shouldn’t have sex,” he says, completing his previous sentence.

“I know.”

“We’re going to have sex,” he adds.

“I know.”

You circle your hips, and his erection is turning hard by the second. You’re soaking your panties, and you just want more of him. You want to get rid of all the fabric between you two and feel his skin directly against yours.

“Oh, Y/n…” he breathes, and then he’s back to kissing your neck.

No sucking this time, just his tongue drawing circles on your skin as you continue moving your ass against his dick.

“You’re already hard.”

“The hot tub got me real horny.”

It had the same effect on you, and you shiver as he bites at your ear. Gently, not to hurt, especially not as he presses a kiss under your ear next.

“Fuck,” you say.

His breathing is warm against the side of your face, and you decide to dive in. To say fuck it with what you should do and what you want to do. You only have one life to live anyway.

The moment your lips touch feels like a dam broke inside of you. Your tongue meets him halfway between your mouths, and he swallows the moan you let out as his fingers move under your shirt. You’re not wearing a bra, and the moan turns to a hiss as he pinches one of your nipples, rolling the sensitive bud between his thumb and index.

He pulls away from the kiss to say, “Can I take off your shorts?”

Because you’re wearing baby blue PJ shorts. Nothing really attractive, but it has no hindering effect on Jungkook’s desire for you, has it?

“Yes,” you answer and he’s back to kissing you in no time.

His fingers do quick work of the knot holding your shorts in place, and he immediately slides his hand in. He slides it under your panties too, and he starts rubbing circles on your clit right away.

You’re going to go insane. He’s worth going insane for.

You grind on his hand, and he moves lower so he can dip his middle finger and ring finger inside of you, up to the first knuckle, before pulling out and rubbing circles on your clit again. Your slick juice renders you oversensitive, and you buck your hips as he starts a hellish rhythm down there, with just the right pressure.

It’s like he knows his way around your body already.

You try to reach between you, but the way his arm is positioned keeps you from being able to palm him. You whine and it makes him stop his ministrations on your clit.

“Is something wrong?”

“Take off your pants,” you tell him.

“Please?” he taunts you, as if he wants to let you know who’s in control here.

“Please,” you hiss through your teeth, because somehow it infuriates you.

“Good girl,” he praises with his low husky voice.

You’ve never been called a good girl before, and something in the way he says it makes you grind hard against him.

“You like that, uh?” he asks.

“Just take off the fucking pants, Jeon.”

He chuckles but obeys nonetheless. You take off your shorts at the same time, and think about it for half a second before you’re taking your panties off too.

Once you’re both naked from the waist down, you return to the previous cuddling position. Only this time his dick is resting against your ass, and from what you can tell, it really is big.

“Should I finger you to make sure you can take me?” he asks, but it’s rhetorical.

Indeed, he doesn’t wait for you to answer before he plunges two fingers inside of you, arching them to hit a spot inside of you that makes you see stars, shy constellations that add light to the darkness of the cottage. You find purchase on his forearm as he starts thrusting his fingers in and out of you, and he reaches deep inside of you. His palm hits your clit every time he pushes all the way in, and you’re starting to see a whole damn galaxy of stars in no time.

But you want to feel him, want to jerk him off while he’s making you feel good too. So you reach behind you, and this time you’re successful. You’re able to wrap your hand around his cock, and you moan at the feeling of the large girth.

“You’re so fucking wet.”

You moan, nodding your head. “It’s all for you.”

“Oh, I fucking know it is,” he says.

It’s cocky, but you’re too far gone to give him shit for it.

You start jerking him off, slowly because you can’t really move quicker in this position. He stills bucks his hips, fucking your hand, and he starts moving his fingers even faster, hitting your clit even harder.

“Fuck, please play with my clit,” you beg.

“Can’t say no when you ask so nicely,” he says, and he’s back to rubbing circles on your clit.

You clench around nothing as you jerk him off, before you decide to position his dick between your legs. You grind against him, or maybe he makes you grind. You don’t really know. All you can feel is the way his length moves against you. But he never aligns with your entrance, as if he just wants to tease you, and knowing him you’re pretty sure he does.

It stays like this for a while, with him just coating his dick with your slick juice as he keeps rubbing insistent circles on your clit. Your walls clench around nothing, and you whine as he just moves his hips back and forth.

“Fuck me, Jungkook,” you say.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks.

You just whine again.

“I want to hear you say it.”

He’s infinitely infuriating, isn’t he?

“Yes, I fucking want your dick inside of me.”

This time, when he pulls his hips away from you, he makes sure to align with your entrance before pushing forward. And he pushes forward hard, sheathing all of his dick inside of you. Or all of what fits inside of you, because you’re pretty sure he’s way too big to be able to entirely fit.

The moment he hits the back of your pussy you let out a moan. It’s loud, and you immediately put a hand on your mouth to muffle the next noises you’ll make. You think better of it after a few seconds, and you grab the blanket, rolling it in a messy bundle just so you can press it against your face.

“You feel so fucking tight,” he says, and then he grunts when your walls clench around him. “Just relax, baby.”

“I’m just so close,” you admit.

You don’t know when he stopped rubbing circles on your clit. Only know that he starts again now, and you feel the familiar knot of an orgasm starting to form deep in your core.

“Such a fucking good girl”, he praises. “You’re going to come all over my dick.”

You immediately hide your face in the blanket as you moan, unashamedly loud. And then he starts fucking into you, slow and hard, and you lose it. You lose it as the knot uncoils, snaps inside of you, turning every inch of your body into an oversensitive land of pleasure.

Jungkook fucks you through your high, steadily, never once faltering even as your walls pulse hard against him. His fingers keep on rubbing circles on your clit, and he kisses a spot on your neck that makes goosebumps erupt on all of you. It feels so good you could cry, but your high still just keeps on going. Even though you’re in the dark, your vision is white, blindly so.

You don’t know when your hand found its way to the side of his face, only that once you finally come down you have a handful of his hair in your grip.

“That didn’t take long,” Jungkook teases, whispering the words directly into your ear.

He’s not wrong. You don’t think you’ve ever come as hard and quick as you just did.

“Holy fuck,” you mutter.

He has stilled inside of you, and his lips are littering small kisses on your neck. So you feel his smirk against you, and it makes you move. Circling your hips, trying to give him something in return for the orgasm he’s gifted you.

“You’re going to let me come inside of you, mmh?” he asks as you keep on going, a little sloppily from the remnants of your orgasm.

“You think you can come for me?” You’re embarrassingly breathless, still panting because of your high. You take a deep breath as you prop yourself up on an elbow, just so it’s easier to fuck yourself on him.

Jungkooks hums. “I need a little more than that, baby.”

You bite your lips as his tattooed hand finds your breast under your shirt again. “What do you want me to do?”

“Ride me?” he suggests, right as he plants a soft peck on your shoulder.

You moan as he fucks into you hard, unexpectedly. “Anyone could see.”

He whines, but then his hand moves to your hip before he starts pounding into you again. You hide your face in the blanket again, trying to muffle your sounds. Jungkook is not faring a lot better than you, and his grunts send shivers all over you. He doesn’t talk again until he’s slowed down.

“They can already see us.”

He’s not wrong, and you hate it. But you doubt someone will get up at this hour of the night, closer to the morning than to yesterday. He pushes in once more, hard and rough.

“Fuck,” he curses, and he entirely stops moving.

He even pulls out, and you turn to look at him. Your eyes have adjusted to the dark a little now, and you can see his features enough to see him wincing in pain.

“Is something wrong?” you immediately ask.

“My leg hurts.”

His three words fall softly in the night, the way a feather falls. It shifts the atmosphere, making your heart ache in your chest.

“Oh, Jungkook…”

“Ride me,” he says, and it sounds begging.

As if he needs it to forget the pain. You don’t think you have it in you to refuse, so you straddle him. Before you sink on his dick, you lean down to press a kiss to his lips, hoping to chase the pain away. Your hands hold you up on his shoulders, and his move to your hips, before sliding down until he’s holding your ass in his large palms. He massages the muscles of your ass as you kiss, tongues meeting in a deep and languid dance.

When you’re out of breath, lungs burning for oxygen, you straighten and sit on his dick. You circle your hips, teasing him a little and also making sure that he’s still hard. He is, his dick a rod of steel, and you bite at your lower lip as you grab him with one hand to align him with your entrance. He’s looking through half-lidded eyes as you do so, and his eyes shut as you sink all the way down on him, until his dick reaches your cervix.

His mouth falls open and he moans softly. It’s a pretty sound, meant for your ears only, and it makes you feel powerful. You feel powerful as you move up and down, slowly, feeling every vein of his dick on your walls. You clench as you sink back down, and his hands on your ass tighten their hold for a few seconds before he moves to your hips to guide you.

He makes you go faster, and as if he can’t resist he’s soon fucking up into you.

You put a hand on his cheek, brushing his cheekbone with a thumb. His eyes flutter open and he stills, seeing the look on your face.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I can do the work, don’t hurt your leg,” you tell him. You grab his hands from your hips to move them to your breasts under your shirt. And then you start moving, for real this time, quick and hard. You add a little bit of circling of your hips, just to make sure he stretches you wide.

And he does. Jungkook is huge, and you don’t wonder why he’s so cocky anymore. He’s got the kind of dick to be cocky about.

“Alright then,” Jungkook lets out between two soft moans.

You smirk, but it dies when one of his hands moves from your breast to your neck through the collar of your shirt. You grab his forearm, and your eyes flutter shut as he digs his fingers in your arteries, cutting the blood supply to your brain. It feels good, far more than it should, as all you can feel is his dick in you.

You let out a breathy sound, walls clenching on him again.

“That’s it, baby, you’re so good,” he praises, and he sounds different than he did before.

He’s more out of breath, as if he’s exhausted. And maybe he is, as he’s nearing his orgasm. It only encourages you more, and your nails dig in his forearm, hard enough to mark him.

“Fuck,” he curses, and he releases his hold on your neck. His hand doesn’t move, but it’s now just resting on your throat, and he’s not squeezing anymore.

“Fill me up, JK,” you say. “I want to feel you come inside of me.”

“Let me fuck you a little,” he replies. And he pulls you down by the neck, until he’s satisfied with the angle.

You want to say something about his leg but he’s already pounding into you, so hard your face falls in the crook of his neck as your hands get lost in his hair. Your lips meet his skin, and you suck hard, fully intending to leave a mark there. At this point you’re pretty convinced someone’s ought to know you’re fucking anyway, so why not show that he’s yours?

The thought sobers you up. But Jungkook is already coming, so you hold on strong sucking another spot on his neck as he groans and releases ropes and ropes of his cum inside of you. And he comes a lot, painting your insides white. You like it far more than you should.

Another thought to sober you up.

It takes Jungkook a little longer before he finally stops moving, and he lets out a content sigh as he wraps his arms around your waist to hold you close.

“We should have done this before,” he murmurs.

You try to sit up, but he keeps you from moving. “We shouldn’t have done this.” Even as you’re saying that you press another kiss to his neck. A soft one, just because he tastes too good, and you know the moment is about to come to an end.

“Uh?” he lets out.

His dick is still deep inside of you when you say, “We shouldn’t have fucked”.

He pushes you away now. Not hard, but it’s like your touch burns him and he needs to be away from you.

“Why?”

You sit next to him, and your cheeks burn as you feel his seed spill out of you, only to stain the blanket you previously used to muffle your moans.

“We’re barely even friends,” you point out.

He’s not watching you. His eyes are fixed on an empty spot on the cushionless couch next to which you’re laying. “Okay?”

“It’s just weird, no?”

You reckon you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know why you decided to say it right now either. It’s as if the words just need to get out.

“It’s just sex,” he says, and it sounds a little angry. “People have sex all the time.”

“But not us. You know, I don’t like you like that.”

A big fat lie if you’ve ever said one. You did like having sex with him. You’re just panicking, your fight or flight instinct having been suddenly triggered.

“Chill, Y/n,” he mutters, and he sighs heavily. “We just fucked. We can pretend nothing happened, if that’s what you want.”

You don’t know what you want. Some part of you wants to take the evening back, but at the same time not. You’re confusing to yourself, and your teeth dig in the tip of your tongue for a moment as you think.

“What would you want to say this is?” you ask after a little too long for the silence to be comfortable.

He finally looks at you. “Nothing, honestly. We just got horny and we’re the only single people here, it was bound to happen.”

Now, his words hurt a little, but you can see the truth behind them. “Right,” you say. “So, just friends?”

He holds your gaze. It’s too dark for you to be able to interpret anything on his features. “Sure.”

You feel bad. Remorseful. And you think about the hot tub, and the fucking too, but also about the dance outside. You reckon your fight or flight was triggered then, you’ve just been ignoring it ever since you came in.

Ever since you got out of the bathroom to see Jungkook and his softness. The softness is gone now, and he looks away from you before sitting up too. He searches around for his pants, and puts them on as you scan the scene for your own clothes.

“Can you…” you start, but he’s already throwing your shorts and panties at you.

He’s pissed. It’s evident now, clear as spring water, and you feel even worse. You didn’t want to upset him. There’s just too much history between you, too much individual history on your part too.

You’ve never been in a relationship. You’ve never been able to even imagine being in a relationship. And it usually leads to scenes like this: the men you sleep with getting upset with you. You don’t blame them, can’t blame them.

But it feels different with Jungkook. Worse, as if you don’t want the outcome to be him being upset with you. You just don’t know anything else, and so you put your clothes on. Even as he gets up to go clean up in the bathroom, muttering that he’ll be right back.

Even as he comes back and settles on the makeshift bed again, his back turned to you. The message is clear then: he doesn’t want to talk to you. You reckon you can always talk to him tomorrow. Can always let the night pass, and with it the fight or flight. It’s not like he’s going to be gone tomorrow, and you won’t be either.

You get up, sighing heavily as you go to the bathroom to clean up too.

Jungkook is dead silent when you come back. If he was asleep, you know he would be snoring softly, as last night showed you. But no, he’s dead silent, as if he’s just ruminating in his corner.

It makes you feel too bad to remain silent.

“Jungkook,” you let out softly, his name barely over a whisper.

“Mmh?” he hums.

“I’m sorry if I upset you.”

He sighs, long and deep, before turning on his back. “Don’t worry about it.”

He’s stupid if he thinks telling you so will make it so you don’t worry. You’re always worrying anyway.

“Okay,” you still say. “It was great though, don’t take me wrong.”

He chuckles, and it’s bitter. “Listen, if you want us to pretend like it never happened, let’s start right now.”

He’s closed off. He was open earlier, a book for you to read. Maybe you’ve ripped the pages away, or maybe you’ve thrown the book off a cliff.

But it’s safer this way. It’s safer to keep Jungkook at an arm’s length. It’s where you keep everyone besides Jiho anyway.

“Okay, sorry,” you apologize. “Good night?”

He sighs once more. “Yeah, good night.” And then he turns away, and it hits you.

You won’t ever be the one to see Jungkook’s softness again.

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.............................. please don't hate me <3 how was this chapter? How was the smut? I hope it hit good haha! Let me know what you thought!

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ts1mp0ne · 1 year

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𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: Kylian Mbappe x reader

.𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: in which kylian is jealous of a certain someone that has been trying to get with his girlfriend

.𝑪𝑾: angst, fluff at the end

.𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: heyyy guys, I am so sorry this request was literally from months ago I just didn’t know what to write😭, im trying to clear up my request list and yea hope you like it, based on that request on top

We had just arrived at Michael Rubin’s annual party for the 4th of July, Kylian, Brice and me, we were approached by many celebrities since we don’t usually stay in the states it’s unusual to see us there, and most of the people here are ones we interacted once or twice online.

Recently, there had been some rumours going around that me and ( NBA player) had been going out in secret, which I think it’s stupid since I’ve been with Kylian the whole time since we arrived in Miami

But all of this started when (NBA player) said on an interview that he had a crush on me and that if I gave him a chance he would make me the happiest woman

This was very childish, since me and Kylian had been together since we were 16 and he had been there for me since the beginning and vice versa

We were currently near the drinks, I was talking to Kendall Jenner and other girls and Kylian was talking to Kevin Heart and the others, when (NBA player) approached me and the girls and started talking to me

I could see that he was trying to flirt but I was shutting down any advances he was making at me, for obvious reasons, im happily taken

I could see Brice taping Kylian on the shoulder and pointing at me, I could see that he was mad, then we made eye contact, he could see that I was uncomfortable

I think (NBA player) sensed that I wasn’t listening to him anymore, so then he stared to where I was looking and saw Kylian glaring at him “let’s go somewhere more private ma” he said

I just looked at him dumbfounded and said “are you crazy, can’t you see that I have a bf, who tf do you think I am” then I tried to leave but he grabbed my hand “cmon ma I can make you more famous than that boy toy of yours”

From a distance I could see Kylian approaching “is there something wrong amour?” He asked but he obviously knew the answer to that “no bro we were just-“ “I wasn’t talking to you now was I?” He asked rhetorically with an arched brow, he was getting pissed

“Everything is okay Kyky don’t worry, (NBA player) was just leaving, weren’t you” I said with a smile that said, ‘if you don’t get out of here noww, my bf is going to beat your ass’ he got what I meant and left without speaking another word

After we saw that he was very far, Kylian pulled me in for a kiss that didn’t last long bcs the girls started teasing us, to which we just laughed and decided to go somewhere more private

“I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but you look três belle” he said once we reached a place near the pool, he was staring down at me, admiring every inch of my face, and I won’t lie, I as doing the same exact thing

“You have said it, multiple times amor, but I don’t mind hearing it again” I said and pecked his lips “Je t’aime mon coeur” I said and he smiled, that smile of his that makes everyone else around him smile too

“Je t’aime mon Princesse” he said and hugged me “I know you were jealous back there” he looked at me and then just scoffed letting himself go off me “no Kylian I thought it was cute, though you have nothing to worry about because the only person I love is you” I said while laughing

He just side eyed me and I started laughing even more, this time he was laughing with me too, then we calmed down and he said “I know, I trust you, it’s them I don’t trust, if I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have given you that ring that you so much deserve” he said raising my left hand to his lips and kissing the engagement ring he gave me at the beginning of the year

I smiled looking down at the ring “I still can’t believe we’re engaged, I mean took you long enough, but the timing was perfect” I still remember that day it was right after New Year’s Eve, our families and friends there, everything was perfect

Who would’ve thought that I’d end up with such a wonderful man…. me, I thought that

#kylian mbappe #mbappe #kylian #kylian mbappe x reader #kylian mbappe x you #kylian mbappe imagines #kylian x you #kylian x reader #mbappe x reader #mbappe imagines #football imagines #football x reader #footballer x reader

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she-posts-nerdy-stuff · 4 months

Text

Okay I was too tired last night for coherent thought but I’m now here with some assorted bullet points after watching dr who e6: Rogue

SPOILERS AHEAD

Overall I really enjoyed this episode! I thought the pacing was good, it was typical Doctor Who style and very enjoyable, I liked that we got time with both Ruby and the Doctor separately as well as together, I have a couple of thoughts but I just really want to say that overall I loved this episode

Theory based on the theory (I’m sorry I don’t know who first said it I’ve seen it a lot) that Devil’s Chord was moved: This was supposed to episode 2 - Flashback to Ruby’s mum when she ‘died’ that we didn’t get when died in Boom, one of her pieces of evidence that it was her was ‘we met space babies’ but no reference to other adventures, it would make the timing match up (she can’t remember whether it’s June or July back home), the stakes are less visibly high, other than Susan Twist there was no real reference to the overarching story arc (no snow, no One Who Waits, no pantheon references, etc) as is common with early episodes, we had more focus on the Doctor himself than we’ve really had so far and we actually got to understand, I felt at least, more about him as a character which again would usually be set up earlier on idk

Do you understand how relieved (and excited) I was when they started actually acknowledging Susan Twist, and of the same vein as I was when I saw the teaser for next week??? Absolutely buzzing, and also I was starting to think I was going mad looking for connections that didn’t exist so whooo

I thought Rogue was a really good character, I thought they were definitely trying to set something up for him to the Captain Jack archetype character (if that makes sense? I hope I’ve worded that right) and although I saw it coming for him to sacrifice himself for Ruby I don’t think that’s going to be the last of him - even if we see him at a different part of his timeline instead of his future. That could also be really interesting if the partner he lost was in fact in a romantic relationship with him and we have to see the Doctor contend with that, I can’t remember whether they stated the nature of their relationship or not but I don’t think they did so that could leave some options open to explore. I did feel that the Doctor and Rogue were a little bit rushed but overall really liked the set up of the relationship, I only found it slightly jarring when 13 was so broken up over the impossibility of letting herself fall in love with Yaz but I also think that different incarnations tend to approach their relationships differently so for me it wasn’t so much an issue as just a noticeable thing I guess

Speaking of noticeable things, IT WAS MODERN MUSIC??? I heard Bad Guy by Billie Eilish and Poker Face by Lady Gaga but there may have been others I didn’t recognise/pick up on. This was very very very suspicious to me, and other than a few episodes I haven’t watched Bridgerton but isn’t that what they do in Bridgerton??? Classical instrumentals of modern music??? Very suspicious

Also, the shapeshifters (chuldrur? Sorry I can’t remember it exactly) referred to themselves as cosplaying and that really caught me out I thought it was odd

I didn’t feel like the the rules of the trap were quite well established enough in that it wasn’t very clear to me how Rogue could so easily throw Ruby out of the trap when she couldn’t move; I assume it was because the capacity remained at 6 but idk I just felt like we could have had a clearer understanding of how it worked for the purpose of that set up

Ruby’s pretence was interesting, it made me think of Clara in Deep Breath a little bit but because of the perspective the stakes felt quite different. I did think it was weird that everyone else stopped cosplaying for the wedding and she was just there looking like herself because it made her stick out and also if the wedding is their finale to the game why wouldn’t they want to be in character?

ALSO it once again all links back to story whenever we are with Ruby and I think that’s fascinating, especially as a character who has died and been brought back, ‘died’, or had her history changed and rewritten in almost every episode so far

On that point -> Dungeons and Dragons!! Effectively what the shapeshifters felt they were doing as their game, and such an interesting link when there are so many questions left unanswered about Rogue ooo I’m excited

Okay I may be back with more but I think that’s all for now, very excited for next week’s episode, thanks for reading my ramblings I hope they were at least vaguely interesting <3

#doctor who #doctor who spoilers #the fifteenth doctor #15th doctor #dr who fandom #dr who spoilers #dr who #rogue #rogue spoilers #dr who rogue #fifteen x rogue #I love that we’re all ready with that tag tumblr recommended that tag to me #ruby sunday #millie gibson #ncuti gatwa #ncuti!doctor #new nuwho #nuwho

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soulreapin · 7 months

Text

happy valentine’s day klancers here’s our favorite tragedy getting to be happy for once. xoxo soul

—

Keith wakes up to the sharp, pungent smell of roses in his nose.

That’s not always as alarming as it is right now, sometimes Lance gets flowers from the farmer’s market and sets them in delicate clear vases all over their apartment (Keith will always hate the smell of daffodils), but the farmer’s market hadn’t been in town for a number of weeks.

He sits up in bed, pushing the red flannel comforter down from where it was safely tucked up underneath his chin and looks around wildly. Their comfortable bedroom has a vase of red roses on every surface, even on the vanity tucked in the crook between the wall and the door of their ensuite bathroom.

They look fresh, vibrant and sweet in the low light.

He glances to his side and Lance’s side of the bed is noticeably empty. That should’ve been clue number one that something was up, not the smell of roses, but apparently it hadn’t been long enough since his time in the desert that waking up with his arms wrapped around himself and his knees tucked into the crook of his chin wasn’t considered abnormal yet.

A splay of his palm against the sheets tells him Lance has been up for some time. Something ugly and foreign squeezes itself around his heart, but Keith, under any circumstance, does not give himself time to figure out what it is and slides out of bed, stepping into his red lion slippers and following the apparent trail of red rose petals on their usually pristine wooden floor.

His slippers scuff on the wood as Keith trails down the short hallway into their living room, and if he thought their bedroom was bad, this is catastrophic. Floral arrangements sit large and pretty on their dining table, on their kitchen counters, on the coffee table where instead of fake fruit they set their feet in the middle.

Varying shades of red and pink and white flourish in the home Keith worked so hard to build for him and Lance, the life they hold on to with tight grips and locked elbows decorated with pretty scalloped petals and white lace keeping them all standing at attention.

On the center of their dining room table, where there are pencil marks thoroughly worn into the wood from hours doing homework for Lance to get his masters, are several fake candles set up around a red envelope, and from this distance Keith can’t tell if it’s sealed with wax or not, but he’d bet his braid that it was.

As Keith is walking over to the envelope, he panics. “What did I forget? Our anniversary isn’t until October, his birthday is in July, it’s February—oh. It’s February.”

He reaches the letter at the same time he has the realization. Today is February 14th, it’s Valentine’s Day, and Keith did not forget. There are reservations in his name tonight for their favorite mexican restaurant, the one Lance picked himself because it tasted the most like home, and he’s got a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a hand-written card tucked into the back of their closet because he knows Lance doesn’t look back there.

So he picks up the envelope with steady fingers, pops open the definite wax seal and before he can judge it, presses a kiss to the cold wax with the reminder that Lance’s careful hands had poured and pressed it into a heart shape, and slides a thin, white paper card out of the envelope.

In Lance’s scraggly, all-caps looking handwriting, he’s written, ‘good morning, keithy cat! happy valentines day. i know you freaked this morning when you saw all the flowers. mad i missed it. anyways i didn’t have to go into work like you were thinking. you’re going looking for me but because im SO GRACIOUS and an AMAZING HUSBAND ill give you your first one free, go down to nightsky florals. love, loverboy,’

Despite it all, it brings a small smile to Keith’s face. He folds the note delicately and tucks it back into the envelope, deciding to leave the battery-powered candles running.

“Damn you, Lance,” Keith mutters, but trudges back to their room and changes into simple, loose-fitting Lucky jeans and a red sweater. ‘Tis the season, and all that.

–

A small bell rings over Keith’s head as he pushes the door open to Night Sky florals. Shiro must have installed that after he went off to college, but the rest of the shop was still the same. Wooden bins of flowers sit on racks going all the way up to the ceiling, there are displays in the center with red roses and assorted bouquets on them, and greenery climbs up the sides of the racks and up the counter near the back of the room.

It’s light and homey. Keith spent a lot of time in Night Sky florals, sitting behind the counter and doing his AP Lit homework, staring daggers at To Kill a Mockingbird and scribbling down Quizlet-approved bullshit answers.

Now, Shiro is sitting on a stool behind the counter, assembling a small array of red roses, baby’s breath, and camelias. He looks up and sees Keith standing in the doorway, “Hey, kid!”

“Hi, Shiro,” Keith grumbles, smiling despite himself, skirting around the center displays to get to the counter, “How’ve you been?”

“You were at my house for dinner a week ago.” Shiro stands up and comes out from behind the counter to wrap Keith in a hug that basically breaks every rib in his body and eliminates a need for a chiropractor. “I think you know how I’ve been.”

Keith shrugs in his hold and hugs him back, “I don’t know, it might have changed in the week I haven’t seen you. Forgive me for caring about my brother.”

After a few more bone-crushing seconds, Keith is let go and allowed to expand his lungs to full capacity again. Shiro tosses over his shoulder as he turns away, “Denied. Back to the desert with you, creature.”

“You’re so odd,” Keith shakes his head and picks at a piece of stray fuzz on the sleeve of his sweater, “I was here for something. Lance sent me here. Is there something here for me?”

Shiro’s face lights up and he disappears off into the back. “He stopped by this morning! This is so cute, Keith I almost kind of hate it, I’m so glad you guys are happy together—aha! Found you, fucker.”

“I’m almost a little nervous about it,” he admits, “Like, he’s doing this for me, what if dinner and chocolates and a card isn’t enough?”

Something clatters to the ground in the back and Shiro reappears holding another red envelope with a pressed wax seal and a small, thin piece of paper. “Keith, I promise you, if you got him a pair of socks and a bag of cherry cordial Hershey’s Kisses, he’d love you forever.”

He accepts the letter and the small piece of paper, his face screwed up, “Those are absolutely disgusting, they taste like cough syrup. The peppermint ones are so much better.”

“Cough syrup aside,” Shiro comments, shaking his head like he can’t believe Keith has a correct opinion, “You know what I meant. He’s happy just having you.”

Keith sighs, a little dejectedly, and slides his thumbnail beneath the wax circle.

It reads, ‘congrats, keefers, you made it! this is the place we met for the first time. i bet you remember it. i came in to get funeral flowers for hunks robot and you insulted me various times all while giving me the most beautiful flowers i had ever seen. i thought you were beautiful too with your shitty ponytail and your silly looking apron. you had a pansy tucked into the pocket i think. ‘

“It was a rose.” Keith says, out loud, without even meaning to.

Shiro glances up from his bouquet in progress, “Congratulations?”

“No, um,” Suddenly embarrassed, Keith scratches the back of his neck, “The day I met Lance here, I had a red rose tucked into my apron. He said it was a pansy.”

“Are you blushing?” Shiro exclaims.

“Shut up, Shiro, go back to your flowers. In the time you’ve spent insulting me three more people have either died or gotten engaged and you are holding them back from their floral arrangements,” Keith sasses, looking back down at the letter.

‘whatever it was i thought it was really cute. im glad we ran into each other that day. rip hunk but if his robot hadn’t died i wouldnt have married this beefcake so who really won here (me its me i won). anyways. the little white paper shiro should’ve handed you will give you a little clue as to where to go next. love, lancelot.’

He slides the letter back into the envelope and flips the small paper over. On it are two dragons intertwined, one small and red and the other bigger, black, and missing its right wing. Keith knows this image; this image sits squarely over his spine.

“So, where are you off to next?” Shiro asks casually.

Keith glances up at Shiro, missing his right arm, and offers a small smile. “Ocean Waves Tattoo Parlor.”

“That’s right across the street from us–oh, that’s where Lance used to work when you two met, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. I’d better be off now. I’ll see you for dinner next Wednesday?” Keith starts to move around the store, picking flowers out of bins and collecting them in his right hand.

“Same day, same time,” Shiro confirms, “Adam’s making pasta salad, I think–what are you doing?”

Keith has gathered a full bundle of red roses, pink carnations, greenery, and forget-me-nots. He drops a handful of cash onto the counter that seems like a vague approximation of what the total should be and waves goodbye, hurrying out of the shop before Shiro can throw his money back at him or realize Keith had probably underpaid.

—

After his brief stop at Night Sky Florals, Keith went to two more places. Ocean Wave Tattoo Parlor, where Lance used to work and coincidentally where he got his back piece done in Lance’s chair, the ice cream shop where they went on their first date to receive another letter from Romelle, and even at the library on the other side of town where Keith had dedicated hours of his life to helping Lance review for a final (that he passed with flying colors).

He ends up at Fortune Coffee House, their favorite spot to grab a drink or a muffin and just eat breakfast together before they go their separate ways. Keith had stopped at home first and dug the card and chocolates out from the back of the closet, since he had a feeling he’d be seeing Lance here, as this was supposedly the last location.

The door creaks closed behind Keith as he steps into the warm air of the coffee shop, a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit cordoning off the counter from the rest of the shop. Fortune Coffee House is decorated in warm shades of brown and cream, reminiscent of Keith’s college days.

“Welcome in–Keith Akira Kogane, where have you fucking been?” Pidge yells from behind the counter, pushing her glasses up her nose.

Right. Pidge Holt, Keith and Lance’s oldest shared friend, had ended up with a job at Fortune Coffee House, and Keith had been neglecting going out for a beer with her, Hunk, and Lance. Copyediting kept him busy, what can he say?

He sighs and walks up to the counter, flowers, card, and chocolate all balancing very precariously in the crook of one arm. “Hi, Pidge.”

“Don’t hi, Pidge me, you dirty fucker. I missed you!” If she could, Keith would bet every dime he had that she’d throw her pen at him. “Your hair is longer.”

Automatically, his hand shoots up to fidget with the end of his braid. She’s right, it has gotten a little longer, the tail now dangling over his heart instead of at his collar. “I guess it is. What’s new with you?”

“I got into AST.” She says nonchalantly, looking up at Keith with a devious grin.

“That’s great—holy shit, that’s great!”

AST, or Altea State Tech, was the best college in the entire area if you wanted to work on rockets one day, which Pidge did. Her grin is so bright, it blinds him a little, but he leans over the bar and wraps his free arm around her shoulders in an awkward hug.

“I know, isn’t it?” She gushes. “I start in September in the astronautical engineering program, the one Matt did, it’s going to be so, so great!”

“You’ve gotta tell me everything once you start,” Keith says when he pulls back, shifting all of his items between arms, “Has Lance stopped in today?”

“Basically used an entire giftcard stress-drinking iced green teas. He’s been here since eleven, so not very long.” Pidge snorts and picks up her mug with some silly science joke on it, taking a sip of whatever she’s concocted now. “I think he might’ve worn a hole in the floor. Same table as usual.”

“Oh, great,” an exhale rushes out of Keith’s chest, “Can I get a—”

“No, shut up. On the house.” Pidge points at an admittedly very large sign that says, Coming in with a special someone? Your first drink is on us!

“Well, I tried. Seeya, Pidgie. Have fun at AST.” Before Keith leaves, he drops a five dollar bill into the tip jar and slides between tables to get to the second, library-like room.

Fortune Coffee House had two spaces, the actual coffee bar and a second room with tables, an assortment of armchairs, and couches for studying, worship, or just to chat quietly. Keith slips through the doorframe and sees Lance sitting in his usual armchair, tucked into the alcove created by two windows. An empty plastic cup sits on the low table behind them.

Lance looks just as beautiful as the day Keith met him. His hair is longer and curlier, better taken care of, and freckles make their homes loud and proud across his face, but the Pacific ocean that sloshes around his pupils never changed, nor did the tilt of his smile or the slight scrunch of his nose when he laughed. Keith has kissed that scrunch on several occasions, to no fault of his own.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, blue,” Keith says as he approaches Lance, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, “Got these for you.”

“Keithalicous, Keith, god, you scared me!” Lance exclaims but accepts both the kiss and the gifts he’s handed, running a gentle finger over the rose petals. “Did you get here okay?”

Keith thinks back on all the running around he’s done today and can’t tamp down the laugh. “As okay as I could’ve been. I liked the little game you sent me on. It was nice to go back to St. Taffy’s. Romelle still works there, yaknow?”

“I was just there this morning, goober.” Lance reminds him gently, setting the flowers and the chocolate on the table, working on opening the card. “I’m glad you liked it. I wasn’t sure.”

He remembers what’s written in the card. It was written late at night when Keith couldn’t sleep and instead spent precious minutes watching Lance’s sleeping face shift. “Right, yeah, ‘course, ah, I knew that.”

“Wow, did your code just stop working?” Lance jokes as he finally gets the sealed white envelope open (it was spit-sealed, Keith didn’t fuck with wax,) and pulls out the card.

Keith had found it months ago. It was a deep green and pictured a featureless white deer, standing small amongst towering trees. He found it pretty, and by the way Lance traced a reverent finger over the spiny branches of the trees, he did too.

The card itself wasn't a problem. It was what was written inside the card, or more rather, how much was written inside the card. Keith had used every available inch of space from the top edge of the right side to where the small inscription was on the left.

While Lance reads, Keith pulls at a loose thread in his sweater. It pools in his hand by the time Lance glances up at Keith and slowly folds the card shut. His crystal-clear eyes are glassy and wet with tears.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Shut up,” Lance cuts in, “Shut all the way up. You’re such a gifted fucking writer, oh my god. That was beautiful. I love you too, Keithers.”

His hammering chest eases up and is replaced with birdsong and unbridled joy. “I’m glad. Did you…have a favorite part?”

Lance pauses, “Hm. I think it might’ve been ‘The stars could love me and the moon could cry for me, but I’d still choose you. Every time.’ Or ‘You are my north star over the ocean guiding me home and there is nowhere I would rather tilt my chin than up to your light.’ I told you, Keith, you’re a brilliant fucking writer.”

Keith doesn’t respond, but he does reach across and link Lance’s hand up with his. Lance tightens his grip, the gold metal of his rings digging into Keith’s fingers, and pulls Keith forward into a kiss that he wasn’t entirely sure was coffee shop appropriate.

“Can you cut that shit out? People read the Bible in here.” Pidge calls from the doorway.

“Sorry, Pidgie,” Lance says sheepishly, pulling away from Keith, “Thanks for the coffee.”

His mouth tastes like Lance’s strawberry Carmex and green tea. Keith accepts the hot strawberry mocha that’s handed to him and takes a sip, but he’s watching Lance like he’s the only star in the sky.

To Keith, he might as well be. There wasn’t room for much else in Keith’s night sky, anyways.

#vld #voltron #keith kogane #vld keith #keith voltron #lance mcclain #vld lance #klance #voltron legendary disappointment #vld shiro #vld pidge #soulficlet #soulreapinfic #keith vld #voltron lance #lance vld #in honor of valentine’s day #both of the quotes from keiths card are things ive written myself so #😁

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ambiguouslady42 · 16 days

Text

Remember Summer Days: Chapter 6 - Planetarium

Pairing: Satoru Gojo x Female OC

Genre: Fluff. The kind where your heart kind of melts.

Word Count: 2.6K

Tags: @pixelcafe-network, @hayatoseyepatch (big thanks for reading it for me)

Summary: It's not a date, but you know it is.

Chapter 5

Saturday Night. July 2007

Isabel still felt the warmth of his hand as they were being driven to an undisclosed location. She felt excited because nobody had done this before, but she was also curious if he had planned this by himself or with some help.

Satoru came up with the idea on a whim, he didn’t plan all the major details on how to make this the best night for her. He knew he could always ask her what to do after, but he felt he wasn’t sure what Isabel would think of him. Would she judge him for taking her out and then asking her what else they should do?

He started to notice that her grip on his hand was loosening. He grew worried that she finally got too uncomfortable and wanted to let go. Just when he had noticed that she was starting to lean her neck to the side, she fell asleep. Rather than let her neck hang to the side and become sore, he decides to move her head towards his arm. When she began to nuzzle against his arm, a pink hue appeared on his cheeks. She didn't move, and that was a great comfort to him; it meant she was becoming more comfortable with touching him.

The route to the undisclosed location was very busy. Traffic was lining up from the freeway’s exit.

“There’s no other way to get around, we’ll have to sit here for a little while.” the driver informed Satoru.

“It’s fine. Thanks a lot for this.” Satoru responded.

“...I can’t wait for this”, Isabel responded sleepily.

“You don’t need to wake up yet, Izzy. You can keep sleeping.” He said softly, as to not awaken her.

The radio was on. The station that the driver had been listening to was mostly playing 80’s music. Satoru began to reflect on the first time he spoke to Isabel about John Hughes's movies. He figured at some point he should have a movie night with her and his friends. He’s sure they’ll like her a lot too.

And when she wakes up and makes up her mi-i-ind//she’ll see I’m not so tough just because I’m in love with an uptown girl

Satoru smiled at hearing this particular lyric.

As the cars were all honking, trying to cut in front of each other to go into moving lanes, they all ascended a hill. She was slowly waking up. As she felt the car going up and making turns, she was trying to guess quietly where she could be going. “Where could we be?” she thought.

“Alright, we’re here.” the driver announced.

“Hey Izzy, wake up. We’re finally here!” Satoru’s excitement couldn’t be contained. He hoped that she would be excited with him, but only time will tell.

“Can I take off my blindfold now?” Isabel asked.

“Nope! Not until we get out of the car.” he grinned.

Satoru stepped out and opened the door for her. He helped her by grabbing her arm. “As fun as it would be to let you fall, I know you would be pretty mad.”

“I’d actually cry, dude.” Isabel attempted to shove him, but she couldn’t see him. He began to laugh at her.

“Who are you trying to push? Me?”

“No, the holy spirit. Yes, you, Sherlock.” with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“Gotta do better than that.”

He grabbed her arm and they walked ahead. The evening was entering the scene. The sky went from a purple hue and it was getting darker. The street lamps were illuminating. Cars were parked everywhere. People were observing the skyline nearby.

“Okay, NOW can I take off this blindfold?”

“No, I’ll do it.”

“Ugh, where are we?!”

“Just be patient.”

“I’m not a patient person.”

“I can see that now.”

She sticks out her tongue at Satoru. Of course, she can only assume that he’s standing next to her, so he’s able to see this gesture. It makes him laugh.

“Woman, stop being a brat. We’re here.”

He removes the blindfold.

“Dude how did you know I wanted to be here?!”

“I didn’t, I just thought it would be a good idea for me to check it out, but I guess I knocked down two birds with one stone.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to come back to the observatory!” she smiled ear to ear and began to jump up and down.

“You’re such a dork. It’s really cute actually.”

She immediately stopped jumping, feeling embarrassed by this comment. Now that she thinks about it, it’s not a word she hears often from others. It wasn’t missing, but she can’t help but feel that there’s something there.

“Aww come on, don’t stop, Izzy. I like seeing this side of you. I feel like you’re letting me get to know you”, Satoru says with a grin.

Was this the risk that Mariella was talking about? Isabel was concerned that her actions would make him not like her anymore. It was a growing insecurity on her part. His words can be a form of reassurance, but she knows she needs to believe that people can be honest and truthful with good intentions.

Satoru did like seeing that Izzy was letting him see this side of her. His friends are not necessarily the excited type. Shoko is mostly laid back and goes along with whatever he and Suguru decide to do. Suguru was his partner in crime, they do mostly everything together. These days, they’re either going to the beach, hanging out at the pool, or going on random food runs.

As they reached the rotunda of the observatory, there was a pendulum at the center of the room. People were surrounding it and staring at the bottom. The pendulum was slowly knocking down some pegs beneath it.

“Do you know what a pendulum is?” Isabel asked Satoru.

“Sure. It’s moving back and forth using the force of gravity to move, right? As it’s doing that, it’s going to slowly knock those thingies out, right?”

“Yep!” Isabel said with a giant smile.

“Cool, now what’s my reward for answering correctly?”

“The gift of nothing!” she smirks.

“Ugh, I thought it would be something else.”

“No idea what you’re talking about…” Isabel walked away as her face was turning tomato red. Satoru quickly followed right behind her as they made their way further inside.

As they enter past the rotunda, they’re making their way through various galleries. They see a giant crowd of people gathering in a specific area. They decide to see what the commotion is. Isabel is not tall at all, so she pushes her way to the front of where everyone is standing. When she reaches the front, she discovers that she is standing in front of a giant orb. When she reads the sign, it reads Tesla Coil. Satoru shoves his way to the front, despite that his tall stature might be bothersome. He doesn’t care at the moment. He wants to be close to her and continue admiring her. The lights began to dim and a speaker was at the front.

“Welcome everyone! You might be wondering what a Tesla Coil is. Rather than just explain it right now, I’ll demonstrate how it works. 3, 2, 1.”

BZZZZZZ, BZZZZZ. Electricity began to run. Sparks were contained. The sound was so startling that Isabel grasped onto Satoru’s arm so tightly and pressed her face against it. She peeked from one eye to observe what it looked like. Realizing what she had done, she let go as fast as she could. Satoru looked down at her. Noticing that she now can’t look at him and she’s staring down at her shoes.

“Don’t be scared, Izzy. Look it’s all contained! Plus, you were so excited to see it too!” he offered her his hand to comfort her. Rather than taking the entire hand, this time she only decided to hold onto his pinky.

Why did I do that? I already held his hand once in the car. Ughhh, I’m such a weirdo.

“As you can see two wires are running to create this current of electricity. One is a green one and the other is a copper coil, which is what ultimately makes the Tesla Coil work. This coil is plugged in just like any electronic appliance in your house. When the electricity reaches the top of the coil, the electricity produced is 500,000 volts. That’s a lot!”

The speaker decides to demonstrate the use of the coil once again. BZZZZZ BZZZZZZ. The noise was starting to create anxiety inside of Isabel. She didn’t know if she didn’t like the noise, but Satoru got the hint. He grabbed her hand and they walked away from it.

“Hey, we don’t have to do anything, you don’t like, okay? I just want to make sure you have fun.”

“I’m sorry.” she blushed and felt embarrassed by not being able to tolerate the noise.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. Let’s keep walking around. You don’t have to let go, by the way.”

Her smile displayed the dimple on her right side. To him, this was her cutest feature. He wondered if he could continue to make her smile throughout the night. What exhibits will bring out this joyful side of her? There’s so much that he needs to know about her. So much more to see.

I have to make the best of tonight. She seems so happy too.

Isabel felt a lot better as they walked through the exhibits. They observed how the moon can affect the tides of the ocean due to the forces of gravity; they learned how seasons worked due to the sun and the rotation of the Earth. Space was such a magnificent thing to learn about for her. Too many knowns and unknowns exist; just like her relationship with her and Satoru.

“Hey there was something back towards the rotunda about shows taking place at the planetarium, do you want to check it out?” Satoru asked.

“Sure! I wonder when’s the next showing.” Isabel said excitedly.

Arriving at the counter, they saw the next show was called Centered in the Universe. It was the next show in 5 minutes. She wanted to purchase both tickets, but before she took out her wallet, Satoru beat her.

“No. You do not get to pay for anything while I’m here.”

“Why? I can pay for it though.” she giggled.

We’re on a date, can’t you tell?

“Whenever we go out, I don’t want you to worry about paying for me.”

“Are you loaded or something?”

“You could say that.”

“Is there anything that I could buy for you?”

“No! It’s fine, Izzy. I just want to make sure you’ll have fun and keep having fun while I’m here.”

She blushed, but she relented. She wasn’t comfortable with this gesture on Satoru’s part, but if he insisted, she knew it was a battle that she wasn’t going to win; they made their way to the terrace where they entered the planetarium. The seats reclined and it allowed them to view the ceiling. It was displaying a starry sky right above them. Isabel was observing the different constellations that were displayed above them.

“That one right there is the Big Dipper. Then not too far away, is the Little Dipper. The shiniest star at the end of the handle is the North Star. You’re supposed to use it to find your way if you get lost.”

“You could say that I’m the Big Dipper and you’re the Little Dipper.” Satoru whispered to Isabel. She immediately blushed and tried to look away from him. “You’re so cheesy” were the only words she was able to muster back. Her heart was beating faster as they continued to hold hands and Satoru shared this sweet flirtation with her.

“And yet, you’re still here next to me.” he moves to grab her hand once again. “Tell me what else I should see,” he asks her excitedly.

“The one that looks like a stick figure is Orion. He is technically holding an arrow. That’s as much as I know, I don’t stargaze too often.” she turns away from him to keep staring at the ceiling. She’s smiling and hopes that this night never ends.

The planetarium begins to dim. A presentation begins with a presenter holding an orb to represent the sun. Projections appear on the ceiling to show the entire solar system. The sun is the center of the universe. Planets that exist beyond Earth. Stars that are born and then die. At this moment, Isabel felt small. Satoru shared this feeling too. They’re two individuals who are small in this entire universe. Satoru rubs his thumb on her hand as they’re holding it together. There’s more to discover outside of Earth, the same way that there’s so much to know about each other.

Before they knew it, the presentation was over. The light turned on again. The audience exited the building and it led them to the terrace. Isabel led the way to a corner of the terrace to allow Satoru to see the city’s skyline. The wind began to blow as Isabel was standing on the terrace. It was a secluded area away from all the other guests. He stood right behind her. She turned around and there was a glow to her where he was standing. She sees that there is a hint of pink on her cheeks as she’s smiling at him.

“So what do you think?” she asks him.

“This is wonderful. All of it.” he crouches down to whisper in her ear. “I’m glad we got to come here tonight.”

“...Toru, what are we doing?” she turns around. He’s looking at her.

“I don’t know yet…” he places his hands on her waist. She places her hands on his arms.

“Can we talk about it?” the wind starts to blow. Her hair moves towards her face. He moves it away to place it behind her ear.

“...I think I like like you. I don’t know how possible it is to be around each other as you’re going home soon.”

“Izzy…I knew there was a way I charmed my way into your heart.” he smiles.

“Oh my god, shut up” she begins to laugh.

“I think you’re cool. You’re so smart and you know a whole lot about movies and music. I want to continue to get to know someone like you. I know that our time is limited, but I want to make it the best. All this to say, I like you too.”

“I can’t reach you, so do you mind just lowering your head just a little?” as he does so, she kisses his cheek. He turns bright red. He’s not embarrassed, but he feels glad that she was the first to make the first move. It reveals how brave she is. This means he will also need to be brave for her. To return this gesture, he kisses her on top of her head.

“Whatever happens, you’re special to me. I won’t forget you that easily.”

“If you say so, Toru.” as she proceeds to hug him. “I’m feeling hungry, do you have any ideas where we will go?”

“No, I was hoping you knew” he laughs.

“Ugh, fine. I know the spot! Have you ever had pupusas before?”

“No, but I hope they’re good.”

“Trust me, you’ll love them! I know a spot not too far from here.”

“Lead the way.”

They walk towards the entrance hand in hand. The stars are shining brightly tonight, just for them.

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk fanfic #satoru gojo x reader #gojo satoru x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #satoru gojo #gojo satoru x oc #satoru gojo x oc #gojo satoru #Remember Summer Days #jjk fluff

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kingofpopmj · 2 months

Text

Conscious Decision

Part 8

July 21st, 1988

*Y/N’s POV*

I felt myself sinking deeper into the mattress the longer I laid here. I couldn’t bring myself to move let alone open my eyes. I had just spent a fourth night sleeping alone after our wedding day— well what should’ve been. Now, more than ever I felt the most connected to him. I could feel his sadness, pain and fear. It felt like a malicious joke. It’s been four whole days without him, yet the hold he had on my heart and mind was stronger than ever. He had me even though I was fighting it, but that was a joke too, because I wasn’t putting up much of a fight anyway.

“Do you want to join the girls and I today? We’re going into town.” Janet jumped onto my bed, propping herself up on her elbows.

“I think I would much rather lay here all day. The sun is too bright and the birds are singing too loud. Who was that on the phone?”

“I’m glad to see you’re still as optimistic as ever. Y/N, you know who it was.” She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, playing with the ends of her hair. “Come on. You can’t stay in the room another day. You have to get out. Come with us, it’ll be fun!”

“The phone has been ringing nonstop for hours. That was all him?”

“Yes. Can we change the subject now?”

“What did he say?” I rolled onto my side, staring at her impatiently.

“Okay, we’re still on this. This isn’t a good idea. I don’t think me telling you everything that little twerp said will help.”

“It’s that bad?”

“No. I mean it’s the usual, he wants me to tell you all this mushy stuff and he’s asking when he can see you. He doesn’t sound too good.”

“I miss him.”

“I know.”

“I’m just so mad at him.” I huffed, sitting up and crossing my legs. I didn’t want to go on like this much longer. I don’t want to be angry anymore.

“I know.”

“I love him.” I let out a deep breath, trying to fight the urge to cry again.

“Yeah, no shit.” Janet rolled her eyes and for the first time in days I laughed with her. A genuine laugh and it felt amazing.

“You’re so annoying.”

“Do you want to see him?” She crossed her arms, staring at me with a weird look on her face.

“Yes, but I don’t know if I should want to see him.”

“Do you want to know what I think?”

“That depends. Is it mean?”

“No! I’m never mean!” She flung her legs to hang off the side of the bed, exhaling dramatic as ever, “We all know this isn’t the end. What he did was— he’s an ass for doing it, but he hasn’t really had the chance to explain. I mean no damn explanation will ever make up for it— he’s still an idiot, but maybe it’ll give you the necessary closure to move forward together or move on separately. You guys are going to move on from this one way or another, because even though my brother is king of the fools and doesn’t deserve you— I mean seriously you’re so out of his league he’s lucky you even look his way. I swear the fucking nerve. You’re the whole damn package and he ain’t shit— he’s lucky he met you when you were kids. He had years to soften you up. Now, you see his goofiness as endearing, instead of what it truly is. A big ass red flag!” She took a deep breath, before going on. “Anyways, for some insane reason he won you over. You love him. And as much as I hate him right now, I have to cut his the tiniest shred of slack. Michael doesn’t have much— well any experience with relationships, he’s never tried to understand them for anyone but you. It’s unknown territory. He’s never cared enough about a person to explore a relationship. No one measured up because there is only one you. You’ve had his heart since the beginning— his stupid little heart. In his mind, the definition of love is you. Love equals Y/N. That’s the only way it’s comprehensible to him— the only way it’s real in his eyes. Besides this, he’s done a decent job being your guy— I mean this was a huge deal, it was your fucking wedding, so maybe that erases all the things he did right. I’m not sure. I haven’t decided yet.” She stood up, walking back and forth along the rug, her arms waving in the air as she spoke. “What I’m trying to say is, he’s got his crusty little nails dug into you and he’s not going to let go. Not without a fight and I’m telling you as his little sister, Michael can take a lot of hits. He won’t give up easily. I don’t know what he’d do if he lost you and honestly I’m hoping I don’t have to find out, but I’ll support you in whatever you decide. I believe he’s truly sorry. Maybe you’ll feel better when you hear his side. I think, if you really want to see him, you should.”

“Wow. That was the sweetest, meanest thing you’ve ever said about Michael.”

“I try.” She shrugged, giggling at her own sarcasm.

“What time are you leaving? Should I call him?”

“In an hour. Relax. That little fool will call again and when he does I’ll let him know.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll give him a piece of my mind too just to scare him.”

“Janet.”

“I’m going to tell him you packed up and went back home.” She laughed like a hyena, jumping off the bed only to fall over. “Oh, he’d probably cry.”

“Please don’t make him cry.”

“What! You did! Why can’t I?” An uncomfortable silence followed and her expression shifted along with it. “Shit. I’m sorry that was too soon.”

“It’s okay. I just— it sucks that this is our reality.”

“It’ll take time, but this will all be worth it in the end. It’ll be—” The telephone rang loudly as we stared at each other, slowly directing our attention to the piercing noise. “I’ll get that.” She smiled, looking over at me one last time. “Are you sure?” She asked with her palm resting on the telephone.

“Yes. I’m positive.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Michael’s POV*

“Michael.” My younger sister’s annoying voice came from the other end.

“Hi.” Suddenly, I was very aware of how many calls I’ve made to this number, but I didn’t care enough to be embarrassed about it.

“So, what’s up?” She was teasing me, I could imagine her at this very moment, smiling deviously with her hand on her hip.

“My blood pressure. How— how is she?”

“The same as she was fifteen minutes ago.”

“Okay.”

“How are you?” Her tone changed, I could tell she was being sincere. “Brother, you can talk to me, are you okay?”

“No.” I answered honestly. “I ruined everything. I thought I knew why. I thought it was the right thing. I just wanted to protect her. I don’t know how to exist knowing that any second I could lose the one person that makes it— that gives my existence purpose.”

“Damnit Michael.” She huffed loudly.

“What? What is it?”

“I’m trying to be mad at you right now and you go say that?” I could hear her pacing as she let out a sad chuckle. “Now, you have me crying like a baby. You know what, you shouldn’t be allowed to talk. Let me be mad at you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re so annoying. Always saying the perfect thing. You damn poet.”

“I’m—”

“She’s in the shower.” Janet quickly interrupted me. “She’s getting ready.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good she’s going to get out and do something. She deserves to be happy.”

“Michael, listen to me and listen carefully. Y/N is really fragile right now. She’s strong, but that doesn’t mean she’s indestructible. What happened— what you did, it messed her up. It’s triggered things in her that I don’t think she even knew existed. She’s cried so much, I didn’t know it was humanly possible to produce that many tears. You freaking jerk. Seriously, I don’t even— I love you, but damn I’m really struggling to be nice to you right now. I don’t understand why you did this, but I’m not the one you owe that explanation to. Michael, I want to help, but in order to do that I’m gonna need you to get your head out of your ass. I’ll do everything I can to help you get your girl back. Let me help you, no more stupid shit. It’s going to be difficult, but I believe it’s possible to get past this. It’s possible if you don’t go rouge again. You only get one chance with me. Brother, I promise, you so much as breathe in the wrong direction and I’ll knock you on your ass.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry, I truly am. I wish I could do it all over again and do it right. Thanks, you saying it’s possible for us to get past this is the best thing I’ve heard in days. I’ll be good I swear, I wouldn’t want to feel the wrath of Janet.” I rolled over in bed, trying to ignore the tickle in my throat. “You should take her to The British Museum or St. Paul’s Cathedral, she’d love those. I can make a few calls and get you guys a tour guide or passes. Whatever you guys need.”

“Okay, on one condition.”

"You’re a pain in my ass. What’s the condition?"

"You should be the one to take her."

“She doesn’t want to see me. I’d ruin her day. I’ll be lucky if she ever wants to see me again.”

“Well, it’s your lucky day. Why else do you think she’s getting ready?”

“Are you being serious? Because this would be a really mean joke.” I sprung up from my previous position, kicking off the layers of covers weighing me down. “We’ve been on the phone for ten minutes and you’re just now telling me?”

“Yes.”

“She really wants to see me?” This must be what Christmas morning feels like.

“She really does.”

“She really does?”

“Yes. Okay, I have one more thing to say. Michael, I love you and I love Y/N. I love both of you so damn much, together and as individuals. You guys getting together is— it was so awesome. She’s been family for so long. We were all excited when you two finally made it work. I don’t know it just felt like, you know, like it all fell into place. Fuck, this is hard. Look, I’ll do whatever I can to lead you two back to one another, because right now it’s evident that you both want that, but I’m going to do whatever is best. So, if I get even a sliver of a feeling that Y/N doesn’t want this, no matter how much it’ll hurt, I’ll support her. If she decides at any point she needs to walk away from you, I’ll be there for her. That’s never going to change. I’ll be here for both of you, just separately.”

“I understand.”

“Okay.”

“I have to get ready. It's actually such a relief that it’ll be the three of us.” I said, the nerves were quick to take over my body as I tried to think of what to say to her. What can I say to her? Janet being there will definitely take the edge off.

“Is thirty minutes enough time for you?”

“I could get ready in five minutes with the way I’m feeling right now.”

“Good. Oh, by the way, this morning mom and the girls invited Y/N and I to go out with them. It’s a nice day to do some sightseeing, don’t you think? Yeah. Well, I’m still going with them, so it’ll just be the two of you. Y/N’s expecting you to pick her up from my room. Don’t be late! Bye!” She spoke so fast I could barely process it.

“Wait!—”

“Gotta go! Kisses!”

She giggled wickedly, hanging up on me without another word. I swear she lives to watch me squirm. I dropped the phone and watched as it hung by the wire, bouncing up and down before stopping all together. I rubbed my eyes as I got out of bed for the first time in four days. My room, that was once our room, was dark and stuffy and to my mother’s dismay I refused to let her tidy up. It looked like how I felt on the inside. I deserved to be surrounded by darkness and disarray. My body ached as I dragged my feet over to the bathroom, turning on the water and waiting for it to warm up which felt like an eternity.

My mind wandered to Y/N, stepping into the tub felt so lonely, everything felt empty without her. I never truly understood how integral she was to my life. I don’t have many friends, many people I can trust, she’s the small piece of normalcy in my life.

“I’m not sure where you go from here, but you’re going to have to accept the fact that it’ll be without her.”

My brother’s words echoed in my head as I felt that sensation, the one that has quickly taken control of me often since that day. The one I couldn’t escape regardless of how hard I fought.

The sound of blood pounded in my ears. My heart collided against my chest with force. My hands began trembling beyond control. My vision growing more distorted, I tried to blame it on the steam from the shower, but I knew better. I had to get away. I couldn’t stay stuck in this bathroom any longer. I needed out.

I unintentionally ripped the curtain off the rod while reaching for my towel. I leaned against the cold tiled wall, fighting to fill my lungs with air. I was almost there. I can do this. All I had to do was breathe. If I held on a little longer I’d see her. I’d be with her soon if I just held it together. I can do this. The tightness in my chest, loudly told me otherwise. Shit. Quickly, stumbling over furniture to reach the phone, I dialed numbers, in the same order that I had been for the past few days. Maybe, I need to hear her voice. That’s it. That’s what I need. I just need to hear her voice and that’ll help ease my mind. That’ll help me breathe. The phone didn’t ring long and that voice filled my ears. The voice that consumed my thoughts and dreams the past four days. The voice I couldn’t function without.

“Hello?”

It’s her. It’s Y/N.

My Y/N.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Y/N’s POV*

I lifted my purse, hanging it off of my shoulder as I contemplated which heels to wear. It was almost embarrassing how emotional it felt to see him again. As hurt as I was, I think I missed him more. I knew I missed him more. The phone rang obnoxiously, startling me, yet still, I practically danced over to it. Thankfully, Janet had already left or else I would never hear the end of it. I was confident that I’d hear his sweet voice on the other end and as much as I didn’t want to admit it out loud. I couldn’t wait.

“Hello?”

I held the phone close to my ear, waiting to hear him.

“Hello? Michael, is that you?” A deep rooted emotion began to flood my senses. One that I hadn’t felt in a long time, one that I had hoped I’d never feel again.

“Michael?” The faint sound of wheezing was the only response I got. It was all I needed.

I didn’t think twice. I didn’t say anything else. I took off in a sprint. As fast as I was moving it still felt too slow. When I reached the stairwell, the images from years ago flashed through my mind. As my hands gripped the cold steel railings, I remembered the feeling of the shattered pieces I cleaned off the floor that night. The damp remnants left on my shoulder from his tears all those years ago, causing my body to run cold at the memory.

Finally, I reached his level, running down the hall and colliding with his front door. I was so worried I forgot to slow down. My hands struggled with the zipper of my purse, so I tore it open and dumped its contents onto the floor. The small silver key called to me. I yanked it off the patterned carpet, unlocking the door and shoving it open.

I didn’t have to walk much further into the room before my eyes landed on him. Michael, curled up in a fetal position, a towel wrapped around his waist and his wet hair clinging to his face.

“Hey.” I whispered, gently touching his head. “I’m here. It’ll be okay. Everything will be okay.” I sat beside him as he pulled himself into my lap, his head resting on my thighs and I stroked his hair. “Just breathe. I’m here.”

“I— I ca— can’t.” The sadness in his voice tugged at my heart. I’d never heard it so broken before. I could tell he was scared. My presence wasn’t enough, he needed a little more.

“Focus on my voice.” I spoke calmly, lying down next to him. “Remember that night we snuck out to go camping?”

He didn’t respond, I didn’t expect him to. He had a strong hold on me as we laid close to one another. I could feel how lost he was in his thoughts. I needed to bring him back to me.

“I was so excited walking over to your house that night. I’ll never forget seeing you jump out of your bedroom window, you fell right on your butt. When you saw me, you shot up to your feet and acted like it didn’t hurt, you insisted that you were fine even though you were limping.”

This time I felt a slight nod from Michael, so I continued on.

“You brought the blankets and I brought the snacks. We had prepared all week for that night. I couldn’t wait to be with you, I wanted to stay up all night just to spend more time together. You spent four hours wrestling with the tent, because it wouldn’t stay up, you were so mad. We ended up sharing a sleeping bag and lying directly on the grass with no shelter, so we had a nice view of the sky. It worked out if you ask me, it’s the reason I love stargazing. You knew how much I loved s’mores, so you built a little fire in that empty soup can. It worked for a while too, until you—”

“It was you.” He spoke, gently interrupting my storytelling.

“Michael, we go over this every time. You kicked it.”

“Sweetheart, I love you, but you knocked it over reaching for the marshmallows.”

“Agree to disagree.” I laughed at our refusal to accept blame.

“You’re barefoot.”

“I wasn’t finished getting ready when you called. Then, I heard you, so I dropped everything and ran. I tried to get to you as fast as I could.”

“You got here at the perfect time.” He assured me, his voice was soothing as I felt his smile against my forehead. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad I could help.”

“I was so nervous that night. I used some of Jackie’s aftershave, I had Janet help me fix my hair and Latoya dressed me. That was going to be the night.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was going to tell you how I felt. How I truly felt.”

“Really?” I adjusted my head to see his face. He smiled back at me, resting his back flat on the floor and pulling me to rest on his chest.

“I had my speech memorized.” I looked down, studying the ring on my finger, all the while I felt his eyes on me. “I was going to start off by telling you what an incredible best friend you are, how beautiful, kind and loving you are. How I couldn’t imagine my life without you.”

“We were thirteen.” I whispered.

“Yeah, we were, but I already knew.” I calmly started to move away from him, but he stopped my movements. “Y/N, I love you. I always have. I can’t imagine my life without you.”

“Michael—”

“I don’t want to live my life without you.” I closed my eyes as I felt him touch my cheek, his fingers were soft and I couldn’t help but lean into his touch. Old habits die hard. “I can’t live without you.” He murmured, all my worries melted away, long enough to feel how well we fit together. The tenderness of his lips sparked a warmth in my heart and an urgent need throughout my body. Our connection grew stronger the further we went. I looked up at him, watching him settle in between my legs. He placed his hand on my denim covered thigh, inching up to unbutton my bottoms. The effect of his touch quickly shifted, unleashing a wave of anxiety rather than pleasure.

“Y/N, look at me.” Janet grabbed my shoulders, giving me no choice, but to stop avoiding reality.

“He’s really not coming.” I spoke softly, I sounded lifeless. “I can’t believe he did this. How could he do this?”

Michael lingered above me, his lips curved slightly before I felt them on my neck and that’s when it hit me.

“Where were you?” I asked him.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m here now. And, I’m so sorry for being late.”

“You stood me up on our wedding day. I’d hope it would matter a little bit.”

I felt my body tense up as his moved against mine. Michael slowly pushed my top down my shoulder, hooking his finger underneath my bra strap. I became extremely aware of where this was going and it consumed me with panic.

I’m suffocating.

“Michael—”

“I missed hearing you say my name.”

“Michael. Wait. Stop!” I pushed him off of me harder than I intended to. It was abrupt, taking me by surprise as well. I felt like I was drowning and for the first time, Michael wasn't my life line.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do this.”

“Oh?” He readjusted his towel and looked at me as if he was asking me to explain further.

“Michael, I think I need time. We can’t act like it didn’t happen.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to go change and get some shoes on.” I smiled at him half-heartedly, gesturing to the wet splotches now littering my outfit.

“Sorry, I dripped all over you.” He let out a soft chuckle.

“It’s alright—”

“Wait.” His hand wrapped around my wrist, keeping me from escaping the awkward tension in the air. “Nothing I say, nothing I do is ever going to fix this, is it?”

“I— I don’t know.”

“Oh.”

“I think we have a better chance than most.” I whispered, trying to ease the pain of this situation.

“Can we still spend the day together?”

“I’d really like that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Michael's POV*

Y/N met me in the lobby after she had left to change her outfit. I was speechless. Wow. She looked breathtaking. A long lacy black dress hugged her curves, it had an open neckline and see through sleeves that covered her arms. I could not stop staring as she walked over to me. Although, it felt more like she was floating. Wow. She paired it with deep red heels that matched the color of her lipstick. A black hat resting on top of her head, shielding her face if she looked down just enough.

“Hi.” She stood in front of me and still I couldn’t find the words.

“You– I– Wow. Hi.”

“Are you okay? We can stay in if you don’t feel up to going out. I know the panic attacks are—.” She whispered with a small comforting smile.

“No. No. I just– Wow. You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you. You look very handsome yourself.” Her fingers traced the red band around my arm. “I love that you still wear these.”

“I’ll always wear them. They remind me of you.” Y/N smiled, curling her fingers around my bicep as we exited the lobby.

The journey to the museum was uneventful. It was full of meaningless conversation and heart wrenching glances. When we arrived I did my best to look as normal as possible, instinctively, my hand rested on Y/N’s lower back, keeping her close to me. Old habits die hard. We were ushered through a side door and I was able to make arrangements, so we had a whole wing of the museum to ourselves. I knew she’d love it. I couldn’t wait to be alone with her again.

I gave Bill a subtle nod, swiftly he fell back, giving Y/N and I more privacy as we roamed. I admired the way her eyes scanned the canvas before us, the way she nibbled at her bottom lip as she tried to understand it and most importantly how close she stood to me. Our arms brushed one another, breathing in her perfume made it seem like it would all be okay.

"Thank you for bringing me here. Wow, look at this one. I love it." The deep colors of the painting in front of us, matching perfectly with her outfit. Again, I was watching her more than the art.

“I love you.”

“I lo—Me too.” She smiled sweetly, her hands clasped together in front of her as she walked over to the sculptures. I noticed how she couldn’t say those words back to me, although it hurt, I couldn’t blame her. As much as I wanted to hold her hand I knew she needed distance, but I couldn’t let her forget that I was going to fight for her.

“Y/N, I’m so in love with you. I need you to understand that.”

“Michael, I know. You’ve been reminding me all day.”

“I believe it’s nice to hear. You deserve to hear it. I enjoy reminding you.”

“Okay, that’s very sweet. Thank you.”

“I guess some people don’t enjoy professing their love like I do.” I snapped.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She stopped walking and turned to me, her left eyebrow arched as she waited for an answer.

"It means that I've been pouring my heart out to you and the only response I get from you is 'I know' or 'thank you’. What's going on, Y/N, do you not love me anymore?"

"Jesus Michael."

"Well, what is it? What else should I do? Do you not want to be with me anymore? Do you want me to take you back to the hotel? Right now, I feel like I’m the only one trying to fix this."

"You're the one who broke it!"

"Y/N, baby—”

"Don't call me that!" She pointed at me as her bottom lip quivered. No. Please don’t cry. I can’t handle seeing you cry.

“You think I don’t know that I caused this?”

“This was a bad idea.” She shook her head, spinning on her toes and quickly walking towards the exit. “I can’t believe I thought—”

“No, it wasn’t! No! Talk to me.” I ran to catch up to her, grabbing her arms and standing in front of her.

“Michael—”

“Tell me why you’re shutting me out!”

“I don’t want to do this here.”

“Tell me!”

“Michael, stop—”

“Talk to me damnit!”

“Stop yelling at me!” Our voices bounced off the walls, I could feel the anger in her words. She hated yelling, arguing wasn’t her way. Y/N always preferred to talk things through, so I took a deep breath and spoke.

“The only way we can fix this is to talk about it. I want to fix this. I need to fix this.”

“You didn’t show up.” She said simply, her eyes not meeting mine.

“I know.” My grip on her arms loosening as I watched her contemplating what to say next.

“It felt like our wedding meant nothing to you. It didn’t matter. I didn't matter. You just vanished and you made me feel so rejected. That was the worst feeling I’ve ever experienced. I don’t understand why you did it.” Her cheeks now damp with tears as she fought to contain herself.

"I'm sorry. Y/N, I know I caused this. I know these are the consequences of what I did— I hate knowing I did this to you— It’s on me. You can’t say it— you can’t tell me you love me because I left on what should’ve been the most important day of our lives. I did that. I did it and I hate myself— I hate that you can barely look at me, but it’s my fault. I regret it with my whole heart. I should’ve shown up. I should’ve done it right. I should’ve made you my wife. I should’ve— I wish I did and I'm so sorry. I know I deserve it, I know I deserve for you to walk away for good but I’m still so afraid to lose you."

"The reason I haven't said it back isn't because I don’t love you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you hurt me Michael. You hurt me in a way I never thought was possible. It was an unbearable pain that I never thought I'd have to endure, especially from you. That night, I didn't want to see you ever again, I thought I hated you, but you came to see me anyway. Once I saw you I forgot about that pain, I forgot about how angry I was, because all I wanted to do was run to you. All I wanted was for you to hold me and to forget everything that happened. Once I saw you, all was forgiven and when I heard your voice I was yours again."

"That's good. Right?"

"You don't understand." She shook her head, turning away from me, but I stopped her.

"Then explain it to me. Please."

"I love you so much that I'd forgive you without an apology, without an explanation. I love you so much that I'd accept pain as long as it meant that I'd still have you. I love you so much that l'd— I love you so much that I've allowed you to string me along all our lives."

“Y/N.”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve hurt my heart.” She wrapped her arms around her waist as if to hold herself together.

“Y/N, this is the worst thing I’ve ever done, I know that, but we have both hurt each other in the past. Maybe I’ve caused you more pain, but that doesn’t negate the pain I’ve felt.“ Once the words left my lips I regretted it. She’s never hurt me.

“Well, maybe we should just walk away now, try to save our friendship before it’s too late.”

“I don’t want to go back to that. You don’t want that. I can’t. Y/N, you’re who I belong with. It has always been us.”

“I don’t know if I can handle it anymore. We couldn’t survive anymore pain. We couldn’t. Even as friends.”

“Y/N, I need you to believe me. I rather slit my wrists than cause you pain. I will never hurt you again.”

“Again.” She muttered, “It used to be I will never hurt you. Period.” She uncrossed her arms, pushing her hair behind her shoulders.

“I know.”

“Michael, I’m so afraid.”

“Of what?”

“I’m afraid of forgiving you, but I’m petrified of not forgiving you.”

“Y/N—”

“Why?” She interrupted me, her lips sucked in between her teeth. She was struggling to keep herself from falling apart in front of me.

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t you show up?”

“I— I’m not sure.”

“Michael, please, answer the question.”

“I guess there were many reasons.”

“Many?” Her voice sounded helpless as she stepped further away from me. I never knew it was possible to see someone visibly crumble until now.

“Please. Baby— I mean Y/N, please don’t cry.”

“What were the reasons?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“Then, I’m leaving.”

“Stop! Please, stop walking away from me.” I ran, blocking her path, my hands cupped her face gently. “I know you don’t want to leave. I know you don’t mean it. I know you.”

“Yeah, you know me so well.” She rolled her eyes out of frustration, lifting her chin up and away from my grasp.

“Y/N, what do I need to do?”

“Please, just explain it to me, tell me the reasons.” I shook my head, looking down at the floor. “Why not?”

“Because I’m trying to fix us, not break us.” I tried holding her hand, surprisingly she let me.

“What does this look like to you? We’re already pretty broken.”

“Exactly. I don’t—”

“I need to know why in order to move forward. I need to know, so I can let it go. I need to know so I can try to forgive you.”

“I don’t see how that will help, it’s like you want me to hurt you. All day, you’ve kept me at a distance. You’ve barely looked at me. Have you thought about how that makes me feel?”

“Are you really trying to compare standing me up on our wedding day to me trying to figure out how to forgive you?”

“Are you trying to hurt me on purpose? Is this your way of getting back at me? Getting even?”

“If you truly think I’d do something like that, plan to hurt you as a way of evening out the playing field then you don’t know me like I thought you did. If that’s what you think, then we shouldn’t even be here right now.”

“It’s not. Y/N, I know you would never do that.”

“Then why’d you say it?”

“Because I’m frustrated. I fucked up. Okay? I really fucked up. I ruined this and I’m struggling to ignore the possibility of not being able to fix it.”

“Me too.”

“At least there’s one thing we agree on.”

“Yeah, little victories.” She smiled weakly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“It’s difficult being so close to you yet feeling so damn far away.”

“Mhm.”

“I wish I could jump on my bike and ride down to Burger Grill. Your go-to order, a big bag of fries, a milkshake with extra whipped cream and cuddles from your favorite guy. When we were kids, that used to fix everything.”

“Yeah, but we aren’t kids anymore.” She pressed her hand against her belly as she attempted to calm her breathing. “Michael, I can’t jump back in right away. I want to fix this it’s just— I feel so vulnerable. I don’t want to feel pain like that ever again. It’s nerve wracking being with you, but I’m trying. I really am. I want to be close to you but my mind won’t let me. I think— I don’t know— It’s like everything inside of me is at war. My heart hurts, but wants you, wants to forgive you. My body aches, but wants to be held by you—” I knew if I let her go on she’d end up inconsolable.

“I didn’t show up because I want you to be happy. More anything in my entire life I want the best for you. I want you to enjoy life and never have to experience anything less than pure joy. I want you to have freedom. You said you needed to know, so here it is. When I was with Frank that day, he went on this rant about how your life was going to change and I wasn’t preparing properly.”

“Okay.” She gently squeezed my hand encouraging me to go on.

“He was right. You’ll be my wife. That’s all. You won’t be able to work and I know how much you love your job. You won’t be able to make a simple trip to the grocery store or anywhere really at least not by yourself and I know how much you value your independence. You won’t have any freedom. Your privacy will be gone in an instant.”

“That’s all?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not easy. I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you because those damn parasites were following you. The thought of you being dragged through the mud to the extent that I am— that thought killed me.”

“You could’ve come to me. We could’ve discussed it. Michael, I would’ve understood.”

“I know.”

“Why did you think that the solution was to not show up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why?”

“Because!” I yelled again. This is not going the way I thought it would.

“Because what!” She snatched her hand away from mine, looking back at me like I wasn’t me anymore, like I was a stranger.

“Because I knew if I showed up, I knew if I saw you— I knew that we would be married right now. I can’t think straight when it comes to you. Damnit, Y/N, I’m selfish when it comes to you. I needed to think about it. I needed more time. I know now that I shouldn’t have let Frank get in my head. I should’ve shown up and married you like we planned. I should’ve married you that day because that’s all I’ve wanted my whole life. I’ve always wanted you. I will always need you. I was so in my head that day, scared to do the wrong thing and I ended up making the worst decision. I always try to do what’s best for you. I’ve always put you first. Everything I do is for you. Believe it or not, at the time, I stayed away for you.”

“Wow. My hero.” She turned to walk away from me. Again.

“Y/N! Stop! Damnit, you can’t ask me these questions and get pissed with my answer no matter what it is! That’s not fair!”

“You know what’s not fair! This!” She held up her left hand, the engagement ring, a bitter reminder of what never was. “It’s not fair that I can’t bring myself to take this off! It’s not fair that I made my peace with everything that came with being your wife. It’s not fair that I accepted how drastic my life would change and chose to embraced it because at the end of the day we were starting our new life together. It’s not fair that you didn’t think the positives of being together outweighed the negative like I did. It’s not fair— all the reasons that made me so excited to marry you, so sure you were my person, were the same ones you used to add to your list of reasons to run. That’s not fair!”

“You’re right. Shit, you’re right.”

“That’s the thing. Michael, I don’t want to be right. I want us, together, to be right. I don’t know how to do it. I want to fix it. I just don’t know where to start.”

“Y/N—” I spoke delicately, but didn’t get to finish my thought. I was cut off by her crashing into me, her head rested on my chest, her arms reluctantly wrapping around my waist. I didn’t allow myself to be shocked for too long. I held her with all I had, rubbing her back, gently swaying her and hoping this wasn’t the last time I’d ever hold her. “I think we need more of this. It could help.”

“Mhm.” Her gentle sniffles felt like a punch to the gut. “It’s not easy keeping you at a distance.”

“I've missed you.”

“I've missed you too. So much.” Her hands moved slowly up and down my back. This was nice. “Janet’s crazy.” She muttered.

“You’re barely realizing that?”

“I guess I’m late to the party. She’s the best though. She offered to steal all your left shoes and shrink your clothes.”

“She what?” I gasped as she laughed into my chest. It felt so good to have her close and to hear her laugh again.

“I haven’t taken her up on the offer yet.”

“Yet? Wow! How kind of you. I feel so protected.” We laughed, together, wrapped up in each other’s arms. The melody of our laughter carried up to the tall ceilings of the building. We were surrounded by exquisite artwork from all over the world, yet I could not take my eyes off of her. I only wanted to admire her. My Y/N.

“I’ll always protect you.” Her tone serious and for the first time since everything went wrong, she looked back at me, her eyes as beautiful as I remember, lips parted slightly, skin glowing like the stars on a summer night. I found myself hypnotized. Carefully, I closed the space between us, becoming painfully aware of how deprived I was of her touch, desperate to taste her tongue and feel her lips.

“Michael?”

“Yes, what is it?” I asked cautiously, hoping we could live in this moment longer.

“You could never keep your lips to yourself.” She smiled, reaching down and intertwining our fingers. I sensed that she wasn’t quite comfortable with a kiss, so I settled on leaving one on her cheek.

“Would you consider spending more time with me tomorrow?” I asked, feeling nervous all the sudden.

“I think I can clear my schedule for that.” She teased.

“I have some work to finish up in the morning before the show. It'd be fun for you to join me.”

“Would it be acceptable for me to be there?”

“Of course! Come with me! You can see all the behind the scenes stuff. If you want— I’d like you there— I mean if you don’t want to— I want you to be— well if you—”

“Michael, I’d love to.”

“It’s for Moonwalker.” I spoke, looking down at my feet to hide my shy smile.

“No way! You’re finally making it? That’s incredible babe! I can’t wait to see it.” My heart fluttered at the nickname. I was sure it slipped out, but I’ll take it. Little victories.

"Thank you. It’s been incredible so far. The script has come together nicely and I’ve been able to get almost everything I’ve envisioned brought to life.”

“That’s so exciting. I can’t believe I’m engaged to, what is it a quadruple threat? What can’t you do?” The way she looked at me was out of this world. If we weren’t in a public place I would’ve been all over her.

“You’re making me blush.”

“Mhm.” She moved closer to me, her soft lips connecting with my jawline. Her movements were so soothing. My eyes fell shut as she planted small kisses down my neck.

“I could get used to this.” I joked, she giggled, gently pushing me away.

“You always had that about you.”

“What?”

“The talent of being so damn adorable that I forget why I was angry in the first place.”

“We’re going to make it.” The corner of my lip curved up as I stretched my arm out to grab a hold of her. “Y/N, we’re going to make it. We have to make it.”

“We will make it.” She responded softly, rubbing tiny circles into my wrist with her thumb.

We stood in an empty hallway, smiling at each other like two lovesick kids. It was a nice change. It was a moment filled with hope.

“I have a surprise for you.” An excited smile graced her face at my statement. I led her out to a small courtyard, where I’d set up a romantic lunch date for us.

“This is beautiful.” We walked down a small path surrounded by flowers and a small pond. She was practically jumping up and down. It was perfect.

“My lady.” I grinned, sliding out her chair for her.

“Why thank you.”

We sat enjoying our meal. I noticed Y/N had stopped eating a few minutes ago. She was in her head I could tell, so I did my best to let nature take its course. I couldn’t push her. I needed to let her work through it at her pace.

“Michael.”

“Yes?” She didn’t respond, instead she stood up from her seat and took a few steps over to my side of the table. “Y/N, is everything—” she paid no mind to my worry, carefully she sat on my thigh, her legs finding a place in between my own. Her arm slid across my shoulders, her gaze focused on me and a shy expression on her face.

“Michael?”

“Yes?”

“Could you, could you kiss me?” She asked nervously, like she thought there was the slightest possibility I would say no. I’d never say no.

“Y—yes, of course.” Nerves I never knew existed were now running through me at an alarming rate. My hands were trembling as I placed them on her. The moisture in my eyes suddenly disappeared, making me blink rapidly which I’m sure looked anything but normal. I removed my hat, placing it on the table and taking an audible deep breath. I must have been taken way too long because she spoke up again.

“I’m sorry. It’s okay. If you aren’t comfortable.” She shifted her body away from me, so I wrapped my arms around her. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“No.” I pulled her into me, her back pressed up against my chest.

“No?” She turned slightly to look at me and that’s when I kissed her.

Our lips laced together, perfectly, but only for a moment. We parted slowly, the kiss obviously had her feeling the same way I did. This was where I was supposed to be. Our gaze unfaltering, heavy with emotion and conveying the longing we had for each other. At the same time, the space between us disappeared and our bodies melted into one another. Eagerly, I grabbed her by the back of her neck and smashed my lips onto hers. Our connection deepening as her hands found a place at the back of my head.

As my fingers sunk into her hips, everything else faded away.

The only thing that could separate us, the only thing that could disrupt this moment was a tornado or maybe an earthquake. Neither of us wanted to be the first to pull away. We didn’t want this moment to be cut short. We wanted to soak in every piece of it because it was glorious.

“Michael!”

“A few minutes of peace was too good to be true.” She smiled against my lips, her hand sliding down to my chest and clenching a fist full of my shirt.

“Damn Bill. Should I— yeah I’m going to fire him. We’ll never be interrupted again.” I kissed her again, harder this time. Her giggles being replaced by soft moans. Oh, shit. We’re about to do it in the courtyard of a museum.

“Michael!”

“Son of a—”

“There seems to be a problem. I’m sorry to interrupt—” he stopped dead in his tracks, looking at us suspiciously before shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “Kids, there are windows everywhere!” He started pointing them out all around us. “You’re outside! In broad daylight!Anyone could see you two!”

“It’s fine. We weren’t doing anything.” I shrugged, tickling Y/N’s hip discretely.

“Sure. You’ve got lipstick on boy!”

“Oops.” Y/N looked so embarrassed, reaching to retrieve a napkin to clean me up. “You kind of pull it off though.” She whispered.

“Seems you’ve been found out. We need to get going before it gets out of control.”

“Well, that was fun while it lasted.” I’ve become used to adjusting my expectations, it’s just hard when I’m not the only one affected by it.

“It was! Look on the bright side, there’s nothing that went unseen. We got to do it all.” She’s so positive it’s impossible for some of it not to rub off on me.

She had her arm firmly around my waist, mine draped across her shoulders as we reached the exit doors. There was nothing I hated more than arguing with her, but if it would bring us closer together I’ll make an exception.

"Wait! Back up." Bill shouted, he opened the door for us just to slam it shut immediately. He aggressively pulled it until he heard the click ensuring it was secure.

"What is it?" Y/N asked, reinforcing her grip on my hand.

"We've got a bit of a situation dollface." Bill's tone was familiar to me, but not to Y/N. “Change of plans. What do you want to do?”

"How many are there?" I was frustrated to say the least. This was supposed to be a nice day away from everything, just the two of us. “It can’t be that bad. Can we make it work?”

"Enough. No, I’m sorry. I don’t want anyone getting hurt. I say we have Y/N walk out the main entrance by herself and we will get you out through the side entrance. They don’t know she’s here, so they won't bother her. She'll be safer if we split up."

"No. We're going out together."

"Michael, I don't think that's the best idea. You're playing with fire right now, son."

"Bill, she's my lady. I’m not sending her off on her own. She's safest right here. Next to me."

"Okay." Bill smiled proudly at my defiance. He had been furious at me, probably more so than anyone else. When I had him help me miss the wedding he refused to give me a moment of peace. He had lectured me for a whole six hours, saying I needed to man up and quit running away from the things I want. I never thought I’d see him that angry, I’d never given him a reason to be so disappointed in me. He repeated it over and over again, I had to stop making nonsense excuses to hide from good things in life or as he put it 'ruining my destiny.'

Damn, the old man, he was testing me. I guess I passed. Little victories.

“Let’s get out of here. Keep her close.” He shot me a stern look before leading the way outside. I nearly lost my balance when I took a step forward and Y/N didn’t move a muscle. Her eyes wide as she took in the chaotic scene we were about to walk directly into.

“I got you!” I shouted, so she could hear me over the commotion. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you!” I held her face in my hands, her hands gripped my wrists as she gave me a quick nod.

As we stepped through the threshold the number of people outside seemed to multiply. The screaming was deafening, my ears were vibrating and my teeth rattled uncontrollably. Y/N was struggling to stay on her feet beside me until I redirected her in front of me. People were reaching out to touch us and I could tell it was making her nervous. My hands firmly on her hips as our path shrunk significantly with each step. The crowd began pushing and pulling at us. I did everything in my power to comfort her, but it wasn’t enough. Suddenly, Y/N spun around wrapping her arms tightly around me.

“What’s wrong?” I spoke into her ear as she hid her face in the crook of my neck.

“I can’t see. My eye, there’s something in it.” I quickly looked down, she leaned her head back, staring up at me. Oh, no. Her eye squeezed shut, a crimson stream flowing down the right side of her face, I watched in disbelief as the thick substance dripped off her chin and down her neck.

“You’re okay.” I tucked her face back into my neck, cradling her head with my arm. “Bill!” When he turned to glance at me I held up my blood stained hand. After that, our journey through the crowd was an anxiety filled blur. When we finally made it to the vehicle, Bill guided us inside cautiously, jumping in after us and slamming the door shut.

“I’m so sorry.” I collected all the napkins in sight, with shaky hands I put pressure on the wound. I couldn’t see anything, there was so much damn blood. She just stared at me blankly. “I’m so sorry.”

“What the hell happened!” Bill roared, causing us both to jump.

“I don’t know.”

“I told you! I told you to keep her safe and you couldn’t even do that.”

“I did everything–”

“No you didn’t! You let her down again. You didn’t step up again. She deserves better!”

“Please stop.” Y/N muttered.

“She trusted you to take care of her and again you hurt her! How could you let this—”

“Dammit, stop yelling at him!” Y/N’s voice reached an octave I had never heard before. She exhaled deeply, intertwining our fingers as she pulled me closer, her head resting on my shoulder. The warmth of her body sent shivers down my spine as she leaned against me. “Someone threw something. It isn’t his fault. It happened so fast. I didn’t even see it. Michael didn’t let me down, he never has.” It felt like her last sentence had deeper meaning. Whether that was her way of sending me message or not, she definitely sent one to those around us.

Her and I are a team. There’s no denying that.

“I’m sorry dollface.” Bill spoke as he concentrated his gaze out the window.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The vehicle hadn’t come to a full stop before Y/N grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her. I struggled to keep up, weaving through people, hopping over furniture. We barely made it into the elevator. Y/N was panting, incessantly hitting the button until the door began to shut just as we saw Bill trying to catch up with us.

“That was fun!” Her laughter filled the small space, she backed into the wall sliding down and holding her belly. I took a seat across from her, the way her cheeks shimmered under the flickering light had my full attention.

“It was.” I agreed, she studied my expression, stretching her arm out to press the emergency button. The familiar way the floor vibrated and that look in her eyes made me feel like I was on top of the world. She held her hand out to me, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “I think you have a concussion.” I joked.

“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. The blood made it seem worse, but I’m good. I promise.” She moved to rest on her knees in between my legs, beaming at me, unrushed and uninterrupted. Her fingers curled around mine. “I don’t have it in me to hate you Michael. You’re the only man I’ve ever loved. I’ve never wanted anyone else.”

“Neither have I.”

“Why is everything so complicated then?”

“Because I’m an idiot.”

The cool steel wall pressed into my back, the warmth of her hands made my chest feel like it was set on fire, my eyes never leaving hers as she glanced down, studying my lips. Her guard slowly being let down the longer I held her. We sat there for what felt like hours, each second better than the last.

“You’re not an idiot.” Y/N’s voice sounded just above a whisper as our noses touched.

“I’ve made mistakes.” My voice cracking at my vulnerable position. “You do deserve better.”

“Michael–”

“I was kidding myself to think I’d ever be enough for you.”

“You made a mistake.” Her fingers traced the line of my jaw, keeping me from looking away. “It doesn’t mean you aren’t enough.” She mumbled, her shiny red lips communicated the rest.

She’s kissing me. She’s actually kissing me. My fingers were tangled in her silky hair as she tugged at my coat. I glanced at her briefly, she guided my hand to the zipper of her dress. Her skin was so soft, softer than I remember. Everything about her became even more beautiful than the last moment I spent with her. I can’t believe this is happening.

“We don’t have to do this if you aren’t ready. I’m just happy being with you again.”

“Michael, look at me.”

“Yes?”

“I need you.” Her voice is like music to my ears. I remembered the day I had said those exact words to her in this very elevator. “I need you closer.” She melted into me. The warmth of her thighs squeezed around my torso as I felt every emotion she felt, her lips never parting from mine.

“You’re sure?” I mumbled into her mouth, hoping she didn’t pull away from me.

“I’m so sure.” She grunted, tearing my shirt open, the sound of the buttons shooting against the walls masked by echoes of pleasure.

“Wait.” I pulled away, reaching the emergency button, and the elevator began to carry us up again.

“What— oh my goodness.” Y/N jumped up, readjusting her dress, she moved to zip it up and that’s when I stopped her.

“I’d leave it undone.” The elevator paused at our floor, I picked her up quickly, running down the hall to the room. Y/N was laughing, gripping my back tightly as I squeezed at her thighs that were wrapped around me. She moved to suck on my neck and I nearly dropped her at the sudden feeling of her tongue. I pushed her against the wall, my lips finding hers while my free hand aggressively twisted the doorknob.

“Michael, open the door or I’m gonna take your pants off right here.”

“I’m trying.” Her laugh grew louder and uncontrollable while she watched me fight with the door. “This damn door.” I put her down, using both hands to push the damn thing open.

“Michael–”

“I got it!” She clung to me as I moved us inside, locking the door behind us.

“You’re cute.” I felt her say against my lips. Her arms wrapped tightly around me as I walked backwards, chuckling every time she apologized for stepping on my toes.

“You’re—” We tumbled backwards, the corner of the mattress catching my leg unexpectedly as I led the way to the bed. We landed on the floor, Y/N carefully rolled off of me, cuddling into my side. Now, here we are, on the floor. Again.

She’s actually here. Her body pressed against mine. The rise and fall of her chest brought me a great sense of comfort, one that I had been stripped of in the last few days. I can’t mess this up. I can’t lose her. I can’t make any more mistakes.

“That was smooth.” She said in between her fits of laughter. “It looked like you did a backflip. Are you okay?”

“God, I missed your laugh.”

“I missed you.”

“Thank you.”

“For?”

“Spending the day with me. Thank you for agreeing to see me.”

“My heart belongs to you. That never changed.” She placed a gentle kiss at the corner of my mouth, but it ended way too soon.

“I hope it never does.”

“It won’t” She whispered, then it happened again. She looked into my eyes and the world stopped. She slowly leaned down, her lips connecting with mine. She clenched her fingers around my collar, pulling me on top of her, spreading her legs open in one swift motion. My body began to shiver as I settled in between them. Her forehead scrunched up when I pulled away, she studied my face while touching my cheek lovingly. “What’s going on in there?” she lightly tapped my temple. A worried expression grew on her face.

“I’m just thinking.”

“Uh-oh.”

“I can’t wait to start a family with you.” The whites of her eyes became more visible, her lips parted slightly as she obviously struggled with what to say next. “They’ll be brilliant. They’ll be beautiful. The more they inherit from you the better.”

I scanned every detail of her face, until her eyes captured my attention. I remember the first time I stared into them, I got lost, I became a sputtery mess. Her eyes enveloped me in a sense of warmth I’d never felt before. A sensation I only feel with her. Then, she smiled at me. My heart could barely take it, it pounded so hard I was sure she could feel it. I remember the first complement I gave her. “You’ve got a real pretty smile.” It slipped out, but I meant it. Oh, did I mean it! Y/N scrunched her nose and turned away when she nervously thanked me. She had me wrapped around her finger from that moment forward.

“That’s kind of— wait, are you saying you want to start trying for a baby?” Her voice was low and her expression difficult to read.

“I’d like to marry you first. That is, if you’ll still have me.”

The anticipation consuming me as I awaited her response was peaceful because I knew what the future entailed.

Our future.

Now, I truly understood and believed in the idea that sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

#michael jackson #michael joseph jackson #king of pop #michael jackson imagine #michael jackson x reader #michael jackson imagines #michael jackson fanfic

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kimmberleeex · 8 months

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anywhere, anytime.

NSFW, 18+, smut content

There was something so hot about how crazy you two were for each other. You guys were constantly making excuses to disappear for a quick moment to work out your passions in the heat of the moment, sometimes not even finding the time to make excuses and would just disappear without a word. It didn’t matter where you were; parties, hanging out with friends, work when Eddie would come visit you, the mall, the movies. It truly never mattered the time or place, Eddie would find a secluded spot and would rock your world every time. He would whisper the sexiest things in your ear while he rammed his cock into you, he’d keep his hand over your mouth because it was so hard for you to keep quiet. One time, he even stuffed your own panties in your mouth to muffle the noises that you were unable to keep contained, that was when he was railing you from behind in an aisle of the library that no one really went to.

However, this afternoon was no different. Eddie let you tag along on his trip to Reefer Rick’s to pick up his next supply. Only Rick wasn’t home yet from picking up from his supplier, that was the conclusion Eddie made when his heavy knocks went unanswered. We walked around back and Rick’s van was gone so that concluded it. It was a sweltering July afternoon, the sweat was already beading on the back of your neck and you could see it dripping down Eddie’s face. He always looked so hot when he was all sweaty, it made you want to lick it off of him. That was the insanity of being so in love with and so hot for Eddie Munson. “Want to see a bit of Lover’s Lake?” He asked you with a coy smile.

He leads you over to the boat dock, his ring clad hand in yours. That was something you loved about Eddie, he always had to touch you in some way. Whether it was holding your hand, his hand on the small of your back, your shoulders or arms touching. He always wanted to feel you next to him, it often made you wonder why but you didn’t mind either way. Once you reached the end of the dock, Eddie peeled his sweaty band shirt off and tossed it onto the wooden boards below, you giggled. “Eddie, you can’t seriously be doing what I think you’re doing.”

The infamous Munson crooked grin upturned the corners of Eddie’s mouth, you felt your heart palpitate in your stomach causing you to swallow hard. Your mouth suddenly felt so dry in this godforsaken heat. “I don’t know about you, but I need to cool off. You can join me…or I can toss you in.” Eddie suddenly starts to pick you up, as you were kicking and screaming in protest, he finally puts you back down with a hearty chuckle.

“So not funny, Munson. You’ll pay for that.” Your sweaty eyebrows furrowed together.

Eddie practically giggled as he pinched your cheek gently. “So damn cute when you get all mad.”

His muscled torso was almost blinding white, his forearms a little tanned from sticking them out of his van window while he drove. The contrast made you giggle, but still you admired his toned body. Your fingers instinctively tracing over his tattoos, following the dip in his collarbone causing him to shiver a little. Clearing his throat, “C’mon, sweetheart. If you keep doing that, we won’t even make it in the water.” Another wicked grin, and you couldn’t help but return it to him.

“Maybe I want that.” You teased him, his eyebrow quirked up, disappearing into his curls that were sticking to his sweaty forehead.

“Is that so?” Eddie undoes his makeshift handcuff belt, letting it hang open, he pulls apart his jeans from the silver button, all with a single hand. The blue checkered boxers he wore and little tuffs of hair from his happy trail peeking over the top are exposed to you. His other hand, caresses your jaw and moves into the back of your hair where he grabs a handful. Pulling your head back and exposing your neck to him, he kisses the column of your throat, his tongue drags upwards in a tantalizingly slow pace before he murmurs. “Is that what you want, princess?”

A soft moan unwillingly escapes your lips that were now parted by his unexpected hair pull. Eddie always knew what to do to get you hot for him, not that it required much effort on his part. Your attraction to him alone would get you there. “What’s that, sweetheart? Sorry, couldn’t hear you.” He pulls your hair a little harder, causing a louder moan from you. Pushing your head forward to look at him again, he crashes his lips against yours feverishly. His hands fall to cup your ass in those short denim shorts you liked to wear to drive him crazy, he pulls you up into his arms. Carefully, he carries you into the boathouse, kicking the door shut behind him.

He pushes you up against the wall a little too hard, some boat oars crash down around you causing you to laugh as he kisses your neck. He groans as he nips at your tender skin, “God, angel, you drive me wild. Always making messes with me…”

You couldn’t stifle the giggle if you tried, he looks up at you. “Oh, am I funny to you?” Nodding your head with another giggle, he sets you down and turns you around so he can smack your ass. The pain makes you moan as he pulls your head back by your hair once more and whispers in your ear. “Such a naughty girl.”

Eddie sees a cloth tarp balled up on the floor near the window, mumbling to himself, “This will have to do…” He peels your clothes off of you, picking you back up as you squeal from excitement. He gingerly lays you on your back on the tarp, it’s not the best of places he’s fucked you, but there’s definitely been worse. Like the bathroom at The Hideout was far less cleaner than this. While looking down at you, his grin makes a reappearance. He kicks his shoes off and to the side, finally pulling his pants and boxers down and off. His cock springing forward at full attention for you. He steps out of his pants and kicks them off over by his sneakers.

Watching him spit in his palm and rub the entire length of his cock always made your pussy flutter. It was the hottest thing to see, he would bite his lip from the sensation of his grip. He left his rings on for you, knowing how much you loved feeling and seeing them. He leaned over you, his dark curls cascading around his face, his tongue poking out in total concentration as he aligned the tip of his dick with your wet entrance. He would rub it up and down your slit to tease you, moaning softly at how wet you already were for him. “Such a dirty girl, already so wet for me. You want my cock baby? You know what to say.”

Biting your lip, which drove Eddie crazy, you watched his eyes darken even with the light peering in the window above them. “Please, give me your cock baby. I want it, no, I need it.”

“Good girl,” he murmured as he stuffed his cock into your wet heat. The boat house suddenly filling with the sound of wet squishing from his steady thrusts into your soaked core, a symphony of grunts, moans and whimpers bouncing off the walls from the two of you, and the sound of your sweaty skin slapping together. Eddie’s ring-clad hand gripped the window sill, allowing him leverage to ram into you. He stared down at your beautiful body, watching the way your tits bounced from his hard thrusts, the way your perfect lips were parted as you moaned in pleasure. It was almost too much for Eddie, mumbling. “Shit, oh shit.” He could have blown his load right then at the grip you had on him. However, Eddie was masterful in controlling his breathing so that he could power through it, refusing to finish before you.

With his free hand, he put your leg up on his shoulder, allowing him to bury himself deeper into you. Each thrust pummeling against that spongey spot along your walls that made your eyes roll back. Occasionally, he would rotate his hips in a way that would cause your brain to fog in pleasure, causing you to go dumb. Your grip on him was tightening and he knew you were getting close, he grunted through it. “C’mon, baby. Cum for me. Soak this cock.” He wraps his arm around the leg on his shoulder, his thumb circling your swollen bud. This sends you over the edge, your walls convulsing around him as your orgasm ripped through you. Tears streaming down your flushed cheeks as you cried out in pleasure, Eddie not even bothering to cover your mouth because he knew no one was out here. Doing as you were told, you soaked his cock and unfortunately the cloth tarp you two were on. “Fuuuuck, baby. That’s a good girl. Fuck!” He thrust a few more times before one final, hard push before his cock was pulsating inside of you. Filling you to the brim with his seed, he lay there silently. Panting heavily and whimpering softly as his cock finished twitching before he slowly pulled out.

You couldn’t find the words, you also were trying to catch your breath. But you knew you had a sex dazed grin on your face. Eddie caressed your cheek briefly, murmuring. “So pretty when you’re fucked out like this.” He chuckled before offering his hand to help you stand up. Your knees wobbly from the intensity of your orgasm, you couldn’t help but to giggle at yourself.

“God, Eds. You’re gonna kill me one day.” Your smile radiated as you looked at him, it filled his chest with such warmth.

He kissed your temple, his hand in the back of your hair as he murmured into it. “I love you, princess.”

“I love you too, handsome.” You whispered to him. Eddie reluctantly pulled away, gathering his and your clothes. He let you lean on him for support when you needed it before he got dressed himself. When you finally emerged from the boathouse, Eddie still shirtless because it was still laying on the dock. Reefer Rick stood at the top of the hill by his house.

“There you two lovebirds are. That was a real finisher, Junior.” A big grin was plastered on his face. Eddie’s face flushed a deep pink and you hid behind him, burying your face into his back. This wasn’t the first time you two had been caught, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

#eddie munson #stranger things #fanfic #joseph quinn #eddie munson pov #pov #eddie munson x reader #stranger things 4 #fanfiction

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cloudlessly-light · 3 months

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I’m likely on Twitter way too much but I’ve been inspired by the “railed in a sundress” tweets to try and inspire you. So, request for a hotchniss “railed in a sundress” fic? Ily

Title: Love like mine (4/11) Chapter title: I'll make you scream and I'll make you want it Summary: He wasn’t a cheater. Until her. Word count: 3,5k Rating: Explicit Warnings (for this chapter): Smut, dirty talk, anal play, cheating, a tiny hint of feelings, a tiny bit of angst

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

They stand in silence as the elevator makes its way up to their floor, side by side. His fingers are grazing hers, a gentle touch, something small and she forces a smile away.

“Had a good weekend?” She keeps looking straight ahead, watches as people get off and on the elevator.

“Yes, thank you.” He uses the fact that it gets more crowded to his advantage as she moves a little closer to him. “What about you?”

“It was fine.” When his hand grabs her ass she bites her bottom lip, can see the amusement he’s clearly trying to hide in her peripheral.

“Good.” The ding of the elevator forces them to part as they make their way out and walk towards the glass doors. “Can I see you in my office after the morning briefing?”

“Of course, sir.”

The glint in his eye caused her to smirk knowingly.

They’re in Montana, the case brutal, videos and torture devices in the unsubs house making her feel nauseous. She usually wasn’t fazed, but this case took a toll on all of them and she wanted to forget, just for an hour, about the horror they had witnessed. They never spent the night together on cases, but she needed something to get rid of the disgust she felt, needed to feel something other than rage.

“Can you come to my room tonight?” She asks quietly after finding him alone in the police station. He gives her a questioning look as he sorts through papers.

“I thought we had an agreement.” He can see the tension in her shoulders, hates the world for a moment because the women all looked like her.

“I know. I just… never mind.” She shakes her head quickly and chuckles dryly. “Forget it.”

He’s knocking on her door that same night and she opens wearing loose shorts and a tank, less put together than she normally shows herself, but he finds that he likes it.

“I didn’t think you’d come.” She lets him in and leans back against the door as he gets his tie and suit jacket off.

“I couldn’t stay away.”

Neither of them talk about the fact that they don’t have sex that night.

The tension is thick in the car, another argument, another day with clipped words and icy tones. Fights had almost become normal in their home. They didn’t used to be like this, but if Aaron was completely honest they had ignored their problems for a long time. It started before she got pregnant with Jack, her irritation at his work hours and unpredictable schedule something that he knew he could easily fix but wouldn’t. He thinks that’s what has hurt her the most, the fact that he wouldn’t change his job for her, not even after they had a child.

It's the fourth of July, it’s unbearably hot and for once they aren’t working. It was Penelope’s idea to have a celebration, Derek’s idea to have a barbeque in the backyard of one of the houses he’s just finished renovating. And Haley is angry with him. He had gotten home late, tired from another long day, coming home to a wife that wanted nothing more than to spend time with him. It shouldn’t have made him mad, he knows he should be more appreciative of everything she does for him, for their child.

And yet he can’t help the way annoyance itches on his skin as she complains that he missed another milestone in Jack’s life, doesn’t seem to be able to stop the words that come out harsher than he means to. And now they’re at a standstill, too late to cancel going to Derek’s but nowhere near having solved the ongoing fight.

Emily would be there, that realization hitting him just as he walked through the front door the night before. Emily would be there, would be sharing a space with his wife for the first time since the bar, that night seeming like a lifetime ago when she had him pressed against a wall, confidence and alcohol on her tongue as she asked if he was happy with Haley.

He was. He was happy, for the most part he thinks. But that was a part of marriage, you went through ups and downs. Aaron wonders what down causes him to cheat on his wife, knows that there’s no answer good enough.

And now he was going to watch as his wife interacted with his mistress.

“Honey?” He says softly as he parks the car, dares to put his hand on her thigh and when she doesn’t move he takes that as a good sign. “I’ll try more. I promise.”

She smiles at him, a sad smile that he knows she thinks is reassuring but is anything but.

“You know you can’t promise that. Not as long as you’re working within the BAU.” Still, she rests her hand on top off his. “We can talk more tonight, I just want us to enjoy today.” She reaches over the center console and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek.

“Okay.” He agrees and they both get out of the car. He gets Jack out of the car seat, the toddler happily babbling as they walk around the house to the front yard where everyone had already arrived.

“Hotch!” Derek greets him happily as he stands by the grill with Penelope beside him. “Finally, we thought you weren’t going to make it.” He hugs Haley and Penelope does the same.

“We had a cranky toddler.” Haley lies and it works, the attention quickly switching from them to Jack. “Sorry we’re late.”

“It’s alright, anything for my main man Jack.” Derek takes him from Aaron and puts him on his shoulders and Jack laughs.

“Please be careful.” Penelope warns, eyes wide as she watches them and Derek chuckles at the worried tone of his friend, Haley joining him.

“It’s fine Penelope, he loves it.” She smiles and Aaron nods along just as JJ and Spencer walks towards them, greeting them with smiles and hugs and then Dave walks out from the house carrying a bowl filled with salad.

He’s about to make his way toward the older man and then he sees her.

Emily is behind Dave, carrying two bottles of wine and dressed in a white dress, thin straps and knee length, small blue flowers on the fabric. He’s seen her naked, seen her in lingerie and yet, he’s close to stunned as he lets his eyes move over her slowly. She notices, but covers just as quickly when she sees Haley behind him.

She had known Haley would be there, had forced any feeling of unease away and yet her stomach twisted nervously for a moment when she saw them. But she forced a smile as her eyes met the other woman’s.

“Haley, it’s nice to see you again.” She greets them as Haley comes to stand beside Aaron while she puts the wine bottles down.

“Nice to see you too.” Haley’s smile seems stiff, the ease of how she had spoken to Emily the last time they saw each other gone and she wonders if maybe Haley knows more than she lets on. “That’s such a cute dress.” She continues and Emily smiles.

“Thank you.” She can tell Aaron isn’t used to seeing her this way, isn’t used to her simply being Emily and not Prentiss or the thrill hidden inside the walls of her apartment. His eyes seemed glued to her and everything in her wants to tell him to stop, because that’s the look that gets her naked, the look that makes her undress in his office as he presses a gun to her skin. “I just got this actually.” She continues just as Jack starts to whine, thankfully catching Haley’s attention.

“Excuse me.” She turns to walk towards the rest of the group and Emily gives Aaron a warning look.

“Stop it.” She mutters as she opens the first wine bottle and then pours herself a glass before continuing to pour wine into the rest of the glasses.

“Stop what?” He asks quietly and grabs the other bottle to open.

“Stop staring at me like that.”

He doesn’t get the chance to reply, JJ and Penelope coming over to grab their own glasses and quickly whisking her away with conversations about Penelope’s latest date.

All things considered, it goes better than she had thought. Haley seems to loosen up and Aaron is keeping a safe distance from her. It’s a beautiful day and they get to relax in each other’s company, something they hadn’t done in months. It’s a good day and yet she can’t keep herself from lusting after him. She doesn’t do anything about it, his child and wife are there, they’re surrounded by their friends and coworkers, and yet, she wants him.

And he wants her too. He might be staying away, but his eyes seem to linger on her, dark eyes following her movements and she knows that they’re walking a thin line.

He finds her alone in the kitchen as she rinses off plates, Spencer having left her just moments before to collect some of the trash.

“I told you to stop.” She doesn’t turn to look at him, doesn’t need to when she feels his presence behind her, not close enough to touch, but close enough for the hairs at the back of her neck to rise.

“You look beautiful.” He whispers and after making sure no one is around he takes a step closer, close enough to smell her perfume as he lets one finger drag slowly up her arm, and when she shivers he smiles.

“Please don’t.” She almost drops the plate in her hand, stops to lean against the counter to try to keep some resemblance of control.

“Why?” He husks, somehow unable to keep away from her even now.

“Your wife is outside. With your child. And if you don’t-” She starts but then he pushes up fully behind her and she feels him, strong chest and warm hands, the bulge of him in his jeans.

“If I don’t what?” He knows that he needs to walk away, that this was beyond reckless. It was stupid. But then she made a low sound, a mewl, a sound he recognized as desperation and he couldn’t seem to stop.

“We can’t… not here.”

The sound of footsteps forces him to step away, Penelope’s heels loud against the hardwood floors.

“Do you guys need any help in here?” She asks, all smiles and bright eyes.

“No just finishing up, we’ll be out in a minute.” Aaron tells her and she walks back outside, gone as quickly as she came. For a moment he’s happy that she wasn’t a profiler, that she didn’t think about things the way the rest of them did. When he turns to look at Emily her pupils are dilated, her tongue sneaking out to wet her bottom lip and he knows that what he’s about to do is madness, but in that moment he does not care about the repercussions. “Meet me upstairs in fifteen minutes.”

She looks at him for a moment, debates with herself about how far is actually too far. But when she meets his eye she can’t seem to stop herself from nodding.

“Okay.”

He was her addiction, and she wasn’t going to quit.

Aaron walks outside and is immediately met by Haley who’s holding Jack in her arms.

“I was just about to put him down for nap.” She says and he takes him from her.

“I’ll do it, go enjoy yourself.” He smiles at her and only feels the slight pang of guilt for lying to her, feels a little more guilt for using his own son to get away from the rest of the team. But Haley smiles and nods, kisses his cheek quickly and turns back to JJ and Dave who were seated at the table talking to each other.

“Where’s Prentiss?” He hears Derek ask just as he turns to walk back inside the house, meeting Emily in the doorway with a look.

“Right here.” She gets the attention of the other man but give Aaron a subtle nod as they pass each other. It’s beyond reckless, but she couldn’t stay away.

She’s never been so happy for her upbringing as she was that day, that she could focus on the conversations around her even as excitement flows in her veins. The minutes drag on slowly, even with Derek’s jokes and Rossi’s stories. He was still new to the team, someone she didn’t know well yet, didn’t trust him like she trusted the rest, but he was warming up to them, and she to him.

“I have to use the bathroom.” She excuses herself after close to fifteen minutes had passed and she stands.

“The downstairs one is still a mess, go upstairs and it’s the second door to the right.” Derek tells her and she smiles her thanks. Perfect.

She finds him upstairs, just coming out of a bedroom with a baby monitor in hand. When he sees her, he stops and looks at her, a cross between want and doubt on his face.

“We’re being stupid.” She says for him, knows that’s what he’s thinking. To her surprise he walks towards her until he can take her hand and drag her into another bedroom.

“We are.” He tells her and puts the baby monitor down before pushing her up against the wall behind her. “We have to be quick.” His warm hand moves under her dress until he reaches the apex of her thighs.

“You’re sure?” Her voice comes out only slightly shaky and then his fingers drag along the seam of her underwear, feeling her wetness through the silk and she bites back a moan.

“Yes.” He claims her lips in a kiss at the same time he moves her underwear to the side to press two fingers inside of her, making sure she was ready. When he finds her wet and hot he bites her bottom lip. “You have to be quiet.” He mumbles as she drags his zipper down and then pushes his jeans and boxers down enough for him to feel the air on his heated shaft.

“So do you.” She smirks, her hand around him and when he hisses she feels a sense of accomplishment. Her legs wrap around his hip and his hand wraps under her thigh, keeping her steady as he pushes her harder against the wall. When he pushes inside of her it’s with a rough thrust, and the feeling pushing the air from her lungs.

He exhales sharply, the feeling of her always amazing and he gives them a moment before he starts to move. They don’t have time to waste so they don’t, his movements hard and fast as Emily’s fingers dig into his shirt, her head thrown back and her lip between her teeth in an effort to stay as quiet as possible.

“You like this?” He whispers against her ear, ragged breath and breathy words. “You fucking love it.”

“Y-yes.” She gasps and his eyes darken just slightly. It was wrong, so unbelievably wrong, and it only seemed to spur her on, being close to getting caught, knowing that he chose to come to her even with his wife just downstairs, it was thrilling, something she shouldn’t find arousing but did. Her fingers dug harder into his shoulder as he moved with quicker strokes and he quickly grabbed both her wrists and pinned them above her head.

“No marks.” He growled in her ear, dark and low and she let her head fall back against the wall with a dull thud.

“Fuck Aaron, harder.” She pulled him against her using her leg, forcing him as deep inside of her as possible and the low moan that left her lips caused him to quickly let go of her wrists to cover her mouth.

“Shh, quiet.” He stares her down as he continues to move, keeps his hand over her mouth when she starts to tremble. “Think you can keep quiet sweetheart? Think you can keep from screaming?”

She nodded against his hold, the smugness only getting her closer and she made a mental note to get him back at some other time. But then he changes the angle and only a few seconds later she comes, her orgasm rushing through her so fast she goes lightheaded. Her leg buckles and if he hadn’t expected it she would have fallen, but he’s there, keeping her against the wall as the pleasure washes over her.

He doesn’t move away until he knows she can stand, and carefully sets her leg down then turns her around. He’s back inside of her in moments, buries his face in junction of her neck and shoulder to keep his own groan down.

“Gorgeous thing, all mine.” He lets one hand move around her body until he’s wrapping it around her throat, squeezing loosely, the other moves down to hold her dress up enough to watch the way her body takes him.

“Yours, jesus Aaron.” She bites her hand to keep from moaning, the pleasure of him close to maddening as he keeps fucking her with even strokes. Then she feels his hand move over her hip, toward her ass until he gently presses his thumb against her other hole.

“Have you ever?” He pants, eyes fastened on the way her hole tightens as he presses the pad of his thumb against it, but she doesn’t tense up or move away from him.

“No. Never.” She expects him to try and push his thumb in there, but he doesn’t. Instead he grabs her hip and pulls her back hard against him as his hand tightens around her throat.

“Maybe some other time.” He groans quietly, the thought of being her first getting him to the edge in record time. She must feel it, because she moves back against him as his hips stutter, her walls squeezing his shaft until his jaw clenches and he bites back a groan as he comes inside of her. He can hear her low whimper through the ringing in his ears, the sound breathy and low even as his hand stays wrapped around her throat. His legs tremble as the pleasure overtakes him and only when he feels like he can breathe again, does he move away from her.

Emily quickly fixes her underwear and pulls her dress down, her hands moving to brush through her dark hair and she smiles at him.

“Can you come over soon?” She asks as he puts himself back together too.

“I’ll try.” He promises, and that’s enough for her.

She walks down first and when he joins them a couple of minutes later he notices the look Dave sends him. But he doesn’t say anything and before he can ask the older man what’s wrong Haley comes up to him.

“You were gone a while.”

“Sorry it took a while to get Jack down.” He lies, silently wondering when his life became this mess.

They keep fighting, fight until he’s not even sure what they’re fighting about. Haley rarely raises her voice, but when she does he knows that she’s moments away from saying something she’ll regret later. And then it comes.

“You put everything before us, before Jack. Every single day. It’s like you don’t want to be here at all.”

“You know that’s not true Haley.” He can feel his own anger, simmering, barely contained. There was some truth to her words, that’s why he’s angry, he would never wish something else for his life, couldn’t imagine a life without Jack. But the facts were that he spent more nights than he cared to admit in another woman’s apartment.

“Isn’t it?” Her nails are digging into her upper arms, rage she doesn’t want to show making her body shake. “You chose your job every day. You could have a normal job and-”

“And what?!” His voice is louder than he means it, and he can tell that it startles her. “Be miserable? Is that what you want?”

“Bottom line is, we aren’t enough for you.” Her words make him furious and he slams a cabinet loud enough for the wood to crack slightly. The sudden bang wakes Jack up, his cries cutting through their fury for a moment.

“I’ll go.” She says, her voice suddenly soft and tired, like all the fight drained out of her. “I’m not going to live like this Aaron. I’m done.”

Aaron watches her as she goes. He never thought his life would turn out like this.

#hotchniss #hotchniss fanfiction #hotchniss smut #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss smut #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #hotch x emily #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds smut

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anaer · 2 months

Text

wip wednesday (july 24 24)

the continued adventures of the time travel fix it fuck it up fic

in which gojo ends up back in time and decides its time for a hostile takeover

sukugo/stsg, rating: dramatic gay messes

“You know, you’re just…so…fucking—!”

Instead of finishing that sentence, Satoru grabbed Geto by the shirt and yanked him in, slamming their lips together. Geto squawked indignantly for half a second before his brain caught up to the fact that Satoru was attempting to shove his tongue into his mouth and he remembered this was something he was always down to go along with.

Satoru pulled back. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I hate how much I missed you. You are honestly the worst person I have ever known.”

He was so dramatic all the time. So what that Geto wanted to murder a scant few billion people? “Didn’t you just say Ryoumen Sukuna killed you?” Not that he believed him, but whether Satoru had lost it or not, how in the world was he, Geto Suguru, worse than the supposed worst curse in all history?

“Yeah, and he wasn’t half as obnoxious as you, actually.”

Satoru sighed, the deep, longsuffering kind of sigh of reminiscing. And then a weird, weird smile crossed his face. Geto was, of course, well versed in the many different kinds of smiles Satoru wore, as someone who was either perpetually smiling or cursed with the worst case of resting bitch face the world had ever seen (except when he was pouting or being pissy, or, on very, very rare occasion – so rare it was barely worth talking about – mad at Geto), but this wasn’t one he could say he’d seen before. It almost looked…dopey, in a lovesick way. Immediately, he felt on edge.

“He was actually…great. Sukuna was just…” He whistled, spreading his arms wide and gesturing in ways that made absolutely no logical sense to anyone not named Gojo Satoru. “He told me I was magnificent, Suguru. I mean, obviously I am – that goes without say – but still. He said it!” Satoru came down from whatever weird high he was definitely on to frown at Geto. “You’ve never told me I’m magnificent.”

“I don’t think your ego needs it, to be quite honest.”

“Sure, my ego is the problem, Mr. Maniacal Genocidal Cult Leader.”

“I’m not maniacal—”

“Sure you’re not.” Satoru plopped down onto the tatami. Long legs crossed, and he dropped his chin into one hand, still wearing that stupid smile on his face that Geto wanted gone. “Sukuna really got it, though. He recognized exactly how amazing I am, even though I had to humiliate him on live TV first. And then he showed me how much he loved me.”

It seemed Satoru was even more out of his mind than first glance had shown. He was straight up delusional. Not that Geto really knew what being delusional entailed because he personally was not and had never been delusional himself, contrary to what everyone outside of his cult might’ve accused him of. “Did you not say he apparently killed you in whatever delusional acid trip dream you had?”

“It was real, and yes, that’s what I said. He showed me how much he loved me when he killed me.”

“What the fuck are you even saying right now, Satoru.” It wasn’t a question.

Satoru waved him off with the hand not on his face. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. You wouldn’t get it. You’re not on our level. Maybe next year ghost you would get it, since I killed you, which is really the deepest expression of love you can give someone, but current you is still one hundred percent the worst. There’s no way you would understand.”

Geto stared at him, blank faced.

Satoru dropped backwards, plopping down onto the ground with a dramatic groan. “And now I have to wait until June, and do all of that over again. How am I supposed to impress him this time? I can’t just let Japan get destroyed. Not even including the fact that my second favourite sweets café was in Shibuya, I went a whole two months without my premium mikan gummies. Do you know how fucked the grocery stores get when Tokyo has been destroyed by cursed spirits?”

Right. Of course. Geto realised he was in for a less than ideal morning and sat down with his back against the wall. It was probably best just to let Satoru talk himself out and then be about his way. At least he wasn’t trying to punch him anymore. He wished they’d rewind back to the kissing, but Satoru had moved on from that as fast as he moved on from anything.

He was such a pain in the ass.

Satoru hummed dramatically.

Geto continued to stare.

Satoru tilted his head up and arched a pointed eyebrow in his direction.

Geto sighed. “So I’m to understand you let Tokyo get destroyed the first time.” Or whatever. He leaned his head back against the wall, willing sleep to take him again. It wouldn’t as long as Satoru kept talking; he knew this.

“No, I didn’t let it,” Satoru chided. “I got sealed. Which wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t decided to fuck everything up with your Night Parade, by the way, so thanks for that. I figured it’d be fine, but then most of the country was in shambles when I got freed. You’d think the world could survive two weeks without me. Ah, whatever. Not my problem now!” He frowned. “Ugh. Unless it is. Fuck. You know, I was fine with being dead. I was happy with it. This is just bullshit now.”

And then, Satoru propped himself back up on his elbows, staring his way too intense eyes way too intensely into Geto’s. “Hey, Suguru. If you died in the most epic battle of your life, really had a moment with a guy you might be a little in love with,” Geto very nobly did not gag at that, “then woke up, alive, over a year back with none of that having happened and you being alive, too, what would you do?”

Finally. A real fucking conversation. Geto shrugged loosely. “I suppose I’d probably start with—”

“Actually, no, shut up. Why am I asking you? You’re insane. I’m not killing all non-sorcerers.”

Geto’s jaw twitched at the interruption. “Okay, Satoru.” Although…in fairness, yes, that was what he’d been about to suggest. It was still a dick move for Satoru to call him out like that. Then again, Satoru had always been a dick.

“Hey, do you think Sukuna would be impressed if I murdered the higher-ups?”

#jjk #gojo satoru #geto suguru #stsg #sukugo #wip wednesday #my fic #wip

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freddiemercurylegendabovelegends · 6 months

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Today - March 12th, 1974 - Queen Story!

Interview with Freddie Mercury – NME

by Julie Webb

It was clear for all to see that Queen’s Freddie Mercury wasn’t in the best of health. His hair lacked the recent attention of heated curling tongs; a cold sore was erupting above his upper lip; and horror – seems he’d not been able to summon enough strength to apply Biba black nail polish to more than one hand.

Mercury was worried as the camera lens zoomed in on him. He beseeched us to “touch up the picture to remove the cold sore if you can.”

I know it sounds like we’re setting the guy up, but he takes it all in good heart. Why, last time we met he stated he was “gay as a daffodil” – and here he was, willingly holding a daffodil in hand, outside Buckingham Palace. He posed regally, shirt temporarily coming unhitched from his trousers, revealing a hairy chest.

The British tour sapped most of the Mercury energy. Bedridden with laryngitis when it finished, he had just a few free days to repair any mental or physical damage before Queen joined Mott The Hoople on their two-month tour of America.

He is, in short pretty knackered – and if the American tour seems to be happening too soon after Britain, there’s no way he can change things.

I’d like a couple of weeks off, but you’ve got to push yourself. But we’re at a stage in our careers, my dear, where it’s just got to be done. I shall be resting on my laurels soon…”

He stops, considers the last remark and realises he may have said the wrong thing. Hurriedly he comes in with, “To put it another way, I shall try and reap my profits. I’ve worked my ass off these past few months. I’ve worked till I’ve dropped and after a while you physically can’t do it.”

Didn’t he think the British tour was a bit too busy, what with so many gigs included. “Yes it was a heavy tour, but it put us in a different bracket overnight. It’s a tour we had to do and I think now we’ve done it we can do the next British tour on our own terms, exactly how we like.

“With this tour we were booked in well beforehand at semi-big venues and, by the time we came to doing them, we had the album out, we’d got a bit of TV exposure and everything escalated. I think if we’d waited we could have done all the big venues – it’s just a matter of timing. But I’m glad we did the tour when we did. Even though there was a lot of physical and mental strain – so many things to worry about other than the music.”

A situation not improved by the fact that all members of Queen are, according to Mercury, “very highly strung”. Add to that his admitted bad temper. “I’m very emotional. Whereas before, I was given time to make my decisions, now nearly all of us are so highly strung we just snap. We always argue but I think it’s a healthy sign because we get to the root of the matter and squeeze the best out. But lately so much is happening, it’s escalating so fast that everybody wants to know almost instantly, and I certainly get very temperamental.”

“You’ve got to know where to draw the line. But the public always come first – it’s a corny thing to say but I mean it. Lately I’ve been throwing things around which is very unlike me. I threw a glass at someone the other day. I think I’m going to go mad in a few years time; I’m going to be one of those insane musicians.”

It’s at this point that I begin to wonder about Mercury. On stage he lords it around like some old slag. Offstage, he’s vain, camp – yet a nice enough dude.

He just has an unfortunate way with him during interviews, coming out with quotes and stories that are bound to be misconstrued or lay him wide open to mickey-taking. This could well account for some of the unkind press the band have received.

“I think, to an extent, we are a sitting target because we gained popularity quicker than most bands and we’ve been talked about more than any other band in the last month, so it’s inevitable. Briefly, I’d be the first one to accept fair criticism. I think it would be wrong if all we got were good reviews – but it’s when you get unfair, dishonest reviews where people haven’t done their homework that I get annoyed.” Unlike many British bands, they’ve waited until the time was right and are appearing on the same bill as Mott, who will assuredly pull in large crowds.

So the present and the future seem well assured I enquire about the past – like, what kind of family background does a guy like Mercury have?

“Middle-class. Musicians aren’t social rejects any more. If you mean; Have I got upper class parents who put a lot of money into me? Was I spoilt? – no. My parents were very strict. I wasn’t the only one, I’ve got a sister, I was at boarding school for nine years so I didn’t see my parents that often. That background helped me a lot because it taught me to fend for myself.”

Boarding school… if we are to believe stories that circulate about boarding schools – brutish behaviour, homosexual goings-on – well, the mind positively boggles in Freddie Mercury’s case.

I broach the subject…

“it’s stupid to say there is no such thing in boarding schools. All the things they say about them are more or less true. All the bullying and everything else. I’ve had the odd schoolmaster chasing me. It didn’t shock me because somehow boarding schools… you’re not confronted by it, you are just slowly aware of it. It’s going through life.”

So was he the pretty boy who everyone wanted to lay?

“Funnily enough, yes. Anybody goes through that. I was considered the arch poof.”

So how about being bent?

“You’re a crafty cow. Let’s put it this way, there were times when I was young and green. It’s a thing schoolboys go through. I’ve had my share of schoolboy pranks. I’m not going to elaborate further.”

Oh dear. And just when we were doing so well.

📸 Pic: 1974 - Freddie Mercury posing

#nme magazine #freddie mercury interview 1974 #1974 #interview #julie webb #freddie mercury #queen band #london #zanzibar #legend #queen #brian may #john deacon #freddiebulsara #roger taylor

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futuremrsdrcullen · 1 month

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This Love Came Back To Me - Chapter 4

It's Finally Here!!!! I can not apologize enough for how long this took to get out. But here it is! I hope you love it.

Summery- I was completely overwhelmed with this looming dread. This wasn’t just about Bella anymore. Though that was bad enough, this involved me now. Despite how often Edward disregarded my safety and despite how desperately Carlisle tried to protect me from this;

My life was in danger.

It was never going to end was it?

Word Count- 11,920

Warnings- Vampires- and all the things that go along with vampires (blood, biting, age gaps, sparkling, dramatics) a lot more swearing this time. There's some minor injuries and some very minor character death. mentions of vomiting (2 actual vomits, due to injury) Battle, fighting and planning. It's all very happy I promise.

There is no imprinting and there never will be <3

Notes from me- My name is Claire and this! This is finally my third love child. I started writing this on the 27th of July in 2022. I lost hope a few times but it's here and I hope you love it. Thank you, so so much for staying with me.

As always, I DO NOT own The Twilight Saga. All rights go directly to S. Meyer.

Read on AO3 <3

Masterlist <3 (Ch 2, Ch 3)

I love you <3 Thank you for still being here <3

While I tried very hard to sleep, I really just laid in our bed curled up next to Carlisle with my eyes closed. Like Bella, I refused to not be in the clearing with them while they met with the wolves to train. I knew sleep was important and yet I couldn’t calm my mind.

He chuckled as I started again “Y/n?”

“I can’t turn my brain off…”

He lifted my chin so he could see my face better, “I can tell. Is it something I can help ease?”

“Maybe…” My eyes met his and I found just enough courage in them to ask my question. “Before us… Was this common?”

“I’m not sure what you mean-”

“Like, before you met me, and Edward met Bella, how often did you guys have to prepare for war?”

“I see. Well, I can’t say that we’ve ever had much of a reason… before now.” He ran his hand through my hair. His confusion still lingered on his face, “Why do you ask, Dove?”

I didn’t want to scare him. I didn’t want to make him worry that I was scared of him or of this life we’d made, but the panic attack earlier wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last. My heart beat just a bit faster, he held me tighter.

“I’m worried- only a little- that this will never end. I feel like around every corner there's just more danger. I just keep waiting for the dust to settle and for things to calm down… but what if it never does?”

He listened to my every word and when I’d gotten it all out he moved to his side. I shifted so our faces could be even with each other. He held my face again.

“I have faith that this will pass.” He brushed back the hair that had fallen onto my face. “In just a few days, we’ll have taken care of the newborns and hopefully their source-”

“But we don’t know their source,”

“Yet. But we will. Then soon we will catch Victoria. The Volturi will be quiet for a while, even more so once Bella is a vampire. We’re caught in some turbulence right now, but it will pass.”

“Except once we are vampires, then we’ve broken the treaty and the wolves will be after us. And we can’t seek solace with the Denali’s because they’re mad at us. And the Volturi might give up once we’re vampires or they could just pick another reason to chase after us to get at Edward and Alice.” I took a deep breath

“Is this what you were crying about earlier?” When I nodded he sighed, not out of anger or frustration, but there was something like sadness in it. Like he was only upset that I had carried this with me all day or that he wasn’t sure how to ease some of my worry.

He started again “I know it’s hard to see right now, but things will calm down. At the very least, you’ll be much less fragile than you are now.”

I almost smiled, “I guess I’ll feel a little better when I’m nearly indestructible. I could fight alongside you. It would be easier to breathe through.”

He winced slightly, “We’ll… cross that bridge when we come to it. Hopefully we never have to.” he kissed my forehead and pulled me into his chest, before resting his chin on my head. “We’ll take it day by day and figure it out together. You should try to rest, Cara. It’s going to be a long night.”

With his arms around me and his comforting words replaying in my head, I was finally able to fall asleep. It felt like I’d just barely closed my eyes, but when he woke me again it had been over two hours.

It was still hard to keep my eyes open as we walked into the clearing. Almost everyone had gotten there before us, save for Bella and Edward, who were only a minute behind us. Jasper looked much more relaxed, Alice looked like she already couldn’t wait for this to be over. Rosalie also didn’t seem terribly excited but Emmett ran over to hug me.

“Hey guys!” He greeted the four of us. “Bella, Y/n, are y’all practicing too?” he said with a smirk.

“Definitely not. I’m more of a ‘cheer from the sidelines’ kind of girl, but you guys have fun.” I laughed.

“Thanks, Y/n.” Edward grimaced. “And, Emmett, let’s try to not give them any ideas.” He said them, but I knew he meant Bella. I smiled at him anyway.

Calisle took my hand again and I pushed in closer to his side. “When will our guest arrive?” He asked Edward.

“A minute and a half-” He continued, but I missed the rest of what he was saying while I wondered how he knew. I wondered if people's thoughts sounded different from further away, or if he could see their surroundings through their thoughts.

I consciously reentered the conversation when Bella asked “They’re coming as wolves?” and sharply turned my head towards Edward.

He nodded, cautious of our reaction. I winced and looked up at Carlisle. I’d never seen them as wolves before, and I wasn’t sure that I was all that excited to see them now. I didn’t think I’d be able to tell them apart enough to keep up.

I heard Edwards sharp intake of breath, saw the slight hint of a smile grace his lips. “Prepare yourselves- They’ve been holding out on us.” Which was one of the most confusing things he’d said.

Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who was confused. “What do you mean?” Alice demanded.”

He just shushed her, which was… unhelpful to say the least.

Carlisle gave my hand a quick squeeze before dropping it and they all moved to their positions. This part was easy to grasp, though I was given the rundown before meeting the others here. Rosalie would almost be at the start of the line, but she would also be a few steps behind Emmett. Jasper knew the most but Emmett was the muscle, so they would be the closest to the wolves. Carlisle fell in line next to them, because he was our diplomat and held most of the pack's respect.

Edward, of course, would have been up front as well, but we knew Bella would be glued to his side, so he stayed back. Alice stood to the left of me with Bella on my right and Edward to hers.

“Damn,” Emmett whistled “Did you ever see anything like it?”

I couldn’t see what they were talking about, so I studied their shock. Carlisle and Edward looked the least shocked, but the others looked like they couldn’t believe their eyes. Bella, thankfully, looked as confused as I felt.

“What is it? I can’t see” she whispered.

“The pack has grown.” Edward murmured into Bella’s ear, though I was sure it was only loud enough for our family to hear.

The clearing was still and silent and despite how hard I tried, I could not see what they were still taken aback by. I watched the shadowy forest until I caught just a glimmer of something beyond the trees. Bella gasped as she counted in twos. I wished I could tell what she was counting.

Edward muttered something else, but I missed because Carlisle took a casual step towards them. I knew the plan. Edward would translate, Carlisle and Jasper would lead. Every one of their breaths was planned out yet my heart stuttered as he stepped away.

“Welcome,” he greeted, what looked like nothing except flickers of sparkling… eyes? Were those eyes? They were so high up, I would have guessed they were in the trees.

“Thank you,” Edward responded, his voice flat and unlike his normal tone. I guessed in an instant that he was matching Sam’s tone. I had to choke back a laugh as he continued. “We will watch and listen, but no more. That is the most we can ask of our self control.”

I rolled my eyes.

Carlisle nodded once and answered, “That is more than enough. My son Jasper-” he motioned towards him, but Jasper didn’t move or even breathe “-has experience in this area. He will teach us how they fight, how they are to be defeated. I’m sure you can apply this to your own hunting style.”

“They are different from you?” Edward asked for Sam.

“They are all very new- only months old to this life…”

Carlisle explained newborns in a cautious and practiced way though the rumble from the treeline seemed more excited than cautious. Even as they settled lower to the ground their excitement was palpable.

When Jasper walked further into the clearing my eyes focused on him. He didn’t seem to acknowledge the group behind him at all, but still spoke loud enough for them to hear. He continued Carlisle’s description of the newborns and I think my blood froze over. I had heard most of this before, but it all seemed more daunting in the clearing.

In front of me stood everyone I could lose in the next four days. I couldn’t bear the thought of it. As Emmett stepped up next to Jasper, I looked at my feet. Alice wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed home when I heard the boys start practicing.

Around them, everyone froze. It was over quickly, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of them until it was. Emmett and Jasper moved too quickly around each other for me to fully understand each movement. Jasper was always just a step ahead of Emmett. Emmett was always just a touch too slow to get his hands on Jasper. And then Jasper was behind Emmett, his teeth hovering just above his neck.

Emmett swore.

It sounded like everyone let go of the breath they were holding at the same time. There was even a rumble from the trees.

“Again,” Emmett insisted.

“It’s my turn,” Edward protested from Bella’s side. Bella tensed, but said nothing. I’d guessed that she probably couldn’t get any words out now if she tried.

But it was actually Jasper who spoke up next. “In a minute. I want to show Y/n and Bella something first.”

I froze as my name was spoken, not terribly excited to be acknowledged. Alice gave my shoulder a light squeeze before skipping over to him.

He continued, “I know you worry about her, I want to show you why that’s not necessary.”

I very much did not want to watch this fight, but I never took my eyes away. She seemed so small in the clearing. Jasper floated quickly around her, never really touching her, even though it looked as though Alice never moved. She stood there, smiling, with her eyes closed.

I was completely in awe of her.

I blinked a few times trying to focus only on Alice. I watched as Jasper reached out, but his hands continued to find nothing but air. She was like a fairy, disappearing and reappearing just out of his reach. Their every move matched the others. It was mesmerizing. But as quickly as it had started, Alice was on his back and playfully biting his neck.

“Gotcha,” she said and she kissed his throat.

“You truly are one frightening little monster.” Jasper chuckled.

There was more rumbling from the treeline, but it was impossible to make out what was going on. I glanced quickly at Edward.

“It’s good for them to learn some respect,” He murmured, amused. Then he spoke louder. “My turn.”

Alice traded places with him instead of returning to my side. I was fine with it, knowing Bella needed the support this time. “Cool, huh?” she asked us.

I only nodded, but Bella managed the word “Very,” as Edward met his brother in the middle of the clearing.

Alice pulled closer to Bella and for a second it looked like she was whispering to her, though I couldn’t hear a thing. Not wanting to intrude I shifted my gaze to find Carlisle. He, of course, was intently watching the boys in the field, but I guess he felt my eyes on him and he turned to me.

When his eyes met mine, we were the only ones in the clearing. His eyes were clear, his smile was confident. It was steadying. I took a deep breath and smiled back at him. He looked back at Edward and Jasper first, but I did have the confidence to watch them as well.

They were evenly matched. Where Jasper relied on his instincts, Edward read his moves in his head. Where Edward had speed, Jasper had experience. It went on for longer than the rest. Neither of them ever really gained the upper hand. There was a chortle from where the wolves lurked that made both me and Bella stiffen.

Carlisle cleared his throat.

They instantly broke apart, laughing and grinning at each other like nothing happened.

“Back to work,” Jasper agreed. “We’ll call it a draw.”

As Edward returned to Bella, Carlisle walked up to Jasper and my chest tightened.

It wasn’t as seamless as Jaspers and Edward's fight. Carlisle was deliberate with every blur of motion. It was hard to watch, not only because I could barely see them in the dim morning light but this was Carlisle and the fight felt so real. He didn’t hiss or growl the way the others had. He was calm and calculated. Every move he made mattered and every step he took had a reason. He moved like a well-oiled machine. He moved like he was over three hundred years old and had done this a hundred times.

And Jasper still managed to lay him out flat on his back.

I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut. I knew I didn’t need to panic, but my heart picked up a beat and Bella grabbed my hand. I opened my eyes to thank her only to find that Carlisle had made his way over to me.

He smiled warmly at me and his eyes lightened slightly. He placed a cool hand on my cheek. “It’s only practice, Mon Coeur. I’m alright.”

“I know…” I felt a bit silly and didn’t add that it was only practice right now. That was the thing about practice, it normally led to something real. I dusted grass out of his hair.

There was more grumbling from the trees that I could only assume at this point was the wolves. A small, mischievous smile danced across my face and I placed a hand on his cheek before leaning up to kiss him. There was another grumble then a huff. I laughed and held on a bit tighter to him, if only to resist flipping off the trees.

This time Carlisle fell in line beside me and his arm stayed firmly around my waist. We returned to silently watching the rest of his family practice.

During each fight Jasper spoke little bits of instruction. He was an excellent teacher which did make me feel kind of sick. I hated to think about how many times he had to do this. I hoped it didn’t hurt him to do it now.

He seemed confident and encouraging, despite my worrying. “Just like that. Concentrate on the sides.” His words were smooth even as Emmet threw him around. “Don’t forget where their target will be. Keep moving.”

Carlisle watched every move. It was probably easier for him to keep up. While Jasper and Rosalie fought, all I could see was a blur of blonde. Even Emmett seemed tense during that one. Carlisle seemed to analyze everything. I held on to his arm for support.

Edward watched beyond the trees. As the morning turned to day and the sun started shining a bit more in the clearing, Bella looked more and more tired. It got to the point where I genuinely thought she’d fallen asleep standing there. Edward caught on to my thoughts and whispered to her. “We’re about finished.”

Jasper nodded confirmation and turned to face the treeline where the wolves lurked. His calm and collected demeanor returned to his usual tense and brooding one. “We’ll be doing this tomorrow. Please feel welcome to observe again.”

Edward agreed in his Sam voice. The humor of it was still not lost on me. Then he turned towards us and said “The pack thinks it would be helpful to be familiar with each of our scents- so they don’t make mistakes later. If we could hold very still, it will make it easier for them.”

“Certainly,” Carlisle said to Sam. “Whatever you need.”

For a split second the forest seemed to rumble to life but just as quickly, everything stilled again. There was only the buzz of anticipation bouncing between Bella and me.

I don’t know what I imagined but it definitely wasn’t this. They stalked towards us and my breath caught in my throat.

Their eyes glowed and they were huge and there were so so many of them. I didn’t make a habit of hanging out with actual wolves, but they had to be so much smaller than the beast crawling towards us now. I’d never seen anything like it. I understood the others' reaction from before.

The one who led the pack had to be Sam. Even as he creeped forward I could tell he would tower over me. More than the fact that he was the lead, he was the biggest and there was something so familiar in his eyes, it had to be Sam. I wanted nothing more than to bury my face and hide in Carlisle’s chest, but doubted heavily that that was an option. I was still shocked and frozen when he stepped up to smell Carlisle.

In any other circumstance, I would have laughed, but my brain was still reeling. Sam winced then looked at me. I gave him a soft smile and he nodded once before he moved on to Jasper. I searched the rest of their faces for anyone else I recognized, but fell short. I thought I’d at least know Jacob, but I only caught him when I saw the way Bella looked at the russet colored wolf.

When it registered for her too, she lit up and he looked just as excited. The way the three of them existed together resembled magnets. Bella fit perfectly at Edwards side and still leaned in closer to jacob. And Edward seemed a bit more at ease when Jacob stepped up- like the pack made him nervous but Jacob was a steady comfort.

Honestly, I wished they would put aside their drama and see what was right in front of them.

Of course, he just scoffed. Bella looked up to notice everyone was watching their strange interaction. When her eyes met mine she smiled softly in understanding but Edward sighed and asked her “Ready to go?”

Before she could answer he glared back at Jacob. Anything that had been between the three of them was tense again.

“We’ve not quite figured out all the details yet.” Edward answered an unasked question. I might have thought he was speaking to me if it wasn’t for the way he glared at Jacob.

Sam, as well as Jacob, seemed bothered by his response. I wondered what had been asked.

Edward continued, “It’s more complicated than that, don’t concern yourself; We’ll make sure they’re both safe.”

What are you talking about?” Bella demanded.

“Just discussing strategy.” Edward answered casually, though I could clearly tell there was something more to it.

Jacob looked confused as well before he took off back into the trees. Everyone seemed to still: Carlisle pulled me closer to him. Bella looked hurt. I wondered if I’d missed something. The others followed after Jacob.

When Jacob came back out though, he was alone and human again. I breathed a sigh of relief for Bella knowing that she wouldn’t have to miss half of a conversation that was clearly about her.

However, as Jacob got back to them, I noticed that Carlisle wasn’t pulling me into him so much as pulling me closer to Edward and Bella. Whatever they were discussing, he wanted to be a part of it too. I was glad we were on the same page.

“Okay, bloodsuckers, What’s so complicated about it?”

“We have to consider every possibility,” Edward said, his tone was understanding. “What if someone gets past you?”

Jacob was less understanding, “Okay, so leave her on the reservation. We’re making Collin and Brady stay behind anyway. She’ll be safe there.”

Bella glared at Jacob, “Are you talking about me?”

“He definitely isn’t talking about me,” I said under my breath. Carlisle chuckled.

Jacob continued, this time a little more understanding of our presence, “I just think it would help to know what their plan is for the two of you during the fight.”

“You can’t stay in Forks.”

Carlisle nodded and added, “If someone got past us, it’s the first place they’d look.”

Bella’s eyes met mine as we had the same thought. Her face was paler than normal as she forced the thought out. “Charlie?”

“He’ll be with Billy,” He assured her, “If my dad has to commit a murder to get him there, he’ll do it.”

“There’s a game on Saturday. That’s enough to get him down there without more blood shed.” My voice was breathy and I was thankful that Carlisle still held on to me. Bella’s thoughts were all over the place. She drifted off on a sidebar that had both Edward and Jacob chuckling while I weighed my own options.

I didn’t want to stay in La Push. Not that there was a problem with La Push exactly, just that it felt like everything was happening around me all of the time and while I wasn’t excited to be involved, I was this time. I also had no interest in being in the clearing when the fight was happening.

So that left me wherever Bella was. And brought their conversion back into my focus.

“You could hide them here…” Jacob waved his hands around him at the forest around us.

“That… seems impractical.” I said. There wasn’t anywhere to hide out here and with Bella’s luck, I didn’t like the idea of her being so close. The only upside being that the Cullens and the pack would be able to get to us quickly if things did go south- Then again so could the newborns.

Edward agreed with me, “Their- Our scent is too strong and combined with mine and Carlisle’s, especially distinct.”

“It’s what they’re being trained to look for. We’re hoping they’ll catch ours and come straight to the clearing, but-”

“We’re not sure exactly which path they’ll take because they don’t know yet. If they crossed her scent before they found us..”

I swear the three of them made the same pained face at the same time. Carlisle held me tighter.

“You see the difficulties.”

“So what’s the middle ground? Can’t stay home, can’t stay here. What makes this work?” I asked.

“Wait a sec- My scent disgusts you, right?”

“Hmm, not bad.” Whatever was in Jacob’s head seemed to make sense to Edward because he decided to call over Jasper.

Edward breathed a heavy sigh and Jacob held out his arms to Bella. Nobody moved.

“We’re going to see if I can confuse the scent enough to hide your trail,” Jacob explained.

Bella still didn’t move. She only looked more confused. I watched, silently preparing to bolt the second anyone tried to pick me up.

“You’re going to have to let him carry you, Bella” Edward said, completely unbothered. Bella frowned.

Jacob called her a baby. Then his eyes flicked to mine. “Y/n is easier to hide. Even Carlisle had a hard time finding her when he tried. I think if she just walked in front of you, you should be able to cover her scent. It’s just Bella who can’t touch anything.”

Relief washed over me. Carlisle chuckled and kissed my head. When Jasper made it over to us Edward explained the plan again, though I was certain he’d overheard.

Both Edward and Jacob looked at me. Bella just looked pouty. “I guess I’ll scout ahead.” I joked before leaning up to kiss Carlisle’s cheek before walking into the trees.

I walked far enough ahead so I wouldn’t disturb any conversations between the two that needed to be had. I also needed to focus on my footing and the amount of steps I’d taken into the woods. Jacob kept up enough that if I looked over my shoulder I could see them. After a minute or two I felt confident enough to turn, and loop back to the clearing. I resurfaced further away than I thought, but I didn’t get lost.

It was just Edward and Carlisle when we got back, and while it looked like they weren’t having the most pleasant conversation, Carlisle’s face lit up when he saw me. I couldn’t help but skip over to him.

When Alice and Jasper were back and Bella was on her own feet again she asked “Well?”

“As long as you don’t touch anything, Bella, I can’t imagine someone sticking their nose close enough to that trail to catch your scent.” Jasper grimaced. “It was almost completely obscured.”

“And there was no trace of Y/n at all. I wouldn’t have even known she was there if I hadn’t watched her walk in front of them. A definite success.” Alice agreed.

“And it gave me an idea.”

“Which will work,”

“Clever,” Edward agreed.

“How do you stand that?” Jacob muttered.

I laughed, “You get used to it. And sometimes, if you wait long enough, they fill you in!” It made at least Carlisle laugh. Bella still looked at Jacob sympathetically.

Edward ignored us and turned to me and Bella to explain. “You two are going to leave a false trail to the clearing. They’ll come exactly the way we want them to without being careful about it. Alice can already see that this will work.”

“But me? How would I help in this situation?” I figured this experiment proved that I was untrackable.

“Not ‘untrackable’- just not easy to track.” Edward said. “But they have your scent memorized. If you touch everything-”

“And with nothing following you to cover it up-” Jasper added.

“They’ll have no issue. Then when they catch the rest of us in the clearing, they’ll split up and try to come at us from two sides. Half will go through the forest, where her vision suddenly disappears…”

“Yes!” Jacob cheered. I wasn’t sold on his enthusiasm but Edward smiled at him.

Their comradery was only cut short when Edward scowled at Jasper. “Not a chance,”

“I know, I know.” He wasn’t exactly smiling, but definitely plotting. “It was just a thought.”

“What are you thinking?” If I could read anything in Edwards sharp shift in demeanor, whatever it was was never going to happen. Yet I couldn’t help the curiosity.

“If either of you were actually in the clearing, it would drive them insane. They wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything but you. It would make picking them off truly easy…”

“Absolutely not.” I said at the same moment Carlisle said “It’s out of the question.”

“Of course,” he backtracked. “It would be far too dangerous.” Though he didn’t seem convinced it wouldn’t happen.

Jasper chuckled under his breath and took Alice’s hand again. They walked back over to the others and I tried not to weigh the option.

Not Bella, never Bella… but me. Could I be there? I shook the thought out of my head and returned to what they were saying.

“-it’s thoroughness, not callousness.”

Jacob snorted.

Another moment passed between the three of them that they seemed completely unaware of. Jacob moved closer to Edward, Bella moved closer to Jacob, without letting go of Edward. Time didn’t move around them.

But Edward refocused on the logistics. “I will bring Bella here Friday afternoon to lay the false trail. You can meet us afterwards and carry her to a place I know. Completely out of the way, and easily defensible, not that it will come to that. I’ll take another route there.”

“And then what? Leave them up there? With just a phone?” He was annoyed somehow. At least fed up with our plans.

“It’s not ideal, but it should be safe enough… Unless you have a safer alternative.” Carlisle remained patient with him.

Jacob lit up, smug but ready to share his thoughts “Actually I do?”

“Oh again, not bad at all.” Edward smiled so warmly at him that part of me wondered if there was pride on his face.

Jacob smiled back at Edward before facing Bella, if only to keep her involved in the conversation. “We tried to talk Seth into staying behind with the younger two. He’s still too young, but he’s stubborn and he’s resisting. So I thought of a new assignment for him- cellphone.”

“And, Carlisle, you can bring Y/n out here early Saturday so her false trail is a bit more fresh. Then, Seth can walk her up the mountain to meet up with Bella and swap places with Jacob. Distance isn’t a problem?”

“Nope.”

“Three hundred miles?” That’s impressive.” The way he looked now only proved that it was pride on his face before. It was even brighter this time.

I looked to Carlisle to see if he’d caught what I had. He smiled like he had. I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the training and the new information and the battle strategies, but it was nice to know that we were still on the same page about this.

“It’s a good idea.” Edward was hesitant, like he was afraid of revealing more than he meant.

“Having Seth Clearwater there is very comforting.” Carlisle said.

Edward nodded, “Even without the instantaneous communication. I don’t know if I’d be able to leave Bella there alone. To think it’s come to this though! Trusting werewolves!”

“Fighting with vampires instead of against them.” Jacob added in mock disgust.

“Aww, our little cliche is coming to a close.” I joked.

“Well, almost. They’ll still get to fight some of them.” Edward said. His smile did not fade.

Jacob beamed at him, “That’s the reason we’re here.”

Carlisle carried me home. I was unaware just how tired I was, but when he held me I fell asleep almost immediately. I didn’t even wake up when he placed me in the bed. I really slept too. I didn’t dream or budge, I just got the rest I so desperately needed.

I only got up when I felt like I couldn't physically sleep anymore. Carlisle, of course, was right beside me, reading a book with a title in a foreign language.

I cuddled into him. He threw his arm around me allowing me to lay my head on his chest, all without disturbing his reading, still he placed his book on the nightstand. He kissed the top of my head.

“Good Morning, Dove.”

“Hmm… What time is it?” Based on the light that came through the windows, I didn’t think it was still morning, not that I’d correct him anyway.

He glanced at his watch. “Just after 2pm.” I was a bit surprised that I’d slept that late but was grateful for it. “Would you like to go downstairs for coffee?”

When I nodded, he helped me get upright. I steadied myself against him then leaned up to press a quick kiss on his lips. We broke apart and he took my hand leading me downstairs.

“The others are in the kitchen talking.” He told me. I nodded, though when we rounded the corner I noticed they weren’t talking much. Emmett sat on the counter and Rose was standing between his legs, facing the others. Alice was cutting fruit and dropping them into a bowl in the running sink. Jasper was making coffee.

I knew all of this was for me. It still surprised me how generous they all were.

Alice looked up and smiled at us, like she had been expecting us. “Good morning, you two!”

I smiled back at her. “Thank you… for all of this.” I gestured to the whole of the kitchen. They laughed.

“It’s no trouble at all, Y/n.” Jasper pushed a cup of coffee across the counter to me. It was perfect- That wasn’t a surprise, atleast. He looked at Carlisle, “Alice said earlier that their numbers are down to twenty.”

She hummed and handed the fruit bowl. “Nineteen, now.”

Emmett frowned, “They’re picking themselves off…” He almost sounded disappointed. Knowing him he probably was.

“It will be an easy fight then.” Carlisle clearly still didn’t feel any of Emmetts excitement.

“If we can make Bella cooperate…” Alice was annoyed.

They all looked at me. I popped a grape into my mouth. “What’s she planning?”

“She doesn’t have a plan. She just wants to be in the clearing.”

My brows furrowed. “And that would be bad?”

She said “Very” and at the same time Jasper said “That depends on who you’re asking.”

My eyes darted between them, waiting for one of them to elaborate.

Jasper spoke first. “Her scent would drive the newborns crazy. They’d go straight for her. We could wipe them out and clean the whole thing up nice and easy.” His confidence made Emmetts grin grow wider.

“Would she- or me, I guess- would we be safer-”

“Absolutely not!” This time it was Alice and Carlisle who spoke at the same time.

I looked at them, my eyes wide. After taking a bite of an apple slice, I said “Take a breath. I don’t want either of us there, really. But if it’s safer- for all of us, I’d like to at least consider the option.”

“The fight would be easier but you both would be more of a distraction. It wouldn’t be safe.” It was the first time Rosalie had spoken and if I’m being honest, it caught me a bit off guard. “If anyone lost control…” she winced and trailed off.

Carlisle finished her thought. “Or if any one of them got past us, you two would be all that they could focus on- All any of us could focus on.”

“Exactly!” Alice added. “They’d be focused on you. We’d be focused on you. It would make us too vulnerable.”

“So… more dangers than benefits? We’ll stick with plan A.” I took a slow sip of my coffee and Alice sighed.

She took out her phone and had it to her ear before any of us could ask who she was calling. “Edward…” She said it as if in answer to our unasked question. “I warned Bella that I’d tell you if her plans got more defined. She plans on trying to find a way to the clearing, but she just gets lost. You have to make her understand the dangers. Y/n gets it.”

Whatever he said made her soften a bit, then she said “She’ll listen to you.”

He said something and she agreed before hanging up. I took another strawberry out of the bowl and ate it. “In my defense, I would try to stop Bella before she wandered aimlessly into the forest.”

They all laughed. “It’s a valiant effort, but she’s too stubborn. You both just end up getting lost.”

I wouldn’t argue this. I didn’t know the woods beyond the marked trails very well. I highly doubted I would have any idea how to get where they were fighting from wherever they left us.

Though we would have Seth. I hated the idea of little Seth anywhere near the fight almost as much as I hated the idea of Bella being there. But I know Bella wasn’t including him in her plans, or Alice wouldn’t be able to see it. I didn’t want to give anyone any ideas so I kept my thoughts to myself and hoped Bella wouldn’t think of the same thing.

Jasper and Emmett discussed how exactly the newborns would attack. It was all very gruesome and from this conversation alone I was glad I didn’t have to be in the clearing. Also my heart hurt for Carlisle. I held his hand with both of mine while they casually chatted about how to kill these people. Feral or not, and even though we hardly had a choice in the matter, I could see the toll it was taking on him.

He would do what it took to protect his family- to protect me- but he would carry it with him for a long time. I wished more than anything it hadn’t come to this.

I think he saw me worrying. He smiled softly at me and kissed my forehead. He held his eyes closed and lingered longer than normal. I think the kiss was as much for my benefit as it was his. I let him stay for as long as he needed.

When he pulled back and our eyes met he really did look brighter. I kissed him quickly. The other boys droned on and on about the fight ahead of them, but for that moment, it was just me and Carlsile in the room. The only thing that pulled us back to reality was Alice’s small gasp and her phone ringing.

She set it to her ear and said “You can’t.” Of course it was hard not to panic , but despite her dramatics she didn’t seem too bothered. “I guess. I’ll use the time to get Charlie on board with her having a weekend with me.” She sighed and hung up again.

I couldn’t take the suspense. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothings wrong, exactly. Edward decided to sit out.” Emmett bellowed in laughter at her words. I hadn’t caught on.

I scanned their faces for any clue but found nothing. “Sit out of what?” I asked.

“The fight.” She answered, like it was obvious. I guess it should have been, but it also didn’t seem possible.

“What?” I demanded. “Why?”

“Bella asked him to. He’s going to stay with the both of you up the mountain so she doesn’t join us in the clearing.”

“But-”

She turned to face Jasper. “I’m going to go sit with Bella while he comes here to talk logistics.” She kissed his cheek and disappeared. I was stunned that they were entertaining this. Carlisle wrapped an arm around me and ran a soothing hand over my arm.

“It’s going to be fine, Cara.” he whispered in my ear.

Emmett’s booming and over confident voice filled the room “More for us then!”

I didn’t miss the way Carlisle flinched, or the way Rosalie sighed. She stood a bit straighter and walked out of the room. Emmett called after her but didn’t follow. I was tempted to follow her, but I wasn’t sure what I could say to comfort her.

I couldn’t fault her for needing to step out. All of this was overwhelming and I wasn’t even going to be there. I couldn’t Imagine what it was like on their side of this.

I matched her sigh and stood as well but only to make another cup of coffee. Before I even had time to put the pot back, Edward was in the kitchen.

His hair was disheveled so I guessed he had run here. I resisted the urge to straighten it for him and just finished making my coffee. He stood on one side of the island while Jasper and Emmett stood on the other. Carlisle came and stood by me.

It felt like a movie the way the four of them stood around the island discussing the upcoming fight. It felt like there should be a map with little flags and figurines. As silly as it was, I was happy to be a part of the discussion.

Before they could get too invested in their own plans, I asked “Bella asked you to stay with her- us?”

He softened a bit. “She did.”

“Why?”

“She… didn’t enjoy the idea of us ‘leaving’ again.” he put air quotes around the word leaving, though I could tell he sympathized with her. “I will stay with the two of you and Seth and she’ll stay out of the clearing.”

Carlisle held my hand a bit tighter and I wondered briefly what he saw on my face.

“We’ll be just fine.” Jasper added.

“Hell yeah! I can pick up his half-” Emmett was clearly perfectly fine with Bella’s decision.

As they fell into the rearrangements, I couldn’t help but understand Bella’s side. I almost wished I would have thought of it before her; wished I had asked Carlisle to sit out instead of Edward, but I could never ask him to choose between me and his family. I was completely surprised that she could ask that of Edward. It was selfish of her, but I didn’t blame her at all

I quickly turned to Edward. He didn’t act like he’d caught on to my thoughts. I hoped that if he had he wouldn’t rat me out.

They continued, unbothered.

“-We'll go hunting tonight after meeting with the wolves.”

“Seth will meet with Carlisle in the clearing to carry Y/n to Bella and Edward early Saturday morning.” Jasper was all business and Carlisle nodded.

My eyes danced between them. “Seth Clearwater is not carrying me anywhere.”

They all laughed like I'd told a joke.

“Seth will just be there as a precaution.” Carlisle soothed, “Just in case they can track you, Seth will be there to mask your scent.”

Jasper added “You walking in front of Seth while he's a wolf will be more than enough for that.”

“Oh… Right. Good.” I was terribly uninterested in a child carrying me anywhere, werewolf or not.

“It will work.” Edward continued, though I didn't know who his words were meant to comfort. I nodded along.

I double- triple checked everything in my head. Dad would be on the reservation with Billy and the baby guard wolves. Bella would be with me and Seth and now Edward, in the mountains far enough away. My new found family- the love of my life, had trained for this and would continue training until it was time. It was a solid plan.

Though they had continued talking while I got lost in my thoughts, when Edward spoke again, he looked directly at me.

“It will work.” He said again.

I nodded once, both in thanks and acceptance.

It will work, I thought. It had to.

We were back in the clearing just three hours later. The sun hadn't even really set yet. I wondered how Bella got past Dad, but I probably didn't want to know. They still showed up last.

The training in front of me was more physical than the night before. Edward only joined in when Jasper asked him to. Carlisle left me with them when he went to face off with Rosalie.

Edward stayed long enough for Jacob to join us. They chatted quietly with one another for a few moments. Clearly lost in their own world. I pretended to be distracted by the grass and tried not to think too loudly about how well they completed each other.

Edward joined the others in the clearing when they started doing two-on-one pairings. Those were equally as hard to watch. I could barely stand it when it was Carlisle against Emmett and Edward. My chest was tight and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

But then Rosalie was next to me- albeit as far from Jacob as she could possibly be. Without saying a word she took my hand. It was overwhelmingly comforting in a way I did not expect. I took a tiny step in her direction and laid my head on her shoulder. She didn't move to even breathe, but I think she did lean into me.

Carlisle got Edward down every time but Emmett was trickier. If Carlisle focused on Edward, Emmett would get him down and if he focused on Emmett, then Edward would. They tried this over and over and each time he was a bit more sure of himself.

When he finally got both of them down I had to squeeze Rosalie's hand to keep myself from cheering.

Carlisle swapped places with her answer she went against Alice and Edward. Even when it wasn't Carlisle fighting I still had the hardest time watching. I leaned into him the way I had with her.

They were good. They were confident.

The plan would work.

Bella came over and stayed with us Thursday before they laid the false trail. The others went hunting and they wouldn’t be back before the fight. I hugged them all as tight as I could and tried very hard not to let it feel like a goodbye.

I had to have hope that I would see them all again. It made me sick.

They left while the sun was still up. Carlisle held me close as I watched the treeline they disappeared into. I was still standing there when Edward and Bella pulled in.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and pulled myself together before they walked on to the porch. They didn’t seem phased by me at all. Carlisle held the door open for them and I followed in behind them.

“Have you eaten?” I asked Bella.

She nodded. “I made burgers at home for Charlie and ate one before I left.”

“Good… That’s good.”

“Are… Are you guys staying here tonight?” She asked. Edward chuckled.

I looked at Carlisle and he smiled at me. I felt like I was missing something.

“We’ll be here, but I believe we’ll be in our room all night. You’ll basically have the place to yourselves.” Carlisle assured them.

Oh, that’s what she meant. Her face fell into something that looked like disappointment. I was glad that I did not have super hearing. I wasn’t sure if the house was sound proofed enough for the vampires, but I could be blissfully unaware.

“We’ll be upstairs…” Bella was leading Edward up the stairs. I had to hide my face with my hand to not laugh. Carlisle led me to the kitchen.

I knew he expected me to be hungry. I couldn’t find the energy to actually be hungry but I got the leftover fruit from the fridge. He got me a glass of water. I made a show of drinking it.

I scooted a piece of pineapple around in the bowl with my fork. “It’s… so quiet.” I whispered, in an attempt to not disturb the peace.

“It is.” He stood next to me leaning against the counter with his hands in his pockets. To anyone else he would have looked relaxed.

“How are you feeling?” I didn’t really have to ask. I’d watched his honey eyes scan the treeline a hundred times. I took note of his heavy and occasional breaths. His eyes met mine and I melted. I placed my hand on his face and just held it there. He kissed my palm.

“I’m… I am confident in our family. It’s just…” His voice was so low. I stepped closer to him and his hands rested on my waist. He dropped his forehead to mine.

“I understand.” This is scary. I wouldn’t say that aloud though, instead I pressed in to him and said “I know. I’m here.” As soft as I could manage.

His eyes were closed. I felt him nod. I kissed his nose. He took a slow, deep breath.

I leaned back and met his gaze again. “It will be okay.” He at least sounded more confident.

The next day was much like the last. Bella and Edward got up early and were already downstairs by the time Carlisle peeled me out of bed. I wasn’t expecting Alice to be home but I was more than grateful to see her.

She said she was only there to share the news about the snow storm, but she also had a private conversation with Bella. While it was happening Edward looked more and more uncomfortable but when Alice got back she looked happier than ever. Bella, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to vomit.

I did desperately want to know, but thought better of asking. Bella would tell me eventually. Worst case I could probably convince Carlisle to.

I tried not to think about the fact that I couldn’t guarantee when or if I could.

Alice left when Edward and Bella did. I hugged Bella for a long time knowing that I would see her in just over twelve hours but also fearing the worst.

“Be safe.” She nodded. “Text me when you make it up there.” She nodded again. “Stay warm tonight.”

She laughed, “I will, Y/n”

This time, I nodded. “Okay. Good.” I hugged her again. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

I hugged Edward just as tight.

As they left I called after them “Be safe!” I thought I saw Edward smile before he lifted Bella and ran off towards the clearing.

This time, Carlisle held me in his arms on the couch while I cried.

It was hours later before I settled down. He put on reruns of Buffy. I cried off and on but drank the water he brought me and ate the pasta he made later in the night. After a while he brushed the hair out of my face and asked, “How are you feeling, Dove?”

“Like the world is caving in around us.” I tried to smile at him, I’m sure it looked pathetic. “But I’m glad you’re here.”

“There isn’t anywhere I’d rather be.” He leaned in and kissed me softly. “I had something made for you. Would you like me to give it to you now?”

Hesitantly, I nodded. “What is it?”

He chuckled. “I'll go get it.” completely unsure of what to expect, I tried not to panic waiting for him to get back. Luckily, he was only gone a few seconds before he appeared next to me again. “It’s a bit soon, and I know right now isn’t the best time, but I want you to have this… Well, in case-”

“Carlisle?”

“Yes?”

“What is it?” I asked again, smiling this time. I kinda loved it when he got all flustered. In his hand was a jewelry box, but it was too long to be a ring- I didn’t have to panic too much. He opened the box and showed me before he said anything else.

Inside the box was a locket on a delicate silver chain. On the front of the locket was the Cullen crest. My hands were shaking when I took it from him. I opened it to find one side was empty but the other had a dried petal from a lupine flower.

I was crying again. “Carlisle, it’s-”

“Again, I know it’s early, and we aren’t married, but you are a part of this family. I left the other side open so you could put whatever you wanted in it…” His eyes were soft and his voice was so genuine. If he wasn’t still holding the locket I might have tackled him. “It felt important… that you should have it now.”

“It’s perfect.” I didn’t know how to express just how much it meant to me but I started with “Thank you.” then demanded “Well, aren’t you gonna put it on me?”

He laughed when I turned away from him. I pulled my hair up as he put it around my neck. As soon as it was clasped I turned back to him and flung my arms around his shoulders and kissed him like the world might not end the next day.

I kissed him like I needed it to survive.

When we finally broke apart, his hand still caressed my cheek. “Would you like to get some rest, Cara?”

“No,” my voice was breathy.

“Then what do you want?”

“I want you to make me forget the world is caving in.”

The corner of his mouth ticked up in the smallest hint of a smile. “I think I can manage that.” Then he kissed me again like he fully intended to try.

I wouldn't say that I slept soundless that night but I definitely slept better than I had been.

The sun was just barely peeking through the sky as I got ready. I tried to dress warm with lots of layers but we still had to lay my false trail to the clearing. I packed my coat, some water bottles and a first aid kit in my hiking bag instead. Carlisle was already down in the kitchen making me a large thermos of hot coffee. I hoped it would last through the fight.

I fiddled with the locket around my neck for a second; still unused to the weight of it. When everything was packed, I took a deep breath, steadied myself, then met Carlisle downstairs. He smiled softly when he saw me. I kissed him every chance I got.

We walked hand in hand through the woods to the clearing. I touched everything I could. I hugged the occasional tree. But we hardly spoke at all. I felt like I had so much to say but no words to say them. I didn't want this to feel like goodbye. I couldn't let it be goodbye.

When we made it to the clearing, the sun was just barely shining but the snow had finally stopped. I couldn't believe how cold it was. Carlisle’s hand was almost warm in mine. I hated how long it took to lay the false trail and to walk to the clearing. I hated that I still had so much longer to walk with Seth. More than anything, I hated this feeling of doom that threatened to choke me.

As we broke through the treeline I saw Seth, Sam, and Leah whispering in the center. Leah was angry and was trying to get something through to Sam, though he only looked annoyed. I didn't know Leah had made the pack. Honestly, it almost made me panic more.

Carlisle pulled me into him but I was frozen in my spot. I forgot how to breathe. I locked eyes with him and shook my head.

“Y/n…” He was in front of me, his hand in my hair. “Breathe, Y/n.” He spoke slowly. This time I nodded. He was always able to calm me down. I didn't have time to panic now anyway. I took a deep breath in when he did and out shortly after.

Get to safety- then panic. I could handle that. I nodded again. He smiled and wiped a tear from my cheek.

When I tore my eyes from him I found Sam again. He was closer, but Seth and Leah held back. Carlisle turned to face them too without letting go of my hand.

“Y/n, Carlisle.” He greeted us as he walked a few steps closer. “Leah and I thought it might be safer for everyone if I walked with you two. I will have plenty of time to make it back before the newborns get here, according to your psychic.”

“It couldn't hurt I guess…” My voice sounded so weak. He chuckled.

“We should leave soon. It's a long hike.” I winced. Carlisle took my coat out of my bag before handing it to me. “We'll give you a moment…” He slung my bag over his shoulder and stalked towards the others.

I buried my face in Carlisle's chest in the tightest hug I could muster. He squeezed me just as tight.

“It will be fine, my Love.”

I took another deep breath. “It will.”

“Only a few hours.”

“Hours.” I repeated

He chuckled against me. “Faster if you let him carry you.”

“Absolutely not.” He laughed again. I leaned back to watch him- to memorize this moment. “Only a few hours… and the others?”

“They'll be here soon.”

“And then it will be over?” That one sounded more like a question.

He nodded. “Then we'll be back together.” He was confident.

And then he kissed me and it hurt my heart. I could hardly stand it. My fingers pulled tightly at his scarf and in his hair; certain that if I let go, he would disappear completely. I pulled him closer to me and he pulled me closer to him.

In only a few short hours, he would be fighting alongside our family to save mine and Bella's lives- to put an end to an army that was created to destroy us. And yet he kissed me like our timer wasn't out.

His lips pressed confidently to mine. They were firm, and soft, and sweet, and confident like he knew that this whole ordeal would be over soon and we would be together again, just safe.

He pulled away first because I certainly wasn't going to. I still chased his lips and kissed him a few more times.

His voice was low when he said “You have to go”

My breath was too shaky. I couldn't force any words out.

“I'll be right here, it will be over quickly, and then you'll be safe.”

“You have to be safe too.”

“I will be.” I looked into his eyes as he soothed out my hair. Somewhere behind him I heard a distinctly wolfy sigh. I flipped off where the sound came from.

Carlisle chuckled softly. He helped me put on my coat and wrapped his scarf around my neck. I pressed it to my face and breathed in this warm tea and fresh honey scent.

I stood on my toes to kiss him again. I said, “I love you, Carlisle.” all soft and breathy.

“I love you, Y/n.” He was soft and confident.

I found the strength to take a few steps back. I watched his eyes soften as he took in the goodbye I refused to say. He held on tightly to my hand until I got to Sam, who was a large black wolf and much closer than expected.

I squeezed my eyes closed and turned around before opening them again. A single tear fell from my eyes and left a stinging trail on my cheek. I held on to his hand until he couldn't reach me anymore. I hated how dramatic this was. I hated how much it hurt.

Seth ran ahead of us. Sam walked patiently by my side. I didn't look back at Carlisle until I was certain I wouldn't see him.

I knew I wouldn't have the strength to keep going if I did.

The hike was long and miserably cold. I almost gave up and allowed Sam to carry me a few times but my pride was too large, so we suffered. I had my headphones in and playing my music so loud I couldn't hear if he sighed at my stubbornness anyway.

And just as it became unbearable, we broke through the trees into the little clearing Edward had picked out.

Edward met us outside the tent. “Thank you, Sam, Seth.” He nodded in both their directions, but when I looked at Sam, his eyes were focused on me.

I nodded once and thanked him. I meant it more than I could put into words. He bowed his head and pressed his nose to my palm. It was cold and wet and I pulled my hand away. “Ew, Sam…” But I chuckled, and I could tell he smiled too before running off the way we came.

“Be safe!” I called after him. I heard a cocky bark in response and rolled my eyes.

Edward smiled softly at me and said “If you could give us just a moment.” I nodded and he retreated into his and Bella's tent. I could only guess that he was going to console her given that I couldn't hear much of their muffled conversation.

I sat on a rock next to Seth, who just huffed dramatically any laid down beside me. He really did look like a puppy who had been told ‘no’. I reached down and ruffled the fur between his ears. He huffed again and I laughed.

I pulled Carlisle's scarf to my nose again and closed my eyes tightly. I hoped that if I focused enough- if I could block everything out- I would open my eyes again and it would all be over. It almost worked, but Seth sat up abruptly, and let out a little bark.

Edward unzipped their tent and helped Bella stand up outside of it. I couldn't quite hear his words but Bella moaned, “Alice is so small.”

He chuckled, “That might be a problem… If it were possible for someone to catch her.”

Bella's gaze found Seth sitting in the snow next to me, then she saw me sitting on the rock beside him. She breathed my name and ran over to me. She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. I was a bit surprised by her sudden burst of physical affection, but grateful nonetheless and hugged her back.

Another noise from Seth stirred us both, though this one was more of a whimper. She turned sharply to Edward.

“What's wrong?” She demanded.

“He's just angry he's stuck here with us. He knows the pack kept him out of the action to protect him. He's salivating to join them.”

She glared at Seth. He huffed again.

“The newborns have reached the trail- it worked like a charm, Jasper's a genius- and they've caught the scent of the ones in the meadow, so they're splitting into two groups now, as Alice said,” He sounded proud as he stared in the direction I'd come form

As grateful as I was that he was narrating for Bella, it was hard for me to hear. I didn't have the same comforts Bella did. Carlisle was there. I felt sick.

I heard him say they'd made it to the clearing. I heard him cheer on Leah. He said to let Sam lead, probably to Jacob. I wondered if they could hear him through Seth the way he could hear them. I try to drown it all out. I tried to not think.

But then a sharp silence fell over all of us. No one breathed. No one moved. I didn't let myself guess what was wrong.

“Edward?’ I tried, but my voice was barely a whisper. He held up a hand. I purposely breathed slowly and listened to Bella's panicked breaths. I feared the worst, but if I didn't know, Bella wouldn't know either. She was just panicking. There didn't have to be a reason to panic.

A part of me shattered as Edward urgently whispered “Go, Seth.” and while he ran off and everything shifted around me, it felt like time was frozen.

Edward pushed me behind him, Bella next to me, protecting us both from something I couldn't see yet. I tried to back further away but my back hit a wall and I noticed we were against a cliff. I couldn't run if I wanted to.

We were trapped. As if on reflex, I grabbed Bella's hand like I could protect her from whatever was coming. And even though I didn't know what was coming, I knew it was bad.

Thankfully, Bella put my question into one simple word. “Who?”

“Victoria.” He spoke her name like a curse. My stomach lurched as what he said sank in and what followed made it worse and worse. “She's not alone. She crossed my scent, following the newborns in to watch- she was never meant to fight with them. She made a spur-of-the-moment decision to find me, guessing that you both would be wherever I was. She was right. You were right. It was always Victoria.”

I was shivering to my core. I was too out of it to hope that any of us would make it out. But was grateful he'd sent Seth away. Grateful that Carlisle wouldn't have to watch me die- if it came to that. I wished briefly he'd pick up Bella and run- wished I could hide well enough to throw them off and give Carlisle time to find me.

There wasn't enough time.

Before I could even blink there were two vampires walking casually into the clearing, the sun dancing off their skin. I'd never seen Victoria. I'd never seen any vampires outside of the Cullens.They were beautiful. They were young. The woman was maybe my age, but the boy didn't even seem to be Bella's age. He was just a boy. I wanted to cry. I didn't think I could.

Nothing moved for so long. I kept my fingers intertwined with Bella's. I watched Bella's face. She never took her eyes off Victoria. My eyes danced between all of them.

I just barely caught Victoria lift her chin in Edwards direction. I stepped in front of Bella, if only to give him time.

“Riley.” Edward said in a soft pleading voice.

Everyone froze again.

Edward tried to reason with the boy. He tried to get him to realize Victoria had lied to him. I only saw confusion on his face. I wanted to see doubt.

Edward tried again from a different angle, “She doesn't love you, Riley. She never has. She loved someone named James, and you're no more than a tool to her.”

Victoria hissed at his words. Then the smallest glimpse of doubt did flash on Riley's face. Edward continued his negotiations, but it was so hard to focus on his words. The ringing in my ears muffled most sounds.

There were multiple steps between Edward and us now. Victoria monitored each step he took, trying to find the best vantage point. I swallowed a breath and her eyes locked on mine. For a moment she looked surprised, then she just looked annoyed.

Edward whispered. “Last chance, Riley.”

The boy didn't move, but he looked at Victoria like he was lost.

She snarled, but her eyes never left mine. “He's a liar, Riley. I told you about their mind tricks. You know I love only you.”

I wondered how she got him to believe her. She had no inflection in her voice. Her voice was careful and practiced, but there was no love there. Riley regained composure. Her eyes tore from mine when Edward took another half step forward.

Then there was a growl from the trees.

Seth lurked out and threw Riley to the ground. Victoria screamed. I wanted to get away- to get Bella away- but I didn't have anywhere to go. My heart was racing and as the real fight was kicking off I couldn’t keep up with everyone's movements. At times, Riley was on his feet, others he was buried in the snow. Chucks of rock landed at mine and Bella’s feet.

Not rock- chunks of Riley. I truly felt so sick.

Victoria looked torn between bolting and trying to get at Bella. While she hardly acknowledged my presence at that point, I still stood between her and Edward. She’d have to get me out of the way. I shuddered at the thought.

“Don’t go, Victoria,” While Seth was attacking Riley, Edward shifted his taunting to Victoria herself. This would end here, one way or another. Edward wasn’t going to let her get away. I didn’t want to watch it play out. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. “You’ll never get another chance like this.”

She hissed at him. He dismissed her connection with James. He mocked the way he’d killed him. It worked the way he wanted; She attacked him again.

Everything was a blur. There was so much happening, and because I couldn’t keep up it felt like nothing really was. There were sounds from all directions- of teeth on stone, Edwards taunting, Bellas ragged breathing- I couldn’t stay focused on one thing. I wanted it to be over. I didn’t want to see the outcome.

I’d never been so scared.

We were losing. Edward promised Victoria that she’d never get to Bella. Somehow that brought me comfort too, but their fights continued. And Seth was soaring through the air and crashing into the wall next to us. I barely managed to dodge him as he hit the snow beside us and the rocks that showered down around us too.

I got back on my feet and helped Bella to hers again, just in case we had to run. I stepped in front of her again. I tried to reassess the situation just as Riley charged towards Seth’s mostly unmoving form. Victoria was on top of Edward in the snow.

We were losing. I never thought I’d be the type to freeze, but there I was. I couldn’t do anything. I focused on Bella’s face. She was focused on her arm. When she looked at me I only saw desperation in her eyes. She winced and inhaled sharply.

I breathed her name.

All of them turned sharply to Bella when she gasped. I was still positioned in front of her, so I even had to turn to see the blood running down her arm.

Then Riley was there. His hand was in my hair throwing me out of his way before I could process what was happening. I knew I hit the ground. I felt the snow fall around me. I felt my head hit something sharp but I couldn’t open my eyes. It was all too much. I couldn't watch my sister die.

I curled into myself. I pressed my hand to my forehead. It was warm and wet and sticky. I waited for it to be over.

I heard Seth snap, followed by more sounds of teeth on stone. Then this metallic ripping that was straight from my worst nightmares. I still squeezed my eyes closed and held pressure to my head.

“Victoria!” His plea was loud and too close to me. I tried to inch away but I don’t think I moved.

Then Riley’s screaming stopped.

“No,” That was Edward’s voice, much further away and smooth. I allowed myself that little comfort. “Stay just a little longer.”

More rustling for a few more seconds followed by nothing. Everything was finally still.

I felt Seth’s nose press into my side. I still couldn’t open my eyes. He huffed and paced towards where Edward’s voice had come from.

“Get every piece,” He sounded busy. No one mentioned Bella.

That thought alone pulled me back to the present. My eyes shot open searching for her. Edward and Seth threw chunks of rock into a fire. I hadn’t even smelled the smoke.

I didn’t breathe again until I found her. She hadn’t moved an inch but I was yards away. He’d thrown me further than I noticed. I was very lucky that only my head was bleeding. None of my bones felt broken.

And Bella looked fine. In shock, but alive and fine.

It was over.

I sat up and the world spun. The sticky sweet smoke hit my nose and I threw up in the snow.

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#twilight #carlisle cullen #twilight fanfiction #carlisle cullen x reader #im always in this twilight #twilight x reader #iaitt #this love came back to me #reader insert #tlcbtm

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