#another annoying one was someone saying “day x until this updates”

[eternalglitch]

I don't do it often but ao3 does have a block function now that effectively makes users unable to comment on any of my work and if you go to my other works and just talk about lfls updating I might use it. As a warning.

[euphorajeon]

the love upon your eyes | jjk

— pairing: jk x f. reader

— genre: fluff | college au

— word count: 0.9k

— warnings: soft jk, llike very soft, shirtless jk, that's it haha

— summary: when your mind is cloudy with sleep, jeongguk takes the opportunity to gaze at you, lovingly.

— author's note: broo did you all see how cool jeongguk was in golden live on stage... our best friend for real... also the gcf in budapest is really boxer!gguk coded hhh i got whiplash watching it. anyways. hope you enjoy this little bit of something from boxer!gguk !!! (ps. this is basically in the sheets but with the roles reversed :> )

masterlist | boxer!gguk masterlist

You’ve known Jeongguk for as long as you can remember. His annoying presence seemed to cement itself in your life, not allowing you to have a day without some memories of him. Jeongguk who always sang on the way home from school. Jeongguk who was there when you almost drowned when you were ten. Jeongguk who made fun of your hair in middle school. Jeongguk who had a colorful t-shirt phase in high school. Jeongguk who moved to another city for university.

It felt weird when he left, not having someone follow you around just to pester you, but eventually, it felt peaceful. You’re able to make new friends, study properly, and enjoy your time as a new university student. Jeongguk still texted you occasionally, giving you updates of his life and bantering with you whenever he wanted (when you protested, he said he’d only done that because he was bored. You’d given him the middle finger emoji which he laughed off.)

Jeongguk’s been annoying all of his life, so when he showed up at your doorstep two years after the last time you saw him, you expected nothing less. He truly didn’t change, still the same Jeongguk who brushed off your shocked concerns and responded with teasing remarks instead. So much teasing, so much tempting, until you lost it and kissed him right on his pierced lips.

All of that tells you that Jeongguk will always be annoying. Endearing, but annoying. Loving, but annoying.

So imagine how you feel when one morning, your whole world tilts on its axis when you open your eyes to Jeongguk gazing at you, lovingly. Most of his body is covered in his white blankets, only his shoulders and arms are visible, one of which is covering the bottom part of his face. You can only see his nose and eyes, again obstructed by the unruly strands of his hair, but those eyes tell everything. They tell you that Jeon Jeongguk is looking at you with all the love he has stored in his heart, without even a pinch of the annoying twinkle he usually has hidden somewhere in the flecks of his orbs.

Jeongguk lets out a chuckle through his nose when you groan.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he says, words muffled by his arm still covering his mouth. “Did you sleep well?”

Your barely-open eyes narrow into slits, blurring his form in your vision into a mush of white, black, and skin color. Despite that, you know the sound he just let out is another chuckle through the nose, now even more endeared. “Who are you, and what have you done to my Jeongguk?”

It sounds sassy in your head, your usual tone when talking to your boyfriend, but you don’t know that it only sounds like a jumbled mess in Jeongguk’s ears. Your whole body is still heavy with sleep, the tiny functioning part of your brain only recognizing the love in Jeongguk’s eyes that is so peculiar until your brain fails to aid to your ability to speak clearly. You don’t have to worry, though, because the tiny laugh that rumbles through Jeongguk’s chest tells you that he understood your words perfectly.

“Why so cranky, babe?” Jeongguk reaches out a tattooed hand to pinch lightly at your cheek. “Was last night not enough?”

You’re in the middle of turning around, intending to ignore Jeongguk’s soft stare and confront it later when you’re more awake, but his question makes you pause. Focusing your crusty eyes on him, you just realize that he’s not wearing any shirt, his arms and shoulders bare for you to see. Oh, he must have been looking at you with so much love pouring out of his eyes for you to miss the tattooed bulging biceps on display. This is bad.

Okay, back to his question. Last night, he said?

Your hands automatically pat down your body, which, thankfully, is covered by a t-shirt. You even still have your pajama shorts on. What does he mean by last night?

Apparently you voiced that aloud, with confusion written all over your sleepy face.

“Alright, alright, we didn’t go all the way last night,” Jeongguk laughs—he’s really cheerful considering the time of day, you notice—while coaxing the crease between your eyebrows away with his fingers. “Made out for a while on the bed, but you kinda slipped away from the kiss in the middle of it. I guess you were too tired, so I let you sleep instead.”

You didn’t remember anything from last night. Maybe he’s right, exhaustion took over your entire body that your brain just didn’t store any memories for a few hours. So, you ask the one sensible thing your brain could conjure up right now: “Did I leave you with a hard-on?”

Your eyes are nearly closed again, so you don’t see the amused expression Jeongguk has on his face. “If I tell you yes, would you apologize for it?”

“Mhm, sorry,” you mumble non-commitally.

There’s a few seconds pause. Then, “That’s it? No snarky remarks about how you don’t have to apologize for my bodily function?” Jeongguk asks, still amused by your lack of bite.

“Mhm,” you hum again. “Wanna go back to sleep…” You’re interrupted by a big yawn, “if argument, no sleep…”

Jeongguk has to bite his lip to prevent himself from breaking into a huge grin as he reaches for you, tugging your form closer to his so you can place your head on his chest. He envelops you in his arms, completely engulfing your frame with his big build. You drape your arm lazily on his waist, let him tangle his legs with yours. Jeongguk then drops a kiss on your head, one you barely register because your brain starts succumbing back to sleep.

“Sleep tight, sleepyhead,” he whispers before smiling to himself. 

“I’ll still love you even if you gave me blue balls in the middle of the night.”

a/n: thank you for reading! hope you enjoyed this little ball of fluff hehe. help me improve by giving me feedback in my askbox or here! :D

[interastical]

Another Phighting writing account??YAYYAYYAYAYAY

can you do yan!Subspace x former assassin!reader (reader is gender neutral!). The reader was from Blackrock but ran away and uhh Subspace kinda found them again.. oneshot please!

(I stole this request from someone because the other writer hasnt update for a while and I am in desperate need of fanfics.. thank youu!)

sorry for taking so long on requests! i've got a good handful in my inbox now and since i got a lot of my assignments out of the way, i can start working on these ahaha

requests are also still open! please feel free to send some my way in my inbox :)

aanyways, thank u for being so patient!!! here we go

tw - yandere themes, kidnapping, drugging, semi-realistic violence

˖°.𓆩♡𓆪 .°˖

♡ YAN ! SUBSPACE X READER ♡

˖°.𓆩♡𓆪 .°˖

Your life at BLACKROCK was -- to put it bluntly, a living hell.

Your entire life, all you ever knew from the moment you entered this world and were shipped off to that horrid faction, was violence, war, weaponry, and murder.

You were trained to hurt people. Hurt demons who dared try to question Blackrock. Those who tried to flee, to escape the freezing confines of the place.

Rules were strictly abided to at Blackrock. Make one mistake -- consider yourself a goner. The best outcome was you being thrown in prison, the worst outcome was being slaughtered publicly.

You were made to abide by the rules and silence those who made the smallest of mistakes.

Nobody ever thought you'd break the rules one day yourself.

So when you one day disappeared, having vanished off the face of the Inpherno, Blackrock believed you were a goner.

That was far from the truth.

You knew the ins and outs of the faction, making your escape was relatively easy -- a cakewalk.

As an assassin, you specialized in stealth, speed, and agility. Maneuvering past guards and treading through freezing cold blizzards did not falter your escape in the slightest.

And when you were finally out, taking a deep breath of the fresher, evenly temperature air, you believed to be in the clear, as long as you managed to keep a life of anonymity, what could go wrong?

And you were right -- everything was fine.

Until one day, when mindlessly watching a PHIGHT, you noticed a familiar face participating in the round.

Subspace T. Mine.

You felt your heart stop in the moment.

Back in Blackrock, the two of you hardly had any form of connection. Rarely spoke to one another, as the two of you were on completely different fields of work.

His rambles about discovery and science nonsense made no sense to you. His work partner - Medkit, seemed constantly annoyed by the guy's presence as well.

You always talked to Hyperlaser more often. You still occasionally met up with him and Katana to go out for drinks in Crossroads -- as Hyperlaser was your only friend from Blackrock who swore to keep your existence a secret to that awful, awful faction.

But you did always take note of how Subspace.. stared at you often, whenever the two of you did manage to encounter one another back in Blackrock.

You remember constantly asking him if he needed something, and he'd whip out some awful excuse, saying how he was just "focusing on something next to you" or "staring off into space".

Yet, he always did it often. It got on your nerves.

The guy was .. a little weird. It's no wonder you constantly avoided him.

But Subspace... knew everything about you. Unbeknownst to you.

He'd often send a Biograft to just .. watch as you worked in Blackrock. He was so utterly captivated by the way you'd wipe out any filthy traitors with a single swipe of your blade.

You were so.. powerful -- flawless, perfect.

Subspace wanted everything you had.

Subspace wanted you.

The way their blood would hit your face, your stoic expression unchanged at their screams and cries -- as you silenced them with ease.

He so badly wanted to talk to you. But he could never find the courage to do so, despite his greatness, talking to you was his only flaw.

Medkit was often forced to listen to his constant rambles about you, often tuning it out and focusing on crystal studies.

But oh -- did Subspace just want to bring you in, set you down and tear you open, digging around at your inner workings, watching as your blood would stain his skin.

He needed you.

So when you disappeared, Subspace was devastated.

His work became sloppy, slower, and his emotions became violent.

Medkit suffered the consequences of his outbursts.

Nothing was never enough. Not without you. He needed to see you again -- even if you were some lifeless, rotting corpse in the midst of a blizzard, or if you were out there somewhere, he needed to find you.

So when he felt eyes on him during a PHIGHT match that he'd found himself participating in, he turned his head.

And he saw you.

You looked different. Your appearance was different, but it did not change the fact that your face was the same.

He found you.

The match? Subspace didn't care about some stupid bux anymore. You instantly clouded his mind. Thoughts of you, your face, your skills, your expression -- everything.

He could hardly hold back the manic laughter bubbling in his chest, rising to his throat.

Subspace had found you.

And he wasn't going to lose you again.

Walking home to your apartment in Crossroads late that night was no unusual activity for you. After saying your goodbyes to Hyperlaser and Katana, you strolled down the empty sidewalk, your apartment building only a few blocks away.

The sounds of crickets in the distance, the soft breeze of the night and the lack of any demons around was rather peaceful for you.

Thoughts of seeing Subspace again had almost completely left your mind, the soft buzz of alcohol from drinking earlier had you a little more careless.

But the sudden rustle of a bush from not far behind you shattered the relaxation you were undergoing, as you froze.

As a trained assassin in the past, you had high reflexes. Any slight noise off in the distance; you were trained to take note of, and prepare to defend yourself.

The night grew still.

You swore you heard quick footsteps.

Multiple footsteps. Two people, max.

One sounded.. normal. The other sounded heavier.

Something wasn't right here.

You quickly took a few steps back, not taking your eyes off of the bushes behind you, your dominant hand moving to reach for your gear so that you could summon it--

You were suddenly yanked backwards by cold, rough, metallic hands wrapping around your waist, locking your arms to your sides.

It wasn't a demon's skin that you felt from your assailant.

" TARGET ACQIRED. "

You knew those voices.

Biografts.

A Biograft was holding you still.

" PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESIST. "

You ignored the bucket of bolts, slamming your head back onto the robot's in hopes to damage it enough for it to loosen its grip, allowing you to escape.

As you felt the arms around you begin to loosen, a figure suddenly ran in front of you.

You felt a sharp pinch in your neck.

You screamed.

Not out of pain, you were trained to have a high pain tolerance.

But you weren't an idiot. You were clearly getting kidnapped -- and you'd most likely just got some kind of injection.

A cold hand covered your mouth.

"..shh, shh." a familiar voice -- slightly muffled underneath a mask, spoke. "Don't scream, beloved. I only gave you a small pinch!"

The demon in front of you -- you recognized him instantly with horror.

Subspace.

You -- how -- he actually noticed you earlier?!

You noticed your vision growing foggier and foggier - your brain turning into mush as comprehending thoughts became harder and harder.

no no no no noononono

You felt Subspace move his hand away from your mouth and over towards your cheek, softly caressing it with his thumb.

"Don't panic." Subspace reassured -- his voice becoming quieter and quieter, sounding farther off into the distance as your consciousness was quickly deteriorating. "I'll take good care of you."

The last thing you felt was being slowly lifted up by the Biograft - and your world faded to darkness.

[peekawoocc]

LAW X READER

CW - 18+, smut, really long fanfiction. Lots of words, went too big brain mode on this.

P.s. I noted the sections where smut was in case you just wanted the juicy parts (relatable). Also, I tried to stay with plot similar to the show, so spoiler warnings if you haven't started Wano yet. I literally just started it.

This was really fun to write and definitely was a full day hobby project because I have no self control or concept of taking breaks 🙃

Pretenses - You're a straw hat, and while you're not as strong as the monster trio, you can definitely hold your own and then some if nessacary.

Cockblocked in Wano

You had just arrived in Wano with Nami and the others. Finally, ready to be reunited with everyone, and secretly excited to see Law again.

After running into Luffy, you all made your way into the old ruins to gather an update from Kinemon. After being caught up, Kinemon began giving instruction to everyone about their role. You were the last to receive your instructions.

You were excited to find out what you could contribute to help everyone. Instead, you felt as if your eyes were going to pop out from how wide they became, in complete shock. T-there's no way, you told yourself.

Everyone continued on with doing as Kinemon said so he could provide the proper outfits for each role. You didn't even seem to notice your clothes become a blue floral kimono and your hair now in a bun being held by a beautiful hair pin. You were kind of dissapointed you didn't have a more important task, but the shock was still there. As you came back to reality, it seemed like everyone was already trying to head outside, until you spoke up.

"Wait, why don't I have my own role?"

"My apologies, y/n, I did not have another role in mind. I felt it was best to put you with someone to provide assistance in gathering the nessacary troops," Kinemon answered.

Law came back into the ruins to fetch you, making everything set in completely. I have to be with Law for a whole 2 weeks and pretend to be his wife!?! Noticing the blush spread across your face as you were drowning in your own thoughts, Law caught your focus with a sigh.

"If you don't want to, that's fine, I'm sure you'd rather be partnered with one of your own crewmates," he said, sounding a bit annoyed at the inconvenience.

"N-no, it's fine. Plus, I know you won't bring me more trouble than I bargained for. You think things through so I know I can rely on you if anything happens,". You wanted to say more, but seeing Laws lips turn into a slight smirk you thought it better to just stop talking. It was true though. As much as you appreciated the spontaneous nature of your captain and fellow crewmates, you felt most confident when you had more details and facts to rely on. Knowing your enemy and even your environment can help end a fight more quickly and more efficiently. Or maybe, just maybe, you had anxiety. Which is also perfectly understandable.

"Then shall we be off...y/n?" Law said after finally coming up with a fake name for you.

"Definitely!" You said with appreciation for his thoughtfulness. You had a feeling he was always going to be a few steps ahead of you, as per usual. You both followed the others outside.

And then everything went to hell in a hand basket.

You all started to notice something flying, fast. The huge mass had a very commanding presence.

Yep, that's Kaido.

*time skip to after Luffy and Law dissappear after Kaido*

You had no idea where your partner in crime was, nor your captain. You knew Luffy could hold his own, it was Law you weren't sure about. Rather than go hunting for them, you all decided to go into your roles. Not really sure where to go, you decided to follow Sanji, knowing he wouldn't find you to be a burden. It wasn't that you couldn't hold your own, you were actually quite powerful. However, your task was simply to assist with passing out flyers to future fellow fighters, so you followed the cook in putting up a soba stall.

"I'm so glad I get to spend some alone time with you, y/n~," Sanji said with hearts for eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it's more efficient than trying to hunt down Law right now," you said, not being able to hide the dissapointment in your voice. Sanji noticed the worry on your face, even if he was a little jealous of your attention being focused on another man, he was still your friend and wanted to be there for you.

"You sure you're ok with this?" He asked, trying to help shoulder your troubles.

"Yeah, I just hope he's ok. Not that he's not powerful. Anyway, let's get to work!" You said, deciding to distract yourself with the task at hand.

*time skip to Law showing up*

It had become dark now, and you sat down next to the stall as Sanji began cleaning up from the hard day of cooking he just had. Suddenly, you felt a hand on your shoulder. You turned your head towards over your shoulder and looked up.

"So there's my partner, was wondering where you went," he said with a smirk, but you could see the exhaustion in his eyes.

"That should be my line!" You giggle as relief washes over your face.

"No time to chat, we've gotta go. Sanji, they're looking for you," Law suddenly became extremely serious.

"Who is?" Sanji asked.

"Kaidos men, we'll walk and talk," Law answered.

As you all moved together, you ran into Usopp and Franky. Law filled them in on the details and became interrupted as you saw a building get thrown into the air.

*time skip to when they get to Ebisu town, where Zoro supposedly was*

As you all sat together in the tiny home, you had a huge grin on your face. Who would've thought that the man next to you, who was so intelligent and strict, was also a huge nerd? You began to giggle thinking back to how excited Law was about Sanji's germa raid suit. Thinking about how Law was completely nerding out like a fan boy with a deadpan expression on his face started to make you giggle more. Law noticed how you began to hold your stomach from how hard you were laughing, and he began to raise an eyebrow at you.

"Whats got you giggling so much, sister?" Franky asked, matching Law's confusion.

"I was just thinking about how Law knew so much about the Sora Comics," you began giggling hysterically again, Franky and Usopp joining in your amusement.

Law instantly became flustered.

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY, THEY WERE POPULAR IN THE NORTH BLUE! EVERYONE WAS READING THEM!"

"I know, I know. It's just really cute when you nerd out like that. Plus, it's good to know I wasn't the only one who hated germa in the comics,".

Law started malfunctioning when you called his nerdiness "cute". With his whole face red he got up and stormed out of the house, making the excuse of needing fresh air. You gave him 3 minutes before you decided to follow his lead.

*sexy build up*

He was sitting, legs crossed, upon a freshly dusted off mat on the ground. You walked up behind him and placed your hand on his shoulder as you sat down beside him. With his eyes closed and brows furrowed, it looked like there was still a blush across his cheeks but you couldn't tell with it being so dark out.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, but you really were cute. I'm also glad to know we share a similar interest," you said cheerfully, trying to bring the mood back up. Cute. There it was again. He looked like he wanted to say something, then began stammering until he just gave up and sighed. Finally opening his eyes, he just stared straight ahead as if he was trying to puzzle his thoughts together.

"It makes me happy to get the opportunity to know more about you. Really makes the mysterious, cunning Surgeon of Death even more attractive than you already were," you brought a hand to your mouth, shocking both you and Law at the realization of what you had just said. Then his face began to soften as he turned his gaze to you. He ended up letting out a small chuckle at seeing you sitting there as if still frozen with shock. The sound of the low chuckle broke you out of your trance and you began to relax, thankful that he didn't look at you with disgust after finding out your true thoughts of him.

"Attractive, huh?" He said in a knowing tone, a smirk on his face as you started tripping over your words.

"U-uh...um...yeah,"

"Likewise,"

"Wait, huh?"

"You're pretty attractive as well," he looked away for a moment before looking back at you.

"I thought so when we first met, but didn't think much of it. After getting to know you in Dressrosa, the feeling grew. What about you?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, it's the same with me. At first I thought you seemed kinda scary back in Sabaody,".

Locking eyes with you now, it seemed like he was asking for permission for something. Noticing the puzzling expression he had, you felt the need to reassure him with a smile. However, you still felt the need to properly explain yourself.

"I-i mean, I don't find you scary anymore. Actually, thinking back, I think it was more of a feeling of intimidation. I wasn't that strong back then either, so the thought of ever having to hold my own against you was a bit anxiety inducing-,".

Before you could keep rambling, he cut you off with a soft kiss. It wasn't that long, but it felt like time had stopped and nothing in the world mattered but him. Your mind completely blank, you felt the tension in your shoulders release and the dull ache of pain that came with it. It seems you had been on edge the whole time, which looking back isn't all that surprising considering the bottled up feelings you had for him. No one knew, because you were too scared to tell anyone. Especially since you weren't sure in the beginning, but now, you're more sure of this than anything else.

As he pulled away, seemingly reluctantly, he locked eyes with you again and happily matched your smile with his own signature smirk but there was something new that you'd never seen before. There was a light in his eyes. You only saw them light up with anger in the heat of battle. This was the first time you felt that you were witnessing Law looking truly happy. Any of the questions bubbling up in your head about What are we? or Am I going to be a Heart Pirate now? were suddenly pushed aside with the new details you were taking note of while looking at his handsome face.

"That was amazing," you said dreamily, you wanted to slap yourself out of embarrassment with how hypnotized you knew you had looked.

"We should do it again sometime," he said with a flirty tone.

You instantly pressed your Thighs together. They weren't that open, but the sexiness of his voice was doing things to you below the waist. Suddenly, you were feeling a bit brave.

*sexy time ensues*

"How about...now?" You asked shyly, expecting him to refuse. He looked at you for a moment as you watched as his Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed, hard. He leaned back into you, just barely away from your lips, awaiting for your physical invitation. As you leaned in closer, the kiss had started again. It started slow and became more needy and feverish. He licked your top lip, asking to deepen the kiss, and you allowed it. You then wrapped your arms around his shoulders, lifting yourself up to sit in his lap. You pressed your chest against his, causing him to lean back on one of his arms, which made his hat fall off as he tilted his head back. He broke the kiss, both of you panting for air as you looked into eachothers eyes. His expression hungry and predatory now. You started trailing your eyes down his face to his neck and they stayed there as you subconsciously bit your bottom lip. You decided to stop wasting time looking and decided to give in to your desire as your lips met the side of his neck. Kissing his neck until you found a comfortable spot to sit for a moment as you lightly sucked and bit the spot. You weren't there for more than a few moments, thinking it wouldn't be a good idea to mark him no matter how badly you wanted to. He sucked in his breath, head falling back more as you went a little lower to his collarbone. You kissed and sucked at the defined bone structure until you heard a hushed groan.

"There, you can leave a mark there,".

It was as if he had known what you were wanting to do to him. You hovered for a moment, admiring the rise and fall of his chest in the moonlight. As much as you'd like to see more of his exposed skin, you'd have to settle for the portion of his chest that was seeable thanks to his sluttily open kimono. Law let out a frustrated groan as he became impatient, having no idea that you were actually admiring him, he grabbed a handful of your ass with his free hand. You pushed him back onto the mat, forcing him to lay down. You looked down at him, which allowed him to drink up the view of you on top of him, outlined in light blue moonlight. He sucked in his breathe as you dove your head back towards his neck, going back to his collarbone to finish what you started. You kissed, sucked, and then sank your teeth into him. You deeply sucked on the small bite mark, making it viewable even in the darkness of the night. You went back to being face to face with him, wanting another makeout session. Just when you were only seconds away from having your lips on his, you hear a voice from inside the house.

*PAUSE THE SEXY MUSIC! We got cockblocked guys 😔*

"Uh, where's Sangoro?" Usopps voice said.

"Didn't he say something about spying on girls in the bath house?" Franky continued.

Shit.

You hadn't thought about it until now, but you realize you don't remember him being in the house with you all before you and Law started sharing this moment.

After realizing your lack of acknowledgement of your missing crewmate, you sat up and face palmed yourself.

"Damn straw hats, I swear," Law said annoyed. It was clear he was sexually frustrated about being cockblocked due to Sanji's pervertedness.

"Sorry," you offered a dissapointed smile to Law, begging for forgiveness. How could you overlook a missing crewmate?

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault," he said reassuringly, "I didn't notice he was gone either. Not that I'm mad he's gone. I didn't like the idea of you being all alone with that pervert," he sat up and crossed his arms. With furrowed brows he released another frustrated sigh and grabbed his hat.

"Hang on just a moment. Wait right here for me please," you say, clearly scheming something. Before Law can protest, you stand up above him and walk towards the frantic house. Law watched as you walked towards the house, then down at himself. His once hard erection beginning to lose blood flow due to his annoyance for Sanji. I am so going to go after you first if we become enemies, Sanji, he thinks to himself. He sits still and waits, just like you told him, and starts listening to your crews conversation from in the house.

"Franosuke, Usohachi, why don't you guys go look for Sangoro at the bathhouse nearby, while Law and I stay here in case he comes back?" you asked with a confident smile, knowing they're going to think that's a good idea on your part. Until Usopp opens his mouth.

"Wait, why do you and Law get to relax here? What if that t rex guy shows back up? That's not fair! You just want to be alone with him!" Usopp was unfortunately right on the money, but you were prepared for this due to his squeamish nature.

"Mr.Yasuie? Are the bathhouses in this country seperated or mixed?" You ask, already sure you know the answer.

"Some are seperate, but most are mixed. The closest one here is mixed. I wouldn't recommend you go though, y/n, ma'am. Most of the women around here don't have as many curves as you do, wouldn't want those men getting their hands on a pretty thing like you," he said smiling all the while.

You smiled triumphantly, but this battle wasn't over yet.

"Why can't Law go, you can protect yourself!" Usopp once again protests.

"Because, it's a bathhouse. Law has his jolly Roger tattooed all over himself. Even if this is Wano, they know what pirates are. And Laws jolly Roger looks nothing like Kaido's. That'd bring unnecessary attention to all of us," you argue back, you start to think up another excuse until you see Usopps face become skeptical, the debating lawyer look now faded from his face and voice. Bingo! We have a winner.

"Oh, ok. That actually makes sense since we're trying to lay low," Usopp says as Franky nods in agreement.

"You sure it's ok for us to split up again?" Franky asks, still needing a little push to be convinced.

"Yeah, you guys are strong enough to hold your own if the enemy shows up. Even moreso if you can find Sanjiii-I mean, Sangoro. In the case you do get captured, it wouldn't be good if they caught all 5 of us at once," you say, hoping you just put the final nail in the coffin.

And with that, they started to head off.

"Ok, we're going, but call me on the snail if anything happens or if Sangoro comes back,"

"I will,"

"Oh, one more thing," Usopp leans in to whisper to you, "Don't let nerd alert make you fall for him. He's been eyeing you up ever since we left that dinosaur in the dust. If he tries anything funny, use this,".

Usopp hands you 2 little red seeds.

"What's this?"

"They're puff puff plants. They release a red mist and if it touches your face it feels like it's burning your face off-"

"Nope" you say as you shove them back into his hand.

"But what if he tries something? What if he hurts you?"

"Usohachi, as much as I appreciate you looking out for me, we both know I can hold my own. Plus, I trust him," you say reassuringly.

"You trust him? Well I guess I can hang that 'don't fall for him' mess up. It's too late, you've already been infected," he shrugged.

"Alright, when he gives your heart over to the navy to become a warlord again, I don't wanna hear it," he said crossing his arms.

"Hey, he needs this alliance just as much as we do. And don't worry, if he does give my heart to the navy, I won't complain. Won't have anyone to blame but myself, so I won't cry to you about it,"

"YEAH, BECAUSE YOU'LL BE DEAD!" Usopp yelled as he and Franky exited the house. You made sure to flip him off before turning to Franky.

"Good luck Franosuke! Come back safe!" You waved as they went off into the night.

"Well miss y/n, I'll be retiring for the night. I'm sorry I can't offer you any nice places to sleep or any blankets, I only have one and I'm skin and bones!" Yasuie laughed.

"That's ok, we'll come back inside and sleep on the floor if you don't mind,"

"Not at all, goodnight!" He said as he walked to his room and closed the door behind him.

*sexy part resumes*

You jogged back to where Law was waiting patiently, feeling horrible for how long it took to convince Usopp to leave.

As you walked up to him, he looked peaceful. With his arms under his head, back to the large mat on the ground, eyes looking at the stars. You got closer and noticed that his hat was off again as you laid down next to him. You looked up at the night sky with him for a moment until you decided to speak.

"Sorry about taking so long. I didn't expect to play lawyer with Usopp,"

"It's ok, and I get why he's worried. I'm not a very open personality like most people,"

"That's another quality I like about you, just makes me want to know more,"

"I will say though, I didn't get why he thinks I'd betray you,"

"Me either, after all you told Luffy you wouldn't. Not that I wasn't skeptical at first, but I've learned that you're always honest,"

He glanced over at you gazing at the sky. He didn't expect to be this comfortable around you. This feels almost foreign to him. There was only one other person he remembered being alone with like this and that was a long time ago and in a different sense. He snapped out of his memories as he sees you suddenly shiver.

"Cold?"

"It is a little chilly," you say as you look back at him. Before you can take your eyes off of him, he's getting up and above you. Pinning you as he puts his hands on the ground. He looks into your eyes seeing a reflection of both himself and the starry sky.

"Figured I could be a gentleman and warm you up," he says.

Damn. There it is again. That sultry voice.

You begin to brace yourself off the ground and up into him, but he swoops down to kiss you before the thought becomes an action. It feels like a do over from earlier. Kiss starting slow and then burning into something more again. However, you don't plan to hesitate this time. It was even later into the night, around 2 a.m. now. Everyone in the village would definitely be asleep. He starts trailing down from your lips to your jaw, then to your neck. You suppose that now it was his turn to leave a mark, and he wastes no time doing so. As he makes work of your neck, making it sting so sweetly, one of his hands trails down to the bottom opening of your kimono, sliding his hand up the side of your thigh. He moves to another part of your neck to make yet another mark and moves his hand up to your hip, unintentionally loosening the bow of your kimono and giving him more of your skin to feel. He stops for a moment, hovering over you, he removes his hand from your hip. You whine in frustration at the loss of contact. He let's out a low chuckle as he moves to look down at you.

"How far do you want to take this, y/n?" He asks looking down at you carefully to read your expressions. You shot him a lustful and longing look and before he could start to say "Use your words,", you bucked your hips up in the air to meet his. You let out a quiet moan, never breaking eye contact as you felt his need to be inside you. That made something in him snap into his own desire. The once careful and cautious look of furrowed brows and frowning, now a dangerous smirk with half lidded glazed over eyes. He kept eye contact with you as he lowered his bottom half onto you, grinding against where you needed him most. As he began biting his lip, he slipped one hand under one of your knees to spread your legs out for him, trying to get as much friction as possible. You put a hand over your mouth, not trying to wake up any neighbors with your feverish cries. He stops for a moment, somehow regaining his senses enough to look around and really make sure no one was out and about. Once he makes sure the coast is clear, he takes an extra precaution.

"Room,".

A blue filter surrounded the 2 of you. He wanted to make sure that if someone were to walk upon you 2, that it wouldn't cause another interruption. He couldn't handle stopping now.

"Law, what're you-aaa," you cut yourself off with a moan as Law brought 2 fingers to your entrance and his thumb to your sensitive bud. And he gave a devilish smirk as he realized just how wet you were for him. All for him.

"I wanted to make sure there were no more interruptions like the perverted cook situation," he whispered into your ear as he slowly inserted his fingers into you. Once he was in he began curling his fingers to hit your sweet spot as he rubbed small circles into your clit. You involuntarily bucked your hips to met his rhythm as he started working on you. He contemplates biting and sucking on your ear, but your moans made it evident you needed help with muffling them out, so he kisses you. And he kisses you more desperately then before. He has quite a way of surprising you. It's almost as if he's been planning this moment for a while, taking mental notes on what to do if the moment ever came. He was thoughtful and strategic like that, which made him even hotter.

As he removes his lips from yours, he takes his fingers away at the same time. Denying you the pleasure of having one sensation without the other at the moment. Then he finally opens his kimono, making quick work of stripping his undergarments. You decide to follow his lead, opening the front of the light blue clothing. Before you can remove your panties, he's already doing it. He takes a moment to appreciate the feast in front of him, feeding his eyes at your bare flesh, noticing every freckle, scar, birthmark, all of it. He loves all of you even more than he already did. It felt like the final puzzle piece falling into place. And it was everything he wanted and more still. You were just as transfixed as he was. Studying every single detail of his tattoos as you could. How godly he looked, bare and bathed in moonlight.

"Hey, don't tell me I've bewitched you or sometheing" Law said jokingly, but there was enough worry in his voice to tell you you've been spaced out for a little too long.

"Hmm...what...uh yeah, I-I mean no...sorry," you were tripping and fumbling over your words, trying desperately to form coherent words and sentences.

He looked at you with a smile that was a mixture of the pride in the fact that he had made you a mumbling mess and of how much he adored how cute you were.

"Law,"

"Yes? Able to speak now?"

You nodded, a little embarrassed for feeling so dumbfounded under this extraordinarily intelligent man.

"What is it, y/n?"

"I need you,".

He let out another low chuckle and pressed his chest against yours. He then had his lips next to your ear as he dangerously spoke.

"Tell me how badly you need me, y/n," he said has he lined himself up with your entrance. You practically feel that he was smirking without even looking at him.

"F-fuck, I need you in every conceivable way possible," you whimpered, hoping desperately that he had heard you quiet plea. And oh, he definitely did.

He slowly sheathed himself within you, taking the opportunity to hear every lewd noise you let out as you felt him become one with you. His pace started slow, controlled, but it seemed as time went by he felt more and more the need to lose himself within you. All the bottled up feelings that had been bubbling up between you was being taken out on your body with every rhythmic thrust, becoming quicker and more aggressive by the second. He made sure to keep rubbing circles into your clit, wanting to make sure you enjoyed every second of this. That was the only consistent controlled place of motion he kept on you as he gave in to the rolling of his hips and need to make you his. The louder you got, the more it sounded like praise to his ears. Paying attention to both of your needs as he listened to every beautiful sound you made under him. Once you started to sound a bit too loud, he crashed his lips to yours. He knew that if someone were to show up that he wouldn't have the energy to stop anymore. The coil in your stomach was tightening, you were almost there. You were about to speak up about it, but Laws mouth was still on yours. So, you let your body tell him instead. Walls tightening around him as he gasps, thrusting through every wave of your high until he reaches his own. He looks at you, a bewildering questioning look on his face, sweaty and flush.

"Cum in me," you say, and he does so.

Once he finally catches his breath, he slowly pulls out of you and plops down beside you on his side. He lifts his head to look at the mess he made of your lower half and it's quite a sight. Almost enough to make him want a second round, but quickly dismisses the thought when he looks back at your face. Your eyes are closed, lips slightly parted as you're still trying to get your breathing under control.

"Sorry for dirtying your kimono," he giggles proudly, pressing a kiss to your temple. He's never been more sure of anything in his life as much as he is about you right now.

"If you really feel guilty about it, buy me a new one," you smile at him, eyes dreamily again.

"I don't feel guilty in the slightest about any of this," he smirks.

You giggle as you turn towards him and kiss him, your body shudders, breaking the kiss.

"Whats wrong, is it difficult to move?" He becomes worried so quickly you'd think his personality switched.

"U-Uh, no. Just...um...we should definitely look for a way to clean me up. Kind pouring out like a faucet down there," you say shyly.

He follows your gaze as you open your legs, revealing quite the mess. If the kimono wasn't dirty a moment ago, it definitely was now.

Luckily he had another kimono packed in his bag, he used shambles to get you both inside, switching your bodies with the 2 seeds Usopp had left on the table even after you refused to take them.

He cleaned you both up with a small water bottle of clean water that he had kept secret and a rag from his bag and gave you his second kimono. Of course, it had his jolly Roger on it, and you knew Usopp was going to give you hell when they got back.

[from-the-clouds]

texas sun - joel miller x f!reader - vol. ix

series masterlist | series playlist | writing masterlist | previous chapter |

chapter summary: “When you're born in a burning house, you think the whole world is on fire. But it's not.” - Richard Kadrey, Aloha from Hell. But maybe it's about to be. pairing: joel miller x f!reader words: 5.0k chapter warnings: HEAVY ANGST. Panic attacks. Referenced death of a parent. References to abusive/neglectful parents. Complicated sibling/familial relationships. Alcohol consumption, smoking. As always please dm if you have questions. a/n: I know it's annoying, but the thing about me is that I’m never able to write compelling things if I don’t include complex family/sibling relationships. Like I’m so obsessed with putting them in everything, even my stupid little love stories. But it does serve a purpose, I promise. There is an important character in this chapter….just saying.

**ALSO! I got rid of my taglist. Please follow @ftcwriting and turn on notifs if you would like to be notified when I update my works :) **

-September 15, 2003-

Joel can sense that something is off with you the minute you get home from work. 

For starters, your voice sounds a bit too syrupy-sweet when you come through your garage door, and chirp out ‘Hey!’ when you spot him sitting on the couch in your front room, your cat curled up on his lap. 

Just ten minutes earlier, he’d let himself in, using the spare key you’d given him and Sarah. Your house felt vacant, dark, and shockingly quiet without you there, and so he’d turned on the lights, put on a record, and washed the plate, two mugs, and a bowl that were sitting in your sink. 

Joel stirs, and Martini immediately jumps off his lap as though he’d personally offended him in some way. “Hey, darlin,” he stands, accepting your affectionate kiss on the cheek. “How was your day?” 

When you pretend you don’t hear him, that’s the second thing that tips him off. You turn to hang your messenger bag over the hook in your front closet. And then you flex your fingers like you’re trying to stretch them out, cracking your knuckles one at a time with your thumbs, and rolling your shoulders back before heading into the kitchen and gesturing for him to follow. 

“Do you…uh….do you want something?” you turn your head slightly, but not enough to meet his eyes. “Let me get you something.”

He follows after you tentatively, remaining silent until he figures out what's going on. Martini, who was walking underfoot, scatters out of the way as your heels click over the tile and retreats to a safe distance alongside Joel, who pauses to lean against the threshold. 

Even despite the clear tension in the room, he can’t help but check you out. Before, Joel wouldn’t say that he necessarily had a type, it still is a little shocking that he ended up with someone like you. 

Before you speak again, you retrieve two lowball glasses out of your cabinet along with a bottle of his favorite whiskey, and pour two drinks, turning to offer him one. He accepts it cautiously, and you nod at him before taking a long pull of your drink. 

“So uh,” you say. “There’s something I kind of need to talk to you about.” 

You take another sip and then unbutton your blazer, shimmying out of it and tossing it over a barstool. Pushing the sleeves of your blouse up to your wrists, you cross your arms and chew on your bottom lip, like you are trying to decide how to break some sort of horrible news to him. Joel prepares for the worst. He racks his brain for anything he could���ve done or said recently that might have upset you, maybe even scared you off. But he’s coming up with nothing. What could he have done? 

At this point, his parents even know about you, even if he hasn’t had the chance to introduce you. His mother tries, in her I’m-not-prying-but-I’m-definitely-prying type of way, to get more information out of him. She asks him questions like ‘Do you think she’s the one?’ and he doesn’t answer directly but it does make him think. He already knows you’re his one. He just wonders if he is yours.

It’s consistently been his fatal flaw. Joel falls hard, even when it’s not right. It’s how he has always been, and that’s how he ended up alone with Sarah in the first place. The very thought of you ending things makes him feel sick. He knows he’s in love with you, that he doesn’t want to look elsewhere. It’s becoming harder and harder to hold back. You’ve filled up all this space in his life that he didn’t even know existed. What is he going to do with it once you leave? 

“What’s going on?” Joel asks, hoping his voice doesn’t sound as pinched as his throat feels. 

“I should’ve told you this earlier,” you begin. “But….my dad has been sick the past few months.”

“Oh,” Joel says, but relaxes just a little, which feels a little selfish because it’s still unfortunate news. “I’m sorry to hear that. What’s going on?”

“It’s fine. I’m not really sure. Just…my brother called me today and apparently he’s taken a turn for the worse. The doctors…they think he doesn’t have that much time left. I…I need to go see him, I think. Before…” you don’t finish your sentence, you just shrug and look down. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah no, it’s fine, I’m fine,” you say dismissively. “I actually booked a redeye that leaves tomorrow night. I wanted to make sure I could still take Sarah to the office with me for her career day and everything, so you don’t have to worry about that. So yeah.” 

“Do you need to leave earlier?” He asks. “She can always come to work with me.”

“No, no…” you give a soft smile. “I made a commitment, and….I want her to see how boring my job really is.”

Joel wants to smile back at you, but he doesn’t. Because despite the jokes, when you meet his eyes for a second, they look so dull and desolate it feels like it’d be inappropriate. 

“I don’t know how long I’ll be,” Joel sets his glass down just as you pick up yours for another hearty gulp before continuing. “I got my company to approve me working remotely for two weeks. I don’t think it will be that long, but…I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” Joel reaches out and rests a hand on your own.  “You should go be with your family. Sarah and I will be fine.” 

“I know that. I just…I don’t really want to go,” you say. “But I’ll feel bad for the rest of my life if I don’t…and at the very least, I need to be there for my brother. He’s closer with my dad than I am.” 

Bringing the glass back to your mouth, you take another sip – at this point, the drink is nearly gone. Joel steps behind you, because he can’t really hug you the way you are now, facing forward and bracing yourself on the countertop. “Come ‘ere,” he murmurs softly, pulling you back against his chest. For a second, you tense. It’s like you’re surprised, still, that all he wants to do is be gentle with you. Once you remember, he feels your body relax, and your head falls back to tuck under his chin, one of your hands clutches his arm that wraps across your collarbone. “I wish you could come with me,” you say. 

“Me too,” Joel says against the top of your head. He knows he can’t. Not with Sarah, and not with work being the way it has been. Unfortunately, the excuse probably wouldn’t go over well with the guys there. Not that he cares that much what they think, but he can’t jump ship right now. “But I’d have to find someone to look after Sarah….maybe I could ask my parents.”

“No,” you shake your head.  “No, no. I don’t want to put anyone out.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s fine,” you insist. “Everything will be fine.” 

“Well at the very least, do you need me to take you to the airport?”

“You’d endure rush hour traffic for me?” you tilt your head back to look up at him. 

Joel laughs softly, leans down for a kiss. “That and more.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

-September 17th, 2003-

The room you’re in is dark, but the lack of awareness of your surroundings seems to be the only thing keeping you from suffocating. You’re standing in your childhood bedroom, which doesn’t look much like it used to. It's a guest room now, but it never really felt like yours all the way, did it? You clutch at your stomach – you’ve been nauseous ever since your plane touched down at JFK – and reach towards your old dresser to steady yourself. 

The vanity that had once been scattered with trinkets and trophies and photos of childhood memories was now vacant – pristine and polished. You wondered if the items had been thrown out, or dumped in a box somewhere in your old closet. It almost doesn’t matter – you aren’t interested in digging up any more memories. The feeling of your fathers hand clasped around your own had done enough.

You inhale deeply, bracing yourself against the glass top as you try not to throw up or pass out. For some reason, you had underestimated what you were walking into, and hadn’t expected your body to react so….viscerally.  On the other side of the closed door, you hear your name, muffled from down the hall.

It’s hard to make out who it is, perhaps your stepmother, Meredith, or some other distant relative you hadn’t seen in years who had crawled out of the woodwork and now lingered in the apartment, hoping to get their piece. But you’ve locked yourself away. That’s what you had gotten so good at whilst living here. Hiding. 

Until the door opens, and you squint against the light that floods the room to find the only person who has always known where to find you. Your brother. 

“Hey. Ethan and Elizabeth are on their way up,” he says, then pauses. “Why are you standing in the dark?” 

The lightswitch clicks, and the harsh ceiling lamp illuminates, starting the fan up with it and causing you to shiver. Vincent is frowning, standing halfway into the doorframe, his brows pinched. 

You widen your eyes at him. Come on, don’t give me away yet. “Will you please turn that off?” 

Vincent rolls his eyes, but obeys, switches on your desk lamp instead and closes the door behind him. “Are you okay?” he asks, like he doesn’t already know that you aren’t.

“It was a lot…being in there with him,” you look at the floor. 

“Well, at least you know he still likes you. He’s not going to take you out of the will.”

It feels like a smack across the face, and your jaw drops. How could he be so oblivious to your pain, when he’s the only person in this house, in the world, maybe, who understands exactly how you are feeling right now. “Is that all you think I care about?”

“No, I-”

“I’m here because of you,” you say. “You wanted me here. So I came, and I shouldn’t have.” 

“Oh come on,” he says. “Don’t say shit like that.”

“I wish I wasn’t here,” you continue on, despite his wishes. “I wish I didn’t have to wait my entire life to hear him say those things.”

Vincent’s expression shifts. He had been in the room. He had heard it. Your dad had been so….sweet. Gentle. Whispering praises even though his eyes were closed. You had expected, had wanted cruelty. This was somehow worse. Maybe he had known what you wanted all along, held it over your head, and waited only until the end of his life to give it to you. Even his admission of love was somehow malicious. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop you from regretting everything you’d done to get away from him.

Just outside the door is the flight of stairs that leads to your father’s room. And suddenly you aren’t an adult. You feel as helpless and as scared as you did when you were just a little girl – looking up at him, the view of his figure obscured by your brother’s shoulder. 

“God, it’s so fucked up.” you choke out. 

Vincent steps forward wordlessly, pulls you into a hug, and it’s only after you hear a quiet sob leave him that you let your own tears fall. There’s nothing either of you can say to fix the damage that has been done, so all you can do is cling to each other and cry. 

“I know it’s fucked up,” he says. “I know. Maybe I should’ve….I could’ve done more.” 

You pull back, relieved to see your tears didn’t ruin his cashmere sweater. “What could you have done?” you ask, dejectedly. “We were kids.” 

Vincent doesn’t know how to answer that, but he wipes his nose with the back of his hand, and looks at the ground a moment before lifting his head. “We’ve got each other.” 

But that’s hardly true anymore, and he knows it. You’ll always resent each other for different reasons – he had adapted to the circumstances, and you had left them. Neither strategy did anything to fix the damage. 

You’re still weeping, but softer now, face wet with tears that fall everytime you blink. Swiping under your eyes, you sigh and attempt to compose yourself. 

“Come on,” Vincent says. “Say hi to Ethan and Elizabeth. Dad is stable for the time being. We can take a walk or something. Get some fresh air.” 

“Okay,” you agree. “I’ll be out in a second. I have to get my shit together.”

After he leaves, you check your makeup in the vanity, wiping away some smudged mascara before following him out. When you enter the front room, still sniffling, you pray that you don’t have a run-in with any other family members. But the only person you see besides Vincent is your sister-in-law coming through the door. 

Elizabeth’s face is pinched in concentration as she tries to wrangle your nephew out of his coat. “What up, champ?” Vincent holds a hand out for a high five, just in time for her to free Ethan’s arms so he can reach towards his father, who stoops to accept his hug. 

“Hi, Daddy.” 

Elizabeth steps back and makes eye contact with you as you approach. In the past, you pitied her for the decision to marry into your family and then go on to have children with your brother. She was a little too good for him. But now, you feel like that was kind of a callous way of looking at things. You wonder if your brother would feel the same way about Joel for getting mixed up with you. Fortunately, Joel is still a well-kept secret. 

“Hey, it’s good to see you,” Elizabeth says. “I’m so sorry it’s under these circumstances.”

“It’s alright,” you accept her hug and return her kiss on the cheek. “It’s good to see you, too.”

She looks down at her son. “Honey, do you remember your aunt?”

“Hey, Ethan,” you crouch alongside your brother, and he nods, but still side-steps closer to his dad and smiles over at you bashfully. “How are you doing?” 

“Good.” 

“Don’t be shy,” Vincent encourages, but your nephew doesn’t seem interested in your attempt at an embrace, so you let them drop by your side. 

“It’s okay,” you stand up, feeling a fresh batch of tears threatening their way to your waterline. Ethan’s treating you like a stranger because you basically are one. 

“You’ve met a lot of new people the last few days, haven't you?” Elizabeth asks, then looks over at you. “He might be a little overwhelmed. He’ll warm up.” 

Vincent stands at the sight of you starting to cry. “I am going to take her to get some air,” your brother puts a hand on your shoulder, speaking about you as if you are not in the room with them. You feel so useless, you might as well not be.

“That sounds good,” Elizabeth says. “We can catch up later. I ought to say hello to Meredith.” 

You both nod, stepping into the hallway. 

The fresh air helps, even if you can’t go far from the apartment. You walk around the block in silence, which gives you a chance to compose yourself. It’s a surprisingly warm day, although it’s much colder in New York than it is in Austin this time of year. In early fall, the leaves have only just begun turning. 

You’re about to turn the corner to the stretch of sidewalk that leads back home, when Vincent plops himself down on a bench without warning. He fishes through the front pocket of his jacket and retrieves a flask. 

“Jesus, Vincent,” you mutter under your breath. “Right now?”

“Uhm, yeah,” he answers. When you scoff, he continues, rolling his eyes. “Oh, get off your high horse. It’s just a little.”

“Aren’t you sad?”

“Of course I’m fucking sad,” he defends. “But I go to therapy now, so….I’m better at processing.”

“Yeah?” you gesture towards the flask. “Is that what this is called?”

“No. But it is the only way I can deal with Meredith.”

“You’re insane,” you say, but can already feel your exasperation fading. In your absence, he’s been dealing with all this alone. “Give me that.” Reaching forward towards the flask, he jerks his hand away just before you make contact. 

“I’m not sharing.”

You pout at him. Come on. He rolls his eyes and passes it over. “Fine.” 

While you take a sip, he produces a pack of cigarettes and plucks one out of the carton. “You don’t smoke these anymore, do you?” 

“Not really. But I still have not managed to kick the weed habit.”

“Well I’m jealous,” he says, lighting it. “Now that Elizabeth and Ethan live with me again, I really have had to get my shit together.”

I’m sure you’ll fuck it up soon enough, you’re primed to say, but even as a joke, you feel like it’s a little too mean. It’s okay to let this be a nice moment. 

“You know, if you wanted,” he says. “You could stay here for a couple months. I can get you set up with a place in the city. It might be good to be home…after…” You do your best to ignore his reference to the inevitable storm that hangs over your heads.

Any other time, and the offer might tempt you. This is your home, always would be, and you will always feel called to it. If you came back, all your family and childhood friends would be here. And without your father, things may be different. But now you have other priorities. “I can’t do that,” you shake your head. 

“Why not?” He asks. You sit down on the bench, swipe the pack of cigarettes from where they sit between you, and take one for yourself. “Didn’t you say you were approved to work remotely?”

“No, it’s not that,” you light the cigarette and take a pull, coughing when you inhale too deeply. It’s not a joint. “I actually….met someone.”

Vincent frowns like he doesn’t believe you. “Really?”

“Yeah….he’s actually my next door neighbor.”

“Oh, you managed to wrangle a fucking cowboy-”

“How many times have I told you? I don’t live on a farm. You know what? Nevermind,” you roll your eyes, shake your head. “Forget I mentioned it..” 

“Relax, I’m joking. Always so emotional-”

“Emotional? Emotional?” you ask. “Remind me which one of us was the one who had to be sent to a-” 

Vincent’s eyes roll back, and his head tilts with them. “Oh, here we go.”

“It’s not a joke to me,” you say, desperate to end the argument, and it actually works. 

“So is this….serious?” 

You shake your head. “I mean, I…I think I’m in love.” It’s not as insane to say out loud as you had expected.

“I didn’t think you cared about that sort of thing.”

“I didn’t either. But…I don’t know. It just sort of happened.” 

“What’s his name?”

“Joel,” you say. “He’s got a daughter, Sarah…she’s sweet. So is he…hardworking, thoughtful, kind….” you trail off, and veer away from becoming too sincere.  “In other words, he’d fucking hate you.” 

“Yeah, you know I repel the honest type.”

“No,” you correct him. “I actually think you’d get along. And you’d like Sarah. She’s funny.”

“I’m sure you’re a great influence on her,” he quips, sarcastically. 

“I’m good with kids. I’ve always been a good aunt to Ethan?” you insist. “....when he knows who I am, at least.”

Vincent chuckles. “He knows who you are, he’s just in a shy phase. That or I’ve already fucked him up.” 

You’ve heard some variation of the same from Joel while talking about Sarah, and it makes you smile, just a little, and wonder how terrifying it must be to have a child of your own. 

“You couldn’t,” you tease. “Elizabeth wouldn’t allow it.”

He nods as if you’ve made a good point. “So that’s it? You’re really never coming home?”

“I mean, never say never,” you say. “At the very least, I should probably visit more often. I could bring them sometime to meet everyone. We could try to be a normal family.” 

He wrinkles his nose. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Only your brother could find a way to make you laugh even under such dire circumstances. For a while, you’re quiet, and then you speak up again. “Being in love….it’s fucking scary.”

“That’s part of it,” he says. You sigh, shake your head, and put out your cigarette. “I’m happy for you,” he says, after a while. 

“Thanks,” you smile. “I’m happy for you, too.” 

Despite the fact that your stomach still hurts, you’re sleep deprived from the flight, and your father is standing at death’s door, you are thankful for what feels like a huge step forward. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

-September 19, 2003-

Joel’s hand stretches out to stop whatever thing is ringing in his ear at such an ungodly hour. His phone. He doesn’t even think, just answers it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registers it might be important.

“Hello?” he grumbles. 

“Hey,” He can tell instantly that something is wrong. “I’m sorry, did I wake you? I didn’t check the time.”

Joel looks at the clock. It’s six in the morning for you, and he’s never known you to be an early riser. He already knows what you’re going to tell him, but he asks anyway. “Yes but it’s alright. Are you okay?” 

“My dad is gone.” 

“Oh, baby,” he says softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you say, shockingly stoic. “It will be okay. I just, I wanted you to know I’ll be staying longer than I thought. I’ve got to help my-” you clear your throat. “I’ve got to help Vincent with the arrangements and then my dad wanted his ashes scattered somewhere in Colorado. It’s where he grew up, so I’ll probably go there before I fly back, and-” You keep rambling, and Joel cuts you off. 

“Hey that’s fine, that’s okay. Don’t you worry about that.”

“Yeah, but I’m gonna miss your birthday,” you say. “I had this whole thing planned where I was gonna take you and Sarah out to dinner, and it was gonna be really nice and-” 

“We can celebrate another time,” Joel insists. “It’s okay. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you say, so quick it sounds like a reflex. “I knew it was going to happen, so...” 

“Are you sure?” He doesn’t want to push you, but it’s very clear you’re holding something back. 

“Yeah, I…” you trail off. “I don’t know.”

Joel doesn’t answer right away, just gives you a little space to process. The silence is excruciating, and lasts so long that he wonders if you’ve hung up. But eventually, you speak again.

“I don’t….I don’t feel anything,” your voice breaks, all strained and choked and horrible. “I feel like I should.” You’re hundreds of miles away, and Joel has never felt so helpless. “Something….something is really wrong with me. I can’t-” 

“Babygirl,” he hears himself say, doing everything he can to calm you down. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

He hears you take in a sharp, staggered inhale on the other line, struggling to catch your breath. “I wish you were here with me.”

Me too, I wish I was too. He wants to say, but all he feels is panic, tight around his throat. He feels like if he can’t get to you, something horrible will happen. What had he been thinking, letting you walk into this alone? Things must have been worse than you had let on. “Maybe I can try to figure something out.”

But almost as quickly as you lose control of yourself, he hears you clear your throat, a hard swallow. “It’s….it’s…it will all be fine. I will be okay, sorry, I just…” Joel can’t tell if you’re answering him, or if you’re talking to yourself. 

Joel knows the routine pretty well at this point, each time you show any sort of vulnerability, you immediately pull back – like there’s some invisible boundary you’ve crossed that snaps you back into place if you test it. He’d be able to actually help you if he was there. In some ways, you being so open with him, but only over the phone….makes sense. It’s just another way to avoid him.  He won’t resent you for it, but it doesn’t make him hurt any less. 

“What can I do?” Joel asks. “I’m worried about you.” 

“I’ll be fine, Joel. I promise,” you sniffle, clearing your throat, pulling yourself together. “I’ll be home soon and everything can just…go back to normal.” 

“Yes, it will,” he says. “You’ll get through this. And you’ll come home to Sarah and I. I’ll have a martini and a back rub waiting for you the second you walk in the door. 

“God,” you say. “You’re so hot.”

Joel chuckles, relieved to hear your smile. 

“You know,” your breathing steadies. “I would like you and Sarah to come out here. Not now. But another time.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you say. “I was thinking about it. My brother has plenty of room. We could crash here, and you could meet everyone. I mean, Vincent comes across as like….such an fucking asshole, really, truly…but I don’t know. I think ultimately you’ll get along.”

“I’m sure we will,” Joel breathes softly. 

“You just have to promise you won’t leave me if you don’t.”

“That wouldn’t make me leave you.” It’s you I love. He’s not going to tell you that over the phone. So he settles. “You are what I care about.”

“I feel the same,” you say softly. 

You’re silent for a spell. 

“I probably should go and eat something. I’ve felt awful for like three days straight and I finally have an appetite. And there’s really no problem that can’t be solved by a bodega sandwich.”

Joel chuckles. “I’m sure you’ll feel better if you eat something.” 

“I will call you later, okay?” you say. “Thank you, Joel. I miss you, and I’ll see you soon.”

“I miss you too,” he murmurs. “I’ll see you soon.”

See you soon. For the next few days, everytime you call each other, every conversation ends with the same promise. Neither of you are aware it’s one you can’t keep. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

-September 26th, 2003-

Joel sits in the front seat of Tommy’s car, and tries to hide the fact that his hands are shaking. There’s blood spattered on the front of his shirt, blood that didn’t belong to him. He’s done a lot of things to protect Sarah. To protect his family. He’d used that turn of phrase, that he’d kill for them, in passing, but never actually thought he’d have to do it. He did. He did. And he’s suddenly scared of what else he might be capable of. 

He does not want this burden, to be a protector, but he has no choice. It has been his entire life. First an older brother. Then, a father. It’s worth more than his own peace, than his own life. He would sacrifice that every time if it kept his family safe. 

And you, too.

He’s only just now looking down at his phone, trying to block out the noise of the voices on the radio that cut in and out of static. And it’s not because it’s broken. The world he knows is crumbling, he’s freefalling towards the earth, and he’s gotta grab the only things that matter or they will perish upon impact. 

Sarah says your name from behind him. “Do you think she’s okay?” 

It’s the first minute he’s had to think since he arrived at the prison to bail out Tommy. He has several missed calls from you and one voicemail. He doesn’t even think to listen, just immediately tries to call you back. 

“I don’t know, babygirl.” The phone doesn’t even ring. Sarah’s hand falls to his shoulder and he squeezes it tightly, hoping she can’t feel that it’s still trembling. Joel has no cell service, and none of the calls are going through even after trying several times over.

Joel looks down at his watch to see what time it is. It’s working now, thanks to Sarah, who had told him that she’d got it fixed at a place you had recommended before you left. It’s delusional, but he hopes maybe this isn’t happening in Colorado. You’d called him this morning to wish him a happy birthday, things had been fine then. How could it all fall apart so quickly?

He accepts that he can’t reach you, and listens to the voicemail you’ve left.

“Hey Joel, I….something is going on here. I don’t know if it’s happening everywhere. People are sick. It’s….it’s…If I don’t see you again I hope I- I want you to know that I love you. Okay? You and Sarah. Thank you, Joel. Please…please stay safe.”

I love you, too. Why didn’t he just say it when he had the opportunity to? What had he been thinking?

Joel tells himself that this is not the end. Things will settle, even if it takes time, and you will keep yourself safe. You won’t get sick. All the promises you made to each other will be kept. Even as he tells himself this, he knows it’s probably a lie.

Still, he indulges. Things will go back to normal. As long as he keeps himself safe, he’ll find his way back to you again. It’s just a matter of time. 

But his hope for the future, for anything else, dies an hour later.

-

-

-

[n0vazsq]

Just like | AP80 x Reader

pairing . . . alex powell x gf!reader

summary . . . You knew Alex was clingy, but it was the one thing the other Prema drivers loved to tease him about

request . . . yes!! based on this request!

word count . . . 1.1k+

warnings . . . none!

faceclaim . . . N/A

alexavia yaps . . . i legit finished writing this then just left it bc i didnt have the energy to publish?? like girl?? anyway there will be a gabriel (bortoleto) and jamal (musiala) update today so yes!! might write two smaus but ill see until then!

. . . Hanging out with Alex and the other Prema drivers was always a good time, but if there was one thing his teammates loved to tease him about, it was how clingy he got whenever you were around.

Not that you minded. Alex’s affection was one of the many reasons you loved him. It was just funny seeing him squirm when the guys decided to give him a hard time about it.

The first time it happened after a particularly tiring race weekend. Alex had just climbed out of the car, soaked in sweat and grinning from ear to ear after a podium finish.

You had barely stepped into the paddock when he spotted you, immediately heading in your direction. His arms wrapped around you tightly, and he buried his face in your shoulder.

"Alex, you’re sweaty!" you laughed, trying to push him away, but he refused to let go.

"Don’t care," he murmured. "I missed you."

From behind him, Dion’s voice rang out. "Mate, she was gone for what, two hours?"

"Not even," added Rashid, crossing his arms and grinning. "And you’re acting like you haven’t seen her in weeks."

"Leave him alone," you said, playfully defending Alex while running a hand through his damp hair. "He deserves some love after that race."

"Deserve it all the time," Alex mumbled against your shoulder, making you laugh.

Dion pretended to gag. "God, get a room. Or at least shower first, Alex. We can smell you from here."

Alex shot them a glare but didn’t loosen his hold on you. If anything, he tightened his arms around your waist, as if daring them to say something else.

Another moment came a few days later in the Prema lounge. The team had gathered to relax and watch some old race footage, with snacks scattered across the table.

You’d come by to hang out, not expecting Alex to immediately pull you onto the couch next to him. His arm draped over your shoulder, and he leaned in so close it was like he thought you might disappear if he gave you even an inch of space.

"Comfy?" you teased, tilting your head to look at him.

"Always comfy with you," he replied, pressing a quick kiss to your temple.

"Does she have to sit here?" Kean groaned, gesturing at how you and Alex were practically glued together. "It’s like you’re incapable of being apart for five minutes."

"Jealous, Kean?" Alex shot back, smirking.

"Not at all. I just don’t get how she puts up with you," Kean retorted, earning laughs from Dion, Rashid and Tomass.

"I think it’s sweet," Tomass chimed in, though there was a teasing glint in his eyes. "You know, in a borderline obsessive kind of way."

"Obsessive?" Alex frowned, looking genuinely offended.

"You’re literally holding her hand right now," Dion pointed out. "And we’re just sitting here watching TV. What’s next? You’re going to spoon feed her snacks?"

Alex’s ears turned red, but he didn’t let go of your hand. "You guys are just jealous because I have someone who actually likes me."

"That’s debatable," Rashid argued, earning a laugh from you.

Then there was the time the team decided to have a movie night at Tomass' place. You and Alex had shown up together, of course, and he immediately claimed the corner of the couch, pulling you down next to him.

His head rested on your shoulder, his legs stretched out across the cushions, effectively blocking anyone else from sitting too close.

"Alex, you’re hogging the couch," Kean complained as he tried to squeeze into the remaining space.

"Plenty of room on the floor," Alex replied without moving an inch.

"You’re so annoying," Dion muttered, grabbing a beanbag chair instead. "Does she even get to breathe, or are you going to steal all her oxygen too?"

"She’s fine," Alex said, reaching up to intertwine his fingers with yours. "Aren’t you, love?"

You nodded, suppressing a laugh. "Perfectly fine."

"See?" Alex smirked, looking smug.

Rashid rolled his eyes. "Man, I don’t know how you’re not sick of him yet. He’s like a koala. Clings to you for dear life."

"Hey, koalas are adorable," you defended, running your fingers through Alex’s hair. "And besides, I like it."

"Unbelievable," Tomass muttered, shaking his head. "You two are insufferable."

The teasing didn’t stop even during more serious moments. After a track walk one morning, Alex had casually grabbed your hand as you walked back to the garage. It wasn’t a big deal to you, but it apparently caught the attention of his teammates.

"Alex, do you think she’s going to get lost on the way back?" Tomass joked, pointing at your intertwined hands.

"No, I just like holding her hand," Alex replied, completely unfazed.

"You’re hopeless," Dion sighed, though he couldn’t hide his grin. "You know that, right?"

Alex shrugged. "I’d rather be hopeless than alone."

"That’s… weirdly sweet," Kean admitted, looking mildly impressed for once. "Still clingy as hell, though."

One morning, the team decided to grab breakfast together before heading to the track.

You were sitting next to Alex, and as usual, he was finding little excuses to touch you; whether it was holding your hand under the table, brushing a crumb off your cheek, or leaning in to quietly ask if you needed anything.

"Do you ever just… sit still?" Rashid asked, watching as Alex handed you the honey before you’d even asked for it.

"Not when she’s around," Alex replied, unashamed. "Have to make sure she’s taken care of."

"She’s not a toddler, Alex," Tomass said, rolling his eyes. "She can pour her own honey."

"Yeah, but I like doing it for her," Alex shot back, his tone completely sincere.

You couldn’t help but laugh. "Okay, now you’re just giving them more points."

"It’s worth it," Alex said, grinning as he kissed your cheek. "Let them talk."

By the end of the day, you’d heard enough teasing to last you a lifetime, but you could tell Alex didn’t care. If anything, he was even more clingy, unapologetically showing his affection no matter what anyone said.

As you walked out of the garage together, his arm draped over your shoulders, you leaned into him with a smile. "You know they’re never going to stop teasing you, right?"

"Let them," he said, pressing a kiss to your temple. "As long as I have you, I don’t care what they think."

"You’re such a sap," you teased, but your heart swelled at his words.

"Only for you," he replied, grinning. And in that moment, you knew you wouldn’t change a thing about him, clinginess and all.

It was just like perfection.

Well, nearly. It was as close as you could get to perfection.

taglist . . . @barcapix ,, @f1lover55 ,, @ilovebarcaaa ,, @httpsdana ,, @paucubarsisimp ,, @justaf1girl ,, @awritingtree ,, @freyathehuntress ,, @chilling-seavey (lmk if you want to join the taglist!)

[letters-from-dekarios]

fighting fate

summary: you had some choice words for your friend who set you up on a not-so-blind date. but, because it went well, you decide to meet with him again. it’s not long before the spark reignites like when you first met, and you can’t help but fall for him.

or: you go on a second date with gale

word count: 5.5k

tags: *this is a sequel to ‘a blind date with a wizard’, you do not have to read it before this one :)* gale x implied f!reader/afab!reader, astarion and shart are terrible wingmen, elf!reader, fluff, some small angst, mildly medium burn, alcohol usage, wyll is also there and also your ex, omg karlach is also there

author’s note: this is my little disclaimer that i personally love wyll! i’m just using him as a plot point since there’s not many other main chara options that haven’t been mentioned already (that i would use in his place). its for the plot guys i swear i’m a wyll lover too

Okay, maybe you couldn’t be mad at Astarion and Shadowheart. Yes, they betrayed your trust by setting you up on a faux blind date with their wizard friend who already knew your entire life story. And yes, they did not take accountability for their lies and instead kept asking if you enjoyed yourself. But, their little plan worked, and you were scheduling a second date with the man they set you up with.

“I am still pissed at you both. Especially you, Astarion,” You glared at your friend as he flipped through outfits in your closet. Shadowheart was busy doing your makeup, turning your face back towards her.

“Look, you can’t stay angry forever. You needed someone to get your mind off of Wyll. I just did what I do best,” he replied, holding up one rather… skimpy outfit that you turned your nose up at.

“Lying? You could’ve at least told me a little about him so I didn’t feel so mortified! You told him all about Wyll and when I tried to vaguely mention that I had a bad breakup, he already knew all about it!” You huffed, and Shadowheart grabbed your chin to steady your face. She gave you a cautionary look as she got underway applying your eyeliner, her hand steady and precise. She had cast duplicity to do both sides at the same time, which made the process much easier.

“Sweetheart, if you knew half the things about him you’d refuse to meet with him. I kept you in the dark so you can see for yourself who he is,” Astarion held up another outfit, one a bit more casual but still would be pretty on you. You nodded in approval and Shadowheart nearly had an aneurysm.

“If you don’t stop moving your damn head I’m going to let you leave here looking like a sibriex,” Shadowheart warned you again, and you took heed of her notice this time.

With your makeup done and your outfit fresh, all you had to do was wait for Gale to arrive. The two of you had been back and forth for weeks now, mostly updating each other on current things you were up to. A few days prior, with your schedules finally open, he had sent word of when he’d like to take you out and you responded as soon as you could. Now, you waited for the date to commence.

“You can at least thank us for our assistance in getting you out of the house. Had I not convinced you to go on that blind date, you’d still be crying over Ravengard’s oldest disappointment,” Astarion remarked, and you snorted at the insult of a name.

You sighed after, messing with the ends of your hair. “You can’t blame me for being annoyed. You wouldn’t like it if I set you up with someone and told them you were a vampire before you could,” you raised an eyebrow at him knowingly. He couldn’t deny that you were correct on that front, but he wasn’t about to say that to you.

“Just be grateful he didn’t tell Gale about your little misadventures as a—“ Shadowheart began, and you quickly clamped your hand over her mouth, shushing her.

“Don’t mention that! It’ll bring bad luck to my date tonight,” you frowned, and both of your companions busted out in laughter.

You continued chatting until a soft knock sounded on the door, and you screamed internally. After getting up from the couch, you made your way to the door. You took a breath, eased your mind, and then opened it up for him.

“Hey,” you beamed at him, trying to contain your excitement. He bowed in acknowledgement and pulled out a small bouquet from behind his back.

“Good evening, my lady,” he smiled at you, extending the flowers in greeting.

You felt your face become hot while a small giggle left you. You took them from him and briefly smelled the assortment. “They’re lovely, thank you,” you replied, inviting him inside for a beat so you could set the flowers down.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite wizard of Waterdeep!” Astarion swung his legs over his chair, standing and heading towards him. He slumped his arm over Gale’s shoulders, patting his back. “Isn’t he just amazing, Y/N? Such a gentleman— is that bluestars I smell?” Astarion whacked him on the back once more, stepping around to you as he observed the flowers. Bluestars was a rather expensive perfume in Faerùn, costing over two hundred gold pieces for just a small bottle. You had never smelled it before, but you were sure you would later.

“Leave him be, Astarion,” you gave him a look, voice low to avoid Gale hearing you.

“Ah, I pay no mind to Astarion anyway,” Gale watched you as you placed the flowers neatly in a vase and filled it with water. “If I did, I sincerely doubt I’d be here at the moment,” he chuckled, and you beamed at the reply.

“You’re such a pain, Gale. You know that?” Astarion whined, before slipping back over to the couch.

“I’m sure he’s plenty aware,” Shadowheart called over her shoulder, focused on a book she had brought out.

“Thank you, Shadowheart, for your helpful insight on the matter,” Gale retorted, raising a hand to you once you were done with the bouquet. “Shall we?”

You took his hand, your face flushing again as he led you out the door. “We shall,” you answered, smiling sweetly at him.

“Bring her home before one!” Astarion called out as you both left.

“Oh, that may be difficult!” Gale retorted, allowing you to close the door behind you both as you departed.

“What, you plan on stealing me away for the whole evening?” You raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously, laughing as you interlocked your arms and he began to walk with you.

“Perhaps.. if you’d let me,” he nudged you gently, before leading you off to a small restaurant in the heart of the city.

“Hmm… it’ll depend on how this night goes,” you flirted, patting his arm tenderly. Soon enough, you were being seated inside the little restaurant, and looking over the menu. Everything looked… expensive. You didn't want to hurt the man’s coin pouch, assuming he was paying for it, but there weren't exactly any reasonable options, either.

“What are you getting?” You questioned, and he pointed to some mildly pricey menu item. That was your hint at expenses, and you picked a dish that sounded promising but wasn’t going to put you in debt if you ended up paying for yourself.

The date was filled with idle conversation, the two of you discussing parts of your home life here and there, commenting happily on the food you ate, and just sharing the good parts of yourselves. It was going great, extraordinary even.

Until he showed up.

Wyll Ravengard. You didn't even feel the eyes burning into the back of your head until you heard someone pleading with him to stop, attempting to keep him back. You flicked your attention over to the commotion, eyes going wide as you saw him. You wished you hadn’t made eye contact, that you’d minded your business, but you hadn’t. And now you had to deal with it.

You wanted to shrink down into yourself. Disappear into nothing- hide under the table like a small child. With the way things ended, how could you face him? He was a gentleman for your whole relationship— until he wasn’t. You couldn’t stand to see the face that spoke to you in such a way that night. No matter what influence he was under, what he did that night you broke up… you couldn’t forgive him.

You recalled the many nights after that fight, how depressed you had become. He tried several times to get your attention and apologize to you, but you were so wrapped up in yourself that it was hard to pay attention to anything. Some nights he was kindly about it, others he was swearing like a damned sailor who couldn't take no for an answer. You weren't sure who he had become, and no matter how hard he tried he was unable to reverse the past.

“Y/N!” He shouted your name, and you put your head in your hands. Maybe if you didn't see him, he would disappear.

“Wyll, please, not here-“ his friend Karlach, you recognized her as, tried to hold him back. But with his thrashing and flailing, he managed to worm his way free of her grasp.

“Impero te!” Gale moved to his feet quickly, and Wyll froze in place. You recognized the words as a command spell. It appeared Gale chose that over a holding spell, perhaps so he could speak with Wyll first. You knew it would wear off soon, so you placed your coin on the table and got up.

“Don’t you dare leave, Y/N!” Wyll exclaimed, and Gale turned to check up on you.

“I’m okay,” you reassured him, smiling faintly as you grabbed your things. “I’m just going to go outside for a minute.”

He nodded and waited for you to leave before his attention was on Wyll again.

You weren’t sure what happened after that, but only a little while later and both men were being tossed out by two guards you’d seen in the restaurant earlier. Gale’s face was down, his hand held up to his nose, and in the candle-lit street, you could faintly make out blood on his knuckles.

“You bastard!” Wyll ran to, presumably, take another swing, but Karlach grabbed him in time before he could.

“Gale-“ you rushed to his side, now that Karlach had a tight hold on Wyll, and checked him for any other injuries.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” he soothed, despite the blood dripping down his face. You reached into the small bag you had brought and took out a cloth, gently wiping at his face.

“Does this jackass speak for you now, Y/N?” You heard Wyll snarl, followed by Karlach’s aggressive warnings for him to calm down.

“Mates, I’m really sorry for his behavior. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. Can I pay you back for the dinner?” Karlach surrendered, nodding down to a small coin pouch at her hip.

“It’s not your fault, you don’t need to pay for his stupidity,” you answered, moving Gale to sit down on a nearby bench. “Tilt your head back..” you instructed, a delicate motherly tone to your voice, and he did so, holding the cloth tight against his nose.

As you spun to face Wyll, you saw he was bloodied just the same. You had to hand it to Gale, he was more than just a gentleman. You sighed, composed yourself, and put on your bravest ‘what the fuck are you doing’ face.

“What do you want, Wyll?” You coldly asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

“You know what I want,” he huffed, still struggling in Karlach’s grasp.

“Actually, as a matter of fact, I don’t! It might surprise you, but I haven’t known what you wanted from me since the night we broke up. What could you possibly need from me after everything that transpired?” Your eyebrows furrowed together, irate with him. Thinking about that night hurt your mind and your heart, you’d much rather continue with your date like nothing happened. But, of course, the universe was always against you.

“Y/N-“ Wyll calmed slightly, his likely drunken stupor fading as he regained his senses seeing you like this. For a moment, he looked like how you remembered him. For a moment, he was yours again.

That quickly dissipated as he continued to speak, reaching towards you, begging, “I want you- I miss you. I should’ve never let this go, I should’ve never let that bastard get his hands on you. You’re mine, right? Like we used to say?”

You took a step back at his words, feeling sick to your stomach. After all this time, he still had that false hope he could get you back? That you still belonged to him? And what was worse, he called Gale a bastard. Again.

“I’ll have you know that bastard back there, is twice the man you ever were. I suggest you rethink your ownership because, to my knowledge, I belong to myself. I was finally- finally!- feeling free from your grasp and here you go, trying to steal my peace from me.” you clasped your hands together, groaning out in frustration before running a hand down your face. “I was done with you a long time ago, Wyll. Please, for the love of all of Faerún, let. Me. Go. Drop this faux apology and the pathetic act and move on with your life. That was embarrassing!” You sighed, running a hand down your face. The arguing in public was only adding to your humiliation, though many passersby just assumed you all were drunk.

“Y/N-“

“No, Wyll!” You cut him off, waving a hand dramatically to silence him. “I was so happy to be finally moving on from you and rebuilding myself after you left me in pieces and you had to come here and ruin it! You had to smash me to bits all over again! I just want to be happy, and you can’t even let me have that?” You could feel tears welling in your eyes, but you pushed them down like all your other worries. “Please, go home. Go away. I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to see you anymore, I want to go home. Without you.” It seemed that those final words got to him, and he realized his defeat.

As much as you had loved him in the past, he was no longer who you loved now. It was beyond you to change him to become the man he used to be, and you cried for the day he would find the love he would become that for. You wished he could do that for you but you knew it wasn’t right. It wasn’t even worth it anymore. Besides, you had to get Gale home and cleaned up anyway. What good would worrying about Wyll do for you?

“You’re sure you don’t want any coin, mate? I feel awful about all of this,” Karlach offered again, and you waved her off.

“Get him home safe, that’s all I ask,” you replied, and they were off. You watched as Wyll’s sad, defeated eyes stayed locked with yours until they were far enough away, and your heart broke all over again.

Gale knew when not to meddle in things that didn’t concern him, so he left that talking up to you. It was not his place to speak to Wyll for you, but his charming act of heroism in punching the shit out of Wyll was plenty for you.

You took another breath, unclenched the fists you had unknowingly created, and returned to Gale’s side.

“How are you doing?” You asked him, kneeling in front of him as he laughed softly.

“As good as a man with a broken nose can be. You don’t happen to have any healing potions on you, do you?” He replied, smiling at you.

“Not here, but I have some at home,” You offered, and he shook his head no to that.

“I’d rather not return to Astarion’s commentary on my little.. quandary here,”

You pondered for a moment, and then a metaphorical lightbulb appeared over your head. “Vis medicatrix,” you chanted, placing your hand on his arm to heal the wound. Blue light emitted from your palms and eyes for a moment and then faded. Why you hadn’t thought of that prior, you had no idea.

“There. How do you feel now?” You repeated, and Gale lowered the cloth from his nose. He breathed in and out a few times, and then nodded in satisfaction.

“You’re quite good at that,” he chuckled, trying to wipe off as much blood from his face as he could. His knuckles were covered in Wyll’s blood, you noted, and you were oddly surprised Gale didn’t have more marks on him from whatever took place inside.

“What even-“

“Perhaps later.”

You pursed your lips in understanding, standing straight as you waited for him. Where would you head off to now? He looked a mess, and you could hardly stand to be around everyone who had just witnessed what occurred. What would people say? They undoubtedly recognized Ravengard’s son, so what would the rumors tell about you? Those were worries for a later time.

“There’s a travel sigil nearby if you’d like to head to my home in Waterdeep with me,” Gale offered, and you interlocked your arms again when he stood up.

“I’d like that,” you agreed, letting him guide you home.

After a bit of walking and some magical travel, you were inside Gale’s rather lavish tower in Waterdedl. The walls were practically lined from floor to ceiling with books, showing his studious nature. The smell of thousand-year-old tomes and scrolls filled your lungs, mixed with the neverending hint of brandy and vanilla. He took good care of his belongings, despite his continued apologies over what he considered a mess. Though, the only clutter you saw was that of a well-studied scholar. It was impressive just how many books he had, and you wondered if he really had read all of them.

“I believe I have a bottle of Ithbank somewhere around here, let me get myself cleaned up first,” Gale offered, and you had half the nerve to speak up.

“Let me help you,” you proposed, and he smiled at you. That cheeky, knowing smile, akin to one Astarion would give you when you’d talk of something scandalous he was already doing. He nodded his head in the direction of his washroom and you followed along behind him, allowing him to sit on a small stool as you wet a rag.

“Well, go on,” you urged, tilting his face up by the chin as you stood between his legs. Gently, you began washing the blood off of his face. “What happened?”

“After you stepped outside, Wyll began saying some rather choice words,” Gale recounted, the night's events playing over in his mind, eyes ever trained on you. “He wouldn’t cooperate with leaving. He took the first swing, I assure you. It’s not like me to throw first, or even second. I usually counteract with magic but, albeit adrenaline was forefront in my mind, a more physical response felt qualified.”

You chuckled at him, shaking your head as you took his hands and cleaned them off, too. “I’m not a damsel in distress, you know. I just didn’t want to deal with him.” You informed him, wanting to make perfectly clear your reason for aversion.

“Oh, I’m fully aware. But I like to play the white knight now and then, if you’d indulge me,” he grinned, turning his hand in yours and taking it gently. He kissed the top of your palm in thanks for your help.

You giggled at him, splashing his face gently with water, to which he gasped, reached over towards the sink, and splashed you back. You both burst into laughter as you started a miniature water fight, flicking water droplets at one another. You, though, wouldn’t give up this nonsensical fight so easily, and splashed a small cup in his face. His expression turned sour and you darted out of the washroom, Gale quick on your tail, and began dashing around bookshelves to avoid him. The initial droplets soon became minor castings of ‘create water’, both of you careful not to damage the papers surrounding you.

“This honestly seems unfair!” He called over to you as you shimmied behind a small space between two bookshelves. Abruptly, he went quiet and you began to peek around some books to see where he was.

He didn’t even say a word as he wrung out his cloth over your head, your hair becoming completely wet.

“Gale!” You screeched, turning around to his shit-eating grin. You whipped out your cloth while grabbing his collar, suddenly pulled his shirt slightly off his body, and wrung out all the remaining water from yours down his chest. Then, you flattened his shirt against his chest, allowing it to become soaked in its own right.

He jumped slightly at the coolness and glared down at you, albeit playfully. He quickly pulled you against him by the waist, effectively getting your clothes damp, too.

“You know, this is one of my favorite shirts. It’s not supposed to get wet like this so the fibers don’t fray,” Gale hummed, staring down at you with a suggestive look in his eye.

“Oh? How ever will I repay you for ruining it?” You asked, batting your eyelashes at him with faux innocence.

He thought about it for a moment, pondered just a beat too long, and tugged you close against his hips. He leaned down towards you, letting his nose brush against your own.

“A simple apology should suffice,” he smiled softly, looking down into your eyes.

“Well,” you lowered your voice, your eyes flicked from his to his lips, and back up again. “I’m so sorry, Mister Dekarios..” your hands made their way to his chest, and you planted them flat against him. “I should dry this off for you too, shouldn’t I?” You pouted, pulling out the wide, cutesy eyes for him.

He took in a breath, placing one hand on top of yours while the other rested on your lower back. “While I love that offer..” he started, brushing his lips against yours, “Let’s take things slow, yes?” He asked, and your breath hitched. Good gods. You couldn’t believe how goddamn gorgeous he was up close. You wanted nothing more than to spend the whole night with him, whatever that would entail.

“Y/N-“

“Yes.” He didn’t even need to ask, but he started to anyway. Almost instantly, his lips were against your own, the hand on your back gently pulling you closer to him as if there was any distance keeping you apart. Your eyes fluttered closed, indulging yourself entirely the moment.

You replied instantly to him, grabbing at his shirt as you leaned up towards him. One of your hands released the fabric and slid up his shoulder, then into his hair, tugging gently.

He hummed happily in response to the pull, grabbing tighter at your waist. After another beat, he drew back and rubbed his nose against yours.

“Gale…” Your eyes slowly opened again, ever so slightly still shut, looking up at him with an unknown kind of intensity and love.

“I know…” he whispered, pressing a small kiss to your lips again, before he trailed down your neck with them, his hands solid against your back and keeping you steady.

You let out a soft, satisfied little groan, running your hands through his hair. He pulled back again after another brief indulgement of his thoughts and looked down at you. He was so perfect, you almost felt bad for making him deal with you and all your imperfections.

“Can I stay the night with you?” You asked, and then panicked as you realized he might get the wrong idea. “Not- like- we don’t have to do anything! I just… want to be here… with you…” your voice went quieter by the minute, and he chuckled at your shyness in asking.

Tilting your head up by the chin, he calmed your nerves. “Of course, you can,” he leaned down to you, pressing another small kiss to your lips.

He slowly pulled away from you, his hands ghosting on your waist before he stepped back, coaching you to follow him with his all-knowing smirk, bringing you to his kitchen. As you followed, he pulled out the aforementioned bottle of Ithbank and two glasses. You hopped up onto one of the counters, watching him pour into each.

“So, I have to know,” he began, handing you the wine, “if you’d be willing to share,” he took a sip from his glass, stepping between your legs this time, “what exactly happened with Wyll? Because that kind of a reaction from someone doesn’t suggest that the breakup was just messy, it suggests that it was, well, horrid to say the least.”

You took the wine glass from him, wrapped your legs around his waist, and sighed loudly. “I’d like to know about you and your ex first,” you replied, taking a sip slowly, “I don’t know much about you and right now the scales are quite imbalanced,” you finished, setting your glass down beside you. You leaned forward, draping your arms over his shoulders, and began to mess with his hair.

“Ah, Mystra…” he chuckled, though it wasn’t as enthusiastic as it usually was. He pursed his lips together, frowned slightly, and then began to speak.

“As you may know, Mystra is the Goddess of Magic, the Mother of the Weave, if you will. And I, myself, am a rather proclaimed wizard,” he started, bringing your arms down from his shoulders as he stepped back. He began to manipulate the weave around you both, a soft purple light shimmering and sparkling between and around you. “From a young age, I was using the Weave. I had much of it mastered by the time I was just ten years old. One of Mystra’s former chosen, Elminster, took it upon himself to train me in her absence, as she was not alive at that point.”

You saw the face of a man, conjured by Gale, who you could only assume was the Elminster he spoke of.

“When Mystra came back, she had lost a part of herself in her former death. Thus, she was weak. But, she could still sense my fascination and usage of the Weave. Soon enough, she began appearing to me. Only briefly, mind you, she was still far too injured to show herself entirely, but she still did.” This time, you saw the face of a rather beautiful woman, whom he alluded to as Mystra. How had he given up a Goddess? Well, you’d find out.

“At that time, she picked me to become one of her Chosen. Recognizing my skill for harnessing the Weave, and understanding my desire and devotion to her, it was an obvious choice. She started mentoring me, showing me parts of the Weave I had not yet discovered,” he continued, using visualizations of the encounters to help guide the storyline. “Eventually, we became friends. And then, even closer than that. Lovers. I desired to become great for her- intertwine our souls together, prove just how much I loved her. Remind you, she was dead for a long time,” he paused, making sure you were following him.

“When she came back, she had to regain the parts of the Weave that she had lost. I, knowing this, happened across a tome that told of a portion of the Weave that Mystra had not yet been reacquainted with. Lost to time, the elements, and Mystra’s long respite, this part of the Weave had gone uncollected by her and was still separate. It was imbued with Netherese magic from the folly of one of her chosen from many centuries prior, that in of itself is a story for another time. I sought to retrieve it and return it to her as an act of love- or, perhaps, egotism. I shall never know the true intent of my heart in those days, but, rest assured, I am no longer the same,” he smiled warily at you, hoping he was not losing you in everything. Both in the storybook tale he was telling, and romantically.

“The act of mine failed, rather horrendously so. What mortal man takes a piece of the weave for himself? A selfish one, indeed. Cursed with this portion, it was bestowed upon me. There are many details that I’m leaving for the sake of not boring you, but in a gist that is what happened. And now, this Netherese magic rests within me, seeking out parts of the weave to regain what it too had previously lost. Without magical artifacts, death very well could be the consequence. So, safe to say, I am no longer on my Goddess’ good side,” he paused, debating on what else to say. “It’s an arcane hunger, that’s what my Tressym, Tara, and I have figured out. I must consume those artifacts regularly to ease the hunger and calm the orb, otherwise I’ll… well, let’s just say it won’t exactly be very pretty.” He laughed slightly again, that sad, disheartened chuckle, and you felt terrible for him.

Mystra had essentially cursed the man she claimed to love, and you found that unfair. Why wouldn’t she just reabsorb the magic? Why put him under duress when all he wanted to do was prove his devotion? You would never say it aloud, but you despised the Gods and their unusual cruelty at times.

“I… don’t know what to say. That’s awful, Gale.” You realized that the details he had provided to you on your initial date were rather vague. Now that he explained it in more depth, your situation with Wyll felt minuscule in comparison. What’s a lover's quarrel in the shadow of a devoted, lovesick chosen being cursed with a gift he intended for his Goddess?

“Do not pity me, Y/N. It’s the consequence of a foolish man seeking more than he could attain. Had I not been blinded by my insatiable need to grow stronger and unlock arcane secrets that were not mine to know, I would not be here. Mystra had told me to be content, and I just couldn’t listen. But had I, I would not be with you. If going back in time meant that I would lose out on what I have now, I would suffer it all over a thousand times more,” he smiled at you, the magic fading as he returned and stood in front of you again.

“You’d suffer through losing your Goddess’ favor for me?” You asked, and he nodded. The look in his eye… was one of complete seriousness. While soft, you could see the determination behind his gaze. He did not intend to fault you like he faulted his Goddess. He wanted to savor this, savor you. You weren’t sure whether to be scared, or honored. What else was he willing to risk for you?

“I’d disown even the angriest of Gods if it resulted in our union being inseparable,” he placed his hand under your chin, tilting your head up towards him. “I have only known you for a short period of my life, and yet I’d live a thousand more years with you if I could.”

You felt your eyes water, the sentiment touching your heart. You looked towards the ground, before throwing your arms around him and pulling him in for a hug. You wrapped your legs tightly around his waist, and he pulled you close against him.

“Thank you, for everything,” you told him, burying your face into his chest. He held you just like that for a moment, allowing his head to rest on top of yours. When you finally pulled away, looking up at him with the sweetest doe eyes, he couldn’t help but lean down and kiss you again.

“You’re adorable,” he laughed softly, kissing you again and again. Your giggles broke the kisses and you whacked him gently on the chest to get him to stop.

“Are you alright? I know that was quite a lot to take in,” he asked, and you admired his sensitivity to your headspace.

“I’m alright. I’m still stuck on the fact you eat magical items, though,” you joked, and he rolled his eyes at you.

“Alright, alright. Enough about me. It’s your turn,” he wrapped the conversation back around to you and Wyll, and it pained you for a second to think about it.

And then you looked at him, enjoying his glass of wine with you, and you couldn’t help but feel connected enough to talk about it.

Until you heard the birds chirping happily outside, the two of you labored over the blow-up with Wyll. It was a weight off your shoulders, bantering with him about all the shitty things that happened that night. Like two drunken schoolgirls talking shit about a mutual ex-friend, you both couldn’t help it.

You weren’t sure how long you slept, just that you were comfortable, warm, and safe. Safe within the tight hold of Gale’s arms, under the silk sheets that lined his bed.

You had this inkling feeling that all was right in the world. The universe, for once, was back on your side. Back on his side. It was like mending a pot with the age-old art of kintsugi- melding two broken pieces together with gold-dusted glue. Was it perfect? By no means. But it was together. It was whole.

You were whole again.

At least, until you got abducted by Mindflayers.

[kittywritingsonao3]

i had an idea about an AU my s-class hunters inspired debut or die so i'm sharing it ^^ i wrote it fast without thinking much so don't take it too seriously...

! there's big spoilers for debut or die novel so don't read if you don't want to be spoiled !l

like in canon, yoohyun left yoojin (for x reason) and yoojin is well, sad. Until one day he woke up in is brother body, several years in the past, with the ultimatum of debuting as an idol or he will die. Of course yoojin is not going to let his brother body die, and like in dod, every information about himself disapeared.

so like, contrary to moondae, yoojin don't know much about idol, so I had different idea to "help" him. 1, the system window is talking to him and giving advice (newcomer) 2, yoohyun was a solo idol and yoojin keeped track of him.

anyway, idol inc happens and for the group i was thinking on making a mixed group (discarding season 2 of idol inc).

for the group i imagined yoohyun(yoojin) as a leader/singer, yerim as a main rapper/dancer, noah main dancer/singer (inspired ahyeon) and then... i don't really know :/ i like myeongwoo but i can't really imagine him singing/dancing or rapping so... since the groupe is "young" i wondered if i could put soyoung too? but then i couln't do a jupiter "groupe", and at the same time having hyunjae and soyoung around the same age? weird. So yeah, apart from noah and yerim i'm not sure about yoojin's group. of course yoojin would take care of everyone and everthing, this guy don't change.

for hyunjae, well, it's easy to say he's taking the place of cheongryeo!

as i was typing i realised that myeongwoo could be a producer, like raebin. so maybe singer/producer? since there's a lot of singers, soyoung should be a rapper.

anyway, let's go back to hyunjae. hyunjae is an all rounder obviously, the king of everything, except he don't really do live and variety show. contrary to cheongryeo i like to think he would do a lot of solo stuff outside of the groupe.

talking of the group! of course mixed again. at this point i'm a bit strugling because i don't know if i want hyuna to be in the same groupe as hyunjae or another girl only group. if she's in a gg, she would be with riette and nonames. if she isn't, i like the lineup hyunjae, hyuna, taewon, evelyn and maybe riette. i don't know about making riette an idol if hyuna is with the other. she could be someone who work in the industry, and cause trouble to noah but have a good relationship with soyoung.

for the roles i'm not sure, but rapper/main dancer hyuna is good, singer evelyn, rapper taewon maybe?

going back to hyunjae, like cheongryeo he came back multiple time in the past to achieve the missions. and he would probably annoy yoojin a lot, but as time pass, they would reach a relation of trust and try to break the system together.

yoojin will remember about a past he forgot, his suicide and the other life of everyone (yerim, noah, myeongwoo but also hyuna, taewon and hyunjae) and how yoohyun saved his life with the system.

contrary to dod, i think it would be better if yoojin return to his body. and i have two ideas at how it can happens. 1 well, uh, magic. yoojin live in his body, but everybody who isn't aware of the system think that the idol yoohyun always looked like that and was always named yoojin. he kept being an idol, and his brother continue being his number 1 fan. for those who read the novel, it's like the arc "Company <System> update" where everybody forgot moondae. idea 2, since yoohyun got back in his body he became an idol, replacing his brother. yoojin became their's manager, and hyunjae always try to get him become his manager's group ;)

this is the end, my brain cannot do much more for now ^^' if i have other idea, i'll share them but for now that's all. if you got inspired feel free to write about it, just mention me that's all i ask. and link me your work so i can see it (☆▽☆)/

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Semantic Error | A Jeon Jungkook Series | Chapter 4

Based off of Semantic Error (bl) by J Soori Summary: Jungkook asks to spent time with y/n as friends Pairing: Techie inexperienced fem!reader x Artist fuck boy Jungkook Word Count: 1.2k~ Warnings: Nothing really, Jungkook is just being annoying and flirty a/n: This is just a tiny bite of the story since I haven't updated it in almost 5 days... oops. I'm spending time at my sister's house for the next few days but I should be able to work on posting more on Monday :) Read from the beginning

Days after my reconciliation with Jungkook I find myself thinking of the possibility of asking him if he would consider working on the game with me again but that would require me to swallow my pride. I'm not really in favor of that option so I decide to wait until he brings it up... if he brings it up.

I could always put up a flyer in the visual arts department asking if anyone would be interested in joining. I'm saying it here and now, I will never crawl back to him, if he sees that I'm still looking for a designer and ends up being interested then he can beg me to be a part of the project again. 

Either way as long as I get a new one by the end of the week then I don't care who I work with. As long as they have a good work ethic and their character design doesn't suck and they can keep to deadlines and... well maybe it might be a bit harder to find someone to fit the bill than I thought it would, knowing that people tend to be very unreliable and unpredictable creatures. I don't want to go through what I went through with Hana cancelling on me again. I guess the only way to really try to find someone is let people know about it.

Calculating all the pros and cons of what the result might be depending on my methods I decide fliers with my contact information would be my best bet. I'll just place it on some sort of bulletin board and hope for the best. If that doesn't work I'll resort to some sort of digital announcement. Opening the program I plan to use I notice that I've received a friend request on sns. Pulling it up I'm greeted with a follow request from Jungkook which I find strange but I accept it nonetheless. Soon after I get a DM from him in my inbox. 

'Hey pretty, I didn't realize you had social media, I guess this means we're friends now that we're following each other :)' I roll my eyes at his pathetic excuse at flirting.

'Last I checked you followed me, I haven't followed you yet' I say putting him in his place.

'Yet ;)' shit I should've just ignored him. 

'Come on y/n just follow me, I promise my account isn't some narcissistic blog or anything, plus next time we see each other I want to take a picture with you and post it! I like posting pictures of my friends!' he says and I can feel his smile through the phone and I roll my eyes at the thought.

'You have to ask for my consent before posting anything' I reply ultimately giving into him since there's no harm done with clicking a single button. 

'Okay I got it. Hey can we meet up in the library tomorrow? I wanted to spend some time with you. I know you end up spending a lot of time in there anyways so I just thought that maybe we could study together, especially since we taking Chinese together' he says waiting for my permission to give him another place to annoy me in.

'What makes you think I would want to study with you?' I say hoping to brush him off.

'y/n I'm your TA , I've see all of the work you've turned in' he teases.

'What's that supposed to mean?' I ask offended at what he's implying.

 'It means that you write like a child. Plus your accent when you speak isn't the best either. I could tutor you if you'd like ;)' he responds, simultaneously offering his help while also insulting me. 

'Pass' I say frustrated with his attitude.

'I'm sorry I didn't mean it, I just like thinking about what you might look like while you're responding to me. You probably have your brows pinched together looking utterly offended and maybe even blushing from embarrassment' 

'I'm not embarrassed!' I retort.

'Why don't you look in the mirror pretty, I've got you blushing without even being there don't I' I get up frustrated, determined to prove him wrong but to my disgust I see my cheeks with a light dusting of pink. 

'Fuck you' I reply indirectly confirming his suspicions.

"Anyway do you want to meet after the class you have after Chinese?' he suggests.

'Aren't you in that class too?' I question annoyed by the memory of him taking my spot for the second time that day.

'No I dropped the class, there was no way I was gonna stay in it and bring down my gpa, I just wanted to annoy you for a bit' he admits.

'Do you have another class after Chinese?' I ask curious as to what he'll do while I'm in class.

'Oh no I'm done for the day after that :)' he sends

'So you're just gonna wait around for me until my hour and a half class ends and then spend even more time studying together? Don't you have something better to do with your life?' I question, confused as to why he would do that. 

'Not really, I just wanna spend some time with you. I wanna be friends remember?' he send with no hesitation.

Is this what friends do for each other? Waste a whole day waiting for your class to finish just to then tutor them afterwards just because you want to 'spend time with them'?

'You Jeon Jungkook are an enigma' I respond not bothering to acknowledge his continued efforts to establish a friendship with me for some odd reason. 

'Thank you? Anyways what's your answer pretty?' he prods, not satisfied with my evasion of his proposition. 

'First off stop calling me that, second I'll be there from 3-6 are you prepared to stay for that long?' I question trying to get him to rescind his invitation. 

'Yep, I'll make sure to clear my schedule, see you then pretty ;)'

I groan audibly at his antics and close out the app. I guess this whole flyer situation can wait until tomorrow since he's given me a splitting headache from all of this. Who knows maybe he'll bring up the game tomorrow so I won't have to make them or swallow my pride, therefore making him come crawling back to me since he seems so eager to spend time with me. 

Taking a deep breath to clear my mind I decide to go to bed early to prepare myself for the mystery this is to be my day tomorrow. My days used to be the same week to week, month to month through out my life with minor changes to my class schedules since I've been in college but ever since Jeon Jungkook decided to walk into my life it has been anything but ordinary.

I'm used to scheduling things down to the very minute and that has worked well for me. It's set me up for success in my schooling but also as an adult. My life is what some people might call boring but I find peace in my calculated existence. Whereas Jeon Jungkook rolls with the punches and lives in chaos. My world is in black and white and his is in color, my life is routine and his life is creative. Why has someone like him taken an interest in me when I'm the exact opposite. Why can't he just leave me alone? I guess the real question I should be asking is why can't I get him out of my head? 

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[02chois]

FAIRY OF SHAMPOO ✧ preview

pairing: idol au! soobin x fem! reader

summary: soobin found his own fairy of shampoo. the one that makes him smile whenever they show up on screen, and even manages to brighten up his day whenever he's upset. but this feels a little familiar, isn't it? he hopes it won't be like the song they released. he wants to be able to face the fairy that casted a spell on him without the screen between them.

masterlist ☆

The song had been stuck in his head all day. From morning until he slept he has the song on repeat and every time a certain someone's part comes on, he smiles and his dimples become more prominent.

Seeing her makes him unbelievably happy. It made him realize that this is how their beloved fans feel whenever they see them or their favorite, his chest feels light and his stomach is filled with butterflies. Whenever he has the chance he makes sure to watch their performances and at times he catches himself watching a fancam of hers.

That's when he realized that he was deep into their fandom. He couldn't get out of the rabbit hole, and even if he tried it wouldn't be easy.

"Who are you looking at?"

The voice behind him made him quickly scroll away from a photo, his thumb stopped on a post about an interview with a random group.

Yeonjun raised an eyebrow at him. He moved and sat down beside the leader, who froze in his seat, and leaned over his shoulder to look at his phone.

Soobin pressed the link to the interview to look less suspicious, though the sweat on his temple could say otherwise. The chances of Yeonjun seeing the bead of sweat is low and he wouldn't really think anything of it. And on top of that, they just finished practicing.

"I'm just reading," the blond finally spoke up.

Yeonjun moved away and leaned his back against the wall, he hummed and gave him a nod. "Alright then. I'm just asking what got you so focused on your screen."

Soobin didn't answer. He forgot to switch their official public account as a group to his account, but hopefully he won't like anything about her to avoid raising suspicion among the netizens and creating unnecessary issues. He wouldn't want her group to get attacked just because he likes their music. It's unfair how they treat girl groups compared to boy groups and that extremely saddens him.

"Hyung, can you help me with this?" Taehyun called out from a distance, alerting the older one beside Soobin.

Yeonjun immediately stood from the floor and made his way towards Taehyun, but Soobin didn't really care what was going on and lowered his gaze on his phone. Whatever they were doing he shouldn't really focus on it as it didn't include him.

He switched the account to his own account and let out a sigh of relief, his lips curling into a smile as soon as the feed loaded in and a series of NewJeans update accounts filled his timeline; however, a specific member took over the whole timeline once he began to scroll through them.

A Fairy of Shampoo, what does it really mean? A person you really admire that makes you no longer feel lonely and sad every time you see them. They always appear on screen just in time.

Soobin was often seen smiling while gazing at his screen, as witnessed by the other members numerous times. It happens often right after they practice and he's at the corner of the room with his phone. One of them even thought he was dating someone, but soon they realized that their leader is just another fanboy. They found out soon enough and they didn't mind.

As long as Soobin is happy then they are, as well. But it gets annoying sometimes. But little did they know it's only the start of chaos and love.

[inglourious-imagines]

Beers, Tomato, and Suspenders (Lewis Nixon X GN!Reader)

Prompts: 106 – Neither one of us is drunk enough for this conversation. & 109 – I saw that. You just checked me out.

Summary: Before D-Day. Two conversations take place, one with your best friend George Luz, the second with your (perhaps, perhaps not) friend Lewis Nixon. What can come out of this?

Warnings: some f words

Author’s Note: Long time no see, my friends! I’m sorry for being MIA for so long. Anyway, consider this some sort of a comeback 😊. There have ended up some BoB smut requests in my inbox so to inform you, I’m not writing smut, at least not yet, for I do not feel comfortable doing so. I apologise to the people who came to me through my inbox to ask me some questions, sorry I wasn’t able to answer them.

-> Also does anyone know how to edit masterlist (or any other old post actually) after some time? I'm not able to update my masterlist or just simply edit a list of fandoms. Help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Taglist: @alienoresimagines @teenmagazines @meteora-fc @eugenesmorphine @band-of-brothers-cz @real-fans @not-john-watsons-blog @tealaquinn @ok-roemanov @mrseasycompany @punkgeekchic @wexhappyxfew @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant @rayofshanshine @mavysnavy @easynix @georgeluzwarmhugs @easy-company-tradition @immrsronaldspeirs @snafus-peckuh @curraheewestandalone @warrior-healer @justamadgirlinabox @happyveday @order-of-river-phoenix @whoahersheybars

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“Okay, we have a few more days before we’re moving out and you still haven’t done anything about your big fat crush on-“

“Shut the fuck up, Luz!” you exclaim, covering his mouth with yours. He laughs at your somewhat childish behaviour, but then he licks your hand so you would pull it away and also to annoy you even more so the fight over who’s more immature is clearly won by him again.

“You are disgusting,” you say, but your lips slowly form a soft smile – the situation is quite ridiculous; two paratroopers discussing one’s crush in the middle of a bar somewhere in Britain, while other paratroopers around them are getting blind drunk. “And I do not intend to do anything about it.”

George pouts, clearly he is more than excited to see you hit on someone, the need for some entertainment overwhelms him and you are sure that once you would have gotten up from your chair, Liebgott and Tab would be immediately by Luz’s side, cheering you on and closely watching the situation unfold. But you remain sitting, and George has to turn to his beer instead.

“But why?” he presses on, once he finishes his glass of that golden liquid and sets it down on the wooden bar. “Tab has some classified information that Lewis Nixon is over the heels for you.” That makes you laugh out loud, and soon enough George joins you but for another reason completely – he laughs because someone else is laughing and he’s drunk, you laugh because that sentence alone sounded so ridiculous that you simply could not react in any other way.

George doesn’t bring up the topic anymore, but he remains at your side as if he knows something you don’t. You sing with Floyd, you play cards with Malarkey and Muck, you have a contest about who downs a beer faster with Toye (you win but Joe swears he’ll challenge you soon enough and this time for money for he is sure that he’ll be the winner). You try to stay away from drinking too much alcohol; those two beers, one with George and one with Joe, plus the one shot with Eugene (which you practically coerced him into drinking – who could have said no when the toast was to victory?) is pretty much the only liquor flowing in your veins.

For a moment, George excuses himself (“When I drink, I always have to piss all the fucking time. I hate it.”) and you find yourself on your own behind the bar, wondering whether another beer is a good idea until someone interrupts your thoughts. “Hey Joe, get me a pint, would ya?”

You’ve spent so much time daydreaming about that voice, that by now you can recognize it anytime, anywhere, in your sleep, in your dreams, from meters away. You turn your head to your favourite intelligence officer and you’re suddenly glad you have not ordered that beer because you would have probably choked on it for Lewis Nixon just looks so good in just the green trousers, green shirt, and those damn suspenders. While he waits for his drink (apparently, he’s all out of Vat69 when he’s opted for beer), he slips his one arm under one part of the suspenders, then his other arm, and the suspenders fall down from his shoulders, hanging now from his hips from their clips on his trousers. This simple action, that takes not more than few seconds, leaves you breathless, you could watch him just be his self for hours on end and never get tired from the sight.

“I saw that,” he suddenly turns to you, “you just checked me out.”

Now you would have definitely choked on that beer. Your cheeks redden immediately, you know exactly how you look (like a fucking tomato, that’s for sure) and you struggle really hard to find an excuse because it’d be obvious even to a blind person that you were downright staring at him.

“I did not.” you state as sternly as you could, but Nixon smiles and for some reason unknown to you, he does not go away but rather orders another beer that lands before you in a moment.

Lexis is apparently pleased at how flustered he can make you, he is enjoying it to his bones, so he does not stop teasing you. “Yes, yes, you did.” A bigger smile now adorns his face, and you have to fight really hard to not smiling again because his joy is so contagious.

“No, I did not. If anything, you were checking me out.” you try to spin the conversation in another way and to your surprise (and later pleasure) it works for Lewis steps a little closer to you and responds. “Well, I did not really try to hide it, did I.”

It’s more of a statement than a question and for the second time in about three minutes you are blushing again like a teenager.

Nixon goes on. “And at least I can admit it.”

Your head is spinning, you quite can’t comprehend that this is what you are talking about with Nix, and he just stands so close to you, you could touch his army shirt if you desired to, the urge to run your fingers through his messy hair is storming you and you find yourself in need of a fresh air. But you don’t step away, you wouldn’t dare to because this type of breathlessness just feels good.

So, you opt to play his little game. “Neither one of us is drunk enough for this conversation.”

Lewis’s eyes sparkle. He takes his beer in one hand, yours in other and nods his head in the direction where the doors out of the bar are. “Maybe we should fix that.”

Finally you smile at him, you know he knows you won’t decline the offer, but it doesn’t bother you one bit. “The conversation or our not-drunken state?”

Lewis grins at you in his own special mischievous way and he knows you know what the answer will be, but it doesn’t bother him one bit. “How about both?”

[mrs-murder-daddy]

hello! I'm very much enjoying your Little Women-inspired Band of Brothers fic so far. two of my favorite stories combined, and I love the way you've done it so far with introducing the four sisters. also, childhood friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Vivian/Donnie 🥰💕

if you're still looking for requests, I do adore Don Malarkey, George Luz, and Joe Toye (your choice) - maybe something to do with fake dating for New Year's 🥳 (or another holiday of your preference), or something angsty with a happy ending, if that's more up your alley? thank you!

Hello hello sorry for disappearing for a while there! My mental health took a dive and then uni took over my life and my mental health crumbled like a paper bridge.

Some things: The longer fic will be here shortly I promise! I'm sorry this is so short, I'm just trying to get back in the swing of things now that I have a month-long break from uni. I tried to make this gender-neutral please let me know if I’ve missed something! I’ve also given Reader a sister for plot reasons but she is referred to by a nickname.

And thank you for your kind words about Little Women (chapter 3 coming ASAP)

Just a Boy Standing in Front of a Girl

George Luz x Reader

Obviously you hoped this day was coming. The war is over. You're going home. What you weren't expecting was having to leave George. You lived on complete opposite sides of the United States, and you weren't *together* per se. You were just friends. And friends say goodbye before leaving.

"Ey! There's my favourite medic!" He bounded up to you like a giddy child, searching your face to gauge if you heard the news.

You wrapped your arms around his neck as he wrapped his around your waist.

"We're going home Georgie!"

He smiled brightly, "We're going home! What's the first thing you're gonna do?"

You pulled back, "Oh, I don't know actually. Maybe go see my sister."

"Not your ma?"

"My mother has been begging me to come home and marry some socialite for months now. Giggles is the only one in my family who's actually written to see if I'm okay."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Should I be expecting a wedding invitation?" His tone was joking, but you could see on his face the prospect worried him.

"Nope." You smiled softly. "Not for a long time."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know yet." You sighed through your nose. "But come on Georgie quit being a cold fish! Let's celebrate!"

He laughed as you took his hand and led him to your friends. Now was the time for fun.

George gave you his address and made you promise to write as much as you could. Sometimes the letters were short and sharp, updating each other on your lives. Sometimes they were long and heartfelt.

This latest letter he could have sworn there were tear stains on the paper.

Your mother had gotten suspicious of all your activity. She pressured you to find out just what was going on. You had to lie. She would never have approved of you corresponding with someone at this frequency if you weren't dating.

You panicked. You told her half-truths. You met George years ago at training, fell in love but kept it professional until you got home, and now you were separated by distance.

She gave a doubtful hum and offered to invite him to Giggles' birthday. A girl only turns 21 once after all.

You cried as you wrote to George, asking for forgiveness for throwing him under the bus. He simply replied that there was no need. He was excited to meet Giggles and see what all the fuss was about in your hometown.

You huffed a sad little laugh when he signed off 'the best lover on the East Coast.'

This was going to be... interesting.

It's hard to see him again, not only for the memories you would always associate with him, but also because he seemed happier. Some annoying part of your brain tells you he's happier without you. The grin on his face and the strong arms wrapped around you say otherwise.

Lord you have missed George. But he's missed you more.

You have this glow about you, and he knows that despite the pressures from your mother, you are happy. And when he meets Giggles he understands. She is sunshine in a pinafore. He feels his own mood lift, thankful that you have such a light in your life.

Dinner is a difficult affair, George seems to lay the PDA on thick. Your mother stares him down like a spider. Giggles teases you both to no end. You're halfway through a bottle of your favourite drink just to keep yourself occupied.

Giggles cracks open her first bottle of champagne and drags you into the kitchen to 'help her pour.'

She rounds on you, holding your wrists so she can lean in. "What was that?!"

You're taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"For two people who aren't actually dating, you sure look like you are."

You gasp and pull her as far away from the dining room as you can. "Giggles! What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on! I can see from a mile away you two would make each other so happy!"

"That's not the point! How do you know we're not really together?"

Your sister smiles sheepishly, "I may have looked through your letters- But! But! Hear me out. You two are meant for each other."

She actually pours some champagne, leaving you to your thoughts.

It's only later when George goes outside for a smoke that you can finally talk to him. Your mother had a little too much giggle juice and was sound asleep in her room. Your sister made herself scarce with a wink.

You steal the cigarette from his lips, take a drag and put it back. A habit from deep in the Ardennes forest.

He huffs a laugh and takes his own drag.

"I... I have something to tell you. And I need to get it all out first or I never will."

He nods a little apprehensively.

"I don't want this to be fake. I think I actually love you, not in the way I love Joe or Babe or any of those guys. I'm for real, long-haul, scary in love with you."

He begins to laugh.

Your heart is about to fall out of your ass.

Why is he laughing?

He stops, his face dropping when he sees your expression.

"Sweetheart, when you wrote to me, asking me to come here I went out and bought a ring." When your eyes widen, he reassures you. "I'm not proposing yet, I just need you to know I'm serious."

You smile brightly. He does too.

You look at his lips. He does too.

You lean forward. He does too.

And when your lips finally collide, a loud cheering erupts behind the the glass of the back door.

[onboardsorasora]

Updated Dewis Fic Rec List

Here is my current incomplete Dewis faves list. Still wild to me that Dewis is a rare pair and I am doing my part to try and change that 🫡

In the interim, here are the Dewis fics I regularly go back to lol. They are in no particular order. I just went with the easiest way to put this together.

I will add on as I read more fic :)) also, I'll always shamelessly recommend my own Dewis fics lmao

Mainly doing this for myself so I can like put it in my pinned so I can reference later.

Valentine by dr3writings Words:828 “Are you asking me to be your Valentine?”

Aloha - The Art of Saying Hello and Goodbye by WaitingtoBloom Words: 16,210 Daniel travels to Hawaii in an attempt to shut out the world and find his bearings after a tumultuous start to the season, but Formula 1 ends up finding him anyway in the form of one Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Active Love by f1errari Words: 1,638 Daniel grins, one eye closes, he forgot how sharp the sun is at home but he looks at Lewis anyways who smiles softly and tips Daniel’s cap down just a little, Daniel scrunches his nose up in response but opens his eyes ‘well, let’s hope it goes better then last time huh’ (aka Daniel thinks about Lewis a lot and how good they are together before the 2022 Australian gp)

Lewis x Daniel Extended universe by Bones_2_be Words: 18,533 Works: 3 It starts with Lewis and Daniel seeing each other at Coachella

A Kiss for Good Luck by dr3writings Words:1,222 Daniel takes a deep breath and looks at his own reflection in the mirror, the number three glaring at him from the edge of the red bull cap for just a moment before he forces himself to take it off. Not yet.

Don’t need nothing by the_orange_one

Words:9,493 Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time Grammy winner. He’s a fashion icon, a hugely successful R&B artist, adored all around the world. The pandemic brings his 2020 world tour screeching to a halt, leaving him stranded in Brisbane.

Enter struggling ex-band member, newly-solo, Daniel Ricciardo. He’s taking a creative break (read: having breakdowns about his stalling career), living on his farm in Western Australia, and he’s exactly the type of friend to invite someone to live with him during a global shutdown. Especially if it’s Lewis.

or, Lewis and Daniel write a song together, take care of one another, and reconnect while riding out the global shutdown on Daniel’s farm in Perth. Not necessarily in that order.

wrapped in gold by Anonymous Words: 1,162 Daniel had gotten the address from the photographer he’d messaged on Instagram. She’d said it’s beautiful and Lewis trusts her judgment, he’s not all that familiar with the area in the summer anyway.

Love not given lightly by Anonymous Words:2,937 Lewis is all soft, soft skin on luxury Italian leather, limbs ringed in ink and sturdy cuffs. It almost feels criminal to handle him roughly. But Lewis had asked him specifically, and well, they were always accusing Daniel of being too nice for his own good.

Love, In All the Hard Places to Reach by IICarpeDiemII Words: 15,270 Daniel’s been living on his own for almost a decade. He’s forgotten how it is to live with other people. He’s forgotten how hard it is to hide things from someone you’re sharing the same bed with.

Walk ahead and don't wait for me, I'll follow your footsteps anyway .by soulhead

Words:3,033 He can't allow this annoying, emotional and demanding part of him to distract him as it seeks a kind of companionship his racing lifestyle cannot provide. This force of his own that moves for and against his own wellness at time, that bites and scratches when he swallow yet another suppressant : it needs to be muzzled and he's never second-guessed his decision on the topic until very recently.

Or, Daniel is an Alpha on suppressants, but Lewis just wishes he would be himself for once.

Golden days by its_a_yoke Words:2,257 Lewis is happy to have Daniel on the podium with him again and they have a nostalgic one night stand just like in the old days.

it's not a crime to steal from a thief by Anonymous Words: 1,228 Max is still celebrating when Lewis posts the photo with the caption: You win some, you lose some. Today, I won.

one bright moment by pronoe for Gertika Words: 1,345 Daniel wins the race, Lewis wins the championship, they kiss in parc fermé.

loved you for years by Anonymous Words: 1,665 “Now that you’re back at Red Bull, will we see a mating announcement between you and Max? You two have always been so close.”

And in that moment Daniel knows, his mate at home isn't going to be thrilled with that question.

I've had the time of my life (and I owe it all to you) by Danubius Words: 2,147 Daniel realized he shared his bathroom's wall with his negihbor after a long shift at work, when he heard the singing from the other side, and singing back seemed like a good idea.

He didn't think things would escalade so quickly from there.

let's just dance by dr3writings Words: 1,374 “You done with your work?” he mumbles, leaning further into the solid body behind himself and feels a light exhale on his neck that makes him shiver pleasantly.

“Yep, just in time too I saw,” Daniel whispers, the song still playing on repeat in the background and his fingers have started tapping out the beat lightly against Lewis’ stomach without a conscious thought.

can't stand the heat by @toastandvegemite Words: 2,839  Lewis is most irresistible Alpha on the grid. Daniel is the most untameable Omega.

It should be a match made in heaven, but for some reason Lewis is determined to resist Daniel’s charms.

rocking, raftered by leafmeal0ne Words:33,428 Daniel knew it would be generous to call himself an up-and-comer in the music industry. Probably a little generous to call himself anything other than a farm hand.

It seemed that Lewis Hamilton, actual country music legend, disagreed.

the MET by dr3writings Words:969 Daniel feels his phone vibrate in his pocket and hurries to make an excuse to the people he’s in direct vicinity of as he walks down a slightly hidden hallway to answer, no one really pays any attention too caught up in each other so he sneaks off pretty easily. He feels Blake’s eyes on him but just gives him a thumbs up and shows the phone display quickly where it’s still ringing earning a fond eye roll as the other goes back to talking to some of the other guests.

tbc...

[nokingsonlyfooles]

To Do Today!

OK, I am gonna try to do laundry AND start reformatting the site. Obvs, one must do laundry. However, the site issues are more complicated.

Basically, WordPress is pushing out another interface change. The last major one was the block editor, that's taken years to be usable, and it still breaks sometimes. But it is more versatile than the old editor, so I get why they hafta. The new thing is some kinda universal site editor and last time I checked it was awful. You don't HAVE to use it, much like the block editor, but all the themes are scrambling to work with its new features. One of these is "global colours." My theme is really struggling with them. They keep changing, overriding my pathetic coding skills, and making things impossible to read. I either need a theme where the dang colours actually work, or one without global colours that's gonna stay that way. The former is slightly more likely.

I also have issues with ALL my custom blocks. You're supposed to be able to save a block and use it like a rubber stamp, forever, but the updates have left all of them coughing up errors. They'll usually stay legible unless I open the page they're on in the editor, and then all hell breaks loose. I need to figure if I'm going to update them all or simplify. I should probably simplify anyway, I think I get really annoying trying to make sure people understand me. Maybe that scares off potential readers?

So, first order of business, change the theme. That will change the whole look of the site, live, and it'll barely work until I find everything that broke and fix it. I'll also need to redesign the front page, and maybe the menus, header, footer, background - all kinds of stuff. When I've done that, I gotta go page by page and find/replace the blocks. That'll take me a few days. 😅I've found some more typos and errors to fix along the way too - including one major continuity error. (Mordecai doesn't seem to recognize someone he should, and I'm bringing that guy back way later, so I hadda add a couple words. It was a math thing. When I wrote it, I thought, "That can't be X it must be Y and he wouldn't know Y..." But when I went into my notes recently and added up the years, "Aw, crap, no, that MUST be X!")

They do say it's super important to know when to stop working on your art, lest you cough up a travesty like the Star Wars Special Edition that obliterates the original. I have obliterated the original, but parts of it needed to die. I've also over-edited in a lot of places - I'm trying to catch those and un-fix them! It's never going to be perfect. Even "real professionals" cough up typos and errors that go live and stay that way, but I have a real terror of being misunderstood and hurting someone. Even just confusing them. Anything that might make them not like me.

So, yeah, I gotta throw in some laundry and go kill my ego. And fix a website! Probably no feed for a while, at least not until I get frustrated and need a break.

Ah, yes, and Patreon still hasn't deleted my data so I'm yelling at them. I'm not going to worry about setting up at Ko-Fi until I'm ready to publish the next six, but I'll keep you posted. I took down my page and I didn't want to charge you for January, so check your records, my few supporters. If they charged you anyway, you need to yell at Patreon too.

[werdlewrites]

Season of The Witch (Steve Harrington x OC)

Chapter Ten: Think of Me

masterlist-about-patreon-ao3

UPDATED 7/21/24

Summary: “What would you say t' her? You know, if you ever saw her again.” Heather questions, feeling immediate regret as she does so and that weight only grows heavier the longer the silence carries on, unaware that Autumn had been lost in her own thoughts. Running through every question in every fantasy scenario conjured up, where she could meet the woman only seen in pictures. “Did she ever think about me?” Warnings: Drug use(weed), absent parent sadness Word count: 2,477 Do not repost without credit or permission.

“Quiet down, class. Quiet, quiet,” the voice seems to boom above the rest. It moves swiftly through the air and drowns out the clutter of voices that once spoke with excitement, now fading out into hushed whispers as they hastily finished their stories, much to the teacher's displeasure. A look of authority, now clearly annoyed with a child-like eye roll as the majority struggled to follow directions. “Come on, now. You can talk after class,” he finishes with a heavy sigh. 

Someone meant to be filled with so much passion, guiding the students through their desires, and pushing them beyond their creative blocks seemed worn down by time. Another day of discovering a hidden artistic genius or something to take pity on and consider a good effort, slapping an “A” right on the chart just for giving it a shot, like Autumn. She had lost count of every project turned in, head hung low with a face glowing red from embarrassment. However, as the year stretched on, the teacher would show praise as he did with every student, and she grew to care less about the result compared to the more talented students.

  Silence settles over the room, smiles beaming on most faces as they reminisce over stories just told. Lost in the past, unable to focus on the moment or move forward until Mr. Ross begins again. “Today, we have a paired-up project.” It’s an instant reaction. Some cheer with excitement, eager for the possibilities, while others groan with irritation. Who would they be sitting with? The crush they’ve been avoiding their feelings for? An arch-enemy? 

Then, there was Autumn. 

A twisting sickness in the pit of her stomach, eyes cast down to her hands as fingernails dig deeper into flesh, fighting off the building anxiety of the moment to come. The last group project had been done in near total silence, with her partner unwilling to speak unless necessary, as if a curse would sneak over the boy's tongue and take his life. Friends were hard to come by, too fearful of what others may do or say should they get close, and no one had seemed too pressed on making nice with the black sheep. 

So she sits in this class in stillness, without the comfort of Jonathan or the calming notion of knowing someone has her back. She won’t look up as names are being called. Students are paired together without choice, an evil but genius idea, so the unwanted aren’t left feeling so behind in a world that didn’t want them.

  “Autumn and Heather,” he calls out. The girl's glance is quick to move across the room; lost in thought as her head snaps up from her notepad with bewilderment, locked onto Mr. Ross as the words slowly sink in. Soon, their eyes connect, and Heather shares a small wave under the oversized leather jacket, her expression unreadable as she’s still somewhere else mentally. 

Autumn had seen the girl many times before—brushing past one another in the hallway or in the cafeteria, where she surrounded herself with a cluster of rambunctious boys dressed in studs and leather. A particular metalhead was seemingly always at her side, cracking wild jokes and drawing the attention of others, whether he meant to or not.

Autumn gathers the materials, joining the other girl at the large table as her jacket is shrugged away, ready for the work to begin. The two are tasked with drawing a portrait of one another, and Autumn’s confidence dwindles the moment Heather’s pencil touches the paper. She’s carefree. A vision already in her mind, yet instructing Autumn to look up and turn every few moments to fulfill it. Autumn doesn’t ask her partner to move; using every available moment, they lock eyes to take in detail and scribble with sweaty palms. She would take an entire class to have the girl pose, leaving no work to get done but leaving Autumn with something salvageable. Maybe. 

Time ticked on, the teacher wandering between students to hover over their shoulders, making no real comments unless trouble was brewing between pairs, trying to keep his favoritism to a minimum even as he eyed the most intricate of pieces. 

Heather lays her sketchbook down with a sigh, satisfied and complete with her work. “Done,” she says with ease, not looking to Autumn for approval but instead looking over each line for any small faults. And there are none—not in her eyes. The portrait is somehow a mess of frantic lines, all coming together to create something so finely detailed that she finds an abstract version of herself staring back. Heather’s fingertips were colored gray from smudging the graphite across the surface. “You keeping that for yourself?” she asks, a small smirk playing across her features as she eyes the pad held tightly to Autumn’s chest, feeling small and inadequate.

  Her eyes roll to the back of her head, and she drops the papers on the table for her partner to see. She watches intently as the other student leans forward with a furrowed brow, studying it in silence with a smile growing wider, though quickly hidden behind a hand. She’s fighting back laughter, and Autumn knows it—watching as she bites at her lower lip, her hand falling away to regain composure. “It’s so...unique.” 

“I’m terrible,” Autumn says, disgruntled, tearing the sheet out of the book before signing it, though she only wishes to burn it. 

“Hey,” the other states, hands held up in defense. “You said it, not me.” The work is turned in as students finish, leaving some bored while others group up with friends to finish earlier conversations. With Autumn’s old table taken up by strangers, she remains stagnant. Too afraid to strike up a conversation with the girl at her side and was unsure of where to go once she left the space. 

“So, you’re the witch?” The question pulls her attention in, a dizzying sensation taking over with how quickly she looks back at the girl in confusion. She’s hunched forward, elbows pressed into the surface of the table with her cheek resting in the cup of her hand; the other continues to draw a cluster of trees just out beyond the windows. 

“What?” 

“I heard that you were a witch or somethin’.” And there it was. The looming cloud of darkness that followed her was seen by all except for her. A plague to keep everyone at bay, a single touch committing them to hauntings and hellfire. Her gift, and her curse. It was the same every time she had been cornered—an anxious feeling settling deep within, waiting for the unknown. Acceptance, fear, or a desperation to seek personal gain. Use her until she has nothing left to give.

“It’s not really like that,” she mumbles, chewing at her cheek as thumbs fiddle back and forth. All the while Heather makes an “Oh,” expression, her gaze fluttering away as she ponders her next thoughts. Unsure of whether to push on further or to abandon all hope entirely and let the silence drag on. 

“Y’know, if I was a witch,” she starts up, suddenly straightening her spine with confidence, ready to pursue some sort of alliance with the girl despite all hushed whispers. “I would disguise myself as a teacher.” Autumn could only squint in her direction, lips parted as they slowly twitched with amusement and anticipation of where this may lead. “Then I would trap all of the other teachers together in one room. Everyone would get really suspicious. But there’s no proof I or anyone else locked us in.” 

The girl looks at her partner expectantly, a smile growing to show that she is becoming more invested in this fantasy world. “Uh-huh,” she simply replies, waiting patiently. 

“Madness would take over, and they would start picking each other off one by one until they discovered it was me all along.” Heather seems proud, unbothered by the possibility of anyone listening in to her declaration of insanity. Autumn wordlessly soaks it in, letting the scene play out in her mind and drifting off to something more familiar, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth as it comes to her slowly. 

“Are you taking ideas from The Thing?” 

“That’s not my point.”

The world was spinning—trees bending in on themselves and stretching through the graying sky of an oncoming winter. She could feel the wind brushing along her fingertips and flushed cheeks, but she was unable to hear the rustling leaves as the sounds of her blood pumping through her veins acted as a harmony to the steady beat of her heart. So acutely aware of everything, yet unfocused and distant from it all. The grass beneath her body felt miles away, her body rising into the heavens but unable to reach the clouds. Autumn was as light as a feather but heavier than stone. Too weak to summon an ounce of energy. To simply let her head fall to the side and look to the only other person out in the dancing wilderness. 

“What’re you laughing at?” she asks, finally able to tune into Heather’s giggling, uncertain of how long it’s been going on. 

The girl doesn’t respond, not in the way one would expect. There is a long pause with stifled laughter and short attempts to catch her breath before an awful sound is heard—something similar to a duck call that finally lures in the other girl's attention, mouth hung agape in surprise. Heather sits proudly with a blade of grass between her thumbs and a grin from ear to ear. “What? You don’t like my music?” She asks as the silence drifts onward.

Autumn laughs before moving her gaze back up towards the sky, her head feeling like it had been weighted down by bricks and her eyes tired from gazing at the mesmerizing and changing scenery. For a moment, it all seemed normal. Back to a world, she felt familiar with until the branches slowly inched across her view, covering the sky like a canopy, before slipping back into normalcy in the blink of an eye. It was all so disorientating and perfectly distracting from the distant cry in her chest. “Y’do this often?” Autumn slurs, unknowing if Heather had heard anything at all or even understood her. 

“Out here? Sure,” the girl replies without hesitation, a small shrug on her shoulders. She continues to blow into her fingers, unable to recreate the same sound from just moments ago, ultimately letting the small blade of grass fall from her grip. It vanishes into the masses at her feet. “The park, the lake—sometimes at home." The last few words come with a heavy sigh. A silence suddenly shared between them, with attention falling everywhere and nowhere all at once as the drug swept through them with grace and purpose. “No one really gives a shit.” And that’s when her tired eyes look at Autumn, curious and playful. “What about you? Is your dad going t’ship you off t’boarding school for this?” 

Autumn’s eyes fall shut, unable to keep a hold of the spiraling reality around her. She is already feeling a small sense of panic rise when she notices it has begun to fall out of her control. “M’not sure. My dad works a lot. He’d probably blame himself for his delinquent kid getting into drugs. Take me t’therapy,” she stated without pause. The hypothetical scenes are already playing out behind her eyelids like a movie on a projector. 

“What about your mom?” 

The imagery suddenly stills, the disappointment in her father's face fading behind a black curtain, a woman only seen in photographs taking his place with kind eyes and a warmer smile looking back at her, frozen in time. “Not sure. I’ll let you know when I meet her,” she comments with a small chuckle. That memory of her locked away behind glass, within a frame, slowly eased out of view as her eyes opened to welcome in the dim light of day and the now-tense atmosphere. 

“M’sorry,” the girl’s words fall softly, now having a better sense of who this “witch” was. Beyond the palm readings and occasional notes regarding homework.

“Nothing t’be sorry for,” Autumn replies, slowly pushing herself up onto her hands with eyes wide, the world within her vision simply collapsing in on itself. The ground trembles until it gives way, leaving craters for her legs to sink deep into, easily buried by an invisible force to leave her feeling trapped. “She couldn’t handle it.” For a moment, she’s uncertain if the words are spoken or said only in her mind, running on a loop. Tired eyes gaze at Heather, who is looking back at her, listening attentively, and confirming it wasn’t all in her own head. She hadn’t climbed that high just yet. 

“That’s what my dad says, anyway. Postpartum depression, I guess. Instead of facing it, she ran from it,” her final words mumbled. Any ounce of strength she had left was used to forcefully roll onto her knees with a grunt, her body suddenly aged by many years. Carefully, she eased herself up to stand amongst the tall brush, her stance swaying with a gentle gust of wind. 

“What would you say t’her? You know, if you ever saw her again.” Heather questions, feeling immediate regret as she does so, and that weight only grows heavier the longer the silence carries on, unaware that Autumn has been lost in her thoughts. She ran through every question in every fantasy scenario conjured up, where she could meet the woman only seen in pictures.

“Did she ever think about me?” She answers, the words from her lips cascading down along with the leaves, drifting through the wind, and collecting at her feet to bury her where she stands. But the twist in her form to look back at Heather has them fall away, feeling her warm smile soothe that familiar ache like a summer breeze. Healed and revived. 

“It’s a good start,” the girl says in return, not at all seeming too eager to join Autumn in returning to the real world despite the questionable time that’s drifted on. Instead, she continues to pick at the grass and then her shoes, flicking bits of dirt away with her eyes glaring down the pathway that leads back to the school, far from sight. Off to her left, Autumn paces through the trees, running her hands along the bark in hopes that every new sensation and every sting against her fingertips would slowly pull her back into sobriety. Jonathan would need her.

Will needed her.

“They’ll find him, y’know,” Heather says without hesitation, forcing Autumn to come to a halt with wide eyes burning into the other's back. “I know they’ll bring him back home,” she finishes with a gentle smile.

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - May 11

2015: Amanda and Bobbi meet in District X while conducting their own separate rounds.

2016: Reed and Hank have a manly chat about their relationships and sex lives... or lack thereof. Jessica makes an FML post, as the kids say.

2017: Warren calls Hope A. to tell her about how the deal between Worthington Industries and Regal Crest Trading went down.

2018: Maya is annoyed Brooklyn Nine-Nine was (briefly) canceled. Angel posts about Amadeus leaving for Muir Island. Generation X: Demon Bear: The kids get to school, and find out there was some vandalizing; through the day, they have weird and terrifying encounters; while talking, Maya sees a girl who disappeared earlier in the day, only for her to disappear again; Nica, Miles, and Xavin arrive at school to meet the kids for a movie, and the world turns upside down; Miles, Nica, and Clea are separated from everyone else; the rest realize something weird is going on; Angel posts about the GPS on the kids’ phones going crazy; Alex, Darcy, Megan, and Julian go to the school to find out what’s going on, and get caught up in the weirdness; more missing, more finding; Nica and Clea find the adults who came to look for them, as well as Rahne; Jean-Phillipe posts about the group that went to the school also falling out of touch; Molly, Meggan, Jean-Phillipe, and Sharon F.arrive at the school and begin investigating; Darcy, Megan, Nica, and Clea find Sharon F., Molly and Megan; all the groups finally reunite, and a plan is set to go at the bear; they have their final encounter with the bear, finally taking it down; Alex, Julian, and Jean-Phillipe find the missing girl, who has no memory of what happened, and bring her to the hospital. Miles complains to Gabriel about ending up in another world. Ty kidnaps Topaz to bring her home for a good old-fashioned Mother's Day with his parents. Topaz asks for someone to feed her cat for the weekend, as Ty has kidnapped her.

2019: Fear in the Dark: Alex, Arthur, and Bobbi talk to a distraught woman worried about her missing boyfriend; Lorna recognizes the boyfriend's name - Cain Marko - and emails Scott and Garrison about it.

2020:

2021: Darcy posts a question from Twitter, asking if on a date with a person which book would make you leave immediately.

2022: Maya and Pyotr meet in the mansion's gym and nothing explodes. Clint posts an update to eXcalibur about tech and wormhole duties. Felicia shares an Instagram story noting that people can buy their own damn flowers. Matt shares an image reminding people to mind their written communication, for legal reasons. Clarice posts an embroidery that she’ll be hanging on her door. Following meeting Maya, Pyotr texts April to ask what “Starfleet” is. Kyle shares a knock knock joke one of his students told him.

2023: Maya is deeply unimpressed with Tik Tokkers teaching incorrect ASL. Jean-Phillipe encourages everyone to celebrate Eurovision with himself and Marie-Ange. Clarice announces it’s time for CPR recertification. Terry and Arthur have a typical morning discussion in the suite he shares with Kyle - right up until something slightly unusual happens.