#anyway time to stop whining I gotta start planning to post art or something

[cuttledreams-bugs]

me trying to hype myself up to posting online again despite The Horror

[hops-hunny]

Distance Makes the Heart Grow

CHAPTER 5

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Mafia Boss!Neville Longbottom x Reader

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 2.3k

Summary: (Y/n) lives a normal life. But that’s the issue, it’s normal, it’s plain, and it’s growing boring. Everyday she wishes for something, anything to spice up her life. But, when her old school friend (and crush) shows up at her bakery with a new look (and what looks like a new life), what will it bring for her? Will their puppy love grow? Will his big secret lead to the end of them or will it spark a new beginning?

Warnings: Slightly suggestive flirting, fluff

A/N: This chapter is so cute omg I hope you guys like it <3

“Oh come on (Y/n)! It could be fun!” Twyla called after the girl, who she was currently chasing around the halls of the manors. The tall men in suits watched them but didn’t interact, not sure of what to do in the situation. The (h/c) haired girl ignored her, making lala noises with her fingers in her ear. “Real mature, babes, real mature!” When they got back to the girl’s room, Twyla closed the door, locking it so her friend couldn’t escape. She got on her knees, pleading and begging the girl.

“Twyla I can’t just pick up and go on a trip to Italy!” she shouted, forcing the girl to stand up. The tall girl grabbed her shoulders, shaking her shorter friend in her arms.

“Why nottt?” she whined out. (Y/n) smacked her hands from her shoulders growling some at her.

“A multitude of reasons, Twy! The main one being oh I don’t know, who’s gonna look after my damn bakery!” she hissed out the last part, throwing herself on the large bed, the blonde joining her shortly after. “I’ve got no one to watch the bakery, I don’t have any clothes nice enough to take and even if I did I’d have to travel by floo back home to get them! Also, who’s gonna water my plants? I love my plants, Twyla!” she ranted causing the girl to shush her.

“Relax, you worry too much and there’s a simple fix to all these so-called ‘problems’ you have.” she sat up, pulling the girl up with her. “Let’s start with problem one. You said you have to run the bakery, right?” (Y/n) nodded, curious of where the girl was going with this. “Easy, ask Tiana to run it for a while. She’s been looking to get more hours in since she just bought a house.”

“I can’t ask that of her! Plus, she can’t do all of that with the staff we have now, she’d be understaffed!” she said, watching the girl type away on her phone. She was always so amazed by Twyla’s ability to use muggle technology.

“Well lucky for you, you won’t have to ask her. I just did!” her boss gawked at her, going to tell her off but she continued speaking. “And plus, it’s summer. Do you know how many culinary art students are looking to get hands-on learning in an actual bakery? You don’t handle the application process anyways, Tiana does that. Remember, you stopped doing that because you’d cry any time you had to reject an application.” she made many valid points, slowly pulling her over to the side that wanted to go, wanting to be on a trip with Neville. “Also you’re the only owner who spends so much time working. Isn’t the point of owning a business to make people do shit for you?”

“That’s true.” she sighed, picking at the skin around her cuticles. “But what about my apartment? And my clothes?” 

“Don’t you still talk to that old couple that sold the bakery building to you? Ask them to watch your plants!” she retorted, smirking triumphantly. Slowly but surely her reasons for not being able to go were dwindling. (Y/n) sighed before shrugging.

“You know what? Screw it, I’ll go.” Twyla squealed, grabbing the girl’s hand as she dragged her out the door.

“Hey tall man, where’s Neville?” she asked the guard who was posted outside. He cleared his throat, adjusting his sunglasses.

“In his office. Downstairs and to the left, miss. He’s currently in a me-” without another word she grabbed the girl, dragging her downstairs. They reached the large wooden doors that had two large men standing there causing the shorter girl to cower in fear. Their glares were intense as they stood up straighter.

“Can we help you?” one of them asked, his rough voice booming. The other one nodded along, leaning down to her height as he gave her a strong glare, vein on his forehead popping out. 

“The boss is in a meeting so unless you’re someone special, get lost.” (Y/n) felt her lip quivering, tears welling up in her eyes. 

“Oh you’re fucked buddy, that’s the boss’s girl. Come on, I’ll let you guys in.” an unfamiliar voice said from behind her. Turning around she saw two identical men, quite lanky and tall in stature. She couldn’t help but notice how they favored another certain Ginger she knew.

The one on the left pressed on the small earpiece in his ear, clearing his throat. “Hey boss, your lady friend is out here crying. You should get more observant guards.” he said giggling as a shout could be heard from beyond the large door. The men visibly paled but kept their composure. The door swung open revealing Neville, who adorned a white button up and black trousers, a pair of suspenders connecting the two together. 

“I-I’m sorry boss, I didn’t know.” one of them stuttered out, sweat building up on his bald head. Neville gripped his shirt tightly pinning him to the wall causing the man’s feet to lift from the ground. (Y/n)’s eyes widened at the sight. The man he was lifting had a large, muscular build making her wonder just how strong Neville really was.

“If you think that’s something, you should've seen him last night.” Twyla whispered out the corner of her mouth, the twins nodding along in agreement.

“You better listen because I’m gonna say this once.” Neville said, a calm tone which was somehow scary if he was to yell. The man nodded along frantically, wide eyes trained on the man. “That girl right there? She’s my flower. Let it be known that if she sheds a tear caused by any of you, you’re dead and what I’ll do will be worse than anything the Weasley twins could do combined.” and with that he dropped him, walking over to the girl. Weasley twins? So they were related to Ron! She felt her face flush as Neville leaned down, brushing away the tears that had threatened to fall from her eyes. “You alright, love?”

“Yeah I was just coming to tell you that I’ve made a decision. I’ll be joining you in Italy.” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He grinned at her lifting her up in a hug as he spun her around, laughing some. “B-but I don’t have any clothes so I still have to figure that out.” he sat her down, shrugging nonchalantly.

“Just buy new ones when we land.” he declared. She froze, scratching the back of her neck. That would be an easy solution if she hadn’t spent any extra savings she had on the night before.

“I don’t really have the money to do that..”she trailed off. Neville put something in her hands causing her to look down confused. In her hands was a black card, his name engraved in the front of it. “Is this...is this a black card?! I can’t take this. Plus what about you know, “ she cleared her throat, blood rushing to her cheeks and ears. “My undergarments. I don’t have any on me for before we go shopping.” Neville smirked at her words, feeling particularly confident from her flustered expression. She was so soft, so...pure. Anytime he neared her she’d get all warm in the face and anytime he kissed her that same look would double. Temptation was his flower and he was tempted. Hearing her inquire about something that had innocent intent behind it had him thinking about anything but.

“Nonsense, pretty girl. Take my card and for your undergarments..” he trailed off, leaning down next to her ear. He placed his hand around her neck, gently squeezing it as he chuckled. “Let me take care of that. Better yet, let me buy the ones for the trip as well.” he whispered, nibbling the shell of her ear. (Y/n) squeaked, looking at him with wide eyes. Was he doing this on purpose or was it a simple misunderstanding? Either way, she couldn’t stop the heat pooling between her legs. “I’m only messing with you cutie. However I wasn’t kidding, leave that to me.” with a final peck to her lips he stood up straight, adjusting his tie before heading back through the wooden doors, the twins following behind him.

“Nice meeting you (Y/n)!” they said in unison, offering her a smile before they closed the door after themselves.

“You know he totally wants to bang you, right?” Twyla said, causing the girl to glare at her. She held her hands up in defense, looking back at the girl as she began to walk off. “I’m just saying! It’s obvious. You should share a room with him when you go to Italy.”

“Do you..do you think he’d want that? I don’t wanna get in the way of-”

“Are you kidding me?! The man practically worships the very earth you walk on, why wouldn’t he?” Twyla exclaimed as the girl followed her blindly. (Y/n) gasped, looking up at where they were. Around them were large counters on the floor and ceiling. Marble countertops with a matching marble floor along with two large fridges and a state of the art oven. Ignoring Twyla’s rambling, she began to walk through the kitchen, inspecting and exploring every part of it. Her eyes landed on the pantry to which she opened, letting out another surprised noise. It was massive, food lining the walls, all organized to perfection. There was even a walk-in freezer and fridge down the hall!

“Twyla, I’ve gotta use this kitchen. If I don’t bake something in here I’m going to die.” she said, running out to the girl as she began to shake her back and forth. “Quick! Give me an excuse to so I don’t feel bad about messing things up!”

“Ooh! I love excuses! I mean, Neville’s having a meeting so you co-” before she could finish the girl put the kettle on before beginning to pull out various different bowls and ingredients.

----------------------------------------

“Well, do you have security plans?” Neville asked from the end of the table, quirking a brow at the italian man at the end of the table. He noticed even through the man’s fear that he probably didn’t understand what Neville had said fully. “Sorry, um, avete piani di sicurezza?” he asked, causing Blaise to quirk a brow at the man’s fluent italian. Neville rolled his eyes at him before turning his attention back to the man. He nodded, sliding back a file folder filled with papers. 

“How long are we going to be there for?” Seamus asked.

“Does it matter? Money is money. Plus it’s not like you have anything important going on in your life, Finnegan.” Draco retorted which resulted in the shorter man growling as he grew red in the face.

“Don’t you dare fucking start. If you’re going to act like fools I’ll replace you with two lower levels in a heartbeat.” Neville gritted, not even looking up from the plans. He looked at the other man next to the italian man. “And you, what’s the exhibit worth exactly? If there’s no high hitting items we can already consider this a dud.”

“U-um. It’s estimated that it’s worth over 1.5 million, sir.” he responded, gulping as he reached for the water they had given him with a shaky hand. However, Neville wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

“Listen, did I ask you what it’s estimated to be? I asked for the exact cost. If you only have estimates then how bout I est-” he was interrupted by light knocking on the door. “Who is it now?! J-just come in.” he said, huffing out. The door opened followed by a quiet set of footsteps causing the inner circle of men to smile, giggling some. Curiosity got him, causing him to turn around, his expression instantly softening. “Petal? What are you doing here, angel girl?” he asked, pulling her closer but being careful of the large tray in her hand.

“I thought you might want some snacks for your little meeting. I hope there’s enough for everyone.” she said, setting the tray down on the table. It was funny really, comical, the way the doily and flower covered tray contrasted with all the men in the room. On the tray was a large array of different foods. Scones, tea biscuits, even tea sandwiches. In the center was a beautiful antique floral teapot along with matching cups. 

“This looks amazing, princess!” he exclaimed, his stomach grumbling in agreement. She giggled at that, causing his ears to tint pink. “There’s most certainly enough. Go on fellas, don’t be-” before he could continue the men began to grab at the food, swooping in like vultures. 

“Oh my god, this is like heaven!” Seamus moaned out, bits of sandwich falling from his mouth. Ron nodded along in agreement, a bunch of unintelligible words leaving his mouth. Even Blaise was wide eyed as he sipped at the tea, taking a bite of his tea biscuit.

“Yeah, is there any more of this? What kind of tea is this? I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of having it before.” he said, taking another sip. She looked at them sheepishly, leaning into Neville’s embrace.

“It’s butterfly pea tea infused with strawberry and honey. Also there’s more of everything! I kinda went overboard.” she responded. Neville smiled, grabbing her hand before placing a kiss on top of it.

“Well thank you, I really appreciate it. You’re so lovely.” he muttered, turning her hand to place a kiss on her palm before proceeding to do the same all up her arm. She giggled some at the action, looking away from him shyly.

“Well I better get going before Twyla buys more stupid things with Draco’s black card.” she turned once as she got to the door. “Good luck with your meeting!” 

Neville sighed happily before turning back around, looking at the men at the table before them. He grabbed whatever scraps the ravegers had left, eyeing everyone intensely. “What?” he spat out angrily.

“Mate you are so whipped!”

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TAGSLIST: @vayeya11 @pink-hufflepuff @clancyscookies @elemental-of-magic @beewitchedlou @simpforremuslupin @mottergirl99 @princesslaiahg​ @nevillelongbottomsgirlfriend​ @redpanda-poetry​ @vibingaesthetically

[jjk-biased]

yoongi x reader

requested by @ughtear​ ( Hi! I was just able to see your post and I was wondering if I could request prompt 3+1 (three times he proposes and the one time you say yes) with Yoongi? The idea of it makes me so soft! Also, I’m new at requesting so I don’t know what format is 🥺)

genre: fluff

words: 1.8k of cute stuff!!

synopsis: 3+1 (Three times Yoongi proposes and the one time you say yes)

masterlist | events masterlist

Kindergarten was such a hassle for young Yoongi. Coloring within the lines and connecting the dots were too exhausting and all he wanted was for nap time to come. He should be at home sleeping with his blanket in hand. Hatred for school aside, Yoongi wasn’t very social. He was a shy boy who would rather listen to some tunes even if he didn’t understand the lyrics that well. 

Well, he couldn’t exactly hate school.

There was this girl who always approached him, someone he could say was his friend. During recess, when the noisy kids stumble their way towards the outside, he could be seen sluggishly lagging behind as he talks (well, listens) to this girl in messy pigtails and pink overalls share her entire life story. 

Y/N Y/L/N.

You were a very cheerful kid who, despite the very young age, could easily detect and adapt to people’s attitudes. Unlike the ever-bratty Sohee who cried because Yoongi wasn’t giving her the compliments she wanted about her new Sailor Moon bag from mommy or the annoying Taka who demanded he play heroes with Yoongi, you knew your limits.

Whatever that meant to two toddlers. 

Yoongi liked you the most. You were a fun person to be with. You would let him nap when he wanted to and you always gave him the dog stickers from the prizes you get for being a good kid. You would give him some of your snacks (except for the juice boxes, he knew you loved those so much) and would wait for him when recess starts.

So one day, little Yoongi asked his parents what it meant to like a friend so much and what he should do about it (well of course, he messily relayed his story because he would get off track and tell them about the dog he saw). His dad wanted to poke fun and tell him something he didn’t understand anyway.

“What’s marriage?”

“Well, Yoongi, it’s when you like your friend so much that you want to be friends with them for life!” His dad replied, earning a smack on the head from his mother because that was wrong on many levels. 

“I’m gonna marriage n/n!!” Little Yoongi cheered, or rather grinned but that was already the most he could express before going back to watching his favorite show. 

The next day, without his mother knowing, Yoongi’s father told him to give you flowers if he wanted to “marriage” you. Yoongi giggled as he pocketed the little rose that his dad handed over before skipping to school. 

He liked being friends with you so much that he wanted to “marriage” you. But he wasn’t expecting the news he’d received that day. 

You had to move to Seoul with your father after your parents separated, leaving little Yoongi in Daegu with a crumpled little rose. 

The next time he saw you was in high school. Obviously, you weren’t the messy pigtails and pink overalls n/n anymore but that was the latest memory of you that Yoongi could remember. To see you, nimbly looking at your fingers as the teacher introduced you to the class as the transferee -- it overwhelmed him. A good kind of overwhelming he supposed. 

But with Yoongi being Yoongi, he didn’t want to approach you first. For all he knew, you could’ve forgotten the little Yoongi who usually wore blue shirts and loved dogs. He wanted to approach you, he really does, but with his reputation as one of the quiet basketball players of Daegu High and the possibility of you being questioned by his so-called fans, he couldn’t.

To his surprise, you approached him the same way you did when you were little. With a “Is that you Yoon?” from you and a rare gummy smile from him, the two best friends were once again joined by the hip. 

“I can’t believe Min ‘I hate moving’ Yoongi is a basketball player,” You snorted, staying close to your only friend in your high school as he goes to the gym. 

“Well I can’t believe Y/L/N ‘I’m never taking my pigtails off’ Y/N isn’t wearing pigtails anymore,” Yoongi replied, chuckling a bit at your embarrassment. 

“Sh-Shut up!” 

Your friendship was easily built again, it was stronger even. You didn’t mind the occasional “You’re my love rival but Yoongi will be mine” declarations that you got once a week (surprisingly, more than half of the female population loved the quiet, basket-ball loving types. )

They should see Yoongi in a pet store, you snickered. 

“Hey! Why are you laughing at me?! You think you’re better than me!?” 

Ah right… You forgot… Sohee, you remembered her as the girl who seemed to like Yoongi in kindergarten, was also issuing a “love war” with you for your best friend’s heart. 

“Not really, darling. I just think you’re stupid… But you didn’t hear that from me,” You cackled just as Yoongi arrived to get your ass out of there. 

That morning aside, the school had finally opened their festival. Your class prepared a cafe-like service where everyone cosplayed (you had no say in it) and you were sadly and unwillingly put in a maid costume. Perhaps it was karma for calling Sohee stupid. Yoongi got lucky and was just put in a simple prince costume.

“I don’t think this is fair,” You sighed, tugging at your skirt so it could cover more skin. Yoongi grunted, somehow also unhappy that he had to dress up as some lame ass prince. 

“Stop whining, short-stack. At least your legs are covered. Now let’s go around to check the other booths,” You huffed, dragging a reluctant Yoongi around. 

Maybe you shouldn’t have done that. 

Class 3-A and 3-B somehow agreed to combine their booths. It would’ve been a harmonious unification had their booths been something other than the ones they had: A marriage and a jail booth. 

The little shits changed their rules and made it into something you thought was so funny. Some idiots from 3-B would “jail” and handcuff you to some poor victim that would also get caught and from there, you had two choices: pay 5,000 won to be set free or get married for only 500won. It was genius and you would’ve made a lot of moola because you’re also a little shit. But you were one of the victims. Fuck.

So here you were now, being dragged by Taka, another someone from your childhood, to 3-A’s marriage booth for your very unfortunate fate. 

“Why is she alone, you idiot? You gotta handcuff two people for it to work,” 3-A’s president chided upon noticing you were the only one handcuffed. Luckily, Yoongi trailed along (to laugh at you or use this as blackmail, you weren’t sure). He seemed so ticked off when Taka dragged you though. 

“Well,” Taka smirked as he raised his free arm, “it can always be me.”

Horrified at his very forward advances, you cringed and silently cried for Yoongi’s help. Before you could voice out your dislike, however, Yoongi had already pulled you from Taka’s hold. 

“Marry me, Y/N.”

Your face immediately turned into different shades of red. You were too speechless to even respond to him shoving Taka away and handcuffing himself to you. Some of the people who were in 3-A’s room gasped because even they couldn’t believe that this was happening. Yoongi was nervous, it was embarrassing after all, but it wasn’t obvious in any way. You were about to give him his answer but then...

“NO!!” 

Sohee crashed the wedding before it could even start and 3-A’s president let you guys go as an apology for the commotion. 

You couldn’t forget that day… especially when you almost answered yes. 

Perhaps it was inevitable. Your friends and their mothers seem to have already known what was ahead before you two got there. But eventually, you and Yoongi got together. You already knew he wanted to pursue a music career and were more than supportive when he decided to sign under a small company named BigHit.

While together, you two worked your best to pay your rent and debts. You two ran away from Daegu after none of your parents approved of your career choices, with him and his dream to be a producer and you and your dream of arts. It was hard having to leave your comfortable life in your little hometown but having Yoongi with you helped a lot.

A few years later, your boyfriend (now changed into the rapper and producer of the idol group BTS) found out that his company loosened its strict ban on dating and he was finally able to introduce you to his friends. (though they knew Yoongi had someone in his heart, they were never able to put a face to it)

Your favorite member (shh don’t tell anyone) had to be Hoseok. He can easily lift everyone’s spirits up and he displayed so much warmth when Yoongi introduced you to the guys.

There was a reason why Hoseok was so easy to hang out with. He was the first to know that Yoongi had someone in his life and would often come to him when he wanted to talk about you (there were times he was so excited about you that he wanted to tell everyone,,, thankfully he had hobi to talk to). So it was like Hoseok already knew you before he could meet you. Because of that, Hoseok was the middleman. The person who would be the voice of reason if you two fought. You also went to Hoseok about Yoongi, especially because you still weren’t allowed to tell the world that you were with Min “BTS’ Rapper and Producer” Yoongi. 

Hoseok was also the first one to know when Yoongi had plans of proposing. He was aware of your history and would always laugh whenever you’d describe a jealous high schooler Yoongi yanking you away from some random named Taka. 

It had to be one of the most painful things for Hoseok when he was told to keep quiet of the surprise. He was bubbling with excitement that day and was mirroring Yoongi’s eagerness to finally ask you the question you’ve been denied of answering since. 

After a simple dinner out, you both decided to walk in a quiet park (it was quite late so no one was around). Yoongi inhaled, unconsciously gripping your hand quite tightly, and looked for the velvet box with his other. 

You stopped at some point to gaze at the comforting contrast of the night with the city lights but you felt Yoongi halt in his tracks so you turned around. 

There he was, one knee on the ground as he grinned that gummy smile of his that you’ll never get tired seeing, with the question you’ve been wanting to answer for your whole life. 

“Will you marry me, Y/N?”

“Yes.”

It took Yoongi three times to propose to you, and he wouldn’t want it any other way. 

permanent taglist: @luvinseokjinnie @97faerie @amoreguk @bbyjoonies @borednia @tanumiki @taescake

[traumatizeddfox]

Borderliner here again! Glad if I could help even a little bit.

DBT was specifically developed for BPD if I remember correctly but I know we used CBT in the clinic too. It's funny bc although the clinic was equally as bad as it was good and it helped me and revealed a lot about me to myself. So although I'm not typical borderline bc I act in instead of out, I know for sure I'm quiet borderline.

Nonetheless every therapist I've went to introductory sessions with since then has immediately said I've been misdiagnosed after like 10 seconds of talking to me 🙃 either that or you just never even get to be added to the wait list bc they don't wanna treat you

But that's why we gotta all support each other!!

Anyway. I decided to go for a therapy trial with a trauma therapist that I was lucky enough to get (after lots of panicking over the multiple phone calls it took, and panic now about rescheduling and shit). So that starts in February. And we're starting out with secondary trauma bc my parents passed down their trauma to be (they're genocide refugees, and I have been back to the country and stayed there a lot in post-war times) and it has in the past caused almost psychotic states. I'm afraid it might trigger even worse panic over my parents bc they already make me feel unsafe (they're a big reason I have been self harming for 15 years now - and when I went to them during a full day break down/panic attack and told them I need help they just stared at me blankly. I could literally only shake and cry and think about how I'm about to kill myself without any control over myself all day and they literally told me "just finish the next 4 weeks of school and then we can all go on vacation" - and in my dreams my parents have tried to feed me to dinosaurs bc that's how it has to be, they've been he reason my cat almost died and got his leg ripped off, they watched my face get eaten alive by giant worms and told me it was my own fault (again all dreams) ). I still live with my parents. I'm still mostly submissive to them and I'm afraid.

But also I cant not do therapy bc I'm so fucking tired. No meds stop my nightmares. I dream of rape, war, violence, killing, running for my life, wounds, break downs, sobbing, my house being broken into, being shot at, fires all around, kids being abused in different ways, like every single night. It's just as torturous as being awake and I'm really trying to not use my secret stash for suicide plans so like I need this therapy

But... I'm so fucking terrified

In the bpd clinic I broke down and almost faint and developed migraines and had half my body go numb and useless - just when I was trying to stay present and acknowledge there was a problem. The therapist there had me bawling my eyes out bc he was like "say something good about yourself" and I legit couldn't. I had daily migraines for months. I actually have a job I like now (still in training tbh but it's with animals so it's really nice) but I'm so afraid I'm about to lose everything. It feels like I could get further if I got back into my bad regulating habits.

I'm trying so hard to do things right. I really am. But my mind and body betray me all the time and I'm so so scared

It's like no matter what I do there's no rest, no help, nothing right and good

I'm so sorry this turned into my whining lmao but uh yeah :(

I recently discovered your blog and I love it. I resonate with the rage and the dog teeth :D wanna get into vent art too eventually. If I can handle the emotion that is lol

i am so sorry to hear this angel 💔 i really hope life turns around for you & i hope the new therapist helps u! it sucks when you don’t feel validated. and tysm! vent art has helped me so much

[jasonrae117]

Night at the Wayne Casino

PART 6

Here we are, Part 6! Sorry this doesn't have much in the damirae department, but there will be more! I also wanted to see if anyone would be interested in a sort of behind the scenes chapter of the more mature stuff (what happened in Damian's suite) etc. that happens throughout. I'd post it on my ao3 account for those that want to read something ~saucy~ like that. Let me know! 💙💜💚

Damian had dressed himself and wanted to drown himself in his work. His mind was pulled in every direction and he was utterly conflicted. He had stared blankly out the window for an hour trying to process everything that had happened since the party and where it had all gone so wrong. Of course he knew it was his fault that his plan backfired. He had slipped and slept with the demon he was trying to expose. 

It was strange, he felt less motivated to bring her down, and the thoughts that occupied his mind when he recalled their… encounter, were about how badly he wanted to fix things, not about figuring out her next move as it should have been. 

He had forgone his morning workout, seeing as though he and Raven took care of that some hours before and he had slept in late. He figured he may as well head in early to work because he desperately wanted the distraction.

He was almost in the clear to the security office when a large figure accompanied by a smiling face intercepted him.

“Jon, now is not the time.” Damian tried to brush past him, but Jon was quick and kept his pace and swung an arm around his shoulders. 

“There’s always time for your best friend, especially when you need to tell him all the details from last night.” He waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner and Damian scoffed at him. 

“Grow up Kent. I don’t have to tell you anything. It wasn’t official business, therefore I have no need to brief you on what happened. Not that anything did.” He was quick to throw in the last part to avoid any misunderstandings of his words. 

“Aw, c’mon Dami, this isn’t work. I wanna know as one of the guys, as your best friend. That’s got to give me some clearance to what’s going on in there.” Jon used the arm around his shoulders to pull him down and ruffle his hair. 

Damian grunted and forced himself out of Jon’s grip. He straightened his collar and ran a hand through his now unkempt hair. “Being an asshole won’t get you anything. Besides there’s nothing to tell. I observed her and besides countless men hitting on her, there unfortunately wasn’t anything suspicious. Now would you leave me alone.”

“And how exactly would you know that I’m lying?” Damian had stopped his movements and his voice was low. almost threateningly so. 

“Damian,” he whined. “You can trust me. I know when you’re lying… well sorta, but the point is I know you’re not telling the truth.” He crossed his arm over his chest and looked down at him. 

A nervous laughter escaped Jon and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Well...you see I kinda sorta was monitoring people coming and going from the elevator on that floor. It was a slow night and Dick had everything under control.”

“What exactly do you think you saw?”

“I saw you show up and a few hours later I spotted Raven. Then I saw you both enter the elevator together and uh...get close. Then you both left pretty excitedly, and well...one can only assume.” He trailed off.

“Well your assumption is incorrect.” Damian growled out. Internally Damian was panicking, he didn’t want to lie to Jon, but it was his only chance to get out of this mess unscathed.

“Damian,” Jon almost sounded disappointed, “I tried to give you the chance to tell me on your own but you’ve given me no choice.”

“What are you-”

“Raven told me everything. Well everything from her perspective. And I gotta admit bud, you don’t look too good.” Jon shrugged dismissively and began to walk away. Damian, however, was stunned. She had gone to his best friend to get her story in first so it would be harder to prove ill intentions, that sneaky witch. 

“Whatever she said is probably a lie. Some fantastical story she made up to make me look bad.”

“As much as I want to believe you, and truly I do...I can’t help but feel that her story sounded fairly accurate. Given how well I know you.”

“What the hell does that mean? Tell me what she told you!” 

“I have no obligation to brief you on what she said, best friend or not.” Great Jon was being cheeky. What the hell was with people finding a way to use his own words against him?

“Jon, you tell me now or so help me.” Damian snatched his by the front of his shirt, not caring that it would leave it a wrinkly mess. 

“Fine, fine, relax. We’ll talk in the security office.” Jon frowned at his wrinkled shirt but reluctantly followed Damian to their shared office.

This one was slightly different from the room Tim used. It had two desks each with a state of the art computer that also had access to the security camera feed. Behind each desk were large cabinets of files from all cases they’ve had throughout the years. Tim’s had more of the recent and ongoing hardcopies, but they were shared electronically, this office was more of an archive section. It also doubled as a semi-interrogation room. 

Damian took his seat behind the desk and folded his hands together as if preparing to listen to a business report. Jon on the other hand was pacing until he settled for leaning against his own desk. Damian looked at him expectantly and stayed silent waiting for Jon to begin.

“So..uh, Raven said that she showed up to the party late because she was trying to get ready but was interrupted by her boss. When she got there, all sorts of guys were approaching her which was starting to get on her nerves until you popped up.” Damian leaned forward gaining interest. “She was surprised to see you there and not on duty. She mentioned that you were handsome and charming by the way.” A heat rose to his ears. “Then she said after a drink and some flirting you invited her back to your suite. She was pretty excited when she was telling me this. She told me that she thought you were hot when she ran into you that first night...so uh there’s that. Now where was I?”

“Raven was excited that I invited her to my suite.” Saying it outloud made it too real and his blush deepened as he cleared his throat. He held a hand up gesturing for Jon to continue. 

“Get on with it Kent.” This was absolutely humiliating, having their night together thrown back in his face by his friend. 

“Oh right, well then she said you made the first move, kissing her and adamantly trying to remove her clothes. Apparently you ripped her dress?” Damian glanced away and tugged at his collar. He remembered being so impatient with the material, he wasn’t sure how to properly take it off, he just knew it needed to come off. “So that’s a yes. Anyway, then after hours of screwing her, of which I must commend you, she said you were quite formidable and were very attentive, you both were tuckered out and fell asleep. She said she asked if you wanted her to go, but you ignored her and cuddled...Who knew Damian Wayne cuddled?”

“Geez alright. Well then she gets up in the morning to take a shower and clean up and when she comes out you are right outside the door completely shocked. At first she thought you had been drunk and forgot what had happened but it turns out that you were aware and had completely dismissed what had happened between you two.”

“I wouldn’t say I dismissed it-”

“You said it was a misstep.”

“I-”

“Did you not?”

“I mean I did, but I was being honest!” Damian rose to his feet.

“You weren’t being honest, you were being an asshole. Then you get mad at her for using your computer! Like what the actual hell?”

“She wasn’t supposed to use it, and now she had access to the security footage and who knows what she did with that access.” His eyes went wide as he took in Jon’s face. Jon’s eyebrows were furrowed and his head tilted while he was processing what Damian had just revealed. I guess she didn’t tell him why I was pissed that she used my computer. He had just told Jon on his own. 

“Why do you have the feed transmitting to your personal computer?” Jon pushed off against the desk and was now standing, only a desk separating the two.

“I like to know what’s going on around the casino.” He shrugged.

“Damian, this is serious. That is totally not acceptable. It certainly isn’t protocol, and it breaks at least a dozen policies. Do you think I can’t do my job well enough without you?”

“Jon, it isn't about that. I just like doing my job. My computer software is encrypted so nobody can access it or see it unless I want them to.”

“Nobody except Raven.”

“That was an accident. I didn’t lock the program. It won’t happen again.”

“Damian, it shouldn’t have happened at all! You’re supposed to be the leader. You sure as hell have given the rest of us enough lectures about what’s acceptable and what’s not. And then you have been doing this the whole time? Do I even want to know what other shit you might be doing off the clock?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“You need help Damian, that or a stable relationship.”

“Would you stop!”

“You need to make this right.”

“I can’t get rid of the software Jon. You’ll never know how helpful it has been in keeping this casino safe.”

“Yeah, but it’s not right. Think about if it got out! Huh? We could be in so much trouble and in lawsuits up to our eyeballs.”

Damian hadn’t thought too much on the matter, he always assumed he would never be caught. The failures kept piling on. 

“And that’s not the only thing I’m talking about fixing.” Jon sighed. Damian just shot him a quizzical look. “I’m talking about Raven. It’s clear you’re attracted to her and she is to you. You’re letting your stupid overanalytical brain mess up something potentially good for you.”

“She’s not ‘good’ for me, I hardly know her.”

“You seem to have gotten to know her fairly well last night.” Damian glared at him. “In any case, you can’t leave it like this. You were wrong about her and treated her like an ass. You need to apologize.”

“She’ll be gone in two days, what do I care how she feels about me or if she’s upset? This is her first time and probably last time in Vegas. I’ll never see her again.” The prospect of that statement made something inside twinge strangely. 

“You could try to see her again. You know, long distance relationships. Who knows she may live somewhere close.”

“She lives in Seattle.” Jon looked at him surprised. “What? She was a suspect and I needed more background on her.”

“Hmm...funny, you said she was a suspect. Are you finally relinquishing that crazy theory?” He now smiled broadly, seeing that Damian was finally coming around. 

“I suppose she has shown no more clear signs of being a threat.”

“Great! So will you go apologize to her now?” The peppy and energetic Jon had returned much to his dismay.

“I’m not using company time for personal matters.” He spoke flatly.

“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing that you’re not on the clock for another hour and a half. Now go, before I force you, and that will just be more embarrassing for you.”

“Please Kent, you can’t force me to do anything. But I suppose that I can’t leave an unhappy guest if it’s my doing.”

Jon rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Whatever gets you to do it.”

Damian dragged his hand over his face and groaned. He hated apologizing, he hadn’t had much experience since he rarely found times that he was wrong and the situation actually called for it. He moved to the door to begin his quest.

“Oh, and we’ll have a discussion about the use of company software on personal devices later.” Jon had called after him. 

The door shut behind his and his shoulder slumped. He could feel a headache coming on. Well, I better get this over with so I can get on with my life and get to work. He guessed that she would still be in her room avoiding the risk of running into him so soon after their fight. He stopped by the cafe and picked up an order of tea and a chocolate croissant as a peace offering and then made his way to her room. 

Suddenly he was right in front of her door and he realized that he hadn’t even thought about what he was going to say. His throat felt dry and he seemed to be too warm. This is a bad idea, she doesn't want to see me. She probably doesn't even care. What if she isn’t even in her room? He paced outside for a few minutes before he heard a muffled voice coming from the inside of her room. He felt only slightly creepy as he pressed his ear to the door to listen to what was being said. It was definitely her voice and an indistinct voice on the phone.

“Yes, I’ve gotten quite a bit of research done, but it’s not quite going the way I wanted.” The other person sounded irritated by the inflection of the muffled sounds. “The participants gave me some information, but none of it is really useful for us. Perhaps we should look elsewhere….I don’t know maybe another casino? Look, it’s your job to find someplace we can actually work with. It’s my job to survey and collect data and tell you if it's worth the investment or not.” The voice grew louder and he heard a loud exhale from the woman. “I’m telling you that I don’t see a good outcome of working at this casino, and that’s my professional opinion. Have I ever let you down?” She was clearly agitated. “Great, I’ll be coming home Tuesday and I’ll wrap up my report by the weekend.”

The creak of the bed signaled that she was done with the conversation and had sat on the bed most likely out of annoyance and irritation. Was it really the best time now? Now or never he supposed. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

A moment passed before the door finally swung open revealing a tired looking Raven. Her hair was thrown up into a messy bun and there was a small smudge of mascara under her eyes. Most intriguing to him, however, was the navy silk robe she was wearing. You’re not here for that. She cocked her hip and raised her eyebrow in question.

“Damian.” She said curtly.

“Miss Roth. I came to..uh..apologize.” He held out the now barely warm tea and croissant. Her face lit up with surprise taking the items into her own hands. She still eyed him skeptically, but took a step back gesturing with her hand that held the croissant for him to enter.

“Sorry for the mess, I’m between packing up for my return trip and figuring out what to wear tonight.”

“I’m sorry for my intrusion to your plans, maybe I should come back-”

“No.” She commanded. “You came here for a reason, and so you should see that through. I’m intrigued.” She took a sip of the tea and scrunched her nose a bit before hastily putting it down onto the nightstand. She proceeded to sit on the bed criss crossing her legs, allowing the robe to split open revealing lacy underwear. Damian quickly averted his eyes to her smirking face and his throat suddenly felt tight and his face felt hot.

He cleared his throat and began pacing, keeping his attention away from her alluring body.

"The way I proceeded with our engagement earlier was unjustified and I regret that I upset you. As a guest of our resort, it is my priority to make sure you are happy and content with your stay here." He chanced a glance at her face and was surprised to see it held astonishment and something close to disgust.

"You've got to be fucking joking." Damian blinked dumbly at her not understanding. "You're not...wow. Ok, try doing this," she spun her finger around indicating his speech, "again, but this time be a fucking man and talk to me like Damian. Not the head of security or son of the CEO. Otherwise get the fuck out." 

Her face turned red with fury and she stood. Her arm shot out pointing to the door. "Get the fuck out now!"

Damian swallowed, he hated this. He hated that Jon convinced him to do this. "Fine, I'm sorry that I fucked you." The words had left his mouth in a rush and he even shocked himself at how it came out. He spun to her hoping he didn't just royaly fuck up this apology. Jon is going to kill me.

"Wait no. Raven, listen."

"You're not listening. I said get out, or do I have to call your friend to get you out. How dare you come here and say that to me."

"Would you stop. That's not how I meant it. I don't regret doing it, I regret how it came about."

She looked bewildered. "What do you mean how it came about?"

Shit, this is why he meant to come prepared. Well no use in hiding it now. "I wished it had happened naturally, like you and Tim." The words were bitter in his mouth and she licked her lips looking off to the side. "I...I was following a lead that you were a suspect in conning our casino." 

Raven's head snapped to look at him, mouth open slightly. She shook her head and rubbed at her temples. "You're telling me that all of our encounters haven't been accidental and you've been stalking me because you think I was going to pull a fast one over your casino?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Who was in on this?"

"Tim actually logged it first when you had been winning probably more times than usual. But he quickly dismissed you, particularly when he found out you were single. The others in security knew about you because they were doing their jobs, but they didn't believe it to be true. And the girls at the spa knew after when I discussed it with them. Admittedly I was the last one unconvinced." He cast his stare at the floor finally feeling guilty at his stubbornness. Saying it out loud, he could hear how foolish he had been. 

She released a humorless laugh. "Wow. I...I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I am sorry for how I behaved. I see the errors of my ways. I convinced myself you were still a suspect so that I had an excuse to learn more about you and get closer to you."

"If I wasn't so pissed off right now I'd say that's kinda romantic in a stalkerish kind of way." A ghost of a smile graced her lips. 

"I know you're scheduled to leave Tuesday, but would you consider accepting a free four night stay? We'd even reimburse your plane ticket. Though we may have to upgrade your room if there's a reservation on it."

"Excuse me?"

"We'll the girls want you to join them for their plans on Friday. And it's the least we can to make up for the time you wasted being bothered by all of us. Namely me." He didn't know what made him offer her these things. He had never done such a thing for any other guest and it was actually a rather expensive apology. 

Raven pursed her lips trying to weigh her options. "I suppose it would be foolish not to accept. But is your father alright with comping this?"

"I rarely care what my father is alright with. I'll see to it myself that it is all taken care of." He shuffled around a bit before nodding in her direction and making his way toward the door. 

"Damian wait!" He stopped and watched her jog a few steps, closing their distance. 

She fiddled with her hands as if trying to decide whether to use them or not. Damian quirked an eyebrow at this and just watched with anticipation. "I accept your apology." Her eyes were still on the floor.

"Thank you, I suppose I should leave you alone now." Raven's hands on his chest halted his exit.

He looked down into her mesmerizing indigo eyes and saw how they gleamed with mischief. She bit her lower lip and turned her gaze to her hands running smoothly over the plane of his chest sending a trickle of electricity through his body.

"What if I don't want you to leave me alone? I can think of another way you can make sure I hear your apology." Her eyes looked up at him through her dark lashes with a coy smile on her lips.

Damian smirked in response and pulled her in, relishing the way her body feels against his. He leaned in keeping a fraction of space between their lips. He could feel her chest rise and fall with heavy and excited breaths.

"Where do I begin?"

[angelic-holland]

Stay At My Place // th x fem!reader

Miss Yer Kiss Part Two

Feel free to read Miss Yer Kiss! Feel free to leave comments or asks with feedback! 

Warnings: smut, feelings, actual plot this time, nsfw, 18+ please

Word Count: 12k

Tom checked Instagram the next day, including your page. He was laying in his bed when he clicked your story. He gasped when he saw what was a spitting image of himself in pencil. He took a screenshot of it and almost posted it to his story but decided not to.

He remembered what you told him.

“Let’s agree on one thing. This is a one night stand, that’s it.”

He didn’t want it to be a one night stand. He’s had his share of one night stands, sure. But there was something different about you. Maybe it was your confidence, maybe it was the way you didn’t even care enough to leave your phone number. Maybe it was your tattoos and how he wanted to hear the story behind each and every one of them.

He decided to wait, see if you would DM him since you set out the “only a one night stand” pact.  

He heard his doorbell ring and he got out of bed, he checked his phone, who was at his place at 10:30 at night?

He jogged down the stairs, opening the door.

“Hey mate,” Harry says, pushing his way inside.

“What’s up? Were you planning on coming over?”

“Nah last minute decision,” Harry says, walking up the stairs, Tom following.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“Is she still here?”

“Who?”

“The girl you left the club with last night.”

“No she’s gone,” Tom frowns.

Harry flops down on the sofa, “oh good.”

“Why?”

“You’ve never been caught mid hook up before, by the paps I mean, mom almost had a fucking heart attack when she saw the pictures of you leaving the restroom of the club.”

“Wait why?”

“Cause she doesn’t know about your other hookups, she also wasn’t expecting pictures of her son with lipstick marks and sex hair leaving a fucking club bathroom.”

“We didn’t fuck in there.”

“Sure you didn’t.”

“Not like, not full sex, fuck off it doesn’t matter.”

“Sure, like the stories of people hearing her scream your name aren’t important.”

“Harry! Can it, not like it matters now.”

“Yeah? Do you even remember her name?”

“Course I do, it’s Y/N.”

He smiles, remembering how you made him work for it.

“Stop thinking about it you perv,” Harry says, tossing a pillow at Tom as he sits down.

“Shut up, she only wanted a one night stand so I’m gonna respect that.”

“Sure.”

“What?”

“You always catch up with them after the ‘one night stand’ and see if they want to go on a date, hook up again. It’s your thing.”

“My thing?” Tom scoffs, crossing his arms.

“Yeah.”

“Well whatever if she wants to talk to me she can DM me on Instagram or something.”

“No she can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you get legit thousands of DMs a day, probably more, you wouldn’t be able to see it.”

“I could search for it? Would that work?”

“Maybe.”

***

You’re lying in bed, suitcase packed for the flight you’ve got early tomorrow. You sigh, pulling out your phone. You know what you said. You know you should just forget about the possibility of seeing Tom again. Of interacting with him again. But you couldn’t get that night out of your head.

“It’s beautiful out,” you say, exhaling the smoke from your lungs.

“Not as-,”

“I swear if you finish that sentence I’ll leave right now,” you groan.

“Okay! I won’t, just, you look so pretty, the moon really lights up your tattoos, they look good.”

Any of your hook ups, you weren’t used to them complimenting you if that compliment wasn’t about loving your tits or something stupid. They never called you beautiful, like Tom was about to. Or pretty. You opened your Instagram, you decided the other day to post the picture you drew of Tom, even going so far as to tag him. Your eyes almost fell out of your head when you saw he liked the post.

Maybe, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to send him a message, he’d have a hard time finding it anyways with the probably hundreds of thousands of messages he gets.

You quickly send him a DM.

yourinstagramhandle: thanks for the like, you like the drawing?

You roll your eyes and send a text to Bryce, asking if he wants to go to your graduation.

You go back to Instagram and see you’ve got a DM from none other than Tom.

What the fuck.

***

“wait! She DMed me, holy shit,” Tom says, opening it.

He smiles and responds.

tomholland2013: thought it was okay

tomholland2013: I’m kidding I thought it was great

Yourinstagramhandle: well thanks

Tomholland2013: didn’t think I’d hear from you again

Yourinstagramhandle: almost didn’t DM you but decided I need validation

Tomholland2013: the sex or the drawing?

Yourinstagramhandle: you caught me… both

tomholland2013: well the sex was so good I want to see you again so there’s that. And the portrait is so good I want you to tattoo it on me

Yourinstagramhandle: well damn I’ll take it. Not a tattoo artist yet though, and getting a portrait of yourself tattooed, little self centered don’t you think?

Tomholland2013: just a tad bit.

Tomholland2013: are you still in town?

Yourinstagramhandle: leaving bright and early tomorrow for NYC

Tomholland2013: come over

Yourinstagramhandle: I can’t, I’ll be too busy giving you the time of your life I’ll miss my flight

Tomholland2013: that’s not necessarily a bad thing

Yourinstagramhandle: it is when I’ve got school, finals in two weeks and then I need to beg for a tattoo apprenticeship

Tomholland2013: they’ll be begging you to be their apprentice

Yourinstagramhandle: totally not how it works

Tomholland2013: I fly by New York end of May, can I see you then?

Yourinstagramhandle: sure you won’t have forgotten about me by then?

Tomholland2013: no, already miss your sex, don’t know how I’m gonna go two months without it

Yourinstagramhandle: we could always be horny teenagers and sext. Wanna see my tits?

Tomholland2013: right now?

Yourinstagramhandle: no in two months, yes right now

Tomholland2013: fuck yeah

Tomholland2013: wait send me ur phone number I don’t wanna accidentally save them and have them end up on my Instagram story or something

Yourinstagramhandle: not very good with technology?

Tomholland2013: nope

***

You giggle, pulling off your shirt, you weren’t wearing a bra, so you just waited for him to text you.

Unknown number: Y/N?

You: the one and only

Tom: great now show me your tits

You: I better get a picture of your hard cock immediately following

Tom: my brothers here!

You: kick him out or go to your room, my tits look pretty great right now

Tom: please send them, told him to get lost

You: where are you right now?

Tom: couch

You: take your cock out, play with it a little bit

You position yourself in front of the mirror, pinching your nipples a little so they harden before taking a picture and sending it to him.

Tom: holy fuck, missed ur tits so much

You: I’m waiting

You quickly strip your sweatpants and now soaked panties, laying back on the bed.

You groan at the picture he sends, his hard cock in his hand, thighs spread on his couch.

Tom: can I call u

You: Patience baby, one step at a time. Let’s just sext for now

You can practically hear his whine but you wouldn’t answer his call even if he did. You loved teasing him.

Tom: fuck, send me a picture of your pussy

You: why should I?

Tom: please, know you’re probably dripping for me, come on, lemme see it

You smirk, your fingers moving to lazily move through your folds, gently slipping into your hole, you take a few pics, choosing the best one to send to Tom.

Tom: holy fuck, you sure I can’t come over? Wanna eat your pussy so good

Although you’d love that, you knew it wasn’t possible. You sighed, responding to him as your thumb gently rubbed your clit.

You: positive, now be a good boy and jerk your cock for me until you make a mess

You smile, putting your phone down and fucking yourself down on your fingers.

****

“Shit,” Tom groaned, reading your text before his hand sped up. He closed his eyes, pretending it was your hand, pretending you were there with him.

He came embarrassingly quickly with a whimper of your name.

You: and I expect a picture of the mess

He groans, sending a picture of his stomach painted with his come and his softening cock, sending it to you.

You: beautiful

You send him a video a few minutes later.

He cleans his stomach off with a T-shirt before clicking play, feeling his cock twitch as it starts with you whimpering his name.

“Tommy,” you say, the camera angle showing your fingers fucking in and out of your pussy, making the most delicious sound. Your fingers speed up, thumb rubbing your clit as the only noise he hears is his name and the sound of your fingers fucking in and out of you.

You come with a grunt of his name, and he thinks the video is going to cut off but you trail your fingers from your clit up your body, stopping to make gentle circles around your nipples before sucking them into your mouth. He groans as the video stops, right as you moan around your fingers.

Tom: you’ll send me that and not let me come over?

You: gotta keep ya on your toes

Tom: trust me I most certainly am

He sighs, grimacing as he picks up his sticky shirt, tucking his cock back into his shorts.

Tom: we need to do this again

You: I fully intend on it

***

You make it to your flight, Lily talking nonstop the entire trip back to New York about Tom, about if you’re going to meet up with him. How good he was in bed.

“Listen, Lily, I love you, but give it a rest. I’m sure the rest of the people on the plane don’t want to hear about it. I’ll tell you more when we get back to our place. Sound good? Also, you’re gay, you shouldn’t care about this.”

You roll your eyes as she grumbles, turning on a movie as you try to sleep.

When you arrive at your apartment, all you want to do is collapse on your bed and sleep for days. You only have one before you have to be back at work and school, however.

This next week was hectic, you had to finish your final for your portrait class, then you had to finish your oil painting final. The only final you would have to sit for was Art History IV.

You saw a text from Tom that you decided to open.

Tom: hope your flight was nice, good luck with finals

Jesus, you needed a smoke. You begrudgingly got up, grabbing your pack and lighter from your bedside table you pushed open the balcony door, taking your phone with you.

You: thanks, can’t believe I graduate so soon, been a whirlwind

Tom: what’s ur address

You: what

You light your cigarette, waiting for his reply.

Tom: wanna send you a graduation gift

You: like what

Tom: just something

Tom: on a completely different note what size bra and panties do you wear

You: I like the way you think.

You send him all the information he asked for, finishing your cigarette and lighting up another one. It was a bad habit of yours, you were well aware, but you started smoking with your ex when you first started college and you were, like most people who smoke, addicted. You planned to stop eventually, they drained money from your account and you’d need to start saving more for a chair at a tattoo shop anyways.

Tom: What are you up to now?

You: having a smoke then going to take a nap

Tom: oh

You: what?

Tom: just was gonna say we can call or video chat if you wanted to

You: although the idea of getting off together over the phone sounds amazing baby, I needa take a nap

Tom: after?

You: I’d want nothing more

You finish your other cigarette before going back inside, flopping down on your bed and closing your eyes.

You wake up to Lily shaking you awake, “Y/N, it’s been like so long you should get up.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s Sunday, like 2pm.”

“Oh shit,” you say, getting up.

You check your phone, a few missed calls from Tom, one text from Bryce asking if you wanted to work tonight around 6. The shop was closed but there was going to be a small cleaning day according to him.

You quickly text Bryce back, telling him you’ll be there. You send a message to Tom as well, unsure of what time it was over there.

You: sorry I totally suck but I’ll make it up to you. I’m going into work into work at 6pm my time, call me before then.

You lock your door, quickly shutting the door and curtains that lead to your balcony.

You jump back into bed and see your phone buzz, Tom. You quickly pick up.

“Thought you were gonna ghost me,” he laughs.

“Nah, like your dick too much.”

“Y/N, don’t say things like that.”

“Why?”

“Cause.”

“Oh, are you hard right now?”

“Maybe.”

“Are you free?”

“Course.”

“Good, are you naked?”

You hear him suck in a deep breath, “not yet.”

“Okay so get naked.”

“Are you?”

“I’m about to be baby, like I said, gotta work on your patience.”

It’s silent other than the sound of both of you taking your clothes off. You put the phone on speaker and lay it down next to you.

“You naked?” He asks, panting.

“Are you touching yourself?”

“Yes?”

“Did I say you could?” You grin, hearing him swear.

“What’s this game we’re playing Y/N?”

“Just listen to my instructions baby, gonna make you feel so good.”

“Fine,” you hear him grumble.

“You don’t haveta, you can hang up and get yourself off if you wanna.”

“No, no, okay I’m not touching myself, what do you want?”

“Want you to tease yourself, lick your palm, rub it down your chest, don’t touch your cock yet.”

He swears but does what you say, waiting patiently for your next instruction.

“Good, go ahead, wrap your hand around your cock, but don’t move, just feel the weight of yourself in your palm, feel good? Wish it was me, my hand wrapped around you?” You ask, letting your fingers pinch your nipples.

“Fuck, wish it was something else.”

“Yeah? What do you wish it was?” You ask, biting your lip, knowing exactly what he’s going to say.

“You’re, fuck, can I move my hand? Please?” You hear him whine.

“What do you wish it was Tom?”

“Your lips, wish your lips were wrapped around me right now.”

“Wish I was there right now, wish I could suck you off, maybe if you were being good I’d let you fuck my mouth, you’d like that wouldn’t you?”

“Fuck, yes, wanna fuck your mouth so bad.”

You loved how worked up he got just from being told what to do. You hand slipped down to your pussy, slipping a finger into your wet heat as you gave him his next instruction.

“Go ahead baby, jerk your cock for me.”

“Fuck, Y/N,” he grunts and you can hear him start to move, his bed moving beneath him.

“Feel good? Wish it was my pussy wrapped around your cock?” You ask, slipping another finger into yourself, moaning.

“Are you, you touching yourself too?”

“Course, not nearly as good as you touching me,” you groan, thumb rubbing your clit.

“Wish, fuck, wish I could see you right now.”

“Tom, feels so good, wish these were your fingers fucking into me, wish you were getting me off,” you whine, fingers speeding up.

“Yeah? Wish I could eat that pretty pussy of yours, make you come undone over and over again on my tongue,” he groans your name several times.

“Gonna come? You wanna come for me baby?”

“Yes, fuck, don’t stop please, wanna come, can I come?” he grunts and you grin. You were surprised he was asking permission and you let out a throaty groan as his moans get higher and higher pitched.

“Yes, come on baby, come all over yourself for me, take a picture when you’re done, wanna see how much of a mess you made for me.”

“Fuck, y/n, I’m coming, fuck,” he whimpers your name a few times and that’s all it takes for you to come undone.

“Shit,” you laugh, fingers slipping out from you.

“Yeah?”

“That was fun,” you giggle, before wiping your fingers off on your sheets.

“Agreed.”

You hear your phone buzz and you check it.

Another picture, this time Tom’s face was included. He was biting his lip, hand not holding the phone was in his hair, your eyes wandered down to his chest, red and sweaty, his stomach covered in his come, cock softening against his hip.

“Look so pretty baby,” you say, taking off your phone speaker.

“Thank you,” he laughs.

“Okay I gotta go get ready for work, talk to you later?”

“Great plan.”

“Bye.”

“You know your phone was on speaker right?” You hear Lily shout and you laugh so hard you’re almost in tears.

“Sorry!”

“Well at least I know what he’s like in bed now.”

***

You arrive at Tattoo Dice and the doors are locked, lights off. Maybe you were the first to get there, your apartment being so close, so you unlocked the door with your copy of the store key.

“SURPRISE!” A chorus of people shout and you’re bombarded by every tattooer, piercer, and front desk assistant holding balloons and streamers and those little things that pop, you couldn’t remember the name.

“Holy shit what’s this for?” You ask, confused.

“Your graduation,” Bryce says, stepping out from the crowd, “we couldn’t find a time when everyone was free after your graduation so now is close enough.”

“Yeah? Wow thank you,” you laugh as he guides you to the sofa in the waiting area, where a cake was waiting.

“What?” You ask, reading it.

“What’s it say?”

“Happy graduation and apprenticeship.”

You look between Bryce and the cake, “you fucking didn’t.”

“I did. I’ve never seen such talent and skill, you’ve been here for 4 years, you’re going to have to start looking for an apprenticeship when you graduate, I don’t want my competition swooping in and stealing you.”

You felt tears in your eyes, this never happened.

“Of course, you’ll have to put in the work and the effort, and pay for your chair but I have no doubt in my mind you can do that.”

“Thank you Bryce. Really,” you say, hugging him.

“Alright, no more crying, it’s cake time.”

***

You were anxiously awaiting the grade for your portrait. It took like every waking moment, the theme was “two sides of every story”. You knew exactly what to do.

You had called Tom after your party, shocked he was still awake.

“So, my portrait final, I was wondering if one of your buddies could take a photo of you sitting on a stool, like positioned in a corner, so your shadow is still in the shot.”

“Want me naked?”

You roll your eyes, “no, it’s, the theme is two sides of every story, so I want to draw you, maybe as Peter Parker, then your shadow will be Spiderman.”

“Holy fuck that’s awesome.”

“Yeah, do you think you could do it tomorrow morning? So the light hits you just right?”

“Course.”

“Thank you Tom,” you sigh, laying down.

“No problem. Keep your eye out for your mail.”

“Huh?”

“Your present.”

“Oh you know you don’t haveta get me anything. Don’t even know if anyone is going to my graduation,” you laugh.

“Wait what?”

“Nothing.”

“Nobody’s going to your graduation?”

“It’s, I mean, Bryce is going to try, not like I have anyone else.”

Shit fuck, fuck. You didn’t need to share personal shit with him.

“What about, you don’t haveta, I don’t know if this is a touchy subject for you, if you don’t wanna talk about it you don’t have to.”

“Why nobody’s going to my graduation?”

“Yeah.”

“See how easy it was? Anyways, don’t know who my dad is, mom left me on a police station’s doorstep when I was three like I was a newborn baby and it was the 1950s.”

“She did What now?”

“She had really bad postpartum depression, couldn’t handle having a kid I guess, left me on the police doorstep and I bounced around different foster homes. Never stayed in one place for more than a year.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What’re you sorry for?”

“For all that, for how you hadta grow up.”

“It was fine really, Art was what kept me going, it was the only thing I really had from home to home, only school subject I was able to do well in since it didn’t require previous knowledge.”

“Well I’m glad you got something good out of everything that happened.”

“Yeah,” you sigh, closing your eyes.

“When is it again?”

“When’s what?”

“Your graduation.”

“Oh, April 15th.”

“Okay.”

“Anyways, guess what?”

“What?” You can hear he’s more distant now, probably wants to ask why you don’t have anyone going to your graduation, he doesn’t want to know the answer.

“Bryce offered me an apprenticeship.”

“Really? That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, I’ve got just enough saved up to pay for my equipment and chair for the first few months, when I’m tattooing for free, then eventually I’ll get paid, might haveta take out a loan for my apartment or move somewhere cheaper but since I won’t be spending money for the subway to get to school it’ll cut my expenses. Jesus why am I rambling sorry you don’t wanna hear all this.”

“No I do, I do,” He says and you can hear some enthusiasm in his voice.

“It’s late you should go to bed.”

“Maybe we can talk in the morning?”

“I’d like that,” you smile, “goodnight Tom.”

“Night princess.”

You giggle as you hang up, running a hand over your face. You were fucking exhausted. The next morning you woke up to a picture message from Tom.

Holy shit, the picture was perfect, just what you needed.

You: this is legit amazing how’d you make it look so good?

Tom: brother is like an amateur photographer

You: nothing amateur about this. Thanks no I get to stare at your picture for the next 50 hours.

Tom: 50???

You: more or less, for the portrait, then the oil painting, now go away I’m meant to work

Your portrait professor said you could go into the studio to draw, since it was a full color design, but if you wanted to do it in the comfort of your own home you could. You opted to take your work to the tattoo studio, sprawling out in the back office.

“You’ve got it bad dontcha?” Bryce asks, seeing your initial outline of the sketch.

“What?”

“This kid in the drawing, it’s the same one you drew the other day. You sleep with him?”

“None of your business,” you say, “scram I gotta finish this outline.”

“It’s almost done, you’ve been working for 6 hours, you need a break.”

“Fine, wanna grab some coffee?”

“Let’s go kiddo,” Bryce says, helping you off the ground.

Bryce takes you to the coffee shop next door. You know you’re going to have to tell him about Tom.

Most of the time he acted like your fun uncle, wanted to know what you were up to but wouldn’t give you any advice or warnings. Recently he’d been more of a wise father, which you had no problem with, never having one of your own to rely on.

“So, he’s famous right? Does movies? How’d that happen?” He asks as you sit in a booth.

“Met him at a club in London.”

“And you…”

“Yes, we did, thought it was just gonna be, you know, that, but we’ve been talking.”

“Have you seen him since?”

“No, think he’s gonna visit on his way to a press thing.”

“So are you two dating? Messing around? What do kids these days call it?”

You shrug, taking a sip of your coffee, “I don’t know. Like, it would be cool to date him, but at the same time I like what we’ve got now. He’s all over the place all the time, lives in London, while I’m here, how’d that work?”

“Think you could find a way to make it work, if it’s worth it.”

“Well, dunno if it’s worth it.”

“You’re doing your final project on him, I think it’s worth it.”

You shrug, “Yeah.”

“So maybe you should see how he feels?”

“Too soon for that.”

“Whatever you want, I’ll be by your side whatever you chose. Alright let’s get back I’ve got a tattoo to do and you’ve got shading and colors to start.”

“Then I’m working at 6.”

“Yep, got 5 more hours of work to do, let’s get to it lady.”

***

By the time your shift started you had almost finished your outline in black and erased the pencil underneath it.

You were happy with how it looked, sending a photo to Tom. Tomorrow you had to go into school for your art history class, only two more lessons left.

Tom: holy shit looks amazing, and now you have to color it?

You: Yep, most of the time will be color, then my oil painting

Tom: What will be your oil painting?

You: was gonna make an oil painting of the Spiderman mask but I don’t want you to think I’m obsessed with you or something

Tom: I wouldn’t mind, your art blows my mind

Tom: also I’m kinda obsessed with you too

You: good

You smirk at his texts, locking up for the night at 11:30, saying goodnight to Bryce who made his way upstairs to his apartment. 

“See you tomorrow,” you wave, sending him one more.

The next day is filled with rushing to class, your professor telling you that the final class period was optional, knowing you all had plenty of work to do for other classes. You almost cheered.

When class wrapped up you made your way to the studio, working a mid to close shift, you weren’t going to have much time to work on your portrait.

You were able to use your colored pencils to get the color of his shirt, a blue button up, and his khaki pants done. You wanted to save the details of the Spiderman suit and his face for when you had more time.

By the time 1pm rolled around you were satisfied with how much work you had left and the time you had to do it.

You spent the rest of the day greeting customers, helping them pick out jewelry, copying their consent forms. You had fun as the front desk assistant and would no doubt do it for as long as they wanted you, but you were dying to have a turn with the tattoo machine.

The phone rings, and you answer.

“Hello, Tattoo Dice by Bryce, this is Y/N, how can I help you today?” You ask, pen and paper in hand.

“Hello, is Bryce in?” A low voice asks.

“He is, doing some paperwork in his office. Can I help you?”

“Was hoping to talk to him.”

“Sure, I’ll check to see if he’s taking calls,” you frown, clearly they’ve never stepped foot in a tattoo shop before or understand any etiquette of tattoo shops.

You put the person on hold and ring the back office, “someone wants to speak to you? Do I tell them off or let them through?”

“Feel like being nice, put them through.”

You transfer the line to the back office and look back at your portrait, taking out your skin tone set of colored pencils. There was a lull in the shop around dinner time and you decided to color his body in while there was some silence.

****

“Hello, this is Bryce, how can I help you?”

“Hi, you’re, you’re Y/N’s boss right?”

“Yes, who’s this, Wait, are you that Tom fella? No distracting her at work.”

“Of course not sir, I wouldn’t. I was just wondering, she told me you might go to her graduation.”

“That’s right.”

“I was wondering if maybe, maybe you could get a second ticket? I wanted to surprise her, but I wouldn’t know how to get a ticket.”

“Do you think she would want you there?”

“I don’t, I would hope so, I mean, I don’t know how to ask her without giving away that I want to surprise her.”

“Well I’ll ask her, hold on.”

“Right now?!”

“Yes, just you wait a minute.”

****

Bryce strolls out of his office rolling his eyes, “some random asshole who doesn’t know what our cancellation policy is. Trying to cancel our appointment for tomorrow and get his money back at the same time.”

“Huh, weird that he asked for you.”

“Well I’m his artist, makes sense.”

“Yeah, totally,” you nod, eyeing Bryce as he sits on the stool next to you.

“Looks good so far,” he nods as you shade in his neck.

“Thanks,” you hum, changing the color for his face, slightly darker color to contrast the light from the window you would add later.

“So, your graduation.”

Your face drops and you stop coloring. He doesn’t want to go. Or he is too busy.

“You don’t haveta go, stupid for me to invite you, it’s whatever,” you sigh.

“No, no I was going to ask if I could get two tickets, for Adrien and I.”

“He’d wanna come?”

“What’s my husband gonna do? Sit and look pretty? We’re not open on Sundays he won’t have work.”

“I’d love to get you two tickets.”

****

“Do you like your presents?”

You giggled, looking through the box of lingerie.

“You didn’t need to get me all these.”

“But I want a photo shoot,” he whines.

You pick up a small handwritten card.

For you princess, I expect photos of you in all of them. Xx Tom

“You’ll get a photo shoot mister,” you laugh, putting your phone on speaker and taking off your clothes.

They were from an online store, all in the sizes you sent him. There were more elaborate pieces but you picked up a lacy red bralette with matching red lace panties. Most of the lingerie was red.

“Is red your favorite color?”

“How’d you know?”

“Just a guess.”

“You look so fucking good in red princess. Wait FaceTime me.”

“Okay okay,” you say, hanging up and moving to FaceTime.

“Fuck I didn’t know you’d be naked for me,” Tom groans, laying on his bed, you could see he was shirtless and were hoping there was nothing on underneath.

“Go ahead baby, put on those pretty little numbers on for me,” he says as you prop your phone up on your bedside table.

You put on the first red lacy set, posing for Tom. The camera slowly moves lower to his hand gripping his cock as he jerks off.

“Don’t come too soon, got lots more to show you.”

You show him the same set in black, causing him to bite his lip and thrust into his hand.

The next bit is a little more elaborate, lots of tiny hooks to clip in the back, and you struggle for a bit, laughing when you trip over your own two feet and Tom sits up, concerned you hurt yourself.

“I’m fine,” you laugh, getting the last hook done. You turn back to him, showing off the red lace corset that made your tits look so good, right down to where it trailed off into a lace trim hanging right above your bare pussy.

“Love this one, wanna leave marks all over your chest, tease those hard nipples of yours, shit, so pretty,” he says, hand moving faster.

“Have 911 on hold while I take this off,” you joke, fingers struggling again to unhook it. Once you do you put your hands on your knees and mock being out of breath.

“Are you okay? You don’t gotta try the others on, it’s fine,” Tom starts but you cut him off.

“Are these crotchless panties?” You gasp and look up at him. He’s blushing a little and nods.

“You don’t needa wear them, thought they’d be fun, I don’t know, don’t worry about it.”

“No Tom, I fucking love them, holy shit I could come just thinking about how useful these could be.”

You quickly slide them up your legs, fingers spreading your lips, loving how snug the fabric felt around your hips and ass but how bare and exposed your pussy was.

“Look so pretty, come on, go lie on the bed and play with your pussy,” he says, camera shaking a little as his hand speeds up.

“In these?” You ask, laying on the bed and tilting your phone so he could see your fingers move down your chest, pinching each of your nipples.

“Yes, fuck yourself with those panties, wanna see if they work,” he grunts and you follow through, fingers dipping lightly into yourself, the hole in the panties perfect for this.

“Go ahead princess stuff yourself full for me.

“Shit,” you whine, fucking yourself with your fingers.

You could hear his moans get throatier, you knew he was going to come.

“Fuck, touch your clit, come on baby,” he whines and you do just that, feeling yourself get closer and closer.

“Tom, fuck,” you groan.

“Come for me princess,” he says, his voice deep and gravelly.

Your fingers speed up and you come like a horny teenager with a cry of his name.

He comes right after, and you bring the phone up to your face, giggling a little as he licks his lips.

“Feel like a fucking teenager right now.”

“Yeah?”

“Hella horny all the time, sexting.”

“Wish you were here,” he sighs, hand running through his hair.

“Me too,” you yawn.

“How are you tired it’s like 6pm there.”

“Been working nonstop on your projects, finally finished them today after pulling an all-nighter. Gotta pass them in tomorrow.”

“Can I see them?”

“Course. But I’m gonna sleep now. And you should too! It’s late over there.”

“You’re right.”

“Goodnight Tom.”

“Night princess.”

***

“You should try juuling,” Tom says nonchalantly.

“What?” You almost choke, smoke exhaling out of your nostrils, you cough for the first time while smoking in three years.

“To help you stop smoking, you told me you wanted to stop, eventually, heard juuling helps.”

You roll your eyes at the boy on the other end of the FaceTime call.

“Sure,” you say, “just, I’m graduating today, got some nerves to shake out.”

“But you did it, and your portrait professor said yours was the best work she’s seen this year.”

“Yeah, thank you for your pretty face.”

“Of course,” he grins.

“Where are you right now?” You ask, the bed behind him not his own, he never said he had any filming or press. His next press thing was a week from now in Mexico according to him. Your heart nearly falls out of your chest, what if he’s at another girl’s place? You know you never said anything about seeing other people, you were just messing around, why did what he did in his free time matter to you?

Sure you texted every day, not just sexted. You learned about his friends, his likes, his dislikes, anything and everything, all the little fun facts about him. But that was just getting to know the person you’re sleeping with, right?

He must’ve seen the look of confusion mixed with hurt on your face because he sat up and his eyes widened.

“Nevermind, doesn’t matter, I haveta, I gotta go.”

You were going to wait for him to answer but you didn’t want to embarrass yourself even more so you hung up quickly.

“Fuck,” you say, tears stinging your eyes as you finish your cigarette and immediately start another one.

“Hey! Y/N, we gotta get going- fuck, what’s wrong?” Lily asks as she joins you on your balcony.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” you say, sniffling as you take a long drag.

“Clearly you’re not fine you’re crying, what’s wrong?”

“I just, I’m an idiot.”

“What?”

You silently finish your cigarette, Lilly rubbing your back as you stub the end into your ashtray.

“I think Tom was at someone else’s place, like in someone else’s bed.”

“Oh.”

“It’s stupid, we never said we were a thing this was just, we’re just fooling around so it doesn’t matter what he does in his free time.”

“Did you hear what he had to say?”

“No, feel like a fucking idiot, didn’t wanna embarrass myself in front of him anymore.”

“You should ask him out.”

“Huh?”

“Tell him you wanna be official, wanna be boyfriend girlfriend or whatever. It’s obvious you’ve got feelings for him.”

“Nah, he’s, he's famous, he’d never be around,” you shrug.

“Okay, But doesn’t change how you feel. So put on your big girl panties, stop crying, we’ve got a graduation to get to.”

“Don’t gotta leave for a few hours.”

“Two.”

“Okay, so I’m going to smoke this entire pack of cigarettes then we can graduate.”

“You’re seriously going to stand here and chain smoke?”

“Yep,” you nod, grabbing another cigarette.

“Just call him back, call him once and see what’s up, okay? Don’t be stupid and sound like an old lady for graduation.”

“Fuck off,” you groan.

“Fine, but just, call him okay?”

“Whatever,” you grumble.

Lily sighs and leaves you on the balcony alone. You look back at your phone. Nothing. It didn’t matter anyways, maybe you scared him off enough that you wouldn’t have to deal with the messiness that came with feelings.

You shrugged, wiping the stupid fucking tears from your eyes, grabbing another cigarette. Maybe you would get a juul or whatever they were called, cigarettes were fucking expensive and as your apprenticeship got closer you realized how fucked you were. It only made her angrier.

You couldn’t think about that now. Instead, you focused on the ring of smoke you blew from your mouth, the burning sensation you felt in your lungs.

You don’t know how long you stood there, smoking as the sun got higher in the sky and the bustling life of Queens began to start. It was a Sunday so everyone was going to church or catching up on errands.

You heard a knock on the door to your tiny apartment and the door swing open. You ignore it, thinking it might be Lily’s girlfriend here so you all could travel to graduation together.

You finish your cigarette, the knocking on the door starting up again.

“Who the fuck, Lily, who is it?” You shout, making your way back inside, closing your balcony door. You toss your pack and lighter on your bedside table before walking the very few steps to your front door.

“Lily, where the fuck are you?” You groan before unlocking the door and swinging it open.

“Who the fuck-,”

“Surprise?”

Tom was standing in front of you, wearing a really nice suit, eyes red.

“Oh. Oh!” Him in a different bed, acting sort of weird over the past few days made sense.

“I’m sorry. I, I was going to surprise you at your graduation but when you asked where I was I didn’t want you to think that I was with someone else or something, and I’m sorry if you don’t want me to be here I just thought I didn’t wanna wait until May to-,”

You cut him off pressing your lips against his, taking him off guard he stumbles back, arms wrapping around your body to draw you tight against him.

“I want to see you too,” you mumble against his lips, shutting the door behind him.

“Hey, glad you liked your surprise,” Lily says, breaking the two of you apart.

His hands were still tight on your waist, your hands cupping his face, you just nodded, looking at Tom who stared right back at you.

“I’m glad you’re here,” you say, smiling.

“I think I’m even happier that I’m here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep.”

“Prove it,” his eyes dart between your lips and your own eyes.

“Okay, so I’m going to meet Lexie downstairs for coffee, if I don’t see the both of you down there in 30 minutes so we can get to graduation on time I swear to god I’ll kill you,” Lily interrupts and you sigh, forehead pressed against Tom’s.

“Bye Lily,” you shout as she slams the front door.

“Missed you,” you say as you lead him the short way past your kitchen into your bedroom.

“Missed you too princess,” he says, kissing down your neck.

“Now it’s your turn not to leave any marks,” you say, “don’t wanna look trashy when I walk the stage.”

“So I can leave marks here?” He asks, hands moving to grope your breasts.

“Fuck, please,” you whimper, tugging at his suit coat.

“Missed yer kiss,” Tom says, lips meeting yours again as you both struggle to undress each other.

“Don’t have lotsa time,” you say, pushing him back so you can quickly slip out of your sundress.

“Fuck, that’s one of the sets that I gotcha, you like it?”

You nod as he quickly gets out of his clothes, watching as you toss your bra and panties to the side.

“Fuck, Missed yer tits,” he groans, accent thicker, voice rougher.

“Touch me, come on, no time,” you say, moving to grab a condom from your bedside table.

“How are we gonna,” he says gesturing to your bed.

“I know it’s not as good as your king bed. Actually it’s garbage compared to your bed but it’s all that’ll fit in this fucking room,” you say, pushing him down on your twin bed.

You straddle his hips, grinding down on his hard cock as he plays with your tits, sucking and marking them as much as he can.

You hurriedly slip the condom onto his cock and sit on his cock, his teeth gliding against your nipple as you do.

“Fuck, Tom,” you whine as his hands grip your ass, encouraging you to move.

“Come on, not much time,” he says as you start to bounce on his lap.

“Fuck,” you groan, your fingers digging into his shoulders as you move quicker.

“That’s what we’re doing.”

“Shhh,” you whimper, a finger moving to your clit, rubbing it eagerly. He kisses you hard, his lips telling you something without words.

You didn’t want to admit it but you were so excited he was here, if you had to sext one more time you would lose your mind. And whether you would say it out loud or not, you didn’t really want to sleep with someone else to relieve the tension you felt since that night. Your tongue met his in your mouth, his touches softer tonight than a little bit ago, tender. You both reached your highs pretty quickly and Tom would’ve been embarrassed save for the fact that he’s waited so long for this and the sight of you on top of him, the way your lips felt against his, he was a goner, in every sense of the word.

“Wow,” you say as Tom helps you off of him.

“Missed yer sex,” he laughs, taking the condom off as you start to get dressed.

“I’m very grateful you’re here.”

“I think that Manhattan could hear your box spring.”

“Well now they all know how good I’m getting it.”

“What’re your plans later tonight?”

“Well, was gonna go out to like an early dinner late lunch with Bryce and Adrien. Wait how did you even get a ticket to my graduation?”

“Asked Bryce actually.”

“Yeah? How is Adrien going?”

“That’s his husband right? Not sure,” he says, getting dressed as well.

“Hmm, well we’ll see him there. I’ll be right back gonna run to the bathroom make sure I look presentable.”

“I think you look beautiful.”

“Thanks buddy, but we just fucked so I’d like to make sure it doesn’t look like that at my graduation.”

“Good plan,” he laughs, buttoning his shirt.

You make your way to the bathroom, peeing before brushing through your hair. Your sundress showed off your sleeves and upper back tattoos so you grabbed the sunscreen.

“Lather me up,” you say, handing Tom the sunscreen.

“Aren’t you going to be wearing a gown?”

“Nah, it’s art school, we have the hat things, whatever they’re called, but we just wear those and call it a day.”

Tom shrugs, pulling you down onto his lap, he leaves gentle kisses along your tattoos before applying the sunscreen to it, rubbing it into your skin.

“Ready to go?” You ask, about to move from your position on his lap.

He shakes his head and you frown, tilting your head curiously, “wha-,”

He kisses you, hands cupping your face, thumb rubbing your cheek. You swipe your tongue across his lips but he pulls back, “nuh uh.”

“What?”

“Lily is going to kill us, let’s go, I’ve got a special lady to cheer on.”

“Oh? Special?”

He nods as you reluctantly get off his lap, “she’s pretty great, I’ll have to introduce her to ya eventually.”

“Eventually,” you nod, pulling him out of your room. You grab your purse and your grad cap from the kitchen counter.

***

“Y/N, Y/L/N,” the dean of the college says and you grin as you walk on stage, shaking his hand and taking your diploma. The crowd is cheering and you definitely couldn’t seen Bryce, Tom or Adrien in it but you knew they were there. Cheering you on, somewhere.

The ceremony ended a little while after all the names were called and you all threw up your grad caps in the air, you felt cheesy doing it but here you were, a wide smile on your face as you tossed it up in the air with the rest of your class.

***

“So Tom, you’ve been acting since you were little?” Bryce asks as you all sit at the booth of a small diner near Tattoo Dice, the same shop you and Bryce got coffee at a little bit ago.

“Yes,” he nods, hand resting on your thigh.

“What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever acted in?” Adrien asks.

“I know people probably expect me to say the MCU and Spiderman but I quite enjoyed doing Billy Elliot when I was younger.”

“Would you ever do musical theater again? Or theater? Or will you stick to the big screen?”

“You know, I really loved theater, so who knows maybe I’ll make a musical theater revival. I’d haveta work on my voice first but yeah, maybe.”

“And your new movie comes out soon right? The new Spiderman?” Bryce asks.

“Yep, I start the press tour in like a week? Just about.”

“So you travel a lot?”

“Okay, let’s cool it with the 20 questions,” you laugh, “let’s not scare him away.”

“Oh I don’t scare easily,” Tom smiles, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into your thigh.

This was the first time any of your hooks up or, you didn’t want to say this and jinx it, any of your boyfriends met Bryce and Adrien, the closest you’d ever come to actual parents.

Maybe Tom knew you were nervous, hell everything about you gave it away. Your leg was bouncing up and down, his hand didn’t stop your leg from moving, just rested it there, which was comforting.

“So, you own the shop is that right?” Tom asks, “and Adrien, you’re the shop’s piercer?”

“Yep, opened Tattoo Dice 19 years ago.”

“And Y/N will be, what’s it called, she’ll learn how to tattoo from you?”

“Yeah, she’ll be my apprentice, she’s going to get started on synthetic skin first, so she gets the feel of the tattoo needle, then she’ll learn basic health and safety of tattooing, stuff she’s already learned since she’s gotten so many tattoos and is the front desk attendant but she’ll get certified officially while apprenticing.”

“So it’s a lot of work huh?”

“She’ll be working hard but that’s what she’s always done so I’m not worried.”

“You’re too kind Bryce,” you say, blushing a little.

“I’ve got no doubt you’ll be fantastic,” Tom says, kissing your cheek.

“So, we start my training tomorrow?” You ask as the four of you stand outside the coffee shop. Tom had got you both a taxi back to your place, Bryce and Adrien would head back to their apartment above the shop.

“Actually, why don’t we start next Monday?”

“Monday? What will I do until then?”

“Relax? Have a little break? You’ve trained the person taking your place, you can still work your evening shifts if you want, but you don’t have to.”

“Gotta pay rent so yeah I think I’ll work this week.”

“Don’t be afraid to take some time off, relax, you deserve it.”

“I will, promise.” “Alright, there’s your taxi, get lost, and congrats kid,” Bryce says, pulling you into a hug. You relax in his arms, and laugh as Adrien hugs the both of you.

“Okay, okay, relax, rest, get lost,” you say, pushing out of their hug.

“Congrats,” Adrien says as you slip into the taxi with Tom.

“Congrats grad,” Tom says, lips gently kissing right below your ear.

“Cheeseball,” you say, his fingers intertwining with your own.  

“That does not sound tasty.”

“No it really doesn’t,” you laugh.

The ride back to your apartment was quiet, save for a few comments from Tom about the other driver’s here, how terrifying they all were, with little care for pedestrians or other cars.

“Guess that’s what it’s like in New York,” you shrug as Tom pays the taxi driver.

“So, nightcap?” He asks as you bring him up to your apartment.

“It’s like 6pm it’s way too early for a nightcap,” you laugh, “but I can, I can think of other things we can do to occupy our time.”

“Oh yeah? What did ya have in mind princess?” he asks, his mouth ghosting over your neck.

“Why don’t we go to my room and find out?”

“Your friend isn’t home?”

“Nah her and Lexi will be with their families and then at Lexi’s place, we’ve got a whole 500 square feet to ourselves.”

“You don’t even have a living room.”

“Hey, I’ve got a twin bed and a balcony that’s all I’ll ever need.”

“Whatever you say,” he sighs.

“Come here,” you say, pulling him close, lips meeting his.

You stumble back towards your room, fumbling with the door as Tom’s hands glide under your dress, gripping your ass.

“Missed your hands,” you say as he slaps your ass, your dress bunched at your waist as he pushes you down onto your bed.

You pull your dress over your head as you move up your bed, watching as Tom gets undressed.

You start to take off your bra but he stops you, hand wrapping around your wrist.

“Lemme undress you baby,” he says, straddling your hips and kissing up your stomach. He kisses the tops of your breasts before making his way back to your lips, leaving as many marks as he can on the way up.

“Tom, fuck,” you groan as his hands move to unclip your bra, tossing it to the side.

“Lemme make ya feel good princess,” he says before taking a nipple into his mouth, eyes watching your face contort in pleasure as his fingers play with the other one before switching sides. His hips grind down against yours and you so desperately wanted to get his underwear off, so you could feel him but you decided to be patient, decided it would be worth the wait.

He makes his way back down your body, fingers tugging down your panties, “practically dripping for me, you excited to see me or something?”

“As if you aren’t,” you huff, growing impatient as he breathes against you, so close to where you want him.

“Be patient for me, okay? Almost there,” he says, before kneeling on the floor in front of the bed, tugging you down so your legs are propped up on his shoulders.

You immediately moan at the sensation of his tongue against your clit, slowly lapping at it before moving to your entrance, licking through your folds.

“Fuck come on,” you groan, hands flying to his hair.

“Tug away baby, won’t give you what you want until you’re patient for me.”

You whine, hands tugging at him, frustrated, you lay your head against your bed and let him tease you.

He grins against you and you feel his finger push inside you, tongue making gentle strokes against your clit.

“Good girl,” he says, another finger pushing into you, he starts to pick up the pace, fucking you with his fingers in earnest.

“Fuck come on Tom, make me come,” you say, the knot in your stomach forming way too quickly.

His lips wrap around your clit, sucking gently while fucking into you harder.

His teeth graze your clit and you come with a cry of his name, pulsing against him. His fingers slip out of you as he kisses your thighs, dropping them to the side of his shoulders.

“Missed you,” he says, kissing his way back up your body.

You’re still horny as fuck, you wanted him to get a move on so you grabbed his shoulders tugging him on top of you, “fuck me, please.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” Tom smiles, kissing you softly, too soft for what you’re about to do.

“Come on,” you say, reaching for your bedside table grabbing a condom from the drawer.

“Those been sitting there waiting for me?”

“I was getting ready for the end of May, gotta stock up.”

“So smart,” he says, pushing his underwear down his legs and tosses them to the side.

You rip open the condom and help him slide it down his cock, he groans as you jerk him off, kissing down your neck as he hikes your thigh up around his waist.

“Come on, fuck me,” you whimper as his cock rubs against your folds.

“This what you want princess?” He asks, bottoming out, smirking as you cry out his name.

“Let’s go,” you say, your hips moving up to grind against his.

“All yours tonight princess,” he says, one hand holding himself up while the other cups your face, kissing you as he begins to move.

Tonight wasn’t any less pleasurable than the night a few weeks ago, although the way he made you feel was very different.

He wasn’t any gentler with his thrusts, but his movement was more deliberate, more meaningful.

“Come on, make me come, baby,” you say, arms wrapped around his neck, playing with the curls at the nape of his neck.

“Gotcha princess,” he says, hand moving between the two of you to rub your clit, pushing you closer to the edge.

“Yes, fuck, make me come around your cock, please,” you whine and his lips capture yours, swallowing your moans as you come.

His thrusts get faster and sloppier, your legs wrapped around his waist.

“Feel so, feel so fucking good,” he says, voice deeper.

“Come for me, please, wanna feel you Tommy,” you whine and he groans, face tucked into your neck as he comes, hips slowing to a stop.

“Wow,” you laugh as he pulls out of you, sitting up and taking the condom off.

“Still good?”

“Don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for that.”

“Hmmm, three weeks? Give or take?” He asks, sticking his tongue out at you.

“Shut up,” you laugh, sitting up and kissing him. Something about the way he kissed you, it wasn’t needy like he would never see you again, but just his lips, soft and warm and against yours.

“Needa smoke, hop off me Holland,” you say against his lips and he nods, getting off the bed.

You open your closet grabbing two t-shirts and slipping one over your head, tossing the other one at Tom.

“The view from the balcony is really pretty, I’ll be right back,” you say, kissing his cheek before grabbing your panties.

You wink at him before going to the bathroom, peeing and splashing some water on your face. When you go back to your room you grab your smokes and lighter from your bedside table. You watch Tom lean against your small balcony railing, feet crossed and head tilted towards the sunset.

You grab sleep shorts and pull them up before stepping onto the balcony.

“Hey handsome,” you say, arms wrapping around his waist from behind, kissing his neck.

“Hey to you too,” he says, relaxing into your arms.

“Told ya the view is pretty,” you say, face tucked into his neck.

You feel Tom pause, unsure of his next words.

“My favorite is when it’s late out, not all the lights are off, obviously, it’s New York, but when most of them are off, past midnight usually, you can see all the stars in the sky.”

“We should do that,” he mumbles, hands resting over yours.

“Good idea,” you nod, unwrapping your arms and slipping next to him.

He watches as your black acrylics tap against the railing, one hand fiddling with your pack of cigarettes and lighter.

“What is it?”

“I should quit these things.”

“I mean, I’m not going to tell you no, but if that’s what you want, that’s what you should do.”

“Maybe I’ll get that juul or the gum or patch or whatever, cigarettes cost so fucking much anyways, gotta cut costs somewhere and I’d rather not live off of ramen and popcorn for the next few months.”

“Up to you,” he says, watching you get a cigarette and hold up your lighter.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow’s another day, I’ll finish off the rest of my cigarettes and then I’ll stop.”

Tom raises his eyebrows at you and you shake your head, “I’m not every other smoker who says they’ll quit tomorrow and then tomorrow becomes the next day and the next day and so on, never said I was gonna quit before. But I think, I don’t know, it’s stupid really.”

“No, go ahead, what is it?”

“I feel like I’m opening a new chapter, art school is done, I’m gonna be a tattoo artist soon, hopefully, and-,”

“And you’ve got me.”

“Hmmm?” you ask, turning towards him.

“I mean, if you want, I just, I figured, I’d like to be a part of this new chapter of your life.”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry, I- if you don’t wanna, I can do, it’s,”

“Tom?”

“Yes?”

“Will you, fuck, this is so dumb, do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“I uh, sort of already assumed we were, you know, an item. So yes. I’ll be your boyfriend.”

“Dork.”

Before you realize what you’re doing you’re hugging him, arms tight around his neck, body as close as you could be to him in this moment. His arms wrap around your back almost immediately after you hug him. You stay in each other’s arms, just breathing, for some amount of time, time with Tom felt all too quick but drawn out at the same time. But you also really needed to smoke. You pulled away from him and pull out a cigarette.  

“Let me,” He says, nodding towards the lighter in your hand.

You quirk your eyebrow at him, handing it over. He attempts to flick the lighter on a few times, biting his lip in concentration.

You put your thumb over his, showing him how to pull the safety tab down to spark the lighter.

The two of you stare at the small flame of your lighter between you, illuminating each of his freckles and each of your tattoos as the sun sets over the balcony.

“Here,” he says as you slip the cigarette between your lips. He holds the lighter to it and you nod when it’s lit, taking a drag before turning away from Tom and blowing the smoke out of your lungs.

“I had to smoke cigars, for a movie once, but I wasn’t very good at it.”

“Not something you want to be good at,” you laugh.

His hands wrap around your waist from behind, chin resting on your shoulder as you finish your cigarette.  

“What do ya wanna do tomorrow?”

“Hmm, you don’t have somewhere to run off to? Your press thingy, what’s it called? In Mexico?”

“That’s next week, I uhm I’ve got my hotel for the week. We can go there if you want. It’ll be like a staycation for you.”

“Stay here tonight.”

“Huh?”

“Stay at my place, tonight, there’s a little breakfast place I want to take you to, about a block from here. Only if you wanna.”

“Of course I wanna girlfriend.”

“Oh my god shut up,” you laugh, finishing your cigarette.

“Okay, can I call you princess?” He says, lips pressing against your neck.

“Of course,” you say, “call me something else too,” you grind back against him.

“Oh yeah?”

“Come inside,” you say, putting your cigarette out in the ashtray as Tom kisses down the back of your neck.

He pulls you back in, closing the balcony door. You drop your lighter and cigarettes on the bedside table.

His hands are quick to tug your shirt over your head, planting kisses down your chest, smirking at the marks he left earlier.

“Gonna be a good slut for me and suck my cock?” He asks, hand cupping your pussy.

“Please,” you groan as his palm gently rubs against your clothed clit.

He guides you to your knees, one hand firm on your shoulder while the other tugs off his shirt.

His hands pull your hair out of your face as you push down his underwear, hand wrapping around his cock.

“Go ahead, be a good slutty princess for me,” he says, not pushing your head down but just watching as you wrap your lips around the head of his cock.

You gently lick up and down his cock, before starting to bob your head, his hips start to move against you and you can’t tell if it’s deliberate or not but you moan when you choke around him, breathing deeply through your nose.

“Look so pretty down on your knees for me, gonna make me come like a good girl?”

You moan again, feeling him twitch in your mouth as you still, letting his hips do all the work.

“Such a good slut for me, fuck, gonna come in your mouth princess,” he groans, hips stilling with your lips wrapped around the head of his cock.

He comes with a groan of your name followed by princess, and you couldn’t help but smile as he helped you up. You fucking loved that nickname.

“Your turn,” he grins as you pull your panties down and off your legs, “do ya, do you still have mine from- from,” you try to finish your question but he’s pushing you down on the bed, one hand wrapping around your wrists and pinned them to the bed, the other running up and down your side.

“God princess I used those to jerk off so many times, had to wash them eventually, still kinda smell like you, I’ll need a new pair when I leave this week.”

“Don’t think that’ll be a problem,” you giggle as he leaves butterfly kisses against your cheek.

“What are you, what are you doing?” you laugh.

“Kissing you, duh,” he says, before his lips meet your hot skin.

“Go on, eat me out baby, please,” you whine, hips moving to meet his own.

“I’m going princess, relax for me okay?” he asks, hand leaving your wrists, which you keep above your head.

He makes his way down your body, kissing as his hands spread your legs wide, he situates himself between them, kissing along your thighs as his fingers slip into your pussy.

“Fuck Tom,” you groan. He quickly brings his lips to your entrance, licking and kissing and just making you feel everything. He brings you to orgasm with his lips wrapped around your clit and three fingers pressing against your sweet spot.

“Taste so good princess,” he says, fingers still moving slowly inside of you as he makes his way up to your face, kissing up. You moaned at the taste of yourself on his lips, arms wrapping around his neck.

***

“I would love to shower with you but my shower is lucky to fit one person, the mere idea of two people in this shower will break it,” you laugh as Tom brushes his teeth.

“Fine, guess I’ll just haveta watch you shower.”

“Okay perv,” you joke as you wait for the water to warm up.

He’s wearing the t-shirt you gave him earlier, he’s small enough that it fits well, the only part that stretches is the sleeves, his biceps bigger than your own.

Once you showered you dried your hair, about to walk back to your room with the towel wrapped around you.

“You don’t wanna watch me shower?”

“No you weirdo,” you laugh and you hear him laugh in return, stepping into the shower.

You sit on your bed, drying your hair as best you can. You tried to think about how this all came to be. When all you wanted was to hook up with someone during your trip to London. You never, ever would have expected this, not in a million years.

“Whatcha thinking about?” he asks from your door and you almost jump off your bed, heart racing.

“Shit, how long’ve you been standing there?” “Just got outta the shower, not as fun as if we were in there together, gonna haveta try that at my hotel.”

“I’d like that,” you say, “come here, help me put lotion on my tattoos.”

“What?”

“Lotion. Gotta moisturize them so they still look good in 50 years.”

“Didn’t know that.”

“Well of course you wouldn’t.”

“Actually,” he starts, pulling you up to stand with him.

“What?” you laugh as he sits down in your place, tugging your towel off and sitting you down between his legs, your back to his chest.

“I’ve got a tattoo.”

“What?! Where?” you ask, turning your head to look for a tattoo somewhere that for some reason you didn’t notice before.

“Don’t laugh.”

“Why would I laugh? I wanna see it!”

“Here,” he says, his leg moving to rest on top of yours as he points to the bottom of his foot.

“You- you got a, what is that, is that a spider?! On the bottom of your foot?” You’re trying your best not to laugh.

“Told ya you’d laugh, yes, I’ve got a spider, had to get it done over twice, it hurt like a bitch.”

“Why would you, why,” you start before giggling.

“Hush and let me lotion you up,” he says, dropping his leg.

“Why the bottom of your foot? That’s like such a bad place for a tattoo, it’ll never last!”

“Well that’s kinda why, and because I’m an actor. Don’t want tattoos to get in the way of my work.”

“What- other actors have tattoos. But you’re very brave for getting the bottom of your foot tattooed, that must be painful.”

“You’d never get the bottom of your foot tattooed?”

“Fuck no, you kidding? No thank you, that’s a no zone for me.”

“Mhm,” he hums as his hands rub the lotion into the skin of your upper back and arms, taking his time to catch every part of each of your tattoos.

“Making me sleepy,” you say as his hands move to massage your shoulders. “Then let’s sleep,” he says, kissing your cheek.

“Gotta get dressed,” you mumble.

“Meh, it’s hot in here, we can sleep naked.”

“How’re we gonna fit here again?”

“Here,” Tom says, pushing your comforter and sheets down, moving the two of you so he’s laying on his back and you’re on your side, practically on top of him.

“This is comfortable for you?” you ask, hand resting on his chest.

“Mhm, you good?”

“Very comfy,” you say, yawning as his hand runs up and down your arm.

“Goodnight princess.”

“Night baby,” you say as sleep overtakes you.

***

“So, you do this a lot?” He asks as you curl up at his side on the bench in Central Park.

“Only when I’ve got free time and it’s nice out, it’s the perfect day for it,” you say, opening your sketchpad to a new page.

“And you just find someone to draw?”

“Normally I draw some of the people who live here, sometimes people sitting on benches around us, like to people watch, ever done it?”

“I’m sorry, people watch?”

“Yeah, sit somewhere and just observe people in their natural habitat, it’s fascinating.”

“Whatever you say,” he laughs, arm around your shoulder.

“It’ll be worth it, promise.” “I don’t doubt that,” he nods as you look around.

There’s a man who was sleeping peacefully on the bench across from you and you glance over his features, your pencil starting to sketch on the page.

“Him?”

“Yep, I think I’ve sketched him before, he’s normally running around everywhere, asking people for hugs, so I only got a quick sketch of his face, but this’ll be perfect,” you say, drawing out the bench.

You can feel Tom’s eyes on your sketchbook as you draw and if it were anyone else you’d be uncomfortable, not wanting them to see anything but a final product. But with him it was different. You were okay with showing him bits and pieces of your life you kept hidden.

“If you were to get tattooed by anyone, who would you want to tattoo you?”

“Probably Ryan Ashley.” “Who’s that?”

“Famous tattoo artist, she’s the first female winner of Ink Master, sorta paving the way for female artists in the mainstream. She does these amazing realistic jewelry pieces, always sort of wanted a chest piece, I’ve been saving it on the very rare chance that she’d ever tattoo me,” you ramble as you start to sketch the outline of the man’s body.

“You wouldn’t want to get tattooed by me?” “Are you telling me you’ve tattooed someone before?” You feel him nod against your head and you gasp, “Tom, you’re just full of surprises huh?”

“Yep, tattooed a little spiderman spider on someone’s leg, he let’s celebrities tattoo him all the time.”

“Fucking jealous you’ve gotten the chance to tattoo someone before I have.”

“I can guarantee you’d be a million times better than me.”

“Hope so, I’ve put all my time and effort into working at Tattoo Dice, I hope it pays off, hope that I put art on people’s skin that they appreciate.”

“I believe in you,” he says, eyes watching as people walk past, feeling comforted by the fact that nobody knows he’s here, none of his fans or paparazzi will be looking for him. He can spend time with you in public without worrying about being stopped every few feet for an autograph or a photo.

Someone looked at the both of you as they walked past, eyes pausing on Tom, who was just wearing sunglasses.

“to hide my unruly brow,” he explained when he put them on this morning.

“Is that like your disguise?” you asked him.

“Course, now nobody can tell it’s me.”

“Sure baby,” you shrugged, blushing a little when his hand slipped down to hold your own as you left your apartment.

You felt him tense and you looked up, “What’s wrong?”

The person kept walking. “Nothing, was scared they noticed who I was,” he whispers as you relax back against him, working more on the arms of the man on the bench.

“But you’ve got your sunglasses on, you’re Clark Kent,” you say.

“Wrong universe,” Tom smirks.

“You know what I mean,” you poke his side before concentrating back on the sketch.

It had to be at least an hour when you were satisfied with how it looked, sitting up to brush away some eraser shavings.

“How’s it look?” You ask, looking up at Tom.

“Pretty damn good,” he says, grinning back at you.

The man on the bench wakes up with a start, grumbling to himself. You quickly rip the page off your sketchbook and get up.

“Want me to-,”

“I’m fine,” you tell Tom before moving the few feet to the man’s bench.

“Whaddya want?” He asks, voice rough.

“I uh, I’m an artist. Draw people, and well, here,” you say, awkwardly holding out the sketch of the man to him.

“What the- is this me? This is me! Wow,” the man says and your brows furrow with worry when his eyes start to tear up.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask permission before drawing you, just looked so peaceful sleeping there and- oh!” You smile as he pulls you into a tight hug.

“This is, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen, I’ll keep it forever, and I mean that,” he says as he let’s you go.

“Well, I’m glad you like it, have a good day,” you smile as he picks up his backpack and shopping cart full of belongings.

“You too dear,” he smiles, wiping a tear from his eyes before walking away, holding the sketch tight to his chest.

You turn back to Tom, sure your face is lit up with a smile.

“You’ve done it yet again princess.”

“Huh?” you ask, sitting down next to him.

“You’re gonna change lives with that art of yours.”

“Sucha dork,” you giggle.

“Cm’ere, miss yer kiss,” he says, kissing you gently as his fingers intertwined with your own.

***

“Gonna miss you,” you mumble, face tucked into his shoulder as he hugs you.

“Already miss you.”

“Dork,” you giggle.

You were standing outside your apartment waiting for Tom’s taxi to take him to the airport.

“I wanna see the first tattoo you do okay?”

“Obviously, I’ll see if Adrien can video it for me.”

The taxi pulls up and Tom pulls you tighter against him, like he didn’t want to let go. And to be fair, neither did you.

“Okay, go before they charge you extra for making them wait.”

“Alright,” He says, kissing you, it wasn’t a soft sweet kiss, or a desperate I want you kiss. But a this is the last time I’ll see you for a little bit and I’ll miss you kiss. And honestly? You think you loved those kisses the most. You pulled away first.

“Get outta here Holland,” you say and he laughs, tossing his suitcase into the backseat with him. As the taxi drives away his hand presses against the window and he mouths “I’ll miss you.”

____________________________________

Tag list (tagged people who asked for a part two/asked to be tagged): @hcllander @spideyyeet @particularspider @wooowsworld @ruefulposts @screeching-student-unknown @jennypizzaholland @april-14-blog @asphalt-cocktail @rageyoudamnednerd @superherosthings 

[hyucksong]

hibiscus. | huang renjun

hey! my first real nct dream fanfic, that isn’t a little baby post or smth, hope you babies love it :)

summary: You give Renjun a hibiscus with every planned meeting you two have. Rejnun doesn’t know why, or what the flower means, but he finds himself curious when he finds out that almost every flower has a meaning. 

warning: Some cursing, :P

word count: 1.8 K

   Renjun smiled at the flower in his hand. He couldn’t help it, after all. It was instinctual for him to smile whenever he saw you, because no matter when you saw him, as long as it was planned, you’d give him a flower. And if you two happened to run into each other on accident, you’d say to him, “Sorry, I’ll give you two flowers the next time we see each other!” And lo and behold, the next time you two saw each other, you’d give him two more flowers. 

   Admittedly, he didn’t know what the name of the flower was, but he didn’t really care, he just appreciated the sentiment. (and the pounding heart you gave him, but he’d never say that out loud) 

   He was walking back to the dorm he shared with the other NCT DREAM members, and saw Jaemin standing outside of the door. 

   “Hey Jaemin, what’s up?” He casually asked, walking past Jaemin to go and unlock the door. Jaemin’s face lit up when he saw Renjun, throwing an arm around his fellow member’s narrow shoulders when he got closer. “Nothing, I just forgot my keys, that’s all. How was - oh? Is that what I think it is?” Jaemin stopped mid-sentence, eyeing the plant in Renjun’s clenched hand. Renjun smiled and scratched the back of his neck shyly. 

   “Yeah, it’s another flower that Y/N gave me. It’s pretty isn’t it?” Renjun said, finally turning the key to open the door, and he slowly pushed open the door to walk in. He kicked off his shoes and walked through the front entrance to the living room where the rest of the members were lounging around doing various  things. 

   “Oh~, so she gave you another flower.” Jaemin sang teasingly, before walking into the living room and plopping down next to Jeno before whining to him about not letting him in when he knocked on the door.

   “I thought you were just trying to get our attention, sorry.” Jeno nonchalantly said, tapping his finger to his screen repeatedly. Jaemin rose his eyebrow. “By locking myself out of the house?” Jeno simply shrugged, caring about winning his game rather than comforting Jaemin’s pouting face.

   Renjun was secretly relieved that the topic changed from you and your flowers due to Jaemin’s whining. He walked past the members as inconspicuously as he could and opened the door to his room. He let out a huge sigh and took off his jacket, throwing it on his bed before going over to the windowsill and putting the new flower in with the rest of them.

   He softly stuffed the flower on the side and caressed the others that were laying peacefully in the disturbed water, watching at the sun shone off of them prettily. He didn’t know why you always gave him such pretty flowers. he almost felt as if they were going to a waste because he didn’t even know what type they were. Every single one of them were pink flowers with a very prominent nectar stem sticking up from the middle of the flower, and though it seemed like it would be a defining feature for a flower, Renjun wasn’t well versed in the language of plants. 

   The brown-haired boy scoffed to himself. “Flowers can’t mean stuff. Other than a rose, I guess.” He quickly shook the thought out of his head and changed into comfortable clothes before throwing himself on is bed and unlocking his phone to browse and relax. That was, until he noticed he had an unread message from you.

   His heart leapt into his throat and he let out a sigh of affection, not being able to ignore the feeling you gave him. 

   bean: hey there renjunnie! i had a random thought after i gave you the flower today,,,

   renjunnie: what was it y/n?

   Renjun felt himself cringe at the awkwardness of his text, wishing that he was smooth like Johnny or Ten, or funny like Haechan, or old and mature like Mark. but after thinking for a second,  he wiped the last thought form his head. Mark was more awkward with girls than Renjun was by tenfold.  

   bean: well, you know that i give you the same type of flower every time, right?

   renjunnie: really? i thought they were different 

   bean: oh? i guess you’re missing a few brain cells then

   bean: stop hanging out with dong-dumb, he’s ruining your brain :\

   He let out a laugh at your remark. Though you were were very cute, every person knew that the good-girl persona you put up was only for your idol-group during promotion, even the fans knew now. It was something that you only really did when you felt like being ironic. Your sass was natural, and in Renjun’s opinion, cute and attractive.

   bean: anyway, wanna know what they’re called?

   renjunnie: yeah, hit me with it baby

   bean: ???baby? holy??? shit???

   Renjun practically dug a grave for himself at that moment. He had a habit of texting things on impulse, but he never thought it would get him in deep shit. Of course, calling you baby wasn’t the end of the world, but he was sure you hated it. Why? No reason, he just felt a sneaking suspicion. He turned off his phone and plunged it in his pocket, before walking to the living room where he fellow friends were before he saw (or think he’d see) a slurry of angry texts from you.

   No one said anything when he fell lifelessly on the couch, not until he let out a groan filled with absolute agony. Chenle gave him the side-eye, “Really? That loudly?” He teased, ready for a comeback, but only being met with silence. Chenle looked down at Renjun after the unusual quietness, and was shocked when he was met with more dead than usual eyes. 

   “What happened, hyung?” He gasped, putting his phone down and turning towards his distressed friend. Renjun sighed and lifted himself up to sit properly on the couch, his sigh attracting the rest of the members attention. “Well, you know Y/N and her flowers, right?”

   “Yeah, what about it?” Jisung asked, without much interest in the conversation. His question was followed with Jaemin’s soft inquiry of “yeah, wonder what type of flowers they are”

   “Exactly!” Renjun yelled towards Jaemin’s soft question, throwing his head back on the couch. Haechan’s previously un-included self suddenly joined in. “Oooh, teen angst?”

   “Shut up, i’m 20.” Renjun spat, before looking at his phone’s black screen.    “Well, Y/N texted me saying that she thought about something after giving me the flower today, and I was like, “spill the tea, sis”, and she said “haha lol wanna know what type of flower it is?” aND THEN I SAID, “hit me with it, bABY.” I SAID THAT. I CALLED HER BABY. WE AREN’T EVEN DATING.” He screeched, burying his head in his hands, wanting to die right then and there.

   Haechan looked judgmentally at him, wanted to make fun of him due to his member’s unreasonable amount of stress, but seeing the pure amount of suffering on Renjun’s face made him think twice. Which wasn’t enough to stop him.

   “And? Don’t girls like being called that?” Haechan said, looking at his nails sassily. “Well, yeah - but not when you aren’t dating them! She probably hates me, oh god.” Renjun muttered to himself, ruffling his hair which tranlsated to wanting to throw yourself off a cliff in the language of anxiety and stress.

   “Hm, possibly. Telling from the amount of texts you’re receiving from her, it’s either that and she’s asking for a restraining order, or telling you to stop being stupid and kiss her already. I vote either, but eh.” Jeno mused, scrolling through his Instagram feed. Jaemin slapped his shoulder lightly. 

   “What?” Renjun whispered, before looking at his phone go on and off three times, telling him that someone was rapidly texting him. Gulping, Renjun unlocked his phone and went to his messaging app. 

   bean: huang renjun??? where art thou?

   bean: golden hands prince???

   bean: oh well, i’ll just tell you i guess

   bean: it’s a hibiscus! they’re my fav flower and i started giving them to you because i thought the meaning really suited you, so you should look it up, and then decide if calling me baby is something you wanna keep doing or not.

   bean: and if it isn’t, then i mean i guess that’s cool i guess i mean, yeah it’s fine i guess yeah

   Renjun felt more confused than anything, and looked at his phone with his head cocked to the side. He then decided to take your advice and search up the meaning of the flower, something he was surprised flowers had. 

   Part of him was expecting a flower that meant “i hate you lol, also i’m getting a restraining order on you :/” So, when he opened up Google and found the real meaning of the flower, he felt himself melt into the couch with relief.

   Hibiscus: Delicate Beauty

   Renjun lifted his head, and gave the look you give to someone when you just survive 8 AP tests in a row, a look of wanting the sweet release of death but also a look of��‘thank god’. 

   However, it took him a good five minutes before he realized what the meaning of the flower meant for him and Y/N. He stopped moving, before he reopened his text app faster than Jaemin runs to Jeno after not seeing him for a week. 

   renjunnie: holy sh - you what?

   bean: hey there, it’s year 2550, you’ve responded quite late. there are now robotic boyfriends and no need to breed with mere flesh

   renjunnie: im,,,going to ignore that

   renjunnie: but???? you??? think i’m a delicate beauty???

   bean: oh yeah, yeah lol

   bean: it’s okay if you don’t like that, i’ll stop if you want me too 

   renjunnie: nO! i really like it

   renjunnie: like,,,really like it

   renjunnie: like, i wanna call you baby for the rest of my life-like it

   bean: oh

   bean: i mean, a mi tambien

   bean: um,,,i’ve gotta go but i wanna talk about this later with you, i really do, renjun

   bean: i’ll talk to you about it later okay? we’ll skype, i promise :)

   Despite feeling a little disappointed, Renjun smiled. The feeling of reciprocated feelings was greater than anything he’d ever felt, especially after feeling that you hated him.

   renjunnie: alright :)

   bean: also, i’ll be giving you an ambrosia flower when i see you next :)

   Renjun quickly pulled up his Google once again, and searched up the term ‘ambrosia’, he found ‘food of the gods’, but he doubted that she’d be calling him gold-like, so he added ‘flower’ to the search, and what he found lit a bigger fire in his heart than the hibiscus.

   Ambrosia: A Greek symbol for ‘your love is returned’.

[silvensei]

Supplementary

Ritsu, the smart student with budding supernatural powers that he is, learned the best way to sneak out of the house is to just leave his body behind.

Words: 6k

So I wasn’t planning on writing another one, but @hydrachea went and was a muse again like the day after I posted Complementary, so. Two weeks later, here we are. 

A continuation of a scenario that will be linked in a reblog because links, ‘member? Also on AO3! (also in reblog!)

“Bro!”

The thump of feet landing outside his window and subsequent clambering at said window would’ve startled most people. Ritsu was used to it by now. He even left the window cracked for this very reason.

Catching a handhold, Shou opened the sliding glass door to his bedroom and poked his head in. He found Ritsu at his desk, just closing up a textbook. “Bro, we gotta go!”

Ritsu raised an eyebrow. He clicked his pen and set it back in its cup with its mates.

His friend jumped into the room proper and hopped from foot to foot, eyes wide, impatient, like Ritsu was holding them up. “Go where?” Ritsu asked when he didn’t expound further on his own.

“To the Pokémon midnight release! Ritsu, come on, we’ve been talking about it for days! I thought you were the smart one!”

“Yeah, but I thought it was a given that I can’t go. It’s already after ten.” He glanced at the clock: 10:12 PM.

“But this game, man! I need someone to trade with!”

“I can just get it tomorrow after school. It’s not the end of the world.” Ritsu pushed his chair back and stood up.

He didn’t get the chance to put his notebook back in his bag, stopped by Shou gripping his shoulders, staring him in the eye. “But they’re only giving out keychains of the starters tonight.”

He knew that; even if he didn’t listen to Shou’s obsessions, his classmates have been talking about it all month. “You know I can’t. My parents are extra vigilant these days, what with exams coming up.”

“But don't you wanna go?”

Ritsu looked at him. He did. He did want to go. But his parents had been strict about their curfew, and both he and Shigeo weren’t allowed out late at night. He understood why. He knew the importance of sleep and the dangers of a city at night.

But Pokémon.

He shook his head. “It’s a school night, and I need to sleep. School may not be your thing but I have grades to uphold.”

“But—!” Shou cut himself off with a small whine, biting his bottom lip. He tightened his grip on his sleeves as he frantically tried to think of a solution. Ritsu gave him a moment to try, after which he was going to shake him off, send him on his way, then get ready for bed. He was just about to do that when he heard, “Doesn’t just your body need sleep?”

“Wh... What?”

Shou perked up. He had found a lead. “And it’s just your body that has to be here! You could leave it here to get some shut eye and ride along with me to the game store!”

His breath caught. Back at it again with possession, but this time suggesting that he do the possessing. “I— Shou, I—” he protested, trying to grasp something, “I can’t astral project, and I don’t know if I’d want to do that to you just for a keychain, and sleep has mental and emotional benefits outside of the physical, too, like—”

“Duuude, c’mon, it’ll be fine! It’s not that hard to learn, and I don’t care about my body, and it’s only fair, right?”

Stomach knotting like it always did when this topic came up, Ritsu stepped back and out of Shou’s reach. “It doesn’t have to be fair, it’s possession. Even the name implies partiality.”

He could see a grin starting to creep onto his face. Oh no. “Nah, nah, nah, dude, it’s cool, normal rules don’t apply to us, ‘member?” He drummed his newly-freed fingers against his thigh and added, “And I gotta check out what the big deal with this thing is anyway. I’m like the only one that hasn’t been possessed yet.”

“It’s not a competition!”

“Ritsu, come on. I swear it'll be fine.” Shou stopped, having stated his case and now waiting for an answer. He held his lip between his teeth again. “I want you to come with me.”

The decision's on him. And there was a right answer. He was thirteen, it was Monday, he had a test in two days, and his life wasn't at risk. He should decline. He should curl up in bed and enjoy some sleep, leaving Shou to his delinquency.

Then he remembered how boring that would be.

Ritsu pursed his lips. “The fact still stands that I don’t know how to astral project.”

Shou nodded. “Young Padawan, it is time for a lesson in the psychic arts.” He sat on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest, his aura faintly flickering into view around him.

Ritsu sighed. Here goes nothing. He crossed his legs and sat down with his back against his desk. “So, how do I...go about this?” he asked.

“Fire up your powers; seems easier that way.”

He took a breath. His last chance to just go to bed.

He felt his skin tingle as his aura lit up, a glittering blue mosaic ionizing the air. His hair shifted in the lessened gravity. “Alright.”

Shou’s own aura emboldened into a more defined shape, but it still was a shadow of what it normally was. That’s right, he realized, I’m supposed to be the one going ghost, not him. “So your powers are you turning an idea into a force that you send out into the world, yeah?” He held up his hands as he spoke, absently bouncing a ball of energy between them. “Once you get used to them, you might not know exactly what the idea is anymore because it becomes an instinct instead of a thought, but it’s still there. So to project, instead of using your powers as a conduit for the idea to leave your head, use them so that you can.”

“Just...follow my powers?” He was right: It did sound simple.

“Pretty much.”

He couldn’t help a small, inquisitive frown. “Why haven’t more people done this, then?”

Shou shrugged. “Many can’t. Most don’t try. A lot of espers find one thing they can do then stick to it. Then there’s also that most espers don’t have a high enough power level to be able to remember it if they do actually project. You’re just held together by psychic energy without your body, so you gotta have a lot of it to function on the same level as usual.”

That was concerning. “And you’re sure I’ll be fine if I—?”

“Of course, dude! I wouldn’t’ve even suggested this if I wasn’t sure you could handle it. You’ve got more skill than you realize.”

“Oh.” Ritsu looked away, a bit embarrassed at the unsolicited praise. Why was he doing this. He allowed himself a brief smile before closing his eyes and muttering, “Okay…. Just follow my powers to...wherever they go.”

The thrum of energy wove through his skin. Apparently, there was an idea at the core of it; of what, he hadn't the foggiest, so he tried to make another: He wanted his powers to pick something up. How about his discarded notebook, wherever that wound up? Easy. The energy moved to concentrate in his hands, spilling over into the room, exerting a slight force on everything as it searched out its target. He tried to follow it, to picture its path in his mind’s eye.

After a minute or two—after he was about to give up and declare perpetual corporeality—a faint trail appeared amid the phosphenes behind his eyelids, a blue leading away from him that grew stronger when he noticed it, a hazy mosaic pattern cracking its color. He hesitated, just for a moment. Then he changed the idea. Instead of sending a generic, nameless force, he pictured sending his consciousness, sending himself—

Everything felt light for some reason.

The room melted into view around him, just blurred around the edges, through clouded glass. He wondered why that was. When he tried to ask, the words refused to form. That was weird. He couldn’t really feel his mouth either. He reached up to check if it were still— did he have hands? The only movement he saw was a shape of smoke appear in front of his face. Why would he be smoke?

A waving of green and white along with what was possibly sound bubbling through the fog caught his attention. There was a figure sitting below him: green torso, blue legs, orange head, even more orange haloing him. Shou’s aura seemed really bright, or maybe it was just because it was the clearest thing through all this haze. His mouth was moving at breakneck speeds. What was he gesturing at?

He looked down. He couldn’t see his feet—oh wait, there they were, a meter or so away, tucked under the crossed legs of a figure slumped against a desk. He couldn’t recognize them through the hair shading their face, but he liked how it was styled. Reminded him of his own hair. Or that was his hair. Why was his hair all the way over there with his body, dropped lifeless after he left?

Oh. Right.

Ritsu shook whatever now passed as his head as he recalled his situation. He’s a spirit now, or a mind held together by energy. He had to focus on his powers, then, since he couldn’t rely on Newtonian physics anymore. As soon as he realized that, he felt coalesced, contained, thoughts running more smoothly.

“—na grab one of those pens— you don’t snap out of it, Imma draw dicks all over— Earth to Kageyama! Come in, Kageyama!”

He turned his full attention to Shou, his aura still the only point of clarity in the room. He still couldn’t answer as he did in fact not have a mouth, but he nodded and tried to drift down to eye level. It took some getting used to.

Shou applauded, his grin not as toothy but just as bright. “Told ya!” he cheered. “Not so hard, ain’t it? The hard part is keeping your head straight as a spirit, and all you gotta do is be smart about it.”

Floating just above the ground now, Ritsu glanced back at his body. He worried a bit about whether sitting limply like that was good for his posture, but what he noticed most was the lack of emotional response. He should be feeling some serious vertigo or whiplash or something, but there was nothing there. When he had hormones and neurotransmitters again, he’d feel sickened by his apathy.

“So?” He turned back to Shou as he prompted, “You gonna take the wheel or what?” He stretched his legs out in front of him, drumming on his knees for a second before holding his arms open. “C’mon, it’s like a ghost hug. Doesn’t hurt.”

Ritsu thought through the situation once more. He should be uncomfortable at the notion of body hopping, of rejecting his existence as a singular physical being and foregoing nature to possess another. However. He didn’t have a stomach that could practice gymnastics at the moment.

What he did have were thoughts, including that he was curious what it was like from the other side and that he was certain of the banality of the alternative.

What the hell, he concluded before drifting forward, reaching out to grab hold of...something. Whatever he could find.

He hit a psychic wall briefly before it disappeared, but it was enough to throw off his momentum, tripping him into a tumble from tangerine into blackness. He fell, possibly for only moments, before something seemed to snap. Like running a finger along a switchboard, his senses reconnected, turning on one-by-one in such quick succession that he couldn’t discern the order. One moment he was nothing, then the next he was on the ground with a phantom jolt, fabric rubbing his skin and air in his chest, until finally a projector slide of his room dropped in front of his eyes. He blinked, but the view stayed the same, solid and real, as if the last minutes hadn’t happened.

His arms ached a touch, hanging out into space. His wrist felt weird, too; not painful, but certainly not right. Ritsu pulled his hands into his lap, holding his right wrist and rolling his hand in slow circles. His sleeves were off-white, his hands too pale, his vision unobstructed by bangs—all minutiae that added together into an experience that was slightly, unsettlingly off.

He swallowed and asked, “You alright?”

Fuck, the timbre was all wrong.

A thought appeared in his head that sounded like Shou whispering, Wicked.

“You say that every time.”

And you say that like it’s a bad thing.

Pressing his palms together, Ritsu bent his hands—Shou’s hands—back and forth. “What’s up with your wrists? They feel...not great.”

I dunno, they’re always like that. I thought it was normal, but yours aren’t the same.

He hated that Shou knew what his wrists felt like. That’s such a weird statement. Back in possession of internal organs, they were able to resume their somersaults at his discomfort.

Ritsu pushed himself off the ground, standing to his full height. Shou was a bit shorter than him but without any obvious point of reference, he couldn’t notice the difference. He tugged his cuffs into place over his wrists and ran a hand along an unfamiliar jaw. He didn’t have time to ask himself how jaws could be unfamiliar before he stopped short at the sight of himself—of his body. His breath caught with the sense of vertigo that washed over him, the very sense he knew he was missing earlier. He didn’t even notice he had stepped closer until he crouched in front of it.

Wack, isn’t it? Shou commented. All he had to go off of was the tone of Shou’s mental voice, but he could picture him reclining, arms pillowing his head. Ritsu didn’t answer as he reached out to lift the body’s chin. It was like looking in a mirror, only...not. Not at all. His face looked pale, peaceful, like he was sleeping, but his head felt heavy in his hand. Like dead weight. A chill pricked at the back of his neck. Was he technically dead?

You gonna kiss or what?

“What?!” he yelped, Shou’s voice hitting the next octave as he shied back, throwing his hands out to catch himself before he hit the ground. Then, startled into action by his body falling over, he pushed forward to catch its shoulders, ramming one into his desk drawer. He cringed at how that was going to ache when he got back.

I don’t blame ya, continued the voice in his head. How many opportunities do you get to kiss yourself?

His tightened his grip on his shirt—or his body’s shirt—his original body’s shirt—to steady himself, frazzled from the brief adrenaline rush. “A lot, apparently! You’ve possessed me like, three times! And as far as I remember, you haven’t made out with yourself at all!”

I’m not, like, completely opposed to the idea, but they’re kinda practically dead without us, y’know? That’s just weird then, like kissing a corpse. Not my kink. And also you would be there, too, and it seemed awkward to just do that without asking, but like, how do you phrase that question to begin with. Wasn't worth the effort.

Ritsu scrunched his nose, growing more uncomfortable by the second. He wanted to change the subject. Without another topic in mind, though, he settled for ignoring Shou and wrapping his body in a telekinetic net. Hair swimming in the aura, it floated limp on the energy, rising a few feet off the ground. He directed it to his bed, standing as he watched it drift. He couldn’t shake the vaguely somber atmosphere of it all.

It bounced on his mattress when he let go. Rolling it onto its side so he didn’t have to look at his own face, he pulled the covers into place over it. Looked normal enough.

Dude, it’ll be fine. It’s only in a coma.

Ritsu took a breath. “Maybe, but it’s still uncomfortable to….” He fumbled his words, the knot in his stomach tightening. “To...be on the outside.”

You don’t have to keep staring at yourself, then.

Ritsu tore his eyes from his messy hair peeking over the blankets and nested his hands in Shou’s jacket pockets. “Morbid curiosity.”

That’s true. You’re first out-of-body experience does something to your view of self. He trailed off for a moment. You alright to come along?

“After all that, now you ask me?” He gave his bed one last look before flicking off the lights. “Come on.”

Fuck yeah!

Stepping out onto his balcony, he turned his powers on himself as he slid the door closed. With a thought he was on the ground, walking down the street into town.

Shou made some kind of noise, one Ritsu couldn’t decipher without the corresponding body language. You can fly us, y’know. Or I can.

“Yeah, rather not,” he said, trying to keep his voice low. There was no one around, but in the quiet night, unaccustomed to his voice, he was worried it would carry further than expected. “It was tough enough to get used to our powers when you possessed me; I’d guess it’s different in this configuration, too.”

I dunno, maybe! Gimme that— And like that, his right arm went cool. It wasn’t the spiking numbness that he felt when thrown out of control before. He might’ve thought it merely a breezy evening if he wasn’t wearing a long-sleeved jacket and also if his arm didn’t move on its own. His hand reached up and snapped, sparking into existence a ruby-orange pulse that wove through his fingers and collected into a vibrating ball. He didn’t realize he was pushed back until Shou said, “Feels the same to me, dude.”

Losing control wasn’t nearly as drastic as before. It was like comparing getting misted with a spray bottle to being thrown into the ocean. He drifted in this vague awareness, pulled along for the ride as Shou continued walking. Their gait changed with the pilot, more pep peppered into their step.

Of course it feels the same, it’s your body, but I’m new here, and I don’t want to be flung into the air without being absolutely sure of our abilities.

“Alright, alright. You are the smart one. Next time.” Shou rolled the ball along his knuckles before flicking it into the air.

Ritsu caught it, watching aquamarine swirl into it as he rolled it in his palm. “Always with the ‘next time’s,” he muttered. He hadn’t meant to take over; he just fell to the front. After tossing the ball onto the sidewalk to see it firework on impact and fizzle out, he decided to voice his observations.

Yeah, I noticed that. I had to really focus on taking over to do it. Like not really focus, but more so than in your body. Maybe the possessor is the default designated driver.

“That doesn’t sound safe for the host.”

Well, what do you expect? You’re pure energy right now; of course you’d get a leg up in mental tug o’ war.

“But what about people without any powers? If they get possessed by an evil spirit...?” A chill ran down his spine. That could’ve been him not too long ago. “They wouldn’t have any say in anything.”

A hum buzzed between his ears. That’s what exorcists are for. But don’t worry, dude, we’re good. I can always kick you out if you get too malevolent.

“That’s reassuring.” It was said out of snark but it actually did help assuage his worry, knowing he and Shou had some defense against possession. It was better than most people could rely on.

As they neared downtown, the streets grew more populated. One person they passed gave him a brief look. It was probably because of Shou’s ostentatious hair, but it made Ritsu self-conscious of how he was walking along as an imposter. “So are we just not going to talk this whole time?” he asked under his breath, pausing to let the next person to pass. “Because the whole ‘talking to yourself while wandering at night’ thing isn’t great for appearances.”

It’s the technological age, Ritsu. I’ve got this. He noticed the shift this time, the gentle offsetting of his senses that pushed him to the passenger seat. Shou dug around in his pockets while Ritsu theorized why things felt different than the previous times (Because I’m not completely rooted in the body? I’m a visitor anyway?) until he snagged some headphones. “Problem solved!” he announced as he put them in. After a second, he plugged the jack into his phone to make it fully convincing. “Everyone talks to themself when on the phone.”

That’ll work.

“That’ll work!” Unlocking his phone, Shou grinned as he opened the camera. The front camera was already defaulted, giving Ritsu a sudden look at his face: bright hair, brighter smile, and oh-so-dark eyes. Shou hesitated. “Oh, shit.”

What? Quid pro quo, Shou. I got your eyes, you get mine.

“Yeah, I know, as expected, but….” He brought his camera closer, his face getting an odd glow from the screen’s light. “I didn’t think it would be this dramatic. I look….” Grin faltering, he said, “Even with the ginger thing, I look real boring. I can’t intimidate anyone like this. The piercing gaze is my thing, man, y’know?”

Ritsu would’ve smirked if he could. As a matter of fact, Shou, I do know.

“It’s just...weird.” Their head turned back and forth, watching the screen. Shou paused mid-stride in one position and snapped a picture. Blinking away the flash, he zoomed in on the image. “Hey, you’ve kinda got a bit of red in there, too,” he noted.

Technically, they’re russet and amber.

“Amber, schmamber. It’s red and it’s rad.”

I guess, but it only shows up in bright light. It’s caused by patches of low melanin in the iris so that when light reflects—

“Ritsu, I appreciate you and your trivia knowledge very much, but I’m not gonna remember that. It’s just hella sweet that you’ve got red eyes with your anime-ass hair.”

You’re one to talk. How much gel do you go through a week?

“Touché.” His phone returned to his pocket, but he didn’t continue walking. Ritsu felt a touch of confusion before realizing they were waiting at a crosswalk. The light changed, letting Shou jog across the street and the remaining few blocks.

They saw the crowd before they saw the store itself, a line of people chattering excitedly amongst themselves. Shou jumped into place at the end and bounced from foot to foot. “Bro, I am so pumped!” he gushed. The girl in front of him turned for a moment before noticing his headphones and returning to her DS.

The energy was infectious. Ritsu smiled, content. He didn’t have a mouth with which to actually smile, but the intent was still there. Do you know which starter you’re going to pick? he asked. They had a while to wait. Plenty of time to converse.

“Oh, I always go fire, man.” He settled into a stance, resting his weight on one leg and hooking a hand in his pocket, leaving the other to gesture in the air. “My Cyndaquil back in the day? She was great. I called her Cyndi. Cyndi the Cyndaquil, ‘cause Cyndi’s ‘bout to kill. Loved her.”

But the first gym is usually rock- and/or ground-themed, and fire isn’t effective against either. And since the water and grass gyms often follow soon after, a grass type would be the most logical for low levels.

“Pshhh.” He waved his hand. “Who needs logic when you have love and chutzpah?”

Ritsu laughed—actually laughed; he felt their chest shaking, his own type of smile on their face, Shou’s voice mimicking his thoughts. Dumbass…, he muttered in their head.

Shou cleared his throat, reigning it back under control. “You just have to work that much harder from the beginning. A challenge mode, if you will.”

Sure.

Shou rubbed his nose and leaned against the building they waited by, watching the occasional car come and go. After staying like that for a moment, Ritsu guessed he was listening in on the excited chatter of their companions. Ritsu would be fine with that, some eavesdropping and people-watching was a good pastime, but another idea came to him instead. Mentally, he tried to copy Shou’s pose: hand in jeans pockets, thumb hanging on belt loop, shoulders loose, head against wall, more weight on his left foot than right. Once he thought he had it right, he tried to add in physical feeling: pressure on his palm and thumb, rough brick digging into his back, headphones plugging his ears—until he felt the ground underfoot before he imagined it.

He blinked. It didn’t take much at all to slip to the front. Was it natural for a bodiless entity to want to be corporeal? Or was he just that much more psychically versatile as a collection of energy? Or Shou just let him take over, but based on his silence, Ritsu doubted he had noticed. Whatever the case, it was mere conjecture for now; he put it to the side and instead listened to a nearby pair debate game strats.

Hey, Ritsu, if I were a Pokémon, what type— hey, hold up. He heard a smile pitch up his voice. You sneaky bastard! When did you—?!

“A couple minutes ago.”

The subsequent noises in his brain tugged a smirk to his lips. Oh! The betrayal! The deceit! To be taken advantage of like so! I thought you were my friend, Ritsu, but nay, to have my very flesh robbed from my grasp! The subterfuge! I’m feeling so fuckin’ attacked right now!

“So when you want to try something, it’s novel and exciting, but when I do it, it’s a crime against you personally. I see.” Ritsu rotated his wrist a few times before crossing his arms. “And I think it’s pretty obvious you’d be a fire-type, given both our conversation and your history.”

Jeez, dude, will you just let it go?

“Maybe fire and fighting.”

Well, you'd be a dark type on account of all this shade you're throwing!

“I'll accept that. They're pretty good.”

No argument? Just gonna take it?

“It's accurate.”

He barked a laugh. You fuckin’ smartass, c'mere!

Ritsu felt a pressure in his head. Shou managed to snag his hand and flip him off before he wrangled it back, gripping his sleeve. He felt a prickling along the back of his neck from an aura; he wasn’t sure if it was his or not. “Nah, I’ve got the high ground here, Suzuki,” he said with a smirk, closing his eyes. “It’s gonna take a lot more than that.”

Fuckin’ try me, Kageyama!

He shifted his feet into a more stable stance, but outside of that, it was a game of mental Twister, trying to keep control. The smirk more or less remained throughout it all as Ritsu tried to stand his ground, his aura dancing on his skin as support. Shou managed to wrestle complete control only twice: The first, soon after the challenge was declared, when he fired up his powers to forcibly pull Ritsu back. Once Shou was able to feel the sharp headache that suddenly caused, though, he held back, and Ritsu was able to use his wincing and hiss of pain to tackle him from behind. The second, Ritsu had slipped up; Shou caught a foot and slid it forward, throwing Ritsu off-balance and stumbling out of his senses. Shou stepped in with a subtle victory fist pump before Ritsu was able to do the same thing right back.

The third time, Ritsu let him win. Alright, alright, he laughed, fine, take it.

Shou adjusted their smile to his own. “Well played, dude! Now that’s what I call a mental workout! How much time did that kill?” He lit up his phone screen. 11:28 PM. He tch-ed. “Not enough.”

Ritsu relaxed, finally able to kick back and put his metaphorical feet up. Don’t worry about it. It’ll go by quick enough.

Digging around in his pocket for a moment, Shou retrieved a compact stylus. “What should I draw?” he asked, opening an app.

I dunno.

“Fat lotta help you are.” He thought for a moment before pulling the stylus out to pen length with his teeth. He opened a new canvas in the app and drew a handful of circles and ovals around the page. Ritsu watch, unsure if it was a bit he should laugh at, until Shou zoomed in on one and changed the brush color. The stylus sketched around the shape, occasionally adding crescent curves and spikes protruding from the rough outline, hatching the bottom to give it a spherical shape. In under a minute, he dotted a nose to finish a little hamster holding a strawberry.

Ritsu watched him finish another hamster—this one sleeping on its side—before he said, I didn’t know you sketched.

“Sure you did.” He furrowed his brow and glanced upward, implying shooting a confused look Ritsu’s way, before moving to a third circle.

I mean, I knew you draw, but I imagined it was, like, setting aside an afternoon with a whole collection of pencils. I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t expect a bunch of round hamsters on your phone.

“I’ll have you know, this one’s a hedgehog,” he corrected, adding more quills. “And yeah, man, any drawing is practice. Quick shape studies and gestures are great for doodling on the go.”

Huh.

“Wanna try?”

Huh?

“Here.” Shou panned the canvas back to his first hamster, drew another circle next to it, and held up the stylus. “Just try to draw it again.”

Ritsu hesitantly took the hand and pen, holding it for a second before sitting down at the helm. “I don’t know how to draw.”

Just copy what you see.

He sighed, but he tapped the stylus on the screen anyway. A collection of dots appeared. He undid the inputs and tried to mimic what Shou had done, roughing out the outline to give the impression of fur. It was a bit of an uneven shape. Adding in the lumpy strawberry, round hands, and eyes that were too big, it did end up looking like an animal. Whether it was a hamster or not was up for debate. “How’s that?” he asked reflexively, immediately regretting it.

Not bad, not bad! It’s cute! It’s shaped like a friend!

“Doesn’t look much like a hamster. Like, I know it’s a simplified drawing, but yours is still recognizable.”

Maybe so, but you gotta start everything from somewhere, and it’s easier to modify an existing image than to keep fretting over it in your head. Plus there’s more art in the world now because of it.

“Well, aren’t you inspirational.” It was a nice thought, though. He handed the pen back, ducking once again into the passenger’s seat like stepping through morning mist. Maybe that’s why your wrist feels odd, he pointed out to take the attention off of him. Maybe you’re not drawing right.

Shou panned to the next circle and said, “It’s just drawing. How is there a wrong way to draw?”

I don’t know, like putting too much pressure on the tendons or the joints.

“It’s just drawing, though, not running a marathon. It’s not like I can warm up before drawing.”

Are you sure about that?

He grumbled, drawing another hamster. “I guess not….”

Ritsu metaphorically shook his head. At least they found one beneficial use of possession: mediocre self-diagnosis.

The next half hour passed quickly. Shou filled in most of the circles with various small animals (and one smirking, blue-eyed Ritsu to torment his companion. Ritsu was indeed tormented. He’d never feel right about that warped reflection of himself). He narrated as he went, describing how he was drawing shapes that looked like animals, not the animals themselves, how hatching and cross-hatching worked, and where to look to draw cleaner circles. Ritsu was fairly certain he was bullshitting a lot of it, but it was interesting to listen to nonetheless.

The rousing of the crowd caught their attention. The compartmentalized chattering became a wave of excitement as the doors opened, the closest barreling through immediately. Turning off his phone and retracting his stylus, Shou put both back in his pocket as he hopped into motion. “Bro—!”

Ritsu would've smiled. I know, man, just go.

Suddenly, he paused. He patted his sides. His face fell. “Dude. I think I forgot my wallet.”

What? You just now—?! He groaned, his hopes crumbling. Leave it to Shou to—wait a second. No, you didn't, it's in your left pocket.

Shou's smirk was back before he finished his thought. “Oh, so it is.”

You son of a bitch.

Ritsu's chastisement and warnings not to do that again (do you know how much I've been through tonight god damn it) only fueled the pep in his step. For being in the middle of a line of a hundred or two, they got in the store fairly quickly, soon wading through the crowd to one of the registers. “Two, please!” he chirped. “One of each.”

The cashier gave him a tired smile. “Sorry, one per person tonight.”

Shou paused. “But we're two.”

“Uh…?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Ritsu jumped in, easily slipping by his stupefied friend. “I meant I was buying for two. Surely you know it's exam season, and I wouldn't dare let my little brother stay up so late before an important test, so he asked if I would go for both of us.”

“I know, it's crappy timing, but we didn't have a say on the release date. Nothing I can do.”

He put on his best pout, just taking a guess at how it looked on Shou's face. “Is there any way to at least get two keychains?”

She shook her head. “No can do. We might have extras tomorrow, but I doubt it. Maybe if— uh…. Kid, if you're trying to flip me off, first: don't shoot the messenger, and second: that's the wrong finger….”

“What?” Ritsu raised his brow before he realized his hand was up, index finger pointing an orange aura into the air. Of course, she couldn't see the energy. He felt his hand catch something invisible and keychain-sized in a fist accompanied by a whispered, Gotcha!

Ritsu stuffed the prize in his pocket. “No, sorry,” he lied, “I was going to try and make another point for my case but decided against it. I understand.”

“Don't worry, you'll have all the time in the world for midnight releases after college. Now, which game?”

Shou took over again, picking out and paying for his game. Ritsu sat back, his mental self-image sporting a dumbfounded expression. Why hadn't they realized that before. Of course they can't get two when they're in one body. What a rookie mistake.

As soon as he was outside and around the corner, Shou jumped and punched a fist into the air. He hung there a second longer than normal before touching down lightly to continue his walk. “Not the simplest way, but that was a success, my friend!”

I'll still have to come back tomorrow to buy my own copy, though.

“That's fine, that's what you were planning to do anyway! Only now—” he pulled out the little red and white bag from his pocket, “—now you got a limited edition collector's item, too!”

Well, don't keep us waiting. Which is it?

“I got it, man, I got it.” He dug through his shopping bag for the other, held the two together, then ripped off the tops simultaneously and upturned them into his palm. Ritsu caught a glimpse of orange and green before their eyes closed, squeezed shut from his wide grin, and he sung, “Sweet~! Dibs on fire!”

The energy was contagious. Fine by me, he said. He'd smile if he could; fortunately, Shou had it covered enough for both of them.

He looked them over, tracing a thumb over the paintwork before again resting his hand in his pocket. “So, where to next?”

Next? You're not going to go home and play through the night?

“I mean, I could, I really want to, but I can wait until tomorrow for you to get yours. But I mean, anything to do right now while out and about?”

He pictured a shrug. I don't know. I'm not usually out this late to know what there is to do.

“Oh, my friend, you are getting the full tour, then. ‘Seasoning City by Night,’ I call it. It's peaceful, it's dim, it's neon, and it's completely different from the town you thought you knew under the sun! What d'ya say?”

Ritsu thought a moment. He sure hoped his body was getting a full night's sleep without him.

Lead the way.

[winryofresembool]

EdWin one-shot: Bath time

Summary: Ed and Winry try to wash Den together... and of course it doesn’t go like planned (Post Promised Day)

A/N: whelp, more than a month ago an anon asked me to write a fic about the prompt “Stop being so attractive!” and now that I finally managed to write it, I went a liiittle overboard. Also yes, I know this has certain elements similar to ‘Future is full of possibilities’, but this is even fluffier (if that’s even possible) version of how Ed and Winry’s relationship could start to progress. 

Warnings: I don’t think there’s much to warn about this time, if you ignore Ed’s dirty mind. 

Genre: fluffy fluff

Words: 2661

“Alphonse?! What the hell are you doing?” the 15-year-old boy could hear his big brother yell somewhere nearby. He turned to look at the source of the voice, and saw Edward stomping towards him with an angry scowl on his face.

It had been raining for a few days in Resembool, but now that the sun was shining again, Al had immediately wanted to go out to smell the fresh air, feel the sun warm his already tanned skin and jump in the big puddles because he had missed the opportunity to do that for five whole years (it was one of those things that hadn’t been as fun when he hadn’t been able to feel it). Ed wasn’t amused by his new habit, though, because he knew he was the one who had to clean the mess Al made (his shoes weren’t 100 per cent waterproof, and his pants tended to get muddy as well because Al simply didn’t care. He had his body back, so what if his pants got a bit dirty). According to Winry and Pinako, the younger Elric was still “too weak to do household chores”, but Edward disagreed; he had seen his little brother racing with Den out on the fields like it was nothing the other day. Besides, he had already begged Ed to let him start practicing martial arts again (the protective big brother he was, Ed had forbidden it).

Ed’s scowl deepened when he saw that Al had taken Den with him again; the dog was a pain to wash, because she seemed to hate water (the /clean/ water, to be more precise) more than any of the cats he had met on their journey did. Usually it took two people to make her stay in the bathtub more than two seconds. And of course Al, who couldn’t say “no” to any animals, let Den go through each and every puddle she found. The white spot under her neck was far from white at this point, and the same had happened to her three white paws. Her automail was caked with mud, and Ed winced knowing that Winry would probably scold /him/ for it (“Ed, why did you let Al take Den with him?” he could hear her voice say in his head) because she had been exceptionally nice to Al ever since the boys had returned to Resembool.

“Al?” Ed tried to get his brother’s attention again. Despite being almost grown-up, the boy had a tremendous skill to find enjoyment in things that younger children usually did, and he was so excited about being able to feel and smell everything around him in the summery Resembool that he had already forgotten Ed had asked him anything.

“Can’t you see? Just taking a walk in the sunshine!” Al finally answered to Ed’s question as the older brother continued to glare at him.

“And getting yourself dirty,” Ed sighed, pointing at his shoes and pants. “You do realize that /I/ have to clean that?”

“You know I would help if Winry and Granny let me,” Al claimed, and Ed knew it was partially true. Al was generally speaking the more helpful one of the two brothers, but he was still an Elric; taking the full advantage of his brother’s suffering.

“Hmmph,” Ed huffed, and shook his head. “I will still tell Winry that you would take Den with you no matter what I say to you if she starts complaining about how dirty the dog is.”

“Whatever makes you happy, brother,” Al grinned.

Suddenly an idea started forming in his head. Ed and Winry had been insufferable ever since the boys’ return, not really knowing how to be around each other with their painfully obvious feelings, still unable to confess. That’s why they usually kept some distance from each other, but this, Al realized, was an opportunity to force them to communicate with each other. All they needed to do was to bath Den together, and maybe trying to hold the thrashing dog in its place, having their arms brushing each other, their hands accidentally touching, and so on, would finally open their tongues…

Al didn’t dare to wish that his plan would actually work, but that didn’t stop him from trying. Once the brothers got back to the yard of the Rockbell house, he told Ed to get Winry outside to help him with Den while he would fill the tub with water. The older brother mumbled something like “as if washing one dog required three people” under his breath as he went. He still did what ordered, and soon he showed up with Winry, already arguing about Den with her.

“And why am I supposed to help you with the mess you made? I have work to do,” Winry snarled, her eyes shooting daggers towards Edward. The boy didn’t understand that in reality Winry’s anger was only misplaced frustration over him treating her so coldly after his return, and he got annoyed for being accused of things he hadn’t done.

“Because you know Al can’t do it alone! He’s the one who walked Den, not me!” he argued back, already starting to feel like fighting the first person who’d dare to look at him. “Actually, you guys,” Al interrupted their argument, offering Den’s leash to Ed, “I think I just heard meowing on the backyard…The neighbor’s cat must have gotten lost again. I gotta make sure the kitty won’t get too close to Den, you know how she feels about cats. I’ll be right back!”

“Oh no you won’t!” Ed yelled at Al’s back, but he was already running away, leaving the two frustrated teenagers alone.

“Ugh… let’s do this then,” he finally gave up, knowing his brother well enough to know that he wouldn’t be back in a while. “I’ll hold Den, you wash her, ok?”

“Fine.”

Since it was a warm day, Ed was only wearing a tank top and shorts, but he decided even the top would be too much when Den would be thrashing around and splashing water everywhere, so he threw it away. The dog started whining immediately when she realized what he was about to do, but she didn’t have time to resist when Ed was already lifting her in the air and laying her down in the tub.

Meanwhile, Winry couldn’t resist watching him do his movements, the muscles in his torso and his arms tightening and relaxing as he carried the dog and set it down. Suddenly the girl felt her cheeks starting to heat, and a strange, warm feeling that she didn’t remember having often before formed in her belly. Fine, she admitted in her mind, maybe she had had that feeling once or twice when the same boy had been in front of him without a shirt having his automail checked. But those times she had shaken the feeling off quickly, knowing she couldn’t have such thoughts about her patient. However, now she /didn’t/ have to act professionally because she and Ed were simply two friends trying to wash a dog, and besides, she was fairly certain Ed had ogled her chest (covered only by her usual black tube top since it had been hot in her workshop) only a moment before.

Finally, the girl got a grip of her thoughts and turned her attention to Den. She was whimpering as Ed wrapped his arm around her neck to hold her still, trying to calm her down by petting her with his other hand and muttering to her quietly. Even though his voice was calm and surprisingly soft, Winry could hear him ask:

“You idiot dog, why do you like mud so much when you hate getting washed?”

Winry had to resist a giggle because Ed’s question was just so him. She crouched down to take care of Den’s paws, and thanks to Ed holding the dog, she managed to get them somewhat clean.

When it was time to clean Den’s automail, Winry realized she couldn’t get it properly clean unless she got closer to it, and that meant getting wet. That’s why Ed volunteered getting into the tub, claiming that it would be fine since he was only wearing his shorts anyway. He got a small brush that Winry had taken with her from her hand and blushed slightly when their hands touched.

As Ed was polishing the metal, Winry got a chance to observe him again. The sight made her decide that she would be a dog person for the rest of her life; (even though she swore she’d never say it aloud) the person she loved looked so damn adorable taking care of the dog who had now somewhat calmed down. He smiled as Den nudged his arm with her snout slightly, begging for more pets.

“Soon, girl, I’m almost done!” he promised, and the dog gave him a happy yip as an answer.

Something snapped in Winry’s head as she watched the scene unfold, and she couldn’t control her tongue anymore when the words “Stop being so attractive!” came out of her mouth.

“What did you say?” Ed turned to stare at her with wide eyes. Winry covered her mouth with her hands and her face was as red as a tomato as she registered what she had said.

“I said… your automail… looks attractive?”

“That’s not… what I heard. Besides, I don’t think you can say that about automail anyway.” Even though the words were meant to be teasing, his voice sounded far more serious than what Winry would have expected from him. His gaze was intense, the kind that made butterflies fly in Winry’s stomach, as he asked:

“Winry… Is there any chance… that you might like me?”

“What?! Why…?”

She hesitated for a good while before finally deciding that maybe this was the chance she had been looking for.

“Um… You know, there’s this one guy … He is sometimes such an idiot, and a loudmouth, always picking up a fight, and blind to my feelings, but he’s also very sweet when he wants to be, and caring, and brave, and he would anything for those who are important to him…”

“…And I truly admire that. His name is Edward Elric.”

It was quiet for a painfully long moment. Ed was so dumbfounded that he let go of Den and she jumped on his lap and out of the tub, making him fall on his back in the process. When he got up, he was wet from head to toe and he shook his hair like a dog shakes its fur to dry it. Winry couldn’t help but giggle internally at this scene.

Den, having been forgotten by the two of them, had run to the door and started howling, so Granny would let her inside. The two youngsters were so distracted that they didn’t even notice when Pinako opened the door to the dog, sighing: “Oh well, of course those two didn’t dry you properly. Well, come in then, it’s about time those two solve their issues.” She couldn’t hear what was being said, but something about the way Ed and Winry were looking and pointing at each other told her that something important was about to happen. And she wasn’t wrong:

“Yes, of course I like you, you silly!” Winry finished her confession, again surprised by her own boldness.

“Good,” Ed said softly after he let Winry’s words sink in, “because that makes it equivalent exchange.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what you think I mean.”

“Please, stop being so vague, Ed.”

“I. like. you. Winry Rockbell. There! Happy?!” He gestured towards her wildly with his hands.

Winry almost burst out laughing, because Ed looked so embarrassed, but then she realized she must have looked exactly the same way. What a bunch of losers the two of them were, was their mutual thought at that moment. This had to be fixed.

That’s why Winry took a hold of Ed’s wrist and pulled the wet young man closer to her. She combed the wet hair from Ed’s face, also removing his hair tie in the process, and the boy shivered as her fingers traveled through his wet locks.

“You know, about that earlier… you are pretty attractive too,” Ed said and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist. Winry responded by letting her hands rest behind his neck, leaning her head against Ed’s still wet shoulder (happily noting that Ed had grown tall enough that she was able to do that).

“I knew you were watching,” Winry murmured, her lips vibrating against Ed’s skin and causing him to take a deep breath, but her voice held no anger.

“Sorry, couldn’t help it… I just said you are attractive.”

“Heh, thanks, I guess. Hey… why didn’t you say anything earlier? About your feelings?”

“Because sometimes I’m much more better with actions than words?”

“Really? Prove it,” Winry challenged.

Ed decided to do just that, and he leaned in to give the girl a peck on her cheek. However, she moved her head slightly in that moment, and he hit the corner of her mouth instead. He quickly pulled his head away, trying to see her reaction, but to his surprise, it was encouraging.

“It’s OK, Ed, just do it.”

She looked at him expectantly, and finally, he pressed his lips against hers. Sure, it was awkward, and he used a tad too much pressure, and didn’t really know how to move his mouth at first, but she helped him, making him less tense. After a while, it started feeling good, but then their lungs started demanding more air.

“How did that feel?” Ed asked, worried he had done something wrong.

“I think I want to do that more with you,” Winry smiled at him, giving him another quick peck on his mouth before it was her turn to shiver. She realized only now that her clothes had gotten too, and that pulled her back to earth. Where had Den gone? she thought aloud.

“I think Granny must have taken her in… We would know if she had gone after Al,” Ed reasoned.

“You are probably right,” Winry agreed, and took the towel that had originally been meant for Den from the chair near her and wrapped it around herself.

“Ugh, I guess I should go and have a shower, that water was gross,” Ed noted, then raised his eyebrow suggestively. “I don’t mind you watching, by the way.”

Winry knew Ed was only playing games with her. It had taken him so much courage to simply kiss her, so there was no way he was ready for anything else yet despite his words. That showed on his face, which screamed “did I really just say that?” and was even redder than before. The young woman decided that two could play this game, and answered:

“You know what, maybe one day I will join you.”

That left the young man hot and bothered as his mind traveled to an unwanted territory, so he just huffed and turned to go inside.

“Remember to dry your automail well!” Winry yelled after him.

“Gearhead!”

“A gearhead you want to make out with!”

Ed didn’t think he could have blushed harder than he did when he disappeared inside. He admitted in his mind that she was not wrong, though.

Al decided to show up at that moment, and he looked at Winry curiously.

“What did just happen here?”

“Oh, nothing,” Winry smiled. “We just washed Den like you asked.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

What had just happened was too intimate to be shared even with Al, one of her best friends. However, he did notice that from that moment on, Ed and Winry seemed a lot more comfortable around each other, shared some shy looks and even let their hands brush against each other from time to time. What happened when his eyes weren’t seeing, though, was a whole different story.

[hikarimitsuko]

Middle of the night thoughts

What I realized was...it’s not my nickname that made me feel this bad... Actually it does make me feel bad...BUT not as much as getting rid of it...So perhaps my name will change some day...or maybe not. I’m indeed sad and affected by the fact that I deleted my instagram after 4 years of working hard on building an audience...but said audience of 12k people were ghosts and mainly inactive towards anything I post. Not to whine...nothing like that, the world doesn’t owe me anything...but I do not like wasting my time or speaking in the void. I do feel bad about the fact that some of my followers were following me and encouraging me since the very start and I will definitely be nostalgic for that part and for those amazing people. Hopefully they’ll find me elsewhere.

I’ve been realizing since about a year ago that whatever I tried, to change my style, to cosplay new things, to post some art, to join new networks that would touch more people who could be interested in what I do, I realized that in the end...it’s internet people. They are not friends, never will be. I’m realistic, people follow/followed me for Levi. And anytime I’d try to do something else as well, the difference in interaction was beyond bearable. Now I never wanted to stop cosplaying Levi, but this sort of situation sort of pushed me away from him. The last few times I’ve been him, I had absolutely no fun doing him. 

I think also the cosplay community has changed alot in 4 years. Not only that but there is alot of SJWs now and it’s making the community toxic... Cosplay used to be fun. I will still be doing it on my own but low profile. I will post my pics as posts but if anyone wants to see all my pics they will have to go to my fb page as this is more of a closed space where I can easily deal with toxic people and don’t really care as much if it produces absolutely no reaction.

Some will say...oh she’s still in depression. Well no, actually I’ve been off antidepressants for two weeks... and withdrawal is very bad, like VERY VERY BAD, but I know I can make it. I know I can feel good and happy once I work on things that don’t make me happy anymore.  I always said: when cosplay will stop making me happy, I will stop.

It’s not really the case. I love cosplaying...but I just don’t like to do it for an audience anymore. Especially an audience that is 80% ghosts. Sometimes I wonder what steps I took that were wrong or what I could’ve done differently. Of course you compare yourself as a cosplayer and sometimes seeing people who would put about the same effort as you and started waaaay after you did or even some people who didn’t put any effort at all get so much feedback on their stuff while I was sitting there wondering if what I did was worth sharing or not. Guess insecurity, anxiety and need for validation do that, but I won’t excuse myself for being how I am.

I stopped being excited about sharing photos (photography is one of my main passions so that’s very bad)... And I started feeling like conventions didn’t give me that feeling they used to. It started feeling fake and forced and...it started feeling like a competition all the time. Without even noticing I started comparing myself and finding flaws after flaws in my things...so much that I began to hate most of my cosplays.

As you know, all of this is expensive, it’s expensive to maintain and I tried really hard to keep it going because god knows I love to cosplay...I tried ko-fi, I tried patreon, I tried commissions, I tried tutorials, I tried plenty of things...but it simply didn’t work. I know some people go ebegging all the time but frankly it gets on my nerves so I never intended on making people access my stuff for a price. I always loved seeing people smile and appreciate what I do. A simple thumbs up would make my day, but all these were gone after a while... While my wallet was getting emptier as I kept on going.

I’ll always love cosplay...but I’ll keep it for me. I’ll do it for me. I’ve been cleaning up the 40k pics I have of cosplays. And you know what? I know I did a good job. That’s all that matters. I don’t need anyone’s input on that because most of them are just pixels on a screen looking for easy and free entertainment (which is fine), but I expected too much. I didn’t want people to lurk, I wanted people to interact.  In the past few days I needed help, still do but I’m done asking for any so don’t bother... And out of the approximate 18k persons following me around all social networks i’m in...do you know who helped me? 3 people.

@kozumesenpaii My closest friend. 

@angelica200555 One of my most faithful followers since a long long LONG time ago and an angel

And another person who just started following me.

I know...I know that the world owes me nothing. But you’d think after 4 years of doing this...someone would care enough to offer a 3$ ko-fi. But no.

It’s fine, it’s totally fine I’m not mad (anymore cause i have to admit I was mad when I was panicking about not getting a fucking paycheck this week)... But it did make me realize that....like Max says...it’s only internet people, they don’t care.

It makes way more sense now. And I’ve accepted that. I’m in peace with it. Yesterday was a revelation. I guess I needed something to kick my ass to actually finally make a move. Deleting my instagram made me sad...and once I saw ‘’permanently deleted’’ appear... I immediately cried for 15 minutes.... It took me so long to build this. I’ve loved this so much. But I’ve loved a dream, I’ve loved a bubble and it’s been burst for a while.

Now I will love it differently. I will love cosplay/anime/art and whatever else only for me. I will post but only if I want to.

I will maybe write more fanfics or one shots if I feel like it... I do feel confident about my writing in fanfics but I don’t want to go around parading and promoting the shit out of it. They’re little hidden AO3 treasures that ereri and klance fans might stumble upon and fall in love with.

I will not censure myself either for the sake of having ‘’followers’’ that might not like what I do... I’m done living for people. I’m still not sure about name changing my stuff because my youtube and facebook pages are still under hikarimitsuko and I am keeping these so don’t you worry about that. I re-changed my tumblr and twitter back to hikari but if it makes me feel bad, i’ll just find something else later on. I changed my twitch username without noticing u have to wait 60 days to change it again so if you are looking for hikarimitsuko on twitch...it’s actually ephemere87...for the next 60 days...lol...I’ll probably change it back to hika.

SO hum I guess I wanna say thank you to those who followed me so long and kept believing in me even when I was deep in depression. I know it wasn’t always easy to read my posts because I have very negative phases towards myself...but I try to stay away as much as possible when it happens. Thanks to those who cared no matter what. Thanks to those who get genuinely worried about me. My final request would be : IF YOU ARE A GHOST FOLLOWER, PLEASE, unfollow me.

PS: For future references, I will be posting videos of ALL my cosplays on youtube eventually as compilations. Pretty sure Levi’s will last half an hour or longer lol...But anyways... I keep my youtube too for CMVs and such if the inspiration strikes.

Plan - without timeline:

-Deadpool and spidey skit (with max) - youtube

-Costest of Viktor Nikiforov (gotta style the wig) - on here and facebook

-Cosplay Keith Kogane (when I feel like it) - on here and facebook.

Thank you for these 4 years! It’s not over.