#as if the world didn’t start and end with his well-remembered fluff of peach hair and eyes that were only gentle for him

[tanjir0se]

Giyuu: Sabito and I were best friends. We only had each other. He had a strong sense of justice and a kind heart. We ate lunch together and he made me laugh and I loved him so so much and still do because he was just so kind and sweet to me and everyone. He was and is an Angel.

Tanjiro, remembering the time Sabito beat his ass every single day over and over for six full months: uh. Yeah… yeah he sounds..um. nice.

[my-simp-land]

You Cheeky Slink

Bucky comes to you in the night to tell you about his latest google dive and maybe something more. Bucky x reader fluff. 1508 words. This is highkey self indulgent so get ready to read the fantasy thats been living in my head lately. Thanks :))

“Doll?”

Bucky stands at my door with just his head stuck into my room.

“Bucky, what are you doing? Where’s your shirt? You’re going to catch a cold wandering around with no clothes on,” I mumble from my pillow and plushie covered bed.

He smirks. He always does that smirk when he’s about to give some smartass response. That stupid lopsided smirk with he petal pink lips surrounded by the beard he’s been growing out. It’s kinda gangly but in a good way.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to come in then, so I don’t catch a cold in this freezing hallway. You know, you don't actually catch colds from being co-”

You had to stop the groan from falling past your lips. “Buck, love you and all, but now isn't the time to drop some of your newly found knowledge on me. It's...what time is it? Bucky, it is past midnight. Please tell me why you’re in my room at 12:38 a.m. talking about colds.”

Peter and I have been teaching Bucky how to use the internet and his phone, and We introduced him to Google a few days ago. Ever since then, he’s been catching himself up on most of what has happened in the last 70s years. It’s really heartwarming to see his interest in aerial technology and space exploration. We’re all glad that Bucky is adjusting well, but he’s been bombarding us all with random knowledge he’s found on the internet.

“Well, in all fairness, you were the one that invited me in, angel. I’m just doing what you said.” The smirk again. It’s too dark now that he's standing in my dark room, but I know the smirk. It bleeds into his voice. It makes him sound more...confident. Or cocky. “But dollface, we’ve explored more of space than we have the ocean. We don’t know what all is living in the deep parts of our ocean, but we know that you’ll get spaghettified if you go into a black hole. Some people think black holes are portals and some think they’re dying stars.”

“Wait, what? Buck, where are you getting your info?”

“Google, of course. Can I sit?”

“Sure.” The heavy weight of a giant man and his absurdly heavy metal arm rests on the corner of my bed. He almost seems hesitant to sit. I can immediately feel his warmth through the blanket. Despite me keeping my area freezing, Bucky always stays warm. “But Bucky, you went to a site to read these things. You used google but from there, what did you do?”

I can hear the wheels turning in his head. “Uh...the interesting looking ones?”

“You can’t believe everything you read on the internet, Buck. Anyone can put whatever they want out there. When you’re doing this research you’ve got to use reliable sources.”

“Reliable sources? Can I lean against the wall and stretch my legs?”

“Sure. Friday will help you with that, but Peter and I, and even Dr. Banner could help explain that to you in more detail tomorrow at a reasonable hour.”

Bucky shuffles his way across my bed to rest against the wall. He’s cautious of my legs as he makes his journey. It’s almost like he goes into assassin mode. Even though I know he’s moving, he tries his best not to disturb me.

“Well, did you know the footstep on the moon will likely stay there for at least 100 million years? There’s no wind on the moon, so it can’t be blown away. And did you know space is completely silent? There’s no air, so the sound waves have nothing to travel through so no sound.”

Bucky carries on with his space talk. Not long after we became friends, he shared that as a child he was interested in planes. He wanted to be a pilot growing up. That quickly became an awkward conversation. Now, Bucky is learning to fly with Sam, but once he learned our travels expanded into space, his dreams were out of this world. Bucky would start his google dives asking about some random thing, but without a doubt, he would end up on space exploration. Peter and I want to see how he’d do in a Wikipedia race. Peter thinks he would be amazing at it, but I know he’d get carried away and go down his own rabbit hole.

“Doll, Neptune has storms big enough to swallow the entire Earth! Can I get under the blankets?”

I hummed my approval and rolled over. Bucky’s voice is deep and raspy, and something about it can lull me to sleep. Usually I can’t sleep with any noise but Bucky is different. He could probably do audiobooks. Steve’s school videos and Bucky’s audiobooks. That’s quite a pair.

Bucky carries on with his space dump until I ask him. “Bucky, Russia got a satellite in space first. Sputnik. Would you have had anything to do about it? Idk. That might be a rough question but…”

He thinks, and he thinks hard. I can imagine his brows would come together, and he would bite at the right side of his lower lip. His Neptune blue eyes would move like he’s reading words off an invisible piece of paper laid before him. He would usually run his fingers through his hair, but Sam mentioned hair loss and that made Buck a little self conscious. I told him not to worry, but I’ll catch him catching himself.

“I’m not sure, angel. I don’t remember anything being about space, but maybe i just didn’t know it was about the space race. That is bizarre though. I was around when we made it to the moon, but I wasn’t. Can I get under the blankets?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Buck starts to talk again as he pulls the blankets over himself. He worms his legs undermine. “Bucky, get your popsicle legs off me. Go put those things on Steve.”

He lets out a small laugh before he continues his ted talk of everything. Bucky has been taken with space, but he’s interested in cooking too. He loves to sit and watch The Great British Bake-Off or MasterChef or Top Chef. It was quite sweet and funny when he tried to recreate one of the meat pies from season two of TGBBO. He was so confident, and his bottom was so soggy.

“We should grow a fruit salad tree. We’ve got to do something to a fruit tree, but we’d be able to make it grow up to 6 fruits! You could have peaches, Steve gets apples, Sam gets...I don’t know, and I get plums. We’d have to think of something for Pete. But imagine it, a huge fruit salad tree orchard behind the compound!”

“If it’s an orchard, why don’t we just plant a whole bunch of different trees?”

“Bragging rights. Can I lean on these pillows? I’m just gonna lean here.”

“Sure Buckbeak.”

“Hmph. Us having a fruit salad tree would be like the animals in Harry Potter.”

“Yeah?”

Bucky carries on, but his closeness and warmth are enough to lull me to sleep.

I woke up not too much later. Bucky has slowly made his way to fully laying between me and my pillow mountain. He’s pulled me in close to him and nuzzles his face into my neck. He somehow got his arms fully around me with my noticing. Our legs are intertwined, and thankfully, Bucky’s feet have warmed up. I can hear his heart beat in this position. Despite the torture and darkness he’s witness, his heart still beats like a young bird’s wings. His body and mind is old, but his heart is young. A young man from the 40s thrust into the 21st century. It is a cruel fate, but I know Bucky is strong enough to carry this burden. A heart is a heavy burden to carry.

I wake with the sun; a curious beam has made its way directly into my eyes. I go to grab a pillow to cover my face, but I seem to be in the death grip of a certain super soldier. I’m able to shimmy my way around to look at him. He looks at peace. Bucky always carries his anxieties and burdens, but in this moment, he looks youthful. He isn’t a super soldier who lost himself for 70 years. He isn’t a man who is widely hated and has to redeem himself. He isn’t a man with blood on his hands. He’s just Bucky; a great guy that will hold you when you cry or share a big bellied laugh with you.

“See something you like, dollface?”

“You slithered your slinky way into my bed.”

“No, no, no. You invited me in, so I wouldn't catch a cold. I just made myself not cold.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. You were obviously the best solution, cuddle bug. Your heart is so full of love and compassion that it’s gone hot.”

“You’re a big sap.”

“Only for my best girl.”

[illyaana]

Tags: Angst (like a lot), Fluff (like a lot), Kaminari Denki x Reader (shoulder-length hair pls, tq), Binaural

Synopsis: You and Denki are childhood friends. When you were young, you two found this little meadow filled with wildflowers. Who'd thought your safe haven would bring back such painful feelings?

Word Count: 2812

Dont forget to check out the main masterlist of the event hosted by @kuroos-babygirl over here!

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The meadow you both crouched on glowed a gold hue as your fingers grazed the soft petals of the tall wildflowers, its stems rubbing against your sides. You eyed how the soft colour dusted itself on the peach skin of the boy before you, his entranced gaze stuck on the yellow and black-coloured butterfly fluttering its wings on the white-coloured flower. You enjoyed the bright smile adorned on the innocent male as he saw the now flying butterfly dance in the pale blue sky.

When’s the last time you both did this? - just walking around this little haven you both found together a year back?

Your six-year-old self reflected on all the memories they made with the seven-year-old in front of them.

It all began here - this little prairie.

Your first friend, your first wound, your first fight, your first day-out; it all took place in this land of vast greenery dusted yellow by blackeyed susans, corn marigold and bird's-foot trefoil.

It is all thanks to the adventurous, little blonde boy in front of you.

“Why are you staring, Y/N?” Denki said, nudging you.

“Just looking at the flowers, that’s all.”

A good lie, Y/N - a skilful lie.

He looked at your finger, eyeing it. Soon your hands were in his, the soft pad of his fingers trailing on the small lines of your hands. Each crevice was examined by that soft gaze of his, playing with your soft skin. His finger stopped at the scar painted on the fleshy part of your palm, a sulk forming on his lips.

“Was this from that time I dared you to jump from that tree?” He asked, guilt laced in his whispers.

It was, but you didn’t want him to know.

“Don’t worry, Denks - it wasn’t from that dare,” you say as you take your hands away from his grip, “I picked up a rock and there was a sharp end and it cut through my skin.”

He pulled your hand back into his, stretching the skin around the scar. He tried looking for clues to make sure you weren’t lying, a stressed look evident on his face.

You chuckled, gripping the side of his cheek and pinching it.

He looked at your radiant smile and all his worries washed away.

He let go of your hand and gripped your cheek in his left hand. His thumb began to rub small circles on your cheek, admiring how you leaned into his touch.

He loved how you were so at peace and calm when you were with him. You had no qualms in wasting hours listening to his dreams and aspirations, intervening once in a while to expand on his little ideas.

But you - right now, like this - is his favourite of it all.

You looked like an angel, the light from the Sun lighting your soft skin. The flowers and the very ends of your hair softly swished against the wind, forming such beautiful scenery as he took in the view unravelling in front of him.

He wondered how those flowers would look against your fingers, your hair, your ears…

He wondered how you’d look dripping in flowers.

“Sit down.”

Denki eyed the ground beneath him, looking for flowers that reminded him of you. The softness you brought, the light mood you formed whenever you were around him, the warmth you radiated whenever you were with him - he kept it all in his head as he saw the flowerbeds filled with flowers of different species.

His eyes stopped at the Black-eyed Susans that swished with the wind.

He instantly grabbed handfuls of the dainty-looking flower, hoping he had enough for the idea he had in his head.

Using his long nails, he cut the stem of the flower right down in the middle. He split one of the sections again, making three strips out of a stem. He then slowly began to braid the stems together, weaving them into a long strip.

“Stick your ring finger out, Y/N.”

You let him wrap that small strap around your finger, a determined gaze focused on the base of it.

He then inserted the end of the weaved strip into a section of the strip, securing its shape.

He took the rest of the flowers he collected and put them in his pocket as he walked behind you.

“What are you doing?” You asked.

“Let me do this! I have an idea,” he said, happiness lacing his words.

In a huff of annoyance, you agreed.

He began to braid the two front pieces of your hair, slowly adding the flowers he collected. He made sure that the stems were hidden behind your luscious hair. Once he finished braiding them both, he brought them to the back of your head, tying them together with the hair tie on your wrist.

“Are you finally done?” You ask, turning to face him.

You stared at his eyes focused on you, a small blush dusting his cheeks.

Angel.

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me do this, Y/N,” he replied, covering his cheeks with his arm.

You looked like an angel to him. The way your eyes twinkled, your soft lips, your cute nose, your soft skin, your gaze - it was all so perfect to him.

“Y/N,” he started, “Promise me when we get older, we’ll marry each other?”

Your eyes widen as you quickly stand up in shock.

“The hell, Denki?!” You felt blood rushing to your cheeks, “You just can’t say that!”

“I think you’re the only one that can handle me - after all, you’re still here,” he says as he rubs his chin.

“Denki, life doesn’t work like that.”

“And you know how my life is going to work? Knowing me, I’d be single until I’m 23-years old if we don’t make this promise. I’d most probably have a sugar baby-”

“Stop,” you say, holding back your laughter, “Is that your plan if you don’t get into a relationship by 23?”

“...maybe.”

You began laughing, clutching onto your stomach as you stared at him.

“Stop laughing, okay!” he says, annoyed.

“Well, at least you have goals-”

“Y/N!” He says, hitting your back.

You take a deep breath as you recollect your thoughts.

Maybe a life with him won’t be so bad.

“If I can prevent you from thinking of being a sugar daddy that early in life, then sure; we can get married.”

He smiled, grabbing your hands.

“Thank you, Y/N!”

You both hold hands as you walk out of the meadow.

“I’m picturing you with a college girl at 65-year-”

“Stop.”

.

.

.

“You’re finally back!” said Denki as he jumped into your arms.

“Yeah, I am.”

You looked at the now pro-hero in your hands. You chuckled when you felt his small grip on the back of your loosely fit university hoodie. He pressed his head against your chest, nuzzling into the soft cotton. A small hum left his lips as you ruffled his blonde hair - signalling how comfortable he felt in your hands.

God, you missed him - it felt so wrong to leave him right after graduating from UA.

However, you have become a skilled inventor - no one could doubt that. Thanks to the guidance of David Shield, you’ve made your name in the inventing world. You came back to Mustafu to build your brand - hopefully alongside your childhood friend.

“So, Chargebolt,” you teased, “Congrats on getting into the top 10 of the Hero chart! I was shocked when I found out that you - of all people - got in.”

“Hey,” He hit the back of your head, “I’m a good hero, okay?”

“I sense favouritism but okay,” you teased again.

“Not very good of you as an up and coming inventor to tease a pro-hero.”

“So the friend label is gone? Understood, sir. Have a great day,” you say as you push him off of you.

“Fine, fine, fine. Come in.”

You walk into Denki’s new apartment and a flush of memories come.

You eyed the small pictures he hung on the wall, the little trinkets he kept on his coffee table and the way he arranged his kitchen. It all reminded you of his former home - the home near that little meadow.

You miss it - you both did.

You took out the little flower ring he made all those years ago and placed it in his hands.

“Remember this?” You ask.

“You kept it?” He said, smiling, “I can’t believe you did!”

“Yeah. I book-pressed it the minute I went back,” you say, chuckling, “Y’know, I still think about that little promise we made in that meadow from now and then.”

“What promise?”

You eyed the metal band around his ring finger.

He remembers - he definitely remembers. After all, he was the one who made you agree to it.

“You didn’t tell me we were having guests, Denki.”

Your eyes fell to Jirou walking out of a room and wrapping her arms around his waist from the back. She pressed her head against his neck, her hair brushing against it. He smiled, leaning into the newfound warmth she gave.

You saw the same metal ring around her left ring finger. The same gem, the same design, the same shape - everything.

“I forgot to tell you, didn’t I? I’m engaged to Jirou! - We’re getting married later this year.”

Of course, he forgot. It was just a simple promise you both made when you were kids. It meant nothing - nothing at all.

“I’m happy for you, Denki - I really am.”

You really were.

You are happy that he finally met someone who loved him despite seeing all his flaws.

You are happy Jirou managed to see what you saw in Denki - a loveable, amazing soul with a heart of gold.

You just wished you didn’t hold onto that promise.

You wish you threw away that rotting ring when you had the chance.

You wish you never went to that meadow.

You wish you never met Denki - not like that.

You wish you never fell in love with him.

“Thanks, Y/N,” Denki said as he hugged you again.

You don’t want him to hug you.

You wanted distance - you wanted to go back to I-Island.

You don’t want to be here.

You tried to pry Denki off of you, but you couldn’t - his grip on you was too strong.

“Denki, you’re choking me,” you say whilst fake-laughing.

You looked at Jirou who smiled at his display of affection towards you.

She trusts you - she knows how much you mean to him.

You don’t deserve it - her trust is wasted on you.

You are in love with her future husband - the very person who is hugging you as tight as they can.

“Denki, they look so uncomfortable - get off,” she said, patting her shoulder.

You want to get out of here.

You need to.

“I think I’ll head to my hotel room, Denks,” you say as you grab your bags.

“But-”

“Denki,” you say as you push him off of you angrily, “I need to go, ok?”

You look at his torn expression and guilt hits you.

But it was his fault - all of this was.

He isn’t meant to cry - you are.

And here he is, tearing just at the sight of your angry expression.

“What’s wrong, Y/N? Did something happen? You seemed okay when you came earlier…”

Stop crying, Denki.

“There’s nothing wrong, Kaminari. I just need to check into my hotel room, that’s all.”

Kaminari.

“Do you want me to drive you there? I-”

“It’s okay, Kaminari. I’ll get a cab.”

Kaminari.

“Y/N, we’re good, right?”

“Why would you think we aren’t, Kaminari?”

Kaminari.

You walked out of their apartment, tears trailing down your eyes.

.

.

.

You stood in the meadow you met Kaminari, eyes closed. You took in the fresh air brushing against your skin as the smell of fresh flowers invades your nose. Your now long hair felt weightless as the wind lifted it, giving you wings.

“How do I look, Y/N?”

You stared at Denki in his black tux and smiled.

He looked amazing, as usual.

His skin looked amazing against the obsidian-coloured suit. The sunlight hit his skin so well it looked like it was glowing. His hair was tousled, giving you a full view of his undercut. You chuckled when you saw the black streak of his hair hidden under his natural yellow hair - it looked as if he was trying to hide his foolish mistakes when he was a kid. You looked at his small piercing now adorned with a purple gem, reminding you of his fiance.

He’s finally getting married.

He’s getting married in the meadow where you both spent your younger years.

He’s getting married to someone else in the meadow where you both spent your younger years.

“You look good, Kaminari.”

“Why are you calling me Kaminari? Call me Denki.”

“I can’t, Kaminari.”

It would bring back too many memories.

Painful memories.

“I don’t know why you can’t, though?”

“It doesn’t feel right…”

“You’ve been calling me Denki or Denks ever since we were kids, Y/N! Hearing you call me Kaminari sounds wrong…”

“Leave it, Kaminari,” you say, hiding your feelings behind a laugh.

“No, I won’t. Call me Denks, Y/N.”

Stop.

“Later, Kaminari.”

“Not Kaminari - Denki.”

Stop.

“I promise I’ll call you that later, now go get ready.”

“I am not leaving until you call me Denki.”

Stop.

“Kaminari, just go.”

“I don’t know why you stopped calling me Denki ever since you saw Jirou that day - it doesn’t make sense. You were my first friend that called me Denks, you made that nickname - Why are you calling me by the nickname you made?”

Stop talking about it, please.

“Please, Kaminari - let it go.”

He grabbed your wrist, pulling you towards him.

“I won’t until you tell me why. Did I do something wrong? Just tell me, Y/N. You know I won’t hate you no matter what happens.”

“Just drop it, ok?” You say, anger lacing your words.

“Oh my god, Y/N! Just tell me-”

“Fine.”

You forced your wrist out of his grip, making him fall on the couch.

“You wanna know why? It’s because I thought you remembered the promise we made as kids. I hoped you felt the way I did about it; I hoped you knew why I never got into a relationship.”

You gripped your phone tightly, not wanting to lash out at him anymore.

Why did you do that? Why today?

He’s supposed to be happy today.

“What promise, Y/N?”

A dark smile graced your lips.

What were you thinking? Shouting at him won’t make him remember.

Tears began to fall from your eyes as you lifted your face to see his worried face.

“It’s okay, Kaminari - don’t worry about it.”

“How can I not? You’re crying in front of me,” he said, tears forming in his eyes, “You weren’t meant to cry today.”

You weren’t either, Denki.

He got off the couch and began to hug you tightly. He pressed your head against his shoulder as he rubbed your back.

“Please don’t cry, Y/N.”

You gently push Denki and cup his face in your hands. You rub the tears from his eyes as he pressed his cheek onto your left hand.

“You okay, Denks?”

Just for today, you’ll give what he wants.

Just today.

“There it is!” He said, jumping on you, “Don’t you dare call me anything but Denks again.”

“Mhmm.”

You hugged him one last time before heading to your seat, waiting for the ceremony to commence.

.

.

.

You saw how happy he stood at the altar with Kirishima by his side. You chuckled as you looked at the small banter happening between the two of them, pissing off the priest slightly. Bakugo snapped at the two of them very often, telling them to keep quiet.

Still the mother of the group.

Soon after, Jirou walked in.

She wore a white dress that tugged on her amazing figure, surrounded by lace. Dandelions surrounded her, flying in the air, encasing her in pure beauty. They danced around her as her orchestra of young kids sang and played instruments for her.

You saw how tears formed in both of their eyes as they stared at each other.

Tears of joy encapsulating how much they’ve dreamed of this moment.

While yours that showed joy hid everlasting longing.

You feel cheated - not by Denki, but the black-eyed Susans that tickled your feet.

You feel cheated by the black-eyed Susans that cleared a path for Jirou to meet her beloved.

You feel cheated by the black-eyed Susans Denki used when he was young to make you that damn ring.

Your tears watered the devilish flowers painted yellow and black that stood beneath you, taking in your pain as a drug.

[astranva]

Dad!Harry having all daughters and all of them are either doing his hair or putting makeup on him while asking him silly questions about himself 😙

Title: Beautiful Chaos

Word Count: 1.9k

Category: dad!harry fluff

Warnings: Not proofread but none other than that.

That was lovely to write, too, my heart is about to buRST although I couldn’t find a suitable photo for the Instagram post I add at the end oops

There were a lot of things that your husband, Harry, enjoyed. Like, you spooning him after a long day at work, like smelling your coconut scent through the house, and like the fact that he was a father of 3 healthy girls.

Perla, Emerald, and Ruby were 3 girls whom Harry could go to hell and back for, not to mention you, but it had always been like that since the moment he met you.

Perla, being 7 years old, frequently took pride in her “big sister” title, wearing it like a sash around her and especially at her school and around her friends. Out of her sisters, she was the most protective of her family and it was something that had never failed to make you and Harry melt.

Harry even often found himself going on his phone, watching a video he had discreetly recorded when she was only 2. She was sitting on one of the kitchen stools, her eyes following your every move as you made her a sandwich with your baby bump showing, in your 9th month.

“careful, mummy.”

“Mummy, careful!”

“Thank you, mummy. Thank you, little baby.”

She had said during the video, adding a kiss to your bump after her last sentence.

Then Emerald came into the world, and Harry sometimes found himself wondering if his heart had doubled its size to fit all the love he had for his family.

Being 5, Emerald – or Emma as you all frequently called her – was quiet. She was a collected, flexible child who enjoyed art. Harry’s music? She would be listening carefully to it, saying comments that not all 5-year-olds would say;

“I like the piano here.”

“Uncle Mitch did a great job here!”

“Daddy, the bass is so low.”

And it only made sense that yours and Harry’s phones were full of pictures of her with her toy guitar around her shoulders, strumming as she cutely sang Harry’s songs or even some Fleetwood Mac into her green microphone.

And then came your youngest, being 3 – Ruby.

Ruby was a funny and hyperactive child. No hairstyle could sit still for her and more often than not, she sat with messy and chaotic brown hair, clothes a little disheveled. She was definitely more of a risk-taker than her sisters.

You remember only months ago at the beginning of the year, before the pandemic outbreak, when you and Harry were visiting a friend of yours from work and they had a big dog, a Great Dane, Perla and Emerald hiding behind you and Harry as they saw the dog but Ruby thrashed in Harry’s arms, demanding he put her down so she can “play with the puppy.”

And the one time you were at Anne’s, Ruby had curiously poked Dusty’s stomach, which the cat didn’t like to defend itself, it scratched 2-year-old Ruby’s hand.

Everyone stared in shock, waiting for Ruby to break down and cry but were surprised when she stared at her hand with a frown before looking at Dusty who walked off,

“Sorry!” She had only shouted at the cat before standing and grabbing a grape to eat.

With the pandemic outbreak, your family of 5 was quarantined in your London home. Refusing to leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary, you had guided your daughters to understanding how important it was to wear a face mask while outside because it was their duty towards all people, you and Harry included.

But with the pandemic, you and Harry were busy at creating ways that would keep the kids busy as well. From movie nights to activities, you both had tried to keep the kids entertained as well as aware of what was going on as best as you could.

It was one day when everything was just slow-paced, quiet, and chill. Harry had shaved his beard and left a mustache, one that your daughters were very amused by and had been all week.

You sat with your laptop on your lap, earphones connected as you watched The Good Place, but keeping the sound low enough for you to hear what your kids were conversing about.

Harry sat beside you, reading a book he had picked up a couple of days ago, his hand behind your back, fingers gently and mindlessly caressing your back, stroking it up and down in a comforting and soothing manner.

Perla and Ruby were sat together, coloring the most recent sketched you had printed them, while Emerald was sat on the floor against your legs, trying to make you and Harry a beaded bracelet from the toy set Harry had gotten her earlier.

“Mummy, does this look nice?” She asked, turning to look at you as she raised a pink-beaded thread string.

You lowered your laptop screen, looking at her. “It looks very nice, baby. Do you want me to tie it?”

“Yes, please.” She stood, handing you the string and watching you in awe as you did as if you were doing pure magic. You tied it in the way you had learned years ago, when friendship bracelets were a thing, making sure that it can get tighter or looser, however the wearer wanted.

“There you go.”

“Thank you, Mummy.” She grinned as she took it before moving to Harry, attempting to climb him which earned her a giggle from him as he helped her up, putting his book aside before mentally cursing himself because he didn’t know where he stopped.

“Look! I made you this!” Emerald grinned as she handed Harry the bracelet, watching excitedly and waiting for his reaction.

Harry gasped dramatically, “Woooow!” He looked at the bracelet lovingly, feeling like his heart was about to burst as he put it on, vowing to never take it off to himself. “I love it, Em. Thank you so much, baby.”

Emerald grinned bashfully, raising her shoulders closer to her cheeks as she did, Harry grabbing her to press a kiss against her hairline.

You watched with pure love, show long forgotten as you paused and gave your full attention to the scene.

Noticing what was going on, your oldest and youngest paused their coloring to approach you and look at their dad’s new jewelry.

“Good job, Em. Can you make me one?” Your oldest, Perla, asked excitedly as she eyed the bracelet before grinning at her shorter sister, who excitedly nodded at her.

“Me, too!” Ruby chimed, “But blue!”

“First, Mummy,” Emerald pointed at you, “Then Per,” she pointed at her older sister, “Then Rube.”

“Starting a business, aren’t you?” Harry joked, bringing her close to his chest as he playfully gnawed on her cheek, smiling as she squealed out in laughter.

As if the idea had been in her mind for a while, Perla suddenly blurted out a question:

“Daddy, can I put makeup on you?”

You grinned, looking at Harry and waiting for his reply.

He looked at you quickly before moving back to Perla, “I don’t see why not. Go on, get the stuff you need.”

“Ruby, you think we can paint daddy’s nails?” You asked your youngest with an excited grin, hearing your husband laugh.

Ruby nodded with a squeal, holding your hand as you stood up before Perla ran in front of you, you and Ruby following her as you ran towards yours and Harry’s room to get the stuff needed.

“Blue!” Ruby pointed at the blue nail polish bottle while Perla stood with your makeup bag, “And pink.”

“Yellow, too,” Perla added.

“How about we take the whole thing.” You chuckled as you gathered the box in your hands, walking behind your squealing, excited daughters.

At the sight of you, Emerald lit up, “I’ll do daddy’s hair!”

“You girls are giving Daddy a whole makeover, huh?” Harry laughed lovingly, welcoming all the attention.

You sat on Harry’s right, Ruby on his left with the blue nail polish bottle in her hand as she sat on her stomach with Harry’s hand waiting for her. Perla sat on Harry’s lap while Emerald climbed and seated herself on Harry’s shoulders, scrunchie around her wrist as she played with Harry’s hair.

Harry would have been lying if he said he didn’t enjoy how everything was right there and then. His wife was painting his nails in pink, pastel yellow, and baby blue while his 3-year-old was having her go with his other hand, getting polish on his cuticles but trying nonetheless. His oldest daughter brushing his cheeks with her mom’s blush brush, while his 5-year-old was gently pulling on his hair.

“Okay, done,” Perla closed the blush before moving to choose a lipstick, ending up with your red Mac one and opening it, “Daddy, do like that.” She instructed, puckering her lips. So Harry did, looking up as he did and trying to stifle his giggles as she put on lipstick on his puckered lips, “Okay, no more.” So he set his lips back, Perla continuing on applying the vibrant red color.

You hunched a little forward, a smile making its way to your lips, “Looking beautiful, baby.”

He hummed, his chest shaking with laughter as he felt the lipstick above his upper lip before Perla pulled back and looked back in the bag to apply anything more. He looked at you as you painted the last nail in pink, keeping only his middle finger’s nail in pastel yellow while his thumb and index were in baby blue, his ring and pinky’s being in pink. “Feeling so, too.” He said as he closed his eyes and raised his eyebrows, letting out a sigh of contentment for emphasis, overly dramatic, making you laugh.

It was 20 minutes later when his girls were done with their work and pushed him towards him and his wife’s bedroom, where they had a full-body length mirror.

He looked absolutely chaotic, and he loved everything about it. While his hair stuck in all directions, some lockets were collected by Emerald’s peach-colored scrunchie, one hand was nicely painted – which was painted by his wife – while the other was an absolute mess of blue but you can spot the attempt and it was nothing a nail polish remover couldn’t fix, his eyelids having some glitter on them, red lipstick nicely put except for a smudge right above his upper lip, cheeks too pink.

“What do you think?” Perla asked excitedly.

“Wow!” Harry breathed out, moving closer to the mirror, “I look glamorous!” He put his hands up in a peace sign, puckering his lips and popping up a leg as he posed, making his family laugh.

“Wait, let’s take a picture.” You grinned, raising your phone up as everyone got into a spot; Emerald had her arm thrown on Ruby’s shoulders as she smiled, Ruby sticking her tongue out, Perla choosing to sit down in front of her sisters, crossing her legs as she grinned with her eyes closed. You stood behind the hugging sisters, against Harry’s chest. Harry wrapped one arm around your shoulders from the back, the other around your waist as he smiled into the mirror, his head leaning down to press his cheek against yours. You held your phone with one hand, the other reaching up to hold on to Harry’s arm around you as you grinned before taking the picture.

“Let’s frame that.” Harry whispered to you in bliss, looking at the photo from behind you before moving to wrap both arms around your waist, “Thank you, love. For making me the happiest man alive.”

[songbirdstyles]

early risers

summary: harry gets bored, sometimes, waking up at the crack of dawn - but he can always find a way to entertain himself somehow.

warnings: smut, fluff, 18+ only please

Harry has discovered that he much prefers to wake up at the same time as the sun.

It creeps above the horizon, painting the sky a glorious array of pinks and oranges and, sometimes, he sits up and bed and just watches, beyond mesmerized at the sight of the world lighting up. His hair is a mess and he’s chilly, the blankets falling around his lap, but there’s nothing greater than seeing the night bleed into day.

At the ripe age of 26 and nearly 10 years into his career, he doesn’t need to remember to set an alarm before he goes to sleep so he wakes to catch the sunrise every morning. His body forces him up at that time - assuming, of course, he goes to bed before 12 - trained from years of rehearsals and recordings and everything else. So Harry goes to sleep, wrapped around his lover, thinking of nothing else but the girl in his arms and the magnificent landscape he’ll view the next morning.

But you - you don’t like waking up that early. You’ve always preferred late nights to early mornings and dusk to dawn, so you have no problem sleeping until your alarm blares for you to riseat around 9 or 10. Sometimes - if you’ve been working late, or you were tired or Harry wore you out the night before - he’ll turn off your alarm after you’ve fallen asleep. Just to give you more of the rest that your body craves.

And now, you’re asleep beside him. Lying on your stomach, covers pulled up taut to your shoulders, protecting your body from the chill of the bedroom air. It’s approaching March but it’s still cold in London and therefore cold in your house no matter how much you crank up the thermostat. Neither of you particularly mind. Cuddling with each other at night, piling in warm blankets and sipping on mugs of steaming tea always provides you with heat that the house lacks.

Harry gazes down at you for a moment. Your hair is a mess, spread out over your pillow, and he reaches out to brush against one of the strands. The sky, beginning to light up in an array of red toned hues, casts its colors on your skin. You look beyond peaceful, your head turned toward the side and facing away from him, but the only sound in the room is your soft, even breaths.

He truly can’t get enough of you, sometimes. Or all the time.

His fingers trail from your hair to tracing down your neck, feeling your warm skin under his touch. In your sleep, you hum softly, shifting just a bit, and his hand pauses its trek down your body. He doesn’t truly want to wake you - not yet. He knows you don’t like to be up as early as he does, although he’s tried to drag you out of bed numerous times to watch the sunrises with him. You agreed out of virtue of wanting to spend time with him but within moments of sitting up your body had slumped into his, fast asleep with his arms wrapped around you as the golden sun started to send its rays into your bedroom.

When you don’t move again he continues to drag his finger down your shoulders and down your back, moving the covers slowly off of you. He uses his other hand to push them down to bunch around your waist, and he watches goosebumps pop up over your skin. 

Poor baby, Harry thinks, pressing his palm down on your back to try and alleviate some of the cold. But feeling bad for the lack of heat isn’t enough to get him to pull the covers back up, to remove his hands from your body, so he keeps going down. Palm moving along your back, trailing lower and lower until he feels the swell of your bum against the edge of his palm.

And this is where he pauses, resting his hand against your lower back and leaning down to press his lips to the top of your head. Because he could stop now - lie back down and wrap his body around yours, wrapping your thick blankets around the both of you and doze off for a little while. But he doesn’t truly want to, nor does his painfully hard morning wood, practically throbbing as his pinky begins to climb over the curve of your ass.

You had both agreed that waking each other with oral was okay. He remembered that. You’d never really done it before, mostly because Harry didn’t like to wake you up so early. But - well. The options are either waking you now and getting both of you off or doing it himself.

He’s always been a charitable guy, so he shifts on the bed and tugs the covers all the way off your body.

Harry’s mouth practically waters at the sight of your entire naked body laid out on the bed - again, you shift just ever so slightly in your sleep and your legs spread just a bit and he can’t help himself, now.

He crawls to the bottom of the bed, placing both hands on your inner thighs, wincing at the contrast of cold and warm skin - and then he pulls your legs apart more, exposing your sweet peach to him. He leans down, pressing a soft kiss to the back of your thigh and leading soft pecks closer to where he really wants to be.

Inhale. The scent is fucking intoxicating, and he thinks he could spend all day just smelling you. It’s unfair, how spectacular you smell. Not half as good as you taste, though, and he squeezes your thigh in a premature apology before leaning his face in and licking a stripe all the way up your slit.

Now he waits, just a moment, pressing his cheek against your thigh. (His stubble brushes against your soft skin and he regrets not shaving last night but he knows, deep down, you love the burn on your thighs after he goes down on you.) You don’t react at all though perhaps he can imagine a small hitch in your breathing at the feel of his tongue on you. He doesn’t dwell on it, though, just dives back in to you.

His tongue darts down to your clit, flicking the bud a few times before he moves his head down to wrap his lips around it - he sucks softly, just the way he knows you love, and if you were awake he can imagine the way your hands would be twisting in his hair, your moans breathy and high pitched. He could go down on you for hours if only for how deliciously hot your reactions were to every little thing he did. He had the art perfected down to a T.

One hand massaged your outer thigh and the other crept its way in between your thighs, parting your lips just slightly so he could push his tongue towards your hole, the muscle circling it a few times before dipping inside ever so slightly. He savors the flavor on his taste buds, and his hips rut against the bed to alleviate some of the tension building up.

He’s so turned on he feels like he could explode but no, no, he has to wait. Just a few more minutes until you’re awake and cumming into his mouth and then he can fuck you, slow and soft or hard and rough, just depends how you want it and - he swears - he’ll do anything for you right now. Harry is always like putty in your hands but when he’s horny you fucking own him. Even when you’re a crying, writhing mess beneath him, distraught with your sixth orgasm in a row, you control him.

His fingers circle your clit and pinch the sensitive nerve and that’s when he hears it - a soft catch in your breath, and when he looks up at you he can see your fingers ever so slightly clench your pillow. You might not be fully awake, perhaps just thinking you’re having a detailed dream, but you’ll know soon.

Harry’s eyes go back to your pussy, soaked in your arousal, and he takes a moment to gather saliva in his mouth and spit it onto you, watching it drip down to your clit. He presses his lips to the curve of your ass, sucking a hickey into the skin as he uses two fingers to gather the dripping spit and push it into your tight hole and god, it is tight - two fingers is a stretch as it is but he knows your pussy like the back of his hand. You’ll be ready soon, and so he thrusts his fingers in and out of you slowly, listening to the wet noises and the hitches in your breathing and his own soft moans as he rubs his achingly fucking hard cock against the bed. It’s taking too much willpower not to snake his hand down to his dick and get himself off but he wants to wait. 

A kiss to your clit, and then Harry pulls back from sucking a dark mark into your ass and forms his lips into a small ‘o,’ letting out a soft breath onto your cunt. Just like he knew would happen, your body jerks at the sensation. He rests his chin on your thigh and looks up again, smirking as you lift your head off the pillow. Your hand moves to rub your eyes, and then you look down and lock eyes with him.

“G’morning, princess,” he tells you, voice low and husky and resembling something of a growl. He’s still two fingers deep in your cunt and he can feel the gush of wetness around his fingers as you whimper, parting your legs more to give him easier access. “Did I wake you?”

You try to reach your hand down to go for his hair but with the angle it’s a bit difficult - Harry moves his head up anyway, and your fingers grasp the ends of his messy curls. Then you breathe out something resembling a laugh, shaking your head and burying your face back in your pillow so your voice comes out muffled when you murmur, “Like that wasn’t your intenti - holy shit.”

Harry leans in again, lips around your clit and teeth grazing the button. Your legs clench together and he nearly feels suffocated by the brief sensation of being completely enclosed in you but - well, it wouldn’t be the worst way to go. He removes his fingers from your pussy and grips both of your ass cheeks, spreading them apart and pressing a firm kiss in between the center of them. A moan pulls its way from your throat and his cock jumps at the noise.

“Can you cum for me, angel?” he questions, flicking his tongue across your puckered hole as his fingers knead the globes of your ass, but he doesn’t take it further than that. He knows you’re not completely ready for all of that, so he moves his mouth back down to your cunt and rubs his tongue across your clit. “I know you can.”

“Fuck, fuck, Harry.”

“I asked you a question.”

To prove a point he rests his hands on the bed beside you and pulls himself off, removing all traces of his touch from your skin, and you raises your head at the loss of contact. Your eyes are soft and he almost caves and just goes back in to make you cum but, well, he does have to prove a point.

You take a breath and then whine out, voice so breathy like it always is in the morning, “Please make me c-cum, Harry, I fucking need it, I need you -”

But he doesn’t have to be told twice. He buries his face back between your folds, bringing his hand up and slamming it back down on your ass. The noise reverberates through the room and you cry out, biting down on the pillow but he hates that, he needs to hear you scream for him. Needs to know he’s the only one who can make you feel this good. So he reaches up, grabs the pillow from beneath your head and throws it across the room without a care. “Need to hear you, don’t I?”

His tongue is thrusting in and out of you as fast as he can go, fingers rubbing fast, hard circles on your clit until your thighs are trembling and threatening to shut around his head again and his hips are moving against the bed against his own free will. Loud moans and cries fill the room, drowning out the sound of the slaps he’s landing on your cheeks, of his mouth working your cunt desperately, and then you reach down to grip his hair so hard he can feel strands disconnect from his scalp but he can’t bring himself to give a shit.

The moment the coil inside you snaps he can feel it - like a dam breaking, a gush of your sickeningly sweet juices washing over his face and dripping down your thighs, down his wrist, and your thighs are spasming around his head. He pulls his head back to watch you cum, fingers still working circles into your clit, and he’s beyond grateful he did - your hips push back against his fingers, eyes shut and mouth open in a perfect ‘o’ as you moan out. After a moment you reach down to grasp his wrist, trying to pull his hand away from your clit and he obliges, bringing the same hand up to grasp your jaw. Harry moves his body further up the bed, pressing his chest to your back and pressing a wet, open mouthed kiss to your lips - his cock resting hot and heavy on your back and it’s a promise of what’s to come when you’ve gone through a moment of recovery.

“Harry,” you mumble into his mouth,  and he pulls away to press a kiss to the underside of your jaw. “Harry, Harry -”

He hums in response, rubbing your cheek with his hand, and then leans in to give you another kiss. It’s moments like these - in between your mind blowing orgasm and him about to fuck your brains out - that reminds him, more than anything, why he’s so in love with you. Why he can’t imagine himself with anyone else.

You shift, then, pushing yourself to your knees, the stickiness of your cum just a bit uncomfortable, and he groans at the feeling of his dick shifting from its spot on your back. “Can you fuck me now?”

The soft moment ends, and he pauses for a fraction of a second before pushing himself back up to his knees. His hand wraps around his cock firmly, and his other one reaches down to grasp the back of you neck. Not too tight but not too light and he can see how much you love it, pushing yourself up onto your elbows to make the angle easier for him and he doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t try to ease you into it, just slams the length of his cock into your dripping, sensitive cunt, filling you completely and the shriek you release sounds like fucking heaven.

He grunts as he bottoms out, grasping your thigh so hard he knows he’ll see the finger shaped bruises on your soft skin later on but he knows you love it and, God, he does too. He pulls out of you and then slams back in and for a moment the loudest noise in the room is skin against skin.

That doesn’t last long, though. The groan that rips its way out of his throat soon takes that title, and he knows how you love when he makes noise so he never holds back like he has with other girls. Harry never has to hold anything back with you. You take what he gives you, you love what he does to you and it’s the greatest gift of all.

“Fuck, fuck, harder, baby, please,” your pleads are jagged, your breath faltering and each syllable punctuated with a moan and a cry and he loves that he can fucking do this to you at fucking 7 in the morning. “Oh my god, fuck, I’m gonna - “

“Gonna cum for me?” His face is bright red, grunting out his words through gritted teeth as he fucks you hard, bringing his hand up to smack your ass again and again until your skin is bright pink. He’d entertained the idea of going soft, starting slow with kisses to your neck and listening to your breathy moans but he needs this now and you want it so bad, pushing your hips back into his and begging him to go harder. “Gonna cum for me again like the - like the fucking dirty girl you are?”

You can only nod in response, losing the ability to hold yourself up and your face drops onto the bed, cheek pressed into the mattress that’s moving so much the fitted sheet came off the corner. Your wrist is wrapped under your body, fingers working at your clit and he can feel you clenching around him, pussy pulsing around his cock.

He’s so close - he knew he wasn’t gonna last long but he wants to come with you. Wants to feel you cum together. So he removes his hand from your neck and grips your wrist, pulling it away from your sensitive nub despite your cries of protests and he replaces your fingers with his own, rubbing hard and fast because he knows he can get you off better than you do. 

“Cum for me,” he tells you, and your eyes squeeze shut, pussy fluttering and you’re so close to your orgasm you can fucking taste it. “Cum for me, baby, fucking cum on my cock -”

Harry grips your thighs and pulls your hips flush to his as he empties inside you, just as your pussy clenches around him and you cum for the second time (and it’s only 7:10) with your moans mixing with his desperate grunts as he fills you up, lazily pushing himself in and out to make sure your greedy pussy swallows up every drop he has. And he waits for a moment, not wanting to pull out of the tight confines of your cunt, but after a moment he does, and he collapses beside you.

The two of you stay still for a moment, and then you shift to wrap your body around his. A smile tugs at his lips because even if you’re panting and exhausted and fucked out you still just want him to hold you, so he does - arms around your body pulling you close to him. Sooner rather than later he’ll get up to get you a washcloth but not right now. He needs this peace now, until your breathing has steadied.

“You know,” you begin, and he turns his head to look at you. “I’m not opposed to waking up early anymore if we can start every day like that.”

And Harry just laughs at that. Maybe the sunrise won’t be his only motivation for waking up early anymore.

[sxngshine]

Phobia

• Pairing: Chan x reader

• Word Count: 4.26k+

• Genre: Angst, Fluff, Smut

• Warnings: a bit of drinking, car sex, oral(M receiving), unprotected sex(wrap it up), switch!reader, dom!Chan idk what else but don't read if you don't like smut.

• Summary:idk how to explain without spoiling shhsshhs just read it.

• Notes: This was a long overdue story dedicated to @braveshin djsjxs. I had it half done but then went ia but now I'm kinda back so here you go🤧🤧. This is my first full/complete smut so apologies for the lack of knowledge in that part lmao. Happy reading💞! [Edited but possible mistakes lemme know if I missed smtn]

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You hadn't seen him in ages. After you both confessed to each other you thought everything would be all rainbows and peaches between the two of you. And to be honest it was. But then there was just one issue, the both of you were super awkward when it came to intimacy.

You always had the regular kisses and hand holding and hugs like every other couple. But the issue was that neither of you tried to go father in fear that the other wouldn't like it or would be uncomfortable.

That was 2 years ago. Now the both of you live separate lives without each other. He had gotten his dream job as an artist, you saw him on TV quite a lot and it made you miss him even more.

You got your dream job as well, one that allowed you to travel a lot and on the side you were a well known content creator. People admired you for being able not only work through a super busy schedule, but also create original content for your viewers.

The both of you had tried maintaining a long distance relationship, but you felt like you were drifting away from him because of your busy schedules and being unable to talk. You had enough of it one day, missing him and hating that he was never around anymore.

In the end, you both decided to stay friends but lost contact with each other in a matter of months.

There were many regrets that you had, many things you wish you had said and done but it was too late now. You never even once told him that you loved him properly and you always wished you could go back in time to tell him.

After so long, you would think you'd finally be over him, but here you are sitting in a club drinking your problems away.

You didn't really want to be here, you were on break for a few days and wanted to mope around your apartment after seeing him perform his newest album , but your friend dragged you here with a hope of loosening you up and after getting you to drink 6 shots of whatever concoction she stirred up, it started to work.

You didn't drink too much though, enough to get your mind off of things but not enough to be super hungover the next day.

You expected the night to go by with you sitting alone with your glass of whatever your friends gave you as you watched your people dance too close too each other.

What you didn't expect though, was to see him walk through the door. You were beyond shocked, what's he doing here?

It looked like his old group of friends dragged him here. You watched him discretely -or at least tried to- as he looked around the place with clear distaste in his eyes, wanting to be anywhere else except here. But the moment his eyes met yours, all those thought flew out of his head like they were never there in the first place. Your eyes widened and it was like time had stopped.

The harsh music in the background was nonexistent at this point and the other people disappeared. It was just you and him. His friends went to go find a vacant table but he made his way over to you instead.

You looked away and prayed he wouldn't come over but it was useless because in a matter of moments, you were faced to face with the one and only person you were trying to forget about.

"Y/N? Is it really you?" He asked, clear surprise in his eyes.

"Hey... Chan," you greeted, smiling nervously as you looked anywhere but his eyes.

"How're you? I haven't seen you for so long I almost didnt recognize you! You look so different," He exclaimed.

It was true, you completely changed your look after the both of you lost touch. Your once short hair was now at your waist, the once all black and baggy wardrobe was replaced with bright, slightly more fitting clothes (you were quite sad but you loved your new clothes so it was okay). You held yourself high with confidence which was foreign to him because you were normally so shy.

His eyes raked over your outfit, you wore a tight sparkly navy blue dress that ended mid thigh. Your shoulders and collarbones bare due to the skinny straps and low neck.

You couldn't help but look him over as well. He was clad in black ripped skinny jeans and a black tshirt, blonde hair untamed on his head. His chains sparkled under the flashy lights of the club and his leather jacket was doing his arms wonders. In other words, he looked hot. But you couldn't just say that.

After shamelessly checking each other out for a solid 2 minutes Chan cleared his throat.

"So uh, mind if I sit down?" He asked, giving you a small smile in which you returned with a nod.

The both of you started catching up, talking about your accomplishments and old memories you shared. You wanted to get some fresh air after a bit so the both of you grabbed your things and walked outside, the cool air sending pleasant shivers up your spine. You strolled down to the parking lot and Chan offered to drive you around in his car which you accepted.

"If you don't mind, can I take you somewhere?" He asked, after a few moments silence.

You nodded and Chan drove you both to wherever he wanted to take you. Fifteen minutes later the both of you arrived at a cliff that overlooked the city.

You remembered it being a place you and Chan visited often during the night, the city sparkling under you as the both of you goofed around. You had made many memories here.

"You still remember this place?" You asked, getting out of the car and walked over to the edge, leaning against the railing. "I haven't been here in ages!"

"How could I forgot? This was an important place to me." He answered, coming up beside you, looking over at the city illuminated by thousands of lights.

Then a silence fell upon the two of you. You didn't feel the need to say anything, just enjoying the silence and the distant buzz of the city. It was... comforting.

"I missed you Channie, I missed you a lot." You said out of nowhere. You weren't looking at him, but you could tell he was looking at you. The alcohol was getting to you but you didn't mind, needing the extra confidence.

"Ever since you left, I started regretting not doing so many things. I never got to tell you how much you meant to me, how important you were. I wish I could've told you how much I loved you and cared about you. How I never actually wanted to break up and how broken I became when we did," you felt tears form in your eyes as you poured your heart out to him.

"I said I was doing great before but I lied, I spent a good month locked in my room just crying. I was such a mess and then we just stopped talking and my whole world just broke apart and I just-" your voice cracked as tears now fell freely down your cheeks. You bent down and buried your face in your hands, sobbing hard.

Chan was so caught off guard with your confession, but he knew right now wasn't the time for him to be acting like that. He bent down beside you and pulled you into a hug, allowing you to cry as much as you needed while he rubbed your back.

When he felt like you had mostly calmed down, your hard sobs turning into small sniffles and hiccups, he released you from the hug.

"Y/N, look at me," he said, his hand coming towards your face. You reluctantly looked up at him, your eyes red and puffy with mascara running down your cheeks.

"When I left, it took everything in me not to just drop everything and stay. I was in a terrible state when we broke up, my members kept saying I looked like a literal zombie. There were so many times where I was gonna call you but backed away cause I thought you wouldn't want to talk anymore," he admitted.

"R-really?" You stuttered, trying to even out your breathing.

Chan nodded, his eyes flickering to your lips before going back to your eyes.

"Can I-" Chan tried to say but was cut off by your lips smashing into his. He wasn't prepared for it and fell back from the force, pebbles digging into his palms.

But Chan could care less, the only thing on his mind was how soft your lips felt against his. All that built up tension between the two of you had resurfaced and neither one of you were going to stop till you were relieved.

The both of you pull away after a long heated kiss, looking deeply into each others eyes.

"Wanna continue at my place?" Chan asked, breathing heavily. You shook your head and moved off of him.

"That'll take too long and I'm not in the mood for waiting." You said, standing up before lending him a hand.

Chan was surprised by your response but it turned him in even more. "Car?" He asked, taking your hand.

You nodded and dragged him to the back seat of his car, opening the door before pushing him in gently. Once he was in you climbed in after him and closed the door.

Wasting no time, you crawled onto his lap and cupped his cheeks. "Are you okay with this?" He whispered.

You nodded, whispering a small yes and kissed him again, your lips moulding together in perfect sync. You both of you have shared kisses before, but they were only light pecks, nothing more than that. If you knew kissing Chan would feel like this you would've done this a lot earlier.

Chans hands, which rested on your waist started travelling south to your ass and squeezed. You gasped into the kiss and he used the opportunity to push his tongue into your mouth.

He moaned as his tongue explored your wet and warm cavern, your tongues swirling around in unison. Chan lowered you onto the seat, hovering over you as he groped your ass.

Your arms were tightly wrapped around his neck, fingers pulling at his hair. You were in such a euphoric state you didn't realize that Chans hands had left your ass and were now removing the straps of your dress.

He moved to sit up so that he could see your half naked body, dress pooled at your hips and everything else exposed for his eyes to take in and admire. "Fuck you look so gorgeous.." Chan cursed before diving into your neck, leaving dark bruises all over your throat and collar bones.

"Chan.... take it off," you mumbled, pulling on his jacket as he attacked your neck. "I don't want to be the only nude one here,"

Chan quickly sat up and began removing his jacket, throwing it to some random corner in his car. He had been distracted trying to remove his shirt, and you took the opportunity to switch things around.

Before Chan could process what was happening, you had flipped him over onto the seat and straddled his legs, looking down at him with a mischievous smirk as you ran your nails down his solid abs, causing a shiver to run up his spine.

"What're you-" he tried to protest but you shushed him by placing your finger to his lips.

"I may have seemed like I'd submit to you before , but that's not the case here baby boy. I can dom quite well too," you winked at him, licking your lips at you took in his smooth pale skin and hard muscle. "Let me show you how much I love you too,"

You're head sunk down to press a soft kiss to his forehead. "Just relax and let me do the work," you whispered into his ear.

Chan decided to obey your wish for now, wanting to see where this would go. He was becoming harder every passing second as he felt your hand trace his abs and your mouth do wonders to his neck and chest, leaving hickeys all over.

You ground your clothed heat against his covered crotch and it was driving Chan crazy. "Quit teasing me and take it off already," he rasped.

You smirked and moved away from him. "Yes sir," you whispered, softly grinding your hips to his as you took your time unbuckling his belt. Chan had about enough of your teasing and quickly sat up, pushing you down onto the seat once again.

He glared at you as he quickly pulled down his pants, bringing his boxers down with it and brought a little relief to his rock hard cock.

You gawked at how large it was and Chan sat down on the seat, legs spread. "Put that pretty mouth to use babygirl," he demanded.

You knew exactly what he wanted and moved to first remove your dress off your hips, leaving you in just your panties. Grabbing his red and hard cock, you pumped it a few times before pressing a soft kiss to the angry red tip, eliciting a moan from Chan's mouth.

You licked a stripe from the base of his shaft back to his tip before taking it into your mouth. Chans fingers threaded into your hair and held the strands tight, pushing you all the way down his dick so your nose was touching his pelvis. Chan let out a loud groan, tip hitting the back of your throat as he pulled it out then back down your throat.

You felt tears prick your eyes has Chan showed no mercy to your throat. Your scalp was sore from the vice grip he had on your hair but you liked it, feeling your core become wetter than it was before.

You felt Chan twitch in your mouth but he pulled you off before he could come, hissing to himself as he held his orgasm in. When he felt as if he could continue without cumming with one touch he quickly motioned you to lay down once again

"You can show me how much you love me some other time babygirl, but right now I'm in charge," Chan said, hovering over your body once again.

His lips attached to your breast, rolling his tongue over the hard bud as his fingers hooked around your panties. He removed his lips from you at ask you for permission which you nodded to.

Instantly his mouth returned to working its magic on your nipples as he pulled your panties down your legs. He dropped them onto the floor, fingers slowly caressing up from your calves to your thighs, ghosting where you needed him the most.

He switched to your other nipple, once again ghosting over your core and you let out a small whimper. "Chan.. please I need you," you whined.

"I don't know... I'm having fun teasing you like this," Chan mused, moving his head away from your chest. He finally looked down at your core and smirked widely.

"Look at how wet you are babygirl, and I still have yet to touch you there," Chan's pride had gone through the roof, pleased that he could make you feel this way.

Finally showing you some mercy, he rubbed his fingers against your core, cause you to moan and buck your hips against his fingers, trying to get more friction.

Chan held your hips down with one hand while the other collected your wetness on his fingers, dipping in into your entrance. You let out a gasp as you felt his finger push inside you, not used the feeling.

"Goddamn Y/N, I only put in one finger but your still so tight," chan groaned, pumping his finger in and out of you before slipping in another one.

You moaned, bucking your hips against his fingers. You were so lost in trying to reach your high you didn't realize Chan stopped moving his fingers.

"Shit- that was so hot." Chan cursed. That's when you realized he wasn't moving. Your eyes snapped open and looked into his dark ones already staring hard at you.

"Do you like fucking yourself on my fingers? Does it make you feel good?" He asked, pulling his fingers out of you.

You whined, feeling your orgasm slipping away each second he wasn't touching you.

"When I ask a question I expect an answer babygirl," Chan demanded.

"Yes! Yes I do," you replied quickly, hoping he'd start doing something again.

"Do you want my fingers to make you come?" He smirked, his wet fingers lightly rubbing your folds.

"N-no! Please Chan I need you," you cried out when he pressed his fingers on your sensitive bud.

"What do you need babygirl? Tell me," he continued teasing you, fingers circling your entrance.

"I want you to fuck me please," you whimpered, hips twitching from his agonizingly slow movements.

"You'll need to do better than that," he retorted, stopping his actions.

"I-I want you to fuck my pussy with your cock Chan- hnmf!" You tried to say but were cut off by Chans fingers being pushed into your mouth. You instinctively swirled your tongue around his fingers, sucking your essence off his fingers.

"Such a good girl..." he muttered, taking his finger out of your mouth. He lined himself at your entrance before cursing under his breath.

"Can I go in raw? I don't have a condom on me.." Chsn asked, looking at you for permission.

"I'm on birth control, it's okay," you confirmed. Your heart swelled at how he still asked you for consent rather than just going in for it.

Chan didn't waste another second, slowly pushing his head into your throbbing pussy.

"Fuck..." you both moaned. Chan slowly eased his way into you, giving you time to adjust to his thick length stretching you out deliciously.

Your jaw fell slack when he bottomed out, feeling so full with him completely inside you. He gave you a second to adjust before drawing out of you almost completely and then pushing in again, setting a slow pace with deep thrusts.

You couldn't do anything but moan, fingers clutching Chans biceps as he lowered his head back to your chest.

"Chan.. harder.. go.. harder," you panted, letting out a loud moan when he did just that.

Both of you were lost in a euphoric state, trying to chase your own highs. You felt a knot like feeling in your stomach, one that was growing tighter and tighter with each hard and deep thrust Chan gave you.

"I-I'm so close," you cried when Chan hit a particular spot that really had you screaming.

"Cum baby," Chan whispered in your ear. And that's all it took for that tight knot to come undone.

You moaned Chans name as you came all over his cock, walls clenching around him so tight that it had him shooting his hot seed deep into your womb.

Chan help both of you rode out your highs, but didn't pull out just yet. You could feel him becoming soft inside of you.

"That was amazing..." you panted lightly, a smile gracing your face. Chan stared down at you, nodding his head in agreement.

He slowly pulled out of you, cum dripping from your pussy to your ass. Chan quickly grabbed a box of tissues from the back and cleaned the both of you up.

You sat up and pulled your dress back on, not liking how quiet Chan was being.

"Chan? Are you okay?" You asked. Chan's head snapped up, turning to you.

"What- oh uh.. yeah I'm okay," he said, but you were unconvinced.

"Come on, tell me what's wrong?" You pressed. Chan just sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I-I feel like I this was a mistake. I spent so long trying to get over you. I thought I was while I was overseas but then I was pulled to that stupid club and saw you. And all that time I spent getting over you went down the drain just like that. And to makes things worse, I just fucked you!" Chan admitted, frustrated he ruffled his hair aggressively.

You felt your heart shatter. He thought this was a mistake...? You swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears from forming.

"Y-you think what we did just now was a mistake?" You asked, voice cracking slightly.

Chan realized what he said and instantly started denying it. "No no no, I don't! It's just that, we spent so long getting over each other, you yourself said you're not over me. And i just made it worse for you,"

"I don't regret it Chan." You stated, looking at him with glassy eyes. "Everything that just happened, I don't regret any of it."

Chan looked at you sadly, pulling you into a hug. You buried your face into his shirt, feeling a few tears come out of your eyes and soak his shirt.

"Chan, if you could, would you date me again?" You mumbled, feeling kind of drowsy.

"Definitely. I wouldn't hesitate to ask you again," Chan answered. You thought for a second before replying.

"Then why aren't you saying anything now?" You ask. Chans brows knit together in confusion. He sits you up straight and looks into your eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's holding us back from dating now?" You asked, looking right back into his eyes.

"Y/n... I'm gonna be travelling a lot. I'm only here for the week then I'm going to be going on tour for the next 2 or 3 months. We'd never work out. The same thing that happened before will happen again and I can't go through another heartbreak." Chan said dejectedly.

"I-I'll wait for you Chan, I swear. No matter how long it takes. I was selfish before and only thought of myself. I'm more open minded now, I don't mind waiting. Just please don't leave me again." You pleaded, hands clutching his shirt.

Chan felt his own tears forming, a small smile forming on his face. He cupped your cheeks, wiping the tears from your face.

"Are you sure? You'd have to be very patient with me then. I won't be able to text often, I'll be out of town at least 3 times a week, I won't always answer your calls. I'll be tired and unable to take you out on proper dates most of the time, they'd be pretty rare. Do you think you'll be able to handle all that." He asked, resting his forehead against yours.

"I'll be as patient as I possibly can. No matter how tired you are, or how far away you are or how busy you are. No matter what mood you're in. I'll support you however I can and be as understanding as possible. I promise." You answered, a smile forming on your face as well.

"Well then L/n Y/n, will you be my girlfriend... again?" Chan asked, giggling a little. Your smile turned into a grin and you kissed Chan softly.

"Does that answer your question?" You asked after pulling away. Chan pecked your forehead and nodded.

****

Chan was driving you home, not realizing how late it had gotten. He held your hand in his while keeping the other on the wheel, refusing to let go when you told him to keep both hands on the wheel.

You and Chan caught up along the way, with Chan talking about his music and future albums and you talking about your life as a content creator and your job. Chan, much to your dismay confessed to watching your videos when he was bored or too lazy to continue working, claiming that your videos were very entertaining and creative.

"The way you were trying to get dress coded at work had me laughing like crazy!" Chan exclaimed, stilling laughing while imitating how happy you were when you finally did get dress coded.

"Everyone's worn that shirt at least once! I was determined to wear it as well. Besides you gotta break the rules every now and then," you winked, giggling right after.

The both of you were silent for a little while, simply enjoying each others presence before you accidentally snorted out loud. Chan glanced you with an eyebrow raised. "What was that?"

"Sorry," you giggled, a faint blush on your face out of embarrassment. "I was just thinking about everything that happened. We did everything in the wrong order. You were supposed to asked me out first, take me in a date and then we'd get to the fucking stage. But we went straight to fucking then you asked me out."

"We're unique. We don't follow the rules." Chan laughed. "By the way, I'll take you on a date tomorrow."

You snorted again, loving how messed up your sequence was. "Okay, I can't wait."

And from then on you and Chan found yourselves living your best lives with each other. Nothing like the first relationship you had. Rather than showing a lack of affection and communication like before, you were much more the opposite. And that's exactly how you'd perfer it to be.

Fin.

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

Should I make an alternate ending or a part 2👀? I kinda wanna make y'all cry jdsjka.

[folkreid]

champagne problems

WARNINGS❗️: mentions of spencer's drug addiction.

TYPE: angst with fluff ending.

WORD COUNT: 2.4K

SONG: champagne problems- Taylor Swift

FLASHBACK

"I think i'm ready" Spencer whispered to himself. Today was the day. He was proposing to the love of his life. He looks into the mirror, finishing the last touches to his outfit which was mainly just a simple blue tie to top off his white collard shirt.

He drives to her house. He was as nervous as he was the first time they went on a date. Their first date was a cute little picnic on a cliff. Y/n had told Spencer prior she was terrified of heights. He took her to the cliff. "You're always safe with me. I'll keep you safe from all your fears" he told Y/n while she was on the edge of the cliff not so scared anymore. She felt more safe with Spencer.

Y/n and Spencer where the perfect couple. They hardly fought. They were each other's comfort, they needed each other and that's all. Y/n always tells Spencer that he's her source of happiness. He's her world. He's her light. Spencer feels the same way. Y/n was very affectionate which took Spencer some getting used to. Eventually he was physically affectionate with her. Really affectionate.

Spencer knocks on Y/n's door after a while. Ten minutes of deciding if he should go through with it or not. He almost ran away from the nerves. "Man up" he told himself. He remembered what his friends Morgan and Hotch told him.

Y/n opens the door wearing a beautiful peach dress. Spencer bought it for her because he accidentally spilled coffee on her favorite dress. She topped it off with her sparkly gray heals. "Hi babe" Y/n softly smiles. "H-hi" Spencer responds in awe of her. He's more focused on Y/n then what he's saying. Usually he'll greet her with "Hi love" or "Hey sweetheart". Y/n noticed Spencer's nervousness, she didn't think much of it. Spencer often got nervous around her. He once told her "I don't think the feeling from the first time I saw you will ever go away". Y/n adored Spencer. He was her heart and soul.

"Y-you look beautiful" he stuttered in amaze of his girlfriend, hopefully soon to be fiancé. Y/n laughed a little. The sight of her boyfriend standing there awkwardly was slightly amusing. "Thank you Spencer you look handsome as well" Y/n gives a small kiss to Spencer. She follows him into the street. Spencer opens the door for her and allows her to climb in. They start driving, Y/n eventually noticed where they were at. Her eyes lit up. Her heart pounding. The cliff from their first date.

"Spence" she whispered. The boy looked over to her. "Yeah?" he replied softly. Y/n looked him in the eyes and felt how much he loved her. She smiled to herself, she smiled about the thought of Spencer. She didn't even have to say anything she just wanted to make sure this was all real. It was.

He parked on the cliff. Y/n gets out the car going over to Spencer who was at the back of the car getting stuff from the trunk. Y/n notices the picnic supplies and her heart melts. "Are we having a picnic like our first date" she excitedly squeals. Spencer nodded staring at her. She jumps, wrapping her arms around Spencer's lanky frame. "I love you, I love you, I love you" she squeezes him tightly. "I love you more" Spencer kisses her forehead admiring the way she got excited over something as simple as a picnic.

"She deserves the world" Spencer thinks to himself. They go to the edge of the cliff like their first date. Spencer lies down a blanket with some fruit and champagne. Y/n sits down on her knees staring at Spencer. "Im really happy" Y/n randomly says staring at the boy who was pouring some champagne into her cup. "So am I" he looks up with almost husky look in his eyes. Y/n took a sip of her champagne before standing up. "Come here" she motions to Spencer. Spencer stands up and walks over to her. Y/n quickly puts on her favorite song.

The song was about being in love and how it was such a beautiful rare thing. Y/n put her head to Spencer's chest wrapping her arms around his torso. "Dance with me" Y/n whispers to Spencer in a calm voice. "I don't know how to dance" Spencer replied with a hint of embarrassment and disappointment in his voice. "Neither do I" Y/n laughs. He grabs her hand and starts moving his feet. They were tripping over each other but they didn't care. They laughed and continued. Spencer turned Y/n so that her back was to his chest. They looked out into the abyss of the night.

Spencer planted small kisses on Y/n's neck. She absorbs the feeling. This is all she's ever wanted. Spencer reaches into his pocket and pulls out the small velvet box. Y/n turns around with widen eyes watching Spencer kneel on the floor. "Y/n Y/l/n you have been my best friend for the past five years. We've been dating for the past two. These two years that i've gotten to call you mine have been amazing. I want to make you mine forever. Your eyes are the light of my life. Your smile warms my soul. I'll never get over the feeling you give me Y/n. Will you marry me?"

Y/n is in shock. She hesitates before saying anything. "Spencer I- I can't" her lip shivers. "W-what" Spencer cries. "I'm sorry we're too y-young i'm not ready for that kind of commitment" she says before running away into the night. "Y/n come back" Spencer cries feeling his heart break. Y/n runs off to a local gas station. She calls an uber and she heads back home. "Y/n" Spencer sobs lying on the grass. He finally collects himself and packs all the things back into his car.

At his apartment Spencer sluggishly walks in and flops on the bed. He picks up his phone and dials Y/n's number. "Hey it's Y/n, if i'm not answering now i'll probably never answer don't call back" he heard her voicemail. He sobbed into the phone. "Y/n please come back"  he begged. "Please, please, please" he desperately calls out. He hangs up and cries himself to sleep.

Y/n on the other hand was having a panic attack. "Did I make the right decision" "I'm a terrible person how can I hurt him" "He hates me now". All these thoughts running through her mind. She felt like she could hardly breathe. She climbed into her uber. "Hon are you okay" the older lady asked looking in the mirror. "I- I don't know" Y/n replied trying to steady her breathing.

"I'll put some calming music if you need something tell me" she smiled to Y/n. "T-thank you" Y/n tried to relax. After a while she finally relaxed but she was still unsure of her decision. "Can I ask for some advice" Y/n speaks up. "Of course honey" the lady responded with support. "My boyfriend proposed to me. We've been together for the past two years but I feel like we're to young. I'm not ready for that type of commitment. I have a life to live." Y/n rants.

"You see how you said 'I have a life to live.'?" she started. Y/n nods waiting for her continuation. "Think to yourself. Is it a life you want to live with him?" Y/n notices she's at her apartment. "I guess i'll have to think about that. Thank you" she responds before jumping out of the car.

END OF FLASHBACK

Spencer sobbed into his pillow for the third time today. It was only twelve AM. He's asked for time off of work because of how broken he felt. Spencer never took time off. He loves work but the pain was to much to handle. He was worried for himself. Worried he would do something he promised himself he wouldn't.

Spencer walks over to his drawer. He frantically looks for anything that belonged to his beloved Y/n. "Please" he begged the universe. As if the universe was listening he finally found one of Y/n's old shirts. He lies his head on his pillow closing his eyes, tears shedding from them. "I miss you" he sobbed into her shirt.

He inhaled Y/n's smell. "Please come back" he cries some more. Spencers mind is racing. All these thoughts going through his head. He doesn't want to feel. So what does he think of?. Dilaudid. He kept one of his bottles and syringes. He didn't know why. He was ashamed of it. But he craved it so bad.

He quickly climbed out of bed, lying on the floor grabbing the small box he hid under his bed and got the key to it. He opened it to see the small bottle and syringe. He picks up the syringe and almost flinches at the sight of it. "Don't do this" Spencer thinks to himself. "I- I need her, if I can't have her I can have this" he picked up the small bottle. Right there and then he knew it would go to far if he didn't stop now. He got his phone and dialed Y/n's number.

After one ring Y/n answers. She hasn't been answering his calls at all. "Y/n" he sobbed. Y/n could hear the pain in his voice. She couldn't handle it, she immediately sobbed. "P-Please I need you. I need you now Y/n I- I have... I have Dilaudid. I'm craving please just come" he desperately sobbed into the phone. Y/n was very upset about the fact he had some in the first place but it wasn't the time for a lecture. "I'm on my way don't do anything stupid"

Y/n barged into his room. "Baby?" she looks at him crying on the floor. She goes down to him. "Baby" tears fall out of her eyes at the sight of Spencer. "Y/n" he cries into her arms. She brings him back up on the bed and lies him down. "I've missed you" he cries. "Without you all the bad feelings came back" Spencer sobs into Y/n's shirt wetting it. "It's okay baby i'm here now, let's get you in the shower okay?" he nodded getting up and following Y/n into the restroom.

Y/n starts the running warm water in the bath. She gets the bottle of bubble bath and poured it in. I mix it around watching bubbles sudd up. Spencer was sitting on the toilet seat waiting for Y/n's approval to start getting undressed. Y/n walked over to Spencer and starts unbuttoning his shirt. He slips it off his arms and takes off his belt, pants, and boxers. "Get in" you tell him. He climbs in slowly letting the water warm him.

"Can you get in with me?" he asks. You shake your head up and down and remove your clothing. You get in slowly and lie your head on his chest. "Can I wash your hair?" you ask. He nods and you get on your knees and put them on the outside of his legs. you grab the shampoo and open up the cap, pouring some onto your hands. You lean in to scrub his scalp, it looked like he hadn't showered in a while. Spencer placed a kiss on one of your boobs. "Spencer i'm trying to wash your hair" you tell him. "Well they were in my face what was I supposed to do" he teases.

You grab a cup that was on the side of the tub and fill it with water. You place your hand on Spencers forehead, making sure the water wouldn't get into his eyes. You pour the water into his hair and take out all the soapy shampoo. All he does is stare up at you and look at your boobs, occasionally touching them. You grab conditioner, pouring some into his hair letting it sit for a bit. You then rinse it out.

"Wash your body" you throw his washcloth at him. He grabs the soap and washes himself. "Can I wash your hair now" he asked. You nod and he repeats the same actions to you as you did to him.

You guys both get out, he puts on some sweatpants and a white shirt. He throws me his CalTech hoodie that smelled just like him. He was very proud of all his accomplishments, he wore his CalTech hoodie often which you love.

The two of you lie in bed together. You wrap your hands around his torso and stroke his hair. "How are the cravings" you softly ask, yes it was a sensitive subject to Spencer but it was one to you also. You never did drugs but the only reason was because you saw what it did to your parents.

"They're gone now. You make all the bad feelings go away" he admits. "Good. I'm not leaving."

He looks up with tears in his eyes. "You arent?"

"No i'm not" I kiss his forehead. "But we have to talk about it"

He sits up. "Why'd you have dilaudid, Spencer?"

"I saved some I don't know why. I'm sorry"

"Do you have anymore?" he shakes his head no. You grab the bottle and syringe that was on his desk. You walk over to his window. "Goodbye Spencer's demons" you throw both items out of the window watching it fall down to the floor. Spencer comes to stand next to you kissing the top of your head. You turn around to him.

"Now about this proposal stuff" you start. He shifts his stance getting uncomfortable. "I'm sorry Spencer. I was scared because we are young you know? But I realized that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So if you'll still have me"

"Y/n will you marry me" he cuts you off. You nod your head frantically. "I love you so much" he planted kisses all over your face. "I love you more"

"Promise me we don't have to rush into getting married" you asked still slightly scared. "Of course my love"

[prettywordsyouleft]

Peach and Pear

Pairing: Park Jinyoung x female reader

Genre: strangers to lovers / fluff

Warnings: none

A/N: So I woke up the other morning and wrote this story before getting up for the day. It’s set in a place here in New Zealand and I’m really proud of this little world I randomly created.

Word count: 2945

Once upon a time, there was a little peach that lost his way for the first time. The peach had always been a very successful fruit, doing many things each day to become one of the best peaches around. He was strong and healthy and he was full of talents. A lot of the other fruit admired him a great deal--

“Then why did he get lost?” a curious, high-pitched voice asked, and before you could continue with the story, someone else did for you.

“He woke up and realised he was tired of being successful because he did so much each day,” your husband Jinyoung answered, walking over to you and your daughter, who scooted out from under the blankets you had just tucked her under to reach out her little limbs towards her father. Sitting down on the opposite side of the bed from you, Jinyoung pulled her into his arms, planting a kiss on the top of her crown affectionately.

“You know this story too, Daddy?!”

“Oh yes,” he replied, shooting you a look. “Who do you think told Mummy about it?”

“I want to hear what the peach did next!” she exclaimed and you cleared your throat to continue the story.

Jinyoung laid there, unmoving, as the alarm continued to shrill around the room. Normally he would turn it off and roll back over, knowing he had a second one set for when he truly had to be out of his bed. Yet, when that one sounded as well after the first one had gone on for too long and given up, he still didn’t rush out from under the blankets.

For the first time in a long while, he felt unmotivated.

He had business meetings and English lessons to attend today. Not to mention, his daily swimming practice was waiting for him to start the day. He would then head into the office, working until six precisely, where he would go out for dinner with a client who was investing more into his company. Afterwards, he was expected to hit up the gym for leg day, and finally wind up back here, finalising any paperwork before reading another chapter in a self-improvement book and go to bed by eleven.

And then the day would repeat, usually with some variation to the workday, but still with the continued structure that he expected from himself each day.

Today, however, he didn’t care for any of it.

Jinyoung wanted a break. He couldn’t remember the last time he didn’t follow the same continuous pattern that all around him had come to rely on. He was too predictable now, twenty-six and thriving as a businessman, successful enough to have his name in the tabloids often as a measure that many others in the industry strived to match. No one had expected the handsome man to create such a storm at his age, let alone at all. Yet the proof was in the pudding, or in Jinyoung’s case, his relentless endeavour to create a stable and solid life plan for him and his company.

Whilst he had worked tirelessly on building the foundation of his business, his university pals were off taking in the world. Mark had gone snowboarding at every well-known skiing resort, and Jackson was in America promoting Team Wang whilst collaborating with top names on every country’s celebrity list. Jaebum had travelled to Europe to learn more about the way music was produced there and BamBam was never in the same continent for too long, having fun being young and rich. Even Youngjae and Yugyeom had found themselves leaving this place to find better horizons. Only Jinyoung had stayed.

He wasn’t bitter that he had chosen to, but it did mean his youth was spent grinding each day and not truly lived. As he laid in his bed, still uncaring that the second alarm had come and gone, he realised he craved reaching out for what he had missed out on. He wanted to explore a foreign place and do so without much planning.

He was usually the research and implement type of guy, but today, he simply packed a small suitcase with the necessities for travel and climbed into his car, heading towards the airport.

With passport in hand, he watched the departure board for one of the places to stand out to him. Many flights were heading out within the next couple of hours, though there was one about to leave in forty minutes. Striding towards a desk, he smiled at the clerk and asked to buy a ticket to that destination.

“Sir, are you sure?” she asked, slightly perplexed by the sudden passenger request. Jinyoung nodded and she cringed. “There’s no business class left and it will take-”

“I’ll take it,” he confirmed, sliding his credit card across the tabletop towards her.

And that was how Jinyoung found himself in the back row of a twelve-hour plane ride to New Zealand.

“Wow!” exclaimed your daughter, eyes round with the adventure. “The little peach travelled all the way here! Did he make any friends?”

“Well,” you said, glancing at your husband before nodding once. “He turned up unexpectedly and asked to stay at a pear’s broken down bed and breakfast.”

“Which was basically in the middle of nowhere,” Jinyoung added on with a smile, glancing over at you fondly. “And it didn’t have any central heating.”

“That was because the pear herself hadn’t quite found out how to fix that problem, and the peach had chosen to get on a plane without checking that New Zealand was in the middle of winter.”

Jinyoung laughed, placing his daughter back under the blankets before continuing the story.

You blinked at the man standing upon your porch, shivering in his thin coat, the snow that was falling outside having covered his dark hair. And when you realised you weren’t hallucinating, you gasped, jerking open the old door across the wooden floors and stepped aside.

The foreign man dove inside out of the howling wind, and you shut it out with some effort in closing the door before stepping in front of him.

“How did you… I mean, it’s freezing out and you’re barely layered up. Please, follow me to the fireplace, you need to warm up.”

Once he was positioned as close to the fire as he could get, the man unravelled his arms around his waist and outstretched them towards the embers to thaw out. You left him there and dashed down to the kitchen, flicked on the jug and waited for it to boil.

Just who was this strange man? And how had he stumbled across your place at this time of night?

When your uncle died earlier in the year, his estate had been left to you. Your father, and his brother, had passed away some years prior and since your parents had been separated, what your uncle owned had been rightfully designated as yours.

“An inn?!” you echoed the words the lawyer had just read out, sitting up further in your chair. “My estranged uncle owned an inn?!”

“I wouldn’t be too excited, the place hasn’t had any guests in years,” the lawyer remarked, but you were already looking at the photos of the charming building, imagining what a bit of paint and gardening could do for the place.

So that’s how you wound up leaving the city life for the small township in the Buller district that had less than 1000 people living there. And, it was definitely going to take more than paint and some gardening to fix this place.

“You’re as crazy as your uncle was for trying to do up that house,” Katie, the owner of the only tearooms in Reefton, mentioned when you came in for lunch earlier in the day. “It’s got more problems than the number of people living here.”

You smiled grimly. “You don’t need to remind me.”

“Why not sell it and go back to where you came from, Y/N? The land would be worth some. I’m sure a farmer around here would happily bulldoze down that eyesore of a home and run his sheep or cattle over it just fine. In fact, I think Bill was-”

Imagining the crumbling building no longer existing didn’t make you feel any better. Glancing up at Katie, you shook your head. “It’s Reefton Estate. You can’t just go tearing down history like that.”

“There’s history, Y/N and then there’s money traps. Sure, in its heyday that place must have been spectacular and full of guests all the time with the gold rush and all. But this isn’t the eighteen hundreds. There’s only the novelty of finding gold at Shanty Town if you’re a tourist these days.”

“I don’t need gold, and I can’t just sell up.”

So you got stuck in with what you could do. You hired a contractor from Greymouth to come and look at your home, and with an extremely long list of projects thereafter, you started tackling them one by one. The place was liveable, but it still had a long way to go to be back to its former glory.

And you certainly were slower than most, being a one-woman team, with a trickle of funds available. As a joke, you placed an advert up online looking for volunteers to help lovingly restore the estate.

Of course, no one had come, until now.

Handing the stranger a mug of tea, you sat down beside him and smiled gently. “Did you mean to come here?”

“It’s a long story,” he said, smiling weakly. “I’m Jinyoung and you are?”

“Y/N,” you replied, holding out your hand in greeting. He took it, and your eyes nearly popped out of your head with how cold he still was. Rubbing it repeatedly, you tried to warm him up until Jinyoung gripped at your wrist and eyed you warily.

You balked and let him go. “Sorry, it’s just that you’re so cold. Not many people venture out at night around here without thermals on.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he mentioned with a soft smile, nodding once. “Thank you for the tea.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

Before the night wore out, Jinyoung had told you of his rash plan. He had left Korea and come to New Zealand on a whim, and again, chose his next destination in the same way as he had his last.

You gasped. “Of all the places to choose in New  Zealand, you ended up in Greymouth?!”

“To be fair, I wasn’t really aware. I thought it would be bigger and have more people,” he admitted and you laughed.

“The coast has people; just they tend to know each other. Oh boy. It won’t be long until word spreads about you coming here either.”

“How will that happen when it’s just us two here?” Jinyoung asked and you sighed.

You didn’t want to have to explain it tonight. When you had arrived from Christchurch, it was as if you had a giant beacon on your head that every resident of Reefton could see from their homes. You had been inundated with visitors both very friendly and extremely nosy for an entire week before you felt that you had met almost everyone. And although you got used to the gossiping nature of the place, you still didn’t quite like it either.

You somehow felt protective of Jinyoung. Besides, when the light arrived in the morning, you were certain he would climb into his hired vehicle and continue on his sightseeing ways.

However, you found him merely staring at your entryway, aghast.

“Morning,” you called and he whipped around, trying to wipe the perturbed look off his face. Clearing his throat, you shook your head to stop him. “I know, it needs a lot of attention.”

“Only one fireplace works, the rooms are freezing even with the space heater you gave me and you have a hole in the ceiling above me.”

“There’s also the west wing that has two inaccessible rooms, one of the bathrooms upstairs is blocked and there’s no way anyone will be able to stay here in the next few years to produce any revenue,” you added on with a smile, handing Jinyoung the coffee you had made him. He thanked you silently, before allowing his gaze to travel up the walls again. “It would probably make nice firewood to some farmer who tore it down for the land to run his animals over-”

“It has charm,” Jinyoung said then, cutting you off. You merely stared at him, wondering who he really was. He was the only person you had met since inheriting this place that had said those words to you. “It has a lot of potential to become something amazing, after a lot of work, of course.”

“I think so too.”

“Do you have the blueprints at all?” he asked and you cocked your head to the side.

“Thought you were sightseeing?”

“Well, there certainly seems to be a lot to look at just within this house, don’t you think?”

Jinyoung said he would stay for two weeks, helping you with projects that could be started with a bit of manual labour. Two weeks turned into a month, with trips to Greymouth for further supplies. And after then, you stopped asking when he was going to go back to Korea and his company. Part of you didn’t want to know the answer, having grown attached to the man. He was more playful than you had expected, and you spent most of your days laughing and soon your nights curled up together in front of the fireplace.

Of course, the gossip mill ran wild. Jinyoung didn’t care, and after three months, he even held your hand as you walked downtown, allowing the nosy store owners to pick up their phones and ring around that you had found yourself a man.

“Did the peach ever return home?”

“He did, three times,” Jinyoung stated, holding up the right amount of fingers before counting them down as he spoke. “First, because he felt he had to go. But he had found he could run his company from New Zealand with relative success.”

“Especially once he invested in better internet connection at the inn,” you interjected with a knowing look and Jinyoung rolled his eyes before dropping another finger.

“He came back here because he couldn’t stop thinking about the house and worried that pear would end up hurting herself badly. Which, had he not gotten on that plane and walked through the door when he did, pear would have fallen off a ladder onto the ground.”

“Instead she fell on top of the peach,” you said with a laugh and Jinyoung nodded.

“And the third time he went back was to finalise the sale of his company and bring his parents back with him.”

Your daughter sat up eagerly again. “Why did his parents come?! Did he miss them?!”

“Of course. But there was another reason too,” Jinyoung said, glancing at you and reaching out for your hand. You took it and he rubbed the set of rings that lay over your left finger. “The peach and pear got married.”

“Wait a minute!” your daughter breathed, pointing at her father and then you repeatedly before clapping and squealing. “That’s you and Mummy!”

“And now we live in Reefton Estate together, don’t we?” you told her, and her little head bounced up and down.

“Which thankfully has heating.”

“And no more holes in the ceilings.”

“The west wing can be rented out to staying guests.”

“And the peach and pear lived happily ever after.”

“With their own little peachy-pear!” cried your daughter to end the story, which had you all laughing, hugging the sweet child.

And once she had finally drifted off to sleep, you stepped out into the hallway on tiptoes, trying not to make the floorboards creak and wake her back up.

Of course, the house had been repaired. But it still carried most of its original parts, and definitely needed more work. The floors were next on the list to replace.

For now, tiptoeing back to your room down the hall was the best option you had. And when Jinyoung shut the door behind you, he pulled you into his arms, resting his head on your shoulder. You leaned back into him, cherishing the moment.

Mostly for his warmth, and he knew it.

“We need to work on the heating in our room.”

“It made sense to do the guest rooms at the time so we could make money,” you reminded, spinning around softly so you could face him. “Besides, I remember you saying at the time that we had each other to keep warm with.”

“That’s how peachy-pear came along,” he pointed out with a low chuckle and you slapped his shoulder playfully.

“We should get that heating sorted quickly then in case we end up growing more fruit,” you teased but Jinyoung shook his head in answer, leaning down to capture your lips briefly.

“I don’t mind growing more fruit with you.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s one way to keep us both warm, too.”

“Why did you turn up on my doorstep all those years ago?” you breathed out, staring at your husband lovingly. You still couldn’t quite believe your luck.

As if he read your mind, Jinyoung smiled. “It wasn’t luck that brought me here. It was a need to find my forever home.”

“You chose well in a broken-down inn,” you retorted, to which he chuckled again.

“It has its charm,” he said before nuzzling his nose into yours. “And it has you.”

_________________

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[simpz-art-stash]

The Breakdown [LMK]

A moment between MKing and Fang where both  finally regard each other and their relationship as father / daughter  & teacher / student. Tags: LOTS OF FLUFF “Again.” A pained groan escaped Fang as she sat up on her sore butt for the upteenth time. “Can’t we take a break?...My tail hurts…” She whined. She was tired, sweaty, and not at all having any fun. “No.”  MKing replied bluntly, “Get up. You’re never going to win if you stay down.” He replied, arms crossed with that same serious look on his face.

She  pouted and with an exaggerated motion, propped herself back up with the  little wooden staff she’d been using since the start of this whole  training business. The poor thing had seen better days, it was  splintered and worn, to the point she’d had to wrap the base of it in  fabric just to keep her hands from getting blisters. Which at this point  had hardly done much to ease her swelling callouses. And that wasn’t  even counting the last few matches she’d endured under her father’s  lessons. Ever since she’d turned 50 or so, that was when they’d  started this whole routine. He’d told her his reasoning for why she was  here, to grow strong and take by his side as his successor in the  future. She of course agreed to it, being the ever giving child to the  Monkey King. She wanted nothing more than to be just like him. To grow  up big and strong and eventually go on her own journey. Right now however she was struggling just to keep her legs from collapsing as she wiped the sweat off her brow. “Again.” He  commanded, snapping her from her thoughts as her eyes glanced across  the field of the dojo into his. She took a breath to steel her nerves  and charged at him. Remembering what he’d told her, putting force into  each step, and attempting to swing into the strike at the last minute. This time, this time- Her  steps were still just as unbalanced as the last attempt, even with her  stance poised properly, it left her wide open for an attack. Something  MKing had masterfully pulled from his observation in watching her run at  him the way she was now. It was sloppy, unfocused, and it didn’t take  him any time at all to swiftly advert her center of gravity around his  and throw her back. And just as before she found her world  spinning in a blurred mess of colors as she was flung back onto the  ground. This time landing on her side where a loud SNAP was heard. As  soon as he’d heard that noise he’d switched his demeanor in an instant  and rushed over, his brow creased as the dust settled. He first saw the  staff broken in two, its splintered bits laying scattered about. But as  some movement caught his eye, he shifted his attention towards that and  saw her moving to sit up, there wasn’t any screaming or crying so that  was a good sign. “Ah geeze..” He sighed, grateful it hadn’t been anything serious, “Come on let's get you a new one-” “I  DON’T WANNA ANYMORE!” She yelled. Which caused him to jump a little at  her sudden exclamation. His attention now primarily focused on the very  distraught child before him. Upon closer inspection she looked fine,  maybe a lil bruised but nothing a good night's rest couldn’t fix. No,  what really caused him to freeze up was the look on her face. She looked at him with a look of fear.

Now, Wukong was a monkey of many things. A proud warrior,  an old general, a friend and then some. He’d taken on countless battles  and fearsome enemies, with very few able to really strike the fear into  his core. But when it came to being envisioned with a look of  fear, and by his own child no less, it left him in a state of shock he  hadn’t felt in quite some time. In that moment of shell-shock  she’d managed to regain her footing enough to stumble on passed him, her  hands wiping at her face as she ran off. “Fang!” He called out to her, “Sweetpeach, wait- I-” It hadn't taken him long to really find her, one peek with his true sight saw her high up in the old bonsai that had been growing on the ledge of the cavern his little hut resided in. But even so..she didn't look anywhere near ready to deal with him right then so he simply sent out a few of the monkies to keep an eye on her while he went off to pick up some food, think things over. And boy did he think things over, if he thought he overthought things before, his mind was practically buzzing like an angry hive by the time he'd finally made it home. He was pushing her and pushing her and at this point he might as well of pushed her away altogether with the way she left him earlier. It broke his heart..seeing his little girl so distraught. All the while he'd been keeping himself blind to the signs for this reason alone, to make her strong..and himself stronger so that when the time came and something worse happened... He shook his head, he didn't wanna think about something like that when she couldn't even leave the island without his guidance.

He still found her in the same place as before, and exchanged a few glances with some of the older monkies that had been keeping an eye on her. They all seemed pretty huffy with him. 'Well that makes two of us...' He sighed. Passing them and climbing up into the tree, his eyes glancing over at the little ball curled tight around a cute little plush he'd made for her. Minikong, defender of the princess, stared back at Wukong, judging him in all his glory. But he could care less at that point, he had enough guilt to flood the ocean several times over, no his eyes were more keen to meet the current bundle taking resident in the little spot in the tree. "Sweetpeach?..." He spoke softly, as if the slightest wake against her fragile little ball would crumble her. It crumbled something when she flinched at his voice.

He cleared his throat when no answer came, "I uh..brought you some dinner." He rose his arm a little, before he placed down a carefully folded package of sliced fruit, all wrapped together in banana leaves. When she made no real movement to go for the food he sighed, "Come'on bud..throw me a peach here.." He pouted. She made a small noise, her little tail curling around her ankle, as if trying to make herself smaller in hopes he'd just forget about her and leave. "not hungry..." A rumble of her stomach claimed otherwise, which in turn got a small laugh out of Wukong, before he had to remind himself of his manners. "You sure about that?? Could've sworn I heard a rather distinguished appetite.." He hummed a little, his eyes never wavering from her furry little tail. She only seemed to grumble something incomprehensible in return. Creasing Wukong's brow as he tried to formulate a means to break through to her, at least enough to where she wouldn't starve herself... His eyes glanced back to Minikong, looking for pity, before an idea came to mind. "What's that Minikong?? She really isn't hungry?? Well that just won't do! And even after I picked her most favorite ripe fruit too..." He opened up the little ball of leaves, revealing the sweet savory piece's he'd so neatly cut up. He wasn't the best but he made due. "Sure would be a shame to let these spoil so soon..." He gave an overly exaggerated sigh, "I suppose that just means I'll have to eat them aaaaall by myself.." His eyes gave a side glance to the slight shuffle beside him. "Every.Last.Piece." "Nooo!!" Fang whined aloud suddenly, her movements jostling the branch she'd taken up residence on. Prompting Wukong to collect the rest of the snack before it met an untimely end to the monkies below. "Hmm?" Wukong quirked a brow back at her, hovering a piece dangerously close to his mouth all the same though. "Nonono!!" She smacked at his arm with Minikong, the traitor taking up arms against their king. "Woah kiddo I was just kidding!-" “Please don’t hate me. I know I can get better! Just train me more!” He froze, the piece in his hand lowering altogether as he turned to look at her altogether and her poor puffy face. Then it clicked. "Sweetpeach..." "I wanna get better, I wanna be strong, but it's hard!! I'm sorry!!" She stared tearing up again, her hands wiping at those big blue eyes of hers as she broke down. "I'm sorry, I'll get stronger, just don't leave me daddy!!" She bawled. And that right there shook Wukong's heart to the core, prompting him to drop what little fruit he had in hand before he finally took her into his arms. Cradling her and trying to soothe her cries. "Shh shh..hey it's okay.." He sighed, commending all those mother's and father's out there for having the strength to last as long as they did with this whole parenting thing...he could only imagine how the hell DBK dealt with it when he'd still been around. When her crying finally seemed to calm down he simply stayed with her like that for a bit, letting his hands comb through her hair while she sat curled up in his lap, so small to the rest of the world was she. He wanted to keep her safe from that world, that terrible merciless expanse that sought to take just as much as it gave. He wanted her to be strong, to keep safe, but he also wanted her to be happy...and what kind of father would he be to fail his own daughter if she wasn't any of those things? "I would never leave you behind...never for the remainder of eternity would I ever think of doing that to you." He softly stated, "I'm sorry I've been so hard on you..I didn't mean to push you as much as I did I just..." He sighed, "I just wanted to make sure that you would be ready. More than I was when I had to face the world and it's many painful lessons..." A sniffle escaped Fang then, her hands gripping at his shirt, before she shifted up a little, enough to look up at him, "Is that why you've been so scary?..." She sniffled, hiccuping a little, "Because..the world is scary..?" She blinked. His face grimaced, trying to keep it together for her sake, he brought his hand up and brushed a few stray tears off her cheek with his thumb. "I guess you could say that..." "I don't wanna..." Her face twisted into a sad frown, a threatening bout of tears pooled along the edges of her eyes despite the snot already running. "I don't wanna face the world if I can't have you with me anymore..." There it was, that remorseful little sliver of guilt that had been biting away at his core for the last few months, finally breaking through his stone ridden skin and jabbing him right in the heart. She'd been doing this for him. Pushing herself for him. To be the successor he told her she'd grow to be one day. She'd been so amped up, so happy to know she had a future to look forward to under his guidance. But that had been back when she was still a child, no better aware of her knowledge of the way things worked more than he did with the humans and their ever-growing fondness for technology. "I'm so sorry I made you feel that way sweetpeach...You don't have to be my successor if you don't want to.." "B-but I do!! I wanna make you proud!!.." She exclaimed, grabbing onto his shirt, "Be strong like you.." "Fang.." He called her name, prompting her to stiffen, he never used that name unless it was serious business. "I'm already proud of you...You've come so far with your training, even if you can't see it, you've already mastered plenty of martial arts! Took me years to find a good starting point and even then I had to fight just to get a teacher as good as myself." He hugged her close, "You don't need to be my successor for me to be proud of you OR to live here, you'll still be my little sweetpeach all the same..." He smiled down at her, easing her fears finally. "Whether you like it or not-" A squeal rang out of her when he lifted her up and began to smother her with kisses. "Stooop!!" She laughed, squirming like a fish out of water as he tickled her silly. "Stoppit!! That tickles!!" "I should hope so! Had me worried all day!!" He grinned, before heard a growl from her, his brow perking up. "Oh? Does the princess have her appetite back finally??" He smirked, finally putting her back down. Before his tail finally put down the bundle of leaves he'd been holding onto and allowed her to pick out the more juicy piece's she liked. "Go on then, I don't want you complain'n later that you missed dinner." He ruffled her hair a little and sat back. "Thank you daddy.." Her voice replied, a little muffled from the mouthful of food she had, but glazed with a sweetness that coated his heart with a sugary glaze that left him warm inside. "Of course bud..."

[tanjir0se]

The Ghost of You, ch. 4

New full chapter up now on AO3!

Giyuu heard someone curse and blinked. Beyond Sabito, as if there was anything beyond Sabito, as if the world didn’t start and end with his well-remembered fluff of peach hair and eyes that were only gentle for him, someone was shouting in pain. He watched as blood sprayed against the snow.

Sabito smiled at him. It was not Sabito’s smile. For the first time since seeing him Giyuu felt like he’d just woken up; the more he looked at the vision the more he could see beyond it. From peach hair to white, to scars, to angry, narrowed eyes. He couldn’t save Sabito. But he could save Sanemi.

“Eleventh form,” Giyuu began shakily.

“Giyuu?” Sabito implored, as if betrayed. “What is it?” Not Sabito.

“Giyuu!” Sanemi screamed, his voice choked.

“Dead calm.”

“Knock it off, Sabito!”

The other boy barked out a high laugh, like a fox’s cry, and refused to move from where he was, planted down cross-legged on Giyuu’s chest, wooden sword in hand. Giyuu squirmed and shoved him, struggling to breathe beneath his weight.

“I said make me!” Sabito beamed down at him, nearly silhouetted by the sun, his nose wrinkled deeply. “C’mon, be a man!”

Giyuu set his jaw and took a deep breath, the way Urokodaki had been trying to teach him. It was hard with Sabito’s weight on his chest but he managed to take a slow, measured inhale, let the air flow all the way down into his still-bandaged fingertips, and felt the strength it granted him growing. Baring his teeth with the effort, Giyuu swung the wooden sword at Sabito as fast and hard as he could, forcing the other boy to raise his own sword in defense. The action knocked him just slightly off balance, but enough to allow Giyuu to buck his hips hard to the side and throw him off.

He stayed on his side in the dirt for a moment, breathing deep and hard, while Sabito giggled behind him.

It was still his first month of training; his mornings were spent in one on one lessons with Urokodaki and in the afternoon he trained and drilled with Sabito to help him catch up. Every day his injured hands became stronger and stronger; every day he thought of his Tokyo relatives less and less. In no small part because working with Sabito was such a handful.

“Alright, get up!” Sabito said, having already gotten to his feet himself. “Let’s go again.”

Giyuu groaned but prepared to obey him, having learned by then it was no use to argue. As he began pushing himself up from the ground, a hand appeared in his field of vision. Sabito’s reaching down to help him up. He blinked at it, then up at Sabito, who was grinning—if a little wickedly. Though, Giyuu supposed, that wrinkle in his nose nearly always made his grins look wicked. He took Sabito’s hand with his own bandaged one and stood.

“There! Took you long enough.” Giyuu brushed himself off and gave him the most venomous stare his naturally neutral face could muster. Sabito meanwhile was lowering himself to a fighting stance and raising his wooden sword. As difficult as the training had been so far, Giyuu knew he could not, would not stop. Every night in the dark he remembered what Sabito had told him about the monsters, about how they were afraid of their Sensei, and had resolved not to stop until they were afraid of him, too.

He mirrored Sabito’s stance the way Urokodaki had taught him and gripped the wooden hilt of his sword. Immediately Sabito frowned at him and nodded at the sword.

“Farther apart.” Giyuu adjusted. “No, not that far.” Giyuu adjusted again. Sabito sighed and dropped his own hands to his sides and approached. “Here, like this.”

Giyuu watched as Sabito placed his hands over his own on the sword grip. His voice sounded impatient, but Giyuu couldn’t help but notice how gentle his hands were as they slid his into the correct positions. Ironic, considering how rough with fresh callouses they were.

“There. Now I can kick your ass properly.” Sabito murmured. He grinned once more and took his place across from him.

*

The boys knelt beside one another with their chests high while Urokodaki slowly wound the bandages away from their healing wounds. If Sabito winced, Giyuu sat up a little straighter, as if competitively, and when Giyuu flinched, Sabito puffed his chest out a little higher.

While Urokodaki had his back turned, Giyuu let his gaze slide over to Sabito beside him. On his cheek, the angry brown-red scab was slowly dwindling and giving way to pale pink scar tissue that twisted and pulled his flesh in strange directions. Giyuu winced on his behalf, but Sabito kept his jaw tight and eyes forward. It seemed like it didn’t bother him at all. Giyuu dropped his eyes to his own hands, the dried frost burn blisters on his fingertips that were scabbing over, the new blisters from training on his palms.

“Those hurt?” Sabito suddenly asked. Giyuu looked up in surprise and for a moment was unable to tear his eyes from Sabito’s scar. Sabito was looking at Giyuu’s hands.

“Nuh uh.” Giyuu managed bravely.

“Good.” Sabito responded with a nod. “Mine doesn’t either.”

Urokodaki returned with a small pot of his ointment balm and dabbed a bit onto Sabito’s cheek. Sabito closed his eyes, and while his face remained neutral Giyuu could see him grab a fistful of his pants and squeeze it so tightly his knuckles went pale.

READ THE FULL CHAPTER NOW HERE!!

[atinydise]

Ateez doing a YouTube video with their s/o

❦ Genre: Fluff/Crackhead.

❦ Pairing: OT8.

❦ Word count: 13k5.

❦ Masterlist.

HONGJOONG - Make-up video

You looked at Hongjoong. He was staring at you as well. Without saying anything. After this long silence, both of you laughed out loud. “Stop staring at me like that!” You ordered him playfully. “But it’s weird! We never did this together!” He giggled. “Yes, true.” You smiled. “Anyway! Hello guys welcome back to my channel! Today as a special guest we have…” You pointed at your boyfriend. “Kim Hongjoong! Yaaay!” “This is weird.” He laughed. “Just say hi idiot.” “Hi guys this is Kim Hongjoong!” He introduced politely. “Today, he will do my make up,” you smiled and clapped enthusiastically. You sat down on the chair you brought and tied your hair on a messy bun. Hongjoong was standing in front of you, choosing a foundation. “It’s going to be terrible.”

“Come on… you’re an idol, you put a lot of make up!” “Yes, but I never did it on myself than imagine on you.” He gulped. Your boyfriend applied carefully the first layer of make-up. “You’re doing pretty good.” After that, he looked for a concealer and an eyeshadow. “Gosh, how many palettes you have?” “Just choose 2 or 3 shades.” You pointed at the peach one. “Okay okay, I think I’m doing well.” He complimented himself. “I’m impatient and scared to see the results.” You laughed. “Stop moving!” He scolded you, “I can’t apply it correctly.” You giggled, seeing your boyfriend so focused, “then don’t be so harsh! I feel like my eyeball will roll on the floor!” Few minutes later, Hongjoong claimed that he was done. “Really? You forgot the lipstick.” “I don’t want to.” You stared at your boyfriend, “why?” “Because when I kiss you it goes on my lips.” You chuckled shyly, “okay I got it. Then can I see the final result?” Hongjoong hide his face on his hands. While you grabbed a mirror. “Oh wow. This is actually really good.” You said surprised. “Ah really?” “Yes! You did pretty good.” You stared at your reflection. “Mission accomplished!” You giggled and turned back to your camera. “Well, I hope you enjoyed the video and hit the like button if you want more videos with this boy.” You pointed again at your boyfriend. “See you in another video!” You waved with Hongjoong.

SEONGHWA - Mukbang video

“Hey hey hey*!” You greeted, waving at the camera. “Are you an Itzy member?” Asked Seonghwa. You looked away, ashamed by his joke. “I’ll cut this part out.” He smiled widely, proud of him. “Hello guys! I hope you’re doing well!” You looked at Seonghwa, “we are here today for a Mukbang** video!” He showed all the food in front of you. “I guess that you’re hungry because you forgot to introduce yourself.” “Oh yeah sorry! I’m Park Seonghwa, Y/N’s boyfriend.” He bowed politely. You giggled softly, “So as I said, we are going to do a Mukbang! Of course, we won’t just eat. Seonghwa will talk about his idol life and why not revealing few secrets?” You glanced at him. “I have no secret.” He replied. “Yes, sure. Liar.” You started. He shook his head. “So, what do you want to eat first?” You asked. “Oh, and yeah! Everything here is spicy guys.” “Nice! Let’s start with Ttoekbokki***.” Both of you started to eat, slightly minding about the spiciness. “So, tell us something about your life?” You initiated. “Hum… it’s a totally different lifestyle that I had before. Thanks to KQ, we have our free weekends, except during promotions, but the week is totally full and exhausting.” He wrapped his arm around you. “So full that I can barely see this cutie.” He pouted. “Yeah true.” You ate a piece of meat. “But there’s good points of course. We go on tour all around the world and we have so much people supporting and loving us unconditionally.” “Yeah,” you added grabbing a piece of chicken this time. “Are you listening to me? You’re only eating!” He laughed. “You talk… I eat.” You replied, your mouth almost full of meat. Seonghwa continued to talk about his career and his dreams, picking food sometimes. ���So please continue to support us!” he smiled, thumbs up. “Oh my god… I’m full.” You complained, rubbing your belly. “Of course, you are. You ate 60% of the food here, by yourself!” You stuck your tongue out at him. “Anyway, guys this is the end of this Mukbang with Seonghwa.” You pouted. “But like and subscribe to Y/N’s channel if you want more content like this!” He added. “Wow you’re doing pretty good.” “Why are you surprised? We have a YouTube channel too.” He said. “Oh yes, with your failed ASMR.” You teased him. He started at you, outraged. “How dare you!” “Bye bye!” You waved at the camera.

*Reference to Icy intro by Itzy.

**Mukbang: It’s a YouTube trend from South Korea. It consist to eat loads of food while narrating and interacting with their audience.

***Tteokbokki: is a Korean traditional food which has sticks of rounded rice cake as the main ingredient.

YUNHO - Rate My Outfit

Yunho crawled slowly in front of the camera, showing his big forehead. “You look like a thumb.” You claimed behind him. “A what?” He laughed out loud. “I’m sure they will think about this too.” You giggled. “Introduce the video before I quit!” he teased you. You turned to your camera and claimed. “Hello beautiful people! Today I will do a ‘Rate my outift’ with my boyfriend Yunho.” You clapped at him, happily. “Hello guys!” He waved at the camera. “Are you ready?” “More than ready.” He replied. “Okay let’s go.” You went to your room and wore the first outfit you prepared for the video. It was a casual light and long dress. You added a matched shirt underneath. “Close your eyes!” You placed in front of him, posing a little bit. “Open it now.” “Oh! You’re cute with this. It reminds me our first date. You wore something similar.” “Aw, I’m surprised you remember this.” You smiled cutely. “But rate my outfit.” “7/10, I don’t really like the pattern of the dress. Something else will fits you more.” “Okay…” you said a little bit disappointed. “Then 2nd outfit!” You rushed back to your room to wear a blue pants, a light purple top and white sneakers. “Open your eyes.” You hopped impatiently. Yunho stared at you intensely. “I’ll give it an 8,5/10.” “Better than the first one.” You shrugged. “I would like this outfit a little bit more with heels. You would look so good!” “Oh, why not, I didn’t think about that.” “That’s why I’m here.” He added proudly. “Okay another outfit.” This time, you decided to expose more skin to surprise Yunho. You took a tight black dress slightly opened on the right. You added 3 necklaces to decorate your V-Neck. You hesitated to wear heels but finally you did. “Okay…. Open your eyes on 3…2…1” You stood up in front of him. “Now!” You immediately saw the he was shock. And completely froze. “So?” You turned around. “10/10?” “0/10.” He stood up in front of the camera, blocking the view. “What are you-” “No one except me can see this outfit! You’re exposing too much skin young lady!” “Yunho,” you chuckled. “Thank you for watching this video, it will end earlier than excepted! Bye bye!” He waved at the camera, still hiding your body.

YEOSANG - Ateez Answer MV Reaction

“Hi guys! Here’s another video with a special guest to-” you started. Yeosang stared at you, “This is so cliché.” “Here’s another video with a special and annoying guest: Kang Yeosang!” You introduced your boyfriend. “Hello,” he simply greeted. “Hello? Just hello?” “You already introduced me.” You looked at the camera, “Annoying was the good word I guess.” Yeosang smirked lightly. “Today we are going to react to ATEEZ new comeback!” You shouted happily. “Are you exited?” “Not really. I know I’m handsome.” “Oh my god this boy…” you rolled your eyes. “I’m done with you.” “I know.” He smiled proudly. “Anyway, let’s go!” You played the video and waited impatiently. “You don’t ask me why it’s called Answer?” he paused right away. “Why it’s called Answer?” “I don’t know, let’s go.” He played again. You scoffed, “idiot…” The MV started, you were already immersed by the set. “Who’s this?” You asked when you saw the guy in white. “No idea.” He lied. “Wow San!” You clapped happily. “Shouldn’t you clap only for me?” He asked. “There’s no reaction rules.” You tickled his chin. The music video continued, you were already jamming to Mingi and Hongjoong’s rap verse. “This is so good!” Yeosang nodded, proud of his members. “The choreo! Please! This is awesome!” You claimed at the chorus. Just after that, Yeosang had his part. “Look at my man!” You hyped him. “So gorgeous! Visual for sure!” “I know I know… I snapped.” Both of you were focused on the rest of the MV. You were shock when you saw the scene with the real and fake ATEEZ. “How did they do that?” “No idea, but it’s so cool.” You clapped when the MV ended. “This is a BOP! Guys! I’m so proud of you.” “Thank you. I’m proud of us too.” “And the set, the outfits, the choreography, are just incredible.” “We all did a good job but I’m the best.” You looked away, ignoring your boyfriend, “anyway! I hope y’all loved the video. You should really check out their new MV by yourselves!” “Don’t forget to like and subscribe. And give love to us for this comeback. Love you Atiny!” He made a cute heart in front of the camera. “So cliché,” you giggled.

SAN - FAQ (Frequently asked questions)

“1…2…3” you counted. “Hello everyone!” San and you shouted together. “Here a couple FAQ video!” you started. “With San!” Added your boyfriend. “You were a bunch asking me some question about my relationship with San.” You said. “If you guys don’t know, someone uploaded a video of us while we were on a date.” San claimed happily, “so now that it’s official, we can do this video!” You smiled at your boyfriend, “Yes! Let’s start with the first question.” San grabbed your phone, “Okay, who did the first move and why?” You pointed at him, “completely San. I would never flirt with an idol. Or anyone else.” “To be honest, I noticed her a bunch of times at our fansigns. She was always so happy to see us. One day I slipped my phone number on her album.” “Too much charm for you huh?” You smiled widely at him. “Okay next question.” He ignored you playfully. “Who is the most jealous one?” You stared at him. “Don’t look at me like that because you are the jealous one! I can feel your stare on every girl who’s looking at me.” He laughed. “I hate seeing them looking at him.” You confessed. “Your thoughts on couple outfit?” Asked San, reading the question. “Hum… we never tried yet but we bought the same sneakers last month.” You replied. “How the members reacted when San introduced you?” He read. “They were pretty happy for me.” Replied your boyfriend. “They found Y/N really nice and cool.” You smirked proudly. “Who loves each other the most?” You read the question. Both of you stared at each other. “Both. Or maybe me.” Replied San. “What? No!” You turned around to face him. “You can’t even imagine how I love you.” He whispered, giving you this smile which made you melt every time. “Aaw…” was everything you could say. “This is too cute.” “And it’s the truth.” He grabbed your chin to kiss your cheek. You giggled slightly and focused back on the camera. “On these good words, we will end this video for today!” “We hope you enjoyed this video and if yes, then subscribes and like this video.” Said San thumbs up. “What a pro,” you chuckled.

MINGI - ATEEZ album unboxing video

“Do you want to introduce the video?” You asked your boyfriend, sitting on the couch next to you. “Sure!” he replied enthusiastically. “Hello everyone. We are back today with your favorite YouTuber… and Y/N!” he added. “Why are you rapping?” you teased him. “I don’t!” “I’m kidding big baby.” You pinched his cheeks. “So we are back and for an unboxing video!” You grabbed the album on your shelf. “Say hi to ATEEZ new physical album.” Mingi clapped next to you, “it’s so pretty.” You opened carefully the album, “Wow… this is so cool.” “Let’s go straight to my pictures!” claimed your boyfriend. “No! I want to see other members’ pictures too!” You slapped his hand. “Then look at the photocards.” “No! Why are you so impatient?” You laughed. “I want to see if they chose the best pictures.” He stomped. You turned the pages slowly, looking at every member. “Wow look at Yunho! He looks so good.” You showed at the camera. “Yes, yes…” muttered your boyfriend. You continued until your man’s pictures. “Should we skip your pictures and look at Wooyoung and Jongho?” You teased him. “No!” He almost ripped the photobook of your hand and turned the page. “Look how lucky you have this beautiful boyfriend!” he stared at you, proud of himself. You simply shrugged, “yes I guess.” “Yes I guess? That’s all you have to say?” he looked at you. “I’m kidding.” You laughed out loud. “You’re handsome!” You continued to turn the pages, with Mingi who was claiming that he was the prettiest one. “So, for the photocard… we have…” Mingi drummed on his laps. “Tugutugutugutugu-“ “Mingi!” You giggled. “Really?” He grabbed the photocard. “Kidding, it’s Hongjoong.” “I hate you… you’re always mean with me.” “Love you too Princess.” Mingi pouted, “I’m going to ask KQ to put more photocards of me.” “Sure… anyway, it’s the end of this unboxing video. Like & subscribe for another video like this-” “I won’t comeback because you are bullying me.” He looked away. “Big baby…” you waved at the camera, ignoring him.

WOOYOUNG - Jelly Belly Challenge

“I’m scared…” laughed Wooyoung holding the pack of Jellybeans. “Me too, it’s probably a bad idea.” You said. “Let’s do it,” started Wooyoung. “Hello everyone! Welcome back to my channel! Today we are going to do the Jelly Belly Challenge!” You introduce the topic. “For people who ignore what is it, it’s a game where you can get a good taste as peach or a terrible one as vomit…” he explained disgusted. “Let’s go!” You claimed happily but a bit anxious. “Let’s turn the wheel.” “Not white please, not white.” Prayed Wooyoung. “Green!” You shouted. “Pear or grass… not too bad.” You picked 2 green beans and gave one to your boyfriend. “Ready?” “Not at all.” “Go!” Both of you shoved the bean in your mouth. “PEAR!” You shouted. Wooyoung grabbed the bottle of water in front of him, “grass.” He sipped disgusted. “I forgot how unlucky you were.” You laughed at him. “This is disgusting how did they do that?” he asked. “Okay, the next taste.” “Red one,” he said, looking at the wheel. “Strawberry or dead fish.” “Oh gosh…” Once again you gave a candy to your boyfriend and ate it instantly. “Strawberry!” you danced happily. “Straw-“ his expression changed immediately. “DEAD FISH!” Wooyoung rushed to the trash can off camera. You couldn’t stop laughing at him. “I don’t want to play this game anymore.” He yelled from the bathroom. Sadly for him, you had a dozen of rounds after that. Wooyoung was the one who got the most of terrible taste. “Okay last round: peach or vomit.” You said seriously. Without thinking twice, you ate the bean. Unexpectedly, both of you got: “VOMIT!” Wooyoung spitted the candy on the trash again, drinking water while you ran to the bathroom, probably to throw up for real. “What is this game!” Shouted Wooyoung, drinking your bottle as well. “Are you okay Y/N?” He asked, still disgusted. The only sound he heard was you flushing the toilet. “Well. See you guys in another video! Subscribe-” he almost threw up. “and like! And please don’t play this game!” he warned before turning off the camera.

JONGHO - Playlist of my life

“Hello everyone, welcome back to my channel!” You greeted and waved at the camera. “Today, with Jongho we are going to play, ‘compose the playlist of my life’.” You said. “Y/N is going to give me 6 songs and I’ll tell her if it’s on my ‘On repeat’ playlist.” Added Jongho thumbs up. “I think I’ll fail. I don’t even know Korean songs who aren’t K-pop.” You started. “It’s okay, 6 should be okay.” Reassured Jongho. “Okay then let’s go!” You shouted at the camera. You thought a bit of which songs he was listening to these days, but you couldn’t remember even one. “The Weeknd… Blinding lights?” You tried. “Correct!” He said. “I think this is the only one that I will get.” “Just try come on! The one that I listen to every morning.” He gave you a hint. “CANDY! By Baekhyun!” You shouted. “See! You’re doing good.” He smiled. “This is my all-time songs right now.” “Oh wait! I just thought about this one! Grenade by Bruno Mars.” Jongho crossed his arms, “wrong. But nice try.” “I’m sure there’s an ATEEZ song but which one I don’t know…” you bite your lip. “2nd hint… there’s 2.” “Star 1117.” “Correct.” “Say my name?” You hesitated. “Wrong.” “Oh gosh this is too hard.” “Earlier than Say my name.” He gave you another hint. “OH! Treasure!” you exclaimed. “Correct.” “I should have thought about it.” “2 lasts songs.” He smirked. You stared at the camera, desperately. “I wish you could help me guys, I’m pretty sure Atiny would end this game in 2 minutes.” “You can do it. If you guess the 2 songs before the end of the video, I’ll buy you a Boba.” “Lauv! I like me better!” You guessed immediately. “Correct!” “Okay last one… BTS?” You waited for a hint. “Yes.” “Friends?” “Wrong! But it’s in the same album.” “My time!” You shouted sure of your answer. “Yes!” “Yay!” You stomped happily. “I’ll get a Boba after this hard work,” you said, laying lazily on the couch. “See, this wasn’t so difficult.” He smiled. “You listen a bunch of OST too, but I can’t remember even one title song.” “Shame on you,” he pouted. “Hope you enjoyed this short video guys! If you want more videos like this give us a like and subscribe!” You waved at the camera. “Bye bye!” Jongho made a whole heart with his arms. “So kitschy,” you chuckled.

[2018shawn]

newborn???

I’m soft for dad!Tom atm so how about surprising him that you’re pregnant by giving him a mini Spider-Man suit. 🥺🥺🥺

a/n: I can’t believe how much I’m writing am I feeling OkAyY??? I really loved this request so THANK U I also really enjoyed writing this and think it may be one of my favourite things ever wieghnksd thank u to @shawnsmoose​ for putting up with me annoying her 

a/n 2.0: can we also appreciate the ending bc I feel it is true tom style ... caring ... but not necessary 

warnings: the teeniest tiniest talk of smut until Tom does a tom. swearing I think?? maybe??? fluff???? TESSA. BABIES. HAPPY BYE 

You sighed, looking at the ridiculously big clock on the wall opposite you. 6pm; Still at least another hour until Tom got home and that’s with the best of traffic. Straightening the table runner yet again, you brushed over it with your hands to remove any creases before moving on to straightening the cutlery. It was funny, really; that you thought cooking tom’s favourite dinner would somehow soften the blow of the news you had to break to him.

Okay, you said aloud to yourself, stepping back with your hands on your hips to admire your - if you say so yourself – perfect display. Checking under your seat where you always sat, you made sure the small gift bag was there, just in case you’d dreamt putting it there, nodding to yourself when you saw it sat waiting. Might as well make a start on the vegetables.

In the kitchen, you played some soft music to calm your nerves. You stood in the door of the refrigerator, the light hitting you as you squinted at the half-finished bottle of white wine which was screaming your name. It’s gonna be a long 9 months. Sighing as you grabbed the peach lemonade instead; you flipped it towards the counter, feeling super impressed with yourself when it landed upright. Tom and Jake would never, you thought, laughing to yourself as you recalled their excitement on the plane when they managed to get it in the cup holder in one go.

It was safe to say, after one and a half months of him filming in a completely different country, you were ready for him to return as even the pictures on the walls were rolling their eyes at you talking to yourself. Your phone pinged, and you pulled it from your back pocket before it had even stopped vibrating.

Traffic ain’t too bad. See you soon, baby girl 🥺🏡💛

Can’t wait, roastie’s are in the oven and beers in the fridge 🐷🍺

Marry me? 💛💛💛

You giggled as you were about to shove your phone back in your pocket, another vibration forcing you to open your phone screen again.

Actually, that’s not even a question. You will marry me 🍑😈

“Oh honey, I’m homeeeeee!” He sang, and you heard his suitcase roll across the hard hallway floor before it stopped, assumingly being propped up at the bottom of the stairs. You’d missed his goofy ways, he annoyingly loud voice, his warm hugs.

He practically ran into the kitchen, hitting the breaks when he saw you heading towards his direction. “HI,” he screamed, actually running up to you and wrapping his arms around your waist. You think he almost knocked you over, but you knew he wouldn’t allow that to happen. Holding you close, he made a super squishy noise as he bear hugged you, lifting you off the ground.

“Hi, baby” You giggled, pulling your head away, your chests still touching, and arms still tangled around each other.

His lips came crashing down, eager to feel you, touch you, taste you. He’d missed you more than he’d let on since he’d been away. He knew you struggled being alone for such a long period of time, so he took it upon himself to be the stronger one, insisting that it wasn’t long until he’d be home and you’re in his arms. He, of course, felt even possibly worse than you did, wanting nothing more to be home with you, to make sure you’re safe. He’d be lying if he said his brothers coming around to borrow his computer shit was all coincidental.

He tasted of a mixture of mento’s, the mint ones, and cherry pepsi max and it felt infectious. He hummed into your lips as your fingers found their way into his bouncy hair and his fingers curled into your waist, almost like he was checking you were actually real. “How long do we have until dinner’s ready?” He smirked, nudging your nose with his.

On cue, the timer on the oven starting a repetitive beep and he groaned, pouting his bottom lip out like a little kid when you walked away, swaying your hips with an extra bounce. He tried distracting you as you dished up your meal, which was the last thing he wanted to eat with you stood in front of him. “Tom, I need to talk to you first, remember.”

“Yeah, but we could also talk after?” His arms were wrapped around your waist as you spooned the vegetable on his overloaded plate; you were definitely a feeder. You swatted his arm away as he tried to steal a roast potato, which were of course covered in your secret seasoning. He managed to sneak one, groaning and whistling out loud when he realised it was far too hot for consumption. Raising your eyebrows, you scowled him as if to say I told you so.

To say he was more interested in tasting you than tasting his dinner, it wasn’t on his plate for longer than 7 minutes, approx, washing the whole thing down with the rest of his beer. He joked that he’d finished filming now, meaning there was room for more food without a strict diet for once.

“So, you wanted to talk?” He asked, leaning back in his chair as he patted at his stomach. Oh the irony.

“Uh, yeh…” you shuffled in your seat, palms feeling sweaty and throat going a little dry, “I got you something.”

You started to bend down, to retrieve your gift from under the table but he slid back in his chair, causing a screech across the wooden floor, “OOOO, NO. I got YOU something!”

“No, Tom, can it…” he was already out the door heading to his suitcase before you could finish, leaving you to finish your sentence, “… wait.”

He came back through, holding a tiny bag, placing a delicate kiss on your forehead. “There was this little store and I knew you’d love it, because you like silver jewellery, so I got this made.” He shoved it in your hands, pulling the seat out and sitting next to you, instead of in his normal seat opposite. Your heart warmed at his thoughtful gift, although you had to chew at your lip as your nerves built. Inside was a little box, wrapped in a delicate white ribbon, with assumingly the company name’s initials embossed onto the front. It was like he was watching you open a Christmas present, spilling tails of how he thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s got you yet and if you don’t wear it, he will. Your lips parted as you opened the lid, the silver bangle shining up at you. Wrapped around were three separate charms; two T’s, and your own initial. “Because we’re like a little family, right? And I wanted to be with you, and you…” he laughed as he stroked Tessa who was sat under his feet, “even if I’m physically not.”

You weren’t soft, by any stretch of the imagination, but something about tom made you feel like jelly and melt like butter. “I bloody love you, you idiot.” You beamed, “it’s beautiful, thank you.” You couldn’t help but note how there may soon need to be another initial on there, panicking as you played his words over in your mind. We’re like a little family. What if what you’re about to tell him is going to ruin everything? What if he doesn’t want it? What if he doesn’t want you?

“So… my turn now,” he smiled, fluttering his eyelashes at you. You sighed heavily. Here goes nothing. Reaching under your chair, his eyebrows raised with an impressed glow at your organisation, much different to his presentation. He furrowed his eyebrows, hands reaching out for the small, brown gift bag, clinching his fingers back and forth like a little kid himself.

If he thought you opened your present slowly, boy, did he wanna be in your shoes right now. He fought with the white tissue paper you’d wrapped the small item in, muttering to himself as he eventually just ragged it out and threw it behind him, tessa immediately jumping to it and running around with it in her mouth like the proudest dog in the world.

The pattern of the item was familiar to him - how could it not be? The red and blue suit, with black lines decorating the majority, was exceptionally smaller compared to the one he wore on set. His face was scrunched up in confusion, “you know I can just get one that fits me right?”

“It’s not meant to fit you,” you rolled your eyes, reaching over and turning over the size tag that was still attached.

“First size/newborn” he whispered to himself, “newborn...”

He sat for about 10 seconds in silence, and it killed you, because it felt like 10 hours. His eyes finally snapped up to meat your worried overwatch, “NEWBORN?!”

Excitingly repeating the word, he pointed at the small baby grow “newborn?”

Then to his (in true Tom style) his penis, “newborn?”

And then finally to your lower stomach, “newborn?”

You nodded, bringing your lips together into a thin line as you let him digest the news. He grabbed the small sleepsuit, clutching it in his hand as he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around you, wanting to never let go. “I didn’t know if you wanted this yet, and I understand if you’re not ready, and we can talk, but I really think I...”

He pulled you back, a hand on each shoulder, resting his forehead against yours. “Y/N, this is the best fucking this to ever happen to me, to us. Thank you so much...” your eyes filled up, just as his did, only yours was with relief. You’d never considered getting rid of the baby, and hoped Tom didn’t want to either, but you did come to accept that he might not be ready.

“I think I should thank you, it’s you that looked really hot at the premiere. And it’s also you that didn’t pull out quick enough, evidently” You giggled, and he laughed too, using his thumbs to wipe the tears that were only just escaping your eyes.

“You looked hot too.” He stated, giving you a peck on the lips. “How long have you known?”

“About a week, I knew your dumb ass would fly home and ruin filming for something that’s the size of a blueberry.”

“Oh my god, we got a baby blueberryyyy” he grinned, his hand coming down to rest on your stomach.

“I mean, yeh, but at the minute all you’ll feel is just roast potatoes in there”

Tucked up in bed, you rested on his chest, his fingers drawing random patterns on your side as you leant into him. “Are we really.. gonna do this?” You stuttered out, feeling his lips press to the top of your head.

He adjusted so you shuffled gently onto your back, rolling himself on top of you, leaning on his forearms to be careful not to crush you, and your blueberry. “I wouldn’t ever force you to keep it... him... her? Baby berry?... But I know you’re just scared. And I am too but that’s ok.” He pressed loving kisses to your tingling lips between each set of words as your hands toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck, “I mean, we were gonna have one eventually.”

“We were?” You smirked, interested to hear more.

“Mhmmm...” he hummed, moving his lips from your mouth and across your jaw, eventually ending up at the delicate skin on your neck as he spoke, “I think 3. 1 boy, 1 girl, 1 blueberry...” Your laugh filled the room at not only his tom-ness, but the way his breath tickled your neck as he spoke. “In a big house, and another tessa, maybe a couple more chickens because my kids are gonna love dippy egg and soldiers.”

His tongue lapped the areas his teeth were nibbling, swapping his needy, harsh touch for a more gentle approach. You groaned into him, back arching as he grazed all your sensitive spots, his hands running up your t shirt and cupping your breast. You moaned his name into him, with nothing but love filling the word.

Your nipples grew hard between his fingers as he toyed with you, barely noticing how he was moving around on top of you, reaching over to the bedside drawer and rummaging through.

“Tom, what on Earth are you doing?” You laughed.

“Getting a condom?

[animatedarchives]

SWEETER THAN HONEY

— 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐊𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐈

author’s note: i wanted to write some fluff since i haven’t yet so please enjoy suga being an aBSoLuTE gENtLEmAN i love him so much

genre: soft and fluffy, lots of uwus

warnings: none

word count: 1.2k words

Soft rays of light trickled through your blinds, caressing your skin and giving you an ethereal glow. Mother Nature greeted you warmly as you started to stir; trees slow-danced with the gentle breeze as birds serenaded you with their sweetest melodies. Your peaceful form began to unravel as you stretched your limbs across the soft linen sheets. 

What time is it? 

Your brain responded slowly, having just awoken from its slumber. 

Oh right, it’s Sunday.

Your muscles relaxed once more as you tried to find a comfortable position.

Maybe just a little while more.

You nestled your cheek back into your pillow, pulling your blanket above your shoulders. Your breathing slowed again, keeping a steady beat.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. In-

Wait. Your brows furrowed. 

Inhale.

What was that... delectable scent?

You breathed it in again; it was undeniably familiar. The aroma tickled a memory buried deep in your mind but as you reached out to grasp it, it slipped through your fingers. Until…

Your eyes fluttered open. Pancakes.

“Awww…” someone whined.

You rubbed your eyes sleepily as you turned to face the owner of the voice.

“You don’t sound too happy that I’m awake,” you chuckled, voice scratchy from lack of use.

“Only because I wanted to be the one to wake you,” Suga pouted. 

“I mean, technically, you did wake me up,” you yawned, nodding to the tray in his hands.

“Not like that, silly,” he laughed, placing the tray on the side table. He made his way over to the bed, wanting to show you exactly what he meant. Reaching down, he took your hand in his strong yet gentle one.

He brought it up to his soft plush lips, unblinking as he looked deep into your eyes with absolute adoration. He seemed to put you under a spell as you watched him trail tender kisses up your arm. Even the sun seemed to blush, enveloping him in an angelic glow as he continued to worship your body. 

Finally, he reached your face, your noses barely grazing each other. Only centimeters apart, you waited agonisingly for him to close the distance. Just when you were about to do it yourself, he leaned in and kissed you with such intent that your mind went completely blank. All you knew in that moment was just the taste of his honey sweet lips moving fervently against yours. 

It ended all too soon and your lips ached for his as he leaned back to admire you. Your hair was messy and unkempt, sticking out in all directions. Your skin was imperfect; bumps, scars and pimples clearly visible on your bare face. Your eyes were tired, slightly red and jaded from feeling the weight of the world. Yet despite all of your flaws, Suga looked at you like you were the most magnificent creature he had ever laid eyes on. His endearing gaze made you feel like an absolute queen.

“Good morning, Y/N,” he beamed. Well, that was definitely one way to wake you up. 

“Good morning, Koshi,” you responded, eyes crinkling up into half-moon shapes. Your radiant smile just made you look so beautiful.

It took all his strength to tear his eyes away from you as he got up and walked to the side table, leaving you feeling a little less warm without his presence. 

“I know you’ve been feeling a little down lately, so I wanted to surprise you today,” he explained while retrieving the tray. You sat up in bed as he placed it on your lap.

“Souffle pancakes with peaches and cream - your favourite. I also added extra peaches because I know how much you love them,” he said proudly. “Oh! And one cup of tea, the one you have every morning in your favourite mug,” he added.

“With milk and two sugars?” you asked.

“Just how you like it,” he grinned.

You were completely speechless. You weren’t expecting this at all. The expression on your face made Suga feel extremely accomplished. He only ever wanted to give you the best.

“Babe, you really didn’t have to…” you said, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt for causing him so much trouble. You didn’t want to be a burden.

“Well yeah, I didn’t have to. But I wanted to,” he assured you. “I wanted to remind you how much I love you and that I will always be here for you, through the good days and the bad.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at his unwavering affection for you. How did you get so lucky? Slowly, your eyes drifted down to the pancakes and you admired his handiwork fondly. 

“This is what we had on our first date, isn’t it? At the pancake house you brought me to?”

You remembered it as if it were yesterday. You donned your favourite summer dress, the yellow fabric perfectly complementing your complexion. You played with your skirt nervously as you waited outside the pancake shop where you agreed to meet. He showed up in his best clothes, looking as handsome as ever. When he noticed you, his jaw slackened as he took in the sight before him.

“Wow. You look stunning, Y/N,” he exhaled. You literally took his breath away.

You blushed at the compliment. “You don’t look too bad yourself,” you giggled. The sound was music to his ears. “Shall we go in?” you asked.

He walked to the door and opened it for you. “After you,” he grinned.

Suga’s light laughter brought you back to the present as he realised you had figured it out. “I remember how much you loved their pancakes so I went and asked for the recipe to make them for you myself,” he confessed, looking away shyly. “They may not taste exactly the same but… I just really wanted to treat you today.”

You dispelled his doubts by placing a reassuring kiss on his lips. “Thank you. This is more than I could have ever asked for.”

You could hardly believe you were able to attain such a loving boyfriend. The way he remembered even the tiniest details about you — your favourite fruit, your favourite mug, what you ate on your first date, and even the way you liked your tea in the morning. You don’t know what good you could have possibly done in your past life to deserve such a blessing, but you were certain it had to be beyond outstanding. 

“Let me take care of you today,” he said gently, rubbing circles into your skin with his thumb.

You smiled contentedly, knowing he wouldn’t relent until you agreed. “Okay,” you replied, giving in to his request.

Suga’s eyes sparkled with joy as you accepted his expression of love. He excitedly climbed onto his side of the bed, settling in comfortably next to you. You fed each other the homemade pancakes — which were delicious to say the least — and basked in each others’ company.

“Is it too bland? Do you want it sweeter? I can get some honey if you like,” he suggested, insistent on making everything perfect for you.

You laughed and shook your head.

“No honey could ever be as sweet as you.”

You kissed his cheek and lay your head on his shoulder, your arms and fingers intertwined. You closed your eyes and breathed in his floral scent; it always reminded you of the comfort of Spring. It was moments like this that you wished you could live in forever.

© written and published by animatedarchives 2020. please do not steal or repost. thank you.

[tired0artist]

sing to me (part one)

paring: female!V x Johnny Silverhand

summary: a street kid V falls in love with SAMURAI music and idolises Johnny Silverhand. years later she finally understands the saying “never meet your idols”

warnings: angst and fluff, Johnny being a dick as always, arguments, Jackie and V are like siblings, Mama Wells is the best, grief, V plays the guitar, more/different warnings in the future parts

note: I’m describing my V, but you can imagine her however you want tho

•SAMURAI fan V (street kid)•

Ever since she heard “Never Fade Away” playing on some radio on the streets, she fell in love with it.

She was around 13 and world was shitty, she was angry at the corpos and other rich bastards (her rebellious years really).

So finding out that basically the whole SAMURAI was fucking the corpos and singing about it? Also that Johnny Silverhand bombed Arasaka? Fucking legendary.

One of the happiest days of her life.

V started scavenging for their old records, t-shirts and shit like that. And her first payment for stealing some shard from some corpo fuck, went for a new record player.

When she hit 17, V snuck into some fancy bar to see Kerry Eurodyne playing. Of course he was playing some of his own songs, but couple of SAMURAI ones were there.

Another great day in her life.

Turning 21 instead of going drinking or something like that. V found herself at a music store, buying her first guitar.

For a year she was teaching herself how to play. To the point where her fingertips started scaring, from all the times she played until she bleed.

At 22 she played at some bar, earning some descent money. And a broken nose from some fuck who dared to insult her playing.

He of course looked far worse than she did.

That was when she met Jackie, while trying to steal a car.

Apparently getting your shit beaten out of you by cops, was a great start of a friendship.

Greatest day in her life.

She stopped sleeping in an old warehouse and moved in with Jackie, to his mama’s basement.

V felt the happiest there, the warmth and freedom of her new home. That’s how she wrote her first song.

“You should be a musician, you’re really talented” said Mama Wells as she came upon V humming and playing out on the balcony, Jackie sitting next to her with a beer.

V laughed but didn’t stop playing “Yeah sure”

“Mama is right! You could be a star chica” Jackie said, being as optics always.

“You could play at El Coyote Cojo during the weekends” Mama Wells said with a smile.

“I don’t know, the last time I played at a bar it ended up in a fight” V said, chewing on her lip.

“Chica... I’ll be your bodyguard. I’ll even wear a suit!” said Jackie with a grin.

V laughed “I sure would like to see that”

“So, I’m going to tell Pepe to set everything up for you” said Mama Wells with a smile “Now come on ninõs, dinner is ready”

And so for three years, V was regularly playing at Mama Wells’ bar.

Some people even got inside just to listen to her play and sometimes sing whenever she felt like using her words to channel even more emotions through her music.

And then came the worst couple of days of her life.

“Dexter Deshawn!!! Can you believe it V?! We could finally be on top!” said Jackie on their way to Afterlife.

V smiled at her friend, as her heart screamed that it wasn’t what she wanted anymore. When she met Jackie she wanted to the best of the best.

But after so many years with music? She longed to play. Even to get her own album someday!

And yet she bit her tongue, buried her dreams thinking.

I’ll help Jackie get on top and then I’ll take care of my own dreams.

But it didn’t happen.

Jackie died along with V’s musical soul, right in that Delamain. As the rain poured against the windows, creating an off rhythm that reminded her of her stuttering and crushed heart.

Next thing she knows after that, is that she died.

Then woke up.

Got saved by Takemura.

Nearly died again.

And once again woke up, this time at Vik’s.

Panic was clawing at her chest as she remembered hazily her hallucinations, tears gathered in her eyes as she didn’t know what was happening to her.

“These hallucinations... explain them to me”

“I-I’m on stage... but not at El Coyote... I don’t recognise it. T-The music is loud and aggressive... familiar in a way but I can’t remember it clearly anymore... lights are shining on my face as I scream to the crowd. I-I’m full of rage and no matter how much I’ll scream... it won’t go away...”

She then chuckled humourlessly “And then... just don’t laugh at me. I bombed the Arasaka tower...”

“Nothing there to laugh about, kid...” Vik said, his eyes showing sadness.

“The worst part is that... I can still feel this rage. And some... frustration? Irritation? But I-I don’t know why. I don’t feel that way? Then why?”

Vik sat down, saying “These hallucinations.. they were memories. There’s a personality construct on that shard. Dreams you had, were from his past”

“So you’re saying that... I was experiencing another psyche’s memories? How’s that even possible?” V asked, the alien irritation in her head growing.

“You two are connected in a way that I can’t make head or tail out of”

“Two? Me and who Vik? Who’s in my head?” she asked, anxiety growing in her chest.

“Johnny Silverhand. A terrorist. A real talk of the town back in my days”

V’s breath got stuck in her throat as she said “You’re saying... that there’s a dead rockerboy in my head. The same one who played with SAMURAI?”

Victor just nodded, and the fear inside her grew.

But that wasn’t even the worst part yet.

“He’s overwriting your consciousness. You don’t have much time left kid... few weeks tops”

V cried with fear begging Victor to help her, but there’s nothing he could do.

Nothing anyone could do.

The same night she met him. The guy that she admired as a kid. The guy who was a part of her favourite band. The guy who inspired her into making her own music.

And the guy who was killing her.

Silverhand tossed her around her apartment, surprising her with that fact that he could touch her.

It made her afraid of him. Because no one would help her if he suddenly decided to kill her. To them it would seem like cyber psychosis.

But still she fought back. She had nothing to loose after Jackie. She glared at him, yelled at him and crawled her way towards the pills.

“Fuck off!” she said to him, seconds before he dematerialised. With that she laid down and fell asleep on the ground, her body too exhausted to move.

Next morning was hell for her.

Her head was in agony not only from the fact that she was shot in the head, but also because it got smashed into a window.

She washed herself, took care of her broken nose, dressed in her favourite black leather pants, grey sleeveless hoodie and black biker vest. Putting on her combat boots and pulling the hood over her still damp peach-pink hair, she left her apartment.

As she was leaving the bloc, Takemura called her. Asking to meet up.

V didn’t want to, but the man was persistent. So finally she agreed and still feeling like shit, took the metro to their meeting place.

Takemura was easy to find, his clean and fancy clothing standing out.

The man seemed reliable and openly spoke about what he wanted. She could work with that.

After Goro left, V let out a deep breath. A feeling of hope finally igniting in her, that maybe. Just maybe, she’ll be able to survive.

But that moment of peace lasted only couple of seconds as Silverhand appeared, sitting in front of her as if he was really there, tapping his hands against the table.

“Zapper-dumples and filth. In some ways, Night City never changes. Arasaka’s still a despotic machine and the world’s on a collision course with chaos. But hey, at least Rogue’s still alive” the man said, his leg on the table looking like a jackass.

Or a rockerboy.

V’s fear and anger bleed into one as she said angrily and quite loudly.

“You know, you got some nerve. First you’re out to kill me, now you wanna be my choom? Make like nothing happened?”

People turned to stare at her as if she’s lost her mind. Making her realise that, yeah. Only she could see that fucker.

And to think that she idolised the bastard as a kid.

Silverhand looked around at the people saying “You know you don’t gotta speak out loud to talk to me?”

V glared at him, her fingers twitching.

“What. Do. You. Want” she said in her mind.

“I’ve processed some shit, changed my mind. Don’t want you dead anymore”

“Go fuck yourself, you fucking dick” she said angrily, pointing her finger at him.

“Hey, wasn’t easy for me, either. You woke up in a landfill, I woke up in your head. Wrestling with your thoughts, memories. Think we’re even”

“The fuck we are! I didn’t try to murder you, while you were almost dead in your bed!” she accused, not feeling scared anymore. Just angry.

Silverhand pretended he didn’t hear her as he took off his glasses saying “I’ve taken a step back, looked at things... think we might be able to help each other. We could start with Rogue. Her and I go back to the stone age”

V snorted “I don’t know if you realised it yet. But you’re dead Silverhand. No one close to my age even knows that you ever existed. Your friends are either dead or so old that their memory is shit”

Silverhand looked ready to murder her but she didn’t stop.

“And what? You fucking know Rogue. What do you expect me to say to her? That I have a parasite inside my brain that would love to meet her? I’ll be out of the Afterlife before I can say “SAMURAI””

“Rogue’s heard dumber shit than that. Way back when you weren’t even an itch in your daddy’s ballsack” he said, the alien feeling of annoyance becoming clearer inside her. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, his other leg joining the first one on the table “Rogue will dance to any tune I play her. Just get us to the Afterlife”

V stood up and leaned down on the table, their faces inches from each other “You think you’re so smart Silverhand. So fucking clever. But let me give you an advice, old man” she watched him glare back at her, as she continued “I admired you as a kid. You know that, from my memories. But should also know from them, that I don’t bow down to anyone. Especially to dicks like you. So now. Be a good little ghost and fade away”

With that she stood up and left. Silverhand didn’t appear again that day, which she counted as a win.

•english isn’t my first language so sorry for any errors.

•you wanna be tagged in the next parts? leave a comment!

•thanks for reading! hope you like it. I will be going through some parts of the main story and beyond. I’m planning it to be a bit longer so if you want something longer than 5/6 parts, this is for you

[tomtenadia]

Island Dreams - Chapter 5

Hello readers :) Just one chapter tonight but it's just shy of 4k words so hopefully it will do fine :)

so... bit of angst coming. Apologies there is a bit of fluff too but not what you hope. Please don't hate Elias. He is my secret weapon to bring our two idiots together. So just be nice to him.

Fun facts: 1. I adore Roald Dahl like our trio. 2. The scene at Luskentyre with the dark clouds and the savage rain. Been there done that. Luckily I saw it in the sun as well. 3. I hug standing stones. I am a serial hugger. Hugged the ones at Callanish and have a few photos of me hugging stones in Orkney as well.

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

A week had passed.

Rowan opened the bookshop on time as usual. Switched on the lights and the computer and went to the back and dragged to the counter the bulky box containing the orders that had arrived the previous night.

Once he cracked the box open he realised Aelin’s was at the top, staring at him. He sighed, took the book and sat on the stool behind his counter. For a whole week he hated himself for what he said to her. He had definitely gone too far and he had to find a way to apologise and make it up to her for his dreadful behaviour.

Gently he flipped the book in his hands and read a couple of random pages and smiled. He was positive she was going to love the last book in the series and a part of him was quite eager to discuss the book with her.

He had read the series a long time ago and loved it. Flipping through the pages he found some of the lines he loved and a tenuous smile appeared on his face at the thought that Aelin reminded him so much the female main character in the book. 

Both of them had fire in them.

He hadn’t seen her in a week and Maeve told him that she hadn’t been at the coffee shop either.

His aunt’s words still haunted him. She is just as lost as you are.

What could have happened to her? She always appeared to him as full of life and quite energetic, but he guessed that might be a mask she would wear for stranger, for people who were not close to her. He wanted to meet the real Aelin, problems at all. He thought pondered on his aunt’s words. What if she really was the key to get out of the funk he had been stuck for a while? What if he could help her as well? He admitted that he wanted to be his friend and he was going to prove it to her.

Deep down though he knew he had another reason, a bit more selfish. He found her attractive. More than that. The first day in the shop she had taken his breath away. And she loved books probably just as much as he did. Something that Lyria… no. He was not going there. 

He closed his eyes and tried to picture Aelin. Her funny attempts to use Gaelic gave him fuzzy feelings. 

He had spent a week mulling and thinking about her. He could not stop doing that. She had made him feel again. But the idea terrified him. He had committed completely to a woman once. He gave her all of him, his love, trust, respect and heart. And she destroyed everything. He sighed and put the book on the shelf behind him where he kept all the orders to be collected. He had to find a way to tell her her book was here. In his anger he forgot to take her phone number or address and now he was stuck. He only had to hope that she would remember and pop in in the shop. If he could see her one more time and apologise…

He was busy unpacking when the bell rang and a dark-haired man entered the shop.

“Good morning, can I help you?”

The man looked at him and smiled “Yes, definitely. I am looking for a book. Something on Callanish.” He explained looking around the shop with interest “It’s for a woman. It’s a present. She is new here and I would like to give her a welcome to the islands present. She just visited Callanish for the first time and she loved it.”

Rowan felt sick for a moment. Was that guy talking about Aelin? Because the description sounded very similar. Sadness hit him. So she was doing fine after all. She did not need him.

“I have a nice selection. Ranging form the usual tourist guide to something more fascinating and historical.” And he showed the guy the books. The stranger took one of the bigger ones. One of his favourites.

“That is a great one.” He added pointing at the one the guy was holding in his hands “It has info about the archeological excavations, theories about its use and it connects to the mythology as well. It’s quite complete. Your friend will love it.”

The man smiled again and kept the book.

“Can I just have a look around?”

Rowan nodded keeping an eye on the man. Could it be that he was talking about Aelin? He did his best to convince himself that it was just a coincidence. It had to be. But sadness struck anyway. He had planned to  get that book for Aelin. He was positive she would have adored it. And now chances were another man was going to give it to her.

The man came back with a second book. A colouring book of the Hebrides “I have a feeling Aelin will love them.”

Rowan stopped. His world froze. And his heart was beating furiously in his chest.

“She is a lucky woman.” Rowan forced himself to say. “Would you like me to wrap them since it’s a present.”

“That would be amazing if it’s not too much trouble.”

Rowan took a deep breath and steadied his hands.

“You have a great place here. And I love your Roald Dahl display.”

Those words stung. That was one of the first things Aelin had said to him.

“Big fan.” Was all that Rowan managed ignoring the roaring fury rising in him. At his stupidity. His bad temper. That could have been him if only he had been able to control himself and be nice for once in his life.

“When I was little I was obsessed with James and the Giant Peach.” The man continued while Rowan was working on wrapping the books. He had a feeling that Aelin was a big fan of Matilda.

“Here we go.” Rowan passed the present to the man.

The stranger paid and left the shop.

Rowan sat in silence for a while then stood, turned the sign of the shop to closed, switched off the lights, locked the door and went home.

All of a sudden he did not feel in the mood anymore to deal with people.

He grabbed his car and drove in silence until he reached his favourite spot on the islands. He went to the Butt of Lewis, sat on the edge of the cliff and admired the sea raging against the cliffs, mirroring perfectly his current mood.

Aelin had taken a day off from exploring. She had driven a lot the previous days and she needed a break from here car. She had gone back to Luskentyre, however this time she was not so lucky with the weather. An horrible storm had hit once there. And still, the place was stunning. The dark clouds heavy with rain seemed to enhance the blues and green of the water. A strange light had embraced the bay and the sand appeared even whiter. Then the rain hit and she thought she had never seen a rainstorm so brutal. She had stayed in the car and waited it out. Being Scotland, the weather was very changeable and ten minutes later the sun was out and the most amazing rainbow arched across the beach. Not a single one of her photo did any justice to the beauty in front of her.

She was now wandering around Stornoway and convinced herself to go to Rowan’s shop. It had been a week and her book should have arrived. The last one had ended in an epic cliffhanger and now she needed to know. It was a matter of life or death.

She turned the corner and a strange feeling overcame her when she noticed the lights off. At the entrance door a sign said Dùinte and underneath Closed in English. It was almost noon, how was it possible it was closed? Rowan was punctual to a fault. Was he sick? She wished she had his mobile number to get in touch with him. 

She was worried. 

But most of all she realised she missed him. Yes, they barely knew each other and they didn’t have the best of the beginnings, but still…

She sighed and walked away.

In that instant Elias texted her. She had caved in the end and texted him. They had started chatting. That morning he had told her that he was in town and they agreed to meet.

He was waiting for her at the parking near the ferry terminal. She tucked her sadness away and walked toward the terminal.

She had debated every day since she gave Elias her number if she had done the right thing. 

She clearly felt something for Rowan. What it was, she still wasn’t sure. And although he had been grumpy and they fought, something about him resonated within her. As if his soul somehow called out to hers. 

The rational part of her quickly rejected the idea as the twisted and unachievable idea of love that her books had given her over the years.

Human’s relationships were nothing but pain. 

For a moment she argued to herself that for some inexplicable reason his soul had somehow resonated with Rowan’s. That if they were in a book instead, someone would have pointed out that the pining was due to them being soulmates.

A minute later after that thought she snorted loudly.

They were everything but. They weren’t even friends. 

What about enemies to lovers? She snorted again and closed the distance to where Elias was waiting for her.

There were more chances of Rowan strangling her than them becoming friends.

All that mental gymnastics to convince herself that texting Elias was good. That she was not betraying Rowan.

But at the same time she felt a horrible person. She had no idea what she wanted from Elias. She was not ready yet to commit again. But still, she didn’t want to mislead him. He seemed such a nice guy. Hurting was the last thing she wanted to do to him.

Aelin finally arrived at the car park and saw him. He was as tall as Rowan. He was standing beside his car. Sunglasses on his head, dark shorts, a light blue polo shirt hugged his upper body nicely and she could not force her gaze away from him. He was stunning.

But he is not Rowan a voice said in her head and she told it to shut up.

“Hello.” He waved at her and she noticed his bright smile and his two dimples make their appearance. She had forgotten his smile.

“Hey.” She said joining him near his car “Nice car by the way. Being an engineer must pay really well.” She joked and hoped she hadn’t gone too far as her usual.

“Love a woman with a good taste in cars. It’s a Tesla. Cost me a kidney but this baby it’s worth it.”

“Of course you get a Tesla. You are an environmental engineer so an electric car makes sense. If you were a book character you’d be considered perfectly in character.”

Elias laughed loudly at the joke. Then he opened the door, and grabbed something from the car “For you. A welcome to the islands gift.”

Aelin took the present and froze when she noticed the sticker on top. The present came from Rowan’s bookshop. All of a sudden she forgot how to breath. At least she did manage to hide her shaky hands from Elias.

She opened the present and squealed in delight when she noticed the book about Callanish and underneath a colouring book. She put the second on the roof of the car and opened the first one. Inside the dust jacket she noticed a small note. That, definitely did not belong there. The calligraphy was neat Your book is here. I guess you want to know what happens after the cliffhanger. Then at the bottom of the note I am sorry. R.

How did he know that Elias was giving her the book? A wave of panic hit her.

Sneakily she hid the note from Elias and pretended to browse the book, but her mind kept going back to Rowan’s message. Her heart was hammering in her chest, so much that it almost hurt. The words I am sorry resonating in her head like an echo.

“Glad you loved the books. I forgot there was a nice bookshop in town. I got it from there. The one about Callanish came with a recommendation from the owner.” Aelin felt like crying. She was just picturing Rowan helping Elias pick the book for her. Why was she feeling like that for a man who had clearly told her that she meant nothing to him? Why was she caring so much?

Had Lysandra been there she would have told her to drop the grumpy guy and take the nice one. 

She stretched and gave Elias a little peck on the cheek “Thank you. They are perfect. Now I just need some pencils for the colouring book.”

“That, we can fix easily.” Elias went around the car and opened the other door for her “Hop in.”

Aelin looked at him puzzled “I thought we were staying in town.”

“No way, there is still so much for you to see.”

“I am in a Tesla.” She commented ecstatic and noticed Elias grinning. “I don’t have car. In London it’s a nightmare. Traffic is horrendous and parking near my house is just non existent. Luckily the tube takes me to work easily.”

“On the islands the only traffic jam you experience is cattle, sheep and the annoying tourists driving motorhomes where they shouldn’t and going at a slow pace because they have to take a photo of every single piece of grass.”

Aelin laughed “I got stuck in the middle of a flock of sheep the other day. I was along the Golden Road.”

“Well, that was your baptism of fire and you passed it.”

Half an hour later they were crossing a bridge. Elias explained to her that they were heading for Great Bernera. As soon as they cleared the bridge he pulled over and parked the car at the small picnic area. She got out and stood immobile for a moment to take in the beauty of the landscape.all around her. Then Elias grabbed her hand and he pulled toward the left. She looked up and she noticed some standing stones and she felt giddy.

“Come on.”

They climbed the short path and they reached the stones.

Aelin went to hug them and she made Elias laugh out loud “that is a very unusual reaction.” Then he took his  phone and took a photo “Now I can bribe you until eternity.”

Aelin dismissed him with a rude gesture and kept hugging the stone.

“You are hugging Callanish VIII.”

Aelin gasped in surprise.

“This place is quite peculiar. It is a semi circle and not a full circle and according to the archaeologists it was never a full circle. No one knows what it was for. However, according to the local folklore, due to its strange configuration and location, on a calm winter day when the sun is low a strange experience might occur. If you walk between the tall stone and the water a double shadow is cast on the stone. One shadow is produced by the sun and the other by the sun’s reflection on the water.” He explained, his gaze fixed on the horizon. 

“I tried plenty of times but no luck.”

He walked behind her and tugged her to his chest, leaning his chin on her shoulder. Elias then took her hand and pointed “There,” he said “over there you have Callanish. The main site.”

She leaned against his hard chest and took comfort in the nice feeling.

“That is so awesome.”

“I am pretty sure your book will have a part about these stones.” His breath was gentle against her ear and she shivered in pleasure at the feeling.

“Let’s go. We haven’t reached our final destination yet.” He moved away and for a brief second she missed the warmth of his body against hers.

They got back in the car and they drove for a bit longer. The road was narrow but Elias drove with the experience of a local and she felt pretty safe. 

They finally reached a parking area and she was ready to get out again.

“The islands are quite amazing for their historical sites.” He started, offering his hand to her.

She took it and he smiled tenderly. His thumb gently brushing the top of her hand.

“Are you ready for a visit to the iron age?”

They walked in silence for a short stretch along the wall of a cemetery and then she noticed the Iron Age house. Elias paid the pound to get into the house, but she was more interested in the stunning beach she had spotted at the end of the path. Once out of the house she took running toward the beach and Elias followed until he grabbed at her waist “You ungrateful witch. I am showing you an historical site and all you care is the beach.”

Aelin laughed and turned to him, their faces dangerously close “Sorry, but the beach looks soooooo amazing”

Elias let her go and playfully pushed her away “Go. Have fun.”

She smiled at him and walked toward the beach, removed her shoes and walked in the water. That had become her ritual.

Bosta beach was another gem. A hidden one, it looked like.

Elias joined her in the water and stood beside her, their arms touching “When I was young, my brother and I used to come here and kayak. See the islands in front of us?” He pointed and Aelin nodded “That is little Bernera. The only way to get there is by boat. On the the side there is a beach that is something out of this world. Untouched. Pristine. With waters of colours so bright that they might not be real.”

She turned to him and looked at Elias in the eyes. And they were bright, full of joy

“You have a childish streak.” He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“No, that came out wrong. What I meant is that you seem to tackle life with the same joy a kid does. The way you hugged the stone, or how you run just now or your face when you saw the books. It’s contagious.” With a hand he caressed her face.

She should pull away and break that contact, but she couldn’t because she realised she missed it. So in the end she leaned into his touch, basking in the feeling of his hand on her cheek.

“Tha thu bóidheach…” he whispered “You are beautiful.” He repeated in English.

Aelin broke the contact and went to sit down on the sand. She needed a moment to collect herself. To unravel the set of conflicted emotions battling inside her.

In front of her there was Elias. A wonderful man who seemed quite keen to be in her company. Who was intelligent and fascinating and sweet. A man capable of making her heart race madly. He was perfect. He was handsome. Unbelievably so. And then there was Rowan. Who was… maddening. They were nothing and no chance of their status changing anytime soon.

She sighed.

Elias sat beside her “did I do something wrong?” His blue eyes fixed on her “What I said and did… sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

Aelin shook her head. He was considerate and with his face mere centimetres from hers she realised she just wanted to kiss him.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she explained and wondered if it was the time to open up to someone else. But Maeve’s word replayed in her head. You can help each other. He is stuck too. She wanted to open up to Rowan. According to Maeve he was suffering for something too. She wanted him to open up to her. She knew it felt wrong. She could not open up to Elias. That was something that belonged to Rowan. Of that she was sure.

“I haven’t done this in a while.”

“Are you seriously telling me that in the whole of London there is not a single man who’d consider himself lucky to have you?”

“I can be a handful.”

“My brother has three kids under the age of ten. I can handle handful. Believe me.”

Aelin laughed and leaned her head on his shoulder “And why a guy like you is single?”

“The missus had a side thing with her boss. They eloped. She got pregnant and now she lives the grand life in Edinburgh with the money she got from the divorce and got stuck with the kid. He was rich. Filthy rich and she just wiped him clean.”

“And you were married to her?”

“Oh yeah. I was young and stupid. We lasted two years.”

“Probably you didn’t earn enough big bucks.”

Elias laughed genuinely “Aye, I was a poor nobody compared to her second husband.”

“Her loss,” Aelin added.

He tuned his head surprised by that remark. His face inched closer and hesitated for a second, then finally kissed her

Aelin resisted him for a moment, but then she melted in the kiss. His lips were soft. The kiss started gentle but then it got harder and she could feel need seeping from it.

His hands went to her back and slowly pushed her on the sand on her back. Aelin run her hands in his hair and pulled him closer.

She nibbled his lower lip and the sound he made awoke something at her core. His hands slid to her sides and he traced the length of her body. She closed her eyes and froze. A pair of green eyes appeared in her vision. Rowan’s face floated in front of her and she froze. She sat up quickly.

“Not on the beach near a tourist attraction.” She stood and patted the sand away from her clothes using it as an excuse to put some distance between them. 

Slowly she gathered the courage to look at him and she saw hurt in his blue eyes.

“You are right. Being arrested for sex in public is not in my today’s plan.” And the dimples came back.

“I am sorry I…” she fumbled.

He got closer and kissed tenderly on her lips “No need to apologise.” Then he patted her hair. “You are covered in sand.”

In silence they walked back to the car and even on the journey home she struggled to say more than a few words. She held her book on her legs and kept thinking at the message inside and how she will face Rowan the next day.

“I can drop you off at your place.”

“No, the car park is fine. It’s a nice evening. I don’t mind the stroll.”

“Ok, mo charaid.”

Aelin leaned forward and kissed him “Thank you for the books and for today. I had so much fun.”

“Me too,” he kissed her back.

Aelin broke the kiss and left the car. He got out and leaned on the roof “Text me.”

“I will do, mo charaid”

Elias laughed “you are so sexy when you try to speak Gaelic.”

Aelin blew him a kiss and walked away.

When she was almost home she leaned against the small wall separating the road from the marina and looked toward the town. To the spot where Rowan’s shop was.

And wondered what he was doing.

Wondered if he missed her as well.

[imissjoongsmullet]

My Prince (2)

Pairing: Minghao x reader

Genre: fluff/(angst)

Summary: Life is not exactly easy being the royal gardeners’ daughter but at least it’s simple. When you’re suddenly called upon to serve as the prince’s personal servant, things get a little more than complicated, especially considering the secret history you and the prince share.

Part 1

Part 3

Warnings: general angstiness, a bit of a slow burn, very romantic, very soft, the fact that this will most likely become a long series cause I have no chill

Word Count: 3.5k

Author’s Note: thanks to everyone who was kind enough to reblog and/or leave feedback on the first part! It makes my day ♥ ♥ ♥  This isn’t my most popular thing on here but it’s got such a special place in my heart  ♥  Also, I promise the next part will have a bunch more fluff so look forward to that~!

►

“Come on,” you hissed under your breath as you attempted to mold your hair into the shape it was supposed to be. If Tou Ma found it messy again she’d do more than just tell you off. If she found you late on duty on the other hand she’d do even worse, so you had to get going.

It had been a whole two weeks and you still felt like a complete novice at just about everything that was expected of you. You kept getting lost and forgetting the many forms of curtsies, you’d over-bubbled the prince’s bath, lost one of his hunting coats. One time you’d even dropped a platter of fruit in the presence of the empress. You were reaching new levels of embarrassment every day and slowly but surely longing for the days spent getting your nails dirty in the gardens with your parents. At least you’d been somewhat good at gardening. In here, everything you did was wrong; everything you were was wrong. And now, you couldn’t even get your hair to sit right.

Groaning as as yet another strand of hair fell down over your eyes, you twisted around and left the maid’s quarters, hoping no one would notice. Dashing through the castle you retrieved your things, trying desperately not to look as panicked as you were. By the time you arrived at the prince’s chamber doors you were panting. You pressed a few fingers against your chest, as if that would magically calm your heartbeat — it didn’t.

To your great relief, prince Minghao was still asleep. You set down your tea tray went to pull back the heavy drapes covering the opening towards his balcony. Now the morning light fell onto his soft features you found it hard not to stare. To tell the truth, you often found yourself staring at the young prince. Minghao had grown up well. He was only one year older than you, but he already looked so much more mature, both in good ways and bad. The way he held himself in body language and conversation astounded you. It was so far from how you’d known him all those years ago and, as handsome as you thought he’d become, your heart sank at the coolness in him. It was as if someone had turned off the lights behind his eyes.

Though when you looked at him now, there was a softness about him that didn’t often show itself while he was awake. His skin looked soft as peach and his plump lips curved into a slight smile that made you not want to wake him at all.

He looked happy. You drew nearer, smiling yourself. He looked so comfortable in the soft plush of his royal bed. For the tiniest moment, you kind of wished you could just slip under the silk covers with him and forget about your duties. He had quite long eyelashes; you’d never noticed that before. They began to flutter and before you could do anything, Minghao’s waking eyes were on you.

With a small gasp you fell back, tripping over your robes and falling onto the rug on the floor. Mortified, you jumped back up, unable to look at him. Hoping he somehow, magically hadn’t seen yet another blunder of yours, you bent over your tea set and began pouring the water.

“You, um, you’re expected at breakfast shortly,” you said. Even though you’d told him this exact sentence every morning for the past two weeks, you hadn’t been able to say it properly once. You couldn’t tell whether it was due to you being clumsy or the fact that Minghao always looked like heaven in the morning.

You heard him groan behind you.

“Your tea, your highness,” you added, twisting around to find him sitting up in the bed, disgruntled frown plastered across his face.

Ignoring the biting feeling in your chest, you walked over and set the tray down beside him.

He didn’t even look at you as he took the cup and lifted it to his lips.

You took that as your cue to leave.

You saw him in the dining room next, where you were supposed to make sure the prince’s breakfast experience was on point. In reality, it was a lot of standing around and waiting. The emperor and empresses’ servants were there as well, one a bit friendlier than the other.

“You’ve messed up your hair again,” Mie whispered when no one was looking.

“I know,” you replied as the short girl’s nimble fingers ran through your hair, swiftly pulling back the loose strands into their proper place.

The room was unusually tense this morning and when the emperor finally opened his mouth you understood why.

“I think we should call forth a meeting about these protests,” he said in a deep, droning voice, rubbing a bony finger against his temple. Emperor Xu Yilan was a tall, slender man with hair down to his waist. He had been a promising presence when he’d first ascended the throne but had lost most of the people’s support in recent years, after his naivety had led to the loss of some of their land to a neighboring empire called Yientan.

The empress placed a hand on her husband’s wrist.

“What am I to do?” the man went on, eyes flitting to his only son for the swift fraction of a second.

“I’m sure your men can put an end to the protesters,” the empress said.

“No,” replied the emperor, “the people are right to protest. We need the highlands back. I’ve got to—” he balled his hands into fists on the table.

“Let us talk about something else, no?” the empress suggested, picking at the pickled vegetables in front of her with her chopsticks.

But the emperor’s head seemed to be swarming with thoughts of only one thing. Minghao didn’t speak at all during breakfast and when he rose from the table you noticed he’d barely touched his food at all.

“Follow me,” he said as he passed you on the way out.

Doing as you were told, you slid out the room, shuffling after him through the many maze-like hallways. The tense atmosphere from breakfast seemed to follow the two of you as well. Minghao was stiff as ever and quiet as night.

Through a side door you found yourself on an outdoor walkway. You’d seen it before; you’d had a pretty good view of it from the apple orchard while you’d worked with your parents but you’d never known where it led.

You looked out into the vast gardens spread out before you, hoping to catch sight of your parents. You hadn’t seen them since you’d come to the castle. You saw some tiny heads here and there behind the various greenery but couldn’t make out anything defining. You wondered whether the wisteria were blooming yet. You couldn’t quite see them from here and they’d always been your favorite. You stood on the tips of your toes to peak over the apple trees obstructing your view. Maybe you could go see them after dark, after the prince had gone to sleep and you’d be— the prince.

You spun around, half expecting to have been abandoned, yet there here was. Minghao was standing a bit further onto the wooden path, staring at you in silence.

“I’m sorry,” you blurted, remembering one of Tou Ma’s many slogans: to keep a royal waiting is an act akin to treason — over-dramatic of course, “so sorry, your highness.” You bowed toward him and when you raised your head again found he was still looking at you quizzically. He blinked a few times, his eyes never leaving yours. You opened your mouth to say something else but were too scared to make a fool of yourself even more than you already had and closed it again.

Finally, Minghao turned around and continued down the wooden path. All you could do was follow. At the end of the walkway, you came upon a tall structure, protected by a pair of heavy doors. Minghao parted them, revealing the most peculiar square room. You walked in after him, gazing up at the impossibly tall walls of the place. They were lined with books upon books upon books, inter-spaced by large, circular gaps, letting in an abundance of soft sunlight. At the center of the room was a considerable open space, in which only a few low tables stood, their legs digging into the soft rugs underneath.

“Wow,” you couldn’t help but let out. You’d never seen this many books before. You hadn’t even known this many books existed.

The prince turned around to you once again, and, at seeing your amazement, a tiny, smug smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He lead you to the very center before speaking.

“I need your help with something.”

A little pang of angst shot up your spine.

“Help, from me?” you questioned, “here?”

He nodded. “I’m looking for a book but I can’t remember where I put it. It is called A Vast Unfathomable Secret, about this big,” he held up his hands.

“A Vast Unfathomable Secret,” you repeated nervously, “this big…”

“I’m not asking you the world,” he said, scoffing a little as he sat down, “I’ll be here, reading until you fetch it for me.”

You felt yourself go red in the face again and turned away from him. Looking up at the massive walls of books, your legs went weak. Did the prince not know?

You didn’t know how to read.

Where would you even begin? Dread filling your sandals, you realized you had only one option.

“Um,” you started, turning around, “your highness?”

He raised his head out of a book that looked like it contained a whole universe worth of stories.

“Could you maybe tell me a bit more about what the book looks like?”

He gazed at you bewildered for a small moment before sighing.

“It has a brown cover with gold foiled lettering… quite elaborate in style, and if I recall correctly, there’s a small lily indented on the the cover as well.” He finished the explanation with a gentle nod in your direction.

You nodded eagerly back at him.

“Will that be enough?” he asked, already with his head to his book again.

“Yes,” you said at once, “yes, your highness, thank you.”

You walked up to the nearest bookshelf and began your search, thankful the prince hadn’t asked any further questions about why the title alone didn’t suffice for you to find what he needed.

Regrettably, the large majority of the books on the shelves were brown with gold lettering. It took you forever to pull out book after book, only to determine they were most likely not what the prince was looking for. It wasn’t your fault you’d never learned how to read. How could you have? Your parents didn’t exactly have the money for such luxuries. You’d always been curious though, when you’d seen the upper class sit in the sunlit grass, their noses so deep within the folds of the leather bound objects they wouldn’t even notice if a mouse darted right in front of them. What was it about books that enthralled people so?

Minghao seemed to understand. You sneaked a glance at him from behind a large brown cover, finding him hunched over the little table in deep concentration. His index finger treaded gracefully across the page as his eyes devoured the contents. His lips formed inaudible words as he read. Every once in a while he’d run a hand through his hair, only for it to fall back into his face the next moment. You were staring again; you couldn’t help it. Everything about him made you not want to look away, which was definitely not helping you find the book.

No, you thought to yourself, twisting back around towards the shelf and forcing your hand to wrap around yet another brown spine with gold lettering. You kept going tirelessly, working your way up in silence until you needed the ladder that ran all the way up to the topmost shelf, at least twenty feet up in the air.

Your concentration was cut abruptly with the dull thud of a heavy book. You looked down to see Minghao rise from the floor. He walked over to the bottom of the ladder and beckoned you down.

“I’m sorry, your highness,” you said, still finding it incredibly hard to look him in the eyes as you addressed him, “I couldn’t find it.”

“That’s okay,” he replied and you were surprised to find him… calm? Content? Kind? Happy even? All of the irritableness from this morning seemed to have fled out of him. Books really must be wonderful things, you thought.

“You can keep looking next time,” he went on, “I really would like it at some point.”

“Yes, your highness,” you breathed in disbelief at his sunny demeanor.

That night, all you could think about was Minghao. Minghao and the way he’d sort of smiled at you, Minghao buried in his books, Minghao looking at you from across the walkway. Minghao. Minghao. Minghao. But paired with these wonderful images were sickly waves of dread.

Ever since coming to the castle, you’d known you’d had to be careful; you’d known there was a chance you might…

But he’d been so cold towards you that, in the first few weeks, you’d been able to oversee the tiny flutters in your chest. Now, it was as if the lid of the jar had been lifted and a thousand butterflies tickled your insides mercilessly, making you squirm in the sheets of your bed. It seemed almost cruel, how all of a sudden you couldn’t sleep from the thought of his deep, brown eyes. Especially because the prince would be married off in a couple years’ time and you’d be left alone once again. No, pining after the prince was about the silliest thing you could do at this point; you shouldn’t waste your time. The biggest thing you could hope for was for him to smile at you again the way he had when you were children — when you’d been friends.

“Things are getting out of hand, don’t you see that?” a voice boomed over the long, low table, where five men sat.

Emperor Xu Yilan sat at the head of the table, looking flustered. Around him sat his three most trusted advisers, a pudgy, red-faced man, an elder with a beard so long it lay in his lap, and a youngster with heavy-lidded eyes. Lastly, was Minghao, who looked anything but happy to be there.

“I understand that,” said the emperor calmly, hushing the passionate man to his right, “but we can’t just declare war on Yientan. We’re not ready for that.”

“Perhaps it would be more prudent to send another delegation to plea for the freedom of Shingmin,” the elder suggested.

“As if that will work this time,” the red-faced man grumbled, shaking his head, “listen, the Shingmin highlands belong to us. Shingmin people are our people!” he raised his voice again, slapping his palm onto the shiny, wooden table, “it’s time to take back what’s ours!”

“And how do you propose we do that?” the emperor interjected in a high pitch. You’d been watching the scene from the sidelines, waiting to refill Minghao’s cup should he require it. But he hadn’t touched his drink since the start of the meeting. He’d merely kept his head down and let the other people speak. You gazed at him worriedly, wondering what was going through his head.

“This will not just blow over, your highness,” the eldest adviser said, “the people are angry, they demand justice for Shingmin and rightly so!”

“I will not go to war,” the emperor snapped back, putting a bony finger down onto the table.

“So we have lost.”

“How cowardly!”

“Silence!” the emperor hissed, before putting his head in his hands to rub at his wrinkled face, “we are simply not ready. I’ve led our troops once and failed. I cannot live to see that happen again.”

The silence that followed weighed so heavy, you felt like you could barely breathe.

“Your highness,” the youngest of the advisers spoke up at last, making heads turn. He folded his fingers together calmly and addressed the emperor himself. “Forgive me for speaking so boldly but,” he paused, thinking, “there is one option we have yet to discuss.” His eyes then went to Minghao, who looked like he was holding on by a fraying thread.

One by one, everyone’s attention turned to the young prince.

“I understand he is only seventeen years of age and the enthronement usually happens at twenty,” the young adviser explained, “but given his… reputation,” another pause, in which the entire room held its breath, “wouldn’t it be wiser to hasten the ceremony a little?”

Minghao sat very still, but you could see in his eyes that his whole earth was shattering.

The emperor looked at his son, bushy brows furrowed, contemplating what had just been suggested. You wished he would just say something because the tension was becoming unbearable, even for you. You couldn’t imagine what Minghao must be going through.

You knew what the young adviser was suggesting, of course, and why. There was a valid reason to believe Minghao could do what his father couldn’t, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying for the young prince.

There was a story, a myth, concerning the imperial family of Namin that went back nearly a thousand years. You’d heard this story told as a lullaby when you were a child and couldn’t sleep. Your mother would point to the top of the imperial castle, where the golden dragon statue sat, overlooking the empire, and she’d tell you how that statue used to be a real dragon, how the first ruler of Namin had befriended the dragon and even saved its family from death. In return, when Namin came under attack of a foreign army, the dragon had fought for Namin, giving its life to protect the emperor he’d come to love. As the dragon breathed its last breath, it turned into the golden statue that now sat at the top of the imperial castle, promising that it would come back should the empire ever need it.

Only, the dragon had never returned since, even when Namin fell in deep trouble. Skeptics said it was because the whole thing was fake, but most believed the reason the dragon hadn’t returned was because the emperors that had followed the first hadn’t been worth fighting for. Most believed the dragon was waiting for a worthy ruler to fight alongside of, which is where Minghao came in.

The day of Minghao’s birth was the brightest the land had seen in a long time, making the dragon shine like never before. On top of that, there were various accounts of people saying they’d seen the dragon move that morning, this all leading to the common belief that prince Minghao would be the one to awaken the dragon and bring Namin back to it’s former glory.

After what seemed like forever, the emperor finally spoke up.

“What do you think about this, my son?”

Minghao’s lips parted but it was clear no sound would come out. He closed them again and looked down.

"An enlightened idea," the old adviser said, nodding slowly.

"Precisely," the younger adviser replied, "if we have the ceremony this summer we could—"

"He's too juvenile!" the red-faced adviser cut in.

"He's proved himself more than capable I say—"

"He doesn't even know how to wield a sword properly!"

“He's not bad with a bow, I've seen him—"

"The guards barely take him seriously!”

The sharp scrape of a chair brought the heated conversation to a halt. All eyes went to Minghao, who had risen, eyes still cast downward. Without a word, he turned around and strode out the door.

“Son!” the emperor called, though he didn’t follow.

“See!” the loudest of the advisers sneered, “young and reckless! How would he run Namin?”

It took you a few moments to realize what had just happened. The conversation had been so heavy it had sucked you right in. You shook the daze from your eyes and spun around, following the prince’s hurried footsteps. It was hard to catch up to him; you still weren’t too comfortable with the tight sandals and the restricting robes you had to wear. All you could do was shuffle awkwardly after him, watching the back of his head as it went.

“Minghao!” you called after him, forgetting all about proper terms and honorifics. You didn’t even know what you were doing. The only thing going through your head was how dreadful Minghao had looked and how you wanted to help him. It didn’t matter you hadn’t the slightest idea of how exactly to help him.

“Minghao, please wait!” you yelled, watching him approach his chamber doors.

You reached them just a moment after he opened them.

Abruptly, he turned around to face you in the door frame, the grave sight of his face making your insides churn.

“Leave me,” he ordered, his voice loud and stern, before slamming the doors in your face.