#because if I was in the office and dealing with this??
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wilwheaton · 2 days ago
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President-elect Donald Trump will come into office next year with four extra slots to fill on the federal bench, thanks to a deal Senate Republicans struck with Democrats. Republicans agreed to relent on their procedural warfare waged in recent days in an attempt to thwart the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees to lifetime appointments in his final weeks in office. In exchange for the GOP allowing lower-level district court nominees to receive quicker votes, Senate Democrats will not move forward with confirming four higher-level circuit court picks and saving the positions for Trump to fill. Both sides spun the arrangement as a win-win: Republicans will guarantee slots for Trump judges, and Democrats will save valuable floor time on fighting for nominees they were unsure could be confirmed.
Trump scores win on judges from Senate GOP despite attendance problems
I’m old enough to remember Democrats “keeping our powder dry” during the entirety of the GW Bush years, while the entire — literally the entire — Democratic base was screaming for them to do anything to reign him in.
So when I see Durbin pull this shit, I am both entirely unsurprised, and also furious. They all told us, again and again, that if Trump wins, our entire country and everything it means will be destroyed. I happen to believe that is true, but I don’t know that they did (or care that they will be affected, too).
Because if they did believe that the entire American Experiment was on the line, they would be doing what the GOP in North Carolina is doing, and what Republicans do every single time they lose their majority: exploit every loophole, push every boundary, use every single tool, no matter how cynically, to push through as much of their agenda as they can, and make it as hard as possible for the incoming majority to enact their agenda. Use the tools you have to protect and expand your policies, and let the winners complain about it, because policy is what matters.
Instead, we get a bunch of Model UN dorks who want to write stern letters and wring their hands at the lack of comity, while the Republicans are walking around setting the entire building on fire.
Durban, Schumer, and all the elder Democrats have got to go. We’ve tried it their way since the 90s, and look where it has gotten us. Get out of the way and let younger Democrats who aren't afraid of being disinvited from country club parties and fancy DC dinners do the work we sent you all to Washington to do.
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madamechrissy · 14 hours ago
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Take Me Home Tonight
♡ ♡ Pairings ♡ ♡ Law Professor Satoru Gojo x Student Fem Reader
♡ ♡ Warnings ♡ ♡ MDNI- Gojo is like 29 here, reader is like 22 or 23. Nothing too crazy. But is Professor/teacher forbidden type love. In this chap- oral sex (fem recieving), pussy slapping, rough sex, dirty talk.
♡ ♡ Word Count ♡ ♡ this chap- 7k
♡ ♡ Summary ♡ ♡ After passing your LSATs, your friends take you out to unwind. You never go out, so you are awkwardly agree, and you end up in the arms of a super hot man named Satoru. You end up screaming Satoru's name as he drops down on his knees before you, only to lose him in the club. All you have is his first name. Two months later, in your Criminal Law class, your heart stops. Your teacher? Professor Gojo. Or as you soon call him, Professor Dickhead. You can't fuck up your law school, and he won't fuck up his career, not just because he makes you wet in class, no, he's a dick. Right? That pout and blue eyes don't wreck you, right? - Lawyer AU
Chapter 14 ♡ ♡ Masterlist ♡ ♡ Playlist
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Chapter 15- Final
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Five years later
“Papa, Papa! I have a… um… ahjectin!” Comes your four year old daughter Noriko’s cute little voice, as you and Satoru are working at the office. Satoru comes to kneel in front of her, looking at her very seriously, she’s got on a little lawyer jacket that had been tailor made, white hair just like her dad.
“An objection! To me!?” Satoru demands, a hand on his chest, mouth open in a gasp, you watch with a grin, as your two year old daughter Faye sits on your lap, doodling all over a bunch of papers. She looks more like you, but she has Satoru’s swirling blue eyes all day.
“Ajectin! I get to stay up past eight with Aunt Maki, I will give you pwetty picture if I can!” Satoru looks at you now, those glittering blue eyes so full of mirth, and you suppress your own giggle behind your hand.
“A pretty picture, hmm you offer an interesting compromise. I don’t know, we have to ask Mama though.” Your daughter, Noriko smiles. Living up to her name at a young little age, she was as feisty as can be. You giggle again, earning her cute little glare.
“Sorry baby, okay, it better be a beautiful picture, I’ll tell Maki you can stay up an extra hour, but you better be good for her!”
“I will mama!”
“Then it’s a deal, little lawyer.” You say to her, she giggles and runs to you now, her little arms out, you pull her on your other leg with her sister Faye.
“I’ll make it so pretty Mama!” She smacks a little kiss on your cheek, and your heart is just so full it feels like it will burst, every little moment with your family is so beautiful.
“I’ll let you two draw then, I’ve gotta finish some work with dad, okay?” They nod and you scooch their seats up as high as they go, planting kisses on each of their cheeks, walking over to where Gojo is sitting on his desk, watching you all.
“You would have been such a shit defense attorney, glad you stuck with prosecution. You can’t even handle little Noriko?” He teases, you stick out your tongue, shoving at him playfully.
“She’s a beast, Toru, you know this.” He pulls you against him in a hug, arms around your waist, planting a little kiss on your forehead, making you sigh.
“I can’t wait for our date tonight.” He whispers in your ear, making you flush furiously now, you peek back and they’re still happily drawing, as you look back up at Gojo, seeing the lidded gaze he has.
Your hands clutch the lapels of his jacket as your shift, he would comment on it but he can’t around the girls, but his damn face speaks for himself, as you tiptoe and kiss his chin. “Hush!”
“Didn’t say anything.” He smirks, and you roll your eyes at him. “You can’t wait either, huh?”
“Can’t wait.” You whisper back, stealing a little kiss on those lips that always drive you to distraction, before you both get back to finishing up work for the day.
You both opened Gojo Family Law Firm two years ago, and it’s been insanely profitable. Maki and Yuta work for an elite law firm together, and Nanami and Suguru actually recently opened their own firm together with their good friend, Hiruguma. All of you are incredibly close, and tonight Maki is going to watch your girls, so you and Satoru can have a night out.
You are insanely excited, as you look over at your gorgeous husband, wearing that black pinstripe suit and leaned over his desk, the side profile of his face just absolutely perfect. You never, ever get tired of drinking in how beautiful he is, nor does he ever get tired of telling you how beautiful you are.
“Need a picture, Miss Brat?” He teases.
“Miss Brat my ass! I’m long past that.” You nudge him with your shoulder as you pour over paperwork, and then feel his eyes on you, one of his hands coming to sit on your lower back, leaning close.
“You’re always Miss Brat to me.” You shake your head and roll your eyes, kissing his cheek, looking back at your girls now.
“I feel like six years have flown by.”
“I know, time does go fast, as busy as we all are.”
“They’re getting so big already.” You feel choked up, and Satoru now leans to whisper in your ear.
“Want another one in you?” Your heart falters, you gasp and see his snowy lashes are lowered, his husky whisper making your pulse race.
“Satoru!”
“What? One more wouldn’t hurt.” You sigh, shaking your head.
“I think two is fine, I’m just getting my body back!”
“I love your body, always.” You eye his lips now, before you both clear your throats, scooching away as the kids have climbed out of their seats, pointing at you both and giggling.
“Mommy and Daddy smooch.” Noriko says, and Satoru grins now.
“No smooch!” Faye says.
“Smooch!” Satoru says, and you laugh at them, getting a little ‘mwah’ from him now.
“Yay!”
“Yuck!”
“Oh gosh let’s finish up for the day, so we can see Aunt Maki!” You say, and they are bouncing up and down, running around your big joint office now. You sigh, shaking your head. “I have three kids already.”
“I heard that, Missy!” Satoru says with a mock scowl, crossing his arms, but you just smirk right back at him.
“Let me look at that case.” You say softly, peering over now, Satoru had just grown more and more successful, the only case he ever did lose was Naoya on purpose, years ago, thankfully he has been in prison and isn’t leaving. Satoru also was able to exonerate the person he’d falsely put away.
This case he was on now was a very high profile murder case, a star athlete accused of murdering his wife, you and Satoru both have a nagging bad feeling about it, of course you don’t speak in front of the girls about it unless in murmurs. You jot down notes and point to them, he nods, his big hand on your waist as he leans forward, jotting his own down.
“Genius little brat.” He says against your ear.
“I learned from the best.” You say softly, smiling up at him.
“Mama, Papa, look! Ovewuled!” Noriko shouts, waving her cute little arms around and pointing to her sister.
“Overruled!? Why is she overruled?” Satoru demands, crossing his arms and looking so serious as he leans back in his big office chair.
“Because, Papa, she copied my drawing! In-ab-mis…”
“Inadmissible?” You finish, earning her nod, and then her little sister stomps her cute little foot, crossing her arms.
“Nuh- uh. Pwetty picture for Mama!” She says, holding it up now, you laugh softly, standing and bending low to take it.
“Is this Papa?” You ask, and she nods, grinning with her cute little teeth.
“Papa, Papa!” Faye shouts.
“It’s your favorite thing, Mama!” Noriko says.
You choke up then, gulping down emotions but failing, tears forming in your eyes as Satoru bends down, looking at the sketch of him, smiling so big. “This is such a good picture, baby! Why is it overruled, Noriko?” You ask.
“Because mine is better!”
“She gets the competitive streak from you.” You whisper, Satoru smirks now, holding the other picture out and grinning so big.
You have the three people you love most in the world right here with you, your two baby girls and your Toru, you’re not sure if anything could get better. You’re so full of love, especially as you watch the girls hugging each of Satoru’s legs, and he's walking them around as they cling to him, laughing. You put your hand on your chest for a moment, smiling at them.
“Papa, are you excited! Date with Mama!” Noriko says.
“Date Mama!” Faye says, and they point at you.
Satoru grins at you. “I’m very excited for a date with Mama.”
You really can’t wait for tonight.
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You’re carrying Faye in one of your arms now, propped up on your hip, as Satoru is carrying in Noriko as you all walk into Maki and Yuta’s place. The girls get ridiculously excited, and Maki bends down holding her arms out, as they wiggle out of both of your hold, leaving you and Satoru laughing as you let them down. They run to her and jump in her arms.
“Maki, Maki!” They exclaim excitedly, Yuta comes out now and they run to him and hug his legs, he smiles and pats their heads affectionately.
“Hey girlies!” He says.
“Uta, Uta!”
“They like you better than us.” You say, pouting, and Maki wiggles her brows and grins deviously.
“I give them anything they want. Come here, I missed you.” Maki hugs you now, then Satoru, who pats her head affectionately, earning her glare.
“Did you miss me too!?” He asks.
“The tiniest bit.” She sticks her tongue out now, and the girls are bouncing around as you hand Maki their toys, tablets, everything basically. So many things Maki shoves them on the couch and shakes her head, taking in your outfit now. “You look so hot, whoo.”
“Thank you Maki.” You say with a blush, you’re dressed up in a slinky little black dress and heels, a pretty diamond necklace and bracelet Satoru bought you decorating your neck and wrists.
“You look so pretty.” Yuta agrees, hugging you then.
“Thank you! Ugh you two are the best for this, really.”
“We don’t mind at all. They’re our nieces you know.” Yuta turns to the girls then, bending down. “What movies are we watching?”
They start shouting then arguing, suddenly it’s like two baby lawyers, Maki snorts and shakes her head. “They’re just like both of you. Little monsters.”
“They’re angels.” Satoru says, as they continue arguing in lawyer form.
“Sure they are. You two, get out, go have fun.” Maki practically shoves you both out the door now, you stop.
“Let me say bye! Gimme kisses babies.” They come running up and you peck kisses all over their cheeks, until Satoru drags you away and Maki shoves you again.
“I said go on! We’re good.” She waves and shuts the door, leaving just you and Satoru, who looks your body up and down hungrily before picking you up, hauling you over his shoulder.
“Toru! Too high!”
“You look so good, I can’t have you getting snatched up.” He smacks your ass now, earning a squeak, before setting you down and sliding into the car, pulling you in with him as Ijichi revs up the engine.
“A date.” You whisper.
“A date. If we make it.” Satoru’s pressing you down, back against the leather seats, you gasp at it, hips shifting, thighs spread around his narrow hips. His hands come to rest on your hips, a little wider than they used to be, but Satoru couldn’t care less, in fact he loves your body more after babies. “This body…”
“Your body.” You whisper back, kissing him over and over, not the sweet kisses you normally share, this is desperate and hungry, this is the first date you’ve had in months since you all have been so busy. You’re both dying for each other, your gasp is loud when his cock brushes you under his slacks, pressing between your thighs. “Ngh…”
“Those moans, I wanna hear them so fucking loud tonight.” He whispers, you giggle then, hips arching up for more, watching his pretty blue eyes dilate, tasting his sweet breath against your lips as your hands slide up his strong chest under his suit jacket, over that crisp white dress shirt.
“I wanna be loud so bad.” Your words undo him, he’s already pressing harder, earning your little whimper, as his lips find purchase against the base of your throat and he’s sucking there. Your hands grip his shoulders tightly, feeling every tension as his hands glide down your thighs.
“Acting like some prim, proper soccer mom when you’re slutty.” He murmurs against your ear, only making you wetter.
“Slutty hmm? That’s you. Soccer dad.”
“Me!? You. Brat.” You giggle, before gasping, and he’s grinding more and more, your slinky dress up your hips as he’s grabbing one of your breasts in his hand now, squishing it over the silky fabric.
“Mnh…” You can’t think of a proper word, Satoru Gojo’s hands, lips and body collide with yours, you’ve never been able to get enough of him, and you never will get enough.
“Can’t wait.” He says then, and you laugh, breathy, pausing him.
“Satoru I’ll be dripping cum all night on the date!”
“Keep it in then.” He says.
“Gravity, Toru.” You retort. He rolls his eyes.
“Hmph, brat.” You’re both laughing now, he’s easing up just a bit, sighing as he looks down at you so lovingly, caressing your cheek with the backs of his fingers so delicately.
“So beautiful.” Satoru murmurs, looking at your pretty face, you light up as he says so, biting your lip and flushing, lashes lowering over your glittering eyes. And god you’re so beautiful, he will never stop saying it, because you should know.
“Thank you, I feel beautiful tonight.” You say, and he scoffs.
“Every night. Beautiful brat.” You’re wriggling under him, soft body so small under his long, lanky one, your soft breasts rising and falling, nipples perked up right against your thin dress.
“I won’t be able to wait if you keep looking at me like that.” You trail your fingers down his jaw now, studying him intensely, your breaths mingling in the car. God Satrou can’t wait to hear you scream his name.
You all still had plenty of sex, but it was different now as parents, it was sneaking in the laundry room and him fucking you over the dryer real quick and fast, a hand clamped to your mouth. It was quiet nights in the bedroom, sometimes interrupted by little knocks on your door when one of the girls had a bad dream, only to be shoved apart by two little girls.
You’d both end up on opposite sides of the bed, laughing and looking at each other, holding hands over them between you and falling asleep.
Satoru would have it no other way though, he loves his daughters so much, and he loves you so much, especially how amazing you are as a mother. He’s so proud of who you’ve become and who you are, a loving wife, an amazing mom, and a badass little attorney. You also still look just as good in those little pencil skirts  as you always did, bossing him around.
“What is it, Toru? So quiet.” You say now, shaking him out of his thoughts. Satoru leans down lower, lips hovering over yours.
“Thinking how proud I am of you.”
“Satoru…” You’re blinking tears now, he laughs softly as one escapes your eye, dripping down to your temple.
“Crybaby.”
“Hush. That means a lot to me, thank you. I am proud of you.” His heart falters, at your words, at your touch, at your eyes reflecting all the love and desire he has for you.
“Of course you are, I’m the best.” He winks and earns your laugh, before slamming his lips down back on yours. “I love you, wife.”
“I love you, husband.” You kiss and kiss and kiss until the car stops, and Satoru sits you up, fixing your hair thoughtfully, as you adjust his tie and collar. “We’re still like two teenagers.”
“I know, you’re almost thirty.”
“You are in your thirties!”
“I’m a Zaddy you know.”
“Oh Jesus.” You smack your head and burst into laughter at him, as Ijichi comes to open your door now.
“Don’t laugh, you’ll be screaming it later.”
“I’m so sorry Ijichi.” You say then, putting a hand on his shoulder, he sighs, shaking his head.
“I get paid enough to ignore most of this.” Ijichi kisses your hand then, and ignores Satoru, earning his glare.
“I don’t get such sweet things!”
“You don’t pay me enough to kiss your hand Mr. Gojo.” Ijichi leaves then, and Satoru scoffs, rolling his blue eyes.
“He likes you better.” He says with a pout, you’re laughing softly, Satoru drags you in the building then, until you all are seated at a beautiful rooftop restaurant next to each other.
The lights are glimmering from the rooftop, lit up city lights decorating the distance along with a million glittering stars. Satoru’s hand is on your thigh as he leans close, forking a bite of yummy cake into your mouth after dinner, you’ve not laughed so much in a while, the both of you genuinely enjoying every moment. Now his hand on your thigh has you…
“You’re wet this easy, huh?” Satoru teases in your ear, you gasp, smacking on his hand now, glaring.
“What!?”
“Mmm, the heat emanating says you are.” He leans back to look at you, while the waitresses are bringing you both more drinks.
“You’re such a conceited, arrogant ass.”
He glares back now. “And you’re a slutty little brat.”
“Am I now?” Your hand finds him under the tablecloth, making him jerk, and you grin. “Taste of your medicine. Hmm, you’re hard already?”
“I’m gonna fuck this attitude out of you all night.” He says now, tilting your chin up, all while the waiters are pouring your wine, not hearing your whispers against the wind thankfully. “You think I will take it easy?”
“I hope you don’t.” You’re blushing as he’s grinning down at you, hand on your thigh pressing firmer, sliding up just so.
“Just wait till we get home, you know we have all night.”
“I know, fuck. I’ll check on them?” You take your phone and text Maki, Satoru pouts. “What!”
“Pay attention to me brat.”
“I am, I just… okay Maki said they’re fine and to just get laid.” You say with a huff, then you both laugh, sipping on your wine now.
“I’ve always loved your friends. Fuck how’d I get so lucky to have you?” He’s cupping your face so carefully, you feel emotions catch in your throat.
“I’m the lucky one, Satoru Gojo.” You brush his hair back gently. “Best father in the damn world, best husband. Best lawyer, best friend, best teacher. You’re everything, you know that?”
“Brat, don’t make me cry.” His lip trembles just so, and your foreheads rest together for a moment. “You’re the best mother, best wife, best everything.”
“You think so, Toru?”
“I know so. You make me so proud every day.” You both choke up then, in your own little world as waiters walk by, as people laugh and eat, but it’s just the two of you, with your love overwhelming your hearts in every way.
“I need you.” You say softly, then Satoru’s raising his hand.
“Check please.”
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“Need these clothes off, now.” You whisper as you both stumble into your home soon after, yanking on his tie, unbuttoning his dress shirt with shaky hands, Satoru is turning you then, unzipping your dress.
“Beautiful fucking body.” He says softly, as the dress falls to a silky pool down your ankles.
You feel so beautiful with him.
You feel everything with him, every damn day.
It’s always like the day you met, that eagerness, the need, it never dims does it? Satoru always has you like this, a fucking mess as he’s stripping you completely, turning you to him and holding your face with his huge hands, kissing you deeply over and over. You melt against him, he’s picking you up, thighs wrapped around his narrow hips, as he carries you to the bed you share.
He’s laying you down on it, now just in his boxers, leaving you to study every muscle and line on his perfect body, but he’s soon spreading your thighs, kissing down your breasts, filling you with such intense need you can’t think. He’s sucking your nipples, you’re grinding your hips, pulling him in, gasping at the pleasure you feel while he’s slipping lower and lower.
“Love you, love you.” You whisper, he moans, kissing your tummy gently.
“I love you, fuck I love you. Every bit.” He’s kissing lower and lower now, you’re able to be as loud as you want, and fuck you are loud, head falling back, the dim lights of the room fading to darkness when his breath is on your cunt.
“T-Toru!” Your voice is hoarse as you’re screaming out, Satoru’s latching on to your swollen little clit now, sucking it in his mouth and humming as he watches you under those long white lashes. You’re gushing all over his pretty face, unable to even breathe, the pleasure is so - “So good fuck!”
“Mmm.” Is all you get in response, Satoru’s humming once more until your orgasm hits ridiculous, pussy clenching around nothing, covering his face in your slick as he takes a breath finally.
Your hands entangle in his silky hair, thighs shaking on either side of his head, he presses his fingers into the plush of one, as the other uses two fingers to sink into your little hole. You moan out at how good the stretch is, his tongue slipping up your slit to start drinking up every bit of arousal you have. He’s pumping his fingers up and down, right on that spot, making you damn near delirious.
“S’yummy.” He says, before starting to focus on licking your clit, while using his fingers, so much stimulation you almost wanna pull his head off, but you simultaneously want to drag his mouth closer. Your hands just clutch in his hair instead, as he’s pushing you into another orgasm, you feel everything tensing, about to explode.
“Toru!” You whine out, feeling his damn smirk against your pussy lips as he flicks one more time.
“You love it, don’t you miss brat?” He whispers, and your breath catches in your throat because you’re not sure if you can even speak, his fingers curling up in your soppy entrance. “You love when I eat your slutty pussy out, hmm?” He asks, voice dark and smug, and oh fuck it’s so hot, especially being called that.
You all never talked that way much any more, especially as parents, and the word fucking thrills you. You can’t help the whine that leaves you, nor the wetness that’s dripping down his fingers, loud in the room, you hear it. He’s grinning up at you, those white sharp fucking teeth glinting. Self satisfied, arrogant little shit, that you love more than anything, wrecking your mind.
“I love it, Satoru, I love it so much, it’s too much, I can’t, oh my god, it’s too much, I’m gonna - “ You’re cut off by another orgasm, your body writhing as he takes his mouth away to watch your pussy pulse and spasm hungrily. He’s grinning wider, his fingers still moving as your insides clench around them.
“But I’m not done yet, baby girl, you can take more, can’t you?” He says, and then he’s back at it, tongue flat against your clit, moving in a way that feels so fucking good, in tantalizing circles, and you can feel yourself getting wetter, your walls tightening around his digits. “Can you take three in you, baby?”
“Three…” You haven’t in ages, Satoru has been so easy with you lately, always knowing if he fucked you too good you’d scream out loud. You gasp when he’s shoved another long finger in your pussy, hoarse cry escaping your lips, head slamming back against the pillow. “Mnh!”
“So pretty stretching out f’me, you’re such a good girl.” You’re sobbing damn near as he continues, relentless on devouring your cunt, now kissing your tummy, the little stretch marks from the kids, spreading his hands across the expanse of your waist. “Fuck you’re pretty.”
“Fuck! Satoru, fuck me, please.” You beg now, you’re so full, so fucking full of his hand, craving his cock as he’s pressing it into the matress, pre cum leaking against his boxers, he’s throbbing just devouring you, his pretty wife.
You look down, watching as he licks you, eyes glazed with lust, and your heart stutters at how pretty he is between your thighs, even as your addled mind is sending you off the deep end.
“Pretty.” You whisper, his brilliant blue eyes glinting, pupils shrunk to pinpoints, he leans up, sliding his third finger out now, working you with two.
“Pretty?” He teases, his chin glistening with your arousal, you swipe at it gently, brushing a thumb over his pouty lip.
“You’re pretty.”
“You’re pretty. Especially this pussy, fuck.” Satoru’s buried his face back against you, pussy drunk on your taste, your smell, your everything.
“Fuck me! Please, no more… dick.”
He’s laughing against you, breaths making you jump, his fingers spreading the puffy lips of your sex wide so he can admire how pretty you are there. “Not yet, I’m having fun down here, drinking up my wife.”
Fuck even after years, being called his wife just does something.
“Want your cock so bad please, please.” You’re giving him those eyes, the ones he always melts for, but he’s having too much fun clearly, now pressing your thighs up high, smushing them against your body, tongue sliding inside your velvety walls now, long and curling up just so, making you spasm, literally twitching as you cry out. “Please!”
 “Taste so fucking good.” Satoru smacks your pussy now, making you jolt, eyes rolling back in your head at how good it feels, the sting of his hit. He laughs now, spitting on your already stupidly wet pussy, watching it drip down and groaning. “So fuckin wet, aren’t you?”
“For you.” You whisper, he shuts his eyes in pleasure at those words, you’re trying to yank him up, but he’s just fucking you with his fingers again, scissoring them in and our of your now sloppy cunt, you’re wriggling every which way, it’s too much, all too much.
“Cum again Miss Brat.”
Miss Brat.
Fuck remember years and years ago, you both could not even be together, it was a mess, but you couldn’t stay away, either of you. Your Professor Dickhead is just that, a fiend between your thighs, enjoying every bit of you falling apart, long tongue flicking so fast on your clit it’s ridiculous. Your breasts are heaving, he grips one with his free hand, tweaking a nipple, edging you further.
“I’m gonna cum again, I’m gonna cum again - “ The words are barely out of your mouth when your orgasm crashes into you, your back arching off the bed, your hands pulling on his hair until you think you might rip it out. He’s not letting up, not even a little, and you feel like you’re going to pass out from pleasure.
As you start to come down, Satoru’s movements finally slow, his eyes never leaving yours, and he pulls his fingers out, bringing them up to his mouth to suck them clean. “You taste so good, like heaven, baby.” He says, voice low and sweet, making you feel like you melt, you’re half dazed as he crawls up your body, kissing up your stomach, your chest, until his face is hovering above yours.
You cup his face gently, tears of overstimulation falling down your cheeks. “I need you inside me, please.”
“Yeah baby, do you? So bad you’re crying?” He teases, you just reach down, shoving his boxers over his firm ass, gripping it and arching up, rubbing your slick cunt on his cock, making him gasp.
“Off, all the way off.” You demand with a glare, and he’s eagerly complying, laying back on top of you, cock springing and smacking against your thigh. You eagerly grip it in your soft hand, stroking him up and down, watching his eyes roll back before he kisses you.
You taste yourself on his lips, his tongue dripping with saliva as it slides into your mouth, yours swirls with his, your hands slipping up and down his cock now, feeling it hot and twitching under your touch. You’re touching the tip, leaking so much precum, pulling back to slide it against your tongue, earning his feral growl, his brows low over his eyes now.
“Fuck you know what you’re doing to me. Brat.” He huffs, and you giggle, until he’s shoved his cock all the way inside your tight entrance, you’re screaming out at how good it feels, as he moans, eyes rolling back in his skull. “Oh my god so fuckin tight. How!? Brat and your evil tight pussy.”
You’d laugh but he’s fucking into you insane now, thrusting so deep, shoving your thighs up into a mating press, tip abusing your poor cervix. You’re shattering under him. His gorgeous face blurring in and out of your vision as your gaze swims, Satoru’s nose brushes yours as he studies you so intensely, hands shoving your thighs even further, even wider.
You struggle to take all of him, especially this deep, it’s been so long since he’s fucked you like this, like he’s lost his goddamn mind, making you a mess under him as his hips roll, grinding just so. You have a network of goosebumps everywhere he touches, everywhere his fingers brush, everywhere his lips press. Your cheek, your throat, your face.
Then he’s leaning back, kissing your ankle, your calf, fucking into you slower, but so hard the bed is creaking with every movement, the headboard smacking the wall with the force. He’s moaning, nipping your leg with his teeth when he’s slinging it over his shoulder, hands pinning you to the bed.
“L-love… your… cock, fuck.” You manage, he smirks, rolling his hips again, raising a brow.
“You do love it, don’t you? So slutty. You always wanted your Professor so bad inside you?” You’re gasping now, growing embarrassingly wet, and he notices, chuckling and leaning down, stretching you further.
“Never…. Used… a yardstick… fuck…” You’re laughing until he pulls out now. “No, back in!”
“Turn around, I think you need a lesson.” Satoru bends you over, your ass is in the air, he’s pressing your head into the mattress, lining his cock back up with your slick entrance now.
“Please, teach me. Ah!” Satoru’s shoved back in your cunt now, slamming hard, his pelvis smacking your ass, making it jiggle with each thrust as he smacks your ass cheeks over and over. The pain and pleasure are so blinding, you’re clinging to the sheets under you, crying out at how good it feels, him destroying you.
“Look at you, so pathetic, hmm?”
“Ah!”
“You’re mine. All mine. Mine.” Satoru’s whispering it like a mantra over and over, gripping your hips, thumbs pressing into the dimples of your back, sweat dripping down to your spine, he bends low to lap it up with his tongue.
“Y-yours.” Your voice is a breathy whisper, Satoru’s losing it, and you love when he does, love every filthy word pouring out of his pretty lips while he’s steadily pounding your cunt, fucking so deep you feel him everywhere. “Ngh!”
“That’s it, cum all over my cock, baby. Slutty little brat.”
“F-fuck! Toru!” Your head falls back, hair cascading messy down your back, urging Satoru to pull it, shoving his cock so deep, you’re trembling as your cunt gushes sticky arousal all over his veiny cock, earning his groan. Satoru’s bent over you, pulling your hair, kissing you so deeply, your tongues messy and dripping as you sob into his lips with pleasure.
“That’s it, milking my cock, huh?” He whispers now, pulling you up so you’re balancing on your shaky hands and knees.
“Fuck I missed this.” You whisper back, he moans, nodding, burying his head against your neck.
“You miss screaming like a perfect slut?”
“Yes, fuck yes.”
“Want all this cum in your cunt, huh?”
“Please, please, please.”
“So desperate, so needy.” Satoru’s fucking you harder now, grunting as he feels your walls fluttering around his cock, his balls slapping your overstimulated clit while he fucks you so hard from behind. He’s gripping your hair harder, his hand wrapping your throat now, shoving two fingers deep in your mouth, you suck them eagerly. “Cry for me, pretty. I love how good those tears look.”
“Mnh.” Is all you manage, while Satoru takes you over, fucking you so deep, his fingers shoved into your mouth, so deep your nearly choke, you’re slobbering all over them, spit drooling as your cunt drools on his cock, making him gasp and slow.
“Feel too good, too perfect.” His voice is softer, fingers still in your mouth, other hand wrapping your neck and squeezing, hugging you completely to his hard, lithe body while he’s pounding your pussy. You’re close again, and this time so intense you’re floating, no longer even here. “Perfect cocksleeve for me, huh?”
You nod as he pulls his fingers out, pressing you down into the mattress, his cock kissing your cervix again and again, hand around your throat squeezing as insane blue eyes look into yours. You try to focus, to cling to the blankets as if they’ll tether you, as he’s filling you so full, your tummy pressed into the mattress, cock wrecking anything you have left.
“Satoru! L-love…. You….” You hear his groan, he’s biting your earlobe, squeezing your throat harder, making it go fuzzy, blissful.
“Fucking love you, so much, so much… everything in me… loves you…” You’re crying now, at the love in your heart, at the sensations of your husband wrecking your cunt, wrecking your mind, your soul.
“S’all yours. All of me, all of it. Yours, yours, yours.” You squeak out the words, his hand lifts from your throat, turning your face to him, blue eyes devouring yours, studying your everything, hips rolling so his cock is slamming your spot, and your own eyes flutter in and out of focus, you’re clinging to his forearm, cunt dripping.
“I’m yours, baby girl. Always, always, always.” He’s exhaling now, kissing you again, cupping your jaw so possessive, while he’s taking you over. “Cum with me, let me feel that perfect pussy milk me.”
“Please, cum in me.” You’re gasping when he’s fucking you so deep, burying his cock inside your pussy, over and over, until you feel him throbbing, and his hot white cum pouring into you.
You cum just from that, from the hot sticky white ropes filling your pussy so good, you’re so full of him, as he pumps his hot load into your eager cunt. His whimper in your ear sets you off further, you’re shaking under him as he’s breathing heavily, his cries now being drunk by your mouth. Your cunt is spasming around his cock, milking him for every bit of cum he has, Satoru’s trembling now against you.
You both lay there, kissing, rocking back and forth, he’s gently pumping more and more of his cum inside you, but you’re already pushing so much out, with the force of how much he’s made you cum. You’ve created a slick mess down the blankets, down the bed, gasping and shaking when his teeth bites your neck hard, his hand gripping your hair and pressing into your scalp.
“Oh my god, I fucking love you.” He whispers. You giggle, breathless, looking back at him with swollen lips and mascara trails on your cheeks.
“I love you, fuck… we needed this.” You tease, grinning, he relaxes his hold, laughing now too, so handsome he breaks your heart every time.
“We needed this so bad.” He eases out, exhaling, watching as your fluids and his mix, dripping down the bed. “Oh my god… so sexy.”
“Satoru!” He’s shoved your ass in the air, burying his face against your pussy, lapping his cum out of it. “Satoru!”
“More.” Is all he says, you look back at him, shaking, and your cunt is throbbing all over as you study his pretty face.
“More.” You whisper back, and now your husband is lavishing your oversensitive cunt with his stupidly talented tongue, moaning against you, whispering how much he loves your pussy, you’d almost get jealous but soon you’re sucking his cock, sucking your cum off it.
He’s moaning and whimpering while you do, while you have his rock hard again, drinking his precum up and coating your tongue with him. And when you’re riding his cock with your sore cunt, and he’s gripping your breasts, and your hair is falling to the side of you both, covering you from the world, you know you could go again, again and again.
“So fucking good, baby girl. Taking me so well.” Satoru murmurs, hands on your ass, urging you to ride him more and more.
You’re weak, a mess, sweaty, both of you. But you’re urged on by the desire, the need to be so close to each other, to lose yourselves, and as you’re riding his cock so good, and he’s sucking on your nipples, moaning with his perfect lips, you can’t get enough. Neither of you can get enough, over and over, all goddamn night, until you’re both sore, exhausted, messes.
He’s ready for more, kissing you, still buried inside your pussy and hardening in you, caressing your face, lashes low. “Want another baby?” He whispers, smirking now, and you sigh.
“No!”
“One more?” He pleads, pressing deeper inside your pussy.
“No…” He’s grinning, fucking into your sore cunt, it hurts to take him but you crave it, you need it, need him.
“I’m putting another baby in you, brat.” He whispers against your lips, and your cunt is drooling down his cock, as you’re stretched and fucked beyond your means, he’s not stopping, and you don’t want him to.
You cup his face, eyes flickering down to his body, his abs flexing as he fucks into you. “One more.”
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The Next Day
“Oh my god.” Your kids are running circles as you pull up your next case, looking at Satoru with a big grin.
“What is it, Miss Brat?” He asks, tapping his pen on his desk, flipping his page, blue eyes locking on yours.
“My next case… it’s apparently prosecuting Mr. Banks.”
Satoru pauses, then scowls, standing up, leaning forward with his hands on his desk now. “Excuse me!?”
“Sure is. Hmm, maybe I’ll take it. See if I can make the infamous Satoru Gojo lose a case.” You stand too now, leaning over your desk, lips turning up as his do now too.
“Oh yeah, you're challenging me? Psh. Rookie.” You cross your arms now, looking at the girls.
“Who would win, me or Daddy?”
“Mama!” Faye shouts.
“Papa!” Noriko argues now.
You walk to Satoru Gojo then, your husband, the father of your children, your best damn friend in the world. And he’s walking to you, meeting you in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets as he leans down. He brushes your hair behind your ear, smirks down at you, leaning to whisper against your lips, letting you taste his cool breath, inhaling his scent.
“Think you can beat me in any case, Miss Brat?” He asks, sarcastic tone dripping, conceited as fuck and tempting you to know end.
You lean against his lips, as your kids are giggling. “I sure do think I can. In fact, I’ll win.”
But you’ve already won, haven’t you? You have Satoru Gojo, now and always, and now his beautiful family. Who cares if he probably will stomp your ass in a case?
“I already won.” He says, mirroring your thoughts, you kiss him gently, pulling back and then raising a brow.
“So… challenge on, Professor?” You tease.
Satoru grins. “Challenge on, Miss Brat.”
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The End
A/N: I am so emotional, I've been writing this one since June and I truly love Professor Dickhead and Miss Brat SO much. They have a huge chunk of my heart. I hope you all enjoyed their end, it seems as if Gojo Family Law firm will be having even more added to it aha. Love you all and see you in the others!!
Taglist: @jjknanamin @chiyokoemilia @marie-is-in-the-dark @seeing-stars-alt @maskedpacific @aldebrana @toffeebrat @antisocialinlw @trishiepo0 @jkslaugh97 @makingtimemine @inthedarkshadows000 @mima0127
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haunted-headset-alt · 3 days ago
Note
Hoii :) i saw that you liked making luci x reader mini stories and i LOVE THEM. I just have a tiny petite itty bity request for a new story. Id love to see either a story about him gicing us aome after care after spoicy time or apologizing after an argument. Take as much time as needed. Thank youuu <3
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jealousy, jealousy ⊹ ࣪𐙚꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱。⋆
summary: you recently got a new job working for Voxtech, causing you to come home late nearly every day. Lucifer's a bit angry that you keep missing dinner, which sparks an argument (word count: 1.3k).
warnings: mentions of Valentino, arguing/yelling (obviously), crying, swearing, accusations of cheating, Lucifer's kind of a jackass in the beginning, mentions of death (reader talks about life when they were alive), generally gn!reader terms
a/n: hello!! this is a really cute idea so tysm for requesting it! i'm really sorry i haven't gotten to other stories, I've been so busy 😭
tags: (as always, just tagging a few people i think would be interested in this, please let me know if you would like to be on or off of the taglist!) @o-kye @zuuriell @strangleetomz@ax-y10 @stars-around-scars-collective@blu3-lemonad3@myheartticks@mochamuff1n@unbeleevable@danvstheworld @radio-to-trenchcoat-demons @average-vibe @back-totheoldhouse @prettysinners @lovevxle
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You recently got a new job at one of the largest companies in Hell, Voxtech, as Vox's secretary. When you got the job, you mainly wanted to do it because of the pay, thinking that you wouldn't have to do much as a secretary.
But boy, you were wrong.
You rarely sat down during work hours unless you were on lunch break, and even then Vox and other employees were asking you to come help, or Valentino was trying to persuade you to work for him for double the pay (you 'politely' declined every time). You were constantly printing and filing papers, answering calls to deal with angry customers or business meetings that Vox needed to attend, arranging those meetings and appointments, helping with report preparation for staff meetings (nobody really paid attention to them anyway unless Vox was threatening them to do so), managing databases, etc. You almost always worked overtime, which meant your nightly dinners with Lucifer seldom occurred; on the days you were off or didn't work overtime, you usually rested through half of it and didn't have the energy to eat or make dinner for the two of you.
Tonight was no different; you got home later than you usually did and were greeted by the sight of an angry Lucifer.
"Where were you?" he asked, his arms crossed. "Do you know how late it is?"
"Hi, honey," you said breathlessly, taking off your shoes and jacket. "I'm so sorry I got home late, Mr. Vox really needed me to finish up reports for the next staff meeting tomorrow and it was such a-"
"No, be honest," he interrupted. "Where were you?"
"In the...office," you said, raising a brow. "Where else would I have been?"
Lucifer scoffed. "Sure, sure."
"Lucifer, you know how he's making me work late," you sighed, dragging an aching hand down your face. "If I could come home earlier, I would, but Mr. Vox is a busy man."
"Busy with what?" Lucifer snapped, much to your surprise. "Adultery?"
"Honey, what are you talking-" you started.
"Don't 'honey' me," Lucifer laughed coldly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"You think I'm cheating on you with my fucking boss?" you said. "Really?"
"Yes, really," Lucifer mocked your tone. "I have eyes. I can see. Do you not see how he shows you off on TV? How he preaches about you at company gatherings and dinners? You two are fawning over each other, it's clear as day."
"Oh, so my boss isn't allowed to think I'm a good worker?" you said sarcastically. "Great, I'll make a note of that, thanks."
"Stop that, Y/N," Lucifer exclaimed. "Don't act like nothing is going on. He can tell people that you're a good worker without bragging about you like you're a trophy. He doesn't deserve to do that when he makes you work your ass off every day until the crack of dawn. If you're even working," he muttered.
"Look," you retorted, dropping your bag on the ground, "I'm sorry that I work late nights and that I can't have dinner with you every day. But you could at least be happy that I have such a good job. You can appreciate that I'm doing well at work and my boss likes me. That's not fucking hard. And, yeah, I am working, thank you."
"If you're actually working so late, why does he put his arm around you in interviews, hm?" Lucifer crossed his arms and stepped closer to you. "Why does he think he can touch you?"
"Jesus Christ, Lucifer, people are allowed to like me!" you exclaimed. "He does that with every worker there!"
"Yeah, sure, he's having an affair with every worker there," Lucifer said furiously.
"You really think I'd cheat on you?" you hissed, hot tears bubbling up in your eyes. "You sit there an-and talk about how it's good that we trust each other, yet as soon as my new boss likes me suddenly I'm a slut."
"I never called you a slut, Y/N," Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Don't be dramatic."
"I'm not being dramatic!" you shouted, your face warm and sticky with tear streaks. "You are treating me like I'm a slut! Look, I'm sorry you're jealous, okay? But I'm pretty sure people aren't suspecting that I could potentially be having an affair with Vox because of how you act in public around me! People are putting too much attention on me and you to even think that!"
"That's rich coming from a world-class attention seeker," Lucifer shouted, freezing as soon as the words came out of his mouth. His eyes widened when yours did, and he looked like he'd just spewed out bile.
"No, wait, Y/N-" he started when he saw you put your shoes on and grab your bag again.
"No," you snapped, "clearly I'm not wanted here, so I'll go."
"I never said I wanted you to leave, sweetheart, please-"
"Don't call me fucking 'sweetheart'," you growled, glaring at him through glassy eyes. "And I can tell you don't want to be around a world-class attention seeker, so I'll leave and spare you." You walked out and slammed the door before he could continue, the sound of rain drowning out the sound. You muttered a "great" under your breath before walking out of the house and onto the sidewalk to pull out your phone to call someone.
"Hi, Y/N!" Charlie's voice rang through the speaker. "Did you need something?"
"Yeah, I need a ride," you tried to say calmly, but it came out strained and wobbly.
"Oh, I'm so so sorry, but I'm super busy right now and I can't drive over there," Charlie said apologetically, "but I could call Angel!"
"That works," you sniffled. "Thank you."
"Of course!" Charlie said sweetly. "Hope you feel better, Y/N!" The disconnect sound came through promptly after. You sighed and sat under an awning, shivering from your rain-soaked clothes. You slumped your head against a wall and cried softly, your eyes shut tight.
Around 15 minutes later, you felt warm, fluffy arms wrapping around you and Angel Dust's voice saying, "Hey, hey, you're okay, toots, let's get in the car and get you to the hotel." You took his hands and stumbled over to the car, slumping into the passenger seat.
"Trouble in paradise?" Angel asked, driving to the hotel. You nodded weakly. "You two will get over it. You're perfect for each other."
"I hope so," you sniffled.
The next day...
You heard a soft knocking at the door of the room you were sleeping in; it was Angel's room, but he'd gone to sleep in Husk's room so that you could have privacy.
"Come in," you said groggily, sitting up and finger-combing through your bedhead.
The door slowly creaked open, revealing a nervous Charlie and an even more nervous Lucifer (although his cheeks were rosy from seeing you so sleepy). Charlie pushed him into the room, gave you a thumbs up, and closed the door, leaving the two of you in the room, swallowed by the silence.
He hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed, his fingers fidgeting with the fabric of the blankets. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Yeah," you nodded. "I was cold for a little bit, but I slept fine."
"Your clothes got wet from the rain, I'm guessing?" Lucifer said.
You nodded. "Charlie put them in the wash, bless her heart," you chuckled. He chuckled lightly with you.
"I'm sorry," he blurted, taking your hands in his, "for everything I said. You didn't deserve a word of that. You're such a great worker and I'm so incredibly proud of you, sweet darling. You're not an attention seeker and I should've never even thought you would cheat on me."
"Thank you, Lucifer," you smiled. "I'm sorry for storming out on you without letting you apologize, that was unfair on my part."
"You had every reason to storm out on me," Lucifer said, squeezing your hands. "I'm surprised you didn't do anything else," he laughed.
"I wouldn't have the heart to do it," you returned with a laugh, his smile, that gorgeous smile, widening at the sound.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered. "Please, love, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just ask."
"Cuddles?" you grinned.
"That works for me," he laughed.
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mlqueen89 · 2 days ago
Text
Two | Ego
i took the miracle move on drug the effects were temporary (i love you) it's ruining my life  
Fortnight by Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone | TTPD |  
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pairing: jake “hangman” seresin / ofc (top gun: maverick) 
rating: 18+ (minors dni) 
warnings: smut, mentions of p in v sex, mentions of oral (f receiving).    
word count: 9,776 
summary: “if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.” in which ellie has to deal with the consequences of having the best sex ever with an actual pilot who she actually has to work with. A familiar face makes an appearance to guide ellie through politics at miramar.  
A/N: guys guys guys, you are giving me liiiiife. the reception to the first chapter has been crazy. lots of jake head canon developing here. essentially, i've decided that watermelon sugar by harry styles is jake coded. for... reasons. my guy is all acts of service. 
this one was also beta read by my bestest friend, so this one goes out to jj. love you girl, thanks for reading the smuttiest part of my brain. i also apologize for the amount of taylor swift/pop culture references (srry, not srry). also, the number of videos i watched on F-14s (tomcats) and F-18s (super hornets) is cray.
working my way through the november prompts, slowly but surely! there are a few left, so if you want to request, head on over there.
❥ playlist ♡ masterlist ♡ taglist ♡ previous chapter ♡ next chapter ❥  
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Ellie groaned deeply, her face dropping to her hands as she slouched over the kitchen island from her perch on the stool.     
“I sat on his face, Yan,” Ellie mumbled through her fingers, her voice laced with the mortification of the memory from that afternoon. The way Lieutenant Seresin’s eyes passed over her, undressing her, seeing the mark he’d made on her neck and then coolly, calmly, pretending like he wasn’t put off by her presence. She could feel the heat creeping up her neck until it radiated from her cheeks. “Now I have to work with him.”  
Yan, unfazed, was busy bustling around the small kitchen, assembling her version of a “girl dinner,” which currently included an obscene number of jarred olives in a variety of colours, a smattering of mixed Harvest Snaps, Ritz crackers and a chunk of Swiss cheese she didn’t bother slicing. As she pushed herself up on her tip toes to peek into cupboards, her manicured nailed fingers reaching for a box she’d seen near the back of the space, Yan reminded Ellie of the squirrel family that lived under the deck at their old college house.  
“I dunno,” Yan replied with a shrug, nonchalant as ever, giving the box she’d retrieved from the back of the cabinet on top of the fridge a shake. “Maybe he’ll forget?”  
The remainder of her day at Miramar had been filled with facility tours, and security briefings, introductions to ground crew and the radar teams in the tower—the usual M.O. of any other airfield she’d worked on for the past six years. Routine, smooth, reflexive, comforting in its predictability after her unexpected morning.  
To her relief, she didn’t see Lieutenant Seresin again and in part, it was because she hadn’t necessarily been looking for him. Between seeing him again, being caught off-guard, her mind scrambling and having RADM Stark offer her concealer, she’d had her fill of shame and awkward interactions to last the entire week, possibly month.   
When, at the end of the day, Tony let her know that he’d be emailing her in the next hour or so about her office space, she was already thinking about how quickly she could scurry off to her car and peel out of the parking lot.  
Driving home from North Island was completed in a fugue state, doing everything she could to keep her mind off what would happen from now until whenever her contract was over in a few months and the possibility of her putting in for remote work. Canada, Mexico, Iceland… somewhere, anywhere far away from him.  
By the time she tripped through the front door, trudging up the stairs, shoulders sunk low, Ellie was glad Nic wasn’t home. She wasn’t sure she could handle the interrogation surrounding how her first day had gone (terribly) and why she had disappeared from the Halloween party so abruptly last night without saying goodbye. Both discussions would lead to the same, inevitable, infuriatingly handsome, source. Lt. Seresin. A pilot. A mistake. A five-time in one night mistake. 
When she’d instead found Yan in the kitchen, scrounging around in the cupboards, Ellie had offloaded her previous night and the resulting day in what felt like a single sigh, a mass exodus of mismatched thoughts and side drabbles. Disaster, social and career ruin the overarching themes. 
Ellie lifted her head just enough to scoff in her roommate’s general direction. “Forget? He’s a pilot, it’s highly unlikely. Have you ever met a pilot? Those guys have egos the size of the jets they fly. There’s no way he’s going to just forget without some kind of semi-serious head trauma. Unfortunately.”  
Before Yan could respond, mouth opened in what Ellie could only assume would come next, she held up a finger, a footnote to add, “Before you say it: Bradley doesn’t count. He’s a weird… mustachioed outlier.” 
Data couldn’t track the trajectory of Rooster. Ellie had tried and failed many a time—just when she thought she had pegged him, he escaped the pigeonhole with a dogfight level of evasive maneuvering. With a lack of data or evidence, she’d been forced to accept that Rooster was just untraceable. He didn’t fit the mold of the pilots she’d met.  
“Okay, but hear me out, maybe he will forget without a smack to the dome?” Yan tapped her chin as she glanced down at her plate of smorgasbord, as if considering what was missing. “For all we know, this is his usual modus operandi and you’re just another girl in the long line of hook ups?”  
Ellie felt her stomach drop. Long line of hook ups. “Great. That makes me feel so much better.”    
Yan popped a few pitted olives into her mouth and tipped her head, gathering herself for a moment before she spoke again. “Let’s have a choose your own adventure moment: do you want friend or therapist version of Yan Like, do you want advice advice or just to vent?”  
“Are you going to bill me if I say therapist, Yan’s version?”  
“How about we split the difference?” Yan held the absurdly sized chunk of Swiss cheese in a two—handed grip, nibbling at the corner as she leaned across the island. She was never going to get out from under the squirrel family allusion at this rate. “If I was your therapist, I’d say that maybe we should look at how this serves you? What does this embarrassment, feeling it, stewing in it, what does it do for you?”  
Ellie considered for a moment, her forehead slowly coming to rest on the cool quartz countertop as if the answers could be found there.  
How did the embarrassment of working with a man she’d slept with serve her?  
Maybe the root of the mortification was the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about it, about him. The intrusive thoughts, floating around her brain, still, of the man who had undone her so completely, mapped out her body with his mouth, re-wired her brain through life-altering, transcendent orgasm, one chasing another, each cascading into the next like a line of tumbling dominoes.  
Maybe her fluster was tucked behind the idea that he’d dragged sounds from her with his tongue, fingers, filled her in ways she hadn’t realized she’d been empty until he was inside of her, easing his way in as she gasped and moaned. She’d made sounds she could never have imagined making in the presence of another person, sounds she wasn’t even aware she was capable of making.  
The shame was most likely rooted in the fact that she had liked it, enjoyed every moment he’d been on her and inside of her. Touching her, playing her like an instrument, tugging at all the strings that moved her. She’d melted at the way he called her sweetheart and darlin’ in that voice of his, drawl rough and husky, while doing the things he did to her. How eager he’d sounded when he’d asked her what she wanted from him and how he’d nearly read her mind and fulfilled her needs without needing to be told. 
Ellie could only groan in response, the sound muffled into the countertop as she shifted on her stool, clenching her thighs together tightly as a warmth coiled low in her abdomen.  
The embarrassment didn’t serve her, though it did serve to remind her that she had to have her head on straight going forward. This couldn’t happen again, even if it was all she could think about, even if her body was telling her she wanted more. Her control, careful and composed, had to be stronger; it couldn’t happen again—especially not with him, not with a pilot. Maybe if she repeated it enough, hummed it to herself like a mantra, she’d get herself back on the trail leading to the summit that was the culmination of her life’s work. 
Lt. Seresin was her Voldemort. He who shall not be named. Her Darth Vader. Her Hans Gruber. She couldn’t have sex with Voldemort again. Couldn’t risk the Resistance and give herself to the Dark Side. Couldn’t let the terrorists take Nakatomi Tower on Christmas. 
“It doesn’t.” 
“Exactly. I’m not sure what just went through your beautiful noggin’ just now, but next steps: be the badass I know you are. So what? You had a spectacular night—this guy has no idea how lucky he is to tap that.” Ellie wasn’t sure how seriously she would take it if her actual therapist sat across from her and crunched on gherkin pickles, folded between a slice of prosciutto and used tap that to drive home a point. She’d let it slide for Yan. 
“Also, don’t think I don’t see it,” Yan pointed with the Harvest Snap olive hybrid in Ellie’s general direction. “I’m being nice and I’m not even going to touch the fact that you had crazy, wild sex with a guy dressed as a pilot considering your no pilots rule.”  
“In my, very feeble attempt at self-defense: Who dresses as their actual profession on Halloween?”  
“Oh, that’s just Big Dick Energy vibes, El.” Yan smirked, quirking an eyebrow, as if she was waiting for Ellie to confirm if the vibe had basis in reality. When Ellie simply rolled her eyes, Yan continued, “let’s be real though—we’re in San Diego. You could probably throw a stone and hit a minimum of three pilots in a five-foot radius.” 
Ellie propped her elbow up on the counter, resting her head in her hand, her eyes scanning the swirled pattern in the quartz to the right of Yan’s paper plate. “So, just like that? I just, what? Duplicate the BDE?” 
“More like mirror it. Sometimes that’s all it takes,” Yan nodded, using a Harvest Snap to spear an olive. “I’m not supposed to talk about it, so I won’t, but if I could talk about it, I’d say that I have a client who is an author, who shall remain anonymous, and he uses this crazy, hostage negotiation tactic when he wants to disarm and redirect.” 
Hostage negotiation. Great. This is what is had come to. 
Yan was right. Ellie couldn’t honestly say she was thinking straight when he’d looked at her with his green eyes and easy grin, the level of confidence with which he carried himself so goddamned attractive. She definitely hadn’t been thinking with the prefrontal cortex part of her brain when he’d touched her waist and leaned in close. 
Ellie levelled Yan with a narrowed gaze. “What would friend Yan say?”  
“As your friend who has witnessed some spectacular mistakes in your romantic track record, I’d say,” Yan paused for a moment, considering, Ellie thought, on how she might soften the therapist speak, “so what? You hooked up with him. Big deal. You didn’t know he was a real pilot. It was Halloween. You thought, reasonably, that he wasn’t. I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s not like you have to work directly with him, right?” 
“Except I actually do.” Ellie sighed—she'd already thought about it on the drive home, if avoidance was a viable tactic for the next little while. “I’m the one with the new tech, remember? That means seeing him all the time. He’s part of the team they’ve recalled—he’s one of the best the Navy has to offer. He might need to test my tech if I have any hope of getting it off the ground.”  
Yan paused, mid bite of her cracker, processing for a moment in silence. “Okay. First—love the pun. Second, yeah, that sucks, but maybe he’s, like, cool? Like, he hasn’t been a complete ass about it yet, right?” 
“He pretended like he didn’t even know me,” Ellie muttered, crossing her arms as the memory of his infuriating smugness resurfaced, the way his eyes found the mark he’d made on her like she was his. The way she, for a fraction of a second, let him suck all the air out of the space between them. “Which, I guess is fair, since we didn’t exactly exchange names before....”  
“... before he fucked your brains out?” Yan offered, snapping a piece of Ritz cracker off between her teeth, nonchalantly, as if fucked your brains out was a normal, everyday, part of conversations she engaged in.  
Ellie balled up a nearby tea towel and threw it at Yan as hard as she could manage, and it fell woefully short on the island between them. 
“Okay, so, he’s trying to be professional. That’s not necessarily a bad thing?” Yan turned her back to Ellie for a moment, heading to the fridge to grab the jug of pink lemonade from the fridge before she turned and poured it into a cup that sat on the edge of the sink. 
Ellie shook her head as Yan shook the juice jug in her direction. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just—weird? I don’t know how to act around him now.” 
“Oh girl, act like it didn’t happen, obviously. We both know you’re the queen of compartmentalizing, right?” 
Ellie sighed, sweeping her hair back, unconsciously touching the concealer hidden hickey, feather-light. “This is going to be a bit harder though. I just wasn’t planning on hooking up with someone I’d have to see every day.” 
Yan propped her elbows up on the counter across from Ellie before she carefully slid the plate of crackers, olives, cheese and mini pickles toward her with a grin. “Well, welcome to what we true believers call the Frequency Illusion. You’ll see him for as long as he’s front and center in your noodle. Simple explanation. Either that or you have some karmic balance to restore.” 
Ellie sighed, a sigh that sounded more like a drawn-out lament. “You make it sound like a go around kicking puppies.” 
“As my grandma used to say—God rest her soul—” Yan continued, hearing Ellie’s comment about karmic retribution, and traced a cross over her body, turning her eyes upward for a moment before she mocked pouring one out, “pussy rules the world. You set the tone. Own it. Be confident. If someone is going to squirm, let it be him. You’re holding all the cards.” 
“Set the tone?” Ellie repeated, slowly, considering. She didn’t bother to ask why Yan’s grandma, an unassuming small-statured, Filipino lady, obsessed with backgammon and finding the freshest cinnamon scones up until the very day of her passing, would have come to such a firm stance on pussy and its power level. 
“Yeah,” Yan was around the island now, fluffing Ellie’s hair and fixing the collar on her blazer, “you’re the fucking gorgeous, brainy radar engineer. He’s just some dude who got lucky on Halloween.” 
Ellie shrugged, avoiding eye—contact with Yan. “Maybe you’re right.” 
Yan leaned forward to tap Ellie on the tip of the nose, evidently satisfied with herself. “I’m always right, girly pop.” 
“Oh, is that right, huh?” Ellie swatted at Yan as she danced away, skip-hopping over to the fridge.   
Yan grinned, piling more olives onto her plate. “You know it. Now, eat some olives and get your game face on. Tomorrow’s another day, and you’re not letting some hotshot flyboy get the better of you. Even if he’s gorgeous and a generous partner.”  
Ellie shook her head, but she picked up a cracker as Yan tapped the plate before migrating to the living room. “God, this is a mess.”  
“Eh,” Yan shrugged, dropping to the couch and patting the empty spot beside her as she nestled under an oversized blanket. “Messy is more fun. Let’s watch Love is Blind Brazil, there’s apparently this super unhinged guy, Evandro who picked this girl, Ariela, who clearly isn’t over her ex—” 
“Speaking of,” Ellie crossed the room and dropped to the couch beside Yan, tugging some of the blanket over for herself. “What happened to Frankenstein?” 
“Oh, turns out he couldn’t keep it together,” Yan didn’t bother to look at Ellie, waving the remote at the TV as she scrolled, her lips quirked up in the corners into a smirk, “needed someone with a bit more heart.” 
“You’re so ridiculous.” 
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Naval Air Station Lemoore, California - 2004 
Even after hours, the Californian sun sinking low on the horizon, Lemoore Naval Air Base was alive with a low hum of activity. F-14 Tomcats rested, wings folded in against their bodies, on the tarmac like sleeping giants, the lights from nearby hangars casting long shadows across the hot asphalt. 
She’d woken from another nightmare. It was always the same, a nightmare in which her dad didn’t come home, his plane screaming through the perfect blue sky one moment and then whistling to the surface of the azure water below, no ejection seat, no parachute. Just churning waves as they swallowed the body of the grey metal, silently, until there was nothing left. 
It was why, at 8:45 PM on a hot fall Californian evening, she found herself in her Justice League pajamas, shoes tied haphazardly, sneaking around the base. 
“Dad, we’re not supposed to be here,” Ellie whispered, her eyes wide as she hustled across the airfield, her small, seven-year-old hand clenching her father’s as he snuck from corner to corner, aircraft to aircraft. Stealth mode he’d called it. In her chest, Ellie’s heart pounded, the excitement mixed with the mischievousness of it all.  
Rick “Hollywood” Neven grinned, a roguish glint in his eyes as he glanced down at her by his side. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I know the boss.” He offered her a sly wink and Ellie could feel the anxiety ebb away slightly. She trusted him, always had. He was her dad, after all—the coolest person in the world.  
Slipping through the open hangar bay doors, Ellie’s eyes focused on the jet parked up in the center of the building. The one she’d only ever seen from a distance, her fingers laced through the chain link fence, her mom at her back, as the engines fired to life and her dad took to the air. Now, larger than life, it was here, looming large over her tiny frame. Ellie’s breath caught as her dad led her closer, the heavy scent of engine oil and metal filling her nostrils. Ground crew engineers milled about, running through their checks, but none of them stopped or questioned her dad. He was a legend here, and everyone knew it. Everyone knew him. 
Rick nodded at one of the crew members, and they moved aside as he led Ellie closer to the jet. “Come on, squirt,” he whispered, lifting her up to stand on a ladder beside the plane’s body. “Want to see where the magic happens?”  
Ellie’s eyes widened as she gazed at the jet’s gleaming surface. “This is your plane?”  
“All mine,” he said proudly, patting the side of the jet, his hand passing over his name Lt. Rick Neven and call sign, Hollywood, painted on the side just below the seam where the bonnet would connect. On the body, beside the rear seat, Lt. Leonard Wolfe, Wolfman was painted in white, his RIO.  
As she stared, wide-eyed, taking it all in, he pointed to different parts, explaining each with ease of someone who had lived and breathed this life for years, someone who could identify this machine as an extension of his own body. “That’s the engine, and those are the intakes. That right there is the radar, it’s here, in the nose too—probably the most important thing in the whole bird.”  
Ellie’s eyes scanned the instruments inside the cockpit, levers and buttons, throttles and sparkplugs. “Why?” Her face scrunched in thought.  
“Because without it, I wouldn’t know what’s coming my way. You see, when you’re flying up there, things happen fast. You need to know everything around you��what’s out there, who’s out there.” He turned, giving her a proud smile. “That’s where a good radar tech comes in. But the best radar tech?” He winked. “They’re sitting right behind the pilot.”  
“Like the RIO?” she asked, her voice full of wonder, eyes trained on her godfather’s name.  
“Exactly.” He gestured for her to step up higher, holding her waist as he lifted her into the cockpit. Ellie settled her tiny frame into the seat, her feet barely skimming the pedals in the footwell. Reaching back into the rear seat, he grabbed his helmet, the one adorned with his call sign, and the “lady butt” as Ellie called it. Carefully, he placed it on her head. The weight of it pressed on her neck, far too big, but she didn’t care. The weight of it made her feel important—like she was a part of something bigger, like she was in the cockpit with her dad. 
“Dad…” Ellie began, her voice small and muffled from under the oversized helmet as she pushed it up so she could see him. “What’s it like? Flying up there?”  
Her dad leaned against the side of the F-14, his gaze drifting out toward the open hangar doors where the night sky stretched endlessly above. “It’s like…freedom. Like nothing else in the world matters. Just you, the jet, and the sky. And when you’re up there, you feel like you can do anything.”  
Ellie’s eyes sparkled as she imagined, endless skies, horizon boundless, freedom. “Maybe I can be your RIO one day?”  
Her dad chuckled and Ellie could feel her heart swell, the thought of being here with her dad in his favourite place. He reached out and gently tapped the helmet on her head. “You’re already halfway there, kid. One day, you’ll be up there with me. I’ll be the one flying, and you’ll be the one keeping me safe, making sure we’re on the right track.”  
Ellie smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. “Promise?”  
“I promise,” he said softly, his eyes locking onto hers, and Ellie could feel the pride growing in her, the thought of following in her dad’s footsteps both thrilling and nerve wracking. “Just don’t tell your uncle Wolfman. You’ll be putting him out of a job and I don’t know if the Navy is ready for two Nevens up there.” 
For a moment, it was just them in that cockpit, the noise of the hangar fading into the background as her dad told her to pull back on this throttle and showed her where the ejection handles were. Ellie could feel the importance of it, the way her dad talked about all of it. If her dad said she could do it, then she could—her hero, strong, invincible. Maybe she could be his RIO one day.   
He grinned and grabbed the straps of the helmet, giving it a loving shake. “Alright, kiddo. You got school tomorrow. Let’s get out of here before someone catches us.”  
Ellie laughed as he lifted her out of the cockpit and set her down, but as they walked out of the hangar, her hand still in his, she couldn’t help but glance back at the jet.  
“I think we just found your call sign, huh?” Her dad hummed as they stepped out into the night air, the sun now gone from the sky, replaced by the moon glow of a clear night. “Eleanor Rio Neven.” 
Ellie glanced up at him, her gap-toothed grin, wide. “I like it.” 
“Rio it is then. Hollywood and Rio.” 
One day, she thought. One day she’d earn that call sign. 
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Ellie glanced at the email again to stick the office assignment in the forefront of her mind, standing in front of her open car trunk, before she locked her phone and tucked it into the back pocket of her pressed pants. She was thankful she wasn’t Navy; she knew her strengths fashion wise, and it wasn’t the khaki tan colour of the service uniforms. Civilian contractors had the best of both worlds.  
Grabbing the heavy box of her things, Ellie dragged it from the trunk and hefted it, balancing it on her hip as she reached for the close trunk button.  
“Comm Center 11,” the security officer barely suppressed a chuckle as Ellie used the ledge in front of the glass to hold the box while she fished out her pass, “that’s clear across the airfield from here. You’ll have to take the perimeter; they’ll be running drills at this time. Pattern’s full.”  
“Thanks.” Ellie nodded, taking a moment to clip her pass to the waist of her pants before she lifted the box and used her hip to open the door onto the base.  
Shifting the weight of the box, Ellie tipped her chin as she passed a few officers and a few of the ground crew she half-recognized from the myriad of tours yesterday. Her things weren’t heavy individually—a few office supplies, models of the tech, schematics, a monitor, her MacBook—but stacked awkwardly, they made a clumsy, unbalanced load in the flimsy box with the caved in corners, reinforced with layers of packing tape.  
The morning sun was already intense, gleaming off the pavement so she had to squint as she moved forward, all her concentration on not dropping the box as she felt the cardboard bow under the shifting weight of her belongings, the occasional silence between the sound of jet engines and shouting staff filled by the steady clicking of her heels.  
“Need a hand?”  
The voice was unmistakable, easy, with a hint of banter around the edges, the barely concealed smugness cutting through the noise of the airfield. Ellie knew who it belonged almost immediately, the feeling of recognition hitting her square in the gut before she turned.  
Hangman. 
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Ellie set her shoulders, adjusting her grip on the unwieldy box. Set the tone, she reminded herself, hearing Yan’s voice echo in the back of her mind. She had to hold her ground.   
Turning, her eyes landed on him immediately. He was standing just a few feet away, arms crossed casually over his chest, the khaki tan of his service khakis was definitely doing something for him, something dangerous for his sharp features and easy confidence. He knew he looked good. She could feel herself bristle slightly, caught off-guard by how cool and collected he looked, his lips quirked into a lazy grin, almost infuriatingly amused as he took her in. It felt tailor made to annoy the living hell out of her at this specific moment. He looked ready to swoop in if she so much as tipped the box the wrong way and she wasn’t sure if that grated on her nerves, or if it was something else entirely. 
“No, I don’t need a hand, Lieutenant Seresin,” she replied firmly, adjusting her grip on the box and her resolve. She turned around again resolutely ignoring him and starting off in her original direction, the corner of the already flimsy cardboard buckling, her belongings shifting inside as the box threatened to give way any moment. 
Sure enough, she heard his footsteps fall into pace beside her, an easy saunter as if he had all the time in the world. “You’re a civilian contractor; you can take it easy with the Lieutenant. You can call me Jake…” he began casually, before his voice dropped just enough to add weight to his next words, “since we’ve already been… acquainted.” 
Ellie’s jaw tightened, her pace slowing until she came to a stop. The box crumpled further under her suddenly tightened grip, and she thought she heard the tape coming away from the bottom of the box. She turned slightly, just enough to level him with a glare, all heat and warning. “I’m aware of what happened. That was… before.” Before she knew he was a real pilot. Before she knew cocky and smug were his default personality traits. “This is work, not—” 
“Not what?” he interrupted carefully, the mischievous glint in his eye almost twinkling now. “Not two, consenting adults who had a good time and now coincidentally find themselves working on the same base?” 
Great. So he hadn’t recently happened upon a semi-serious, short-term memory wiping head injury. How unlucky for her. She’d have to work on quashing the butterflies causing the stupid feelings in her stomach currently. The ones that told her she liked looking at his aggravating, annoying, idiotic, handsome face and hearing the charming southern drawl in his words. What was it that Yan had said? Another girl in a long line of hook ups? 
Ellie felt her face heat and not from the sun continuing to beat down. “That’s exactly what this is, actually. Coincidence. That’s it,” Ellie lifted her chin, defiant in the face of his easy charm, her voice dipping low as a crew member zipped past them in a golf cart. “One night. A one-time thing.” 
This time, he broke into a wry grin, but he didn’t speak, and Ellie felt as if he was waiting for her to continue, so she did. 
“Listen, I don’t know what your angle is, but whatever you think happened between us? It won’t happen again.” She kept her gaze trained on him, looking for the moment it might sink in. “I’m here to do a job, that’s it.” Ellie turned again, squinting against the sun as she continued on her way, her dramatic exit. She’d taken three full strides, the box betraying her confident pace, folding in as a piece of lose tape flapped in the breeze and stuck to her hand as her belongings rolled around, loose at the bottom, before Jake was at her side again.  
His eyebrow quirked up, but he didn’t look fazed. Amused, that was the more fitting word, Ellie thought. He looked entertained. By her struggle, by her refusal of his offer for help, even now as the box pitched, weight shifting oddly as the things inside moved around, uncontrolled. “My angle?” He repeated, almost as if he couldn’t believe it wasn’t butter. His tone was teasing and light. “So, you think I have an angle? You been doing a lot of thinking about me then, sweetheart?”  
Ellie rolled her eyes hard, and she picked up her pace. She pointedly ignored his question about her extracurricular thoughts, which definitely included thoughts of him despite her better judgement, but he didn’t need the confirmation. “I don’t know what it is, yet” the box pitched, and Hangman’s hand moved to right it, but Ellie angled it away from him, the sound of her monitor being smacked by the decorative arc reactor paperweight sending her stomach into a tip. “But yes, I’m sure you have one.”  
Firmly, Ellie pushed down the memory of Halloween. The chemistry between them had been a wildfire, quick, easy, starting as something small, possibly insignificant, and then grew unexpectedly, fast, all-consuming, searing, white hot, uncontrollable, unpredictable. It was only spoiled by seeing him again and realizing that he had been telling her the whole truth and nothing but the truth the entire time. He was a pilot. A Lieutenant. A pilot just like every other pilot she’d ever met. Cocky, self-assured, overly confident, reckless. It left a bitter taste in her mouth. “Whatever you’re thinking, do me a favour—don’t. You’re not fooling me.”    
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” He responded, smirking as he watched her wrestle with the box each step of the way. Part of her appreciated that he let her, liked that he respected that she’d said no and turned down his help.  
Before she could deflect, Ellie felt her heel catch just enough on an uneven bit of pavement, and the box, already unbalanced, began to teeter forward, the weight of the shifting contents making it more difficult to recover as she simultaneously tried to save her things and steady herself. Instinctively, she reached out to steady it, but Jake’s hand shot out, steadying her with one hand on her elbow and the other catching the box. He was good… really good. 
“Careful there,” he said softly, all hints of ribbing gone, his eyes locked on hers. “It’d be a shame if all that attitude ended up in a broken ankle.” 
Ellie felt a flush of frustration and something else she wasn’t willing to name, his touch igniting something in her she had to fight to press down again. Stiffening against his grasp, she quickly steadied herself and once she was sure the box was as balanced as she could get it, he carefully let go. In the wake of his skin on hers, she felt a coolness and part of her missed the contact. 
“I can handle myself, thank you” she murmured, but there was less bite. She left no room for him to question her assertation as she straightened herself to stand taller. Looking him dead in the eye was a feat, all six feet of him towering over her, even with the added height of her heels. 
“Never said you couldn’t.” He stepped back, raising his hands in mock surrender, but the smug look didn’t fade. “But just so we’re clear, if you ever need a hand, I’m around. For whatever. Work-related, of course.” 
Ellie didn’t answer, just tightened her grip on the box, ignoring the way her heart had quickened in that split second of closeness, his hand on her arm a beat longer than necessary after she steadied herself. She turned and continued toward her office, keeping her chin high and pretending she couldn’t feel Jake’s eyes on her. 
As she walked away, she heard him call out, “See you around, Ace.” 
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“303,” Ellie murmured, clicking past the numbered doors, closed and plated with names that weren’t hers. “304,” she blew out a huff of air as her eyes flicked to the next door. 
She’d broken out into a bit of a sweat by the time she’d made it to Comms building 11, her calves aching. Now she knew why that security officer had laughed at the sight of her, the sad box of things in her grip already failing. Between the pace she’d kept up, a speed between confident stride and hectic hustle to get away from the man she’d been trying to avoid, and the distance between the parking lot and here, she’d hit her workout goal for the entire week. 
“305.” 
Rigby, E. Ellie glanced at the nameplate secured to the door and used her elbow to press down on the paddle handle, maneuvering expertly to use her hip to wedge the port open when she heard the click of the latch releasing. 
Turning into the space, Ellie paused for a moment, glancing back at the nameplate on the door for half a second longer when she took in the sheer size of the office. This had to be some kind of mistake, civilian contractors didn’t get windows, especially not eastern facing windows.  
The nameplate stuck to the door still said her name. The number above the port hadn’t changed. This was 305 and that was her name on the door. 
Stepping further inside, Ellie kicked the door closed behind herself, only registering that another person was in the room when they spoke. 
“Hey, Rio.”  
The call sign hit her, broadside, and drew her eyes immediately to the source.  
The man who leaned against the corner of the window ledge on the other side of the room, arms folded across his chest, was silhouetted against the bright morning light streaming in. Though his face had changed, laugh lines deepened around his eyes, the crease between his brow mostly cemented, likely exacerbated by all the young, hot shot pilots he’d watched breeze through Miramar over the years, she would recognize him anywhere. 
Captain Pete Mitchell. Call sign: Maverick. 
Ellie smirked as he stepped forward, taking the box from her without hesitation and sliding it onto the edge of the small coffee table, situated in front of the quaint sitting area which included a couch and an armchair. Free from the weight of the box, Ellie took a deep breath and, hands on hips, surveyed the space. “I think they made a mistake, Mav. This has to be your office. Way too big to be a civilian contractor’s, that’s for sure.”  
Maverick chuckled and Ellie could see the younger version of the man she’d met years ago behind the softened angles of his face. She guessed, in his eyes, she looked a lot different from the kid running around the airfield, causing trouble, getting in the way, herself. “Pulled a few strings. Anything for Hollywood’s kid.” 
She met his wry grin with a smirk of her own, a flash of gratitude filling her with a sense of the calm of familiarity, but she shook her head with a laugh. “Well, thanks for the royal treatment, but I think it’s a bit much.” Ellie gestured to the large space, the window behind Mav looking out onto the airfield, the grand mahogany desk waiting for a touch of personalization, an expanse of empty bookshelves behind it and the sitting area to her right.  
Her “office” at the base in Turkey had been little more than a space between two filing cabinets, open to the coffee station, water cooler and any Air Force pilot who thought she looked unassuming or unaware. She’d accepted that space as workable for over a year. This, by comparison, was at least seventeen steps up. For one, there was a door. “I was half expecting a supply closet, to be honest. Somewhere with more dust and a lot less… light.” 
Maverick closed the space between them, pulling her into a quick hug before he stepped back to really take her in, his hands framing her shoulders. “How’re you doing, kid? How’s Miramar treating you so far? Wouldn’t expect it’s anything Rio couldn’t handle.” 
“Rio,” Ellie tested out the old call sign, the second time she’d heard it from Mav in such a short time, a soft smile pulling up the corner of her lips slightly, “haven’t heard that one in a long time. I’m good.”  
She’d leave out the footnotes that included Hangman, or any possible complications that were attached to him for now. Instead, Ellie took a moment to look at Maverick, she hadn’t been expecting him to be here, hadn’t expected to feel the comfort in the presence of his easy nature. Seeing him settled the anxiety simmering beneath the surface, if only just a little bit. “So, they called you in to keep tabs on me, huh?” 
“Something like that.” A knowing look crossed his face, a smirk, the look of the old Maverick Ellie had known for the majority of her life. Cocky, self-assured, non-conformist, Maverick was the typical archetype of a pilot, at least every one that Ellie had ever encountered. “I figured I’d be a friendlier face than Admiral Simpson. Someone to get you started. I know Miramar’s not the… smoothest place to transition into.” 
Admiral Simpson. Stuffy, hard-lined, hard-nosed, Admiral Simpson. The same Admiral Simpson that had watch-checked and foot-tapped his way through her presentation the other day. The same Admiral she couldn’t help but feel would sideline her project if it meant delaying a mission for even half a minute. On the other hand, there was RADM Stark—welcoming and excited, and yet, there was something unreadable about her. Something that Ellie wasn’t sure she could trust behind the glad to have more estrogen in the room facade. 
There was a reason she had a reputation as someone to impress, there was a reason she was thriving in the man-made, old boys club that was the Navy. 
Ellie made a face, and Maverick simply pressed his lips into a thin line and raised his eyebrows quietly. Maverick understood—he almost always did, especially when it came to following protocol, or rather, breaking protocol. Maverick hadn’t ever been any Admiral’s favourite pilot—especially not Admiral Benjamin, even if his daughter, Penny, thought differently. If anyone could help her navigate the difficult politics of Admirals and strict rules of engagement, it was Maverick. Maverick who, somehow, hadn’t been dishonourably discharged… yet.  
There was no doubt in her mind she would be thankful to have Maverick and his rule-bending in her corner as the go-between. 
“Smooth is overrated,” Ellie scoffed, shrugging. “I’m here to work—maybe make a few of you Navy boys cry in the process, if I’m lucky.” 
Maverick’s laugh was sudden and loud, genuine, the grin on his face wide.  
“Good,” he nodded, approvingly, patting her arm. “Well, in the spirit of smooth in the context of work, I’ve got some updates from the Admirals. Did you want to—” Maverick nodded toward the desk, and it took Ellie a moment to understand what he was suggesting, lost in the soft, blurred edges of nostalgia.  
“Yeah, of course. Better to just dive into the deep end with this, I guess.” 
Ellie rummaged for a second and dug her MacBook from the box, doing her best to ignore that there was a fresh dent in the lid as she swept over to the desk and Maverick settled in on the other side. 
“So I’ve had a chance to go over your reports and the preliminary data from the prototype testing on base in Turkey,” Mav started, his expression unreadable, though his posture suggested a relaxed, nonchalant approach. She supposed this was the most professional he would get with her. “It’s really impressive, Ellie. Your dad, he mentioned you were top of the game, he didn’t mention that you were running circles around the rest of us.” 
“I mean—” Ellie started, she kept her eyes on the screen of her laptop as it started up, “it’s all still relatively untested….” 
She pointedly ignored Mav’s mention of her dad. Hollywood wasn’t exactly a subject she wanted to touch on right now. Especially not with Maverick. She knew where it would lead. 
“Still. Must be something promising to get them to pull you here from halfway across the world.” Mav didn’t push the topic further as she saw him cross his legs, ankle on knee, in her peripheral. “It’s going to make a big difference to a lot of people if we can get it off the ground. I’m putting my weight behind this one, Rio—that counts for something. At least the Admirals think so.” 
“I hope so.” Ellie straightened herself in her chair, MacBook finally at the ready, despite a few broken pixels in the top left corner of the screen. “How do we tackle this then? Do I want to know what kind of resources they’re allocating for this?” 
Maverick paused for a moment, his hands passing over the armrests before folding his hands. “Good news or bad news?” 
“You know me, Mav—news is news.” 
“Well, they’re giving us pilots and significant testing time. They’ve put me on the testing schedules too, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me. We’ll run this as seamlessly as possible and get you the data you need to make this a reality.” Maverick’s fingers drummed on his knee, casual, calm. 
“Okay, that sounds like the good news to me….” Ellie cautiously made notes, her eyes returning to Mav as if she expected the other shoe to drop at any moment. So far, these were all workable resources. “I’ll get Records to pull the pilot files—”   
“No need, I’ve got them here.” Maverick reached to the chair beside him before sliding a folio across the desk toward her, thick with dossiers. “Fifteen pilots. They’re the best the Navy has to offer. All Top Gun graduates, all recalled for the current mission training. They’re giving us four of our choosing.” 
Ellie shrugged, her hand resting on the top of the stack of files, her thumb flipping through the first few tabs with call signs. Bob, Coyote, Duke, she nodded slowly, processing. “Well, to be honest, I was expecting far less—”  
“We have to run the testing of your tech alongside the mission training. They’re giving us two and a half months.” Maverick’s words hung in the air for a long moment, a moment in which Ellie’s eyes snapped to his and she searched for the lie there she knew she wouldn’t find. Maverick didn’t lie, he wasn’t the type. 
And there it was: the other shoe. 
Two and a half months. The initial research alone had taken years. Years of algorithm building, years of theoretical practice, years of begging for funding. Hell, the prototype alone had taken a year to create in a lab with her close oversight. Two and a half months was a drop in the ocean, a near impossibility. This was an out of the frying pan and into the heat situation if Ellie had ever seen one. “No pressure, right?” 
“RADM Stark is in our corner for now—Admiral Simpson has made it clear he’ll recommend moving forward with the mission with or without your tech,” Maverick didn’t sugar coat it and Ellie appreciated that about him—it wasn’t in his nature to soften the blow. “I think you and I would both prefer that it’s with. The more of these pilots we can bring home, the better.” 
Ellie glanced at the stack of files again, folded in the larger tan manila, and nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay then, deep ending this.” 
“Pick your top candidates based on the needs of the tech and the testing. I’m looking forward to reading your report.” Maverick tapped the corner of the desk, standing before shoving his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. “Let’s say my office. Tomorrow morning, 0800 sharp. Bring coffee.” 
“Careful Mav,” Ellie tutted, her eyebrow raised in a teasing way as she looked up at him over the top of her computer screen, “that sounds an awful lot like protocol. You’ve got a reputation for throwing out the rulebook to uphold around here.” 
Maverick waved her off as he headed for the door and Ellie watched him pause for just a moment, halfway out, his hand on the knob. “This isn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park, kid. But if there’s anyone who can pull this off, it’s you. Whether the name on the door is Neven or not—” Mav’s knuckles rapped against the solid wood, just under the name plate displaying her mother’s maiden name, “—the Nevens have a way of making things happen. You’re where you’re meant to be.” 
“Thanks.” 
Maverick offered her a small smile, cleared his throat and then stepped out of the door. “Oh, Ellie?” Maverick’s head was back through the door, his finger pointing to the shelving behind her. “I brought you a little office warming gift.” 
Ellie quickly found the small potted fern, the decorative pot it sat in painted with Be-LEAF in Yourself in neat block lettering. Ellie lifted the pot, turning with a raised eyebrow, displaying the saying. 
“Penny picked it out.” Mav shrugged, as if he himself were above the plant pun. When Ellie’s gaze didn’t shift, Mav waved a hand and retreated again. “0800 sharp, Rio. Two sugars, no dairy.” 
With a dry chuckle, Ellie turned back to the shelf, her eyes quickly finding something else where the pot had been, hidden. 
The photo in the frame was slightly faded, but the energy captured within the image felt timeless. It was a group shot, clearly taken at Miramar a lifetime ago, the California sun bright overhead, casting shadows across the tarmac where the four men stood, exuding effortless swagger. The aura of young pilots in their prime. 
Maverick was front and center, his signature aviators reflecting a blurred image of the photo taker, a familiar cocky grin stretching across his face. His flight suit was unzipped at the top, revealing the white T-shirt underneath. To his right, Ellie’s eyes focused on her dad. His posture, shoulders relaxed, mirrored Maverick’s, his smile easy but sharp, his trademark confidence that matched his call sign. 
Next to him, Wolfman, her dad’s RIO, his stance a little more casual but no less self-assured. He had an arm slung around Hollywood’s shoulder; their camaraderie apparent even through the static image. His grin was wide and mischievous, like he had just cracked a joke that made Hollywood laugh. Wolfman was always the one for jokes—always inappropriate, never failing to make her dad laugh. 
On the far left, slightly more composed but no less iconic, stood Iceman. His jaw was set, his aviators pushed up into his blond hair as he looked at the camera with a subtle smirk. Even in the informal setting, he carried himself with the unshakable confidence of someone who knew he was the best. 
The four of them stood against the backdrop of an F-14 Tomcat, the jet’s sleek frame gleaming in the sunlight. 
It was a snapshot of a time when they were young, fearless, and seemingly invincible—a moment frozen in time, untouched by the years and the weight of everything that would come after. In the reflection of the glass, Ellie could just make out her own face as she refocused, her eyes soft and her brow pulled together. 
Rolling her eyes, Ellie shook herself out of her own thoughts, scoffing as she snapped the picture face down, its support leg sticking up like that of a dead bug. 
If she wanted to survive here, if she had any hope of making a difference, she would need to keep her head on straight. No more distractions. 
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“You’re going to have to do a lot better than that if you want to leave here with something other than lint in your pockets, Bradshaw.”  
Jake grabbed the triangle and racked the balls as Rooster groaned, the wad of bills in the fold that came out of his pocket thinner than it had been at the beginning of the evening. He thumbed out another twenty and placed it on top of the growing pile of cash sitting on the edge of the table before he took a swig of beer. “Keep taking my money, Hangman and you’ll have to tell Nic why I can’t take her out on Friday.”  
“Oh, you want me to tell your girl her boyfriend can’t handle his balls?” Hangman smirked, shifting the triangle up to the foot spot on the table before carefully removing the rack. “You know, I’d be real happy to do that, Rooster.” Grabbing his cue, Jake nodded across the table, “how ’bout I let you break first then, give you a head start.”  
As Rooster leaned over the table to line up the break, Jake grabbed his beer, leaning up against the wall. The late-day sun streamed in through the windows of the Hard Deck, casting long shadows across the scuffed hardwood, the warm glow of golden hour adding a certain charm to the scrappy, Navy watering hole. It was routine by now, mission training, the Hard Deck, hustling pool for a little extra spending money, embarrassing Rooster who always seemed eager to try to prove he was better than Jake at the game. Wash, rinse, repeat. Steady pace for a Tuesday night. But tonight, Jake’s mind wasn’t on the pool game, or the growing pile of Rooster’s cash.  
Instead, it was occupied by thoughts of a particular Radar Tech who had, in two short days, carved out a space in his head: Eleanor Rigby. That surprised Jake—surprised him in ways that took the routine out of his usual one-night M.O. 
After he’d seen her that morning, struggling with the box, almost comically, and she refused his help outright, the end of the day had come quickly. Quicker than Jake had anticipated. Between the packed mission training and the maneuver refreshers, his head had been on a swivel, his eyes peeled, but he hadn’t managed to catch her again. 
The sharp crack of the cue ball breaking and scattering the striped and solids, pulled Jake’s focus back to the game. Rooster managed to sink one solid, smirking as he stepped back to find himself for another viable shot.  
“Nice shot, Bradshaw,” Jake drawled, his eyes twinkling as he set down his bottle on the edge of a nearby high-top table. “I think this might be the first time you’ve hit something clean all week.”  
Rooster’s breathy laugh sounded for just a moment, his eyes sizing up the next shot. “Just wait, Bagman,” Rooster murmured, leaning over to line up his cue again. “By the time I’m done, you’ll be asking me for a loan.”  
“Bold for someone down to their last twenty.” Jake smirked, chalking his own cue. He waited for Rooster to take his shot—missing a corner pocket by a hairsbreadth—before stepping in to size up the table, tutting. “Might have to start playing some tunes for tips,” he nodded over to the piano in the corner. 
They rotated between trading teasing banter and goading remarks for a moment before Jake’s inquiring mind got the better of him, swimming with thoughts of her face, the way she looked at him within the new frame that existed outside of their Halloween encounter. 
“So,” Jake started, casually, nonchalant, as he chose his next shot, Rooster having missed his solid, and bent to take aim, lining up a striped ball with the corner pocket. “We have a new radar tech or something—Rigby?” Jake played dumb, played disinterested, acted as if he didn’t know her name, pretended he didn’t like the way the mark his mouth had left on her neck stuck out in sharp contrast to her put together, professional look the other day. 
As he looked up from under his lashes, Jake could see Rooster pause mid-sip of his beer, eyebrow raised. “Rigsy? Radar Tech, Engineer I think the proper term is. She’s Nic’s best friend. Her roommate now too, actually.” Rooster set his beer down carefully, “Why? What’s your angle?” 
Rigsy. So Rooster knew her outside of work. Jake carefully stored the information, his eyes never leaving the cue ball and the line of aim with the striped ball. “No angle,” he replied evenly, taking the shot and sinking the striped ball and another in its path with ease. “Just curious. Seems like she’s got the brass wrapped around her finger already.” 
“That’s because she’s good at what she does,” Rooster said, stepping away to the bar and grabbing two more bottles of beer before he returned to the table. “Smart, like, real smart. No nonsense, she won’t put up with any crap. Not the usual type you’d chase, though,” 
Jake took the shot, and the ball ricocheted off the pocket point in a way he hadn’t expected, missing the striped ball he’d lined up with that pocket, wide. Straightening, he chuckled, leaning against his cue stick, stepping back for Rooster’s turn. “Who says I’m chasin’, Bradshaw?”  
Rooster’s response was a snort as he stepped up to the table. “Sure, man, whatever you say,” he glanced up at Jake, a knowing look crossing his face, eyes incredulous, eyebrow peaked. “You don’t exactly have a reputation for curiosity without motive, Seresin.” 
Jake smirked, but didn’t respond, moving in to take another shot instead when Rooster missed his second shot and Jake sunk two more stripes in quick succession. He felt Rooster’s gaze lingering, and despite trying to play it cool, he couldn’t shake the curiosity that had been brewing since he’d seen her on Halloween. More so since seeing her here, at Miramar again, of all places. When she’d let him come back to her place and he’d fucked her until her knees shook, he hadn’t expected to see her again. Now, now he thought about what it would have been like if she’d known his name then, what it would sound like for her to moan it, beg him for more. It was enough to drive him dangerously close to mad. 
Jake missed the next shot, his mind hazed with the thought. Stepping back, he folded his arms across his chest and tried to act uninterested. “Say I’m curious for… curiosity’s sake: what’s her deal? Anything I should know?” 
“Oh shit—you really don’t know…” Rooster raised an eyebrow, taking a deep swig of his beer, studying the label as he tried to contain his smirk, before replying. “You don’t know who her old man is, do you?” 
Jake froze slightly at that, his brow furrowed, eyes narrowed at the pilot across the table from him. “Her old man?” 
Rooster chuckled and shook his head, his tone low as he tapped the cue stick on the floor. “Rick Neven. Hollywood. Shot down in combat on a mission over the Gulf. Made sure his WSO got out first and ejected too late just above hard deck. Broke his back in three places. Docs said it was nothing short of a miracle he was alive, but that he’d never walk again.” 
Jake blinked, the weight of the name hitting him immediately. Hollywood. One of the legends. The same pilot whose photo was framed alongside Maverick and Iceman, Goose and Slider in the halls all around base. He took a breath, trying to process it, while trying his best to keep composure. “You tellin’ me she’s Neven’s kid?”  
Rooster nodded, continuing as if he knew the exact thoughts running through Jake’s mind. “Yeah, man. That’s Rigsy’s dad. Big shadow to live under. She’s been pretty much anti-pilot her whole life, from what I’ve gathered.” 
Jake felt the words settle in his gut, realizing just how tangled this was becoming. Ellie wasn’t just some random civilian contractor; she came with baggage, a history that had been shaped by the same world they both lived in—but from a very different perspective. And after their Halloween encounter, he suddenly understood why she hadn’t mentioned anything about it. It also explained the guardedness in her eyes, the bite in her sarcasm. 
“She doesn’t really talk about him much,” Rooster added, his voice dropping slightly, as if sensing Jake’s shift in mood. Rooster had always been good at that, even if Jake didn’t want to admit it. “Nic says it’s a sore spot. That and her folks splitting.” 
Jake set his cue down, rubbing a hand over his face as he tried to wrap his head around it. “Damn.” 
“You’re in over your head with that one, Hangman,” Rooster said with a knowing smirk. “She’s not your usual type, and if you somehow manage to get past all those SAMs she’s throwing out, she sure as hell won’t make it easy.” 
“Wouldn’t be any fun if she did, Rooster.” Jake let out a dry chuckle, picking up his beer and taking a long drink. “Wouldn’t be any fun if she did.” 
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tags bbs: @hookslove1592 @mrsevans90 @avengersfan25 @jbennsquared @dempy @obsessed-fan-alert @djs8891 @lunatygerqueen @khouse712 @alipap3 @yuckosworld @marvelouslyme96
taglist if you want to be added/removed!
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manticore-fangs · 3 days ago
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boss man schlatt with a free use secretary mmm your workspace is in the same office as his so whenever he gets too frustrated or hell just bored he stalks over to ur desk and just uses ur holes !!
hes pissed at some dick head investor? he just bends you over ur desk and fucks you so over it the desk damn near (or sometimes just straight up breaks hehe you cant even think straight drooling and squealing he's just pulling ur hair slapping ur ass still angrily mumbling about how dumb and stuck up people are
OR OR schlatt bored as hell signing dumb ass papers all day so he crawls under ur desk and starts eating you out <3 bends you so that ur thighs are against your chest and goes to TOWN doing it Entirely for his own pleasure not yours :3 and of course he makes sure you still answer the phone during ur still a secretary! gotta stifle down all of ur whimpers and wailing while having to ask people why they're calling and no schlatt can't come to the phone rn he's just went into a very important meeting so sorry:(
i was never a secretary and hope to never be, i just work at a fuckin' library (its a fun job.) coughs anyways.. i.. fuck this actually made me feel something deep within
first scenario where schlatt just uses you as he pleases, grabs at your neck and just pulls you back against him while he pounds your cunt.. maybe slipping a finger or two into your ass, moving said fingers back and forth. he tsk every time you moan loud, a pout on his face because you cant be loud! "stop being loud toots or im really gonna have to spank that fuckin' ass red." you remember him say to you.
"promise- i wont moan loud-" you somehow manage a sentence with the way he is pounding and forcing you to let these moans. he moves his hand now to your tits and just starts pawing at them, tugging at your nipples and twirling them between his pointer finger and middle finger, he tugs on your boob once more and you cum all over his cock. staining his pants while he manages to pull out and has globs of wasted fertile seed drop to the ground.
or..
schlatt gets a bad deal for something and he just crosses his arms over his chest before he realizes that your literally right there, typing away at the computer. making meetings for mr. schlatt and putting stuff down on his calendar so he knows what is happening one each days and knows the times.
he stalks right on over to you and moves your chair back, you stair right up at him and watch him crawl under the desk. you start stuttering, telling him that he "shouldnt be on the ground mr. schlatt! its quite improper." knowing damn well with what he is about to do.
he almost rips through your pants with the amount of tugging and in general just clawing at your thighs to get the shit off. literally once he sees your cunt he is diving right in, suckling on your clit before licking up your juices that started to drool out from you pussy.
you have your hands ins his hair and just tug on it once in awhile when he starts sucking on your clit, even nipping at it with his teeth- grinding it between them while you just yowl out. he smacks your thigh with his hand, he comes off and scowls at you, slapping your thigh one more time. then the phone rings.
he looks at you and tilts his head to the phone. "answer it doll." you take a deep breath, hovering your hand over the phone and then grabbing it.
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bratzkoo · 4 hours ago
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scheming heart | jeonghan
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Author: bratzkoo Pairing:  CFO! Jeonghan x Cardiologist! reader Genre: fluff, chaos Rating: PG-13 Word count: 7.4k~ Warnings/note: second fic for the new series i'm working on, first fic is offside (seungcheol's chaos) and now, we have jeonghan's part of the chaotic world.
summary: Jeonghan has finally found his match in that stubborn cardiologist not knowing that everything was orchestrated by his scheming grandmother in Suite 520.
taglist (hit me up if you wanna be added): @escoupseu , @yanabaaaaaaarysheva , @spnyin , @sousydive , @gyuguys , @gyubakeries
requests are open, but you can just say hi! | masterlist
The VIP suite of Seoul National University Hospital looked like a five-star hotel room had aggressively swallowed a medical facility. Amidst the designer furniture and medical equipment that probably cost more than most people's houses, Granny Han was doing what any respectable 75-year-old chaebol matriarch would do at 7 AM – scheming on her secret iPhone while pretending to be asleep.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥 [Members: Rich_Granny_Han, Nurse_Anna, Boo_CEO, Won_NOT_involved]
Rich_Granny_Han: Operation starts today! New cardiologist incoming! Boo_CEO: OMG YES! Is she pretty? Smart? Ready to handle our dramatic boy? Rich_Granny_Han: Harvard graduate. Young. Scary. Boo_CEO: PERFECT FOR JEONGHAN 😍 Won_NOT_involved: I'm a senior nurse. I don't do matchmaking. Rich_Granny_Han: Sure, dear. BTW I saw you setting up that hidden camera 😘 Won_NOT_involved: ...that's for medical documentation. Nurse_Anna: Babe, we all know you're lying 😂 Won_NOT_involved: I'm turning off my phone. Rich_Granny_Han: No you're not 💅
The door opened, and Granny quickly shoved her phone under her designer hospital blanket (yes, she brought her own, the hospital ones were "peasant fabric").
"Good morning, Halmoni!" Anna breezed in, looking suspiciously cheerful for someone working hospital hours. "Ready for vitals?"
"Anna dear," Granny coughed delicately, a performance worthy of a Best Actress nomination. "Tell me about this new doctor."
"Dr. Y/N," Anna checked the blood pressure monitor while simultaneously texting the group chat behind her back – a skill developed specifically for this job. "Brilliant, scary when caffeine-deprived, and apparently made a chaebol's son cry during her fellowship."
"Perfect!" Granny's eyes gleamed. "Jeonghan needs someone who can handle him. That boy thinks being CFO means Chief Fashion Officer."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: ALERT! Target sighted in parking lot. Three cups of coffee. Dark circles. Optimal chaos conditions! Boo_CEO: On my way with premium bubble tea and emotional support! Won_NOT_involved: Don't you have a company to run? Boo_CEO: Bold of you to assume I do actual work Rich_Granny_Han: Everyone in position! Anna, increase heart monitor sensitivity! Won_NOT_involved: That's against protocol... Rich_Granny_Han: I'll add another zero to your Christmas bonus Won_NOT_involved: ...sensitivity increased.
Dr. Y/N strode down the hallway, white coat pristine despite the early hour. As the attending cardiologist, she'd already reviewed several cases since 6 AM. Her coffee consumption was legendary among the cardiology department – not because she was a fresh graduate (she wasn't), but because dealing with entitled family members required chemical assistance.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: Target acquired! Our cardiologist looks ready to destroy rich people today Boo_CEO: Jeonghan needs that energy in his life tbh Won_NOT_involved: Shouldn't you be checking on your other patients? Nurse_Anna: Babe, this IS patient care. Emotional patient care. Rich_Granny_Han: Wonwoo dear, go check my IV drip Won_NOT_involved: It's perfectly fine... Rich_Granny_Han: That wasn't a suggestion 😊 Won_NOT_involved: ...checking IV drip now.
Y/N entered Suite 520 to find what looked like a carefully orchestrated scene: Granny Han propped up regally against designer pillows, Anna adjusting monitors with suspicious enthusiasm, and Wonwoo dutifully checking IV lines while pretending not to notice Anna's not-so-subtle winks.
"Good morning, Mrs. Han. I'm Dr. Y/N, your attending cardiologist."
"Please, call me Halmoni," Granny's voice was perfectly pitched between frail and commanding. "Everyone does. Even Wonwoo here, and he tries so hard to be professional."
Wonwoo, caught in the crossfire, focused intently on the IV drip.
The morning assessment went smoothly – suspiciously so. Y/N reviewed Granny's cardiac status while fielding questions that seemed oddly personal for a medical consultation: "Are you married, doctor?" "Do you like coffee? My grandson LOVES coffee." "What's your opinion on dramatic men in expensive suits?"
By 2 PM, all hell broke loose.
The suite's door flew open with theatrical force. Wonwoo, who had been checking Granny's vitals, nearly jumped out of his skin – though whether from the noise or Anna's excited squeal was unclear.
Enter Han Jeonghan, looking like he'd walked off a magazine cover. His Armani suit probably cost more than most nurses' monthly salary – a fact Wonwoo noted with an eye-roll so powerful it could have registered on the cardiac monitor.
"Who," Jeonghan demanded, brandishing his phone, "changed my grandmother's medication without consulting the family?"
Y/N, who had spent years dealing with entitled relatives, simply raised an eyebrow. "I did. Because I'm her doctor, and unlike WebMD, I actually went to medical school."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: OMGOMGOMG IT'S HAPPENING Boo_CEO: The TENSION! The DRAMA! Won_NOT_involved: I'm literally just trying to do my job here Rich_Granny_Han: Time for my award-winning performance! Won_NOT_involved: Please don't mess with the monitors again... Rich_Granny_Han: Too late! Nurse_Anna: Babe just enjoy the show Won_NOT_involved: I still have other patients Rich_Granny_Han: Shush, love is happening Won_NOT_involved: That's not how nursing works... Rich_Granny_Han: It is in Suite 520 😘
The cardiac monitor suddenly started beeping. Wonwoo shot Granny a look that clearly said "I know what you did," but professionally checked the readings anyway.
"Oh dear," Granny fluttered a hand over her heart. "All this tension... it's affecting my poor heart..."
Y/N and Jeonghan immediately stopped arguing, their professional and filial instincts kicking in respectively.
"Blood pressure's a bit elevated," Wonwoo reported dutifully, while Anna practically vibrated with excitement beside him.
"Maybe," Y/N suggested dryly, "certain people could be less dramatic during your recovery period."
"Maybe," Jeonghan countered, "certain doctors could be more communicative about medical decisions."
The monitor beeped again.
"Children, please," Granny's voice was weak but somehow carried perfect emotional manipulation. "Wonwoo, be a dear and get me some water? And Anna, I need my pills... the ones in the far cabinet..."
Both nurses recognized a dismissal when they heard one. As they left (Anna practically dragging Wonwoo), their phones buzzed:
Rich_Granny_Han: Mission proceeding perfectly! Phase 1 complete! Nurse_Anna: They're so cute when they're angry! Boo_CEO: OMW with premium drama fuel (coffee)! Won_NOT_involved: Can we please just have one normal patient? Rich_Granny_Han: No ❤️
Left alone with the feuding doctor and CFO, Granny settled in to watch the show. Her "concerned grandmother" facade barely concealing her glee.
"Since you're so invested in your grandmother's care," Y/N's voice dripped with professional sarcasm, "let me explain the medication changes in terms even a CFO can understand."
Jeonghan's perfectly maintained eyebrow twitched. "Please do. Use small words for us non-Harvard graduates."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: The sexual tension! I can't breathe! Nurse_Anna: Should I come back with the oxygen? Rich_Granny_Han: No dear, that was metaphorical Won_NOT_involved: Thank god, the paperwork for unnecessary oxygen... Boo_CEO: INCOMING with reinforcements! And bubble tea! Rich_Granny_Han: Perfect timing!
The suite's door burst open again, revealing Seungkwan balancing a tray of expensive bubble tea and wearing a suit that rivaled Jeonghan's.
"Halmoni!" he sang out, then dramatically gasped at the scene before him. "Oh my, am I interrupting something?"
"Perfect timing, Seungkwan-ah," Granny's voice somehow conveyed both frailty and mischief. "Stay and help me understand the doctor's explanation. My old heart would feel better with more family present."
Y/N watched as her simple medical consultation turned into what felt like a business presentation, complete with:
One overdressed CFO pretending to take notes while actually googling medical terms
His equally overdressed best friend providing dramatic gasps as punctuation
Two nurses who kept finding excuses to check the monitors
And a grandmother whose "heart symptoms" seemed suspiciously tied to whenever her grandson and doctor moved closer together
"So," Y/N concluded her explanation, "any questions about the medication changes?"
"Just one," Jeonghan smiled his business smile. "Where did you get your coffee? You seem to run on it as much as I do."
Before Y/N could respond, three things happened simultaneously:
The cardiac monitor beeped enthusiastically
Seungkwan choked on his bubble tea
Anna materialized with a coffee menu from the hospital's premium cafe
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: CODE COFFEE! I repeat, CODE COFFEE! Boo_CEO: Their first potential coffee date! I'm crying 😭 Won_NOT_involved: This isn't what medical codes are for... Rich_Granny_Han: Wonwoo, go get me a cardiac reading Won_NOT_involved: Your heart is fine Rich_Granny_Han: Not for my heart, for the drama Won_NOT_involved: sigh
"Oh, speaking of coffee," Granny perked up with suspicious energy for someone supposedly weak, "Jeonghan-ah, that fancy machine you brought me is too complicated. Maybe Dr. Y/N could help you figure it out?"
Y/N looked at the state-of-the-art espresso machine in the corner – probably worth more than her monthly salary. Jeonghan was already moving toward it with the confidence of a man who thought knowing how to make coffee was a personality trait.
"I only drink americanos," Y/N stated firmly.
"What a coincidence," Seungkwan stage-whispered, "that's Jeonghan's favorite too!"
The monitor beeped again.
"That's it," Y/N turned to Wonwoo, "please check the monitor's sensitivity."
"Oh, it's very sensitive," Wonwoo muttered, then quickly added at Granny's sharp look, "I'll... run some tests."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Progress report!
Coffee connection established ✓
Mutual annoyance at peak levels ✓
Jeonghan fixed his hair 3 times ✓
Doctor checked her reflection in the monitor ✓ 
Boo_CEO: THE EXCELLENCE OF THIS PLOT Nurse_Anna: Should I accidentally spill something so they have to move closer? Won_NOT_involved: NO Rich_Granny_Han: Save that for tomorrow dear Won_NOT_involved: Why am I even reading this chat... Nurse_Anna: Because you love me 😘 Won_NOT_involved: Accurate. Always will be accurate. Rich_Granny_Han: Simp
"Dr. Y/N," Granny called out sweetly, "your afternoon must be busy. Why don't you take some coffee with you? Jeonghan makes excellent americanos."
"I'm quite capable of getting my own coffee, thank you," Y/N replied professionally.
"Are you?" Jeonghan smirked, already starting the machine. "Because that hospital cafe americano you're holding looks tragic."
Y/N looked at her cup, then at his perfectly pressed suit, then at her patient charts. Pride warred with caffeine addiction.
Caffeine won.
"Fine. One coffee. Purely for professional courtesy."
"Of course," Jeonghan's smile was far too satisfied. "Professional courtesy."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: DAY ONE SUCCESS! Nurse_Anna: They're so cute I'm gonna cry Boo_CEO: Already planning the wedding Won_NOT_involved: It's literally just coffee Rich_Granny_Han: Oh sweet summer child Nurse_Anna: Babe, you're so innocent Won_NOT_involved: I hate this family Rich_Granny_Han: No you don't Won_NOT_involved: No, I don't, but I want it noted that I complained and I love Anna, I want it highlighted in the note that I love Anna. Nurse_Anna: I love you! Rich_Granny_Han: This is a Jeonghan fic.
As Y/N left with her admittedly perfect americano, Granny Han settled back against her pillows with a satisfied smile. Phase one was complete. Tomorrow, they'd begin Code: "Accidental Touch."
Poor Y/N and Jeonghan had no idea what they were in for.
- Y/N arrived at the hospital the next morning to find a paper cup from an expensive coffee shop sitting on her office desk. Next to it was a note in pretentiously perfect handwriting:
"Since your taste in coffee is as questionable as your medication choices. - JH"
She crumpled the note, then uncrumpled it, then took a sip of the coffee.
Damn. It was perfect.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: COFFEE SPOTTED! Code: Caffeine Love is go! Rich_Granny_Han: Did she drink it?? Nurse_Anna: She tried to look angry but I saw her save the note Boo_CEO: THE ROMANCE Won_NOT_involved: He's basically saying her medical decisions suck Rich_Granny_Han: That's flirting for rich boys, dear Won_NOT_involved: That's terrible Rich_Granny_Han: That's why he’s single
Suite 520 was suspiciously quiet when Y/N entered for morning rounds. Granny was reading what appeared to be a medical textbook – upside down. Anna was "organizing supplies" while obviously watching the door.
"Good morning, Dr. Y/N!" Granny brightened. "Oh my, is that coffee from Angel-in-us? Jeonghan loves that cafe—"
"Your ECG results, Mrs. Han," Y/N interrupted professionally.
The suite's door opened, and Jeonghan walked in wearing a different devastatingly expensive suit. He paused at seeing Y/N with his coffee cup.
"I see you've upgraded your taste," he smirked.
"The coffee's acceptable. Your medical opinions still aren't."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: THEY'RE FLIRTING THROUGH COFFEE Nurse_Anna: The tension is ART Rich_Granny_Han: Time for some chest pain I think Won_NOT_involved: Please don't Rich_Granny_Han: Too late, clutching chest dramatically now Won_NOT_involved: That's not how heart problems work... Rich_Granny_Han: Watch and learn, child
"Oh!" Granny pressed a hand to her chest. "Such tension... my heart..."
Y/N and Jeonghan both stepped forward, accidentally bumping into each other. Anna dropped a tray with perfect timing.
"Mrs. Han," Y/N began.
"Halmoni," Granny corrected weakly. "You're practically family now that you're sharing coffee with Jeonghan."
Jeonghan choked. Y/N's professional mask cracked slightly.
Later that afternoon, Y/N was reviewing charts when her office door burst open. Jeonghan stood there, waving his phone.
"Your afternoon consult notes say Halmoni's tired," he accused.
"That's generally what 'fatigue' means in medical terms, yes."
"She's never tired. She once conducted a 12-hour board meeting from a yoga headstand."
Y/N pinched the bridge of her nose. "Mr. Han—"
"Jeonghan."
"Mr. Han," she emphasized, "normal people get tired. Even chaebol grandmothers."
"She's not normal people. She's—" He paused, noticing her empty coffee cup. "You finished the coffee."
"That's not medically relevant."
"I'll bring you another tomorrow."
"Are you trying to bribe your grandmother's doctor?"
"Is it working?"
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: EMERGENCY! They're alone in her office!! Boo_CEO: WHERE ARE THE CAMERAS Rich_Granny_Han: Anna dear, perhaps Dr. Y/N needs some test results? Won_NOT_involved: We don't have any test results Rich_Granny_Han: Then make some Won_NOT_involved: That's literally fraud Rich_Granny_Han: That's literally romance Nurse_Anna: OMW with fake papers! Won_NOT_involved: That's fine, go do your thing babe!
The door flew open again, revealing Anna with a stack of papers. "Dr. Y/N! The results you needed!"
"I didn't order any—"
"Oh look," Anna squinted at the papers, "Mrs. Han's... everything... needs discussing. Right now. With family present."
Y/N looked at the "results". They were coffee-stained printouts of WebMD articles.
Evening rounds found Y/N entering Suite 520 to an unusual scene:
Granny "sleeping" while obviously filming on her phone
Seungkwan pretending to read a magazine (upside down)
Anna adjusting already-perfect monitors
Wonwoo looking like he wanted to transfer departments
And Jeonghan, attempting to understand her morning notes
"That's not how you read an ECG," she said from the doorway.
Jeonghan didn't look up. "I downloaded a medical app."
"WebMD doesn't count."
"This is a different medical app."
"Is it also WebMD in a trench coat?"
A laugh escaped before he could stop it. Y/N pretended not to notice how it transformed his face.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: HE LAUGHED! REAL LAUGH! NOT BUSINESS LAUGH! Boo_CEO: FIRST GENUINE LAUGH IN 84 YEARS Nurse_Anna: They're so cuuuuute Won_NOT_involved: He's still questioning her medical expertise Rich_Granny_Han: Yes but fondly now Nurse_Anna: Babe that's progress Won_NOT_involved: Your standards are concerning Rich_Granny_Han: Shush and help me plan tomorrow's heart episode
Granny "woke up" with perfect timing. "Doctor, since you're teaching Jeonghan medical terms, perhaps over coffee—"
"No," they said simultaneously.
"The heart wants what it wants," Granny sighed dramatically.
The monitor beeped.
"That's it," Y/N turned to Wonwoo, "please check the monitor's sensitivity again."
"It's working exactly as intended," he muttered, then added louder at Granny's look, "I mean, yes, doctor, right away."
As Y/N left for the night, she found another coffee cup on the nurses' station.
The note read: "For your overnight studies on how to be less scary to your patients. - JH"
She definitely didn't smile. And if she did, no one could prove it.
Except maybe the CCTV footage Wonwoo was pretending not to save for Anna’s enjoyment.
- Late that night, Y/N was finishing her paperwork when she decided to check on Granny one last time. It definitely had nothing to do with the possibility of running into a certain annoying CFO.
She found Suite 520's lights dimmed, but not dark. Jeonghan was there, suit jacket off, sleeves rolled up, squinting at a medical textbook like it had personally offended him.
"That's upside down," she said from the doorway.
He didn't even flinch. "I'm teaching myself to read medical terms in all directions. Very professional."
"Is that what CFOs do in their spare time?"
"Only the dashingly handsome ones."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: NIGHT SHIFT ALERT! They're alone! Boo_CEO: At this hour??? SCANDALOUS Rich_Granny_Han: pretending to sleep but recording everything Won_NOT_involved: Isn't anyone concerned about patient privacy? Rich_Granny_Han: Privacy is for people who aren't trying to get grandchildren Nurse_Anna: LMAO GRANNY Won_NOT_involved: I'm reporting this chat to HR Rich_Granny_Han: I own HR, dear. Keep up!
"Your grandmother's readings are stable," Y/N said professionally, checking the monitors. "Though someone keeps adjusting the sensitivity."
"Shocking," Jeonghan deadpanned, watching her work. "Almost as shocking as you being here at," he checked his Cartier watch, "11 PM?"
"I'm dedicated to my patients."
"Just my grandmother, or do you check on everyone this late?"
"Are you implying something, Mr. Han?"
"Jeonghan," he corrected. "And I'm implying you might be as obsessed with my grandmother as I am. It's okay, she has that effect on people."
From the bed, Granny let out a very fake snore.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: The snore was too much wasn't it Boo_CEO: Oscar worthy, Halmoni! Nurse_Anna: Should I create an emergency? Won_NOT_involved: NO Rich_Granny_Han: Save the emergencies for tomorrow Won_NOT_involved: Why are all of you like this? Nurse_Anna: Because we're invested in love Won_NOT_involved: We're invested in medical care Rich_Granny_Han: Why not both?
Y/N was about to leave when Jeonghan spoke again. "I ordered every cardiology textbook available."
"I noticed. The coffee table looks like a medical library exploded."
"I'm trying to understand." He sounded almost sincere. "She's all I have left."
Y/N paused at the door. "Your grandmother is in good hands, Mr. Han."
"Jeonghan."
"Mr. Han."
He smiled. A real one, not his business smile. "You're going to slip up and call me Jeonghan eventually."
"Unlikely."
"Want to bet? Loser buys coffee."
"That would be unprofessional."
"Is that a no?"
Y/N left without answering, but they both knew she was smiling.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: They're FLIRTING Boo_CEO: Through MEDICAL TERMS Nurse_Anna: I'M SCREAMING Won_NOT_involved: This is a hospital, please don't scream Rich_Granny_Han: Wonwoo dear, did you get all that on camera? Won_NOT_involved: ...maybe Nurse_Anna: BABE YOU'RE FINALLY HELPING Won_NOT_involved: It's for medical documention. Rich_Granny_Han: Sure it is, dear. Sure it is. Won_NOT_involved: fine, it’s for Anna. Rich_Granny_Han: BLESSED
The next morning, Y/N found not one but two coffee cups on her desk.
First note: "For accepting that 'Mr. Han' will eventually become 'Jeonghan' - JH"
Second note: "For when you inevitably throw the first one at my head - JH"
She was not charmed. She absolutely was not.
But she kept both notes.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: SHE KEPT THE NOTES Boo_CEO: Not just kept - she SMILED Rich_Granny_Han: Time to escalate. Anna dear, remember that 'emergency' we planned? Won_NOT_involved: Oh no Rich_Granny_Han: Oh YES Boo_CEO: WHAT EMERGENCY?? Won_NOT_involved: I don't want to know Rich_Granny_Han: Trust me, this will be fun Won_NOT_involved: Your definition of fun concerns me Nurse_Anna: Babe just embrace the chaos Won_NOT_involved: I miss my old department Rich_Granny_Han: No you don't. Now, about tomorrow's plan… -
3 AM at Seoul National University Hospital was typically quiet. Tonight, however...
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Places everyone! Code: Emergency Romance begins! Boo_CEO: At 3AM?? You're evil, Halmoni Rich_Granny_Han: Evil? No. Strategic? Yes. Nurse_Anna: Night shift ready! Won_NOT_involved: This is highly unethical Rich_Granny_Han: Wonwoo dear, just make sure the lights are dimmed romantically Won_NOT_involved: That's not a medical setting Rich_Granny_Han: It is in Suite 520
The cardiac monitor in Suite 520 suddenly went off – louder than strictly necessary. Wonwoo, who was genuinely checking vitals, jumped.
"Halmoni, what did you—"
"Call Dr. Y/N," Granny commanded, looking far too alert for 3 AM. "And someone call my grandson."
"Your readings are actually fine—"
"Wonwoo." Granny's sweet smile held steel. "Make. The. Calls."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: Y/N's on her way! Night shift said she was doing paperwork anyway Boo_CEO: At 3AM?? She needs a life Rich_Granny_Han: She needs my grandson Won_NOT_involved: She needs sleep, actually Rich_Granny_Han: Details, details
Y/N arrived first, looking surprisingly put-together for the ungodly hour. Her white coat was pristine, but the six empty coffee cups on her desk told their own story.
"Mrs. Han, what's—"
"HALMONI!"
Jeonghan burst in, designer pajamas under a hastily thrown-on coat, hair actually messy for once.
"You called him too?" Y/N raised an eyebrow at the nurses.
"Hospital protocol," Anna said solemnly. Wonwoo suddenly found the ceiling very interesting.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: HIS HAIR IS MESSY THIS IS NOT A DRILL Nurse_Anna: Y/N definitely noticed 👀 Rich_Granny_Han: Time for my performance~ Won_NOT_involved: Please don't Rich_Granny_Han: Too late!
"Oh, my heart," Granny clutched her chest dramatically. "Such worry in young faces..."
"Your readings are actually—" Wonwoo started.
"SUCH WORRY," Granny repeated louder. "Perhaps if you both stayed..."
Y/N was already checking the monitors. Jeonghan hovered nearby, close enough that she could smell his ridiculously expensive cologne.
"Your grandmother is fine, Mr. Han."
"Jeonghan."
"Your grandmother is fine, Mr. Han."
"You're doing this on purpose now."
"I don't know what you mean, Mr. Han."
His laugh was soft, unguarded. Different from his business laugh.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: THE SOFT LAUGH!! AT 3AM!! Boo_CEO: THEY'RE STANDING SO CLOSE Rich_Granny_Han: Anna dear, dim the lights more Won_NOT_involved: That's not safe Rich_Granny_Han: Love isn't safe Won_NOT_involved: That's not medical protocol Rich_Granny_Han: Suite 520 has its own protocols
"Doctor," Granny's voice was weak but her eyes sparkled. "Since you're both here, perhaps some coffee?"
"At 3 AM?" Y/N asked.
"I brought my own beans," Jeonghan offered, then caught himself. "I mean, I happen to have some in my car."
"You just happen to have premium coffee beans in your car at 3 AM?"
"A good CFO is always prepared."
"For middle-of-the-night coffee emergencies?"
"Especially those."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: HE KEEPS COFFEE FOR HER IN HIS CAR Nurse_Anna: I'M CRYING THIS IS SO CUTE Rich_Granny_Han: Phase 1 success. Anna, initiate phase 2 Won_NOT_involved: There are phases?? Rich_Granny_Han: Of course dear, this is a military operation Nurse_Anna: On it! accidentally spilling water now Won_NOT_involved: Why did I fall in love with a conspirator
"Oh!" Anna's theatrical gasp preceded the sound of water splashing.
Y/N and Jeonghan jumped apart – when had they gotten so close? – only to bump into each other again.
"Sorry, let me—" Jeonghan reached for napkins.
"No, I can—" Y/N moved at the same time.
Their hands touched. Both froze.
Granny's monitor beeped suspiciously fast.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: THE HAND TOUCH!!! Boo_CEO: THIS IS BETTER THAN DRAMAS Nurse_Anna: Should I spill more water?? Won_NOT_involved: NO Rich_Granny_Han: Save it for next time Won_NOT_involved: There's a next time?? Rich_Granny_Han: Oh honey, we're just getting started
"Well," Y/N cleared her throat professionally. "Since your grandmother is stable, I should—"
"Stay for coffee," Jeonghan said quickly. "I mean, since we're both awake anyway."
"That would be unprofessional."
"Everything about this situation is unprofessional."
Y/N glanced at Granny (pretending to sleep), Anna (badly hiding her phone), and Wonwoo (looking like he wanted witness protection).
"One coffee," she conceded. "For medical alertness purposes."
"Of course," Jeonghan's smile was too knowing. "Purely medical."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: COFFEE DATE AT 3AM Nurse_Anna: Romance is ALIVE Rich_Granny_Han: Mission accomplished! Won_NOT_involved: It's just coffee Rich_Granny_Han: Oh sweet summer child Nurse_Anna: Babe you're so innocent Won_NOT_involved: I want a department transfer Rich_Granny_Han: Denied. Now help me plan tomorrow Won_NOT_involved: ...what's tomorrow? Rich_Granny_Han: You'll see 😈
As Y/N and Jeonghan sat in the suite's sitting area, sharing premium coffee at 3 AM while pretending this was normal, Granny Han smiled in her "sleep."
Phase one of Operation Emergency Romance was complete.
Poor kids had no idea what she had planned for breakfast.
- Several hours and many coffees later, sunrise found the suite in a different state:
Y/N curled up in an armchair, white coat slightly rumpled
Jeonghan asleep on the couch, designer pajamas and all
Files spread between them from their "purely professional discussion"
Two empty coffee cups with a concerning number of espresso shots
Granny, definitely not sleeping, taking photos for her secret Instagram
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: THEY FELL ASLEEP IN MY SUITE Boo_CEO: TOGETHER????? Nurse_Anna: Not together together but STILL Won_NOT_involved: This violates at least 5 hospital policies Rich_Granny_Han: Love violates all policies Nurse_Anna: Time for noisy morning check-up? 😈 Rich_Granny_Han: Make it EXTRA noisy
Anna burst into the suite with maximum chaos energy, deliberately dropping a metal tray.
The effect was immediate:
Y/N jolted awake, doctor mode activating
Jeonghan fell off the couch, rich person grace temporarily absent
Granny quickly pretended to just wake up
Wonwoo, entering behind Anna, looked like he wanted to quit
"Good morning!" Anna sang, far too cheerfully. "Time for morning vitals!"
Y/N and Jeonghan stared at each other, then at their wrinkled clothes, then at the evidence of their all-night coffee session.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: THE MORNING AFTER CHAOS Nurse_Anna: Y/N's hair is messy I repeat MESSY Rich_Granny_Han: Quick! Someone get a breakfast cart! Won_NOT_involved: The hospital doesn't do breakfast carts Rich_Granny_Han: The VIP floor does now Won_NOT_involved: Since when?? Rich_Granny_Han: Since I ordered it 5 minutes ago Boo_CEO: ALREADY ON IT WITH PREMIUM BREAKFAST
"I should..." Y/N stood, attempting to smooth her coat.
"Yeah, I need to..." Jeonghan ran a hand through his messy hair.
"Oh, but breakfast is coming!" Granny perked up. "You both must be hungry after staying up all night... discussing medical things."
The way she said "medical things" made both of them blush.
Right on cue, Seungkwan waltzed in pushing a cart laden with what looked like a five-star hotel breakfast spread.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: Breakfast service has arrived~ Nurse_Anna: They're both so awkward I'M LIVING Rich_Granny_Han: Wonwoo dear, check my heart. Make it take a while Won_NOT_involved: That's not how check-ups work Rich_Granny_Han: It is if you want that Christmas bonus Won_NOT_involved: ...this might take a while, doctor
"Since Wonwoo needs to do a thorough check-up," Granny smiled innocently, "why don't you both have breakfast? No need to waste good food."
Y/N looked at her wrinkled coat, her empty coffee cups, and her clearly compromised professional boundaries.
Jeonghan looked at his messy hair, his designer pajamas, and his equally compromised chaebol dignity.
"One coffee," they said simultaneously.
"And maybe some toast," Y/N added.
"And those croissants," Jeonghan pointed.
"Purely for energy."
"Completely professional."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: They're having breakfast together! Boo_CEO: In their sleepwear basically!! Nurse_Anna: ROMANCE LEVEL 1000 Won_NOT_involved: This is still a hospital Rich_Granny_Han: No, this is Suite 520, different rules apply Won_NOT_involved: That's not how hospitals work Rich_Granny_Han: Watch and learn, child
As they awkwardly settled with their breakfast, maintaining a careful distance that fooled absolutely no one, Granny spoke up.
"You know, Jeonghan-ah, Dr. Y/N's americano is getting cold."
Jeonghan immediately reached for the coffee machine.
"And doctor, Jeonghan skipped dinner last night. He should eat more than croissants."
Y/N found herself pushing the egg dishes closer to him.
They caught each other's eyes, realized they were being played, and quickly looked away.
But not before small smiles appeared.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: THE SOFT SMILES Boo_CEO: While sharing breakfast!! Rich_Granny_Han: Young love is so beautiful Won_NOT_involved: It's been like 3 days Rich_Granny_Han: Time moves faster in Suite 520 Nurse_Anna: It's the power of love Won_NOT_involved: It's the power of sleep deprivation Rich_Granny_Han: Same thing dear, same thing
The peaceful breakfast was interrupted by Y/N's pager.
"I need to..." she stood quickly.
"Right, I should..." Jeonghan also rose.
They did an awkward dance trying to avoid bumping into each other, failed miserably, and ended up closer than ever.
"Thanks for the medical discussion," Y/N said professionally.
"Thanks for the coffee company," Jeonghan replied, equally formal.
Neither moved.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Anna! Emergency cart in the hallway! Nurse_Anna: On it! Won_NOT_involved: Please don't crash any carts Rich_Granny_Han: Just a small crash Won_NOT_involved: That's still property damage Rich_Granny_Han: That's still romance
The sudden crash from the hallway made them jump apart. Y/N hurried out, professionalism back in place.
Jeonghan watched her go, then turned to find everyone staring at him.
"What?"
"Nothing," Granny smiled innocently. "You just look happy this morning."
"It was the coffee."
"Sure it was, dear. Sure it was."
As Jeonghan left to change, Granny turned to her squad:
"Phase 2 complete. Now, about that charity gala next week..."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Meeting in 10 minutes. We have a gala to plan Boo_CEO: Will there be drama?? Rich_Granny_Han: Oh honey, there will be CHAOS Won_NOT_involved: Why do I feel scared Nurse_Anna: Because you should be 😘 Rich_Granny_Han: Wonwoo dear, you haven't seen anything yet Won_NOT_involved: ...can I transfer departments now? Rich_Granny_Han: Denied. Now, about those formal invitations...
- Y/N stared at her desk in growing concern. Over the past week, a pattern had emerged:
Monday's coffee: "For admitting medical school doesn't teach everything - JH" Tuesday's coffee: "For finally calling me Jeonghan (in your sleep) - JH" Wednesday's coffee: "For pretending you don't smile at my notes - JH" Thursday's coffee: "Because your coffee machine is beneath you - JH" Today's coffee: "Because it's becoming a habit - JH"
She definitely didn't keep all the notes. And she absolutely wasn't smiling.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: WEEK RECAP:
Daily coffee delivery ✓
She keeps all notes ✓
Stopped throwing them away ✓
Actually smiles now ✓ 
Boo_CEO: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Rich_Granny_Han: Time to escalate Won_NOT_involved: What's left to escalate?? Rich_Granny_Han: Oh honey, we're just getting started Won_NOT_involved: That's what I'm afraid of
Suite 520 had evolved over the week. Somehow, it now contained:
A premium coffee station (restocked daily)
Medical textbooks (some actually right-side up)
Two comfortable chairs (suspiciously close together)
Granny's "essential" medical monitoring equipment (mostly for show)
Anna's "work station" (definitely for spying)
Y/N entered for morning rounds to find Jeonghan already there, suit perfect despite the early hour.
"You're here early, Mr. Han."
"We're back to Mr. Han? After I brought you coffee all week?"
"Medical ethics don't run on caffeine, Mr. Han."
"Are you sure? Because your smile says otherwise, Doctor."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: The TENSION Boo_CEO: He emphasized 'Doctor' I'M SCREAMING Nurse_Anna: Should I interrupt with vitals?? Rich_Granny_Han: No dear, let them flirt Won_NOT_involved: This is a hospital Rich_Granny_Han: This is Suite 520 Won_NOT_involved: That's not a real distinction Rich_Granny_Han: Tell that to my platinum card
"Children," Granny called out, "if you're done with your coffee courtship—"
"Medical discussion," Y/N corrected quickly.
"Professional interaction," Jeonghan said simultaneously.
"—perhaps we could discuss my discharge?"
Both turned to her so fast they got whiplash.
"Discharge?" Y/N frowned.
"Halmoni, no," Jeonghan started.
"Well," Granny smiled innocently, "unless you think I need more... observation?"
The way she said 'observation' made it clear she wasn't talking about medical monitoring.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: THE POWER MOVE Nurse_Anna: Halmoni playing 4D chess!! Rich_Granny_Han: Watch and learn children Won_NOT_involved: This is manipulation Rich_Granny_Han: This is ROMANCE Won_NOT_involved: Same thing in this family Rich_Granny_Han: Now you're getting it!
"Your latest tests..." Y/N began professionally.
"Show you need more monitoring," Jeonghan finished.
They stared at each other, surprised by the agreement.
"Oh?" Granny's eyes twinkled. "Both of you think so?"
"Medically speaking," Y/N clarified.
"From a family perspective," Jeonghan added.
"And it has nothing to do with morning coffee?"
"Halmoni!" they protested simultaneously.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: They're in sync!! Boo_CEO: SOULMATES BEHAVIOR Nurse_Anna: Even their denial is synchronized! Won_NOT_involved: This is getting out of hand Rich_Granny_Han: No dear, this is getting interesting Won_NOT_involved: Those aren't mutually exclusive Rich_Granny_Han: Shush and help me plan the gala seating
The tension was broken by Seungkwan bursting in, designer suit somehow even more expensive than Jeonghan's.
"Emergency!" he announced dramatically.
"Medical?" Y/N reached for her pager.
"Fashion!" Seungkwan held up a tablet. "Halmoni, the hospital charity gala needs your approval on—oh, am I interrupting something?"
His innocent tone fooled exactly no one.
"The charity gala?" Y/N blinked.
"Oh yes," Granny perked up. "Doctor, you'll be attending of course? As my physician?"
"I don't usually—"
"And Jeonghan needs a plus-one—"
"Halmoni!"
"—for medical supervision, of course."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: PHASE GALA: INITIATED Boo_CEO: I already called the designers! Nurse_Anna: Need volunteers for the medical team?? Won_NOT_involved: We're not all going Rich_Granny_Han: Check your email dear Won_NOT_involved: ...we're all going Nurse_Anna: YAY BABE! We can coordinate! Won_NOT_involved: I want a new job Rich_Granny_Han: Denied. Now about those table arrangements...
"I couldn't possibly—" Y/N started.
"It would be unprofessional—" Jeonghan began.
"Perfect!" Granny clapped. "Seungkwan, mark them down as attending."
"Already done, Halmoni!"
"I didn't agree—" Y/N protested.
"My heart would feel so much better knowing my doctor is there," Granny clutched her chest dramatically.
The monitor, naturally, beeped.
"This is manipulation," Jeonghan noted.
"Learned from the best, dear."
Y/N looked at her patient (scheming), her monitor (suspicious), and her growing headache (definitely real).
"One hour," she conceded. "For medical supervision only."
"Of course," Granny smiled sweetly. "Seungkwan, call the designers. The doctor needs a gown."
"Already on it!"
"Wait, what—"
But Seungkwan was already speed-dialing, Granny was looking triumphant, and Jeonghan...
Jeonghan was looking at her like he wouldn't mind being supervised. Medically speaking, of course.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Operation Gala: Phase 1 complete Boo_CEO: Designers on standby! Nurse_Anna: Medical team assembled! Won_NOT_involved: This is excessive Rich_Granny_Han: No dear, this is just the beginning Won_NOT_involved: That's what I'm afraid of Rich_Granny_Han: Don't worry, it gets worse Won_NOT_involved: How is that reassuring?? Rich_Granny_Han: It's not. Now, about those dance lessons...
Suite 520 had transformed into Gala Planning Headquarters. Somehow, between cardiac monitoring equipment and medical charts, there were now:
Three tablets showing designer collections
Fabric swatches spread across medical equipment
Seating charts mixed with ECG readings
Event planners trying to look like medical consultants
And Granny, orchestrating chaos from her hospital bed
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Status report!
Venue: Hospital Grand Hall
Theme: "Hearts of Gold" (get it? 😉)
Seating: Y/N next to Jeonghan (medical purposes)
Dance floor: Strategically lit 
Boo_CEO: The THEME I'M DYING Nurse_Anna: Should we coordinate the medical team's outfits?? Won_NOT_involved: We're supposed to be working Rich_Granny_Han: This IS work. Love work.
Y/N entered for afternoon rounds to find what looked like a fashion magazine explosion.
"Mrs. Han, this isn't good for your recovery—"
"Nonsense," Granny waved a fabric swatch. "Doctor, which shade of blue brings out Jeonghan's eyes?"
"I... what?"
"For medical coordination purposes, of course."
From behind his laptop, Jeonghan choked on his coffee.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: SHE'S BLUSHING Nurse_Anna: AND HE'S CHOKING Rich_Granny_Han: Young love is so clumsy Won_NOT_involved: This is a medical facility Rich_Granny_Han: This is a love facility Won_NOT_involved: That's not a thing Rich_Granny_Han: It is in Suite 520
"Halmoni," Jeonghan tried, "perhaps the doctor doesn't want to—"
"Navy," Y/N said suddenly, then looked mortified.
"What?"
"Navy blue. For medical... contrast purposes."
Jeonghan's slow smile should be illegal in a hospital setting.
"Noted," Granny's eyes sparkled. "Seungkwan! Call the designer!"
"Already texting!"
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: SHE PICKED HIS COLOR Boo_CEO: VOLUNTARILY Nurse_Anna: THE DEVELOPMENT Won_NOT_involved: It's just a color Rich_Granny_Han: Oh sweet summer child Nurse_Anna: Babe you're so innocent Won_NOT_involved: I miss regular patients Rich_Granny_Han: No you don't. Now about the dance playlist...
Later that day, Y/N returned to find Jeonghan arguing with event planners while wearing... navy blue.
"It's for a medical opinion," he said quickly.
"I didn't ask."
"You're wondering."
"I'm wondering about your grandmother's blood pressure with all this excitement."
"Liar. You're wondering how accurate your color assessment was."
She checked Granny's monitors instead of answering. Or looking at how right she'd been about the navy blue.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: HE CHANGED SUITS FOR HER Boo_CEO: THE DEDICATION Nurse_Anna: She kept stealing glances!! Won_NOT_involved: I saw nothing Rich_Granny_Han: The security cameras saw everything Won_NOT_involved: ...I may have footage Nurse_Anna: BABE YOU'RE ONE OF US NOW Won_NOT_involved: I hate everything except you Rich_Granny_Han: No you don't. Now help me plan the "medical emergency" during the slow dance
"Doctor," Granny called out sweetly, "about the gala's medical supervision..."
"One hour," Y/N reminded firmly.
"Of course. Jeonghan will pick you up at 7."
"That's not necessary—"
"For medical transport," Granny added innocently.
"I can drive—"
"My heart would feel better knowing you arrive safely."
The monitor beeped right on cue.
"Halmoni," Jeonghan sighed, but he was smiling.
"Fine," Y/N conceded. "For medical purposes."
"Of course," Granny beamed. "Seungkwan! Call the car service!"
"Already done!"
"How are you already—never mind."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Car arrangements: Complete ✓
Premium vehicle
Mood lighting
"Accidental" traffic delays 
Boo_CEO: EVIL GENIUS HALMONI Nurse_Anna: The POWER Won_NOT_involved: This is getting elaborate Rich_Granny_Han: Oh honey, wait for the gala Won_NOT_involved: I'm scared Rich_Granny_Han: You should be. Anna dear, about those dance floor spotlights...
As Y/N left for her rounds, she found a new coffee on the nurses' station.
The note read: "Navy blue does bring out my eyes. Good medical observation. - JH"
She didn't smile.
(The security footage Wonwoo definitely wasn't collecting said otherwise.)
- Two months after Code: Heart Doctor began, Suite 520 was in organized chaos:
Discharge papers waiting for signatures
Gift baskets from the entire hospital staff
Granny's designer luggage (more than a small hotel's worth)
The infamous coffee machine
And a certain cardiologist avoiding a certain CFO
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: FINAL MISSION STATUS:
Two months of schemes ✓
One charity gala success ✓
Multiple "emergencies" ✓
Countless coffee dates ✓
One almost kiss ✓
BUT STILL NO CONFESSION 
Boo_CEO: HOW ARE THEY SO STUBBORN Nurse_Anna: Even the cafeteria's betting pool is frustrated Won_NOT_involved: Maybe let them figure it out naturally? Rich_Granny_Han: Absolutely not Won_NOT_involved: Why did I even suggest that Rich_Granny_Han: Time for the final play
Y/N stood at the nurses' station, pretending to review charts while actually hiding. The past two months had been... complicated.
After the gala (which definitely didn't end with an almost-kiss during Granny's conveniently timed "emergency"), things had gotten awkward.
Sweet, terrible, coffee-filled awkward.
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Nurse_Anna: She's HIDING Boo_CEO: Our confident doctor? HIDING? Rich_Granny_Han: Love makes fools of us all Won_NOT_involved: Or maybe this whole scheme was too much Rich_Granny_Han: No such thing Won_NOT_involved: Why did I marry into this chaos Nurse_Anna: Because you love me 😘 Won_NOT_involved: TRUE. TRUEST FORM. Rich_Granny_Han: We get it, you love Anna
The suite's door opened, revealing Jeonghan in what had to be his most expensive suit yet. Navy blue, because of course it was.
"Doctor."
"Mr. Han."
"We're back to that?"
"We never left it."
(They both knew that was a lie. Somewhere between late-night coffee and fake emergencies, "Jeonghan" had slipped out more than once.)
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: IMPLEMENT FINAL PHASE Boo_CEO: But what about the backup plan?? Rich_Granny_Han: This IS the backup plan Nurse_Anna: What about backup backup?? Rich_Granny_Han: Trust your commander Won_NOT_involved: Should I be concerned? Rich_Granny_Han: Always, dear. Always.
"Children," Granny called from her bed, "come here please."
They approached cautiously. Two months had taught them to fear that innocent tone.
"Since I'm being discharged—"
"About that," Y/N started.
"Your readings—" Jeonghan began.
"Oh hush," Granny waved them off. "We all know I'm fine. Have been for weeks."
They stared at her.
"You..." Y/N processed this. "You've been faking?"
"Not faking, dear. Strategizing."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: THE CONFESSION Nurse_Anna: Finally exposing the plot!! Won_NOT_involved: This feels illegal somehow Rich_Granny_Han: Love knows no laws Won_NOT_involved: That's not how legality works Rich_Granny_Han: That's how Suite 520 works
"All those emergencies..." Jeonghan realized.
"The 3 AM calls..." Y/N added.
"The coffee accidents..."
"The gala emergency..."
"The almost—" they both stopped, blushing.
"Yes, yes," Granny smiled. "All part of the plan. Operation Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024."
"The WHAT."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Dropping the bomb! Boo_CEO: THE CHAOS Nurse_Anna: Should we run?? Won_NOT_involved: I'm already in the cafeteria Rich_Granny_Han: Cowards. Watch the master work
"Halmoni," Jeonghan looked pained. "You've been scheming this whole time?"
"Of course, dear. You think cardiac monitors just happen to beep during romantic moments?"
"The coffee spills..." Y/N remembered.
"Anna has excellent timing."
"The gala emergency..."
"Seungkwan's dramatic skills are underappreciated."
"The security footage..."
"Wonwoo pretends to resist, but he's got quite the collection."
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Boo_CEO: THEY'RE BOTH SO RED Nurse_Anna: The realization!! Won_NOT_involved: Should we call security? Rich_Granny_Han: For what? True love? Won_NOT_involved: For imminent chaos Rich_Granny_Han: That's just how romance works dear
"So everything was fake?" Y/N asked quietly.
"Not everything," Jeonghan said quickly.
They looked at each other.
"The coffee wasn't fake," he continued.
"The medical discussions weren't fake."
"The almost-kiss wasn't fake."
"The feelings weren't fake."
Granny beamed. "Finally!"
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: MISSION SUCCESS Boo_CEO: I'M CRYING Nurse_Anna: WE DID IT Won_NOT_involved: Can we work normally now? Rich_Granny_Han: Oh honey no Rich_Granny_Han: Now we plan the wedding Won_NOT_involved: ...I want a transfer Rich_Granny_Han: Denied.
"You're ridiculous," Y/N told Jeonghan, but she was smiling.
"You love it," he replied, then froze. "I mean—"
"Yeah," she said softly. "I do."
"Oh thank god," Granny exclaimed. "Seungkwan! The champagne!"
"Already chilled!"
"Anna! The celebration decorations!"
"Ready to deploy!"
"Wonwoo! The documentation!"
"...fine."
As Suite 520 erupted into celebration, Y/N looked at Jeonghan.
"Your grandmother is terrifying."
"Wait till you see her wedding planning mode."
"Let's survive the first date first."
"Coffee tomorrow?"
"You've been bringing me coffee for two months."
"Yes, but now I can kiss you after."
From her bed, Granny smiled at her success. As Y/N and Jeonghan shared their first real kiss (finally!), the cardiac monitor beeped one last time.
This time, it was real.
Real love tends to do that to a heart. As Y/N and Jeonghan finally broke apart, the cardiac monitor beeped one last time.
"Your grandmother's monitor is still sensitive," Y/N murmured.
"Actually," Jeonghan smiled, "I think that one was real."
They turned to find Granny beaming at them, not even pretending to sleep anymore.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "Do you know how exhausting it was to orchestrate all this?"
"Halmoni..."
"The timing of the beeps! The strategic coffee spills! Keeping Wonwoo from reporting us to hospital administration!"
🏥 Get Jeonghan a Girlfriend 2024 !!! 🏥
Rich_Granny_Han: Mission accomplished, everyone! Boo_CEO: The greatest success story of 2024!! Nurse_Anna: I'm crying happy tears in the supply closet Won_NOT_involved: Can we work normally now? Rich_Granny_Han: Of course dear Won_NOT_involved: Really? Rich_Granny_Han: No 😘 Nurse_Anna: Babe you should know better Won_NOT_involved: I really should
"Well," Y/N picked up the discharge papers, trying to look professional despite her smile. "Since your condition has... miraculously improved, Mrs. Han—"
"Still Halmoni," Granny corrected.
"Halmoni," Y/N conceded, her smile growing. "You're free to go home."
"Wonderful! Jeonghan-ah, help me pack. Doctor, you'll join us for dinner to discuss my home care, won't you?"
"That would be—"
"If you say unprofessional, I'm canceling the discharge," Granny threatened sweetly.
Y/N looked at Jeonghan, who shrugged helplessly but couldn't stop smiling.
"Dinner would be lovely," she agreed.
As the suite erupted into celebration, with Seungkwan popping in with champagne and Anna wiping tears while pretending to check vitals one last time, Y/N felt Jeonghan's hand slip into hers.
"Coffee tomorrow?" he asked softly.
"You've been bringing me coffee for two months."
"Yes, but now I can kiss you after."
She squeezed his hand. "Looking forward to it."
From her bed, Granny Han watched her grandson and his cardiologist, her heart monitor beeping steadily with genuine joy. Sometimes, she thought, love just needs a little push.
Or in her case, two months of elaborate schemes, a charity gala, multiple fake emergencies, one almost-kiss, and an army of co-conspirators.
But who's counting?
48 notes · View notes
moonbaby26 · 4 hours ago
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Title: Blood and Feathers
*Crossposted to AO3 Here*
Pairing: Rosinante/Corazon x Fem!Reader x Doflamingo
Warnings: language, non con, dub con, size difference, reader is cheated on (not by the brothers), reader is stalked/abducted, reader is double teamed, vaginal sex, rough sex, unprotected sex, animal instincts/behaviors, blood, violence, toxic relationships, breeding kink
Synopsis: Set in a modern!AU. You are an avian veterinarian dealing with a recent life upheaval. Years ago, you also had a traumatic experience with creatures mainstream science still denies as even existing. But memories of that night were soon buried, relegated to your dreams alone. Or so you had thought.
A/N: This oneshot was inspired both by @tuquidflamingo‘s gorgeous Harpy!Doffy fanart for Doffytober2024 Day 24:Mythical Here, and @froggiewrites’s terrifyingly sexy Siren!Doffy fic Mating Call Here. I needed more bird!Donquixotes after seeing those works and could not restrain myself. This was originally intended as monster/horror themed for Halloween as well, but I’m way late to the party (as usual 😅).
Fic Masterlist
—————————
“You poor darling. The boys haven’t been very nice to you have they?” You frowned to your newest patient. A female dove, slightly fearful in your grip as you held her gently from behind in a small towel within your hand.
The hallmarks of overbreeding were evident to you in all the missing feathers near the back of her head. 
Some single minded Lotharios within her previous enclosure had plucked her practically raw while doing their overeager business on her from behind no doubt.
“Remember. Men are all the same, sweetheart. They only care about one thing.” You mumbled, not particularly worried of how bitter you still sounded while you felt her chest and keel bone next. That bone’s prominence signaling her being rather underweight to your additional concern. 
Not that you’d been eating much either, or maintaining a healthy mindstate at all. Just like hers, your life had also gone quite to shit recently.
Just two days ago you’d come home early, only to find your boyfriend of the last few years balls deep and moaning within the newest assistant from his law office.
And you’d thought he really was going to have a heart attack when he’d finally seen you standing there.
But his new young lover had only smiled, cool as anything.
“Oops.” She’d said, still on top of your fiancé and almost sweetly staring over her shoulder at you.
Her long fingernails had left trails of raised scratches all over his chest and sides. Which you’d seen so distinctly as he’d sat up in a panic to plea to you.
Of course, there would have been no way he could have hidden that evidence later even if you hadn’t caught them in the act. 
As you’d dragged suitcases out and begun throwing what you could into them, he’d had the gall to swear to you too that it was both his first and last time with her. 
He’d even tried to blame her, as if he’d had no say in it all.
But you’d just taken your engagement ring off and thrown it so hard it’d ricocheted off of the wall and rolled to God knew where.
To whatever void your trust and self confidence had now plummeted into most likely.
Yet the apartment lease had only been in his name. So in just that single afternoon, you’d gone from daydreams of a winter wedding to officially homeless and with mascara running down both sides of your face. All with strangers staring at you on your march of shame back through the parking garage.
You didn’t even tell anyone afterward. Because you’d had no one close enough to you to tell.
You were living out of a hotel room now. Nowhere to land as of yet as you’d still went to your normal veterinary job uptown during the day. And to this volunteer time at the avian rehab center just outside of the city each night. 
The only consistently listening ears for you now were sick and troubled birds. Either domestic seizures from hoarding and animal cruelty cases like this dove, or sometimes just wild raptors and waterfowl that’d had an acute turn of bad luck.
You’d seen it all at one point or another. But every day was different. And yet only more of the same all at once.
Until tonight, when it absolutely wasn’t.
You were here alone. Staying much later than you normally would, because the company of the birds was still better than hearing your neighbors arguing through those thin hotel walls that were now all you had to go back to.
Besides this dove’s occasional cooing, and your own words of continued self pity, you also had a constant rotation of true crime podcasts, murder mysteries, and tales of the supernatural droning on from your phone still on the counter. 
It was very fitting for a rainy, cold night like this one.
And in a bit of a playful holiday segment in between those longer tales, it was then some of those two sentence horror stories.  
The narrator had just read one of your favorites in their best Vincent Price impersonation. 
“The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. 
There was a knock on the door.”
You smirked of course. Your imagination flooding with all that unnamed man’s possible fates and an idea that he may actually deserve them now, before the lights abruptly went out above you.
Both you and the dove had startled with that plunge into darkness. But under the dim glow of the battery backup lights which came on after, around the fire exit signs, you quickly silenced those additional horror teases from your phone.
“Maybe they missed a power bill again.” You’d told the dove softly as you’d returned her to the temporary holding cages. 
Funding was always tight for a non profit like this. People just weren’t as giving when sick vultures and irritable corvids didn’t end up as marketable as sad kittens on the donation commercials.
But, this could also be the universe’s sign for you to give in and go home.
Wherever the hell home was supposed to be now.
You’d pulled your exam gloves inside out, trashing them before washing and drying your hands.
A coat, purse, and umbrella were all you had to gather before walking into that now near pitch black hallway.
There was only the slight squeak of your shoes on the linoleum floor for those few precious seconds of normalcy you’d had left. 
And then came the first metal bang.
Like a knock.
And the next one which followed it. 
Echoing through the darkness before you.
Something heavy and urgent was slamming against the metal door which led to the rear parking lot.
The parking lot that backed up to the woods. Where your car and thereby only way back to the city now was.
Even then, the logic in you still refused to fully slip however. Though your heart did beat far faster in your confusion.
You could hear many birds beginning to rustle in their cages in other rooms, bothered by the new noises as well.
You wanted to comfort them, but you knew they wouldn’t understand.
Did you even understand?
You still had your phone of course. You could call the police and just wait here, locked inside if you were actually that afraid.
But outside of the city limits like this, response time would be awful unless you’d be lucky enough that a random patrol car may be nearby.
You didn’t want some judgmental cop showing up thirty minutes from now, to look at you like you were a complete idiot if you said just being in the dark with strange noises was enough to have you needing rescue.
Your hand was already in your purse though, fingers around the beveled case of your phone as everything went silent again.
And then you heard the door pull open.
That door was an exit only. If another volunteer had forgotten something or come back this late for any other reason, they’d have taken the side path up to the front and unlocked the front door instead just as you had a couple of hours ago.
There was no key to the back door. It was always locked on the outside.
Unless the latch had just been broken off.
Which would explain the banging.
Your heart was moving into your throat by then as you’d sidestepped into the nearest room in the dark.
It was this facility’s single operating room.
And by some grace above you didn’t run into anything. You squatted with your back to the wall as you fumbled to pull your phone fully from your purse.
You couldn’t remember if the emergency dispatch in this area was setup to accept text messages like they could in the city.
If you spoke into this silence to call someone, it’d be the equivalent to screaming though.
Your hands were shaking as you typed instead.
And it was additionally cruel really.
Because your mind hadn’t yet overwritten years worth of habit, even as much as he’d hurt you.
You found yourself texting your ex.
<break in. call police. the rehab. help>
Your fingers moved faster than you thought you’d ever commanded them to then. You’d hit send and watched as that message changed to delivered.
And then…
You heard that stupid trill of his phone from the hallway. 
That custom alert you’d heard far too many times to count as his phone had always gone off at all hours from important clients in the duration you’d been together.
Your brain stuttered.
And you heard a female’s laugh.
“Oh, that is embarrassing…” Said the somehow familiar female voice. It was equal parts amusement and mockery now. “She’s still here alright.”
And then a man whose voice you did not recognize, called your name outright before you could think any further. “Please, (Y/N)…there’s no reason to make this harder than it has to be. Please just come out. We’re not going to hurt you.”
But the woman quickly disagreed with him. “No. He said we could do this however we needed to. We’d still be outside in the rain if it was all up to you.”
“Be silent. I’m trying to listen.” The man retorted, yet with his voice lowering to match her own irritation.
“Hmm…no. Not needed. I already smell her.” Came her even sharper response after just another moment. 
And you heard something clicking on the tile at that, faster than you could believe as it ran closer.
“Monet!” The male voice was right behind it though, dropping into a range more akin to a snarl before a shadow came bursting through that open operating room door towards you.
You knew her name.
In the emergency lighting you only had a moment to see a glimpse of her once beautiful face too, contorted into a ferocity more akin to a rabid animal before she lunged down to meet you at your still crouched position. 
Her slender hand had closed around your airway as if it were all second nature.
Fingernails too sharp to be real dug in as she forced your back onto the ground.
You were choking. And staring up into the now wild eyes of your ex-fiancé’s young assistant.
Monet.
The girl he’d fucked right in front of you just two days ago.
But then she was gone. Swatted away as if she were nothing in one audible hit.
Your throat was still stinging, scratched but not wholly cut as you tried to sit up in a renewed rush of adrenaline.
“Just take her car and go goddammit! You’re going to tear this place apart if you can’t control yourself! This is exactly why I wanted you to wait outside!” That male voice now had a clear source as well. He stood easily over the both of you. Still with his hand that had struck her splayed out like a claw.
What had to be light blond hair hung messily in his angry eyes as he took your purse and threw it at her.
“Take her car back to her hotel! Keep her phone, and make sure she didn’t call anyone!”
It was like he was scolding a child now, as if she had already been told a thousand times how this all should be.
But she was panting, smiling at him even as she did.
“I just want a taste…for all of our trouble.” She breathed.
And he stepped further between the two of you.
“I said no.”
She hissed through her teeth, but you saw him straighten up in response. His lean body seeming to tighten even more in the dark.
“Go!” And that order was truly a snarl from him that time.
Her eyes widened and she clawed the floor, briefly on all fours before scurrying back up. 
You could not see her feet clearly in the shadows, but you heard them.
That same clicking sound that had come from the hall before she’d run in.
Like talons moving across the ground.
You didn’t realize how much you were still shaking either before that man’s rock solid grip had grabbed you next.
You were pulled up by your arm.
And Monet was already gone with your purse, meaning she had your keys and phone as well.
She’d had your ex’s phone too.
Was he even alive any longer?
A sound of desperation left you as this tall man forced you down the hall and to that exit door they’d first broken in through.
You’d known it all had to be purposeful then. 
When the power had been cut, the two outdoor security cameras would have gone down as well.
No one would ever see him dragging you out of this door and into the rainy night.
They’d likely waste days interviewing people at the hotel instead once Monet returned your car there.
People you’d never even made eye contact with long enough for them to remember your face would just shrug and say they hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
No one would ever find your body.
“Walk.” His voice was still harsh as he’d hurried you outside, across the parking lot, and immediately down a muddied path into the woods.
It wasn’t clear which direction he’d even taken you in after just a few minutes.
In the dark, the trails all looked the same. And you could only watch as his clothes hung on him, dripping in the light rain.
The forest had gone silent save for that rain and the two of you. As all animals often quieted when an apex predator moved through.
He was oddly barefoot too, striding across the wet and fallen leaves. Just in pants and a t-shirt which now stuck across his broad chest.
“You really don’t remember me at all, do you?” He asked suddenly.
And you were still floundering mentally, trying to keep up with his long legs in the darkness.
“My real name is Rosinante.” He said in lack of any answer from you though. “We’ve met before.” And his large hand squeezed your arm tighter. 
He sounded like his frustration was only growing. His next words were especially accusatory. “If I’d had any idea you were still this close to the mountains…why didn’t you leave?”
His grip hurt, and you were stumbling often now, just trying to keep up.
“I don’t…I don’t know what you want.” You stammered, sounding so pathetic that it easily could have been a stranger’s voice in your ears then.
“I didn’t want him to find you!” He shot back. And at last his relentless pace began to slow. “I thought you moved away! Why the hell would you come back here!?”
And only then was something finally beginning to click within your memories. 
Because it was that desperation in his voice. 
Even if that tone was so much deeper now than the boy’s it reminded you of.
“…Cora?” You asked, your eyes wide while you stared up at this frightening man.
But he looked like something had just broken within him as you’d called him that. He’d stopped walking entirely, and you saw the true pain which crossed his face.
A lean, handsome face, with messy blond hair and rainwater dripping down in a way that could have easily been mistaken for tears.
Tears just like the young blond you’d found crying alone in the forest one summer.
The teen who’d said he didn’t know what to do any longer. And that he’d missed his parents so much and he just couldn’t keep pretending.
You’d thought he was a runaway. But he’d seemed so close to your own age, you hadn’t ratted him out to your aunt and cousins you’d been staying with in the mountain cabin that summer.
You’d snuck him food instead, and for those few months that summer break, you had hiked out to visit him every day at your and his secret rendezvous spot.
Eventually he’d said you could call him Corazon, or Cora for short. It meant “heart” in Spanish. The native language from wherever he had really fled from. And a nickname his late mother had given him.
Her little heart.
But he had a big one. Because he was so kind to you. Something you hadn’t been used to. And you’d both loved exploring and talking together for hours on end.
He’d even taught you a special whistle and song he’d said had also come from his mother and original home.
And so often at night you would hear that sound as you’d snuck from your bedroom to see him over and over again.
He’d known you loved birds by then. That you had dreams of going to school to learn more to help as many of them as you could someday.
But when you’d follow that special sound to find him at night, he’d also point right to where any owl or other raptor you’d missed during the day was hiding that he had found. 
Just so that you could see them too.
But near the end of that summer, you’d told him you’d have to be going back to the city soon. School would be starting again. You hadn’t finished high school yet. But you’d definitely come back next summer before going to college. You’d promised him that.
He’d seemed so sad regardless though, and that had hurt you too.
He’d even disappeared for a few days. You had gotten worried.
But on one of those last nights, you’d heard that special sound again.
So of course you had rushed to it.
But Corazon hadn’t been there.
A laugh had come from above you instead in the darkness.
One you could never forget just before you’d thought part of a tree had somehow fallen down on you.
Because your breath had been gone, a heavy weight impacting your chest with a crack of your ribs.
You couldn’t even scream. The splayed claws that had first struck your chest, had then spread for thin legs to straddle you as your back had hit the dirt.
And then it had bitten you.
Straight through your shirt and over the top of your shoulder. 
Your arms had come up uselessly as those fangs had sunken in.
Yet one of your hands had raked against thick, soft feathers, while the other had caught into spiked blond hair.
Utterly nonsensical in those contrasting parts between human and animal as its wings had encircled you.
But the creature had groaned at your every touch. With its long tongue then lapping at your blood running from the flesh it had broken.   
All while bony hips in torn capris pants had begun to move purposefully against your pajamas.
You hadn’t known what to do. 
You’d just remembered feeling warm.
But so afraid.
And confused.
And then a furious screech like no bird you had ever heard, came diving down like retribution from the sky. 
Loud enough that your attacker had had to look upward. His young face framed in your blood within the moonlight while he’d grinned to the heavens.
He’d been terrifying.
He’d also been beautiful.
But the two monsters had collided. Wings had scraped the ground, flapping violently while talons had tangled, striking each other’s bare torsos over and over as they’d rolled away from you.
The sounds had been fully inhuman, hissing and screaming with splatters of their blood then mixing with yours already on the ground.
Yet you’d been frozen amongst that raw violence.
“Go!” The one with the solid black wings had called out hoarsely though. While it’d tried to even briefly pin down the other one that had attacked you. That slightly larger creature whose wings had been both a dark pink and black.
The one that had still had pieces of your skin within his scowling maw.
“Please! Go and never come back!” The finality and heartbreak in that plea from your strange protector had also been seared into your memories that night.
The same voice that was now years older, with eyes that much sadder as Corazon still stared down at you in the present day.
“It is you.” You spoke in quiet shock. “You’re okay.”
“Why would you come back!?” He demanded again though, regardless of your sudden realization. “He saw your face in all those damned pictures Monet brought to him! He’s been trying to get leverage on everyone from the district attorney’s office all year. Information about their spouses, their kids, and…”
He sneered. His teeth had grit together. And you’d never seen that expression on Corazon.
He was so angry with you.
“You were really going to marry that spineless piece of shit from the D.A.’s office!? He sold you out in a heartbeat! Where you worked, where you were staying…everything. Doffy didn’t even have to touch him! He works for him now!”
Doffy.
His brother Doflamingo?
Corazon had told you long before the attack back then that he’d had an older brother.
The one he had really been running from when you’d first met.
But Doflamingo had caught up to you both in the end.
Even if you hadn’t fully understood it then.
Because you hadn’t known what Corazon truly was.
“I did move away, Cora. I got sent to freaking therapy because my family thought I was acting out for attention!” You blurted defensively.
They’d blamed you for sneaking out. Everyone had told you over and over that it’d only been a rabid bobcat, or a coyote, something like that that had gotten a hold of you that night.
The rabies shots that followed had been an awful regimen. But the shouts that you were just a delusional teenager making up stories about boys with bird wings had been even worse.
It’d been like being branded somehow. 
A permanent outcast.
And truly, you had been marked. The bite scars on your shoulder were still why you’d never wear a tank top or a swimsuit in public.
Yes, right after veterinary school you’d settled for the first man who hadn’t utterly despised you. Your standards had been that low.
But he’d still wanted to chase money and status, and to take his law degree back to the most populated part of the region to accomplish that.
So it was either break up or follow him back towards this place you’d once run from.
Yet how could you know any of this would ever actually find you again? That had been years ago.
Why would they even still remember you?
“You really don’t get it. Do you?” Corazon answered to that disbelief still on your face. “I swore to Doffy that if he let you go that night, I’d never run from him again. That I’d submit and serve him just the way he’s always expected the whole world to.” But he made another sound of disgust, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t stop him again. There’s nothing else he wants that he doesn’t already have this time.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say I have everything I want.”
Your eyes had still been trained on Corazon, so you didn’t miss the way he immediately bristled at the new voice.
Cora stood at his full height then too, looking up to the branches above with hatred etched on his face.
And the monster laughed in response.
Just like that night as your insides twisted for the sound.
But also like Cora’s voice, that laugh was deeper now too.
Even more menacing.
They had both grown up. 
And now you were all together again.
You moved behind Corazon instinctively as Doflamingo leapt down from the branches overhead.
He landed, letting those massive wings spread as he straightened up.
It was a purposeful display of power and size you were sure while he grinned wide. 
The whites of his fangs reflected the remaining moonlight almost as much as that single glowing red eye of his. The other eye had been scarred, taken from him long ago.
“Do you know how rare it is for me to come play in the mud with the rest of you any longer?” Doflamingo taunted, crouching a little then to better see you around Corazon’s tall frame. 
Yet just like back then, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on that creature either. It was all tan skin, stretched tight over bones and muscle as you could see his every breath. 
He was only in dark pants that looked as if they were once the bottom of an expensive, tailored suit.
The mockery of the perfect male form really. Almost human in his silhouette, save for those grand wings where arms should have been, the tail feathers which ran out from the small of his back, and the thinner, scaled over legs coming from the bottom of his pants cuffs. With splayed feet ending in razor sharp talons which now sank into the wet ground beneath him.
His weight shifted, as if he didn’t much like that feel of the dirt either. “I’d prefer meeting in my penthouse on East 22nd these days.” Doflamingo taunted as proof of that observation. “But…I thought this reunion might get a bit messy. And we did just have new carpets put in.”
“I told you I’d bring her to the lakehouse though just as you’d asked. Why are you out here already!?” Corazon barked abruptly anyway, yet you could hear that edge of renewed fear already beginning in his voice.
Doflamingo’s head tilted slightly, that amusement only growing in response. “Well, I was feeling nostalgic. How long has it been, Rosi? Since you and I really got to catch prey together?”
“We’re not doing anything like that!” Cora growled immediately.
“Feh. Quit pretending, little brother. And quit hiding who you really are.” He scolded Corazon outright that time. “This is what you want too, and we both know it. You wanted it that night as well. I was only trying to show you where to start.”
“You were going to kill her!” Cora breathed out. His hands had tightened into fists.
“Not necessarily,” Doflamingo still corrected, condescending as anything. “Actually, I doubt I would have. Don’t you remember why?” And an even deeper cruelty began to seep out with those words.
Something Corazon apparently understood that you did not.
“Shut up!” 
“Oh, stop it. We were young, yes. But not in nature’s eyes. She wouldn’t have smelled that way if-“
“I said shut up!”
And Doflamingo laughed again. “You should have been guarding her better then. Instead of running away to hide just because she was ready that night. She came right to me after all…”
“Because you tricked her!”
“You taught her our call…why wouldn’t I use it?”
The special sound.
And Doflamingo did it suddenly then.
His expression changed.
You could mimic it, but not the way they did. It came up from deep within their chests. Like a music note in its pleasantness to you.
You’d ran from your bed many a summer night to find Cora making that sound for you deep within the woods.
And you’d never really wondered why no one else in the cabin had seemed to notice or wake like you did.
Like this song was only meant for you.
It made your body feel warm again. It made you want to follow.
“Stop it!” Cora’s anger snapped you from your daze.
And only then did you realize you had begun to walk towards his brother.
Doflamingo frowned as Corazon had pushed you back behind him once more.
“You are the shining beacon of utter futility, Rosinante. As always.” He tutted, pausing only a moment longer as he readjusted his rain dampened feathers with some frustration.
The weather had changed to more of a hanging mist now. And you knew it was still cold out here. But you didn’t feel it much anymore.
You were still trying to process what Doflamingo had tried to say. 
She wouldn’t have smelled that way if-
Had they been fighting over you because…
“Come on, Rosi. I’ve been more than fair here. Stop stalling and change already.” Doflamingo warned a bit more impatiently then, pulling those pink and black wings back closer towards his bare torso.
As if he was just now noticing the cold himself.
“But why does it have to be her!? You could have anyone…just…pick someone else, Doffy!” 
And even as a grown man now, you could still hear so much of that boy within Corazon.
Doflamingo evidently heard it too. “Quit whining!” Was what he snapped back. “I’m tired of seeing you mope around! Gutless and useless…this isn’t solely for me. Over and over you tell me how selfish I am. How cruel I am. And yet I put something desirable out for you, practically force feed it to you, and still you complain!”
“Because she has a right to choose her own mate!”
“What? Like that coward she was already living with? You’d let a rodent like him usurp what’s yours!?”
“She’s NOT property! She…she’s-”
“She’s tired of listening to this drivel.” Doflamingo sneered.
And it was all begun there in an instant.
In one lunge and kick, the elder brother had cast his physical lesser decisively to the side.
Your shield was gone.
And you were slammed against the then splintering bark of a tree as that wet maw opened right against your face.
The pain of the hit had made your body try to gasp. But it was as if Doflamingo had known that was exactly what you would do, with his tongue ready to make that his invitation as he forced his way in.
That tongue was warm and long as his wings closed around you.
You were trapped against the tree.
With the sheer heat of his body making you hypersensitive for every place he now pressed himself against you.
This was real.
This was going to happen this time.
And you tasted something metallic on his tongue aa well. A mix of blood and earthiness, warm and purposeful as his fangs bumped against your own far duller teeth.
He had made sure your mouth stayed open long enough as you felt something heavier than his spit slide into it.
“Swallow.” Doflamingo whispered, with his wet lips then still against yours while you felt that odd mixture hit the back of your throat.
You knew exactly what that was.
And what it meant to accept it.
Corazon called your name from somewhere so close as he’d stood again. But there was nothing else he could do.
You didn’t want Cora to be hurt either though. You didn’t want to ever have to leave him alone with his brother again.
But this was the price of staying.
And you were finally willing to make that deal.
Even if it now pleased the devil himself.
Doflamingo did growl in satisfaction too, his face briefly nuzzling down against yours once you had breathed in again, signaling your throat was clear.
He’d just fed you for the very first time.
A familial intimacy reserved only for those most dear.
“Change and hold her for me, Rosi.” Came the command to his brother which followed.
But you couldn’t look away from him. 
Doflamingo had straightened his back again. That red eye gleaming down at you.
“My little Corazon has missed you for so long…but I think he still needs convincing to let that out. So let’s help him. Together. You do want to help him…don’t you, my sweet?” And Doflamingo’s voice was taking on a bit of that special resonance again.
As he stepped back away from the tree, you did follow without being stopped this time. His soft wings grazed your sides. 
It felt so very good.
You wanted to bury yourself within the affection of those wings and never rise to see the light again.
But Doflamingo lowered them as he led you further.
Enough that you could now fully see Corazon again.
Corazon with that stricken look of devastation, as if he were watching your death in slow motion right before him. With his eyes even damper now than the weather could possibly be blamed for.
That stab of pain within you for your realization of what he was actually enduring carried even through Doflamingo’s spell on you then.
Your lip quivered. “It’s alright, Cora…” You pleaded softly. “Just do as he says…I’m okay.”
And Doflamingo chuckled.
The heartbreak between the two of you only seemed to fuel him further.
“See? She already forgives you. So show her what you really are. Let’s finish this.” Doflamingo ordered his brother even more darkly.
You both understood the threat behind those words if either of you should dare disobey him. 
Cora’s spirit was visibly crumbling.
Which made you feel all the more desperate to touch him, to comfort him.
You had missed him so much too, almost having started to believe that that part of your life really had been some sort of self induced hallucination over the years.
That you hadn’t experienced your very first feelings of romantic love with some blond, teen runaway in the woods one summer.
That you actually were just crazy.
“It’s okay.” You reiterated to him. And Doflamingo allowed you to reach for Cora.
The younger brother did take your outstretched hand for a moment too. He squeezed it tightly in his larger one as his eyes offered you a last look of misery.
But that grip was already changing. 
He had seemingly accepted your choice.
Corazon’s pale skin began to darken along his arms. The shirt he wore which had already been badly torn from Doflamingo’s earlier kick, he now used his other hand to rip off completely.
That fabric was discarded like trash as he then stood before you in only pants, the same as his brother.
And the prior lack of shoes made all the sense in the world as you saw the skin of his feet scaling over and those talons forming against the ground as well.
But the thing that captured your attention the most were the feathers as they began to bud. Piercing through the then fully darkened skin of his arms one by one as cartilage loudly popped and bones shifted.
Corazon’s arms elongated in time with his legs, that wingspan taking shape as he finally let go of your hand to spread those emerging flight feathers before they could touch the ground.
They were all solid black, yet with a rich shine as each moved into its place. His new tail fanned out behind him as well, hanging over the back top of his pants.
He was gorgeous, like a god even. 
But with glowing red eyes, fangs, and all as you noticed the submissive way he still kept his head down regardless once the transformation was complete.
Like his brother too, Corazon’s bare torso which remained, was all sinew and purpose. Every muscle so clearly defined as he breathed in deeply in his anxiety for your judgment.
But he was no monster to you now.
He was a miracle of nature.
“I like the real you.” You told him gently.
And you saw that true surprise flicker through Corazon’s eyes.
Yet Doflamingo’s impatience had to interrupt. 
With his equally long bird’s legs, the remaining distance was crossed in a single stride by him. Doflamingo pushed your smaller body roughly against his younger brother’s.
“Now, is everyone comfortable here?” Doflamingo grinned once more as Corazon caught you instinctively against his wings.
Both of them had to keep their legs bent, squatted really just to keep from towering over you in their true forms.
But neither seemed to mind the inherent size difference either.
By the predatory gleam in Doflamingo’s eye, he surely didn’t.
And before you could fully acclimate, your back was now against Corazon’s abdomen while Doflamingo pinned you from the front.
You were caught between them as wings flared and you heard Cora’s fangs hitting together above your head as he snapped at his brother in reflex, not wanting him this close.
“Hush.” Doflamingo’s lack of any real anger in response this time only highlighted the implied power difference which still remained between them. “I’ll put you back to the ground in an instant if you wish.” He reminded.
Yet it was all overwhelming to you already. Just the combination of their body heats and scents mixing together even before you felt that first movement of Doflamingo’s hips against yours.
“Put those dextrous little fingers to good use, sweet girl.” He ordered then, shifting his hips again to try and rub the waistband of his pants against your hand. “The stronger male always gets first rights of course.”
And you felt Corazon’s body tense with disgust. As if he was going to try and fight for your sake anyway.
Which you still couldn’t allow.
Because you knew he wouldn’t give up until Doflamingo had made him into a bloody pulp.
Corazon still cared for you that much.
Just as you cared for him enough to prevent that fate. 
“It’s alright. I do want this.” You said as loud as the brief rise of your own bravery would allow.
Corazon took a harsh breath.
But Doflamingo just pushed what was now an obvious bulge harder against your hand in response.
“Smart little thing.” He taunted as your fingers first made it to the button of his pants.
It was all you could do to keep your hands from trembling though as you undid that button and lowered the zipper to free what was growing for you beneath.
You didn’t know what to fully expect of course when dealing with someone that was neither fully man or beast.
Yet your intuition told you not to hesitate. That hesitation would only risk his violence returning. Doflamingo wanted you to touch him immediately as your fingers ran down that muscular V shape which dipped from his navel to his pubic region.
He wore no underwear. But there wasn’t any coarse hair there either to protect him. Just the slightest bit of downy underlayer as the pads of your fingertips found and massaged through it.
It was more wispy fluff than actual feather, soft as anything you’d ever felt as he leaned his head back in clear pleasure.
Of course, you couldn’t avoid the thick base which emerged from that softness either.
Further hardening so quickly as it kept rising up once freed.
His long cock bumped against your stomach in no time, thick and twitching once already.
It looked familiar enough, save for the damn size of it that you didn’t know how the hell you wouldn’t be injured by.
“Everything off. Now.” Doflamingo growled abruptly though. Foreplay not seeming to be a priority for him in this moment as you were then ordered to disrobe.
And Corazon had gone silent now. 
You could still feel the tension of Cora against your back before you began to undress.
Your own humiliation certainly didn’t matter to you by this point though. That would be the least of your problems as pieces of your clothing hit the wet ground one after another.
Coat, shoes, shirt, pants, and underwear were all quickly put out of the way. Until it was just you and all that you were in the cold night air.
“Don’t cover her. I want to see it all.” Doflamingo warned his brother immediately though as Corazon’s wings had tried to shift against you. 
And the little bit of room that Doflamingo had allowed you in order to undress was swiftly taken back as he now pressed you skin to skin as soon as he could.
“Yes…this is what we should have done years ago. If my little brother hadn’t been such a prude with a stick up his ass.”
Corazon growled lowly to that. 
But notably, he made no move to stop his brother this time as Doflamingo kept rubbing his cock against your skin. The head of it had begun to weep. Yet Doflamingo’s gaze had now focused onto that prominent scar on your shoulder.
The one his own fangs had previously given you.
“Did Rosi ever tell you that our kind can’t procreate on their own?” Doflamingo questioned teasingly then, seemingly at random as his tongue ran out over that scar, almost with a reverence while he licked your shoulder until it glistened with his saliva. “You see…if you breed two winged parents together, all they’ll have is miscarriages. But one winged parent and a human…”
“Doffy.” Corazon warned with his own wings still staying protectively close. “That doesn’t matter right now. Just don’t hurt her.”
“It’ll matter eventually.” Doflamingo contested with a lustful smirk.
And your knees were feeling weaker as the boys did this routine again. Falling into that lopsided codependency they had for one another, bickering even with you pressed right between them.
It was a toxic bond they shared and were so determined to now add you to.
Just like Doflamingo had first tried to back then.
But even he had gained some maturity in the time between. Evidenced by the way he first teased the head of himself at your already surprisingly wet entrance instead of just plunging straight inside.
Whether that wetness was your body’s attempt at self preservation or your own willful desire, you weren’t yet sure.
But it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. That was clear as he finally began to slowly push his way in.
And when you made that first sound of pain, stretching too much almost immediately, Doflamingo actually paused.
The feathers of his wings ruffled. Somehow the brothers were now tolerating each other enough to not react when their wings bumped one another either.
Yet Corazon’s chest hummed against your back as you felt him bend to put his lips against your neck, near your ear in response to your pain.
“Relax…I’m here.” He promised, even then still trying to protect you.
And you exhaled, feeling that inner warmth once more. Corazon was using that special tone again, resonating through you as you rested your head back against him.
Cora was soothing you as his brother began to push again.
Your were fully walled in too. Corazon’s chest to your back, against him with your thighs spread for his brother. And Doflamingo in front, taking that offering, his legs bent enough for your hips to line up as he slid in deeper and deeper.
And both their wings were to your sides. They were holding you up together as Doflamingo at last bottomed out against your cervix.
You felt like he could have split you in two if he had wanted to.
But Cora’s song just continued, calming and satisfying as you stared up at Doflamingo while he let out a surprising whine with you clenched so tightly around his extraordinary cock.
“Oh…oh, fuck she feels so good.” Doflamingo breathed next. “Keep her calm…I have to move. Keep her just like this.” He was still instructing Corazon even as his sharp hips began to slowly, ever so slowly, slide back and then forward again. The skin of his cock was dragging against your insides.
And you shuddered. Everything felt like more than you could possibly take. 
But Doflamingo’s initial whine soon became moans. He was falling apart even faster than you as his wings closed tighter around you and his movements increased.
His feathers kept shifting, his pupil was dilating.
Yet as he almost grimaced in what appeared to be an abrupt brush with overstimulation, you had your very first inkling that they did not get to use these true forms often.
This was a rare intimacy. 
Maybe even completely unique for them.
The opportunity to be with a partner in their actual bodies. With all the heightened senses and raw feelings that must entail.
You were barely even a participant, and yet you were overwhelming Doflamingo as he slouched forward with his hips still pumping.
His chin was resting on one of your shoulders then, while Corazon’s was resting on your other from the opposite direction.
“I can’t even…hell, I can’t…” Doflamingo nearly laughed in disbelief.
And you felt him tremble all over as he thrust briefly harder, much rougher then as you cried out a little. But only for three or four more deep hits before his hips stilled abruptly.
The heat inside was immediate, spilling out into you as Doflamingo held himself in as close to the hilt as he could be.
But he was too big to be flush against you, just doing his best as he buried his face beside yours and you already felt his excess seed running out down your thighs to drip onto the ground.
The forest was so quiet again. Save for Doflamingo’s uneven breaths.
“Dammit…” He cursed quietly, sounding an odd mix of both placated and highly disappointed. “I need to try again. That wasn’t enough.”
But you were still aching, regardless of Doflamingo already softening within you from what he perceived as a premature release.
“No. You already came. It counts.” Corazon’s voice returned then and there however. His wings were trying to push Doflamingo’s further away.
And those wingtips were far more prehensile than a normal bird’s once Cora decided to just pull you away from his brother instead by your waist not long after. 
It made a lewd sound when Doflamingo’s wet cock slid out of you with that sudden increase in distance. Then hanging soft in a mess of both your fluids between his legs.
He glowered at Corazon as your warmth was removed from his body once more. 
And you feared they would now fight again.
Doflamingo did briefly bare his fangs. 
But Cora had turned you to face only him then as he moved his wings to push against the side of his own pants next.
You weren’t even done dripping from his brother yet. But you saw the full desire now in Corazon’s eyes.
He’d had to watch everything. 
And he had needs too.
Ones you were sure he had been too afraid to ever tell you up until tonight.
“Here.” You reached out, helping Cora as you tugged at his pants to slip them the rest of the way off of his hips.
Fair was fair.
What you did for one brother, you knew you had to do for the other.
Even if Doflamingo was now finding the concept of waiting for his second turn much more difficult than he’d originally envisioned. 
Corazon was wearing boxers. Ones that already looked a bit too tight for him just as you felt Doflamingo step back behind you.
Cora clearly bristled, not appreciating that. But you did your best to deescalate them again.
They had their own hierarchy and rules as all flocks did you were sure.
Doflamingo was the leader of them all without question. But his own neediness and vulnerabilities were far more apparent to you now.
It was a bold risk, and you didn’t move too quickly. But you did reach behind you then to massage your hand along Doflamingo’s hip and thigh. Acknowledging him at your back, and rewarding even his few moments of patience with physical touch.
Maybe that affection had surprised him.
He’d stilled again either way, and that was all the time that Corazon had needed to slide his own underwear down enough to uncover himself.
Your face felt flushed at the sight. 
Because Cora was already rock hard. Perhaps not the full length of his brother, but no less intimidating for you.
With Doflamingo still right there however, Cora didn’t hesitate. He wouldn’t lose this opportunity.
You gasped as Corazon pressed himself right into the wetness his brother had already made within you.
Your insides stretched and filled tight as anything all over again as Cora breathed your name and began immediately rocking his hips.
Doflamingo was then growling behind you in jealous response, so your hand had to move back between his legs to stimulate him too. 
You were fondling the older brother’s still softened shaft as he twitched it wantingly in your palm.
While the younger brother quickly fell into a deep rhythm inside of you, pumping your bodies together as nature had always intended.
It didn’t even feel wrong.
Because they both needed you.
And you needed them.
Or you would now.
And as Corazon scraped inside you just right, steady and sure, your orgasm was quickly building even while Doflamingo began to stiffen again within your hand.
You just stroked him harder in rhythm to his brother’s thrusts.
You could see the future already. 
There would be babies.
Multiple babies.
One mother, two different fathers. 
Nature was like that sometimes. Especially with a rare species that needed all the help it could get.
It’d just be easier to share the resources. To have two strong mates protecting you instead of only one.
Doflamingo was already getting ready to cum again too. You could hear it in his panting as he fucked your hand so roughly then.
But it was the combination of Cora’s steady pumping and Doflamingo’s desperate movements that finally sent you over the edge.
You felt your channel spasm around Cora, who repaid that pleasure immediately with a hard shudder as he released his own seed in powerful shots to mix with what you’d already received from his brother.
Corazon did get it all in, just barely though before those pink wings were grabbing you backward abruptly. 
Yet again you were pulled off of a wet cock that had just finished as Doflamingo slid himself right back into your now fully swollen folds from behind.
His wings pushed you, then making you bend forward at the waist so he could fully mount you from behind this time. You didn’t even have the chance to recover from the orgasm you’d just had before Doflamingo was pounding you so hard against your ass.
You were panting too, trembling for the contrast of his soft wings holding you up on the outside while he utterly wrecked you on the inside.
“Come on…I need you to cum on me too…I’m not stopping this until you do.” Doflamingo threatened you. Evidently not at all missing your visible orgasm had with Corazon inside you moments prior.
Yes, everything was always going to be this way too you were sure. Doflamingo would have to have the final word, the final touch. He might share only with his brother. But everything still had to start and end with him.
He was the dominant male of this territory.
“Doflamingo…” You tried his name in some very minor bid for mercy. You couldn’t think straight enough to will another orgasm back out so soon.
But you had to.
You glanced back up towards Corazon, who still seemed a bit dazed from his own release.
But his eyes did meet yours, even as his brother now fucked you raw from only footsteps away.
Yet, it wasn’t the full sadness from earlier in Cora’s stare any longer. You saw real lust for you still so heavy in those red eyes then. That look which said he would also love to do this to you if you’d only ask him for it.
Corazon would do anything you wanted him to going forward.
And that thought was enough to bring the coil of warmth into your stomach again. 
You were going to be fine. You would survive.
You’d never have to sit in a room alone again either and worry about who or what future awaited you on the other side.
Because your monsters were already here. And they had chosen you.
You moaned loudly. Both of these men in your mind, together again while that pleasure sent your body into ecstasy one more time.
You came with that cry for Doflamingo as he orgasmed gladly in return to flood your poor channel yet again with his seed. 
Your abused cunt was dripping and your body shaking before Doflamingo pulled you fully back against his chest, wrapping his warm wings around you protectively.
His voice was a bit uneven, matching his rough breathing now. “Let’s go home then. All three of us. Tonight and forever.”
And Corazon smiled slightly at last to that rare sentiment. A remarkable expression in its own right. 
Because maybe Cora was finally realizing as you had that the worst was not truly the worst.
Doflamingo wasn’t going to let anything happen to you now.
This deal had been made and the ink was already dry.
Cora used his feathers to awkwardly pull up his underwear and pants before he idly began collecting your clothing for you soon after.
“You’re going to need bigger beds then, Doffy. Both at the lakehouse and the penthouse.” Corazon said quietly as he looked back to the two of you who were still recovering.
Doflamingo smirked, not disagreeing this time. “That’d be much easier than arguing whose bed she’ll get in each night, wouldn’t it?”
You’d lay with them both of course.
But Doflamingo nipped your ear for good measure too as his feathers rubbed more possessively across your abdomen.
“Yes. We’ll have quite a nest going on soon enough.” He grinned wide in anticipation of this truth. “Little ones never like to sleep alone either after all.”
——————————
End.
Thank you for reading! ❤️🎃
A/N: The two sentence horror story quoted in the beginning is “Knock�� by Fredric Brown.
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streets-in-paradise · 3 days ago
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Weaving Hope - Maximus Decimus Meridius x Wife!Reader
Gladiator (2000) Oneshot
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Warnings: Talk of cheating ending with reassurance ( reader feels insecure and starts fearing he may cheat when he is away.)
Summary: Your husband's intelligence is not limited to military strategy. He knows emotions and he can tell when you are upset regardless if the cause remains out of his control. Even if the doubts come within yourself despite of his impeccable behavior, he needs to let you know you are his one and only.
Notes: Special gift for @wildsaltair hoping to cheer her up. ( This is how I constructively deal with my post Gladiator ll feelings regarding the Maximus mentions on the sequel.)
Glossary: Lucina - Roman goddess of childbirth, equivalent of the greek Ilithyia.
The sacred bliss of your domestic life was a shelter for your victorious and exahusted warrior. Maximus had returned home as happy and full of love as he always did, but his feelings didn't numb his perceptions. He found you checking the horizon warily, as if you were expecting some kind of unpleasant surprise and your heart was relieved not to find it when you got to be in his arms. Despite he didn't do any direct comments about it, that strange feeling didn't abandon him as he kept paying attention to your reactions.
When he began telling his stories about the latest conquest he adquired for the emperor, he could tell you weren't your usual self interrumpting him to ask questions or mock the senseless choices from some of his companions. Not only you were abnormally silent: that cheerfull sparkle in your eyes he adored to observe was replaced with the coldness of a circunstantial listener. Your mind was somewhere else, lost in something he couldn't easily decipher.
Bedtime of your toddler had him happy of finally being the one that could tuck the child and you observed in adoration for the beautifull scene. Its tender beauty contrasted with the bitter uglyness of the doubts haunting you. Tears of happiness and fear began to flow, spontaneous reaction you attempted to hide pretending you were going to clean the dinner table. The kid was excited, but very tired, so it didn't take long untill your husband returned to you and got struck by your first reproach.
" Excellent story! I only noticed you missed a detail ... The women of the North, Maximus, ... you said nothing about them."
Advancing cautiously, he began to understand what had been keeping you distant all along.
" I found nothing remarkable to say ... "
You chuckled with skepticism, trying hard not to sound angry without proper reasons.
" Really? Because I have heard some interesting things about them."
Harshly piling up the plates in an enumeration of descriptive phrases, you released your hidden jealousy pretending to be merely speculating.
" Pale skin, white as the snow in their cold lands. Tall, slim figures ... Eyes like the sea and blond hair so beautifull that it became an object of greed for roman ladies. When they get their hands in one, they chop it all off to make wigs for themselves ... Women so beautifull even the refined ladies from the capital find something to envy!! What is left for the wives of the province to think then? "
The pointless bitterness in your implications was amusing to him. Who told you all of that? He had no idea, ... most likely another woman who found in that real reasons to worry when her own husband left following him. One of his soldiers, or some officer under his command on a position comfortable enough to get a reward as such.
"Have you been fearing that this time you would see me arrive with a concubine? ... What have I ever done to awaken this doubt in your heart?"
It was unfair, and you knew it, but you couldn't help how you have been feeling.
" It's different now: you are their general. Men honor each other with the spoils of war: given how they love you, soldiers themselves could be picking one for you."
Maximus was not blind to the typical behavior of men arround him and what you said was true for many others on the higher ranks of the army.
" My men are always loyal to me and I serve the same emperor from the last war. This is not my first campaign as a general, ... there has to be something else troubling you and I must know what is it. "
He was right, but the underlying issue was not something easy to bring up. Would a man, even one as wondefull as your Maximus has always proved himself to be for you, capable of understanding such worries?
" I am not the same woman you married: childbirth has changed my body and my youthfull years will soon be gone. Any other man in your position would be considering to keep with him a younger woman whose hips weren't yet aided by Lucina, or enjoy of her away from his wife. Nobody would judge you for it, even less considering the long time you spend alone moving from one militar camp to another. "
For as sensical as your reasoning tried to make it sound, that idea would have never crossed his mind. Even if in extremely strange circunstancies, Marcus Aurelius himself would seek to prize him with a girl, or his hedonist younger son would suggest it, he would politely reject the gift and increase the rumours about his humble nature. All he always wanted from his superiors was getting granted a soon return to you, the only one he wanted. His beloved wife, mother of his child and woman of his dreams.
" Nobody would dare to suggest it, because they hear me count the days I spend away from you. "
Surprise made your hands tremble and an empty vase fell from your grip, but didn't reach the ground before he reached to pick it and you smiled for him.
" Can I be like Penelope, weaving hope because I remain the only wife of a commander in the army that can forever trust her husband? "
Securing the pottery in a different surface, his hands were then free to grab your waist from behind.
" The prized locks of those girls' hair are no match for a single hair of yours."
His touch travelled down, to your hips and lower abdomen. Firm grip of one, soft caressing from the other.
" ... And this body, that you so harshly claim to find decaying, feeds the burning flame of my desire like no other ever will. Alone in my tent, I can only dream to feel the body of my wife against mine in feverish delusion ... mad with want for you ... How could I ever feel otherwise? Despise your hips for no longer being those of a maiden, when I am the man that made you a mother? "
Finding ecstasy in his touch and the passionate comfort of his words hushed the wrong feelings keeping you distant.
Maximus began to kiss your neck and you couldn't keep punishing him in vain.
" Forgive me, my love … Long distances are hard for me as well, and last week my sister came visiting. I appreciate her company, but she isn't the wisest advisor. "
Guessing exactly what you meant with that, he chuckled against the skin of your left shoulder and pressed a few pecks there.
" Will you let me prove myself to you tonight?"
He didn't need to ask, but it was so sweet that he did. You were his, always were and forever would be.
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squad-724 · 2 days ago
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Oof I’ve had a couple rough weeks at uni, have padmecker artwork I’ve been slowly working on. It’s an illustration for a short fic of the two of them, a twin piece to @electrikworm ’s fic
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“There.” Padmé sighed as she put down the stylus, a moment ago used to correct the few words of her next speech on the Senatorial Ball she was organizing with Bail and Riyo to warm her colleagues up to the clones. A small tactic to make them look more sentient and humanoid than what they officially were written as in the law. One step closer to the bill that would recognise them as citizens of the Republic.
She straightened up in her seat, her back cracking in a few places, making her wince. No matter how much the chair cost, five hours of no movement will make her body ache. And because of the non-stop debates in the rotunda she had no time to prepare it earlier; the ball was the next day.
Padmé took her time, finishing sipping the cold caf she got delivered back when there was still sunlight, watching the lights of the Planet That Never Slept flicker in the distance. She knew how they looked up close, both on the triple zero and in lower levels she so rarely visited; only going there for her rare dates that she still had to hide from the public. If the media learned about her relationship with a clone, the whole rights bill could be compromised.
Sometimes she didn't care, wishing to be able to take Wrecker to one of the fancy restaurants, let him taste all the amazing foods she could get him, to walk around in broad daylight, visit museums and opera. She wished she could spoil him as much as he deserved.
But it would have to wait. Padmé knew she would make sure he and his brothers could soon walk around as fully free citizens.
“You done?” The senator almost jumped out of her seat as a male voice came from the doors to her office space.
“On the moons Anakin you scared me,” Padmé let out a sigh of relief, and the jedi laughed at her reaction. “What are you still doing here, you were supposed to leave hours ago.”
“Eeeh, I think I should give Rex a little room to breathe. He almost strangled me after I threw him down that hole two days ago.”
“And you don't want to spend the night on observation with Kix.”
“And I don't want to spend the night on observation with Kix, and Rex WILL rat me out in an act of revenge.” He walked over to her balcony doors, grabbing one of the donuts she kept on her desk, her favorite one she kept for last. “I'll sleep at Snip’s new apartment, apparently she got a great deal from the landlady that had a good family history with the Order, and didn't need a down payment. I'll see you at the ball.” He waved her goodbye and jumped down the balcony. Padmé knew he called R2 to come pick him up, just as all the times he decided to have that dramatic of an exit. One day he would fall and break his neck, and that would be karma for stealing the best donuts.
There was nothing more Padmé wanted than to sleep. But she desperately needed to shower, and knew Clone Force 99 was about to enter the Coruscanti atmosphere in a few moments.
She met the squad only a few months back, the four clones called as her escort during a mission. At first she was surprised at the differences from normal troopers, but soon learned about their mutations and special enhancements that were made to them.
Each one of them was unique and interesting, but it was Wrecker who caught her eye, his eyes that kept looking at her with awe when he thought she didn't notice, but also the difference between his pure show of power in opposition of how gentle he was with her.
He had that charm and authenticity that all her previous suitors lacked, speaking his mind and not carefully picking lines of dialogue they practiced before each meeting. He was himself at all times, and who he was was a man of big heart. And Padmé couldn't deny him the beautiful musculature and tanned skin.
And now, after three weeks of a comms-out mission, he and his brothers were coming for a personal debrief with commander Cody, and to crash at her flat for a few days.
She already stocked her fridge with food, readied her three guest rooms with a fresh set of beddings and towels. Yeah maybe she was playing favorites with that, but no one deserved being pampered like these four. Especially Wrecker.
As she waited for the clones to arrive she took a quick shower and brushed her teeth, finally getting rid of the acidic aftertaste of caf on an empty stomach. Once she put on her face mask, she got a ping on her datapad reading “Be there in 5 ;)”.
Padmé got her droid to brew some tea when the doorbell rang out. All of her sleepiness evaporates in an instance when she runs to the door.
She isn't done opening them properly before a massive set of hands hauls her off the floor and into a spinning hug that ends with a keldabe kiss.
“Hi sweetheart,” Padmé breathes out, looking into Wrecker's mismatched eyes. She locks her hands around his neck, pulling him close into a proper kiss. Oh how she missed it.
“Ekhm, we're still in the doorway love doves,” a snarky voice brings them back into reality, Wrecker laughing as he moves deeper into the apartment, letting his brothers in. “Great. I'm taking the bathtub first.” A few voices of protest ring out as Crosshair bolts to the refresher.
“Sorry for the wait, there were some issues with the docking system and they didn’ want to let us down to the planet.” Wrecker finally let Padmé down, putting his bag down soon after.
“Not your fault, I just barely finished my job anyways, didn't have to wait for long.” She stood on her tiptoes to land another kiss on her boyfriend’s scarred cheek, making him blush. No matter how many times she did it, the giant clone got red after signs of any affection.
“Thanks for letting us stay,” Hunter all but collapsed on the couch, cup of freshly brewed tea in hand. He looked a little roughed up, his cheek covered in a fresh dressing, left eye sporting a bruise. “I don't think I could survive another night bunking on the ship with those three idiots.”
Padmé laughed as a choir of three voices raised up with a complaint. She sipped her herbal tea. She had missed this.
Not just Wrecker, but his whole family. How much life they brought to this otherwise empty apartment. The sound of bickering during breakfast preparation, doors opening and closing when they left for the town, repetitive whirring coming from Tech's room, muted music from Crosshair's.
“I am completely exhausted, so I'll be waiting for you in bed. I don't want to smell ANY grease or pickled feet when you join, so take a bath beforehand.” Padmé smooched Wrecker one last time, putting down her cup next to the dishwasher, before she wished the clones goodnight and retreated into her own bedroom.
As much as she complained about the costs of her sheets to Sabé, in moments like these every single credit spent on them seemed worth it. She slipped under the covers, sighing softly as the pain in her back quieted down just a little bit. She had to wake up in the morning for the last dress try on, and then get her hair done before the ball. How lucky she was that a highly experienced squad of troopers was available as her security for the event.
Padmé felt herself fall asleep just as the mattress next to her dipped significantly. Wrecker put his calloused hand on her back, sneaking it under her shirt and drawing slow circles in between her shoulder blades.
“Mmm I really need to sleep my dear, we will have the whole night to ourselves tomorrow.” she murmured into her pillow, relaxing her back under the soft pressure of his palm.
“Then sleep cyar’ika.” The trooper whispered, drawing his thumb up and down her spine, kneading the locked up muscles into relaxation. Padmé knew how firm they must have felt, and let her boyfriend smooth them out as they slowly fell into a rhythm.
“Does anything else hurt?” Padmé could feel his warm breath on her cheek. She could deny it, let him lay down next to her. But, it felt so nice to be taken care of like that.
“Right arm, think I was holding my stylus too tightly.” She didn't even open her eyes as she turned on her side, reaching out the hurting limb.
With a gentleness a man of his frame seemed incapable of, Wrecker took it, moving it to face the palm up, and began massaging it too.
He started with her finger, so delicate and small in the embrace of his giant ones. Each one was delicately pinched in between his pointer finger and thumb, joints muscles and tendons kneaded into relaxation.
Then came the palm, painfully wiry, with the muscles tensed and coiled from the long hours of no rest. Wrecker's fingers carefully massaged them, and Padmé let out a few hisses of pain before these too relaxed into comfy hums as her boyfriend helped her with the pain.
She thought it would be it, but he continued the comforting movements on her forearm, now his actions bringing her more of a relaxing effect rather than purely pain relivement.
Wrecker arms continuously moved his hands up and down her forearm, drawing circles with his thumbs, making her back shiver with pleasure. She didn't even realize how wiry her muscles got until he made them relax, his fingers digging into knots deep into her limb.
“How did you learn to do this?” She murmured, her voice partially muted by the pillow she was laying on. Wrecker’s mismatched eyes didn't leave her arm, but she definitely saw the slight smirk under his nose.
“All of us got some pains a massage helps with. I was the first to need them, my growing pains making my whole body ache until I couldn't move. That's when Tech found some texts on holonet to teach me so I could do them before sleep. Then it turned out that Hunter's migraines can be lessened if you relieve the pressure on the neck,” Wrecker's pressure on Padmé's arm became weaker and weaker, his body slowly sumping to the side. “Tech tends to fall asleep on the pilot seat and next to his workbench, and I deal with his back afterwards.”
The senator gently pulled her boyfriend to lay down, his heavy body hitting the mattress. He didn't say anything, but let out a hum of comfort, wriggling closer to her, wrapping his arms around her much smaller waist. He was very warm, making Padmé shiver.
“Mmm, I'm glad you're here.” she settled her forehead just above his heart, taking comfort in the sound of the beat. Strong, just like him.
“Wish I could stay,” one of his arms moved to the base of her skull, gently scratching her hair bulbs, often sore from the extravagant hairstyles she wore on a daily basis. The hair and dresses, what she was most known for. A beauty of Naboo, queen and senator Amidala whose spirit never yielded. Just like her looks she never did anything halfway, giving her everything into how she presented herself as how she protected the innocents of the Republic.
But there she was, her hair in disarray, wearing an old t-shirt and underwear that has been for sweet release of the trash bin for months, and Wrecker was here, calling her beautiful in the pure darkness, his arms a comforting weight. Here, she was Padmé Naberrie, spending one of her rare moments with a man that found her beauty not in the make-up, dresses or jewelry, but her genuine laugh, lacking cooking skills, and the ability to stand her ground to help him and his brothers become people in the eyes of law.
He would protect her planet, while she secured his future.
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Thank you Manhattan for edits and beta reading!
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nick-writes-stuff · 14 hours ago
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Coming Home (Lucifer x gn!Reader)
a/n: it's finally here!! hope you guys like it, i'm really happy with this one. the ending still cracks me up a bit lmao
warnings: honestly there really isn't any. this one is definitely a bit lighter than the others i've written. it is implied that Lucifer was angry, and there is a second where reader is assumed to be dead, but there isn't anything actually happening (it'll make sense when you read it lol)
When you arrived back in your time period, you and Solomon had left the portal into the palace. You looked around, eyes widening as you recognized that this was your time.
For the first time ever, you saw a look of shock on Barbatos' face as he entered the room. It seems like your arrival was not apparent to him. He led you both up to Diavolo's office at once.
They asked you some questions, wanting to get as much information from you about your predicament. The entire time you were antsy, bouncing your leg and fidgeting with your hands. You wanted to go to the House of Lamentation so badly. You needed them to know you were okay.
When the questions stopped coming, you asked if you could go to the HoL, but Diavolo's reaction puzzled you. "I don't think that would be the best idea." He said, tactfully choosing his words.
Your face fell. "Did something happen?" You asked, leaning forward with urgency.
"No, no nothing like that. It's just..." the Prince trailed off.
"Mammon decided it would be a good idea to try to pawn one of Lucifer's cursed records to pay off his credit card bills." Barbatos said flatly.
Your eyes widened as you processed the information, but your resolve didn't waver. "I still have to go over there. I can still see the others while the two of them settle things."
You knew that you had experienced worse moments of Lucifer's behavior in the past, you could surely deal with this.
Diavolo nodded and Barbatos opened a portal to the house. You gave a soft word of thanks before tepping through it.
You entered into the living room where the twins were. They immediately perked up at the sight of you. Satan and Asmo heard the portal and wandered down to see what had happened. As you all talked and explained the situation of your return, Levi even came down for a snack run completely unaware of your arrival, being shocked at your return. After a few moments you asked, "Where's Mammom and Lucifer?"
The room went quiet, the five giving each other awkward glances before Satan spoke up. "Mammon is in Lucifer's office getting the lecture of the century."
You winced slightly. "How long has it been?"
"Um, it was before I had my snack before dinner, so maybe 4 hours?" Beel said.
You moved to go up the stairs, to which the others reacted negatively to. "MC do you have a death wish?" Amso asked.
Satan agreed. "Lucifer is more angrier at Mammon than I think he's ever been. It probably wouldn't be safe for you to go up there."
"Relax. I'm not gonna interrupt. I'm just gonna wait for them." You said, rolling your eyes and heading upstairs.
---
It was another 2 hours before Lucifer had decided that Mammon had learned his lesson and could be free from the lecture. Mammon rushed out of the room and down the hall, trying to leave before Lucifer changed his mind. In his haste he didn't even notice you.
It was a few minutes later until Lucifer left his office. He needed to meet Diavolo to discuss student council business. The door creaked open and the eldest was quick to notice your presence.
You were sitting on the floor with your back to the wall. Your head leaned against the side of a cabinet. Your eyes were shut as you had dozed off.
For a second, Lucifer assumed he was seeing things. Maybe he had gone too long without sleeping? Admittedly, he has definitely gone too long without sleeping. Maybe Satan and Belphie had decided to play a cruel prank?
His hesitation only lasted a moment until the avatar of pride was kneeling in front of you. He assumed you were injured somehow, because why else would you be unconscious on the floor. His breath was quickening, fearing the worst. He didn't even know how you were here, but here you were unconscious in front of his door and he hadn't even known.
Lucifer grabbed your shoulder shook you gently, trying not to hurt you. "MC? MC wake up, please-" He started, sounding desperate, but he stopped as your eyes flickered open and you yawned softly.
"You really know how to keep someone waiting." You said, giving him a slight smirk even despite your half-asleep state.
You joking was the only thing he needed to hear. He pulled you into his arms in an instant. You felt him take a deep, shuddering breath as if the weight of the world was no longer on his shoulders (because his world was in his arms)
You wrapped your arms around him, lazily tracing soft circles on his back in an attempt to soothe him.
Once he held you for long enough that he could no longer assume it was a dream or a hallucination, he pulled away and began looking you over. "You aren't hurt are you?" He asked.
You shook your head.
He seemed somewhat puzzled at your response. "Then why are you on the floor?"
"Because I had been waiting out here for a while and I was tired."
"You should have just came in, it would have been-" He began, almost having a light scolding tone to his voice.
"After hearing some of the day's events from Satan and Asmo, sorry, but there was no way I was opening that door." You said with a chuckle. Lucifer knew you were right, but he was still a bit frustrated that you hadn't come sooner.
Lucifer seemed to look you over once again before placing a kiss on your forehead. Your face changed to a lovesick grin, looking up at him. He gave you a slightly confused look, silently questioning your expression.
"I missed you." You said.
Lucifer would never admit to the flurry of butterflies in his stomach, but you could tell from his gaze and the light dusting on pink across his cheeks.
He stood up, offering you his hand. You took it and pulled yourself up to stand with him.
"You know, I just got a wonderful tea blend from Akuzon. Would you like a cup?" He asked as he walked to his room.
You smiled. "Of course." You said matter-of-factly. As if you would ever decline.
He made his way to the electric kettle. Whenever he knew he would have a late night, he tended to keep the kettle on so he could have water ready on demand.
You shut the door and moved over to the couch near the window. You took a deep breath, finally feeling like you were able to relax. You look over to watch Lucifer.
"This is an old favorite of mine. It's been out of stock for a while and when I found it I couldn't resist it." He said with a chuckle. He showed you the box, taking a breath to continue speaking but you cut him off.
"No please! I'm so sick of that one!" You said, voice louder than you meant it to be.
He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at you. His gaze was a mixture of confusion and disbelief. the audacity
You were confused too, almost like you expected him to remember the situation you were referring to. "Ohh okay I forgot that wasn't a recent experience for you." You said in realization.
"MC, what in Diavolo's name are you talking about?"
"That flavor of tea was your old favorite for years back in the past. That's the only flavor of tea I've had in weeks. Please, for the love of everything unholy, make me literally any other blend." You said.
Only you could speak to him that way without consequences. He chuckled softly, shaking his head as he pulled a separate box from the cabinet. One of your favorites. He put the other back, as he realized he hadn't had your favorite since you had disappeared, and he wanted to fully indulge himself in the reality that you had returned.
After drinking the tea, you yawned. He looked over to you. "You should go to sleep." he suggested softly.
You were tempted to just go to his bed without question, but your logic overrides your sleepiness. "You should too."
He chuckled, standing up and walking toward his desk. "Nonsense, MC. I need to go inform Diavolo of your return. I fear I've waited long enough-"
"Solomon and I arrived in the castle. I spoke to Diavolo already." You countered. He paused for a moment.
"When is the last time you had quality sleep?"
He went to answer but hesitated as he realized he didn't know the answer.
You grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to the bed. He relented, getting into the bed beside you. You laid your head on his chest, murmuring a soft "good night" as your eyelids fluttered.
He kissed the top of your head. "Good night, my love." He responded, quickly dozing off due to the company of his beloved.
---
The next morning, you walk down to the kitchen to see Mammon making breakfast. While facing the stove he asked "Whoever you are, can you grab the milk for me?"
You oblige his request, grabbing the bottle and turning towards him as he turns around. He dropped the spatula and audibly gasped.
"You're back?!?! GUYS MC IS BACK!" He yelled.
Belphie was half asleep as he entered the kitchen to get a drink. "Yeah, and? They've been here since last night." He snapped as he looked through the cabinet.
Mammon scoffed. "Ya finally get back to us and you forgot to tell the Great Mammon?? What happened to me being your first man." He said, taking great offense to this.
You were never gonna hear the end of this.
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sleepyparalysisdmon · 1 day ago
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2 Minus 1 - Act Three
Seungcheol is doing good without you. Really good, in fact! He’s got a great job, has his own apartment, and has many friends surrounding him. He’s even done some dating in the three years that you’ve been gone. On some blissful days, you don’t even cross his mind. But when you reappear in his life, he has to come to terms with the fact that he might not be doing as good as he thought he was. 
Genres: ANGST with a little bit of fluff here and there. One suggestive scene (minors, use caution). 
Word count: 7.7k
Requested? Yes!
You can find the series masterlist here.
Minghao’s throwing a New Year’s Eve party. Seungcheol seemed to have found out last because it’s you that asks him if he’s going when you both step out for lunch a couple days before. Instead of going back to his office, he stops into his team’s office, hanging over Minghao’s cubicle wall. “When were you going to tell me you were throwing a New Year’s Eve party? Is this your way of telling me I’m not invited?”
“Huh?” Minghao mumbles, still typing up something. “Oh, yeah. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Didn’t get a chance to send a message about it yet.” Seungcheol sort of accepts this answer because things have been pretty busy around here in preparation for the new year. New budget means new plans and new goals, along with a renewed push from leadership to break records. There’s been a lot of pressure to start out the year on the right foot. 
Still, Seungcheol pouts a bit. “And Y/N knew before I did?”
“Oh, yeah. I ran into her in the elevator yesterday and mentioned it. Stop being a big baby,” Minghao says, totally unsympathetic. 
“Y/N is coming?” Chan pipes up from his cubicle, sounding excited. He rolls his chair into the aisle, running into Seungkwan when he does the same thing. They both groan and start pushing each other. The rest of them ignore the scuffle.
“Yes,” Minghao says shortly, turning to Seungcheol. “I assume you’ll be there since you’re attached to her hip.”
He doesn’t miss the sly look that all four of his friends give him at the mention. “Not sure what that’s supposed to mean. I thought you wanted me to get along with her.”
“As just a friend?” Vernon poses. 
Seungcheol stalls out for a second, blinking. “Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?”
“Well, that’s a good thing, I guess. She asked if I minded if she brings a friend of hers. Someone from law school, or something. He’s in town for the holidays,” Minghao explains and Seungcheol can see clear as day that this is bait. Still, he can’t seem to help how his jaw clenches. 
“Did she happen to mention his name?”
“Jeonghan, something or other. It’s a law school friend, you wouldn’t know him right?” 
He knows they’re continuing to bait him. She’s a friend and this is a person he doesn’t know, so what’s the big deal? Seungcheol can’t help the curse he mutters. “No, I know Jeonghan. He’s from here, we went to school with him. And they dated while they were in California, apparently.”
An ‘oooo’ echoes throughout the office, then a cackle or two. They all look like they need bags of popcorn with how entertained they look at his suffering. “Oh no,” Seungkwan cries out in faux sympathy. “Cheol, what are you going to do? Her exboyfriend came all the way here to see her.”
“He didn’t come here just to see her,” Seungcheol defends, fists tightening on the wall of Minghao’s cubicle. “I just said he’s from here. He’s here to see family first, surely.”
“And run to see his ex before he goes back home? Maybe get a New Year’s Kiss from her?” Chan wiggles an eyebrow. The thought makes Seungcheol’s blood boil. He’d intentionally avoided spending much time thinking about you with Jeonghan. He knew you had kind of made the poor guy’s dreams come true by dating him. 
“Oh my god, look how red he’s getting,” Seungkwan chortles. 
Minghao turns to give them a warning look, though he sort of looks entertained too. He glances back to Seungcheol. “Don't pop a vein. You look pretty jealous for someone that fell apart when he found out she worked here.”
“I’m not jealous,” he insists stubbornly. Not a single one of them buy it and he huffs. “Get back to work. We have things due at the end of the day.”
He is not jealous. He is not jealous. He is not jealous! It becomes his mantra the whole afternoon as he tries to get through his to-do list.
~
He is not jealous. He is not jealous. He is not jealous!
He chants it to himself in his head when he knocks on your door. Jeonghan opens the door with a wide grin. “Hey, Seungcheol. It’s been a while,” he says letting him in. Seungcheol had always liked Jeonghan in high school. He was funny, a little bit of a troublemaker, but also seemed to be incredibly intelligent, judging by how he was always in the running for top of the class. He tries to be warm, but Jeonghan looks far too comfortable in your apartment. He wonders if Jeonghan stayed here for a couple days while in town. He wonders where he slept - was it the guest bedroom or somewhere else?
“Yeah, it has. How have you been?” He sits with Jeonghan in the living room, doing small talk. They’re interrupted by a yell from the hallway. 
“Hannie, who are you talking to?” 
“Seungcheol,” Jeonghan shouts back. 
“Oh!” You shout. “Hi Cheol. I promise I’m almost ready.”
“Yeah right,” Jeonghan mumbles. “I’ve never seen her be ready on time.”
This does make Seungcheol snort. “Never.”
Jeonghan gives him a curious look. “How are things going there? Between you two, I mean. She was pretty anxious about running into you.”
The question gives Seungcheol pause for so many reasons. So many, in fact that it makes him shake his head confused. “You want to hear how things are going with your ex?”
Jeonghan raises an eyebrow, entertained. “Yes. Do you want to hear how things are going with your ex?” That question makes him grit his teeth and Jeonghan spots it, chuckling. “Yeah, that tracks. But yes, I want to know that things are going well between you two, no matter what it’s defined as.”
Seungcheol’s jaw is tight. “We’re fine. We always will be.”
He hates how Jeonghan leans back, feet propped up on your coffee table, sipping his drink like he owns the place. Like he has Seungcheol right where he wants him. “Uh huh. So no plans to rekindle anything then? Just going back to friends?” 
“Yes,” Seungcheol grinds out. “Have you always been this nosy?”
Jeonghan laughs. “Maybe not, but I’m invested when it comes to Y/N. The consequences of dating for a few years, I suppose.”
Seungcheol’s breath catches. When you said you had dated Jeonghan for a while, he was picturing a few months, not years. He doesn’t know why you didn’t just tell him the actual timeframe, but then he thinks better of it. If he’s not handling it well now, then he wouldn’t have handled it well a while back either.
Finally, Seungcheol decides he sort of hates Jeonghan - not him as a person necessarily, but because you sort of made a home with him in California for three years. Enough for Jeonghan to come see you when he’s in town. He wishes there was even a tinge of bitterness between you and Jeonghan post breakup.
“So, what? You've come to visit and get back together?” He can’t really hide his own bitterness. “How’s that going to work when you both live across the world from each other?”
Jeonghan shrugs casually. “Distance wouldn't be an issue for me personally, but I’m actually looking for jobs here.”
He doesn’t get a chance to reply because he’s spiraling a bit and you’re rushing into the room, dressed to the nines and it’s all so distracting. “I’m ready! Let’s go!” You yell, shoving your feet in heels and grabbing a coat while Seungcheol and Jeonghan trail behind you. You chatter enough for everyone on the way to Minghao’s and when he leads you both into his friend’s apartment, he goes straight to the alcohol. He feels sick to his stomach before the first sip, but he needs the distraction from thinking about Jeonghan moving back and moving in with you next door and having to see you two together all the time. 
He’d have to move and probably quit his job. And maybe leave the face of the earth.
~
Jeonghan knows quite a few people here tonight, but he still stays glued to you. It’s nice, really. You’ve settled in and have gotten comfortable with the way things are since moving back, but Jeonghan is an extra slice of familiarity that comforts you, if only for a couple days before he has to fly back. 
It’s not like you two haven’t talked nearly every week since you moved, but there are so many things that you both seem to want to talk about now that you’re face to face. You missed him, and you missed Joshua, who you can get decent updates on now that Jeonghan is in front of you. Joshua has scheduled to take the bar exam and has been studying night and day, ignoring pretty much everyone since graduation. Jeonghan says he pops in every few days to get him to come up for air. 
You’ve told him about your job, which you feel pretty neutral about it. Like Seungcheol, Jeonghan assures you that it’s okay to just have a job now and not a career, and that the degree wasn’t wasted if you don’t take the bar and practice law. He even discourages it because even though he hasn’t hit the books as hard as Joshua has, he says it’s still miserable.
He’s also incredibly nosy about how things are going with Seungcheol. When you told him about your first run in and subsequent birthday parties, he’d chuckled and told you it was only a matter of time. You can’t share mutual friends for your whole lives and never see each other. But he flat out cackled when you told him that you’d unknowingly accepted a job at the same company that he worked for. Jeonghan reveals that he knew that all along and you wished you could strangle him through the screen. You even threaten to get on a plane to do it in person. He just rolled his eyes and said, “What? You don’t check LinkedIn from time to time? I knew the company you accepted the role from sounded familiar so I checked.” He was still more entertained when you told him who your new neighbor was and made some joke about fate.
In the present, Jeonghan’s grinning over his glass at you in the corner of the room. “Someone hates me, I think. I’m getting a death glare.”
You raise an eyebrow. “Like it’s hard to hate you?” He shoves you lightly. “But who?”
Jeonghan snorts. “Who do you think? The most jealous person I think I’ve ever met.” He gestures across the room and it’s not hard to figure out who he’s talking about. Seungcheol looks pissed, but you’re confused because for the life of you you can’t figure out why he’d be pissed at you or Jeonghan. You thought things were good between you and Seungcheol now, especially after he said he didn’t hate you on Christmas just a week ago. He really looks like that could have been a lie right now.
“But why? He’s not entertained anything more than friendship, and even then that was like pulling teeth at first,” you sigh, looking down into your glass.
Jeonghan sighs lovingly. “Oh, honey. I love you so much, you know that, right?” You nod when it seems he actually wants an answer. “But sometimes, you’re incredibly dense. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.”
Your eyes widen, hair standing on end. This doesn’t sound like a ‘spilled coffee on your laptop but here take mine’ kind of fix. The look on his face makes you nervous. “What are you planning, Yoon Jeonghan?”
He looks mildly entertained at your threatening tone before turning serious. “Do you trust me?” You stare up at him, blinking. “I need an answer to that. I can fix this but it might get worse before it gets better.”
“Define ‘fix’. And what are you fixing exactly?” You press.
“You and Seungcheol. It’s time to do something about this, but my methods might be unorthodox and you need to roll with it if it will work.”
Jeonghan has never led you astray and you do trust him implicitly. You glance to Seungcheol, who still looks angry, before looking back up at Jeonghan, huffing. “What did you have in mind?”
Minghao is coming around with flutes of champagne. The ball drop is queued up on the TV with the countdown ticking. You both take glasses from Minghao, setting your other ones to the side. “I promise it will be okay,” Jeonghan says evasively. It makes your anxiety spike.
“Hannie, please tell me what you’re planning.”
People are starting to countdown and he has to lean in close to your ear so you can hear him. “I’m going to help you make him jealous.”
You blanch, pulling away from him to give him a look. “What?!”
He’s pulling you back to him, hand now on the small of your back. “Just trust me. He’s holding back right now, but once all of that anger comes out I think he’ll be more upfront about his feelings. Namely that he’s not over you. You want that, don’t you?”
You think fast in seconds. You don’t like the pressure of the countdown. You do want to rekindle things with Seungcheol if he’d ever let you. You’d never really wanted it to end in the first place but it seemed inevitable at the time. And now he’s been a lock box for pretty much everything that isn’t professional as coworkers or casual as friends. He treats you like he wasn’t your best friend for years and it stings. He treats you like he wasn’t totally in love with you while dating, just as you were with him, and that stings even more. You want him back. 
The countdown has hit ten and you lean in to Jeonghan’s ear. “You’re sure this will work? How sure?”
“99% sure.”
“Okay, then. Don’t make me hate you.”
Jeonghan chuckles and his lips are on yours when the ball drops. 
~
It becomes apparent at approximately 11am on January 2nd that you should have doubted Jeonghan’s little plan. You have a meeting with Seungcheol's department to wrap up the contract revisions and Mrs. Jang and Seokmin have let you take the lead on it. It becomes clear within the first five minutes of the meeting that you’ve done something wrong.
Or everything wrong, really.
Seungcheol is cold, even flat out rude to you as you present the revisions, explaining the logic behind some of the changes. Nothing is good enough and he’s brutal about correcting your work in front of everyone. Minghao tries to delicately step in and get you back on track on some of the things you’ve done, but if he disagrees with the things he doesn’t speak up on, he doesn’t say so. Everyone’s uncomfortable and you close out the meeting as smoothly as possible, letting them know that you’ll make the revisions they mentioned and send out an updated version later today for review. 
In the elevator, Mrs. Jang kindly says that you did well and you’ll get better with those little things with time. You’re thankful that she’s not disappointed or upset with some of the mistakes you’ve made, and that she’s giving you grace to fix it. But still, you’re itching to go somewhere and cry because Seungcheol’s never treated you like that.
Seokmin seems to sense it because he’s handing you your coat as soon as you get back into your shared office. “Let’s go for a long lunch.” He doesn’t really leave room for an argument, and even threatens to go into the women’s restroom to get you if you take too long on your way out of the building. He promises he'll close the office door later this afternoon if you still wanted to cry.
At the restraurant down the street, he orders food before sitting back and sighing. “That was rough. How are you feeling?”
“Pretty fucking fragile,” you bite, trying to blink back your tears. You do not want to cry in this restaurant right now. You’re almost angry at how emotional of a reaction you’re having.
Seokmin looks sympathetic. “I’ll say. That must be the ‘unpleasantness’ some people alluded to before. What even prompted that? I thought things were going well there.”
You put your head in your hands, sighing. “My stupidity prompted it.” 
“What? What could you have possibly done to deserve that?” Seokmin cries out. You explain everything - Jeonghan, and your relationship back in California, and his bright idea on New Year’s. Seokmin hums, nodding his head with a deep sigh. “Okay, yeah. That might have been stupid.”
You groan, interrupted by the waiter bringing you and Seokmin your food. “It made sense at the time. And it’s not like Jeonghan doesn’t know Seungcheol. They might not have been super close, but Jeonghan’s usually pretty good at reading people and I trusted his assumption.”
“Eat,” Seokmin nudges, handing you chopsticks. “And his assumption was what? That Seungcheol would snap and confess his feelings?”
“Something like that,” you answer weakly. “Seems like it backfired. Yet another thing I’ve ruined.”
“Nuh uh,” Seokmin says automatically, waving his chopsticks at you. “Stop saying you ruin things. Ruining implies you can’t fix it.”
“And you think I can fix this? This felt pretty far gone before I made this most recent bad decision.”
Seokmin’s insistent though. “Going to law school abroad wasn’t a bad decision. Did it hurt? Probably. But stop acting like doing something for yourself ruins everything.” He pops a bite of chicken into his mouth, chewing and swallowing before continuing. “Besides, I’m not doubting your trust in Jeonghan’s theory. Some people respond to jealousy… It just seems like it will get worse before it ever gets better.”
You play with your food, moving it around on the plate. “Yeah, Jeonghan said something like that. I just expected some silent treatment or something. Not to be berated in a work meeting.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’s hearing about that as we speak.” You give Seokmin a look and he chuckles, raising an eyebrow. “His team loves you. They did not look happy about his behavior. Not sure it will change anything, but this does seem like a problem between you and Seungcheol, rather than a problem with your work itself. I’ve made the same mistakes you did.”
You groan. “And to think he’s my neighbor. I can’t even escape it at home.”
Seokmin’s choking on his food. “He’s your neighbor?!” 
“Oh,” you start. “Yeah, did I forget to mention that?”
When he’s no longer choking, he shakes his head. “That’s it, you’re paying this time. I know it was my turn and I was going to be nice because you’ve had a rough morning, but you better have your wallet ready because I’m ordering egg rolls to go.”
You get scolded all afternoon about keeping secrets from your only favorite office mate.
~
Seungcheol huffs from behind his monitor. He’s sent a message in the team group chat and it’s starting to look like he’s talking to himself as he scrolls through the recent chat history. He sends something, be it a task or a request for a status update, and he gets the shortest responses possible. Usually a thumbs up emoji, but sometimes a short answer if an explanation is required. Sometimes, it’s nothing at all. They’re doing the work, but it’s clear they’re mad. They have been since earlier this week. 
Seungcheol isn’t proud of himself for how he handled that meeting with you earlier this week. He didn’t stick around afterwards because he could tell his team was disappointed. But they usually aren’t shy about telling him their problems, even with him. The silence is deafening and he knows he’s fucked up.
Minghao comes in to drop off a stack of papers and looks like he’s trying to exit quickly, but Seungcheol stops him. “What’s this?” 
Minghao spins in the doorway. “Financials for last quarter. I need your signature on it before I can ship it off to Budgets.”
“Oh,” Seungcheol mumbles. “I’ll just do it right now.” He grabs a pen and starts skimming, but Minghao cuts him off.
“Actually, do it later. I’m not ready to be berated for my work right now.”
Seungcheol pauses and purses his lips, placing the report and the pen back down. “Why would I do that? Your work is usually flawless. That’s why you’re the team lead.”
“I don’t know,” Minghao drawls coldly. “You can be pretty brutal it seems.” 
Seungcheol bites the inside of his cheek. “Is that why you guys have been dodging me all week?” To his credit, Minghao doesn’t deny it and that’s answer enough. Seungcheol sighs. “Was it that bad?”
“Bad? I’m sure she ran off to cry after the meeting. I think even I would have had an emotional reaction,” Minghao says bluntly. The knife twists in Seungcheol’s chest. He was so angry, and still is, that he hadn’t been thinking about your reaction. Minghao’s sighing, coming back in to sit down. “I thought you could be civil. What the hell happened to that?”
“I don’t know,” Seungcheol mumbles. He certainly does know, but he’s not brave enough to say it, lest he piss off his friends even more.
Still, Minghao scoffs. “Look. I saw her and Jeonghan on New Year’s. It really is okay if you just admit that you’re jealous. I’d even sympathize with you on it. You bottling things up is 90% of the problem here.”
Stubbornly, Seungcheol shakes his head. He doesn’t know why the word ‘jealous’ made him flip a switch so fast, but he’s back to being angry. “I’m not jealous. I did what you said and I tried to salvage some sort of friendship, but it’s hard to watch your ex with someone else. That’s not jealousy though. That’s me trying to accept the fact that things are different.”
“And your acceptance of these changes means ripping her apart in a professional setting?” Seungcheol doesn’t really have a response. No matter how he felt in the moment, he was embarrassed that he acted so unprofessionally. Minghao shakes his head. “I told you up front, you should just tell her you’re angry. Admit it and you’ll feel a lot lighter.”
“Why would she want to hear about that? I mean, who knows what’s going on with her and Jeonghan? He said he’s looking for jobs here.”
“And none of that might matter if you just admit how you feel,” Minghao insists. Seungcheol’s phone rings and Minghao stands up. “Take it. I’ve said all I can say now.”
~
It’s Saturday morning and your phone has gone off no less than ten times since 8am. You know who it is but you’ve been letting it ring. But after you’re ripped from sleep for the eleventh time, you’re starting to lose patience. You switch off the sound, turning on vibration. But the buzzing across your nightstand is just as obnoxious and by the thirteenth call, you’re snatching up your phone. “What?” You snap.
“Oh, so you aren’t dead!” Jeonghan cheers. 
“Nope, not dead. Just mad,” you bite, burying yourself back into the covers. 
“Uh huh, I kind of figured that out when you ignored everything I sent the whole week,” Jeonghan smarts. “Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it?”
You snort. “No, I will not let you fix anything else for a while.”
“Ah,” Jeonghan’s voice lifts and it irritates you. “Well I did tell you it could get worse before it gets better.” You’re silent, and his voice turns gentle. “Come on. Tell Hannie about it.”
“No. You need to be going to bed,” you insist, thinking of the time difference. Mad as you are, he needs his sleep.
“And I haven’t been able to do much of that, what with my best friend ignoring me. Now, help me so I can help you.”
You sigh. “Hold on. Let me get coffee and switch to FaceTime.” Once dressed with a coffee mug in hand in front of your computer, you rant. It feels never ending and it brings you to tears. All of the frustration of the last week, and really the last few months of living here, are boiling over and you feel like you could sob. 
To his credit, Jeonghan looks sympathetic. He usually prevents these crying jags before they start, but he can’t really do that oceans away. “I’m sorry, honey. I did say it could get worse before it gets better, but I was genuinely hoping it would never get that bad. I kind of just wanted him to spit it out, you know?” He sighs, watching you rub your watery eyes. “Have you seen or talked to him since then?”
You scoff. “No. Thankfully, there haven’t been any more meetings and I’ve managed to avoid him at home too. I’ve been going in early and staying late, if only so he doesn’t feel compelled to give me a ride or anything.” You snort at the thought. “Not that he would do that right now, I think.”
“I don’t know that I’d go that far,” Jeonghan trails off. “You know, you could just ask what his deal is? At least, he wouldn’t be holding back because he thinks you don’t want to hear it.” He hesitates for a beat. “You do want to hear it, right?”
You sigh, swirling your now-cold coffee. “I don’t know. Who knows what he might have to say? Maybe it’s better if we just stick to being coworkers. Maybe we can manage that one day.”
“I’m sure,” Jeonghan says confidently. “But don’t be shy about clearing the air for everything else if he gives an opening. You’ll both feel better for it, I think.” Then he’s holding up his phone. “Now, play me back in Words with Friends. Our game is about to expire! You can’t ignore me like this!”
~
The following week, Seungcheol stays late to wrap up some things. It’s 7pm before he finally stands to stretch, grabbing his coat and logging out of his computer. He looks at his phone on the way to the elevator and mumbles a curse. He’s got multiple notifications about a winter storm that’s rolling in, well, right now. He’s relieved he drove today, but it seems it doesn’t matter because road conditions seem to be a problem at the rate that the snow is coming down. 
He steps into the elevator when it arrives and presses for the first floor, going back to his phone. He’s surprised when the elevator stops almost immediately on the tenth floor. He bites back a sigh when it’s you of all people waiting for it. You look like you might back away and not get in the elevator with him, but he waves you in impatiently. You come in, finding the opposite corner in silence. It’s crushing and uncomfortable. 
On the first floor, he lets you step out first and even gets the door for you at the main exit. Outside, he’s ready to hustle to the parking garage because he had every reason to be concerned about the road conditions and doesn't want to dally. But you haven’t moved and it makes him bite back a curse. He doesn’t want to offer you a ride but it would be beyond rude not too. Plus, if Wonwoo or Mingyu knew he didn’t, he’d never hear the end of it. 
Seungcheol huffs irritably. “Come on.” You give him a confused look. “You’re not walking home. Come on before I change my mind.”
The only indication that you follow is the soft click of your heels behind him up into the parking garage. You don’t say anything as you climb into the passenger seat of his car, placing your bag in the floor. Seungcheol blasts the heat and pulls out of the space. The street is slick and he white knuckles it the whole way home as he drives around a number of accidents. You’re still silent, up until he pulls into his reserved spot in the parking garage at home. 
“Thank you,” you mumble softly. 
Seungcheol is tired in every sense of the word - mentally, physically, emotionally. So he mumbles back, “For what?” He rubs his eyes during the beat of silence that you let pass.
“For the ride. For making sure we got home safe.”
He’s exhausted by your constant thanks lately. ‘Thanks for asking.’ ‘Thanks for the help.’ ‘Thanks for the ride.’ It’d never occurred to him that you didn’t say it much before, but now it drives him up the wall that you do say it. “Why wouldn’t I do that?” He huffs tiredly. 
You hesitate again. “Because you hate me. It seems like it, anyway. You’re a good person for doing those things even if you feel that way, Cheol.”
His blood his boiling through the exhaustion and it occurs to him that this is a perfect opportunity to unload like Minghao has been encouraging him to do for months, so he does. His hand falls from his face, landing in his lap with a hard slap. He snaps his head to you sharply. “You know, yeah. I do hate you.” He watches how your perfectly guarded expression falls, but he’s on a roll already. “I do hate you. You make yourself a fixture in my life for over two decades. You let me in after I pined for you for years. You show me what it’s like to be loved by you. And then you rip it all away and move across the world like it all meant nothing.” His elbow lands on the door frame so he can lean into his hand in frustration. “And then you waltz back in like it’s no big deal and I can’t seem to get rid of you now because you’re everywhere. If I don’t see you at work or at home or with family and friends, I still hear about you. And I was doing good without any of that! I was happy again after you ripped my fucking heart out, and now I have to see you every goddamn day. So yeah. I do hate you.”
A thing about you that he should have remembered is that you have a temper to match his. You look livid now. “First of all, Choi Seungcheol, you act like you pined alone all that time. You know you didn’t. And you’re apparently still bitter that I did something for myself for once, rather than for you. I bent over backwards for everyone for years - taking care of my brothers and Mingyu, trying to be the perfect eldest daughter for my parents, and feeding your massive fucking ego. I needed to go explore that opportunity for myself for once but you didn’t have to leave my life because of it. The phone works both ways, asshole. I may have physically left, but you’re the one that ended all communication in the first place. Second of all, I didn’t come back for you! At least, not entirely! It’s not all about you! So you can keep being happy and pretend that I don’t exist if that’s what you prefer. Because I hate you too. I hate that I still want you even though I don’t even recognize you anymore sometimes.” 
Seungcheol scoffs heatedly. “Yeah, you wanted me enough to move on to Jeonghan as soon as you got to California. And you really wanted me on New Year’s while you were making out with him in the corner. Tell me, why did you even bother breaking up with him? Or is that just what you do? You seem rather good at it, two for two. And he’s still clinging on to your every word even though you left him, but that won’t be me.”
Your jaw drops briefly before you snap it back up sharply, eyes fiery. “You know what? Jeonghan was wrong about you. He’s been encouraging me this whole time to find a way to fix things with you, but I won’t be doing that anymore. You can watch me leave all over again.” You swing the car door open, lucky that there’s no car next to you to ding up, and slam it closed hard, marching into the apartment building. Seungcheol sits in the car for who knows how long until he realizes he shouldn’t let the car run inside the parking garage like this. He wanders into his own apartment and doesn’t see or hear from you the rest of the night. 
~
The snow comes down hard throughout the night and the city can barely keep up with it. Leadership in the office send out an email blast early the next day after your fight with Seungcheol saying that the offices will be closed. You enjoy the day off by going back to sleep to try to mend your broken heart. Around noon, you take a long shower and pile up on the couch with some hot chocolate to watch TV. As luck, or the lack of rather, would have it, the power cuts off within the first episode.
You curse out loud, clumsily dropping your mug onto the coffee table. It’s still bright out given that it’s midday, but the dark corners of your apartment unnerve you. You feel childish for it, but you don’t like the dark. It’s something you’ve never grown out of. Even in your mid to late twenties, you still like to sleep with the TV on at night if only to chase away the bad dreams. 
You think about who to call. It’s not a problem right now while it’s still light out, but if the power is still out when it’s dark out, you’ll be one big ball of anxiety. But you think better of calling anyone. You need to save your phone battery and you don’t want anyone out on the road to come and get you. Not your parents. Not Wonwoo or Mingyu. None of your other friends. Seungcheol has about twenty feet to travel, but reaching out to him is out of the question and it wouldn’t matter anyway because his apartment is just as dark as yours. You take some medicine that you rarely have to touch for anxiety anymore and plop down on the couch next to the window with a book to try to pass the time. You’ll cross that bridge when you get to it. 
It’s somewhere around 5:30pm when the light is beginning to dwindle. You’re trying to get through this last chapter when there’s a knock on your door. It startles you because the silence had your ears ringing all day, and you put your hand to your chest, book forgotten. Hesitantly, you stand up and go to the door, looking through the peep hole. However, it’s dark in the hall because there are no windows (not that they would have helped much now). 
“Who is it?” You call out, checking the lock. 
“It’s me,” a masculine voice says from the other side. You want to beat your head against the door because the voice is unmistakable. 
“Go away, Seungcheol. I’m fine,” you call out.
“Prove it,” he challenges. He knows he’s won by challenging you like that, but he has the good sense to not look overly pleased by it when you do open the door. In the dim light, he actually looks concerned. “I called and texted to check on you.”
You fold your arms across your chest. “Well, I’m fine. Just reading.” Never mind that you had no idea he reached out.
“Well, your reading session is limited with the daylight fading. So get some stuff and come over to mine,” he says impatiently. 
You blanch. “Uh, why would I do that? You hate me, remember?”
In the darkness, you see him squeeze his eyes shut, looking frustrated. “Come on, Y/N. I’m trying to do something nice here,” he nearly begs. “You don’t like the dark, but at least you don’t have to be here alone. Plus, I got food and have some portable chargers for our phones.” 
“I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore,” you bite. You’re aware that you might be acting like a bit of a bitch, especially since he’s extending some kind of olive branch in the moment, but you’re still incredibly bitter about how the conversation last night ended. 
Seungcheol huffs, impatience bleeding out of him. “Y/N, that was me asking nicely. I’ll just throw you over my shoulder. You know that. Don’t test me.”
You know his threat is real, but you don’t budge. “When did you become so fucking hot and cold?” You hiss. “You hate me, and now you aren’t accepting no for an answer. Pick a lane, Seungcheol.”
“And you have yet to tell me no. You’ve just sassed, throwing things I said yesterday back in my face. So what will it be?” He snaps. 
“I don’t understand you!” You groan. “You are so fucking frustrating, Choi Seungcheol.”
He hums, looking resigned. “So be it.” Then he’s barreling into the doorway, scooping you up over his shoulder. He grabs your phone off the coffee table, stuffing it in his pocket, grabbing your keys off the hook to lock the door behind you both on the way out. What little kicking and screaming you do is over fast because you know him better than to think it will work. Your arms stay crossed when he puts you back on the ground inside his own apartment, totally unfazed by your glare. “Make yourself comfortable,” he says, handing you your phone. 
He walks farther into the apartment and you whirl around to bite back at him, but you’re surprised at the sight in the living room. Candles are lit all over the room. He does have dinner - bags of takeout that are still steaming on the coffee table. And there are many blankets on the couch. The portable chargers he mentioned are also on the coffee table, along with a few different cords. It’s… cozy, like you two are having a sleepover, something you’ve done more times than you can count. 
Seungcheol’s sitting on the couch now, splitting the takeout boxes up. He puts a few boxes in front of the spot next to him along with some chopsticks. “Broccoli beef. Come on.”
He doesn’t ask if it’s still your favorite, and your stomach grumbles loudly, so you sigh, joining him on the couch in silence. You both eat and nearly an hour passes before either of you say anything. 
You’re leaning back into the corner of the couch with one of the blankets up to your neck, staring at the wall ahead. “I don’t get you,” you mumble.
“I know,” he says softly, lacking any heat. It makes you tear up and you feel stupid for it. Still, you sniffle and you know he knows what it means. But he stays planted on his corner of the couch, matching your pose.
“I feel like I’ll never be able to get it right with you now. Not as coworkers. Not as friends. Not as anything more,” you mumble. “I don’t even know which one I’m supposed to try to get right, but I feel like I’ll always ruin everything anyway.”
Seungcheol is quiet for a long time and you almost forget you’re carrying a conversation until he speaks up again. “I don’t hate you. I should have never said that. What I meant is that sometimes I wish I did. I feel like I’m 22 all over again, getting my heart ripped out when you’re around.” You feel your chin tremble a bit at his words. “I shouldn’t have made that your problem though. Not the way I have lately anyway.”
“You know I didn’t leave without any guilt, right? Because I was drowning in it for a long time. I'm sorry for how I left things.” 
“I know,” Seungcheol whispers, sitting up to look at you. You sit up, matching his pose. “You were right last night. You needed to go to do something for yourself for once. I’m sorry my ego got in the way. I was thinking about the loss that I was about to experience and I was selfish.”
You take a deep breath, never really expecting to get an apology of any sort from him. “You had every right to be upset. I just… wanted you to be happy for me. Someday, anyway.”
“And I am,” he says solidly. “I am happy for you. That you went to the program that you wanted. That you moved back. That you might fix things with Jeonghan. I really am.”
You can’t help but give him a quizzical look. “Jeonghan? What does he have to do with this?”
Seungcheol gives you a matching quizzical look. “I… was under the impression that you guys might be getting back together. After New Year’s and all.”
You chuckle, putting your hands over your face. “Oh, yeah. That.”
“Have I misunderstood?” Seungcheol asks, confusion obvious.
“No, I guess that was the entire point. I’m not proud of it at all, but Jeonghan seemed to think that it would rile you up.” Seungcheol looks irritated even in the darkness, so you tack on an honest apology. 
“So you wanted me to be jealous?” He grinds out.
“No,” you quickly say. “I just wanted anything from you, honestly. There were a lot of things unspoken between us and I didn’t know how to get them out into the open.”
Seungcheol crooks his finger at you and you’re really helpless to not follow the instruction. You push off your blanket and sit on the cushion next to him. His finger finds your chin, holding it gently. “Well, it worked. I was jealous. Still am.” 
“Oh?” You mumble, wide eyed. There’s something about his intensity that makes you feel both shy and excited at the same time. He was somewhat possessive in the past, and it’s a little thrilling to know that he still might feel that way about you. 
He’s getting closer, creeping into your space. “I kind of hate him, actually. Wish you’d never given him a chance, because he’ll always rub it in my face.” His hand wanders from your chin, up your cheek, pushing your hair back. The touch is soft and makes you want to fold right away. It’s really totally unfair how much power he has over you. You’re reduced to a little hum in acknowledgement and he continues. “Wish you’d forget about him. I’d make you if you’d let me.”
The words spill out fast. “I’d let you do whatever.”
In the darkness, you can see Seungcheol’s eyes flare before he’s breathing a long sigh. His fingers in your hair tug lightly, pulling your head to the side. He’s crowding you, other hand wrapping around to your back, lips finding your neck delicately. Your hands find his chest, clinging to his hoodie. “I missed you.” 
The words make your eyes well up again, despite how his hand is crawling up the back of your sweatshirt and his lips are trailing up and down to the spots he knows you like. “I missed you too.”
The crack in your voice makes him lift up to meet your eyes. “If we go here again, I need you to be all in like I am. Are you?” You think he might be tearing up too, but you can’t be sure. 
“Yeah, Cheol,” you say, hands crawling up from his chest into his hair. “I’m all in.”
“Oh, thank god,” he groans, slamming his body into yours, lips finding yours. You both fall back onto the couch together and in a lot of ways it feels like you never left.
~
“You’re late.”
Minghao tries to look upset as Seungcheol rushes into the conference room for their team meeting. Luckily, Seungcheol’s supervisor isn’t in this one, just Seungcheol and his team. The others try to match the annoyance, but it doesn’t stick. They haven’t been good about looking annoyed with him in weeks. 
“Sorry, got a late start this morning,” Seungcheol excuses, pulling out his notebook and pen. 
“Date night on a Wednesday?” Seungkwan teases. “Come on, we have things to do. Save it for Friday.”
“No, Friday’s still date night. Who knows what kept him up late last night?” Chan says, though he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. Seungcheol throws one of the thin coasters on the table in his direction.
“Let’s keep it professional, please,” Seungcheol says, hoping it comes out as a demand, but he knows it's more of a plea.
“Uh huh. Professional like making out with Y/N in your office in the middle of the day?” Seungkwan bites back. 
“Oh man, that was traumatizing,” Vernon chuckles. 
“He has glass doors, you think he’d be more aware of his surroundings,” Chan tacks on.
They’d known the day that everyone came back after the snow storm that something had changed and they’d refused to leave his office until they found out what it was. Seungcheol shouldn’t have been astonished by it, but they started trading money in front of him when he announced that he was official with you (again). Apparently, his behavior in meetings wasn’t the only bet they’d made. Minghao pocketed a pretty generous amount of money and was once again unfazed at the threat of going to HR. His exact words were, “okay, fire me.”
Seungcheol wouldn’t be doing that. 
But since then, they hadn’t let him breathe about much of anything. He takes two minutes extra for lunch? Must have stopped to see you. Lingers after a meeting? It’s only because you were in that meeting. Running late like today? Must be your fault. 
Still, Seungcheol is flushing about the fact that he was caught with you in his office last week, so he brings the meeting to order. He knows he’s only delaying the inevitable, but he can force them to stay on topic for the hour so he’ll do that. 
You miss each other most of the day between meetings and such, and he meets you at your office door at exactly 5pm, leaning against the door frame. You grin at him, pulling on your coat. “Hi,” you say, leaning up to kiss him. 
He pulls you in for one more. “Hi. Busy day?”
You sigh. “Yeah, what about you? Didn’t see you much.”
Seungcheol nods. “Yeah, I know. I was booked most of the day. But they can’t keep me here anymore,” he insists. 
You giggle, before looking a little pensive. “Are you sure you’re okay with just going home today?”
Seungcheol nods automatically. “Of course. I’m fine with a night in.”
“If you’re sure,” you say, but a pout has settled on your lips that he just has to kiss. 
“Stop. Pouting is my job. But really, I don’t mind. We can always go out another night.”
“If you insist,” you sigh, leading him to the elevators. 
Later that night, he’s got you curled up into his side. You both rarely sleep alone anymore. It’s all too easy to just run to the other’s apartment when it's time for bed, if you weren't together already. He debates on mentioning moving in together to save the money, but it feels too soon, so he bites his tongue. 
“Thank you for the night in,” you mumble sleepily. He’s surprised because he thought you were asleep already, but he presses a kiss to your head. 
“Of course, baby. Happy Valentine’s Day.” 
You don’t say it back, but he’ll forgive you because you really are asleep now. He whispers a little ‘I love you’ just for good measure. 
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deezee112 · 2 days ago
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A Decision to Make
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Chapter 1 | The worst ending 1
A/N : I decided to make a part 2 because I saw that people liked my little idea. I'm so glad you liked it!
If this chapter is finished, I will go write the "worst ending" which is the boys.
Warning : This story contains themes of psychological tension , unease , an unsettling relationship dynamic between a protagonist and a mysterious humanoid object , y/n is a hot-tempered and tall person.
English is not my first language.
You stared at the doll, now seated upright on you couch, its unsettlingly realistic features illuminated by the soft morning light filtering through your apartment’s curtains. The doll no, the child was unlike anything you had ever seen.
It was designed to look like a young boy, somewhere between eight and twelve years old. Its face was delicate, almost too perfect, with skin that looked touchably soft, faintly blushed cheeks, and glassy eyes that seemed to follow your every move. It wore a simple outfit a plain shirt and pants that looked like they’d been picked out of a catalog
You crossed you arms, narrowing your eyes at it. “ So, this is my life now, huh? Babysitting a hyper realistic doll while Crowley pretends this is normal. ”
The doll, of course, didn’t respond. It simply sat there, motionless and silent, but its very presence seemed to dominate the room.
You walked to the kitchen and poured youself another cup of coffee. You mind was spinning as you tried to process the absurdity of the situation. Crowley hadn’t given you any real instructions beyond vague platitudes about care and confidentiality. What exactly was you supposed to do with it? Did it have a purpose? Could it think?
As the rich scent of coffee filled the air, you leaned against the counter and stared at the doll from afar. “ I should just return it. March back into that office and tell Crowley he’s out of his mind. Let someone else deal with this. ”
But even as you said the words, you knew you wouldn’t. Crowley had a way of making you feel trapped. Four years of working under him had taught you that refusing his " special assignments " only led to more trouble. And besides…
Your glanced at the doll again, you frown deepening. There was something about it something you couldn’t quite put your finger on. It wasn’t just its unsettling realism. It was the way it seemed to be there, as though it were more than just an object.
“ Damn it ” you muttered, taking a sip of your coffee. “ Why do I always get stuck with the weird stuff? ”
After finishing you breakfast, You decided to get a closer look at you peculiar new charge. You approached the doll cautiously, half expecting it to suddenly blink or move. When it didn’t, you crouched down in front of it, you eyes scanning its face.
Its expression was neutral but oddly serene, like a child caught mid thought. The craftsmanship was impeccable every detail, from the faint freckles on its nose to the slight sheen on its lips, was painstakingly precise. You reached out and touched its hand, startled by how warm it felt.
“ This is insane ” you muttered, pulling your hand back quickly.
You circled the doll, inspecting it from all angles. There didn’t seem to be any obvious signs of robotics no seams, no wires, no panels. Yet it wasn’t purely-organic either. It existed in some strange in between state, blurring the lines between artificial and alive.
“ What are you, exactly? ” you asked aloud, as if expecting an answer.
Silence
" cool... " You cross your arms and With a sigh, you sat down on the couch beside it, keeping a cautious distance. “ Okay. Let’s think about this logically. Crowley wouldn’t give me something dangerous… probably. So, either this is some kind of advanced tech demo, or it’s… I don’t know, magic? ”
The word felt ridiculous on you tongue, but considering who you boss was, it wasn’t entirely out of the question. Crowley had always had a flair for the dramatic, and you wouldn’t put it past him to pull something out of left field.
You leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. “ Why me? Why not someone else? Someone who actually likes kids? ”
The doll remained silent, unmoving.
As the hours passed, You found yourself pacing the apartment, you thoughts racing. What was you supposed to do with it? Was you really expected to raise it like a child? That couldn’t be right—could it?
You phone buzzed on the counter, breaking you train of thought. You grabbed it and saw another message from Crowley.
How’s it going with the little one? Don’t forget feed it, talk to it, treat it like a real child. These are crucial developmental stages, after all!
You groaned, resisting the urge to throw you phone across the room. “ Treat it like a real child ” you muttered. “ Sure, why not? Because this is totally normal... ”
You set the phone down and glanced back at the doll. Despite you initial resistance, you found herself feeling a pang of… something. Pity? Responsibility? You wasn’t sure. But the idea of simply ignoring it felt wrong.
“ Fine ” you said aloud, rubbing you temples. “ Let’s see what you can do. ”
You spent the next hour tentatively testing the doll’s capabilities. Your offered it a glass of water, surprised when it tilted its head slightly and opened its mouth to drink. You spoke to it, asking simple questions, though it didn’t respond verbally. Instead, it blinked slowly or nodded, its movements smooth and eerily lifelike.
When you touched its hand again, it gripped your faintly, its skin warm and soft. You couldn’t shake the feeling that it was trying to communicate, even without words.
By the time the sun began to set, Your was sitting on the floor in front of the doll, studying it intently. It was undeniably strange, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. There was something almost endearing about its childlike mannerisms, the way it tilted its head when you spoke or blinked up at your with those unnervingly realistic eyes.
“ So, you eat, you drink, and you blink ” you said, ticking off items on your fingers. “ But you don’t talk. Or walk. Or do anything remotely useful. Great. Just great. ”
The doll blinked at you, its expression unchanging.
You sighed, leaning back against the couch. “ What am I supposed to do with you? Crowley really expects me to raise you like a kid? That’s insane. ”
But even as you said it, you couldn’t deny the faint flicker of curiosity growing inside you. What if your did try? What if you treated it like a real child, just to see what would happen?
You stared at the doll for a long moment, weighing you options. You could call Crowley and demand he take it back, or you could…
You shook you head, a wry smile tugging at you lips. “ This is ridiculous. ”
The doll tilted its head slightly, as if sensing you hesitation.
“ Okay ” you said finally, running a hand through you hair. “ Let’s give this a shot. But if you start moving around on your own, I’m locking you in a closet, got it? ”
The doll blinked again.
You chuckled despite yourself. “ All right, then. I guess the first step is figuring out what to call you. ”
You leaned forward, studying its face. There was something neutral about its features, neither overtly feminine nor masculine. It felt like a blank canvas, waiting for you to paint it with meaning.
“ Okay ” you said slowly, a faint smile playing at you lips. “ What should I name you? ”
The doll’s glassy eyes seemed to shimmer faintly in the fading light, and for a moment, You could have sworn she saw a flicker of recognition in its gaze.
But it was probably just you imagination.
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awkwardandeccentric · 2 days ago
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I get so annoyed when people lecture me about how I shouldn’t care if I’m liked or not. Do you have any idea how much easier your life is if you’re liked?
It could mean the difference between getting the entry job that jumpstarts your career, or being passed over. It could mean the difference between getting help when you’re in a tight spot, or being ignored. It could mean getting your maintenance needs met by your landlord sooner rather than later (or at all). It could mean your teacher rounding up your grade, or rounding down. It could mean an agent bending the rules a little or a police officer letting you off with a warning instead of writing a ticket. It could mean the difference between being mentored and being managed. In higher stakes situations, it could mean crashing on someone’s couch if you get evicted. Getting a little extra food from the food pantry. Being less likely to fall through the cracks by overworked, underfunded systems employing flawed, exhausted people.
As a case manager, it could literally mean whether my colleagues will work with me to help a client or not (liking me, specifically. I’m currently dealing with a couple people who refuse to work with me to help a client because they don’t like me and the client is suffering because of their weird pettiness).
And it’s so insidious that white, cishet, able-bodied and neurotypical men are liked almost automatically, and the rest of us have to hear about how we shouldn’t care if we’re liked or not. Wow. Okay. Fuck you. Maybe. Just a little.
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sevs-corner · 2 days ago
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Gary “Roach” Sanderson if he was in the CoD: MW Series (2019-2023)
LOOK-- I really like Roach (i watched the remastered mw2 2020 recently) and I wish he comes back later on in the current MW series. So for now (and my coping-ness) let’s imagine his dynamic with the gang! (These are all HCs with some in between dialogue and plot, and I'll be using some major plot points from the campaign. A lil' heads up, its been awhile since i've watched the gameplay so the timeline might be a bit confusing lol) Masterlist here ! And a previous HC of Roach here !
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Roach gets recruited around the same time Gaz does, after the mission in London when Gaz’s team was trying to stop a cargo right in the middle of the city.
Roach is one of the many officers that gets called in for back-up
And then finds himself working in tandem with Gaz, covering each other’s backs as they try and secure the hostages
Price shows up as per usual and saves the two from under the rubble
Afterwards, with the two surprisingly not broken, they handle the aftermath and comes in the scene where Price recruits Gaz after he admits they had a great deal of info on the bust but was unable to act on it
Roach agrees, seeing the movements and reports that Gaz makes to their boss in the SAS, and feels mutual of how restricted they are right now
Seeing their conviction, Price gives a call to Kate and adds an additional person to the team-- Roach.
Then they all go on all sorts of missions together, Roach actually being the more grounded but chaotic of the three
So, lets say he adapts the shenanigans we do as players when we play as his POV in game
Randomly, he is picking up all sorts of guns from the ground, constantly swapping and taking too long to loot enemy bodies (that sometimes Gaz does it for him so they could move on quicker)
Price on the other hand just lets him does his thing-- until he rushes forward like a maniac and go guns blazing in the Embassy
But, he also gets scolded by plugging up comms from humming-singing, and--
what the fuck- PUT THE BANJO DOWN--
He's the type of person to be like that one guy who plays jazz music on his comms in a gun fight (yeah i made a gundam thunderbolt reference mhmm)
You'd think he'd go deaf but no, he takes peace in the chaos
Reveling and thriving in it actually, like he’s too used to the scene (he is but he would rather work in the moment then act in worry and in constant stress)
Roach was almost tempted to go with Alex and Farah for their cause but thinks about how he’s a much better fit with the 141 guys, and how he could see himself working in the squad long term
He eventually meets Johnny and Simon on the mission to get Hassan
Yet that goes to high and hell when he was a part of the A squad, barely clear of any wounds- luckily, nothing fatal
But the situation he found himself made him more energized with serotonin, easily making quick work of the combatants in his vicinity— doing his best to cover for his comrades who were still recovering
He knows Soap and Ghost would be here immediately but he tries to convince to focus on the mission, to let him handle it as he hunkers down for a moment to reload
They both deny, checking out first the crash site before checking out Hassan, and coming up empty
Until Roach finds the metal shipping carrier, calling over Soap, then Ghost and showing the find of that disdained American rocket
Soap, is obviously confused, and doesn't quite piece it together until Kate discusses it with him
As the others got busy with their personal mission
Of course, we're having Roach join the Ghost-Soap duo in Las Almas
Because of needing more man power in capturing Hassan of course
He hops into the mission somewhere in the middle, in the mission in getting Hassan with the assist of Graves and his shadows
Roach definitely hissed at this man on instinct and had to be held back by the armpit by Ghost
Even though he had a bad feeling swirling in his stomach, he kept it in and somehow ended up on the same squad as Graves going into the Oil Rig mission
Anddddddddddddddd you can guess how it went with him-- horribly
Personally, I can see how Graves to be this straight-laced guy when it comes to missions in a way that, if someone diverts from the mission or does something that may jeopardize it even a little-- he is going to flip
So that's what Roach exploited, the comms in his ears blowing up every time he goes for a risky kill or -instead of going for a stealth kill- he's going in guns blazing with a very, very exhausted Graves behind him
But the thing about Roach, no matter how reckless he is, he gets the job done
Graves wanted to oh so leave him in the Oil Rig before he and Soap exploded it, but sadly Ghost had told him and Alejandro to get the hell outta there before he could (such a damn shame)
But at least he gets to capture him in the streets of Las Almas
He got quite unlucky actually, about to meet Soap and Ghost but one wrong move got him captured
Ghost and Soap obviously becomes worried, and they're (with Rudy) are more determined than ever
And yep, this is the moment where Roach just sees red
Wreacking absolute havoc in his way with rage filling his veins
If there was anything that was going to tick Roach off, it would be his own allies hurting
Loyalty, whether in the military or not, is special
And if you use him and his allies for your own bitter ends and means?
Oh, you are in a world full of hurt
So much so, that you wished he spoke the merciful words, "pick and God and pray" by your death bed
He doesn't, not for Graves and definitely not for the man he called the General- Shepherd
He swears that Shepherd counted his lucky stars that night when they couldn't locate him after "getting rid of Graves and his lackeys for good"
But it doesn't end there- their job never does
This time, he accompanies Price and Soap into infiltrating the building for Hassan, leaving Overwatch to Ghost and the other team climbing the tower led by Gaz
He is back to, not even exploding the glass and breaking it, but pushing himself off the side of the building and cannon-balling straight through (with, suprise surprise, little to no injuries sustained)
He's a miracle ball of sunshine really
Soap then follows through and Price just... he could care less at the moment with Hassan (who is once again near their grasps)
Roach wanted to stay and help Price (who didn't get shot fatally but was still hurt from the blow) but his captain said to go
Thus, he went--
Doing his best to cover Soap as they finally steal the detonator from him but eventually run out of guns, and eventually--
Get
Shot.
Soap has to decide now- whether to save his comrade and friend or to stop the fucking missile from destroying the white house
Roach knew the cogs that was turning behind Soap's eyes, so he grabs his cheek and head butts him
Telling Soap to get his priority straight as he forces himself back up to distract Hassan
Soap tries to decode and hack the missile as soon as possible when the coast was clear
Luckily, he had just a couple of seconds to spare
Unluckily so, he saw Roach's pliant body in Hassan's hands- being dragged right in front of him
Soap is enraged, wrestling and trying to get the upperhand on armed Hassan
Luckily, Ghost always has his back-- shot on point, direct, and done in one click
With a heavy breath, he gives his thanks to Ghost before calling an evac- checking Roach's condition
Hands are cold to the touch but his artery pulse--
Faint!
By the time MW3 rolls around, Roach is up and at 'em!
Refreshed and recovered with the proper treatment and therapy
Some grazes to the nerves on his shoulder but its still all good and working--
"Ow!"
Yeah, he can't overexert it like before
Which makes the Tf 141 relieved...for now
A/N: Cont for the MW3 part soon! I just wanna freshen up with the plot on Makarov 'cause it was a bit confusing to follow so yeah lol
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imblueeforyuu · 18 hours ago
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Yandere naga x janitor reader 
You were broke, living in a car and constantly having to take odd jobs was the norm. It wasn’t that bad actually, living in a car means you can pack up and leave whatever city you're staying in anytime. But recently you’ve gotten a job offer no one can refuse. 1000 a week to clean some snakes' cage for some billionaire. And that’s the only description  you got for the job. But damn you’d be a fool to refuse. So of course you took the job, and now you were at this gigantic mansion. 
You felt out of place. Everyone had their own uniform with the name embedded into it. And you were stuck in your cheap ass clothes. Looking at the walls you notice way too many paintings of mythical creatures. Like one or two is already a creepy amount, but this person had hallways on hallways of art of such creatures. There were none of the billionaires, which was odd, aren’t rich people supposed to be super egotistical and have one to many art of themselves? A butler led you to A fancy door, was the reptile in there? 
“The master is just in there ready to ask you some questions,” the butler said blankly. Oh, an interview, right. Dang you're not ready for an interrogation. Sigh. You walked into the room to see a very burly woman and a big ass glass wall which seemed to have the enclosure of the snake behind it. 
“Oh, you're the new piece of meat.” She smirked. What an odd way to describe you. But for 1000 a week you’ll take any abuse. The woman got up and started to examine you. You froze, you don’t really like people in your personal space especially like this. 
“Hm, you're perfect,” the lady said. So does that mean you got the job? Yaya!
she handed you a broom and sent you on your way into the enclosure. When you stepped in it was like transporting into the deep jungle. The sky was eerily realistic, there were little animals and bugs scuttling around. But no snake yet, not that you minded you’d prefer to do the job silently and quickly. Unfortunately your boss said no phone, so you couldn’t listen to music. 
Your job went as quickly as it could. You didn’t run into the snake at all which was strange because you thought it would be pretty big but apparently not. Whatever, you walk out of the cage and into the office room. Seeing your phone grabbing it and walking out of the office, the harsh reality of the never ending hallways hit you as soon as you walked out of the room. Thankfully there was another butler looking dude, dusting. You walk over towards him. He seemed shocked to see you. But got over it as soon as you asked for directions. Now you finally get to relax. The next day was pretty much the same thing. There was no snake and you just gotta chill, you convinced your boss to let you listen to music.
A month passed and you were 4000 dollars richer! And with the added bonus of free food you were finally closing a deal on a real house, well apartment. You’ve also done your job too many times. It takes like an hour max to fully clean the cage. Which is perfect because you’ve taken on a new hobby called sleeping in the cage. How could you not? It was so peaceful the sound of crickets chirping always lulled you to sleep. But one day your peaceful sleep was interrupted by an overgrown snake. 
   “Stupid human falling asleep in my presence, does he know who I am?” I said. Hating humans was always a part of who I was. Taken from my home when I was just a child and sold off towards a crazy old woman who I’m pretty sure wants to fuck me pretty much solidified that hatred. but gosh I couldn’t kill it, it was kinda cute. I slithered towards the human who was taking a nap. 
Towering over it I pause, I’ve been having trouble killing this exact human.  Normally I would eat them whenever they turned their back. But this one was different. Like there was a force pulling me closer to him. so I’ve just taken to staring at him. He’s so interesting looking, I reach my hand out and touch his hair. The human twitches slightly, I quickly pull my hand back and before I was able to hide back into the bushes he noticed me. 
Your eyes widened, why the fuck is there a 8ft snake monster just staring at you. Backing up quickly, the snake comes closer to you glaring. It looked like it wanted to murder you, and it probably did. The snake man lunged towards your neck and bit it. You scream and try to push him off. But it didn’t work. He was just a wall of mussels. Now you are a pretty strong guy. You go to the gym every other day! But this guy was on a whole different planet! You still try and push him off of course but whatever he bit you with was starting to make you sluggish and you fall back asleep. 
You wake up in a cold sweat, you try to stretch and move but something is squeezing you. Thrashing around as soon as the dread of being touched all over set in, you hated when people were too close but touching is on another planet of hate. 
“Stop struggling human,” a voice hissed out. quickly you turn your head to see whatever was holding you so close. It was the snake man. 
“There’s no point,” he continued, stretching his arms. “You're stuck with me forever,” he smirked.
 Oh well guess this is your life now, stuck with a ginormous snake man who hasn’t quite figured out the concept of personal space. 
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fluentmoviequoter · 1 day ago
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Even If We Stay Here
Requested Here!
Pairing: Dominique Luca x fem!50squadSWAT!reader
Summary: Luca isn't himself, and when you find out why, you remind him that you're always there, even if it's just as a friend.
Warnings: discussion of cheating, angst, fluff, little makeout sesh in the station
Word Count: 1.5k+ words
Masterlist Directory | Luca Masterlist | Request Info\Fandom List
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A knock on Luca’s window draws his attention back to the present. He’d been staring at the block wall before him, lost in thought about everything that had changed in the last week. Looking to his left, he smiles and hopes that Street is in a talkative mood rather than his usual curiosity.
“You good?” Street asks as Luca opens the door. Luca nods once, then sighs when Street launches into a story about the real-life Call of Duty simulation happening the following weekend.
Luca enters the station without his usual excitement levels. It’s been a long week, and when his team takes his lethargy as just that, he is more than happy to avoid talking about what is really bothering him. 20 Squad has strong opinions on his relationships, and his past experience makes him hesitate to tell them anything. So, Luca takes his heart, usually worn gladly on his sleeve, and tucks it away behind a fake smile and faux happiness. It's no big deal, he reminds himself, they don’t need to know.
“Good morning,” you greet as you enter SWAT HQ, only sparing a glance at 20 Squad as you walk by.
“Morning,” they call in reply.
You notice Luca’s lack of reply but turn away before you get a good look at the smile on his face. Though you’re on different teams, you know Luca well, and it’s clear that something is wrong. You assume he’ll tell his team and be back to himself in no time.
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20 Squad returns from a call later in the afternoon, and Luca’s smile is strained, and it’s failing. Whatever front he’s putting up for his team, they’re buying it. Maybe they’re too tired to notice he isn’t himself, but you refuse to let him deal with whatever this is by himself. Luca is too good for this world as far as you’re concerned, and if you have to be the one to show him that, you’re ready to.
“Luca!” you call before he can reach the locker room. “Could you help me with something really quick? I asked Rocker but he said you’d explain it better.”
Luca nods and breaks away from his team, and his smile falls as his brows rise. Something twists inside you and threatens to tell your secrets. You’ve had feelings for Luca since joining 50 Squad. You buried them because they were inappropriate and unlikely to ever be reciprocated. Yet, as you stand before Luca and suspect the look in his eyes is heartbreak, your heart begs your mind to hug him and let him know he’s not alone.
“Are you okay?” you ask softly. “You haven’t seemed quite like yourself today.”
Luca shrugs and says, “Just tired.”
You nod, chewing the inside of your cheek. “Luca,” you begin.
He watches you for a moment, then shifts on his feet. “Look, I have to do the paperwork for that raid, uh, maybe I can help you later?”
Luca has never hesitated to help you, and his sudden need to get away from you concerns you. You can’t see it, but he’s battling the same internal feelings as you. Even after everything that has happened, Luca wants to be close to you and tell you how he feels, but it is neither the time nor the place. He’s not sure you’re the person he’ll ever have the time he wants with.
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You hiss as the skin across your knuckles pulls painfully. Shaking your hand as you step back from the punching bag, you exhale sharply. You’re the only SWAT officer in the building; everyone else went home about an hour ago, but you couldn’t bear the thought of going home to the quiet, not with your mind racing. So, you took to the punching bag, and eventually took the gloves off to hit the heavy bag without protection.
Blood runs between your fingers, and you press your other hand against the bag. You could have told Luca something earlier, anything to keep him from walking away and leaving thinking he couldn’t talk to you about it. You refuse to lose Luca as a friend, even if you can never have him in the way you want.
It’s late, so you make your way to the locker room to bandage your split knuckles and change so you can go home. When you step inside, you stop. Everyone didn’t go home, after all.
Luca looks up, then immediately turns his watery eyes away from you. He rubs his thumb against his jaw before asking, “Why are you still here?”
“I could ask you the same,” you reply, sitting beside him. “Seems like we both needed the quiet.”
Luca nods but doesn’t speak again. His elbows are on his thighs, and he stares at the point where the lockers meet the floor. Sitting up beside him, you resist the urge to lay your hand on his back.
“Are you really okay?” you ask. His back muscles shift as he inhales, and you whisper, “Please don’t lie and say yes.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Luca,” you respond firmly. “It does matter; you matter. If you don’t want to talk to me, at least tell your team, someone who can-“
“They won’t understand,” he interjects, turning his head to look at you. You hold eye contact with him until he clicks his tongue and says, “Remember Liv, that girl I started seeing a few months ago?”
You nod, pressing your tongue against to teeth to stay quiet. When Luca came in after the first date, smiling and happy, it felt like part of your heart shattered.
“She cheated,” Luca adds, pulling you harshly from your thoughts. “I found out and confronted her earlier this week.”
“Luca, I’m so sorry.”
Luca shrugs. “I just don’t know what I did.”
“You didn’t do anything. She cheated, she lost you, and that is all on her.”
“Maybe.”
“No, Luca, seriously, you didn’t do anything wrong. If she said you did, she was trying to justify her actions because there isn’t a bit of blame on you for her making the conscious decision to cheat on you. You’re amazing, Luca, and she couldn’t see that. It’s on her.”
“I didn’t spend enough time with her, she said.”
You take a deep breath, wondering what you could say to make him see that he is not at fault. “You don’t spend much time with me either, but I still care about you.”
“Hondo and the guys, they don’t understand. They think I just date because I don’t want to be alone, then move in with someone, breakup, and crash at their place. I want more than that, more than simple company.”
“I get it, Luca. And you deserve more than that.”
Luca laughs, but it’s a devastating sound. “Not what my track record shows. She cheated on me with a banker, though, so at least I know it wasn’t a badge bunny-type deal.”
You don’t think about your words before you say, “You were dating women who weren’t good enough for you, Luca, that doesn’t say anything about you as a partner.” You close your eyes when you realize what you said. “Sorry.”
“I’m not infallible.”
No going back now. “Maybe not but you’re incredibly easy to love.”
The room seems to freeze, your words hanging in the air. You half expect Luca to let him down gently, pray that he won’t just leave without a word.
“You- you’ve never said anything,” he mutters, sitting up straighter.
You shrug, picking at invisible lint on your pants. “Why would I invite rejection from someone who has my life in their hands at least once a week?”
After several seconds of tense silence, unaware that Luca’s eyes are still on you, you say, “Maybe I should go.”
“I felt the same,” he whispers. “Feel the same.”
Looking up quickly, you’re face to face with Luca. He smiles, and you grin at the sight of his genuine smile.
“Bet you’re glad you didn’t move in with Liv,” you tease.
Luca shakes his head, then takes your chin between his finger and thumb.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” you ask.
“Why would I invite rejection from someone who has my life in their hands?” Luca repeats.
“You can talk to me,” you tell him. “Even if this doesn’t go anywhere, if we stay friends and teammates, I’m here for you.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
Your smile drops as your brows furrow, and Luca leans in to add, “We can’t stay here after all of this.”
Luca closes the distance, and your eyes flutter closed as you kiss him. You raise a hand to his chest, moving closer to him as you fall deeper into love with Dominique Luca.
“That’s why you should have told me sooner,” Luca murmurs as he pulls back.
You shove his chest gently and argue, “You could have said something.”
Luca’s eyes widen suddenly as he asks, “What happened?”
He takes your bloody hand in his before you can question what he means.
“Oh, I was just dealing with some stuff,” you answer as he reaches for a towel. “Now I wish I’d known to envision Liv’s face.”
Luca chuckles as he bandages your hand, then pulls you to stand with him. He kisses you again, and with your face between his hands, your heart placed safely in them, you know he’s right. You’ll never be able to go back to being friends after this.
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