#but I’ve decided that this is enough words at 3AM

[holdinbacksecrets]

love drunk voicemails from ex!seventeen

it’s been way too long since i’ve posted blurbs for svt >.< i hope you enjoy them! as always, thank you @un-love for sharing thoughts and helping me assign <3

seungcheol: “you used to be the easiest person to reach. for five years, i knew you’d answer my every call. now, i tell myself i was too young to understand the security of that and the luck, but i knew then. sometimes, after you answered, i wouldn’t say anything because if i stayed quiet long enough, i would hear my name. i loved the way you’d say it with a hint of annoyance, but it was annoyance through a smile. that’s the only kind i want around because it’s drenched in love. it was the only kind you knew. no one else does annoyance like you.”

jeonghan: “i’ve never seen you drunk, and i can’t sleep, so i ended up thinking about the times you were really honest—never-ending rambles that you didn’t have the awareness to cut off. it only happened when you were exhausted, but i loved it, and i decided that’s how you’d be drunk. i recorded a few of your rambles, and i play them sometimes. i’ll walk around seoul and listen to nothing else but you at 2am or 3am. my favorite one is from 6am when i picked you up from glamping for that bachelorette party. you were miserable, but we couldn’t go home until you saw the ducks at the pond. i didn’t know which pond, you forgot the name, so we kept driving until you were happy with one.”

joshua: “did you see me last weekend? i swear it was you. we were on the train, on opposite ends. i don’t think you looked my way once, and i convinced myself you saw me first but couldn’t handle seeing me again. i also tried to convince myself it wasn’t you, and it was working until you crossed your legs and i saw your ankle tattoo.”

jun: “do you still have picnics by han river? i’ve thought about going on a thursday night at eight, and i’ve wondered what i would do if i saw you. would you let me join you? what if i sat a few feet away? would u listen if i spoke without looking at you? talking towards the river with words meant for you… tell me this doesn’t feel right to you too.”

soonyoung: “where do you go when you miss me? is that conceded to ask? i always go to the mall when i miss you. it’s embarrassing, but i smell every perfume you’ve worn, at least the ones i can remember. i accidentally cried a little once. i think the employee noticed, so i bought a bottle because it felt wrong not to after subjecting the poor woman to my tears.”

wonwoo: “i know you’re dating. that fact rolled through the grapevine, and the final person let it slip like a senseless game of telephone, so i left the restaurant before my meal arrived and picked up something from a street vendor while i walked home. the walk home was miles. i couldn’t tell you how long it took. i kept stopping to catch my breath every time i thought about someone else’s hands on you. don’t date. what are we doing?”

jihoon: “we used to have a whole routine when i’d go on tour. it was so well thought out that i looked forward to missing you. i loved missing you. i loved having someone to miss, someone to come home to—an apartment warmed by your love.”

seokmin: “you called me on accident last night. it was so loud in the background. i knew you were out. i heard laughter and my eyes rolled back. then, you cursed and hung up, and i slumped over. call me again. laugh in my ear again. curse against my ear again.”

mingyu: “i still buy your grocery list. at least once a month i buy your favorite things, and i eat every last bit, but it’s all for the reminders. i stand in the kitchen to wash strawberries and cut them into halves and then quarters, and i reminisce the conversations we used to have. back then, i thought i’d hear your strawberry conversations for the rest of my life. i don’t want anyone else to. i can’t help but think no one will appreciate them like i do… did… would if you’d let me again. can we get a take two? redo? a second chance. i can love you better.”

minghao: “it’s raining. i feel like that’s all i have to say for you to know exactly what i’m thinking—all the things i’m feeling. what was it about us and the rain? did you ever figure it out? sometimes i wonder if you still try to, or if you’ve moved on, but i miss us when it rained. you sat backwards on the couch to watch the city lights blur. you talked about life like you were from another time and blamed it on the weather. you talked about me with complete certainty.”

seungkwan: “do you think about getting back together? how would you feel if i asked? i keep dialing your number first thing in the morning, before i’m wide awake, before i’ve completely lost the dream you were in, and the wanting makes me feel blissed out and uninhibited. then, i blink too many times and never do it. i wish you would reach out to me. i’d be so happy to see your name on my phone again. i took all of our calls for granted. i was too confident in us. there was never a reason not to be.”

vernon: “the courtyard behind the contemporary art museum is having a free concert this saturday. i’m going. it starts at 7, ends at 9. it’s supposed to be cold, so you should wear layers and cover your ears—the wind won’t be kind. i’ll bring a green tea with soy milk, so don’t worry about a drink. it’s a folk singer. you probably know her.”

chan: “i hope you’re still laying in the grass and using the moonlight to write in your journal. i hope there’s a ladybug on your cheek and sand in your socks. i hope you’re laughing and loving life and crossing items off on your mundanity list—or are you calling it a bucket list now? i hope you finally took that cake decorating class. i hope your mom’s healthy.”

[thequeenofcurses]

Death of a Bachelor

Chapter 2: I Do (And You're Stuck With Me)

summary: you're marrying the one and only special grade sorcerer: ryomen sukuna. wk: 5.1k (sry)

<- Part 1 Part 3 ->

Sukuna POV | 3:00 am

“You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t believe it was worth it,” Nanami’s words echoed in Sukuna’s head throughout the night, sneaking into his dreams. Was tying himself down, forever, really the right decision?

Sukuna tossed and turned before eventually he just sat up and threw his covers off of him. He didn’t bother to throw a shirt on and walked straight to the kitchen. Maybe some water will help. He chugged the glass then drank another and another, yet his head still remained foggy. Fuck. I’ve never felt like this before. What the hell is this?

Not wanting to bother waking you with a text or call, Sukuna unlocks his phone and types a message to the one person he can trust to talk to right now. His assistant.

Sukuna: I know you’re awake. You want to swing by?

Uraume: No.

Sukuna: I wasn’t asking

Uraume: IT’S 3AM SUKUNA!

Sukuna: Look I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, just get over here.

Ten minutes pass until Uraume’s short figure is knocking at Sukuna’s door. They quickly enter Sukuna’s security code and just walk through the door, finding a shirtless Sukuna downing another glass of water in his kitchen. 

“You made it,” Sukuna’s voice was lighter than his normal tone. You and Uraume are the only two people who get to see or hear that side of him. “I know it’s late, I just– ”

“Nervous?” Uraume concluded with a nod.

“I don’t get nervous.”

“Sure…” The silence was thick enough to slice through the air. “So, why was I summoned here at three am.”

“Stop acting like you weren’t already awake.”

“Maybe I was busy.”

“You don’t have a life,” Sukuna smirked. “I am your life.”

“Whatever,” the white haired assistant grumbled with an eye roll. They sat on a barstool near the kitchen island, arms together, waiting for an explanation. 

Sukuna paced. “I don’t want any more damn water, but –” he walked back and forth around his large kitchen. “I love y/n, I really do. But for the first time in my life, something is happening to me that I can’t just overcome with my raw strength or power. It’s… unsettling.”

Uraume raised an eyebrow, watching as Sukuna continued his pacing like a caged animal. “You’re unsettled because this isn’t something you can just fight your way through. You actually have to feel it.”

Sukuna stopped mid-step, scowling at them. “Tch. Don’t start getting all philosophical on me.”

Uraume shrugged. “Just saying. You’re afraid of something, and it sure as hell isn’t her.”

Sukuna exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “I’m not afraid.” The words came out too fast, too defensive. Even he could hear it. He turned, gripping the edge of the kitchen counter. “It’s just… different. No opponent. No enemy. Just me deciding to be with her. And no matter how strong I am, I can’t control the future.”

Uraume tilted their head. “So? You still want to marry her, don’t you?”

Sukuna’s jaw clenched. His thoughts flickered to you, your laughter, the way you challenged him without fear, your unmistakable otherworldly beauty, your strength, the way your nails dig into his back when he’s giving it to you so good. The way your touch softened the jagged edges of his world.

“…Yeah,” he admitted, his voice quieter now. “More than anything.”

Uraume smirked, standing up. “Then quit your bitching and go to sleep. You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”

Sukuna groaned. “You’re so damn annoying.”

“Just returning the favor.”After a hug and a promise to be early at the wedding, Uraume let themself out. Sukuna trugged back to his bed and tried to get some rest. He really did try. His mind was flooded with thoughts of you and the joy you bring him. From memories of how you two met, fighting curses together, your first date, to the moment he proposed to you.

Fuck it. I have to see her.

Your window was unlocked. Again. As frustrating as it was, you forgetting to lock it, Sukuna was glad he had an easy way to get inside your room. Damn it, woman he thought. You’re gonna be the death of me.

You’re mumbling in your sleep when the movement and sound of your blankets rustling cause you to wake. You blink back your tiredness, head still pounding from the previous night. It takes a few moments until you spot those iconic black tattoos. Sukuna had made his way into your bed.

“K-kuna?” you gasp confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I just,” he started. He gently placed a large hand on your head, running it through your hair. “I needed to see you.”

“You know, it’s bad luck to see a bride on the day of her wedding,” you joked. Your fingers curl around his wrist, holding him close as you nuzzle into his touch. “You okay?”

“Tch. Of course, I am,” he scoffs, but the way his thumb brushes against your cheek betrays his words.

You hum sleepily, watching his sharp eyes soften under the dim light. “You sure? Because I think you might be the one getting cold feet.”

Sukuna huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “You’re really testing me, sweetheart.”

You grin lazily. “Just making sure you’re not gonna ditch me at the altar.”

His grip tightens slightly, just enough to remind you of his strength. “I should be worried about you running off,” he mutters. “Wouldn’t put it past you to get second thoughts at the last second.”

You let out a soft giggle, shaking your head. “Not a chance.”

“Good.” There’s a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes before he leans down, pressing a lingering kiss to your forehead. “You better not change your mind, woman. If you leave me at the altar, I’ll burn the whole damn city down.”

Your body leans into him, so naturally. He gives you another kiss, this time on your mouth. And then another, each kiss getting more and more dominating. “I should take you right now. Make sure you know exactly who you belong to before you walk down that aisle.”

You gasp into his mouth, nodding at his offer. He’s already seen you. Your wedding luck can’t get any worse if you let him have his way with you. Each kiss of his seemingly takes your breath away. You're panting like an animal before Sukuna finally slows down, gripping the sheets instead. This isn’t the time, he thinks to himself.

As your breathing evens out, Sukuna pulls back, letting you lay on his chest. It only takes a few moments before you’re drifting off again and he’s watching the way your lips part slightly in sleep. His hand drags over your blankets before he finally pulls away, slipping out as quietly as he came. After seeing you, his head is clearer than ever. Once Sukuna reaches his home, he’s finally able to peacefully sleep.

The next time Sukuna opens his eyes, golden sunlight spills across his sheets, creeping up his bare chest like a silent reminder that today is the day.

For the first time in hours, he feels rested. No more restless pacing, no more unanswered questions. He knows what he wants. And in just a few hours, you’ll be his.

A sharp knock on the door pulls him from his thoughts.

“Get up,” Uraume’s voice cuts through the morning stillness. “It’s your wedding day.”

Sukuna exhales through his nose, running a hand down his face before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. As soon as he opens the door, Uraume pushes past him, already assessing the situation with their usual cold efficiency.

"At least you don’t look like shit," they remark, scanning his face.

Sukuna smirks. “And here I thought you were gonna say something sentimental.”

“Why would I start now?” Uraume shoves a garment bag into his chest. “Shower then get dressed.”

Sukuna sighs but doesn’t argue. He strips out of his sweatpants and steps into the bathroom, quickly showering before putting on his crisp, custom-tailored suit waiting for him. Black and red, sleek, fitted to perfection, because of course, he refuses to look anything less than perfect. His hands move on instinct, buttoning the cuffs, adjusting the collar.

As he fastens the last button, Uraume watches him carefully. “You’re really doing this.”

Sukuna meets their gaze in the mirror. His reflection stares back, tattoos sharp against his skin, eyes burning with something rare and untamed.

“Yeah,” he murmurs. “I am.”

A rare, knowing smile tugs at Uraume’s lips. “Then let’s go. Can’t have your bride waiting.”

The ride to the shrine is quiet. Sukuna stares out the tinted window, fingers tapping idly against his knee. Uraume sits beside him, but neither of them speak. There’s nothing to say.

For the first time in years, he’s not walking into a battlefield. No enemies to kill, no grudges to settle. Just a shrine filled with people waiting for him to witness him make a promise he never thought he’d be the type to make.

The car slows to a stop just outside Meiji Jingu Shrine, its towering torii gate standing tall against the early morning sky. The sun filters through the dense forest surrounding the grounds, casting golden rays onto the stone pathways leading to the main shrine complex. The air is crisp, laced with the faint scent of cypress and incense.

As soon as Sukuna steps out, a familiar voice calls his name.

"Uncle Sukuna!"

He turns just in time to catch Yuji barreling toward him, weaving past guests and attendants. The kid skids to a stop right before impact, grinning up at him with the same bright-eyed excitement that always makes Sukuna sigh. Choso follows at a slower pace, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his formal kimono, his expression more reserved.

"You look cool," Yuji says, rocking on his heels. "Like, scary cool. But also, like… kinda groom-y."

Sukuna scoffs. "That supposed to be a compliment?"

Yuji nods enthusiastically. "Obviously."

Choso elbows him lightly. "Don’t be annoying." Then, turning to Sukuna, he hesitates before muttering, "You clean up well."

Sukuna raises a brow. "That’s the best I’m getting?"

Choso shrugs. "Yeah."

Tch. Brats.

Still, he ruffles Yuji’s hair, earning a squawk of protest, and nods at Choso in acknowledgment. This was it. His nephews, the only family he had. And somehow, knowing they were here made something settle in his chest.

"Alright," Uraume cuts in, ever the practical one. "It’s time."

Sukuna exhales slowly, rolling his shoulders. Then, without another word, he steps beneath the torii gate, following the path leading toward the main shrine, where the rest of his life is waiting.

The path toward the shrine is lined with guests, all of them bowing their heads in respect. Sukuna doesn’t care for the formalities, but he appreciates their sincerity. This isn’t a day for indulgence or power, this is something deeper. Something... personal.

Yuji and Choso follow closely behind him, their presence a reminder of why he's here. His nephews, his family. The only ones who ever mattered to him. Their voices barely audible above the murmur of the crowd, until they scramble off to find their seats.

The main shrine comes into view, an elegant structure framed by tall trees and hanging lanterns. The guests are seated in rows, faces mostly unfamiliar, though a few nod their heads in recognition as he approaches.

He can already feel the weight of all their eyes on him. The anticipation. The expectation.

Just before he reaches the steps leading to the shrine, he quietly hands Uraume a small velvet box from his pocket. They take it without question.

It felt absurd to be holding onto them – the rings. Marriage, commitment, wasn’t something he ever saw himself doing. But here he is, with his past behind him and a future he never expected waiting ahead.

As he ascends the stairs, his mind drifts to you. You’re just beyond these doors. Waiting.

He could hear the soft murmurs of the crowd, feel their gazes tracing his every movement.

There’s no turning back now.

The thought flickers across his mind, but before he can give it too much attention, Nanami’s voice cuts through his thoughts, clear and sharp: “You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t believe it was worth it.”

His lips curl into a smirk, but there’s no denying the truth in those words. He’s here because, despite everything he’s done, everything he’s been through, this matters.

He doesn’t know when it happened, when you became more than just a fleeting moment in his life. The woman who challenged him. Who made him feel things he couldn’t control.

It doesn’t matter.

Sukuna steps inside the shrine, his heart thrumming in his chest, loud enough for him to hear it over the soft sounds of the ceremony music.

Nanami’s words echo again, not just in his mind, but in the space around him. The weight of the promise he’s about to make settles in with a gravity he can’t ignore.This is worth it. For you.

The moment the ceremony begins, Sukuna stands at the altar, his gaze momentarily flickering toward the door. The air is thick with anticipation, and the soft rustle of the crowd fades into a distant hum. Then, like a dream unfolding before his eyes, you step into the doorway, framed by the soft glow of the temple’s sacred light.

Your wedding dress is a vision of elegance, designed to make even the most confident man lose his composure. The black and red fabric hugs your body in all the right places before cascading into a soft, layered skirt that flows gracefully as you move. The lace is so soft, almost translucent, a whisper of romance in every stitch. The long, flowing train drags gently behind you, catching the light with each step, creating an almost dreamlike aura as you make your way toward Sukuna.

His breath catches in his throat the second his eyes land on you, and for a moment, the world around him blurs. His heart beats a little faster, more erratically than usual, as if the weight of the moment has hit him all at once. You're breathtaking. This vision of you in this dress, is nothing like anything he ever imagined. He can’t look away, his sharp red eyes drinking in the sight of you as though he's afraid this moment will slip away if he dares to blink.

Sukuna can’t help but feel a tightness in his chest as he watches you approach, the red veil adding to your allure, making the moment feel all the more surreal. This woman, walking towards him, is no longer just the one who challenged him: she is the one who has captured his heart in a way he never thought possible.

You walk toward him, and despite the crowd’s presence, it feels like it’s just the two of you in the room. His fingers twitch at his sides, aching to pull you into his arms, but he remains still, unable to tear his gaze away. His heart swells with pride, love, and an emotion he rarely allows himself to feel so fully. You are his everything.

On your slow descent toward the love of your life, you hear lots of happy chants and whistles from your co-workers. The loudest of them all being from the one and only Satoru Gojo. You shake your head at his aloofness and keep your composure.

When you reach the altar, Sukuna’s hand finally moves, the tremor in his fingers betraying his usual confident demeanor. He reaches out for you, his thumb brushing against your hand as if confirming you're really here, with him, in this moment. The dress, the ceremony, everything fades as he pulls you closer, his eyes never leaving yours.

"You're perfect," Sukuna mutters under his breath, a soft growl of appreciation that somehow, only you can hear. There's a flicker of something deep in his eyes, something tender, something real. His lips press together in a firm line as he forces himself to maintain his composure, but the awe in his expression is undeniable.

Like a deadly silent ninja, Uraume quickly sneaks past the old priest to hand him the rings then back to their seat. 

The priest smiles, happily accepting them. The soft murmur of the crowd fades into silence as you and Sukuna stand facing each other, hands clasped tightly. 

“We gather today to witness the union of y/n and Sukuna under the guidance of the kami," the short man starts. "Let us call upon the divine spirits to bless this marriage.” The man opens up the box with the rings, then gestures for you and Sukuna to take them. He nods, signalling for you two to state your vows.

The weight of the moment hangs between you; this promise, these words, are more than just tradition. They're a reflection of everything you've both experienced, everything you’ve shared, and everything that lies ahead.

Sukuna’s gaze doesn’t waver from you as he begins, his voice steady but filled with depth, “I won’t lie and say I always believed in something like this. In love, in a promise like marriage. But you, Y/N… you’re different. You’ve turned everything I knew upside down. You’ve made me want to be someone better. So today, I vow to you, with everything I am, that I will never stop fighting for you.” He takes your ring and slides it onto your finger.

His voice drops lower, softer, yet the intensity of his words cuts through the air like a blade, sharp and true. “I vow to protect you, no matter the cost. To shield you from the world, and to make sure that, for as long as I breathe, nothing comes between us. You are mine, and I am yours. And I will never, ever let you go. Even if the world itself crumbles, I will stand by your side.”

He pauses, his eyes softening as they meet yours. For a brief moment, you catch the flicker of vulnerability in them, something raw, something real. He inhales, then continues, his words heavy with sincerity, “I vow to stand by your side, not just as your husband, but as your equal. To never let you feel alone, to always listen when you speak, and to give you everything I have. My loyalty, my strength, and all my love.”

Your heart thumps in your chest, a rush of emotions surging through you. Sukuna, the same man who once swore he’d never be tied down, now stands before you, giving you these promises, words that hold weight far beyond what any ring or ceremony could represent. The tears you are fighting so hard to keep back start to overflow, softly drifting down your cheeks.

His lips curl into a rare, soft smile, one only you could elicit, and he finishes, his voice steady but imbued with something deeper than words, “I vow to be yours in every way, now and forever.”

The crowd stays silent, but you feel the energy of the moment, the promise that is now sealed between you both.

You take a deep breath, feeling the gravity of what you’re about to say, and when you speak, your voice is clear and unwavering, despite the emotions swirling inside you. “I used to believe that love was just a word, a concept meant to keep people tied to promises they couldn’t keep. But then you came into my life, and everything changed. You showed me that love isn’t just about words or gestures. It’s about the actions, the choices we make, every single day.”

You take his ring and slide it onto his finger, your hands trembling slightly. “So today, I vow to you that I will stand by you, in the good and the bad, when the world is bright and when it’s dark. I vow to never give up on us, no matter the challenges we face. I promise to face them with you, because together, we’re unstoppable.”

You take another breath, meeting his eyes with a fierce sincerity. “I vow to love you, with everything I have, every single day. To choose you, even when it’s hard, and to never let go of what we’ve built. I promise to be your strength when you falter, your peace when the world is too much, and your home, always.”

A brief moment of silence passes between you, as if the weight of your words is sinking in, deep into your hearts. 

“I vow to honor you, not just as my husband, but as my equal, my partner, my family,” you whisper, your eyes never leaving his. “I’ll never let you feel unimportant, never let you feel alone. You’re the reason I can face the future with hope. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure you never have to face it without me by your side.”

Sukuna’s breath catches at the weight of your words, and for a moment, you both are lost in each other’s gaze—the vows hanging in the air, binding you together forever.

Finally, the old priest smiles, his voice soft as he claps and says, “You have both expressed your vows, your promises to each other. By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife!”

The crowd exhales in unison, the sound of applause echoing through the shrine, but all Sukuna hears is the steady rhythm of his heart. Out of the corner of his eye, Sukuna sees Geto throwing his fist into the air and Gojo waving a sign that says “Death of a Bachelor.” (Gojo’s handwriting is abysmal)

Without hesitation, Sukuna’s hand tightens around yours, and he leans down, pushing back your veil, pulling you close. His lips meet yours in a kiss that’s anything but soft. It’s rough, commanding, and filled with the intensity of everything he’s promised. It’s a kiss that doesn’t hold back, just as he never does. The passion behind it burns hot, sealing the vows with the raw, undeniable force of his love. The tenderness he’s capable of is there, but it’s wrapped in the fierceness that defines him: no hesitation, no doubt.

For a brief moment, time stands still, the kiss, everything and nothing all at once, and you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is real. This is your forever.

The after-party began immediately, the transition from ceremony to celebration seamless. After a few obligatory photos, some formal, some candid (and more than a few where Sukuna looked like he was barely tolerating the process), he wasted no time leading you to the dance floor, his grip firm yet possessive around your hand.

The guests expected the first dance to be a typical “slow, romantic, something traditional” type song. Instead, the opening chords of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" echoed through the venue, the deep, familiar melody sending a ripple of surprise through the crowd.

You looked up at Sukuna, half amused, half touched. Of course, he'd do something unexpected. And yet, as he pulled you into his arms, swaying with effortless confidence, you knew there wasn’t a song more fitting for the two of you.

Your hands slid up to rest behind his neck, fingers tracing the short hairs at his nape. He held your waist, guiding you with an ease that made it feel as if you'd danced together a thousand times before. The world faded away as you moved in sync, each step, each turn, every brush of your bodies speaking a language only the two of you understood.

Sukuna leaned in, his breath warm against your ear as he murmured along with the song, his voice husky and deliberate. “No, nothing else matters.”

Your chest tightened, your heart swelling with so much joy it felt like it might burst. You tilted your head back just enough to meet his gaze, and the look in his eyes made your stomach flip. There was no one else in this moment. Just you and him.

When the song ended, a small, energetic pink blur rushed toward you.

"Uncle Sukuna, dance with me!" Yuji beamed up at him, his excitement boundless as he tugged on his sleeve. Behind him, Choso and Nanami approached, both at a more measured pace, Nanami looking like he wasn’t quite sure how he ended up here.

Sukuna let out a dramatic sigh, shaking his head. "Tch. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, brat."

Yuji just grinned wider, grabbing his hand and pulling him onto the dance floor. The sight of Sukuna, formidable, untouchable Sukuna, humoring a child in the middle of his own wedding made your heart swell even more. Even Choso looked a little softer as he stood beside you, watching his little brother with something close to fondness.

Maybe someday you can have your own child with him.

You used the moment to mingle, accepting congratulations from guests, exchanging a few teasing words with Utahime, and even sharing a drink with Shoko and Nanami, who looked vaguely exhausted, but resigned to the festivities.

Eventually, Sukuna found his way back to you, as if drawn by an invisible thread, like he couldn’t stand to be away from you for too long. His hands found your waist, pulling you against him as he leaned down, his lips ghosting over your ear.

“It’ll be time for us to go soon,” he murmured, his voice low and promising. “I’ve got plans for us.” The smirk he wore was nothing short of sinful, and the heat in his eyes sent a shiver down your spine.

Your fingers curled into his jacket, eyes narrowing in playful suspicion. “What kind of plans?”

Sukuna chuckled, his grip tightening just enough to make you feel it. “You’ll find out soon enough, sweetheart.”

And with that, the night continued, filled with laughter, stolen kisses, and the unshakable certainty that no matter what came next, you were exactly where you were meant to be.

As the night stretched on, laughter and music filled the air, the energy never waning. But soon, the time came for the final part of the evening: the send-off. 

Surprisingly, Mei Mei had volunteered to help pack your honeymoon wardrobe. Probably, because she got to shop for everything herself, and the world knows that woman can shop.

Someone, probably Uraume, had rallied the guests to gather outside, lining the grand pathway leading to the sleek, black car waiting at the end. Lanterns and soft golden lights illuminated the space, casting a warm glow over the night. The atmosphere buzzed with excitement as everyone took their place, sparklers in hand, the flickering embers mirroring the stars overhead.

Sukuna stood beside you, his arm draped over your shoulders in a loose but possessive hold. He watched the scene with a raised brow, clearly unimpressed by the theatrics. "Tch. Is all this really necessary?"

You laughed, nudging him lightly. “Let them have their fun. It’s not every day the mighty Sukuna gets married.”

His smirk was sharp as he leaned in. “Not every day someone makes me want to.”

The moment the two of you stepped forward, the crowd erupted into cheers. Sparks danced in the air as the sparklers lit up the path, and you felt the heat of Sukuna’s palm as he laced his fingers with yours. He led you forward, your steps slow at first, taking in the smiling faces, the warmth, the love that surrounded you.

Yuji and Ino were the loudest, waving their sparklers aggressively. Nanami stood off to the side, his nod of approval as subtle as ever. Uraume watched from the distance, arms crossed, but their lips twitched slightly, almost like they were proud.

Gojo, of course, was the most obnoxious.

“MY BOY! LOOK AT HIM!” He whistled loudly, practically bouncing on his feet. “DIDN’T THINK I’D LIVE TO SEE THE DAY!”

Shoko, standing beside him with a drink in hand, smirked. “I give it six months before she realizes what a pain in the ass he is.”

Mei Mei hummed in amusement. “I would’ve put money on him staying a bachelor forever. Guess love really does make fools out of us all.”

Geto chuckled from beside her, arms crossed. “If nothing else, it’ll be entertaining to see him domesticated.”

Sukuna acted as if he hadn’t heard any of them, but you felt the way his fingers flexed slightly around yours, the way his grip tightened like he was restraining himself from turning around and making very impolite comments.

Halfway down the path, Sukuna suddenly stopped. Before you could ask why, he turned to face you, eyes gleaming with something dark and unreadable. Then, in front of everyone, he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you into a deep, searing kiss, one meant to remind you, and everyone watching, exactly who you belonged to.

The crowd lost it.

Yuji let out a dramatic groan. “OH COME ON! GET A ROOM!”

Gojo cheered obnoxiously. “YEAH! THAT’S MY KING!” He clapped loudly, nudging Geto. “Tell me that wasn’t the smoothest shit you’ve ever seen.”

Geto sighed, shaking his head with a smirk. “I hate that I agree with you.”

Shoko rolled her eyes, raising her drink. “Cheers to that poor woman. She’s in for a lifetime of that.”

A mixture of cheers, whistles, and dramatic groans (most likely from Yuji) filled the air. When he pulled back, Sukuna looked maddeningly pleased with himself. “Had to make sure they know you're mine before I take you away.”

Your breath was shaky, but you managed to roll your eyes. “Pretty sure they already know.” You wave your hand with the wedding ring and wiggle your fingers.

With that, he led you the rest of the way to the car. The door was held open, and before you could so much as settle in, Sukuna was right beside you, his hand already back on your thigh. The car pulled away, the glow of the sparklers fading into the distance, and with it, the last remnants of the wedding night.

Sukuna exhaled, finally alone with you. His fingers traced slow circles over your skin. “You ready for the real fun to begin?”

Your stomach fluttered, anticipation thick in the air. “I should be asking you that.”

His grin was sharp, dangerous. “Oh, sweetheart. You have no idea what you're in for.”

And with that, your honeymoon truly began.

<- Part 1 Part 3 ->

A/N I meant for this to be short, but I got carried away writing. I hope you guys enjoy the fluff though <3 Only one more chapter left of this story :)

not sure if you wanted to be tagged but just in case you did: @moonchhu

masterlist | jjk masterlist

[inadaydream99]

Kiss Me

Stray Kids x reader, very fluffy and some use of cringy pet names

A/N - I have no idea where Jeongin’s one came from, but sometimes I just begin writing and see where it’ll take me… enjoy! 😂

Disclaimer: this is for entertainment purposes only and does not represent any of the members in real life. Anything I’ve missed, please let me know!

Chan

“Don’t pretend you don’t want to kiss me.”

It’s been three days since Chan had teased you with those words and you haven’t been able to get it out of your head since. Even without seeing him, he’s still been pestering you. Or rather, the memory has.

It had all started because you’d gotten into some petty bickering between you. It was so trivial you can’t even remember what it was about. All you know is that you’re meant to be mad at him for it. But that stupid last sentence he called after you with hasn’t let you have a moments peace.

“Baby, are you ok?” He picks up after the first ring, the concern laced through his tone making your heart summersault.

“No. It’s 3am and I’m still awake…” you sleepily grumble down the phone.

“Well, go to bed then.” He teases, his tone bright and chirpy from the other side. Of course he’s unaffected by the time, your boyfriend is practically nocturnal.

“But I can’t!” You whine, letting out a soft cry.

Chan’s “why not?” seems instantly more serious. You can just imagine how his lighthearted expression fell off his face when he realised you weren’t playing with him.

“Because I’m supposed to be mad at you and I don’t know why and I just want to sleep but all I can think about is kissing you.”

There’s a few too many seconds of silence after you finish your complaining, to the point where you have to pull your phone away from your ear to make sure the call hasn’t cut off. “Chan?”

“I’m on my way baby.” He sounds like he’s rushing about, hearing a door slam behind him in the process. “Just don’t fall asleep before I get to you ok?”

You feel smug knowing he’s just dropped everything to fulfil your wish of kisses. Yawning again as you drearily mutter an “ok.” to him before the call ends.

Spoiler: you are asleep by the time he gets to you and he can’t bring himself the wake you when you look so snug. He doesn’t know how you manage to look so beautiful even while sleeping. So, instead, Chan cuddles up beside you, gently pulling you into his arms. But not before placing a delicate kiss to your pouted lips.

Minho

There’s a comfort in getting home after a long day to find your best friend Minho already waiting for you. It never fails to put a smile on your face seeing him making himself at home in your place; helping himself to snacks from your cupboards or kicking his feat up on the coffee table as he sinks into your sofa and watches tv. Entering your small apartment to find him already there, waiting for you, can instantly make any bad day so much better. Just like today…

Except, this time you return home to find Minho already fast asleep.

At first you don’t realise he’s not awake, calling out to him from the door as you slip off your shoes and shrug off your jacket. But then you realise his lack of invitation to join him on the sofa, or his offer of snacks that he’d already helped himself to.

Approaching said sofa, you quietly peer over to find him fast asleep. He looks so peaceful with the way his mouth hangs slightly agape, the hood of his hoodie pulled up over his head and his arms folded across his chest in a self hug. Adorable. It’s slightly strange to see him like this, so vulnerable and delicate. There’s not many people Minho feels close enough to to let his guard down around and it warms your heart to know that you are one of them.

Just as you decide to leave him be to go shower, his hand reaches out and grabs your wrist, making you jump out of your skin with a squeak. His amused chuckle fills the room at your response.

“I thought you were asleep.” You pant, your free hand on your chest, still feeling your heart race.

“I was until someone started watching me like a creep.” His smile taunts you. You just roll your eyes, muttering “rude” under your breath as you begin to pull yourself away from his grasp.

“Come cuddle.” His hand squeezes your wrist in resistance, already overpowering your weak attempt to move away from him by guiding you to the front of the sofa.

“But I want to shower.” You pout, caving the second Minho tugs you down into him and wraps his arms around you securely.

“You can shower later.” He mumbles, resting his chin on the top of your head.

Damn Minho and his ability to persuade you. Damn him and his snuggly hoodie… and how safe he makes you feel in his arms…

You lift your head from his chest after a few minutes of silence to see he’s back to resting. With his arms still clutching your body firmly, it’s a little difficult to move, but you are able to free your arms so they rest on the cushions on either side of his torso.

Minho’s grip on you is more lax than you’d initially realised. You notice this as you use your arms to leverage yourself into a half push-up (the rest of your body still laying against his).

There’s something so mesmerising about him as he sleeps. An angelic quality that makes your heart swell. You find your fingers itching to reach out to move the hood away from his face a little so you can cup his cheek. Delicately letting the pads of your fingers smooth over his soft skin.

“Will you just kiss me already.” Your breath hitches when you register his words. Again, you hadn’t realised Minho wasn’t asleep. And, again, you’d been caught admiring him.

Initially, you’re a little unsure if he’s actually just asked you to kiss him or if you’ve just imagined he did. That is until his eyes slightly open to stare you down, wordlessly commanding you to do it.

So you do. Without hesitation you draw your lips into his and let them melt into each other. Crossing a new boundary in your friendship with ease. And you know that neither of you will ever go back.

Changbin

Changbin had been trying his hardest to get you to kiss him. He really had. But all he’s managed to get from you so far is an eye roll as you walk away.

“So you’d really leave me like that.” He plops onto the sofa beside you with a cute pout.

“Like what?” You hold back the amusement wanting to show in favour of raising a brow towards your boyfriend. Maybe you want him to think he’s annoying you because he’s momentarily stealing your attention from the TikTok playing on your phone. Maybe you don’t want to give away how much you really do want to cave in and kiss him.

“(Y/N)~~~” he whines loudly and you can’t help the light laughter that sounds from you upon his emerging tantrum.

“Binnie, I really don’t know what you’re going on about.” You shake your head, lowering your voice to a whisper as you peer around the room, “and people are staring.”

“One kiss and I’ll stop.” His voice continues to reverberate the space around you, making you wince a little. You know he knows your resolve is wearing thinner and thinner with every loud noise he makes. You’ve been together for too long and he knows you too well to not catch on.

“Fine.” You huff. “Come here.” You reach your hand out to pull him closer by his broad shoulder, biting down on your bottom lip upon feeling the toned muscle underneath.

Changbin is silent, simply sending you the smirk he always does when he gets his own way. He’s very pleased with himself right now. You have to fight the eye roll when he puckers his lips at you, the temptation to tease him by shoving him away all too strong.

But the next thing you know, his lips have captured yours, your bottom lip being sucked between his. There’s not an ounce of you that could push him off now. Not with how good his lips feels against yours.

“Why’d you stop?” You complain when Changbin detaches from the kiss, smugly darting his tongue across his bottom lip as he eyes you cockily.

“Cause if you want to kiss me like that then we need to go somewhere less public.”

Hyunjin

You really don’t like your past self right now and if you could turn back time, you’d go back to the week before when you’d let Hyunjin rile you up to the point of your ego getting the better of you and smack yourself in the face.

“Don’t be such a sore loser and kiss me.” Hyunjin taunts, smirking at you in such a way you are unsure if you should be annoyed or turned on.

“Stop being a sore winner and I’ll consider it.” You fire back almost instantly, without filter between your brain and mouth.

Hyunjin chuckles at your retort, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek in amusement. Cocky bitch. He knows that’s one of your weaknesses.

“I wouldn’t test my luck if I were you, Princess.”

You gulp. There goes your sanity.

His tone drips confidence and authority in a way that you’ve never witnessed from your friend before. Sure, you’ve seen this side of him when he’s doing something he loves like dancing. But the power he radiated in those moments and the power he radiates now are polar opposites.

He’s watching you in an almost predatory way, his eyes darkened and narrowed onto your smaller frame. The bet has ended and he wants his prize.

“Hyune- I” you stumble over your words, mouth dry and mind blank as you watch him take a few slow but sure steps closer to you.

“You what,” he raises a brow. “Can’t wait to kiss me?”

There’s no space between you now and you couldn’t run even if you wanted to because you’ve been backed into the wall. Between Hyunjin’s hands holding your hips and his eyes staring deeply, unashamedly into yours, you’re practically paralysed.

Your eyes flutter shut as he leans down, anticipating his lips on yours. That’s why it startles you to feel his warm breath fan your neck, his lips grazing your skin as they trail their way up to the corner of your mouth, leaving a burning in their wake.

“Princess, if I’d known you’d react to me like this I would have kissed you a long time ago.”

Your breath hitches in your throat when you hear his whispered words, leaving no time before he finally crashes his lips into yours.

Jisung

It was a few days ago when he’d heard your muffled confession through your bedroom door, where you’d confided to your friend that you were missing your boyfriend because he’d been so busy recently.

It made Jisung’s heart break to know that you felt that way, even if it was completely unintentional. And he hasn’t been able to get it off his mind since. All the guilt troubling him into overthinking and being unable to focus properly. Had he really been neglecting you? Had he really been that bad of a boyfriend?

Of course, he didn’t directly confronted you about it. Instead, he decided to be extra attentive to you. So when he next payed you a visit, Jisung wrapped you in his arms, fully intending on not letting you go. He placed kisses on every inch of your face and doted on you as though you were unable to do anything for yourself.

He’s been super clingy for the past week. Leaving work on time instead of staying late, sleeping at your place, kissing you goodnight and good morning and - all in all - just showering you in so much affection. It feels just like when you first started dating all that time ago, when everything was new and exciting.

“Baby!” Jisung calls out for you, getting you to enter your bedroom to find him already laying on his side of your bed. When you chuckle an amused “what?” at him, he simply opens his arms and makes grabby hands, impatiently begging for you to cuddle. “And a kiss.” He mumbles into your shoulder, only pulling away so you are able to reach his lips.

You give him a few short pecks without hesitation, your free hand smoothing over his cheek as you do so.

“What’s gotten into you recently?” You laugh, voicing the question that’s been circling your mind the last few days when Jisung complains, dissatisfied with your short kisses. “You’ve been so clingy.”

“I just want to remind you how much I love you.” He sulks. “I feel like I’ve not done that enough recently and I never want you to forget that…” he trails off, becoming shy from his own feelings.

Suddenly his recent behaviour make so much more sense. He’s doubting himself as a partner. You find yourself remembering the feelings you expressed to your friend before. Remembering that evening, you realise that is when your boyfriend had started smothering you; he’d heard what you’d said. You couldn’t feel more guilty if you tried.

“I know.” You nuzzle your nose against his, “and I love you more than anything in this world.” You gush.

“I love you too baby.” He whispers back.

Felix

Felix had been acting differently around you recently. At first it was so subtle you hardly noticed. But with every passing day and week, things would begin to add up that just felt… suspicious…

For starters, he’d been a lot more touchy with you. And again, at first you hardly noticed because it’s no secret that Felix loves a cuddle. But what had started as his usual asking for a friendly hug, slowly developed into him pulling you into back hugs without saying a thing, or wrapping his arm over your shoulder, or oh-so causally slipping his hand into yours while walking beside you.

You weren’t sure if Felix was even aware of these new ways of affection being shown towards you. He’d never made any comment about it verbally, nor had anything else in your friendship changed. So, despite it continuing to mentally drive you crazy from all your overthinking, you decided it would be best to not say anything. After all, you really enjoy being closer to him and you’re sure that if you’d ever indicated you didn’t like it, then Felix would stop. He’d never make you feel uncomfortable.

It’s a casual Friday evening when things take even more of a turn however.

After spending the evening surrounded by your group of friends, one by one they’d slipped off to do their own things. It started when Chan excused himself to finish some work on his laptop after dinner. Then Changbin left for the gym. Shortly after was Jeongin, who dragged himself off to bed after nearly falling asleep on the sofa. The rest slowly slipping away for various reasons until only you and Felix remained.

“You not sleepy yet Lix?” You lean into him to whisper, the movie still playing on the tv before you. Even though no one else was around, it still felt wrong to speak at full volume.

“A little…” he trails off, turning to meet your eyes.

You admire the way his sleepy smile reaches his heavy lids. How his cheeks, despite the dim lighting of the room, seem to have a rosy hue to them. His hair is still a little static on top from the boisterous play fight he’d had with Seungmin hours ago, but it looks more fluffy than anything. And his lips…

You’re so engrossed in admiring him that you entirely miss his words, blinking yourself back into the moment with a “huh?”

“Will you kiss me now?”

You find yourself looking from his serious eyes to his lips and back again, trying to decipher if you’d really just heard him correctly. There’s not a single element of joking on his face, and the more his words register, the more you struggle to look anywhere but his soft, plump, kissable lips.

“Are you still with me sweetheart?” He smirks as he leans down to you, one of his fingers sitting under your chin to make you eye level. You’re awestruck by everything about him. Your mind running on overdrive trying to process as much as quickly as you can.

And then it all clicks. He’d been waiting for this moment, slowly warming you up with increasing forms of skin-ship and lingering touches. It has all been intentional.

You’re the first to close off the small space between you, crashing your lips into his with so much force you feel Felix almost fall back. Luckily he’s able to steady himself without breaking away, his hands clutching onto either side of your waist as you pull him in closer by cupping his cheek.

And that’s how you stay for the rest of the night, in each others arms and with enough kisses to make up for an eternity of lost time.

Seungmin

“Just kiss me.” Seungmin deadpans, not impressed in the slightest by you, nor is there any hint of amusement towards your devilish laughter.

You’d been dodging your boyfriends kisses all day, wanting to see how far you could push him before he did something about it. And judging by the way he’s shooting daggers at you, you think he’s almost there.

“Ew gross.” You fake a grimace, stepping further away from Seungmin.

“Ok. That’s it.” He practically growls, striding towards you so quickly you barely have enough time to think of your next move. The time it takes for your brain to register his fast movements and your body to spring into action are only just enough for you to escape his clutches. “Hey! Get back here!”

Seungmin follows your trail of shrieks and giggles as you do your best to rush away. But his place - while far bigger than yours - doesn’t go on forever and eventually you reach a dead end.

“Any last words pumpkin?” He tilts his head at you. You can tell he’s trying to hold back the smile that wants to overtake his stern expression. The corners of his mouth are faltering. “Or do you want to keep disobeying me?”

You have to bite down on your bottom lip to stop yourself from blurting all the sassy comebacks that are daring to slip out. But you know you’re in very dangerous waters. Your boyfriend has closed off so much space he could capture you in his arms and never let you go.

“Puppy…” you swallow your pride, making your voice as timid as you can as you blink innocently up at him. This tactic almost never fails getting you out of trouble…

An adorable smile breaks out across Seungmin’s face, finally dropping his faux-anger in favour of showing the joy it brings him to see you at his mercy like this. Boy does he love it when you act all cute for him because he knows it means you’ve run out of options. Usually he’d melt like putty in your hands. But this time he’s determined to get his long awaited kiss.

“Nu-uh that’s not gonna work this time.”

“But, Pup-” you’re cut off by Seungmin’s lips capturing yours. His hands pull you in by the belt loops on your pants, pressing your body flush against his, while your hands fly to his biceps, clinging onto them for dear life as his lips work their magic, melting your brain.

He pulls away with the most triumphant beam, catching the way you chase after his lips a little. The cutest whine sounds from you in retaliation and upon this, Seungmin shakes his head before leaning in and reconnecting your lips.

Jeongin

“And that’s why you should kiss me.”

You hadn’t even realised the PowerPoint presentation had concluded until the sound of Jeongin loudly clearing his throat brings you back into reality.

Yes, he’d actually made a full-on, detailed presentation to you to showcase all the reasons it would be “the best decision of your life” to kiss him - his words, not yours. And, while it’s not the most conventional way of admitting feelings to his best friend and longtime crush, Jeongin had come across the idea on TikTok and hadn’t been able to get it out of his head since.

You - on the other hand - had been in such disbelief that you’d actually tuned out halfway through because your mind had begun to wonder about what it would actually be like to kiss Jeongin for real. That had then led to imagining him as a boyfriend, how he would be so attentive and affectionate and, just, perfect… not that you hadn’t thought about him like this before.

When more agonisingly slow seconds pass without you saying a single thing, embarrassment and regret hit him like a tsunami.

“…you know, I should probably just-” “No!” Jeongin stops mid sentence upon your sudden outburst. He looks so flushed with embarrassment and adorably confused.

“I need you to kiss me…” You retract your voice back to its normal level, feeling your own nerves fall away when you see the shy smile form on your best friends face. “…please Innie.”

He’s speechless, simply nodding in response before hurriedly making his way over to you.

The kiss is filled with pent up longing. Like you’d both been waiting for this moment without realising the other felt the same until now. It just feels so right to kiss your best friend and to feel him hold you so close.

You pull apart for air after a few seconds, lips ghosting and elated smiles on both of your faces. You let out a little chuckle as your foreheads rest together, Jeongin’s hands lacing your fingers with his on either side of you.

“Your PowerPoint was right. It is the best decision of my life.”

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hi again Nalyra!

I’ve found myself stuck on something in 2x06 that I desperately need your help explaining.

I don’t know if it is the been-up-since-3am brain (yes), but I just can’t parse the implication surrounding the exchange Louis and Armand have regarding Louis allegedly requesting to have his memory erased. (It doesn’t seem to be confusing anyone else though, so I am making this SOS call, haha!)

This is the exchange:

Louis: I asked you to erase it? Armand: Yes. After you came out of a shower in our home in Sausalito. Three days after we abandoned him.

^ Is this exchange meant to explain that three days after they 'left' Daniel, Louis allegedly asked Armand to erase his own memory (re: the Claudia realisation/walking into the sun event)?

Because if so, what does that mean for the timeline? It happened only three days after dumping Daniel in the drug den = is that meant to imply that Armand was able to speed up Louis’s convalescence through the strength of his ancient blood? Otherwise erasing Louis’s memory is sort of moot if his body is still in a bad state, telegraphing exactly what happened to it, right? So Louis had to be all healed before his memory was erased. And yet it was only three days after they left Daniel?

What am I failing to grasp here with this exchange? Armand’s ancient blood is either power af or the ambiguous ‘three days after we abandoned him’ refers to a much later date than the drug den drop-off?

Seriously, send help. I’m all tangled up in probably unnecessary confusion, haha!

Heyyy!!!

Ahahaha, no it's not just your brain, I also stumbled over this.

Because... with Jacob's statement in the episode insider, and the comment re the martini... (also vermouth!!!!) - there is quite the clear picture emerging.

Namely that DM did happen in the past.

I think that comment was maybe the truth - but it happened a few years after that eventful night. I'm not sure what would have needed to happen for Louis to request that, but I do think there is a possibility for that to happen.

In any case I found the wording... let's say vague enough to ring the alarm bells for me as well. Because why not say "3 days after the interview" or similar. No, it's "three days after we abandoned him."

"We... abandoned him." A shared decision? What made Armand use the word "abandon"? There are implications to that word. Because you just "leave" people you just met and don't feel much for. They would have "left" Daniel after erasing his memories. But no, they "abandoned" him. There is one definition of "abandoned", which goes: "No longer maintained by its former owners, residents, or caretakers; forsaken, deserted."

And so yes, I think that word is definitely a clue. As well as that vague... time frame. He is trying not to lie, would be my guess. But there are ways to be vague. And as Assad has said it so plainly, Armand is already trying to spin another web, to keep Louis and Daniel away from the truth.

And that truth is that DM happened, but Akasha did not rise. And something else happened that made Armand (and Louis) decide to "abandon" Daniel. Or... they were forced to.

And if Louis really asked for it (we'll see)... then he could not stand to know about it.

And it will be extremely interesting to see what that was.

Or if Armand is just... throwing a smoke bomb there.

[haddonfieldwhore]

florida!!! - aleksander barkov

aleksander barkov x reader

summary: while in florida on vacation you reconnect with someone from your past

warnings: a mixture of aleksander and sasha used throughout, angst, nsfw implied, small age gap (not specific), not edited (it’s 3am)

word count: 4.1k (oops)

“i’ve got some regrets, i’ll bury them in florida”

the smell of coconut wafted through your nose as you applied sunscreen for the third time that day, your skin not yet used to the heat of fort lauderdale. you were visiting for 2 weeks, a much needed vacation from your life back home, and you already felt relaxed after only two days here.

some of your friends were supposed to join you on the trip, but eventually cancelled, either not having the money or not being able to get the time off from work.

though it would have been more fun with them here, you didn’t mind travelling alone, having studied abroad in college and enjoyed every second of it.

well, mostly - you thought to yourself. despite only being here once before as a child, florida was bringing up some memories in your mind that had been long dormant. it wasn’t the state itself that was to blame though; it was something else. someone, to be more specific.

your phone rang in the back pocket of your shorts, and you swiped answer on the call.

“hey jessie,” you answered with a smile.

“hey! how’s florida?” your best friend asked.

“i wish you were here with me, but it’s still pretty amazing,” you admitted.

“i know, i wish i was there too,” she sighed. “next time, i promise - even if i have to quit my job so i can get the time,” she laughed.

“how will you pay for the trip then genius?”

“leave that to me.”

“alright,” you surrendered with a chuckle.

“see any hot guys yet?” she asked, of course that’s what she wanted to know.

“a few, not that i’m really looking,” you admitted. while there had been a few good looking men you had spotted while you were here, there was one specifically that was occupying your mind for the last few days; and you were trying to drown out any thoughts of him.

“did you decide if you’re going to a game or not?” jessie asked as if she had read your mind.

“maybe - the arena is right near my hotel, but i just don’t know if i’ll find the time,” you brushed it off.

“babe, you’re there for 2 weeks, i think you can find time if you want to.”

“you’re right,” you sighed deeply, flopping onto the soft duvet spread across the bed.

“i always am.”

“i’m gonna ignore that,” you smiled. “it’s not like i would see him anyway,” you thought out loud.

“unless you did.”

“that’s not helpful,” you replied with a roll of your eyes.

“i’m sorry!” jessie apologized. “and don’t roll your eyes at me, i can hear it in your voice,” she teased, and you both laughed.

during the 2 years that you had studied abroad in finland, you had wound up entangled with the one and only aleksander barkov; who in the years since then had blossomed in the national hockey league and become the captain of the florida panthers.

things were good for the most part, despite both of your busy schedules you made it work, and all too quickly found yourself falling for the handsome and humble man. he was a few years older than you, kind, handsome, and a perfect gentleman. there were ups and downs, and he was away from home a lot, but you made it work, keeping things casual and not exactly exclusive; not that you even entertained anyone else when he was gone. unfortunately, like most college relationships, things fell apart when you ended your studies there. you tried for a few months after you finished your courses, but despite your feelings for him, there wasn’t enough to keep you in finland without school to occupy you when he was gone so much of the time.

you thought back to the day that you told him you were leaving; the hurt in his eyes broke your heart, but you both knew the day was coming. you were on borrowed time and you both realized it long before either of you gained the courage to admit it.

“i don’t want you to go, but it’s selfish of me to ask you to stay,” he said sadly, and you buried your head in his chest, tears threatening to spill from your eyes as he wrapped his arms tightly around your body.

“we knew it wasn’t forever right?”

“yeah, we knew,” he mumbled, kissing the top of your head.

a part of you wished it could have been.

“are you listening to me?” jessie’s voice snapped you out of it, and you ran a hand over your face in frustration.

“yeah, sorry,” you shook your head, trying to think about anything else.

“you’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

“it’s hard not to - knowing how close we are right now,” you sighed in defeat. you had found it hard to stop yourself from wondering how he was doing, besides thriving on a successful hockey team.

“you miss him.” the way she worded it, it wasn’t a question, you realized.

“our lives are so different and it’s been years since i’ve seen him, jess.” the last time you had seen sasha was when he dropped you off at the airport, the kiss goodbye was almost enough to make you stay. you had texted him when you landed back home, and you’d kept in touch for a few weeks, calling eachother here and there but the distance drove a wedge between you. soon enough life got busy and it was easier to lose contact.

“you didn’t answer the question,” she pointed out.

“i don’t even know if he’s the same person he was back then - i’m certainly not. and he’s a hotshot nhl captian now.”

“of course people change, but this is sasha were talking about. do you really think he’d be that different than he was when you knew him?” she asked. you had told her so much about him, it was like she knew him even though they’d never met. and it was true; the sasha you knew would never let the fame get to him.

“i don’t know him anymore.”

“if you say so. i got to get back to work, my break is over. i’ll call you in a few days?”

“sounds good,” you replied. “love you jess.”

“love you too. keep me updated.”

before you could protest she hung up, and you tossed your phone onto the pillow next to you.

you stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, before grabbing your phone again, opening it to contacts without realizing what you were doing until your finger hovered over the name ‘sasha’.

you hesitated for a moment before closing the app, and googling florida panthers tickets instead.

•

three days later you found yourself sat in one of the crimson seats of amerant bank arena, waiting for the game to begin. you casually followed the nhl, not watching every game, but for obvious reasons, you had a soft spot for the south florida team; it helped that they were fun to watch and had become a force to be reckoned with these last few seasons.

as interested as you were in the game, you found it hard to focus on anything but the memories of aleksander that had continued to float around in your mind for the duration of your vacation. you had woken up this morning with an ache between your legs as you dreamt of the last night you had spent tangled with sasha beneath the sheets of his bed. you could still remember the way his hands felt tracing every inch of your body; not even a cold shower could erase it.

you’d considered not going to the game despite having bought a ticket, but wanted to experience a panthers game while you were here, unsure of when you would get the chance to see them play at home again.

the panthers won, and you weren’t sure if it was the adrenaline from the crowd lingering, but you found you thumb hovering over sasha’s contact in you phone again as you sat next to the pool back at the hotel later that night.

you decided against a phone call, typing out a text message before you could talk yourself out of it.

hey - it’s y/n from college. congrats on the win tonight! :)

a simple ‘hey’ didn’t seem like enough - you weren’t even sure if he had the same number after all these years, or if he remembered you at all. the doubt started to set in the second you hit send, the possibility that you hadn’t left as much of an impact on him as he had with you setting in fast.

what if he didn’t remember you at all?

you decided to call jessie to distract your mind, and you were thankful that it didn’t take her long to pick up.

“hey! i was just about to call you!”

“great minds think alike,” you laughed, her voice putting you at ease a little already.

“what’s up?” she asked.

“just sitting by the pool,” you replied. you hadn’t told her you’d decided to go to the game, and you hadn’t decided if you were going to tell her about the text you’d sent or not yet.

“ugh i’m jealous. i’m considering ditching work and flying out there to join you at this point. you’re still there for another week or so hey?” she asked.

“yeah, 9 more days actually. it would be nice to have you here, jess.”

“is everything okay?” she asked, always able to tell when something was bothering you.

“yeah, i think i just got too much sun today, my head hurts.” you weren’t entirely lying, but you just hoped she didn’t check the weather and see that it had been cloudy in fort lauderdale that day.

“bet you never had that problem in finland, hey?” you knew she was teasing, the climate in finland in fact being drastically drearier than florida, but you were hoping to not think about that for at least a few minutes.

“yeah, definitely not.”

despite the cold, you loved everything about finland. it took some getting used to the dark and cold, but each time aleksander showed you around different places around the country, you knew you would find it harder to leave.

for more reasons than just the scenery.

the day he showed you around his home town of tampere finland was the day you realized that you were falling in love with him.

you walked hand in hand down crowded streets, sasha pointing out different things from his childhood, like where he grew up playing hockey, his favourite restaurants, everything.

you looked up at him in wonder as the glow of the street lights illuminated his face, a light pink tinge across his cheeks and nose from the cold. fluffy white snowflakes fell softly around you, gathering atop the beanie that covered his head and across his broad shoulders.

it was only a few months since you had met, but it felt like you had known him for years. you never imagined a day would come where it would feel like you were strangers, even knowing that your time in finland was temporary.

“you don’t have to leave,” he had said, only a month left in your final semester abroad.

you laid bare next to him, his bedsheets the only thing covering your body as you fiddled absentmindedly with his hands, tracing calluses with your fingertips.

“once the semester is over i won’t have a place to stay, i can’t stay at the dorm.” you had gotten a job at a coffee shop that made you enough money to afford food and necessities, but you couldn’t afford an apartment with that salary, and hadn’t intended to get a job in your chosen field here. the plan was always to go home after your schooling was done.

“you could stay here, with me.”

it wasn’t an absurd idea; you spent a lot of nights at aleksanders house anyway when he wasn’t on the road. but in reality, he wasn’t home that often, and you would feel weird living in his house without him.

“you mean it?” you asked, your heart aching at the thought that even if he said yes, you knew your answer was no. part of him knew it too.

a notification went off on your phone, and you snapped out of your daydream, realizing that you’d once again become lost in memories of what once was.

you pulled your phone away from your ear, jessie’s voice getting quieter as she went on about something that happened at work today. you knew you were being a bad friend, and made a mental note to make it up to her later.

you saw that you had a text message and your breath caught in your throat as you tapped on it.

hey ☺️ it’s been a long time. you watched the game?

you stared at the message, suprised he’d responded so fast, if at all.

“i’m sorry, i gotta go, my phones about to die, i’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” jessie said, and you said a quick goodbye before you both hung up, leaving you alone to deal with your thoughts.

what had you intended when you texted sasha? you weren’t sure even you knew, but typed out a reply anyway; deciding you would figure it out as you went.

i was there actually - i’m in florida for a few days.

you impatiently waited as the three dots appeared to indicate that he was typing.

oh wow. thank you for coming to the game.

you smiled.

i wouldn’t miss it.

it took a few minutes after he read the message for him to reply this time, and you worried you’d said something wrong. deciding you didn’t want to sit by the pool anymore, you wrapped your towel around yourself, fighting of the evening chill that had begun to tickle your skin.

you’d made it up to your hotel room by the time your phone went off again, though it was a text this time; it was ringing. you assumed it was jessie, but froze when you saw sasha’s name light up the screen instead.

should i answer it? you thought.

a thousand reasons why you should or shouldn’t ran through your mind, but you ultimately swiped accept and closed the door behind you as you stepped in to your suite.

“hi,” you answered nervously. all these years later and he still had this much of an effect on you.

“hi,” he replied, and you couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his voice. “it really is you.”

“did you think it might not be?” you laughed slightly, and on the other end of the call, aleksander realized how much he’d missed the sound.

“i don’t know, maybe,” he admitted. “it’s good to hear from you.”

your heart skipped a beat.

“how have you been?” you asked, pacing around the room. despite how easily sasha used to be able to put you at ease, you couldn’t stay still.

“i’m good,” he replied, and you had forgotten that he was a man of few words at times. “what about you? what brings you to florida?”

you couldn’t exactly tell him that you had been good save for the fact that he was all you’d thought about for the last few days.

“good,” you decided was your answer. “why did you call instead of texting?” you asked. it had been years since you last spoke, but you felt like you were back in college, calling him while he was on the road to hear about his latest game.

“oh… i just wanted to hear your voice i guess,” he admitted, a blush forming across his face that he was glad you couldn’t see.

sasha sat in his car outside the restaurant where he and some of his teammates had been out to celebrate their victory when you texted, and he had excused himself to make a phone call, quietly sneaking out to his car.

of course he’d thought about you in the years since you left finland, always considering you to be the one that got away, despite the fact that you both knew from the beginning that you’d be leaving.

he hadn’t expected you to text him out of the blue that you were in florida, and it made him anxious to know that you were so close, especially knowing that you had been at the game earlier that day.

a happy anxious.

“yeah, it’s nice to hear your voice too.”

“are you coming to the game later this week?” he asked. you hadn’t planned on it, but the way he asked made you hope it meant that he wanted you to say yes.

“i might be, i’ll have to see about getting a ticket,” you replied, giving an open ended answer.

“if you need a ticket i can send you one,” he said, before quickly adding. “if you want.”

“do you want me there?” you asked, hoping you weren’t being too bold to assume that could be what he meant.

“of course i do.”

•

you spent the next few days feeling like you were floating on air, like you would wake up any moment and this would all be a dream.

you had been texting aleksander almost constantly, and he called you every night, catching up on the years you had missed, though it felt like no time had passed.

you were suprised when he had asked you to meet him after the game tomorrow, which he had in fact gotten you a ticket for. you tried to offer to pay for it, but he refused. you knew he could easily get them for free as the captain, but still felt wrong taking it.

you were getting ready to head to the arena, when your phone rang.

“are you ever actually working when you’re at your job?” you laughed as you accepted the call from jessie.

“i’m on my break for your information,” she argued playfully.

“fair enough. how are things back home?”

“boring without you of course,” she laughed.

“obviously,” you teased.

“did you decide if you’re going to the game tonight?” she asked, and you half wondered if she had cameras watching you.

“i am actually getting ready to go right now, stalker.”

“good - i’m sure you’ll have a great time,” she replied. “and who knows, maybe you’ll run into a certain finnish captian while you’re there…”

“i doubt it,” you lied. you still hadn’t told her that you’d already gone to a game, or that you’d been talking with sasha non stop for the last three days.

“you never know. cupid works in mysterious ways.”

“jess…”

“i know im just teasing.”

you talked for a few more minutes before you had to leave to go the arena, still thinking about what she had said.

if only she knew, you laughed to yourself.

•

you waited in your rental car after the game for aleksander to text you where to meet him, giving him time to shower and talk with the team after yet another panthers win.

he had let them know that he wouldn’t be joining them to celebrate tonight, but hadn’t told them why, deciding to keep your existence a secret for now as neither of you were sure exactly that this was.

you phone went off and you checked to see that he had sent you his location, still at the arena but he must have parked on the other side where fans couldn’t usually go.

you drove over until you saw him standing outside the players entrance, and your heart rate sped up.

talking on the phone was one thing, but seeing him in person was different.

you hoped you looked okay as you parked and got out, walking up to him with a smile.

“hey,” he smiled, and you couldn’t resist the urge to embrace him in a hug, which he thankfully returned.

sasha felt a pang in his heart as he held you tight to his chest, your arms wrapped around the back of his neck. he missed this; sure he had moved on with his life in the time you had spent apart, but there was a part of him that always wondered what it would have been like to have you there by his side the whole time.

“did you get taller?” you laughed, and he smiled, blushing softly like he always did anytime you complimented him.

“maybe,” he shrugged as he felt your arms release their grip on him. as you stepped back, he took in your appearance. you had grown up slightly since he’d watched you board a plane and leave him behind, but the years had been good to you.

“congrats on the win by the way,” you said, suprised at how the nerves had melted away. so far, he was still the same sasha, and you’d always found it easy to talk to him.

“thank you,” he said shyly, humble as ever.

“where did you wanna go?” you asked.

“do you want to get coffee?”

“sure,” you smiled. “lead the way, captain.”

•

you and sasha spent nearly three hours in the small coffee shop, catching up on anything you’d missed telling eachother over the phone, and repeating somethings you already had. neither of you minded, and when the barista let you guys know that they’d be closing up soon, you found yourself wishing you had more time.

just like in finland.

there was no one else in the coffee shop since it was late at night by now, and the soft music was quickly making you tired despite the caffeine in your system.

“i should take you home,” he offered, and then as if he read your mind, added. “i can pick you up tomorrow morning and take you to your car if you want.”

“sure - thank you,” he helped you put on your light jacket you had worn despite the florida heat, and you hesitated before slipping your hand into his as he walked beside you to his car, fingers interlocking.

once you were back at your hotel, you hesitated before getting out of the car.

“do you want to come up with me?” too scared to see his reaction, you looked down at your lap as you waited for his answer, but the sound of the engine shutting off made you lift you gaze and meet his eyes.

“i’d like that.”

•

you woke up to the feeling of sasha’s fingers tracing patterns on the bare skin of your shoulder, and cuddled closer into his chest as the sunlight crept in through a crack in the curtains.

“good morning,” he whispered.

“good morning,” you repeated, feeling the warmth of his arms wrapping around you, your legs tangled with his beneath the covers.

“i missed this,” he admitted, and you hummed in response.

“me too.”

he was silent for a moment, as if he was mustering up the courage to ask you his next question.

“do you ever wonder what things would be like if you had stayed in finland?”

you looked up at him, your eyes meeting.

“yeah, a lot actually,” you admitted. “sometimes i regret leaving.”

“you had to go,” he said, but you could tell that it had hurt him when you left. maybe as much as it had hurt you.

“it was one of the hardest things i ever did. leaving you.”

“we found eachother again though,” he replied, always finding a way to look at things in a positive light. reality set in as you realized the harsh truth.

“i’m only in florida for a few more days sasha,” you confessed, and you felt guilty. surely he knew that you had to leave again, but it still felt like you were doing something wrong.

“i know,” he assured you. “no one stays anywhere forever.” you knew he hadn’t meant it with any hostility.

“do you like it here in florida?” you asked, trying to shift the subject off of you leaving. “it’s so different from home.”

“it’s very different, but it’s nice.” he agreed, and while he knew when you called finland home you meant his, but there was a time when you called it home as well, even if you were just a guest there.

“yeah, it’s really nice,” you agreed.

“will you visit again?” he asked the question you had been dreading.

“i don’t know when i’ll be able to,” you said honestly. “but i’ll try, sasha.”

he smiled, placing a kiss on your forehead.

“we play in your hometown next month,” he remembered aloud, and you smiled, knowing you would see him again sooner than you imagined.

“i’ll have to get a ticket,” you smiled at him.

“i think i can help with that.”

disclaimer: all screenshots, events, and/or interactions depicted in this are a work of fiction. i have no association with any parties mentioned

[filamentlights]

Cage Fights, and Pipe Bombs, and Diners, Oh My!

Clone x OC Week - Day 6, What if...the Clone Were a Mafia? || Fox x OC

Event Masterlist

SUMMARY: Struggling to make ends meet, aspiring Olympic gymnast and part time cage fighter Sakki is forced to take a match that might end with her hunted down by the most notorious gang on Coruscant. 

Word count: 4.3k

Tags & warnings: mafia AU, cage fighting AU, cyberpunk AU, too many AUs, cage fighter OC, cursing, violence, blood, injury, gang fights, mafia!Fox, the biggest plot twist of this story is that the clones actually have money, aspiring gymnast part time cage fighter OC, cyberpunk setting, body modifications, graphic violence, Darth Maul is His Own Warning

“Ah shit.”

“You okay?” Ahsoka looked over in concern as Sakki hissed. She tried to smile, but it became more of a grimace as her leg throbbed.

“Yeah, ‘soka. I’ve just been a bit sore lately.” Sakki massaged her aching thighs, carefully avoiding putting pressure on the fresh bruises from last night.

Is it…” Ahsoka glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. Luckily they sat in a pretty secluded corner of the gym, behind the uneven bars. Ahsoka leaned in. “Was it a you know.”

Sakki grimaced. Last night’s match had been pretty brutal.

“Yeah. Some guy clipped me in the thigh when I was pinning him. Had a ring on that hurt like a bitch.”

Ahsoka patted her consolingly. The two had gone to academy together and then made it into Coruscant University with their joint dream of being Olympic gymnasts. Ahsoka, being self-aware nepo baby, came from a long line of legacy athletes: the infamously short tempered lacrosse player Anakin Skywalker being her older brother and legendary fencer Obi-Wan Kenobi being an older cousin of hers. Sakki had been lucky enough to catch the eye of Shmi Skywalker and be sponsored through her academy years and now in university. And though she couldn’t adopt Sakki like Ahsoka, the woman had always made Sakki feel welcomed among her family. That being said, only Ahsoka knew what she did in her nightly activities.

“And your,” Ahsoka cleared her throat delicately, “manager?”

Sakki snorted. Manager. Asajj would shit bricks if she heard her get called that.

“Did nothing, said nothing, probably didn’t even notice me limping outta there.” Sakki commented. Asajj was good at many things, mostly illegal, but caring? She’d sooner drink oil. Ahsoka bumped her shoulder comfortingly.

“Try to hang in there. If you win this competition then you can secure your scholarship for the rest of uni. Then you’ll be home free and you can never see Ass-ajj again.” Ahsoka pumped her fists, her voice deliberately cheerful. Sakki huffed and smiled.

“Yeah. It’ll be alright.”

Sakki slammed into the mat with a ringing thud. Pain lanced through her back.

“You’re more shit than usual, rat.” A cold voice from above commented lightly.

“Fuck off,” Sakki muttered.

“What was that?”

Sakki bit her lip to avoid saying something they’d both regret.

“You’re distracted.” Asajj commented, leaning down into Sami’s grimacing face. The older woman sneered.

1,000 credits. The fucking fee to even enter the goddamn competition that would decide her entire future cost 1,000 credits. Sakki snarled. Since leaving the gym, Coach Windu had sent out an email in his usual impersonal monotone about competition specifics. But what had caught Sakki’s eye was not the logistics of leaving at 3AM on a bus towards the venue, but a bright red text that read: 1,000 credit entry fee, due Sunday. No late fees accepted.

It wasn’t enough that she trained like a dog day and night just for the chance to participate. She’d scrimped and saved the past three months, and even swallowed her pride to ask Shmi to borrow some money for her competition leotard. Her apartment still hadn’t regained electricity.

Sakki screamed. She twisted and hooked her leg behind Asajj’s knee and lunged. Ever eager for a scrap, the older woman grappled against her. The two tussled on the ground a bit before Asajj eventually kicked her off.

“Get some water. I got a new job for you.”

Sakki took a swig from her bottle.

“What’s the job?”

“Saturday night. The Crimson. You’ll be fighting their home champion and defender.”

“What.”

“Fight starts at 8. Be there.”

Sakki couldn’t believe her ears.

“Again,” she stared at Asajj incredulously, “what. Are you insane? That’s the heart of Nightbrother territory. And you want me to fight their champion? Are you out of your mind, or do you finally have it out for me? Do you want me to actually die?”

“Don’t be stupid. I didn’t train you to get killed.”

“It’s the fucking Nightbrothers. Their home champion is the gang leader’s brother. Win or lose, I’ll get eviscerated.”

“It’s a 5,000 credit job.”

Sakki stared at Asajj. Five thousand credits for a job was obscene. She was lucky to make that in a month. Not only would it more than cover her competition fee, she could get new sheets for her mattress, pay her overdraft fees, replace her air filter after the smog flare up had rendered her old one useless, and she was tired of waking up coughing-

Sakki paused.

Five thousand was a lot. The rings never really paid that much because, not unless you were extremely high profile, because there’s always people desperate to fight for less and less. More and more young people being pushed onto the streets with no way forward except their fists. That amount of money was dangerous. Inhaling, Sakki narrowed her eyes at Asajj. The stony woman held an impressive poker face, but Sakki’s gut told her something was fishy.

“Asajj. I trust you. For better or worse, you still helped me out when no one else would. That being said, I think I deserve some truth. Exactly what are you getting me into?” She held Asajj’s flinty glare.

“It’s a personal job.” Asajj sighed, looked decades older. “I never explicitly told you, but I trust you’re smart enough to guess that I used to run in certain circles.”

“Yeah, you were something of a gangster. Did you scrap with the Nightbrothers?”

“Don’t interrupt, listen.” She ordered, making Sakki roll her eyes. “But, yes. I have quite a history with the Nightbrothers, especially their loath-to-exist leadership. Back in the day, we actually worked together a couple jobs. They were a lesser, subsidiary group of us. The Sisterhood.”

“You were in the Witches?” Sakki’s mind reeled. Asajj nodded sharply.

“Yes. I was going to be the next Matriarch. But they got too big for their own boots. Too arrogant so they staged a coup. There was a shoot out. We were killed.” Asajj was heaving by the end of it, but her eyes blazed. Sakki caught a flash of green in the woman’s blue eyes. A body mod. Various modifications were common, prevalent, in the galaxy. Even more so among the Coruscanti underworld. Cybernetic implants to enhance senses, a metal arm, hell someone probably got one to make their dick bigger. But the eyes were tricky. Delicate, almost filigree-like muscles that are so easy to screw up in one movement; it made it an obscenely expensive procedure. Only old, well-established families still used eye mods as marks of allegiance.

“I want you to fight their champion. Win. But not only win, you need to cripple Savage. Utterly humiliate him.”

“His brother will kill me.” They were notorious for their close brotherhood.

“No. Maul likes strength. He may rough you up for it, but you’ll be intriguing enough a mystery for him to take interest in you.”

“So?”

“So, he’ll call you up to his pretentious little office. Give a dramatic monologue. And you plant this in his office. They check all their patrons for any weapons or other prohibited items, so put it in your bra at the entrance.”

Asajj pulled out a device.

“That’s all you have to do. Do that, and I’ll give you the five thousand in addition to whatever earnings you get from the match.”

Sakki stared at the small listening device. She grabbed it.

“Fine.”

The crowd was roaring. Sakki’s head hurt.

Her opponent flared his nostrils. They circled. Lights, blinding white lights flashed in their faces. Her heart thudded from the combined energy of adrenaline and the screaming crowd. She grinned meanly.

“Give up,” her opponent rumbled. One thing Asajj failed to mention was that her opponent was fucking huge. A hulking seven foot something, he towered over her usually respectable 5’8, and was probably twice as broad as her. He was also an intimidating motherfucker for the crazy amount of body mods he had. Prosthetic horns grew from his head, full body tattoos that ran jaggedly down his sweaty torso, cybernetic eyes that glowed and probably helped his vision, fingers that extended into bionic claws, fresh snakebites along his bottom lip. It was par for the course for a Nightbrother to have an insane amount of mods, it was basically their calling card, but this man had an obscene amount even by their standards.

So yeah, she kinda fucked.

Sakki snarled, and lunged for his eyes. It was laughably easy for him to grab her arm, twist, and send her slamming onto the floor with his claws digging into her collarbone. The crowd surged with a deafening roar. Lucky for her, this brought her close enough to slam her leg behind his knee, making him buckle. She used this momentum to flip them and land two clean hits on his face before he threw her off. Her body flew until it hit the metal cage, and she thumped to the ground. Stars, everything hurt.

She looked around blearily. Her whole body ached from all the abuse. One thing that put her at a major disadvantage was that as an aspiring gymnast, she was forbidden from any sort of strength-enhancing mods. It was one of her draws as a fighter, being able to beat modded up opponents with only “pure human strength,” but that was for opponents who weren’t built like fucking trains.

Sakki picked herself off the ground. Wobbling a bit, with blue strands of hair falling out of her bun, she watched Savage get up as well. Grim satisfaction filled her, watching him clutch his cybernetic eyes and groan. She watched them twitch and crackle.

The sounds of the crowd faded away as Sakki refocused.

“Give. Up.” Savage gritted his teeth. Even though he could probably take her down now easily, he just stayed put. “You’ll lose anyways.”

He’s been letting her off easy this whole fight; not punching first, letting them circle to give her time to recover, telling her to give up, and in general pissing her the fuck off. She slapped the feeling back into her arms and readied to lunge again. His gaze hardened.

A spark flew from his cybernetic eye.

She lunged.

He caught her, of course, but that was fine. Using all her strength, Sakki slammed an elbow across his face until she heard something crack. The man roared in pain, echoed by the screaming crowd when they realized what she’d done. Sparks flew madly from his eyes where a few wires could now be seen poking through. After that, all she could remember was blinding pain as Savage thrashed her madly—barely even cognizant from the pain and sudden blindness. He sent her body flying. Sakki found herself, face pressed between the ground and the cage, staring into amused amber eyes through the crisscrossing metal.

Get up, the man mouthed.

She stumbled to her feet.

“You broke my brother’s eyes.” Sakki turned. The man seemed to neutrally observe her, but shit did she want to bolt. The door behind her slid shut, the lock automatically clicking in place.

Black tattoos travelled up in harsh, erratic lines. There was a gruesome artistry in them, that they drew your focus in to his glowing, yellow eyes. Piercing and unnatural. They flashed like Asajj’s, but they weren’t just decorative. She watched the gold flicker. There used to be talk about scientists replicating eagle-like vision in humans, but that had been shut down by the Scientific Ethics Committee.

“You get the expensive eye mods, yet both your brothers get cybernetics?”

Sakki had noticed, as she was preparing for the fight, a smaller thinner man with similar tattoos shadowing Savage. And similarly, his eyes were clinked and shifted mechanically, with only a vague pupil-like circle to indicate that it was meant to be an eye. Her bold—stupid—declaration seemed to amuse the man. Maul. The Nightbrother leader. The pocket of her bra, sandwiched under the pad weighed heavily.

He huffed, amused.

“They were not yet inducted to the Brotherhood when we stopped with the old ways.” Before they rebelled and killed the Nightsisters, is what he meant. Maul clasped his hands behind his back and strode past Sakki to look out the window.

“Sit,” he gestured at the expensive looking black couch. It wasn’t a question. “Refreshments?”

The plush leather squeaked under her weight. Beside it, a little push cart held a water pitcher and a single glass cup.

“I’ve never seen you in my club before,” he mused, in lieu of asking what he meant, which was why the hell are you here?Sakki took a gulp of cool water, soothing her raw throat. Her back and sides throbbed something fierce from being tossed around the ring. Not to mention the little gashes where Savage dug his nails into her shoulder. Sakki stared mournfully at her torn singlet, where the strap was broken from the fight.

“I’m used to fighting smaller rings. Safer for my reputation.” It wasn’t really a lie. Keeping a low profile by only taking small fights would keep her from getting too prominent, and keep the chances of her being a cage fighter from getting out.

“Why show up tonight?” His back was still facing her, but she could see his glowing eyes in the glass reflection. Below them, the cage where she’d just fought in sat.

“I need the money.”

“Yes, money is indeed a powerful motivator.” Maul went behind the desk and pulled out a small stack of credits and threw them her way. She caught the gleaming stack. With narrowed eyes, she counted them up.

“This is barely 200 credits. I was promised 700 for winning.”

He turned to her, his profile lit by the light coming in from the cage arena below them.

“Yes, well, consider it a damage fee.” Sakki’s hands tightened. He turned his back to her again. “Well, I am sure you must be busy. I have matters to attend.”

With that dismissal, Sakki slipped out the door.

She turned right.

Corridor on the right. Lay low. Asajj will do something to draw him out his office.

Out of sight from his office door, she waited. Her back pressed against the wall. She leaned closer and strained her ears, listening for any movement. A moment passed. Silence. Nothing. And then, she heard a click. Quiet footsteps. She waited until they faded.

She slipped back through the door before it slid shut. Now it was just her in this dark, creepy room overlooking the cage. Quickly, she dug through her bra and fished out the device. Running over to the desk, she searched for a discreet place to put it.

And then the door exploded.

“Where’s Jesse?” The man barked in her face, like he hadn’t just blown down a door. He had curly black hair with a few streaks of white among them, and he brandished a wicked looking pocket knife at her. Amber eyes glinted at her. He was the one watching her in the cage.

“I don’t fucking know, who the fuck is Jesse?” She snarled back. He took in her bruised up face, her torn and bloody singlet, and relaxed slightly. He looked pointedly at the device she was holding, making her scowl.

Then, two more figures burst into the room.

For a halting moment, Maul, and the other brother who’d tended to Savage, stared at her. Her, the man next to her, and the listening bug in her hands.

“You,” snarled Maul, and they lunged.

Maul’s hands extended out into claws. Like Savage, someone had extended and likely strengthened his natural nails to make sharp catlike claws that curved through the air dangerously. Unlike Savage, he didn’t share his brother’s courtesy.

Sakki ducked and came up with her own punch. Maul didn’t have his brother’s muscle, but he was fast as hell. Besides her, the man was fending off the other brother who was surprisingly vicious. Maul stalked towards her.

“You little rat. I knew there was something wrong with you. You were most suspicious. To think, you’re a little Fett spy.” He chuckled. Sakki caught the beginning of a maniacal grin. “You walk into my club, into my cage, in my territory.”

“You talk too damn much,” she spat, feeling a familiar thrill course through her veins.

He bared his teeth in a grin. “Oh yes, I will enjoy getting revenge for my brother. As they say, an eye for an eye is only fair.”

He fought like a goddamn cat. Claws first. Sakki dodged like hell, but they could both tell she was tired. Her movements lagged behind. Her back where Savage had thrown her into the cage throbbed. Maul advanced, making her jump back with each swipe. His eyes glowed. Predatory. He struck right, but she danced away. Her hip bumped against the cart with the water pitcher, and she could only step forward into his space. She went for his throat.

In her periphery, she saw the other man was exchanging blows with Maul’s brother. Something rumbled in the distance. Using the brief distraction, Sakki grabbed the push cart and slammed it into Maul, making him roar. She saw the other man bury his knife into the brother’s side. Without a second glance, they booked it.

Chaos greeted them.

People were running and fighting everywhere. A mob of people running for the exits while tattooed men brawled with identical looking tan-skinned men. One of them caught sight of her and her companion running and shouted something she couldn’t hear, but her partner did. He grabbed her.

“Shit, if Hardcase did something to the club then we better run. Now.”

They booked it for the stairs. They fought through the crowd. Sakki hit a skinny orange and black Nightbrother in the face, sending him staggering into a madly cackling girl with neon glowing green hair that was punching anyone who got near her, Nightbrother or not.

They made it up into the club that sat above, a front for the cage fighting. The scene was utter madness.

“What, why? What would he do?”

The man had his arm out, shoving past people to make room for her. The crowd surged around them. He tugged her into him, strong-arming through the crowd for the exit.

“No time, gotta go!”

She heard shouting.

“GO GO GO SCATTER-”

Something exploded.

If the odd stares were any indication, Sakki realized the two of them painted a pretty suspicious painting hobbling down the dingy streets. Maul had apparently nicked her before they escaped, and the gash in her leg squelched every time she put weight on it, so she was supported by the man with her arm around his neck and his around her waist. They had also made it out of the club right as the whole thing exploded into flames, and, while they were spared being reduced to cinders, meant they looked like they just walked out of hell. As they quietly limped away from the smoking wreckage, her mind still reeling from all the events of the night, something Maul said clicked.

“Shit, you’re a Fett.”

The man turned to her with a leery grin. His curly black hair had fallen out of their styling into his face. “Name’s Fox.”

Sakki scrunched her nose at him. Her body still felt like she was on cloud nine with the thrill of adrenaline, so her mouth moved before her brain could stop it.

“Well goddamn, you could at least keep your head down. I don’t need all these people knowing I’m with you. I got a rep to keep up.”

He pulled an offended look. “You’re a cage fighter.”

“Yeah but, I’m gonna be a gymnast. I don’t need a scandal about being involved with a kriffing Fett.” A notorious family in the Coruscant underworld. They mainly dealt in…security, but they had their fingers in almost every pie. Bomb, weapons, illegally strengthened bionics, spice, casinos; everything. And their leader? Unstable. Went off the rails and decided to clone himself with a couple crazy scientists who were shunned by the academic world for being unethical. She would know. Doctor Nala Se’s building on the Coruscant University campus was still up, though no one had used it in nearly two decades when it came out about all the disturbing research that went on there. She eyed Fox. Some of the remaining adrenaline was making her stupidly brash. “At least pop your jacket collar up to hide some of that face.”

Her hand around his neck moved to make the flap of his jacket lapel stand upright, but her movement was hindered so Fox ended up with one jacket lapel flopped on his cheek. She slapped the leather flap onto his cheek, trying to get it to stay.

“That just makes me look more suspicious.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Okay left here, and we’ve arrived!”

“This is a diner.”

“You think I’m gonna take you to my place? Buy me dinner first. Here. Now. I’m starving.”

Sakki collapsed into the red booth. A few patrons mulled about in the dark, early morning hours but they ignored the two figures. Flickering lights buzzed softly. A woman dressed skinny jeans that hugged her curves and a loose top greeted them.

“Two of my usual plus a milkshake,” Sakki smiled at the waitress. Darla frowned playfully, raising a dark eyebrow.

“Big spending? You win another match, sugar? You still got your tab running since July, Sakki.” Darla popped her hip, looking at the scruffy bleeding girl with gentle reprimand.

Sakki smiled blindingly. “No, I’m good this time. My friend,” she turned to Fox who was sat across from her, “here will be paying instead of me.”

He looked at her blankly.

“You do have money, right?” His jacket was *real leather—*real animal products these days were worth more than gold, with most leathers being synthetic—so she assumed he did. He inclined his head slightly. Sakki brightened, making her curly blue hair bounce. “Great! I can have my milkshake.”

“Oh and,” she called, “Darla, can you also get the kit for me?”

“Way ahead of you, sugar.” A bright red first aid kit appeared on the table. “And here’s some towels so you don’t get our booths all messy.”

“Thanks! You’re the best.”

“I know, sugar.”

Fox watched her leave with a sway in her hips. “You’re a regular, I’m assuming?”

“Yup,” Sakki popped the “p” sound. “Dex’s is the best place for cheap, good food. Especially after a fight, when I need the calories.” She propped her leg up on the booth, hands jittery. “Plus, they’re always super discreet since their customers are usually the unsavory kind.”

Fox eyed her tapping fingers and energetic smile.

“Are you always this hyper?”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “The adrenaline’s still running high though. I’ll come down in a bit. C’mon, help me with the stitches while I’m still up in the sky on stress hormones.”

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Fox moved over to her side of the booth.

“You’re gonna need stitches.”

“Yes, yes, let’s do this quickly before I cry.” She shoved the first aid kit towards him.

“Alright, then.”

He searched through the bag, pulling out some isopropyl alcohol, disinfectant wipes, scissors, gauze, and some tape as Sakki pooled some towels beneath her bleeding leg. Finally, Fox pulled out a Ziplock with curved sutures needles. Spotting it, Sakki whined.

“Oh for kriff’s sake don’t tell me you’re scared.” Fox grabbed the bottle of isopropyl alcohol to disinfect the needles, also wiping down his hands.

“It’s a perfectly reasonable fear!” He took a disinfectant wipe and cleaned off her gash as best as he could.

“Again,” he drawled, “you’re a cage fighter. You should be used to this.”

“Yeah but like,” she twisted her hands nervously. “I can’t look.” He rolled his eyes.

“So you can stand getting thrashed by a seven foot giant, but not getting stitches.”

Sakki buried her face in her hands and groaned. She felt something touch the back of her hands. Opening her eyes, Fox had thrust his leather jacket towards her. He looked at her gruffly, “take it, I don’t want to get any blood on it.”

She grabbed it.

“You break it, you buy it, got it?”

“Yes sir,” Sakki snarked, and turned the piece of clothing over in her hands to examine it. The leather was beaten, but clearly had the shine of an item well-cared for. She spotted some pockets that seemed meticulously added on to the inside lining, even going as far as to find the same color thread for it. “La’anglitz Leathers. Year, 9214. Wow, this is real vintage.”

“Yup.”

Sakki put her arms through the arm holes, putting it on backwards to the jacket lay like a blanket on her. The sleeves fell down to her knuckles, the whole thing dwarfing her. She sniffed.

“What cologne is that?”

“Why are you sniffing my jacket?”

“Is that Old Spice? Seriously?”

“There’s nothing wrong with Old Spice,” he griped defensively.

“No, of course not! Hygiene should always be celebrated.” Sakki buried her nose into the collar and breathed deeply. Her eyebrows scrunched thoughtfully. She opened her mouth to make another comment when she felt the needle pierce her skin.

“OW, ow ow ow nnnneughhhhheuuuhffff.” Sakki squeezed the jacket sleeves into balls while she moaned in pain.

“Inspiring words.”

“Ffffffffffuck you.”

“Buy me dinner first.” His words were dry, but his hands were comfortably steady on her left calf. His amber eyes flicked up to meet hers for a split second, before refocusing on pulling the suture into place. His hands were warm.

She scoffed. “Okay whateve-oOOOOOHHHOHOHOHO WHY GOD.” Tears beaded the corners of her eyes. She shut them. She could feel the callouses against her shin. His left thumb began rubbing soothing circles into her ankle. “It’sokit’sokit’sok, I can get through this OH fffuck.”

“You’re doing fine.”

“How many more stitches left?”

“Do you want me to be honest or lie to you?”

Sakki paused, her face scrunched in agony.

“Hit me with the truth.”

“I’ve done one stitch.”

“Okay, progress is progress!”

“Out of fifteen.”

A/N: Unbeta’d, unedited, unbuttered; this shit is RAW. I’m already cutting it closer than I’m ok with for this entry, sooo there’s probably a million grammar mistakes. If u want actual quality, find this on AO3 where I can actually update it and clean it up lmao. I’ll leave a link once I actually post it there. Big chance I will return to this fic to clean up the ending and make her chemistry with Fox a bit better. But anywaysss, thanks for reading!

@orangez3st @clonexocweek

[whenshewrites]

Part One here

I decided to finish it

Saturday. Tommy agreed to meet Buck Saturday. Buck was relieved enough to slightly back off the baking, resigning himself to one loaf of bread per day for the rest of the week. Chimney was too relieved at having his house back to press Buck on why he wasn’t staying over again.

They met at the same coffee shop. Tommy suggested it; Buck hoped it was a sign that he was open to reconciling, back at that same sunny table where they’d done it once before. Bonus, Buck thought to himself as he stood in line, waiting to order: I know how he likes his coffee now. He thought he got there early, but as he made his way to see if he that table was empty, he found Tommy sitting there already, thumbing at a half empty mug.

“Can I offer you a refill?” he asked, sliding the fresh cup in front of Tommy and flashing a smile.

“Hey, Evan,” Tommy smiled the briefest of smiles back.

“How’ve you been?” Buck’s tone sounded easy, as if he hadn’t woken up every morning that week with the thought of Tommy, and the harsh tone of the last words they’d exchanged, weighing on him.

The sound of Tommy’s voice explaining that week’s calls, the way his eyes lit up as he recounted the muay thai fight he’d seen the other night, got Buck’s mind to finally stop racing. He listened, he watched Tommy, he couldn’t remember ever noticing the way anyone else’s eyebrows and ears moved as they talked and laughed: not Ali’s, not Taylor’s, not Eddie’s. Abby’s, maybe.

Buck told Tommy about his week too – far less drama-filled than the last time, no kidnapping, no new pregnancies to report. “I finally backed off the baking, too – I started to unpack instead.”

Buck watched as one of Tommy’s eyebrows lifted quizzically. “Baking?”

“Yeah. I-I did this thing. Every time I wanted to call you, I baked something. You wouldn’t believe how much flour I’ve gone through the last few months. I think the 118 has collectively gained at least 25 pounds from me.”

Tommy leaned forward. “Look, Evan…I shouldn’t have said what I did. I honestly couldn’t believe that you’d seriously consider going out with me again, much less try again.”

Buck remembered his old impulses. Another day, he would’ve tried to skip this part, to tell Tommy he was sorry and he wouldn’t care what Tommy said back because he’d just want to be back in bed, underneath him, to stay like that until they couldn’t remember what day it was. He remembered the powerful adrenaline rush of hooking up, followed by the slippery falling sensation is his stomach whenever his hookup left. He hated that feeling. It was never worth the adrenaline. His old impulses wouldn’t have noticed Tommy saying: I didn’t think you’d seriously consider going out with me again. His old impulses wouldn’t have cared very much.

“Tommy…” He paused. “I’m sorry for what I said. I mean, I meant it. But I didn’t mean to shout it. And-and it wasn’t the point anyway. The point is this. Eddie-Eddie is my best friend. He put everything on the line for me for years, and I did the same for him. But I’ve never seen him that way. Never. I miss him, yeah. I miss him, I miss Chris, I miss playing video games with them and I am definitely going to miss working with Eddie,” he paused again, taking in Tommy’s slow nod, “but I-I miss you. I miss the way you left water by my side of the bed every night, because you knew I always woke up thirsty at 3am. I miss the way you pressed that spot on the back of my neck after a long shift, and I miss pressing the spot on your shoulder after your long shifts. I miss you checking my tire pressure every week even though that is way too often to check tire pressure. I miss hearing your voice every night. I miss…I miss you, Tommy. I really do.”

Their eyes met for a minute before Tommy glanced down into his coffee. “Buck, I’m sorry. You’re entitled to be friends with whoever you want. And Eddie’s great.” He stopped short, swirling the coffee from Buck.

“Why would you think I wouldn’t be interested in getting back together?” Buck interjected.

“Old habits die hard.”

“Old habits?”

“Evan…I spent years in the closet. Years. You told me once that you liked how I was so comfortable with myself, and that’s true – now. But I think I’m still learning how to be comfortable with myself when I’m in a relationship, and that means I just…I trust my worst instincts when I am.”  

Buck considered this for a moment.

“You know, I used to hate my relationship habits,” Buck said. “I used to move fast just so I wouldn’t have to be alone. There was just always someone new.”

“Yeah, I think…for me it was being told, my whole life, that being gay was wrong. Or, if it wasn’t wrong, it was something to hide. I guess I eventually decided that I couldn’t be out and happy, and so the idea of something…real…freaked me out.”

Buck smiled, he reached his hand out across the table. “The idea of something real used to freak me out too,” he said.

Tommy smiled back as reached his hand across too, wrapped his fingers around Buck’s, and squeezed.

[jenyifer]

The trainee ep 7 initial reaction

Okay so didn’t do an ep 6 cause idk I watched it but I was so worried about the GL plot I didn’t want to talk about it. However this week I have enough to NEVER watch that part of the ep again as girl who loves girls computer programmer. So I’m only gonna talk about it once.

LETS DO THE FUN PART OF THE PHOTO REVIEW NOW

Awww the butterfly walk lol nothing can go wrong today!!! Ryan fully in his fantasy after last ep and who can blame him. Go on Cinderella take your twirl on the cat walk.

Actually I think Jane has some insight about his reincarnated lover from previous lives hehe Ryan has some split personality thing going on again when hungry. I mean I buy it. We all know no one else can play multiple boys in the same body as Gun. Also I’ll note here for later Jane realizes something is wrong with Ryan right away. 🥹 he wants Ryan to be his good assistant and friend. Just good developments there.

Okay so I get what Jane is saying here. The bottle exploding is hella dangerous. Also Jane knows Ryan has been spaced out lately and is frustrated cause he doesn’t know why. I’d assume that’s why he’s so emotional about this mistake. It’s possible Jane sees himself in Ryan trying not to rely on anyone else? But Jane knows Ryan could have called Pie at the very least. Mistakes happen but this one was a big one.

I also think this is a good point too if Ryan isn’t needed don’t come and mope or make more mistakes. Something has obvs been wrong with him. Now Jane doesn’t phrase this right but he does apologize so good good

Precious Gunnie Tear. I really like this some cause it’s like Ryan is trying to resist at all costs but it boils over and he can’t keep his most inner thoughts in. He heard Jane’s words as a rejection from the team from his usefulness Ryan desperately wants to find his place

One sentence too far but 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 good relationship movement. I don’t know how Jane can interpret this in any other way after their week.

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

Okay it’s hating time so move on people who want me to kiss ass instead of sharing my actual opinion. I’m only going to do this once hopefully.

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

I’ve made the mistake of dating a 20 year old when I was 26. You’d think that wouldn’t be too crazy of an age gap. However I was just at a totally different place in my life than her. My thing is 30 years old you think it’s okay to hit on and kiss back a 21 year old you know is in a relationship? You know their brain is still developing? Also do you really think that’s going to be fulfilling. No. She’s a piece of shit. Especially since she is her mentor has been taking the girl out of the office on the company’s dime. Of course she thinks Judy is super woman. Just irresponsible. Judy definitely understands what’s going on with Bah-me and her boyfriend and still decides to do this?! Really…. Okay.

Onto Bah-mee complaining her boyfriend doesn’t talk to her. Nowwwww I’m a computer programmer I have worked with guys who take their work home with them to finish it up at 3am or slept in the office SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY LIKE THEIR JOB. Couldn’t be me but it happens. Idk why Tae is doing all the work in the production room as an intern. I’d be worried he would fuck up put under pressure and that HR might murder me for over working the intern. Set that aside. Guys like Tae work fucking hard. But you know what? Most of them adore their loved ones. Work hard and rent a hot air balloon guys. Work hard take their girl on a 2 week long trip. So does tae not talk? Or is because she has long ago given up. He’s been working she’s seen him working FOR HER TO PLAY HARD. Idk it’s just ugh disgusting. I just think of my coworkers who could never think of cheating yeah they might purposely miss out on their kids stuff but their wives? Oh man I know all their names and where they like to go to dinner etc. EVEN THOUGH sometimes they work like idiots.

I think it’s the best they break up Bah-Meee and Judy can go be evil lesbians and Tae can be a computer guy making lots of money to spoil his future girl with it.

[whenikissedthegiyuu]

would you kiss me?

prince!rindou x princess!reader

to love and to be loved, that is all a girl wants

initially this was going in a whole another direction but then i wanted to go further back before they decided to give into their feelings - maybe will start a tag list if enough people are interested and i find enough inspiration to write their story even if it’s out of order

word count 2k

fem!reader, first pov, royalty au, a pathetic attempt at angst, mutual pining, forbidden love, talks of marriage and children, written at 3am not edited at all

My lips curled into a grin as I slipped my hand into Ran’s awaiting palm. He kissed my knuckles before pulling me towards the center of the ballroom as the orchestra began playing a slow song. We swayed to the rhythm, his cheek pressed against my temple.

My eyes fell on Rindou, lilac eyes watching us as he drank his champagne. My chest tightened when he darted his gaze away and slipped away from the crowd.

I had always hated balls and celebrations ever since I was a kid, but now I hated them even more since Ran and I had to pretend to be the happy couple in front of everyone when they knew damn well we weren’t.

“Are you alright, doll?” Ran asked after a few songs of faster paced dancing. “Want to sit down?”

“I could use some fresh air, I’m not feeling well.” I murmured, holding onto his arm as he pulled us away from the crowd of dancing people that had formed around us.

He led me into the gardens with a hand on my lower back, but we were intercepted by one of his distant cousins on the way.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite cousins!” She offered us a wide smile and took my hands in hers. “How have you been, darling? We didn’t see you on my husband’s birthday last month.”

“I truly apologize. I had an emergency and couldn’t accompany Ran.”

“Oh, no worries, dear! I know once you get married and start having children you’ll be unable to even grace us with your presence once a year with how busy you’ll be!”

My lips parted as I stared wide eyed at the woman at the mention of children. Ran came to my rescue, smiling sweetly at her as he started pulling me away. “If you’ll excuse us, we were on our way outside for some alone time.”

He started walking again without another word, only stopping once we stepped out into the garden and the chilly breeze of the night met our skin.

“There it is again…” I trailed off as I sat down on the stairs leading outside.

Ran sighed and stared up at the moon. His lips were curled down and eyebrows furrowed together.

I blinked away a tear that threatened to fall from my eyes. “You can go back inside, Ran. I don’t want to keep you away from your people.”

“Don’t stress yourself over her words.” He turned to look down at me. “Our betrothal was announced months ago, it’s only natural they start asking about the wedding and children.”

“I don’t want to start popping out children the moment we get married. It’s the only thing I’ve heard from my mother and aunts for years.” I stood up and pointed at the brunet. “You have absolutely no idea what my life was like growing up. While you got to run around the gardens and get dirty and play all you wanted to, I–”

“Hey, doll–“ Ran muttered as he tried to grab my hand but I was faster than him and took a step back.

“I had to learn how to do my makeup, what utensils to use when, what to say, how to serve tea, what to wear, and how to take care of my- no, not my children, your heirs.”

He remained still as I started punching his chest. His hand raised slightly to gesture his guards away, but he remained otherwise stoic as I let out all my anger with him.

“I never could do whatever I wanted. I wanted to ride my horse around the castle grounds, meet with the villagers every once in a while to see how I could help them, a-and–“ I paused when my voice cracked and let Ran crush my arms between us as he engulfed me in a hug. “I wanted to run my country, my people. I wanted to marry for love.”

I buried my face in his chest, tears falling freely down my face.

“I couldn’t even stand to look at you months ago when we saw each other after so many years. Suddenly I was faced with the very reason I had to learn about being the perfect wife and mother– to be your perfect wife and the doting mother of your children.”

He tilted my chin to make me look at him. “And you think I didn’t want to marry for love? That I didn’t want to, at least, court you and get to know you better after not seeing you for so long before we were thrusted into this relationship?”

“And why didn’t you?”

“My father left me no choice. He doesn’t expect to leave for the heavens anytime soon, but he wants to guarantee that I have an heir as soon as possible.”

I clicked my tongue, pushing him away from me as I walked up the steps. “I can’t believe this. I literally just told you I cannot stand speaking of children, of heirs. Can you even begin to imagine the pressure that puts on me? Can you imagine the scandal if I’m unable to give you any children at all? They’ll blame me, of course. Men are never guilty of infertility.”

Stopping at the top of the stairs, I glanced at Ran over my shoulder. His hands were inside his pockets, lips pursed together as he stared at me.

“Please excuse me with our parents and whoever asks about me. I’m not feeling quite well enough to put up a front right now.”

I took a deep breath and grabbed my skirt, walking down the hallway and away from the loud ballroom.

Closing the library doors behind me, I leaned my back on them and took a deep breath. While my initial intentions were to grab a book and read in my room for a couple of hours until I fell asleep, I didn’t even feel like reading once I got there.

I closed my eyes as I shakily let out the air from my lungs. My knees gave out and I slid down the door, tired of pretending to be the happy little bride my parents’ wanted me to be with Ran.

I felt movement nearby. A chair scraping the floor, then footsteps came up to me until I felt someone sitting beside me.

“I heard you talking to Ran.”

I was met with no other than my future brother in law staring at the ceiling, then meeting my eyes when he noticed my staring.

“Ran’s always been the charismatic brother, always knew what to say to gain our people’s respect and adoration.” He started, arms crossing over his chest as he adjusted his position against the wall. “He’s a natural leader. I’m the second best, always have been. I’m not introverted at all, but since I’m not the heir I’m often overlooked. Even more so after my mother died.”

My heart squeezed when I remembered her funeral and the tears that didn’t stop rolling down both brothers’ cheeks all throughout the funeral. Despite not remembering her much as much as he did, I did know she always treated me like the daughter she never had– how I wished my own mother treated me.

I reached over and took his hand in mine, lilac eyes widening slightly before adjusting his grip to hold onto my fingers. He was quiet for a moment longer, then closed his eyes as he leaned his head on the wall.

“There was so much pressure on his shoulders to be the perfect crown prince and never have a single hair out of place. He always used to put up a stoic front when we had to attend balls and events, loathing putting up with everyone’s hypocrisy.” He squeezed my hand. “Until your engagement was announced and he started appearing with you at all these events. His smiles look genuine now and he almost seems like he enjoys himself.”

“Almost?” I tsked, shuffling closer to the long haired male and pulling our hands to rest on my lap. “Gotta step up my game then.”

He scoffed. “What I want to say is that Ran’s lucky to have you and he knows that, he appreciates you. He would do anything for you… Even honor your wish about children.”

A sigh escaped my lips as I leaned my head on the blond’s shoulder. “I don’t think so. He wouldn’t go against your father.”

“Give him some credit. You’ll be his immediate family when you get married. He’ll probably even learn to love you, the way you deserve.”

“Oh, no. I hope not. I am marrying him because I have no other option, because it’s my duty.” I paused, then shook my head. “I don’t see myself falling in love with him.”

Rindou was quiet for a moment. I closed my eyes as if that would prevent him from feeling my racing heart where my chest was pressed against his arm. His finger hooked underneath my chin and he lifted my face to look at him. My breath hitched at how close we were, my free hand coming up to grab his wrist but making no move to actually push him away.

“Why not?”

It took me a moment to realize what he was asking. I grinned, then let out a laugh at his furrowed eyebrows. “All my teenage years saying I had a crush on you and you’re still wondering why I can’t love your brother? Did you not take me seriously?”

His lips twitched as he failed to hold back a smile. “I believe your exact words were that you were gonna be my wife someday.” He breathed out, fingers moving to cup my cheek.

“I did say that, didn’t I?” I murmured softly.

His fingers tightened around mine. “My father didn’t allow it.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What?”

“I told him I wanted to make you my wife.”

My lips parted at his confession. “Rindou–“

He leaned forward, making me forget just what I was about to say. His eyes fell on my lips as he paused just a breath away from me.

“What?” He murmured softly, letting go of my hand to cup my other cheek. “Did you not take me seriously?” He echoed my own words back to me.

He didn’t move a single inch even as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’m not going to kiss you if you don’t want to. I need a yes from you.”

My eyes fluttered open, they fell on his parted lips. “It’s not that I don’t want to, Rin.”

“Would you kiss me if you weren’t engaged to my brother?”

We stared at each other for a moment. When my lips parted to reply, a knock on the door startled us, making me push the blond away from me. I cleared my throat as he stood, then helped me up. “Yes?”

“I apologize for the intrusion, your Highness. I thought I might find prince Rindou in there, his Majesty and his Highness are looking for him.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding when I realized it was just a servant at the door. I thanked whoever could hear my prayers that it wasn’t Ran at the door since he probably would’ve barged in without announcing himself.

“I believe I saw him heading for the gardens earlier, perhaps you should check outside.” Rindou rolled his eyes, a smile on his lips at my attempt to divert their attention from the upper floors.

“Thank you, your Highness. Don’t hesitate to call for us if you need anything before bed.”

“Will do.”

We remained quiet until we couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore. Rindou chuckled softly, “Guess that’s my cue to go.”

“Don’t keep them waiting.” I turned my back on him, heading toward the bookshelves to grab that book I came into the library in the first place for.

Rindou pulled me back toward him, fingers curling around my forearm to keep me in place. I looked at him expectantly.

“Forget what I said, okay? I don’t want to make you feel like you have to choose between my brother and I, mainly because our families already chose for you.”

He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to my knuckles, then walked out of the library without letting me say another word. My lips slowly curled into a smile despite the disappointment growing in me at the interrupted moment.

I traced my lips absentmindedly with my fingertips. Would I have really kissed him?

[hopelesshaidys]

.・。.・゜✭・.✫・゜・。.

“So yeah, that’s what I would like to do for this shoot! Any questions?”

You sat in the conference room that was just down the hall from the shoot with the all the workers for Bakugou’s shoot. Three nights ago, You and Hitoshi stayed up until 3AM discussing literally every single detail of the shoot. You had made not only a pamphlet that went along with the presentation but a whole slide show that explained why you decided on everything. Toshi said it was overkill, and you said it wasn’t enough.

You stood there as they talked amongst themselves and tried to avoid Bakugou’s piercing gaze as you stood nervously picking at you button up. You didn’t have to dress as professionally for the first time you came here because it was only a test run, so you were able to get away with jeans and tennis shoes. However for this meeting you had to wear dress pants that felt a little more tight than the last time you wore them along with a classic white button up and your favorite black heals.

“If that’s something you don’t like however I do have a whole binder full of ideas that we could start with but of course it would take a day or two to come up with more elaborate ideas-“

“It’s more than enough Miss l/n, in fact we can’t think of a single reason as to why we wouldn’t want to do this. Right Bakugou?”

Everyone in the room turned to him, forcing you to do the same. It was like torture! Every glance of him brought back more memories of that hour and a half worth of the messiest make out session you’ve ever experienced. How can so many things happen in only an hour and a half?! Maybe it’s just his charm, maybe that’s his secret. He’s a hell of an awful kisser but so much can happen in such a short amount of time. Maybe that’s just his whole gist in general! There was so much to learn about this man, and you hated that fact that you wanted to know everything.

“Yeah, I like it.”

Everyone in the room cheered as you and Bakugou maintained eye contact. You smiled at him, trying to be polite but that only ended in him bashfully turning his head away. You stood there still smiling, was it possible you were making the great Bakugou Katsuki flustered?

As everyone started to walk out, Bakugou’s agent, Allison Marks went up to you and hugged you. You were a little taken back but you remembered that Ochacko was the same way when you first met her, so you allowed it and squeezed her back.

“That was incredible! I’ve never seen such focus and passion into this kind of stuff! I mean you had every pose, every lighting change, every angle, every outfit, and even every makeup look! How did you do it?”

You blushed smiling, not having gotten this kind of recognition in a long time.

“I had an amazing friend who got me off my ass and made me work, he brings out the best in me.”

Allison melted at your words, “that is the most beautiful sentiment I’ve ever heard, y/n. You are just such a remarkable woman!”

She gave you one last quick hug, then raced out of the room to catch up with the rest of the team, little did you know Bakugou stayed behind.

“She’s way too energetic for her own good,” Bakugou leaned on the table as you cleaned up the room. You looked up at him before smiling at the thought of her bright aura.

“Yeah but it’s so refreshing to have in this line of work, not a lot of people think of photography as art anymore.”

Bakugou cocked an eyebrow at you, watching you closely.

“Art? You think all of this is art?”

You stopped what you were doing for a moment, before standing up fully again and looking at him. His answer seemed genuine but you still didn’t really know they guy. His voice was gruff and his face was pretty much always the same, except when he gets mad, now that’s something you’d like to watch with popcorn in your hands.

“Of course it’s art. There’s so much creativity and thought that goes into this process, I mean did you not just see my whole presentation?”

You shut the computer down quickly before walking over to the blond, who was now looking very amused at your new frustration.

“Look, you may not understand because all you have to do is stand there and look pretty but the people who work on this really do put a lot of human emotion and expression into making this successful. That’s the key with art, it’s more than just showing sweat drip down your glorious abs.”

You rolled your eyes as you walked away from him, not wanting to be any closer in fear you would somehow black out and end up kissing him again. In your defense his cologne is really strong.

“You think my abs are glorious?”

His tone was teasing, almost like he was testing the waters with you.

What was wrong with this guy? He’s so full of it that he didn’t even pay attention to anything that you said except for the one compliment!

“I’ll see you in ten Bakugou, enjoy your break.”

You tried not to sneer at the selfish man next to you as he passed you, and thankfully he got the hint and let you leave.

“Shit.”

You had finally gotten home after a long day of Bakugoy torturing you. It was so weird because it seemed like he was trying to mess with you but any time you tried to match his energy, he looked the other way and pretended you didn’t exist. What was this guy’s problem! You just wanted to shove him into a wall and make out with him talk things out so it wasn’t awkward anymore. He just wasn’t professional. That was it. He was too immature and you didn’t have to think about him ever again after this.

You were able to calm down by having your third cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table with your laptop. Your team was able to get a lot of good shots today, and they wanted you to edit the pictures they got. The only problem was that the company that you work for now has a contract with this new editing software. They explained it in further detail but your shift was over and you have a nasty habit of turning off your brain whenever your shift ends.

“What is it?” Hitoshi came over to where you were sitting, chewing obnoxiously in your ear causing you to shove his face away. He just laughed and continued chewing, grossing you out further.

“I swear to go Toshi if you get cookie crumbs on my brand new laptop-“

“I’ve never seen this website, what is it?”

You rolled your eyes at his lame way to change the topic but you let him do it anyways.

“I…honestly don’t know. I genuinely have no idea where to even start with this.”

Toshi finally swallowed his food and leaned towards the computer. It did make you giggle a bit, he needed glasses but is refusing to even think about it making him look like an old person whenever he looks at a screen.

“Oh shit yeah, this actually looks like something from the future.”

You chuckled before swatting him away, trying to figure it out on your own. You created a whole career by yourself, all self taught for fucks sake! You can figure this one software program, everything is “new” at one point, you’ll totally make this your bitch!

“y/n you’ve been cursing up a storm for the past ten minutes, just email asking to use a different editing program.”

You grunted, letting your head fall on the table. You stared at the rings that still scattered across your fingers, not yet taking them off from work. Then, you thought of Bakugou again. You literally couldn’t get him out of your head, you’ve only been working at that stupid place for a week and you’ve already found yourself infatuated by him! That’s ridiculous, and not you. After the shit that your first ex made you go through you promised that you wouldn’t get as attached again, not unless it was a long term relationship. You hated situationships and how awful relationships had been for you. You just wanted to find someone you felt at home with.

“Hey, take a break, we can figure this out later.”

You sat up, taking a deep breath and realizing there was a small tear running down your face. You’ll be alright. You’ll find the right person when it’s time.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a second”

You got up and headed to your room, where you were finally able to take off all the little pieces of jewelry and makeup off, and put on some comfortable clothes. As of right now you are home, and that’s good enough for you.

~

“No way! Toshi you never told me you were into Kaminari! This completely changes things!”

You fell back onto the cough laughing as Hitoshi covered his face with a pillow. You couldn’t say you didn’t see this coming, it was quite obvious the day of the party when you introduced him to each other. They already knew of each other from college but you weren’t aware of how many classes they had together and how much Hitoshi watched Kaminari’s channel.

“Shut up. I never told you because I knew you would would be a dick about it.”

You immediately stopped laughing and sat back up. “Toshi! I’m sorry if I ever made you feel uncomfortable, I want to be that person you go to for everything.”

You tried to give him your most impressive puppy dog eyes but all you got in return was a pillow to the face.

“You are the person I go to for everything dipshit, it’s just this is embarrassing and I know I’ll never have the chance to go out with him-“

“Toshi!” you moved the pillow and grabbed your best friend’s shoulders. His eyes widened but quickly went back to his resting “i’m judging you” face. You leaned in close to his face, so close your foreheads were touching. You knew he hated this proximity but you needed him to understand the words that were about to come out of your mouth.

“You are one of the most wonderful person, if not the most wonderful person I have ever met. There is no way in hell he wouldn’t be interested in you.”

Toshi stayed like that for a bit, arms crossed firmly on his chest before allowing his body to fall backwards into the couch. You stared at him, examining his body language. If you hadn’t known him for so long it would have been hard for you to read him, but right now you could tell that he was definitely thinking really hard, trying to comprehend what you had just said to him.

“Kaminari is really good at editing things, I bet you could get him to do it for you.”

Your eyes widened before you hoped up on your feet, scaring Hitoshi.

“Toshi! You’re a genius!” You rushed over and grabbed his face before planting a firm kiss on his forehead. “I knew you were my best friend for a reason.”

You raced to the kitchen where your phone was charging and opened twitter as fast as you could. You only had his twitter, hoping his DMs weren’t flooded with fans trying to talk to him.

“You know I hate it when you do that!”

You smiled as you typed away on your phone, putting it down after you sent a quick explanation to him.

“You know you love it. Want some more popcorn?”

“Duh.”

.・。.・゜✭・.✫・゜・。.

this is why we can’t have nice things…literally

i think i got way too carried away with this one…i just didn’t want to have to do a shit ton for sunday’s post

speaking of sunday! im planning on doing some more written content for that post, and im gonna do a post with a poll if y’all are cool with that. i don’t wanna like explode ur brain with so much plot yk? if y’all are sick of my writing then i’ll just do a silly filler episode or smth idk i’ll think of smth

fun facts! ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

- katsuki was definitely staring at y/n’s ass during her presentation

- katsuki didn’t mean to be rude when he asked y/n the question, it was genuine! he just sucks at showing emotion and y/n isn’t used to his weird behavior/personality yet

- katsuki is also not used to flirting like he thinks he’s soooo good at flirting (he’s not) but when someone he’s actually into reciprocates it freaks him the fuck out

- after they graduated high school bkg basically did the whole speech he did to izuku in the manga and apologized, they both cried and are now on good terms and their families hang out together on holidays again :)

- shoto is low key jealous of bkg, not in a toxic way, just like a pouting puppy, to which izuku always makes sure to smother his face in kisses to make him feel better 🥺

- idc if you agree or not bkg DEFINITELY says “lol” to piss of kami bc he knows it brothers him

- y/n and toshi are siblings your honor. and if you don’t obnoxiously chew in your sibling’s ear are you really siblings?

- toshi follows kami on EVERYTHING, it’s kinda pathetic :/

- kami is nocturnal. that’s it. that’s all i have to say about that.

←Prev˚✧ Next→

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ updates every wednesday and sunday! happy wildest dreams wednesday ✧.*

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ TAGLIST IS OPEN-just message or comment!: @iiilovemilfs @0anodite0 @bakugouswh0r3 @amethyst123 @nijirosz @bakugoukatsukiwifiu @allnamesredacted @ch3rryhaze @ectoplasmictoast @cathwritestragediesnotsins @tati-the-fangirl @autumnfay @call-me-prodigy

[hetalia-angel]

Could you do some headcanons for Prussia, Russia, France, Spain, England and Romano with a darling who's trying to learn their native languages, pretty please?

Ofc Pookie bear. 🩷🩷🩷

Darling trying to learn the countries native language

England

Arthur is so used to everyone already knowing English since it’s the most known language in the world, so having a Darling that wasn’t fluent was a very new experience for him.

Arthur is a dad at heart a dysfunctional one but that’s something for another day. He’ll print off those worksheets that make you write the cursive alphabet and spell different words as a fun activity. Arthur will also try and include reading, movie nights, and listening to music to boost his darling’s fluency.

Arthur will sit his darling in his lap while he reads one page to her and she reads the next as they alternate.

As mentioned before he’s an awkward dad at heart who’s trying to do his best to help.

7/10 for effort in his teaching skills

France

Francis will be very flattered that his darling has decided to learn his language. He’ll try to expose his darling to lots of French media and tv shows to accustom her to the language.

Francis will be whipping out the old children’s books and lullabies he used to use for Matthew and read them to his darling. The children’s books are easy to follow and simple for beginners to understand.

He’s not the best teacher his he’d rather just kiss his darling and murmur the sweet French into her ear instead of explaining it.

Be prepared to receive lots and lots of texts and letter in French. Francis will be declaring his love to his darling at 3am. These messages will be so long that they have the read more button at the bottom to click to see it in full.

Francis gets a 0/10 since I would get into a fight with him any day.

Prussia

Gilbert was immediately very supportive of the idea. He attempts to try and talk to his darling only in German but he has a bad habit of speaking in English so it doesn’t come naturally.

He attempts to show his darling german tv shows… but Germany is notorious for dubbing over them in every language possible. Gilbert could find every one besides the ones in german…

He keeps attempting to teach you until he gives up and asks Ludwig to come over and teach you. Ludwig is a strict and thorough teacher and Gilbert’s darling will definitely be fluent by the end of a few sessions.

4/10 Gilbert tried his best, okay?

Romano

Lovino loves his darling and his language… but he’s a terrible teacher. He has a short temper, doesn’t explain assignments, and is confused when his darling doesn’t understand things he finds simple.

He tries for a few week to teach his darling with no results. Eventually he makes his darling download duolingo and he pays for premium so she can learn faster.

Lovino will occasionally quiz his darling and check in on her progress.

2/10 Lovino is doing his best which isn’t that good. Still better than Francis though.

Russia

Ivan is a sweet guy to his darling 24/7 so when she decides to learn Russian he’s over the moon. He’s booking them a trip to St. Petersburg and taking his darling on a full tour.

He’s as calm and patient as possible with his darling while teaching. Ivan accidentally distracts his darling with his accent since she finds him a little bit too sexy to keep focus on learning.

Ivan’s teaching method is easy enough to follow and he goes all out getting lots of help for his darling to learn. Everything is going smoothly until the day he decides to teach you Russian cursive. Ivan’s darling can’t follow his teachings since she claims that it all looks like scribbles.

9/10 Ivan puts in the effort unlike Francis who I’ve decided I have beef with.

Spain

Antonio is more than happy to teach you everything about his culture and language. He’ll waste no time to show his darling telenovelas and Spanish songs.

Spanish is a widely learnt language so he searches up one of those curriculums online to teach to his darling.

Antonio loves that his darling is learning Spanish mostly so he can find a new way to flirt with her.

[im-a-king-baby]

🪷

Hi! I cannot see this emoji because apparently I need to update several of my devices but I am going to ASSUME it is a flower. <3

Your snippet is about Laura (aka the fan who drove Simon to Bjarstad at the end of a very strange day)

Laura is pretty sure she’s dreaming. The entire night has had this air of unreality and now there’s this boy sitting in her passenger seat staring out the window in a white hoodie several sizes too big.

“What was your name?” he asks.

They’ve been driving for twenty minutes. This is the first thing he’s said since he offered to have sex with her and she said, “Um, no thank you?” like the most awkward person in history.

Google maps says it’s still nearly two hours to Bjarstad. And she can’t put on music because the car only has a CD player and the only CDs she has are Simme albums and Simme is sitting in her passenger seat. “Laura. Laura Andersson.”

He nods. “Hi.”

So fucking surreal. “Hi.”

“Were you looking for me?”

“What?”

“Looking for me,” he repeats. “Like, did Twitter say where I was so you went to find me?”

For a second she’s insulted at the implication, but when she glances over he doesn’t look angry, just tired. Resigned. Like he expects her to say yes.

And she’s seen all the news footage of crowds around the Grand hotel. She was looking on Twitter after the show for other fans talking about the new song but instead it was all people asking where the crew had moved to, rumours about different hotels. “No,” she says. “I was -” she pauses, trying to plan the sentence and tripping up on several words. Funnily enough high school language classes never covered ‘adulterous asshole’. Or maybe they did, she wasn’t great at paying attention. “I don’t know how to say it in English.”

“Oh,” he sounds surprised, like he’d forgotten where he was in between playing the show and now, and switches. “Swedish is fine. Sorry.” His Swedish accent is a bit rough, just like on stage, but he speaks it easily enough. Of course he does, he grew up here.

“I know you don’t like it,” she says.

He laughs softly, at a joke he doesn’t bother to share, letting his head thud against the passenger window. “Did I say that?”

He’s still speaking Swedish, so she switches because translating everything at 3am while her ears are still ringing and she’s driving an unfamiliar route into the middle of nowhere is going to give her a headache. “You gave an interview once where you said you wish you could forget Swedish so that you could forget everything that happened in Sweden.”

“Oh.” He touches his hoodie pocket, like he needs to reassure himself that it’s still there. “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“Is it true?”

He glances sideways at her, possibly looking at her properly for the first time. “Sometimes,” he says. Whatever that means. “So where were you headed, before?”

“I was looking for a hostel. I was supposed to be staying with my boyfriend - I’m from Gothenburg and he’s from Stockholm but he comes over a lot for work. Then he texts me after the show started like ‘actually my wife has decided not to take the kids to her mother’s so you’ll have to get a hotel.’ And obviously I called him and he goes ‘I thought you knew I was married’ like obviously I did not. And the wife doesn’t know about me so all this time I’ve been a fucking homewrecker or something. Anyway all the hotels were booked out from the concert so I was looking for this hostel I saw online in the hope they might have a bed free and then I saw you.”

And she pulled over to check if he was alright and to ask if she could drive him somewhere - half wondering if she could maybe negotiate a room at his hotel, or at least a couch to crash on and somewhere to park overnight - and he’d climbed in and asked if she knew a town called Bjarstad.

It’s kind of on her way home, only adds an hour or so to the overall drive time. And when she’d unsubtly mentioned that she’d need to sleep at some point, he’d dropped that he owned a house there. In some middle-of-nowhere town in Sweden, a country he supposedly hasn’t been back to in nearly 3 years.

Then he’d offered her money, a photograph, and sex, in that order.

“Fuck,” Simme says, his voice is flat but she appreciates the sentiment. “Well. Sorry I fucked up the show for you as well.”

She glances sideways, but she can’t look long enough to get a good sense of his expression without taking her attention off the road. “It was fine. I mean who else can say they got to hear a Simme original song, live.” God, that makes it sound like she hated it. “I mean I loved the song, the song was great.” Or maybe that’s too much enthusiasm for a song he sang like his heart was fucking breaking. “I mean, it was sad. But really pretty.”

She takes her eyes off the road again, to see his mouth quirk into a tiny half smile. “You should send that to my PR team,” he says. “Sad But Pretty. There’s an album title right there.”

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

1, 2, 9, & 10 for end of the year asks 🫶🏼

1. Song of the year?

As for those I listened to the most this year, it's a tie between The Great War by Taylor Swift and ENERGY by Beyonce. As for the songs that came out this year, I’m way too obsessed with Can't Catch Me Now by Olivia Rodrigo 

2. Album of the year?

Again, it's a tie between my two Queens, Taylor and Bey. Midnights and Renaissance were on loop all year. 

9. Best month for you this year?

June. Lots of traveling - on my own, which is always very exciting for me, lots of happy memories made during my favorite comic con, and of course my first concert ever which was BEYONCE and the bar literally couldn't be higher

10. Something that made you cry this year?

There were quite a few negative things that made me cry this year, more than I would have liked, and one of those was the moment I found out that Titans isn't getting another season. It's still hard for me to use the word “canceled” because it hurts so much. I found out at 3am, just as it hit the news, just because I randomly woke up in the middle of the night and decided to check my phone. It's like I knew. Deep in my gut. It was workday so I had to get up in 2h and I spent those 2h sobbing and couldn't keep it together even at work. It sucked extra hard because I didn't even have enough time and space for the news to settle in before I had to go out into the public and act like nothing happened, when inside I felt like my best friend just died. I’ve been through many cancelations/endings of my beloved shows but none has ever hit me this hard.

As for positive things, I have to go back to the concert again. Because it was a huuuuuge deal for me, I’ve been dreaming of going to a big show like this since I was a kid. It was a bucket list moment. It could have been anyone up on that stage and it would have been special, but the fact I was at my first ever concert, it was my first visit in Warsaw AND I was in the presence of THE BEYONCE???! All at the same time?!?!? It's still something I have a hard time believing happened. it's such a pinch me moment. I keep rewatching the videos I took and I can't believe I am actually the one who took them. The second the stage came alive and the music started and I heard her voice, I started sobbing.

[addictivepsychology]

Day 115

Maybe I’ll actually post today instead of writing a few lines then forgetting about it

I haven’t been making the time

I’ve been decently stable enough

It’s so fucked up

When I’m comfortable with who I’m dating

My anxiety goes up in my normal life

Since I gave nothing to focus on

And direct it at

But it’s a good thing

I need to learn to manage

I don’t want chaos

I want to feel safe

And comfortable

And cared for

Hippie called me during my weekend,

But my phone was on do not disturb

And so am I

You said you were too depressed to date

So why reach out

You need to work on you

And I don’t need to be part of that

My weekend

I arrived at the hotel at 1am,

We’re were both dead tired

Long hugs and sweet hellos

After a long two weeks away

I brought you food, we ate and complained about how it wasn’t good enough for how expensive it was

From my work holiday party

The blackout curtains came into good use after the 3am bed time and 11am wake up,

At least we got a full nights sleep

Tangled bed sheets and endless words

Waking up feels so normal

Like this

We chose to get breakfast to go and spend more time in the room

We walk around downtown waiting for the food

The vintage candy store and antique stores look haunted in the depressing town

But we laugh

And say we’re the hottest and happiest In the vicinity

Back to the hotel room, we eat our delicious food back in our comfy clothes

Hours go quickly with some white claws

We go to a couple stores finding nails and glasses for the champagne

I get ready and we choose to get food to go again, we don’t want to deal with crowds,

We sit in the car all dressed up watching a scary movie

Then to the bar for some pool and more drinks

After a few wins, back to the hotel to pour the champagne,

Finally drunk and playing video games,

I realize I’m not good at video games when I’m drunk

But you are

More tangled sheets then it’s snack time!

We get lost in the hotel trying to find the snack bar,

I sit in the chair with wheels and you pull me over to sit around you while you’re on the bed,

We bullshit and sober up with tired and baggy eyes,

We sleep sad, knowing it’s our last night,

We play more video games in the morning and decide on eating breakfast at the park after we check out,

Late check out is never late enough,

We end up at the mall to look around but get evacuated seeing cops with guns walking around,

Some people are running

On the phone with their families

Some people are walking slowly

Workers yelling about gun shots

Eventually we get out

1.5 hours later

But we talk the whole time

Ice cream is a better ending to the day,

You sit me on the car and it’s 7pm,

I have a 4 hour drive

We get back to the hotel to pick up your bike and

I’m sad

We hug

You ask if I’m okay

You say I look so sad

I’m okay as I can be

I sort out parts of my life in my head and

Try and think about how I feel in the moments

That I don’t want to end

But you just stare

And we hug

Until it’s time to go

I will see you next week

Thanks to the holidays being so close

[the-idols-story-thesecretbase]

【𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒚 ❷】 ²³/⁵

—E veryone in the classroom had already left at this hour, the school period itself had already long since been dismissed a while ago. Even a majority of teachers have left for the night. If so, what was I still waiting for...staying back in this empty classroom.

Well a special reason after all. I was still waiting for a special someone to show up, staying back for just him, just waiting for him to turn up for me tonight ~

To put it into words, I had already been waiting for the whole of the day.

It was the 23rd day of May, a seemingly normal day for most people, In fact, even me....or at least until a certain point now. But ever since I’ve been with Kuron, and was in turn introduced to the concept of the Day of Kisses…this special day was made into an occasion that I wouldn’t want to miss spending together with him.

Kiss Day, as the name implies, was a day where you get to spend with a special someone and share a kiss with them.

Laying my head down on the table, my mind replayed with the scene from a year ago today, when I was called up to the school rooftop by Kuron, and it was there and then that I shared a deep pleasant kiss with him.

To be honest…I was actually planning to do that as well this time, inviting him up onto the rooftop to meet up with me there.

But thinking about it, I was always the one that initiates kisses all the time…that’s hardly fair. That’s why I intentionally didn’t do anything at all for today, and maintained ignorance while waiting for him to approach me first.

But I had waited, and waited, and waited…until it was already past midnight.

I took out my phone and checked the time. Sure enough, it was the next day, the 24th now. May 24th, and 3am no less.

……

“What the heck…this bastard. Does he really intend not to do anything and let this day go by? freaking heartless! Why I ought to…”

I grabbed on my hair in frustration, feeling the passage of time just pass by in the background with each passing moment, all the while my patience was dwindling.

I can’t just keep waiting here for nothing…if he really did decide not to do anything in the end, then I might as well go find him myself.

But if I find out that rascal had gone home without even saying anything…

I wasn’t going to let him off easy…

—-- - ರ╭╮ರ

Just as I expected——

Opening the door to Kuron’s exclusive room used for detention classes, I saw Kuron sat there on the front desk—His head lowered, a look of stoicism and stern features on him as he marked papers in front of him.

Despite hearing the door open, he didn’t even react at all, his eyes maintained that firm attention on that pile of books, still holding such a cold attention as he spoke with such emotionless tone in him when he said,

“...Hey, don't you knock before entering? Mind your manners, student.”

…Such a cold heartless bastard.

Letting out a deep sigh, I darted forward towards him, both hands reached out as I slammed them on his desk.

Letting out a thundering slam that made him jolt in a shock, it finally made him lift his head up with an astonished look on his face as he looked at me, as if he finally realized that I was angry, letting out a shudder under the stare of my stern gaze.

“What the——hey, you...! Just what do you think you're doing, huh?——And w-why are you staring at me like that?”

“Are you acting dumb and deaf on purpose, you think that you haven’t pissed me off enough and want to push me over the edge even more, is that it...?”

I stared at those crystalline like eyes with a furious stern gaze, questioning with a harsh threatening tone that got his bewildered expression to seep, those large eyes that stared at me with innocence.

“...C-calm down bro! Don’t be so violent, yet——I don’t even know what I do——I don’t know what I've done to make you so angry though…—”

“...You don’t know? You really don’t know? Then do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you? The whole day, that’s how long! From morning till now—And you still haven’t done anything !”

“...I mean—What was I supposed to be doing—Bro, I had work this morning, and more work at night—I don’t know what else I should be doing—Could you just…spare me and my goldfish memory some slack and tell me exactly what did I miss, nhn…I-I really can’t remember…”

…How disappointing.

I looked at his expression that didn't look like he was pretending to be nervous or shaken, facing those eyes that were almost cowering in fear from me, sniffing, and looking at me with that pitiful gaze as if begging for mercy...

Okay, maybe this idiot... could also forget important things sometimes. Well then...

“...You really don't know what day today is...?”

After listening to my question, Kuron blinked and darted his gaze in all directions, then looked at me carefully and answered,

"...Thursday——Ah, wait, no——Friday?"

...This ignorant fool.

Watching him get so flustered as he stuttered out of his wits, I finally had enough of this time-consuming little show as I grabbed his tie with one free hand and pulled him harshly towards me—Watching as those marble like eyes widened into size and his face morphed to that adorable shocked and taken aback expression as I close my eyes and planted my lips heavily onto his, giving him a passionate kiss thereby on the spot.

——After a while, I pulled my lips away from those lingering sweet tasted ones, opening my eyes as I stared at his face, which cheeks were slightly pink due to shyness, and his gaze that was trying their best to avoid looking back at mine with an abashed look.

Looking at that extremely cute expression that made me want to pin him down on the spot, I felt the corners of my lips tilted up slightly, forming a victorious curve.

“...Happy Kiss Day, my dearest teacher~”

[simscastaway]

I should just go to bed, I’m doing fuck all anyways but it’s fucking group work and they’re meeting tomorrow and- WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU INVITE ME TO BE APART OF YOUR GROUP PLEASE