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mminghaos · 3 months ago

Note

best friend seungcheol whom you have a crush on, but never told him. he doesn't know it either and y'all just bicker all the time as bsf, one day all of it changes when you finally say you found a match on some dating app. he realises it and bam! hot and heavy shit go down.

bitter crush , choi seungcheol x f!reader

SYNOPSIS: your bestfriend doesn’t know you’ve had a crush on him for years, but when you mention matching with someone on a dating app, everything changes.

WARNINGS: smut, fingering, kissing, teasing, mingyu as the failed date lmfao

requests are open, do send some in!!

you’ve been friends with seungcheol since high school, watching each other grow up — first jobs, first kisses, and everything in between, sticking together through the highs and lows. your friendship is built on bickering and teasing each other like it’s second nature. but now, the bickering feels different.

“i matched with someone on that app i told you about,” you say, placing your coffee down on the wooden table of the café you and seungcheol are sitting at.

you’d decided to give a dating app a shot, hoping it would help you take your mind off seungcheol. maybe meeting someone new will help you move on, or at least distract you from the constant thoughts about him. but so far, it’s just more of the same — swiping, chatting, but none of its ever seemed to match the energy you share with him. you might as well move on, since seungcheol has is own hookups and girlfriends, and none of them will ever be you. its frustrating, the way this burning crush for him is always shimmering beneath the surface, gnawing at you. this is going to be the death of you — that’s what you always tell yourself.

“so you’re telling me you’re out here swiping on strangers?” he responds, his voice laced with something you can’t quite place. “what happened to the whole ‘not needing anyone’ thing?”

“it changed.”

“really? that’s weird.” he says, his eyes never leaving you. “thought you were too busy to deal with anyone new.”

you roll your eyes, trying to brush it off. “yeah, well, apparently im not as busy as i thought.”

you’ve never been the type to casually date or get involved with someone just for the sake of it. but lately, things feel different. seungcheol’s always been there — constant, reliable, and annoyingly perfect in his own way — and it’s hard to ignore how your thoughts always circle back to him, no matter how many times you try to push them away. you’ve never said it out loud, never let him in on the truth of how much he’s been occupying your mind, and the idea of dating someone else? it almost feels like a joke. you’re not really here for some random guy who doesn’t know you like he does. but the more you try to distract yourself, the more you realize how little it helps. no matter how many matches you get, no conversation ever seems to compare to the effortless back and forth you share with seungcheol. it’s like you’re chasing something that doesn’t quite exist, and each swipe only makes you feel more frustrated. but you can’t exactly admit that, not to him, not to anyone. so you keep trying, hoping maybe this time will be different, even though you know deep down it won’t be.

“so, who’s this guy?”

you shrug, trying to keep your voice steady. “kim mingyu. he’s nice. we’ve met a few times before, actually — works at that bar down the street.”

seungcheol leans back in his chair, his arms crossed as he watched you. he clears his throat. “just don’t pick some random guy who doesn’t get you, alright?”

“what, are you jealous or something?”

“no.”

the date with mingyu went well. you two got along really great — there was no shortage of conversation, and the chemistry was comfortable. you both enjoyed the meal and found common ground in ways that made the evening feel lighthearted and easy. it was nice, actually, to just relax and enjoy someone’s company without any pressure.

even if the date was good, you and mingyu both agreed that you should just be friends, neither of you feeling the sparks you were hoping for.

you walk into your apartment, slipping off your shoes and placing your keys under the mat. its quiet, the only sound being the soft hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. you head towards the living room, where seungcheol is sprawled on your couch, sorting through the groceries he offered to pick up for you earlier this week.

“you’re back early,” he says, glancing up with a smirk. “thought you were gonna be out all night with your… date.”

you roll your eyes, not really in the mood to talk about it. “it was fine,” you reply, shrugging as you drop your purse on the counter. “nothing special.”

seungcheol raises an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “really?”

you let out a breath, trying to sound casual. “yeah, well, turns out i’m not as interested as i thought.”

he tilts his head, looking at you like he’s trying to figure you out. “what do you mean?”

you hesitate, leaning against the kitchen counter, fingers tapping against the countertop. “we got along, i guess. but we just decided to be friends.”

“huh.” seungcheol shrugs, clearly unconcerned, though there’s something in the way he watches you that makes you pause. “so you’re saying you don’t feel any connection with him at all?”

you shift, rubbing the back of your neck. “it’s just… not there. but whatever. i’m fine.”

“you sure?” seungcheol presses, his voice dropping an octave, and you can’t help but notice how close he’s sitting now. “because i’m sure someone else would love the chance to—”

“ugh, please.” you cut him off, trying to brush it off. “i don’t need some random guy to be interested.”

he smirks, clearly not buying it. “really? sounds like you do.”

you bite your lip, trying to hold onto your patience, but it’s slipping through your fingers. you know he’s teasing, and usually, you’d laugh it off, but tonight feels different. there’s a tension in the air that you can’t ignore, something that’s been building for years. frustration bubbles up inside you, and before you can stop yourself, the words spill out.

“cheol, i like you, okay?” you blurt out, your voice trembling slightly, surprised by how easily it all comes rushing out.

he pauses, his eyes narrowing slightly as he processes your words. there’s a moment of silence, and you feel like you’re about to suffocate under the weight of it. his gaze flickers to your face, then down to your hands, then back to your eyes, as if trying to figure out what’s really going on.

“wait,” he says slowly, his tone less playful and more cautious now. “you’re not drunk, are you? had drinks or something when you were out?”

you quickly shake your head, trying to steady your breath. “no, i’m not drunk. i just—” but the words feel clumsy on your tongue, and suddenly, you’re unsure of how to take them back.

“i shouldn’t have said that,” you mutter, your cheeks burning with embarrassment. “this was stupid, i’m sorry. i don’t even know why i—”

you start rambling, trying to downplay the confession that’s just slipped out. each word feels like it’s digging you deeper, and you just want to take it all back. “i mean, i don’t even know what i was thinking—this is—god, i’m so—”

but before you can finish, seungcheol pushes himself off the couch and walks towards you, stopping just a few inches away. his eyes still lock on yours. the silence stretches, and you feel your heart race, your breath catching in your throat. you want to say something, to apologize again, but all the words are caught in your chest.

“stop,” he says softly, his voice low, but there’s an intensity in it that you can’t ignore.

you open your mouth, wanting to explain, to take back the awkward confession, but the words jumble in your mind. “it’s just… i didn’t want to make it weird, and now i’ve probably ruined everything—”

seungcheol doesn’t say anything, just watches you with an unreadable look in his eyes, waiting for you to stop rambling. you go on anyway, trying to explain yourself, even though you can feel yourself getting more flustered with each passing second.

before you can continue, he steps forward, his hand gently cupping your face, cutting off your words. you freeze, eyes wide, but before you can process anything, his lips crash onto yours, effectively silencing you.

the kiss is deep and urgent, like he’s been holding back too. your brain barely registers what’s happening as your hands instinctively move to his chest, but the tension that had been building between you both for so long snaps. everything goes quiet in your mind, and for the first time tonight, all the chaos and nerves fall away, replaced by the heat of his kiss.

the kiss lingers for a moment, intense and raw, as if neither of you wants to pull away. your breath mingles with his, the world around you blurring until there’s only the feeling of him so close, so real. your heart pounds in your chest, each beat echoing in your ears, and you can feel the tension in his body as he holds you just a bit tighter, as if he’s afraid you might slip away.

when he finally pulls back, you’re left breathless, your forehead resting against his as you both try to catch your breath. his hands are still on you, one gently holding your face, the other resting on your hip, grounding you.

“you really don’t make things easy, do you?” he murmurs, his voice a little hoarse, the teasing edge back in his tone, but it’s softer now, more affectionate.

you don’t trust yourself to speak right away. all the words that had been stuck in your chest before are now lost, replaced by the overwhelming feeling of him so close, his touch still lingering on your skin. instead, you look up at him, meeting his eyes, trying to make sense of everything, but before you can say anything, he smiles slightly, a genuine, soft expression.

“i didn’t realise how much i liked you until you told me about that guy,” he admits, brushing his thumb over your cheek gently. “i was too stupid to notice.”

you dont get to reply because his hand moves down your back, pulling you closer, your chest pressed against his. the room feels warmer now, charged with something you can't ignore. your hands find their way to his chest, pushing lightly at first, unsure if you should pull away or let it happen. but he doesn't give you that chance.

his lips return to yours, but this time, there's more urgency in it, his kiss deepening as his tongue brushes against yours. you let out a soft sigh, the tension that's been building between you two for what feels like forever finally snapping. he groans, his hand moving to your neck, holding you in place as he deepens the kiss further. the heat between you both grows, and you can feel every inch of him pressing against you, making your pulse quicken.

seungcheol's voice is low, almost a whisper as he takes a step back, hands resting on your waist, grounding you both. "do you want to keep going?" he asks.

you nod, your heart racing, but your mind is clear. “yes.”

he doesn't say anything more, just nods and gently takes your hand, leading you through the apartment. when you get to your room, he lays you down on the bed gently, his hands never leaving you.

seungcheol hovers over you, his eyes searching yours for any sign of hesitation, any sign that you’re unsure. you can feel his body close to yours, the warmth radiating off him. “are you sure?”

“yes, cheol.” you let out a light laugh, pulling him closer. “im sure.”

his lips trail down your jaw, each kiss softer than the last before he moves to your neck, his teeth grazing slightly over the skin. you let out a soft sigh once he pulls back after reaching where your shirt starts. before he can say anything, you’re reaching for the hem of your shirt, pulling the fabric over your head.

seungcheol takes a moment, his gaze lingering on you before meeting your eyes again.

“you’re so beautiful,” he says, unclasping your bra and slipping it off. “god.”

his hands find their way to your pants as he trails kisses down your chest, each one growing more desperate as his lips move lower. the warmth of his breath against your skin sends a shiver through you, and you can feel your heart race with every gentle press of his lips.

eventually, he pulls your pants off, discarding them somewhere on the floor behind him. “please.” you breathe out

“hmm?” he responds, his fingers slipping just under the band of your panties. “what do you want, baby?”

“need you inside me, please.”

he glances down at you, lips twitching up into a smirk. “patience.”

“no, no, no— cheol, please—” you whimper out.

“don’t worry, you’ll get what you want.” he cuts you off, pressing a light kiss to your collarbone.

when he finally stops teasing you and pulls your panties down, tossing them god knows where, you’re already a mess underneath him. every nerve in your body is on edge, anticipation building as he slides two fingers through your folds. “fuck, you’re soaking wet for me, baby.” a low groan escapes his lips, his restraint wavering as he fights to hold himself back.

he slowly pushes one finger into your pussy, giving you a moment to relax before he adds another and starts to curl them into all the right places.

“cheol!” your head falls back against the pillow, hand going to grab his wrist for some sort of stability.

“yeah, you like that?”

you’re already so close — just from the way his fingers move inside you, hitting every spot that sends sparks shooting througu your body.

you nod over and over again, hips rising to match the rhythm of his movements. “don’t stop— fuck— please, im so close.”

your breath hitches, and you clutch at his arm, desperate for grounding as the sensations overwhelm you. every stroke of his fingers feels like its pulling you closer to the brink, and the tension in your body winds tighter with each passing second. “please—” the word slips out as a whisper, barely audible. your legs start to shake, the pleasure coursing through you almost too much to bear.

before you can even warn seungcheol, you’re coming undone all over his fingers, hips bucking up at the same time.

“god, thats so hot.” he mutters, but you’re too out of it to know if its to you or himself.

"you alright?" seungcheol asks softly, his hand resting on your hip as he looks down at you with concern. his touch is gentle, almost hesitant, as if he's checking for any sign of discomfort.

you nod, your breath still ragged, a soft smile tugging at your lips. "yeah, i'm good. just... didn't expect that." your voice is breathy, the lingering effects of the moment still making your body tingle.

seungcheol smirks, clearly pleased with the reaction. "you sure you're not too overwhelmed?" he teases, his hand moving to brush a strand of hair out of your face.

you laugh softly, the sound shaky but genuine. "im fine" you reply, looking up at him with a playful glint in your eye. "was that your way of saying you like me too?"

“it was.” he smirks, eyes locking onto yours. “think you can go for one more round?”

he really is going to be the death of you.

#seventeen #svt #svt smut #seventeen smut #seungcheol #scoups #choi seungcheol #choi seungcheol smut #scoups smut #seungcheol smut #kpop #kpop smut #kpop fanfic #seventeen x reader #svt x reader #smut #fanfic

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puckinghischier · 8 months ago

Text

Spotlight

luke hughes x fem!reader

summary - reader prefers to stay out of the spotlight being luke hughes’ girlfriend brings

notes - y’all asked for luke, so luke you’ll get. i wanted to try to get out at least one more fic for you guys before my semester kicks off tomorrow. i don’t know how often i’ll be able to write once things get going, but i’m going to try my best not to completely disappear again. i don’t really like the ending of this, but i hope you enjoy it anyways. happy reading! 🫶🏼

request - “go with me?” “only if you’ll hold my hand” “take my jacket, i don’t want you catching a cold”

[2.3k]

You were someone that absolutely hated the spotlight. You hated the feeling of eyes on you, the knowledge that every move you make is being observed and analyzed.

You flew under the radar all through school, until college. You managed to become valedictorian of your program, earning a highly sought after position with a company based out of New Jersey.

The city has always brought a sense of anonymity to you that you’ve enjoyed. The ability to be a stranger everywhere you go brings a certain comfort to you.

That is, until you met one of the most well-known men in Jersey.

You first met Luke at an event your company was hosting in partnership with the Devils to present them with a hefty donation for a new practice facility. You had tried to get out of going, suit and tie events not being your typical scene, but your boss informed you that you were required to attend.

Even wearing the most plain dress you could find, you caught the attention of none other than the team’s rookie defenseman. You had tried to politely make your exit, but Luke was too intrigued by the pretty stranger in the corner.

The two of you had spent the rest of the night talking, despite the feeling of every eye on you as Luke lead you back to a table. The two of you exchanged numbers at the end of the event, Luke inviting you out to a game. He offered to give you a ticket, but you informed him that your company had rink-side season seats, courtesy of the GM after the donation.

You attended games regularly after that night, blending in the sea of red with Luke’s own Jersey on your back—another perk of the large donation— while also chatting with Luke nearly every day over text, which eventually morphed into phone calls, then facetime calls when he was on the road.

Four months after your initial meeting, Luke decided to make it official and put a label on your relationship.

You had worried about the unwanted attention that came with being a ‘WAG’ as you learned the other significant others on the team were nicknamed, but your feelings for Luke were greater than any discomfort you may experience.

Now, though, looking at the hoard of photographers that are stationed around the rink, your anxiety begins to spike a little.

“Honeybee, I promise it’ll be fine. They probably won’t even focus on us, anyways. They’ll want a few shots of me and Jack with mom and dad, but it’s likely they’ll be too busy on the guys with kids to even notice you’re with me,” Luke reassures you, crouched in front of you while tying your skates.

Today was family skate day for the team, Luke having asked you weeks ago to participate with him.

You agreed, despite your limited ability to skate, thinking it was just going to be the players and their families, no media presence. When you arrived with Luke this morning, however, and you saw the photographers trying to get pictures through the windows of Luke’s BMW, you realized you were wrong.

“I’m just nervous, Luke,” you tell him quietly. “I know if they release pictures of you with a girl during family skate it’s going to be the next big hockey gossip topic, and then it’ll feel like I’m under a microscope.”

Luke’s soft eyes look up at you, sensing the nervousness in your own.

“I know, sweet girl. But I promise, I’ll have Tom talk to the media and tell him to withhold any pictures of us together, if that makes you feel better?” he offers, picking up your now skate clad foot off of his knee and placing it on the padded floor.

You think about the offer, but realize it would still cause unwanted attention on you. You don’t want to be difficult, just invisible.

“No, I don’t want to overcomplicate things. It’s fine. Like you said, I’m sure they’ll mostly focus on everyone else,” you smile down at him, watching his own grin overtake his face.

“Well then, it’s time we finally get you acquainted with the ice. I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of it in your future,” he winks, standing to his full height and holding a hand out to help you off of the bench.

He helps you walk over to the entrance to the rink, steadying you after every wobble. Once you reached the gate, you hesitate, halting your movements.

“C’mon, Honeybee. Go with me?” Luke asks you, already having stepped on the ice.

Thinking about what this means once more, and the huge step it is, no only onto the ice but in your relationship, you hesitate for only a few seconds.

“Only if you hold my hand,” you tell him, your words going deeper than just ice skating.

“Always,” he responds, tugging your hands towards him when you step onto the ice, shakily keeping your balance.

“Well, look at you, Wallflower, out here skating with the big dogs,” Jack calls out, skating up towards you and Luke.

Looking over to give him a short smile, you try to keep a majority of your attention on not falling over as Luke slowly pulls you towards him as he skates backwards.

“Figured it can’t be that hard if you do it all the time,” you tease him back, the two of you becoming close friends over the course of yours and Luke’s relationship.

Jack, as rambunctious and rowdy as he can be, is one of the people who works the hardest to keep you out of the spotlight, other than Luke, of course.

On the rare occasion you decide to tag along for team outings with Luke, Jack will act as your own personal body guard, perfectly hiding you in-between him and Luke anytime there’s a flash of a camera or a squeal of a fan.

“Oh, yeah, make fun of the professional. Let’s see you do this,” Jack makes a big show of skating backwards while swiveling, then executing a very poor jump, but still managing to land upright on his skates.

You roll your eyes at him, only glancing up for a few seconds at a time, trying to keep your eyes on your own feet.

“Alright, Jack, that’s enough showing off. Give the poor girl a break,” you hear Ellen scold her middle child as her and Jim skate over towards the three of you, hand in hand.

“Hey, she started it. I was just trying to defend myself,” he holds his hands up in surrender.

Luke guides you over to one of the short walls, allowing you to hold onto it for support for a second, giving you a break.

“Don’t act like you have to have a reason to show off, it’s just your natural state,” you tease Jack again, earning a laugh from the rest of the group.

“You got me there,” Jack doesn’t argue, shrugging his shoulders in agreement.

“Jack! Luke! Over here!” you hear a voice yell, turning to look at the photographer a few feet away from you, leaning over the wall with his camera pointed in your direction.

You feel the spike of anxiety in your chest, attempting to scoot further down the wall to separate yourself from them, but nearly losing your balance.

Luckily Luke was right there to catch you. “Hey, it’s okay. They’ll just get a few pictures of our family together and then move on,” he assures you once he makes sure you’re steady enough to be left alone.

You watch as Jack and Luke position themselves in just the right way that you’re completely hidden behind them, the added bodies of Ellen and Jim only ensuring your hidden state.

The photographer snaps a few shots of the family before giving a thumbs up, looking down to check the quality of his pictures.

You let out the breath you were holding in, sagging a bit at the relief of avoiding any unwanted attention.

“See, told you there was nothing to worry about,” Luke skates over to you again, leading you away from the wall.

“Luke! How about a shot of you and your lady!” the same photographer yells out, causing your relaxed state to turn rigid in a heartbeat.

“Nah, man. No pictures for her today. Just me and Jack,” Luke replies, skating to stand in front of you, blocking you from the camera pointed at you.

“Oh, c’mon, man. The fans will love it!” the photographer tries again, attempting to move positions to catch a glimpse of you.

“He said, no, man. Go get some shots of Cap or something. She doesn’t want her picture taken,” Jack skates up, standing in front of both you and Luke.

The photographer rolls his eyes, agitated at the loss of a good picture opportunity. “Fine, whatever,” the man huffs, turning and walking towards Nico and his family.

“Thanks, you guys,” you mumble out, embarrassed at the interaction.

“I told you, no pictures if you don’t want them,” Luke turns to face you, taking your hands in his once again, pulling you out further onto the ice.

The rest of the skate goes smoothly, no more unwanted attention from the photographers, just you and Luke and his family skating in small circles and having a good time.

Towards the end of the skate, you start bringing your gloved hands up to rub at your red nose, the chill of the ice finally getting to you.

“You cold, Honeybee?” Luke asks you, knowing how chilled you get, even when wearing layers like you were right now.

“Yeah, it’s a little chilly in here. Not that you’d know,” you tease your boyfriend, gesturing to his full set of pads and jersey he was wearing. Not to mention his tolerance for the cold anyways.

He leads the two of you over towards the benches, leaving you leaned against the wall for a second before returning with something in his hands.

“Here, take my jacket, I don’t want you catching a cold,” he tells you, draping your favorite plaid jacket of his over your shoulders.

You put your arms through the large sleeves, loving how you were now engulfed in the smell of his cologne.

Thanking him, you lean up to give him a small kiss, not caring who was watching, lost in your love for your boyfriend.

“Alright, let’s get you out of these skates and back into your normal shoes before people start filing in for warm ups. I have a game to play and you have to get to your seat so you can watch your hunky boyfriend do his manly job of hitting people and chasing a piece of rubber on ice,” he tells you, causing you to laugh at him, bringing a hand up to ruffle his curls.

After helping you remove your skates, and pouting until you give him a good luck kiss, Luke shoos you away so you can make your way to your usual seat, Jim and Ellen opting to join you at the glass rather than sitting in a box with some of the other player parents.

The boys ended up winning their game, Luke coming straight out of the locker room after the game and picking you up in a celebratory spin, claiming you have to go skating with him before every game now.

You laugh at his superstitious self, grabbing his hand and walking towards the exit of the rink with him to join the rest of the team for celebratory drinks, not wanting to bail on Luke after such a game.

Weeks later, when you see an article containing the pictures from the family skate event, you click on it and scroll through the various snapshots.

You find yourself smiling at all of the family pictures of Luke’s teammates, enjoying how happy the guys are to have their wives and kids with them on the ice.

Scrolling all the way to the end of the article, you find yourself stopping on a couple pictures in particular, the familiar pit of anxiety forming in your stomach.

The last two pictures in the article are pictures of you and Luke. The first was taken when he was zipping up the jacket he gave you, the two of you looking at each other with so much fondness you could feel the love radiating from the picture.

The second is when you were craning your neck to give Luke a small kiss, the picture captured right before your lips touched, both of you smiling at the other with the same fond look in your eyes.

Your immediate reaction should have been a level three meltdown, your picture out there with Luke, officially, in an ESPN article of all places, but you were surprisingly calm. You should have been screaming and angry, having specifically told the photographer no pictures, but you couldn’t find that anger within yourself.

The pictures showcased yours and Luke’s love for each other so well, you wanted copies of them for yourself. Suddenly you didn’t care if people knew your name, or your face. You could care less if you were front and center on every hockey gossip page in existence.

All you cared about was the amount of happiness you saw on Luke’s face in the pictures, and how deeply you felt about him.

So, when Luke called you an hour later, panicked and telling you he was in the process of getting them taken down, you told him it didn’t matter. They didn’t need to be taken down, because you didn’t care if you had to stand naked in the middle of the rink during puck drop at his next game, you just wanted people to know you loved him with every ounce of your being.

Your aversion to attention be damned, seeing these pictures made you want to scream your love for him from the rooftop of the highest building in Jersey. You were still opposed to the idea of unwanted and unnecessary attention, but decided right here that there would be no more hiding. You were going to be there for Luke in any way he wanted or needed you from here on out. And if you happened to be caught in a few pictures on the way? Well, you guess you’ll just have to get them framed.

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jobean12-blog · 10 months ago

Text

The Fine Print

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader (CEO!Bucky AU)

Word Count: 4,126

Summary: You've been working under Bucky for almost a year and he's always been a grumpy ass and even though when the lines get blurred you can't seem to stay away.

Author's Note: These new pics and all the new gym shots and vids and yum! Just being fed so well! I like the idea of a grumpy CEO who just wants you and he's mad about it. No excuse for being a dick but he's not really all bad. And anyway, I'd never tell him no...haha! Thank you all so much for reading! Much love always! ❤️❤️❤️Thank you Daisy for the lovely divider @firefly-graphics😘

Warnings: Grumpy ass Bucky (he's a total ass sometimes but has moments of softness), sassy reader, lots of tension, flirting, curses, fingering, light dirty talk

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

You’re late. Only twenty minutes but it’s long enough that your grumpy ass of a boss will have your head for it.

Grumpy…and an ass but entirely too gorgeous.

You pick up the pace, precariously balancing your files and bags and hoping you don’t faceplant on the newly shined floors.

Getting a flat tire on the highway this morning wasn’t on your long to-do list for today, but it still happened and now you’ll have to deal with a very cranky Mr. Barnes.

You round the corner and enter your office, ready to give your usual sunshine filled greeting.

“Good morning, Mr. Barnes!”

He’s standing at your desk, arms crossed over his broad chest and his eyes hard.

“Is it a good morning?” he asks, not bothering to move out of the way as you try to slip around him. “What time is it?”

You stop and meet his glare.

“I had some car trouble this morning. I got a flat on my way in.”

Your voice comes out steady and strong and relief floods through you. This was the first time you were late, and you were not going to be reprimanded.

“Trouble is quite the fitting word for what I’ve been dealing with in your absence.”

You glance up at him and his antagonizing stare, and blink away your surprise at his words.

“I would have thought you would at least ask me if I was ok Mr. Barnes,” you say sweetly and with a smile. “After all, how could I possibly manage to fix a flat tire all on my own.”

His jaw clenches tightly.

“Obviously you managed,” he counters. “And you look just fine.”

Beautiful blue eyes wander languidly down your body before making their slow perusal back up to study your face.

You try to school your features and when he raises an expectant brow you bite back with, “Thankfully I am fine, and I got help but I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with the burden of picking up a telephone and sending an e-mail all on your own this morning. It won’t happen again.”

He takes a step closer to you and you stop yourself from swaying forward to get a hint of his scent.

Traitorous body. If only the fucker wasn’t so fucking hot.

“You’re right. It won’t,” he replies with a smug smile. “And just so you don’t forget, I’d like to see…”

He spends the next minute rattling off several project pieces he’d like to see completed and on his desk by the end of the day.

“And then you can make up the half an hour you missed by getting together a mock presentation for our meeting tomorrow.”

When your nostrils flare, he smiles triumphantly and dips his head, so his warm breath caresses the shell of your ear.

“I’ll see you in the conference room at six.”

He turns away and slams his office door behind him and you let out an exasperated puff of air.

“It was only twenty minutes asshole.”

You mutter the words under your breath as you plop into your office chair and continue to curse his name in grumbles.

There’s a light knock on the door before it opens and you know you’re about to hear the voice of your friend and coworker, Jess.

“I know you’re working through lunch,” she says. “So at least let me get you something.”

You don’t look up but smile nonetheless, your fingers flying over the keyboard with ease.

“Honestly, I don’t even think I have time to eat,” you say before hitting the period button hard and meeting her eyes.

Jess gives you a sympathetic look. “I’ll grab you something nutritious.”

She waves before gently shutting the door. You lean over to check your desk drawer for snacks, the mention of lunch reminding you that you are in fact, hungry. At the same time that you see you have nothing to eat you notice a tear in your stockings.

“Son of a bitch,” you grumble. “I just bought these.”

Less than a minute later your door opens again and without looking up from your screen you whine, “do you know what, after the morning I’ve had I think I’ll take something sweet…maybe a cookie. Or twelve. Or chocolate of any kind.”

When you receive no acknowledgement, in return you glance up and see that Jess is not standing at your door.

You quickly tug the hem of your skirt down, noting how Bucky’s eyes track the movement and linger on your legs.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Barnes, I didn’t realize…”

“Since your morning has been so awful,” he starts, his sly smile growing, “why don’t you run down to the café and pick us both up some lunch.”

Your lips purse and once again his eyes seem glued to every action you take.

“Mr. Barnes, Jess has just come in and said she would grab me something to eat so I can continue working through lunch.”

When he doesn’t say anything, you continue.

“I have A LOT to get done.”

“I’m sure you’ll make it work,” he says before rattling off his lunch order.

He turns on his heel and takes two long strides back to his office, pulling the door closed hard behind him.

“What the f…?”

You don’t even finish the sentence when he opens the door again and pokes his head out.

“Make sure you get yourself something to eat. We’re going to be here late.”

The door slams shut again, and you abruptly stand, your rolling chair flying back into the wall as you storm off.

“Why does he care if I eat or not?” you ask yourself as you angrily stuff things into your bag and throw it over your shoulder.

The rest of the day goes by far too quickly and you find yourself cursing out the copy machine as you wait for the rest of your papers to go through. Checking your phone you see you’re already almost ten minutes late to your afterhours ‘meeting.’

You rush down the dim hall of the now empty building, your presentation materials clutched tightly to your chest and glance again at your phone.

Fifteen minutes. Shit.

As you near the conference room, you try to calm your breathing and slow to a walk. A soft light shines from under the door, and you know he’s in there waiting for you.

Taking a deep breath you knock.

“Come in.”

You walk into the large room, never failing to take in the view of the city that the floor to ceiling windows along one wall highlight.

At the head of the large dark wood conference table, sits Bucky. His suit jacket is hanging haphazardly over the back of his chair, his tie is loose around his neck, and the crisp white sleeves of his button down are rolled up to his elbows.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Barnes. The copy machine…”

Realizing you’ve been apologizing all day, and it has made no difference, you stop yourself and lift your chin, walking over to where he sits and placing down your papers, sorting through them as quickly as possible so you can begin.

“Have you eaten dinner?” he asks.

His question takes you completely by surprise and you meet his piercing blue eyes with a confused expression.

“I uh…I had lunch.”

“That doesn’t answer my question sweetheart.”

At his sugared endearment, your eyes widen, and your breath catches in your throat, but you regain your composure.

“No. I haven’t.”

He just nods and gestures to the papers, clearly waiting for you to get started.

You lean over the table, searching for the paper you need and in your disheveled state don’t realize your entire lower body is practically draped over him.

“I just need to find…”

The words catch in your throat when you feel his fingers softly touch your thigh, slowly inching higher to reveal the tear in your stocking. His fingertips trace the sheared fabric and press against your skin, igniting it with heat.

Every muscle in your body tenses, your heart pounds in your chest and your brain screams at you to push him away but you don’t dare move.

“Look at me,” he demands, pressing his fingertips harder into your skin.

You straighten and turn to face him, his hand sliding up and over the curve of your hip to settle on your waist.

“Mr. Barnes?” you ask, keeping your eyes trained on his.

“James. Call me James.”

The intensity of his stare makes your breath catch and when he doesn’t answer and instead continues letting his hand trace your curves you battle with your emotions.

“The next time you have car trouble,” and his hand slips under your skirt again, “you call me.”

“What? Why would I?”

His fingertips graze the lace top of your stocking before he lifts your skirt higher and drops his eyes between your legs.

“Because I said so,” he murmurs, teasing along your inner thigh.

Your hand falls to the table to steady yourself and you willingly spread your legs open when he gives them a slight push.

“That’s hardly a good reason,” you breathe out.

“Fuck,” he growls, and his eyes fall closed.

You glance down at his lap and see him straining against the expensive fabric of his pants.

He smooths two fingers along the line of your panties, lightly pressing against your swollen and sensitive clit. His eyes open and he looks furious, fisting the thin material in his hand and in one quick movement, tearing it off.

He pulls you down roughly onto his lap, your skirt riding up over your hips to accommodate the wide spread of your legs as you straddle him.

An involuntary moan slips past your parted lips when he grabs your ass and drags you down over his hard cock.

When he opens his mouth to speak you grab his tie between your fingers and use it to pull his mouth to yours. Every sweep of his lips is heaven, and you release his tie to rake your fingers through his hair.

He makes a low, angry noise deep in his throat and you trail your lips along his jaw, kissing your way down the strong column of his neck.

His hand slides from your ass and slips between your legs, his fingers brushing through the wetness just before there’s a knock on the door.

You both go completely still and wait. When a second knock sounds, he quietly curses and gently lifts you off his lap.

You quickly pull your skirt down and smooth your hands over your hips. He watches your every move as he runs a hand through his mussed hair and sits up in the chair, hiding his legs and erection under the table.

“What?” he growls, loud enough for whomever is on the other side to hear.

“Mr. Barnes, we’re scheduled to do maintenance in here tonight.”

He curses again and continues to stare at you.

“I’m just finishing a meeting. Give me five minutes.”

“Of course, Mr. Barnes,” the maintenance manager, says, “take your time.”

His chest rises and falls rapidly as he splays his hands out over the tabletop. Hastily he stands and tries to straighten his tie, his eyes landing on your ripped panties that lie on the floor.

He grabs them and rubs the silky fabric between his fingers.

“Make sure you eat something,” he says and then shrugs on his suit jacket, tucking your panties into the breast pocket.

You’re clutching the table and staring as he grabs his briefcase and starts toward the door.

“It’s late. I’m going to have security walk you to your car,” he states, finally meeting your eyes.

His groan is pained as his gaze travels down your body and then he disappears out the door.

You fall back into a chair and try to calm your breathing. You’d have to be out of here in a minute and you didn’t want to look suspicious. Seeing movement outside the door you begin gathering your things and stand on still shaky legs.

With a deep inhale you straighten your shoulders and walk out the door with a serene smile, greeting the head of security and thanking him for escorting you out.

What the fuck just happened?

The next morning you’re making your way into the office when he walks in. You do nothing more than greet him with a curt nod, giving him a wide berth of space as you make your way to your desk.

You can feel his eyes on you, the lick of heat traveling down your spine. You’re wearing your favorite dress and while it’s appropriate for the workspace it accentuates all the right spots, and you smile to yourself as you bend down to retrieve something from your desk drawer.

Regardless of what transpired last night you are not going to let it affect your work. You felt powerful and confident in this dress and Mr. Barnes can fuck off.

You peek over your shoulder to find him standing halfway in the doorway of his office and staring. You raise your brows and blink.

He clears his throat and mumbles a short “good morning,” then steps into his office and slams the door.

You roll your eyes and promise yourself he’ll be the last thing on your mind as you set out to get as much work done today as possible.

As lunch approaches you grab your bag and reach for your wallet. Your fingers close around a crumpled piece of paper, and you start to smile when you’re reminded of what it is.

You knock on his office door and saunter inside when he says, “come in.” The receipt hits his desk with a smack and without an explanation you turn and walk back out.

You almost make it to the first step in the stairwell when you hear footsteps approach behind you.

“Where the hell do you think you’re running off to?” he calls.

You continue walking and make it down one flight of steps before saying, “to get lunch.”

He meets you on the landing and clutches your elbow, spinning you around and pushing you against the wall.

Your eyes narrow contemptuously.

He whips the receipt out and in front of your face. “Want to explain this sweetheart?”

You let out a wry chuckle. “You know for such a smart guy you really are an ass sometimes. It’s a receipt.”

“I can see that,” he says through clenched teeth. “What I want to know is why you’re making purchases for…lingerie…on my company credit card.”

“Some jerk ripped up my favorite pair of panties last night.”

You shrug your shoulders and try to skirt past him.

His hand meets the wall next to your head, his fingers curling and crumpling the receipt and you can feel how tightly the muscles in his body are flexed when he presses closer.

He looks tormented for the split second before his lips crash down on yours and your treacherous body melts into the kiss.

His cock throbs against your stomach as he tries to hike your dress up over your thighs. Reluctantly he steps back, making enough space so he can slowly slide your dress higher, above your panties and look his fill.

“I like this pair even more than last nights,” he simpers.

His fingers hook into the lace at your hip, and you grab his shirt. “Don’t you dare Barnes.”

“You can buy as many new pairs as you want.”

He once again easily tears them from your hips.

Your lips part in shock but he swallows your sassy remark with his mouth. The roughness of his kiss is a sharp contrast to the way his fingers softly tease between your legs.

You need more but you’ll be damned if you’re going to beg him for it. As if he can read your inner thoughts, his eyes light up in triumph when he pulls away to meet your gaze.

“As much as I want to hear you beg me for it sweetheart, I already know how badly you want it. You’re soaked for me.”

“You’re such an ass…”

He slides a finger inside you and your combined groans echo in the empty stairwell, the insult dying on your lips.

His stare is intense as he dips his head to your ear, warm lips brushing ever so gently when he whispers, “say please and I’ll give you what you want.”

Instead, you nip at his jaw, stifling the moan of need that threatens to rise in your throat. He continues pumping one finger in and out, sweat beginning to bead on his brow and his teeth gritted.

You hiss out a curse that’s followed by a breathy “please.”

You’re expecting him to be smug but instead he slows his movements and languidly pushes a second finger inside you, clearly relishing the way your eyelids flutter closed and you clench around him.

“That’s it sweetheart. Show me how much you love it when I fuck you with my fingers.”

His words practically send you over the edge but it’s the press of his thumb to your clit that makes your legs start to shake and his name fall from your lips like a prayer.

When his head falls to your neck and he places soft kisses along your skin, traveling up to your ear to whisper, “come for me gorgeous,” you let go and dig your fingernails into his strong shoulders, finishing with a muffled cry.

He draws out your pleasure with the slow push and pull of his fingers before sliding them out and holding them between you, his skin glistening under the harsh fluorescent lights.

His fingers press to his lips, parting them as he licks them clean, clearly savoring every drop of your taste.

“I knew you’d be sweet,” he croons.

“James,” you whimper when your hands fall to his pants.

He grabs your wrist to stop you and pushes your hand away. With soft movements he fixes your dress, smoothing his hands along your curves.

“But…” you start, and he silences you with a kiss.

You’re breathless and your head is fuzzy by the time he pulls away and with a wink he steps back and says, “lunch is over. We have a meeting to attend.”

He turns on his heel and jogs back up the steps with ease. Your narrowed eyes follow him before you let out a frustrated huff and walk on wobbly legs in the same direction.

You had forgotten all about the meeting…the one you were supposed to go over the plans for the night before.

When you walk into the large conference room everyone is already seated and Bucky is of course at the head of the table. His eyes are trained on you as you walk to the front and place your things down near him.

The presentation you’re giving shouldn’t take more than ten minutes, but there’s a lot riding on it and after what just happened, you’re obviously feeling flustered.

You open your document and greet and address the room, doing everything in your power to keep your focus on where it belongs and not on him.

But when you pause your eyes lock with his and your ability to speak is momentarily stolen. His gaze is intense, the heat simmering there almost palpable.

With a clear of your throat you continue, fumbling slightly but thankfully recovering quick enough that no one seems to notice. No one but him.

His perfect lips raise in a lopsided grin, and he runs his tongue along the seam of his lips. It’s clear where his thoughts are, and you must tear your eyes away to unscramble your head. He’s obviously trying to fluster you and quickly your nerves are replaced with anger, and you use it to fuel the rest of your presentation, finishing it with ease.

You sit with a smile and lift your chin, challenging him with your eyes. He stares right back.

“Thank you,” he says, addressing you by your first name as he stands and commands the room. “That was an excellent presentation. Clearly, you were well prepared.”

You can’t tell if his words are mocking or meaningful and it sets you on edge. He moves around the room and answers any lingering questions before ending the meeting with a dismissive hand.

As people stand and gather their things, Bucky comes up behind you, pressing his chest close to your back as he leans in to pretend to grab something from the table.

“I wasn’t sure you were going to make it thought that” he chuckles.

To everyone else it appears he’s making a funny remark, but you can feel your skin heat at his proximity and taunting words.

“Ugh,” you say through gritted teeth. “You would have loved that wouldn’t you?”

You can feel your eyes fill with unshed tears, the emotions of the day finally catching up to you and when his gaze finds yours his expression morphs from haughty to soft in an instant.

It only sends you reeling again, the confusion flooding through you and before he can say more you gather your things and rush out the door. Unexpectedly, he’s hot on your heels all the way to the elevator.

There are several other people on it so when you stop at the next floor and more employees file in, you’re squeezed toward the back, pushed farther into him, your ass against his crotch.

He’s hard and you feel the rest of him stiffen with the sharp intake of his breath. You take a step away from him, as much as you can in the confined space, but he reaches forward and grips your hip to pull you back.

“Don’t move,” he whispers into your neck.

“I’m two seconds away from shoving my heel up your ass,” you seethe.

He leans even closer, keeping a firm grasp on your hip.

“You were deliberately trying to make me fuck that up!”

You turn your head to peer at him and his mouth falls open, brows furrowed.

“What?” he says.

“You heard me.”

When you reach the floor just before the top, everyone else exits the elevator and the doors close, leaving you both pressed together in the corner.

It starts to move again, and you jerk backward, falling against him as he leans into the wall.

His sudden growl startles you and then he slams his hand into the stop button on the control panel.

His body cages you against the wall and his breathing is harsh.

“I would never want you to fuck anything up,” he exhales. “It’s impossible for me to think about anything but you…how good you taste, and I haven’t even gotten my mouth on you.”

You hide your surprise at his confession.

“Yet.” He adds in a promised whisper.

“This is my career at stake Mr. Barnes. You’re the one with all the power here. What do you have to lose?”

“Me? All the power?” He laughs dryly. “You’re the one who does this to me…the only one.”

You feel him throb against your stomach and you can see the truth in his eyes.

“Then don’t be such a dick all the time.”

You mean the words to come out harsh but instead they’re a quiet whisper and your expression softens.

It’s all he needs before his lips crash to yours and he slides his hands down to your ass, squeezing his way to the hem of your dress.

“I had to sit there and watch you present, the whole fucking time knowing you had nothing on under here.”

His touch is delicate as he spreads your legs and slides a finger through your folds, already wet and aching.

“I was sitting there hard as a rock just thinking about bending you over that table, tasting you, fucking you.”

Your fingers close around his biceps, the soft fabric of his suit jacket bulging under the strained muscles.

“Is that what you want?” he asks as his fingers continue to tease you.

“Yes,” you answer as you grab hold of his tie and bring his lips closer.

He kisses you, never touching you where you need it most and when he pulls away, he presses the elevator button, causing it to start moving again.

He removes his fingers and reaches up to straighten his tie and when the doors open, he backs out, his voice low and deep when he says, “I need to see you in my office. Immediately.”

He turns and glides from the elevator, his long strides carrying him quickly toward his office and you can’t do anything but follow.

@blackwidownat2814 @hiddles-rose @kmc1989 @goldylions @lizette50

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #ceo!bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky x reader #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan #ceo au

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gojoidyll · 2 months ago

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behind his back | prince!jinwoo x maid!reader

many people teased and mocked the prince behind his back for how weak he is, but not you. never you.

You enjoyed being Jinwoo’s friend even if his status was far higher than yours. Ever since childhood you both would sneak around and play together, and as you both grew up, well, the sneaking around didn’t happen as often, but you enjoyed any little piece of time with him you could get.

“They’re talking again,” Jinwoo muttered as you fixed his hair.

“They always do,” you said as you made sure none of his strands were tangled and his haircut was as he wanted.

He shook his head, “no…, their words are louder than usual. They always say how weak I am when we go to the dungeons, and I…”

You stopped messing with his hair and went to stand in front of him, “none of that now, prince. After this dungeon you will be crowned king of this land, and besides, who cares how strong or weak you are, you go out there to protect us – the people who can’t even wield the amazing power that you have.”

His smile was small and you wondered if you were getting through to him, you hoped that you were.

“You’ll also one day cure your mother, your sister will be so well off she won’t have to worry about a thing, and you’ll even meet a beautiful woman who you’ll cherish forever.”

He closed his eyes when you bent down to wrap him up in a hug, “and I’ll still be your maid cheering for you and taking care of all those pesky chores.”

“Right…”

You went to stand behind him again and made sure everything was in tip-top order, “now future king, it’s time for you to go!”

He stood up from his chair and turned to you, “you’ll still be here when I return, right?”

“Always.”

You and Jinwoo were eighteen years old when he and his group left for the dungeon that day. You remembered it quite well as it was marked the day that the crown prince disappeared along with all who went with him.

Six years later, on the anniversary of his disappearance, you expected nothing to change as you set about your chores for the day. You dutifully tutored his sister in her schooling, took care of his sick mother, and of course tended to most of the chores. It was going to be another long day it seems, you thought almost solemnly as you carried the new bedsheets to Jinwoo’s room.

His sister would often go in there and cry herself to sleep on some days that were tougher than others, so you always made sure to give her clean sheets so she wouldn’t get sick.

Turning the knob and letting the door swing open, you were momentarily frozen in place, your lips parting slightly as a man you didn’t recognize was sleeping peaceful on the bare mattress.

“You-!”

The man stirred a little as he sat up, a yawn escaping his lips.

“How dare you! This is the crown princes’ room!”

After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he had glanced at you, his eyes blinking for a moment before he smiled, “you haven’t changed at all.”

That voice… it was deeper than you remember, but you still recognized it.

“…Jinwoo…?”

“The one and only,” he said before plopping back into his bed causing you to make an immediate fuss.

“Hey! At least let me put the sheets on first!”

“Later,” he mumbled.

“No, now!”

You went over to him and pulled at his sleeves, his new muscular build not going unnoticed by you, but you focused on the task at hand.

He ignored you and instead shot his hand out to grab your wrist. The grip he put into holding your wrist scared you a little, but you weren’t let to dwell on that fear as he hastily pulled you forward causing you to drop the bedding and fall onto the mattress with him where he snaked his arms around your waist and held you close to him. His face easily smooshing itself into your chest as you panicked.

“Jinwoo-“

“You’re the only one, you know,” he mumbled against your chest. Your clothing did little to shield you as you could still feel the warmth of his breath, “you’re the only one who never talked behind my back, the only one who kept coming to the place that I disappeared from, the only one who bothered to take care of my family. Why?”

“Because,” your voice shook a little, “we’re friends… always have been.”

He tilted his head up to look at you then, “and if I wanted something more?”

You couldn’t look directly at his face, why was he so hot?!

“We- we can’t”

“Why not?”

He reached up to turn your face back to look at him.

“I’m just your maid,” your voice wobbled out almost weakly as if that excuse alone wasn’t good enough not with the way he was looking at you with such a determined face.

“You don’t have to be,” his arms tightened around you as he pulled you down a bit which surprised you. He wasn’t strong enough to pull you like that before-

By now, your noses were brushing against each other, your eyes level, the intensity of his stare was too much for you, you never really did well with eye contact to begin with.

“Won’t you, be mine?”

“People will talk…”

“They always do,” he fired back easily.

“But your reputation-“

“Is already ruined, but I’m strong now, stronger than I was. Nothing they say will change how I feel about you. Because I don’t want you to be just a maid who cheers for me or takes care of me.”

He turned your face again to look at him, he was determined to keep your eyes only on him, “I want you as my wife.”

#solo leveling #jinwoo solo leveling #solo leveling jinwoo #jinwoo x you #jinwoo sung #jinwoo x reader #jinwoo x y/n #sung jinwoo

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shmaptainwrote · 1 year ago

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𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 [𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐒𝐎𝐍]

PAIRINGS — James Wilson x fem!Reader

SUMMARY — It was never Reader's plan to be a single mother to a newborn child, but a longtime friend steps in and before long they both have the family they've always wanted, the only catch: they're still just friends

WORD COUNT — 13.6K

WARNINGS — mentions of pregnancy and birth, breastfeeding (like non descriptive? does this need to be a warning?)

NOTE — Okay this fic has been in the works for a while and I have been swamped with school so I'm so happy I'm finally able to post something because it's literally been a full-ass month since I last came out with anything ._. hoping once finals are over I can get back into my writing groove and give some of my ideas the attention they deserve!

Middle photo credit goes to @shots-of-wilson-and-whiskey

“Are you sure this is okay?” you looked back while holding a baby carrier in both hands.

“Like I told you back at the hospital, and in the car, and then again in the car, I promise this is okay,” James assured you, following right behind, bags under each arm. “You just went through a 40 hour labour, did you really think it would be a smart move to come home alone?”

He was right about that, physically you were exhausted, you were sure how much longer you could keep your eyes open.

“Go take a shower, I’ll look after her until you get out,” he suggested. “If you had a support person here you would have taken shifts.”

“I know, but you have a life James,” you sighed. “One that didn’t involve your friend getting pregnant and then taking care of her.”

“Would it make it any better if I told you I really don’t mind? I like spending time with you, it’s why we’ve been friends for so long,” he put the bags down by the table and then placed a hand on your shoulder.

“James, I love you, but I’m going to be brutally honest because my filter has vanished. This is what happens to all your wives, all your girlfriends. I really don’t need that happening to us too,” you said.

“It won’t,” he pressed. “Come on, just take the shower. I know you want to.”

You sighed, “Alright, but I’m not gonna call for you to come in the middle of the night and every which time of day. If you want to come and see us, do it of your own accord and if you don’t want to then don’t,” you emphasized. “Do what you want, not what you think I want.”

“If I say I will, will you go take a shower?” James asked and you rolled your eyes at him.

“Don’t drop my baby while I’m in there, okay?” you pointed at him. “You still owe me for that vase you broke.”

“You mean the tacky one your crappy ex-boyfriend’s mom gave you? I think I did you a favour there.”

“You’re insufferable sometimes, you know?” you said carefully putting the carrier down in the living room and looking down at your resting daughter for a moment before heading towards your room.

“I love you too,” he said simply, replacing you by her side and keeping a close eye on her while she slept.

You had to admit, it was a relief to be able to step into the shower, knowing there was someone you trusted outside looking after the small human you were now fully responsible for. At least before dealing with the stress and everything that would come afterwards you’d be able to be clean.

When you came out of your bedroom after your shower, dressed in the most comfortable clothes you could find lying around, you saw James in the kitchen, the carrier now propped up on the table while he unpacked something from some grocery bags.

“I was craving Indian, do you want some?” he asked.

“Of course I do, the food at your hospital sucks, hand it over,” you put your hand out and he gave you a bowl so you could serve yourself some rice and curry. “She’s still asleep?”

“Woke up once, but I got her to fall back asleep pretty easily. She might get hungry soon though too.”

“So I should eat while I still have the chance,” you sat down at the island and began munching on the food, turning around the carrier so you could see your daughter.

It was interesting, she’d been around only for a short few days but you could barely ever take your eyes off her.

“Did you pick a name for her yet?” James asked, leaning over the table and eating his portion of dinner.

“I think so,” you nodded. “I was between two when she was born, but now that I look at her she fits one better than the other.”

“So what’s the winner?”

“Liana,” you smiled and brushed your fingers along her small curled toes. “It suits her doesn’t it?”

“I think it does,” he nodded. “You made a pretty cute baby.”

“I made a very cute baby, thank you very much,” you scoffed with a chuckle. “You think you could do better?”

“Well I don’t have a uterus so I don’t think we’ll ever be able to find out,” he shook his head. “Shame, I probably would have demolished you.”

“As if,” you laughed, continuing to eat more food just as Liana began to stir awake. “And there’s my cue.”

You stood up and carefully took her out of the carrier, cautious of supporting her neck before moving over to the couch where you could comfortably feed her.

“Once you’re done I’ll burp her,” James said. “So you can keep eating.”

“Sure,” you nodded. “Got practice from your med school days?”

“Yeah, actually,” he nodded. “I thought originally I might specialize in working in the NICU so I spent a lot of time in the maternity ward.”

“What made you change your mind?” you asked.

“I would have burnt out,” he admitted. “Seeing babies and spending time with them is one thing, but seeing them sick and sometimes not get better? It’s a lot harder than you’d imagine.”

You hummed thoughtfully, “You would have been good in that department if you decided to go that route. I think at least.”

“Really, why do you think so?”

“James, you’ve always been great with kids and parents. Don’t you remember how we met?”

He chuckled to himself, “Summer camp days. Yeah, you really did have to know your way around both.”

“You somehow managed, as a nineteen-year-old, to calm a child who was freaking out about staying away from home and dealing with an unhappy parent of a different child. I think your people skills just got better as you got older.”

“I don’t think there’s much in life that trains you to deal with crises as much as being a camp counsellor.”

“You can test your skills with Liana and see if you’ve still got the magic when it comes to babies,” you teased, followed by a yawn.

“Trust me, I definitely do,” he assured you. “Babies love me.”

“And do you love babies?”

“I do, and I think I’m gonna end up loving yours a little more than most,” he admitted.

“Good, she’s gonna need it,” you sighed. “I’m gonna need it.”

There was a pause for a moment before James spoke up again,

“Have you talked to him since the break up?” he asked and you shook your head, feeling the tears develop in your eyes.

“I don’t really want to talk about it, not right now,” you whispered, looking down at Liana again.

James did not peg your boyfriend as the abandoning type, but after he had coaxed the news out of you during one of your visits, he could see how much it crushed you to think of what lied ahead. Not because you didn’t want a child, but because Liana was all you wanted and you thought you were on the same page as your partner, but when it came down to things he couldn’t hold up the mask he’d been wearing any longer.

“You should talk about it sometime though, right?” James said softly. “Doesn’t have to be with me, but you’ve been so laser focused on getting through the past nine months you haven’t really processed what happened.”

Liana had since finished feeding and you carried her over to the kitchen island, passing James a burp cloth that he could drape across his shoulder before taking her from your hands, after you pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

“Not sure if I want to process it,” you admitted. “I’d rather focus on her.”

“And I’d rather you take care of yourself so you don’t crash and burn,” he said.

You knew he was right, but it was nicer to pretend you were alone from start to finish than even imagining the possibility that someone was supposed to be with you through everything. The doctors appointments, the morning sickness, the preparation.

Instead you ended up feeling like a burden to your friends who had gone out of their way to help you and be there for you.

“Okay,” you nodded simply. “I’ll do it for you and her then.”

“It’ll end up being for you in the end,” he assured. “But just…trust me on this okay?”

“I do,” you smiled. “Just like I trust you with her.”

You finished eating your dinner while James took care of Liana and even managed to get her to go back to sleep. It seemed that even though she’d only been in the world a short while, she felt just as safe in his arms as she did in yours.

“You can put her down if you want. I have a cot set up in my room,” you pointed.

“I’m alright like this,” he shook his head. “I’ll hold her until you’re done then I’ll leave you guys so you can get some sleep.”

Considering how hungry you were, it didn't take that much longer for you to finish eating and while you cleared up the dishes, James went and put Liana down in her bed and then gathered his things so he could give you some time alone.

“I’ll see you around, James. Thanks for coming to help today,” you gave him a big hug and he held you tight in that way he would when he wanted to say something, but knew it should probably wait.

“Anytime,” he gave you an additional squeeze. “You’re gonna be a great mom. You are a great mom already. I’m really happy for you.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to say any words in response so you just nodded your head and held onto him tighter. After a moment he pulled away and pressed a quick kiss to your cheek.

“Love you, now go get some sleep.”

“You’ve got it Dr. Wilson,” you saluted him.

You walked him out of the door and after closing it shut behind him you took a deep breath. It was going to be hard, but you could do it.

—

A few months later…

“Don’t you have a life?” you yawned, bouncing Liana in your arms to try and get her to fall asleep.

“I mean I went bowling with House last night and I consistently stay late at work, and that’s about it, so no,” James shook his head.

“So you figured that coming and bothering me is a good use of your spare time.”

“I wouldn’t call it bothering,” James gave you a look. “I made you dinner.”

“Yeah you did, and unfortunately it was really good too,” you sighed. “So you just want to hang out with me and Liana?”

“Yeah, is that so hard to believe?”

“A little considering I always have baby vomit on me now,” you chuckled.

“It brings out your eyes,” he teased. “Here, why don’t I take her.”

“Last time I agreed to that you riled her up, which I didn’t think was possible for a three month old,” you eyed him skeptically.

“I promise I’ll put her to sleep,” he crossed his heart.

“Wrong religion, James,” you shook your head and he laughed.

“Do you want me to swear on the Torah?”

“It would help,” you nodded.

“Alright, I swear on the Torah that I won’t rile her up.”

You reluctantly passed Liana over to James and scoffed when she almost immediately stopped fussing.

“See,” he smiled and kissed her small nose while he rocked her gently, making her eyes slowly close as she fell asleep.

“You two are in kahoots. She’s fine whenever you’re not around, but when you are it’s like she knows she can get passed off to you if she’s fussy enough,” you laughed a little. “It’s cute though, I like how much she likes you.”

“Me too, why do you think I keep coming here?”

“So you came to visit, what do you want to do?” you asked. “My plans were to clean the kitchen and do laundry, so not much more exciting than sitting around at home.”

“Why don’t you let me put her down then we can tackle the kitchen together. I mean I did make half of the mess there.”

“I won’t argue with you there,” you sighed and put your hands on your hips. “Okay, I’m gonna throw a load in before you put her down.”

It took a little bit for James to be confident Liana was fully asleep before putting her down in her cot and then meeting you again in the kitchen where you were packing up leftovers from dinner.

“Have you had many visitors?” James asked.

“Well, I do have this one guy that keeps coming around, about this tall, practicing oncology, I think he’s a little bit obsessed with me,” you joked.

“Aside from me,” he shook his head and went over to the dishes.

“Yeah, a few. My parents were here for a bit while you were out of town and then some of my friends have come around to help with a few things here and there and to meet Liana.”

“Nice.”

“You sound like you want to say something,” you looked back at him.

“It’s not too much having me over all the time, is it?”

“No, not at all,” you shook your head. “You know me, I’d tell you if it was.”

“Because I really do like spending time with you both. It’s a lot nicer than going to an empty house at the end of the day,” he admitted. “So if you don’t mind, maybe I can keep bothering you and making a mess in your kitchen.”

“I think that would be okay,” you smiled.

You cleaned in silence for a bit before James began asking a few questions about Liana.

“She had an appointment with her pediatrician recently, right? Everything went okay?”

“Yeah, fit as a fiddle,” you sighed. “Thank goodness.”

“Have you decided if you’re gonna use formula yet? Or will you wait it out?”

“I was actually going to ask you about this, whenever I ask anyone I think has an opinion I’d like to hear they say I need to make the decision myself and then everyone I don’t want to hear from seems to have something to say,” you chuckled. “What do you think? As a doctor?”

“I mean, if I were in your situation I might wait a bit longer, she’s still pretty young and there’s no real reason to switch over yet. I think a lot of people start maybe around 12 months and from what I’ve seen that works well,” he shrugged.

“Thanks for giving me a straight answer,” you placed a hand on his arm. “I also don’t know if I should try and take leave from work or hire a nanny, but I think I probably have to figure that one out myself.”

“Do you have enough savings to take the time off?” he asked.

“I get a few more months paid leave from the company I work for since I have seniority, but after that I have to figure out what to do. I think I have enough saved to last me some time, but I’m going to have to go back eventually.”

James hummed thoughtfully.

“Do you wanna come up with solutions tonight or relax now that we’ve finished cleaning?” he asked, motioning his head to the kitchen that was definitely in better shape than before.

“Let’s watch a movie or something, I don’t think I’ve turned the TV on since Liana was born. I’ll fold the laundry when it’s done while we watch,” you said. “I’ll figure something out later.”

“We should watch, oh jeez what’s that thing we started ages ago and never finished?”

“The really bad soap?” you asked and he nodded, “Oh yes, we’re definitely watching that.”

“Okay, you go get settled, I’m gonna make some tea, do you want some?”

“Sure, just make me whatever you’re having,” you nodded and grabbed the remote from under the pile of blankets on the couch, turning on the TV and trying to find the episodes you had recorded to watch later.

By the time James had finished making the tea, you had found the show and were just about to start it.

“Here,” James passed you the mug. “So what was the last thing that happened?”

“I think the main guy was sleeping with the head nurse, right and then there was the whole thing with her being engaged to the other surgeon and then her sister was in a coma?”

“Wait, I thought the surgeon she was engaged to was sleeping with one of his patients?”

“He was,” you nodded. “It was a whole thing.”

“Alright, just start it, I’m sure I’ll remember more as we watch.”

James was very sorely mistaken, if anything he’d gotten more confused and you were absolutely no help because nothing was making sense anymore.

“What is up with the writing?” you asked. “Like did they just completely forget they had a whole storyline dedicated to this huge procedure and now they’re acting like nothing happened.”

“Don’t get me started, that guy was doing surgery without gloves, like that doesn’t even take much effort to get right. You’d think it was common sense,” James added.

“Maybe we should turn it off,” you looked over at your friend, “it’s getting us all riled up.”

James pressed his lips together, “I know, but I kind of want to find out who’s the father of Paula’s baby.”

You leaned back into the couch, you had managed to fold all the laundry, and it was still a little too early to go to sleep, you supposed a few more episodes couldn’t hurt.

“If I fall asleep, just lock up on your way out, okay?” you looked over at him and he nodded as you started the next episode.

Just as you predicted, about halfway through the second episode you began to drift off, and as soon as James noticed, he stopped the episode already having decided you could finish it together another time.

He shifted you slightly so you were lying down on the couch instead of in the uncomfortable position you were in before, placing a blanket over top of you. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to your cheek, wishing you a good night before going to check on Liana, and after seeing she was sleeping soundly and the baby monitor was on, he saw himself out, taking your spare key from where it was hidden on the porch and locking the door.

—

“How’s my girl doing?” James grinned, scooping Liana out of your arms. “I haven’t seen you in so long,” he kissed her nose making her giggle.

“James, you were here two days ago,” you laughed.

“And it feels like an eternity.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, “She’s got you wrapped around her finger.”

“I don’t mind,” he shrugged. “Just as long as we get to spend time together.”

“Yeah, well she hasn’t napped yet so it can wait until after that,” you reached to take her back but James insisted he could put her to sleep. “James, you just got off work are you sure you don’t want to eat something or take a break for a bit?”

“This is like a break for me,” he assured you.

“Okay, I’m gonna make a salad, come out and eat when you’re done.”

James nodded and went off to the bedroom so he could sit on the armchair there and coax her to sleep.

Usually he didn’t need more than twenty minutes to half an hour to put her down, so when you were hitting the forty-five minute mark you wondered if Liana was being fussy, so you went to check in on them, instead seeing James fast asleep on the armchair with Liana snuggled against his chest.

You bit back a big smile and went to go grab your camera quickly, and quietly snapped a shot of the two of them.

Not wanting to wake either of them, you made your way back to the kitchen, shutting the door of the room behind you to make sure the sound didn’t travel.

Figuring it might be a while before James came back out, you decided to eat your dinner, that way you could take Liana from him when they woke up so he could get something to eat too.

As you had predicted, James exited the room about an hour later, Liana now awake and hungry for her own dinner.

“Want me to take her now?” you teased and he rolled his eyes while you took your baby from him, sitting on the couch to feed her while he grabbed himself something to eat. “You had a good nap?”

“Great actually, I think I needed it. Been pulling a lot of late nights at the office getting paperwork done,” he admitted. “I’m surprised you didn’t wake me.”

“You looked comfortable, I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Well, I appreciate it cause I needed the sleep,” he sighed and came and sat next to you while he began to eat his dinner.

“James, I…I tried to talk to him the other week,” you said, knowing he would be able to connect the dots back to your ex. “I’d been meaning to tell you, it just slipped my mind I guess.”

“You did…what did he say?”

“God, I’m gonna start crying again,” you let out a humourless chuckle and lifted a hand to wipe away the tears beginning to form in your eyes. “It doesn’t matter what he said. What matters is that it was probably good that we broke up. He wouldn’t have been a good father or husband for that matter when it came down to it.”

“I’m proud of you for reaching out anyways. It takes a lot of guts to do that after someone leaves you.”

You nodded your head, “I’m just…I know I said you should keep coming here because you want to, but I really do like having you around. It just makes it seem simpler. Easier,” you looked over at him. “You’re a good friend Jamie, I love you.”

“Love you too,” he leaned over and pressed a kiss to your forehead, watching as your attention turned back to your daughter as she finished feeding.

You held her just like that in your arms for a little while longer, watching as she reached out for your fingers and then tried to go even further to grab James. Clearly her attention was addictive because he was ready to put his food down to help burp her, but you made a teasing remark about him hogging her and that he needed to eat his food so you’d take care of it and he could have her when he was done.

Eventually, you traded Liana for James’ dishes and went to load the dishwasher while he kept her occupied, letting her gnaw on his tie while making all sorts of nonsensical baby noises that James took as conversation starters.

It was funny to watch the two have what looked like a full blown conversation and you were sure James had been reading some parenting magazine or another that spoke of helping babies develop linguistic abilities.

“Hey James,” you crossed your arms over your chest, leaning against the wall.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want a key?”

“A key to what?” he looked at you confused.

“The house,” you said. “I just thought since you’re here all the time you can come and go whenever you want and if you forget something and I’m out you can come get it yourself.”

“A key,” he thought about it. “This feels like a big milestone moment.”

“I mean I already have the key to your place, but that was because you refused to have anyone look after you after you got your wisdom teeth removed.”

“Wait, you have my key?”

“Yeah, I just took yours and had it copied,” you shrugged.

“I feel like I should be a bit more concerned about this, but I’m not.”

“It’s because you’re friends with House, you’re used to it,” you waved him off.

“Liana, did you know your mom’s a thief?” he looked down at the baby in his arms and you rolled your eyes.

“Do you want the key or not?”

“I’ll take it, and I guess you can keep mine, but I’m never there anyways.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just use it if I need to steal your social insurance card to commit identity theft.”

“Liana banana, your mom’s being very silly tonight,” James picked her up and held her out in front of him before bringing her down to press a few kisses to her face, making her giggle. “It’s okay, we still love mommy even though she’s silly, right?”

“You better,” you flicked his shoulder as you walked by after grabbing an ice cream sandwich from the freezer.

“Hey, I’ve got something in my bag I forgot to give you, do you mind bringing it over here?” James asked, motioning to the briefcase on the armchair closest to the front door.

You nodded your head and stood up again to grab it and pass it to him. He rummaged through it with one hand while still holding Liana before passing you what looked like a receipt.

“Uh thanks?” you looked a little confused.

“Read what it’s for,” James chuckled. “They’ll get delivered next week.”

“James,” you put the receipt down. “You didn’t.”

“You’ve been talking about it for four months, I had to do something,” he shrugged. “And I didn’t get you anything for your baby shower.”

“Because you planned it,” you laughed. “Seriously this is a lot. I don’t know if I can accept this.”

“Just think of it this way. I’m here all the time, we like to go out with Liana together and it’s a great stroller with good safety ratings.”

“Okay sure you’ll use that, but the cot too?”

“The one you have in there’s been recalled, I was just doing you a favour,” he said.

You chuckled a little, pressing your lips together. “Liana, my darling, we are very spoiled.”

“I’ll come over when it gets delivered and help set it up,” James said.

“I still don’t know what to say, James, this is…really generous of you.”

“Believe me, right now nothing makes me happier, and I mean that,” he reached out a hand to you and you took it, giving it a gentle squeeze.

As promised, the next week James was back at your home to help set up the stroller and the cot and you figured it would be the right time to pull out that camcorder your father had gotten you to help record some memories you were making with Liana.

“Hey, James wanna tell the camera what you’re doing?”

“Wondering why I didn’t get a degree in engineering apparently.” he mumbled while hunched over some instructions, a pencil behind his ear and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“What does your assistant think?” you moved the camera over to Liana, sitting in a rocking seat that was propped up next to James.

“That this video isn’t going to be very good for my image in the future. This stuff is worse than IKEA,” he scratched the back of his head.

“You’re doing great,” you assured him and came to give him an encouraging side hug. “Alright, let me stop this video and we can try and tackle it together.”

You put the camera down on the bed and looked over the instructions with James, having a bit of an easier time piecing things together compared to him, so in the end you were put on deciphering the instructions while he assembled the cot.

An embarrassing amount of time later, the cot was completely assembled (only after having to disassemble it all the first time because there was one piece left over and you had no idea what step you had missed using it), and you carefully placed Liana inside to see how it would hold up.

“You know they say you can be proud of something you built with your own two hands, but I’m afraid this is going to fall apart,” James said.

“We followed the instructions really carefully, it should be fine,” you said, trying to convince yourself. “And Liana looks comfortable in there, look at her she’s giggling.”

“I think that’s because we look like we’ve been building a house or something,” he looked between you, seeing your dirty clothes and messed up hair.

“Who knew putting together a cot would be so labour intensive,” you chuckled. “I think we can safely say we deserve some takeout. What do you want?”

“Anything, I’m starving,” James sat down on the edge of the bed. “You think this will help her sleep a little better?”

“Let’s hope so,” you rubbed your temples. “You coming?” you asked, taking Liana out of the cot and carrying her out towards the door.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute,” he nodded and you left him in the room, staring at the wooden baby’s bed in front of him. It was a simple thing you had both made together, but for James, it was starting to feel like so much more than just that.

You built a cot, but what did building a cot mean? What did it mean that he bought it for you without a second question or a moment’s hesitation? What did it mean that he couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face every single time he stepped into this house?

It probably meant a lot of things, but at the moment, to James, it felt like he had a family and he’d hold onto that for as long as he was able to.

—

As much as you wished it could be, not every day was easy. Today was one of those days at the end of a long week and you wanted nothing more than to collapse and call it quits.

Something was wrong with Liana, she was never this fussy, but all the doctors would just repeat the same thing over and over again.

She has colic.

You have a colic-y baby.

Your baby has colic. She’s going to be fine.

She didn’t sound fine. Not when she would cry and cry and you didn’t know what was happening or how to make her feel better. It made your heart feel tight and constricted especially when all you could do was bounce and rock her in hopes that it might soothe whatever was going on inside her.

You were so focused on the sounds of the crying baby you didn’t hear the door unlock as James entered the house. After putting down his bags, he followed the sound of the crying before finding you in the rocking chair in your room, gently hushing Liana to try and coax her back to sleep.

“James,” you tried to stand up when you noticed he was there, but he rushed over to your side, placing a hand on your shoulder and encouraging you to sit back down. “I’m afraid we’re not really having a fun day today. You might want to just go home and rest,” you suggested.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“James, I’m serious I-,”

“Hey,” he said gently, quieting you as a hand came to hold your cheek. “Talk to me, mom. What’s happening?”

You pressed your lips together and shook your head.

“I don’t know,” you let the tears spill from your eyes, just as they were for Liana, but you basked in the comfort James’ simple action offered. “She just keeps crying and I don’t know what’s wrong. T-They kept saying she has colic, but this isn’t colic, James.”

He nodded his head and wiped away your tears while trying to think of a solution to the problem in front of you.

“I have an idea, just give me a second, I’ll be right back.”

James went off to the kitchen and came back with a bit of a white powder on his finger. He helped you sit Liana up before getting her to eat a little bit of it.

“What is that?”

“Just baking soda. I saw this in a few babies. Doctors think it’s colic, but it’s reflux. Have you been eating anything different from usual?” he asked.

“Me?”

“Yeah, it might be something she’s allergic to getting in the breast milk,” he explained while rubbing Liana’s back. “Here let me take her so you can have a break. Go to the kitchen, get some water and write down a list of what you’ve been eating recently and we’ll go over it and see if we can find anything that lines up with her fussiness.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll survive,” he nodded.

You passed over your baby to him and made your way out of the room, following James’ suggestion and noticing how with a little bit of time her crying had quieted down and instead was replaced by softer sniffles and a much nicer sound. It drew you away from the list you were leaning over and back to the door of the bedroom where you leaned in the frame and watched and listened while James, with his back turned to you, sang a soft lullaby to Liana.

I love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.

Over and over like a prayer until Liana’s sniffles had faded and there was only silence.

He carefully put her back in her bed, waiting a few moments to make sure she was really sleeping, before turning back and seeing you standing in the doorway.

When he made his way up to you, you reached out and pulled him into as tight of a hug as you’d ever given him. You held onto the sleeves of your shirt while one arm came under his and across his back with the other around his neck, holding him as close to you as you possibly could.

“You okay?” James asked and you nodded your head, silently while a few more tears streamed down your face.

“I will be.”

“I-,” James faltered for a moment, but he said it anyway. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Three words he had said so many times, that had meant a particular thing when he said them to you, but now he couldn’t help but feel like they meant something a little different.

You both stayed like that a moment longer before you pulled apart, wiping away your tears and going back to your list to see if James’ theory could be correct.

“Maybe try cutting these ones out of your diet,” he suggested. “See if she gets any better and if not call me and I’ll get her an appointment with one of the pediatricians at the hospital.”

“Okay,” you nodded. “I just don’t get why they kept saying colic like is that just some doctor term for I don’t know what’s wrong, but your baby is fussy?”

“I don’t know,” James shook his head, “but don’t ever let anyone bully you into not trusting your gut. She’s your daughter and you know her best.”

“You seem to know her pretty well too. You took one look at her and managed to help her when I couldn’t,” you pinched the bridge of your nose.

“Coincidence,” he patted your shoulder.

“Give yourself a little credit. You’re with her a lot too, it’s part of why I trust your judgement so much when it comes to her. I know you’re not just going to tell me some medical mumbo jumbo you…you’re with her, you see how she is, you know.”

“I don’t know how you managed to hold it together so well,” James said. “I was in there with her for twenty minutes and I wanted to cry right with her.”

“It’s so hard,” you shook your head. “You can tell she’s uncomfortable, that something’s wrong, but she can’t tell you what.”

James nodded his head, “Before you know it she’ll be walking and talking and hopefully it’ll be a lot easier to understand what she needs.”

“It’s hard to imagine that,” you chuckled. “She is growing so fast though.”

“And you’re doing a great job,” James wrapped an arm around your shoulder and you took a deep breath. You wanted to correct him and say ‘we’re doing a great job’, but everything about this felt so delicate. It wasn’t his responsibility to parent Liana and you didn’t want to pressure him into thinking that it had become that, but regardless you felt like he’d been around so much it would be wrong to give yourself full credit for everything.

“It takes a village,” you settled on saying, extending your arm so it was wrapped around him as well. “Speaking of a village, I need to hire a nanny.”

“So you’re going to go back to work?” he asked and you nodded.

“Just part time for now. Pay is good enough. I should be fine with that for a while.”

“Good,” James nodded. “Do you need help going through resumes?”

“Nah, Janine is taking care of that for me, her boyfriend works with the police so free background checks. She’s gonna send me a short list and then I’ll interview them.”

You looked up at James and chuckled,

“You seem surprised.”

“I didn’t know you outsourced to other people too,” he teased.

“Are you jealous, Jamie?” you tickled his sides a little bit. “Come on, you know you’re my number one. Can you seriously tell me you could have gotten police-level background checks on nannies?”

“I could have tried.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m gonna save you from this job so you can help me with other stuff, okay?” you turned him around and patted his chest. “I love you, James, but you can’t do it all. I have to look out for you too.”

“You don’t have to look after me,” he assured you. “You’ve got a lot on your plate, I can take care of myself.”

“James, that’s the whole point of this,” you pointed between you. “I’m not about to let it be one-sided.”

“Is that why you keep packing me lunches?” he asked.

“Maybe,” you shrugged. “And it's kind of fun leaving you little notes.”

“House thinks I’m seeing someone because of what you put in the last one. He steals my food, you know.”

“I’ll just pack double next time,” you laughed.

James smiled at the sound of your laughter, savouring the moment of levity he was able to bring you after a long and hard few days.

You looked back up at him once your laughter had died down and filled with a quiet sense of gratitude, you could help but lean into his side, sighing contentedly and it made you feel warm to the touch when his arm wrapped around you and pulled you in closer.

Things may not have been simple or easy, but at least they felt right.

—

James was just about to leave his office to get some food in the cafeteria when he heard the phone ring, keeping him seated at his desk so he could answer.

“Hello, Oncology Department. Dr. James Wilson speaking.”

“James, it’s me,” you said quickly, almost like you were in a hurry.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing dire,” you sighed. “My nanny got sick and my backup nanny is out of town and I have this huge meeting at work I cannot miss, but I-I don’t have anyone to look after Liana. I hate to ask this, you know I wouldn’t bug you unless it was a real emergency, but can I bring her by? Just for two maybe three hours tops. Then I’ll come grab her and she can be in my office with me for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, of course, bring her over,” James nodded. “I have a few patient consults today, but nothing too strenuous or contagious for a small baby.”

“James, are you sure? I feel really bad asking-,”

“It’s fine. Today was going to be boring anyway, I could use some Liana time to spice things up.”

“James, I love you, you’re a lifesaver,” you breathed a sigh of relief. “I owe you one okay? Cash it in whenever.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckled. “I’m gonna go grab a quick bite to eat. I’ll meet you in my office when you come.”

“Great, see you then.”

You both hung up and when James came back upstairs you were just arriving at his office with Liana strapped in her car seat and a bag slung around your shoulder.

“Okay, I’ve got snacks, and a carrier, and her toys, and-,”

“Goodness, take a breath,” James chuckled. “We’re gonna be fine, I’ve looked after her before.”

“I know, I know. I’m just nervous about this meeting and rushing around to get everything prepped and then the nannies fell through,” you took a deep breath to try and slow your heart down and James put a hand on your shoulder assuring you everything was going to be alright.

“You’re gonna kill it at that meeting, alright?” he pulled you in for a quick hug.

“Thanks again, I seriously appreciate and love you and your big fat heart.”

“Thanks, I think,” he chuckled again. “I love you too.”

You kissed your hand and tapped it on his cheek before doing the same for Liana who smiled and James took a moment to stare out the door and watch you as you left the room, still feeling his heart beating a little faster after having said I love you.

Ever since the day he came over when Liana was having a hard time, his heart would race and his palms would get sweaty every time he’d say those three words, knowing he meant it in a different way than he had been saying it all these years.

“Liana banana, what am I gonna do,” James sighed and bent down so he was at eye level with her. “Do you think your mom knows?”

Liana babbled a response.

“Me neither,” he sighed. “It’s okay though, cause we’re gonna have a fun day right?”

He unclipped her from the seat after fastening the baby carrier to his back to begin with before propping her up and clipping her inside.

Once he was content with that, he checked the time and noticed he was almost late for a meeting with a patient who was staying at the hospital for treatment.

James made his way down the halls, knowing not many would question him about the baby on his back, that was aside from his boss who now seemed to be walking directly towards him.

He quickly took a detour into an empty room and thinking he lost her, let out a breath only to be startled when the door opened and Cuddy was standing in front of him.

“Wilson,” she started.

“Mhmm.”

“What’s on your back?” she asked, trying to get a better look, but James simply turned around.

“Oh it’s just a backpack,” he lied, only to be immediately ratted out by Liana’s nonsensical sounds.

“You have a talking backpack?” Cuddy looked at him skeptically.

“No, it’s a tumour. I’m dying,” he lied again, even more poorly than before.

Cuddy sighed, “Are we gonna get sued for it?”

James pressed his lips together and shook his head.

“Will someone get mad at you for it?”

He shook his head again.

“Is House involved?”

A third time.

“Okay,” she nodded slowly. “I won’t question your…talking backpack tumour.”

James nodded his head and Cuddy left the room which hopefully meant he was in the clear for the rest of the day.

Liana had other ideas and decided she didn’t like being in the carrier on his back anymore and began to cry. James wondered what was different, he’d done this with her before, but perhaps it was the new environment and she just wanted to be where she could see him.

So after some maneuvering, he changed the positioning of the carrier and put Liana back inside and she seemed much more relaxed afterwards.

When he got to his patient he apologized for being late, but they were more focused on the child that James had yet to introduce.

“Sorry, I’m a little all over the place right now,” he chuckled. “This is Liana, she’s going to be joining us today.”

“Is she your daughter?” he asked, seeing the way James smiled and held her when he introduced her.

“No,” James shook his head. “She’s the daughter of one of my close friends. I’m just doing her a favour today.”

“Either way, it’s always nice to see someone smiling and happy around here.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” James nodded.

“How old is she?”

“Six months as of two weeks ago.”

“They grow fast, don’t they?”

James smiled and nodded, “They sure do.”

They continued their consult, and before long James wrapped things up and headed back to his office to meet with another patient.

This time around he was feeding and burping Liana throughout the meeting and it felt so much like second nature to him, it didn’t take him away at all from the questions the patient was asking, and much like he expected, having a baby in the room was a nice distraction from the heavy subject matter.

He got through the next few patients with ease, and he felt lucky that House only decided to come in after all his meetings were over.

“Is that a baby?” House squinted, looking at Liana who was calmly playing with a toy in James’ lap.

“No, it’s an alien,” he deadpanned and House ignored his comment.

“Why do you have a baby? That must be breaking some hospital rule.”

“Since when do you care about rules?”

“Cause rules are there to protect us,” House said sarcastically. “Is this the one you spend all your free time with?”

“Her name is Liana,” James said while standing up and moving to put her in her car seat for a moment. “House, I’m gonna ask you to do something and I’m going to trust that you won’t blow this up in my face.”

“Go on.”

“I need to use the washroom, but you’ve seen the way they get cleaned here, I don’t want to bring Li with me,” he said. “Can you watch her for five minutes? You don’t even have to do anything, just stare at her in the carrier.”

House thought about it for a moment before eventually agreeing, James completely oblivious to his friend’s ulterior motive.

House first sat across from her, turning her car seat around on the table so it was facing him. They stared at each other for a few moments before House stood up and grabbed a picture from one of James’ shelves, sitting back down in front of her.

“You’re probably too young to do this, but never too young to learn, right?”

Liana had no response.

“You see this guy?” House pointed to James in the photo. “He’s dada, right?”

House continued to prompt her, even though he knew she was too young to speak, thinking this would make a great prank if he played his cards right.

House continued to go back and forth with Liana between her babbles, until he heard James begin to open the door of the office.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Perfect,” House nodded. “Your daughter’s an angel.”

James frowned, unable to tell if House was being sarcastic or not, but he was quickly distracted by the frame in his hand.

“Why do you have that picture?” James came closer and took it from him.

“Oh, just trying to pass the time with a story.”

“The story of what exactly? This is just a picture of me with my parents.”

“I don’t know I made something up, she’s a baby, she won’t remember,” House insisted before leaving the office before James could ask any more questions.

A little confused by the encounter, he made his way over to Liana who was reaching out for him.

He checked the time, seeing as your meeting should probably have been over by then and decided to give you a call.

“Hey, I was just about to come and pick Liana up,” you said.

“Yeah, about that, do you just want to leave her with me for the rest of the day?” he asked. “She’s been really good and honestly I think the patients have been loving seeing a baby around.”

“James, it’s fine, my meeting is over. I can come get her,” you said.

James pressed his lips together before gathering the nerve to say what he was going to say.

“I actually would really like it if she could stay with me,” he said. “If you’re okay with it.”

You paused, “This isn’t just some round about way for you to find a way to give me a break?” you asked.

“No, I’m really happy she’s here. I was going to come over after work anyways.”

“You still have the car seat hookup in your car?” you asked and he confirmed. “Okay, call me if you need anything, Jamie.”

“I will, and thank you.”

“Just don’t break her, okay, she’s not replaceable,” you teased.

“I’ll bring her back in one piece,” James chuckled. “We’ll be fine, right Li?”

James gave her a little tickle so that you could hear her laugh in response and you couldn't help but smile before saying goodbye and feeling more at ease leaving her with James than you ever had leaving her with a babysitter.

—

It always felt interesting coming back to Princeton-Plainsboro after you had given birth to Liana. It brought back a lot of memories, both good and maybe not so great of your pregnancy, but recently you and Liana had been visiting a little more often to have lunch with James when you weren’t working.

Today wasn’t one of those days, you were actually just on your way back home after running a few errands and since you were in the area you thought you might stop in and talk to James about that evening.

When you went by his office you peeked inside and noticed he wasn’t there and before you could decide the best course of action, you heard a semi familiar voice behind you.

“You looking for Wilson?”

You turned around and saw House standing in front of you.

“Yeah, actually. Do you know where he is?”

“I think he just went to Cuddy’s office,” he said.

“Alright, I’ll head back downstairs then,” you smiled and were about to haul Liana’s car seat with you, but House stopped you.

“If you want I can look after her in my office,” he said.

“Really?” you seemed a little surprised from the offer, but figured it couldn’t be too bad to leave her with him for five minutes.

“Sure,” House nodded, making it seem like it was no big deal, when really he had already pocketed a picture of James and was looking for another opportunity to continue his prank.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” you said while walking over to his office and putting her car seat on the main table before walking down the hallways and over to the elevator to go and find James, but just to your luck, he was coming out just as you had planned to enter. “Hey, I was looking for you,” you smiled.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were coming, did we make plans?” he asked, worried he’d forgotten about something.

“No, I was just in the area and, well my mom and dad are coming over for dinner tonight, I was wondering if you wanted to join us.”

“Dinner sounds nice,” James nodded. “And I haven’t seen your parents in a while, I just seem to miss them every time they come into town.”

“Yeah, that’s why I thought I’d ask, also maybe as a warning in case you wanted to get as far away as you could,” you chuckled.

“Come on, they’re not that bad,” he nudged you.

“Most of the time, but then again, you’re not their child.”

“Wait, where’s Liana?” James asked. “With a sitter at home?”

“No, I left her with House.”

James’ eyes went wide, “You left her with House?”

“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” you chuckled as James began to walk towards House’s office to make sure he wasn’t up to one of his many schemes. “James he offered!” you called back and that only made him walk faster.

It took you a minute to catch up with him, but by that time he was already interrogating House who was simply sitting in front of Liana.

“Can't I offer to look after my friend’s friend’s baby?” House asked.

“Usually someone could, but when that person is you you may see why I think you have some ulterior motive.”

“James what’s going on?” you asked, coming closer to House. “Liana’s fine, I don’t know why you’re being so dramatic.”

“Yeah, listen to single mom over here,” he pointed to you.

James backed off if only for your sake, but he still kept a close eye on House as you picked up Liana’s car seat and told James you’d see him after his shift was over.

He nodded his head and you exchanged a kiss on the cheek before heading out.

“You’re really telling me you’re not getting some of that on the side?” House asked.

“House, drop it,” James was unamused. “I know you’re up to something, I just don’t know what.”

“I guess you’re just going to have to wait and find out,” House shrugged. “In the meantime may I suggest you go get your freak on with the mom? You know she probably hasn’t slept with anyone since that kid was conceived, I’m sure you’d have an easy time convincing her.”

“Shut up, House,” James rolled his eyes and left the office before he could suggest anything more obscene.

He was thankful when the end of his shift came, and before heading to your place he made a stop at the store to buy some flowers and dessert to bring over.

By this point, it was such a habit, he never knocked, just opened the door with his key and announced his presence to whoever was in the house.

“Hey Liana, look who’s here,” you smiled and pointed to James while Liana was being held by your mother.

Liana became very excited at the sight of him and he quickly put down the things he brought on the table before saying his greetings and giving special attention to Liana by means of a kiss on her nose and caress of her face.

“Do you want something to drink?” you asked. “Mom and dad brought some fancy-looking sparkling fruit juice.”

“I could go for some of that,” James nodded. “How have you guys been, I missed you the last time you were in town.”

“We’ve been good,” your dad nodded.

“Unfortunately our granddaughter doesn’t come to visit us very much,” your mom gave you a bit of a look and you rolled your eyes.

“Mom, you guys are retired, I have a job, why don’t we keep this ‘you visit me’ arrangement a while longer until my life sorts itself out a bit more.”

“She’s not wrong, honey,” your dad came and patted his wife’s shoulder.

“I know, I just wish we got to see Liana more. We should come down more often.”

“What about you, James, anything new in your life?”

James looked over at you before shaking his head.

“No, still working at the same place still…”

“Trying to find the right person,” you filled in for him, placing a hand on his shoulder and handing him his drink.

“Yeah,” he nodded with a soft smile and couldn’t help but laugh a little internally at the irony. Maybe the right person had been there all along, the person he’d never once pulled away from, the person he let take care of him, the person who he’d realized he’d most definitely fallen in love with, but risking things between you was out of the question so he would have to be content with the way things were.

“You’re the head of your department, right?” your mom asked and James nodded. “Wow, that’s quite something, your parents must be proud of you.”

“Yes, it never fails to come up in conversation with my mother,” he chuckled.

Liana began to fuss a little bit in her grandmother’s arms and after a few failed attempts at calming her down James offered to take over.

“Are you sure, honey?” she asked. “She gets a bit cranky and it’s hard to calm her down.”

“Don’t worry mom, James is an expert,” you assured her.

James nodded and confirmed he was sure before gently bouncing Liana until she stopped crying and wiping away whatever tears of hers were remaining.

“She seems very attached to you,” your dad remarked and James looked down at Liana who now had her head resting against his chest.

“The feeling’s quite mutual,” James chuckled. “Does she need to be fed?” he asked you.

“Yeah we’re probably getting close to that time now, I’ll warm up the bottle. Maybe I can feed her and you can deal with the sauce on the stove, it’s missing something and I can’t place it.”

“Sure,” James nodded and waited for you to heat up Liana’s bottle before passing her over and taking a turn at the stove.

Your parents watched your interactions curiously and shared a few looks between themselves, but chose to say nothing. They’d known James since you were both nineteen and a lot of things had happened since then, but a lot of time had passed too. It was interesting how your comfort with each other in friendship had so naturally extended itself in this way that you were practically functioning as a family whether you noticed it, or maybe deliberately chose to ignore it.

After you fed Liana and burped her, she was quick to fall asleep and you placed her in her cot in your room before joining James and your parents in the kitchen where they were bringing things to the dining room to lay them out on the table.

“This looks really delicious sweetheart, thank you for making dinner,” your dad said. “And you too James for taking over there in the home stretch.”

“For all we know it could have tasted terrible before he came in so he can take the credit for that,” you chuckled.

“No, I gave it a taste before adding anything. It just needed a little something sour to balance some things out, otherwise it was perfect,” he assured you.

Dinner with your parents was mostly small talk. They shared a little about some of your relatives they had recently spoken to or visited and asked James how his family was doing and they left fairly early to start the drive back home.

“I’ll load the dishes you put away the leftovers?” James yawned and you chuckled.

“How about I do both since I had a day off and you go and lay down for a bit,” you suggested.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about I’m fine,” James waved his hand but yawned again.

“Go to sleep, James. That’s not a suggestion,” you walked up to him. “My ex left some sweatpants here you can change into those and take off this button up,” you tugged at his shirt.

James pressed his lips together and nodded his head, before heading over to the bedroom and quietly getting changed before climbing into bed and not fighting the sleep that came.

He initially wasn’t sure how much later it was when he woke up, but by the looks of it much too late to go come considering you were next to him, despite being groggy, he had a million and one things crossing his mind, but all of those were thrown out when he heard Liana begin to cry.

You shifted next to him, waking up to go and take care of it, but James put an arm on your shoulder.

“I’ve got it, go back to sleep,” he assured you.

You were too tired to argue with him and let your head hit the pillow again while he stood up and picked Liana up from her crib, heading out to the kitchen so he could heat up a bottle for her before coming back and sitting in the chair to feed her.

You watched the scene in front of you and you felt yourself wanting to memorize every detail. How he held her, the quiet things he whispered, the way she curled into his arms while he stood up and rocked her back to sleep.

When he came back to the bed he noticed you were awake and he let out a soft chuckle and you smiled looking up at him with his messy hair. Suddenly you were nineteen again and banging on the door of cabin 3 trying to wake your fellow counsellor to come and deal with an emergency. To you he looked the same as he did all those years ago.

“I told you to go back to sleep.”

“Not everyone can fall asleep instantly,” you yawned with a chuckle.

“You didn’t wake me up to leave,” he said quietly, his head resting on his hand that propped him up.

“You always look so peaceful when you sleep, I feel evil whenever I have to wake you up,” you remarked, but behind your eyes if he could see through the darkness of the room, he would have seen them saying something else. That you wanted him to stay, you didn’t want to wake him up because you wanted to wake up next to him. “You don’t mind do you?”

“That you’re making me do the walk of shame in the morning?” James teased and shook his head.

“Just shut up and go back to sleep, Jamie,” you yawned with a chuckle.

He moved so he was laying down on his back with an arm behind his head and you couldn’t tear your eyes away from him. Maybe he could feel you staring because he reached his other arm out and pulled you closer and you moved with him until your head rested against his chest, your arm draped over top of him.

He gave you a gentle squeeze with the arm that was wrapped around you and pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

“Goodnight, Jamie,” you mumbled into his shirt.

You couldn’t see how he looked down and smiled at you after you said that, all that filled your ears was a quiet, “Goodnight.”

—

“I haven’t seen you in a few days, how have you been?”

James sat on the carpet of the living room, playing with Liana who was crawling around him while you brought over two mugs of tea so you could chat while you entertained the growing baby.

“Good for the most part, just had a patient who wasn’t doing so great so I spent some extra time at the hospital to keep an eye on things. Not to mention House has been bugging me to go out and it’s been a while so I figured what’s the harm.”

“He got you plastered and you made a fool of yourself, didn’t he?” you asked and James nodded while you laughed. “Liana, did James go out with House and act like an idiot?” you tickled the ten month old and she giggled before coming closer to you, tapping on your legs with her hands.

“Don’t listen to your mama, Li, she’s trying to-,”

“Mama,” Liana repeated after James had spoken and you both stopped dead in your tracks.

You looked over at James and his smile was just as wide as yours before you picked Liana up and smothered her with kisses.

“Liana, look at you! You said your first word!”

“Good job, Liana banana,” James grinned and gave her cheek a little pinch which made her reach out to him and say,

“Dada.”

You both had a similar reaction to what happened moments ago, only this time it was pure shock. Maybe you had misheard her, but when she repeated herself, James could feel his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

“I-I don’t know where she learnt that from,” he told you. “I swear I didn’t teach her that.”

It took a minute for the shock to fade away for you, but once it did you tried to assure James that it was okay.

“I believe you,” you said. “I-I don’t know where she picked it up from, but it’s okay.”

James chewed on his lip, it wasn’t okay though because he wanted nothing more than to hear Liana say that again.

“It’s not though,” James said softly. “I love her, but I’m not her dad. That’s not fair to her or to you.”

“Jamie,” you pleaded with him, but he still seemed stuck on something.

“I’m really sorry,” he apologized again. “I feel like I ruined a special moment.”

“I’m trying to tell you it really doesn’t matter,” you assured him, you could see it in his eyes, he wanted to leave, to let you have time alone, but you didn’t want to be alone, you wanted him to stay with you. “Please…please stay.”

James reached out his hand to hold yours and was about to give you his answer when his pager went off.

Your heart clenched and you watched as he read the message and sighed, standing up because he was needed again at the hospital.

“Your patient?” you asked, picking Liana up and standing next to him.

He nodded his head, “They were scheduled for an unrelated surgery and there were some complications, I have to go.”

You understood and James wrapped you in a tight hug and you kissed his cheek.

“I love you, Jamie.”

“I love you too,” he whispered, wishing he could hold onto you and never let you go, but instead he was pulled away from your warm embrace wondering how on earth Liana had learnt to call him dad.

—

“You look like you haven’t slept in days, spending time with the baby again?” House asked, waltzing into James’ office.

“No, I haven't been over in a few days,” James shook his head.

“You haven’t been over in a few days…Something happened,” House deduced and James gave him a look.

“Nothing happened. I’m just taking a break,” he lied.

“You’ve been going non-stop to spend time with them since the baby was born ten months ago, why do you need a break now?”

“Because I have a lot on my mind and there’s a few new patients I need to focus on-,”

“You’re lying.”

“Yes I am,” James admitted and House grinned.

“Really?”

“No, I’m not,” he shook his head and continued to look down and do his work.

“We do this every single time and every single time I’m right,” House said. “Why don’t we save the back and forth for another time and just skip to the part where you tell me what’s going on.”

“Oh really and you were right that time you thought I was cheating on my wife and she was the one cheating on me?” he asked.

“Okay, so I’m not perfect,” House shrugged. “What happened, Wilson? I could just as easily get your friend’s number and ask directly if that’s what you’d prefer.”

“God no,” James shook his head. “Leave her alone, she doesn’t need to deal with you on top of working and raising a child.”

“Alright then, what happened?”

James took a deep breath and sighed, “Liana called me dad the other day. I have no idea where she learnt it from.”

“She started speaking,” House nodded, pressing his lips together. “Was it her first word or-,”

“Second. She said mom first,” James said, but caught a glimpse of his friend trying to fight back a smile and suddenly all the offers to take care of Liana paired with the photographs made sense. “You taught her!” he exclaimed. “House I can’t believe you’d pull a prank on me by manipulating my friend’s baby!”

“Oh come on, it’s not that big of a deal,” House rolled his eyes.

“House, I cannot believe you!”

“You’re not mad at me,” House shook his head. “You’re just mad you liked it.”

“No I’m-,”

“Yes, you are,” the diagnostician emphasized. “You’ve been sitting here tearing yourself apart for the past four days because she called you dad and you liked it. You’re mad at yourself for liking it because she’s not your kid.”

“No,” James quieted down. “She’s not.”

“You haven’t gone back because you’re afraid to hear her say it again, aren’t you?”

“Since when did you become an expert on my personal problems, House? You caused this, why should I listen to anything you have to say?”

“Because you’re being an idiot. You’re punishing yourself for liking something. Do you realize how insane that sounds?”

“It’s not insane, House, she’s not my baby-,”

“Sure, she’s not your baby and you have her feeding and nap routine memorized. You’ve been to her doctor's appointments, she’s calmer in your arms than she is in the arms of her grandparents. Yeah, go and tell that to any moron sitting out there and they’ll tell you for me, you’re being an idiot.”

James sighed again, “And why do you care?”

“Because once you’re done with this spiral we can go back to the way things were when you weren’t a boring depressed lump.”

“How kind of you,” James faked a smile.

House’s pager went off, leaving James alone again in his office, thinking about what his friend had said.

You’d told him so many times that things were okay, but maybe a part of him didn’t want to let him believe that you didn’t mind because that was a slippery slope to him facing himself and his feelings and he didn’t care what his heart was telling him, he wouldn’t put himself through that. He wouldn’t put you and Liana through that. But at the same time, he couldn’t keep himself away forever. He didn’t want that either.

So with a deep breath he picked up his office phone and dialled your number, putting it up to his ear and waiting for the line to connect on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“James,” your voice sounded almost relieved. “H-Hey, how are you?”

He pressed his lips together, “Miserable, actually. I miss you guys.”

“We miss you too,” you chuckled with a small sniffle.

“C-Can I come over for dinner tonight?” he asked.

“You still have a key, what do you think?” you asked with a bit of a laugh. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yeah, see you then,” James smiled and after he hung up the phone he took a deep breath, his fast heartbeat slowing down by the second.

Maybe this time House was right.

—

The next few weeks passed by and things resumed to their normal state, much to House’s delight. James’ role as department head always meant at least one day a week where he would stay late and do some extra paperwork, dealing with anything that may have slipped through the cracks before.

This time, that had fallen on a Sunday and it was just past dinner when he heard a knock on his door and wondering who was on the other end he called for them to come in.

You opened the door a crack and again asked permission to come in and James smiled at you, looking up from his paperwork, not expecting to see you in the hospital.

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you here, what’s going on?”

“I just wanted to drop by and bring you something for dinner, I know it’s your paperwork day.”

“Thanks, that’s really sweet of you,” he stood up from his chair and came to stand in front of his desk, leaning back on it while you placed the take out bag on the table. “Where’s Liana?”

“Oh Helen’s looking after her tonight,” you said. “I had a few things I needed to do and um just wanted the evening off,” you admitted.

“Fair enough,” James nodded.

“I actually brought you something else,” you rolled back and forth on the balls of your feet and James noticed the tension in your stature. “H-Here,” you handed him a gift bag which he eyed curiously.

Today wasn’t his birthday or some memorable event you celebrated together. There wasn’t much of a reason to get him a present which made it all the more intriguing.

He pulled out a wrapped rectangular box from the bag, and putting the bag aside he began to carefully tear away the wrapping paper to reveal what looked like a picture frame. Overlaid on the frame, on top of the photo, James noticed a card which he unfolded to read its contents.

Happy Father’s Day. We love you loads. - Liana and Mom

James moved the card to see the picture and put his hand over his mouth, feeling tears involuntarily form in his eyes as he saw the familiar scene of your room, lit by the light of your lamp as Liana was fast asleep against his chest while he napped on the armchair.

James quickly wiped away the few tears that were in his eyes and looked up at you with a grateful smile, looking back down at the image before placing it neatly on his desk along with the card.

“I hope you like it,” you said quietly, biting your lip. “I thought you might want to have a copy of that picture and…you know just a thank you for everything you’ve done for me and Liana this past year.”

“I love it,” he assured you. “I-I love it and I love you.”

“I love you too,” you smiled.

“N-No,” James came closer and reached out, taking your hands in his. “I…I love you. I’m in love with you.”

“Jamie,” you spoke in a breathy whisper, unsure of how you lost your voice. “I-,” you opened your mouth to speak again, but paused when James raised a hand to your face, wiping away the tears you didn’t even notice had begun to stream down.

“I just don’t want to be away from you, ever,” he said softly. “I never did. And now with Liana, I want to be there, for all of it.”

You held the wrist of his hand that held your face, pulling him in closer so your foreheads rested against each other.

You took in a shaky breath, thinking back on those words. Something you’d been saying to each other for longer than you could remember. The first time was so clear in your mind, you were on the phone racking up long distance charges while James was in Montreal. It had slipped out by accident, a reflex, and you had convinced yourself when the phone had hung up you’d never call him back, unable to face what you’d just said, but before you could spiral any further, he said it back and you never stopped saying it.

For the longest time that was the only occurrence that was memorable, everything else was a blur, that was until a few months ago. It was so simple, you had fallen asleep on the couch and James had made sure Liana was fed and bathed and even cleared up some things in the kitchen before sitting on the couch with some tea and a book. You had talked and said I love you as a thank you, but when the words left your mouth they also left a lingering airiness in your heart, a feather light feeling that came crashing down like an anvil when he left to go home because you realized you never wanted to be apart from him.

It took you a few moments to realize you hadn’t said anything and James was anxiously waiting for some sort of communication, anything, but since the meaning of your words had changed, for both of you, you thought it might be more conducive to work in actions.

You closed in the space between you, at first gently resting your lips on his and letting him lead you in a soft and slow kiss, putting aside all the restraint you both had been using these past months in an effort to protect your friendship.

One of James’ hands held onto your waist, pulling you in so that there was no space left between you. He kissed you again and again, remembering each one as a core memory, engraved in his mind, paired with the feeling of your arms wrapped around his neck, the feeling of your body pressed so closely against his, his heart beating outside of his chest.

It was easy for his lips to trail away from yours, moving along your jaw, to your temple before you had pulled each other into a warm embrace, simply existing in each other’s arms. James thought to himself what a nice life it would be, not ever having to pull away.

—

“I don’t have much to say,” James smiled. “Everything is looking good, you still seem 100% healthy to me.”

“That’s great news.”

“It definitely is. Standard procedure, but we’ll have one more of these remission follow ups to make sure everything is still in order then you hopefully won’t have to see me again.”

“Thank you Dr. Wilson, I really appreciate all you’ve-.”

“Dad!”

“Sweetheart, wait he’s with a patient!”

James turned his head and saw Liana running over to him, you valiantly trying to chase after her without much success.

He quickly scooped her up in his arms before she crashed into him, pressing a big kiss to her cheek.

“Sorry about that,” James apologized. “It’s Saturday, we normally have lunch together.”

“No worries,” he chuckled.

“Liana, this is my patient Mr. Kimbilio, can you say hi?”

Liana waved and said hi, very exuberantly.

“This is my daughter,” James introduced. “And that’s my wife,” he pointed over to you.

“Daughter,” Mr. Kimbilio smiled. “I think I met you Liana, when you were very small. Your father was looking after you at work and so some of his patients got to meet you.”

“Really?” she looked up at her dad and he nodded.

“He’s right, I remember that,” James smiled. “You’ve grown a lot since then, haven’t you Li,” he kissed her cheek again and she giggled.

You finally caught up to the group and James greeted you with a quick kiss, passing Liana off to you so he could wrap things up and you could all go down to the cafeteria for lunch together.

“If I remember correctly,” Mr. Kimbilio started. “You didn’t introduce her as your daughter the first time we met. I’m glad something changed.”

“Me too,” James smiled, looking over at his wife and daughter fondly who were now in the midst of making him very proud by pulling off a small prank on House as he came out of his office.

It didn’t take much longer for them to wrap things up and you and Liana made a quick pit stop inside James’ office before heading downstairs.

Liana went to go sit in James’ seat while he put away his files and organized them.

It had been a while since you’d been in his office, but it felt like ever since the night you first kissed things had begun to change in the room.

His desk was now more littered with photos than knickknacks and Liana’s artwork was posted wherever there was room.

You came around to the other side, looking a little more closely at the pictures.

There was one of you, James, and Liana on your wedding day, another of just the two of you during an anniversary celebration, Liana’s kindergarten photo from school and another one of you as a family on your last vacation. And still as prominent as ever, the framed photo you had gifted James on his first father’s day.

“You ready to go?” he asked you, looking up and noticing your eyes gazing at the pictures on his desk.

When you didn’t initially respond, too focused on what you were looking at, James wrapped an arm around you and tilted your chin towards him so he could press a kiss to your lips.

“I love you,” you smiled and James kissed you again, saying.

“And I love you,” before moving over to pick up Liana and kiss her cheek. “And you.”

Liana giggled, feeling tickled by the kisses and moving to give both of you a kiss on the cheek before saying.

“Mom, Dad, I’m starving. Can we go eat now?”

“Sure, Liana banana,” James chuckled and you wrapped an arm around him, walking side by side out of the office and in the direction of the elevator to get to the cafeteria, thinking you were pretty lucky that in the end, your best friend listened to his heart and went after what he wanted.

TAGLIST —

@cuntyvicodin @paola-carter @kiddbegins @il0vebeingdelulu @illicit4ff4irs @lynnsthoughts @miarabanana @iwmflbb @shots-of-wilson-and-whiskey @sarcasm-and-stiles @sun-flower-mad @x-uno @han11dh @qardasngan @alexxavicry

#james wilson #james wilson x reader #james wilson x you #james wilson fanfiction #james wilsonf anfic #james wilson fic #dr wilson #dr wilson x reader #dr wilson x you #house md #house md fanfiction #house md x reader #robert sean leonard

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half-of-a-gay · 2 months ago

Note

i’ve never done this before clearly but : rugby player sevika x teams manager reader , PLEASE AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!!

my first request 🤭🤩🤗

Links: pt. 2, pt. 3

Rugby player!Sevika x Team manager!Reader

PART 1:

Sevika was a force on the field—unstoppable, relentless, a powerhouse in every sense of the word. She was the kind of player who made opponents hesitate before getting in her way, and the kind of teammate who turned a losing game into a victory with sheer determination. She had the scars to prove it, the muscle to back it up, and the confidence that made her damn near impossible to ignore.

Except when it came to you.

You, the team manager who kept things running smoothly—ordering equipment, organizing travel schedules, making sure their bruised and battered bodies had ice packs and painkillers ready after every brutal game. The one person Sevika, the unshakable, unbreakable rugby star, could barely string two sentences together around.

It was ridiculous, really. She could trash-talk a 200-pound forward without flinching, could carry half the team on her back if needed, but the second you looked at her with that easy smile, clipboard in hand, asking how her shoulder was doing after last week’s game, Sevika forgot how to function.

She wasn’t the kind of person who talked about things.

Not about her injuries. Not about how exhausted she was. And definitely not about the way she felt whenever you so much as looked at her.

So she kept quiet. It was easier that way.

You, on the other hand, were everywhere—on the sidelines, running the team like a well-oiled machine. But Sevika noticed the small things, too. How you hooked your pen on the collar of your shirt when you weren’t taking notes. The way you chewed your lip when you were deep in thought. The fact that, no matter how chaotic things got, you always checked in on her first.

And that terrified Sevika. Because if she let herself believe you cared more about her than just another player on the team, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from wanting more. So she buried it.

Or at least, she tried.

She had survived another week of avoiding you at all costs. But the universe clearly had other plans.

"Sevika."

Your voice cut through the noise of the locker room, sharp and unrelenting, and she froze mid-step. She considered pretending not to hear you, but based on the look on your face when she turned around, that probably would’ve gotten her killed.

Shit. Caught.

Slowly, she faced you, schooling her expression into something bored, as if you weren’t standing there, arms crossed, looking at her like she was one wrong answer away from getting her ass handed to her.

"Yeah?" she drawled, leaning against the row of lockers with the kind of forced, lazy confidence that was supposed to hide the fact that you scared the shit out of her—and that she was, in fact, internally panicking.

"You’ve been ignoring my messages about your rehab schedule."

Damn. She knew she should’ve responded to those.

"I’ve been busy."

You arched a brow, unimpressed. "Too busy to let me know if your shoulder is still wrecked? That’s funny, because I saw you benching twice your weight in the gym yesterday."

Sevika exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of her neck. "It’s fine."

"It won’t be if you keep being stupid," you shot back, stepping closer.

Sevika tensed.

You were too close—close enough that she could smell your perfume, something soft, completely at odds with the sweat and adrenaline that clung to her skin.

Her brain short-circuited. She was not built for this.

"I—I’ll do the rehab, alright?" she muttered, suddenly very interested in the scuff marks on the floor. "I’ll text you back."

"You better."

You held her gaze for a second longer before stepping back, giving her just enough room to breathe again. But then—

"You do realize we have an away game next week, right?" you said, arms still crossed.

Sevika blinked. "Yeah?"

"And that you’re a starter."

"…Yeah?"

You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose like she was the biggest headache of your entire existence.

"Sevika, we need you at full strength. We're all counting on you." Your voice softened, just barely.

Oh.

Sevika swallowed, her pulse skipping in her throat. You didn’t say it like the coach. Didn’t say it like she was just another player.

You said it like it meant something more, like she meant something.

Fuck.

Her chest tightened, words sticking to the roof of her mouth. "…I’ll take it easy," she finally muttered. "No promises, but—I’ll try."

You tilted your head, considering. Then, after a beat— "That’s the best I’m gonna get, huh?"

"Pretty much."

You sighed, shaking your head, but you were smiling—just a little.

"Fine," you said, turning to leave. But just as you reached the door, you glanced over your shoulder, smirking.

"Also, if you're gonna keep staring at me during practice, at least try to be subtle about it."

Sevika felt her heart stop.

You were already walking away, leaving her standing there like a complete idiot, blood roaring in her ears.

She was so screwed.

---

Sevika couldn’t stop replaying that moment in her head.

You knew she’d been staring. Had you known for a while? Were you just messing with her? Or— worst case scenario—were you dropping a hint because you wanted her to do something about it?

That thought lingered in her head all week, crawling under her skin in a way that no brutal tackle or grueling practice could. She spent every spare second convincing herself she should just make a move already.

And with the away game coming up—two nights out of town, stuck in a hotel together. Perfect opportunity. She could finally say something. Maybe ask you to grab coffee. Or a drink. Or hell, just talk to you like a normal person.

Yeah. She could do this.

Probably...

---

The away game was brutal. Hard hits. Fast plays. The kind of match that left blood on jerseys and bruises on ribs. Sevika played like she had something to prove—not to the opposing team, not to her coach, but to you.

She tackled harder. Ran faster. Every time she did something impressive, she flicked her gaze toward you, trying to catch a reaction.

And she did.

She saw the way you leaned forward when she broke through the defensive line. Saw how your fingers tightened around your clipboard when she slammed an opponent into the ground. You didn’t cheer, but you didn’t have to. Sevika wasn’t an idiot—she knew you were paying attention.

By the time the whistle blew, declaring their victory, she was covered in sweat and aching all over. But she barely felt it.

Because when she looked up, she caught the smallest smile on your lips.

And that? That made it all worth it.

The players were cheering, laughing, slinging arms over each other’s shoulders as they trudged off the field. You were waiting by the locker room entrance, already running through logistics in your head.

"Bus leaves at ten sharp," you reminded them. "Anyone late buys breakfast for the whole team."

Groans and grumbles followed, but Sevika barely registered them. She was already working through her next move.

This was it. Now or never.

---

Sevika liked to take the edge off with a drink after games. But she could handle her alcohol. She always kept her control—anything to keep the world from getting too close.

But tonight? Tonight, she let go.

Because the opportunities had been there. Moments to make a move, to say something, to do something. The bus ride, when you sat next to her, your knee brushing against hers. The hotel check-in, when you nudged her playfully after handing her room key. The post-game celebration, when you stood right there, close enough that she could've just—

But she hadn't.

Every single time, she hesitated, choking on the words before they could leave her mouth.

So, instead of dealing with that fact, she drowned it.

One drink turned into two. Two turned into five and more.

Which was how she found herself outside your hotel room door at 1 a.m., one hand braced against the frame, the other knocking—too soft at first, then a little more insistent when you didn’t answer right away.

When the door finally swung open, you were standing there, sleepy and so unfairly cute, wearing an oversized sleep shirt that hit mid-thigh. Your hair was messy, your voice groggy when you muttered:

"Sevika?"

She swallowed hard. Was she always this warm, or was that the alcohol?

"You gotta help me," she said, blinking slowly.

You sighed, already rubbing your temples. "Are you drunk?"

"My shoulder hurts," she said instead, leaning against the doorframe a little more, tilting her head at you.

"Sevika—"

"Can I come in?" She blinked up at you, purposefully softening her expression, just a little. "Please?"

You exhaled through your nose, stepping aside. "Five minutes."

That was a mistake.

Because the second she was inside, Sevika collapsed onto your bed, rolling onto her side with a dramatic groan.

You sighed, closing the door behind you. "I swear to God, Sevika—"

"Bed’s nice," she muttered into your pillow, voice way too soft for someone usually so gruff. She rolled onto her back, blinking up at you. "You’re nice."

You crossed your arms. "You said your shoulder hurt."

"It does," she whined, stretching her arms over her head, shamelessly putting her toned stomach on display beneath her hoodie. She peered up at you, smirking. "You gonna fix me up or what?"

You shot her a dry look. "You’re so full of shit."

"But you like me," she countered, her grin lazy, lopsided. "Don’t deny it."

You crossed your arms, raising an unimpressed brow. "Are you flirting with me right now?"

She smirked, slow and lazy. "Depends. Is it working?"

"Not even a little."

She pouted—actually pouted—before shifting to one side and patting the empty space next to her.

"Come here."

You scoffed. "Not happening."

"But my shoulder hurts," she whined, drawing out the last word like a sulky child. "And you’re all warm."

"You are not cuddling me, Sevika."

She huffed, rolling onto her stomach, muffling her next words into your blanket. "You’re cruel."

She peeked up at you, her hair falling over her face, her lips set in a dramatic little pout. "Please?"

"No."

She groaned again, rolling onto her back and throwing an arm over her face. "Ugh, fine. I’ll just die from shoulder pain. Right here. In your bed. Tragic, really."

You snorted. "You’ll be fine."

"You don’t know that," she grumbled, dropping her arm just enough to peek at you. "What if I wake up and it’s worse?"

You sighed, rubbing your temples. "Sevika—"

"Just let me hold you for, like, five minutes," she bargained, voice pitiful. "It’s for medical reasons."

"Oh my God."

"Please?" she tried again, giving you the best puppy-dog eyes she could muster.

Not even you can resist those big gray eyes. So you fold. Of course you do. You pointed a finger at her. "You get one minute."

Before you could even finish sitting down, Sevika grabbed your wrist and pulled—not hard, just enough to throw you slightly off balance.

"Sevika—"

But before you could protest, she was already maneuvering you, shifting so that when you finally settled, her head was resting firmly against your chest, arms draped lazily around your waist like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She let out a content sigh, her breath warm against your collarbone.

You stiffened, praying she doesn't notice now hard your heart is pounding against your chest. "This is not happening. Get off."

"Shh." She nuzzled in closer, completely unbothered. "Shoulder hurts. This helps."

"I should’ve just let you suffer. You are so lucky you’re drunk," you muttered, glaring down at her.

She just sighed happily, tucking her face into the crook of your neck. Her grip tightening ever so slightly. "You smell so good," she murmured. "Like…flowers or something."

Your face heated. "Sevika—"

"Soft," she mumbled.

"I swear—"

"Mm." She hummed, already half-asleep.

You should’ve pushed her away. Should’ve made her move to her own bed.

But as her breathing slowed, as her body relaxed against yours, you couldn’t quite bring yourself to.

You just shook your head, turning off the lamp, very aware of the fact that Sevika—stoic, untouchable, intimidating Sevika—was currently curled up on your chest, sighing like she’d never been more comfortable in her life.

#sevika x you #sevika x y/n #sevika x reader #sevika #arcane sevika #sevika arcane

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formulaonecrumbs · 5 days ago

Text

one bed and your cold feet 🛌

Lando Norris x reader HIGH-SCHOOL AU

summary: lando and reader, mistakenly, get assigned to share a room for a school trip and (obviously) make no effort to change it.

warnings: established relationship, kissing(making out), young love

A/N: i love high-school au’s. i wish i saw more of them with the drivers but i don’t. so i’m making my own! i hope this isn’t complete shit. love you babies xxx

୨ৎ ୨ৎ ୨ৎ ୨ৎ

the school trip was supposed to be chill.

a two-night “study retreat” in the countryside, complete with group hikes, bonfires, and enough forced bonding to make you want to fake an illness. the only upside? your boyfriend, lando norris, was also going — which meant you could at least suffer together.

what you didn’t expect was this:

“you’ve been assigned room 04.”

“cool,” lando said. “who’s in with me?”

“you two,” the teacher replied, barely looking up. “next.”

you and lando stared at each other. then at the key in your hand.

“…we’re sharing a room?” you said slowly.

lando’s grin was immediate. “guess they trust us.”

you raised a brow. “should they?”

“absolutely not.”

୨ৎ ୨ৎ ୨ৎ ୨ৎ

the room was small but nice — one window, one desk, and, of course, one bed.

“cozy,” lando said, dropping his bag on the floor and toeing off his shoes.

“convenient,” you muttered, already pulling your hoodie over your head.

“what, you scared you won’t be able to keep your hands off me?”

you shot him a look. “lando. we literally sleep like this at your house all the time.”

“yeah,” he said, smirking. “but now it’s forbidden.”

“you’re so annoying.”

“and yet,” he said, flopping onto the bed and patting the space beside him, “you love me.”

you rolled your eyes but crawled in anyway, settling next to him like it was the most natural thing in the world. because it kind of was. you’d done this before — shared blankets and tangled limbs and quiet late-night conversations. but there was something about being in this room, this setting, that made it feel a little more charged. a little more… new.

lando’s arm slid under your shoulders, pulling you into him until you were tucked neatly against his side.

you rested your chin on his chest. “you’re warm.”

he grinned. “you always say that. it’s because you’re always cold.”

“yeah, well,” you said, nudging his leg with yours, “you don’t have to deal with my freezing feet.”

“untrue. i deal with them constantly.”

you laughed softly, and then it got quiet. his fingers skimmed up and down your back, soft and lazy, and you tilted your head up just enough to find his eyes already on you.

“what?” you murmured.

lando just smiled. “you’re cute.”

you huffed a laugh, but before you could come up with something sarcastic to say, he leaned in and kissed you — warm and slow and familiar. and it should’ve felt casual, but there was something in the way his hand slid to your jaw, in the way he kissed you again, deeper this time, like he had all the time in the world and he was going to use every second of it.

you shifted, letting him roll half over you, his hoodie brushing your bare arms, the duvet still tangled at your waists. it was slow and easy, all mouths and hands and lazy sighs, until your phone buzzed from the nightstand.

you broke the kiss with a groan, forehead resting against his. “if that’s theo asking for chem notes, i swear to god—”

lando didn’t move, just grinned against your mouth. “block him.”

“lando—”

“no distractions.” he kissed you again. “we’re bonding.”

“you’re such a menace.”

“your menace,” he whispered.

you rolled your eyes, but your hands were already pulling him back down.

୨ৎ ୨ৎ ୨ৎ ୨ৎ

you hadn’t meant to keep kissing him. really. it was supposed to be a quick thing — a couple soft kisses and then sleep. that was the deal.

but now it was past midnight, and lando’s hoodie was bunched up around his ribs, and your legs were tangled under the covers, and he was kissing you like he didn’t have anywhere else to be for the next ten years.

“this is dangerous,” you mumbled against his mouth, fingers brushing the skin under his shirt.

lando grinned, not opening his eyes. “i’m literally just lying here.”

“on top of me.”

“technically next to you. you’re the one who climbed over.”

“that’s because you were hogging the pillow.”

he hummed, kissing your jaw. “you could’ve just asked me to move.”

“no fun in that.”

his hand found yours under the duvet, fingers intertwining without even thinking. it was so stupidly soft, the way he always did that — like he had to be touching you, even if he wasn’t kissing you. like it was second nature.

“i like this,” he said suddenly, voice low. “not just the kissing. i mean, that’s great. really great. but, like—this. you. here.”

you smiled against his neck. “you’re getting all sentimental.”

“i’ve been sleeping in your arms for forty-five minutes and i’m barely alive because your feet are made of actual ice. let me be emotional.”

you laughed, tucking yourself closer. “you’ll survive.”

“only because you keep doing that thing where you run your fingers through my hair.”

“you like that?”

lando looked up at you, mock offended. “you think i moan like that accidentally?”

you smacked his chest, but he caught your wrist before you could pull away and pressed a kiss to the inside of it. you froze for half a second, blinking down at him.

“you’re such a sap,” you whispered.

“you’re in love with it.”

“tragically.”

he kissed you again — slower this time, like he wasn’t trying to win or distract or tease, just kiss. soft and warm and all-consuming.

and for a moment, in that tiny, creaky room with your legs tangled and your hearts racing and the hallway lights glowing faintly under the door, there was no school trip, no theo, no rules.

just you. just him.

THE END :>

#lando norris #formula 1 #lando norris fluff #f1 fic #f1 x reader #lando norris fanfic #lando norris x reader #lando norris imagines #ln4 x reader #highschool au #f1 highschool au #young love

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dyaz-stories · 1 year ago

Text

hands shaking from holding back from you || Hyun-Su x f!reader

summary: Spring is here, and Hyun-Su offers to take you out on a date, which soon leads to more between the two of you

word count: 3.5k

warnings & tags: some fluff, angst because it's sweet home, kissing, heavy make-out session, gets pretty suggestive but never explicit, monster!hyun-su makes an appearance, the pronoun 'her' is used once in reference to the reader

first one-shot · previous one-shot

A/N: to give a little context, reader and Hyun-Su were in high school together, reader was only there for a year before going to another high school, and therefore has no knowledge of the bullying which hyun-su was a victim of. this one-shot can be read independently (there's nothing intense plot-wise that requires having read the other parts), but I do recommend reading them for context.

There is something strange about spring returning in a forever changed world. It had been so fitting, the apocalypse starting with winter, when everything was dead and desolate. Now, nature is starting to bloom again. The streets should be filled with noise and people, and you should be studying for your exams. Instead, you’re rationing your food, and you haven’t been outside in forever — you don’t need to, now that you have a knight in his torn hoodie to make sure you have everything you need.

Hyun-Su truly is the silver lining in the situation. The only good thing in the world as it is. He’s been more confident around you lately, more at ease. Still, it surprises you when he comes by on a sunny afternoon, and offers, with this soft, cautious voice of his:

“Do you want to go out today?”

You’re putting away some fresh fruits he picked for you, and you turn around in confusion.

“What do you mean, out?”

‘Outside’ is dangerous. ‘Outside’ is a place you only go when you’re desperate, and you plan as efficiently as possible, to ensure you spend the least amount of time there. ‘Outside’, everything is a threat, and you can only breathe when you’re back at the house.

‘Outside’ regularly takes Hyun-Su from you.

Sure, he’s around a lot more, these days, but he still has to leave every now and then. You’ve come to understand that you’re not the only one who relies on him, but he hasn’t provided an explanation, and you haven’t pried. It burns a little every time he leaves, and yet…

And yet, the fear that he wouldn’t answer if you asked is worse. The fear that he might not come back if you didn’t let it rest. The fear that if he had to choose, he wouldn’t choose you.

“It’s nice out,” he answers, and you notice him retreating even as he’s still speaking. “But you don’t have to, if you don’t want to—”

“No, I’d love to,” you cut him off before he can doubt himself further. “I just— Wouldn’t that be— dangerous?”

“Oh.” He smiles, and it’s mesmerizing. It’s not the bright, joyful smile you were used to seeing, back in high school, but being more subdued doesn’t make it any less genuine. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”

There’s no cockiness in his voice, just confidence.

“Then… Sure. I’d love to go out with you.” And you’re not usually the type to say that, because you don’t have the guts for it, but you feel comfortable enough with Hyun-Su to lean towards him with a playful smile. “It’s a date then?”

He lets out a brief, surprised laugh, then glances down at his feet while his cheeks and ears turn red.

“Sure. It’s a date.”

Even if you were the instigator, you still feel your face burn at how soft his eyes are when he looks back at you.

He looks at you like you’re one of the seven wonders.

You see him lick his lips as his eyes fall on yours. You could always take the step to fill the distance between the two of you, but Hyun-Su rarely initiates, so you want to give him the chance to do so. When he does, it’s always so soft and so careful, like he’s afraid of breaking you. After a few seconds, he clears his throat, looks away again — and it’s alright. You won’t rush him.

“I’ll go get ready,” you hum, stepping out of the room.

You miss the way Hyun-Su follows you with adoring eyes.

When you emerge back from your room, Hyun-Su is waiting for you, and you follow him, heart rate spiking when you go through the door. Being outside again, without the need to go get some specific and vital item, is— strange. Your eyes dart around you, constantly taking in your surroundings. There are surprisingly few monsters, compared to the chaos that was early winter. In front of you, Hyun-Su walks casually, seemingly without paying much attention to what is happening around him. You trust him, you really do, but there’s you still find it unnerving about that.

When you jump at some faraway sound, that turns out to be just birds flying away, scared by your approach, he offers you his hand, an amused smile on his lips. He might even suppress a laugh, but you can’t tell for sure.

“Is that okay?” he asks you softly as he closes his fingers around yours.

He treats you like you’re made of porcelain.

“It’s much better,” you reply with a smile, even if you feel a little sheepish.

For a second, he stares into your eyes, before he looks away and lets out a deep, long exhale. You don’t question him, just give his hand a squeeze, hoping it comes off as a silent reassurance.

He squeezes back, then pulls you with him as you keep going through the city.

“Is there— Is there nothing here anymore?” you ask. It feels like you should have seen a monster by now.

“They’re here,” Hyun-Su replies casually, like monsters aren’t a death promise. “They just know better than to approach.”

You swallow. You understand what he doesn’t say — they know better than to approach him — but it’s not that much of a reassurance, for you. You quicken your pace to stay closer to him. It says a lot about how far he’s come that he doesn’t jump when your shoulder brushes against his.

“They’re not all dangerous,” he says. You know he intends for it to be reassuring, but all you can do is grimace in response.

“They might not be,” you answer — you remember a flash of wings as an unseen monster ripped the snake-like creature that was trying to enter your home —, “but it’s not like I have a way of knowing which ones are safe and which ones aren’t.”

There’s a long silence as Hyun-Su keeps walking.

“But isn’t that true of humans, too?” he asks you in the end. He sounds so— sad, and yet you don’t know what to tell him to make it better. He’s not like them, you want to assure him. You’d never conflate him with the ones that tried to murder you — but it’s not like you can forget about them altogether either. Being wrong about trusting a monster, being wounded once could sign your end.

“It is,” you reply slowly. It’s especially true in this new world, where humans have dropped all their inhibitions. “I guess it’s just— Humans have been less of danger to me, you know?” A brief laugh. “But it’s not like I’m running after them either, right? I haven’t stepped foot near the shelter.”

Your dad didn’t trust the military, and you’re distrustful of authority. There might be strength in numbers, but you wouldn’t feel safe being surrounded by men with machine guns while you have nothing.

Hyun-Su hums at your answer. It does seem to have brought him some comfort, and yet you feel the need not to leave it at that.

“You know I trust you, right?” He freezes and turns to look at you. “Both sides,” you insist. “I know you’re safe.”

His lips part as if to say something, before he closes them again and his Adam’s apple bobs up and down. Finally, he nods.

“I feel safe with you, too,” he says. The sentence catches you by surprise, almost makes you want to laugh, because— who in their right mind would think you’re a threat? But Hyun-Su says it with such gravitas that you can only assume that there’s something that you don’t know about under there. Truth be told, there’s a lot you haven’t talked about with him. He’s not talkative, not anymore at least, and it’s hard to know which questions you can ask before reaching a painful subject. And there are countless of these, for everyone, since the Apocalypse hit. “Come on,” he adds after a few seconds. “We’re almost there.”

He pulls you towards a half-broken down outside staircase. You can’t make your way up on your own, so he grabs you by the hips to help you up, and you let out a surprised yelp when strong hands pull you close to him, his chest against your back, to lift you up. Immediately, his body tenses up and he stills, which means you’re all too aware of how close he is now, of his breath on your neck and his body against yours.

“Sorry,” he says. “Is that okay?”

Gosh, he’s sweet to ask, but you’re really happy he cannot see your expression right now.

“It’s fine,” you squeak, “just caught me off guard. Don’t worry about it.”

He seems to hesitate for a second, and oh, you’re so aware of his fingers on your hips, before he lifts you up as if you weighed nothing, first on his shoulder, then easily higher, so you can grab the bottom of the staircase.

“All good?” he asks once you’re up there.

“All good! Do you need—”

But he’s made his way up before you can finish your sentence, and you blink. Right. Some people are athletic.

“Go ahead,” he says, gesturing towards the stairs. “I’ll catch you if anything goes wrong.”

It shouldn’t feel reassuring, should make you think that you’re at risk, but you meant it when you said you trusted him. Knowing he’s there to watch over you… It’s like having your own personal guardian angel.

There are no issues, however, and you soon arrive on the rooftop — which takes your breath away. This had to have belonged to someone with money, because there is a whole garden there. Overgrown grass, flowers, and even a few trees. Birds are chirping, and it feels… Well, it feels like the kind of places you’d go to laze around on a sunny afternoon with your friends, like an actual park. Being secluded and high up, it is however much safer than any park you could actually go to now. When you turn around, you’re met with an impressive view of the city. It looks peaceful from up here, just a quiet spring day.

Then you notice that Hyun-Su is staring at you, and what you see takes your breath away. He’s smiling. Actually smiling. Wide and bright.

You’re quick to look away, embarrassed by the emotions you’re sure are obvious on your face. Tilting your head up, you let yourself receive the sun.

It’s been a long time since you’ve been this happy.

Hyun-Su often feels that, when he’s with you, all he can do is stare. He likes watching you when you’re at home, going about your day in the house, or sitting by a window and reading. It makes him feel so— welcome, knowing that he can just be there, with you, and that you’ll never mind his presence, never ask him to leave.

Never ignore him and pretend he doesn’t exist.

It makes him feel like he belongs, being around you, makes him feel at peace.

Or, at least, it did, because the emotions swirling under his skin right now are much more complex than they used to be.

He met you, or met you again, in the winter, when you were bundled up under coats and scarves and layers upon layers of clothes. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t noticed the change in your wardrobe lately.

It makes sense, of course. Days are getting warmer. Not only is there no need for you to keep wearing pullovers and disappear into huge coats. But the way your clothes are hugging your body these days, how they accentuate your curves, how your t-shirt rides up to reveal the skin of your stomach…

He can’t say that it makes it more difficult to be around you, because he doesn’t think that anything could do that. You make him feel like he can breathe again, like he’s finally coming up to the surface after spending ages lost in dark waters, not knowing which way was up and which way was down. It’s just that it— takes a lot of place in his mind.

He can already barely stop thinking about you as it is, knows that the Kid and Yi-Kyung have noticed already how his mind always seems to wander away from them. This, though, this is a whole other can of worms. Because he doesn’t know how to act about it. Doesn’t know how you’d feel if you knew. Doesn’t know if you’d look at him with pity, if you’d tell him you never want to see him again, if it would disgust you.

Yet, no matter how much he tries to stop himself, he always comes back to staring. You tilt your head up towards the sky, close your eyes.

You’re beautiful.

If he was another man, he’d walk up to you to wrap his arms around you, he’d whisper something in your ear, he’d kiss you.

Just as the thought crosses his mind, his leg twitches. It takes him a second to understand that it’s not just an involuntary muscle reaction. Inside him, the monster is swelling, clawing its way up towards the surface.

If you don’t do something about this, I will, it whispers inside him. And let’s be honest, maybe that would be for the best, because what could you do? At least I wouldn’t be afraid to touch her.

Hyun-Su tries his best to force it back down, to ignore the sting of the words, but the monster refuses to let up. Finally, he takes a step in your direction, then another. The closer he is to you, the less the monster puts up a fight — but it still refuses to go down completely.

You turn to look at him when he reaches you, tilting your head in quiet questioning.

Hyun-Su feels himself lifting his hand to touch your cheek, and it’s so spontaneous, so natural that he can’t really say who’s in control there. Your skin is soft under his, and as he leans in to kiss you, he cannot forget how fragile you are compared to him. How one wrong surge from the creature he harbors inside himself could end it all, how careful he needs to be.

And, when his lips brush against yours and you kiss him back without hesitation, he’s reminded of how you either don’t know that or don’t care.

There must be something in the air, because without thinking, his hand comes to your waist, then the small of your back, pulling you close to him. Again, he can’t tell if it’s the monster making its own decision, or if it’s just natural and he’s just doing what he truly wants to do. Both thoughts are worrying.

But you’re not aware of all the questions going on his mind, and all you do is tilt your head up to give him better access to your mouth — and it makes his pulse rush and his mind goes haywire.

Normally, he’d know better. Right now, he feels your hands, trapped against his chest, gripping his hoodie and pulling him down towards you, just a little closer, because there isn’t much space left between the two of you anyway.

He tilts you back now, still without thinking — there isn’t enough space for that in his mind at this moment, not when it’s so filled with you you you — hands firmly holding you against him. His tongue pushes against your lips, and you part them almost immediately, welcoming him in your mouth. His blood is pumping, his whole body feels scorching hot, and you’re right there, running your fingers along his jaw and over his neck, leaving burning trails everywhere you touch.

His tongue intertwines with yours and he feels, more than he hears, you whimper into him.

Immediately, a sense of urgency forces him to pull back. One second, he’s pressed against yours, the next, he’s taken two steps back, and your eyes open in confusion.

“Are you okay?’ he asks, searching for a way he’s hurt you, anything indicating that something’s wrong. But all he finds is swollen lips that you press together as you glance away from him.

“Um, yeah, everything’s fine,” you mumble, and it takes an embarrassingly long time for him to understand what kind of noise that was.

Oh.

He’s immediately desperate to hear it again.

He brings you back against him to kiss you once more, and there it is, coming from the back of your throat.

He’s not sure what happens, who initiates what, if he’s in control at all, but soon he knows that your back is against the grass, and he’s above you, kissing you just as fiercely. Your hands are wandering now — his shoulders, first, then his arms, then tracing the muscles of his chest and down to his abs. He wants to respond in kind, wants so badly to feel you, but the second he moves his hands, fear assaults him again.

“Is that—” He breaks the kiss to look at you in worry. “Is that okay?”

He illustrates the question with the softest of touch on your skin. You let out a brief laugh — not a mocking one, though.

“You really don’t have to keep asking that,” you say, and your eyes are adoring. Then, when he stays still, you push yourself on your elbows to press a kiss to the corner of his lips. Then his jaw. Then his neck.

Hyun-Su can only stay there, frozen in bliss, as you pepper his skin with kisses. Finally, as you’re reaching his collarbone, you take his hand in yours to bring it back on your body, and then you lie back down, allowing him to take the lead now.

His hand is shaking as he slides it under your t-shirt, all of his senses overwhelmed with need. He wants you so bad, he has a hard time understanding it. Kissing you is familiar. The way your body arches against yours, pushing into his touch— isn’t. His immediate want for more, more of the sounds you make, more of your body, more of you, that is all new, too.

He feels feverish as he mirrors your previous actions, kissing down your neck and lingering in one spot when he discovers it makes you whimper. Now that you’re not muffled with his mouth, your sounds echo louder, and they’re music to his ears, in a way that fuels the fire you’ve lit inside him. His hips press down into you, and a jolt of pleasure jolts through him, which when he realizes that he’s—

He tears himself away from you for the second time, stumbling back to end up just a couple meters away from you.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, “sorry about that.”

You sit up, looking a little confused.

“Are you okay?” you ask softly.

It’s his line, and it takes him a while to piece together what you could mean by that. It’s not like there’s any way for you to hurt him. If anything, you should be disgusted by him. There’s no way you didn’t feel him, which means you know he’s hard. But you’re just looking at him in concern.

“Sorry,” he repeats. “I shouldn’t— I shouldn’t have—”

“Hyun-Su,” you call gently as you scoot over towards him. “It’s all good. I didn’t— um— I didn’t mind. But we— we can stop here for now, if you’d rather.”

Inside him, the monster protests vaguely, but this time Hyun-Su has no issue sending it back to the abyss it came from. He’s overwhelmed, heart beating erratically, and he doesn’t know what would happen if things kept going. He wasn’t in control, not really, and he— he can’t risk it. Not with you.

“Sorry,” he repeats, feeling miserable.

Slowly, you put your arms around him. There’s nothing suggestive about it. You’re just doing your best to bring him comfort.

“It’s okay,” you whisper. Your fingers run gently through his hair in appeasing motions. He rests his head against your shoulder.

He’s not alone.

You’re just there, talking to him, touching him, right against him. You’re not doing anything to move away, not looking at him like he’s some mistake, and it feels like his heart is trying to jump out of his chest.

“Thank you,” he mumbles.

Your fingers still for a moment, before you go back to your ministrations.

“For what?”

And, God, the fact that you don’t even know, that you don’t even realize everything you’re doing, everything you’ve done for him since that first day when you spotted him in the street and ran after him…

He draws in a trembling breath.

“Thank you,” he just repeats.

You don’t ask any more questions, just keep gently playing with his hair.

The sky’s blue, the birds are singing, the town is quiet. It’s just you and him, sitting in the grass, on the rooftop.

If someone were to miraculously pass by and see the two of you there, they’d probably think that you were, indeed, on a date.

okay, I hope you're enjoying this little series! I'm not sure what I'll work on next. i know i'm eventually going to write smut for them, though it's going to be very soft because... well it has to be between them lol. someone has also said they wanted to see them tackle the world together a bit more, so I'm also thinking about writing a one-shot where they meet ha-ni and ho-sang, because i thought that ho-sang's intense dislike for hyun-su could imply they've met before. anyway, yeah, i have a couple different ideas.

i would really appreciate it if you left a comment, whether here, in the tags or in a reblog, and tell me anything you're liking in this series! interactions really motivate me and keep me writing :)

next one-shot

#hyun su x reader #cha hyun su x reader #sweet home #sweet home netflix #cha hyun su #sweet home x reader #sweet home season 2 #cha hyunsoo #cha hyunsoo x reader #hyunsoo x reader #sweet home imagine #sweet home fanfic #my writing

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cxrrodedcoffin · 9 months ago

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Don’t Call Me Kid - Aaron Hotchner

“don’t call me kid, don’t call me baby, look at this godforsaken mess that you made me.”

——

Likes are always appreciated but reblogs and feedback keep artists going!

Summary: Reader confesses their feelings for Hotch, they have an angsty yet adult conversation about it.

Word Count: 2.5k

A/N: I was originally not going to give this a happy ending but I got too sad writing it and changed my mind, also yes i’ve been writing a lot don’t criticize me lol

TW: alcohol mention, angst, age gap, slight physical touch (all respectful, nothing sexual), slight implied daddy issues, fem reader

Rating: G

——

Aaron Hotchner was not a man one could approach without a level head. He was rational, always thinking of the most reasonable course of action, weighing every outcome before making any decision. He had to be, as hasty decision-making had cost him more than he cared to discuss.

You knew that, you’d worked under him for two years now and although he didn’t discuss his private life all that frequently at work, these weekly team meetups at the local bar taught you more than enough about him as a person. The usual stoic head of the team was kind, funny, encouraging, albeit a bit quiet until he knew you a bit better.

About a year into your time with the team you let slip that you’d never explored the city, and Rossi wasted no time letting Aaron know about it. A week later he was driving you around, explaining the history behind the popular monuments you had requested a visit to, then spending an hour at the Folger Shakespeare Library to admire the historic architecture and impressive selection of literature, and ending the day at the Moongate Garden, watching the sunset on a bench surrounded by cherry blossoms.

From that day you knew if there was anything you needed, all you had to do was ask. He’d shown you your favorite restaurant, the coffee shop you sat in every free morning you had, reading books he’d suggested you read. You didn’t want to admit it, but you had fallen hard for him, and over the last year those feelings became harder and harder to push down.

It was 2 a.m. and the bartender had announced last call, earning a disappointed groan from Penelope.

“We were just getting started!” She whined, her speech slightly slurred.

“You’ve had more than enough for tonight Babygirl, let’s get you home.” Derek caught her waist, steadying her as she rose from the booth the team had been sitting in.

“I better get going too, Will has to work early so I have to take Henry to school in the morning.” JJ added, playfully rolling her eyes.

The rest of the group finished up their drinks, wrapping up the current conversation before shuffling out of the bar. You said your goodbyes, giving parting hugs before pulling out your phone, ready to order yourself a rideshare home. Your cell service was almost non-existent and the app was taking forever to load, the chill in the air causing goosebumps to form on your bare legs. You raised your phone in the air, trying to gain a better signal as you walked back and forth in front of the bar, growing increasingly frustrated.

Aaron exited the bar as you made another pass by the entrance, tripping as your ankle wobbled in your heels. He was quick to catch you, helping you find your footing once more.

“Do you have a ride home?” He asked, offering you his suit jacket for warmth.

“I’m trying to order a taxi but the app won’t load.” Your frustration was evident, each tap of your finger against the glass of your smartphone just a little too firm.

“You don’t live far, correct? I can walk you home.” He offered, his hand still lingering on the small of your back to steady you. You weren’t drunk, not by a long shot, but you didn’t handle your liquor the best and although you were mostly there mentally, your center of gravity had been better.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to go out of your way for me.” You countered, always raised to decline at least once when offered anything to remain polite.

“I want to make sure you get home safe, it’s really no trouble.” You knew he was earnest, always such a father figure to every member of the team. You put your phone in your bag, throwing it over your shoulder before turning to walk down the street that led to your apartment building.

You walked in silence for a while, his hand hovering behind you just in case your clumsiness kicked in along your walk. His suit jacket was surprisingly warm, the stiff fabric shielding your bare arms from the cold. You weren’t sure why you’d chosen to wear a short sleeved blouse when it was nearing the end of fall, but you suspected it subconsciously had something to do with how well the v-neck showed off your cleavage. You felt a bit pathetic sometimes, finding any way you could to attempt to pull his attention. It never worked, Aaron respected you too much to stare at your figure no matter how provocatively you dressed.

After a few blocks your heel caught on a storm grate, making you stumble forward. His reflexes were impressive as ever, his arm reaching out to catch your waist.

“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.” You joked, straightening your skirt as you started again on your journey home. He didn’t say anything, but the slight smile his lips formed told you he found your try at humor in an awkward moment amusing.

“It’s just around this corner, I’ll be fine from here.” You tried to wave him off, dying to disappear into your apartment to prevent further embarrassing yourself.

“I’m walking you up to your apartment, I need to see you home safe.” He stated, turning the corner with you. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach, his domineering yet caring tone making your heart race. This was all becoming too much, the protectiveness, the slight touches, you could feel something burning in your chest, the urge to spill your guts growing stronger by the minute.

He waited for you to punch in the code to the front door of your apartment building before holding it open for you, following you to the elevator up to your floor. You took the quiet ride up, him continuing to follow you down the hallway to your apartment when the doors opened. You opened your bag, fiddling around for your keys for a moment before finding them, your hand shaking as you tried to unlock the door. You finally got it, pushing open the front door and stepping into your messy living room.

“How are you getting home?” You asked, setting your bag on the small table next to the door.

“I’ll order a taxi, I’m just glad you’re home safe.” He began to pull out his phone, and the liquid courage coursing through your veins told you to invite him in.

“Do you want to come in while you wait?” You offered, handing his suit coat back to him. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and making sure to lock it, never too cautious.

He laid his suit coat over the back of your coach, taking a seat before taking out his phone again to order his ride.

“It won’t be ready for another 30 minutes, I hope I’m not overstaying my welcome.” He was far too courteous, and all you wanted to do was tell him how badly you wanted him to stay forever.

“You could never.” You told him, kicking off your heels before sitting next to him on the couch. You took a deep breath, trying to settle yourself as you picked up the book that was resting on your coffee table. You watched over the top of the pages to see him glancing around the room, scanning the contents until he stopped on the media console across the room. He stood from his place next to you and walked over to it, taking a knee to get down to the same level as your record collection.

“You have impressive taste.” He stated matter-of-factly, his long fingers brushing across the spines of each album. You gave a quiet ‘thank you’ as he began to pull a record out, and you placed your book down again to see what had caught his eye.

“I didn’t know you listened to The Beatles.” He held up the jacket of the band’s white album, looking to you in slight disbelief.

“Of course, The White Album is one of the greatest of all time.” You were excited to talk music with him, it was a topic you’d never discussed before and you were always eager to learn more about him. That may have been to your own detriment, because the more you learned about him, the harder you seemed to fall.

You knew a relationship between the two of you could never happen, he was your superior, not to mention twenty years your senior, but something felt like it was pulling you to him no matter how many guys you tried to distract yourself with.

“You never fail to surprise me.” He smiled, the outer corners of his eyes crinkling just so. You could’ve died right there, content to collapse into a puddle of yearning. You didn’t know what came over you, but you found yourself clearing your throat as a rush of adrenaline coursed through you.

“Aaron, I have to tell you something.” Your voice shook, but you remained strong in your conviction.

His faint smile turned to a look of concern, quickly rising from his knee to join you on the couch again.

“What is it?” He questioned, brow furrowed as he angled his body toward you.

“I-It’s, nevermind.” That burst of adrenaline quickly faded, his eyes on you feeling like a cigarette burn.

“Y/N, whatever it is, you can trust me. I understand if you’re not comfortable telling me, but don’t let fear hold you back on my account.” He reassured you, resting his hand on your knee sympathetically. You had to do it, there was no way you could face him every day if you brushed him off without an explanation.

“I’m in love with you.” You blurted out, hanging your head, too afraid of what his reaction would be to dare look him in the eye. The silence that sat between you two felt like it carried on forever, tension thick enough to cut with a knife. After what felt like an eternity he cleared his throat, still holding his hand on your knee.

“Why do you feel that way?” He asked, trying to understand where this was coming from. He couldn’t deny that he had felt chemistry between you, but it wasn’t something he could ever entertain acting on.

“Over the last year I’ve gotten to know you in ways I never dreamed I would, I’ve never felt this way for anyone before, even those I once thought I loved in the past. You’ve been so kind, Aaron, you’re an incredible friend, father, leader, how could I be anything but amazed by you?” You felt as though you were rambling, but he seemed so invested in your answer that you didn’t care if what you said was rational.

“I understand.” He confirmed, turning silent as the gears turned in his mind. You could tell he was fighting something internally, the look of concentration on his face seeming almost painful.

You pulled your knee out from under his hand, your nerves convinced that he was looking for a way to fire you without creating an HR nightmare. As quickly as you pulled away he had moved closer to you, his hand finding its place on your knee once more.

“Look at me.” He said, thumb rubbing soothing circles against your skin. You did as you were told, tears threatening your waterline as you did your best to hold his gaze.

“I’m not going to lie to you, you are a very charming young woman and I’d be honored to pursue something more intimate with you, but we can’t. I’m your superior, and you’re young enough to be my daughter.” He explained, the pain in his expression serving to break your heart in two.

“I don’t care.” You were not thinking rationally in that moment, your heart speaking for you instead of your head.

“You should, this is your future.” His tone held frustration this time, finding your childish response disappointing.

“I am not a child Aaron, I can make my own decisions.” You told him, a tear slipping down your cheek as you grew increasingly frustrated with his stonewalling.

“I know that, but you’re young, you have so much to experience and you shouldn’t put that on hold for me, or anyone else for that matter.” Even through his anger he was just trying to steer you in the responsible direction, thinking more about your future than whatever desires he held.

“I have all I’ve ever wanted, my dream has always been to work for the FBI. I don’t have any delusions of grandeur, I never have. I want a job where I’m doing good and a family to come home to when all is said and done.” You explained, and it wasn’t a lie. It’s not that you weren’t driven, you clearly had to be to even make it to the bureau, but that was as far as you wanted your drive to take you.

“For this to work, I can not be your boss, and I won’t ask you to step down.” He continued evaluating each possible risk in your dynamic, and for once you were one step ahead of him.

“You don’t have to, I put in for a transfer to the financial crime unit last week.” You finally let the other secret you’d been keeping slip, and you watched his face drop in disappointment.

“The team is going to miss you more than you know.” He told you, wishing he had known so he could have convinced you otherwise.

“I know, but I couldn’t bare the thought of being around you every day while I feel like this, and I was fascinated by the way their team handled the case we partnered with them on last month. The timing felt right.” You explained, needing him to know that it was not his fault, but a conscious decision you made.

“I just want to try.” You pleaded one last time, hoping he’d let his walls down just this once.

“If this is really what you want, I’ll take you out next weekend. If we’re going to do this, I’m going to do it the right way, you deserve that much.” He gave in, letting himself do something personally risky for the first time in years.

“I would love that.” You agreed, all of the anger and frustration that had been building up over the last year finally starting to dissipate ever so slightly.

How it would pay off, only time would tell, but for now, you were content to just get to know him more and show him who you are the best you can.

——

Part 2 can be found here

Tag List: @pleasantwitchgarden @lover-of-books-and-tea

DM me or send me an ask if you’d like to be added to my general or Aaron Hotchner taglist :)

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotch hotchner #aaron hotch fanfiction #aaron hotch fic #aaron hotch x you #aaron hotchner angst #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner fanfiction #criminal minds #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds x reader #mine #my writing

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mscherub · 3 months ago

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Right, so…you’re transported to a new world, and me being the science geek I am, I can’t help but think of all the bacteria you wouldn’t be accustomed to in Twisted Wonderland…so imagine how bad flu season would be, or just the spreading of sicknesses around the school in general

You better have a good immune system cause oml would it be put into overdrive. Anyways…here’s my twist on what the Diasomnia boys would do in order to be helpful in your recovery ❤️‍🩹

Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, Diasomnia

Warnings!:

Sickness, obviously

Mentions of vomiting, snot, etc

To start us off…

It’s flu season in Twisted Wonderland, well you call it the flu, they call it something else you don’t even bother to learn. With you’re immune so shot and not used to the illnesses that spread around, getting sick more often that you honestly should, you woke up with a headache. Ok…nothing too serious, but you thought it to be a good idea to just take some ibuprofen equivalent in their world and “thug it out,” which ultimately lead to your current situation. Currently, you’re in the infirmary, having passed out from a raging fever and a disgustingly congested respiratory system during PE and you’re bed ridden back at ramshackle, at least until your fever goes down. Sevens bless Grim and the ghosts as they try and get you things to feel better, but you need some sort of intervention, and here comes you’re favorite person at the right time. How do they help you out?

Malleus 🐉:

For one, he’s surprised you called upon him of all people, but hey, he’s not complaining. He’s been training for this day somewhat because Gao-Gao Drakon-kun has taught him how to take care of things and keep them alive, though, granted it’s a lot different in this case…but he can get an A for effort, at least. The thought that counts

He’ll sit by your side and ask you what exactly are your ailments, how he can help, all just to gauge what he should do…your very different from a tamagotchi—

Pillows, blankets, anything else? He’ll magic it right your way, probably casting some spell on it, possibly a relaxation one, which would be nice for your predicament

Of course he’ll also have food covered as well, what do you want? Eat it or don’t depending on how you feel, he won’t be mad at all, he’ll just be confused as to why you won’t eat, he's pretty sure humans need to eat to get better quickly, but he won’t pry

He’ll scoff at the medicines your assigned to take and he’ll go make you ancient and passed down remedies from Briar Valley, claiming they work better…and awkwardly enough they do perform a lot better than what you were taking before, so that’s a win because maybe you’ll get better even faster

He’ll let his magic do the work for cleaning.

He’s also not afraid to get sick, he’ll sit with you, he’s more than happy to. No being grossed out here, if anything, it’s quite peculiar how differently illnesses affect humans

He’ll be smug about taking care of you. This is the first time he's done this for a friend, especially as one as good as you.

Lilia 🧚‍♀️:

Bros gonna fuck around with you as soon as he sees you, sorry. But yet again, he does have that paternal side to him, and you just look so…helpless, and he’s not cold hearted, so of course he’ll stay and take care of you

Don’t let him cook, don’t if you wanna live!

If you refuse to eat what he makes you he’ll start getting snippy and uncharacteristically strict, saying how you need to eat to keep up your energy so your body can fight away this illness. Just keep refusing his food, if you’re not hungry then that should be fine and rather easy, but if you are, have him go buy you a little snack. Better than you not eating at all he’ll finally conclude to

He’s also a little iffy with the medicines, again with the cooking, he'll try to make a medicinal item out of herbs and stuff…probably toxic instead of the intended purpose, so don’t take it, trust me. “Oh? My, my…I didn’t realize it would turn out to be a poison! Silly me. Good thing you didn’t have any beastie.” he will laugh it off.

But, he’d still give you the medicines you need, don’t worry. He’s serious when he needs to be, and you’re recovery is important to him right now

He’ll mess around with Grim and the ghosts as you lie in bed, having a little fun himself, but if you need anything, he’ll change up quick and be by your side

Blankets, water, pillows, he’s got it under cover

He’s not scared to get sick himself so he’ll stay close to your side, most likely gently cooing at you and relishing in how you’re just so cute like this

Be warned he will randomly disappear at times, but if you call him he’ll pop up in front of you, upside down as usual. But, he’ll make sure Ramshackle is quiet while you rest, don’t worry

Silver ⚔️:

He’s honored to help you out, so he’ll do so without complaint

When it comes to those he holds dear, he’ll become more protective and do what he can to help them, and you just so happen to be in that group of people, and especially with your state, you’ll be pampered. Since Silver is tasked with watching over Malleus, he’ll do the same for you

What do you need? Well, he’s already on it, actually, so don’t worry.

Food he has under control definitely, man has to save himself from Lilia’s cooking all the time and he’s learned from a young age, so whatever you want he’ll conjure up real quick. Eat it or don’t, if you’re not hungry he’ll understand and save it for later

Do be patient with him, however, he has his sleepy spells and make sure Grim is with Silver if he’s cooking at that moment, though trusting Grim to take over if Silver does fall asleep isn’t really a great option, either-

Oh! He’s awake again, ok, medications, yea, right. If he doesn’t forget to give them to you after he falls asleep, then you’ll be fine. If he does forget, remind him, he’ll apologize and be right on it

When he’s not tending to you he’ll do stuff around Ramshackle, his pet peeve is idleness, so…

He’ll clean up and make sure the rest of the inhabitants are ok

After that, he’ll go back to your room and sit in the armchair, he’s not afraid to get sick, and he’ll doze off along with you

Sebek ⚡️:

Well…he’s going to chastise you severely while he helps you. He’ll say he’s only doing it because you’re Wakasama’s good friend, and that’s the only reason why, not that he’s actually doing this because he wants to and he feels bad, no, definitely not that. “Human! I shall only provide assistance on Wakasama’s behalf!”

He’ll belittle you every time he speaks, and if you have a headache already, just get good at ignoring him yap

Again just like with Silver, his duty is to watch over Malleus, so he’ll evidently do the same with you in a sense since that’s what he’s learned. He'll wait in your room, sitting in the arm chair, most likely reading.

He’s learned to cook well enough for himself, obviously, due to Lilia’s cooking, so he’ll provide you with more nutrient dense meals if you ask him to. He won’t do it unless you ask, he doesn’t wasn’t to assume

Sebek will make sure you take your medications religiously until you're better, it’s your duty, and he always follows his duties, you should, too.

He’ll clean up here and there, make sure Grim and the ghosts are in line, and he’ll grab you anything else you could possibly want, again, not without some complaint. “Humans are weak creatures!” He doesn’t really mean it in a mean way…he’s just being honest 🤷‍♀️

He’ll try and be quiet while you sleep, but forgive him if he yells at Grim at all and wakes you up-

Afterwards he’ll probably get sick himself, feel free to make fun of him then, KARMA

IM DONEEEE! Sorry I took my sweet ass time with Diasomnia, oh lord…

Also, I realized I made each one progressively longer for each character as I progressed through the dorms, so…whoops 🧍‍♀️(I yap too fucking much-)

But hey, now I can start on a new series, just gotta come up with one- or, someone could suggest one if anyone has any ideas!

Master list

Please don’t steal or copy any of my work! You may, however, reblog if you’d want to!

Pictures belong to Disney Twisted Wonderland but are edited by me :)

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lightseoul · 3 months ago

Text

— BAKUGOU KATSUKI.

arranged from latest to oldest per category!

型 : ONE-SHOTS

twenty-six (18+) ˖⁺‧₊

your boyfriend’s spending his birthday oceans away from you, and there’s absolutely little you can do to celebrate his special day…right?

ready or not ˖⁺‧₊

in which you toe the line between what you can and cannot give.

casual casualties (18+) ˖⁺‧₊

what was meant to be an innocent trip down to the bridge becomes a national sensation when you get outed as #15 pro-hero dynamight's soulmate on live tv. inconvenient, yes, very much so—but it's not like you have to do something about it. but then the bakugou katsuki himself seeks you out, and you find yourself getting into a whole lot of trouble. inspired by @/andypantsx3's fingerprints.

christmas tree ˖⁺‧₊

bakugou catches you assembling the agency's top floor's christmas tree. (post-chapter 431).

and if we do (this thing) (18+) ˖⁺‧₊

you come up with a novel proposition during dinner one night with your dominant brute of a boyfriend. he accepts, although something tells you he doesn’t fully know what he’s getting himself into.

revenge (keep us together) ˖⁺‧₊

you wake up in a hospital and see an unfortunate, familiar sight.

hold me close (hold me tight) ˖⁺‧₊

masaru has a stroke that nearly kills him. bakugou handles it well—until he doesn’t.

maybe? definitely ˖⁺‧₊

bakugou realizes he wants to marry you.

in the dark ˖⁺‧₊

you're struggling to pick out an outfit that works for a reunion with class 1a later in the evening. bakugou comes in to try to help you, but you end up having a difficult conversation. (cw. mentions of body image issues, major weight gain).

call me your favorite, call me the worst ˖⁺‧₊

bakugou visits your studio unit for the first time. let's just say he ends up seeing something he wasn't supposed to see. a short story based on my first-ever self ship art.

endearment ˖⁺‧₊

first, second, and third instances; it's official, there's something going on with bakugou and you're determined to find out.

asymptōtos ˖⁺‧₊

you needed him to meet you halfway. he couldn't.

型 : SERIES / MULTI-CHAPTERED

tbd (tent: meet crazy) ˖⁺‧₊

part 1

part 2

part 3

all out of luck ˖⁺‧₊

you had the biggest, fattest crush on bakugou katsuki in high school, which granted you weird looks and judgment from those who found out, because why, when you could fawn over prince-like todoroki or manly kirishima instead? fast forward to 10 years later, though, and now the joke’s on them, because #2 pro-hero dynamight just got dubbed the hottest bachelor of the year. but that doesn’t matter, because you’re over him now. you’ve been over him, ever since that butchered attempt at confessing where he dismissed you as a gen ed extra before you could even get the words out. so why, all of a sudden—and an entire decade later—do you have to work with him on a top-secret mission?

the wonderful mess that we made ˖⁺‧₊

you’re invited to the wedding of the ex who unceremoniously dumped you over the phone while you were on your way to meet your boss. that boss, who just happens to be #2 pro-hero dynamight, finds out and comes up with a diabolical proposition. madness—affectionate or derogatory, you don’t know—inevitably ensues.

wish you were sober ˖⁺‧₊

sober — based on this tiktok

i wish you would

admit it: the trilogy ˖⁺‧₊

admit it — loving him from afar was enough. at least, it should’ve been enough. until it wasn’t. (or, in which you subtly take care of your ex, bakugou katsuki, who also happens to be the namesake of the agency you’re working at).

still do — bakugou katsuki finally confronts you. you have a difficult conversation.

prove it — bakugou katsuki starts acting differently after your last conversation. you finally arrive at an agreement.

you and me? ˖⁺‧₊

you and me? really? — mina and kirishima invite you to a night out. they conveniently forget to tell you it was a double date.

you and me, both — mina and kirishima invite you to a night out. ‘it won’t be like last time!’ they said. you begrudgingly go.

型 : DRABBLES

get used to it

favorite shirt

it's called having (a clue)

tied (something is)

threadbare pajamas

if this is it now

something blue

flying (cockroach)

casual future

2k milestone drabble event (13/27) based on any of the given 30 prompts, i write a drabble/scenario!

emotional constipation

you're binging a show. sadly bakugou needs some attention

bakugou keeps on teasing you. you choose to bite back

happy 4th anniversary

flighty y/n gets confessed to

bakugou checks out your boobs. you tease him

trial by fire first-time boyfriend katsuki finds himself having to deal with a menstruating partner

*drabbles in response to asks are tagged #bkg

#masterlist #lightseoul

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butterflytint · 2 months ago

Text

the princess and the archer- t. fushiguro

summary: the princess of the kingdom has escaped from her boarding school! who better to help her than a brooding archer in the woods?

w/c: 9k

pairing: archer!toji x femprincess!reader

warnings/tags: royal au, sexually explicit content, virgin reader

a/n: this is a rewrite of one of my old ao3 hq one shots. I thought toji would be a great hunter so why not. also the towns and places are references to cursed techniques!!

Once upon a time in a land far far away, resided a wealthy and powerful kingdom. In this kingdom, lived a beautiful princess . . . who was currently on the run.

You donned a scarlet cloak as you ride your horse through a forest. A few days prior, you hatched a devious plan to escape the all-girls boarding school your parents—the king and queen—sent you to so you could learn the proper etiquette that a lady must know. You grew bored rather quickly and formulated a plan to run off to your uncle’s estate, that way your aunt and uncle could vouch for you and protect you from your parents’ wrath.

Although you were successful in escaping the school, you were still in unknown territory. The girl’s academy was located on the opposite end of the kingdom, there’d be too much land to cover in one night, not to mention your horse is getting tired. With a deep breath, you yanked the reins back, signaling your companion to slow down.

Venturing off in the middle of the night like that into unfamiliar grounds was stupid to say the least. It was wiser for you and your trusted steed to eat and rest up, and simply continue traveling in the morning when the sun was out so you could actually see where you were headed. It seemed like a decent plan, except for one flaw: where would you sleep? A vulnerable girl like you couldn’t sleep on the dirt of a mysterious forest, it simply didn’t suit a woman of your royal title.

You adjusted your cloak around you as you trudged through the woods, finally settling to rest under a tree. You leaned your back against your steed, rummaging through your satchel to pull out something to eat. A disappointed frown took form on your face when you only pulled out a small portion of turkey that you snuck in from the school’s kitchens. Shaking your head, you sighed, accepting that you’d have to make do with what you had.

You closed your eyes and brought the slab of meat to your mouth. Your teeth snapped together as you seemingly took a bite of the air. Eyes prying open as they followed the sound of gobbling next to your head, the blonde-haired horse was downing that turkey like it was a wad of chewing gum.

You gasped before snapping at the stallion, “Reiner!”

Your horse opened his eyes to look at you dejectedly, no sign of guilt on his furry face. You could’ve sworn you almost saw the animal smile at your misery.

“Traitor,” you pointed your finger at him.

Reiner simply nuzzled into your side, acting oh so innocent. You heaved a deep breath, furrowing your brows as your fingers raked through his mane.

“I suppose that wasn’t going to be enough for the either of us,” you murmured. You stoically stood up, dusting your dress with your hands as you looked back at him, “I suppose we won’t be getting anything near a feast out here anytime soon. As much as I miss having breakfast in bed, it’s time I do something on my own for once.”

A devoid stare was all you got in return from the animal. You took it as a look of silent encouragement. You trekked further into the woods, your trusted steed following closely behind. Thoughts of drinking ice cold water and eating a warm meal resided in your mind, etching itself in your conscience, imprinting on your senses as you could almost smell rotisserie chicken being cooked in that very moment. Wait. That wasn’t your imagination, you could actually smell it with a hint of smoke sailing through the air.

A relieved sigh escaped your lips as you scrunched up your dress in your hands to lift it up, making it easier for you to step through the dirt of the forest ground. As you followed the growing scent, you squinted in the distance to see a warm hue of radiance, like a beacon of light for you to follow.

A short thankful laugh spilled from your throat before you approached it. It was a hut, like a small cottage, sitting by its lonesome in the woods. Maybe it belonged to a kind old lady who tended to her sheep in the village nearby or a florist—it could’ve even belonged to an evil warlock for all you knew.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, you drew near that cottagey hut. When a twig snapped beneath your boot, you didn’t think much of it. Big mistake.

The rumbling of a deep growl resounded behind you. Slowly, you craned your head to meet the origin of the beastly noise. A bear . . . it belonged to a bear. It was standing several meters away from you. All you could hear was the sound of your heartbeat blaring in your ears like some siren.

You glanced over your shoulder to somehow discreetly mount Reiner and slip away, but you were graced with the view of the equestrian galloping away. It was treason to say the least, a heinous crime against a princess.

You couldn’t control the petrified scream that left your mouth before you started running towards the cottage. You ran the fastest you’d ever run in your life. Back in the castle, if you were to behave like this, you’d be disciplined by your caretakers up in the castle, locked up in your room for acting like a ruffian, but the circumstances called for it this time.

Something caught your leg. A branch. Uneven terrain. You couldn’t care to check. All you knew was that there was a sharp sting of pain in your shin now. As unceremoniously as you got up to continue your running, hot tears began to spill from your eyes. You chanced a look over your shoulder again to see if the beast was chasing you, but you bumped into a tree. A very cushiony tree.

You turned to see what it was, only to be met with a pair of rich green eyes. Panting, you felt the stranger grip your arms with a sense of care. He craned his neck down to your view, almost a way of letting you know it was okay.

His hooded eyes were wide as he asked you, “Are you alright?”

You nodded, still shuddering. You started to explain, “There’s a—”

“I know,” he interrupted boldly. He pulled you behind him, not with too much force as he was your line of defense now. He reached for his bow and arrow, drawing his arm back as he aimed at the beast charging towards the two of you. “Stay behind me, darlin’.”

He didn’t have to tell you twice. You backed up towards his home slowly, still trembling while watching him draw the arrow at the vicious animal. He let go of the bowstring, an audible gust of wind from the arrow traveling through the air could be heard.

You peered over his shoulder to see the dense creature topple over like it was nothing. That arrow had to have pierced its heart somehow through its arm. It was a well-aimed shot, some kind of miracle you would read of in a fantasy tale.

The peculiar stranger didn’t even offer the poor corpse another look as he turned to face you. You gaped at him as your bottom lip quivered. He was tall, very tall. He looked down at you like you were some puny ant on the ground. He had straight ink black hair that hung over those deep green eyes, eyes that could be mistaken for blue in this light. His brows were dark like his hair, resting in no particular expression as he studied you.

The man was in a loose grey tunic and black pants, a pair of dense black boots to tie the jagged hunter look together. Bow still in hand while his quiver rested on his hip, housing spare arrows for him to use if necessary. They weren’t needed though, not when the owner of them was as adept to take down a bear with a single arrow from a long distance in the darkness of the night.

Not only was he tall, but he was also muscular enough that his loose clothes could not even hide it. He towered over you in ways that reminded you of the perimeter walls of the castle, overlooking outsiders like they weren’t anything.

All his features were striking, so striking you nearly missed that scar carved over the side of his mouth, over his lips. It made him look threatening, dangerous. Everything in your body was telling you to run.

He had a bored frown on his face, devoid of any empathy for a lonely girl stranded in the forest. That’s when his lips suddenly curled up into a smirk, his canine teeth poking out ravenously as he leered at you, his scar contorting with his expression.

“What’s a cute little thing like you doing out here all by yourself?” he quizzed.

Those eyes of his were staring straight into your soul, you took a step back, prepared to run, but you had just witnessed first-hand how he pierced that bear’s heart with the instrument in his hand.

You gulped, pulling it together before tilting your chin up a bit, “Are you the owner of this cottage?”

“You mean my hut? Yeah,” the man responded quite dully. “But you didn’t answer my question. We don’t get many visitors out here.”

“I . . . got lost finding my way back to the village,” you replied warily, clearly unaware of the area.

“You need to go back to Shikigami Village? Sweetheart, you’re headed in the wrong direction. The village is a mile that way,” he responded, pointing to your left. When you peered off into the direction he was beckoning to, you wet your lips in apprehension. That’s when he cocked a brow at you, “You’re not from around here are you?”

“That’s none of your concern,” you huffed indignantly.

He shrugged, “Fine by me. Good luck getting back.”

He started heading back towards his little home and you stood there with your jaw ajar. You watched him take several steps before you bunched up your dress so you could catch up to him.

“W-wait! Are you seriously not going to help me?” you cried, steps frantic.

The man stopped in his tracks when you stood between him and his hut. He tilted his head to the side, “I told you the village is that way, didn’t I? You interrupted my meal I was going to eat.”

He walked around you as he continued his path straight to the little structure he called a home.

You scurried along his side, looking up at him, “Mister, I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I’m famished and I have no clue where my horse is. You wouldn’t leave a young lady in the dangerous forest all by herself, would you?”

It seemed like he was pondering for a moment, “Actually, I would. Good night.”

He started walking again and you gripped his arm, making him stop again. When he looked down at you, he felt trapped in the trembling helpless look you were returning him.

“Please, what if I encounter another beast? I won’t last. I—I . . . I’ll pay you handsomely for a meal and a way to the village,” you offered panickily.

He looked you up and down, you were half his size, he couldn’t help but feel a bit responsible for making sure you were safe now.

He groaned, “Alright. Come in.”

Your face lit up and you spluttered, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

The tall man patted your hand before opening the door, trying to act calm about an attractive young woman clinging onto him so willingly as he entered his home. When you entered the cottage, you were graced by the scent of herbs and spices. It was a cramped space, though. A small kitchen in one corner, a tiny lounge area in another, a workshop space in the back by a rickety spiral staircase leading to another floor. It was all barely the size of your personal chambers alone.

“I hate to break it to you, but this is not a hut,” you told the man. “Huts don’t have stairs.”

He shut the door as you let go of his arm. Glancing at you over his shoulder he asked, “What is it then?”

“A cottage,” you piped while taking off your torn cloak. “As I said earlier.”

“No, cottages are for folk like you,” he said gruffly as he let his archery gear fall to the floor by the door.

“Folk like me?” you put your hands on your hips, the corset of your dress defining your figure in all the right ways as he tried to casually check you out.

“Yeah,” he said curtly. “Y’know, shopkeepers and such.”

You gasped in offense, watching him step towards the kitchen, “I am not of such a low status! You don’t know who I am?”

The man tossed something indifferently into the stove, not sparing you so much as a glance as he cut slabs of some sort of meat with a butcher knife.

“You married to a merchant or something?” he asked. “’Cuz someone as hot as you stumbling on my hut seems unlikely if your tied to some merchant.”

Your brows furrowed from where you were behind the wooden countertop he had facing the rest of the home.

“I am not a merchant’s wife. I’m not even married—”

“Thank god,” he murmured, his scarred mouth barely moving.

“Excuse me?!” you questioned.

“Nothin’,” he said quickly.

You raised a brow as you studied him again in the warm light of the golden lanterns he had around the place. He would take a moment to think before he continued his next step in cooking, as if he was trying to recollect a vision of someone explaining the process to him. He had an adorable crease between his brows as he tried to think, almost making you forget how dangerous the man was.

You smiled playfully, leaning your elbows on the counter, “Hey, you never told me your name?”

He turned away from the meat he was cooking and faced you, “You first. You’re the stranger here.”

“Right. Where are my manners?” you straightened your posture before formally curtseying, “Y/n.”

He nodded at you as a form of greeting you, “Fushiguro. Toji Fushiguro.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” you smiled, bowing your head. All Toji does in response is another inattentive nod, returning to whatever it was he was cooking. Your eyes caught a small emblem on his wall by the window. “Excuse me, what is that?”

Toji flicked his eyes to where you were pointing. Blandly, he responds, “That’s the Zenin Clan crest.”

“Zenin?” you squinted in thought, recognizing the name immediately. “Like the royal clan of Hollow Kingdom? They are faithful servants of the king and queen.”

Toji maintained a disposition of irritation, like your presence was a great bother. “Yes, like the royal clan.”

“How come you have their crest?” you asked, thinking about the clan itself, how the members were cold but your father saw great value in them in further bettering the kingdom.

“I worked for them a long time ago,” he answered bluntly.

You frowned, “Why is someone who had ties with such an elite family here in the middle of a forest all the way at the edge of the kingdom?”

Toji scowled, peeling his hooded eyes away from the pot on the stove, “That is none of your business.”

That look on his pretty face, total detestation. In this light, you would see how bright and smooth his skin was. His face was carved and chiseled, sharp and menacing.

From the twenty some minutes you have known the guy, you knew he clearly valued his privacy. Of course, he did. He was living alone in the middle of the woods when there was an entire village hardly a mile from here.

You groaned, closing your eyes and thinking about how you got here in the first place. You muttered under your breath, “I’m going to kill Ijichi.”

Toji cocked a thin brow, looking over his shoulder at you, “Who’s Ijichi?”

“He’s the royal stableboy up in the capital of the kingdom. He’s the one who trained my horse, he’s a nice boy, but my horse is a real piece of work. Stupid thing ran off and left me in the heat, damn traitor,” you grumbled.

Toji pointed at the window, “You mean that horse?”

Your gaze flicked to the window behind you to see the blonde-haired steed outside the cottage, poking its head in.

“Reiner!” you gasped. You rushed over to grab his face and scold him, “Bad boy, I can’t believe you abandoned me! You coward. Give me that.”

You yanked your satchel from his side and pressed it against your chest. Toji narrowed his eyes as he studied you once again, registering your face, your clothes, the way your face hardly gave much away when you spoke or when he replied to you.

“Where were you coming from then? I know you aren’t from around here if you’re headed to the capital,” Toji asked as he set two plates on the roundtable.

You sighed, taking a seat by his side, “I was enrolled in a girls’ school in Strawdoll City. I need to go home to my uncle’s estate. I’m not quite prepared to go back to the castle yet, my parents must be furious. Thank you,” you added as he handed you a spoon to begin eating.

“Castle?” he quizzed, gulping down a spoonful of broth from the chicken stew he made.

His pupils dilated as he put the puzzle pieces together. A beautiful young lady in a pretty dress . . . saying she’s of high royal status . . . fully aware of the prestigious Zenin Clan . . . attending a rich private school in a wealthy city . . . all prim and proper with her ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous’ . . . her stableboy in the capital of the kingdom . . . she needs to go home to her castle . . .

“You’re the princess?!” he froze in his seat.

“Uh . . . yes,” you answered before blowing on your soup gently.

His eyes widened when you seemed so casual about it. He tensed up, “Yes?! You don’t understand, I can’t have the princess of the land in my house! If anyone finds out, they’ll think I kidnapped you and did something questionable.”

You chuckled, “No need to worry, Toji, my friend. I won’t peep a word to anybody . . . as long as you get me back to Shikigami Village safely and fetch me a carriage.”

“Absolutely not, sweetheart,” he retorted gruffly as he stood up. “Listen, you’re cute and all, but I’ll be skinned alive if the soldiers patrolling the cities find out I’m housing the princess while the king and queen are searching for her. I’m just a poor archer who likes to be left alone. I don’t want any part of this.”

“Uh—what? You’re going to kick me out?!” you cried. “That’s a crime! To turn down the princess’s request! To throw her out where she could be in imminent danger!”

“Maybe the princess should’ve stayed at school like her parents told her to, children should listen to their parents,” he scolded from where he stood.

You set down the spoon with much force, “I’m hardly a child! My twentieth birthday was just a few days ago and they’re just going to marry me off to that weird prince within the week! I need to get to my uncle and aunt before my parents make the arrangements final. Besides, I promised to pay to a generous hand. I’ll bring you gold, livestock, clothes, all the riches you desire.”

It was true, your parents already had a suitor in mind, but you found him rather odd. He was a man you shared no interests with, resulting in you barely carrying a conversation with him the few times you had met him. The intimacy in your meetings with the prince of your neighboring land was practically invisible. The idea of marrying him seemed like a form of torture.

Toji turned his back to you, crossing his arms sternly. You were fuming with a mix of rage and hopelessness, you needed to appeal to him somehow. Your future depended on it. You ruminated on what you’d read in the books in the castle study.

Slowly, you stood up. Luckily, your dress was very flattering for your figure, the corset complimenting your waist and chest. You ruffled up your hair before painting an innocent look on your face.

“Toji,” you said his name softly.

He turned to face you at your sultry tone. When he saw you, his heart seemed caged in his throat, he was like a deer in headlights. He couldn’t pry his eyes away, not with the lustful and playful glint in your eye.

“Please, I’ll do anything,” you said suggestively.

There would be no use in lying to say he didn’t find you attractive. You were a lady much too beautiful for her own good. Someone who knew she was desirable.

He gulped, looking you up and down. When he met your eyes again, he answered, “Fine.”

Then it hit you, you didn’t think he would actually jump at the offer to ravage your body, but here you were. A stupid girl for trying something you read of in all your romance books. You tried not to shiver, expecting him to begin touching you already.

But he didn’t.

He replied coldly, “Here’s the deal. You arrange for fifty bags of gold, wheat, and a supply of bread if I get you back to your uncle’s estate. And throw in a few sheep here and there.”

You were relieved, but a bit taken aback at the turn of events. You narrowed your eyes at him, he rejected your offer of taking your body as payment. What kind of man was he?

“You don’t want to—”

“Have my way with a girl as gorgeous as yourself?” he finished for you, green eyes glinting deviously in the light. “I’d love to, trust me, but it’s not every day the princess of the land makes you an offer. I’ll take all the money I can from it. Of course, if you’d like me to pleasure you in the way you were just insinuating, I wouldn’t mind having a night of passion with the princess as a bonus with my newfound wealth.”

You gasped before you strode up to him, landing a cruel smack across his face.

“What?” he breathed out. “You were the one that was trying to get into bed with me!”

“Because I thought you would do the humane thing and decide to help me without anything in return!” you spat. “Turns out you’re a freeloading vulture trying to take advantage of a helpless girl!”

He rubbed his cheek as Reiner watched from the window, letting out a humorous neigh, “You got quite the arm, princess. I’m still getting the gold and sheep, right?”

You spun on your heel to take a seat on the cushioned seats he had in the lounge, “No sheep. I’ll arrange for everything else. Pervert.”

Toji scowled and walked up to you, glaring down at you, “You’re the pervert. You started it.”

“Ugh, men,” you said venomously. A sting of pain flashed through your leg again, making you wince as you started lifting up the skirt of your dress.

Toji practically choked, “What are you doing?”

You lifted the dress right below your knee to reveal a gash on your flesh. It must’ve been from when you fell outside. His pupils were blown, relieved you weren’t lifting your skirt up for any other particular reason.

Toji immediately turned around and headed for the kitchen. He came back a short moment later with a damp cloth and what seemed like fresh cloths as makeshift wraps. He bent down and craned his head to meet your eyes.

“Is it alright if I touch you?” he asked gently, his voice all husky and gruff but still hitting that note of sincerity. Something you wouldn’t expect from a man like him.

You offered a stunned stare, pulling your bottom lip between your teeth as you slowly nodded. He gently held your calf, pressing the cloth to your wound. You watched him intently, feeling a twang of guilt for shouting at him a moment prior.

He pulled away after tending to your injury, peering up at you as you gazed back with a glimmer of gratitude. He gave you a tender look, similar to the one you gave him. The silence was searing the air like a wildfire, heat building in your throat.

Without saying anything, he lifted you up bridal style. You wanted to retort, but decided not to thrash in his hold as he ascended up the stairs. Once he got to the second floor, he smoothly set you down on his bed.

He stepped back and you stared up at him. Coldly, he said, “It’s late, your majesty. You should rest. We have a lot of land to cover in the morning. I’ll be sleeping downstairs if you need me.”

You opened your mouth to say something, but opted to snap it shut instead. He shut the door and you heard his footsteps growing faint as he returned downstairs. You couldn’t deny how incredibly confused you were, instead you pulled the covers over your body and dozed off. Not even bothering to get out of the suffocating corset dress and get into your cotton night gown with how exhausted you were.

You woke up to the sound of rustling outside. You sat up straight before slipping off the bed and freshening up in the bathroom. It was a difficult task to put it in simple terms. It didn’t have the luxuries of your personal bath. There wasn’t any hot water, the faucet made a screeching noise every time you moved the handle, and you didn’t have your pink loofa.

What sin were you being punished for like this?

You stepped into the kitchen, not seeing the archer that rescued you last night. A sound from outside drew you to open the front door, seeing Toji sitting on a tree stump, sharpening a knife. Reiner was a few feet away, wearing a disgusted expression as he eyed the archer.

“Morning, princess,” Toji called, smiling impishly.

You approached him, “Good morning. What’s going on?” You were referring to the several bags he had strewn on your horse’s side.

“Oh, we’re going now,” he got up and tucked the dagger in his boot.

“Now?!”

“Yup,” Toji piped. “I suggest we move along when your horse is in a good mood. He seems to hate me for no reason.”

You looked at Reiner, hints of agitation on his equestrian face. You scoffed, “Have you met yourself? My horse is a good judge of character, maybe you did something to upset him.”

“No!” Toji’s jaw dropped. “I pet him, and he tried chomping my arm off!”

You stepped towards Reiner, cradling his face which he seemed to enjoy. “He’s a sweetheart. He only does that when he sees someone as a threat.”

Toji muttered, “Stupid damn horse.”

Reiner got up from his laying position to charge at the hunter and you held your hands up in front of him, “Woah, there, boy. He’s a friend. He’s helping us get to Uncle’s home. Relax.”

“I even gave you food,” Toji furrowed his brows, glowering at the animal as if he were his rival. “Anyway, let’s go. This trip is going to take a few days. I need to get back so I can go back to business.”

You nodded, following him as he mounted your horse. He helped you up, guiding you to slide your hands around his waist for support. You didn’t question anything, understanding that it was his way of helping you. He handed you an apple for you to eat along the way.

“We’re going to cut through the village—Shikigami I mean,” Toji told you. “Then we’re going to go through the town of Starrage and Shadowton county before we get to the capital.”

You groaned, “That’s going to take us days—maybe more than that and that’s if we travel with no breaks.”

“Mhm,” Toji hummed sheepishly. “We probably won’t get there for another week, I’d say. We’d be lucky if we got to Shadowton in five days even.”

You let out an aggravated groan.

“Don’t complain now, darling. You asked for this. If you don’t want to be caught before your parents realize you aren’t at ballerina charm school, you’re going to have to rough it out with this poor archer,” he pointed to himself with his thumb.

“Ballerina charm school?” you squinted. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know what the fuck princesses do,” he answered in defense.

“That was an academy to sharpen my mind in studies and what it takes to be a lady of the court so I’ll be prepared for marriage and being a princess to another land,” you grumbled.

“You don’t want to marry?” Toji asked. “I thought that was every girl’s dream.”

“I do want to get married, just not like this. I want it on my own terms, not my parents’,” you muttered.

“What? You wanna fall in love and have that guy use you to become king or something?” Toji said. “Isn’t that a bit foolish?”

“No, it isn’t. What’s wrong with falling in love? You’re just thinking in the sense of the cheap sicko you are,” you retorted.

“Maybe,” Toji chuckled. “It seems a bit unrealistic. Something from those plays they put together in town square.”

“I wouldn’t know,” you mumbled. “I’ve never been to any town play before.”

“Really?” Toji glanced at you. “They perform them all the time. It’s kinda hard to miss.”

“I’ve only read about romance, I’ve never seen any plays. In fact, this is my first time going to a village outside of my castle.”

“What?!” Toji sharply quizzed. “You haven’t left the castle until now?!” You nodded and he gave you a pitiful look. “No wonder you’re so hopeless. What do you even do in there?”

“Read books in my room, go to the gardens, watch the stars from my window,” you answered softly.

Toji didn’t say anything, instead he let silence take over as the two of you got to Shikigami village.

“I’m thinking you should probably get a new dress,” Toji advised. “Yours is torn, people might label you as promiscuous. I can’t have that. And you have to look like a villager if we keep going or we’ll be seen as suspicious.”

You didn’t respond, opting to just listen to his advice as he led you to a dress shop. Inside he discussed with a deal with the seamstress to let you select a few dresses, apparently, she owed him a favor. After you were in a fresh dress with another pair of them for the rest of the trip, the two of you continued to trek through the village, reaching the outskirts as you entered another forest yet again.

You two continued with the small talk again as you reached the town of Starrage. It was nightfall, your horse was incredibly tired and so were the two of you.

“I know a guy. He’ll let us stay here for a while,” Toji informed you as the two of you dragged your feet to a hostel.

A brown-haired man opened the door, he was muscular with broad shoulders and he had big brown eyes. He seemed cheerful enough, yelling, “Toji! My favorite hunter dude. How are you? And who’s this beauty you’re with?”

The unnamed man bowed his head, taking your hand to place a courteous gentlemanly kiss on the back of it, “My apologies, I’m Takuma Ino, owner of this establishment.”

“Hello, I’m Y/n,” you answered with a small smile.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful lady,” he winked.

“Ino, we’re on our way to the kingdom’s capital. We traveled all day, mind if we crash for here for a night or two?” Toji had a frown on his face.

“Stay as long as you want,” Ino nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll take you to your room.”

“Oh, we have separate rooms, right?” you asked politely.

“We only have one available room, I’m all booked,” Ino said with a frown. “I thought you would want to share the same room since you’re together.”

“We aren’t together like that,” Toji explained crossly. “We’re together for business. We’ll be out of your hair by morning. Just take us to the room.”

“Alright, I’ll have the guys take your horse to the stables for the night. I’ll bring you two something to eat, too,” Ino said before leading you up the stairs.

He opened a door for you and wished you a goodnight right as he left. The room was small, only a single small bed inside and a few pieces of furniture here and there.

“You can take the bed, your majesty,” Toji groaned. “I can just go out to the stables and sleep there.”

He turned to grab the doorknob but as if your hand had a mind of its own, it shot out to grasp his arm. He looked to face you.

“No, stay here with me. I don’t like to be alone,” you spoke softly.

The archer stared at you for a moment in silence, but obliging nonetheless. He sat down with you as you quietly began eating the meal Ino had left for you.

“Where are you from? I thought you’d be from Shikigami village, but you must’ve moved around a lot. How come you live in the forest a mile away?” you asked after a few moments.

“I’m not from there. My family . . . lives in the capital. I just like being on my own. I hunt and stuff, it’s how I make my living. The village pays a high price for my archery skills,” he replied to you.

The words that came out of his mouth were hardly believable. Even though you spent much of your time in the castle, that much you could tell—there was something he wasn’t telling you about his family.

“You are from the capital,” you stated, eyes low. “Why would you leave for a life of searching for scraps?”

He didn’t reply immediately, he had his pretty eyes transfixed on the ground, “My family never liked me. It’s easier to be away from them rather than with them.”

“Why didn’t they like you?” the offense in your voice sounded like you were the one insulted, not him. It made him study your face. Closely. He saw hurt and confusion on your face and he wanted to remind you that he was the one that should’ve held that look. But why would you even care?

“They thought I was weak, punished me pretty often for it,” Toji frowned.

“Weak?” you scoffed, facing your food again. “That’s ridiculous.”

Toji chuckled, “Yeah, it is pretty ridiculous.”

“You’re the most strongest man I’ve ever met,” you said, taking another bite.

Toji pursed his lips, blinking sheepishly as he watched you eat. He hardly can think, his heart felt like it was masking his ears, like it was all it could hear. He shook his head, facing away again.

“I didn’t want to take their path, so they work for royalty and what not,” he said.

“Oh, I see,” you breathed softly. “Does this have to do with why you worked with the Zenin Clan?”

“The Zenins . . .” Toji muttered, “were the ones who thought I was weak.”

“You . . . are a Zenin?” you quizzed, brows raising. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You’re you, that’s why,” he said like he was waking up from a deep slumber.

“You left them because of how they treated you?” you frowned. “Not just because of work?”

He tensed up, but his tone seemed unwavering, “They exiled me from the family estate and shunned me when I was sixteen.”

He was a child. He needed his family, and they threw him out on the streets, no wonder he doesn’t like the nobility.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you murmured.

“Don’t be sorry, princess,” he answered stoically. “Don’t really care all that much. It’s been seven years”

“You know, the knights could use an experienced archer like you. I’ve never seen a knight shoot an arrow as well as you do. I could arrange for you to come to the city. It would probably be better than those woods,” you pointed.

He chuckled, “I’m in no mood to be a slave for the royal family. I’m okay just where I am.”

“Why don’t you join your friend here then? How come you’re alone?”

“People always gave me strange treatment, like I was some nuisance. It didn’t bother me but it’s fun to just be on your own,” Toji gave you the short version of his answer.

“That’s a sad life,” you sighed.

Toji said nothing in response for a second, proceeding to shortly say, “So is being locked up in a castle with no free will.”

He was expecting a shoe to be thrown at him or some angry comments in return, but you chuckled softly, “I guess that’s true. I haven’t had this much fun in my life.”

Toji peered down at you, watching as you patted your mouth with a handkerchief.

“Well, good night, Toji,” you moved to the head of the bed. “I hope the floor doesn’t bother your back too much.”

And with that, you pulled the covers up and he let out a disdained huff.

The next day seemed more promising than before, Reiner wasn’t trying to chew on Toji’s hair and they seemed to be getting along a bit better than before. You were well fed, freshly bathed, and well rested, too. The trip also seemed a bit more fun as you explained the plot of certain books you read in the castle library to Toji.

“He dies to save her?” he quizzed.

“Yup,” you exclaimed. “Isn’t it romantic?”

“There’s nothing romantic about death,” the archer shot back.

“I mean the fact he died to protect her,” you purred. “His love for her was so pure.”

“Only thing pure was the poison he drank,” Toji mumbled.

“Ugh, you’re simple-minded. You’ll never understand,” you ruffled your skirt a bit.

Toji understood alright, he just didn’t see the point in it. But the way you got so excited while explaining a story made him want to hear more.

“Tell me another story,” Toji suggested. “Maybe one where they both don’t die.”

You rolled your eyes as you began explaining another novel you liked.

Although you both thought it would be impossible to reach Shadowton by the end of the week, you did end up making it to a ranch owned by another one of Toji’s friends.

“Thank you, Shiu,” Toji smirked somewhat genuinely.

“Yeah, whatever,” Shiu responded. “If you two need anything, I’ll be in the house.”

“Thank you so much,” you said as he walked away towards his house in the distance. You turned to Toji who was setting up a place for himself to sleep on the floor. “I can sleep on the floor this time.”

“Don’t be stupid,” he argued. “If I’m uncomfortable or anything I could just go and sleep in the living room up in Shiu’s house.”

That house was a far walk from Shiu’s guest house which the two of you were in. You knew he wasn’t going up there just because you’d get scared being all alone. Now that you thought about it, he was doing all in his power to make you feel comfortable and safe from the moment you met.

“What are you going to do when you get the money?” you blurted.

A little stunned by your sudden query, he blinked, staring at you. “I-uh, haven’t thought about any of that. I’ve been thinking and I had something to tell you. You don’t need to give me anything in return. Just go to your uncle’s and get him to convince your parents to choose your own life.”

Your lips parted, “You . . . don’t want the gold?”

“Yeah, keep it. I’ll just make sure you’re safely where you need to be and I’ll just go back to my hut,” he shrugged.

You stepped towards him, “Listen, I’m grateful for your help. I’d feel terrible if there was nothing I could do in return.”

He waved his hand dismissively, “Nah, I’m okay. I’ll just go to see a friend of mine there and I’ll be on my way back.”

“To be alone again?” you asked timidly, stepping towards him. His breath wavered as you drew nearer. “Toji, you seem like you don’t care about being lonely all the time, but you’ve also been having a lot of fun the past few days—with me—not being alone by yourself. Why would you want to go back to that?”

“I . . . don’t,” he replied, wearing a grim expression as his heart picked up speed.

“Me neither,” you said.

He suddenly chuckled, throwing you off guard. His pretty black hair fell into his eyes, “I can’t believe I had to act as your chauffeur the last week.”

“Hey!” you pointed. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it.”

“Never said I didn’t,” he sighed, looking at you—longingly.

You both stared at each other, not noticing how close you two were getting with each passing moment. His sharp green eyes flicked between yours and your lips. You couldn’t seem to understand why your hands were quivering or why you couldn’t stop them. Slowly, you both leaned in, closing your eyes as your lips finally met. It was a soft kiss, no force behind it.

Just two people teetering on the edge of a cliff, baby steps before deciding whether to dive in or not. So, your lips brushed against each other’s with feather lightness.

When your lips parted, you shared another look, not saying anything before you leaned more into the kiss again. Toji cupped your face as you gripped the front of his shirt, craning your neck up since he was undeniably tall.

He moved your head to the side, angling your jaw to deepen the kiss. His touch was gentle, his thumb slowly outlined your cheekbone. And one of the things that stormed your mind was how tender his touch was ad how rough of an exterior he had—this big tough man being so soft and gentle.

The archer bent his neck down more while simultaneously pulling you closer to him. He bit your bottom lip, pulling it down slightly so he could slide his tongue in, prompting a soft moan from you.

Your hands were bunching up the fabric of his shirt, tugging it upwards. He understood what your intention was, there was no need for verbal instructions. With his mouth still on yours, he dragged his shirt off his body, parting from you for a brief moment to slide it off his head before he went back to hungrily kissing you.

Your hands moved to cradle his cheeks, letting his tongue clash with yours as his own hands slid down to your waist. You had only read about the immense pleasure of intimacy in books, the actual experience itself was drastically better than inked letters on parchment.

His mouth traveled down your jaw and neck, pressing hot open mouth kisses wherever they’d touch. His teeth grazed your shoulder, letting them sink into your skin. His lips were searing into your body, teeth marking you up like you were one of his prey.

You let your fingertips trace his toned muscles. As much as you told him you didn’t like him being alone in the woods, you had to admit, it did do him justice, maybe being alone wasn’t so bad. It led you two to each other, right?

You sighed when his large hands continued to roam your body, coming back up to the collar of your frilly nightgown. He stopped kissing you for a moment, pulling back to drag the sleeves off your shoulder, making it simpler for your white gown to slip off your body.

As the cotton dress fell to the floor, Toji’s eyes lingered on your bare frame. Only your panties on at this point, and he knew that getting the princess this naked was enough to be considered treason.

He could not give a fuck though because Toji pulled you flush against his torso, lips back on you yet again as he guided you towards the bed.

He let you fall back onto the mattress, letting you crawl back so he could loom over you. Your eyes stayed on every bit of him, soaking in all that he was. Tall, muscular, arms veiny and strong. Face pretty and handsome all at once, practically glistening in the pale moonlight.

He leaned in and your finger traced the curve of his mouth, then that scar on the corner of his lips. You pressed your lips to it, kissing it before you felt his tongue slide across yours, a sudden animalistic incline in his tempo.

The man pulled away for a brief moment, looking at you in the eyes as if he was expecting you to suddenly remember you were the princess to a prestigious kingdom and sleeping with him did not fall into your line of duty. But you stayed silent, eyes begging him to touch you again. And so he did.

His hands cupped your tits, squeezing them and drawing out heinous noises from you. He bent down, kissing between the valley of your chest, eyes flicking up at you. He moved to wrap his mouth around your nipple and you squirm.

Your back arched off the mattress as he sucked and licked your boobs—the air in the room felt too hot and too cold all at once. You couldn’t even decide between all the panting but all you knew was that you loved this.

“What do your little books tell you about this?” Toji teased, biting your pert nipple and burying his face in your chest.

“D-don’t make fun,” you shivered. “I could have you thrown in prison.”

“Let me show what can get me exiled first then,” Toji joked, licking up the mound and dragging his tongue to the side of your neck.

He looped his fingers through the side of your panties before dragging them off your legs, discarding them in some forgotten corner of the room. You watched shamelessly as he pulled down his pants along with his underwear.

A panicked gulp traveled haphazardly down your throat as you gawked at his muscular frame. Your parents would be mortified if they knew you were in bed naked with a mere hunter—exiled family member of the Zenin Clan to make matters worse. But that didn’t stop you when Toji littered loving kisses on your shoulders, lips finding their way down to your tits.

His mouth latched onto your perked nipple, the flat of his tongue flicking over the sensitive bud as his fingers made their way between your thighs.

When his fingers grazed your folds, you threw your head back into the sheets, panting harder. His thumb circled over your clit, making you squirm underneath him. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at how wet you were, desperately wanting to tease you about how you might’ve read about things like this in your prim little books.

“Have you never touched yourself before, princess?” he smirked with half-lidded eyes.

The question felt like a it came out of left field; a sudden nerve being struck at the lewd ask. Your conflicted look was enough to throw him over the edge, you turned your face away and stammered, “I-um . . .”

He inched his finger into your opening, lips hovering over yours as he keenly watched your face contort in pleasure. But he paused, bringing you back to your senses as you shot him a confused look, expecting him to have done more.

Before you could ask him anything though, he moved back, staring down at you as he brought his mouth down to plant kissed on your thighs. A shaky gasp left the back of your throat, and the man had to stop himself from letting his emotions get the better of himself and fuck you right then and there, but he knew . . . it was your first time, he had to be gentle.

“Who knew the princess could be so lewd?” Toji teased, his breath fanning over your cunt as he leaned in closer.

You whined, making him let out a low laugh.

“I guess I’ll be the only one to ever know,” he whispered right before he placed a languid lick from the bottom of your slit to the top.

The moan leaving your lips had desperation and pleasure laced intricately together, wordlessly begging him for more. How could he possibly resist you, especially with the way your fingers were woven in his hair, tugging and grazing his scalp so wantonly.

One of his hands were wrapped around your thigh while his other hand worked to rub your clit, occasionally flicking his tongue over it as he placed soft kisses on your mound.

It wasn’t meant to be sudden, but it seemed like it when his tongue prodded into your opening, running itself along the slickness of your walls. An unforgiving yank at his hair seemed well-deserved, but he didn’t let that stop him from angling his head to let his muscle hit deeper inside you, his nose rubbing against your swollen clit.

The deep rumble from his throat added for an extra stimulation, making your toes curl and your body to writhe under his touch even more. Squeals and short breaths from your mouth were all sending his blood rushing, good thing you couldn’t see.

You were beginning to shake uncontrollably, your lip tucked between your teeth to hold back your moans. His warm eyes were transfixed on your face, noting the way your brows were knitting and your back was arching in sheer ecstasy.

He retracted his tongue from your entrance, spitting on your pussy so lewdly, and making you gasp. He began rubbing his saliva over your slit, spreading it and making you even wetter before going back to eating you out.

A heat was pooling in your gut, something making your legs tremble and your shoulders jerk in a cold shiver. You cried out, coming all over his tongue which he laid out flat to lap up your secretions.

He never stopped rubbing your clit, even while he was licking up your cum. Your face was flushed, a burning sensation fluttering across your cheeks as you basked in the afterglow. Toji finally pulled back, lips darting out to wet his lips as he pulled you by your thighs, bringing you closer to him.

He studied your flustered state. Your hair fanned out in an unruly yet perfect manner, a sheen of sweat on your face from the effects of your orgasm, and your glossed over eyes staring back at him. For the first time, he didn’t see a princess. He saw you, just you.

The thought of your kind eyes and warm smile were enough to make his heart flutter, making him a bit more nervous than he expected. He bent down, kissing your lips as he wrapped his hand around his cock, guiding it to your entrance.

“This might hurt a bit,” he mumbled against your lips. “I’ll go nice and slow.”

You nodded, eyes hazy as you felt him inching his way into your soppy walls. He was huge, it felt like he was splitting you open on his cock.

You softly moaned into his mouth, the vibration making his pulse quicken. The feeling of him inside you stretching you out caused you to grip his upper arm, fingernails prickling his skin. He pulled back, keeping his eyes locked on you as he drew his hips back before snapping them against yours.

A choked gasp was all you could sputter at the sudden action, he rocked his hips again, this time slow and deep. Your hands went to his back, nails trailing down in response to his movements as he kept thrusting, picking up speed as he went on.

Toji hissed at the sensation of your fingers running down his back, burying his head in the crook of your neck with shaky pants gracing your ear. Your legs mindlessly wrapped themselves around his waist, toes curling in reaction to the tip of his cock rutting against the entrance of your cervix repeatedly. Your walls were beginning to clamp around him, pulling him in deeper and producing obscene sounds where the two of your bodies met.

He groaned lowly, his forehead pressing onto yours now as you felt him throb inside you. One of his hands tangled in your hair while his other one stroked your waist, occasionally grabbing at your hip to draw you closer to him.

“Does it feel good?” he asked breathlessly. “Doesn’t hurt right?”

You hummed, shaking your head and snaking your arms around his neck to pull him closer.

“Good, you’re doing such a good job,” he murmured. “You feel . . .you feel fucking perfect.”

Tears formed in your eyes from the sheer intensity of the pleasure. At times, you couldn’t understand the appeal of sex when you read about it, but the reality of it changed your mind completely.

A strangled breath from him let you know he was close, same thing with the way your jaw hung loosely. His breathing became unsteady and through gritted teeth, he choked out your name.

With another few strokes, a rush of liquid gushed out, pouring into your cunt. You threw your head back when you were becoming undone as well, for the second time that night.

He didn’t move to get up and get dressed or leave the room like you half-expected him to. Toji stayed right where he was, lifting his head to look down at you.

He wasn’t sure exactly what to say. What was the right thing to say?

Hey, sorry maybe fucking the princess wasn’t the best idea. After all, your parents could toss me into some dungeon and have me decapitated. I’ll be on my way now!

He stayed quiet, but he couldn’t look away or lift a finger. Thoughts flooded his mind as he gaped at you. Thoughts about how you both still had a decent chunk of the trip left, and how you were on your way to potentially be matched with a suitor, that prince from the next kingdom over. It was making his blood boil, thinking of how another man would get to have you. It seemed unfair, especially when he knew he had a status nowhere near what you or your parents had planned for.

That was if you even wanted him.

You pushed his hair out of his eyes, cupping his cheeks and bringing him down to meet your lips again. This time, the kiss was tender, your lips lingering on his a moment longer than anticipated.

You didn’t let go of him, though, instead whispering, “It’s okay, I’m not planning on telling anyone.”

He sighed, “That’s not what I’m thinking.”

You cocked a brow, “Oh? What is it then?”

Toji’s mind faltered for a bit, the usual mouth-running attitude was in hiding, “You’re probably getting married soon. You . . . you’re practically engaged.”

You blinked twice slowly, pursing your lips, “I don’t care about a prince. That’s not what I want.”

Your words were like medicine, or some sort of drug, they were healing him and making him feel like he could fly or do something ridiculous like that. Being in the entraps of the Shikigami forest had been a shield to protect himself from the people of the outside world. Sure, he had his fair share of sex from time to time but this, this was different. There was never a moment in his god forsaken life he had felt the need to put someone else before him. Not until he stumbled across you, of course. He was almost half grateful a bear had chased you that night, because it led you to his arms.

“Y/n . . .”

You grinned childishly, “You called me my name.”

“Huh?” he sputtered.

“You called me by my name,” you repeated, still beaming. “You always call me by my official title, but you said my name.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, which was a little humorous considering he was on top of you still.

“No, I like it, makes me feel a bit normal,” you explained.

“If that’s what you want,” Toji offered a small smile. “But you—you’re serious?”

You nodded.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of a horse in the distance stirred you two out of your little world. You both giggled, recognizing the horse to be Reiner in the stables.

He was still facing the window with a little smile on his face, you pushed him over, bending down to kiss him again.

“I should probably let you get your beauty sleep, I’ll go on to my set up,” he murmured.

“No,” you shook your head. “Stay with me . . . at least for tonight.”

He was frozen, the way your thumb circled his cheek was making them burn up, but nonetheless, he nodded.

He reached down to pull up the blanket, covering both your bodies and nuzzling you closer to his side, not even bothering to think about how you still had a long way to go.

hope you enjoyed! likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!!

#toji fushiguro #toji zenin #jjk.#jjk fanfic #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jjk #jjk x you #jjk fluff #jjk toji #jjk toji fushiguro #jujustsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu toji #toji x reader #toji zenin x reader #toji fushigro x reader

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kikyoupdates · 4 months ago

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Otherworldly Attraction ⭑˚🔮⭑ 𝑓𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔

yandere!jjk x f!reader

𝚢𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚖, 𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚔𝚊𝚒, 𝚓𝚞𝚓𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚞 𝚔𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚗 𝚡 𝚏𝚎𝚖!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗, 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚢𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎

You don't know how or why, but you've been isekai'd into the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Although your first instinct is to stay away from the plot, you've been blessed with an abnormal amount of cursed energy, and for better or worse, you find yourself sucked into the storyline. You decide that you may as well use your newfound powers for the greater good, and if you're lucky, you might succeed in rewriting some of the characters' fates. But it turns out that your presence in this world is an even bigger deal than you first thought, and soon, everyone wants to make you theirs.

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“Occult Club!” the student council president fumes. “You didn’t submit your club activities again! I keep telling you over and over that we don’t have space in the school for this kind of nonsense. Starting today, this is going to become the girls’ track and field club’s changing room, so get out!”

He goes off on his usual tirade, and you feel a bit awkward just being here, to be honest. However, it seems as though your presence hasn’t gone unnoticed, because all of a sudden, the student council president adjusts his glasses and turns towards you.

“And who’s this now?” he asks. “You’re not even a club member. I don’t recall seeing anyone submit new applications for this club.”

Sasaki links her arm with yours and sticks her tongue out at him. “This is [Name]! She promised to join the Occult Research Club soon!”

Uh, I’m pretty sure that never happened…

The student council president stares at you for a while before pushing his glasses back up again, in true anime fashion. “Hmph. Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s too late! Officially, your club doesn’t even meet the three-member requirement in order to operate. The problem lies with you , Itadori Yuji! You’ve been going along with this charade, but you’re not even a club member!”

“Huh?!”

Sasaki and Iguchi proceed to both glare at Itadori as if they’ve just been betrayed, and naturally, he’s in utter disbelief.

“But I swear I wrote Occult Research Club on my application,” he insists.

“ I rewrote it!” a new voice suddenly booms. Of course, it’s none other than the track and field coach, Mr. Takagi, who desperately needs Itadori’s superhuman strength and athleticism in order to win nationals.

You’ve seen all this play out before, so there’s not a single word exchanged that surprises you. Mr. Takagi challenges Itadori to duke it out on the field, and if Itadori wins, he agrees to give up on him.

That’s how you find yourself standing outside, awaiting their fateful match. Not that it’ll be much of a match at all, because Itadori will beat Mr. Takagi at shot put with ease. He’ll even break the world record in the process, if you recall.

And so, you gather around alongside everyone else, but as much as you like Itadori, you already know he doesn’t need your support. Which is why your eyes can’t help but wander, searching the crowd for a certain dark-haired boy.

Eventually, they land on the boy in question—Fushiguro Megumi.

But for some reason, he’s staring right back at you.

Crap. I got caught. He must think I’m checking him out or something.

You turn away in a hurry, cheeks flushed. You know it’s bad manners to stare, but you just couldn’t help yourself. This is the only time you’ll ever see him, after all. Your fangirl heart simply can’t be contained.

You figure he’ll just brush it off, though. He won’t think much of it. After all, you’re nothing more than a side character. In the grand scheme of things, you’re completely insignificant.

That’s what you think , at least.

All of a sudden, Fushiguro walks up to you, wide-eyed. You can only assume it’s because he wants to ask why you were perving on him, so you prepare yourself to be called out for being a creep, but surprisingly, that doesn’t happen.

Instead, his expression turns awfully stern, and he faces you head-on.

“You,” he says. “You have it, don’t you? You must be the one who picked it up.”

“Uh…”

What. Like, seriously, what ? By ‘it’ is he referring to Sukuna’s finger? He has to be. But you’re not even the one carrying it right now! As far as you know, Itadori still has the empty box tucked away in his pocket, and he’s already given the actual sealed finger to Sasaki and Iguchi. It must be stowed away somewhere in the club room.

“I-I don’t understand what you mean,” you stammer nervously.

It makes no sense why he came up to you like this. Could it be that some of the cursed energy is still lingering on your body? From when you briefly made contact with the finger the other day? It was only for a second, though. There’s no way that alone would be enough to draw him in.

Fushiguro knits his brows together, then he lifts up his phone to show you a picture of—surprise, surprise—the special-grade cursed object he’s looking for.

“This,” he insists, all but shoving the phone in your face. “I can tell that you have it. I’m sure you probably don’t even realize what it is, but it’s extremely dangerous, and I need you to hand it over immediately.”

Shit. Why is he so fixated on you all of a sudden? You just barely touched Sukuna’s finger, and you’re not even the one carrying the box right now. He should be paying attention to Itadori instead.

The plot can’t veer off course. It just can’t . Because if that were to happen, you genuinely can’t predict how this fictional world would hold up. You fear that the very fabric of this universe might tear.

And in that case, you’ll be super-duper fucked .

“Oh… that,” you say, mustering up a quick smile. “I get what you mean now. Um, yeah. I’ve seen that before. My friend picked it up, actually. Itadori Yuji. That guy over there. The one that just broke the shot put record. He’s still carrying it with him, as far as I know.”

Fushiguro looks off into the distance, turning his head to where your finger is pointed. Sure enough, he sees Itadori, who’s just realized what time it is and sprints off in a hurry so that he can make it to the hospital for visiting hours. Fushiguro tries to run after him, but he’s too slow, of course, and he doesn’t even get close enough to sense whether or not the cursed object is actually nearby.

“How is your friend so fast?” Fushiguro grimaces. “He seriously reminds me of Zen’in. Anyways, he already left, so can you call him or something so I can—”

You’re gone. In the few brief moments he turned around and tried chasing after Itadori, you took the opportunity to book it the hell out of there. You refuse to unintentionally make a mess of things. A fangirl you very well may be, but you’re not about to screw up the storyline and end up indirectly responsible for god-knows how many casualties in the process.

It’s important to distance yourself from important, plot-defining moments like these. Itadori needs to get a proper start. Everything needs to proceed exactly as it was written.

But regretfully, your presence in this world is far too anomalous to be so easily overlooked. And by running away, even if you don’t realize it, you’ve unwittingly drawn even more attention to yourself.

“What the…”

Fushiguro narrows his eyes. Every second of that interaction felt forced and unnatural. From the moment he walked up to you, you seemed skittish for some reason, almost as if you were afraid you’d just been caught somehow. In fact, you were staring at him well before he even noticed you. Your gaze seemed to linger on him for an abnormal amount of time.

More importantly… you got visibly nervous once he brought up the cursed object. And when he demanded that you hand it over to him, you insisted someone else was carrying it, and you diverted his attention elsewhere so that you could run away. You tried to get him to chase after your friend instead.

It’s far too suspicious. Not to mention the absurd amount of cursed energy he can feel coming from you. You have to be carrying the cursed object. There’s no other explanation. Which means that you lied to him.

People only lie when they have something to hide.

“I see how it is,” Fushiguro mutters. He really would’ve preferred to settle this peacefully, but if you’re hellbent on being so uncooperative and deceiving him, he can only assume that you’re up to no good. No matter what, the cursed object must be retrieved.

If he needs to take it by force, then so be it.

A sad smile pulls at your lips. Poor Itadori doesn’t even know that today is the last day he’ll ever spend with his grandfather. And he won’t even have much time to grieve him, because Fushiguro will show up at the hospital immediately thereafter and whisk him away into a confusing, dangerous world.

You feel guilty for knowing what’s about to happen, and even guiltier because you can’t be there to support him through it, but this is simply what fate has in store for him. Still, if there’s one thing you can take solace in, it’s the fact that he’s incredibly strong, and brave, and because of that, he’ll be able to weather countless storms.

Anyways. It’s out of your hands now, and the bitter truth is that you were never destined to stand by his side.

So, you trudge home, chanting a silent send-off for Wasuke in your head as you do, and eventually, you approach the residential area where you live.

Except someone’s apparently been following you all this time.

“You’re a sorcerer, aren’t you?” Fushiguro says. The sound of his voice catches you completely off guard, and you turn around in a hurry, jaw dropping open.

Why… why the hell is he here?! He should have been following Itadori to the hospital!

Fushiguro steps closer, eyes narrowed. “Either you’re a sorcerer—a curse user, perhaps—or you’re just an ordinary human with a morbid interest in the supernatural. But whatever the case, you lied to me. I know you’re carrying the cursed object. The amount of cursed energy I can feel coming from you is unmistakable.”

You blink in disbelief. Is this seriously happening right now? You even told him that Itadori was the one carrying it. He should have followed after him, like in the canon storyline, and everything was supposed to have proceeded normally from then on. Did he not believe you? But what reason would you have to lie? And why does he keep claiming that you’re surrounded in cursed energy when you barely touched that wrinkly old finger for half a second?

“I… I don’t have it,” you insist, a sense of dread creeping up your spine. “I swear on my life that I don’t have that thing. Itadori has it with him. He’s at Sugisawa Hospital right now. You need to meet up with him and—”

“Stop. I’m not gullible enough to believe your lies,” Fushiguro glares. His stance shifts slightly, and you watch, horrified, as he links his hands together in a very peculiar way—a telltale sign that he’s about to summon his shikigami. “I don’t want to have to resort to forceful methods. The more you try to deceive me, the more suspicious it is. I want to believe that you’re not dangerous. That you’re just a normal person who’s gotten caught up in the wrong things… which is why I’m going to give you one last chance to hand the cursed object over to me. Before this escalates any further.”

…bro.

What in the actual fuck is happening right now? Why is Fushiguro Megumi threatening to kick your ass? Why is he looking at you like you’re some kind of threat?

All you ever wanted was to fangirl in peace. Is that really too much to ask for?

“I-I’m not lying,” you insist, and you even raise your hands in surrender. “Please. I swear I don’t have it. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove it. D-Do you want to pat me down? Search my belongings? I don’t have that thing. I promise .”

Fushiguro remains on guard for a few more moments, but then his shoulders slump a bit, and much to your relief, he no longer looks ready to attack.

“Here,” you say, tossing your bag onto the ground and gesturing towards it. “Please. You can search through it if you still don’t believe me. I swear I’m not lying to you.”

“Alright,” Fushiguro replies, visibly wary. He crouches down and starts sorting through the contents of your bag, but then he raises his head to glance back at you and immediately does a double-take. “W-What are you doing? Why are you taking off your clothes all of a sudden?!”

“Just my school blazer,” you say, lifting it up and turning the pockets inside-out. “Oh, and, uh… I guess my skirt has pockets too. Did you want to search through those yourself?”

Fushiguro’s cheeks redden. “That phrasing makes it sound like I’m some kind of pervert. I don’t appreciate it.”

“S-Sorry.” You pause for a moment, then do your best to turn your skirt pockets inside-out as well. Fushiguro watches with visible reluctance, looking somewhat ashamed of himself, but you hope he’s finally been convinced. “Those are the only places I have to carry things. Do you… believe me now?”

“I guess I do,” Fushiguro acknowledges. He pauses for a few moments. “But then… how do you have so much cursed energy? You must be able to see curses. Right? Have you ever seen strange creatures lurking about? You’ve got more than enough energy to qualify as a sorcerer, so surely…”

“ Ohh ,” you chuckle awkwardly, trying to feign ignorance. “So, that’s what those things are. Y-Yeah. I noticed them a little while ago. They’re pretty freaky, but it didn’t seem like anyone else but me could see them, so I was convinced I must be crazy or something. It’s not exactly the kind of thing you can tell people about.”

You never imagined you’d be able to speak to Fushiguro. Meeting Itadori—and then Kenjaku—was already crazy enough, but you figured it would end with those two. To think that yet another important character has noticed you. It’s unprecedented. Even for a situation as crazy as yours.

Wait, there’s no time for this right now! He needs to meet up with Itadori and get to the school in time to save Sasaki and Iguchi!

You grit your teeth. Even if Fushiguro leaves now, it’ll take him too long to get to the hospital. He was supposed to have been there already. Itadori should be sorting out the paperwork right about now, dealing with the aftermath of his grandfather’s passing, but you can’t risk dragging things out too long. Sasaki and Iguchi are in danger. You refuse to have their blood on your hands.

“I still don’t understand,” Fushiguro frowns. “If you have this much cursed energy, shouldn’t you have been brought up as a sorcerer? I don’t get how no one’s ever noticed… but I guess that’ll have to wait. Can you reach that friend of yours? Tell him it’s important. Tell him he’s in grave danger just by carrying that object around.”

You nod hurriedly and start dialing Itadori’s number. Shit. There’s no guarantee he’ll even pick up in time. His grandfather just died. The only reason he rushed to the school the same night is because Fushiguro followed him and met up with him in person. It was made clear to him that his friends’ lives were at stake.

But if he doesn’t pick up… then what happens? What will happen to the story? How will it proceed without a proper start?

…what if you’ve already messed everything up?

You feel like you’re on the verge of a meltdown, but mercifully, before you can spiral any further, a familiar voice calls your name.

“Oh. Hey, [Name],” Itadori picks up. He sounds less spirited than usual, which is no surprise, considering he’s just lost the last family he had left. “I was actually going to call you in a bit. To be honest, I just got some kind of disappointing news—”

“S-Sorry,” you stammer. You feel awful that you can’t even give him proper condolences, but you just don’t have any time to waste right now. “Please tell me all about it later. But I need to know. Do you still have that thing you showed me before? The weird box with the even weirder object inside of it?”

You turn the call mode to speaker, and Fushiguro leans in closer to hear properly.

“Huh?” Itadori responds. “Oh, that. I’ve still got the box, yeah. But I already gave what was inside of it to Sasaki and Iguchi. Remember how I said I thought they’d go crazy over it? They seemed really excited when I handed it to them.”

“So, you don’t have the actual object,” you clarify—even though you already knew this to be true.

Fushiguro grabs the phone and grits his teeth. “Where is it? Do you have any idea how dangerous that thing is?!”

There’s a pause, and you imagine Itadori scratching his head.

“[Name], who’s that random guy I hear with you? Why is he yelling at me for no reason?”

“Tell me where the cursed object is,” Fushiguro insists. “This isn’t a laughing matter. Whoever has it right now, they’re in serious danger.”

“What the heck? [Name], is this guy your friend or something? He’s saying some pretty weird things. Oh—did you find another possible club member for the Occult Club, by any chance?”

“Itadori, I know this must all sound strange, but I can tell he’s not kidding,” you insist.

“Huh. I didn’t realize that thing was such a big deal, but if you’re saying it is, then I guess I have no choice but to believe it.” He stops to ponder for a moment. “Come to think of it, I remember Sasaki and Iguchi mentioned something to me before. Something about removing the seal at school tonight and finding out what’s actually inside. Is that bad?”

All the blood drains from Fushiguro’s face.

“Not just bad!” he cries out. “They’ll die !”

“...what? You’re starting to scare me, man. I really hope this isn’t some kind of prank, because if so, it’s really not cool.”

“Itadori, even if it sounds crazy, please believe him,” you say, swallowing hard. “I… I’ve been seeing weird things for a while now. What he’s saying definitely isn’t made up, and I’m really worried about Sasaki and Iguchi. You have to meet us at the school, okay? You have to.”

Fortunately, Itadori isn’t the kind of guy to abandon his friends when they’re in danger, and he seems to trust in your words enough that he’s willing to make an appearance at the school. Which means everything’s okay. The story is back on track.

But little by little, everything will start to change.

You and Fushiguro arrive at the high school right in time to see Itadori running up from afar. The sight of him immediately prompts a sigh of relief. He’s finally met up with Fushiguro, and he’s now in the right place at the right time. Thank goodness.

“Found you guys,” Itadori says, but he suddenly halts in place, brows knitting together. “Am I… just imagining things? What’s with all this pressure?”

You feel it too, without a doubt. Inside the school, countless curses must be running rampant right about now. What lies ahead is nothing short of a hellscape, and even from all the way out here, the sensation is downright sickening.

“I’m not sure why you called him out,” Fushiguro grimaces. “He doesn’t even have any cursed energy. He’s just a regular human. I just needed to know where to retrieve the special-grade cursed object. He shouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t know what you’re on about,” Itadori frowns, “but those two inside are my friends. There’s no way I could just abandon them. Over the phone, you kept saying how dangerous it was. So, I’m coming with you.”

“ No ,” Fushiguro sternly refutes. “Stay here. Or better yet, go home. It’s way too dangerous for someone like you. And… it’s [Name], right?” All of a sudden, he turns towards you and narrows his eyes. “Based on your cursed energy alone, you should be a sorcerer. But I can tell you don’t have any experience with exorcizing curses. I don’t know how it’s possible that you’ve stayed under the radar for so long, but I can’t bring you with me either. You don’t know how to fight. I can’t put either of you in any danger.”

Well, it’s a good thing you had absolutely no intention of going in there anyway. You’ve done your part. Fushiguro and Itadori have officially met, and from here on out, the story will proceed as it should.

“I’m going in alone,” Fushiguro reiterates. He pauses for a few moments, and his gaze softens slightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect your friends.”

He leaves without a moment’s delay, and Itadori clenches his jaw, visibly opposed to waiting around outside while Sasaki and Iguchi are in danger.

“What am I even so afraid of?” Itadori mutters. “Hey, [Name]. I didn’t get a chance to tell you this before because everything happened so fast, but… earlier today, my gramps died.”

You offer a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I wish you didn’t have to deal with this right now, when you should be grieving him instead.”

“It’s okay. I always knew it was bound to happen soon, and besides, he wouldn’t have wanted me to mope around for too long. I bet he’d be yelling at me from the afterlife if I just sat around crying instead of moving on. But… before he died, he told me to help people. And right now, I feel like I’m letting him down.”

You already know that he’s bound to chase after Fushiguro, but nevertheless, you feel obliged to give him a small push.

“You’re strong, Itadori. Whatever’s in there, I’m sure you can handle it. That’s why I called you. Because I knew Sasaki and Iguchi could count on you to save them.”

His expression brightens, and suddenly, his gaze is clearer. More resolute. Like he knows exactly what he needs to do.

“But what about you?” he asks. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving you out here all on your own. That guy was saying it’s super dangerous. I’m worried something might happen to you while I’m not around.”

“There’s no need to worry,” you reassure. “This stuff is way too scary for me, so I’m just gonna go home—”

“Come to me… girl.”

You wince. Something is wrong. For just a second, you swore you heard Sukuna’s voice reverberating in your head. Your shoulders are suddenly weighed down by a heavy, unpleasant sensation, the likes of which makes bile rise up your throat.

It’s as if someone has your heart in a death grip. The further you back away from the school, the more painful the sensation becomes. You feel a strange, unseen force pulling you closer and closer, until finally—without even realizing it—you’re pushing the school doors open in a trance.

“[Name]?” Itadori blinks. “You’re coming too? It’s dangerous, you know? I guess you must be pretty worried about Sasaki and Iguchi too.”

No… this isn’t me. I’m not… I’m not the one doing this.

That’s what you try to say, but much like when you inexplicably found yourself in Sukuna’s Innate Domain, no sound escapes your lips.

“Well, in that case, don’t worry,” Itadori says, a big grin stretching across his lips. “Just stay by my side. I’ll protect you. And together, we’ll save them, okay?”

The door closes behind you, echoing with a resounding thud.

Like it or not, you’re here to stay.

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