#but good news it’s gonna be above freezing tonight!

[gingerwerk]

Living in an old ass apartment core is checking to see if the temp is gonna drop below freezing during the night so I know if I should set my bedroom space heater on a timer or not

[mjolnirswriststrap]

Trying To Derail My One Track Mind

Bucky Barnes x F!Reader Part 1 Masterlist

Word Count: 3,225

Summary: Part 2/2 Life was simple, till you met your boss.

Warnings: 18+, smut, cheating on a significant other, oral f and m receiving, bondage, p in v.

You hadn’t slept that good in ages, that’s all you can think as you rise from your side of the bed. Stretching your arms above your head, then reaching for your phone, you must’ve woken up before your alarm, you do that all the time.

When you check the time your heart jumps from your chest. It’s 10:30, the guest would be ready for their hangover bloody mary’s any second. You know you turned your alarm on before you went to sleep. You turn around to see Bucky still sleeping. You roll your eyes, rich people.

You try to leave without raising him from sleep, but you’re not so lucky. He rolls towards you and it’s only now you see that he had no shirt on. Weird since it was freezing in the room, you could see snow building up on the window sills. Your eyes linger on him for a moment too long, “Like what you see?” He bares his teeth to you in a wide smile.

You avert your eyes, a blush covering your whole face. “I’m so sorry, excuse me.”. You grab your phone from the nightstand and try to leave. He grabs your hand, “It’s okay, you don’t have to go.” His eyes bore into yours.

You were starting to understand what you thought before, his eyes make girls act like fools. With bated breath you pull your hand away, “I don’t think my fiancé would appreciate this, I have to go.”. You didn’t stand up to leave. You found your body ignoring your brain. You couldn’t look away from him, and he knew it.

Bucky sits up in bed, letting the blanket fall down to expose his naked upper half. Again, your body is doing things you can’t stop. Your eyes follow the toned curves of his chest down to the valleys created by his hipbones. “I don’t think your fiancé would appreciate a lot of things. Good thing I’m not inclined to care.” Something about the way he said that broke the trance his body has on you.

“I gotta get to work.” You say, putting yourself on that trusty autopilot that gets you through most days at work. You finally take your turn to leave without waiting for a response. It felt good, too good, like you could hold your head a little higher for getting by with it. The guests ate a quick breakfast before all departing, you looked out of the kitchen window as you scrubbed oats from the antique ceramic.

It snowed a lot more than forecasted. The fields behind the house were almost unrecognizable in a blanket of snow. You lean closer to the cold glass, looking towards your car, it was completely buried. You promised that you’d be home early tonight for new years dinner at your in laws house. If the snow didn’t let up soon, you’d never get home.

On days with no guests you do most of your management work. Taking inventory, ordering deliveries, making a new schedule for your cooks. It takes the longest time out of anything you do at the manor. It’s 6 when you get off the phone with the trucking company that delivers the food, they won’t be able to make it till after the weekend, when the snow clears up.

You finally leave the break room, since there’s no windows you couldn’t tell how dark it was getting. You go to the back door to check and see if your car was gonna make it out of the driveway, but the door was blocked by snow, it wouldn’t budge.

You let out a huff and it causes a cloud to appear infront of you. It was freezing in this old house, if you weren’t in a room with a fireplace you were out of luck. You search through every room till you find one burning. You close the library door behind you, not wanting to let the heat out. You see Bucky sitting at the desk, reading over files for something.

“Mind if I join you?” You wouldn’t have asked, but you were still operating on autopilot. You knew he didn’t mind one bit that you were in his presence. You curl up on the couch beside the fireplace, back facing the rest of the room. “It’s not looking good out there.” He says, you could hear the amusement in his tone.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll even make it out of here when my shift ends.” You don’t look at him, but can tell he’s smiling when he says “Oh no.”. You roll your eyes because you know he can’t see you. You take notice when he joins you infront of the fire.

“Another night at the manor, I’m gonna have to start charging you.” He says, kicking his feet up beside you. You hope he’s joking. “There was a strange man in my bed last night, I’d like a full refund.” You counter.

“States in the fine print, if you like it, refunds are void.” You knew he was flirting with you, unashamedly, but you didn’t want him to stop. Maybe it was the way the flames danced on his features or him always deciding to sit right beside you, but your guard was down, and you found your body doing the frozen thing again, heart beating a million miles a minute.

“Who said I enjoyed it?” You say, hoping to knock him down a peg. He shrugs his shoulders and looks to you, “You said all you needed to say this morning.”. He says it in a matter of fact tone. You know he’s talking about the way you so obviously checked him out 2 feet away.

“I’m sorry again, I don’t know what I was thinking, you’re my boss and I’m engaged, it was highly inappropriate.” You say, keeping your self control. Guilt helped you, your fiancés face clouding your mind.

“Don’t apologize, doll. I tend to have that effect on people.” You laugh out loud, you couldn’t help yourself. You can’t tell if he’s being serious or not, based on the shit eating grin, he was joking.

“I just don’t want to give off the wrong idea.” You say, looking down at your hands. “And what’s that?” You can’t even look at him. This cat and mouse game was getting out of control.

You’re both just sitting beside each other, harmlessly flirting one second. The next second could be an entirely different story if you don’t tread lightly, “That I like you.” You look to him to see he’s smiling at you “What?” You say.

Bucky stands from the little couch, walking over to the hot coals. He blows on them to reignite the flames. “I didn’t peg you for a liar.”. The fires completely out, his technique failing. The tiny amount of warmth leaked from the cracks in the window seal, leaving you frozen mentally and physically.

“I’m not.” You say, standing up to leave. You couldn’t argue with him and you knew it. The reason being either because he’s your boss, or you don’t know you’d lose. “Where are you going?” He asks, following you to the kitchen. You decide to ignore him for a moment while you bundle up in many layers. Once you pull on your gloves you’re addressing him again. “I have a dinner to make it to, with my fiancés parents. It was uh nice to meet you I guess, till next time.” You nod your head and turn your back to him, fishing your keys from your bag.

You let out a scream when your face hits the glass on the door, the frost feeling like needles on your skin. “That’s cute, too bad you won’t make it.” He breathes in your ear. “Get off Bucky, I meant it.” You say, wiggling in his grasp. He had his body pressed against you, caging you to the door.

He reaches up and brushes your hair back, exposing the crook of your neck. “So now I’m Bucky? I’m afraid that ship has sailed sweet girl.” He chuckles, and now you realize how serious the situation was becoming. It hits you that he really does not care that you’ve promised yourself to someone else.

“Admit that you want me too, then I’ll let you go.”. Your throat goes dry, you know if he’s gone to these lengths then that’s not all it’s gonna take. “Please just let me go, I’ll pretend like this never happened.” You don’t know if you mean it. The way his body molded to yours would be seared into your brain.

You know you shouldn’t like the way he tightly gripped your hands behind your back. Or the way that the pain in your frost bitten cheek made your body heat up. You just had to get through the niceties of going down a path you couldn’t turn back on. Cheating on a partner is terrible, you know that. It’s why your brain won’t stop pleading to stop, but your body knows what it wants.

He drops your hands, holding them between you. You could easily slip away now, but you don’t even pull your arms free, you stay there with your breath held. “That’s not what I asked, now was it?” He pulls your face towards him, causing your neck to crane in an inhuman way. You look into his eyes and it’s not the same person. He looked between yours with expectation. You managed to croak out “I admit it.”. He steps back, releasing you from his hold.

“See that wasn’t so hard.” You turn your body around to face him, he’s still standing in your bubble. “So I can leave now?” You say, a little part of you hoping he has something else up his sleeve. What he pulls just isn’t what you expected.

“Oh doll, you’re never leaving.” You drop whatever role you’ve been playing the last two days. The thought of being trapped in this house waking you up from whatever spell Bucky had put you under. “Excuse me?” Your voice comes out in a high pitched huff. He takes back his spot pressing you against the door, but this time you’re looking him in the eye. “Like I said, you’re just what I need, the perfect person to run this place. It’s yours now, why would I let you leave?” His hand goes for your face, you feel his thumb caressing your lips; outlining them with the tip of his finger.

“Bucky, I’ll admit to the flirting, I’ll admit that I want you too, but it’s nothing more than that. At the end of the day I still have to go home to my fiancé.” You gave it one last shot before you completely give up trying. “I don’t think you’re getting it.” His eyes are black now, like an apex predator, he reaches up and grabs you by the chin. “What I want, I get.” Your body finally betrays your mind and you nod your head. Keeping your mouth shut while doing it.

He’s taken control over the situation, and you couldn’t fight anymore, putty in his hands. “Good girl, now call your ex boyfriend up, tell him you’ve accepted a big promotion, end things with him.” You don’t know what you’re gonna say, your fiancé knew you too well. He’d know somethings up. “He won’t believe it. He’ll come here, start asking questions and become a real problem for you.” You don’t know why you fed him with information. You weren’t even scared, you’d just accepted your fate.

“Then what are you proposing?” You turn your head and look at the snow still coming down hard. “Let the car fall over a hill, snow will cover foot steps and tire tracks. No one would see the car till everything melted, think i got lost and died somewhere in the woods.” You don’t know where that came from, honestly, faking your own death had never crossed your mind before, but somehow you were a genius at it.

Bucky seemed to like the idea because he leans forward, abruptly pressing his lips to yours. Your body takes over the autopilot seat, shutting your brain off completely. Your lips moved with his in an intoxicating way, you could quite literally feel yourself getting lightheaded from the lack of oxygen.

He pulls away. “What made you change your mind?” You know he was gonna ask eventually. “I gave up fighting it, fighting you.” You reach your hands out and lay them on his chest. “I’ve been trying my best to be a good girl these last 24 hours.”. You slide your fingers down to his waistband.

“I think I need some practice, to show myself,” you unbuckle his belt, “just how much,” you drop to your knees, pulling his slacks down with you. “I like being bad.”. You finish your theatrics with putting your hands behind your back, keeping your chin down but your eyes up.

You watched as his cock grew hard in his boxers. Bucky finishes your job and pushes them down, letting them fall to the floor. All your eyes could focus on was how big he was. You knew you’d be settling if you ran back to your fiancé now.

You don’t see him reach out and grasp your pony tail, wrapping it around his hand like a rein. He guides himself to your closed mouth, rubbing the tip across your bottom lip “I think you’re being a very good girl.” With that little praise you opened your mouth slightly, sticking out your tongue to wrap around the tip, coaxing his leaking cock into your mouth.

You liked having no control, letting your mouth be used by him. It electrified you, giving up was the best thing you could’ve done. “You like teasing me? Hmm?” He pulls your head back so you would meet his eye. The thought of being punished by Mr. Barnes was enough to make you nod your head, and wrap your lips completely around his tip, sucking lightly.

You feel precum drip onto your tongue, and you take the chance to stick it out and show him. You slid your tongue down to the base of him, smearing cum down his shaft. You look up with puppy dog eyes. “Want me to clean that up for you Mr. Barnes?” You bat your lashes.

You feel the hand in your hair tighten, and the vein in his forehead get bigger. “You’re gonna pay for that.” You bite your bottom lip to keep yourself from smiling. You didn’t want him to know just how much you anticipated his idea of punishment.

You’d brought the ideas up to your fiancé about role playing. You tried to teach him that sometimes pain could be pleasure but he never understood. So you let it go, but you held onto the fantasies you had about being spanked, denied climax after being brought to the brink over and over, being used like a lifeless doll whose only purpose is pleasure.

He derails your train of thought by shoving himself to the back of your throat. Your hands instinctively push his hips back to brace yourself. “Tsk, you need to be tied down don’t you?” He steps out of his pants pooled at his ankles.

He lifts you up, using your hair as a leash, leading you through the house, up to the master. The door was already open, a red glow flooding the hall. When you’re finally dragged through the door you see the fireplace blazing, candles surround the bed. For a moment you wonder why he had prepared all of this if you were supposed to leave.

“I was never gonna let you go.” He leads you to the bed, you crawl to the middle of the bed, waiting for further instruction. He walks around to the right side of the room, pulling open the top dresser drawer. He retrieves rope, coming back to stand beside the bed. “Just because you never saw me doesn’t mean it was the same for me.”.

He crawls up beside you, looping the rope into the headboard, tying your hands up against it. “I knew you were perfect on your first day at the manor.” He gets on top of you, kneeling so he can unbutton your white uniform top. “You did even see me, holding onto every word Bruce said, you were completely oblivious to the man following you around the mansion with cameras.” You didn’t even know the house had cameras. To be honest it shouldn’t since the things that go down here. You wonder what he’s watched you do, let your employees eat whatever they want, cut corners even though he says not to, take extra long breaks in less busy hours.

“Should I be weirded out? Cause that kinda turns me on.” You joke, poking fun at the fact that it was actually really creepy he watches you on the cameras. “You’re laughing now.” He scoots down the bed, stripping you of the rest of your clothes.

“How would you like your punishment?” He easily flips your body over, baring your ass to him. “I could whip you till you’re crying, begging me to stop.” He slaps your cheek, leaving a welt in the shape of his hand. He turns you back around and crawls up your body, pressing his cock to your lips again. “I could make you gag while I shove my dick deeper and deeper down your throat, and you’ll be begging me to breathe.” He pushes himself past the barrier your lips tried to form. Letting his tip make its way to the tightness of your throat. You can’t help but to swallow, causing your muscles to tighten. “Keep doing that and I’ll choose for you.” He pulls himself away from you, letting you catch your breath.

Bucky finds himself with his face between your legs. He couldn’t help himself but to dive right in and taste you. You were glistening from your own arousal. You bucked your hips into him, helping yourself get closer the high you’re both chasing. Right when your legs begin to shake he stops “or you could beg me to cum all night.”.

He comes up to face you, “All I know is you’ll be begging.”. Your blood shot eyes search his, how could you pick, all of them were exactly what you wanted. “None of those choices involve you inside me.”. You leave Bucky wordless as you wrap your untied legs around his waist, rubbing yourself against his hard cock.

He presses himself into you, the mess he already created allowed him to easily slip inside. The deeper he pushed you felt the air get sucked from your chest, your cheeks growing red hot. “No one’s ever..” you throw your head back, letting your jaw slack open. No one’s ever bottomed you out like this, stretched your walls while pounding on your cervix.

“Shhh, it’s okay.” He remained unmoving until you adjusted to the size of him. The longer he stayed still, the more apparent the stinging and rips felt inside of you. “Please?” You just want him to move, even if it hurts. Bucky breaks out in a big smile “See baby? I told you you’d be begging me at some point tonight.”.

[unholywriters]

Winter Love

╰┈➤ Pairings: Mafia!Bang Chan x Baker!Felix

╰┈➤ Summary: Chan had left to Australia to handle lose ends to stop them from chasing him back home to korea. He soon moved back and met up with some of his old friends and got to catch up with them, but he met the cutest baker along the way...

╰┈➤ Word Count: 10k

╰┈➤ Warnings: NSFW, minors do not interact, slowburn, thick!chan, mentions of trafficking, mentions of drugs {do NONE of these} and a frying pan

╰┈➤ Ratings: MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

╰┈➤ Networks: @k-library @stayblrofficial

In the words of Bakery Felix, grab some hot chocolate and a cookie this is gonna be good, chapter five of demon's desire coming soon

Felix always loved getting ready for the holiday season. The nights becoming longer, the days and nights getting colder and rain slowly turning into snow just to fall down and allow everyone to feel more at ease, getting their favored drinks and blankets to watch their favorite shows after working for so long and just wanting to relax and unwind from it all. Felix loved seeing the snow fall from his bakery windows, having one of the largest and successful bakeries around, always having cute themes, decorating each table, booth and bar stool in his shop just to keep things light. He would have lights hanging inside of the bakery while allowing people to pick from the playlist to play whatever they wanted to listen to. Keeping an iPad out near the main counter for people to pick appreciate songs and feel more at ease.

Tonight was no different, staying late in the bakery but leaving it unlocked since for some it would freeze and having a place to get warm and have an extra drink seemed to bring people closer together and help create a better community and more trust within each other knowing that they have a bakery to come to when things feel tough. Felix was softly humming along while prepping things for in the morning. Knowing he would have to throw things into the oven while making sure he had other things ready, along with the hot drink bar having their own toppings, syrups and lids and cup covers to make sure no one's hands were too cold or too hot during their long walks or drives. The blinds stayed up to see outside and make sure those around the area were safe, but also to enjoy seeing the snow fall outside and the lights bring more warmth and comfort yet he could see the skating ring with couples skating and enjoying their time.

Felix always wanted to go, knowing there was nothing wrong with going by himself and enjoying himself but he wanted to go with someone. Just to dance around and hold hands with someone and go home with them, enjoying their warmth and sitting on the couch or bed with warm drinks and matching pjs and hats. Yet here he was, softly humming in his kitchen and twirling himself around making sure he had enough cookies, cupcakes, slices of cakes, macaroons, rice cakes, tea cookies, 붕어빵 {bungeoppang}, hotteok, ice cream, Felix had just about everything and always had plenty to give away in case someone was hungry. Pushing some of his hair back, he head the bell above the door open. Earning his full attention, he set down the large pan of cookies in the large fridge rack before walking back out into the main area.

Seeing a tall male keeping his hands under his arms trying to get warm. Seeing the snow came down faster and people were already trying to leave. The man was covered head to toe trying to keep himself warm and knew this was a place he could go, though he was new to this area during the season. “Oh hello, you can have a seat over here it's near a warmer and after that I'll see if I can get you anything okay?” Felix offered, seeing the male bow to him many times before slowly sitting down. The warmer and table also being in Felix's eye range just in case he needed to head back to the kitchen to put away something before leaving it out. He helped the male sit down, trying to get warmer before walking back to the kitchen. Felix never had a reason to fear those who came inside because he treated everyone with kindness, only getting kindness back and sometimes even gifts.

Felix had grabbed a warm mug of hot chocolate and walked back over to the person, seeing him slowly remove some items while shaking some, but he was slowly getting warmer. Felix smiled like always and set the cup in front of the male, seeing those dark brown eyes look over as he slowly removed the scarf to breathe. “Here, Theres a topping bar right behind you in case you want marshmallows or anything like that.” “Oh...Thank you so much.” “Of course!” Felix was more than happy to be helping someone get warm during the season get warmed back up before having to leave back outside. The stranger slowly removed the rest of his winter attire, the coat, scarf, gloves but he kept on the hat that stayed over his ears. Slowly adding his favorite toppings in the cup before slowly sitting back down, looking over and seeing the baker bring back some snacks from earlier in the day. Making the stranger feel surprised by this almost like he was missing something.

“Oh… Oh let me get my wallet.” “Oh no need, I do this a lot. You must be new to town and stumbled upon here?” Felix asked, seeing the man slowly nod his head while setting the cup down. Seeing Felix set down the sample plate but also sit down across from him with a smile. Smile just as bright as the sun yet with teeth just as white as the snow, softly brushing back some of his long blonde hair. “Well, this is my bakery, wonderland bakery. You can come in around early morning 8-9am and I’m open all night. I have tight security but everyone just comes in here to get warm drinks and some treats I set out so they can stay somewhat warm while trying to go through their day. After 10pm I don't charge you for anything. I'd rather you be warm and full then take your money.” The stranger leaned in to listen closer, slowly taking sips of his drink but also eating one of the cookies, enjoying the taste and how soft it felt and how everything just melted.

“Oh, so this is where lee know works! He told me to come and check it out when I came to visit but he was helping me move in with him. I just came back from Australia.” The stranger chirped up, being happy to know where his friend works and seeing the owner light up with him. “Oh, my gosh you know lee know? Wait, I was also born in Australia! I'm Felix.” He stuck his hand out, both of them shaking hands to introduce themselves. “I'm Bang chan, but Chan is just fine. It's nice to meet you Felix.” “Nice to met you too Chan! No wonder Lee know was asking me if he could bring extra sweets home.” Felix laughed while leaning back in his chair, happy to be enjoying time with someone like this. It made the warm place already feel like home even. “I'm expecting a call from him soon since I told him I had to get more things before coming back. I'm sure he'll be happy to know I came here and got some amazing sweets by the way.”

Felix's smile never seemed to fade away, while listening to the stranger, or more rather Chan, seem to enjoy himself as well. And just like Chan had predicted, lee know called him in worry. Wondering where he was and if he needed to come and get him from some place. So Chan being in a good mood, answered the phone and placed it on speaker, watching Felix try to stay quiet but Lee know ended up video calling him to truly make sure he was okay and if he needed to call for backup, he would. “There you are! Where are you, man it like…almost midnight do I need to come and get you?” He asked, still having his work clothes on but sitting in his car that was warming up so he didn't have to drive in the cold. “Don't worry too much I'm fine, I made a friend!” He turned the camera over to show Felix, waving at the camera still being seated. “Hey Hyung! No speeding on the snowy roads, you know better.” “Oh my gods- I'm coming.”

Lee know ended the call, leaving Felix to laugh yet again while Chan seems to join in. Seeing Lee know’s shocked expression before saying he was on the way. The two of them enjoying his shocked expression but also feel more relaxed with each other, like they were long-lost friends finally catching up with each other and just enjoying their presence with one another before they would have to leave. “Well, looks like I get a ride home. What about you Felix?” Chan asked after clearing his throat slowly calming down but smiling. “Well, lucky me I live upstairs and the door leading to my living space is locked tight so I can sleep without worry. Makes it easy if I ever woke up late.” “Ooo, that's a nice setup. I might come by more often just for this.” “My door will always be open.”

The two stayed staring at each other, making more little talk while eating more of the cookies on the plater before seeing car lights park closer to the building, it was lee know as promised to come and get his friend to take home. Lee know and Chan live right next t each other in the same apartment complex, lee know knew Chan was more cautious wishfully moving in since lee know had a lot of cats and Chan had a dog, so they could live close to each other and keep each other company. “Here, take these with you. Come by anytime!” Felix cheered, holding up two to-go cups with hot chocolate inside while Chan got wrapped up in his clothes. Bowing again while holding the cups and allowing Felix to help with the doors and closing the car door. “Thank you, Felix for taking him in, I'll drag him in tomorrow if he wants to work.” Felix playfully shook his head while they drove away. Him and Chan looking into each other's eyes before the car drove off before Felix had gone back inside. Letting out a relaxed sigh before wiping down the table and chairs before pushing them back into place.

He knew everything else was done, but he went back and checked anyway just to be sure. Turing off the music and having a separate light source for the lights so his bills didn't go up higher than he was used too. Now he just needed to get ready for bed. Walking to the back of the bakery, to the hidden staircase that lead to another door upstairs. Walking up but leaving his bright blue apron on a hook right next to the white painted door and walked inside, softly closing the door and looked around his large space. Knowing he would clean when he had the time, but it was late and he wanted to take a shower and rest in the nest he calls his bed. Leaving his work shoes by the door and walked to his bedroom. Going to one of his drawers and grabbing some pajamas that had snowflakes before walking to the bathroom to take a shower. Lighting a candle before getting in the shower just to enjoy himself. Something he truly enjoyed while smelling good as if he didn't already smell like baked goods for days on end.

After a while of cleaning himself and humming the songs that were stuck in his head while Turing off the shower, stepping out to dry himself and put on some lotion before making himself something to eat that wasn't something sweet. Enjoying his quick ramen while watching the new episode of his drama he started because of lee know and another coworker. He would sit there with his bed filled with blankets and pillows while watching his show, leaning back against some of them while his window showed the snow slowing down, maybe tomorrow it would be dangerous to drive but also too cold to walk. Maybe Felix would get a day home, especially with if everyone called in and he didn't want people getting hurt. But after making sure he cleaned his bowl and let it dry. Slowly resting in his bed while having soft sounds of music and snow crunching in the background curling in his bed just to be excited about the morning.

Meanwhile, Chan was now looking around the new place. Looking over to Lee know had driven him to the apartment complex. A place Chan had bought and only allowed close people to live inside since most people would walk past it and often think the place is too high for some to afford. Chan just needed to handle things back home in Australia before coming back, knowing he was going to have some enemies here, and he didn't want to worry about his enemies trying to work together to take him down. But meeting Felix was something he truly didn't expect to do or meet. Someone who was so warm, welcomed everyone without a second thought and treated them to warm drinks and sweets to eat with a heater to keep yourself warm. Like he had no hateful bone in his body and was ready to welcome everyone with open arms just to truly have a safe space.

Chan enjoyed being around them even if it was short. Getting a nice warm drink and yet almost not wanting to leave but he knew it would be questionable since the two of them had just met and he didn't want to scare Felix or make him be questionable during everything. But he enjoyed himself and was more than happy to go back. “I knew you would like Felix. They make the best things down there.” Lee know said, opening the door for Chan and walking to the elevator and going to the top floor. Chan unwrapping the scarf and letting out a soft sigh, keeping his cup in his hand while looking up at the numbers. “You weren't lying when you said they were like the sun or an angel living in a bakery. If you didn't call me, I would've stayed there instead of coming back.” Lee know smirked as the doors opened, walking back to their doors while Chan took a slow sip while walking to his door with a key in hand.

“Hongjoong kept his word and helped us move in things and we got it all setup so you can walk in and just relax after today. He says welcome back big guy.” Chan smiled slightly while unlocking and walking inside his apartment. Looking around at how everything was set up, so he was comfortable and didn't have to make last-minute changes. He kept the to-go cup. Knowing he could reuse it may be for a next time before just walking to his room. Looking at his large floating bed with black and white covers with soft pillows. He took off his clothes and set everything else hung up his coat with his scarf and gloves. Taking off his clothes before walking over to his closet and grabbing some sweatpants to sleep in. Laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. He was used to being alone in nights like this, but something now just felt wrong this time.

He felt more lonely than normal, hearing the echos of Felix's laugh and seeing the flashes of smiles coming from him along with the slight smell of baked goods and sweets. Yet it was something that was helping him slowly fall asleep. Even if he didn't eat all the sweets. He wanted to bring those home just so he could feel like he didn't leave the bakery. He was happy to be home, but something about that encounter made it hard for him just to stay home and act like things were the same. It was something new for him but he knew he had to play his cards right before he could do anything. Something he was nervous about since this was someone completely innocent. Sure maybe Felix had done a couple things in his life but nothing like being in the mafia's chaos. Something Chan feared even trying to bring into his life after his kind gestures how all of that would be ruined because of this life of his.

It only made him shake his head, trying to go to sleep and just move on from it. He has things to handle in the morning, making sure that his stance still stands even when being here and making things different. He knew one thing would stand firm in his choices; the area surrounding the bakery would be safe no matter what. After all it was the least he could do, Felix gave his men food and shelter even when he wasn't there to see it and make sure they were okay while being treated them no differently than anyone else. “This is gonna be hard the more I think about it.”

Today was just like every other day, being busy For Felix the moment he walked down from his upstairs room, looking down the stairs to see the sunlight peeking in along with already hearing the door jingle. It made him smile because that mean that Lee know had arrived just as early as usual to come and help with the early morning preparations before the others were to arrive. Getting his work shoes back on and walking downstairs and turning the corner. Seeing Lee Know walking to the back but also seeing Chan, someone he didn't think he would see this early. Before Felix could call out his name Chan turned around and the two smiled brightly at each other. Chan watching Felix tying all of his long hair back into a ponytail with some of the hair staying on the sides of his head with some bangs staying above his eyes.

“Hey Felix. Nice pins on the apron.” Looking down to see all the Christmas pins Felix had on his apron it made him smile Chan complimented them. He used to love collecting pins to the point almost the straps on the apron decorated with pins he could get his hands on. “Awe thank you, I have a lot upstairs and try to change them every day. What brings you here?” Felix looked around, seeing the black car outside still running, but no signs of Lee Know and he just wanted to be sure nothing happened to him the night before. “Oh, I dropped him off, he said he was going to the back to get things for the display case ready. Did you make all the things for it?” Chan asked with a curious look, a smile never fading while seeing Felix happily nod his head, pushing some of his hair back behind his ear. “Oh I did, usually around…5pm I make things for tomorrow and set it up early. Did you want anything before you left?” Chan looked around, titling his head slightly to the left in thought before thinking of an answer.

“What all could I get? I have a feeling you won't let me pay while you can keep track of my order.” Felix shook his head, walking to the back counter that had a large Christmas wreath with a large red bow. There he handed Chan a menu before seeing lee know come back with a large silver cart. The display treats being set on their own plates and having cards to show what they contained case some people had allergic reactions to something. Lee know smiled while watching the two before slowly and carefully setting up things in the case, asking Felix if how he was setting it up seemed to look. “How about this? It looks like lights in order with the colors.” Felix turned to look, giving a approving nod at the setup. “I like it, they even matched with the lights hanging above! Good idea.” Felix knew he had about two other workers to come who would help him with the baking and taking orders. Bringing them out to make sure everyone had their snacks and drinks.

“I won't take too much, but I'm curious about the ones with the little chicken face next to them.” “Oh! Those are the ones I like! The little faces show who likes what on the menu. The chicken ones are my favorite!” Felix had a thought sometimes last year to make little animals of his coworkers. Him being a chicken, lee know being a rabbit, another one being a ferret, another baker's being a quokka and one more being a fox. It was more of a thankful gesture of Felix for his workers who are more like his best friends at this point. “Well, with that being said, can I get a matcha green tea with some Christmas tree cookies?” “Of course!” Felix walked to the back with excitement, hearing Lee know chuckle while the ovens were getting preheated in order to keep the treats coming. Felix knew he already had some cookies made beforehand and now he just needed to make the drink in the back drink station. It didn't take long but Felix had the urge to at least make it special in the best way he could.

Putting the cup carefully in a sleeve with the lid being secured. Grabbing the back of cookies, each back having around 5 cookies, some even having 6 or seven depending on who gets to back them. Felix grabbed a bag with at least 7 cookies, but he would not tell Chan how many cookies were in the bag, knowing Chan wouldn't take it without paying him. Holding the cup and walking back outside, Felix handed over the cup and the bag to Chan. A bright smiling on his face while handing them over only for their hands to slightly touch before looking staring into each other's eyes. Almost like they were ein their own romance movie, each touch moving like a spark between them and people were just there to watch them. Chan stared down at Felix each of them having a soft smile on their faces despite more workers coming in to start the day. “I'll come by later for a snack and then to pick up Lee know, don't work too hard today, okay?” Felix gave another shy nod, his smiling only growing while the two slowly pulled away from each other. Chan softly waving while he walked outside and got in the car, he had some friends he needed to meet with later that day alone while Felix had to handle the workload of the day.

“Sooo, who's the new guy that has Felix over here blushing and more excited to work?” One worker asked in a teasing tone. Tying his long black hair into a back ponytail while slipping on a hairnet. Looking between Lee Know and Felix for an answer since Lee Know had a teasing look on his face while Felix was trying to get away from the conformation. Knowing this coworker was more sassy than Lee know with his answers. “That is an old friend of mine who finally came back and ran into Felix last night he fought me for my keys just so he had an excuse to keep coming back without looking weird.” Lee know answered, watching Felix still try to run around with making sure everything was clean before opening the store. “There's no way he fought you for your keys!” Felix exclaimed, walking back into the kitchen only to see Lee know nodding his head. “He did! I'm telling you he's gonna try to take you somewhere and we won't let you sneak your way to work, won't we guy?” Felix tried to shake his head, already feeling himself laughing while the other two nodded his head. “See! Even Hyunjin and Han agree to it, He just needs to ask you on his own with no help from me.”

“Guys he just got here-" “And you two been staring and smiling at each other since then and hanging onto each word! Guys we're witnessing a love story right before our eyes!” Han cheered, placing his hands together over his chest in a dramatic heart, smiling brightly while Felix just shook his head at the idea. But part of him was hopeful, but he knew better, after all he's only seen Chan in the bakery, who knows how he is when there's no time to hide any secrets away from anyone and now he has to show those true colors. Just for Felix to determine if he really should be with Chan. He Shook his head trying to focus on his job as he walked to the doors and turned the closed to open. Clapping his hands together before turning back over to the crew. “Who's ready to sell treats!

Chan however had enjoyed the calm drive. He had on some music, taking a bite of a tree cookie with a soft smile on his face, softly humming the music on the radio while driving. He knew where he was going to meet his friend, a place they could go and there would be no one could ease drop on their conversation. It was a while drive but with the things he has it was making the drive enjoyable. The place wouldn't be too cold, it was the last place he remembered being, and the last place he got to say goodbye to before leaving. Making one more turn into a parking garage. He parked the car in his old spot that seemed to be marked with his own two initials of his name and they were the closest to a door. The Area didn't have that many cars to begin with, Chan was surprised that he could even get inside since the place didn't look the same nor did anyone standing outside looked like he remembered. Making sure he had his cookie bag in one hand, the drink in the other. He got out and walked to the black door. Doing the four knocks then three more.

Looking up to see the door open and saw his friend. He had his hair nearly just as short as Chan had his. Wearing a black loose sweater that was tucked into his loose black jeans and white shoes. He had a bright smile as he walked up and hugged Chan tightly, missing his brother dearly. “About time you came home! I was getting worried about you after so long!” Chan smiled while giving hongjoong a hug back. Softly shaking his head at the thought before hongjoong let him walk inside. Looking around at the newly decorated place like a kid in a candy store. The place had now expanded. The floors still the same dark oak wood floors but newly polished. The small tabled now being moved to have booths on the outlines of the place with black cushions with golden outlined tabled. The bar area was now more polished, glass now being the shelves and the doors to all the drinks back there.

In here were people Chan had known before he had to leave, waving at everyone while taking sips of his drink before following Hongjoong up the stairs to a new addition to the place. It was an upstairs meeting area with separate wooden tables with roller chairs instead of chairs that would just scratch the floor with each movement. There was some soft music playing in the back but not loud enough to drown out the important conversations. “Where did you go before getting here? I would've had one of the line cooks downstairs make you something fresh out the stove.” “Lee know works at this bakery with Hyunjin, they make amazing sweets and have the cutest owner.” Chan answered, seeing hongjoong's raised eyebrow and a teasing smile as he leaned closer over the table. “First day back and you already met a crush? You dirty dog Chan. Is that who gave that drink and goodie bag?” Chan nodded his head while handing hongjoong a cookie. Letting him try at least one and seeing how good they were. Getting the nod of approval from him.

“They wouldn't let me pay for it but we get teased about liking each other. I got lost last night and he let me stay there to get a drink and a snack.” “Well, mister Smooth by the happy look on your face I think that their right to assume you have a crush on them. You gave the widest smile when you got to explain who gave them to you. These came from uh, winter wonderland?” Hongjoong asked, taking another small bite and seeing Chan nod his head. Happily taking another sip of his drink trying to savor hat little drinks he had before it was all gone. “That's where Lee Know and Hyunjin work at yeah, know the owner Felix?” “Oh yeah, he helped Seonghwa-hyung get this place set up as a little pop-up store before it turned into a diner. Sometimes they promote each other just for the thought of it.” Chan gave a curious nod of understanding to that, happy to see his friends growing into things and just overall having fun and building new friendships along the way. “How about you? How have things been before my sudden return?” “Struggled here and there, almost lost everything to a gambling bet to GOT7 but we grew and I did my best to keep yours sheltered while they secured most of your things. How's Australia? I take it you got everything handled before showing back up here?”

Chan nodded his head, rolling his shoulders with a head tilt just to let out a crack he heard in his neck. Knowing he needed that after all of this. “Took a while but, I got the roots down and those who know better than to try me. I left a show before leaving just to let it sink into everyone before coming back. “ “There's the Hyung I know, deadly yet charming.” Chan gave a smirk while shaking his head. It was this that made him worry about getting close with Felix, he was used to doing dangerous things and being seen as someone who wasn't scared to use violence if there was no other way. If anything happened to Felix, he would go into a state of red before making sure Felix was okay and taking his time before even beginning to explain why he was this way. But he knew everything had a time and a place and he just had to be ready for it. “Oh and thank you for setting up the place by the way. How did you get that? Those apartments were a luxury back then.” “It was the turning point when Got7 wanted to dip, but they weren't going to just lose their prized place so we made a bet. Everything was on the line and if they won they could each take a section from everyone and do whatever they wanted without worry. But we won with no tricks but man was it fucking racking. But, once we got we were able to redo everything and made sure no one would want to live there that wasn't a member.”

“What happened to GOT7?” “They didn't leave the country really, just now settling down. Jackson still parties but not as much, JB sings when he can, yugyeom performs and often hangs out with Jackson. Mark still takes care of BamBam with Jinyoung, though last I heard BamBam and Jackson were flirting a lot but I don't know what else happened after that. But that's with them. What do you plan on doing next?” All Chan could really do is shrug his shoulders. His drink was sadly finished with only a couple cookies left between the pair. “What else is there to do? Besides cracking down on those rings still and making sure no one gets away with it.” “I was waiting for you to bring this up. You won't like where their trying, though/” Hongjoong could see the shift in Chan's eyes as he slowly leaned forward in the chair, closing his legs back together while leaning on his hands. Watching hongjoong set down a folder with a map, and a bakery being in the main red circle. “Felix won't know this but some are trying to plan on using his bakery as a place to get a handful of people. Not the place itself but the skating ring since it would get crowded and few people can run on the ice. But you know if they start there, some will want to take over that place and use it for their own needs. But, the only thing stopping them is Lee know and Hyunjin. But that can only scare them off unless someone does something to really shut them up. This place is their last resort.”

Hongjoong was careful, he could see how Chan's eyes were darting between the red places. Of course he knew those two could hold their own easily. HyunjIin could kill with ease and Lee know could torture without a second thought, but Felix was the angel. It was like watching a lion go from relaxed to predator more within minutes. But Hongjoong could also see that Chan was thinking of the best plan for raising any red flags,Felix's place was a beacon of safety and he was not about to let that get ruined because of twisted people wanting to use his kindness against him. “Hm… do we know the leader of said person or are they hiding like most of them do?” “Uses the name Black Fan to hide and has a X patch on his men. We've caught most of them and keep them alive till they spill but some aren't that easy. But, with him missing some of his best he's messing up. Use this phone, some say he likes to tap into those looking for him. Your lucky he doesn't know what you look like or your new name. But, I'm positive we can keep your little crush safe.”

Hongjoong tried to lighten up the mood but he could see Chan taking the last bite as if he wanted to bite someone’s head off in that instance. But he also knew he had to plan this out with everyone before trying anything. If there was one thing Chan knew, no one was about to lay a finger on Felix without getting tortured to the point of begging for death.

“Lee Know? Lee Know please breathe and tell me slowly.” “Someone broke in and Felix saw me nearly beating the fuck out of them but won't leave his upstairs room. Get here now while me and Changbin get the ones we can.” Chan was already on his way because of a bad feeling and was quick to speed. Having Hongjoong trailing behind him as his tired screeched against the road before parking in front of the messed up Bakery. Seeing Hyunjin twist someone over a table before pulling someone from the stairs, he was making sure no one but Chan got up there to make sure Felix was safe. Chan ran out of his parked car, throwing off whatever jacket he had on and jumping through the window. He had no time to ask questions before scrambling up the stairs and swinging the door opened. The place looked ruined and his mind was racing.

“Felix? Felix!” He yelled, slowly looking around before quietly closing the door after tossing something slow down the stairs. That's when he saw blonde hair and one shaking eye from a doorway. Felix was hiding with a frying pan in his hands but Chan knew there was someone still here and he wasn't going to put Felix in more danger now. “Didn't think I'd see you here again after making sure a mess in Australia, Chirs.” Chan slowly turned to see the hooded person staring at him, no gun in hand but he had a knife. Chan had a looked that screamed nothing more then hate and rage. But his body stayed calm and his stance stood firm. “And you have a lot of nerve showing back up after leaving everyone else in your home to die.” “By your hands. Imagine your poor, little angel learning that you, the knight in shinning armor, killed so many in his lifetime.” Chan didn't move from in front of the door. He could feel Felix's scared eyes but trying to stay focused on what was happening.

“I may be a killer, but I trafficked no one for money and then killed them when they weren't enough for you anymore. You, are worst then me and I'll be damned before you could ever compare me to scum you are.” Chan knew the only way he was getting out of this was fighting him. He didn't want to do this in front of Felix but if it meant that Felix remained unharmed, he would do it regardless of what happened to him. But Felix stayed watching him, seeing Chan move as if this wasn't anything new to him and trying to be careful as if he wanted nothing to happen to the place Felix spent a lot of time making. When Felix knew he had a chance, he quietly opened the door and peaked out, his pan was hot since he was making another noodle bowl for his quick snack. Seeing Chan backed into a corner, almost like this was planned. Felix struck as hard as he could with the hot pan, hearing the person scream in pain while falling to the ground. Felix stumbled back against the wall as he watched Chan grab the screaming person and just tossed him down the stairs. Right next to Lee Know who was already about to Run up the stairs upon hearing the scream.

Lee Know had some cuts and scratches on his face but nothing serious. Hyunjin was hurt, his shoulder was stabbed but he could get it wrapped in a minute. Hongjoong had walked over and stepped on the man’s neck, staring up to Chan who looked like he was about to shake. Panting as he looked down at them while he was gathering his own thoughts. “Hongjoong, was anyone else Taken and if so do we know where they are?” Hongjoong shook his head, keep his weight on the burn mark while hearing the man hiss in pain. “No one got took, he was waiting till he had Felix under control before starting his plan. We got everyone else handled. Is Felix okay?” That man Chan jump before turning around to see Felix still sitting against the wall, rubbing his chest while trying to breathe before opening his eyes to see Chan on the ground in front of him. Making sure Felix stayed locked on him before talking. “No one got to hurt you did they? Focus on me okay? We're gonna breathe together and slowly go from there, don't worry about anything else till then understand?” Chan was in protective mode, making sure Felix listened to him while also making sure he wasn't hurt anywhere.

They stayed in the same spot for a while, Chan wiping away the tears falling down Felix's cheeks till Felix felt better. “I'm… I'm okay. What even was that? Who was that and what was he talking about?” He asked in a whisper, holding onto Chan, who was helping him stand back up. “I'll explain that first thing tomorrow, right now making sure you and everyone else is okay is my top priority” Chan walked back to the doorway before slowly marching downstairs and staying in his leader mode, showing nearly no mercy unless it was to those he cared deeply for. “Lee Know, how many do we have?” “Roughly around 40 in total, they were waiting to see if their boss won and fell for the trap Hongjoong set.” Chan looked outside and saw the aftermath. The hooded man was stuck to the ground while Hongjoong stood in the middle of his men, arms crossed with a pissed off look on his face. Chan saw all the patches and the thought of him being too late was pissing him off. But he was keeping himself calm before whistling to Hongjoong. Holding up two fingers to let Hongjoong take everyone away.

“Hyunjin, go with Bin to get your arm checked. No working till it's healed and I mean it. Lee Know, call the Cleanup crew to handle all of this and the cost. I'll handle those when everything is done, do not let any news hear about this. They don't need to be pushing Felix to talk about this.” Lee Know Looked at Chan and then behind him before nodding. Helping Hyunjin walk outside to Changbin before pulling out his phone to make the needed phone calls. Chan let out a slow and shaky sigh before slowly turning around, making eye contact with a teary eye Felix who was still coming down from the shock. “Here, where do you feel the safest at right now Felix. I can answer questions there.” Felix looked upstairs, recounting how the person continued to taunt him with a knife before running his own place, making him shake his head while he tried to breathe. “Not…Not here. He chased me upstairs till you got here…What about your place?” Chan gave him a soft pity look, but didn't oppose to it. “Felix…Go pack a bag. I don’t have a lot at my place but still.” Chan caved in, watching Felix go upstairs while he leaned against the wall.

He was more worried about losing Felix or Felix being too scared to even sleep in his own place.But while Felix was packing his own clothes, Lee Know had came back inside to give another Run down to Chan. “News is handled and Changbin is on the way to taking Hyunjin to the doctor. Hongjoong has taken everyone to separate bases away from here and will handle things according to you. Other Crew is parked in the back and will clean everything from down here to upstairs and handle the repairs I'll stay to make sure of it.” “And Han?” “Came with the crew, he loves this part but is the only person besides me that went upstairs and can help with the kitchen. Is Felix staying?” Chan shook his head, crossing his arms and squeezing them as he started. “I'm taking Felix with me to my place. I plan on answering any questions he has for me and as scared as I am, I rather be truthful with him then not.” He started, Lee Know knew a rant was about t0 come and when he looked up the stairs, Chan looking at his feet as he tried to ground himself, he told Felix to stay silent with a simple eye movement.

“You were right, I really do like Felix, sure the free drinks and treats are nice but having those late night calls, where he would turn on his camera and we would watch the same movie. Lee Know I almost lost that to someone dumber than me as a kid, I'm terrified right now.” “And at the end of the day hyung. You aren't like the men here and you came to save Felix. That speaks character and will mean more to Felix when you slowly explain things you are ready to talk about. Don't feel rushed to spill things you aren't ready to re-visit yet.” Lee Know gave a quick wink before walking to the back, letting Han inside to start the process while the sound of the top door closing made Chan jump as he looked up. His tight shirt showing his arms and shoulders relaxing some as he saw felix standing there with a bag. Felix looked more relaxed even while holding a large bag over his shoulders. He didn't seem as on edge as he was a while ago but Chan didn't want to seem to hopeful know that anything could change if he rushed into it.

“My car's outside still, are you ready?” Felix nodded his head as he walked down the stairs slowly, getting close and slightly holding onto Chan's arm. It made Chan smile slightly before walking him to the car, seeing Hongjoong hand over his jacket that he threw on the ground before waving to a slightly shocked Felix. “You dropped this on the ground big guy. Nice to see that you’re safe and sound Felix.” Chan took the jacket with a thank you before wrapping it around Felix's shoulders. Chan really didn't remember parking the car but happy that he did before rushing inside. “I'll tell seonghwa and make sure that he checks on you in the morning. Don’t worry too much, wonderland's in great hands.” “Thank you hyung.” He said in a soft tone, getting in the passenger seat while Chan slowly walked over to the driver's side, looking at hongjoong who gave him a wink before walking to his own car. Chan got in the car, starting it up and letting it get warm before he started the quiet drive home. Felix seemed to want to ask questions, but he waited till Chan got to the apartments.

Chan helped Felix get inside to his top floor room, showing Felix around the living room. “Wait so this place only looks rundown, but the inside looks like this? How do you even get it like this?” He asked, setting his bag on the couch and walking around the large and open living room. Chan watching him do so with his arms crossed above his chest. “Hongjoong helped set it up while I was gone and got it to look like this. I didn't get to see it when I came home after we first met. It felt weird being in here but Lee know lives right across from me so.” “Ah so that's how you got to take his keys that first week, hm?” Felix turned to see Chan's face getting red even. Not super red but a subtle red as he tried to deny it once again but knew there was no escaping it. “You made it…really hard not to come and see you when I had the time to.” “I really am that special? Even when…you've done things?” Chan's smile faded a little as he watched Felix slowly piece together the question. Chan remembered Felix was hiding behind that door and as much as he wanted to get Felix out, he knew he had to smart but things came out.

“I have met many people, but none of them stuck. But meeting you was like…it made me want to stay the night but that would've been weird. Yes, I've done things I've wished I never had to do but if doing all of that meant I got to meet you again, I'd do it.” He confessed, slowly taking closer steps to Felix and holding his hands in his own large ones. The two of them staring into each other's eyes and nearly leaving no space for anything else between them while Felix tried to ask more questions, knowing that Chan wouldn't lie to him. “How did you know I was in trouble?” “Lee know called me when I was already coming over thinking something was wrong. I was already halfway there when he called, I just sped faster to get there.” “You knew I was in the room?” “I saw your eye peaking to see if it was safe but I knew you weren't alone. It was too quiet for that to happen.” “What did they want with my bakery? I met none of those people before and they just came out of nowhere.” Chan was hesitant to answer that question, seeing the confusion and desperation written on Felix's face while the grip on each other's hands only seemed to get tighter with each word and question being answered.

“That person in the hood was planning to use it as a trafficking ring. You made the bakery a place for anyone to come and stop by and they were going to use that to their advantage. But hongjoong knew to tell me and Lee know and hyunjin wouldn't let it happen even if I wasn't here. You made them feel safe and not judged in your bakery and wanted to protect it and you. They would've kept you safe even if I wasn't there.” Chan could see the fear build back in Felix's eyes, a sight slowly breaking his heart before he held Felix close to his chest. Softly rubbing his back in the process just to make sure Felix didn't full on panic at the news. Chan made sure Felix felt comfortable while laying in his large bed, it seemed to help Felix relax a little seeing that there was somewhere he could rest after everything that seemed to have happen. Felix didn't let go of Chan not once, even when Chan came back from changing the two stayed glued to each other. Chan making a promise to himself that he would truly protect Felix no matter what was to come his way. This was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, no matter how was going to come trying to change it for him.

Chan knew his Idea was risky, but he had to make it work. Ever since that day he had taken Felix to do things he truly loved doing, taking him to get things at night, going to see light shows and even Ice Skating when it wasn't so crowded at night. Chan had done everything expect one more thing, and he knew that this would make Felix melt. It was busy as ever since Felix wanted to open a little on Christmas Day. He was setting up things in Felix's room for a perfect holiday movie. Having the curtains closed since it was a little too cold to have them open but he had some Lights hanging around the room, he even set the bed with enough pillows and blankets evenly so it felt like a nest keeping the two in each other's arms. On the end of the bed Chan had a large tray of popcorn with hot chocolate and matching mugs for the two of them to use. Each with the same amount of Marshmallows and whipped Cream on the top. Chan also set the rest of the area. When Felix came upstairs, he would see the inside showing a little pathway to the bathroom with signs greeting him with little drawings as well. In the bathroom would be a matching set Chan picked for the two of them saying he didn’t need to worry about anything else and to take a nice shower and come to his room quick.

Felix was excited as he did so, walking through the winter wonderland of his living area after everyone left after helping him close for the day. Taking a shower only to get himself ready before seeing Chan in his room. Wearing the matching Pj set with their favorite movie on the large TV, Han had replaced Felix's small tv with a larger one to enjoy the movies more. Chan stood there holding their mugs with the brightest smile on his face seeing the happy and surprised look on Felix's face that nearly lit up the room even more. “So this is why you weren't telling me and why Lee know wouldn't spill the beans! Oh, my gosh Chan this is amazing!” Chan could only smile brightly while letting Felix take his mug before the two comfortably sat on his best. Starting the movie and slowly eating some popcorn. Chan made sure it wasn't scary, but that it was also funny and romantic. He made a promise to himself to make sure that Chan got every Wish right that Felix had. Just one more was a kiss at midnight, their first kiss and Chan was making sure that it would be amazing and just as perfect as Felix had hoped for.

“You planned out everything for this week didn't you?” Felix asked, looking up at Chan with some whipped cream on his face, seeing Chan nod his head with a smile. “I did, making sure I got it right, like it?” “Chan I love it!” Felix cheered, trying to be careful to not spill anything but the drink was almost gone and now sitting on his nightstand while snuggling close to Chan, relaxing on his chest like it was the best pillow he had around. “There is one more thing I didn't get to finish.” Felix was quick to look up, not expecting there to be anything else Chan had planned for him. He was already more than happy this week with everything that Chan had done, but soon froze. The two of them were kissing each other, Felix was shocked for a while, but soon returned the kiss, eyes fluttering shut before returning the kiss with just as much passion. Even smiling in the kiss while relaxing in Chan's touch. Not realizing that he was slowly getting underneath Chan's arms before slowly pulling away from each other.

Felix was red from this, seeing how small he looked under Chan's arms but not being able to move and just only staring up at him. The two of them doing teh same thing that they did when they first met each other, staring into each other's eyes and just feeling relaxed. “Merry Christmas Lixie.” Chan said softly, leaning back down to give Felix another kiss, who was smiling once again in the kiss, the movie was over in their minds, nearly just trying to get closer and closer to each other as if nothing else was there. Floating with each other with their heads slightly titling to the side to deepen the kiss and get as close as they could with each other. Felix's arms moved to the bottom of Chan's shirt to slowly go under, feeling his abs and chest while Chan's hands moved to his sides. Chan slowly pulled and laid his head on Felix's forehead, their eyes barely opening just to look at each other. “Think we're moving a little too fast right here?” Chan was nervous because he didn't want to feel like he was pressuring Felix into giving in even if he was enjoying the feeling on his small and soft hands on him.

“I wouldn't be this close if we were, now please take this of, your chest looks like it wants to bust from the shirt.” Chan let out a chuckle, almost in his deep register before sitting up, watching Felix slowly unbutton his shirt and he stared to do the same to his, flexing some as he tossed the shirt to the side. Felix slowly sat up and rubbed his chest and abs, letting his shirt fall off behind him while slowly staring up at Chan, those innocent eyes pulling Chan right back in without ever letting him go. “Show me some Christmas Magic tonight, please?” “Like I could ever say no.” Chan’s arms were quick to wrap around Felix, one arm on his back while the other move his legs to spread open so Chan could help him lay back down, not going in for another kiss but to leave a trail of kisses on Felix's jaw and neck. Felix's small hands roaming over from Chan's back muscles to the back of his hair. Softly tugging on it some with each open mouth kisses and feeling as though Chan was about to leave more marks on his chest and shoulders, knowing no one else would get to see them since they might still be closed tomorrow, depends on how rough Chan might get to be.

Chan would slowly rock, bucking his hips into Felix but just to create friction, listening to the hitch of breathes and the quiet low moans coming from him. “I wanna suck.” Felix blurted out, his head already leaning backwards before leaning up to see Chan, who was licking his lips while his eyes were swirling with lust and want. “First time about that, you sure about that?” “I'll be the judge of that.” Felix helped flip Chan over on his backside, standing on the edge of the bed and slipping off his lower clothes before tugging the top of Chan's pajama pants before tugging them down enough for the main prize to be sticking out and twitching even. “Holy shit I see why you asked! How does that even fit in your boxers?” Chan couldn't help but let out a laugh while he saw the shocked looked written all over Felix's face at the sight in front of him. Those wide eyes that held so much curiosity it was enough to even make Chan smirk while he moved his arms back and laid his head on his head. “Just don't force yourself to go too fast.”

Felix only did a nice and slow nod, leaning forward and slightly licking the base, one small hand rubbing Chan's left thigh and the other slowly jerking him off. Slowly licking up Chan's cock like it was an ice cream scoop before slowly sucking on the tip. The whole time his eyes being open and staring up at Chan's relaxed face. His eyes were closed but his mouth stayed open to let out a soft gasp and quiet groans as if he were tugging his own hair trying to keep himself from pushing Felix when he wasn't sure if he was ready to handle more than he could chew. And when he did finally open his eyes, letting out a low moan he saw his entire cock inside of Felix's mouth, tongue slowly swirling with his eyes closed. Felix moved some, spreading his legs more while keeping his hands on Chan's thighs, they felt so small yet so soft on them. Felix closed his eyes so he could concentrate, slowly moving his head back and fourth just to give himself some time to get used to the large thing in his mouth.

What made him want to go faster was the sounds coming from Chan, each time Felix came closer his breath would get quicker, sometimes he would even hear a groan coming from him. And this was when Felix felt more comfortable and would move his head faster. Muffled sounds of gagging were what he could mainly hear along with the occasional groans. Chan moved one hand down to Felix, slowly feeling the locks of hair and holding his hair in a back ponytail while slowly lifting Felix, who came off with a pop and eyes opening wide as the two stared at each other. “Not yet, I want to be inside you when I can't hold it in anymore.” Chan pulled Felix back up, straddling his hips while moving his own hips back and Fourth. “Cupcake wants to ride or let me do all the work?” “Cupcake wants to see what all you can do.” Their voices were soft but laced with seduction before devouring each other in a kiss. Chan keeping Felix down on the bed, wrapping the small legs up to his shoulder just to make sure he could hit every angle, every spot, every time.

“Do it slowly please…” “Slow and steady wins the race, face and furious shakes the ground.” Chan had the two of them in a safe spot, kissing on Felix's chest, shoulders, neck and jaw while he slowly pushed himself in. His groans being covered up by the loud, separate moans leaving Felix's mouth. Chan could already feel the scratches appearing on his back and shoulders, something he would proudly show off if given the chance to do so. “Gods how the fuck! Does this even fit in your boxers Chan I sweat.” Felix moaned out, hooking his arms under Chan's arms to keep himself up and steady. Even though Felix couldn't see his face, Chan was smirking at the sight below him. Biting his lip with each squeeze but keeping himself relax so he didn't move before Felix was ready. “Slow pace…Slow pace.” Chan watched Felix try to keep his eyes open as he slowly moved, his thrust were slow, but they were deep. Not wanting to push it till he could tell for certain that Felix was ready for it and there was nothing else he could do in this moment.

It took Felix a while, looking down between them just to watch before letting his eyes flutter open to look at Chan. Giving him the okay nod to slowly move faster and Chan was happy to give in. Slowly going faster, watching Felix slowly unravel more while the only thing leaving his mouth were deep moans, nothing too high pitch, but they were getting louder and louder with each thrust. “If I'm not shaking by the end of this- Oh!” “Never Poke a hungry wolf, You won’t be crawling back alive.” Chan got as close as he could, his thrust getting as fast as he could and each one nearly left Felix shaking under him, slightly bouncing up with some strands of hair bouncing all over his face while the rest would spread out on the bed underneath him.

Felix's scratches were getting deeper but not deep enough to draw blood from them. Despite how fast Chan was moving, he knew how to be careful but; he was learning how to make Felix crumble and unravel underneath him. “Right there! Shit Chan right there please!” “You're not letting me pull out soon now are ya cupcake? Gods its so tight and warm in here.” Felix let out a broken cry, curling his toes as his legs would bounce from Chan's shoulders. Chan's back was covered in scratches while listening to the pleasured cries and moans coming from him almost like a broken record. Chan moved one arm to squeeze Felix's chin, making the two of them stay looking at each other while felix continued to let out louder moans and whimpers. Chanting the word yes repeatedly like it was a prayer for him to finish.

“You're mine now cupcake.” “As I fucking should be!” The two of them released together. Felix nearly curling inwards before collapsing on the bed, trying to keep his eyes opened while panting heavily. He could feel his legs shaking and hearing the huffs coming from Chan, he wanted to look over but it was hard to keep his eyes opened. Looks like you never should poke a hungry wolf…

[karespocketboyfriends]

𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍

Prologue

A Love and Deepspace Fanfiction (Sylus x OC)

Warnings -> None needed

An original fan-fiction for Love and Deepspace. I appreciate reblogs but reposting to Tumblr or any other site is not okay with me.

A/N: This is a redo of the prologue I posted a few days ago. After catching up on the new Luke & Kieran lore, I decided to alter things a bit to make the character relationships more accurate.

Boredom is dangerous for crow masked twins Luke and Kieran.

“Do you know what the boss needs?” Luke asks, not looking up from the tower of ice cubes he’s stacking.

Kieran’s hands pause on the handmade dart he’s crafting. He takes a moment to think of what their boss, the head of Onychinus, could possibly need but not already have. “A stress ball?”

“A girlfriend.”

Beneath his mask, Kieran blinks in surprise. He tries to imagine what the boss would be like in love, but he can’t picture it. It makes Luke’s implication all the more entertaining.

Kieran sets the half finished dart aside and leans his weight forward, folding his arms on the table. “Huh, you’re right. Boss does need a girlfriend, but where are we gonna find him one?”

Luke places the last cube on the top of his tower. "It can’t be that hard. There are women everywhere.”

“Boss isn’t going to fall for just any woman. He needs someone he can trust. Someone who won’t stick a knife in his back when he’s sleeping.”

“Fine, fine. You’re right, not just any woman will do.” Leaning back in his chair, Luke crosses one leg over his knee and rubs his chin. “So he needs someone trustworthy, but we should also find someone on the sunny side to break his ice cold exterior. Anything else?”

Kieran taps his finger on the table as he thinks. “Someone fearless. It won’t do Boss any good if his lover is afraid of him.”

Hearing ‘Boss’ lover’ out loud sends the twins into a fit of mischievous cackles. They continue throwing criteria back and forth, the list of attributes for Sylus’ ideal woman growing longer and longer. For instance, Luke suggests someone with a fun side that will aid them in pranking the boss, while Kieran recommends someone sincere who won’t only love him for his money and power. By the end of their list, both young men are doubled over the table, holding their stomachs as they laugh.

“What were we thinking? We’ll never find someone like that in the N109 Zone.” Luke says, wiping an invisible tear from his mask’s eye.

Kieran chuckles and playfully shakes his head. “Looks like Boss will have to live out his days alone.”

The twins fall back into a comfortable silence, Luke beginning the construction of a second ice cube tower while Kieran goes back to making his darts.

A minute passes before they both freeze. They look up, right at each other, both coming to realize the same thing.

There is someone who fits the criteria. Someone trustworthy and extremely loyal to those she loves. Someone optimistic enough to brighten the ever dark N109 Zone. Someone who would be too busy trying to find the good in him that she wouldn’t fear him so easily. Someone with wit who fit right in with the twins and their sense of humour. Someone sincere, who never asked for anything in return when she helped someone because she simply wanted to.

Someone who isn’t built for the N109 Zone, yet has managed to survive here for twenty-three years.

“Evie!”

The old bell above the bookshop's door, too old to work anymore, is silent as a woman steps out into the dark, frost kissed streets. She rubs her gloved hands together before shoving them into her pockets, the material barely thick enough to do any good against the cold.

Easing down the stone steps, she starts the short journey home. There isn't anyone to walk with her tonight, so she has no choice but to brave it alone. Not that she hasn't done so before.

She only makes it a single block before the cellphone in her crossbody purse rings and startles a murder of crows into taking flight. She curses under her breath and rushes to answer it, silently scolding herself for forgetting to put it on silent. When walking alone, it's best not to draw attention to oneself.

Pressing the phone against her ear, she turns and presses her back against the wall of the closed mechanic shop she had been passing. When walking alone, one must be careful not to get distracted. "Hi, you two."

The streetlamp closest to her flickers, the lightbulb fighting to stay alive.

"Right now?" She pulls the phone away briefly to check the time. "It's a little late for that, don't you think?"

Above, a curtain of clouds close over the silver moon, casting an even grander darkness over the city.

The woman sighs. "Okay, I'll be there soon."

She tucks the phone back into her purse and changes course. Looks like she won't be returning home to get cozy with a book just yet.

Masterlist

Chapter 1 ->

[boyliker55]

shiguang drabble, s2 spoilers, set after end of s2, gay boys being gay, no beta just vibes (now the names should be correct. just lmk :3)

___

He hears rustling from the bed above him. A little out of place– Lu Guang falls asleep way before Cheng Xiaoshi, and barely moves. He’s a good bunkmate.

But tonight, it’s almost as if he’s making up for all of Cheng Xiaoshi’s peaceful nights of sleep by turning and readjusting and sliding down the ladder of their bunk.  

Maybe water, a midnight snack. Cheng Xiaoshi needs to go to sleep. 

But he feels a slight nudge to his back. So little that it would’ve done nothing to his sleeping form. So he waits, wondering if Lu Guang had just bumped into him. Maybe he wanted to see what would happen. 

He nudges again, saying his name. It’s really weird how Lu always says his name. Strangely soft and gentle, even in the most dire of situations, like he’s cradling a new mug he’s scared to break.

He hums in response.

“Can I sleep here tonight?”

He would make some snarky remark about how he does sleep here— he sleeps here every night, same room. But he knows that’s not what he means. 

“Sure,” he says simply, and scoots over. 

“Cheng Xiaoshi?”

He shifts, careful not to push the other off of the bed. He’s got these eternal bags under his eyes— to which his question has been answered with because I have to deal with you all day. But it’s been worse recently. Every time he looks at Cheng Xiaoshi since their last mission, he looks like he’s about to cry. 

“Yeah, Lu?” He’s got these grey eyes— everyone says they look soulless, Cheng Xiaoshi thinks they’re dreamy, to say the least. 

“What were you gonna say? When Li Tianchen asked what you would do to save me?”

“Why do you ask?” He deflects. 

“Is it so crazy that I want to know?”

“Well— it’s kind of obvious—“

Because I love you is on the verge of falling from Cheng Xiaoshi’s lips. Scarily close. And Lu Guang knows it— Lu Guang knows everything. He stares, and he’s waiting.

“Is it?”

“You seem awfully persistent,” he remarks, deflecting again. His body tenses up in fear of accidentally touching Lu Guang. They’re close, and he’s backed against the wall. Literally. 

“Please.” It’s not even much of an actual word, more of a sigh, a plea characterized only by the pop of his lips and the whistle of the s. He reaches for Cheng Xiaoshi’s hand, only a small touch of their fingers. A contrast from their usual clap. 

“I don’t wanna scare you,” Cheng Xiaoshi says, honest for the first time. 

“I already know you’d save me. What’s so scary?”

Because I love you. I love you. I love you.

Cheng Xiaoshi takes hold of Lu Guang’s fingers, threading them together. He’s always got cold hands, so he brings them to his lips. Not even to kiss, as much as he wants to. Just to feel his own breath against Lu Guang’s hands.

“Is it such a surprise that I’d do anything?” He admits, staring at Lu Guang’s hands. They’re stupidly soft. 

“No. Just seems like a lot.”

When am I not? “Told you it would scare you.”

Lu Guang presses on. “Why?”

“You like asking that—“

“Xiaoshi.”

The usage of his given name brings the confession out of his mouth like a fish latched onto a hook. “Because I’m in love with you. Something crazy like that.” He smiles when he says it, because even in a moment of fear he can’t stop the boyish grin that slides across his lips. 

Lu Guang squeezes his hand, brushes the hair back from his face. “Was that really so hard?” Cheng Xiaoshi can hear the smile in his voice. 

He looks up, finally. He doesn’t want to miss the quirk of his lips that he trusts more than a god. “Uh— yeah, when you look at me like that.”

Lu Guang leans in closer, and Cheng Xiaoshi’s face goes red. “Is that why you can't ever focus when we’re on missions?”

His gaze casts back down to their hands, fidgeting with Lu’s fingers. “Something like that.”

“I love you too, by the way. If it wasn’t obvious enough.” He leans up to kiss his forehead, only a whisper of his lips, and Cheng Xiaoshi freezes where he lies. 

“Damn, that all you needed to fluster you?” Lu Guang continues, curling closer. 

“Yeah, yeah, shut up,” the other responds, wrapping an arm around his back.

[quarantineddreamer]

Jyn Week Day 1: Home

I wasn't sure I was gonna post this, because it's really not my best work. But then again, with the way my brain has been lately not much is! And I wanted to participate and show our girl some love so. Fighting through the perfectionist in me and here's this little thing <3

Though the Rebels had breathed new life into the cave upon their arrival, the network of tight tunnels and sprawling caverns that made up Echo Base had a history that stretched back to a time long before the war. There were stars younger than the stone walls that surrounded them, buried beneath layers of ice so thick, it was unlikely the galaxy would ever uncover the secrets they contained.

It had not taken Jyn long to begin exploring the area, seeking hidden nooks and crannies to which she might escape. Within a week, she had formed a sprawling mental map, memorized the quickest routes to every exit, marked the nearest spaces to duck to when Draven was after her about her latest display of ‘irresponsible/reckless/unacceptable’ behavior–or, when she simply needed quiet. (Which seemed to happen more and more with each passing day spent trapped in this hellhole.)

Tonight, she was bundled in her warmest gear: every thermal layer she possessed, two sweaters, one parka, her hat and scarf, gloves, and four socks pulled one after the other till she could barely squeeze her feet into her boots, much less feel them. 

Clumsiness was the price to pay when you wanted to be up and about at this hour on Hoth–that, or frostbite. It was why, for the most part, no one on Echo Base left their beds after sundown unless they absolutely had to. In temperatures this cold, you’d have to be out of your mind to willingly leave the relative comfort and warmth of your room without very good reason.

Apparently, Jyn was out of her mind, because she’d woken from a dream–the one where the fires of Scarif blinded her one minute, and she was trapped in the cold bunker all alone the next–and crawled out from beneath her blankets. She’d dressed in the dark, moving by instinct more than anything, her skin itching and heart racing as the walls seemed to press closer and closer. Before she’d fully realized what she was doing, she had found herself fumbling by the dim yellow cast of a lantern to a place well-beyond the boundaries of Echo Base.

It would have been all too easy to take a wrong turn–and subsequently freeze to death trying to find her way back–but her body had taken care of her when her mind could not. Before too long she had arrived at a vaguely familiar antechamber, small and circular, with smooth, curving walls.

As she sat and leaned her back into their hard surface, it felt as though she were being held in the palm of some ancient, mysterious being. She took in her surroundings like someone waking up from a dream. Why had her instincts guided her here? 

Then she felt it: air, fresh air; the barest of hints of it brushing across the tip of her nose and suddenly it all made sense. She closed her eyes and drew it deep into her lungs–holding it for a moment with the gratitude of someone reuniting with a long lost friend–before releasing a slow, careful breath. It lingered in the air before her–the ghost of a scared and lonely girl—a swirling cloud of mist, glowing purple. 

Heart in her throat, Jyn lifted her eyes, seeking the source of the strange light. High above her, the chamber’s ceiling of ice and rock gave way, revealing an incredible sweep of night sky, dancing with color. Wind whistled across the opening of the cave…waves whispered upon a black-sanded shore…

“What are they, Mama?”

Her mother’s amused hum tickled at her back. “The Force paints a path home for those that are lost, my love.”

Jyn squirmed beneath the blanket, trying to find her father’s face amidst the orange, flickering shadows of the bonfire. “What are they really, Papa?” 

Mama’s head rested beneath his chin, his arms wrapped around them both, a shield from the wind. He gave her a smile; her favorite kind, the kind he gave her when he asked if she could keep a secret. “You don’t believe your mother?���

Jyn didn’t think her question had anything to do with belief, she simply wanted to know. Mama often told her stories about the Force; stories about love and anger, light and dark, and the threads that tied the world together–just like the ones her favorite blanket was made of. But Papa told her stories too; stories like what kind of soil made the plants on the farm grow, or why her skin turned red after too much time in the sun, or how to fix Stormy when his arm fell off. Mama’s stories were stories she saw and felt on the inside, while Papa’s were ones she held in her hands. But they were both a part of her, pieces she carried with her wherever she went. 

She studied the sky again, following the splashes of purple and green and blue as they wove their way between clusters of stars. She wondered what it would feel like to stand on one of the rippling bands of light; tried to imagine stepping one foot after the other across the horizon as her mother had described. Maybe it would be warm, like sand in the sun, or maybe it would be more like waves lapping at her feet, cold and tingly. 

“A scientist’s daughter through and through,” Mama laughed. “I recognize that look in her eyes…”

Jyn wasn’t sure what exactly she meant by that, but she tore her gaze away from the lights in the sky and turned towards her father instead, ready for his answer.

His skin shimmered green, then blue, and back again, the same colors as the ones that hung in the air above them. “The path your mother spoke of is made of particles, shed by our planet’s suns.”

Jyn frowned at this. “But it’s nighttime.”

“Just because we cannot see something, does not mean it is no longer there,” Papa explained, reaching over to tug the blanket back over her shoulders. “Tonight, the aurora reminds us that the suns have not left us, and they will rise again tomorrow.”

She twisted to face Mama again. “So the suns are the Force?”

“The Force is the suns,” her mother murmured reverently, “and the wind, and the waves, and the sand beneath you. It’s the salt on your tongue when you breathe in and…” she smiled as she poked Jyn’s nose with the tip of her finger, “that means it’s a part of you, and me, and your Papa too.”

Jyn settled into her parent’s arms again and shut her eyes, feeling for the Force her mother spoke of. She wasn’t sure what it was supposed to feel like. 

But she thought there might be some truth to her parents’ words, because though she could not see them anymore, she could sense them there beside her. The comfort of her mother’s heartbeat under her ear, the warmth of her father’s breath as he bent to press a kiss to the top of her head. 

And if she were to find herself lost and standing amidst the aurora, she felt certain this was where they would bring her.

The colors of the sky began to blur and run together. Jyn wiped roughly at her eyes, urging tears away before they could turn to frost upon her cheek. Hoth was more than a far cry from the beaches of Lah’mu, yet she felt closer to it now than she had in a long time.

“Beautiful,” a voice murmured, echoing quietly off the stone around her. 

Jyn started, turning towards the rasp of footsteps. “Cassian…” Leave it to the spy to find her in the middle of a labyrinth in the dead of night.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked warily, taking one last self-conscious swipe at her face with the sleeve of her coat. 

“Not long,” he answered, lingering at the entrance to the cavern.

But long enough… Jyn figured. She heaved a short sigh and returned her gaze to the aurora, an ache in her chest. “There were lights like this on Lah’mu,” she murmured, an explanation of sorts–though Cassian had not asked for one. 

He ducked past the icicle that hung in from the tunnel’s opening and silently came to sit beside her, his shoulder brushing against her own. Though it barely made a difference in a cold this numbing, Jyn found herself drawing comfort from the warmth of his body beside her. 

“How’d you find this place?” he asked softly. 

She glanced at him, but he was looking at the lights above, granting her a reprieve from the weight of his stare. “How’d you find me?” she countered. 

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, but his eyes were serious when they landed on her again. “I went to your room and you weren’t there. For a moment I thought…” he shook his head and took a sudden interest in his boots.

“You thought I’d left?” 

“I didn’t know what to think. I checked the infirmary next.” There was an odd strain to his voice, something she couldn’t quite place. “No one had seen you there either, so I headed towards the perimeter,” a small smile crossed his lips, “I’ve noticed you wander to the edges of Base when you’re trying to avoid Draven.”

“Of course you did,” Jyn remarked. “Then what?”

“I followed the light…” 

“And it led you here…” The memory of her mother’s story–still fresh in Jyn’s mind–began to mingle with words Cassian had once spoken to her. The kyber crystal she wore seemed suddenly heavier than it had a moment ago, a hand resting over her heart. 

She thought of Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, even K2. Of all the people who she had gotten to know because of the Rebellion. People who had her back. People who might not understand all of her, but who accepted her nonetheless.

“Hoth is the first time we’ve really slowed down since Scarif,” Cassian said, ignoring her sudden glance at the mention. “I know it can be hard to adjust to life in the Rebellion.”

A tentative smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Yeah,” she replied, catching a ripple of light and shadow as it wandered across his face. “I've been feeling lost…but I think I’m beginning to find my way.”

[kpopbestie96]

Chapter Two

Your alarm went off and you sprung out of bed, giddy for today's concert.

You took a shower, did your makeup and curled your hair before making a quick breakfast.

After putting on your new outfit, you looked at yourself in the mirror one last time, happy with the way it came out.

You grabbed your light stick, that you decorated all over in black and red crystals, including the bottom part that screws off to put the batteries in. Grabbed your small, clear backpack that had water and snacks in it, and took off.

After stopping at the story to buy blue hair spray, you drove down to the football stadium they were performing at and parked at one of the parking garages close by, $70 for parking, which is crazy.

"This garage closes at midnight, we'll lock cars in here," the man working the gate warned as he handed you a ticket.

"Okay, good to know, thanks," you smiled politely as you drove off and parked in an empty spot.

You got out of the car and sprayed your hair, not much but when you saw your reflection you were happy with the result. It's as good as it's gonna get.

You walked up to the stadium and saw a massive line that wrapped around the building. Holy shit, you thought as you brought out your phone and called Gabby to find her and her friends.

"Hello?" Gabby answered after the third ring.

"Hey Gabby, it's Y/n. I'm here, where are you guys?"

"Hey Y/n!! We're right under the football team's logo. There is like two lights in front of us. Here, we'll all wave our hands. My friend has a Seungmin picket."

"Okay, let me see." You searched where she was describing and quickly saw hands flailing around, seeing Seungmin's face waving side to side.

"Found you guys!"

You hung up the phone and walked over to the group, where Gabby immediately hugged you. "Glad you're here! I love your Chan outfit!! From the Maniac music video?? Did you spray your hair too??"

"Thanks, yeah it's was very last minute! But l I tried. I love your fit!"

You saw her black hair with blue highlights were curled. She was wearing a long black jersey with the words Stray Kids on the front in red. Paired with black thigh boots, but you could see the fishnet stockings peaking right above them.

"You're so sweet, thanks! But Everyone, this is Y/n. She'll be sitting with us today!" Gabby said cheerfully as she turned you towards her friends.

"Hi Y/n, welcome to this fucking chaotic group! I love your Chan outfit! My name is George." They said with a warm smile.

"Thank you! And I love yours!" They were wearing a white crop top, that had Hyunjin's name spray painted in red and black, with ripped jeans that had white lace covering the holes.

"I'm Dani, I apologize now for the way they'll all act tonight," she laughed as she gave you a hug.

"Oh, it's fine! I'm ready to fan girl with everyone! I love your outfit too!" You said noticing it how it was almost similar to the Freeze music video.

She had a black leather short skirt, with a white long sleeve shirt under a black tank top with thick straps. And her boots were thigh length with the thickets heels you've ever seen.

"Here Y/n, here's a freebie," Gabby said handing you a small bag filled with goodies.

"Oh thanks!" She handed you a bag, putting it away as you began talking with your new group. You even told them what happened last night and how Gabby came in clutch.

"Fuck them!" George said. "You're with us now. We're better anyways." They joked.

"Gabby is amazing, she's like a fairy God mother," Dani mentioned.

"Just waved my magic wand," Everyone in the group laughed as Gabby waved her hand around, like if she was actually holding a wand.

Finally the line was moving and you were all inside, checked in, ready now for sound check.

You brought some snacks for everyone, as did Dani, so you could all have a mini feast while waiting. It was your first time doing soundcheck and you saw others posting to bring snacks because you'll get hungry.

As you were waiting, you become friends with other Stays, getting freebies and having a fun time with your new friends. You even found a Stay who was dressed like Lee Know from the Maniac music video, which you and them took a photo together.

You looked at your phone and noticed the time, before you could say anything, everyone cheered when the line started to move.

"Ahhh! Can't wait!" Gabby clapped her hands excitedly.

"Me too!"

You all followed the line down to the floor, following behind Gabby as George and Dani followed behind you.

You couldn't believe you were finally here, thinking you wouldn't be after what happened.

The stage was becoming larger in view as Gabby kept walking and didn't stop till she reached the seats that were to the left side of the extended stage. You were the third seat in as George and Dani sat closest to the extended stage.

"This is so fucking cool!" You gushed, looking around at how close you were.

"It really is! Ah, and what do I do if Seungmin looks at me??" Dani asked covering her face with her hands.

"You'll act calm, Danielle," Gabby said laughing.

"Under Seungmin's eyes?? Under all their eyes??" Her panicking made you giggle but you knew she had a point.

"What Dani is trying to say is...we're all going to pass away the second they come out," George joked as you all laughed.

You wouldn't be this close thanks to Gabby, so you turned to her who smiled at you once you caught each others gaze. "Thank you so much again, Gabby."

"Of course! I'm glad it all worked out," she smiled as they sat there for a bit more and all of a sudden the music started playing making Stays start screaming.

You were waving at the members as they walked by, recorded a few of them waving back to everyone. You had your phone up recording Changbin dancing, when all of a sudden Bang Chan walked to the side of the stage you guys were at.

Your phone lowered as you looked up at him in awe when he was waving to the crowd. He was seeing everyone's reaction when he came across you.

He stopped in his spot, taken back by your beauty. Wow, he thought in his mind. He blinked his eyes and waved at you as you smiled, waving back.

"He waved at you!!!" Gabby yelled, grabbing your arm.

"Holy shit!" George felt excited for you.

The entire sound check Chan would walk to your side and make sure to have an interaction with you. Whether it was dancing or making you laugh, he some how found his way back to your side of the stage.

After they left, everyone sat down couldn't believe Bang Chan kept interacting with you; even the other Stays around were excited and sent you videos of it.

"Let's get something to drink and eat," George recommended after everyone caught their breath.

On the way to the concession stand, you couldn't help but look in the direction you knew Sarah and Melissa were sitting. And the second you scanned the crowd, there they were in the same section but the very last row before a new section on the floor starts.

"Oh shit," you said out loud.

"What's wrong?" Gabby asked.

"That's them..." you nodded over to your friends.

"The one with the Hyunjin outfit from Case 143?"

"Yeah that's Sarah..." You unhappily revealed, wanting to roll your eyes.

You both kept walking as you ordered drinks and food. You didn't want it to bother you but seeing them change your whole mood which Gabby caught on to.

She didn't like the way you were treated, so as you were all walking back she laughed loud enough so they could hear.

Your eyes shot in their direction, seeing how shocked they were to see you walking closer than they were.

"Who are they and how did she get closer tickets?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know..." Sarah's eye brows pinched together, glaring at you as she felt jealously and anger boil within her.

You got to your seat and felt proud to show them that they weren't going to stop you.

The rest of the time, as everyone was waiting and more Stays kept pilling in, you found yourself laughing and having a wonderful time with your new friends.

But as you were having the best time of your life, Melissa was scrolling Twitter when she kept seeing videos of you interacting with Chan. "Is this Y/n??" She handed her phone to Sarah, who snatched it out of her hand.

"That is her! What does she think she's doing?? She knows Chan is my bias!"

"I thought Hyunjin was?" Melissa pointed out her outfit, feeling confused.

"Him and Chan!" Sarah shot back at her.

< Previous chapter Next Chapter >

[andtheflameswenthigher]

Trade Proposals

Pairing: JD x TZ

Word Count: 1.2k

Warning for language and slight angst (I'm not sorry)

~~

Trevor’s ears are ringing and the whole room feels like it's spinning around him. He’s in shock, he can recognize the symptoms well by now considering the amount of times he’s been injured on the ice. Jamie is still standing in front of him, looking like he’s trying to put on a brave face for Trevor’s sake. He finally shakes himself out of his stupor long enough to reply. 

“What?” He asks, his voice barely above a whisper. Jamie sighs, casting his eyes to the floor. 

“I said that was Verbeek. I’m being traded to the Flyers. My flight is early tomorrow morning, they want me in Philly for their afternoon practice.” 

“No. No, they can’t do that. They can’t trade you! What the fuck, Jamie, they can’t do this!” Trevor knows he’s being unfair. He probably sounds like a spoiled little kid right now, but he doesn’t care. They can’t do this to him, to Jamie. They can’t trade him away, not when he’s finally healthy. Not when he’s finally back playing with the team after a full year away from the ice. Not when they just moved back in together, not when their relationship is still so new. 

Jamie looks like he’s trying not to cry now, still not meeting Trevor’s eyes. “I know. It’s not fair. But you know there’s nothing I can do. Verbeek said it's been in the works for a while now.” Trevor wants to punch their General Manager. How could he possibly do this to Jamie? After everything they went through this summer with their contracts and now he’s just going to up and trade him out of nowhere? It’s not fucking fair!

Jamie steps closer, wrapping his arms around Trevor’s shoulders. “I’m gonna tell the rest of the boys, say my goodbyes and everything. Then we can head back to the hotel, ok? I need to get my stuff packed anyways. Just stay here and I’ll be right back.” He kisses Trevor’s cheek, giving his shoulders a squeeze before heading back into the pool hall. Trevor stands there frozen for another minute, mind racing. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do without Jamie. He’s been his rock for their entire NHL careers, the one person who always had his back. His best friend, recently turned boyfriend, his roommate, his linemate, the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. 

An idea pops into his head. If he wasn’t in such a distressed state, he would probably consider it one of the dumbest ideas he’s ever had. At the moment though, he’s desperate and it seems like the only available option he has. He pulls his phone from his pocket, opening google to see if any places would still be open at this time of night. He knows he needs to act fast if he’s going to do this, Jamie’s flight leaves early in the morning, which means they only have roughly 12 hours before he’ll be across the country for good. Luckily they’re in Nashville tonight, a city with a crazy nightlife and various tourist traps that are open late. He finds exactly what he’s looking for after a few minutes, saving the address in his phone for later. 

~~

They’ve just walked through the door of Jamie’s hotel room when Trevor decides to spring the idea on him. 

“We should get married.” 

Jamie freezes where he was grabbing his suitcase from the floor. He turns his head to stare incredulously at Trevor. 

“We should do what now?” 

Trevor’s not backing down though, not after he’s already made up his mind. “We should get married. Tonight, preferably. Before you leave for Philly. I found one of those stupid Elvis chapels that’s open ‘till 2 am, they have legit marriage licences and everything.” Jamie’s still looking at him like he’s grown a second head. Trevor just smiles, trying to prove that he’s being completely serious. Jamie sighs, finally placing his suitcase on the bed and moving to grab his clothes from the closet. 

“You want to get married? Tonight?” Trevor just nods, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Why do you want to get married tonight?” Jamie’s avoiding his eyes, focusing on getting his clothes packed away. 

“I mean why not? It’s a perfect night for it, we’re in Nashville, we have the time and the resources. I can get Mason to be our witness.” Trevor’s starting to get desperate now, he needs Jamie to agree to this, if he doesn’t he won’t be able to take it. 

Jamie just sighs again. “Trev, don’t you think it's a little soon to be talking about marriage? We’ve only been dating for like, six months.” 

Trevor frowns, “So you don’t want to marry me?” 

“I never said that. I do want to marry you someday, obviously. But I don’t want to marry you just because I’m leaving tomorrow. When we get married I want it to be because we’re ready to take that step.” He finally turns to face Trevor, his face softening. 

“It’s not just because you’re leaving.” Jamie gives him a look. “Ok, it’s a little because you’re leaving. But it’s mostly because I love you, and I want to marry you. I know it’s sudden, and I don’t have a ring and none of our families or friends are here, but I want to do this. There’s no one in the world I would rather be with, Jamie.” He steps forward, grabbing both of Jamie’s hands in his own. He needs him to see that this is for real, that he’s not lying about wanting this.

Jamie pulls his hands away, reaching up to cradle Trevor’s face. “Trev, what are you so worried about? I know you wouldn’t be suggesting this if you weren’t having doubts about me leaving.” 

Sometimes Trevor hates how well Jamie knows him, how he can see right through him and all his insecurities. “I just, I just don’t want to lose you. I know people do long distance all the time, but I’m just worried it’s not going to work for us. I mean, we’re going to be on completely opposite sides of the country, in two different time-zones. Hell, we’ll only get to play each other twice a year. I just don’t know we’re going to do it, Jimmy.” He can feel the tears he’s been holding back climbing to the surface, threatening to spill over at any moment. He drops his head onto Jamie’s chest, trying to ignore the wetness on his cheeks. Jamie’s arms come up to wrap around him, holding him tightly. 

“We’ll make it work, Z. I know we will. You aren’t going to lose me, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to lose you either. It’s only a couple months until the end of the season, and then we can spend the whole off season together, ok?” 

Trevor sniffles, “If the Flyers make the playoffs and we don’t can I come live with you?” 

Jamie chuckles, burying his face in Trevor’s hair. “Of course you can, I wouldn’t expect otherwise.” He places a kiss on the crown of Trevor’s head, tilting his chin up to meet his eyes. “Tell you what, if we can make this work until the summer, I’ll marry you.” 

Trevor laughs wetly, “You mean it?” 

“Of course I do. I hear California in August is beautiful, perfect for a beach wedding.” 

Trevor just laughs again, tilting his head up to peck his boyfriends, or fiancé's, lips. “You’ve got a deal.”

[cookstorys]

Moonlight

Character: Felix

Show : Love, Victor

Warning : Its supposed to be cute but sorry if it came out cringy 😭

—————————————————————————————————————

The moon shined above as you walked Felix back to his apartment building. You both decided to take the rather long way since you didn’t mind each other’s presence. “So you and Victor? You guys have been getting pretty close lately.” You nudged. “Yeah, we have but we don’t see each other like that. At least I don’t think?” He questions. You laughed at his utter stupidity. “Felix I’m just kidding. If Victor liked you I’m sure he would’ve kissed you on the faris wheel by now.” Felix laughed at the obvious tease. “Stop asshole, that’s my friend you’re talking about. So what if the whole thing was kinda rom-com-ish” He playfully hits your arm smiling. As if on queue, silence fell between the two of you again.

As you walk the sidewalk you notice the slight shiver Felix tried to ignore. “You cold?” You asked the fluffy-haired boy. “Yeah, I’m fine just a tad bit chilled.” He smiled shaking a little. “Felix, here. You’re gonna freeze out here love.” You commented, quickly taking off your jacket to put it on him. The jacket fitted him loosely and oversized but neither of you mind, you found him fairly adorable in bigger clothes, specifically yours. Felix was too stunned to even react, ‘love’. Words like that were commonly used by you regularly. ‘Babes, you’re embarrassing yourself.’ , ‘no love.’ Felix had gotten pretty comfortable with the words of affection but this time it felt different. This time his heart jumped out of his chest, his palms were starting to sweat, and he couldn’t control the urge to hold back his toothy smile.

“Thank you [Name].” Felix smiled, praying that the oversized fabric covered most of his blushing face. The attempt was cute but you could still see the heat starting to spread across his cheeks. However, you chose to ignore it for his sake. “So, how’s your mom?” You were questioning if you should ask or not but chose to ask. “She’s good, she decided to take her depression more seriously and just checked into a hospital. So, I should get to see her in about a month or two, depending on her progress.” You were beyond happy with the news. You and Felix were childhood best friends, you knew Felix’s mom way before the depression, even before his father’s death. So to hear that his mother was finally getting the help she not only needed but deserved was amazing. “Felix that’s fucking amazing.” Felix nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

10 minutes later you found yourselves in front of Felix’s apartment building, grinning awkwardly at each other. “I hope you had fun tonight, I had to fight a very aggressive old man for those tickets.” Felix laughed, genuinely intrigued about the situation. “I did! I’m happy all your hard work wasn’t in vain.”

“Well, I’m happy you had fun.” You smiled. This was always the awkward part, the departure. “Well, I guess I should get inside now. Here’s your coat.” Felix was in the process of taking his coat off but you chose to stop him. “Keep it, you look cuter in it than me.” Felix blushed at the statement. The moon’s light illuminated your eyes, making most of your small features stand out. For example, your lips. He really couldn’t stop looking at your lips and how amazing it’ll be to kiss them. Meanwhile, you were having the same thought. Felix looked stunning in the light, his eyes met yours and you could tell both of you were sharing the same thought.

Your hand found its way to the side of his face pulling him closer until your lips finally met his. They move perfectly together as if they were made for this. As the kiss deepened, you pulled away. “You’re a really good kisser.” Felix smiled still hypnotized by the taste of your lips on his. “You’re the one to talk.” You both laughed. Felix pulled out his keys and rushed up the outdoor steps as you watched. “You coming in or what?” He giggled to which you quickly caught on and ran after him

[blurbios]

Bad News

cw: cursing, alcohol, underage drinking if you squint for half a second

other: fem! reader, dialogue heavy

chapter two of a birthday outing

You were stood in your bedroom, clothes scattered across the floor, your hair a mess, trying to figure out what to wear out. You didn't stress about your appearance that often, but it was a big night for your friend Hikaru. A nightclub that he had heavily invested in was having its opening night. He had invited so many people, you didn't know why you needed to really be there. You planned on showing face, having a drink or two and then heading straight home. You settled on nothing too fancy, some black strappy heels and a black bodycon dress that ended just above your knee that had sheer puffed sleeves. You grabbed your outfit and made your way to your bathroom to get dressed and tackle the hair and makeup situations. You figured hair wouldn't take that long, so you started with that after you slipped on your dress. You landed on a half up, half down look, two buns and the rest down. You checked the time on your phone and saw you only had a few minutes before your friend Ume was coming to pick you up, so a bit frantic you glued on some lashes and lined your eyes. 

Your phone lit up with a message from her. I'm outside! Come on, I don't wanna be late! You grabbed a lipstick to shove in your bag, you walked to the door and took a minute to tie up the straps on your heels. You clicked and clacked down the steps of your apartment building and over to her car to get in the passenger seat. 

"There you are!" Ume's face lit up.

"I knew you liked going out, but this much?" It had been a while since you went out with Ume, so you couldn't quite place if it was her normal level of excitement or if there was something else.

"Well, you know Yuki is going to be there, right?" She looked over at you at as she stopped at the light. You nodded along. "I think I'm actually going to make a move tonight!"

"I'm sure it'll go well, you look good!" You tried to cheer her on. You had only met Yuki once, so you didn't have a proper read on them yet, but if they made her happy, you were sure they couldn't be that bad.

"Did you remember my gloves by chance? I forgot mine and realized after I started driving over." She was still learning how to control her quirk and when she gets drunk, she completely forgets how. Ume had a quirk that can be activated when her palms touch an item, if the item has any water content, it freezes completely. 

You shuffled through your bag and took them out. "Yeah, right here, never go out without them when I'm with you!"  You held up the gloves, they were old, but they worked for her nonetheless.

"I forgot how beat up that pair is." She frowned as she pulled into a parking garage. "They're even missing some fingers."

"Missing, do you not remember?" You started to laugh. She shook her head as she touched up her makeup in the mirror. You pulled your lipstick out of your bag and did the same as you spoke. "You got so drunk last time that you started cutting them up because 'your hands needed to breathe.'"

"Can't believe you let me do that." She shook her head slightly in disbelief, mores o at herself than at you. 

"Hey, I tried to stop you. Do you want them now or should I hold on to them?"

"Hold on to them, that way I'll be even less inclined to drink. I want to remember shooting my shot." She dusted some glitter over her nose bridge and out towards her cheeks. 

"You look cute, if Yuki turns you down, which he won't, I'll date you instead." She laughed and dusted some glitter atop your head. "Hey, you know that's never gonna go away!"

"Well, it's okay because you look cute too." The two of you left the car and walked out of the garage. You double checked your phone to make sure you had the right place. You walked down the street and as the noise grew, you knew you had to be in the right spot. The line was nearly down the block, for once you were actually okay with the vip treatment. You two walked over to the line-less bouncer and presented your ids. 

"Enjoy your night ladies." He said as he opened the door for you. You were hit with cool air as you entered and scanned the room. Ume and you shared a confused glance as neither of you could seem to find Hikaru or Yuki. You counted the tables in the vip area to figure out which was supposed to be yours. 

"Hikaru said table four, right?" You asked Ume. 

She nodded, but pointed at a group of people you had never seen before. "Yeah. But who are those people?"

"Maybe he invited them too." She pulled out her phone to text him. You tried not to stare, but they did keep your attention. The two of you awkwardly stood around waiting for Hikaru to come get you and tell you what had happened. 

Eventually he showed up and after exchanging niceties he answered your questions. "There's another table over there that we can go to and there's always the rooftop that you guys can go up to."

"Okay, but who are they? Don't look like promoters or like any of them would have a following." Ume sneered. 

"That girl looks like a teenager, how'd she even get in here?" You added.

"Apparently the guy with the black hair is bad news, bouncer didn't even want to deal with him. Just steer clear and don't worry." You took note of the dark haired boy and noticed him staring at you and quickly averted your gaze. You wrote it off as nothing and you followed behind your friends as you went to your table. Hikaru ordered a round of shots for everyone to get started with. 

"Ume, be careful drinking." You reminded her.

"This will be my only one, promise." She raised her pinky to signal she meant it. You settled back and relaxed a bit. You looked at everyone sat around you having a good time, Ume enthralled in her conversation with Yuki whilst Hikaru was busy talking to his investor buddies. Your eyes wandered around the place, seeing girls already way too drunk wobbling around as they attempted to dance, guys leaned on the back wall too awkward to approach anybody, and the other vip tables filled with micro influencers, promoters, investors, and that eyesore of degens that you had been warned about. Two of them were busy on their phones, you wondered why they were even there. Another was swirling his drink around in his glass, but al least he was dressed nice. The girl looked like she was arguing with the guy next to her, he sighed and slid her his drink. Once the liquid touched her lips, she shook her head and placed the glass back on the table. The man laughed so loud, you could hear it over the music from where you were. You knew there was another boy sitting at the table, but you focused back on your own group to prevent any trouble from brewing. Maybe the shot wasn't sitting right, or someone had a weird quirk, but you had a bad feeling in your stomach. The type of feeling you got when you knew something bad was going to happen, but you didn't know what. 

You were pulled out of your thoughts when you felt Ume pull on your arm. "Come dance with me!" You knew she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so you got up and went with her. At least this way you could sink into the crowd and let the worry melt away. 

Dabi's eyes followed you and Ume, you could feel his gaze burning into you. You tugged Ume along, so that you were behind a group of girls, clearly celebrating one of their birthdays, since she had a sash and tiara. Dabi nudged Tomura and pointed at the group. "Pick one."

"One what?" 

"One of those girls." Dabi was annoyed. He was trying to do something nice for once and this was what he was met with.

"Not interested." Tomura said blankly, eyes still glued to his phone screen.

"Dude, at least look at them." Dabi snatched the phone out of his hands. 

"You must've drank too much because you're being more f a duck than usual."

"If you won't pick one, then I will." The annoyance was prominent in his tone. 

"Fuck off." Tomura snatched his phone and went right back to his game. Dabi rose to circle the place, to find the perfect girl. Lucky enough for him, he already had one in mind. Once his eyes found you again, they didn't leave. You tried to focus on dancing with Ume, but the feeling in your stomach returned. You turned to look at the table he had been previously sitting at and saw he was missing. 

You tapped Ume on the shoulder, "Can we go back now? These heels are killing me."

"Yeah, heels weren't the move." You began to shuffle through the crowd, but your eyes were met with icy blue ones. You wanted to look away, but his glare was too intense to look away from. You noticed a small grin creep onto his face. You shook yourself out of it and focused on getting back to your table. 

"He looked at me again." You whispered to Ume as you sat down.

"Who?" She had no idea what you were talking about.

"The guy Hikaru said was bad news." Your stomach still pained you. 

"Don't worry about it, take this." She handed you a shot. "I can't drink, so you gotta do it for me." You gave her a concerned look. "Come on, let loose a little!" You threw it back and were met again with a familiar unpleasant taste. You wanted to shake it off, but Hikaru's words echoed in your head as you scanned the room for the stranger. He was standing against the back wall, it was dark enough that he blended in, but he still had a perfect view of you. He studied your movements, and debated whether or not to take the opportunity for himself. Dabi had himself convinced that you'd already be his had it not been Tomura's birthday, but he was trying to be a good friend. So in his eyes, he had all night to make you Tomura's. 

a/n: weekly post let’s goooooooooo!! you’ll actually interact next chapter, not just intense staredowns, i promise ! thoughts, comments, criticisms, anything is appreciated  x

[obsidiancreates]

Born This Way (Because Of Negligence Towards Basic Scientific Safety)

(IDK how far apart the Fenton kids are in age, so Jazz is an Undetermined Age Where She's A Toddler But Also Very Verbal. Maybe it's the Genius Genes letting her learn faster. Let's go with that.)

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

Maddie coughs, spitting out another glob of ectoplasm. "Well, at least know it's not an issues with the cooling system."

Jack sneezes out the ectoplasm stuck in his nose, and then grins and stands triumphantly. "Still a step towards success!"

Jazz frowns from where she's playing with her doll, safe within a Fenton Anti-Ghost Toddler Chamber. "Mommy, you should cover your mouth." She points at her own mouth. "Mr. Wummy on TV says dat getting weird stuff in your mouth is bad."

"Mr. Wummy is a cartoon, dear. We're seasoned scientists, we know what we're doing." She wipes herself off, and sits down. "If there were any side-effects to accidental ecoplasmic consumption, we'd know."

"But what if Danny doesn't like it?" Jazz point at her mother's belly.

Maddie pats her belly. "The baby is still just a fetus, sweetie. It can't tell what it does and doesn't like yet. And why are you so sure it'll be a boy?"

"Because I'm your baby girl. So now you need a baby boy!"

Maddie tilts her head and smiles lovingly at her daughter. "Oh, you're adorable." Nothing cuter than Child Logic.

Maddie stands back up, and puts her hands on the workbench. "Now, let's see about that firing mechanism..."

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

Maddie brushes her teeth, sighing when her toothbrush comes away glowing green. "We really messed up a lot of experiments today. I think I swallowed a whole ghost's worth."

Jack spits a similarly colored mouthful of toothpaste foam out. "At least it doesn't taste as bad as it smells."

Maddie puts her hands on her belly, the bump now quite obvious. "II hope we're right about it not having side effects."

Jack's expression softens. He gently pulls his wife into a comforting hug. "The doctors all say he's as healthy as can be, Mads. You don't need to worry."

"I still worry anyway, though."

"Of course you do. You're his mom! But we'll worry together, and if you ever need me to, I'll do the worrying for us both! While you relax and give him more tips on how to avoid ghosts once he learns to walk."

Maddie giggles, and sighs. It'll all be fine... nothing to worry about.

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

Jazz has her arms crossed, a teddy bear hanging from one hand. "Five times!"

"Yes, and did we mention we're so proud that you can count so we-"

"Five times!" She shouts again, waving her little sticky toddler hand at them. "I saw you eat the bad green stuff five times!"

"We didn't eat it," Maddie says patiently, "It got into our mouths by accident."

"You swallowed it!"

"Only a tiny bit, only on accident, dear."

Jazz puts her hand on her mom's belly. "Danny is gonna be here soon and he's gonna be mad!"

"He won't even know it happened, sweetheart."

"Yes he will! He'll be the smartest ever, just like me and like you and like daddy! And he'll be so upset and never stop crying!"

"Babies do that anyway, sweetie." Maddie rubs her belly. It's true, Danny is due any day now. And yes... there's been some extra Ectoplasm Incidents lately. Maddie just can't stay awake sometimes, and... well. That's not exactly good when working on ghost hunting machines.

"Your baby brother will be perfectly fine," Maddie assures. "He's a healthy baby boy, and he'll be just as healthy when you meet him."

Jazz lights up at the mention of meeting him. She can't wait!

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

Jazz bounces excitedly in her dad's arms. She gets to meet her baby brother! Finally! She's going to read him bedtime stories, and protect him from closet monsters, and show him how to throw a tea party!

Jack chuckles. "Calm down, sweetie, you don't get to play with him quite yet! He's still very fragile."

"But he's okay?"

"Yes, he and Mommy are both okay. Better than okay."

Jack knocks on the hospital room door, and they enter.

Maddie is holding Danny, and it looks like she fell asleep. Jazz gasps, even though all she can see so far is the blanket bundle.

"He's tiny!"

"Very." Again. Ah well. Jack had always hoped one of his kids would groww up to be taller than him, but maybe it'll have to be a grandkid.

He walks over, and smiles at his sleeping wife. "Okay, let's be quiet," he whispers. "We don't want to wake mommy."

Jazz nods seriously.

Jack sets her on the bed, and Jazz carefully crawls closer to Danny. She moves the blanket to get a good look at his face, grinning widly-!

She frowns. "Where is he?"

"What?!" Jack hurriedly picks up the bundle, making Maddie startle awake. "Holy-"

"Jack? Honey? What is it?!" Maddie's tone becomes increasingly panicked.

Jack, looking a bit pale, hands the bundle back to her. She gasps.

It's empty, and freezing!

"Where- where is-"

And then suddenly. He's there.

Fast asleep, wrapped up snug and tight. His little face still red from being brand-new to the world, his tiny tongue sticking out of his mouth slightly as he snoozes.

He disappears again.

Maddie thinks she's about to pass out.

Finally, Jazz breaks the horrified silence. "I told you to cover your mouths!"

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

Danny sleeps all the way home, and all the way up to his room. Jazz is waiting by the bassinet, and peeks in as soon as he's placed down. She frowns. "Mommy, his hair is white. He's not old."

Maddie sighs. "No, he's not. Apparently it just... does that, sometimes."

Danny yawns, and opens his little eyes. Jazz's own eyes widen as well. "He's glowing!"

"Yes... that happens too."

Danny screws up his face, and starts crying. Maddie picks him up and rocks him. "Poor baby... he's so cold."

"Why?" Jazz tilts her head.

Maddie sighs. "Well... your father and I... we think he's half-ghost."

"How?"

"... Probably... the ectoplasm," Shame burns in Maddie's veins.

Jazz, wide-eyed, reaches to to try and touch Danny. "Is he dead?" She doesn't sound sad, because it looks to her like even if he is dead, he's still alive.

"No!" Maddie shuts the idea right down. "He is a very healthy, living boy! But he's... different."

"Are you gonna trap him?"

"Wh- Jasmine, why would you ask that!"

"He's a ghost."

"No! No, we never treat him like any other ghost. And he's only partly ghost, so it barely counts. Now, Mommy has to feed him so he can go back to sleep. How about you go pick a movie for tonight?"

Jazz nods. She takes that job very seriously. There's a science to picking movies.

She heads off, and Maddie looks at Danny's sniffling little face. His eyes are back too baby blue, but his hair isn't quite black yet.

At least he's still visible.

At least the side effects seem mild.

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

It's about 6 am when Jack bolts up too use the bathroom. On his way back, he decides to check on the kids.

Jazz is asleep, cuddling a stuffed animal. Jack smiles.

Danny is also asleep, wrapped up in a cute little onesie and floating above the bassinet FLOATING ABOVE THE BASSINET?!?!

Jack runs over and grabs Danny from the air, pulling out a Fenton Ghost-Whapping Baton!

And then he looks at Danny, who's whining, and sees sleepy glowing green eyes looking at him.

"Oh. Um, sorry, son." He puts away the baton. "I thought a ghost was stealing you."

Danny yawns. Jack sees a cold breath puff out of his son's mouth, despite the room being temperature-controlled to keep him toasty during the nights.

Jack puts Danny back into the bassinet. He leaves, and comes back a little bit later with some equipment.

He sets up a rudimentary ghost-shield to keep Danny from floating away during the night, but won't trap him. He can still float a little, if need be.

"The scariest ghost we've faced yet," Jack mumbles. He kisses Danny's forehead, and sits there until Danny falls asleep. By then, Danny is human again.

Jack leaves, and in the morning he and Maddie begin working on some upgrades for Danny's room.

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

Danny babbles happily as Jazz plays peek-a-boo with him.

"Boo!"

Laughter.

"Boo!"

More laughter!

"A-boo! A-boo!" Jazz can't stop grinning. She's a great older sister! Look at her go!

She takes Danny's hands, and moves them over his face. "Now, where's Danny? ... Here he is! Oh."

Danny isn't there. But his clothes are, and something's inside of them. And Jazz is still holding two chubby baby arms, even if they're cold and invisible.

Jazz stares for a second, and then speaks. "... Peek-a-boo?"

Danny reappears, and squeals with laughter!

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

Maddie sits down to give Danny his bottle. She's brought him out shopping with her so she can grab some replacement parts that fried in their latest invention, the Fenton Ecto-Extractor!

Jazz had thrown a fit when she'd heard the name, and it startled Jack so bad he'd turned it on too early and it completely collapsed on itself! It took half an hour to convince Jazz that they weren't trying to use it to make Danny normal, just using it for themselves now that they know it can cause... strange things, to happen.

Danny drinks the bottle with no issue, and burps as soon as she starts his back. Really, he's a pretty easy baby. Except for the ghost part.

Maddie is getting him back in the stroller when Danny's face screws up. She watches a cold, visible breath leave his mouth, and then he starts to scream. Sobbing, wailing baby screams, attracting the concerned and/or annoyed attention of most people around them.

"He's just tired," she assures loudly. His breath is still puff out in cold clouds, even though it's perfectly warm in the mall.

Maddie quickly picks him back up and hugs him, bouching and singing to try and calm him down.

Danny starts to quiet down. She puts him back in the stroller, but as soon as she does (as soon as he looks behind her with those bright, bright green eyes) he starts crying again.

She sighs and picks him up, hurrying back to the car. She'll just come back for the parts later. Clearly, something is upsetting him.

Something that she just can't see.

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

Jazz leans away from Danny, grinning. "There!"

Danny is propped up on her bed. Maddie and Jack needed to quickly decontaminate themselves, and so Jazz had to watch Danny for just a minute.

And in that minute, she's does some redesigning.

Danny's fluffy white hair has a little bow in it, and she's put some of her kiddie makeup on him.

Danny disappears for a second, and the bow falls. When he reappears, it's not on his head anymore. He looks at Jazz blankly.

Jazz crosses her arms. "No fair! I was making you pretty!"

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

Maddie stumbles into Danny's room. She flicks on the light, and turns off the Fenton Ghost-Shielding Hanging Mobile. She reaches in and pulls the crying Danny out of the bassinet, shushing and rocking him.

Danny's eyes are bright green again, and Maddie can see his breath. "Oh, you always get so worked up when this happens," she says softly. "Is the cold upsetting you?"

Danny doesn't answer, just cries more.

Maddie takes him to her and Jack's room, and lays down with him on her chest. Jack rolls over in his sleep and puts his arms around her, cradling both of them.

Danny falls back asleep soon, and Maddie sighs. She can still see his breath, but at least he's calm now.

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

Jazz holds up her drawing, and shakes her head. She goes back to scribbling, and moves closer to Danny. "This is black," she says to him, pointing at the crayon she's using. She picks up another color. "And this one is red."

Danny stares as Jazz keeps scribbling. Jazz assumes that means he's learning.

"I'm going to let Mom and Dad know I saw this in my closet," she says seriously. "I think people know you're special and want to steal you!"

Danny blows a spit bubble by accident, and laughs when it pops.

Jazz's eyes hold more determination than ever. She scribbles with the fury of a million warriors. "You're very valuable." She learned that word yesterday. "So you need lots of protecting."

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

"Do you think this will make her feel better?" Maddie asks as she closes the panel.

Jack lifts his soldering mask and nods. "If one thing can make a person feel safe, it's fifty anti-ghost devices hidden in their walls!"

"I just worry about that doodle. What if something really got in?"

"Mads, you personally handcrafted every single sensor put up in the kids's rooms! If a ghost had gotten in, we'd know! To get past then they'd need deep knowledge of exactly how our deigns work and how they detect ghost energy, and no ghost has that!"

"You're right, you're right. Still, I hate to think she might be having nightmares about something like that. It looked like it had devil horns."

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

"Peek-a-boo!" Jazz grins at Danny. "Peek-a-boo!"

It never gets old for him! No matter how many times they play, Danny loves it!

"Peek... a-boo!" Jazz does little jazz-hands.

Danny disappears, and Jazz grins. "Where's Danny? Where'd he go?"

Danny reappears, and-

"B-b-boo!"

Jack and Maddie dart into the room! Maddie swoops Danny up, eyes wide!

Danny giggles, and says it again. "Boo!"

Maddie and Jackie both tear up. In unison they shout, "HIS FIRST WORD!"

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

Danny gnaws on the toy with his little baby gums.

"I can't believe it. Already teething," Maddie sighs, holding him. "Seems like only yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital."

Jack wipes his eyes. "He's growing into a young man already."

"Oh, Jack, stop it, he's not nearly a young man."

"But he will be before we know it!"

Maddie pats her husband on the back comfortingly as he begins to blubber.

Maddie closes her eyes, thinking about those early months with Danny, figuring out how to prepare for his floating and invisibility, learning to not panic when his eyes and hair changed color, learning that sometimes when they do his clothes change color as well...

She's startled out of her thought by something warm and wet on her lap.

She looks down to see the teething toy on her thigh... and a whole lot of nothing where Danny's head should be.

Then it' back when she blinks, and he's beginning to whine for his toy.

She quickly picks him up off her laps and retrieves it, giving it back to him.

So... the ghost abilities are still developing, then. She'll have to let Jack know about this later.

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

"Daniel Fenton," Jack says, the most serious Jazz has ever seen him, "You're in big trouble this time, mister. I don't know how you did this-"

Jack shakes the empty tube of baby snacks, safe for teething babies.

"But I will get to the bottom of it!"

"Look like he already did," Maddie jokes, setting Jazz's breakfast down for her.

Jazz laughs, because it sounds like a Smart Adult Joke and she thinks those are funny, even when she doesn't understand them.

Danny babbles, smacking his chair's food tray.

"Oh no you don't, mister! You're getting regular baby food this morning and that's all!" Jack grabs the jar of food, and holds up the spoon. "Now, here comes the Fenton Ghost-Tracking Copter!"

He puts the spoon up to Danny's mouth-

-and right through his head.

He gasps and pulls back, and Danny's head reappears. He babbles, smacking the tray again.

Maddie drops her fork. "I can't believe I forgot! That's what I was going to tell you about!"

Jazz looks at her parents. "You didn't know he does this?"

They both gawk at her. "You did?!"

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

Danny reaches up and grabs Jazz's nose. Jazz wrinkles it, and he laughs.

Jazz sticks out her tongue and crosses her eyes, and Danny laughs even harder!

Jazz looks at her parents as they finish setting up the picnic blanket. "I'm the funniest big sister ever!"

"You sure are, sweetie!" Maddie scoops Jazz up and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "You get it from me."

Jack laughs. "It's true! Your mother could get the whole Ghost Hunting Club laughing out HAZMAT suits off all day long back in the day! ... 'Course it was just the three of us, but still, three's a crowd!"

"May as well have been doing stand-up," Maddie says, setting Jazz down on the blanket.

They enjoy the little outing, the sun shining but not beating down, the cool breeze just enough to crispen the air but not freeze.

And then Jazz looks at Danny. She sees glowing eyes, and a puff of breath come out of his mouth. "Uh-oh. Mommy! He's gonna cry!"

Maddie picks Danny up right as he starts to wail. She hugs him, and is shocked. He doesn't feel cold this time!

Is he just cold inside?

Or is there some other problem?

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

Jack rubs his ears. "That child wails like a Banshee!"

"He could very well be doing exactly that," Maddie points out. "We still don't know what other abilities he'll develop as he ages!"

"Or how well he'll be able to control them. ... Mads... should we homeschool him?"

"It's a little early to worry about that, Jack."

"I know that tone, you're worrying about it too."

"... We can't just keep him isolated from the rest of the world, Jack. It'll be unhealthy for him. And what if it makes him lean into his ghost side too much?"

"So you think we should let him go to school."

"Yes. ... But not pre-school. We'll teach him to not use his abilities around other kids, and then send him to Kindergarten."

"... Alright, Mads. If you think that's what's best, then that's what's best!"

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

"Come on, that's it! Yes, yes, WHOO!" Maddie picks Danny up as soon as he walks over. "Who's a strong little Fenton? Who's the best little boy at walking in the whole wide world?"

"Danny!" Jazz cheers from the couch.

"Danny!" Maddie and Jack both cheer at once.

Danny laughs and squeals, kicking his legs and flapping his arms. His first proper Walk! Not just a step or two and then crawling, that was real walking!

Jack takes Danny, holding him aloft. "You're a real butt-kicker in the making, son! You'll be as strong as your old man someda-"

Jack feels something bump him, hard.

He shouts as he goes down! Danny going with him!

But as Jack meets the floor, he feels Danny's weight disappear from his hands!

He lands with an "oof", and looks up to see Danny floating above him, surrounded by a faint white aura. Danny looks down and babbles, sucking his thumb. Then... he moves.

He's only ever floated in place before. But as he looks down at his dad, he kicks his little legs and moves! Moving right across the room!

And then he looks behind his dad, and his breath comes out in puffs. He starts crying and wailing hysterically.

Jazz peers at where Danny is looking. "Mommy, hit the air with the stick!"

Maddie gently grabs Danny. "Why, sweetie?"

"Danny is scared! So we have to protect him!"

Maddie grabs her Fenton Baton, and gives the area Danny was looking at a good thwack. She expects it to go right through the empty air.

Instead there's a loud zap! There's a cry of pain! And then a semi-transparent form zooming out of their house!

Maddie's jaw drops. Jack scrambles to his feet and grabs every ghost weapon in radius, forming a protective circle around the family with them!

Maddie looks at Danny, who's now calm.

And his breath isn't visible.

Hmm...

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

"We're just seeing if my hypothesis is right," Maddie assures.

Jazz sobs, clinging onto her leg. "NOOOO! HE'LL GET HURT! OR STOLED!"

"Stolen, sweetie. And Mommy and Daddy would never let that happen."

Jazz scream-sobs again.

"What if we can promise you the ghost will be in a big, big box?"

Jazz looks at her mom with watery eyes. "Like around Danny's crib?"

"Yes, like that."

"But-but he's so little."

"It'll just be a second, sweetheart."

Jazz sniffles again. "... Can I hold the stick?"

Maddie smiles softly. "Yes, sweetie, you can hold the stick."

A couple hours later, Jack and Maddie return home with a ghost in a box. It's yelling something, but the box is soundproof.

Jack sets the box down, and goes to grab Danny. He comes back, and holds Danny firmly while walking towards the ghost. Danny's eyes are covered by a too-big hood on his little shirt. He can't see, or hear, that there's a ghost nearby.

Danny's breath comes out a visible puff about two feet away from the ghost, and he starts crying. Jack steps back a ways, and Danny's breaths become normal again. He settles down.

Jack walks closer. Puff of breath, and crying.

Jack steps back. Normal breath, calm Danny.

"He can sense ghost's," Maddie says, looking in awe at her baby boy. Her face breaks into a grin. "He's his own portable ghost detector! He'll never be caught unawares, he'll be able to always defend himself!"

She runs up to Jack and hugs them both, kissing Danny's little forehead. Danny babbles.

"He'll never be caught unawares," Maddie says again in relief. "Oh, this makes me feel so much better."

"Mommy? ... Does that mean we're haunted all the time?"

Maddie's relief hardens and breaks in her chest.

All those times Danny's Ghost Sense has gone off inside! All those times!

She pulls away. "Jack, we're upping our security!"

Jack nods. "Time for FentonWorks 2.0!"

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

Danny giggles as his dad chases him around the house. He phases through doors and turns invisible in hiding places, always giving himself away with laughter.

Jack grabs Danny just before he phases through the next door. “Gotcha!”

Danny laughs, happy little kid squeals that you can hear through the whole house. Jack puts Danny on his shoulders and heads into the kitchen. “He’s getting pretty good at running! Say, whatcha making, Mads?”

“Meatloaf. Would you mind helping?”

Jack sets Danny down at the table and helps Maddie make dinner, while Danny eyes something on the counter.

“Cookie.”

Maddie looks over. Danny is staring at the cookie jar. “No sweetie, no cookies yet.”

“Cookie!” 

“Not yet.”

Danny starts to cry. “Cookie!”

Maddie walks over, and gives Danny his binkie. Danny refuses it af first, but once he has it he calms down fast.

He looks at the cookie jar still, though.

And, slowly, he lifts out of his chair. He kicks his little legs, pushing himself forward. He plops down on the counter, and reaches into the jar with an intangible hand. 

He pulls out not one, but two cookies!

He gets so excited that he starts waving his arms, making happy noises.

Jack looks over. “What? Maddie, he’s gotten into the cookie jar!”

“I’ve got it!” Maddie walks over and scoops Danny up in his old Anti-Ghost-Phasing Blanket. Soft, warm, and totally ghost-proof.

Danny whines. “Cookie!”

“I said not yet, honey.” Maddie grabs the cookies and puts them on the counter. She safety pins the blanket around Danny like a little cape, except it takes away his powers.

Danny sits in his chair, throwing a fit! But to no avail. Eventually he just sits there, tear-faced and angry.

And then Jazz walks in. She looks over at the cookies, and then at Danny.

She walks over and snatches them off the counter as quick as she can! She casually walks over to the table, and hands them to Danny.

Danny brightens up. He shoves one cookie in his mouth, and gives the other back to Jazz. His original intention.

Jazz smiles, and scarfs the cookie down just before Maddie turns around.

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

“Why?” Danny looks at his mom with wide, innocent eyes.

Maddie’s heart aches. “People might get scared.”

Danny frowns. “Scawy?”

“No, no, you aren’t scary. But the... idea of ghosts, for a lot of people, can be scary.”

Danny thinks, and then walks over to the fridge. “Scawy.”

Maddie looks at the drawing Danny is pointing at. It’s Jazz’s drawing of The Ghost.

The one that’s been haunting them for months.

Black horns, it looks like. Red eyes. Deathly blue skin. It makes Maddie shiver, knowing it had direct access to her children for so long. 

Danny starts to cry. “I scawy!”

Maddie scoops him up. “No, no sweetie! You are nothing like that monster, nothing like it at all! And you never will be, I promise!” Maddie hugs him tightly. “Oh, my poor baby... how about we take a break? Do you want to help Jazz paint something?”

Danny sniffles, and nods. They head upstairs, leaving the talk for another day.

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

“Kindergarten, Jack,” Maddie says, packing the little lunch box. “He’s already in Kindergarten!”

Jack is already openly sobbing as he makes Jazz a sandwich.

“Do you think he understands what he needs to do?” Maddie asks no-one in particular, just worrying.

“He understands perfectly!”

Maddie jumps a little, and turns around to see Jazz smiling proudly. Danny stands right next to her, a shyer smile on his face. Maddie tears up at the sight of him with his little backpack and school outfit on. 

Jazz looks at Danny. “Go ahead! Show them what we practiced!”

Danny puffs out his chest to look strong. “I won’t go through anything, turn invi-invisi- um, turn not-seeing-me, I won’t fly, and, um... and if I feel another ghost, I’ll use this!” He pulls his little Fenton Emergency Pager out of his pocket.

Maddie wipes her eyes. “Perfect, honey,” she says, letting the pride seep into her voice. “Oh, my baby boy! Growing up so fast!” She picks him up and kisses his face. Danny wraps his arms around her neck.

“Do I have to go, mommy? They’ll think I’m scary.”

“Oh, honey. You aren’t scary, I promise.”

“... What if I need to be scary?”

“Mommy will come be scary for you.”

“She very good at it,” Jack chimes in, shivering a little as he remembers the time a ghost attacked while Maddie was buying Danny’s first pair of little shoes. By the time it was over, Jack almost pitied the thing.

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

Maddie gives Danny one last hug. “Remember, calls u anytime you need us, okay?”

He nods. “I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy. I love you, Jazz.”

“You’re just going to school, not saying bye forever.” Even as Jazz says it, her lip wobbles and her voice cracks.

Danny floats up to the car window give her a hug, before being quickly held up by Maddie to cover the power use.

“That’s the only time today you’ll do that,” she reminds him. 

Danny nods.

Eventually... the goodbyes are done being dragged out. Danny’s family drives away as the teacher leads him inside.

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

Danny sits on a swing by himself, not sure what to do.

Usually at home he plays using his powers. He doesn’t know how to be good at tag without making it so people can’t touch him, or how to play hide-and-seek without turning invisible.

He kicks the sand. This is stupid. He misses Jazz. He can play with her.

“Hi.”

Danny looks up. Another young boy is standing in front of him, holding some kind of electronic. The boy holds out his hand. “I’m Tucker.”

Danny shakes his hand, focusing very hard on keeping it a real hand. “I’m Danny.”

Tucker shows him the electronic. “Want to play my game?"

Danny looks at it. It’s a coloring game. He nods.

They pass it back and forth between each other for a while, both coloring in different parts of the same picture. 

Eventually it’s time to back in. Danny and Tucker ask if they can sit closer together.

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

“So, how was it?” Maddie asks, gripping the steering wheel tightly as she picks Danny up. “Have fun?”

“I made a friend!” Danny yells! “His name is Tucker and he’s really nice!”

Maddie relaxes. “Oh? How did you meet?”

“He let me play his coloring game!”

“That’s wonderful!”

“We made a tower out of blocks and it was the strongest ever! And I never used my powers!”

“I’m so proud of you, sweetie!”

Maybe Maddie can stop worrying now. ... Probably not.

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

“What if we gave it big scary horns?” Danny says as he doodled something in crayon. “Like the thing that watches my window.”

Tucker looks at him with wide eyes. “A monster watches you?”

“My parents don’t let it touch me. They hunt ghosts.”

“Oh. Do you hunt ghosts?”

Danny shakes his head. “I’m too little.”

“Oh. Me too.”

“You should give it bat wings.”

They both look up. The quiet girl who usually sits in the back is standing in front of them, her hair pulled back in a tight black braid and her clothes perfectly pressed. 

Danny looks at the drawing, and nods. He adds the wings. “We’re drawing the monster from that story we heard today.”

The girl sits down. “I bet it had claws. And could breathe black fire!”

Danny adds them on. “You’re really smart!”

The girl nods. “I am.”

“I’m Danny.”

“I’m Tucker!”

The girl grins. “I’m Samatha.”

“Wow... that’s a long name,” Danny says, eyes wide. “My sister has a long name too. Do all girls have long names?”

Samantha thinks. “I dunno. I haven’t met all girls.”

“Oh. We don’t know all boys, either.”

They spend the rest of free time coloring. Once it’s over, Samantha moves to sit with them.

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

“So, how was today, sweetie?”

“I made another friend! She’s really good, and her parents make her have long hair but she wants it short, and we made this with her!” He shows Maddie the drawing.

Maddie grimaces a little, but turns it into a smile. “It’s lovely, dear. Looks... a little like Jazz’s picture.”

Danny nods.”The monster in the story lived in the window. So does this ghost.”

“... What?”

“He lives by my window. But he can’t come inside, so I make faces at him and make him mad.”

Maddie speeds up a little. “Danny, we’re going to be altering your windows when we get home. Okay?”

“Okay.”

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

Danny leads Sam and Tucker to his room with his tiny arms full of snacks. He brings them inside, and proudly stands in the middle. “This is my room!”

"Cool!” Tucker exclaims. “Whoa, you have a computer?”

Danny shakes his head. “That’s to keep ghosts out. Ghosts hate us.”

“You’ve seen some?” Samantha asks, eyes wide.

Danny grins. “So many!”

“Can we see some?”

“Sure, I can even-”

They hear a gasp in the doorway. Turning to look, they see Jazz. “Danny, you didn’t let me meet your friends!”

Danny looks horrified. “Oh no!” He runs over and pulls Jazz into the room. “This is my big sister Jazz! She’s the coolest big sister!”

“I’m Tucker!”

“I’m Sam!”

Jazz grins. “Guess what I learned yesterday?” She points out of the room. “How to use the remote!”

The trio of toddler’s eyes sparkle. They cheer for Jazz as all of them descend, ready to Take Control Of The TV!

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

“-and this is The Box Ghost,” Danny says, showing his friends the doodle him and Jazz made at home. “He’s silly. He wants to be scary, but he isn’t.”

Tucker and Samantha nods like it the most important thing they’ll ever learn.

Danny pulls out the next drawing. “This is Scary, the ghost from my window.” It’s a new drawing, a little more detailed thanks to Jazz being better at drawing now. And Danny having seen the face so, so many times. “I don’t see him anymore. Mom and Dad kicked him out of the window.”

“He’s ugly,” Samantha says, wrinkling her nose. 

“He looks stinky,” Tucker agrees.

Danny looks over at the window. “Shhhh! He’s here!”

Tucker and Samantha look at the window. They see nothing.

They look back at Danny. They see little puffs coming out of his mouth, and his eyes are the wrong color.

Danny pulls his pager out. “It’s okay. Mommy will come scare him away.”

“We can’t see him,” Samantha says.

Danny nods. “He’s hard to see.”

“Do you have to have glowy eyes like yours?” Tucker asks. “I have to have glasses. Are your eyes like Ghost Glasses?”

Danny thinks, and then nods. “I guess so. ... OH NO!” He covers his eyes. “You aren’t supposed to see that!”

“Why not?”

“Mommy said it’s a secret! You’ll think I’m scary!”

“But it’s not scary.”

Danny tilts his head, still covering his eyes. “It’s not?”

“No, it’s cool!”

He slowly uncovers his eyes. “... Do... you think this is scary?” He holds out his arm, and makes it invisible.

Tucker and Samantha gasp! Danny pulls his arm back, about to cry. They think he’s scary, they won’t be his friends anymore-

“That’s so cool,” Samantha says.

“I wanna do that!” Tucker exclaims.

Danny can’t believe it for a second. And then he grins. “I can do more stuff too! I’ll show you at my house!”

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

Maddie paces the floor while Danny sits on the couch, his little face burning with shame.

Jazz sits next to him, arms crossed. Jack stands in front of him, Maddie pacing beside her husband.

“You told your friends?” Maddie asks again.

Danny nods, keeping his head low. “I didn’t mean to. I saw Scary, and my eyes turned green, and I can’t fix that.”

Maddie sighs. “I know, sweetie, but you showed them more after! We caught you flying them around your room! How can you even carry both of them at once?!”

“It’s easy when I’m a ghost,” he says, still keeping his head low. “Everything’s easy when I’m a ghost.”

Maddie stops pacing. “Oh, sweetie... I know it must be strange for you to suddenly have to hide it.”

Danny nods. He sniffles a little.

“It’s for your own safety, son,” Jack says. “You understand that, right? We just want you to be safe.”

“Other kids can be mean, Danny,” Jazz says. “I’m smart, and some kids are mean to me for that.”

“But Samantha and Tucker aren’t mean!”

“No, they aren’t,” Maddie concedes. “... I guess what’s done is done. Danny?” She kneels down in front of him and gently lifts his head up, wiping his tears away. “We aren’t mad. We’re worried. They’re your friends, but they also don’t understand this the way we do.”

“... Can you make them understand?”

Maddie nods. “We’ll absolutely have a talk with them. You can go get them from your room right now, even. But Danny? No-one else. Okay? These two kids are the only kids you will ever tell. Promise?”

Danny nods, still sniffling. “Promise.”

Maddie puts on her HAZMAT glove and holds out her pinkie. “Fenton promise?”

Danny links her pinkie with his, letting it go ghostly. “Fenton promise, Mommy.”

“Okay. You can send your friends down now.”

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

Danny waits for his mom to come pick him up, Samantha and Tucker sitting next to him.

Samantha looks up suddenly. “I don’t like my name.”

Danny and Tucker look at her.

She stands up. “From now on, my name is... is Sam!”

Danny and Tucker clap, because they learned that’s the polite thing to do when someone has a dramatic moment like this. They learned it from watching the older kids do a play.

Sam sits back down. “I’m Sam,” she says happily. “Sam.”

“Sam is a good name,” Danny says. 

“Easier to write,” Tucker says. 

“Yeah.” Sam is very proud of her new name.

They wait a bit longer, and a long black car pulls up. Sam stands up, but her parents don’t step out.

A tall, white-haired man does, one none of them have ever met before. He smiles down at them. “Hello, Danny. Hello, Danny’s friends.”

“Who are you?” 

“I’m a friend of Danny’s parents,” he says, giving a slight bow (or maybe just bending over to hear them better since they’re so much shorter than him). 

“I don’t know you,” Danny says, accusatory. “Mrs. Emma told us about people like you!”

The Man shakes his head. “I’m not a stranger, I promise. Your parents and I are very close.”

“I don’t know you,” Danny says again. He steps between The Man and his friends. “I’m gonna tell Mrs. Emma on you.”

“Danny, really, your mother called and asked me to pick you up.”

“You liar! She always picks me up!”

“She’s fighting a ghost right now.”

“She leaves fights to come get me!”

The Man sighs. He grabs Danny’s arm. “Stubborn like your parents. Come on, I promise you’ll be fine.”

“NO!” Danny yanks his arm, trying to get away. “LET GO OF ME!”

“Stop making a scene!”

“LET GO! YOU-”

Danny gaps, a puff of breath coming out and his eyes turning green.

“S-Scary,” he whimpers. “SCARY! MOMMY! MOMMMYYYY! SCARY HAS ME!!! HELP!!!”

Danny yanks again, Tucker and Sam finally running inside to get Mrs. Emma! 

The Man scowls. “I’m trying to help you, little badger!”

“YOU’RE THE SCARY IN THE WINDOW!” Danny looks at him with bright eyes, tearful and afraid. “GET AWAY!!!”

Danny’s little hand glows green, and suddenly The Man is clutching his stomach instead of Danny’s arm. Danny runs inside, right into Mrs. Emma’s arms. He sobs to her as she frantically calls the police, trying to read the plate of the car speeding off into the distance.

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

Maddie hands Jazz a Baton. “This is in case this ‘Scary’ come after you,” Maddie says, still shaking a bit. “Okay?”

Jazz nods. 

“Danny, this is for you.” Maddie hands him a black-and-white suit. “This is to keep other ghosts from sensing you, okay? So wear it under your clothes.”

Danny nods, still crying.

Maddie looks at Sam and Tucker. Their parents were late picking them up, but with the attempted kidnapping it was decided that they’ll stay with The Fentons for a few hours until their parents could get them.

“You two get these.” She hands them Fenton Pagers, and Fenton Fun-Sized Ghost Stunners. “They can hurt people too, so only use them on ghosts. Or if someone tries to do... what you saw today, ever again.”

Sam and Tucker nod.

“And Danny? From now on, wait with Mrs. Emma until we come inside to get you.”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“And when I get my hands on this ‘Scary’, I promise you’ll never have to worry about him again.”

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

Danny looks around to see if anyone is watching. He, Tucker, and Sam are crouched under a desk in the classroom while everyone else is out at recess. 

He holds out his hand to the stack of paper, and closes his eyes. For a second, nothing happens.

And then it glows green, and a small beam shoots from his hand! Tucker and Sam gasp!

“You’re like a superhero!” Tucker exclaims, standing up. 

“A ghost superhero!” Sam says, standing up too. “You need a superhero name!”

Danny shoots up, smiling widely. “What should it be?”

They all think for a long, long time.

Sam perks up. “I know!”

She grabs a book from the corner. The book is a Halloween one, mostly for pictures with just a few words. She flips to a page, and points to it. “This word! It means Ghost!”

Danny and Tucker peer at it. “How do you say it?” Tucker asks.

Sam grins. “Phantom!”

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

“Phantom?” Maddie says, looking at the doodle.

Jack nods. “Apparently Sam came up with it! Our boy wants to be a ghost hunter after all!”

“Superhero, this says.”

“Same thing!”

“Jack, what’re you making there?”

Jack holds up the suit, one of the prototype Anti-Ghost-Detection suits for Danny. “I got out my old needlepointing stuff and am making him a superhero costume! See, it’s a P!”

Maddie squints, trying to get a better look at the outline. “It looks like a D.”

Jack looks at it. “Hmm. I guess from some angles. But it’s a P! Or, DP! Danny Phantom!”

Maddie’s expression goes soft. “Awww! Okay, you keep making that, and I’ll hang this doodle on the fridge! But no actual ghost fighting until he’s at least fourteen, right?”

“Absolutely!”

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

Danny steps into the school “Halloween Party” with his hands on his hips and a bright grin, looking like a mini-version of his dad behind him.

“Aww, and what are you dressed as, Danny?” Mrs. Emma asks.

“A superhero ghosthunter!” Danny says proudly. “My parents made this for me!”

“It’s great,” Mrs. Emma says genuinely. “Alright, go mingle! We’re going to make paper jack-o-lanterns later so now is the time to trade candies!”

Danny walks over to his friends, still striking the pose. Tucker, dressed as a robot made out of cardboard boxes, pouts in slight jealousy as Danny comes over. Sam, dressed as a vampire, grins. “P for Phantom!” she yells.

Danny runs over faster. “Yeah! My dad put the logo on!” He shows it off proudly. “I’m gonna be the best ghosthunter ever!”

“You can work from the inside!” Tucker says, getting over his jealousy thankfully quick. “Make them think you wanna haunt stuff too!”

“Yeah!” Danny strikes another pose. “But I’m actually going to catch them all, because I’m Danny Phantom!”

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

Danny and Jazz are playing with dolls in the living room. “Pow! Take that!” Danny shouts, making his doll punch Jazz’s.

“Nooo!” Jazz cries out in a husky voice. “But how? I’m The Scary! Nothing can not fear me!”

“I don’t fear you!” Danny waves the hand of his doll, making laser noises. Jazz shakes her doll around, making dying noises. “I’m Danny Phantom, the strongest ghost boy ever!”

“Nooooo!”

Maddie chuckles, watching them. “That Scary better watch out for more than just us.”

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

“Where are we going?” Danny asks again.

“It’s a surprise!” Jack says again, still as excited as when the road trip started. 

Danny huffs, looking out the window again. “Why couldn’t Sam and Tucker come?”

“Because they’re spending Summer visiting their families,” Maddie says. “And so are we, sort of.”

“I though Auntie lived in Spittoon,” Jazz says.

“She does! This is different.”

After hours (years in the minds of the kids), they pull up to a mansion. All fo the boredom washes away instantly, Jazz and Danny cramming into the window to see it!

“Are we rich?” Jazz demands to know. 

“We’re well-off, but not quite. Welcome to your honorary Uncle Vlad’s house!” Maddie cheers.

“Vlad was out best friend in college!” Jack says, grinning. “He got back in contact with us a few years ago and we’ve been thick as thieves since! He asked us too come over this weekend, and we thought we’d surprise him and let him meet your two at the same time!”

Danny and Jazz cheer! THEY GET TO STAY IN A MANSION!

The family piles out of the car, and stand in front of the door! Maddie and Jack make sure Jazz and Danny look extra nice, and ring the doorbell!

It takes a long minute, so they ring it again!

Finally, a man opens it up! “Oh, Maddie, Jack, I’m so sorry I didn’t hear-”

Danny shrieks. His eyes are glowing bright as they can, his breaths giant puffs! He holds up his hand and send a little beam right into Vlad’s side!

Vlad falls back with an “Oof!”

“Danny!” Maddie scoops him up. “What on earth has gotten into you? Oh, Danny!”

Danny is sobbing pointing at Vlad. “It-it’s him! The-The Scary! He-he tried to take me!”

Maddie and Jack freeze. Slowly, they both look at Vlad. Jazz pulls out her Baton.

“Vlad?” Maddie says coldly.

“Didn’t I only invite you two?” Vlad wheezes.

Jack points a ghost detector at Vlad. It goes off.

“Now, now, I can explai- AGCK!”

Jazz starts happening him with the Baton before he can finish his sentence. Maddie hands Danny to Jack. “Sweetie, close the door and take Danny back to the truck. I need to have a word with Vlad.”

Jack does as told, holding Danny in his lap and soothing him.

“He-he tried to take me,” Danny sobs again.

“Don’t worry, son.” Jack hugs him tightly. “No-one’s ever going to be able to do that. We’ll always keep you safe. We promise.”

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

“And what do we always wear while testing new devices?” Maddie asks, handing Danny a Fenton Ghost-Zapper that would use Danny’s own ghost energy to work.

Danny grins, and puts it on. “Face mask!”

“Because?”

“Because lab safety is very important!”

Maddie grins. “That’s right! And who do we thank for reminding us of that every time we’re in the lab?”

Danny points. “Jazz! Thank you, Jazz!”

Jazz grins proudly. 

[write-like-wright]

Your First Kiss With Them: Prosecutors Edition

A lovely anon requested first kiss headcanons with both defense lawyers and prosecutors, so I'm just gonna do it in two parts.

Miles Edgeworth

It happens spontaneously with Miles.

You'd gone on a few dates already and he always walks you to your door, like the gentleman he is. When it's time to say goodbye, he lingers for a moment, as if unsure how to proceed. He always flakes in the end, leaving you after an awkward hug and a face that matches the colour of his suit.

One day you're just at his place. It's one of those lazy days when you order takeout and sit at home binging Steel Samurai. A funny scene comes on, something that leaves you both in stitches. It's such a sweet thing, seeing him laugh so earnestly, some colour rising to his face. You lean over and press a kiss to his lips almost instinctively and he freezes for a second and so do you once you realise what you'd done. You apologise awkwardly, fearing you'd crossed a line.

"What are you sorry for? I quite liked that," Miles laughs. "At least one of us has enough courage to act."

Franziska von Karma

Happens in the middle of an argument, most likely. Nothing serious, of course. You're just bickering over something silly and Franziska gets a bit too smug with her comebacks. It annoys you to no end, seeing that smarmy grin on her lovely face. You stand there for a second, feeling an overwhelming urge to-

"Why are you glaring at me like that? Just because I'm right doesn't give you the excuse to act like a f-"

Silence. Cut off by a kiss.

She's completely dumbfounded when you part. It takes her a moment to regain her composure.

"Well," she says eventually. "How foolish of you. Trying to win an argument through such underhanded tactics."

You keep on bickering.

She kisses you not two minutes later when she realises her argument makes no sense and you gain the upper hand.

Diego Armando/Godot

It's the classic scenario with him.

He takes you out for a cup of coffee one rainy afternoon. You sit at the coffee shop for hours, talking and laughing, enjoying each other's company. It's dark outside before you even realise it and he offers to walk you home. The conversation keeps flowing on your way to your place and you feel a pang of sadness when it's time to say your goodbyes. You tell him how much you enjoyed your date and he just casually leans in for a kiss that lasts a bit longer than you'd expected. There's no way your neighbours won't gossip about it tomorrow.

Klavier Gavin

He texts you to wear something warm before your date. You're confused but oblige.

Klav shows up on his bike to pick you up and it all makes sense suddenly. "Come on, Schatzi, I'll show you what a real adrenaline rush feels like."

He's true to his word. He drives you around the city, the cool twilight air rushing past you and you feel more alive than ever.

Eventually, he takes you to his favourite spot, a clearing overlooking the entire city. It feels surreal seeing all the city lights intertwine with the stars above. You sit on his bike while he stands in front of you, talking about something or another. It's hard to say who leans in first, but soon enough you're kissing. It's your first kiss together, then the second and third and fourth...

Simon Blackquill

You're just fooling around at his place.

Simon is a massive tease when he drops his twisted persona. He picks little fights and picks on you just to get you worked up. It's a mixture of endearing and annoying.

He puts on some stupid show you're not interested in one bit. Neither is he, but he'd rather tease you about it than change the channel.

"Give me the remote, Simon."

"Come get it, *insert dumb nickname*"

You try and fail spectacularly. It's just play wrestling, but that doesn't change the fact he's twice your size and can pin you down with one-fifth of his weight. Not that you mind.

You're both giggling breathlessly at this point. "Do you yield, miscreant?" He asks in his scariest prosecutor voice. Dumbass. "I yield, I yield! Just let me go!"

"You must pay the toll first," he deadpans, crossing his arms.

"And what is the toll?"

"A kiss, if I recall correctly."

You buy your freedom and he lets you up, handing you the remote and letting you curl up against him on the sofa.

You pay his toll a few more times during the evening.

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi

You're very hesitant to kiss Yuti.

He's a monk. You're not even sure it's allowed.

You start wondering if you'd perhaps been misunderstanding your outings. They were clearly dates, you thought, but then again he could merely see them as you acting as his tour guide to introduce him to your culture. You're very torn on the matter.

On your way home from dinner, you pick up some dessert. Nothing fancy, just cupcakes from a local bakery. You eat them at your place while trying to explain the concept of Netflix and chill to him. It's hard to say if he's scandalized or intrigued.

"These are so good! Would you like a taste?" You ask with your mouth full, perhaps overexaggerating your food-induced moaning.

He gives you one of those sweet, gentle looks he's known for. "Certainly," he says, bridging the gap between you, pressing the softest of kisses to your lips. You're confused by his actions but you'd be lying if you said you minded.

"What was that about?"

"Hm? Oh, that was a pick-up line, was it not? I've heard about those. Although I hear that one is usually used with flavoured lipgloss."

"Yuti, I was just offering you some of my cupcakes."

"Oh," he seems a bit embarrassed now. "Do forgive me then."

"I didn't say I minded. But you can't just go around kissing people like that."

"I'll jot that down in my 'How to act like a native' notebook."

Barok van Zieks

(Heavily inspired by my incessant bugging of @bailey-reaper from my main)

It happens during his University days.

Barok approaches you at a gathering, completely red-faced while Klint and Albert snicker within earshot. He asks you to dance with him in the most roundabout way possible, to the point where you're not quite sure what he's asking of you.

You agree and are surprised at how good of a dancer he is in spite of his initial and apparent awkwardness. Must be those long, elegant legs.

He takes you on a stroll after and you end up alone on a balcony. His initial nervous demeanour slowly melts away, although he's still more than a little shy. You chat away and you even get a laugh out of him at some point. It's one of your personal victories.

It's almost midnight when you are interrupted. "Ah, brother, there you are!" Klint van Zieks suddenly joins you on the balcony. His lips curl in a knowing smirk as he turns to greet you. "Mother has sent me to get you aeons ago! I've been looking for you all over. It's time to leave. Say your goodbyes, and be quick." He leaves then, giving you a moment of privacy.

"I-I, hm, I have really enjoyed your company tonight. Thank you for the dance. I fear I must be going now."

"Wait," you say placing your hand on his arm, half expecting him to recoil. He doesn't. You get on your tip-toes and you can still barely reach his face. Thankfully, he's already slouching. You press a quick, chaste kiss to his lips, hoping no one saw you. "Surely, you wouldn't have left me without a kiss goodnight?"

His face is burning now and he swallows. "Pray, forgive the discourtesy. How careless I am. I'll bear it in mind for next time." With that, he turns and leaves you.

Kazuma Asogi

He walks up to you one day right as you're about to head to your next class, looking pensive and excited at once. You know why, you'd heard the news. Kazuma had been selected for the student exchange and you were thrilled for him - no one deserved it more than he did. You just hoped you did a good job of hiding how sad you were to see him leave regardless.

"I can't leave you here without a proper goodbye. Leave your books, come on." He convinces you to skip the rest of your classes and drags you away on an adventure as he calls it.

You spend the day together, joking around, getting food and window shopping. Finally, you settle under the shade of a tree where you usually met up in secret. He babbles away about the law, the British Empire, his plans for the future.

When he runs out of topics to talk about, he goes quiet, dark eyes searching your face. "Do you know why I stole you away today?" Stole? He's so dramatic. You shake your head. "I don't want you to forget me when I'm gone. Remember this day, and me and this." With that, he gently takes your face in his hands and leans in, claiming your lips in a heated kiss. It's so intense, you feel yourself burning under his touch. Tears prickle your eyes when you part. "I hate to so you go," you whisper weakly and he gives you a sad, understanding smile. "I know. I'm so sorry." You pull him into another kiss, lying down on the grass, hidden by the shade of the tree. You're not about to let him forget you either.

[luvdsc]

august.

Bad habits are hard to break, and you’ve made a terrible one of loving him.

pairing :: liu yangyang x reader genre :: fluff, angst ⋮ best friend + college au word count :: 10,500 words warnings :: none. playlist :: time lapse (taeyeon) ⋆ 2 kids (taemin) ⋆ daydreams (exes) ⋆ sharing you (lany) ⋆ august (taylor swift) ⋆ too close to love (will hyde) ⋆ sad stripped (lany) ⋆ strangers (taemin) ⋆ the 1 (taylor swift) author’s note :: can you believe that i literally wrote this entire 10k fic in one day aka today ??? whew this gave me the same rush that i got when i wrote my research paper in the class it was due for the day of, printed it out during break, and handed it in at the end of class :’) ↳ part of the almost collaboration series.

Liu Yangyang is jumping fences to escape late night parties, shared laughter over childhood favorite cartoons on February mornings, midnight dancing in the refrigerator light, and November kisses stolen in between the shelves of the nearby 7-Eleven. He is obscure doodles in the margins of your physics notes, good intentions laced in December’s mistakes, strawberry lemonade and broken truths wrapped in summer bliss, and September endings with honest lies.

He is your August, he is your everything, but he isn’t yours.

AUGUST 2018.

August has barely begun to fade away.

You’re eighteen years old, and you’re drunk off of your first taste of freedom, one toe already dipping into the shiny pleasures of adulthood. Your new roommate, Karina, has excitedly told you about the famous beach night themed frat party that kick starts every school year at your university. Everybody who’s anybody would be there, and your heart already races at the thought of going to your very first college party.

“Coral or blue?” Karina holds up a solid colored neon blue bikini and a striped, bright pink one for you to choose between.

“Blue.” You nod towards the first option, and she discards the other one back into the open drawer. You pull out a marigold yellow one and a black one lined with white strings, wordlessly gesturing towards them, and she immediately points to the latter.

“That one is gonna look so cute on you. Well, both would, but I love that one.”

You grin at her, silently thanking whoever decided to pair the two of you together for the random dorming. “Perfect, thanks. Do you know any of the guys hosting the party?”

“Yeah, Dejun? He’s really sweet and a year above us. I met him in the music elective I’m taking.” She turns to take off her shirt and tosses it to the side, pulling on her bikini and wriggling into a pair of ripped jean shorts. “You?”

“Kind of? Jaemin is in my project group in Intro to Engineering. He’s rushing for that frat.” You quickly change out of your outfit and into your chosen swim top and daisy dukes. You make sure to grab a pair of black flip flops from your closet. The bundle of nerves in your stomach grows as you step out of your dorm with your new friend, a bit anxious but also excited to attend your very first party.

Thank goodness for summer weather. It’s still a nice, warm 75 degrees Fahrenheit according to your weather app when you and Karina finally make your way to the frat house. The sun barely begins to set, but the party slash dayger had started earlier and is in full swing. There’s a DJ set up out front, blasting some sort of EDM music, and the lawn is absolutely covered in foam. You see the source of it shakily set up on the roof of the patio along with a couple of boys sitting up there, Hawaiian shirts barely covering their figures. You catch the eye of Jaemin, who happily waves at you from his vantage point, and you wave back at him.

“Oh my god, I love college,” Karina says, grabbing your arm excitedly as the two of you step into the foam. You reach down to pick up some of it before flicking it towards your roommate, who squeals before scooping some up and throwing it in your direction as well.

“Ready for our first shitty college drink?” You pull her through the mass of other students and towards the horribly decorated tiki bar stationed in the corner of the patio.

“Hell yeah, let’s do it.”

The two of you stumble over, still throwing handfuls of foam at each other amidst giggles before making a full stop in front of the bar. The older boy behind the makeshift counter lazily grins at you both, a shell necklace hanging loosely around his neck, and his unbuttoned orange Hawaiian shirt gives you a nice flash of his toned abs.

“Hey, I’m Johnny. What can I get for you two?”

“Two vodka shots, please.”

“Alright, ID?”

You freeze, and Karina’s grip on your arm tightens, and then Johnny laughs, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Relax, I’m just messing with you, freshie. Two vodka shots coming right up.”

He pulls out two small plastic cups and pours out the drinks for you. “How many do you want?”

“This is good for now, thanks.” You and Karina pick up the drinks, smiling a little nervously at him. He flashes another amused smile at you. “Alright, come back anytime if you want another.”

You move away from the patio, and Karina follows close behind. The two of you throw back the drinks and dispose of the empty cups quickly. The burning sensation in your throat disappears after a few seconds, and you turn to your roommate. “Should we find our friends?”

“I think I see Dejun back there! Let’s go say hi, I can introduce you to him.” Karina drags you through the rising foam, the bubbles clinging to your skin, and when you go past the DJ stand, you feel the pounding bass reverberating in your chest harder than ever. You trek past the gate and into the backyard where the foam has risen to your waist, thanks to the enclosed fences. She taps on the shoulder of a boy with the prettiest almond eyes you have ever seen, and you shyly smile at him when he greets you.

“Hey, I’m Dejun.”

Oh my god, even his voice sounds pretty. Older college boys are definitely better and hotter than high school boys. Heck, they’re better than freshman boys. Nobody wants to date a freshman dude, not even the freshman girls.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.” You extend your hand, but then realize how stupid that must be. You hastily start to retract your hand, but he laughs and warmly grasps your hand. Smiling at you, he shakes it firmly, squeezing your hand gently before letting go.

“It’s nice to meet you, Y/N.”

The butterflies in your stomach grow in volume as the conversation goes on, and you’re positively enamored by the end of the night. Karina had given you a look earlier before walking off with Dejun’s friend and joining the dancing crowd. With the addition of his phone number in your pocket and a promise to show you a new song he’s working on with his guitar next Friday, you’re walking on cloud nine.

“Do you want something to drink? I need a refill, and I can go grab you one,” he asks, and you’re about to offer to go with him, but then you remember the teasing upperclassman and simply agree, asking for another shot of vodka.

After he disappears, you look around, eyeing the crowd and wondering if you can spot your roommate anywhere. You bump into someone lightly and turn around to apologize. Your eyes meet a pair of curiously bright ones.

“Sorry about that, I’m looking for my roomie.”

The boy gives you a Cheshire Cat grin. He’s wearing one of those dumb Hawaiian shirts, too, and it’s unbuttoned, but he has a white T-shirt layered underneath it. “No biggie, it’s a massive party and it’s crowded. Who are you looking for?”

“Ah, I don’t know if you know her, but Karina? She went off with this dude, Kunhang, I think?”

His eyes light up at that name. “Oh, I know him! I saw him earlier by the keg stands inside. Your friend might be there, too. I can—”

“THE COPS ARE COMING!” A loud voice bellows, and you freeze up. Suddenly, the music is shut off as everyone starts running away. You start to panic, the terror rising in your chest, and the boy in front of you grabs your hand and pulls you with him. “What are you doing?! Don’t just stand there! We gotta go!”

“Wait, but Kar—” You start to object, but cut yourself off when you bump into his back as he abruptly stops. He scans the backyard, quickly assessing the situation before turning to you.

“There’s way too many people trapped in here, we’re not gonna make it to the gate. We need to climb over the fence. I’ll hoist you up, and you can help me up from there.”

“I don’t even know you,” you protest, and he throws you a look.

“Hi, I’m Yangyang, nice to meet you, I don’t want to get my ass hauled out by the police and continue the icebreakers in jail, so let’s move now. We good?”

“Yeah, okay, we’re good,” you say faintly, mind still whirling around as you try to grasp the situation. “I’m Y/N.”

“Great, now up you go.”

He immediately picks you up without any warning, and you almost fall backwards, arms flailing before you grasp the top of the fence and pull yourself up. Balancing precariously on top of it, you grab his arm, tugging him up until he’s sitting right next to you, too. The both of you swing your legs over the fence and jump down to the other side. You let out a sigh of relief, squatting down as you clutch your heart.

“Oh my god, we made it. I didn’t get arrested at my first party.”

“What an amazing accomplishment.” Yangyang brushes off the back of his shorts. “We aren’t going to jail. Freshman year is gonna be a breeze if your bar is set this low.”

“Hey!” You frown at him, standing up and crossing your arms over your chest. “How do you know I’m a freshman?”

“It’s written all over your face.” You give him a look, and he relents. “Only a freshman would be this scared of getting caught.”

“So are you an upperclassman?”

“Nah, this is my first party, too. I’m rushing for Nu Chi. Hold on, wait here.” He sneaks around the edge of the fence, peering around for a few seconds before jogging back towards you. “Okay, the police are over there. I’m gonna have to wait a while before going back in.”

“You have to go back?”

“Part of tonight’s rush process,” he sighs before turning to you. “Do you live on campus?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna walk back now,” you answer, shifting your weight from one foot to the other. “It’s late, and I’m not in a partying mood anymore.”

“I can walk you back,” he offers, and you shoot him a grateful smile.

“That’d be great, thanks.”

The two of you start the trek back, an awkward lull in the conversation making itself known. You wrap your arms around yourself, shivering slightly when a soft breeze picks up. There’s a light rustling noise, and you pay no mind to it until a soft cloth is draped over your shoulders. Eyes widening, you notice the colorful, palm tree-printed button down shirt wrapped around you and the boy next to you, looking straight ahead with his hands shoved into his pockets. Smiling to yourself, you slip on the shirt, loosely buttoning the front of it.

“So, Yangyang,” you casually begin, testing his name on your tongue for the first time. You decide you like it. It’s cute. He turns to you, raising an eyebrow, and you continue, “Since our lives are no longer in jeopardy, we can continue the icebreakers, right?”

His lips curve into a smile. “Alright, shoot. What’s your first question?”

“Captain America or Iron Man?”

“Oh, Iron Man, hands down. He’s so…”

You meet him in August.

FEBRUARY 2019.

“Hey, where’s your cereal? The Reese’s one?”

February marks six months of your relationship with Dejun. It also marks six months of your friendship with Yangyang. It is time for your weekly Sunday rituals of watching old cartoons and eating breakfast, and you could’ve sworn that box was still half full last week. You rummage through the top drawer Yangyang had designated for snacks and other foods in his dorm as he takes out the milk from his mini fridge and carries it over to his desk.

“I ran out a few days ago. There’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch somewhere in there though.”

With a victorious cry, you manage to pull out the slightly crushed box of the aforementioned cereal from underneath the packages of flamin’ hot Cheetos and spicy nacho Doritos and triumphantly bring it over to your best friend. He already pulls out two bowls (which were stolen from the dining hall) and hands over the plastic spoons in his grasp (which was also taken from the dining hall).

“Thanks.” After dropping a spoon into each bowl, you shake out the sugary cereal squares before pouring the milk because you’re not an absolute heathen who puts milk in first, like Sicheng. Yangyang clambers up to his top bunk bed, and you carefully pass over the two bowls of cereal, milk sloshing precariously near the edges. You climb up afterwards, and he gives you your bowl once you settle down.

“So, Scooby Doo or Pokémon?”

“Mm, we watched Pokémon last Sunday already, so let’s do Scooby Doo this time.” He nods in agreement, pulling up the cartoon from the queue in Netflix, and the two of you lean back against the ginormous mound of pillows and stuffed animals of his that occupy nearly half of his bed.

You’re shoveling a spoonful of cereal into your mouth when he casually asks, “So how’re you and Dejun doing?”

Choking slightly, you quickly swallow. “We’re doing good. I think he booked a table at the Italian restaurant down the street for Valentine’s Day. Are you doing anything for Valentine’s?”

“I’m forcing Renjun to come watch that “‘Happy Death Day’ movie with me.” The faint sounds of the Scooby Doo theme song plays in the background as you hum in acknowledgement, mouth twisting into a mischievous smirk.

“That’s so sweet. So who confessed to who? Not gonna lie, I thought you had a crush on Hyuck, not Jun.”

“... I would shove you right now, but I just did my laundry, and rewashing my comforter is expensive and I’m out of quarters.”

You stick your tongue out at him, and he rolls his eyes before lifting his bowl up to sip the best part of having Cinnamon Toast Crunch: the milk infused with all the cinnamony, sugary goodness. You let your spoon fall back into your bowl with a soft clink, a sudden worrying thought popping into your head.

“I bought him some customized guitar picks and a pretty composition book. Do you think he’ll like it?”

“That’s a pretty basic gift, isn’t it? It feels like something Kun would get him,” he teases, but his heart falls when he notices you chewing on your bottom lip, spoon held limply in your hand.

“Hey, I’m just joking, of course he would like it. He’s completely whipped. He’ll love anything from you.” Yangyang’s voice grows softer, and he fiddles with a stray thread on his comforter, avoiding eye contact with you. “I know I would.”

He looks up slightly and sees you smiling gratefully at him, eyes shining bright. He quickly ducks his head, turning away slightly to hide the hues of pink blooming on his cheeks. He feels you leaning over to rest your head on his shoulder with a quiet sigh, and his breath hitches in his throat.

“Thanks, Yang.”

Replaying the sight of your smile in his mind makes his stomach flip flop, and he resists the overwhelming urge to tell you you’re pretty, pushing it back into the farthest crevice of his mind.  Your head on his shoulder makes him feel like he’s carrying the entire world, and he doesn’t know what to do. He paints on a tight smile of his own, silently hoping you can’t hear the way his heart nearly pounds out of his chest.

Yangyang knows that having feelings for his best friend, specifically one of his good friends’ girlfriends, is something he absolutely should not be doing, but he can’t help it. His stupid heart refuses to listen to his brain. For now, all he can do is desperately hope that this dumb crush of his goes away soon because while 99% of his friends are oblivious (including you), Ten and Donghyuck are not. They’ll be able to spot his feelings from a mile away, like how Kun always knows when there’s a good sale going on at the Asian supermarket downtown (This week, it was the 50% off bean sprouts and chili paste).

Letting out an inaudible sigh, Yangyang carefully rests his head on top of yours. Clutching the empty bowl with one hand, he shoves his other one under his thigh to stop himself from reaching over and tangling his fingers with yours. He stares at the screen, watching until the bright colors blur together.

“Anytime.”

He likes you in February.

AUGUST 2019.

The earth spins around the sun for another time, and August makes its presence known once again. It’s Thursday night, and you’re sitting on the countertop in Nu Chi Theta’s kitchen, swinging your legs back and forth as Yangyang struggles to make some scrambled eggs because the half filled carton of eggs the two of you managed to find is the only thing that isn’t expired (besides Jeno’s protein shakes, but neither of you are gonna touch that cardboard tasting monstrosity).

“Maybe I should make it.” You peer over at the frying pan, wincing when you see the full damage of your future meal. “Did you use oil?”

“Of course I did!” he exclaims indignantly before pitifully pushing around the nearly charred mess of yolk and whites around with his spatula. “I’m not Mark.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” you mutter, waving your hand around to dissipate the acrid burning smell, and Yangyang throws you a dirty look. He grabs a fork and stabs a small chunk of the eggs. Picking it up, he brings it closer to his mouth before hesitating. His eyes dart to you, and you raise your eyebrows at him, a silent challenge in your gaze. The sad piece of egg hovers in the air for a few more seconds before he defeatedly drops it back into the pan.

“Okay, what if we just Uber Eats some McDonald’s?” Turning off the stove, he then tosses the remnants of his cooking into the trash and drops the pan into the sink.

“Stellar plan. Best idea you’ve had all night.” You hop off the counter to stand next to him, propping your chin on his shoulder to see him pull up the app. He immediately puts in your usual order along with his before holding it up for you to see it better.

“Looks good?”

“Looks perfect.”

He clicks the confirmation button, and the delivery is set to come in 30 minutes. You’re suddenly hyper aware of how close you are with your chest pressed against his back and hastily move away, warmth spreading across your cheeks.

Glancing over at your best friend, you don't miss the way Yangyang smiles down at something on his phone before his fingers fly across the screen. When he looks up, you immediately turn away, focusing your eyes on anything but him.

“Hey, you’re going to the Alpha Sig formal, right?” Yangyang calls out, and you throw on a teasing grin.

“You mean Alpha Sigma Psi, also known as the sorority I’m in?”

“Ah, right, yeah.” He flushes, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “But you’re going, right?”

You nod, the sudden realization creeping up on you. “Oh yeah, I am, thanks for reminding me. I completely forgot to ask, but do you want t—”

“Ningning just asked me to go with her,” Yangyang blurts out, and you freeze, failing to hide your shock for a split second before you regain your composure.

“Oh wow, that’s great, Yang! I’ll see you there then.” You try to give him a convincing smile. He wrings his hands, biting his bottom lip. Something is on his mind. You can tell. He’s not someone to hold back with his words, but this time, he is.

“I… I don’t know if I’m gonna go,” he says at last. Your heart picks up a little at that. Does that mean he doesn’t want to go to the dance at all? Or does he not want to go with Ningning? If you asked him now, would it make a difference?

“I’ve never slow danced,” he confesses, leaning against the opposite counter, and your heart drops. So that was it. Of course, he wouldn’t reject Ningning. She’s an absolute goddess, heck, you wouldn’t say no if she asked you either. You stamp out that last flicker of hope.

“What if I suck at it?” he continues, absentmindedly carding his fingers through his hair. “Oh god, I bet Yukhei and Kunhang are never gonna let me live it down. I can do choreographed dances, but I’m gonna mess up over a stupid slow dance. But where am I supposed to put my hands?! Like on her shoulders? Her waist? Do I hold her hand?”

Your eyes follow the way his hair ruffles slightly, and you wonder if it’s as soft as it looks. You swallow hard before saying quietly, “I can teach you?”

His hand pauses mid-movement, and your eyes fly down to meet his. His eyes widen, and he contemplates your offer for a split second before nodding excitedly. “Yeah, that’d be great! Can you teach me right now? While we wait for our food to come!”

“S-sure,” you stammer, flustered at the sudden acceptance and his eagerness. “Um, here? In the kitchen?”

“Yeah, why not?” He shrugs before straightening up. “The lights should be dimmed, right? We can kind of mimic that here to set the mood or whatever.”

He goes over and fiddles with the light switch, flicking it on and off, and you laugh, walking over and placing your hand over his. “What are you doing? Some kind of Kevin Nguyen mating call to look for a rave bae?”

“First off, I’m offended that you think I’d be one of them,” Yangyang narrows his eyes at you. “Secondly, I’m trying to make this feel more formal dance-y. Oh, wait!”

He turns off the lights for the last time and reaches over to pull open the refrigerator doors, the artificial fluorescent light pouring out and mixing with the faint beams coming in through the window from the street lamps outside. He grins at you, satisfied. “Romantic, huh?”

You roll your eyes, but the amused smile on your face gives away your true feelings. “Wow, Romeo, you swept me off my feet. The food is gonna go bad, and Kun is gonna kill you for the high electricity bill.”

“What food? Jeno’s protein shakes probably never expire.” He snorts before standing closer to you, his hands resting on either side of you on the counter. You can see the pretty gold flecks in his irises, and your breath gets caught in your throat. “And I guess this means you gotta teach me fast before we waste more electricity, right?”

You place your hands on his chest and lightly push him away, and he laughs, stepping back. You let out a shaky breath, remembering that your lungs need oxygen in order to, you know, continue living.

“Okay,” you clear your throat before pulling out your phone and putting on a slow song. “Ready?”

“You chose Ed Sheeran? Thinking Out Loud? Really?”

You raise your hands up defensively. “Hey, he’s the king of sappy slow songs that all girls want to be played at their weddings for their first dance.”

When your legs don't work like they used to before,

And I can't sweep you off of your feet,

Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?

“Is this the song you want played at your wedding?” He raises an eyebrow at you, and your face grows warm. You ignore the question, and this time, you’re the one taking a bold step forward, a few centimeters now separating you and your best friend. You see his Adam’s apple bob as he gulps lightly before meeting your eyes.

And darling, I will be loving you 'til we're seventy,

And baby, my heart could still fall as hard at twenty-three,

And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways.

“So, your hands go here.” You take his hands and place them on either side of your waist. His arms freeze up. “Relax, Yang. Precious cargo here.”

He lets out a chuckle, loosening his grip as he starts to relax. You reach up and slide your arms around his neck, interlocking your fingers. You gaze back at him, saying softly, “Now pull me closer.”

He does so.

Maybe just the touch of a hand,

Oh me I fall in love with you every single day,

And I just wanna tell you I am.

“And now follow my lead. We’re going to take one step. And then another. We’re just slowly turning in a circle.”

After a few spins and steps, you stop leading and let yourself be led. Yangyang continues to hold onto you carefully, and you can hear him muttering a 1, 2, 3, 4 count under his breath until he finally gets the hang of it. He grows a little braver, pulling you even closer.

So honey now,

Take me into your loving arms,

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars.

“Are you going with Dejun?” he asks quietly, and you stiffen at the mention at him before shaking your head.

“No, we broke up in July.”

Yangyang falters in his step before recovering. “Oh. You never told me.”

“Yeah.” You struggle to keep your voice level. “I just… he’s your friend, and I didn’t want to make it weird.”

“You’re my best friend though,” he says firmly, looking you directly in the eyes. His grip on your waist tightens. “It’s his loss. That dumbass just lost the best person who’ll ever come into his life.”

You give him a tired half smile, one that doesn’t quite meet your eyes. He hugs you closer to him, wrapping his arms around your waist and securing you against his chest. You rest your head in the crook of his neck and hope that he doesn’t feel how quickly your heart beats in your chest.

Place your head on my beating heart,

I'm thinking out loud,

Maybe we found love right where we are.

“Thanks, Yang,” you whisper, your breath tickling his skin. He envelops you tightly, and the two of you continue to spin in slow circles, quietly dancing in the refrigerator light as the remaining verses of the song warble in the background.

You think you finally understand what Dejun meant when he said he’s breaking up with you because your heart was already occupied by someone else.

You fall in love with him in August.

NOVEMBER 2019.

[ 12:54 a.m. ] yang 🐏🤪: hey you up?

[ 12:54 a.m. ] yang 🐏🤪: 7/11 in ten mins?

Tiredly rubbing your eyes, you stumble out of your dorm building, one of Jeno’s sweaters draped over your figure. November nights are cold, but this one seems chillier than usual. Yangyang stands near the front steps, and he stiffens up when he notices whose hoodie you’re wearing. He makes no mention of it though when you join him.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” He glances over to you as the two of you walk side by side to the small convenience store just on the edge of campus. You shake your head, shoving your hands into the front pocket of your sweater.

“I was up cramming for midterms. I could use a break anyway,” you shrug. A wisp of your hair falls in your face, and Yangyang starts to reach out to fix it, but forces himself to keep his hand by his side. You reach out to carelessly brush it away, tucking it behind your ear.

“What about you?” You look over at him, noting the bags under his eyes. “Rough night?”

He smiles tiredly at you, shoving his hands into his pockets as he kicks a stray pebble along the sidewalk. “More like rough week. Two more midterms left, and they’re for electromagnetic theory and linear systems.”

“Oh god, good luck. I took linear systems today, and it was absolutely brutal.” You wince, brightening up when you see the familiar neon orange, red, and green lights up ahead.

“Maybe I should just withdraw and take it again next quarter,” your best friend grumbles, kicking the stone as far as he possibly can.

“You really want another quarter with Hwang?”

“You’re right,” he sighs, “I just need to get a C+ to maintain my GPA. C if I’m pushing it.”

The two of you hurry over to the 7-Eleven, quickening your pace, until you reach the store doors, and you pull them open. Entering quickly, you push the door open slightly wider, and Yangyang slips in behind you. The cashier doesn’t even look up, texting away on his phone. You make a beeline towards the chips aisle, grabbing a bag of flamin’ hot Cheetos and a pack of sour gummy worms.

“What are you getting, Yang?” You call out over your shoulder, eyes zeroing in on the Red Bull stand at the end of the aisle. When you hear no response, you halt in your steps, turning around. Yangyang stands in the middle of the aisle, looking dazed under the fluorescent lights.

Putting your items back on the shelf, you approach him, reaching out and touching his arm gently. “Yangyang, what’s wrong?”

He jerks back before silently holding up his phone for you to see. There’s a slew of text messages from Ningning a few hours ago, and a quick scan tells you all you need to know. Your heart weighs heavily in your chest when you look back at him, a forlorn expression on his face.

“She dumped me,” he says quietly, shoving the phone back into his pocket. “She said our relationship was like a friendship. She didn’t feel anything. She said we could still be friends if I wanted to be though.”

He jabs a large bag of Lays potato chips angrily as his voice raises slightly higher. “But I don’t get it. Do friends take each other on dates? Do friends spend the night? Do friends hug each other and hold hands walking to class? Do friends spend three hundred dollars to do a surprise weekend trip for their birthday?”

He whirls around to face you, and he’s so close that you can see those pretty golden sparkles in his eyes again. Suddenly, his hands are cupping your face, and the next thing you know, he’s kissing you. Your eyes widen for a fraction of a second before they flutter shut, and you press your lips against his. The 90s pop station music playing overhead seems to fade away, and all you can focus on is that your best friend tastes like spearmint gum and grape soju. He pulls away abruptly, the realization of what he’s done finally hitting him as his chest heaves up and down.

“Do friends kiss like this?”

His voice is barely a whisper, but it cuts through the silence. You feel like you’re spinning out of control, a split second from careening and crashing.

“No, we—they don’t,” you mumble, and Yangyang sees the starstruck look in your eyes, and he wants to apologize: to say sorry for kissing you. But he doesn’t. Because for some reason, he doesn’t feel sorry. He closes his eyes, curling his hands into fists before exhaling slowly. He sees you looking back at him this time, and he wonders if you feel as equally lost as he does.

Because you’re right. Friends don’t kiss each other like that. Friends don’t feel like this about each other.

He kisses you in November.

AUGUST 2020.

The sun still shines bright late into the day, and August greets you like an old friend. You’re absentmindedly doodling in the margins of your notebook designated for Quantum Mechanics. Yangyang sits next to you in the lecture hall, making a bunch of origami cranes before tossing them at Renjun’s head right in front of him. When the bird reaches its target for the sixth time in a row, the annoyed boy whirls around in his seat, glaring at your best friend.

“Stop that,” he hisses, and Yangyang innocently raises his hands in the air. Renjun angrily frowns at him before turning back around in his seat. After a few minutes, Yangyang flicks another crane towards his friend. If this was a cartoon, you would see steam blowing out of your friend’s ears. You silently watch as he wordlessly picks up his phone, seething as he presses on a particular number.

Suddenly, Travis Scott’s SICKO MODE starts blasting, amplified by the large auditorium-like room. The professor goes silent, and everyone turns to see Yangyang scrambling to pick up his phone. He fumbles around for a few seconds with it before finally shutting it off and putting it on vibrate mode. Cheeks burning red, he meekly puts his phone back in his bag and squeaks out a “sorry” before sinking down in his chair (You can see the culprit grinning like the cat ate the canary right in front of him. Karma’s a bitch who also goes by the name of Renjun).

You pat his arm consolingly as he sulks next to you for a few minutes, mouth jutting out into a pout. You decide to take pity on him and lean closer to him, whispering quietly, “Would it make you feel better if I bought you boba after class?”

Immediately, he brightens up. “One oolong milk tea, half sugar with white pearls and coconut jelly?”

“Yes, I’ll pay for your overpriced drink,” you huff, thinking about how his one seven dollar drink could buy you a whole rotisserie chicken that’ll last you a week. At least the fluffy dog at Cloudy with a Chance of Boba is cute and fun to play with. “I’ll even get the honey waffle fries.”

“Heck yeah!” he whisper-yells, fist pumping quietly before he suddenly deflates. “Wait, I can’t. I promised Lia I’d get lunch with her.”

Ah, right, there’s Lia now. Yangyang’s new girlfriend: the only other student who went to Düsseldorf, Germany to study abroad over the summer, and inevitably, the two of them became close. All you really know about her is that she’s pretty, she’s in Iota Theta Zeta, and she followed you on Instagram a few weeks ago (of course, you followed her back because of the unspoken best friend and girlfriend policy).

Her page looks carefully curated, and there’s a common pink tinted theme going on throughout her feed. She has over a thousand followers, and it seems like Yangyang fits perfectly in her magazine curated life, judging by how he occupies nearly every picture taken in the summer with her or how he’s tagged as the photographer. You can’t deny that they look good together, pointedly shoving the green eyed monster back under the bed.

You take a peek at your messy Instagram page where you only post pictures when you’re half drunk, so there’s no semblance of uniformity anywhere. You shrug at him, pocketing your phone.

“No biggie. I’ll see if Karina is up for some boba. She’s been holed up in the dance studio already, and it’s only week two of classes, can you believe it?”

“I remember Ten was the same way,” Yangyang hums, eyes fixated on his phone and fingers tapping away. He laughs quietly, lips curling into a pretty smile, and you glance over curiously.

“What’s so funny?”

“Hmm?” Yangyang finally tears his eyes away from his screen for a split second to look at you before another buzz takes his attention away. He’s distracted, lovestruck, and you wistfully smile before turning back to your notes.

“Sorry, what’d you say earlier?” he loudly whispers a few minutes later, and you barely glance up from the large bulbasaur doodle you’re in the progress of completing right next to the chart marking the wave functions for a bouncing ball that you had copied down from the blackboard.

“Oh, I just asked what was so funny,” you murmur, coloring in the flowers you drew around the Pokémon with your blue ballpoint pen.

He looks confused for a moment before lighting up. “Oh! It was just a German joke. It’s not really funny if I translate it though.”

“Got it, no worries.” You notice the professor starting a new example problem, and you abandon your drawing, focusing on the formulas rapidly filling up the chalkboards in front of you. A quiet chuckle echoes in your ears, and you pause in your note taking to look over and see your best friend still typing on his phone. You make a mental reminder to create a copy of your notes for him later on when you pass the library on the way to the dining hall.

“Hey, Y/N.” Yangyang nudges you gently. “Rain check on the boba?”

You offer him a soft smile. “Of course. Anytime.”

He gives you a quick grin in return before his attention returns to the device in his hand—or rather, the pretty girl behind those texts. Your best friend is sitting right next to you, but you’ve never felt so far away. You know distance makes the heart grow fonder, but you don’t think it’s possible to be even fonder of him than you are now. Bad habits are hard to break, and you’ve made a terrible one of loving him. No wonder it’s beginning to hurt so much.

You lose him in August.

DECEMBER 2020.

December is the coldest month of the year, yet it is also simultaneously the warmest with all the holiday festivities it brings. If Yangyang were to choose a month to describe you, it’d be this one. You are a walking paradox, a conundrum he might never solve, an oxymoron come to life. He doesn’t understand how you can be his best friend, yet feel like a stranger; a friend who he wants as a lover; someone who has created such an impact in his life, but disappears seamlessly here and there.

He wonders when you’ve gotten so distant. He wonders why he never noticed the way you seemed to slip away through the cracks until it’s now nearing the end of the year, and the last time he’s seen you in person was before the November autumn break.

But you’re here.

You’re standing right next to the punch bowl filled with spiked eggnog, wearing a garish knitted button down jumper with brightly colored Christmas lights decorating it. It’s perfectly in theme with the Ugly Christmas Sweater party Nu Chi is holding, and Yangyang is beyond ecstatic to know that you’re attending. He had texted you an invite two weeks ago, and you merely reacted with a thumbs up.

Yangyang swears he was going to follow up with you on that, but he got so caught up with midterms, then meeting Lia’s family for Thanksgiving, then studying for finals, and then finally, preparing for this party. Buying enough beer for twenty-three keg stands is a lot more difficult than it seems (Donghyuck’s car broke down halfway during one trip, and they all had to carry back the packs of beers to the house in 40 degree weather in their Sperry boat shoes and Patagonia long sleeves that definitely weren’t cut out for this kind of weather).

His girlfriend is somewhere in the room, wearing the other half of the reindeer sweater she forced him to put on, but all he can focus on is you. He hurriedly makes his way over, skidding to a stop in front of you, and you’re startled before a smile spreads across your face.

“Hey, you, I haven’t seen you in a while.” You grin at him, reaching out to poke the reindeer tail sticking out from the front of his itchy sweater (Lia got to wear the head half of the reindeer, while he was stuck with the behind).

“Yeah, how have you been?” He reaches around you to pick up a cup and pour himself some eggnog. He offers you one, but you decline with a small shake of your head.

“I’ve been doing good, a bit tired with finals coming up, but what’s new?” You joke, grabbing one of the sugar cookies from the table. You’re secretly surprised that they actually have real food (No, Hyuck, Jell-O shots do not count as real food). You suspect Jaemin has something to do with it. He always contributes to the annual Greek row bake sale.

“Are you here with someone? Did Karina come?” he asks, curiosity coating every word. He looks around for your roommate, but she’s nowhere to be found.

You shake your head. “No, I actually came with—”

“Me!”

Yukhei bounds over, slipping an arm over your shoulder. He hands you a new cup of apple cider, which you accept gratefully. He grins happily at Yangyang, who freezes up at the sight of his tall friend. “I asked her to be my date for the party, and she agreed. She also made our sweaters! Aren’t they so cool? There’s even lights that spell my name and play Christmas songs. She did a bunch of cool programming tricks to make them work.”

Yangyang realizes with a start that the two of you are indeed wearing matching sweaters, and that leaves a rather sour taste in his mouth (and it definitely wasn’t because of expired eggnog). The corners of his lips tilt downward as he presses his lips together tightly.

“So… you two are together?” He gestures between you and Yukhei with a forced laugh. Jealousy never did look good on anybody, and unfortunately, he’s not an exception.

“We’re just seeing each other and seeing how it goes for now,” you answer quietly, noting the way your best friend reacts. You have always been good at reading him, and you tread carefully now, not wanting to make a scene. Drunk Yangyang never holds anything back, and he’s had quite a few pre-game shots already (It definitely doesn’t help that he’s a lightweight, too).

“I see. How did you guys meet? Or I guess, start talking?” He attempts to look intimidating, staring down at Yukhei, but it’s a difficult feat to accomplish, especially when he’s trying to stare down a six foot guy who’s more like an overgrown puppy and his friend.

“Oh, she came by for one of your boba runs, but you were still out with Lia. So I asked if I could go with her.” Yukhei flashes his pearly whites at you, and you chuckle, leaning your head against his shoulder.

“I said yes, and we hit it off, I guess.”

“You guess? And you took him on our boba runs?”

“You were out with Lia,” you say defensively, and he blanches when he hears his girlfriend’s name come out of your mouth.

“You could’ve waited,” he mutters, but you still hear it, and you give him a scathing look, finally too tired of this push and pull game that’s been going on behind the scenes for nearly three years now.

“I did. I waited over an hour here for you, but you didn’t show up or even text me that you were gonna be late. Yukhei was nice enough to offer to go with me.”

He stays silent, and you gnaw on your bottom lip, unsure of what to say next. Yukhei looks at you in concern, but you reach up and squeeze his hand reassuringly, which your best friend doesn’t fail to notice, his lips pressing into an even thinner line.

“I don’t understand what the deal is,” you finally burst out, startling both boys. “What’s the big deal about me and Yukhei going out?”

Something inside of him finally snaps. “The big deal is that you’re basically sleeping through my list of friends and then breaking up with them! First Dejun, then Jeno, now Yukhei? Who’s next? Should I give Renjun a heads up? Pencil you into his planner? Or Sicheng?  Sungchan? You have a class with him, so you’re bound to flirt with him, too, right? When are you gonna stop fucking around with my frien—”

He gasps, stopping mid-outburst as he stares at you in disbelief. Apple cider slides down from his hair, dripping onto his face and soaking into his sweater, the sticky juice clinging to his skin uncomfortably. You’re absolutely seething, the empty cup crackling in your clenched fist. Shocked, Yukhei carefully tugs the plastic away from you and places it on the table before replacing it with his own hand, his thumb caressing circles on the back of your hand soothingly. Yangyang doesn’t dare to meet his furious gaze, lifting his chin to look at you instead. The entire room has hushed down by now, all eyes staring directly at the three of you in a mixture of surprise and slight terror.

“Screw you, Yangyang,” you say lowly, voice shaking with anger. Tears form on the edge of your waterline, but you blink them away before hastily brushing a stray droplet from your cheek. “They asked me out. I said yes. We went out. It didn’t work out. We move on. Just like how you’ve gone out with my  friends. And they didn’t work out, so you moved on. So what’s so wrong about that? What’s so wrong about trying again to find love?”

He can’t answer you, curling his hands into fists until his fingernails indent miniature crescents in his palms—until the pain overtakes the feelings that are threatening to spill from his heart. Yangyang may not be yours, but he doesn’t like the fact that he can’t call you his either.

Love. That’s what you want, that’s what you crave, but not if it’s from him. So what is he supposed to do with love that’s unwanted? It’s bursting at the seams, and he has nowhere to hide it anymore.

He loves you in December.

AUGUST 2021.

August sneaks up on you this time around, and you find yourself in Kunhang’s apartment. All of your close friends are here, starting the last year of youth with one final first day party. You think back to that day three years ago: when your eyes met a pair of equally bright ones for the first time.

Curled up next to Yukhei on the couch, you look across the room and meet those very same eyes, although they seem hazier this time around. Lia is wrapped around his arm, and you think it’s quite ironic how both your and his relationships remain the same after all this time. Perhaps you both were bad luck for each other, leading to the other’s demise with short lived relationships. He looks away from you.

The rules of truth or dare are simple. You cannot ask the same person again until three other people have been asked first, and no one can be asked more than three times in each round. And, for reasons you can’t understand, everyone seems to take the code of truth seriously.

“I’ll start,” Kunhang announces, leaning back in one of the several beanbags he has in his place. “Goeun, truth or dare?”

Goeun sighs, leaning back on the palms of her hands. “Dare.”

“You and Mark, seven minutes in heaven.” Hendery points towards the coat closet, and the immediate reaction of hoots and wolf whistles has the girl rolling her eyes. With an exasperated huff, she stands up and pulls a red faced Mark along with her.

“Wait, you gotta pick the next person!” Donghyuck calls out, and she stops in her tracks, throwing open the closet door and shrugging. “You can choose for me.”

With that, she and Mark disappear behind the door, and Donghyuck turns toward the rest of the group, eyes glimmering mischievously. You pay no attention to him, absentmindedly playing with Yukhei’s fingers. You tug one of his rings off his finger, and he smiles, plucking it from your grasp carefully before holding your hand. He carefully slides it onto your right ring finger, but it falls off. Grinning, he pretends to try it on every single one of your fingers until finally settling on your thumb. The ring fits snugly there, and you admire it, wriggling your thumb around.

“Well, look at that. It fits you. I think that means we’re meant to be,” Yukhei says, smiling broadly, and you laugh, interlocking your fingers with his again before glancing down at the silver engraved band resting on your finger. The weight of the metal feels heavy resting against your knuckle.

“Yangyang, truth or dare.”

Donghyuck’s voice cuts through your thoughts, and you instinctively perk up in your seat at the sound of his name before freezing up in your spot. Yukhei squeezes your hand softly, and you tighten your grip around his fingers.

“Truth.”

“You’re no fun,” Donghyuck sighs, slouching back against the armrest. Yukhei leans over and whispers something in his ear before settling back next to you, shifting slightly to wrap his arm around you. Donghyuck lifts an eyebrow at your boyfriend before shrugging. “Okay, here’s an easy one. Are you in love…”

“Yes.”  is his immediate response, and you notice how Lia absolutely preens next to him.

“… with Y/N?”

Your breath hitches in your throat, and you immediately turn your head to look at Yukhei, your eyes growing wide in horror. He looks apologetic, shoulders drooping. “I’m sorry, but just the way he looks at you, it’s so obvious, and I had to know.”

You whip around to face the boy in question. With bated breath, you look at him, but Yangyang stares at the center of the floor, struggling internally. Everyone is quiet, and it reminds you of the calm before a storm. At last, he looks up, gazing right at you, and you can almost swear that you see those pretty little gold flecks in his irises from here.

“Yes,” Yangyang confesses quietly.

There’s almost a collective gasp rippling through the room, and Yukhei lets out an inaudible swear under his breath. Your grip on his hand grows slack as you fumble to get a grasp on the entire situation.

He loves you. He loves you. He loves you.

The words echo in your mind like a mantra until it grows so loud that you can’t hear any of your own thoughts anymore. Lia is in absolute hysterics, demanding an explanation from him, but he merely shrugs her off. Standing up, he quickly moves to leave the room, glancing at you one more time before disappearing out the front door.

It’s like your body is on auto-pilot after this. You drop Yukhei’s hand, immediately standing up and rushing after your best friend, paying no mind to the hushed whispers that only seem to increase in volume once you leave. You step out onto the porch, and there he is, sitting on the steps.

You quietly stand behind him, contemplating what to say and carefully choosing your next words. But there’s only one question on your mind.

“Why did you say that?”

He stays silent for a moment, staring out at the moon shining brightly ahead. “Because I meant it.”

Your heart wrenches in your chest. “You shouldn’t.”

He finally turns to look at you, an indescribable look in his eyes. It reminds you of heartbreak. “But I do. And I tried not to for the past three fucking years, but I can’t anymore.”

“Since freshman year?” You feel the tears well up in your eyes, and this time, you let them go. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Yangyang grips onto the edge of the stairs tightly, frustration ringing with every word that falls from his mouth. “Because I was scared. And I thought you never felt the same way. You’re my best friend, and I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Yang…” You whisper, hand reaching out as you let it hover over his shoulder for a few seconds. Then, you pull back, curling your fingers into fists, pressing crescent indentations into the palms of your hands.

He stands up, whirling around to look at you, desperate. “Tell me I’m not too late. Please, Y/N.”

Something inside of you breaks. You open your mouth and start to say something when the door opens behind you. Turning around, you see Yukhei. His eyes widen when he sees the two of you standing there.

You know this is it. This is the moment. This is where you have to decide.

“I, I was just looking for you. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.” Yukhei awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, taking a step back. “I’m sorry, I’m gonna go back in and—”

“No, wait, it’s okay,” you gently interrupt him. You reach out and slip your hand into his, and he relaxes, giving you a relieved smile. You smile softly back at your boyfriend before turning to face him, eyes apologetic.

“I’m sorry, Yangyang.”

He and you are asymptotes: two lines curving towards each other, but never touching; two hands reaching towards each other, but never interlocking; two people tangling their red strings of fate, but never tying.

You give him one last glance before going back inside with Yukhei.

You break his heart in August.

SEPTEMBER 2021.

September is supposed to be a new beginning: the transition from summer to autumn. Yangyang doesn’t think he can let go of you as easily as the trees shed their green for gold and red. Wherever he goes, wherever he looks, little reminders of you bloom in every crevice. You’re absolutely everywhere and nowhere, and it drives him crazy.

He thinks he’s gone completely insane when he hears your laugh while he’s walking to the laundromat one day. He shoves his airpods in and continues on his way until he sees you. Walking across the street, there you are. You’re on the phone with someone, and he contemplates going over to say hello. But suddenly, you’re hanging up the phone and waving eagerly at someone. When he turns his head to look, his heart drops and gets buried six feet under. He hurriedly ducks into a nearby bookstore and watches as you run up to Yukhei, slipping your hand into his like it’s second nature to you now. The two of you walk off together, and Yangyang is left standing at the window of the store until the shop owner politely asks if there’s anything he needs.

He doubts a time machine is something they have in stock, so he silently shakes his head and steps out onto the street once again. It is now silent and empty.

He loses you in September.

AUGUST 2022.

A lot can change in eleven months.

You’re twenty two years old, but you feel like you’re eighteen again. You know you’re going to see him for the first time since September at Kun’s housewarming. You had repeatedly assured Yukhei that you’d be fine. After all, life goes on; the world doesn’t stop just because you had a falling out with your best friend, even if it may have been a little more than that. Nevertheless, a year has nearly passed. Time is known to be the best healer, and perhaps your heart has shed its old skin and habits.

Your hand is safely enveloped in Yukhei’s, and the two of you walk towards your older friend’s new apartment. He playfully swings your interlocked hands back and forth, and you giggle, tightening your grip around his fingers. You stop in front of the door, the muffled sounds of a party slipping through the cracks. You suck in a breath, shoulders tensed. He’s in there.

“Are you okay?”

Yukhei squeezes your hand gently, voice laced with concern. You remember to breathe, exhaling slowly and relaxing before nodding. You smile up at him. “I’m okay.”

“If you want, we can go back home now, have another NCIS marathon, and drink this by ourselves.” Yukhei waves around the nice bottle of wine the two of you had brought for Kun. “We can even stop by the convenience store and get some ramen.”

You laugh quietly, the corners of your lips upturning with mirth. “It’s okay, I’m fine, Yukhei, I promise. Plus, I have you, right?”

He brightens up at that, practically beaming at you, and your heart skips a beat. “Right!”

You reach out and knock on the door. Kun greets the two of you, and you enter his apartment. Yukhei still doesn’t let go of your hand, and you follow behind him as you weave your way through the living room, greeting some of your friends. You hear Kunhang calling out to your boyfriend from the kitchen and feel him hesitate next to you. You squeeze his hand gently before letting go and nudging him in the direction of his friend. Yukhei gives you one last look, but you wave him off, smiling goodnaturedly and silently assuring that you’re okay. He swoops down and leaves behind a soft kiss for you before going.

You walk over to the alcohol table, pouring yourself something to drink. Leaning against the wall, you take a sip of your drink, your eyes flitting over the rim of your cup and slowly scanning the room. It feels like forever, like everything is moving in slow motion, like the world is submerged underwater, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.

You find him easily. After all, it’s hard to forget someone whose features you’ve memorized over the past four years. Your eyes map the delicate outline of his face once more, and for a moment, you wonder if red is still his favorite color, or who he shares a carton of Ben and Jerry’s with nowadays. You wonder if he thinks of you sometimes, too.

But then, you wonder where Yukhei is. You search around until you see your boyfriend still standing in the kitchen, laughing at something your mutual friend said. Your eyes soften when you see him grab your favorite snack. You turn back around, your heart swelling in your chest tenfold, and your lips curl upwards, an endeared expression on your face.

That’s when you notice that he’s looking at you.

You brace yourself, waiting for the tidal wave of emotions to wash over you and the quickening of your heart rate to greet you like an old friend. Because that’s what always happens when you’re around him. After all, he is the biggest what-if in your life. He is someone you almost loved forever, someone you almost stayed for.

And yet, nothing happens. You wait a little longer. The world still goes round, and you’re still breathing. There’s no shortness of breath, no erratic heart palpitations, no sweaty palms, absolutely nothing. Liu Yangyang is a stranger in a familiar body, and your heart remains still.

You give Yangyang a faint smile, nodding towards him, and it feels like a sudden jolt in his heart. Time stops, and all he can see is you. You look beautiful. You have always been beautiful. This is his chance. Whatever higher entity out there has taken pity on him and given him a second try to make it right. He finally takes a step towards you, and the tender, encouraging expression in your eyes gives him the strength to take another one. After all, the eyes are the windows to the soul. Clutching his drink in hand, he pushes his way through the crowd. He’s only eight, seven, six, five steps away from you now. A smile grows on his face as relief curls around his heart like a bandage. You’re standing there, waiting for him, smiling at him.

And suddenly, you’re no longer looking at him.

You stopped looking at him.

Yukhei makes his presence known next to you, excitedly chattering about something and gesturing towards the kitchen as he hands you something to eat. It’s a snickerdoodle cookie. Your favorite. Your eyes are fixated on the tall boy, positively sparkling as you beam at him.

Yangyang feels like he can’t breathe. The bandage is ripped off, and all he can feel is excruciating pain like a thousand pinpricks into his heart before the numbness hits. He freezes, rooting himself in that spot on the scratched hardwood floor as his colleagues and friends continue to jostle around him. As his world crumbles around him, he can’t tear his eyes away from you. They stay on you, the barest traces of nostalgia lingering in the dimmed golden flecks of his irises that you had still admired all those months ago. It’s like he’s trapped in a silent film, stuck in a fish bowl and swimming in circles, and he watches in horror as you outstretch your hand and intertwine your fingers around Yukhei’s, leaning up to press your lips against his tenderly. Your boyfriend looks at you like you hung the stars in the night sky yourself (He would believe it if you said you did).

You don’t look at him like that anymore.

Yangyang remembers when you used to. When you used to love him. When you were almost his. He feels something inside of him break for a second time.

The world continues to spin, and yet, he’s still not moving. He’s stuck in quicksand, sinking deeper and deeper as everyone around him moves on—as you move on. He desperately tries to keep you in his view, and his feet finally pick up as he lurches forward. He’s not fast enough. You’re slipping away, walking away from him, hand in hand with Yukhei, disappearing around the corner of the hallway, and he can’t do anything about it. It’s too late. He’s too late. The sticky remnants of cheap beer run down his wrist, and it finally registers in his mind that he had crushed the flimsy plastic cup in his hand sometime in between now and then. In a crowded room full of people, he’s left standing there, alone and lonely.

Almost is the worst way to love someone, Yangyang bitterly realizes. It hurts to lose someone you almost love. No, it was never an ‘almost’. He most certainly loved—loves—you. And it should be impossible to lose someone who was never his to begin with, yet he has. All this time, he thought he had you, but it had always been the other way around.

He was your August, he was your everything, and he is yours.

But you will never be his.

You let go of him in August.

[angelasscribbles]

Star Crossed Chapter 2: Escape

 Series: Star Crossed

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Drake x F!MC

Rating: R         

Warnings: Mature themes

Song Inspiration: A Whole New World from the movie Aladdin

Word Count: 1,458

A/N: This story is giving me such Aladdin vibes in this chapter! Our intrepid heroine escapes the confines of the palace with help from the ruggedly handsome stranger she just met.

My other stuff: Master List.

She put her hand in his and followed behind him to the side of the balcony. “See?” He pointed at a small stone ledge situated to the side of, and a few feet above the balcony.

“Yeah. What about it?” She eyed it warily.

“So, I’m going to climb up there, then pull you onto it and we’re going to jump down onto the next balcony.” He explained.

“That doesn’t get me down.” She observed.

“No, but it gets you onto a balcony with roof access. From the roof, we can use one of the old guard towers to get down to the ground without anyone seeing us.”

She looked at him in surprise, “Impressive! How do you know so much about it?”

He shrugged, “My dad used to be a king’s guard. I spent a lot of time here as a kid.”

She’d been right in her assessment that he wasn’t a member of the aristocracy. She decided that made her like him more. “Then I’m lucky I ran into you tonight!”

The grin that broke out across his face made her heart stutter in her chest.

“Glad you’re finally admitting it.” He told her before hopping onto the parapet.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? It seems dangerous. What if you-” She started to ask, but it was too late. She watched as he launched himself at the ledge, grabbing it with both hands.

He used his feet on the wall and scrabbled up onto the ledge. He turned back toward her with a self-satisfied grin, “You were saying?”

She blew out a breath as she glanced down at the drop. One look behind her at the doors that lead back into the palace convinced her it was worth the risk. She clambered onto the parapet then looked up. “But are you sure you can lift me? What if I just pull you back down?”

“Not gonna happen. Come on.” He opened and closed his hands in a “come here” motion.

She glanced back at the doors again, resolve solidifying as she reached up and took his hands. She used her feet on the palace wall like she’d seen him do and he easily pulled her up onto the ledge with him. She stumbled a little and his arms went around her waist, catching her. Her arms went out to steady herself, hands landing on his chest.

She looked up into his face, inches away from her own, suddenly acutely aware of her own heartbeat. The moment seemed to freeze as they stood in silence, staring into each other’s eyes. Her eyes dipped down to his lips then back up. She was glad it was too dark for him to have noticed as her face flushed a deep scarlet.

He cleared his throat and stepped back as far as he could, which wasn’t far. It was a short ledge. “Ok, I’m going to jump down onto the other balcony. Wait until I tell you then jump. I’ll catch you.”

She didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded.

He jumped, propelling himself a little out as he did so and landing flawlessly on the floor of the next balcony. He looked up at her and held his arms out, “Ok, your turn. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.” There was a certainty and a sincerity in his voice that she wasn’t used to hearing from anyone. It strengthened her resolve.

She took a deep breath then ran the few steps that existed between her and the edge. She pushed off the ledge and found herself free falling toward him. Her body crashed into his, but true to his word, he caught her. He caught her and he kept her from falling, kept her upright and unharmed. The force she hit him with should have bowled them both over, but he was immovable as her body collided with his, strong, sure, steady.

She found herself tangled up in his arms again and liking it far more than she should, all things considered.

“You ok?” He asked.

She managed to get out a “Mmm hmmm.”

He laughed softly and she could feel it as it rumbled through him. “You sure you’re up for this? It’s not too late to go back inside.”

“Nope. I’m not going back in there. Not tonight anyway.”

“Okay. Right this way then.” He took her hand in his and lead her across the balcony to a small door, which opened to a stairway. She followed behind him up the stairs, never letting go of the comforting security of his hand.

When they stepped out onto the roof he asked, “Do you need to rest before we climb back down five flights of stairs?”

“Don’t you?”

“Naw, I’m good.”

“What are you, a professional body builder?”

He laughed again. “Something like that.”

She sat down on a ledge and peered up at him. It was brighter on the roof, with nothing blocking the moonlight. She used the better lighting to surreptitiously check him out. “So do you always hang around balcony’s rescuing damsels in distress?”

“Nope. This is a first.”

“Well, so far so good. Maybe you should take it up as a profession.”

That rumbly laugh rippled through him again. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

She looked around at the expanse of rooftop and out over the grounds then up at the stars. “Wow. It’s beautiful up here.”

“It is.” He agreed.

Something in his voice pulled her attention away from the sky and back to him. “I guess I should thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to get on the ground. Where are you going after this?”

“Oh…ah…I don’t know. Anywhere.”

He took a seat next to her, brows furrowing in concern, “You don’t know where you’re going?”

She sighed, “I’m new here. I don’t really know much about the local attractions. I just really need to get away for a few hours.”

“Are you ever going to tell me why? What’s bothering you?”

She gave him a small frown, “No offense. You did come to my rescue and all that, but I don’t really know you.”

He held his hands up in surrender, “No offense taken. I get it. I generally keep my cards close to the vest as well.”

“So, if you wanted to go somewhere to kill a few hours but you didn’t like being around people, where would you go?”

He regarded her contemplatively for a few moments then said, “If you trust me, I know a place I could take you.”

“I mean, if you were going to kill me, I suppose you would have already done it by now so sure, why not?”

That pulled another laugh out of him, she was getting good at it. “Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but I’ll take it. What’s your name, by the way? So, I have something to call you.”

“You can call me Ren.”

“Ren. That’s pretty, I like it.”

“Thank you. And you are?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Nice to meet you, Ren, my name is-“

He was interrupted by a loud bang from the other end of the roof.

She looked at him in panic, “What was that?”

“Probably nothing,” he told her, “But just in case, we should go.”

He stood, pulling her to her feet and led her into a nearby tower. They descended five flights of stairs quickly. When they reached the bottom, breathless and giggling, he peeked out the door to ensure the coast was clear before exiting. They walked along the edge of the palace, sticking to the shadows until they arrived at a gleaming black Ducati motorcycle parked near the palace entrance.

“We’re riding on that?”

“Is that a problem?” He asked handing her a helmet.

“Hell no.” She replied with the widest smile he’d seen on her all night, “I’ve always wanted to ride on one of these.”

“Well then, it’s your lucky night tonight!” He grinned at her as he straddled the bike. He scooted forward and patted the seat behind him, “Climb aboard and hold on tight.”

She hopped on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pressed her body into his and felt adrenaline spike through her as the bike surged forward. She tightened her grip and leaned further into him as they flew down the formal drive. Before she knew it, they were through the palace gates and roaring down the roadway. She didn’t even care where they were going. In fact, the not knowing, not having every mundane aspect of her life planned and scheduled down to a T was exciting and thrilling. For the first time in her life, she felt free.

[raebayhc]

Girls Night Out

warnings: implied virgin, fingering, lesbian implied, bi implied, public sex, smut, fluff, angst

word count: 2164

summary: you along with your groups of friends decide to have a girls' night for the first time in a while, things get heated and your friends end up taking turns using your body.

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It was a Thursday night and you along with the other ladies who went to the same college as you decided to go out and have a girls’ night. Yall planned on going to see a movie, going out for drinks, then finally retiring to Sasha’s barn where yall planned to stay up late telling spooky stories trying to freak one another out. Normally you wouldn’t agree to something like this because socially you were a lost cause, you had many friends and were very close to them. However, when it came to hanging out in large groups and even going out in public with the group, that’s when you started to get anxious. Your friends always had your back though and you knew that. Ultimately you decide not to fret too much and just have fun.

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It was the beginning of a very long night, you and pieck were roommates so yall got ready at the same time and left together to meet everyone else at the theatre. On the ride there pieck looked over to you and broke the silence- “if it becomes too much just let me know, I’m good to go home anytime.. Okay darling?” she patted your thigh and you nodded waiting for her warm hand to leave its place. It never did. She kept her hand on your thigh occasionally tapping to the beat of the music she turned on after yall briefly spoke. You felt your cheeks begin to warm as you peered out the window. Nobody within the group of friends knew you swung that way you wouldn’t dare tell them fearing the absolute worst. You knew they would love you no matter what and you never thought they would say anything hurtful but you still kept your little secret to yourself.

Piecks hand remained on you the whole car ride to the theatre. When yall arrived you hopped out of the car with intent... That intent being getting away from under piecks touch as you know you wouldn’t be able to hide your heavy breath for much longer. You played it off as getting “all excited” about seeing the movie when you really just wanted to escape. You waited as pieck slowly gathered her items and met you outside the car, yall then proceeded to walk through the glass doors into the theatre where the rest of the girls were already waiting.

“Yo what took yall so long??” Sasha said while stuffing her face full of popcorn. “Yeah, we thought we were gonna miss the movie because of you two” Ymir followed, whilst rolling her eyes. You look around to check everyone out, Historia and Ymir were clinging together, as usual, Sasha and Mikasa playing “hot hands” in the corner. You laughed as Mikasa gagged after Sasha got butter all over her hands. Pieck walked off to go meet hitch at the counter to get some candy. You giggled to yourself and told the girls that the movie was going to start soon and yall should probably head to yalls seats.

Finally, in yalls seats waiting for the movie to begin, you were sat between Sasha and Mikasa. You were definitely closer to these two than you were anyone else. Yall had been a trio since fourth grade and nothing could ever split yall apart. Nothing. All of the ladies were quite touchy with each other, it was all platonic of course. Why wouldn’t it be? Sasha snatched your right hand and hugged your shoulder burying her nose in the crook on your neck as a monster popped out at the screen. “Why would you choose a horror movie when you can't handle them” you whispered to Sasha to which she replied “because I like the way it makes me feel y/n, I get all tingly and itchy” you rolled your eyes holding back a chuckle so you wouldn’t disturb the others during the quiet scene.

You felt a slight tug at your left hand as Mikasa habitually grabs your hand. She tends to do that when she has nothing to do with her hands, it “helps her stay focused” she has explained to you a million times. Between Sashas breath on your neck and Mikasa drawing circles on your hand with her index you couldn’t help but squirm. You go to whisper something about the movie to Mikasa when she goes to do the same, your faces come within an inch of each other, noses barely touching you feel her breath out her nose as it fans across your lips. Your face turns bright pink as you halt in surprise. “I wanted to point out that actor….. Since we’ve spoken about them before…” she spoke softly. You replied with a small “me too…”. Yall have yet to part until you are broken up by screams as the movie takes a turn and Sasha yanks your arm “AHHHHH Y/N HELP!!!!!” Sasha screams in a high-pitched tone. You turn breaking your eye contact with Mikasa “Sasha! Be quiet we arent the only ones here!” you jab at her as you apologetically smile at the others in the theatre. You momentarily forgot about the moment you and Mikasa had until she takes her hand and places it on the back of your neck. Thumb swiping up and down, she pulls you a bit closer to whisper “awfully close weren’t we…” she lets that sentence linger before playfully giggling and removing her hand from your nape.

The movie was finally over and you were one of the last to leave your seat, since you decided to pick up all the popcorn Sasha had dropped after one of the jumpscares, you stand up, lifting your arms towards the ceiling, stretching and letting out a soft moan. You felt hands slither from the small of your back to the front of your hips “wow y/n, you have a hot moan. Whoever sleeps with you must be lucky” Ymir says before shifting you to the side to make way for her and historia. “Ugh, Ymir how many times do I have to tell you it’s not ladylike to talk about such things so casually” “I know I know I’m sorry... But it had to be pointed out” Ymir shrugged “she does have a point y/n.. You have an attractive voice it makes sense your moans would be..” historia pitches in and she looks you up and down before continuing “h o t” she lingers on the t a bit before moving on. You could feel your arousal pooling. The ladies seem different tonight... Maybe it’s just you... Maybe it’s not... They walk out and you follow suit.

You decide to ride with hitch since yall haven’t spoken a lot tonight, you ask her about life and she goes on to rant about her boyfriend noting that he’s not good in bed and she hates his haircut, she finishes her rant off with “ugh maybe I should just switch to girls! You’d date me right y/n?” you pause for a moment then reply with a simple “who wouldn’t!” a simple sentence yet complex at the same time. She turns to you and examines your face “you know I think id be a top if I were with a girl… in fact, you’d make a perfect bottom for me..” her eyes linger a bit too long, your skin crawling whilst illuminated by the red light yall were stopped at. It flashes green and her eyes return to the road “of course if I was single and into girls hahaha” she plays it off.

Yall arrive at the bar shortly after Sasha and Mikasa who had taken the same car and followed by Ymir who carpooled with historia. Mikasa and Sahsa hand out everyone’s paper wristbands, Sasha stops in front of you takes your hand, and putting it on for you. She didn’t do it for anyone else… just you. You decided you were overthinking and you moved on, walking into the club you were bombarded with loud music busybodies and the smell of alcohol. You were stressed, so many people, so many noises, so many smells. It was overwhelming, to say the least. Pieck noticed your uneasiness and placed her hand on the small of your back, she led you to a dark hallway filled with heavy pheromones and kissing partners, past that was a bathroom to which she leads you, pushed you in, followed after you, and locked the door. “Wh-” pieck covered your mouth with a single finger, “I noticed your stress, we can leave if you need y/n” a look of sorrow on her face. “No I’m fine it was just a lot at once I’m sorry, I’m okay now” you push out with a soft smile. Her body moving closer to you she wraps an arm around you pulling you closer “baby… tell me if you need anything, mmkay?” she purrs into your neck giving it a soft peck. Your arousal beginning to pool again you squeeze your thighs.

She excuses herself letting you go and leaving the bathroom. Turning around to face the mirror you scold yourself for acting the way you are when your friends are just being nice, they’d probably feel so grossed out if they knew your cunt was getting all nice and soaked for them, you thought. “Maybe I just need to relieve some stress… yeah that's all it is… built-up stress…” you hiked up the mini skirt that you decided to wear today above your hips and you pulled your new pink lace panties to the side. Beginning to slide your fingers over your unclothed clit the door rattles “hey bear, pieck said you weren’t feeling well so I brought you a dri-” historias sentence is cut short when she looks up to see you sitting on the counter sprawled open like a book. “I’m so so-” you begin before she hurriedly shuts and locks the door behind her.

“I- i- can explain-” she cuts you off before you get a chance to explain “oh bear..” a slight purr in her voice “who knew you had such a perfect pussy?.. All this time you’ve been hiding it from me?” she pouts, you’ve never seen her act this way much less talk this way before. Shocked by her actions you freeze, she steps closer and peers up into your eyes, lifting a hand to show she has her pinky and index slightly bent, she speaks “..may I?” if this was any other night you would freak out, apologize, get dressed quickly and leave, but for some reason you cant. “Please do” a slight whininess in your voice. Taking her ring and middle finger she traces a line from your entrance to your clit making you twitch once she reaches the small bud. She chuckles a bit and continues, pushing her middle finger into you, slowly but surely, you lay your head back resting it on the mirror. A low groan leaves her throat as you tighten around her finger “y/n… can I ask you a question? Hmm?” “nghh yes” you manage to push out through cries and moans. “You’re a virgin aren’t you, bear? Nobody has ever touched this perfect little body. Nobody has ever stuck their fingers in you either, huh?” you nod trying to keep sane while her pace quickens, you squint your eyes shut forcing tears out and down the sides of your face. Your response influenced her as she moved faster prodding another finger at your entrance and pushing it in with her other. “Ahh fuck ‘ri’” RI was a name you’ve called her since yall first met, originally made because you couldn’t remember her full name but it kind of just stuck throughout the years. “I’m gonna- I think I’m g-” cut off by the feeling of her warm tongue prodding your clit, dangerously licking and lapping, boy did she know how to please, and that she did. “RI oh shit” you grab a fistful of her hair as your orgasm hits, continuing to finger fuck you and lightly lick your sensitive bud she helps you ride out your high. “..- first, right?” you couldn’t make out what she said through your hazy mindset “what RI?” she repeats “I was your first, right??” you nod with lazy eyes, she smiles a big smile then gives you a sloppy kiss, you groan into her lips.

She cleans you up then helps you off the counter. Now realizing what had just happened you panic pushing out a quick “oh my goodness ri I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to put you in that position” she chuckles “don’t worry bear there are plenty of other positions I plan to have you in” before you could really digest that she tugs at your wrist leading you out to the main hallway and back to your groups of friends. The night has only begun….

THE END Pt. 1

this is my first fanfic ever so I'm sorry if it's bad!! I will continue to improve trust me! also, this will be a multi-part series so stay updated!

[unwrittenlibrary]

golden (you’re so golden)

summary // bucky is in louisiana with sam when he meets you, one of sam’s close friends, and immediately gets along with you. (bucky x fem!reader)

words // 3.5k

warnings // it’s fluff! some tiny insecure bucky but that’s about it. sam calls reader bubbles a couple times. use of y/n.

notes // 💞

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

Bucky enjoyed Louisiana.

He enjoys being with Sam and his family in Louisiana. It’s slow and relaxed and everybody in town is so charming that he finds himself settling in easily.

There’s a level of trust Sam shows Bucky allowing him to help with the family boat and while he hadn’t said it, he did appreciate Sam’s unending kindness.

Perhaps Bucky has found the beginnings of a new home in Sam Wilson. A friendship based on respect and love helped Bucky. He was slowly but surely rebuilding himself into a better man.

“Word on the street is Sam Wilson was back in town.” A voice calls out from above the two men. Bucky looks at Sam and finds him smiling and shaking his head. There’s footsteps and then you’re standing in the doorway with a smirk. “I just had to see for myself.”

Sam lets go of the wrench in his hand and moves to meet you at the top of the stairs. Bucky watches curiously as Sam hugs you tightly. He had never mentioned a girlfriend, although Bucky wasn't particularly forthcoming about his personal life either.

“Hey, Bubbles.” Bucky scrunches his nose at the nickname and you roll your eyes and shove Sam off of you.

He laughs heartily clutching his stomach. “The nickname wasn’t funny in the seventh grade and it’s not funny now.”

Sam presses a kiss to your head and Bucky clears his throat. He feels like he’s interrupting a personal moment, but your smile is turned on him and then Bucky freezes because that’s a beautiful smile.

“Who’s your friend?” You nudge Sam with your elbow but your stare doesn’t waver. Bucky smiles nervously before lifting his hand up in an awkward wave.

“Bucky.” He introduces. You nod slowly. “Barnes.” He adds on and you laugh at him making Bucky deflate a little.

“Y/N.” You respond easily. “And don’t call me Bubbles, I hate it.” Your glare and he nods. “I just came to see if the rumors were true.” You shift your focus back to Sam. “I just couldn’t believe Sam Wilson was here, working on the boat, without telling me.”

Sam scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Wasn’t sure how long I was gonna be here.”

You purse your lips and Bucky thinks that wasn’t the right thing to say. He’s so curious about what your relationship is because he can’t tell if it’s just friends or dating or maybe even exes. You’re affectionate and comfortable with one another, that much is obvious in the few seconds Bucky has been able to observe.

“Even if you were here for a day, I would like to see you.” You punch his shoulder. “But whatever, I’m not gonna hold a grudge.”

There’s a moment of silence between the three of you before you shrug. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you tonight, Sarah invited me for dinner.”

You give a quick hug to Sam before waving goodbye Bucky. He waves back with a smile and watches as you walk away.

He doesn’t even realize Sam’s staring at him until the man clears his throat. Bucky shuffles and adamantly ignores the fire he feels burning at his cheeks. “Who’s that?” He asks in a faux nonchalant tone.

Sam shakes his head and laughs. “We grew up together. Went to prom and all that.” Bucky nods and tries to think of how to ask his next question, but Sam beats him to it. “Not as my girlfriend or anything. She’s like a bonus sister.”

Bucky nods and looks back down at the pipe they had been working on. “Cool… We gonna finish this?”

Sam snorts, but Bucky can hear his footsteps come back down the stairs. “Let’s get it done. I just know Sarah’s gonna make something great for dinner if Y/N’s coming and I’m starving.”

Bucky nods, excited for some home cooked food. And maybe seeing more of your smile.

》

Bucky sits next to you at dinner. The kids across from the two of you with Sam and Sarah at the ends of the table.

He notices your eyes trail over the black and gold of his arm and tries to not to blush. “How’d this happen?” You nod to it after a moment of silence.

Bucky turns to you at the same moment Sam’s head shoots up to look at you. “Bubbles.” He hisses your nickname like you’re a child with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Sam.” You hiss back, eyes narrowed at the nickname. Bucky wonders if Sam would ever call you by your first name. “It’s okay.” He nods to Sam.

Bucky is sure that the kids sitting across from him had been wondering too, if Sam hadn’t already told them. He takes a sip of his beer before deciding on sharing a condensed version

“Lost it when I fell off a train in 1945.” He shrugs. You look him up and down. “Got this arm a few years ago.”

It’s silent as you process his words and your eyes move back to stare at the arm. His fingers twitch and your eyes snap to them.

“You don’t look like you fell off a train in 1945. You don’t even look forty.” You say skeptically. Sam runs a hand over his face while the kids laugh.

“Just eat.” Sam orders. “You don’t need to ask him all these questions. It’s rude.”

You turn to your food and roll your eyes at Sam. “I asked one question.” Then your eyes move to Bucky again and you smile apologetically. “I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable though. I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “It’s cool. You can just google me for all the answers anyways. I’m pretty sure the Smithsonian has a webpage on me.”

You snort. “That’s a subtle brag.”

Bucky feels his cheeks flush and shakes his head. “No. I just meant… like, Howling Commandos and Steve-“

“She’s just messing with you, man.” Sam laughs as he reaches across the table for a biscuit. “She knows who you are.”

Bucky looks back at you and finds the teasing smile on your face. He flushes red and that only makes you laugh too. Bucky presses his lips together and nods slowly. “Nice.”

“Hey.” You nudge him with your elbow. “If it helps, I think you look pretty good for someone who fell off of a train, lost an arm, was brainwashed for decades and then fought an army of Titans.”

Sam’s shaking his head and Sarah is just staring at you with wide eyes, but Bucky’s lips quark up as he tries not to laugh. “Thanks.” His eyes move over you. “You look pretty good for someone who’s friends with Sam.”

“Hey!” Sam cuts in defensively. “You know, most people think I’m cool.” You and Bucky smirk at each other before both turning to Sam with open mouths, ready to tease him. “Nevermind.”

Bucky can’t help but watch as you throw your head back and let out one of the most beautiful laughs he’s ever heard.

》

“Boys!” You call from the dock with a bright smile. Bucky spins so fast he thinks he’s got whiplash until he sees your happy face. You’ve got your sunglasses hooked in the collar of your t-shirt and a tray of iced coffees in your hands. “I know I’m late, but I come with some refreshments.”

Sam scoffs from next to Bucky. “Coffee isn’t really all that good for rehydration.”

Your smile drops for a millisecond before you turn your attention to Bucky. He gestures awkwardly for a moment before his right hand lands on his hip and his left hand waves. “I like coffee.” He blurts.

You bite down a smile as Bucky ignores the blush he knows is on his cheeks. Maybe it’ll just pass off as a sunburn, or heat exhaustion.

“See, Sam.” You smile victoriously. “Bucky appreciates my gifts.”

Sam scoffs and Bucky just stares at you avoiding Sam’s glare. “He won’t when he tastes the sugar monstrosity you’ve probably brought him.”

You pout and step closer to the boat. You shakily try to step onto deck, but stumble at the last minute. Bucky’s hands shoot out to steady your waist and you look at him with a shy smile and grateful eyes.

“Thank you, Bucky.” You say softly as he helps you step onto the boat deck steadily. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I got you what I drink.”

You lift one of the iced drinks out of the carrier. Sam was right, it looks like a sugared disaster, more cream than coffee; Bucky has to force himself not to scrunch his nose up at the drink.

“Thank you.” Bucky takes the coffee from you and stares down at it. You hand one over to Sam and then finally pull your own out.

“If...If you don’t like it, don’t even worry.” You say as the three of you move back to the part of the deck the boys had been working on all morning.

Bucky takes a sip and well, it’s not awful. Nor is it even that bad. Definitely more sugar than he was used to, but he needed to get out of his comfort zone anyways.

“I like it.” He states. “I’d like anything you give me.” He smirks as you look down at your feet nervously. “You’ll have to tell me what you order so I know.”

Your smile brightens and you nod excitedly, pulling your phone out. “Give me your number, I’ll text it to you.”

“You can just write it down.” Sam says with a teasing smirk when Bucky looks up and glares over your shoulder. “I mean-“

“Ignore him.” You roll your eyes and hold the phone out, the contact page already cued up. As Bucky takes the phone and begins to type his number in, you spin around to face Sam. “I’m trying to make friends here, Wilson. Stop trying to discourage it because you’re afraid he and I could lead to world destruction together.”

Sam laughs loudly and Bucky hands the phone back to you. “I’m not worried about the world as much, I'm worried about me. I can already tell you two will be a pain in my ass together.”

You glance at Bucky and wink before slipping the phone back into your pocket. “Stop stalling Sam, we’ve got work to do.” You scoff as you begin to pull out tools.

Bucky looks at Sam with a smirk. “Yeah, Sam. We’re trying to get some work done while you’re just standing there.” Bucky sturdies the piece you had begun screwing in with his left hand.

Sam sighs and returns to his earlier position. “I’m so glad you two have met.” He mutters sarcastically.

》

The shield slips onto Bucky’s arm easily. “Looking good!” You wolf whistle as you make your way towards the boys in Sarah’s yard.

Sam rolls his eyes, but Bucky puffs his chest out a little and smiles. “Hey!” He says as you come to a stop in front of them.

Bucky’s eyes trail over your figure. “Hey. I heard you were leaving today.” Your attention is solely on Bucky as Sam stands beside him with a knowing smile.

He nods apologetically. “I’ve got some stuff to do back home in Brooklyn. I uh-“ He looks down at his boots. “You have my number. I would love to keep in touch.”

You bite down on your lip as you nod. “Of course! Anybody who can handle Sam is someone I want in my life.”

“Are you two just gonna make fun of me everytime you’re together? Because I’ll cut this off right now.” He says jokingly.

You rock back and forth on your feet nervously before finally talking. “I’ll let you two get back to it. I just wanted to say bye!” You pull Sam into a tight hug before turning to Bucky. “Um, I’ll see you later. I hope?”

He nods enthusiastically. “Yeah! Yeah, I mean. I hope so too.” He stands awkwardly in front of you, unsure of if he should hug you or just settle for a handshake.

Your hands land on his shoulders as you lift yourself onto your tippy toes and press a kiss to his cheek. His cheeks are burning red by the time you pull away and wonders if you’re as nervous as he is. “I’ll see you around, Bucky.” You say sweetly before spinning on your heel and walking off.

Bucky watches you go with soft eyes as Sam just stares at him incredulously.

》

Bucky doesn’t get to see much of you the next couple weeks, but he hears from you all the time. Text messages telling him to have a good day. Photos of animals you see around your hometown. Photos of you and your family or friends.

It always makes his day and you never seem to mind if it takes him a long time to reply.

“You gonna come down?” Sam asks as he and Bucky walk through the empty streets of Brooklyn. “Y/N has been asking about you. When you’ll be in Louisiana again.”

Bucky shrugs. “I don’t know. I... I might stay up here.” Bucky answers quietly. He wanted to see you. You had easily become one of his favorite people to talk to, even if you had barely seen each other in person.

Sam snorts. “Come on. The boys want to see you. Sarah. We all loved having you around.” He bumps his shoulder into Bucky’s.

“I won’t be intruding?” Bucky asks softly.

Sam shakes his head. “You know that you won’t, Bucky. I’m not gonna force your hand, but I know she would like to see you as much as you would her.”

“Really?” Bucky tries not to sound too excited by the idea of you asking Sam about Bucky and when he’d be back in Louisiana.

Sam rolls his eyes. “Yeah. She asks about you. Just… Come down for a few days?”

Bucky nods slowly. “Yeah… Okay. I will.”

》

The dock is packed with people. Bucky smiles at the laughter and cheerful screams of the people around him. Crowds weren’t normally his thing, but this town of people loved each other so much he couldn't help but relish in the warmth.

“Bucky! Bucky!” He slips his sunglasses off as Sam’s nephews come rushing towards him excitedly. They throw fake punches and kicks that Bucky dodges before they lead him to the food table.

He places his cake on the edge and stops to look around. He knows he’s searching for you, but he can at least try to be as nonchalant as possible about it.

“You went all out for your dish, huh?” Your voice makes him spin around. You’re behind him with crossed arms and an amused smile on your face. The sun is casting such a beautiful light over you that Bucky is speechless for a moment.

Bucky shrugs. “I didn’t… I’m not much of a chef and I didn’t want to come empty handed.” He explains sheepishly.

You shake your head before moving forward and wrapping your arms around his neck. Bucky immediately responds and wraps his arms around you tightly.

“I’m so happy you came down again.” You whisper to him and pull back to look at him. He smiles sweetly at you. “Me too. It’s nice to see you again.”

You pull completely away, but slide your arm through his and begin to walk with him. “Come meet everyone. I’ve been talking about you non-stop, everyone is so excited to meet you.”

You pull him around and introduce him to friends and family. Your arm never leaves his and that makes Bucky feel extremely warm on the inside. He’s positive he’s going to melt by the time you’re pulling him towards the food.

“Hey!” Sam is the last person you and Bucky find. He’s sitting with Sarah and his nephews as they all eat. “Sit! I’m sure you’re tired of introducing your boyfriend to everyone.”

You and Bucky look away from each other nervously as you take your seats. “Shut up, Sam.” You hiss as you take your seat next to him.

Sam rolls his eyes as he hands over food to you and Bucky. It’s not awkward, but everytime you and Bucky make eye contact he feels his cheeks get warm and you look away with a nervous smile.

“I should head out.” You finally say, picking up the plate in front of you to throw it away on your way out. “Thanks for all this, Sam. Sarah. It was so great to see everyone again.” They nod with bright smiles and your attention focuses on Bucky. “Will you be staying for a while?”

He shrugs, unsure of what to say. “I…I think so. Yeah.” You nod slowly and stand in front of him for a moment like you’re waiting for something before sighing. “Well, I’ll see you later.” You wave before turning and beginning to walk away.

Bucky watches you for a few seconds before turning back to look at the table. Everybody is staring at him with poorly concealed smirks.

“What?” He asks defensively. He takes a sip of his water and they continue to just stare. “Stop staring at me. It’s weird.”

“You better go after her!” Sam shoves his shoulder which makes Bucky choke a little on the water. “She just waited for you to walk her home!”

Bucky begins shaking his head vehemently. “No. No way! She was saying goodbye. To all of us.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Bucky!” Sarah chimes in. “She likes you! She literally introduced you to everyone she cares about today!” There’s a chorus of yeahs from Sam and the boys that has Bucky glaring playfully at them.

“Really? She wanted me to walk her home?” He asks Sam quietly. Sam scoffs. “Yeah, man. So you better start hustling to catch up with her!”

“Shit!” He pushes himself off of the bench. “Okay! I’ll see you guys later!” He calls out with a hasty wave before jogging away from the table.

You can’t have made it far, but if you’ve already left the dock entirely there’s no way he’ll find you. He had no clue where you live or even what direction he would have to go in to find you.

He stops at the entrance of the dock and looks around while huffing out breaths. His eyes catch on your sundress and he smiles. “Y/N!” He calls out, jogging to catch up with you.

“Hey! Wait up!” You pause and turn around to face him. Your eyes light up but you don’t say anything to him as he comes to a stop beside you. “Let me walk you home?” He asks nervously.

Surprise crosses your features before an excited smile takes place. “Okay.” You say softly. “I would love that.” You wrap your hand around his bicep and step closer as the two of you begin to walk.

Bucky appreciates that you seem to be comfortable with talking because the entire twenty minute walk passes quickly with your stories and jokes. By the time the two of you have reached your front door Bucky is trying to come up with a reason to go around the block one more time.

“Thank you for walking me home, Buck.” You say quietly. You cross your arms over your stomach and run one hand up and down the opposite arm. Bucky smiles at you as you speak. “I had a nice time talking to you.”

Bucky stuffs his hands into his pockets and nods. “Me too. I enjoy talking to you. You’re a breath of fresh air.” He admits. It was nice to talk to somebody who wasn’t a part of his old life, who was completely new and who only knew this him, not Bucky from the forties or the winter soldier. Maybe his therapist had been right about needing to talk to more people.

You bite your lip and look off to the side before your eyes find his again. “Thank you. You’re really sweet.”

“Well, I’ll let you go.” Bucky takes a step back from you and your house. The two of you watch one another and Bucky knows he should say something. Ask you on a date. Tell you you’re pretty. He just can’t get the words out.

“Oh, Bucky.” You sigh as your hand wraps around his wrist and pulls him back into you. His left hand immediately lands on your waist in order to steady himself. Before he can apologize or pull it away, you’re leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

He doesn’t respond, unable to with how quickly you lean in and pull away, but you’re smiling sweetly at him. “Ask me out.” You demand softly.

Bucky chuckles. “Do you… Would you want to go on a date with me?” He asks, still a little nervous.

“I would love to.” You wrap your arms around his neck and Bucky lifts his other hand to rest on your waist too. “I can take you to some of my favorite places around town.” You offer and Bucky nods quickly.

Bucky enjoyed Louisiana.

He thinks he may have finally found a home outside of Brooklyn, which was a once upon a memory. Somewhere clean of Steve and a life Bucky would never get back. Somewhere with Sam forging a bond of brotherhood and you building something new with him too.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

notes // i don’t know how some of you write only on your phones it stresses me out so much kudos to you lol hope you liked this short piece, keep an eye out for my other two requests this week!

reblogs and replies are always appreciated if you enjoyed this!