#but i just- fell asleep after doing my daily tasks early

[solomams]

so this was never going to see the light of day but i heard it was princess day and i dozed off before I could draw the thing I actually wanted to post, so here

i am OBSESSED with the classic barbie movies aksjwj the princess and the pauper is my fave one out of all of them, but yeah here's Paula as Annika and Mammon as Aidan that I did a while ago to mess around with coloring

[magicbench]

~*A small update !*~

[copy/paste from KS’s update]

Hello everyone !

How are you doing these days ? Spooky season is past behind us and soon will be the holidays for those who are celebrating.

In the meanwhile, I have some update and a message from Cirro the writer for you :

"Hello everyone! This is an update by Cirro, the writer for Colors of Fate.  Unfortunately the last roughly 2 months have been pretty rough for me, as I contracted Corona in October and dealt with horrible exhaustion as a lasting after-effect, even after I had already recovered from Corona itself. This led to me falling asleep on the couch after work routinely, to the point that anything outside of the most essential tasks, nevermind engaging in fun hobbies like watching shows or playing video games, fell to the wayside. Unfortunately, this included the writing for CoF. I simply did not have the energy to do anything. My life consisted of work, getting home, eating dinner, falling asleep while watching TV on the couch and then going to bed. The weekends were spent on recovery, chores and what little socialising with family and friends I could manage to do.

On top of all of this, my work situation has gotten worse to the point that while all of this was keeping me exhausted and sick, I was (and still am) actively looking for a new full time job. Negative stress like the one I am currently facing daily at work is not something that helped improve my already pretty bad health (due to Corona) overall, and I spent a long time just trying to figure out what my next course of action should be.  The good news is that I am no longer suffering from my Corona after-effects. It took way over a month to recover from them, but I am no longer held back by exhaustion.  And while I have not found a new full time job yet, I have the support of my family and have prepared everything for new job applications, etc.   Since I have a better outlook overall right now, and my health is continuing to improve, I have started writing scenes for CoF again. The goal is still to finish both Teen Phase paths (Maid and Princess) this year. I have hope that I can reach this goal, even if it may only happen at the end of December."

Take care, Cirro ! It's glad to hear you're doing better✿

As for tasks on my side, I'm done writing the french version of the compendium. I'm rewieving it and translating it this week and hopefully I'll be able to take care of all the drawings starting next week. If all goes well, I'll be able to add Cirro's work in the script early January and to finally release the compendium in both french and english toward mid or end of February 2023 ~

And I think that's all for now ! Take care and see you all next time, you got this !✦

Hello tout le monde !

Comment vous allez ces derniers temps ? La saison d'Halloween est derrière nous et ce sera bientôt les Noël pour ceux qui célèbrent.

En attendant, j'ai une mise à jour et un message de Cirro l'écrivaine pour vous :

"Bonjour tout le monde ! Ceci est une mise à jour de Cirro, l'auteure de Colors of Fate. Malheureusement, les deux derniers mois environ ont été assez difficiles pour moi, car j'ai contracté Corona en octobre et j'ai fait face à un horrible épuisement qui a duré, même après avoir déjà récupéré de Corona lui-même. Cela m'a amené à m'endormir régulièrement sur le canapé après le travail, au point que tout ce qui n'était pas des tâches les plus essentielles, sans parler de s'adonner à des passe-temps amusants comme regarder des émissions ou jouer à des jeux vidéo,  a été mis de côté. Malheureusement, cela incluait l'écriture pour CoF. Je n'avais tout simplement pas l'énergie de faire quoi que ce soit. Ma vie consistait à travailler, rentrer à la maison, dîner, m'endormir en regardant la télévision sur le canapé, puis me coucher. Les week-ends ont été consacrés à la récupération, aux tâches ménagères et au peu de socialisation que je parvenais à faire avec ma famille et mes amis.

En plus de tout cela, ma situation de travail s'est aggravée au point que, même si tout cela m'épuisait et me rendait malade, je cherchais (et je suis toujours) activement à la recherche d'un nouvel emploi à temps plein. Le stress négatif comme celui auquel je suis actuellement confrontée quotidiennement au travail n'a dans l'ensemble pas contribué à améliorer ma santé déjà assez mauvaise (due à Corona) dans, et j'ai passé beaucoup de temps à essayer de comprendre quelle devrait être ma prochaine ligne de conduite. La bonne nouvelle est que je ne souffre plus de mes séquelles Corona. Il m'a fallu plus d'un mois pour m'en remettre, mais je ne suis plus ralentit par l'épuisement. Et même si je n'ai pas encore trouvé de nouveau travail à temps plein, j'ai le soutien de ma famille et j'ai tout préparé pour de nouvelles demandes d'emploi, etc. Comme j'ai une meilleure perspective générale en ce moment et que ma santé continue de s'améliorer, j'ai recommencé à écrire des scènes pour CoF. L'objectif est toujours de terminer les deux parcours Teen (Maid et Princesse) cette année. J'ai bon espoir de pouvoir atteindre cet objectif, même si cela n'arrivera qu'à la fin du mois de Décembre."

Prends soin de toi Cirro ! Je suis contente de savoir que tu vas mieux, courage✿

Quant aux tâches dont je m'occupe de mon côté, j'ai fini d'écrire la version française du compendium. Je le relis et le traduis en anglais cette semaine et j'espère pouvoir m'occuper de tous les dessins à partir de la semaine prochaine. Si tout se passe bien, je pourrai ajouter le travail de Cirro dans le script début Janvier et enfin finir et sortir le compendium en français et en anglais vers mi ou fin Février 2023 ~

Et je pense que c'est tout pour le moment ! Prenez soin de vous et à la prochaine ! ✦

[cyborg-franky]

Domestic Day Part 1 -Marco-

I decided for my own enjoyment to do a little series about how a day with X would be like and with their S/O I have a list of people I want to do don't worry! just domestic fluffy headcannons

- Marco is early to rise despite the hours he keeps.

- You are sure he’s only had four hours of sleep, but he refuses to take a day off or even sleep in late.

- He’ll wake before you, letting you stay in bed a little longer.

- Kissing your cheek and mumbling a sweet little something in your ear.

- The phoenix starts every day like this.

- A shower or a quick [bird] bath depending on how he’s feeling.

- Does his daily hygiene things.

- Sometimes you get ready alongside the doctor, standing there brushing your teeth as he shaves. It’s always strange watching him keep his hairstyle maintained.

- He’ll make happy light chatter with you as you both get dressed for the day.

- You sometimes manage to get him to wear something other than his rotation of pink and purple shirts.

- Watching him sit on the bed and tie up his strappy sandals as he goes through what the day looks like from what he could remember in his head.

- Heading out before half the crew are even awake, early bird and all that.

- You can tell Thatch and Marco are close friends from how Marco just walks into the kitchen and asks ‘what’s good’

- Almost every morning Thatch makes a joke about breadcrumbs and seeds.

- Every day Marco still smiles and playfully rolls his eyes at his friend.

- Coffee, toast and sometimes some yoghurt with pineapple chunks is how Marco will start his day.

- You both sit there and enjoy breakfast together, watching the sun climb higher in the morning sky.

- Gentle hand resting on your thigh as he gives you a shake “Time to get to work yoi.” His half-lidded eyes and lopsided smile warm your heart.

- You don’t mind working under the phoenix and honestly, he needs the help.

- He meets with the nurse’s first thing, asking how everyone’s feeling, how they slept, making a few jokes with the women.

- You can tell they adore their commander.

- Passing out tasks and giving orders he’s always fair, Marco never gives out jobs he wouldn’t want to do himself.

- You take a stroll along the deck, first point of the day is to check on Pop’s making sure the old man has had a good breakfast, is well-rested, checking his charts and other things.

- The captain makes a happy conversation with you while playfully teasing or grumpily grumbling about Marco, depending on his mood.

- He repeats this a few times during the day.

- After a morning of appointments, you both grab lunch, the same treatment as breakfast. Marco just slides in the door and helps himself.

- After the last meeting with the nurses, he disbands them for the day and you both have a couple of drinks with the crew.

- Marco works hard and he enjoys his time off.

- He did so much during the day and still seemed to have boundless energy to socialise, you couldn’t tell if it was just Marco’s extroverted nature of the phoenix giving him strength.

- Either way, you are always impressed and slightly jealous.

- You either sat with him until he decided to call it a night or you met him back in the shared bedroom.

- Even though his workday was over he would fix himself [and you if you were happily sat in the big armchair in his office] a nice tea.

- He wasn’t exactly a workaholic he just had problems with sleeping.

- You’d once asked him why he worked so late into the night, and he looked at you with those forever tired eyes, a smile tugging his lips “I never feel that tired and I might as well do something productive while I’m awake yoi” He shrugged his shoulders as he adjusted his glasses.

- You often fell asleep in the chair instead of just meeting him in the bedroom.

- He’d blow out the candle, close the books, stretch all the aches in his body before he gently woke you.

- Both doing your night-time routine together, he might have to help you get changed. Your own body and mind are dogged down by sleep.

- He chuckled when he pulls your shirt over your head, trying to fight your sleepy limbs into your nightshirt.

- He guides you to bed and gets you comfy before he comes in after you, wrapping his arms around you.

- Bless his soul, he tries to chatter to you as you drift asleep.

- Marco is more than happy to talk at you while you drift off to sleep in his arms.

TAG LIST:

@fire-fist-ann @secretsnailor @dxvilmanlev @aifozu @useless-potatho @saisei-no-hano @strawhat-bast @whisplion

@rae-vynn @undercoverweeeb @slut4animedilfs @acesmarigold @sanjithesimp @aces-sweetheart @sugxrslushy @kaizokuwritings @bepoprotectionsquad @iloveportgasdace @thatsprettycoolbro

[lostinthewiind]

Piss Off Your Parents - Part 8

Ukai Keishin - Haikyuu

Synopsis: freshly turned 18, you want to prove to your parents that you aren’t a child for them to push around anymore. First, get a job at the local corner store. Second, use the store owner’s 26-year-old son with piercings and a cigarette addiction to piss your parents off. Third, accidentally fall in love.

Rating: PG13

Warnings: none

Song → 18 by Anarbor

Previous → Part 7

Next → Part 9

Feeling a body shift beside you, you slowly began to wake from your deep, dreamless sleep. With thin rays of sunlight shining through the crack between the curtains, you let a content, sleepy smile toy at the corners of your lips as you rolled over in Keishin's arms and came face to face with his sleeping form.

It had been over a week since you had started staying with Keishin and even though waking up beside someone every morning definitely took some getting used to, you were a little surprised by just how quickly it was beginning to feel normal. Not only that, but you never slept better than you did in Keishin's bed with his warm, calming presence beside you and strong, protective arm draped over your waist.

Eyes closed and lips slightly parted, Keishin was fast asleep. His chest rose and fell rhythmically and at some point during the night, just like every other night, his hair—which wasn't tamed by the headband while he slept—had gotten all messed up and a few strands had fallen into his face.

Whenever you woke up before him, you would always take the chance to just look at him. While he slept, he seemed completely and utterly at peace—no longer burdened by the stress of coaching volleyball, working at the store, and no doubt whatever extra problems you had brought into his life. You thought back to the time you had watched him sleeping on the couch in the back room and sighed happily; the thought of how much things had changed in such a short period of time truly putting things into perspective.

Unable to keep your hands to yourself any longer, you reached out slowly and brushed the loose strands of hair out of his face and tucked them behind his ear—the same way you had done when you two had first had sex and the same way you had done countless times since.

Keishin could sleep through a thunderstorm or the sound of you calling out his name, but as soon as he felt your fingertips graze against his cheek, his eyes fluttered open. Upon noticing he was awake, you made your touch more prominent and caressed his face.

"Good morning," you whispered, unwilling to raise your voice any more than that and ruin the soft ambiance of the early morning.

Keishin leaned into your touch and smiled softly. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," you answered as you ran your thumb along his bottom lip, internally debating if you should ambush him with kisses now or wait until he had woken up a little more first. Chuckling to yourself over your own thoughts, you caught yourself staring at his lips and directed your gaze back to his eyes. "I'm just looking at you."

Keishin scoffed as he pressed a gentle kiss to your thumb. "Why?"

"Because you look so beautiful when you're asleep," you told him matter-of-factly. "Not that you don't always look beautiful," you added quickly before he could make some sort of sarcastic comment.

Keishin rolled his eyes before pulling you flush against his chest and kissing you. "You're such a sap, you know that?"

You laughed. "First, I'm dramatic. Now I'm a sap. What's next?"

"I have no idea." Keishin shrugged the best he could while lying down. "What I do know, however," he glanced at the clock, "is that we need to get up and get ready."

Following Keishin's gaze to the time, you huffed sadly when you noticed there were only five minutes left until your alarm would go off, forcing you to get ready to open the store. "Can't we just stay in bed all day?" you asked, hoping you could convince him to stay under the covers with you.

"Not unless we want to go broke and end up living under a bridge together."

You chuckled as Keishin crawled out of bed, the temptation of slapping his ass gently when he stood up almost too much but you managed to control yourself. "Together?" You grinned. "You'd stay with me even if we were both dirt poor?"

Keishin rolled his eyes playfully at your takeaway from his statement. "Of course." He collected his clothes before making his way around to your side of the bed and pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. "But I think I like plumbing and heating too much to give them up, so let's shower and get ready."

Sitting up in bed, you cocked an eyebrow. "You want to shower together?"

Keishin flashed a devilish smirk as he headed for the bathroom. "Purely for the purpose of saving water." He disappeared into the bathroom and seconds later his boxers flew out and landed on the floor, indicating he was completely nude. "But if you hate the planet, then I guess that's on you."

Your cheeks flushed red but nevertheless, you swung your legs over the side of the bed and began removing your clothes as you approached the bathroom. "Sure," you laughed as you closed the bathroom door behind yourself and let your eyes wander over Keishin's wet, naked body as he stood under the steaming water. "If it's for the planet, how could I possibly say no?"

20 minutes of passionate kissing and soapy hands exploring every inch of each other's body later, the two of you towelled off and finished getting ready before sitting down for a quick breakfast together.

"So the volleyball team has a game today, right?" you asked Keishin as you poured milk into your bowl of cereal. Keishin nodded. "What time do you think you will be home?"

Keishin thought for a moment before answering. "Probably around six or seven tonight. The game is right after school so it shouldn't run too late."

"Okay." You sat down across from him at the table. "Should we get dinner after I close up the shop?"

Keishin nodded again. "Sounds like a plan."

With a few more bites of his breakfast, Keishin was setting his dishes in the sink, pressing a quick kiss to the top of your head, and rushing down the stairs and out of the building to start his day.

As you listened to his footsteps stomp down the stairs, followed by the sound of the back door opening and closing to indicate that he had left, you sighed to yourself and sat back in your chair. It was then that you took a minute to think about everything; your job, your boyfriend, your living arrangements, your tattered relationship with your parents. In the span of a few months, your life had completely turned upside down, but that wasn't the part that freaked you out the most.

What really got you thinking was the fact that, even though your life had done a complete 180, you had never been happier; which led to the constant internal questioning about if you had ever really been happy before you had met Keishin at all, or if this was just a different kind of happy—a happy that only a stable, supportive significant other could provide.

Before you had the chance to get lost in your thoughts, you snapped out of it, finished your breakfast, and headed downstairs to open the shop and begin your day.

As usual, you dealt with the typical morning rush of people stopping in to grab a coffee or other various food items on their way to work or school. Once the mid-morning slump hit and the customer traffic went way down, you took the time to do some routine cleaning and inventory. By now, you were like a well-oiled machine when it came to the daily task of running the store.

Around noon, as you were finishing up stocking some shelves, the front door opened and a very well-dressed man strolled into the store. "Hello," you greeted him, standing from where you were kneeling in front of the shelves and dusting off your pants.

The man gave you a once over, eyeing you from head to toe. Without so much as an acknowledging nod, he brushed past you and toward the full-length fridges at the back.

Assuming the man just wasn't in a chatty mood, you took the empty boxes to the storage room. When you exited, the man was already standing at the front counter, impatiently tapping his foot while he held two bottles of water in his hands.

"Sorry for the wait," you apologized. "Just the waters today?"

The man just nodded and let out a grunt.

Trying not to take his dismissive attitude too seriously, you rang up his purchases and gave him the total. Instead of pulling out his wallet, however, he just gave you a dirty look.

"That's a little expensive for two bottles of water, don't you think?" he retorted.

You didn't know what to say to that, so you shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't make the prices, sir," you told him. "I just work here."

Huffing loudly, the man fished his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out some bills before tossing them haphazardly onto the counter. "Fine. Don't forget my change."

Before you could open the cash register, the front doors opened again and a woman dressed in a beautiful dress with her hair done up elegantly walked in and stopped beside the man before you. "Have you paid yet?" she asked the man, who was either her boyfriend or husband based on the way she was hanging off of his arm. "I just realized I'm out of cigarettes."

"I'm just paying now," he told her, his face softer than you had seen it yet before he turned back to you and asked for the brand of cigarettes that his partner smoked.

Spinning around, you felt your stomach twist at the sight of the empty dispenser of cigarettes, meaning that you were out of the brand he had requested. Of course, the delivery for that day hadn't come in yet, making your job even harder right now.

Plastering the warmest smile on your face that you could muster, you turned back to the couple. "I apologize, but we are all out of that brand. Can I get you something else?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "No, everything else tastes like garbage."

"I see." You stepped back up to the cash register. "So just the waters then?"

The man nodded. "I guess so if your shitty little store doesn't even stock up on popular brands of cigarettes." He watched you intently as you opened the register and counted his change. "I knew we should have stopped somewhere other than this hole in the wall."

As much as you so desperately wanted to rip this man and his spoiled girlfriend a new one, you bit your tongue instead and grinned as you handed him back his change. "Here you are." You dropped the coins into his outstretched hand. "Have a wonderful day."

Neither one of them said anything in response as they turned on their heels and marched out of the store, noses turned up at everything around them. As you watched them get into their fancy car and speed away, you wondered if they treated everyone like that or just lowly corner store workers like yourself.

Trying to let the incident slide off of you like water off of a duck's back, you returned to the remaining tasks on your to-do list and tried to forget all about being treated like a second-class citizen.

As the day turned to late afternoon and the after-school and after-work rush hit, you had found your way back into your groove again.

An hour or so before closing time, and roughly around the time Keishin would be returning, you heard a pair of heels clacking against the tile floor and stood up front behind the counter only to come face-to-face with your mother. Dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse, it was obvious she had just come from work, but your attention was more focused on the envelope she was holding out to you.

"This came for you the other day." She didn't even bother with a simple greeting even though it had been weeks since you had seen or spoken to her or your father.

"Oh, okay." You reached out and took the envelope from her. Turning it over, you felt your heart jump into your throat when you read that it was from the University of Tokyo.

You looked up at your mother expectantly but she waved you off. "Don't ask me what it says, I didn't open it," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "Why didn't you tell your father and me that you applied to the University of Tokyo? It's a very good school."

"Because I didn't do it for you," you said as you tucked the envelope into your back pocket. "And I certainly didn't do it to go to law school or anything you guys would approve of."

Your mother narrowed her eyes at you. "Then why did you do it?"

"To play soccer," you answered, your mind immediately going to the conversation you had had with Keishin while taking inventory together. "And because I told someone I would."

Your mother eyed you for a minute more, waiting to see if you would reach for the envelope again to open it. When you made no indication of sharing your application results with her, she hummed softly. "Well, whatever that letter says, you should take some time to seriously consider what your next step is going to be." She turned to leave but stopped halfway to the door and looked at you over her shoulder. "It's not too late to make the right choice. Think carefully before you throw your life away."

With that, your mother exited the store, leaving you with a mixed slurry of emotions and no clue how to deal with any of them.

Pulling the envelope out of your back pocket, you set it down on the counter in front of you and stared at it. Whatever was printed on the single piece of paper inside would set a course for your future . . . although you were unsure if you even still wanted the future that this piece of paper could give you.

All you wanted was to be happy, and all you knew was that Keishin gave you that.

Anything more felt like asking for too much.

Anything more felt like a gamble that wasn't worth the risk.

[shijjii]

5 alarms that woke Chad up and 1 that didn't

Pretty self explanatory, noh?

(also, Chad has three siblings, two siblings that are two years older than him (twins, Fynn and Esi) and a sister younger than him by one year only (Adia), and he has two mothers Brianna Johnsons and Aimee Danforth (Fynn, Esi and Adia are Brianna's children) wow this is a long explanation I'm so sorry, please enjoy this thing)

One; cookies and lavenders

Sophomore year was something that he was supposed to enjoy, or at least, that's what his older siblings had told him.

Chad groaned as he sat by the window and waited for someone to sit beside him. Troy was somewhere near his dad, it was Mrs. Bolton's request that her baby boy not be separated from his father while travelling, so Chad was left to his own device, sitting by himself in the bus, looking outside the window as if he's in a movie

The others were already paired off when Troy told him his mother's request, making Chad unable to ask anyone else to sit with him

"you okay there, man?" he looks up to see Zeke standing from behind him. He was paired with Jason, who was already catching his sleep. It was way too early in the morning to even be awake but he did not complain as he knew how long the trip would be

"yeah, man. Just a little bummed, I guess?" Zeke hummed, disappearing into his seat for a moment and popped up once more with a Tupperware in hand "here, help yourself with these. I-Mom made it last night for me" Chad stared at it and took the container from his teammate's hand, thanking him before settling down as the bus started to move

He was too focused eating the cookies that he didn't notice someone sitting beside him until someone elbowed him due to the fact that the person beside him was almost tangled up with his bag

"oh, sorry" Chad looks up to see Ryan Evans, adjusting his lavender newsboy cap

"ish okay" he replies, mouth filled with cookies, Ryan was almost out of the bag's grip on him but he made one mistake and all of a sudden, it seemed like he was back to square one, making him click his tongue in annoyance. Chad settled the cookies in his lap and helped the boy out of his misery

"thanks" once the bag was now on the floor, Ryan thanked him and Chad just quietly hummed as he stared at Ryan and his lavender cap and lavender pants. He looked at the container in his hands before offering some to Ryan, who smiled and took one. He thanked Chad once more before Chad decided he had enough of the cookies and rest his head on the window to catch some sleep

He woke up when something was ringing and vibrating underneath his butt, groggily looking for whatever that was, he finds a phone that was definitely not his, he turns off the alarm and looks at Ryan who was asleep, with his arms crossed and head facing up the ceiling as his newsboy cap covered his face

Chad also noticed that he was shivering slightly and took off his jacket to put it on the boy, adjusting it a couple of times so that it won't fall off, he had to tuck in some of thr fabric and smiled to himself once he was satisfied with it

looking at the phone that was in his hand, he wasn't sure where he'll put it so he puts it inside the pocket of his jacket, hoping that Ryan will notice the phone once he wakes up

Two; illegal

Chad was waiting for Taylor to finish her daily 'light' reading in the library, he didn't really have anything else to do since Troy was off canoodling with his girlfriend

he made an impatient noise once more, making Taylor put her book down "if you don't want to read then just sleep" he looks at her for some time before deciding that she was right. He can just take a nap, so he made himself comfortable and crossed his arms, tilting his head down and closing his eyes. Tuning out the quiet chatter of some students who were discussing the theory of general relativity

He was startled awake as he hears a loud ring from somewhere inside the library, Taylor was almost finished with her reading when she too, was startled by the loud ring

"what the heck" she mumbles under her breath as she looks at the source of the noise, only to see Ryan scrambling to look for his phone to turn off the alarm

He was hatless and one side of his face was red, there were outlines on that side making chad presume that the boy had fallen asleep with his head on the table

The way Ryan rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and look for his fedora that fell on the floor when he was woken up by the alarm was doing things to Chad, and he didn't mind being suddenly woken up if the view was like that

"keep staring and he might melt" Taylor smirked at Chad as she closed her book, he huffs out in annoyance "let him melt then, it's illegal to look that good when you've just woken up" Taylor lets out a breathy laugh and stand up "come on, lover boy. Gabriella just texted me, saying that Troy's looking for you"

They both make their way out of the library, completely unaware of the eyes that trailed after Chad's back

Three; dreams don't count, but if it feels real...

The face Ryan had after he saw the enormous amount of collection of DVDs in their living room was amusing and cute, he had invited the boy over to watch some recorded musicals and Ryan said he'll bring some over, not expecting to see tons of playbills and DVDs. Chad explained to him that his mothers, Aimee and Brianna were quite the theater nerds themselves

The musical that they were watching was long finished and Chad had said something about Troy that just made the blonde burst out laughing, holding his stomach with his hands as he bent over. Chad laughed along with him, but he did not let this opportunity to look at Ryan go to waste. He just stared at Ryan, laughing with him, in hopes to not get caught. The way that the sun shine on him through the window made him look like an angel

After Ryan had calmed down, Chad only noticed how close they were together. He looked at the bright cerulean eyes that seemed to shimmer as the setting sun disappeared into the horizon through the open window

Chad doesn't know who leaned in first but the next thing he knew was that Ryan's lips were on his-

RING RING RING

Chad groaned and opened his eyes. He was just having a good dream when his alarm blared out through his room

"fucking-" he sat up and annoyingly stopped the alarm on his phone. As he sat on his bed in the quiet room, he thought back to his dream and smiled as he remembers the last part before he was rudely woken up by his alarm

"Chad!" snapping out of his trance, he hears Brianna call for him for breakfast

"coming, ma!" he shouted, finally getting up and fixing his bed quickly before making his way downstairs where he hears his mothers and sistsr, singing along with a song that he knows Ryan had sung once under his breath

sitting down on the table, ignoring his family's singing, he had a smile on his lips while his thoughts were filled of Ryan's face and laugh. Ever since the baseball game, Ryan would invade Chad's head at any point in time and it would sometimes get annoying because he can't focus but honestly, it was better than anything else

"mooom, Chad is smiling creepily at the table" Chad snapped out of his trance and kicked his younger sister under the table

"mom, ma, Adia is being offensive" Adia lets out a dramatic gasp and sets her spoon down with a slight thump "what?! I'm not offensive!"

"your face is offensive!"

"alright children, settle down" Aimee said with a snort and put down the food on the table, then they discussed that next week both mothers will have to travel to Chicago to visit their older siblings

Four; let the nightmare pass

Chad asked Mrs. Darbus for a quick break time as he was tired, he was surprised that she allowed an hour of break time. He had not slept very well yesterday night as his mothers got into a car crash. They were lucky that Brianna did not have any major injury but Aimee was the unfortunate between the two mothers as she has a broken arm and a couple broken ribs

the jock lays down in between the seats at the back, not even caring if someone sees him there, he just wanted to sleep somewhere quiet and far away from people. He set a quick alarm on his phone and laid there quietly

with his eyes closed, he thought how were his mothers doing? Were his mom doing okay? Did they eat? And if so, did they eat enough? Was Adia doing okay? He was sure that she was just as sleepy as he was feeling right now but how was she feeling? Was she scared? Of course she's scared, it's their mothers

and before Chad could even worry more, his mind and body has shut down

Ryan was tasked to search for Chad as they were going to start their rehearsal again, he searched every part of the theater for him, only to see the jock laying down at the very back, in between the seats and it was pretty obvious that he was having a nightmare, with the way he was twitching, the way his face would scrunch up and the occasional whimpers that he'd let out

Chad looked very vulnerable to Ryan at that time, he heard from his mother that they shouldn't wake up a person who's having nightmares, you have to let it pass. So he gently raises Chad's head and puts him on his lap, softly pushing his curls away from his forehead and with his other hand, he held Chad's, hoping that the nightmare will go away with the soothing actions that he was doing, not even noticing that he himself was falling asleep

They were both woken up with the alarm that Chad had set, Chad felt something quickly raise his head, a small thud and a sharp intake of breath

He opened his eyes to see Ryan's eyes tightly shut, holding the back of his head with one hand, he had his lips pursed. Quickly turning off the alarm, he then focused on Ryan

"what happened?" Chad rasped out, slowly sitting up and noticed that they were holding hands. He gently squeezed it to get Ryan's attention "I was so startled by the alarm that I hit the back of my head on the chair" Chad snorted and used his free hand to gently caress the back of his head as if it will relieve the pain

Ryan subconsciously leans into Chad's hand and softly smiled at his attempt, he feels Chad's hand carefully move from the back of his head to his cheek and he finally opened his eyes to scan the jock's face "you still look tired" Chad slightly opened his mouth to say that he was fine but closed it when he realized he didn't have to hide anything from Ryan

He smiled and put his forehead on Ryan's, closing his eyes "I am. Stay here for a little while, so I can recharge and everything will be okay again" he hears the blonde hum and lay his hand on top of Chad's, sitting there in the comfortable silence between them.

Five; apologies for the intrusion

Chad slowly opens his eyes as he reached out to his phone that was ringing, he looks at the time and sees that it was nearing the time to attend the last graduation party. They've already graduated and Troy was hosting one last party for their batch before they all go their own ways

Before Chad could even think of sleeping more, a message from Troy came in then suddenly his phone rang with Ryan's name

he dismissed the text message and quickly answered the call "what's up?"

"I had a feeling that you're going to sleep more so I've taken the liberty to come to your house right now and give you a ride to the Bolton's"

"what?" Chad sat up and made his way to his door but then he hears Ryan knock the same time someone knocked on their door

"Coming!" he hears his ma, Brianna, shout and walk to the front door

"wait, ma!-" too late, Brianna had already opened the door, looking at Ryan who was smiling brightly at her, phone still up to his ear

"oh!" Ryan's smile turned into a grin, he did a curtsy and said in his most posh accent

"Apologies for the intrusion, Madame. I'm Ryan Evans, I'm here to take lord Chad to lord Troy's party" Chad groaned as he ended the call and made his way down, he sees Ryan's amused expression, he was assuming that his hair was a mess and he did not care one bit that Ryan saw him like this if he get to see that amused cheshire smile on the blonde's face

"so this is Ryan Evans?" Brianna asked, smiling at the blonde who was standing by the door

"yes, ma. This is Ryan" Brianna opened her arms and hugged the boy, thoroughly surprising him "I've heard so much about you! Come in, come in" she ushers the blonde inside their home, Ryan regained his composure and followed Brianna inside

"Aimee can't greet you since she's resting right now"

"that is completely fine by me, I'm the guest and unannounced too, you don't have to inconvenience yourself because of me" Brianna chuckles "I like him" she points at Ryan and grins at Chad who was rubbing his face

"alright, you two go and get to know each other. I'll just get ready" he mumbles under his breath, waving his hand and not even looking at the two who was beaming at him as he make his way back upstairs

As he goes back downstairs, fresh out of the shower with a new set of clothes, he sees Ryan and Brianna talking about musicals and theater, quietly leaning on the wall as he observed the two talk in a quick manner. Chad just can never get enough of Ryan

Ryan finally notices him and stopped, smiling at Chad "you ready?" Chad nodded, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and bid her goodbye

"take care of my son" Brianna says and waves them goodbye as Chad and Ryan get into the blue convertible

"so what did you two talk about?" Ryan chuckled under his breath, as he put up the hood of the car and closed the windows as it looked like it was about to rain "you ask as if you didn't listen in our conversation"

"yeah, but I wanna hear you talk. More so, I want to hear you talk about it because I know you two talked about musicals and that makes you excited" he sees as the tips of Ryan's ears turn red and started to talk about what he and Brianna discussed. He liked making Ryan blush, he liked it more when he sees him excited over something and happy

Ryan finally parked near by the Boltons and looked at Chad who was staring at him with love and adoration, there was a soft smile on his lips as he raise an eyebrow at the thespian

"nothing" Ryan said as he shook his head, answering the unspoken question

"sure?" Chad asked, Ryan hummed in response, there was a long comfortable silence between them, they were just staring at each other as if it was a competition but then Ryan made the mistake of looking at Chad's lips, and all of a sudden he leaned it. When he realized midway that he was going in for a kiss that may or may not destroy his friendship with someone he really got along so well, he decided to kiss Chad on the cheek

"you missed" the jock said, he managed to sound teasingly and breathless at the same time and that did things to Ryan

"did I? Where should I have kissed you?" he smirked at him, both eyes were challenging each other

"here" Chad whispered and leaned in, giving Ryan a kiss on the lips. They both sigh in relief, Ryan's hands snake up to Chad's arm, gently squeezing it, slightly opening his mouth, kissing Chad Danforth was not something he expected to be doing but his whole body felt like it was on fire and Ryan deepened their kiss more, making Chad groan

Before they can even do anything else, someone knocks on the window of the car making the two slightly part away from each other and Ryan click his tongue in annoyance

"later?" Chad asked, not really letting go of Ryan

"later" Ryan smiled and gave him a quick kiss before they made their way out of the car to greet Sharpay (she's the one who knocked on the window) and Zeke

+One; my knight

there was a ringing in the room, making him sigh and quickly turn off the alarm. Finally opening his eyes, he scanned the room that he has been sleeping in for the past six years. His eyes landed on the body that laid beside him, breathing slowed and relaxed, lips slightly agape and both their hands were intertwined. The two golden bands on their ring fingers glinted in the morning sun that was peaking through their curtains

Ryan smiled as he caressed Chad's cheek and sat up so he can become more awake. He remembers the day that Chad gave him a promise ring back in 2012, doing a wedding vow because they knew it wasn't legal to get married yet, and when they both proposed to each other back in 2015 when same sex marriage was finally legalized then got married in 2016, Ryan thought that getting into Juilliard was a happiness that cannot be replaced by any other, but now, with his memories with Chad, waking up beside him, were memories that Ryan will never get tired of.

Chad groans and snuggles closer to Ryan's body warmth, he can't believe that this man has stayed with him for thirteen years and that they're married for six years now.

the door of their room slowly opens and two children popped their heads in, Amara and Aidan Danforth-Evans blinked at Ryan in surprise. Clearly not expecting for their father to be already awake

Ryan smiled at them and motioned for them to come into the bed with him and Chad

Aidan quietly moved but Amara had different plans as she ran and jumped on Chad's sleeping figure, making both Aidan and Ryan snort

Chad made a sound as if he was dying "oh nooo, the horrible horrible monster has me! My knight, save me" Chad rasped, reaching out to Ryan

"you can save yourself"

"hey!" they all laugh at their antics, Chad maneuvers himself and had Amara up on his shoulder as he stood up from the bed

Aidan was now trying to save his twin sister from the horrible dragon as Ryan just watched them from the bed. If someone asked him thirteen years ago where he sees himself in the future, he'll probably say that he'll be alone and happy, dedicating his time and life to work

If someone told him that he'd get to marry his long time crush, Chad Danforth and get to take care of two adorable little monkeys, he'd probably laugh at them and tell them they were crazy

But looking at the scene that was unfolding in front of him, the way Chad slowly went down to the ground with equal amounts of drama, and the twins laughing at him, Ryan would not trade this for anything in the world. It was not something he had foreseen in his teenage years but it was definitely better than anything

[diegos-butt]

Electricity Chapter 1

Summary: For the first time in her life, Melody Williams is moving out of her hometown to Minnesota where she got a job as a crime journalist for the Minnesota Daily. But this city does not only have a new job for her to offer. What will happen when she crosses paths with detective Walter Marshall? Heads up, a little electricity is involved ✨

Walter Marshall x Melody Williams (curvy OFC)

Warnings: none

Wordcount: 2.5k

A/N: So, I wrote something for the first time 👀 Pls be kind haha. This is written with a plus size/curvy OFC in mind because all my curvy babes, like me, deserve some love 😘 

“Thanks for calling me. I will call you back with my decision soon.” I hung up the phone and stared at it in my hand. A woman from the newspaper in the city a few towns over had just called, telling me they were offering me a job at their crime department. I sat at my desk at my current job, a local journalist for my hometown newspaper. I started working there during college and they offered a job after I finished. I happily accepted, because that meant I could move out of my lovely parents’ house and start my own life.

As I sat at my desk I realized I had never really left this town, and I had always fantasized what it would be like to live and work in a different town. I loved my hometown, don’t get me wrong, but it is small and everyone knows each other. Every day is basically the same here. Miss Johnson walks her dog at exact 3pm, the Millers go to the supermarket at 4pm to buy dinner and the whole town eats at Al’s diner every Sunday.

Also, the men in this town aren’t something to write home about. The decent men are taken by the perfect housewives and the ones who are left, are the type of guys who you don’t want to meet in a dark alley. And unfortunately, no nice men have decided to move here in the last couple of years. The only guy I dated (we were only together for a couple of months) decided I wasn’t good enough and eloped with a pretty, skinny blonde bitch.

While the town doesn’t seem to change, neither does my job. I have been covering the local news for a couple of years now, and it feels like I have been doing the same thing over and over again. Nothing really happens here, and honestly it makes me feel stuck at my job. I feel like my job and this place aren’t helping me to move further. I want to learn more and see something else than this town.

Still staring at the phone in my hand realization washed over me. This was my way out. This phone call could change everything. Not thinking twice, I called the woman (I had forgotten her name, Stacy apparently) back telling her I was accepting their offer. This was my chance of starting something new.

In the weeks after the call, I quit my job and started looking for a new place. Luckily, I found a cosy, affordable apartment. Not too big, not too small. Perfect for me and only me. Not wanting to wait, I moved in quickly with the help of my parents and made the place feel a little like home.

It was a cute apartment with one bedroom and a tiny kitchen. I had everything I needed. A comfy couch, my kettle, my books, a tv for my binge-watching nights and lots of cosy blankets and throw pillows.

After moving in and settling down, I finally had a chance to decorate the place with a lot of fairy lights and plants. I stood in the middle of the living area, wiping some sweat of my face after moving around some heavy plants. Yeah, this is starting to look like home. I thought as I looked around the living area, satisfied with the work I did.

I sat down on my couch and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 8pm. I was tired and hadn’t eaten yet. Tomorrow was my first day at the Minnesota Daily and I couldn’t wait. I was a little nervous, but because I was so tired, I didn’t have the energy to be too nervous or to make dinner.

I decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich and go to bed early. Tomorrow was the first day of a new start and I needed to look good. Might need a full 12 hours of sleep if I want to look a little decent, I thought to myself as I stared into the mirror and noticed my messy hair and the bags under my eyes.

After I ate my ‘dinner’ (I decided two grilled cheese sandwiches counted as dinner), I went to my bedroom and picked an outfit for tomorrow. A simple jeans and a baby blue blouse would do it. Afterwards I brushed my teeth and removed my make up. I put on my pyjamas and fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.

After parking my car in the parking garage underneath the building the Minnesota Daily is located, I checked my make up one last time in the rear-view mirror. No uneven eyebrows and no smudges of mascara. Let’s go make a good first impression.

I stepped out of the car and grabbed my purse. I walked out of the parking garage and made my way to the front desk where I was greeted by a friendly older looking receptionist.

“Hi, I’m Melody! It is my first day here and I was told to ask for Stacy,” I said.

“Welcome dear! I’ll let Stacy know you’re here! She’ll be here in a sec,” she said with a smile. I nodded and looked around. People were walking in and out of the building, most of them talking on the phone. They all looked like they were in a rush.

Stacy appeared within a minute. She was taller than me, and I’m not exactly tiny, and her long brown hair was tied up in a bun. She walked towards me with her hand reached out and I quickly took it.

“Hi, you must be Melody! I’m Stacy, but everyone calls me Stace. Come, follow me, I’ll show you where we will be working!” she said while we walked to the elevator. While the elevator brought us to the 8th floor, she asked me how my new apartment was and if I liked the city. Before I knew it, the elevator reached the 8th floor.

“Everyone, pay attention! This is Melody and she will be joining our department as you all know,” Stacy practically yelled the second we left the elevator. I already saw some friendly faces looking at me. “Hi, I am Melody, but please call me Mel,” I said while Stacy walked over to a desk and started to introduce me to my new co-workers.

After I met everyone from the crime department, I made my way towards my new desk. Everyone seemed friendly and there was a relaxed atmosphere. Which was a little surprising to me considering this was the crime department. I looked around and thought: yeah, I made the right call to accept this offer.

Yet, I had no idea what this town had to offer me. Or better said, who.

In the first week I worked there I became friends with some of my co-workers. Carmen Garcia practically forced me to go to lunch with her and Gia Park on my first day. They had both been working at the Minnesota Daily for a couple of years now and they were one of the few women in the department. So, they were glad I was recruited to give them another ally in the office.

While we had lunch, they informed me about everything I needed to know. “You seriously need to stay away from creepy Greg, he works for the finance section. Make sure you never go down there alone. He always looks at women like he wants to drag them into an empty alley,” Gia said while pretending to throw up.

“Oh, he is the worst! But Megan, the receptionist, is the best ever. She is so sweet and kind. If you ever need anything, just ask her and she will help you,” Carmen added.

“Definitely! And if you ever need free tickets for a sports game, just let me know and we will visit the guys from the sport section,” Gia told me with a wink.

“I will keep all of this in mind,” I said while taking a sip from my cappuccino. “but tell me something about yourselves!”

Next thing I knew Carmen and Gia told me where they grew up, where they went to school and how they ended up working for the Minnesota Daily. I noticed how easy it was to talk to these girls and we had a good laugh while they told me about their most recent dating disasters. I nearly spilled my cappuccino not once or twice, but thrice while Carmen told me about how she escaped from one of her dates through the bathroom window.

During my first week I spend a lot of time with them. I helped them finish their articles and I got to know them pretty well. Carmen is tough, but sweet and straightforward, while Gia is soft and has a very short span of attention while working. She has visited my desk every half hour just to “catch up”. But I didn’t complain. It was nice to have them as my co-workers, although they began to feel more like friends.

It felt like my life fell into place again. I was making new friends, and I did a pretty good job so far.  Still, sometimes I forgot to do basis tasks like getting groceries. So now I was parking my car in the parking lot of the grocery store.

As soon as I stepped out, I felt the cold chilly air around me, making me pull my leather jacket closer around my body. Hastily I stepped through the doors of the store just a few minutes before they would close. Quickly I grabbed a basket, knowing I should grab a cart, and started to walk through the aisles.

It was quiet inside, just a few people were doing some last-minute shopping like me. I waved hello to the woman at the cash register as I made my way to the first aisle.

So just the basics, some bread, apples, veggies, chocolate. Hmm maybe no chocolate. Okay yes, some chocolate. I deserve it today. What else, milk and cereal obviously. Girl gotta eat some breakfast. I thought as I threw some products in my already way too full basket and made my way to the cereal aisle. I walked passed the apples and picked some up, holding them in my hands.

Walking through the aisle I stopped in front of the many boxes of cereal. Above me I noticed a flickering lightbulb, reminding me I still needed to watch the last episode of Stranger Things. Maybe I should watch it tonight.

Staring at all the different kinds of cereal, I couldn’t decide which one I wanted. After a minute of just staring at the boxes lost in my own world, I grabbed one.

Except, I suddenly wasn’t the only one. Quickly I turned around and bumped into a warm, broad chest which made me drop the apples I was carrying. “Oh shit,” I whispered before I looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen and stared at the man. He had a beard and dark, brown curls. One of the curls dangled in front of his eyes and I had to fight the urge to not wipe it out of his face.

“It didn’t look like you were going to make a decision soon, so I just grabbed the one I wanted,” he said while crouching down to pick up the fallen apples.

“Oh no, no it’s fine,” I stammered, completely overwhelmed by him. “I guess I was zoned out there for a moment.”

While he was picking up the apples, I decided to take a quick look at him. He was a tall, big man wearing a dark blue sweater. Damn it, he is gorgeous. Don’t mind bumping into him more often.. no don’t go there, pull yourself together! I thought as I felt my cheeks burning all of a sudden. I couldn’t even remember the last time I talked to a man this handsome. Get it together Mel.

As he stood up and handed me the apples, I noticed how tired he looked. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, making me wonder when it was the last time he had a decent amount of sleep. Or if he ever had a decent night of sleep.

“Thank you for picking these up,” I said while holding up the apples, making them almost fall again. His reflexes were fast as he grabbed my elbow, helping me keep the apples balanced. The warmth of his hand made my legs suddenly feel a little weak.

“No problem,” he chuckled tiredly making me smile a little. “Maybe you should have gotten a cart instead of a basket, might be easier,” he said while still holding onto my elbow. He pointed with his other hand to my basket that was way too full.  

“You are probably right, but my stubborn ass thought I could carry it all, so here we are,” I answered with a timed laugh, feeling a little embarrassed. He looked at me with those blue eyes and I noticed he had a “don’t mess with me” vibe, that somehow made me feel safe.

As I looked at his hand on my elbow, I suddenly became aware of how close he was. I could smell his musky cologne. He noticed I looked at his hand, and he abruptly let go of me while taking a step back. I immediately missed the warmth of his hand.

“I, uh, I need to go. Take care and don’t drop those again,” he told me with a small smile pointing at the apples in my hands. He grabbed his own basket and started to walk away. As he walked away, I took a good look of him. He was a very muscular man, and I took a mental picture of his ass because that was a sight I did not want to forget. I must tell Carmen and Gia about this.

“I can’t promise that, but I will try my hardest,” I laughed, knowing I would probably drop them again soon. “See you around?” I asked him. Surprised by my own boldness I nearly sank through the floor out of embarrassment.

He looked back at me with those beautiful blue eyes and I felt a spark of electricity going through my spine. “I hope so,” he said with a smirk before he shook his head and turned the corner leaving me speechless in the cereal aisle.

I stood there for another minute while coming back to my senses. My cheeks stopped burning and I realized I had not embarrassed myself that much. I smiled to myself and pictured the smirk he gave me in my head. Then the announcement that the store was about to close in a few minutes blared through the speakers, reminding me I still had to collect some groceries.

Quickly I grabbed the rest of the groceries and headed towards the cash register hoping to see him one more time. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found.

I paid for the groceries and walked to my car. Loading the groceries in the trunk I nearly dropped the apples again. Told you, I thought while closing the trunk. It was getting dark and colder outside so I wasted no more time and drove home.

While driving home I realized the mistake I made.

Damn, I should’ve asked his name.

•••

> Chapter two

Taglist: @keanureevesisbae

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[secretly-a-cold-blooded-murderer]

Five Thousand Miles

Warning: Angst, descriptions of covid patients’ suffering, hospitals

A/n: I researched a lot about what covid patients go through in a hospital and their treatments but still took a couple creative liberties so I apologise if the descriptions aren’t accurate. Do tell me how you liked it!

Summary: Y/n tests positive for covid-19 and has to be hospitalised. Her boyfriend, Harry is five thousand miles away from her.

“Harry, I’m scared,” Y/n confessed as she readied herself, struggling with wearing her mask and gloves while also balancing her phone to continue talking to her boyfriend on FaceTime.  

“It’ll be alright, you are taking every precaution you can. Plus, you have to get out of the house sometime, you can’t survive on air alone. Trust me, baby, you can do this.”

Harry’s voice was keeping her grounded, she wanted to continue talking to him but knew it would be impossible to shop and talk to him at the same time, so she nodded at him, “You’re right. Okay, I’ll call you when I get back. Safely.”

Taking a deep breath, she went out the door to a world of germs, people, and newly acquired viruses.

Being in the middle of a pandemic alone wasn’t her favourite situation to be in. It felt better when she had company, people who would help her buy the essentials. As soon as situations eased up a bit, her quarantine partners left New York to be with their families. She was all alone now.  

Looking at all the empty streets, Y/n was left with a weird sensation. The city that never slept had never been quieter. She was so used to being woken up by car horns and car alarms in the morning that during the first few weeks of lockdown, she found it hard to wake before noon. This quiet was almost poetic, like the stuff of post-apocalyptic films. Y/n wasn’t sure if the silence comforted her or terrified her.

There were more people in the store than she had expected, though all in their masks, she breathed in relief. She went straight to the personal hygiene section, remembering the most important item on her list, only to find that the store was all out of toilet papers, the one thing films didn’t guess would be a big problem. She rolled her eyes at the selfish people who had panic-bought more stuff than they would have needed.

She tried every store near her neighbourhood, and eventually was able to get the last set in the final shop she visited. Tired from driving all over the city in search of toilet papers, she went to the check-out line to finally buy her stuff. 

Standing in her place, Y/n noticed the people in the store, few whose foreheads were furrowed, their eyes darting around making sure they were maintaining the mandated distance from others, panic evident on their mask-covered faces. Some others appeared plain bored. Already used to the new routine and just wanting to get it over with. 

She was so lost her observations, she almost didn’t hear it, the woman behind her in the line coughed loudly, making people jump farther apart than the required six feet.

“It’s just allergies,” the woman announced in a nasal voice, rolling her eyes at people’s reaction. 

As Y/n’s turn came at the check-out counter, she found herself frozen to the ground, she didn’t know why but the cough threw her off. It felt weird to react the way she did, but she could not make herself move. She was nervous. She wanted to laugh at herself for feeling this way because of a measly cough, but it wasn’t so simple and right now all she felt was fear.

“Oh for god’s sake,” the woman moved forward, pushing her aside and placed her items at the counter. Even the employee there seemed wary, but knew he had to comply to keep his job.

It was only after the woman left, was Y/n finally able to move, she shook her head as if to shake the incident away from her mind and finally paid for her items.

She ran all the way home, even though she knew she shouldn’t have. She couldn’t help herself, she just wanted to move away from the public and into the safety of her home as soon as she could. 

As she entered her house, Y/n felt her chest tighten, as though someone was sitting on it, she couldn’t breathe properly. It felt like she was breathing through a squished straw. 

In between her wheezing, she searched around for her inhaler in her side bag. She felt her breath coming back a few seconds after she breathed in the medicine. She fell to her knees in exhaustion and took in a few more breaths to calm down.

She then picked herself up and embarked on an extensive set of tasks- Taking off her gloves and mask, removing her shoes at the entrance of her house, washing her hands. But, this somehow didn’t seem enough to her, so she went ahead and took another shower, just to be extra sure.

While in the shower, she cursed her asthma. It wasn’t usually a big hurdle in her life, but now, everything was a hundred times worse. This was the first time she had feared for her life. Her anxiety was at an all-time high and all she had to keep her sane was her daily FaceTime calls with Harry.

Opening her laptop to do her work, she checked the numbers again- seventy thousand new cases. She sighed and closed her laptop, not having the motivation to do any work. She scrolled through her social media to distract herself only to be shoved more news about the coronavirus, she let out a groan of frustration and switched off her phone, deciding to take a nap instead.

Only she couldn’t sleep. She thought back to all the plans she made with Harry, promising him to be there next to him while he toured the globe. She laughed at the situation and how no one in a million years could have guessed the current world state.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she must have as she woke up with a jolt in her bed after a strange dream. She shook her head and looked out her window to see the sky dark. She switched on her phone, it was 8 pm. She cursed to see three missed calls from Harry and one from her friend, Sarah.

Preparing herself, she called Harry. 

“Where were you, I called like three times?” His voice was deeper than usual, she guessed he had just woken up because of her call. She calculated it to be 4 am in London, where Harry was. She felt bad for waking him up like that.

“I know, I switched off my phone and fell asleep. Sorry,” she grimaced.

Harry hummed in acknowledgement, “how you doing?”

She could hear rustling on the other side and imagined a sleepy Harry sitting up in his bed, his hair messy from his sleep, “Just missing ya’.”

“I know, I hate that I had to leave you like that, wish you could come with me,” there was a hint of a whine in Harry’s voice which made Y/n smile.

“Wish I had a visa for England, I really wanted to come too,” and she meant that. At least that way, she wouldn’t have to be alone.

“I’ll video call you tomorrow, it’s late here, or rather early,” what he was saying next was obscured by his yawn. She sighed, she missed him too much.

“Yeah sure, see you tomorrow, bye.”

“Bye.”

When the call disconnected, she messaged Sarah to ask what the call was about, who didn’t respond. She shrugged her shoulders and went down to the kitchen to start preparing for dinner.

~

It started with a headache. She didn’t ponder much on it and instead only took medicine to curb the pain enough to continue working. 

It was when she felt a certain roughness in her throat, did she pay attention. Her cough worsened within days, she was having a hard time breathing normally. It felt like a less severe but constant asthma attack. She took her temperature, which showed her to be having a fever at 101°F. 

It took her some time to even process what was happening to her, she initially wondered if it could be the flu or something non-covid, but she knew she couldn’t take the chances. Harry was the first person she informed.

“What are you saying?!” Harry was frantic, his forehead creased as he ran his fingers through his hair, messing them up.

“I have a fever, a cough, and I’m having difficulty breathing,” counting the symptoms on her fingers, she informed him again.

“It could be the flu, Y/n you didn’t even go outside. How could it be anything else?”

“H, I did go out to buy supplies, didn’t I? Maybe I got infected there somehow. We shouldn’t be kidding ourselves. I have to at least get tested.” You didn’t want to show him just how scared you were, but it was hard to keep your voice from cracking.

“I am scared, H,” you let the tears out. Your shoulders shook while you tried to wipe your tears as they were leaking from your eyes.

Harry closed his eyes, not being able to see you sobbing, “I know baby, but I know you’ll be strong. I will take the next flight to LA. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He promised, his mouth set in a hard line as a strong look of determination crossed his face.

  She shook her head with as much strength she could muster, “No Harry, you shouldn’t keep travelling, plus, you can’t stay with me and I don’t want you staying at some hotel. It’s not safe.”

“Bu—”

“—I won’t hear another word about it. I have Sarah, and you have your work to take care of. I will be fine.”

She knew Harry wanted to say more, object to her claims, she would not be fine. But he knew it would be of no use, once she had made up her mind, it would be impossible to change it. So, he settled for a low nod.

“Keep me updated, I’ll also talk to Sarah. She better be there for it all. You should now call your doctor, see what’s the next step.”

Y/n nodded, smiling that Harry understood. She didn’t want to trouble him. She also wanted to pretend for a few more seconds that this was not a big deal.

She called Dr Gupta, her heart was beating at an all-time high and her energy was at an all-time low. She barely had enough breath to tell her doctor about her situation who booked an appointment for her to go to the nearest covid testing facility.

She took a deep breath, wore her protective gear and drove to the testing lab which was a ten-minute drive from her place. She was already out of breath by the time she reached the place.

When she was done with her test, she felt worse than she had before. Sarah called to check in on her, but Y/n didn’t have the energy to talk so Sarah video-called her, seeing Y/n’s face would have to be enough for her at that point.

Sarah’s eyes softened, seeing her best friend heaving, eyes shut and groaning due to her chest pain. But she knew, more than anything, her best friend was scared.

“I hope with everything that I am that the test comes back negative,” her voice was tinged with worry and genuine hope.

Y/n could only nod.

The call came two days later, Y/n sat up in her bed, she had been dreading this moment these past days, with Harry and Sarah to distract her.

The test came back positive.

She fell back into her bed, cushioned by her pillow and started shaking uncontrollably as she sobbed.

She felt insanely dehydrated by the time she stopped crying, she didn’t even get to call either of her friends. She stood up with a groan, and following one slow step after the other, she went to the bathroom to wash her now tear-stained face.

The call she made to Harry wasn’t an easy one. She knew he would take the news worse than she had, and her reaction was not a light one.

“I prayed. I promise I prayed Y/n,” his words were almost indecipherable in between his cries. His every tear followed the other with a ferocity never before noticed by Y/n.

Her own tears followed suite, she was so sure she had finished up all her tears, but she was proven wrong. Soon, the only conversation happening between the two was through their sobs.

She wanted to curse all the gods, she didn’t want to go through the pains of having this disease and she didn’t want to do it alone. Even though she had Harry and Sarah standing right beside her, knowing they would not be able to meet her in person, she had never felt more alone.

“I don’t feel good, H,” she confessed. Breathing was becoming difficult day by day, she would rather have an asthma attack twice a day than having this constant pressure on her chest and throat. She knew she had to tell him, “I have to get admitted to the hospital first thing in the morning tomorrow, they say my covid could be worsened because of my asthma,” she let out in between a series of coughs stopping her after every word.

Harry nodded, his heartbeat rising. He cursed himself for leaving his girlfriend alone in the country. If he hadn’t left, she would not be going through this, “I’ll tell Sarah, you go rest,” he promised, seeing it get increasingly difficult for her to even sit up in her bed.

If Y/n was scared before, then the hospital made it thousand times worse. It was a scary sight, the covid ward was in an isolated area of the hospital, the doctors and nurses were in full PPE kits, the patients were lined up next to each other separated by curtains. She passed a room with ICU written on the glass door. With what she could see, she noticed several other patients, some with masks covering their nose, probably providing oxygen. Others seemed in worse conditions, they were intubated via ventilators. 

Seeing them facing the same crisis together, although away from their families, but forming a new family of sorts in solidarity to their conditions gave her little comfort. Those who wore the nasal masks and thus still had the ability to talk were speaking to each other, even reading something from their phones to those who were on ventilators. Covid had seemed like a situation she would have to go through alone, her initial views though were changing.

She was admitted to the regular covid ward, with the rest of the non-critical patients and would be observed overnight. She was assisted with oxygen through a nasal mask, just like the people around her, she had noticed.

“Hey, I’m Cecilia, call me Cece,” a thirty-something woman introduced herself from beside you. The curtain was partially open, allowing Y/n to see only her face.

“Y/n, nice to meet you,” she called back, smiling as much her energy would allow.

“Never guessed this is how I would be spending my lockdown,” she laughed lightly, pointing to her mask. She then followed it up with a cough, groaning with the strain.

Y/n felt bad for her, only to be subjected to the same.

These were going to be some long days. Though she did feel better knowing she would not be facing this alone. She looked around the room, at probably twenty patients around her, in the same situation as her, if not in worse conditions. She then thought back to the people in the ICU and what they must be subjected to.

Her phone brought her attention to itself, it was Harry FaceTiming her; putting on a smile, she picked up the call. 

“Hey handsome,” she suggestively raised her eyebrows, not wanting to worry him any further.

Harry did not even notice her words, he was too busy gawking at her nasal mask, “what is that?” worry coating his voice.

“Oh just my new accessory, you like it?” although Y/n wanted to look nonchalant, the pain in her voice could not be hidden, she sighed, “They are giving me oxygen through this.”

Harry’s eyebrows were knitted together in worry, Y/n wanted to make him feel better. She could not rest knowing her love was out there worrying about her, “Look I made a friend,” she turned the camera to Cece laying next to her six feet apart, “Cece, say hi to my boyfriend, Harry.”

She had forgotten her boyfriend was a big deal but was reminded of it by Cece’s gasp, “Harry freaking Styles ohmigod ohmigod,” Cece squealed, making Y/n forget for a second that she was not a teenager.

“Hullo love,” Harry greeted her in his ‘fan voice’, a smile graced her lips. “Hope you beat covid and get better soon.” Cece’s smile made Y/n realise how long these people had gone without having a reason to smile and how desperately they needed it. 

 Cece’s squeal garnered the attention of the people around them. Noticing the pop icon on the phone screen, conversations started flowing between everybody. Introductions were made, friendships were formed and smiles were passed around, along with Y/n’s phone. So, she asked a nearby nurse if they could access a bigger screen so everyone could see and talk to her boyfriend.

When the staff hooked up a screen, Harry gave all the patients an impromptu concert. Y/n had not smiled in days the way this concert had made her. She expected fear, anxiety, deaths and instead got friends, laughter, and music.

When Harry was done performing for his audience, he gave her a brief look. “I love you,” she whispered to him, smiling when he returned the words.

The next day, she was woken up by the noises around her, she panicked for a moment, not recognising the place she was in; but calmed when she regained her senses and noticed the blue curtains of the hospital, several machines and the people they were attached to. 

She made a short conversation with Cece but had to stop because she was getting out of breath. With every passing moment, her chest pain too was increasing. She did keep listening to people chat around her. Some were on calls with their family, others were busy reading books and listening to music. She kept getting shouts of gratitude from the people in the ward for Harry the previous night.

For the next two days, that kept her going. She learned about her fellow patients, Jonathan was 59 years old, his son was an engineer and he couldn’t have been more proud; Jaya was a 42-year-old woman with bronchitis and wanted to visit Paris at least once in her life. Marc was a 50-year-old diabetic who was in a band in the 80s, they were planning a reunion show. She met countless people, each with their own stories. 

At about 10 am on a Thursday, her situation worsened. The doctors had come for a routine checkup, only to see that her oxygen levels were dropping steadily and she needed immediate assistance.

She was shifted to the ICU ward. She had to be intubated and thus was given a board and marker to write anything if she wanted.

“—Yes sir, she was shifted to the ICU this morning—”

“—We can’t say much right now, but we’ll inform you if anything changes—”

“—Okay, take care, Sir.”

Y/n heard bits and pieces of the conversation her doctor was having with Harry, although since she was on medication, she couldn’t register much of it. The nurses brought her phone to her, a silhouette moving on the screen.

“Hey baby, how are you feeling?”

Y/n pondered how to describe the immense pain burning through her respiratory passage and the lack of oxygen eating away her lungs and not give him nightmares. So, she offered him a tired thumbs up.

Harry watched his girlfriend cough, her face contorting in pain and could not control his tears, he didn’t want to think about the worst-case scenario but could not stop his mind from going there. He knew how low the chances were of people on ventilators coming back. But he had to remain positive, someone had to. She needed him to be strong for her. So, he wiped away his tears, put on his best brave face and talked to her.

He called her every three hours. Giving updates to her about his day, talking to her about whatever he could. He talked enough to compensate for the silence on her part. She smiled through every sentence, even though he could not see it, even though it wasn’t visible on her face, even though she didn’t have the power to, she smiled.

And she listened. So she didn’t have to focus on Josephine dying next to her or Augusta who was a hair length’s distance away from dying the previous day. Even though doctors told her that her situation was worsening, she listened because that became the only thing keeping her from giving up.

As her pains didn’t go away, and her condition worsened further, she was given sedatives and was thus mostly asleep. Which she was thankful for, for she couldn’t take it anymore, she just wanted to rest.

Dr Garcia came by routinely to check on her, talking to her about the outside world, gave her the gossips being passed around the hospital. Even though she was barely awake to listen to any of it, she was thankful for the kind doctor providing a calm lull while doing her job.

“Mr Styles, I’m afraid her condition isn’t getting any better. She should have shown atleast some improvements,” Dr Garcia informed Harry in a heavy voice.

On the other side of the line, Harry didn’t know what to do, it felt like someone was pulling away the floor under him. “What happens now?” He asked, praying for some hopeful news.

“We really can’t say much, each case is different, but it would be better uhm,” the doctor was thinking through her words, wanting to be as considerate as possible, “is there any family of hers that would want to talk to her?”

Harry almost let out a sob as he realised what the doctor was implying ‘is there anyone who would want to give her a final goodbye?’

“No, Y/n’s family passed away in an accident when she was 16, it’s just me and Sarah,” he explained, his voice on the verge of cracking, it was becoming harder to get words out of his mouth. He didn’t want to talk anymore, he just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.

“Oh, I understand,” Dr Garcia nodded, feeling sorry for the young girl who had stolen the hearts of everyone in the ward. She was a sweet girl, who had dreams and still held love for life even after everything she had seen. “This is not the end, Harry, she can still recover, God, I pray she does, this is not the end.” She really believed the words she was saying and wanted Harry to feel the same.

He nodded, tears clouding his eyes. He too really wanted to believe that.

A beat of silence fell upon the conversation, both in deep thought, “Harry, she wrote something on her board when she was awake yesterday,” Harry’s ears pricked up, “she wrote and I quote ‘I will not give up’ with a smiley face at the end. She is a fighter, you remember that,” Dr Garcia gave her parting ways and went back to her work.

Y/n’s words were imprinted in Harry’s mind. After the call, he made himself more presentable, wiping his tears and drove up to the church near Y/n’s house. He had come back to LA after Y/n was admitted to the ICU. He couldn’t be five thousand miles away from her in that condition.

The church was almost empty, which was surprising to Harry, given the situation, but he wasn’t complaining. He walked up the aisle, his hand grazing each wooden bench as he reached the altar and kneeled. He didn’t what to pray or how to pray, but he tried anyway. He closed his eyes and called out to God; he prayed with every part in his body, with every bone, every muscle, every fibre of being for his love to get better. For her to keep fighting. And for him to gain enough strength to deal with it all.

All this time, he had been feeling so helpless, not being able to do anything to make her better. But he made peace with the fact that the only thing he could do right now was to have faith. To have faith in God to guide him and her, in Y/n to be the stubborn strong-willed woman that she was and continue fighting, he had faith in his faith and that it would not disappoint.

He stayed there, talking to God until the closing hours. He then went back to Y/n’s place and sat on the sofa, waiting by his mobile, ready for any phone call he might receive.

He was awoken the next day by his phone ringing on the coffee table next to him. He looked at the time, it was noon, he picked up.

“Congratulations Harry, she’s getting better,” the relief was evident in Dr Garcia’s voice.

Harry felt himself getting physically lighter.

“I mean there is still a long way to go, but her oxygen levels are rising, her lungs are recovering, she’ll be soon able to breathe on her own. Harry, she did it, she won,” Harry didn’t listen to the rest of what the doctor was saying, he was too busy falling in love with the love of his life. It felt like he himself had come back from the dead. He knew his faith could never disappoint.

“Thank you doctor, I’ll be waiting for the call when you tell me she’s tested negative,” he laughed, his lungs breathing in air after what felt like a lifetime.

Dr Garcia chuckled along with him and agreed, telling him Y/n would call him when she woke up.

~

“You know I love you right? My fighter,” Harry tightened his grip on her hand and kissed her knuckles.

Y/n’s head fell back as laughter bubbled out of her, “You just told me that like two minutes ago.”

“I know, but a few weeks ago I thought I would never get to say it to you ever again. So, I will keep reminding you every minute that I love you and that you are the strongest person I know,” he snaked his arms around her, placing his head on top of hers, “I really missed holding you.”

She breathed in Harry’s scent, slowly regaining her sense of smell, she had missed this too. She cupped his cheek with her right hand and gave him a light peck.

Harry grabbed the back of her head, keeping her lips on his, deepening the kiss. When they separated, he rested his forehead against hers, not wanting her to move even an inch away from him.

Noticing her deep breaths, he whispered in her ears, “This is the only reason I want you to be out of breath. This and well... the other one,” he smirked.

“Oh hush you,” Y/n blushed, she sucked in a breath through her teeth, “Shit man, I love you.”

[merakiaes]

The One For Me - Aaron Hotchner

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x reader

Requested: By @nuvoleincielo​

Prompts: #16, #30 and #63 from the fluff-list. 

Warnings/notes: This is my first time writing for Hotch and Criminal Minds in general so please be patient while I get used to these new characters, might be slight OOC😭 It’s also the first piece I’ve written in a few months now and I’m a bit rusty, so please let me know what you think. Not proofread so I apologize in advance for any possible mistakes. Send in more requests for Hotch, Reid and Morgan and let me know if you want to be added to the Criminal Minds taglist! I hope you like it💕

Wordcount: 4118

Summary: Hotch has doubts about letting your relationship go further and you reassure him that he’s what you want. 

After being raised in one of New York’s worst, most crime ridden and low poverty neighborhoods by a family who was constantly targeted by the law enforcement, the last thing you’d expect was that you would become an active worker of said law enforcement.

Your mother died ten minutes after giving birth to you and your father had never been a part of the equation, most likely having ran the second he found out your mother had gotten pregnant. With no other immediate family, you ended up in the system, where you were stuck for the first seven years of your life.

You jumped back and forth between families of all kinds but for reasons unknown, no one wanted to keep you. It wasn’t until a couple adopted you two days before your eight birthday that you finally felt like you belonged.

They had many children of their own as well as more foster children, all between the ages of ten and twenty-five at the time of your adoption. On top of that, the children had children of their own and aunts, uncles, cousins and friends stayed with you more often than not as they struggled to hold on to homes of their own.

It wasn’t the most ideal way to live, a dozen people staying under the same roof of a two bedroom house, but you had dinner on the table every evening and the love for family was strong, so despite the conditions you lived in and the struggles you were forced to face on a daily basis, you guessed you couldn’t complain; you’d had it better than most.

The people who lived in those parts were always getting pinned for various kinds of crimes, just so the police could get it out of their hands and go on about their lives.

The male members of your family and the company they kept were some of the biggest targets even though they rarely did anything wrong, but despite the injustices they faced every day, they remained respectful when staring in the face of a cop.

You, on the other hand, despised them. You were an outspoken little girl, too feisty for your own good and on more occasions than one, you’d ended up pissing off some rich kid in school for which your dad and uncles were forced to pay the price.

You’d always hated the injustice the less fortunate suffered every day, but it wasn’t until you witnessed your first murder at fifteen that your interest of making the world a better place really piqued.

The victim had been one of the boys living in your neighborhood. He was two years older than you and he always gave it his all to make something out of himself. He walked with you and your younger brothers and cousins to school every day to make sure you got there safely, studied hard, kept out of trouble and always remained respectful.

The only reason he died was because his skin was the wrong color in the eyes of the law and because he was born into a less fortunate neighborhood, and it was then your eyes truly opened to the police brutality and misuse of power plaguing your country.

You joined the police force when you were nineteen years old and you stayed there, on top of your game and determined to do it better than the bad ones, until you were twenty-one. 

At that point, most of your family had passed away either out of old age, or simply from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and your determination to help people was stronger than ever.

But even you, the tough little firecracker as your uncles had always called you, could only tolerate so much.

After two years on the force, you got tired of being undermined by your male co-workers and set out to step up your game, taking up studies of criminology and psychology among several other subjects.

You studied your ass off and was just barely able to get by with the money you had saved up over the years, and at twenty-four, you finally had your degrees and clearance to begin working in higher places.

Starting off in New York, you stayed there for six months before you were transferred to Quantico, Virginia, where you were recruited by the one and only Jason Gideon who had heard word of your talent in the field.

You had worked with the team for little over a year now and Jason, who had always acted as a kind of mentor and father figure for you, was gone, having left only a letter for you and Spencer each.

Taking his place was Aaron Hotchner, a fellow agent to which you hadn’t paid much personal attention before the departure of Gideon. But things changed when he left, a lot of things.

Hotch was fresh out of his divorce, moodier than ever and in a really bad mental state. He stayed in his office until the late hours of the night, sometimes even the early hours of the next morning, barely slept and often forgot to eat if he wasn’t reminded by his team members.

Everyone urged him to take some time off, to go home and get some sleep and to take care of himself, and although he always told them that he would, he never followed through.

Up until then, you still hadn’t spoken much with him except for when you were working on a case. You were just an agent and he was just your boss, there was nothing else to it. But you couldn’t just sit by and watch as he neglected himself, so you followed your team-mates’ example and approached him.

He dismissed you at first, like he had done everyone else who had tried to offer him their support. But as time passed by, in some miraculous way, you made him laugh, and as you continued your attempts on offering him your ear to listen, he opened up to you, and you grew to become more than just colleagues.

Your first and only date had been on your initiative. You invited him to dinner at your house during your weekend off, to which he agreed.

You cooked together and although it started off as kind of awkward – more from his side than yours – you ended up kissing later that night after having had a bit too much to drink, and fell asleep together on your couch while you were flicking through your childhood photo albums.

The next morning, he was gone. You had always been an extremely light sleeper so you found it strange that he had managed to slip off without alerting you and also having managed to wrap you up in a blanket before he left.

He didn’t leave without a word though. A note was neatly placed on the coffee table in front of you, on which he explained that he needed to pick up Jack and that he didn’t want to wake you, finishing it off with a thank you for the night before.

That was the first and last time you spent time together, just the two of you, but it wasn’t like it was intentional.

You wanted to do it again, to continue exploring the budding romance between the two of you and to see where you could take it, and although you knew nothing of his feelings, he wanted the same thing.

But work got very stressful; stressful to the point where you could never find a moment to talk to each other if it wasn’t in the presence of the entire team. But the spark between you wasn’t gone.

It was still there in the way he would let his hand hover above the small of your back when you were walking side by side and step in front of you if you were ever in danger, and in the way you would always take a second to ask how he and Jack was doing, if they were eating enough and getting enough sleep, whenever you were heading somewhere; no matter if the team was with you.

It was there in the way he would always encourage you to go on the less dangerous tasks while he took the ones that were more life-threatening and in the way he would always smile, the slightest of smiles, whenever you were exchanging jokes or sarcastic remarks with Morgan, or messing around with poor, clueless Reid.

It was there, but it was unspoken. At least until now.

The case you had been working on for the past two days was that of Gilbert Stratton; a serial killer who had targeted young women, killed them, drained them of their blood, and then proceeded to hang the bodies up by their feet in trees all around the city.

You had caught him just in time to save the last kidnapped girl and you had originally been the one assigned to question him, but Hotch had stepped in last minute after the man had made a crude comment about how ‘girls like you always tasted the best’.

You had attempted to tell him that you could take it, but before you had even been given a chance to state your case, he had shut the door in your face and you had been whisked off by JJ.

You were the one out of the entire team who was the most interested in the psychology of a serial killer so you really wanted to be the one to interview Stratton, but you knew that Hotch had taken over for the sake of your safety and not because he underestimated you, so you couldn’t even bring yourself to be mad.

While he did his job, you settled at your desk with a sigh, getting to work on the heft stack of paperwork that had been building up throughout the week. 

The first ten minutes you kept close track of the clock next to you, wondering why it was taking so long, but the more time that passed, the more focused you became.

Soon enough, you only had a few reports left and you had completely lost track of time, when there was a sudden bang behind you, sounding an awful lot like a door slamming shut.

And your suspicions were proven correct, when you looked up to see Hotch march straight the bullpen.

The corners of your lips tugged up at the sight of him, but the arising smile quickly fell again when he walked right past you, without even an acknowledging glance, heading into his office and shutting himself inside without as much of a word to anyone.

Left behind with dumbstruck looks on their faces were the team, glances of bewilderment being exchanged.

“What happened?” Reid asked the question you were all thinking after a moment of silence, just as Emily walked in from the interrogation room.

Rather than answering Reid’s question, she looked right at you, offering you a small, comforting smile. “I think you better go talk to him.” She said simply, and as confusion and anxiety bubbled up inside of you, you slowly drawled.

“Okaaay…”

They all watched you as you stood up from your seat, brushing down your shirt and turning off the lamp at your desk before heading for the stairs.

You could feel their eyes following your every move and you would be lying if you said you weren’t nervous of what you were about to walk into.

Everyone had gotten negatively affected by a case or unsub at some point during their career, most more than once. They were all very good at getting into your head, no matter how little you wanted to admit it. But you had never seen Hotch react this strongly to anything before. The only time you had really seen him snap was during one single case, right after Haley had filed for a divorce.

Still, you kept walking until you reached his closed office door, stopping only then to peek inside the blinded windows to see him sitting at his desk, hands rubbing over his face.

You knocked on the glass gently and in any other case he would have looked up and meet your gaze, but when his head kept hanging this time, you let yourself in, only when closing the door behind you cutting off the curious eyes of the others.

Once you were inside, you wasted no time in approaching Hotch where he sat by his desk, analyzing his every move which led you to only one question.

What the hell had Stratton said to him to make him this distraught?

He didn’t even look up as you reached him, keeping his eyes closed as you came to a stop beside his desk.

Treading carefully, you reached out and gently put your hand on his shoulder.

“What happened?” You asked softly, the sound of your words instantly bringing a long, heavy sigh out of his nose.

“Why are you doing this?” He wasted no time in replying, causing a crease to form between your eyebrows.

“What?” You asked back, confusion lacing your voice.

Finally, he brought his hands down from his face and slowly spun around in his chair, forcing you to drop your hand from his shoulder and to take a step back.

He stared up at you, face wiped free of emotion as always. But the eyes said it all.

“Why are you so adamant on being with me? Why do you try so hard?” He questioned you, taking you by surprise.

Your eyebrows shot up and your eyes grew slightly wider, and you took a moment to regain your composure after the, to say the least, unexpected question.  

“What kind of question is that?” You asked once you finally regained your senses. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when you want to be with someone? Try?”

One of your eyebrows sank again, leaving only one raised in question.

Hotch’s face softened slightly and for a moment, he averted his eyes, letting out another, smaller sigh from his nose before looking back up to meet your eyes once again.

“What I mean is, why do you want to be with me?” He asked again, clarifying and slightly shaking his head in what seemed to be disbelief. “The second you walked into this office, both Morgan and Reid had their eyes on you, and they still do. They’re closer to your age, they’re energetic, humorous, full of life, while I’m ten years your senior, and can’t offer you what they can. So why do you want to be with me, when you can have them, or anyone you want?”

“What is it that they can give me that you can’t?” You didn’t waste a second in firing back.

You had no idea what had brought this on, but it was clear that it was bothering him and quite frankly, you found it ridiculous even though you didn’t like making it a habit to judge other people for what they were feeling.

“They can make you smile-“ He started explaining, and you instantly cut him off.

“You make me smile, all the time.” You shook your head, but your affirmation only seemed to fuel his frustrations even more as he was up on his feet within the next second.

“But I’m not- I’m not fun.” He stated, staring you down. “My clock is ticking. I’m ill-tempered, irritable, too serious for my own good. I’m barely capable of taking care of myself at this point much less my son. I’m miserable and I’m a bully, who only cares about this job. Why would you want to be with someone like that?”

“Where is this coming from? I thought we had something good going.” Your face fell slightly, and you carefully reached your hands out to grab a hold of the front of his suit, taking a small step closer.

“Is this because of Stratton? Is he the one putting these doubts into your head?” You asked, keeping your eyes on your hands for a short moment before looking up to meet his heavy gaze staring down at you.

And once your eyes met his, he knew there was no point in lying; you were a profiler after all, and a good one at that.

“He did.” He confessed calmly, his lips pursing into a straight line.

“Aaron…” You began, the softness of your voice matching the one in your eyes.

“But everything he said is true.” He quietly interrupted you. “I’m not fun to be around, I push people away. That’s what I do, what I’ve always done.” His eyebrows rose and he stood still.

You knew about the doubts he had about himself. You know he felt inadequate as a friend, as a colleague, as a father, and more than anything as a partner after the way Haley had left him. You were aware of all of it, and yet the sound of those self-doubts being voiced aloud saddened you nonetheless.

Silence fell over the two of you for a moment as you took another step closer, flattening your palms out on his chest and your eyes never leaving his.

“Those people didn’t deserve you in the first place. They knew what they were getting themselves into when they started building a relationship with you, whether it be a romantical or purely platonic one. They knew how passionate you are about your job, how much you value it. Them leaving… That’s on them, not you.” You said softly, shaking your head. “I’m not about to give up on you, on us, just because you happen to be a few years older than me. Derek, he wants to have fun, to be young. He may be attracted to me but he doesn’t want anything serious. Spencer isn’t ready for a relationship either, for obvious reasons, and either way, they’re not the ones I want.”

He watched you intensely as you spoke, lips still tight and strained. “What is it that you want?” He asked you, and you wasted no time in replying.

“Something serious and stable, someone who’s ready to settle down, and for me, the best chance to get that is through you.” You smiled, breaking your eyes away from his to follow your hand as you moved it up to his face. “Regardless of what other people say, you’re an amazing person. You’re passionate, driven, kind, loyal, gentle, and so much more. Despite what you may think, you do have a sense of humor and you’re the only one who can make me smile until my cheeks hurt. If that’s not a good man, a good person, then I don’t know what is. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”

By the time you finished, the remaining doubt was wiped free from his face, a small, gentle smile instead having taken its place.

It was a funny thing, Hotch only ever spared the tiniest of smiles, and yet it was them that brought you the biggest and most intense amount of happiness. It was so rare to see his ever-stoic features reflect joy that you couldn’t help but light up like a kid on Christmas every time it occurred.

And true to what you’d always been told growing up, your smile was just so contagious that he couldn’t help but to smile wider at the sight.

“Thank you.” He whispered, and visibly relaxed where he stood.

Your heart swelled in your chest when you took note of the way he was slowly but surely shuffling closer to you, picking up a significant amount of speed when you then felt his hand brush against the side of your hip.

But he didn’t dare touch you, hesitation still lingering in the air. So you did what your heart told you and grabbed a hold of his hand, and pushed it down into the curve of your waist.

From then on, he moved on his own, raising his other hand to mimic the same position at your other side, and you let your hand drop from his, instead raising them to busy with his crimson red tie.

“I know you’re struggling, with yourself, with Jack, and that you’re still processing the divorce. And if it’s time you want, then I’ll wait.” You spoke quietly, feeling your skin flush hot under his touch as his thumbs began to move over the thin fabric of your shirt. “But if you want to keep going and see where this can go, then I’ll be here every step of the way to support and help you in any way I can. You just need to let me in.”

More shyly then before, you dared loo back up at him through your lashes, hands stilling on his chest.

His smile was gone and his eyes creased together in concentration, but his eyes were soft and his head slowly nodded. “You’re right.” He said, and you allowed yourself to smile again.

“Aren’t I always?” You lightheartedly teased, tilting your head to the side.

In return, a smile spread across his face, his head shaking. “Don’t make me take it back.”

“No, no take-backs. What’s said is said.” You kept joking, your smile only widening.

He kept smiling down at you for a few seconds longer, but then his face fell again, just like that, out of nowhere, completely sudden. The gaze he held on your face grew absent as he got lost in his thoughts, and before you could question him about the sudden change of mood, the words spilled from his lips as if there was no tomorrow.

“I think I love you.”

Your mind instantly broke into a flurry of thoughts, countless emotions battling in your body. Nervosity and excitement ended up coming out on top, the mixture of the two creating an uncomfortable, sickly feeling in your stomach.

Your face fell in disbelief and your eyes searched his as he came back to reality.

“You do?”

Your voice came out so quiet and small, you mentally cursed yourself for sounding so pathetic, but luckily, you didn’t get much time to beat yourself up over the anticlimactic reacting as he continued.

“You don’t have to say it back if you don’t feel the same way, but I needed to say it. Every day, this job puts all of our lives in danger. I couldn’t bear it if one of us died before I got the time to let you know how I feel.”

You sucked in a breath, feeling yourself growing weak at the knees as he absentmindedly rubbed your waist with his thumbs.

“Just a minute ago, you were trying to end… whatever this is, and now your proclaiming your love for me?” You asked. 

It was meant to be a joke, an attempt to ease the anxiety you were currently feeling, but you realized quickly that said anxiety made it sound like the exact opposite of a lighthearted, teasing joke.

Luckily, the man standing in front of you was a profiler and knew that you meant no harm, understanding how shock could render your ability to react appropriately.

“I was never trying to end what we have. I just wanted to be sure that you were sure. That I won’t be holding you back.” He explained, and you finally managed to pull yourself out of the state of shock.

“Being with you motivates me. And I love you, too.” You confessed, the smile once again returning to your face as you moved your hands from his chest to wrap around the back of his neck. 

“I’m happy to hear that.” He smiled right back. “Can I kiss you?” He quietly added, and your face instantly lit up in a mischievous expression.

“In the office?” You gasped dramatically, bringing your arms down, taking a step back and lightly slapping his chest. “Aren’t you feeling frisky today?”

A large smile stretched across his lips, his chest shaking as he chuckled. “Come here.” He said simply, and before you got the chance to argue, not that you would’ve if given the opportunity, he sat back down in his chair and pulled you down with him. 

The chair spun in the process, causing you to let out a squeal of surprise. Your arms wrapped around his neck and your small laughs of glee quickly became muted as he placed his lips on yours, replaced by low hums of contentment. 

You clung to him as if your life depended on it, basking in the feeling of his lips moving against yours and his arms tightening around your waist, and as your entire body burned with passion, you realized that he really was the one for you.

Tagged: @must-be-a-weasley-92​ @zizzlekwum​ @cozytruecrimeaddict​ @lovelynervouskingdom​

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[diaryofabeautyfiend]

*Found this image on Pinterest. No idea who to give credit to. Let me know if you know so I can properly praise them.

*This is it. This is the finale of “Small Time Witch”. It’s been on AO3 for a while and I sort of forgot to post it here. I hope those of you who have been reading it enjoy the ending. Comments and feedback are always welcome and encouraged.

Small Time Witch (34)

When you were 12 years old, your biological father was back in your life and fighting your mother for custody. It was the height of the “mutants are bad” craze which made a sympathetic judge rule in his favor. You spent a few weekends with him over the school year. Every Friday afternoon you would beg your mother to let you stay home. And every time she would have to force you into the car with him.

The custody agreement stated that you would spend your summers at his parents home in the Hamptons. The week leading up to your trip was horrible. Your mother and Helene fought daily. Helene wanted to hide you. Your mother was afraid if she didn’t comply that the judge would take you away forever. You cried in Bethany’s arms every night.

The day your father picked you up you could sense something was off. He was overly nice to your mother and Helene. He put his arm around you and called you “kiddo”. Helene made you promise you would call every night.

The drive was long. You had never been to the Hamptons before. You were sort of excited to meet new kids. He told you there would be a lot of them. After lunch you put in your earbuds and fell asleep. When you woke it was early evening. You were parked outside of a facility that looked like an old school house. Your father patted you on the head and said, “It’s for your own good.” Dr. Reyes introduced herself and two men forced you inside. You were a resident of The Milbury Hospital for two weeks.

They told you you would be working with the X-men but that was a lie. They experimented on you and pushed you to the point of excruciating pain to understand the source of your abilities. When Logan and Wade finally found you, you were near death and traumatized. You never saw your father again. Charles Xavier promised you that you would never again be used for your powers. He vowed you would never again be harmed or controlled by the government. He intended to keep his promises.

When he and Max arrived in Asgard, he reaffirmed this vow. In the most Charles Xavier way possible he told you to stay out of it.

“Wait, Professor, you can’t be serious.”

“I am serious. Do you think this is the last time we will face this kind of harassment? I assure you, my dear, it isn’t at your expense. You will remain on Asgard. Your family is safe. The Kale’s have been handled. You’ve done all you can.” He held your hand and smiled at you. You were ready to fight him on this when Max stepped in.

“Y/N, we have larger factions than you know who are fighting on our side. Some even within the government and SWORD. You have to trust us. Now show two old coots around the palace will you?”

Was it possible that these two old men staring down the barrel of senility Jedi mind tricked you into walking away? They sure as fuck did. And, what’s more is that you welcomed it. You finally let out the breath that you had been holding for ages and it felt glorious. There would be no more fighting. No more crying and screaming and battling. They effectively took it off your hands and told you to go live your life.

You showed them the palace, the gardens and the plaza. They shared a meal with you and your new family in court and were taken home before Wheel of Fortune. Why did this feel too perfect? Too wrapped up?

Noticeably your husband was quiet the entire time. That’s near impossible for him. He only spoke on occasion to share a bit of history or wax poetic about family traditions. His mouth was zipped shut when the two septuagenarians told you to make like Elsa and let it go.

In bed that evening you were beyond mad. You were indignant. How could he? He just didn’t take up for you at all. With all of your guard down he felt you working yourself up. He slowly turned the page of his book peeking at you from the corner of his eye. Your arms were crossed and you tapped your fingers incessantly against your opposite arm. You muttered something under your breath about how you would stick up for him.

“What was that, wife?” His tone was mocking and his lip drawn up in a smirk. You wanted to slap that stupid look off of his face. Your hand twitched as you flattened it against your thigh. “Something to say, darling?”

“Nope.” You extinguished the light on your side and rolled away from him. Every time he turned the page of his book you could hear the sound of the paper sliding over his finger. The angrier you got the louder it got. “Goodnight” you said through gritted teeth.

“Good night, pet. I love you.”

You snorted into your pillow and did not return his affections. Fuck you were petty. Little did you know you married the literal god of pettiness. He invented this game and he was willing to play until you were waving the white flag.

He raised one elegant eyebrow and chuckled to himself. If you were actually mad he’d be worried. Whatever this was was kind of cute. He continued to read until your chest was softly and rhythmically rising and falling in deep sleep. Your lips parted ever so slightly letting out soft snores. He pressed his lips to yours and situated himself around you. In the morning you wouldn’t be mad. He was sure of it.

——————————————————————

When you awoke the next morning Loki was wrapped around you like usual. You were a little embarrassed by how you treated him. You disengaged yourself from his grasp and rolled him onto his back. You slid under the covers and unceremoniously swallowed his cock. He arched his back and sucked in his breath.

“Good morning, Pet.” You didn’t stop. You were a woman possessed. He moaned and called your name as he fucked your face. You moaned back in encouragement. He filled your throat with his spend and collapsed back onto the bed.

“Morning.” you said as you wiped your mouth.

“If that’s your way of apologizing I accept. Would you like to talk about it?”

“Can I say no?” He stared at you waiting for you to continue. “Fine. I was upset that you didn’t take up for me with Max and the Professor.”

“Why would I when I agreed with them?”

Damn it. You agreed with them too. “I thought you’d be worried if I didn’t do what Mobius ordered.”

“About that. I’m going to handle it.”

“What? No!” You scrambled to your knees. “Lok, I’ve got this. He put his hand over your mouth to stop you from rambling.

“I rarely tell you what to do, Y/N but this time I must insist. You need to rest. Please don’t say another word. It will be handled.”

He felt responsible for all that transpired and what you had become. He knew those stones would overtake you one day. He had to make things right. Had to take this burden off of you. Had to get you through this so you could both finally rest.

He explained everything that Mobius told him. He had a lot to fix but assured you you wouldn’t even miss him. He would leave that afternoon and then you could live the rest of your lives. With his half of the Yggdrasil firmly affixed to his finger, he was off.

He was gone and back in less than twenty seconds. His hair looked longer and he was dog tired. But, it was all done. Before he could even kiss you the two of you were sucked down to the TVA. This time you faced upper management.

“Loki and Y/N Odinson. You have fulfilled your requirements to the TVA.” The manager in the middle rubber stamped a few files and dismissed you.

“Ummm, ma’am? Am I allowed to go back to Earth?” you asked sheepishly.

“Of course. I don’t know why you’d want to but yes.” You were downright giddy.

“Yay! That means I can see my mom and aunts. Oh I can’t wait. Maybe we can build our cottage again. She’ll be thrilled to have our babies running around. Why are you looking at me like that?”

He was on the verge of tears. “Y/N. The timeline was set back on course. Back to 2023. Your family is gone. Natasha is gone. Vision is gone. Tony is gone. And Steve….was the one timeline I didn’t fix. They let him go.”

“What do you mean? Who let him go?”

“After he put back the stones, he went back to Peggy. I was tasked with bringing him back but I just couldn’t do it.” Who knew Loki was such a softy? Before you could grieve you thought of your friends who were left behind.

“Wanda and Bucky?!”

“Bucky is ok. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you. Wanda is an entirely other story. I’ll explain along the way. Let’s go home, wife.”

When you got to your cottage it was exactly as you left it. The Avengers had defeated Thanos but left the world in utter chaos. All of the people who were snapped were back. It would take some time to sort out.

Sam was back home visiting his sister. Bucky was in DC. You had him over as soon as he was comfortable traveling. You spent a very drunken weekend crying over Steve and cursing his name. You wanted to make him forget but he was tired of people fucking with his head. Why would he want to forget his best pal? At least he still had you. He and Sam would continue to work. When Captain America called, you would always answer.

When you went to check in with Stephen Strange he filled you in on Wanda and Aunt Agatha. He told you in no uncertain terms that you should not try to wake Agatha. You wanted to go to Wanda but he warned against it. You were heartbroken that she had to grieve alone. What she went through. You couldn’t even fathom it. For now, you would stay out in your cottage where Strange could keep an eye on you. He didn’t trust either you or Loki with the stones.

You took Loki to visit New Asgard. Most of the citizens were happy to see him. Hilde not so much.

“Uh uh. No way. If you think you’re going to….Thor made me…I will send you back to Hel if you think you’re taking my crown.” Her knife was against his throat but he didn’t flinch.

Loki bowed to her, “My king.”

The smile that crossed her face was the most beautiful sunshine smile you’ve ever seen. She pulled you to her and kissed you deeply. You kissed her back despite the anger wafting off of Loki. You couldn’t stop giggling. You knew what she was doing. When she pulled away she pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture of his face. “That’s better than him bowing to me.”

“God you’re a bitch.” you said as you peppered her neck with kisses. “I missed you, Hilde.”

“And I you, Kærasta.”

“I’m sorry. Did you just call my wife Kærasta?” You and Hilde broke into hysterical laughter.

“Relax, Lok. A lot happened when you were away.” You tried to soothe him but he pulled away.

“Looks like we’ll have to re christen the bed.”

“You’d better do the tub and hall shower while you’re at it. Oh and the kitchen table. Remember that night, Kærasta?”

You tried to change the subject, “Is Thor here?”

“Yeah actually. He heard you might swing by.” She drove you to his little hovel on the hill. He was sitting outside with Korg waiting for you. When you got out of the car he clapped his hands and laughed.

“I told you you were clever, little sister!” He wrapped you in a bear hug and thanked you over and over again.

With tears in his eyes, Loki hugged his brother. “It seems the sun is shining on Asgard once again, Brother.”

“So it seems.” Thor whispered against his hair.

You spent the night in New Asgard telling tales of the timeline you left. They were mightily impressed with your battle skills and how you defeated Thanos. Thor was happy that, in another universe, his parents lived. He was happy you were able to meet them and become so close.

The next morning you woke feeling much too hung over. You crawled back to the car promising you wouldn’t be a stranger. You were ready to go home.

“Come along, darling. I have to catch up on the last two seasons of Game of Thrones.”

“Oh. Honey. This gonna be a long weekend.”

And so you went back to your lives in the the only way you knew how. You spent eternity bickering and laughing. Fighting and fucking and all the while remaining madly and passionately in love. Two souls that would always be entwined no matter the circumstances. Two souls that were never really apart in the first place.

Outside of your little corner of the universe, the world was on fire. Nothing was normal. In between the battles and the bloodshed, your found family had a place to lay their heads and forget about life for a while. In your home there was always a clean bed and a hot meal and all the alcohol. In your little cottage built in the glen where the sun would shine through every morning like a spotlight, there was happiness.

[nepenthendline]

First Kiss - Asahi

fghjk this is so cute omg I love asahi 💕💕 I hope this is what you wanted?? this is so long (2.3k)

Request: @dont-mind-me-imjustpassingby​ Hi 👀 do I request through here? I don’t know 😭 anyways… could I mayhaps request 👉🏽👈🏽 Hinata sized 3rd year reader stealing Asahi’s first kiss because the mutual pinning was so damn obvious and reader couldn’t wait for a confession and just went for it. Then worries they read the signs wrong during class and when visiting the VBC (they read ‘em right)

You and Asahi had been close friends since you started high school; you learned how kind and gentle he was, but he was also funny, smart and so easy to talk to. By your second year, the two of you were best friends, practically inseparable. You felt so comforted being around him, as he did around you, and you truly felt like you could be yourself. Later on in your second year, you realised you had developed feelings for him and, even if he possibly didn’t feel the same, you were glad he was the man that took your breath away. 

You’ve always felt comfortable hugging Asahi, something you always did when you first saw each other and before heading home after school, but recently things started to seem a little awkward. It didn’t feel like Asahi didn’t want to hug you, but as if it was making him nervous. When you would pull back, his eyes would meet yours as your face was still close to his chest, and he would suddenly look away while his cheeks burned. Maybe you were making him uncomfortable, or maybe his anxiety was getting worse?

That being said, whenever you were in class, he always seemed to want to be with you. If you had a task to do in pairs he would always rush to pick you first, or he would scoot his desk over just slightly to be closer to you. So did he want to be next to you or not? 

Through Asahi, you were also pretty close to Sugawara and Daichi, who loved to tease Asahi for his nerves. They knew so much about Asahi and seemed to be able to deal with him well when his anxiety flared up. Before Asahi made it to the gym after school, you pulled the two third years aside to pry about Asahi. 

“He’s been getting so much more nervous recently! Whenever I touch him he flinches a little or his face goes red, and when I see him typing in texts, he keeps typing something then deleting it. I thought he might want some space from me but then he’s always inviting me out to do stuff with him at the weekends so I don’t know what’s going on,” you ranted, frustration evident in your voice. 

Sugawara looked at Daichi, then back at you, putting his arm around your shoulders and leaning in close.

“Hmm? Seems like a crush to me,” he teases and watches your eyes go wide in shock

“Don’t start getting involved Suga, let him tell her when he’s ready,” Daichi says in a stern voice, pulling Sugawara off you. 

“Wait, what? He has a crush on me?” they’re both silent for a few moments just staring at you before Sugawara speaks,

“just watch him closely for a little while,” he gives you a wink before the rest of the team members enter and practice starts. You don’t get the chance to interact much with Asahi during practice, leaving you with nerves bubbling in your stomach as you watched him. The way his arms were so strong as he slammed down the ball, how his hair fell from his bun and framed his features, how the intense expression on concentration make him look so fierce and manly- oh shit he caught you staring. That one fearless look in his eyes quickly turned into red ears and shaking hands as they tucked the stray hairs behind his ear and looked away, running over to the other side of the gym to get his water. Maybe Sugawara was right?

You lived in the same direction as Asahi, so walking home together had been the norm for the last couple years. You and the team walked together for a little while, talking and laughing, before everyone parted to their own ways. It was just you and Asahi now, walking together in the dark, and he had become much quieter than before. Every now and then, his hand or shoulder would brush past yours, and then quickly move away as if to hope you didn’t notice, and his gaze was focused ahead of him so he didn’t meet your eyes on him. You didn’t speak to each other too much, but he did send you a goodnight text when he got home, accompanied by a heart emoji. 

You were in a rush the next morning to get ready for school since you missed your alarm, and ran out the house when you received Asahi’s message that he was waiting for you outside. 

“Sorry, sorry! I woke up late, I haven’t even done my hair yet and it’s looks ridiculous,” you tried combing through your hair with your fingers in order to attempt to make it look less messy. 

“That’s ok, don’t worry,” he paused and fiddled with the spare hair tie on his wrist for a moment, “w-wait, let me fix it for you,” he said in a quiet voice, before gathering up your hair in a shaky grip and braiding it. Even just the few seconds of his fingers through your hair made you want to close your eyes and fall asleep. When he finished, you turned around and thanked him, giving him a gentle smile and inspecting the braid, 

“You’re so good at this! How does it look?” you asked, tilting your head in various directions so he can see it fully. 

“You-it looks cute,” he stutters out, linking his fingers together as he fiddles with them. Your walk to school was just like your walk home, where the two to of you would make idle chatter as he seemed to get closer and closer by every yard.

You sat next to him in class, and during the teacher’s lecture, you looked over to Asahi to find him staring at you, chin rested in him palm as he rocked his pen back and forth between his fingers. You gave him a smile before looking down at your textbook. You could see him freaking out a little from the corner of your eye and held in a giggle. 

The next couple days went a similar way; you’d catch him looking at you with soft eyes, he would ask you for help on questions much more often then usual, he’d try and answer difficult questions in class then look at you to see if you were impressed, or he would let his hand linger on yours a little when you passed him a pen. Ok, Sugawara was definitely right, surely this mean’t he had a crush on you. 

You tried to hint to him that you also had feelings for him, such as giving him a wink when you’d catch him staring, putting your hand on his arm and leaving it there when you spoke to him or telling him his new hairstyle looked handsome, but he never seemed to try and get closer or give you a confession. Not that you really expected it from him anyway, he was an anxious, insecure guy and you knew it would break his confidence if he did confess and you said no. But you just wanted him to tell you, to know for sure that he liked you as much as you liked him. 

This was going on for too long without an answer, so you decided to step in. It wasn’t planned at all, but at least he would know how you felt. You got to your house from your usual walk together and decided this was the moment.

“See you later Y/N, don’t stay up too late, ok? You need to get enough rest,” he said, placing a hand on your back. 

“I know, I know, I’ll go to bed early I promise. Let me know when you get home,” you moved closer to give him his usual hug, holding him tighter and for a little longer than usual. You went to pull away, but his grip stayed firm around you, so you sunk back into his chest. A few minutes went past before you spoke up, 

“‘Sahi? I love your hugs but it’s cold out here and I need to head inside,” you giggled, pulling yourself from him.

“Oh, right, yes, sorry...I didn’t mean to do that,” his cheeks were burning again as he rubbed his neck with his hand and looked away. You chuckled to yourself as you watched him, then stepped closer and grabbed the collar of his jacket, pulling him down to match your height and kissing him. He was way too shocked to kiss you back, but his lips still felt soft and warm against yours. You lingered for a moment, before pulling back and walking towards your house, waving him goodbye as he stood frozen in his spot with his eyes and jaw wide open. 

You didn’t give him much time to react or reply before you were already inside your house, and covered your face with your hands, half in embarrassment and half in joy. You really kissed him. 

Although you were sure that he liked you back, you were so nervous to see him after that moment together. He hadn’t text you at all that evening like the usually did; could he be mad at you? No, surely not, not after all the signs he was giving you. You tried telling yourself that it would be ok, and you could fix things with him today, when the buzz from your phone pulled you out of your thoughts. It was Asahi texting you your daily reminder that he was outside waiting for you. You stared at the text, your heart pumping furiously at the realisation that you need to face him now. Gathering your stuff, you headed outside and greeted him with a meek hello. He didn’t look at you at all after you stepping out your house, keeping his distance from you as you two walked to school and stuttered over his words the few times he spoke to you. 

When you got to class, he pulled himself tightly together, keeping his head down or on the board in front while bouncing his leg continuously. He didn’t even pair with you when you had to talk to a partner about a book passage. You were panicking so bad; you’ve really ruined it now. You felt so stupid that you must have gotten his signals wrong and thought you had a chance with him. He must be so mad at you right now considering he won’t even speak to you. 

You just wanted to clear the air with him, even if he didn’t want to be your friend anymore you at least wanted to apologise and talk it out. As soon as the bell rang for you lunch break, you ran off, heading behind the school building to be alone and think through what to do. You, shakily, pulled out your phone and texted Asahi to come meet you. He didn’t reply, but a few minutes later, you saw him come round the corner and stand in front of you. 

“er..hi?” It sounded more like a question coming out of your mouth as you lifted yourself up from the wall you were leaning on, and shuffled from one foot to the other nervously. 

“Hey, what did you need?” he asked, hushed and looking away. You moved your hair from your face and looked down at your feet, 

“Um, I just wanted to apologise for yesterday. I shouldn’t have done that and I’m so sorry that I made you uncomfortable. I should have known you wouldn’t have wanted that. It was so stupid of me not to have asked you first and I understand if your mad and don’t want to speak to me again, but I’m really sorry.” You looked up at him to see his reaction. His mouth was open slightly, and his brow furrowed. 

“I-what? I’m not mad at you,” he said, holding his hands out in front of him defensively. 

“Huh? But you haven’t spoken to me since yesterday.”

He let out a heavy breath and looked to his side, 

“I was just...nervous. I, um, I liked what happened yesterday, I just didn’t know how to face you after that in case it was a mistake and I thought too much into it.” He tugged at the ends of his jumper sleeves as he spoke, his voice low and rough. 

“Wait, so you do like me?” He nodded and let out a shy smile as you beamed in relief. You lunged closer to him and lightly whacked him on the arm, “I thought you hated me! Do you know how stressed I was?” There wasn’t much threat behind your voice but he apologised multiple times. 

“I just didn’t know what I would have done if you came to me today and said you didn’t mean it,” he mumbled. 

“Of course I meant it! You’re so cool and sweet and kind, who wouldn’t want to kiss you?!” You ranted, more to yourself than him. His cheeks got red at your words, and stumbled across incoherent words. You threw yourself into his arms, hugging him tightly and burying your face into his chest. “Don’t worry me like that again, ok?” You pouted as he calmed down a little by your touch and chuckled. The two of you hugged for a little while, feeling settled in each others hold, before he started to tense up again and spoke,

“Um so... would you like to, maybe, go on a date with me? You don’t have to!”

“I would love to go on a date with you Asahi,” you pulled back and held his face between your hands, keeping him at your eye-line. “Hopefully I get another kiss on the date too.”

[honey-dewey]

Finding the Right Voice

Frankie Morales/Mute and chronically ill Reader

Word Count: 1,804

Warnings: Reader is both mute and has gastroparesis. Reader throws up once. 

After much pestering from the boys, Frankie reluctantly signs up for a dating app, intending for it to be a joke. Until he falls in love. You and him text daily, getting to know each other so intimately despite never meeting. At least, never meeting until Frankie wants to take you on a date. So how the hell are you going to explain to him that you are constantly ill and will never speak again?

Frankie had always thought dating apps were a waste of time. Who the hell actually met the love of their life through the Internet? 

Frankie Morales, that’s who. 

Of course, he’d been hesitant to tell the boys he’d found someone, mostly because he knew they’d give him shit about it. And they did, of course. But now, months after meeting someone, they realized Frankie was genuinely happy and toned the teasing down. 

“I’m just worried!” Frankie said, staring at his phone. “They haven’t responded in days.” 

“Dude,” Benny said, gesturing with his beer bottle. “They’re probably just busy. Or out somewhere with shit cell service. I dated a girl like that. She went on vacation with her parents and didn’t call for like. Two weeks. Thought she’d died. But when she got back.” He leaned back, smiling drunkenly. “The apology sex was mind blowing.” 

“Okay!” Santiago interjected, throwing an arm around Frankie’s shoulders. “You think they’re on vacay, Fish?” 

Frankie shrugged, grabbing his own beer. “I dunno. They aren’t the vacationing type.” 

William snorted from across the table. “Just like they aren’t the phone call or meet in person type?” 

Immediately, Frankie knew where this was going. “Ironhead.” 

“I’m just saying!” William pointed out. “How do we know that Catfish isn’t being, well, catfished.” 

Frankie sighed into his bottle. “I don’t wanna talk about it Will.” 

Santiago, who was somehow the voice of reason here, nudged Frankie. “You texted yet today?” 

“No.” 

“Why don’t you?” Santiago suggested. “Then leave it alone for a while. I doubt they’re meaning to leave you, they seem too nice.” 

Frankie picked up his phone and opened his texts. Aside from the group chat he had with the boys, the aforementioned number was the last one he’d texted. 

Frankie: Hey, haven’t heard from you in a bit. You doing okay? 

Twenty miles away from the bar Frankie was in, you were leaned over the toilet in the hospital, hurling away what little applesauce you’d eaten for dinner. 

Sitting back against the cold tile of the hospital bathroom wall, you sighed deeply upon hearing your phone ping. Who the hell wanted to talk to you right now? 

Of course, it was Frankie. 

Settling down in the bathroom, you unlocked your phone and texted him back. 

You: I’m so sorry Fish. I’ve been a bit sick. 

Fish: You don’t have to apologize for that. Are you feeling any better? 

You snorted softly. As if. 

You: Not really. It’s just gotten worse. Spent most of today throwing up.

Fish: You’re drinking water, right? Gotta stay hydrated. 

You snapped a photo of your half full water bottle a nurse had brought you and sent it to Frankie. 

You: Yep! Gotta finish this before I go to bed. 

Fish: That’s good

Fish: Wait a second. Are you in the hospital? 

You swore silently. How the fuck? Unless he frequented the same hospital as you, how the hell did he even know where you were from that blurry water bottle photo? 

You: Yeah, I got here today. Nothing too serious, I was just too dehydrated

You felt bad lying to Frankie, but you really didn’t want to tell him the truth. The truth was too long, too complicated. Frankie would probably leave if he learned the truth. 

Fish: I’m not too far away, if you’re at the hospital I think you’re at. Want me to drive you home when you leave? 

You: Nah. I’m staying with family rn and it’s a haul to get out there

Another lie, another stab of pain through your heart. 

Fish: Okay. I still wanna take you out though. We could get dinner and walk around the park. 

You almost started sobbing. 

You: Oh Frankie. I wish I could. 

As soon as you typed the message, you deleted it. Best not to let him think anything was wrong. Instead, you took a minute and finally replied with, 

You: That sounds lovely Fish. 

Fish: But?

You: But I don’t think I can.

Back at the bar, Frankie was slumped over the table, staring at your tiny message of rejection. 

“Dude, that’s hard,” Benny commented. “I’m starting to think Will might be right.” 

“I’m sorry?” William said, coughing as he swallowed wrong. “Say that again?” 

“No.” Benny leaned over the table and patted Frankie’s wrist. “I got nothing dude. Nothing.” 

Santiago sighed. “Why don’t we stop giving Fish a hard time?” He said, seeing the hard lines in Frankie’s face appear. “They said they were in the hospital, so maybe it’s really bad.” 

“You think?” Frankie asked, looking up with wide eyes. 

“Maybe,” Santiago said. “They might not want you to worry about them.” 

Frankie looked back at his phone, at the waiting message. He picked his phone up and typed one more message before shutting it off and pocketing it. 

Frankie: I just wish I could get to know you. For real. 

You stared at your phone, tears sliding down your face. Frankie would never know, if you could help it. He’d never know that you were so sick all the time. That you couldn’t eat anything without hurling it up hours later. That you hadn’t uttered a single word since you’d turned sixteen. That you’d never speak another word again. 

Putting your phone away, you abandoned the water bottle and shakily crawled back into bed, sobbing silently into your pillow until you fell asleep. 

The next morning, a team of nurses checked you over and deemed you okay to leave the next day. You nodded numbly, absently fiddling with a small stuffed toy as they started your laborious morning routine. 

“This came for you last night,” a nurse said as everyone left your room. She placed a worn out baseball cap and a folded note on your bed. “From a very nice gentleman who seemed rather heartbroken.” 

The nurse left, leaving you to grab the cap and the note. 

The cap was worn out, the edges all frayed and the logo on the front nearly illegible. The note was in much better condition. 

Hey. 

So, I’m sorry about what I said last night, and I feel like a text wouldn’t have made it better. This is my favorite hat. It’s seen some shit, just like me. And just like you, I think. 

Look, last night, I sounded like a dick. I want to make it up to you, I really do. But I don’t know how to take you on a date or anything. I sure hope it isn’t because of me that you don’t want to meet. I know my nickname is Catfish but I promise I’m who I say I am. 

Tomorrow, I get off work early. If you’d let me, can I pick you up and take you out? Or at least take you back to my place for a movie or something? Please. 

Love, your Frankie. 

You ran your fingers over the lettering, memorizing how Frankie wrote every single word. Maybe, maybe it was time to open up. The worst that could happen was rejection. 

Scooping your phone up, you texted Frankie back. 

You: Tomorrow at 4, that’s when they discharge me. Get here early tho, I have some stuff to explain.

The next twenty four hours were hell for the both of you. You were both plagued by so much anxiety it was hard to do even the most basic of tasks, but you managed. Eventually, you received the text you’d been dreading all day. 

Fish: I’m here. Visiting room B. 

You took a deep breath. All your personal belongings were in a drawstring bag you put over your shoulder. You headed out of your room and slowly down the hall, towards the visiting room. 

Opening the door was the hardest thing you’d ever done. 

Once you’d opened the door, you stopped in the doorway, taking Frankie in. 

He looked exactly the same as he did in his photos. Tall, handsome, kind. He smiled upon seeing you, and you swore your heart stopped. 

“Hello,” Frankie said, moving towards you and holding out his hand.

Hello you signed, waiting for Frankie’s reaction. 

He paused, his hand falling to his side. “Mute?” 

You nodded. 

Frankie simply smiled again. “So that’s why you don’t like phone calls,” he said. “It’s okay. I know some ASL.” He paused, taking you in. “Can I hug you?” 

Yes please.

He wrapped you in a warm hug, allowing you to collapse into him. Months of text messages and listening to his voice mails were nothing compared to this. 

Eventually, he pulled away, and you two sat on the uncomfortable couch. 

“So what’s with the tube?” Frankie asked, gesturing to your face. 

You pulled a whiteboard out of your bag and began to write, going slowly so you spelled everything right. 

I have a condition called gastroparesis. My stomach is paralyzed and won’t move food to my intestines. I “eat” through a port in my side and this tube in my nose leads to my stomach, so whatever I drink can be drained out. I went mute before I got diagnosed with this.

“Oh.” Frankie blinked a few times. “So I guess dinner is off the table too.” 

You snorted, laughing as best you could with no voice. No dinner. you signed happily. But a movie would be nice.

“A movie it is,” Frankie said, standing. “C’mon. I’ve got a bunch of movies at my place. And I think the boys are coming over tonight.” 

You stood, following Frankie to his beat up old truck. He talked your ear off about all sorts of things while he drove home, and it wasn’t until he’d pulled into the driveway that you’d remembered his hat. 

Close your eyes. You signed, digging around in your bag. 

Frankie did, laughing when you snuggly placed his hat on his head. 

“Thank you,” he said, taking your hands. “I was really worried you’d catfished me at first. I didn’t know what to think when you didn’t want to call or meet. I dunno, I just thought you weren’t, y’know, you.” 

You shook your head, pulling your hands out of his. I wouldn’t dream of it.

Frankie smiled. “I love you.” 

I love you too Fish.

That night was the happiest you’d been in years. Frankie’s friends were all amazing people, and all three of them immediately overlooked your muteness and illness. You were happy and Frankie was happy. To them, that was all that mattered. 

“So Fish,” Santiago said, leaning across the couch to nudge Frankie’s bicep. “Aren’t you glad we forced you to download that dating app?” 

Frankie looked at you, curled up under his other arm, sipping water and waiting for the feed bag with your dinner in it to finish draining into your port. You looked up at him, smiling and nestling closer. 

“Yeah. I am.”

[dawn-of-tomorrow]

Pollux & Castor : Dioscuri (Voicelines)

Construct Acquisition:

(Pollux): Hallo, Commandant! The name’s Pollux, and this here’s my little brother, Castor.

(Castor): Greetings to you, Commandant. Pollux and Castor of the Aegis squad shall become the claws that protect you and the gun that will kill your enemies.

(Pollux): Mhm mhm~. So long as we, the Dioscuri, are here, you have nothing to fear!

LVL Up:

(Pollux): Level up~! Hehe.

(Castor): We extend our gratitude to the Commandant.

Promotion:

(Pollux): Transform!! ...Just kidding~.

(Castor): Brother, we are not mechas.

Evolve:

(Pollux): Ooohh~. Not bad, not bad~.

(Castor): It appears we’ve grown a bit more.

Skill Enhancement:

(Pollux): Hehe, I can feel power coursing through me!

(Castor): It would appear I still have more to learn.

Equipment:

(Pollux): Mhm, not a bad choice. Can’t wait to test them out soon~.

(Castor): Weapons are weapons, nothing more, nothing less.

Added to the squad:

(Pollux): Alright! Let’s do our best, Castor!

(Castor): Naturally, brother.

Appointed as captain:

(Pollux): Oh? Leader huh, hehe. Can’t help it, follow my lead Castor!

(Castor): Brother, take care to not get too carried away.

Mission Complete 1:

(Castor): Commandant, I advise you to take notice of your completed missions. Please do not forget to claim the rewards.

Mission Complete 2:

(Pollux): Oiiii~! If you don’t claim these rewards, I’ll gladly take them from you~! Hehe.

(Pollux): Yo, Commandant! If you need anything, let us know~.

(Pollux): Yo, Commandant! If you need anything, let us know~.

(Castor): Indeed. We’ll do our best to accomplish the task.

Daily Conversation 2:

(Castor): Commandant, we are not children. Please stop treating us as such.

(Pollux): That’s right, that’s right! We’re bonafide soldiers, ya know~.

Daily Conversation 3:

(Pollux): My hobbies? Hmmm…. How about, doting on my adorable baby brother?

(Castor): I highly suggest that brother learns more on the ways of how to be funny. You need more guidance on that.

(Pollux): Hehe, just kidding, just kidding~.

Daily Conversation 4:

(Castor): Brother and I are two in one. One half of a Construct.

(Pollux): But Castor is not Pollux, and Pollux is not Castor. We are simply--

(Both): --The [Dioscuri].

Daily Conversation 5:

(Pollux): Wah! ...Hahaha~ were you surprised? You were, or were you not?

(Castor): (sighs)... Please forgive my brother for his harmless prank.

Daily Conversation 6:

(Castor): Humans truly are fragile beings. Even if we were to take caution in handling them, they can easily break.

(Pollux): Right~? I wonder, since the Commandant is also human, are you like that too? ...Haha, relax, relax, we swore to protect you and kill your enemies. We, the Aegis squad, always keep our promises.

Daily Conversation 7:

(Pollux): Hm….. hhmm….. HMMMM….

(Castor): ...May I inquire as to why you’re staring so hard at the Commandant, brother?

(Pollux): Ah, it’s nothing really~. I was just trying to understand them better, that's all, hehe~.

Daily Conversation 8:

(Castor): The Commandant reminds me of Teacher somewhat.

(Pollux): Hm? How so?

(Castor): ….I cannot explain coherently. It is… just a feeling.

(Pollux): Hmm… is that so. Hehe, that might not be a bad thing.

Daily Conversation 9:

(Pollux): That wichser Mercury…. tch.

(Castor): Hm? What’s the matter, brother?

(Pollux): Ah, eh, it’s nothing Castor~! It’s just that I had a bit of a slightly annoying encounter earlier is all, hahaha.

Daily Conversation 10:

(Castor): ……Mhm. I finally understand.

(Pollux): What do you mean, Castor?

(Castor): The Commandant isn’t like Teacher and will never be her, and vice-versa. But that is what makes the Commandant unique and special.

(Pollux): ...That’s true~. Teacher will always be Teacher, and the Commandant will always be the Commandant.

Daily Conversation 11:

(Pollux): Com-man-dant~. Make a pinky promise with Castor and I~.

(Castor): P, Pollux-- er, brother, that’s a bit too… childish…

(Pollux): But you said you wanted the Commandant to swear by us, didn’t you~?

(Castor): ...My apologies, Commandant.

Daily Conversation 12:

(Castor): Commandant. Brother. Thank you, for being by my side.

(Pollux): ……

(Castor): Ah, I… I just…… I’m sorry for blurting that out, I--

(Pollux): No, it’s alright Castor. ...Thank you, then, for being my brother. ...Thank you for being our Commandant, Commandant.

(Castor): ...Yes. I feel the same way.

Increased Trust 1:

(Pollux): Hmm~. You’re the Commandant, huh. A bit shabby-looking, but you’re decent enough!

(Castor): Sincerest apologies for my brother’s remarks. We entrust our fates in your capable hands, Commandant.

Increased Trust 2:

(Castor): Commandant, no need to fret and worry about us. Us Constructs are far more durable and resilient than you can think of.

(Pollux): Well, we’re technically Corrupted too, so exercise caution when handling us~.

Increased Trust 3:

(Pollux): Is it just me or is the Commandant really lenient in dealing with us?

(Castor): I’ve noticed it too, brother. Commandant, we are your weapons, use us as however you see fit.

(Pollux): Indeed~. That makes things a whole lot easier for all of us, really~.

Increased Trust 4:

(Castor): The Commandant is quite a peculiar human. You treat us as if we were almost like real people and even give us presents with no ill intent behind them.

(Pollux): Right? A human like you treating us this kindly? Wow, we’re blessed~.

Increased Trust 5:

(Pollux): You… are quite a strange person, aren’t you. ...But I suppose it’s due to this that Teacher and “that guy” are interested in you.

(Castor): Mhm. Even though I don’t know what exactly it is yet, the Commandant has something to them that catches people’s attention.

Increased Trust 6:

(Castor): You really are a nice person, Commandant. I can say that for certain now.

(Pollux): ...Ja. A little too nice is what I think, but I suppose this kindness just comes all too natural to you, hm~?

Increased Trust 7:

(Pollux): You know, I think I get it now. Why the guys from Strike Hawk, Cerberus, and all the others are so utterly drawn to you, is what I mean.

(Castor): … Is it what I’m thinking about, brother?

(Pollux): Yeah. …(sighs) The Commandant’s magic is too strong~.

(Castor): ...Fufu.

Increased Trust 8:

(Castor): Someday the Commandant too will die before us, won’t they?

(Pollux): ...That is the fate of all humans compared to us Constructs after all.

(Castor): Indeed. … But until then, Commandant, we promise to always be by your side no matter what.

(Pollux): In sickness and in health, even if death claims you, is what they say~.

(Both): --We, the [Dioscuri], swear to always be with the Commandant until the end of time.

Idle/Ignored 1:

(Castor): Commandant, if you are tired then please rest.

(Pollux): Or if you’re busy, then quit ignoring us~.

Idle/Ignored 2:

(Pollux): … (yawns)~

(Castor): Brother is bored.

(Pollux): Hehe, was it that obvious~?

(Castor): Very much so.

Idle/Ignored 3:

(Castor): … Commandant, is there something wrong? Are you okay…?

(Pollux): I’m sure they’re fine, Castor~. Probably a bit too busy to give us the time of day~.

Idle/Ignored 4:

(Pollux): ...Hey, Commandant. If you’re not feeling alright today then quit stalling and make your mind up already~. O-K-A-Y~?

(Castor): Mhm. It’s fine, Commandant… we’ll wait here for you.

Long time spent online 1:

(Castor): Please disconnect from the link, Commandant. Staying up too late will do no good for your health, considering you’re a human.

(Pollux): Hear that? Quit making my baby brother worried about your health and go rest already~!

Long time spent online 2:

(Pollux): Jeez, you’re still up? Can’t be helped then. ...Castor!

(Castor): ...I see. Understood.

(Pollux): Since you’re so keen on spoiling us rotten, we’ll also spoil you until you fall asleep, Commandant~.

Login 1:

(Pollux): Guten tag! Welcome back, Commandant~.

(Castor): Welcome back, Commandant. We’ve been expecting you.

Login 2:

(Castor): Ah, greetings, Commandant. We’ve been waiting for your arrival.

(Pollux): (yawns)~ Ah, Commandant, g’morning~. Is it time to sortie out?

Login 3:

(Pollux): Looks like the Commandant’s arrived early. Or actually, late~? Haha.

(Castor): In any case, please tell us when you’ve finished preparing so we can head out now.

Login 4:

(Castor): Guten tag, mein Kommandant.

(Pollux): Oh? What’s this? Castor’s feeling all lively just seeing the Commandant~?

(Castor): …It’s merely brother’s imagination.

Long time offline 1:

(Pollux): ...Oh? You’re back now Commandant? That took a long time didn’t it~.

(Castor): Indeed. Brother was worried about you making it back.

(Pollux): But I wasn’t though~. Not, one, bit~.

Long time offline 2:

(Castor): (dozing off)…

(Pollux): Ah, Commandant. Sshh, be quiet. Castor was waiting for you to come back to the point he fell asleep upright. He’d be embarrassed if he knew you saw him like this.

(Castor): … (light snore) …

(Pollux): Fufu, he looks cute like this doesn’t he. But I guess we have to wake him up now. …Castor, wake up, the Commandant’s back.

(Castor): … Hm? …!!! Ah, C-Commandant… I, uhm, er… (coughs) …W, Welcome back, Commandant.

Shake phone 1:

(Castor): !! ...Commandant, what was that about?

(Pollux): Wah~, that was a bit startling, haha~.

Shake phone 2:

(Pollux): ...Commandant~. That joke just now wasn’t funny~.

(Castor): Please exercise more caution.

Continuous tap 1:

(Castor): Commandant, please stop that.

(Pollux): Hahaha, the Commandant really is something~.

Continuous tap 2:

(Pollux): Oi oi, don’t you think you’re getting a lil’ too carried away~?

(Castor): (sighs)... Commandant, honestly…

Continuous tap 3:

(Castor): … You really do often remind me of brother sometimes, especially when you act like this.

(Pollux): Ehhh, I’m not this annoying aren’t I? Hey, Castor?? HEY???

Activity MAX:

(Castor): Activity level is at maximum capacity, Commandant. It would be the best option to claim it all now.

(Pollux): Yeah, yeah! Would do no good to just leave such nice things lying around all willy-nilly after all~.

Battle start:

(Pollux): Alright!! Time to pulverize everything!

(Castor): Entering battle mode. Begin as instructed.

Battle 1:

(Pollux): GAHAHA! You can’t escape!

(Castor): Target confirmed. Engaging.

Battle 2:

(Pollux): Just! Die! Scum!!

(Castor): Aiming. Execution.

Battle 3:

(Pollux): NONE OF YOU DESERVE TO LIVE! HAHAHA!!!

(Castor): Objectives. Elimination.

Ultimate:

(if Pollux is on the field)

(Pollux): Tch… Castor! I need backup!

(Castor): Understood. …Brother.

(Pollux): Thanks! Time to finish you off!! Aha, AHAHAHA!!!

(if Castor is on the field)

(Castor): Brother. Assistance required.

(Pollux): Leave it to me! ...Take THIS! Castor, now!

(Castor): Affirmative. Target lock-on. Schießen.

Hit:

(Pollux): Aha, is that all you can do?

(Castor): This is not a problem.

Serious injury:

(Pollux): Tch… [DU SOHN EINER HÜNDIN]!!

(Castor): Hn… I’m fine. I can still go on.

Unable to fight:

(If Pollux gets downed): Damn...it… sorry, Castor… I failed to protect you… please… run away quickly...

(If Castor gets downed): Brother… where...are you… don’t… leave me alone… please…

Support:

(Pollux): The [Dioscuri] has arrived--

(Castor): --to provide needed backup.

QTE:

(Pollux): One, two~!!

(Castor): Confirm support.

Victory:

(Castor): Mission complete. Let us head to the next one, Command--

(Pollux): Absolute, complete, great victory for Dioscuri~! Like we told you Commandant, we’re invincible together~!!

(Castor): …Indeed brother.

[fy-2pm]

[TRANS] 2PM's Junho 'ESQUIRE' Interview

Summer 2021, Drunk in Junho

The hot and gentle story Junho and I shared with "W by Windsor"

Q: The book "If Our Language is Whiskey" by Haruki Murakami is chosen for the shooting with "W by Windsor" (Hereinafter "W"). It's the perfect combination for a "Whiskey trip" to Scotland and Ireland with the 100% Scottish "W."

JH: This will be interesting. I like reading books. I've been reading a lot lately.

Q: What kind of book do you usually read?

JH: I don't have a favorite reading here. I try to read different kinds of genre and not just focus on a specific genre. Recently, I am into how to handle diseases and death. I read a variety of books. It feels good to know something. If I know about a certain topic, when we talk, we can share our opinions. Even while I was in the army, I don't want to miss the trend so I read more at that time.

Q: You read more during your army. Did anything change since you were discharged?

JH: It's been more than 100 days since my discharge and it's been really hectic. These were the busy days that I've missed, but I managed to adjust really quickly without any hard feelings. It feels like there is no empty space. I don't think I have changed a lot but I think my mindset has changed a bit. Comparing with the past, I want to treat everything more leisurely. I don't want to feel the rush, the struggle or under attack. I just want to do things step by step. That kind of feeling? I think the people around me can see this feeling too.

Q: That's right. 2PM members said "Junho has a hot temper"

JH: When I say I will do something, I will do it right away. I've achieved a lot because of this personality. However, as I look back to myself, there are times when I think if I should have thought about a little more.

Q: During the "Army hiatus" you received a nickname 'My House Junho'. When you find out, how did you react?

JH: It was at autumn 2019 when I just started serving. Because I really miss the stage, I've been looking up 2PM and my own videos. I could see that the number of views for "My House Junho" has increased gradually. I just thought, 'This will come to a stop soon'. It's like an event.

Q: It's a video but there are some interesting comments. It feels like a playground.

JH: It's becoming like a community. In there, it feels like you are competing with each other to see who can write something more interesting. It's amazing. One of the most memorable commend said, "I only realize what is spring after the flowers fell." It sounds sad but feels good. (Note: This is a common Korean phrase meaning I only realized something or someone is good after he/she it's gone)

Q: Spring has come again. You have come again.

JH: It means that we were like flowers. But ironically, I don't think we are gone yet.

Q: The more you think about it, the more touching this is.

JH: I think "My House" received a lot of love not because of algorithm or luch, but because fans have real interest in the song. Just by sharing the video, clicking to view and leaving comments, there are all hard work by fans. This is making it fun and we came across a situation where we can do this all over again. Thank you very much.

Q: It becomes a famous "Icon of Hard Work" and it's seeing the light.

JH: For whatever it is, my personality is to try to achieve it. At one point in time, I thought making an effort itself is difficult. After living like this for a long time, I got used to it and now, I don't think of it as making an effort anymore. I've been working hard on my exercise and die but this just become part of my daily life. But I do think about, 'How much long do I have to do this?' (Laugh).

Q: I think you're a person who will not give up. Junho played the role of Dong-Woo in the movie <Twenty>, where he gave up his dream and said, "Do you know how hard it i to give up?" Not giving up is hard but giving up is hard, too.

JH: I haven't really thought about give up. But if I do give up, I am going to give it up entirely so that I won't remember what happened. To the extreme where is either all or nothing. This is why I don't give up anymore. If you give up something, all that you have done is like nothing had happened.

Q: Even for giving up perfectionism.

JH: With this personality, it used to make me feel really tired. People around me must be tired, too. At one point in time, I feel this is just the way it is. There is nothing wrong with being perfect. But now, I think it's okay to be imperfect. I came to the realization that I cannot do everything by myself. There are also many people who are helping me.

Q: From "Best Idols" to everyone's "Adult Idols". When it comes to adult, you cannot skip the alcohol.

JH: I can't drink that often because I have to take care of my body with exercise and diet. But I do enjoy it. These days, I cannot just drink freely outside, so I will take a sip at home. Drink a little bit of Whiskey and it will make you fall asleep comfortably. I enjoy my alone time like that at home. I used to think coffee and alcohol are bitter. "Why would I drink that?" Now that I know the taste of coffee, I bought a coffee machine. I am also collecting vintage wine. I buy them and give them to people around me as gifts. Let's say you want to drink beer just as cold as coke. For Whiskey, you pour it out to enjoy the taste and aroma. I don't understand this taste before. I thought it was for just people who enjoy strong flavors.

Q: Knowing the taste of coffee and alcohol is like a symbol of adulthood. Especially for Whiskey, that's like the preservation of a mature adult. Actually, I go a little worried when I saw an article saying Junho is not good at drinking. I wonder if you will go well with "W."

JH: Right, I haven't talk much about alcohol. There were articles like "He could only take one glass of beer" or "He went home so early" for the after parties. I think the fans know that I am a weak drinker but it's not bad for them to think I am cute because of that. But I am not that crazily weak! (Laughs)

Q: There's this article where you said "I usually drink well but I refused to drink at an after party yesterday because of thinks interview". So I thought, "Being a weak drinker self-management is on another level"

JH: For sure, if you have a schedule, you have to have some self control. Even if you drink, just enough to feel good. But even if I drink and go to sleep, I feel refreshed the next day. I don't know if it's because my liver is still in good condition, but I don't usually suffer from hangovers.

Q: Many people say that you will suffer less hangovers drinking Whiskey than other alcohol. I think "W" is good for people like Junho who enjoys drinking comfortably.

JH: I think "W" is especially refreshing. It has a good aroma and it's smooth to swallow. Comparing with other alcohol, Whiskey seems to have a higher entry level but you can have "W" easily. Actually, it has a lower alcohol level than normal Whiskey. During today's filming, I can feel the aroma and I've been sipping little by little. Maybe that's why I feel good now (Laugh).

Q: What food will go well with "W"?

JH: They often have nuts and chocolate with Whiskey but i would like to recommend tteokbokki. It's not the spicy tteokbokki but the one with beef and sweet soy sauce. You may think "What do you mean by having tekkbokki with Whiskey?" Just do it. It goes well together.

Q: How do you usually drink Whiskey?

JH: It all depends on my mood or situation. I think you find your own way that suits you, so you can drink comfortably. If you want to go to sleep quickly, drink it in a small glass in one shot. If you want to watch a movie, drink it cold with ice. I've been drinking Whiskey with ice and that got me interested in big block of ice. I even looked up YouTube videos where bar mixologist carved some ice balls. I even thought about buying an ice ball maker.

Q: It's all about "equipment" (Laugh)

JH: Even for coffee, I started not knowing anything but I was curious. I bought coffee beans and did the grinding myself. But the grinding size is too big so I went to study how to make it smaller. It became more fun. The scope of Whiskey is even wider when you have experience the different between having Whiskey on its own or having it with it.

Q: In JTBC's <Knowing Bros> when talked about the reverse popularity with "My House Junho" Wooyoung said "It's all because of Junho's virtue. Junho is very careful in everything so that he won't hurt the members. He will sacrifice for the team" I wonder why he feels like this.

JH: I am working as 2PM and as an actor, so all my schedules need to go well together. There are times when drama comes, so I have to turn down 2PM activities. I think that can happen but it's normal. As an actor, it's difficult to do other things when you are involve in a drama. Even though, I can multi-task my schedules, it's still a problem I need to solve. So even when I don't have much sleep, I don't want to show I'm tired. I always want to make myself feel good.

Q: I think 2PM's charms are "bonds between members" and "consistency". Both sounds easy but it's difficult to do. How did you keep up?

JH: Consideration is the most important and you should never think selfishly. We have been together for 14 years, so one of us could have done that to another person. We weren't adults when we started, so we are always talking to each other and still is today. Our tastes, our personalities and what we want to do are all different. For sure, we compromise and we give in for others but we became more considerate. This is when you know this friend is so kind and considerate. I think this is similar to what Wooyoung said.

Q: Becoming a senior idol

JH: Over the years, we have accumulated lots of experienced and our fields were being broaden. I think we can be a good example with how we stayed together and continue to work as singers. "Bukae" is the trend these days (Note: Bukae means a second job)

Q: Do you any advice fro the juniors?

JH: Umm, let's do well? (Laugh). There's a big difference between good and bad examples. Always watch what you say. Always watch what you do. I hope we can promote happily with the juniors.

Q: There's this "daily energy". It's the energy that shape your daily life with small changes. What shapes Junho's daily life?

JH: Before the schedules start, I must get up. By doing so, it already shape my day.

Q: The process of being fully occupied and working hard is beautiful. Of course, the results are often great. "W" is also trying to maintain the brand's reputation by carefully selecting the undiluted Scotch Whiskey in Scotland. Junho, I wonder what effort you are making to keep o

JH: And I try not to sleep during my schedules unless I'm very tired. I want to do everything with a clear mind. When you wake up, you're dazing. There was a time when we had schedules at Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu and Busan in different broadcast programs. There was a time when I couldn't sleep on a bed for 2 weeks while we prepared for the end year ceremonies. I was sleeping in the moving car. It was all fun memory but at some point in time, we didn't know how it all went because it was so hectic. I really regret it because I don't want to forget as much as I can. That's why I became interested in photography and videography. I bought a camera and a camcorder to record.

Q: You've been busy since 17. I wonder if you have gone through adolescence.

JH: Of course, I did right? (Laughs). On the other hand, my parents worked in double jobs, so my realization of their importance came a little early. My dad worked as a sea navigator. I didn't see him for 6-12 months so I miss him even more. When I was in elementary school, I went to my mom's workplace and called out to her until she answered me and I cried "I miss you." Now that I think about it, I wonder how busy they were.

Q: The process of being fully occupied and working hard is beautiful. Of course, the results are often great. "W" is also trying to maintain the brand's reputation by carefully selecting the undiluted Scotch Whiskey in Scotland. Junho, I wonder what effort you are making to keep your own color.

JH: I like things that are natural and light. I want to be a person who doesn't provoke or irritate, just like a piece of paper. Sometimes, it can be hard to keep it plain because I have my hot temper and fire but having this mindset keeps me neutralized. In <I Live Alone>, I used the moktak and this is one of my effort to do so. It's relaxing and makes me calmer.

Korean to English translation @JLML718 (Twitter)

[smallheathgangsters]

Second Youngest | S!S

A/N: I’m sorry, I really struggled with this one, but I hope it’s okay. Also, I had to make a few changes to the original request to boost my creativity and to me, it just made a little more sense this way. 

Request: a very long one by @amys-small-world

Shelby!Sister

Word Count: 1826

Type: angst, a little bit of fluff

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

Life had never been kind to Y/N, from the beginning on. Even her last name didn’t change any of that. Being a Shelby sounded like a privilege, something everyone wanted to be. Nobody daring to disrespect you and receiving everything you ever demanded, no questions asked. But when your own family doesn’t accept you as their own, the Shelby name transforms itself into a burden instead of a blessing. And that burden never went away for Y/N.

Being the second-youngest sibling and unfortunately not sharing the same mother as the others were features that were weighing heavily on her shoulders. Especially the fact that she had resulted out of an affair with a backstreet whore their father had been having behind his wife’s back, spoke for itself. She wasn’t a Shelby the family was proud of. She was the sibling nobody mentioned to anybody. The mistake none of them wanted to talk about. The reason for their mother’s worst heartbreak. Having a fling with a prostitute was one thing, but getting her pregnant? A whole other story.

That meant, that Y/N had to grow up by herself. Even though the Shelby’s took her in right after her birth and made sure to give her a bed to sleep in, food to eat and eventually work to do, they didn’t give her attention, even a second of their time or love at all.

To put it simply, Y/N had no idea what it meant to be loved.

As a child it had been easier, since she had friends to play with at school. But as she grew older, she lost those connections and Polly made sure to keep her inside to do housework instead of fooling around outside and getting into trouble with the other kids. So, Y/N spent most of her days cleaning and cooking for the Shelby household, instead of collecting memories like all the other teenagers.

Never receiving the brotherly protection like Ada had, she’d been forced to fend for herself since. Like the time, when she went grocery shopping by order of Polly and a group of kids her age started following her and calling her names and eventually tripping her, so she fell into a puddle on the street. She returned with her clothes soaked and dirty, making her get a horrible telling off by her aunt. If anything like that had happened to Ada when she’d been Y/N’s age, the boys would have made sure to beat the life out of those kids and that they never even dared to get near her again. But since she was the bastard child her brothers didn’t care about, nobody was there to defend her and keep her safe.

Therefore, the next time she came across the same group of kids, she punched the boy who had tripped her, right across the face, most likely breaking his nose by the cracking sound and his painful screams.

When she returned home, Polly asked her why there was blood on her dress. Y/N didn’t answer, keeping it a secret, like countless other things that would happen in the following years of her life.

At the age of twenty, Y/N was a wreck. Even those four years, when her three eldest brothers were fighting in the war, weren’t any different to the ones before. While Polly had taken over the brothers’ business together with Ada and some other women, Y/N had been tasked with the care of little Finn and the maintenance of the house. It had been acts like those, that made her feel so useless and so out of place. Would she ever be good enough for anything else?

Most nights she cried herself to sleep. She just couldn’t understand how she was still in this awful position. She waited twenty years for her family to hopefully one day change their ways, accept her as a family member and stop acting as if she wasn’t even present. It was horrible knowing that her family was expanding the business without including her even in the slightest way. Was she really that worthless? Why did everybody blame her for something she had no control over? Would this ever change?

It was the day before her twenty-first birthday. Y/N had had a terrible night, waking up multiple times and having awful nightmares, if she did fall asleep. Thoughts about her future had kept her from getting rest. Since the only thing she’d ever done was housekeeping at home and never got to broaden her horizon by finding a job outside, she felt like she could never escape this life she was living. She wanted to be a nurse or a teacher or seamstress. Anything but staying trapped in this state she was in.

Knowing it was still very early in the morning and the rest of the Shelby family was still sound asleep, Y/N rolled out of bed with a groan and put on some clean clothes. She decided that she needed to take a walk in the empty Birmingham streets before her unpleasant daily routine would start over again. She carefully padded down the stairs, making sure the old wood wouldn’t creak too loudly and grabbed her coat before stepping out into the cool, dewy air and closing the door quietly.

This kind of silence was rare. It was just before five o’clock, what meant that even the early risers weren’t awake yet and factories didn’t start their machines before six. Enough time for Y/N to clear her thoughts, to make sure she wouldn’t go crazy today. Because she felt like being at the verge of completely losing it.

She wandered along the cobble, passed little boutiques and bakeries and eventually ended up in front of the catholic church Polly often went to pray in. She wasn’t religious in any means, but she’d always found peace in the serenity inside the church walls. How her heels clicked on the marble floor and the people in the time-consuming paintings on the ceiling kept their eyes on her, giving her all of their attention, unlike her own family.

After entering, Y/N sat down in one of the rear rows, as though she’d be stepping too close to God if she’d gone any further. God, who most likely didn’t care for her or her existence. She sighed, propped up her elbows on her thighs and placed her head in her hands. Then, she let her eyelids close, realising just how tired she was. Lack of sleep being the least relevant one of all the reasons. Feeling the tiredness creeping up on her, consuming her entire body, she stretched herself out on the cold, hard church bench, her eyes not opening even a tiny bit.

She knew she’d fall asleep, but what she didn’t know, was that she’d eventually sleep through the entire morning. The loud bang of the heavy church door slamming against the wall, tore her from her uneasy sleep, making her sit up in panic.

“Y/N? Is that you?”

It was Finn’s voice. She knew immediately that she was in trouble. Although his tone didn’t actually sound very angry.

She wrapped her arms around her body, not answering his question and silently hoping that she’d be overlooked. But that clearly wasn’t going to happen, since she was the only one in the church and she’d stupidly shot up when hearing the alarming noise.

She heard his footsteps get closer and internally prepared herself to be yelled at, and if not from Finn, than from Polly later on. She tried her best to stay strong and hold back the tears forming in her eyes, but it was all too much to handle. She didn’t want to go back home. She wanted to run away or at least just stay here, by herself, as long as she could.

Surprisingly, Finn didn’t grab her by the arm and pull her with him or even tell her to get up. He didn’t say anything at all. He shuffled into the row and sat down next to her.

With her hand in front of her mouth, she muffled the sobs escaping. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“Family’s looking for you,” she heard Finn mumble.

Y/N took away her hand from her mouth and sniffled. “I– I know …”

Finn sighed. “I’m not going to tell them where you are.”

His unexpected statement made her sobs stop immediately. “W–What did you just say?”

Finn pulled back his hand and interlaced his fingers, resting his entangled hands on his thighs. “It’s not that I don’t see my family being very … unfair to you.”

Y/N almost scoffed, but wasn’t able to hold back her eye roll, which Finn noticed. “I totally understand that you’re angry.”

“Angry?”

That was the moment she suddenly couldn’t keep her thoughts from spilling over her lips. “You think I’m angry? Finn, I’m broken. I’m actually so fucking heartbroken. My own family made it their mission to make my life a living hell. I’m over being angry. I just want to leave!”

Her voice was laced with disappointment and hurt. This was the first time she’d ever told somebody the way she was truly feeling.

Finn gave her a sad look. “I’m sorry, Y/N …”

“It’s not your fault, Finn,” she sighed, scratching at the dried-up spots on her hands. “This started even before you were old enough to realise what was happening …”

Finn started chewing on his lip uncomfortably. “I never understood why they didn’t want to accept you. You’re my favourite sibling, you know that?”

Her head turned to her brother, a hint of shock in her face. “What?”

“You were the mother I never had. You took care of me when I was a kid, played with me, cooked for me. I didn’t know that you were forced to do all of that, but I really appreciated it, even at that age. I know I never showed it after I got older and I regret that.”

His words went straight to her heart, making it contract in a way it had never before. Y/N tried to respond something, but her breath just got stuck in her throat, making it unable for her to speak.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to reply anything to that. I just wanted to let you know. And I’d love to help you start a new life somewhere, if that’s really what you want.”

She shook her head. “All I ever wished for was to have a family. A family that loved me and involved me. But not even waiting for twenty-one years made a difference. It’s all still the same.”

He gulped, grabbing her hand. “Let me speak to them, okay? I want them to know that I care about you. And if they’re not willing to change, I’ll help you get out of here. You deserve better.”

Y/N started crying. “I deserve better …”

[spicysoftsweet]

Why Not Her? (Illumi x Reader)

A/N: Buckle up, this is long as fuck and dramatic as HELL. Please read @hisokapegger‘s fic for the first part, and consider this the other perspective. If one of us is feeling up to it, we’re gonna write some more perspectives.

To the tune of Jolene by Dolly Parton here ~

Part one by @hisokapegger here

TW: pregnancy

---

To love is to trust.

You had done the unthinkable by choosing to love and to trust what to others was despicable. You had made the leap and been rewarded for it with the love of Illumi Zoldyck. 

Your relationship would be strong and lasting; you were sure of it. Prior to coming to the sprawling mansion he had grown up in, he had already paved a way for you after all. With enough convincing (or rather, over a year of quiet arguments and louder fights that you thankfully weren’t privy to), his parents had begrudgingly accepted the idea of you. 

And today was the day you would finally be presented as his fiancee.

He had chosen you yourself. There was nothing to fear, as long as he was with you. You reminded yourself of this as you held his hand while he led you into the manor.

You kept your smile on as you navigated through, following just a few steps behind but still linked. What you needed to do was look charming, even if you were afraid - first impressions were paramount to people as elitist as Illumi’s family. You had to channel grace, even if the butterflies in your stomach would barely settle the further you went.

And you did so well, exuding charm and inner peace to everyone you met - that is, until you met eyes with her. 

Illumi introduced the beautiful, sylphlike creature as one of his most trusted butlers. She smiled at the praise, and the moment you took in the soft features painted on pale skin with a hint of olive, something inside of you trembled for just a moment. 

“This is Kali. She’s been with me ever since I was a child,” he explained, with fondness. 

You nodded, trying to ease the thump in your heart, keeping your smile genuine. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Kali.”

You were being truthful. You sensed intrinsically she was sweet and kind, and you knew you would end up liking her the longer you spent time together. She would be your personal butler from then on, anyway. You decided to ignore the nagging sense of impending doom that knocked at your subconscious, shoving it into the deepest recesses of your mind.

As Illumi took you away to move on, you turned back to sneak a look at Kali once more.

And then you saw it; you wished you hadn’t seen it: her eyes shining with sadness for just for a split second before she noticed you and looked away.

----

As you had anticipated, you and Kali became fast friends. You knew Illumi loved you and that his feelings hadn’t changed by the way he spoke excitedly about your upcoming future together, took the time to fill up your quarters with the things you liked, and indulged you in soft kisses and touches when you were alone together.

But the thought that you were assuming a space that didn’t belong to you, and not in a way as innocuous as sitting in someone else’s seat, continued to linger in the back of your mind.

It festered every time Illumi came by to see you while you were exchanging stories with Kali when you failed to see a difference in the way he looked at you both. It reared its ugly head whenever she teased him in your presence, or whenever she gave you a tidbit about his favorite things. There was a twinkle to her eye whenever she spoke about him, and while you loved her, you started to hate it.

But jealousy was such an unbecoming emotion, wasn’t it?

Illumi loved you, it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter.

---

“I want Kali to make one of the wedding cakes.” Illumi stated, voice as light and inconsequential as usual, as you sat side by side in one of the many gazebos on the field. 

“Oh?” You asked, looking up from the catalog of flower arrangements you were perusing, despite the fact that you knew his mother would override any decisions you made anyway (you had decided you would let her win the battle over flowers so that you could win the war, after all).

“There’s a recipe only she knows,” he continued. “It’s been my favorite since I was a kid. She’s aware and has agreed.”

“That sounds lovely, Illumi.”

It truly did, and that was the worst part.

---

Your wedding came and went, and it was every bit as beautiful as you imagined. You remained in Illumi’s arms after consummating your union, and somehow, shockingly, he fell asleep first. Or maybe he was just closing his eyes - yes, that was the more rational explanation. You snuggled closer into his neck, and wrapped your arms even tighter around him.

Still flushed, you whispered a breathy, “I love you.”

And to your terror, the little green monster that had spared you for the past few days came back in full force. 

But so does Kali! It screamed from the parts you thought you had locked away, and your heart started to race.

Illumi didn’t open his eyes, but he pressed his lips to your forehead in a small, quiet motion before pressing you even closer to him, likely sensing your unrest. 

What you needed to hear him say was those three words back.

But alas, those three words never came, and the little green monster grew just a little bit stronger that night.

---

You could have your choice of men, but I can never love again

He’s the only one for me, [Kali]

---

It didn’t take very long for you to become heavy with child, and for whatever reason, pregnancy was particularly hard on you. The fatigue, back pain and constant nausea would have been manageable if it weren’t the fact that your ankles swelling was nothing compared to the swelling in your face, and you were unsure if the stretch marks that coursed over your belly would ever fade. Just looking at yourself in the mirror some days would ruin your morning.

Kali remained lithe and beautiful as always, graciously by your side to help you with the most menial tasks. Taking your hand to help you get to the bathroom or to take a daily walk around the manor to prevent blood clots from sitting around, keeping you company while Illumi was away; you were in need of constant assistance, and she was always there for you.

She was an angel, and your best friend.

One evening as you ate dinner, just the two of you, you let out a sigh.

Kali smiled in response, attempting to reassure you. “Pregnancy seems difficult, but you wear it well,” she mused, pouring chamomile tea for the two of you to enjoy.

You gave out a dramatic snort as you took a sip. “I’ll never look the same again, and I’m pretty sure this whole story about a “pregnancy glow” is fake,” you huffed as you set the teacup down.

“But Illumi’s so happy, he talks about it all the time!” Kali exclaimed cheerfully, setting down her own cup. “Just yesterday, he was talking about baby names you had discussed, and settling on a few. It was quite funny to watch actually.”

A knot formed in your stomach. The last time you spoken to or seen Illumi was multiple days ago... 

“Was he home yesterday?” You blurted out, then were embarrassed to even have to ask your friend about your own husband’s whereabouts. 

She furrowed her brow as she looked at you in confusion. “Yeah, of course, he was just here for a couple of hours, but...”

He didn’t come see you? What she left unsaid was enough to set you on edge, but you couldn’t be mad at her, only at yourself. 

Who could love you anyway, the way you were now?

It took you a moment to get up on your own, but you had to stand and make your way from the table. Turning away from her so that she couldn’t see the bitter tears that were ready to fall from your face.

“__, are you alright?”

“Mmhmm,” You choked out and nodded, your voice regrettably higher than usual. You bit your lip.

“I think I’m going to bed early tonight.”

You could hear the chair shift back as she rose.

“Okay,” she said, in a soft, compassionate voice. You heard her light footsteps make their way to the door, pause for a moment, and finally the door closed shut behind you.

And at the sound of the closed door, as if on cue, your tears began to fall. 

---

Your smile is like a breath of spring

Your voice is soft like summer rain

And I cannot compete with you

[Kali]

---

You spent the rest of your pregnancy on bedrest, before producing a beautiful, dark-haired little girl. Skin to skin contact was brief before Illumi took the baby in his arms, inspected it, and with the smallest smile of pleasure, handed it to Kali.

You watched as Kali cooed at your new child, standing next to your still pleased-appearing husband, the picture of a perfect family. Even their features complemented each other; it was like a knife twisting in your chest. 

Kikyo gave you a quick look over before running over to them to pick up her new grandchild. For a split second, you wondered if you had imagined a look between pity and understanding, hidden beneath her visor. 

The nightmare of being overlooked.

---

And I can easily understand

How you could easily take my man

But you don't know what he means to me

[Kali]

---

It took you not too long after that to grow bitter. Maybe it was postpartum depression, maybe it was a year of feeling inadequate, maybe it was the fact that you knew your friend was more deserving than you. 

But either way, you withdrew. From Illumi, from Kali, from everyone. It wasn’t hard to do so. You did what you were there for. You’d produced a child to appease your husband and your grandparents. 

How you yearned for freedom...

The freedom that Kali had to love without the responsibility. If only you could switch places.

“___, please eat-”

“I’m not hungry,” you replied, before she could even finish. Kali pulled the plate of food back to her.

“Illumi is upset with me that you’re not eating.”

“Are you worried about Illumi or me?” You quipped, then covered your own mouth, shocked at what had come out.

“...”

Kali was speechless, but the look on her face betrayed a layer of guilt that you couldn’t tolerate. You were right. It was less about you than about Illumi.

You knew she cared about you too, and yet…

“I know you love him,” you choked out. Kali said nothing, her beautiful eyes still on you, as you began to cry. 

“I know you wish he had chosen you instead of me, and honestly, I wish he had.”

----

I had to have this talk with you

My happiness depends on you

And whatever you decide to do

[Kali]

---

The next morning, you decided you would seek some professional help. You didn’t know how much of this was depression vs. postpartum baby blues, but something had to be done. Kali did not deserve your anger at all.

You didn’t see Kali that morning. 

When you finally spoke up your concern of your whereabouts to Illumi, hoping not to avoid any trouble, his face was impassive as usual. 

“She asked if she could leave.”

The butlers didn’t just have the option to leave… Or did they?

“I didn’t know they could quit,” you questioned, suspiciously. 

“They usually can’t. But in this case, there was an exception.” He said. With that, he turned fully to face you, and pressed a soft kiss on your lips. It had been a long time since you’d kissed, since you’d withdrawn from him in your depression, and you missed it. But it felt wrong.

You withdrew again from his touch.

“What did she say? What was the exception?” You demanded to know.

“She told me she loved me, and that you knew the entire time,” he said, simply. Your stomach did a backflip.

“Normally the punishment is immediate death, but I know how much you care about her. And she was good to you.” He continued, taking your hands in his. You pulled away slowly, staring straight through him. He didn’t insist on it.

“Where is she now?”

“Off the manor, most likely.”

You started to walk towards the gate, and he held on to your arm.

“Where are you going?”

A panic started to rise in you.

“Bring her back! I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong!” Tears started to stream down your cheeks again, as the realization set in that such a petty feeling such as jealousy had managed to turn you into a villain. 

“She wanted to leave.”

“She loves you!” You protested.

“So?”

So? It was such an aggressively simple sentence. You looked up at him in shock, enough that it gave you pause.

“What do you mean so? Why me? Why not her when she’s perfect?”

“She’s not you.”

Your hand almost flew to his face from the sheer level of rage, the urge to defend her feelings coursing through you, but your palm stopped right at the side of his face. Instead, you sank to the floor, and sobbed for Kali, and for yourself. 

---

[Kali, Kali, Kali, Kali~]

I'm begging of you please don't take my man

[songbirdsingingthings]

Chapter Six - Skipping to First in the Ever Growing Line

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Kohei Horikoshi

Previous Chapter ~ Next Chapter ~ Series Masterlist ~ Main Masterlist

Word Count: 2.5K

You hadn’t left your father’s side for a week and counting. Every waking moment was spent fretting over him - whether he was warm enough, whether he had enough to eat… whether he ate at all. You no longer made much of an effort to attend balls, much to Nemuri’s chagrin, and it had been a few days since you took a proper bath. Izuku was feeling just as drowned as you were - while you were serving as a caretaker of sorts, Izuku took on all of the work your father had to do on a daily basis; check the budgets, arrange business meetings, manage the family’s finances… it was just so much to do. Every time you heard your father croak or make a move to get up, you were always on your feet to aid him with whatever he needed. This kept you up late into the night and into the wee hours of the morning. You busied yourself with reading whatever you could to keep you awake. They whirled you away into their worlds of fantasy, romance, and adventure so rich and lovely that you wished to be swept up and dropped right into them. 

It was late, very late, and your nose was buried into the latest novel you had come across all the while making note of every time your father’s breathing was irregular and shallow. That’s why it surprised you when Mei stepped in quietly to say that you had company. You peered over at the little clock that was sitting atop the nightstand and looked back at her with a “are you serious?” look. She merely nods and motions with her head to follow. You don’t budge from your seat, instead pointing at your father who was asleep. With a silent motion, Mei pointed at you and then out of the door, then she pointed to herself and the chair that you were sitting in. You understood and, unhappily, rose from the wooden chair, patted her shoulder, and made your way down the long sweeping staircase. You were sure your hair was a mess and that your dress was all wrinkled, but you didn’t care. It was almost 1’oclock in the morning after all. What surprised you was that you didn’t have just one visitor, but four. All dressed in sharp suits and looking fresh as a daisy, the four young men looked up at you and gained a different response. There was Lord Iida who not only carried a briefcase, but also a vase of beautiful flowers. Well, his butler held that. Your gaze flickered to Shouto’s, and for a brief but fleeting moment, held them. And then there was Lord Kirishima and Lord Bakugou - the boys you had known for almost forever. Katsuki would tease Izuku relentlessly when you were younger, so he did the same with you, but it was all in good fun. Lord Kirishima became Lord Bakugou’s closest confidant - and you did expect that there was more to that relationship than they were letting on - and another one of Izuku’s friends. You cleared your throat as you stopped in front of them, gaining their undivided attention.

“Gentleman, to what do I owe the pleasure of this… lovely, yet early, meeting?” Your words come out a bit more harshly than you intended, but nevertheless you continued to stare the four of them down without your confidence shaking.

“Deku mentioned that he was in need of some help, Half-pint, ” Katsuki said, stepping forward. Katsuki had always been taller than you, hence your loving nickname that left his mouth so often. “Y’know where we can find him?” You didn’t have the urge, nor patience, to listen to why your brother needed four of them exactly, so you just led them to the study instead. You knocked twice and opened the door, revealing a frazzled Izuku sat at his desk, his sleeves pulled up to his elbows and his hair a frizzy mess. He looked up and his weary eyes met yours, and then the rest of your company.

“Midoriya, it’s been a while!” Kirishima said gallantly, walking over to him and putting a friendly hand on his shoulder.

“Seriously Deku, no words for a couple weeks and then we get a letter saying ‘need your assistance’? It would’ve been a shame if that got into the wrong hands and rumors started to float around.” Katsuki says, rolling his eyes. While the three of them conversed, Lord Iida stepped towards you, his butler in toe.

“I thought that you might be under a significant amount of stress lately, so I offer aid in any way necessary. He explains, earning a soft nod for you. “I also thought you might enjoy these flower arrangements - shall I have my butler place them in your parlor?”

“Yes, thank you Lord Iida. They’re lovely.” You decide not to mention how the arrangements were made up of white lilies, the flower that represents death. Lord Iida bows before you and in return you give him a quick curtsy. You slowly begin to step out of the room and you almost make it down the hallway before Shouto stops you.

“Y/N,” He breathes, his voice light but heavy with concern. You don’t correct him when he uses your first name. Instead, you turn to face him slowly. You see him open his mouth to talk but then hesitates.

“Would you like me to fetch a servant for tea? Because other than that, I genuinely do not know how I can be of service to you,” You sigh, bringing up one of your hands to daintily rub your eyes. I need to get back to reading, otherwise I’m going to fall asleep, you think to yourself. Shouto frowns and takes a step towards you.

“I want to be of service to you.” He admits. His eyes are soft and tender as they look at you, making you wish you had the strength to turn around and march back upstairs to your bedchamber. However, you were running on almost no sleep and hadn’t eaten in awhile, making you weak to his pretty face. Despite your fatigue, a small laugh escapes you.

“I’m not quite sure how that might work,” You say, letting one of your hands settle on your hip. “The young gentlemen of your social class, to my knowledge, have never been subjected to the studies of taking care of someone. That task normally falls upon the women of the household. And, from what I was able to see at your estate,” Shouto tenses at your words, remembering how your whole relationship dynamic swiftly changed when he brought you to his home, “you are up to your knees in servants awaiting your beck and call.” While your words might’ve seemed severe, they were true in all stances. Shouto knew this.

“I’m aware, I still want to help you.” His voice is no longer hesitant, but earnest and insistent. You give in.

“Alright then,” you murmur, motioning with your head that he could walk beside you. He took that opportunity quickly and the two of you settled into a comfortable pace, taking your time walking down the long hallway that ran through the left side of your house. The two of you are silent for a minute before Shouto decides to speak up.

“How much sleep have you been getting?” You expected this question, but that didn’t make it easier to answer. I should just tell him the truth, the bags underneath my eyes are evidence enough you think.

“Two, maybe three hours a night.” You hear Shouto suck in a breath and you peek over to see his eyes widen in concern.

“How much have you eaten today?” He asks more quietly, like he’s scared to hear the answer.

“Enough,” you say, hoping that will quell his questioning.

“Y/N,” He breathes, grabbing hold of your arm. Your nonchalant look seemed to cause exasperation from him. “You need to take care of yourself.” You shrug his grasp off.

“I need to take care of my father.” You say instead.

“Where are your kitchens?” He asks, provoking confusion to flash across your face.

“Is there a reason to visit them?” You ask, raising an eyebrow.

“We can get something to bring to your father.” And with that, the two of you began the ‘journey’ to the far corners of your home.

“Do you happen to know where everything is kept?” He asks you, peering over pots and pans that were hanging on the wall. You stifle a laugh at his incomprehension of how a kitchen works.

“The utensils and cookware resides there,” you point towards where Shouto was standing. “There is dried fruit in the cupboards over there and next to them are the fresh vegetables,” you motion to your left. “And the ice house is outside, which stores the milk, butter, and other perishables.” Shouto nods as he looks to where you had motioned, taking note of where everything was located.

“Perhaps we should bring him some dried Y/F/F,” He suggests, strolling over to the cabinet. With a small smile on your face, you shake your head.

“I have to disagree, Father can’t stand the taste for some reason,” You explain. Nonetheless, he digs through the cupboard and finds a little basket of dried Y/F/F. He places them in front of you on the small table.

“But you can. They’re your favorite.” He says, causing you to fluster.

“How did you know that?” You wonder, eyeing him.

“I would’ve loved to say intuition, but Izuku had mentioned it when I came into your parlor. That day when you so charitably entertained Lord Mineta?” A wistful smile fell across your face, thinking back to that time. Shouto had saved you from what would’ve been a most horrendous outing with that suitor, if you could’ve even called him that. “He said something about the fruit tarts on the table he and your father were sitting at, and mentioned how Y/F/F was your favorite. So, eat up. Then we can take something to your father.” You obliged his wants, taking a dried slice of fruit out of the basket and biting into it. The flavors seemed to wrap your taste buds in a warm, and much needed, hug that prompted your smile to grow bigger.

“Thank you,” you say genuinely. A small smile flickers across Shouto’s face at your words as he leans back on a countertop.

“Lord Iida’s flower choice was certainly interesting.” He says bluntly. You bark out a laugh and make haste to quickly cover your mouth, but the damage was done.

“I’m sure he meant no ill intent,” you try and reason, causing Shouto to roll his eyes.

“However he managed to become the suitor at the front of your ever growing line of them is beyond me.” You can hear the hints of jealousy in his voice, bringing you back to your conversation before you heard about your father’s condition. You choose to wave it off though.

“Ever growing line, huh?” You say, plucking another piece of fruit from the basket.

“You must know that you are the most desirable young lady that is out in the season.” He states. You cock your head to emphasize the point that you were in the dark about the subject Shouto was talking about, so he continued.

“Y/N.” The way your name leaves his lips causes your heart to leap. “Not only are you of high social status and come from an honorable and cherished family. You are kind,” he takes a step towards you. “Intelligent,” another step. “Beautiful.” He is now very close to you, maybe only about a foot away. It was when you looked up into his eyes that you knew. He was the one you must marry. Shouto was the only young man you have ever truly imagined a future with. He was not a bore like Lord Ojirou or disagreeable and sickening like Lord Mineta. You could be yourself around him. If you married Lord Iida, you would have to put on a show similar to the one you performed with his mother - the perfect little lady who was quiet, abiding… unspoken. Shouto liked your spunk and your loud little family. He treasured the small facts he learned about you with such care. He loved you.

“Shouto…” You whisper. To hell with the notion of marrying Lord Iida. You could deal with the social repercussions of that later, along with Shouto’s father’s clear disdain of you. That was all just white noise when you looked at the man in front of you and the tender look on his face. It was taboo to engage in serious romantic affairs before engagement, and even then, it was rare for a couple to show public displays of affection. But, you found yourself absolutely drawn to his lips. You leaned in just like the heroine from your book had, making sure that your eyes fluttered shut before you met his… but they never did. Thanks to the clamour coming from down the hallway, the two of you sprung apart and busied yourselves with something in the kitchen when the kitchen maids came in. Fighting a flustered expression, you made yourselves look up and meet your maids’ eyes.

“Oh Lady Yagi, we did not expect you to be here!” One of your maids piped up, curtsying to you and Shouto.

“It’s quite alright, Lord Shouto and I were just preparing something for my Father and didn’t want to bother you,” you explain, earning nods from the little group.

“Please, allow us!” They say, quickly working their way around the kitchen to whip up a small and nutritious meal. Cheese and crackers were placed atop a small tray along with a glass of chilled water. “Shall we take this upstairs to the senior Lord Yagi?” One of them asks, earning a shake of your head. You gently take the tray from her hands and smile.

“If you’ll allow it, I’d like to take it to him,” you say, your voice placated. The maid nods and curtsies again, letting you and Shouto pass through the small hallway together. Silence graces the two of you again but it’s different this time. It was no longer awkward and tense, but comforting and hopeful. The two of you would keep sneaking glances at the other, sometimes catching each other in the act.

“Can we discuss this…?” Shouto asks, his tone now shy again. You nod, not trusting your voice, and give him a smile. “Maybe on the promenade tomorrow morning?” You knew it was ridiculous to get as excited as you were about promenading with Shouto - for heaven’s sake, you already knew that he harbored feelings for you! But his invitation made it all the more real.

“That would be lovely.”