#but i think its good for him 2 get convinced and relax a little | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ifancyharry · 2 years ago

Text

Bad habit (2)

In which YN is Harry’s daughter’s teacher, and she and Harry used to be friends in college; smut; daddy!kink; fluff; angst; dad!harry (read part 1 here)

Word count: 18K+

“Find a place for us to sit, pet, I’ll go order”.

When Harry had told her he wanted to catch up, YN certainly didn’t think he was serious. She doesn’t know why any time it comes to Harry, she thinks he’s joking or making fun of her, how pathetic could she be that even the thought of him wanting to grab a coffee with her makes her think he’s taking the piss out of her?

She doesn’t know why, but she does, and when he had texted her if she was fine to meet him in the late afternoon for a coffee, she had to read the message three times to fully grasp its content.

She couldn’t believe her eyes, and she still can’t fully grasp the extent of it, when Harry is walking back to the table she’d chosen holding a tray with two coffees in his hands and a small ceramic white plate with a slice of banana bread with two small forks on it.

Oh god. He looks good. He’s so pretty it’s unfair, and YN thinks it’s nice seeing him outside of the school environment. He’s much more relaxed, and she notices he carries himself around with a sort of gleam to him, and many heads turn to look at him when he walks, but, then again, it has always been like this when it came to him.

As he’s walking back with their orders, she can fully grasp how he’s dressed: a pair of distressed jeans hug his legs, tucked away in a pair of black Uggs that YN finds adorable (even more so when she remembers Aidi owns a pair exactly like him’s), and a black hoodie on top, his pink fluorescent beanie tucked away in the back pocket of his jeans. When he catches her looking, she averts her gaze quickly, but she doesn’t miss the smile he throws in her direction.

She tries not to blush too much when he sits in front of her and pushes her coffee towards her direction. He then takes the ceramic plate off the tray and positions it in the center of the table.

She takes a sip of her coffee and her eyes close as she tastes the sweet hot drink, “still ‘member your coffee order”, he chuckles, smirking with his lips around his own mug of coffee.

YN takes a big gulp before setting her mug down, her cold fingers wrapping around it to keep some of the warmth with her. She doesn’t know how he could be so carefree in the way he delivers these types of informations.

To YN, remembering how someone takes their coffee after probably what could be more than five years, is a big deal. Like big. Because she remembers only a few of her friend’s coffee orders. And among these, there’s Harry’s. But that isn’t special on her part, because she used to have a crush on him and she’d always be extra mindful of every little thing he did, and she knows for a fact that wasn’t Harry’s case when it came to her, so, once again, it doesn’t have to mean anything.

It doesn’t, right? She needs to convince herself many times of this before she goes down a rabbit hole too intricate for her sanity.

“So…” she trails off, uncertain on how to make small talk, “’s been a long time, huh?”

Fuck, when she thought she couldn’t get any more awkward than she already was, she delivers the exact same line he had told her days ago at the school.

“Yeah” he giggles, and if he noticed that she repeated his own words he doesn’t let her know, “you’re a teacher now.”

Her brows furrow in the center and she throws him a puzzled look, “I am. Don’t try to act too disappointed. You say it like there’s something wrong with it.”

“No, no, ’s not that” he’s quick to say, waving a hand in front of him, “of course there’s nothing wrong with being a teacher, bug, I just… I remember your stories.”

It’s weird to her, how he would go there not even ten minutes into their coffee date, and she wonders what his point is. The chosen pet name doesn’t go unnoticed, and she feels the sound of her heart beating in her ears, but she knows it doesn’t have to mean anything. Probably too much baby talk with his three years old.

“Wha’ you used t’write in class. — he clarifies — you were good. Like… we’re talkin’ Stephen King good. I can’t believe yeh’re not writin’ anymore”

“Who told you I’m not writing anymore?” She teases.

He shrugs, “Figured you aren’t…”

“I’m not” she admits sadly, shaking her head. “But I wasn’t that good. I was… okay”

“You were, though. You really were… gotta give yeh self more credit”

She looks down and plucks a piece of banana bread with her fork, bringing the small bite to her mouth and closing her lips around it.

She doesn’t miss how his eyes fall to her mouth, and she suddenly feels too hot.

She clears her throat and he averts his gaze quickly, bringing the mug to his lips and taking a small sip of his coffee.

“Let’s talk about you, then” she points her index finger in his direction and grins jokingly, “do you even work? Or are you a stay at home dad?”

She feels a little silly now, and she wonders if he understood the true meaning behind her question. Of Course she wanted to know what he was doing with his life, but she really, really, really wanted to know if he was married, too. Can you blame her?

He blows a laugh through his nose and, “Bloody hell, I wish! Stay at home dad — he repeats in a mocking manner —, no… I write stuff”

YN furrows her eyebrows as she chews around a rather dry piece of banana bread “stuff? What do you mean?”

“Whatcha think I mean? Books, ‘f course! Silly thing yeh are” he laughs and YN really wishes the ground would open and swallow her in one big bite.

“Well” she trails off, “I recall you mustn’t be very good. Never seen your name in a book shop” she raises her brows in a challenging manner and her lips open in a grin across her face.

She likes teasing Harry because he gets all flustered and antsy, and for a moment it makes her feel in control. For a brief moment, though, because he’s quick to respond with a wit remark.

“‘Nough o’that! Yeh haven’t seen my name ‘cos I write under a different one…”

“I don’t believe you” she says, shaking her head.

He raises his eyebrows in surprise and smiles a sly smile at her, “have you ever read ‘The Argonauts’?”

“‘f course I have” she scoffs, “it’s like the most popular book of the last… shut up! Shut up! No, no way!”

“Don’ act so surprised, pet! Yeh’re gonna shatter my ego” he says, showing one of his dimples in a sideway smile. YN has to refrain herself from poking her index finger into it.

“Uhm, sorry… it’s just… wasn’t expecting it”

Harry watches as she lowers her head and brings the mug of coffee to her lips, taking a small sip. Her cheeks are pink and Harry wonders if it’s from the warmth of the drink or because of him, he likes to think it’s the latter, but he knows it’s probably not. YN has always been one hard to read, and as the time passes, he observes that hasn’t changed. She’s slightly more open now, at least she engages in a conversation, whereas before, she always seemed too busy to talk to him.

“You could do it too if only you wanted” he shrugs.

He’s aware the atmosphere between them suddenly changes, but he doesn’t regret his words. He remembers how passionate she was about writing, and he remembers how good she was too, much better than him, and it pains him to think she’s spent years not knowing it.

“Maybe I don’t want to.” She snaps, “you don’t know me like that anymore”

“Think I never did, bug” he says, and YN doesn’t miss the embittered grimace that spreads across his features.

“Aidi is a cute kid” YN says after a while, tracing the handle of her mug with her fingertip. She notices he hasn’t eaten the cake, and she pushes the plate closer to him.

“She is” he smiles happily, picking up the other fork and dipping in the banana bread, “love her so much. Dunno what I’d do without her”

YN reciprocates his smile, “she’s very polite. You and her mum did a good job”.

She bites her bottom lip and she feels mortified. What possessed her to say that, she doesn’t know, and if Harry wasn’t aware of her crush up to that point, he must have definitely understood now that she manipulated the entire conversation on finding out if he has a partner.

Harry looks in her eyes with a glint in them, and he smiles amused, “are yeh askin’ me if I’m single?”

“What! No! You obviously aren’t, I’m not…”

He interrupts her with a loud laugh and “i’m just teasin’, love. Her mum isn’t in the picture. She bailed when Aidi wasn’t even one. Claimed it was too much, she was too much.”

“Oh, Harry. I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything” she smiles sadly, and she stretches a hand across the table to meet his, which she squeezes lightly.

“’s okay. I don’ blame her. A child ’s a big responsibility” he shrugs, and when YN goes to remove her hand, he only squeezes it tighter, “but she definitely didn’t raise her”

YN nods and throws him a brief smile, the skin of her hand burning under his touch. Harry doesn’t remove his hand until the very last moment they have to leave, and she feels both hot and cold in his presence.

She had forgotten what it was like, being in his presence, and if her feelings were under control before, she feels them inside her like a raging river now, pushing to be let out.

It’s weird, to her, because it’s both premature and both too late, now, and despite the shift in their dynamic, and despite feeling like the universe might have given her a second chance, she isn’t brave enough. She’d never speak first. It’s a tale as old as times, and it’s been like that since she was little, and perhaps that’s why her relationships with the other sex stayed circumscribed to awkward hookups with strangers she’d met at bars, sometimes even single parents, but that was very, very awkward after (and it happened only one time, so it doesn’t even count!)

“‘m really happy we did this” he smiles. They’re both walking out of the coffee shop now, and he holds the door open for her, and YN really tries not to stumble on her feet. Now, that would be very awkward.

Maybe, it’s a cruel joke of the universe, or she’s just as clumsy as a little kid, because as soon as she steps outside, she turns around to wait for him, and in doing that, her shoe stamps on the untied lace of the other shoe, and she feels her feet tangled together when she turns.

She prepares herself from the embarrassing imminent fall, but instead she is met with a pair of big arms circling around her waist and holding her in place.

Her nose is pressed against Harry’s chest and she tries to be very subtle in the way she takes a small sniff of his scent, smelling perhaps his fabric softener mixed with a woodsy, tobacco scent, that she figures could be his cologne.

“Woah, easy there, bug” firm, strong, hands take a hold of her bicep and she regains the balance on her feet, her eyes still avoiding his.

“Strong reflexes you have there” she mumbles, and she feels so embarrassed she might throw up all over her sweater.

“Comes in handy with a three year old” he chuckles, his fingers still gripping the fabric of her sweater.

“There’s the little bugger” he says, and before YN can say anything, he crunches down on the ground and starts untying her shoe laces.

He ties them back in their place, and YN smiles despite the embarrassment when she notices he still uses the method of the two bunny ears, and she remembers Aidi telling her that her daddy is teaching her how to tie her own shoes (“because I’m a big girl now, Miss YN”).

“There ya go” he pats behind her knee and smiles slyly at her when he’s back at eye level.

“Thank you” she blushes, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“You know…” he trails off, and YN finds herself leaning closer, almost too scared that someone else would hear him and that his words weren’t only for her to hear, “you haven’t changed a bit.”

Her mouth twitches and she tries not to feel too disappointed, feeling at a loss for words.

She bites down on her bottom lip and she crosses her hands against her chest to shield herself from the sudden wave of cold that possessed her. She doesn’t know what to say so she chooses to not say anything, she just watches as he takes his car keys out of his pocket.

She has to bite down her tongue to refrain herself from asking about the bunny. Because there definitely is a keychain in the shape of a very cute cream colored bunny hanging from his keys, and she isn’t delusional now. She’s sure it’s a bunny.

She smiles at him when he catches her staring at his fingers wrapped against the keys, and he reciprocates the smile. Unspoken words linger between them, a question about a bunny and an honest conversation about feelings, and it goes way back, to a conversation they both aren’t ready to have.

“See yeh tomorrow?” He asks, to which YN nods, “yes.”

They part after a brief hug and a promise of doing this date thing again, and YN tries not to smile too much on the tube on her way home to not scare the other passengers.

And to think he said he didn’t know her. YN thinks he may know her better than anyone else.

…

It’s a little later in the month now, and despite the chilly weather, YN can’t wait to get to school.

Every year, the teachers organize a small, mid day, trip to the zoo, something easy but that the kids love very much, and parents are welcomed to come too, if they don’t feel safe enough to leave their kids with just the teachers. YN is ecstatic when she walks inside the classroom and a bunch of kids are already inside with Miss Enya, loud chatter fills the room, and she can feel the excitement lingering in the air.

It’s endearing, really, how something as simple as a trip to the zoo could make a kid so happy and giddy, and she just loves the atmosphere in general. She also really loves animals, and this zoo is more of a farm, really, so she knows the animals are being taken care of rather well.

Harry walks in at around 8, Aidi perched up on his lap, swinging her little legs happily.

She smiles at him a warm smile, and once he settles the little girl down, he makes his way quickly towards her.

“Don’ think we’ve ever been this early” he laughs, knuckling at his eyes tiredly. He looks extremely soft, and YN takes in his appearance. He’s wearing a pair of running shorts, with a black sweatshirt on top, the lace tied at the neck, his feet tucked in a pair of white vans with white socks ending at his low calves. YN thinks she’s never seen him dressed as casual as he is now. His hair looks soft and disheveled, as if he’d just washed it a couple of hours before, and YN has to refrain her hand from brushing away a stray curl that’s fallen on his forehead.

“They love the zoo” she simply says, shrugging.

He nods as he looks around and YN wonders if he, too, can feel the excitement that’s lingering in the air, “do yeh need help with somethin’?”

“Can you help me pack the snacks? I’m a little behind” she gestures towards the apples and chocolate bars she had bought earlier in the morning.

“‘f course” he smiles, rising the sleeves of his sweatshirt up to his elbows and positioning himself next to her. He picks a small, clear, plastic bag and takes first an apple and then the milk chocolate bar, putting them both in the small bag along with a napkin, before twisting the ends of the bag and tying it in a knot.

“No bunnies today?” He asks after a while, and YN really has to refrain herself from asking him to repeat himself.

She looks at him with her brows furrowed and he points to her top, a black hoodie similar to his in style, “no bunnies” he repeats, as if it was the most normal thing ever.

At this point, YN really can’t understand whether he’s teasing her or flirting with her.

She tsks her tongue against her palate and once she gains his attention, she brings two hands to the neck of her hoodie, tugging it down and revealing the gold necklace tucked away in the warmth of her shirt.

Harry raises one hand and brushes his fingers against her collarbone to pick up the necklace, not daring to go under her hoodie, and when the pendant is out and swaying against her chest, he picks it up in his hand. It’s still warm, and he feels a twitch in his belly at the thought of where it was tucked away between her breasts.

“See, — he smirks, raising his gaze from the bunny to her eyes — I knew it was a necklace”

He throws the pendant another amused glance, and then he picks the fabric of her hoodie between his thumb and index finger at the neck, letting the necklace fall back to its previous hidden place, and then he turns back to packing the snacks, as if what he just did didn’t ruin YN completely. She feels her chest heaving, and she’s suddenly hyper aware of the necklace against her skin, as if it caught fire with his touch, and she feels the bunny fall hidden between her bra, warm from his hands. She’s completely ruined. And she thinks her panties are too.

…

“Daddy! Daddy! Snakes!!! I wanna see the snakes!”

Aidi comes running towards them when they pass the reptile area and she probably sees a drawing of a snake on one of the signs, tugging Harry’s hand to gain his attention.

“Bug, yeh know daddy doesn’t like snakes” he whispers, crunching down to her level, and YN grins teasingly because despite his effort of talking in a small voice, his daughter betrays him saying “daddy yeh don’ have t’be afraid, there’s the glass to protect yeh!”

YN chuckles loudly when she hears that, and Aidi looks up at her teacher with the most father-like grin YN had ever seen, “daddy is scared of snakes”.

“Am not!” He blushes, rising up from his crunched position, “YN, don’t laugh. I am not”

YN only laughs louder, throwing her head backwards and placing one hand against her tummy.

Aidi joins her, giggling loudly at her daddy’s pouting lips.

“I can go with you” YN proposes, looking down at Aidi.

After the first tour of the zoo, the two teachers agreed with the parents to split up, to give every kid the opportunity of seeing what they wanted to see most, according to meet up at 1pm for lunch.

Harry had asked YN if she wanted to tag along with them, and Aidi had jumped in her place when she said yes, so that’s how they got here, in front of the reptile area.

“Yes!” She jumps excitedly, still holding her daddy’s hand, “thank you miss YN”

“Yeh don’t have to thank me, love. C’mon!” She stretches a hand for her to take, which Aidi does duteously, and together they walk inside the reptile house.

Once they’re inside, Aidi asks to be picked up to see the snakes better, and YN watches enamored as the little girl waves at the snakes resting inside the vivarium.

It’s nice to see how gentle Aidi is, because in a way, she’s an extension of Harry, and seeing how good he did with her, warms YN’s insides until she feels her limbs turn to jelly.

And to think he raised her alone! He did such a good job, she doesn’t know how to tell him again without sounding weird. It’s a strange feeling, watching the child of someone you once were in love with. Because at this point there’s no use in denying it. She was in love with Harry, the biggest crush she’d ever had for someone, never developed and never told, which is probably the most pathetic thing YN can think about.

“Were you friends with my daddy?” Aidi asks all of a sudden, still perched against her hip.

“Yes, I still am his friend”

The little kid nods and points to one of the snakes that’s resting on a tree branch, “what’s his name?”

YN couldn’t possibly know his name, so she hums and pouts her lips jokingly, “I don’t think he has a name, bug.”

Aidi frowns at her words and YN is quick to say: “why don’t we name him?”

The toddler opens her mouth in a toothless grin and she sways her little legs in YN’s hold, excitedly.

“I wanna call him Mr Snuggles”

YN tries to suppress her laugh because she doesn’t understand how a snake could be associated with snuggles, of all things, but she knows this is a very serious matter in the perception of a three year old, so she assumes a serious face and gives her a firm nod of the head, “that’s a perfect name for him”

Aidi smiles brightly at that, happy to have the approval of her — favorite, Harry had confessed — teacher.

…

Back on the bus, YN is checking that every kid is strapped in as she walks through the bus’s hallway, smiling at every kid that she sees (most of them sleeping) and when she reaches Harry’s familiar face illuminated by the small light shining on his seat she smiles brightly at him.

When she notices the empty seat next to him she frowns and she goes to ask him where Aidi is, but he’s quick to say: “wanted t’sit in the back, like a big girl, she said”

YN giggles at that and stretches her neck to look at the back of the bus, where she sees a group of toddlers sitting in the last row, she spots a sleeping Aidi between them, with her face propped against the big window.

When the bus takes a big pothole, she has to hold on tight to the seat next to him to prevent her from falling, and when Harry notices that, he tugs on her hoodie with his hand to gesture her to sit next to him.

It’s almost six now, the sun has set and the road is dark, as is the bus, the led blue light of the hallway and every now and then the small one on top of the seats of still awake parents, the only sources of illumination.

She plops down in the seat next to him, crossing her legs in front of her.

He shifts in his seat so that he’s propped with his back against the window and his face is facing her. She does the same, watching him carefully.

He stretches one leg towards her on the ground and he bends the other at the knee against the back of the seat. This way, the skin of his knee brushes against her thigh, covered in a pair of leggings, but she might as well be naked with the way he’s looking at her, like he’s ready to devour her, and she tries to think if he’s ever watched her in that way. She doesn’t know, because she never really paid attention, assuming right away he’d never even spare a glance in her direction.

Was she wrong…

YN closes her eyes and she abandons her head against the headrest, shifting a little on her bum so she could get more comfortable, the long day catching up to her.

After a while, she feels Harry shift in his seat again, but she is too tired to open her eyes and check what he’s doing.

She feels the light finger tip of his fingers brush against her temple, brushing the hair away from her face, then he caresses the skin of her cheek softly, the contrast of his cold rings against her warm skin a solace for her skin, and he is so delicate in his movements YN feels like a rare flower he’s scared of plucking.

When he reaches her lips, she doesn’t know if she’s dreaming, and she feels his thumb brush against her mouth, the skin of his thumb tender and warm. She feels a hand sneak against the side of her neck, cradling her jaw and pushing her delicately against him.

She feels herself fall against his chest, between his legs, and she snuggles unconsciously against the soft fabric of his sweatshirt, her fingers reaching up to grab a hold of the fabric.

Her breathing regulates with every stroke of his gentle hand against her hair, and she feels herself fall, deeper and deeper in that rabbit hole she doesn’t see the end of.

…

YN stares at the screen of her phone, double checking the address Harry had written before ringing the door bell.

It’s a warm Sunday of November, and YN is standing outside Harry’s house, a plastic pink bag tucked between her fingers as she chews nervously on her bottom lip.

When Harry had told her, at the beginning of the week, that Aidi’s birthday was coming up and she’d begged him to invite her to the small gathering Harry was throwing her, YN certainly didn’t have it in her to decline.

It warmed her heart that Aidi liked her so much that she wanted her at her birthday party. These things are weird, and kids always watch on their teachers with an eye on, wary of the power dynamic. But perhaps that wasn’t Aidi’s case.

YN can already hear the loud screeching voices of small kids playing, and when Harry opens the door, she greets him with a brief hug, which he reciprocates kindly.

Weeks have passed from the zoo trip, and they didn’t speak about what happened on the bus, because truly, what was there to even speak about?

Harry is kind, and gentle, and probably just didn’t want her neck to hurt, his fatherly instincts kicking in providently. It’s as simple as that.

“Hi” he says, “come in”.

YN walks inside, light on her feet as she follows him. He’s wearing a big knitted brown sweater, the neckline and the hem of the sleeves detailed in green, paired with a pair of green tailored pants that hug his thighs just right, and YN can see the muscles of his legs stretch as he walks.

“Aidi’s present” she holds the pink plastic bag between them, and Harry throws her a furrowed look, “yeh didn’t hav’to”

YN swats playfully at his arm and rolls her eyes, “‘f course I had to!”

He grins at her and then eyes her carefully, gesturing towards her coat when he sees she’s about to take it off “yeh can put that in m’room upstairs. Don’ wan’ t’get it mixed up with t’others. ’s t’second door on the left”

YN nods her head and gulps under his gaze, removing her coat and holding it tight against her chest.

Maybe wearing the most revealing dress she owns wasn’t a good idea. She’s still his child’s teacher, for god’s sake!

Well, she can’t really go back now, can she?

The dress isn’t even that revealing, it’s just flattering, with a square neckline that shows a little bit of her chest, long sleeves and that ends just about mid thigh. Opposed to the oversized jeans and big sweaters she wears everyday at school, it’s a big change.

She turns around and walks towards the stairs, following his instructions.

She opens the door of his room and walks in, leaving her coat on his bed, and she tries not to think too much about how she’s leaving her coat on his bed. The room is nice, it reminds her of Harry, colorful and lively. The sheets are white but the bed is a nice cream color, above the headrest there are three abstract paintings that remind her of Jackson Pollock’s. She walks closer to his bed side and she smiles when she sees a framed picture of him and Aidi. He’s smiling brightly as he holds her against his hip, both dressed head to toe in Disney merch, Aidi showing off the most precious little Mickey Mouse ears on top of her head, Harry sporting a matching pair, and she feels herself fluster at the sight.

They are both so precious, she can’t believe Aidi’s mum didn’t want to be a part of their life. Maybe she feels a little jealous, because in her mind, she truly did have it all and threw it away; she’s aware it’s unfair, thinking about others this way, and she’d never even met this lady! What if she was nice?

She doesn’t know, she just knows it wasn’t fair, leaving like that, and she wonders if Harry still feels the pain of it or if it’s an entirely healed wound.

She walks out of his bedroom and shuts the door behind her, looking attentively at the pictures on the walls and paintings he decided to have framed. YN believes you can tell a lot by someone’s house, and the chosen decor that comes with it, and she wonders what could be behind the closed doors she passes on her way from Harry’s bedroom to the staircase.

Perhaps he has a room full of books where he spends his Sunday afternoons, or maybe a playroom for his daughter… one must definitely be a spare bathroom, the other…

“Miss YN?” She hears a small voice coming from behind her, and she turns her body quickly in its direction.

Aidi is looking at her with a puzzled expression, soon to be replaced by an excited one when she starts running towards her, hugging her leg tightly.

“Miss YN!” She exclaims, “why are you here? Daddy didn’t tell me”

YN furrows her brows at her and crunches down on the ground, hugging the little toddler.

She chooses not to linger on her words, she’s little, maybe she forgot she had invited her? Maybe Harry simply didn’t tell her? But YN remembers clearly how Harry had told her Aidi had begged him to invite her. Was he… lying? But why would he?

“I’m here because a little birdie told me it’s a special someone’s birthday?”

“It’s mine! It’s mine!” She giggles, jumping up and down in her place.

YN picks her up and tickles her belly playfully, “mmmh, is it?”

“Yes!” She giggles again, “stop, stop, tickles” the hallway rumbles with the sound of their laughters, and YN wonders if this is what it would be like to have a family of her own… Hallways always filled with laughter and colorful bedrooms and rooms full of books…

“Do yeh want to see my room?” She grins, and YN nods at her.

She looks adorable in her checkered baby blue dress, her hair are tied out of her face with a clipped white bow, and YN feels her chest warm at the thought of Harry doing her hair, because she definitely knows it’s him now.

YN follows the toddler to her room, the door in front of Harry’s, and she opens her mouth in exasperated surprise once she sees it.

The walls are painted a pale pink, small elephants stickers plastered across the walls, and she can see on the ceiling the faint stickers of luminescent glow in the dark lights shaped as stars, a big crescent moon just above her bed.

She imagines what her room must look like at night, when it’s time to go to bed and Harry perhaps reads her a bed time story before tucking her in.

“Woah” she exasperates, “it’s beautiful!”

“I know” she giggles childishly, running to pick up a few of her dolls from the ground and putting them on the bed, “daddy did it”.

“You have a great daddy” YN lets out, and she blushes at her own words. It’s not like Aidi understands to an extent what she really had meant, but still, letting out those feelings makes her feel antsy.

“He is the best” she nods seriously, picking up from the bed another doll.

“Miss YN, do you want to play dollies with me?” She asks politely, showing her the two chosen dolls.

“I think we should go downstairs, bug! It’s your party!”

“Uh! You’re right” she agrees firmly, and YN tries to suppress her laugh at her serious pout.

“We’ll play later, yeah?”

Aidi nods once again and takes YN’s outstretched hand in both hers, and they both walk slowly out of the room.

“You’ll stay for dinner?” She asks, hopeful.

“‘f course I am! ’s your birthday!” To which Aidi giggles loudly.

Laughter filling the hallways once again.

…

“Sorry I left you alone all day, hope yeh weren’t too bored”

It’s a little later in the day now, and YN is sipping on her drink absentmindedly while observing the beauty of Harry’s garden. The grass is well cut, English style, into a kind of hallway that serves as a driveway, and many flowers are planted adorning it.

She’s standing on the patio, where everyone had sang ‘happy birthday’ to Aidi not more than an hour ago.

Some of the guests have already left, leaving only a couple of Aidi’s close girl friends and their respective parents. The sun is still shining, but it has lost its warmth, and the air is turning colder with every minute that passes.

The day had gone by quickly, Harry had rented an inflatable castle that was set up in the small garden that surrounded the house, where the kids had played until exhaustion.

Then, after a brief lunch (cooked diligently by Anne — Harry’s mother, YN had found out), Aidi had opened her presents, sitting on the couch and wearing the most precious tiara YN had ever seen — she made sure to tell her that.

Harry had been kind of busy all day, mostly checking that the kids didn’t hurt themselves while playing in the garden, making sure everyone was well feed and that no one’d leave with an empty belly.

After Aidi had opened her presents, he took care of tidying up the living room, tossing the pieces of wrapping paper she had discarded all over when opening her presents.

YN had stayed behind, talking every now and then with a couple of parents from the school that would come up to greet her, and she didn’t miss how some of them had eyed her suspiciously, and she wonders whether they thought something was going on between Harry and her.

She also didn’t miss how some of the mums would act around Harry, flirting blatantly with him, and she honestly can’t blame them. Harry is attractive, and above everything else he’s polite, kind and intelligent. Not to mention how much he adores his daughter.

it’s endearing how he takes his time to hear every single little thing she says, and he appears to engage in these conversations as well! He’s not only pretending to listen, he truly is interested in the way she sees the world and in the way she tells about it, and to YN, that is one of the most valuable traits of his character.

He’s standing in front of her now, towering above her and eyeing her carefully.

She shakes her head at his previous remark and brings a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, “I had a lot of fun”, she says, squinting one of her eyes.

He moves a little on the right to cover the sun and she lowers her hand thankfully, “i loved the bouncy castle, always wanted one” she chuckles.

“Yeah?” He says, smirking, his dimples appearing proudly on his cheeks, “maybe I’ll rent one for your birthday… if yeh behave, that is”

YN feels herself fluster, and she gulps, his words replaying vividly in her mind.

If you behave.

He must definitely know the effect he has on her, because his eyes gleam, bright, and he looks down at her grinning slyly.

She scoffs when she recovers control of her own mind, “I’m too old for that!”

“I’d rent one for grown ups, silly” he remarks, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

YN wasn’t even aware they made bouncy castles for grown ups, and now she kind of wants one for her birthday. She won’t let him know, though.

“By the way…” she trails off, because now she’s the one that wants to tease, “Aidi told me she didn’t know I was coming”

“She did?” And he raises his eyebrows in surprise like he was caught in a lie, only for a brief moment, though, because he’s quick to add, “Told her many times lying ’s bad.”

“I feel like you’re the liar” she mocks, swatting at his arm playfully.

“YN” he says seriously, “are yeh sayin’ you believe a four years old over me?”

“That’s exactly what I’m sayin’” she nods.

He pouts his lips jokingly and YN really, really, has to refrain herself from kissing his pout away.

Her gaze lingers a bit too much on his pouted, strawberry lips and she averts her eyes quickly when his tongue peaks out to wet them.

“You’re silly” he chuckles, and he raises one hand to pinch her tummy through the fabric of her dress. The movement makes goosebumps prickle on her skin and YN crosses her arms against her chest to warm up.

“Are you cold?” He asks quickly, and she doesn’t even have time to say no that he’s already scurrying inside, walking through the glass door.

YN follows him with her gaze, and she watches through the glass as he picks up a throw blanket from the couch, his brows furrowed in concentration and his tongue peaking up from between his lips as he bends down to pick the blanket up.

She turns her head quickly when she sees him make his was back to her, and once he reassumes his previous position in front of her, he opens the blanket to show it to her.

He unfolds it between them and then circles her shoulders with the blanket, wrapping it then across her front and tucking the hem under the other side.

“There yeh go” he smiles snugly.

The blanket is soft and warm, and it hugs her body mellowly, and YN is aware it’s weird, but she suddenly feels protected under the shield of that soft fuzzy blanket, and perhaps not only from the cold…

“Thank you” she whispers softly, snuggling more in the blanket.

He looks at her every movement, his eyes are a deep shade of green, and she wonders if he’s ever looked at her like this before or if it’s the first time. She remembers he used to have these same eyes when he was a little bit drunk and the night was slowly coming to an end, or when he used to read one of her poems for class and he would look at the piece of paper as if he wanted to set it on fire with his gaze.

“Daddy!” They both jump at Aidi’s voice, and Harry turns his head quickly in her direction, welcoming her with a bright smile.

YN lets out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding in and she, too, turns to look at the little girl.

“Is miss YN staying for dinner?” She asks, stretching her arms upwards, demanding to be picked up.

Harry shifts her on one hip and looks towards YN warily, “I don’t know, bug…”

“‘f course I am!” YN is quick to say, raising her hand to tickle at Aidi’s belly lightly, “told you already, haven’t I?”

The little girl smiles happily, snuggling closer to her daddy and YN doesn’t miss the bright smile Harry shows her, which she mirrors instantly.

…

“Do you have anyone you need?” YN coos, referring to the stuffed dollies that Aidi required to be tucked in next to her as well.

“Think so…” she whispers sleepily, crowing her neck to check if she had everyone.

It’s bed time, now, and Aidi had specifically demanded that YN had to be the one to tuck her in, to which YN had agreed without a doubt.

YN is about to get up from the bed when Aidi says “no! Wait! Cinnabun isn’t here”

YN furrows her brows, and throws a pointed look towards Harry, that is still propped against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. He has an alerted look on his face, and YN tries to make eye contact with him, but he averts her gaze quickly.

“Have yeh checked under the bed, pet?” He says, walking inside her room.

He stops in front of the bed, where YN is sat, and he places a ring-clad hand on the bed, right next to her thigh, crunching down on his knees to check under the bed.

“There she is! Little bugger! What were yeh doin’ under the bed?” He addresses the stuffed animal directly, “wanted to avoid bed time, huh?”

He pats away a little bit of dust off, and then places the bunny right next to his daughter, that holds it tight against her chest with the crook of her small arm.

YN is watching his every step as he moves, and she’s very well aware that Cinnabun is, in fact, a stuffed, pale pink bunny, dressed as a ballerina, and that resembles very much one of the bunnies that YN had printed on one of her old shirts she used to wear in college and that she eventually lost in the various times she moved.

When are coincidences no longer considered coincidences?

…

When Aidi has peacefully fallen asleep, Harry shuts the door quietly behind them and he makes his way down the stairs, YN trailing behind him, and she stays light on her feet, almost too scared she’d scare him.

Her mind is thinking a thousand thoughts all at once, and she isn’t really sure what to do. Does she address the bunny? Does she keep quiet? Is she going to pretend nothing happened?

She doesn’t really know how to keep going, actually, and she isn’t sure how she’s supposed to engage in a conversation with him, when her own mind isn’t even connected to her mouth.

“Sorry she made you stay for dinner” he says once they reach the end of the stairs.

She wants to ask him if he’s sorry she stayed for dinner, but how can she?

“What? No! I’m happy I stayed” she shrugs, tucking her hands in the pocket of the hoodie he had lent her before dinner.

“Okay” he nods.

Something’s changed, YN can feel it in the way he’s averting her eyes, and she suddenly feels like she should leave.

“Maybe I should go? It’s getting late…”

“No!” He blurts quickly, “no — he repeats calmly — stay a little longer.” And it really sounds like a plea.

And she doesn’t find it in her to go. It’s as simple as that. Sometimes all it takes is four small words.

So, she nods her head, and she gulps when she sees him visibly relax, some of the tension in his shoulders dissipating, and she wonders what the hell is going on.

Is it because of the bunny? She knows it sounds silly, bunnies aren’t special, most especially stuffed bunnies, and she’s aware they’re very popular with kids, but it’s the same bunny. Thesame. And hadn’t he not mentioned remembering it, she wouldn’t have thought any more than what it was; a simple bunny. But nothing was simple when it came to Harry. And nothing was simple when it came to YN.

“Do yeh want some wine? I think I have some red in the cabinet…” he asks, pushing a stray curl out of his forehead with his fingers.

She hums, “yes. Yes, okay”

He nods and makes his way to the kitchen, and YN debates for a moment if she should follow him.

When he turns his head briefly to check where she is, she realizes he wants her to follow, and she does, catching up quickly with him.

…

A couple of drinks later, the tension has evaporated completely, and both Harry and YN are relaxed in each other’s presence, probably like they haven’t been in a long time.

They’re both sitting outside facing each other, on the wooden chairs in the patio, because Harry had claimed he was getting too hot inside. YN had chuckled loudly and told him it was probably the wine, but, still, he dragged her outside, picking up the throw blanket when walking on the way out.

YN has her legs crossed at the ankle and her feet propped on his upper thigh (she had originally put them on the chair, but he had moved them immediately after, claiming it was more comfortable the other way), and Harry the same, so the blanket could cover the both of them equally.

Harry is stroking the skin of her shin as he talks, because he is a really talkative drunk and a touchy feely drunk probably even more so. YN doesn’t know if he realizes what he’s doing, and most especially, what he’s doing to her, because with every stroke of his fingers against her naked skin, goosebumps pebble in its wake.

She takes a sip of her wine, and she bats her eyelashes tiredly, and she doesn’t know if it’s the wine or his velvety voice, but she feels herself almost drift off to sleep. Almost.

If it wasn’t for one thing Harry says that catches her attention and perks her up against the backseat of her chair.

He was reminiscing on their college years, and he was rumbling, in YN’s opinion, and she was too tipsy and too besotted with the way he was caressing her skin to understand fully what he was saying.

Until he mentioned how he always used to ask her for a spare pen, and YN felt her breath catch in her throat, because there’s no way he remembers that.

“Yeh had so many! One time you gave me a pink one… I think you hand’t realized, and I really didn’t have it in me heart to tell yah, so I had like… five pages of pink notes!” He snorts, “they were so pretty, though” he says dreamily.

“You could have told me!” She chimes in, pinching the skin of his thigh covered under the blanket.

“Pff” he scoffs, “‘f course I couldn’t… I had like, the biggest crush on you. Like… the biggest” he stresses.

YN’s eyes widens when she hears him, and she lowers her glass on the ground, suddenly feeling very sober.

“I was so in love wit’you! M’friends always used t’make fun o’me fo’it.” He continues, and he shakes his head and laughs a soft laugh through his nose, his green eyes twinkling like a lighthouse in the dark night, as if behind his gaze the memory of his college years is running fast as a joke YN didn’t hear quite well enough to participate in.

“What?” YN says, and she tries to hide the surprise in her voice. Her heart is beating fast in her chest and his words are replaying in her head. Isn’t he a little too old to play games?

“Harry… what are you even… what are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me yeh didn’t know?” He raises his brows in surprise, and he balances his empty glass on the armrest of his chair, the clear wine stained glass shining in the night. “You were t’prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, o’course I liked yeh” he chuckles.

She feels her heart skip a beat as her eyes are fixated on an undefined point in front of her; prettiest girl he’s ever seen? That couldn’t possibly be true.

Yn remembers how she was in college: shy, never spoke her mind, every once in a while — when people paid attention — she would crack a joke, that would come out strangled and rushed, and she remembers vividly how often her friends wouldn’t get the joke, and she’d have to explain it, therefore the joke losing all its funniness, and she would try her hardest not to avert her gaze from their eyes, and she remembers clearly in her mind how it felt, what was it like having all those eyes looking at her, especially a pair of green ones that used to always make her nervous — they still do, if she’s honest.

Once again, she tries to think about the past, and if there ever was a time when Harry had looked at her like more of the awkward girl that sat next to him in class, but she can’t find any. And at this point, after months of knowing — reknowing — Harry, shouldn’t she be able to tell when he’s telling the truth? Because he is, he looks like he is. And she wishes he is. But the thought carries with it a bittersweet taste, the awareness of being too late lingering on her head like Damocle’s sword.

“No… no, you were with Natalia, I remember you dating Natalia” YN says nodding her head, trying to somehow convince herself Harry is still going on with this joke she isn’t aware of.

She’s positive she would’ve noticed if Harry liked her.

But… would she, though?

Because she remembers all those nights she spent looking at him, and averting her gaze when he’d catch her, and she vaguely remembers how sometimes she’d feel his lips linger a second too long on her cheek when he’d greet her goodbye.

“No! — he says, furrowing his brows, — that was after. After I realized I had no chances with you. Natalia was kind o’… there. Yeh obviously didn’t like m’back… everyone knew. Y’were always in y’own world… I never really knew how to talk to you…” he says, and YN feels like she might throw up.

She feels hot and cold at the same time, and she wants to rip off the blanket from her legs, but Harry still hasn’t stopped touching her, and she feels lightheaded.

She feels exposed, and she definitely feels stupid, and images of a very college-y Harry run fast before her eyes, as if her brain is presenting the proofs of what he’s saying.

She sees him laugh at her joke (squinted eyes and dimples on display too!) when she thought no one had heard her, she sees him looking directly at her that one time he was playing a Beatles song on the guitar, she sees him brush his knee against her thigh willingly, and asking for her pens, and complimenting her on her writing and on her stories, and she sees him looking with piercing eyes at her lips that one time she had to read her short story out loud.

She sees him now, looking at her with half lidded eyes, his hair clipped back with one of Aidi’s pink, flower shaped clips, and she feels sick. She feels sick and at the same time she wants to kiss him. She wants to lean in and brush her lips on his, taste the wine on his tongue, explore his mouth…

“Don’t worry, — he says after a while, when he realizes YN hasn’t said anything, waving a hand in front of them — I got over it after a while.”

“No… I… I didn’t know. You never — you never said anything, I…” at this point, she’s rumbling, but she really doesn’t know what to say. It’s sad, really, how much time she lost thinking no one liked her. Harry liked her. He liked her! Even if she was shy! Even if she was awkward! She can’t seem to wrap her head around it, somehow the thought of him liking her back, overwhelmed her. How sad could she really be?

“Oh! Don’t go all embarrassed on me now!” He giggles, but they both are aware that there’s no humor in his laugh, “It’s in the past now… told yeh I got over it.” He repeats.

“Yeah, yeah — she laughs nervously, shifting uncomfortably on the chair — I just wish I knew.”

“Yeah… me too. Me too.” He nods, biting his bottom lip to prevent himself from going further. He had already ruined the night enough. He didn’t have to confess how he hadn’t gotten over her, not even a bit.

…

Harry looks at his reflection in the mirror and he sighs. He shouldn’t go. He knows he shouldn’t go. He knew it as soon as he read YN’s text, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to. After what he told YN, drunk on wine and untold words, he should’ve stayed low. And believe me, he wanted to. He even debated whether he should enroll Aidi in another kindergarten. It was that serious. But then… he saw YN. He saw her in school, wearing a big long sleeve t-shirt with the pink outline of a bunny on it, that almost swallowed her, and she looked fine, she smiled brightly at them once they came in, and he thought maybe she didn’t remember. Maybe she was so drunk she forgot how he told her about how much he loved her back in a time where everything seemed so simple yet it never truly was. That’s why, when he’d gotten the text, he only debated for a brief moment before answering.

“I look hot” he nods, trying to convince himself. He’s always been confident in himself, but… there’s something about getting rejected by the very first girl you liked seriously and having to see her after you professed your love for her.

“What was that, honey?” His mum, Anne, calls out from the bedroom, and Harry cusses under his breath. Great.

“Nothing, mum” he stresses, passing a hand through his hair to adjust them.

“You ready?” Anne asks once he enters the bedroom, and she walks up to him to tug at his tie a bit, straightening it.

“Yes” he nods, thanking her for the tie. “Aidi is okay?” He asks, picking up his phone from the nightstand and removing it from the charging cable.

“Yes, already tucked in bed” Anne smiles, “so… this thing you’re going to…” she trails off, leaving the phrase unfinished.

“It’s for charity, mum. Aidi’s school is hosting it. I think all parents are going…”

“And are you going with someone… someone special, perhaps?” She teases, walking to his closet and putting away the fresh clothes she had just washed for him.

“Mum! No!” He exclaims, whining, “you know I have no time for a relationship.”

“I know, my love, but… it’s been four years now. Don’t you think it’s time to get back out there?”

“I don’t need to, mum. Really. Things are fine as they are” he shrugs. “I have to go now, ’s gettin’ late”

“Okay, just lookin’ out for yeh baby” she says softly, raising one hand to squeeze his shoulder reassuringly.

“I know, mum. I’m gonna say bye to Aidi, now, yeah?”

“You do that” she nods, following her son out of the room, “oh and Harry?”

“Yes?” He questions, his brows furrowed as he turns his head to her.

“You look handsome” she giggles before disappearing down the stairs. Harry lets out a groan at his mum’s teasing and makes his way to his daughter’s room.

…

YN takes a sip of her champagne as she scans the room attentively. Many parents have come up to her to greet her hello, everyone but the one she was particularly looking for. It’s well past 10 now, and Harry still hasn’t show up. YN doesn’t even know if he’s coming, really. When she had sent the invitation, she didn’t know what to expect. After that night at his house, YN tried to play it cool, but his words resonated in her head every time she wasn’t busying herself with something.

What was the point behind what he said? What did it mean? After all these years, did it have to mean something? Or was it something he said to be… fun? To reminisce on past times?

She possibly couldn’t know, and she wouldn’t dare ask him, so she just pretended nothing happened between them, greeting him and Aidi with the biggest and brightest smile she could muster.

When she sees him walk in, she feels her breath catch in her throat. He looks… he looks handsome. Dashing. She truly wouldn’t know how better to describe him. His hair are brushed back from his forehead, but a single strand curl is falling in front of his eyes, and he’s wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath it, a black tie around his neck. She gulps when they lock eyes, all the way across the crowd of people, and he smiles at her, dimples on display, his eyes bright and green.

He’s walking towards her, making his way through the room like he owns it, and once he’s in front of her, he lowers to greet her with a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi” he says against her ear, “you look… beautiful” he tilts his head backward just enough to take her in, and she truly does look beautiful. She’s wearing a long, black velvet, off the shoulders, long sleeve dress, that hugs her in all the right places and curves.

“Thank you” she blushes, raising one hand to hold against his bicep, “you do too”.

He grins at her and she flushes, looking around the room to avoid his piercing gaze.

“So, what’s this thing fo’ anyway?” He asks.

“Oh… it’s just money the school raises for parents that can’t afford to pay the tuition, it’s a noble cause, really”

“It is indeed, you didn’t mention that in your text” he questions, looking at her with his brows furrowed.

“I knew you’d come anyway.” She shrugs, “you’ve always liked helping others”

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise and he clears his throat, “That’s true, I do.”

She throws him a gleeful smile which he reciprocates immediately, and for a moment, they stay like that, looking in each other’s eyes, and YN doesn’t miss the gleam in his when he locks them with hers.

Harry’s thankful. He thought that after what he’d said, there would be tension between them, and that he’d kind of ruined their new found relationship, and he’s thankful now that he’s learned he hadn’t. It’s true, what his mum said, he’s been alone for four years, never really being alone but always feeling lonely, and it’s nice having someone to talk to, every once in a while.

“Do yeh know where I can get a drink?”

…

It’s a little later in the night now, and YN is feeling tipsy but definitely not drunk. Harry hasn’t left her side once, and they chatted like no time had passed between them, and it’s delightful. Truly. She hasn’t felt like this in a long time.

“I think I need to get some air” she chuckles, “the champagne’s gettin’ to my head”

“Let’s go outside, yeah?” He takes her hand in his and guides her through the room.

As they’re making their way out of the school, YN hears someone call her name from the hallway. She raises her head quickly, a puzzled look on her face that fades as soon as she recognizes the speaker, “oh my god, hi! How are you?” She exclaims, leaning over to greet Michail with a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m fine! I was wondering where you were… kind of was looking for ya actually” he chuckles, raising one hand to scratch the skin behind his neck.

“Oh…” she flushes, giggling embarrassedly. She hears Harry beside her clear his throat, and then two pair of eyes are on her, looking at her curiously.

“Michail, this is Harry. Harry… this is Michail” she introduces them, and Harry stretches one hand between them, that Michail shakes tightly.

“Nice to meet you, are you a teacher too?” He asks Harry.

“What? No… I’m here as a guest” he chuckles, “YN’s guest” he points out.

YN feels herself blush at his words, and she throws Michail a brief smile, “oh, okay” he nods, “so I guess I’m not seeing you later?”

“Yeah, you guessed right” Harry smiles, but YN can hear the tension in his voice.

What is happening? She feels her head spinning and she really needs to sit down. Or get some air. Either one would be fine.

“Okay, it was nice seeing you, YN” Michail says, “you too, Harry” and he leans in to place a kiss against her cheek, waving bye to Harry and walking back in the other direction.

YN watches his back as he walks away, and once he disappears behind the big doors of the gym, she turns her head to look at Harry. But he isn’t standing at her side anymore, he’s walked a bit ahead, a hand tugging at his hair.

“Hey, you okay?” She whispers as she approaches him, and he’s startled by the sound of her voice.

“Yeah, yeah” he nods, reassuring her.

“Okay” she whispers once again, squeezing his shoulder lightly.

“Maybe I need to sit down” he ponders, nodding his head and locking his eyes into hers. His are panicked, searching all across her face, and he finds comfort in her soft gaze, but he doesn’t miss the confused look across her features.

“Wait, let’s go in here, yeah?” She gestures towards one of the classrooms she knows is vacant at this time in the night. After hurrying Harry inside and checking that no one had seen them go in, she closes the door behind them.

Harry sits on the big desk and YN stands in front of him, searching for his gaze with her eyes.

“Harry… are you okay? What happened?” She tries again, stretching her arm to squeeze his bicep to gain his attention.

“Is that… who was that?”

“Who? Michail? He’s… one of the kids’ father” she says, “we used to see each other… a while back” she admits.

“See?” He chimes, his brows raising in question.

“We hooked up one time” she shrugs, crossing her arms on her chest to shield herself from the sudden cold that took upon her body.

“And were you plannin’ on seeing him tonight, too? Because you know, when you sent me that text, I thought I was coming as your guest, YN!” He snaps.

“You are my guest?” She says, but it comes out more like a question, and she doesn’t know why. Confusion is running through her mind and she feels silly standing in front of him like this.

He scoffs at her words, “yeah, I am. Like every one else is, right? Because you didn’t invite me” “Harry, where are yeh gettin’ at? It’s a charity gala thrown by the school! Of course every one was invited” she clarifies, her brows pinched at the front.

He shakes his head, “so I guess I’ve misread the signs”

“What signs?” She questions, and when he doesn’t answer, she repeats herself: “what signs, Harry?”

“I thought you invited me! But I guess you didn’t, because yeh don’t like me like that and yeh never did. It’s fine. I get it. I just thought… when the invite came… fuck… I don’t know what I thought” he rumbles, and YN feels her head pounding. His words don’t seem real, and she feels as if she’s experiencing this conversation from outside of her body.

“I don’t understand” she simply says, because it’s true, she doesn’t, and despite feeling silly, she wants him to clarify. She wants him to be honest and tell it to her face.

“I don’t know how to show it any more than I already am” he shrugs, his eyes avoiding her gaze, looking anywhere but her face. “I really don’t, YN. You have to help me here because I don’t…” he doesn’t finish his phrase on time that YN is already on him, cradling his jaw with one hand and the nape of his neck with the other, and she presses her lips against him, hard, in a kiss that knocks the air out of his lungs.

He gasps against her mouth and she sighs into his, her fingers curling through his hair and tugging a bit. He places one hand on her hip and tugs her closer to him, parting his legs a bit to make room for her.

As he indents his fingers on her skin, the realization of what’s happening finally hits her, and she parts from his lips with her chest heaving between them. Harry follows her lips with his own, and he pecks her mouth briefly once again.

His mouth is greedy, and he kisses her like she could float away any moment, and she relishes in the feeling, and it makes her feel special, like she’s never felt in her whole life. She tugs on his hair and he sneaks his tongue inside her mouth, exploring every inch of it.

He caresses his tongue against hers, and it’s all teeth clashing against each other, and he’s sucking greedily on her bottom lip, drinking her in. He parts from her lips and makes his way down her neck, kissing against her skin avidly. He bites the tender juncture where her neck meets her shoulder and then licks against the bite, soothing the skin. He blows against the mark and then keeps going down, the low neck of her dress allowing him access.

“Fuck” he breathes against her skin, “I waited years for this”.

A whine comes out choked from his throat and she sighs heavily. He brushes his fingers against her arms, tugging down the sleeves of her dress with him.

“Are you drunk? How much did you have to drink?” He asks mindfully, parting from her skin and looking agonizingly into her eyes.

“I’m not that drunk” she states, her chest heaving with every breath she takes, “I feel okay. Do you?”

He leans down to leave a kiss between her eyes and she closes them, not missing the affection behind his gesture.

“Yes” he whispers, and YN can feel his breath against her mouth. She rises her head and their mouths meet in a shy peck.

He then leans down to kiss her shoulder, and then tugs her dress down, exposing the skin of her breasts.

She instinctively brings her hands to cover herself, her palms shielding her pebbled nipples, and “sorry, if it’s not… if I’m not…” she shakes her head, feeling pathetic in her shyness.

With gentle hands he grabs both of her wrists and tugs them down, then he switches hands so he could hold them with just one hand, and he brings the other one to her side boob, caressing the skin with his thumb.

She shivers under his touch, goosebumps pebbling against her skin, and she watches his every move, as his fingertips continue their path down her body, caressing her side and resting at her waist.

He splatters a hand against her stomach, stroking the skin softly, “Look at me” he says, and his tone is soft but has a dominancy to it, and YN finds herself obedient to him, and she rises her glance to meet his, albeit shyly.

“It’s me” he says, “it’s me” he repeats. As if to say, I’m an old friend, and nothing has changed.

Does he know she’d dreamt of this feeling in the comfort of her bedroom many times?

“I know” she whispers, “i’m just…”

“You’re perfect.” He chimes in, “ the most beautiful girl i’ve ever seen”. And he’s aware he shouldn’t be like this. He’s aware he could be making a fool out of himself, because even if she has consented to this, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It doesn’t mean she feels it too. But he has to tell her, now that he has a chance. Now that his behavior and sappy compliments could be misjudged as coming from horniness. He can tell her now. Just this once, she can have everything.

She smiles shyly at his compliment and she nods her head briefly, “okay?” He repeats, “okay” she reassures.

And they’re back to square one, but this time, when Harry leans in to take her right nipple in his mouth, she doesn’t stop him. She frees her wrists from his hold and brings a hand to the back of his head, pushing herself into his mouth.

When his teeth graze the sensitive skin of her hardened nipple, she lets out a whimper, and Harry, avid and eager to hear the sound again, bites gently on it.

“You’re so sensitive” he breaths out, as he continues sucking on her nipple.

He brings the hand that rested against her stomach to take her other breast, and he pinches the other nipple between his thumb and index finger.

He parts from her nipple, breathing heavily, and YN lets out a loud sigh at the sight of his lips shiny with his spit and swollen from the kissing. He’s gorgeous.

He brushes his thumb against her nipple, and “more” she pleads, begging him.

He chuckles breathlessly, “can you take your clothes off for daddy?” He asks, and YN feels herself almost faint on the spot. Of course he’d have a daddy kink.

She gulps and with trembling hands she reaches behind her back to unzip her dress.

She halters her movement once she remembers a tiny detail they both didnt notice, “the door” she stresses, “we didn’t lock the door”

He throws a glance towards the door, and stands from the big desk, walking towards it.

“The door doesn’t lock” he says after checking.

“Fuck” she breaths out.

He turns around, a sly smirk adoring his features, and he makes his way back to her.

“That just means I’ll have to be quick” he grins.

He places a hand on her waist and gives her a reassuring squeeze, “take the dress off”.

And YN reaches behind her back and tugs the zip down. She’d never had someone refer to themselves as her daddy before, and she feels so hot and wet she’s sure her panties are completely ruined. She doesn’t miss how he’s still completely dressed, and she pouts her lips at him, “you too”

“Shh” he shushes her, “daddy makes the rules”.

She bites hard on her bottom lip and with her fingers she pushes the loosened dress down her body, to pool at her feet.

She’s just in her heels now, and she looks down at her feet, but before she can reach down to untie them, he stops her, “leave those on”.

She nods cautiously and when she sees him take a step towards her, she takes one back involuntarily. He’s looking at her as if he wanted to devour her, and she feels small before his eyes. And she likes that. Because this time, even if he’s in control, he’s completely dependent on her. And there’s a power in that too.

Her butt meets the cold surface of the desk, and she jumps surprised at first, then she sits against it. Once he reaches her, he brings one hand on her outer thigh, caressing the skin there.

“S’soft” he murmurs, looking avidly into her eyes with his green ones.

“Scoot up” he orders, patting her thigh, and she obeys, sitting her bum on the desk.

With one hand against her chest he pushes her down, so she can lean against the surface, and she shivers once her back meets with the cold desk.

“Aw” he coos, “are you cold baby?”

She hums, her hands subconsciously come up to shield her tummy from the cold, but he’s quick to grab them, “don’t worry, baby, I’ll keep yeh warm”

She gulps and closes her eyes once she feels him shift on his feet, crouching down to be at eye level with where she needs him most.

He brings his hands on her knees and parts them, but YN is quick to stop him with her anxious thoughts: “Harry” she breaths out “we don’t have time, the door doesn’t lock. There’s no time”

“Shh, baby, shh now.” He whispers, parting her knees once again, and she feels him speak against the skin of her inner thigh as he slowly, agonizingly, makes his way towards her clothed pussy.

“Don’t call me Harry, yeh know better” he says, and with his palm he swats down on her cunt, making her let out a surprised moan, the much needed contact on her clit making the blood rush to her brain.

“Let daddy make you feel good, huh? The quicker yeh are, the less chance we get caught” he smiles mischievously. She hums and closes her eyes forcefully.

“Can’t believe yeh made me wait years to taste yah, such a bad girl” he says, and YN can feel his breath against her cunt, even though she isn’t sure what he’s doing right now with her eyes closed.

She feels his hands on her knees again and he opens them more to have better access, and then, he lays his tongue flat against her still clothed pussy and takes a big stripe, from her entrance to her clit.

She whimpers at the contact, her hips shifting, following his mouth.

He chuckles against her skin, moving the tip of his tongue once again to her center, “tastes so sweet…”

She wants to ask for more, but she’s sure that if she were to ask him, he wouldn’t oblige, only teasing her further, so she keeps quiet, biting so hard on her bottom lip she can feel blood rush to the surface.

He brings one hand to twist the top of her panties and he tugs the fabric upwards, so he could see the outline of her pussy from behind them.

“So pretty” he says, and YN whines at the sensation of her now too tight panties against her clit.

He brings his middle finger to her pussy and caresses her clit with a light touch that’s not remotely satisfying enough, and then presses down on it.

“Please” she begs, her legs fighting to close, because despite the contact not being enough, it’s still something.

“Please, what?” He chuckles darkly, his middle finger moving in circles on her clit now, but she needs to feel him without the fabric between them.

“More” she simply says.

“Tha’s not enough, pretty girl… you’ve been sooo bad, I think I should leave this pretty pussy as it is…”

“No, Harry, please, please, I need it. Please. I want you to touch me”

“Ah, Ah, Ah” he tsk, “i told yeh not to call me tha’” he’s really enjoying watching her squirm under his touch, and he brings his thumb down to her entrance to push in a bit, her hole sucking the fabric right in.

“I’m sorry, daddy” she whispers, embarrassed, “please”

He smiles victoriously and with two fingers he picks the fabric of her panties and snaps it back against her cunt, “see, that wasn’t so hard, huh?”

She shakes her head and lets out a whimper.

“Do yeh want my mouth or my fingers?” He asks, as he leans down to tug at her underwear.

“Both” she pants.

“Soooo greedy” he teases, but once her panties are out of the way, he doesn’t waste a second before he’s spreading her legs open, and he watches as her lips part, exposing her pussy to him completely.

Her clit is swollen between them, and he thinks maybe he’s teased enough, so he leans down and finally takes it in his mouth, sucking on it avidly.

YN lets out a loud moan when his tongue finally comes in contact with her clit, and she brings one hand down to bury between his hair, pushing him against her.

He moves the tip of his tongue sideways against her clit, and then against the under part of it, where he finds she’s most sensitive.

With his middle finger, he caresses at her entrance, massaging around before he pushes it in, burying it to the knuckle. The fit is tight, and he wonders how much time it has been since she’s slept with someone.

Still sucking on her clit, he starts moving his finger in and out, curling it every once in a while against that spongy part inside her, sure from the sounds that leave her mouth and the wetness that’s coating his finger, that she’s enjoying this just as much as he is.

Once he feels her walls loosening up a bit, he withdraws his finger to draw a second on in, and she gasps at the feeling.

“Shh” he shushes, “relax. I’ll take care of anything, let daddy take care of yeh”

After a couple of pushes, she relaxes, and he starts moving up the speed of his fingers, still sucking on her swollen button. She lets out whimpers and little mewls, and he understands she’s close by the way her walls flutter against his fingers.

He’s both rough and soft in the way he’s taking her, and YN wonders how that could even be possible. She doesn’t stay on the question much longer, though, because she starts to feel the unmistakable pressure of an orgasm blossoming in the pit of her stomach, and she clenches around his fingers.

“I’m gonna cum” she blurts out, “i’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum… oh!” She feels him speed the movement of his fingers inside her, and he starts alternating between sucking on her clit attend staking it with his tongue rapidly.

“Cum, baby, cum for me” he hums against her clit, and she feels the vibrations of his voice right against the bundle of nerves, and that’s what eventually pushes her to the edge.

She arches her back as her legs fight to close, and Harry guides her through her orgasm as he keeps fingering her, this time bringing his thumb to stroke against her clit because he wants to watch her when she cums.

He feels her walls flutter close as they push his fingers out, and he rolls her clit in circular motions with his finger until she’s back from her high, breathing hard with her chest heaving. He leans down to lap at her juices, “wanna lick yeh clean” he says, and he does, tonguing at her entrance and drowning in her wetness.

He leaves a final kiss to her clit and she whimpers at the sensitivity of it all, her back still against the desk.

“You okay?” He asks after some time, and he notices how her chest is still heaving with big breaths.

“Yes, give me a minute and I’ll return the favor” she replies, mechanically, and Harry furrows his brows at her statement.

Of course, he was delighted that she wanted to return the favor… but was that all it was? A favor? He suddenly feels confused and the previous excitement that had run through his veins left place to a kind of disappointment he didn’t know what to make of. He thought he had been pretty obvious with his feelings, and with the way he had shown them, but maybe, nothing had changed since college, and he was still that guy that got rejected many times by the girl he thought was the prettiest and nicest.

“It’s okay” he shrugs, his voice suddenly low and stern, “i’m okay” he continues.

YN rises her back from the desk and looks at him pointedly, and once she takes in his serious features, she feels her heart jump to her stomach.

Oh. He doesn’t want her to. That’s what it is.

She suddenly thinks about how stupid she had been to kiss him. Of course she doesn’t regret it, because she could never regret what it led to, but being rejected like this? Fuck, she certainly wasn’t expecting it.

Wasn’t he turned on? She swore she could have felt his hard cock brush against her a couple of times, but maybe after he had eaten her out, it went down?

That’s one thing that had never happened to her, despite her many insecurities, and she feels her ego suddenly bruised.

She nods and gets up from her position, her feet touching the ground. She watches as he lowers to her feet and picks up her dress, handing it to her.

She suddenly feels too exposed, which is weird, after what happened, and the air had turned cold and uncomfortable, and she can’t wait to leave the classroom and go home, tucked away in the comfort of her bedroom where she figures she’ll spend the entire weekend, given this soul crushing experience she just had.

She takes the dress from his hold and notices how he turns his back to her, giving her privacy to redress, which is nice, of course, but totally necessary, and it’s making her really paranoid, because is he so grossed out by her body he doesn’t want to take another look at it?

She slips in the dress, and tries to zip it herself, but when she realizes she can’t zip it all the way, she clears her throat to gain his attention.

“Can you?” She gestures towards the back with her thumb, and he gives her a swift nod before circling her and standing behind her.

He brushes the hair from her back and drapes it over her one shoulder, his fingertips brush against her skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. She hears the sound of the zip being pulled up and he clears his throat, “all done” he says, and she doesn’t miss how it’s the only thing he’s said in a while.

“Thank you” she smiles, and he gives her a small one back, but his dimples don’t appear, and she’s saddened by that realization.

“We should go” he trails off, “’s gettin’ pretty late”

YN doesn’t have a watch on her but she figures it couldn’t be later than midnight, but if he wants to go, she certainly can’t stop him, albeit a little disappointed. This isn’t how she was hoping the night would end.

Harry walks to the door and opens it, letting her out first, and they walk in silence to the entrance of the school.

“Do you have your car?” He asks, and when she nods, he says: “Can you drive? Want me to call yeh a cab?”

“No, I’m fine. I told you I’m not that drunk” she shrugs, and she really can’t help but think how she wishes she was drunk instead. None of this would’ve happened, and she would be able to look him in the eye without feeling the embarrassment of his rejection.

“Goodnight, then” he says, giving her a curt wave of the hand before heading off toward the parking lot.

“Goodnight” she says back, but he’s already left.

…

The weekend flies by and once Monday arrives, YN is dreading the school day. She almost debates calling in sick, but she knows it would only make the situation worse, because sooner or later she’d have to face a curly headed lad she wasn’t particularly keen on seeing, the embarrassment from that Friday night still vivid in her memory. She pondered long on that night, sipping wine directly from the bottle (for dramatic purposes of course), and she wondered what could she had done wrong to make him react that way. Men, in general, were always kind of difficult to understand, to her, so she figures he probably just wasn’t that aroused anymore. Which is fine, she has to tell herself that at least a million times, because the rejection is so painful and overall embarrassing she doesn’t know what to make of it.

When she walks in the classroom that day, to her surprise Aidi is already sitting at her desk, her pudgy hand wrapped around a brown crayon that she’s moving in circles on the paper, drawing something YN can’t quite make out.

It wasn’t weird, the school offered pre-school from 6 am to the parents that had to work early in the mornings, what was weird was her presence that early, something that in the school year had never occurred before.

She wonders if Harry did it on purpose. Maybe he didn’t want to face her, and she has to take a big breath before erasing that thought off her head. She shouldn’t care what he did. As many years before, he was never hers, and nothing had changed. She feels a little silly of course for thinking that he may have had a special kind of feeling for her, and despite him telling her that he did, she’s definitely convinced he was just playing around that night in his patio.

She makes her way to Aidi, and she crutches down next to her, “good morning, Aidi” she says softly as to not startle her.

“Mornin’ miss YN” she smiles a toothless grin, her hand not stopping her movements.

“You’re here early today, huh?”

“Yes” she nods, eagerly, “daddy’s at work”

“Oh” YN replies

“This early?” Is everything she’d like to ask, but it’s really wrong prodding on this poor child to get informations about her dad, so she erases the question from her mind.

“What are yeh drawin’?” She asks instead, to shift the attention from the feared topic. Despite her means not always being the most pure hearted, YN loves Aidi. She thinks she’s such a precious little thing, and she genuinely loves spending time with her.

“’s a picture of daddy ’n me” she says, picking the drawing up in her hands and showing it to her teacher, “love him s’much”

YN smiles fondly at the picture, a small stick figure holding hands with a bigger one that she figures are respectively Aidi and Harry, the irrefutable mop of curly hair drawn with the brown crayon.

“I know he loves you too” she simply says, “very much!”

“Yeah” Aidi agrees, picking up a blue crayon to color the sky.

…

It’s much later in the day, now, around four pm, and YN is waiting for the remaining kids to be picked up. The school is closing earlier today due to a mandatory rat disinfestation, that the parents were notified of about ten days before, and one by one every kid is picked up and ready to go home, every kid but one, she can’t help but notice. Aidi.

She tries to not pay too much attention to the irony of it all, and she wonders to what means Harry would go to not see her.

Maybe he forgot about the disinfestation? She doesn’t know, and despite fearing the answer to the question, she’s his daughter’s teacher. And she’s an adult. So she takes her phone from the back pocket and with trembling hands she looks through her contacts until she finds his name.

The feeling of calling someone you don’t really want to hear, and being aware of the mutualness of this deep rooted fear, is something that never really leaves. Not even at 26. Not even now that she has a big girl job and an apartment all alone.

The piercing sound of the line ringing has her bringing a thumb to her mouth, biting on her nails nervously. She peeks at Aidi that’s playing with a doll on the floor, and she’s glad she appears to be unaware of the situation. A parent forgetting to pick you up is something that can scar you for life.

“‘llo?” She hears from the other side of the line, and she almost jumps in her place at the sound of his voice.

It took him a while to answer, which is uncommon for him, and she wonders what he was doing. Was he working? But then again, he said he was a writer, so she figures he must be working from home? “Hi, Harry… it’s YN”

“I know who it is. I’m kinda busy, wha’s wrong?” He stresses, and YN feels her heart beat fast.

“Oh, nothing… ’s just, when are you picking Aidi up?”

“I don’t know” he says sternly, “i’m kind of out of town right now, I’ll be back in a couple of hours and take her then”

“You can’t do that, didn’t you get the email? The school’s closing early… rat disinfestation an’all tha’… ’s not like we have rats, don’t worry. ’s just mandatory, and the school is required to do…”

“Fuck!” He interrupts, “it must have slipped my mind this morning. Fuck!” He repeats.

YN hears him shuffle on the other end of the phone, and after a brief moment she hears a quiet explanation of the situation to what she figures is another person, and a hurried ‘goodbye’.

He clears his throat, “are yeh still there?”

“Yes, hi, yes” she rumbles.

“I’m gettin’ in the car now, it’ll take an hour I think. Forty minutes if I hurry. Can yeh… can she… is she allowed to stay? Fuck, — he seems to be talking to himself now, and she hears the loud sound of his car horn beeping — who even gave yeh a license! Fuckin’ hell” he shouts.

“Harry” she trails off, hoping to catch his attention, “’s okay. I can take her until you’re not here. We could go get some ice cream, or yogurt!! Whichever she’s craving more. Wait… Is she allowed to eat ice cream? Because I know this delicious place…”

“YN!” He interrupts her again, “please get to the point”

“Oh… i was just talkin’ about this ice cream place it’s nothing serious”

“‘nough with the ice cream already! Can you really take her? I can pay you, like I would a nanny… yeh know I’m proper loaded so money isn’t a problem.”

“What? I don’t want your money. ‘f course I can take her! She’s such a cutie, we’re gonna have so much fun!!!” She smiles happily.

“Thank you” he sighs, relieved, “i’ll be there in an hour, more or less”

“Okay. Drive safe, you don’t have to worry ‘bout her, she’s safe” she reassures him. Because then again, Harry is Aidi’s father, and she knows how much he worries when it comes to her.

“Okay” he says, and he appears calmer now, “but no ice cream before dinner, YN!”

She scoffs, “you’re no fun”.

Didn’t he say ‘enough with the ice cream’?

…

YN ended up buying the ice cream for both her and Aidi anyway.

(There was something so delicious about eating ice cream during the winter, and one thing abut being a grown up, YN had found out, was being able to eat whatever she wanted and whenever she wanted)

And the biggest cone she’s ever seen, too. Two scoops of chocolate and one of strawberry for Aidi. Screw Harry. That’s what she thought when paying for it, now… she felt a little guilty, of course, but she’d begged Aidi to keep this ice cream run a secret between her and her teacher, using the term on purpose because she knows how much kids respect their teachers.

So… she figured he’d never know.

“’s good, moppet?” She cooed, picking up a couple of tissues from the dispenser in the middle of the table to wipe at her mouth.

Aidi only nodded, too busy with her ice cream cone to pay much attention to YN.

“Oh no!” Aidi pouted once the ice cream started dripping from her cone to her hand and finally to her white coat and white tights, the candid fabric now dirty with dark stains.

“Oh god!” YN exclaims, “wait, let me help”

YN picked up some other tissues and started wiping at Aidi’s hands, who switches the cone from one hand to the other while she cleans her, but maybe letting a four years old eat an ice cream cone wasn’t the best of ideas.

“Daddy’s gonna get mad” Aidi giggles when YN started wiping at the stain on her clothes without much result.

“Probably… with me though” she agrees, nodding her head thoughtfully.

“Sooo mad” she keeps giggling, “he always say: no ice cream before dinner!” She repeats, trying to mock his stern voice but failing, and resulting in the most adorable thing YN had ever seen, and she can’t help but laugh too.

“He’s such a meanie” she smiles, tossing the dirty tissues on the table before her.

“I won’t tell, miss YN” Aidi reassures, and YN smiles once she sees her little pink tongue peeking out from her mouth and trying to lick the chocolate ice cream off the side of her mouth.

“Thank you bug” she says, chuckling, “but I think he’s gonna notice” she frowns, pointing to the state of Aidi’s white tights.

“Mhmh” she agrees, humming.

“When is he back?” She asks after a while, her tummy full of ice cream, a satisfied look on her face.

YN taps the screen of her phone on the table to check the time, “i think he’s almost here”

“How much time?” She asks, swaying her little legs from the edge of the chair.

“Mmmhh,” YN ponders, she’s certain a four years old conception of time isn’t the same as an adult, so she gestures with her hands a small portion. “This much”.

“Oh, ‘kay!” She exclaims happily, “so… almost” she nods proudly.

YN giggles at her antics and reciprocates her nod, “yes”.

After about half an hour, her and Aidi are tucked away in the warmth of her car, the heating full blasting, and YN even removed her coat to let Aidi snuggle in it. She’d fallen asleep almost instantly once her cheek touched the window, and YN decided it would be best to just wait for Harry in her car after the ice cream. She couldn’t possibly bring Aidi to her house, and Harry had previously told her it’d take him only an hour, so she figured that was the best option.

Despite Harry’s good resolutions, he called at around six, almost two hours after she’d called him from the school, but YN was glad he took his time and didn’t speed, as she had told him on the phone, Aidi was safe with her.

She’s driving in silence to his house now, where they accorded to meet, trying to drive the best she can to avoid potholes as to not wake Aidi up.

Harry’s already going to be mad about the ice cream, and he’s already avoiding her all together, so she certainly thought it wasn’t a good idea to leave him with a fussy toddler on top of all that.

Once she reaches his house, she parks near the curb and texts him that she’s outside.

He opens the door right away, almost as if he was expecting them from behind it, looking from the peep hole, and YN notices how, despite him being home for at least a good five minutes, he was still wearing his coat and shoes.

“Hi” YN greets him softly, somehow the tenderness of the situation easing the embarrassment she felt prior.

She’s aware he was beating himself up for forgetting about his daughter.

“Hey” he says, walking to the car and opening the passenger’s side door, “she asleep?”

YN nods her head, “out like a light”

When Harry leans down to pick his daughter up, he cradles her to his chest between his arms, holing her tight and placing a long, harsh kiss on her hair.

YN felt her heart clench at the sight. She understood he felt guilty, and she wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, and he most certainly wasn’t the first parent to forget to pick up their kid from school, and had it been four days ago, she probably would’ve told him. But now, after what had happened, how was she supposed to? Harry made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with her, romantically and sexually, so was it her place to reassure him?

“I’m so sorry baby” he whispers against her hair, and YN has to refrain herself to stretch out a hand to comfort him.

“Le’s get yah to bed, huh?”

But when Harry goes to turn around, a small whimper comes from the little kid in his arms, and YN can see a small arm reaching towards her.

“Miss YN?” Aidi asks, voice laced with sleep, and she knuckles tiredly at her eyes when YN smiles at her.

“Daddy, want miss YN to read me a story” Aidi demands, looking up at her father with big, puppy eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sure your teacher has more important things t…”

“I’ll read to her, ’s fine” YN chimes in quickly, because honestly, she really didn’t want this day to end. And Aidi particularly requested her, so who was Harry to deny it?

“YN” Harry warns, sternly, but YN has already made her way towards them, tickling at Aidi’s neck softly, “I’ll read how many stories yah want, moppet”

YN tries not to feel too disappointed when she hears Harry’s quiet scoff.

…

“Goodnight, Aidi” YN says softly, placing the hard cover book on her little bedside table on her right.

She’d read Aidi and her stuffed animals three stories, one about a frog that was too scared to go to school, the other about a cute elephant that wanted to be a ballerina, and the last one (Harry said it was her favorite) about a princess bunny that enjoyed drinking tea with her friends.

Aidi had chuckled every time YN did different voices for the animals characters, and after Harry told her she had to read to her stuffed animals too (she had five tucked next to her), she had started asking them every now and then if they were enjoying the story or if she had to reread something they didn’t understand.

Harry had watched the scene fondly, and his heart had grown in his chest, full with love he knew he wasn’t supposed to feel. It was nice, watching how tender YN was with his daughter, and despite the warm feeling in his limbs, he felt bitter. Because why couldn’t he have that. What was it so hard to love about him that not only the mother of his child had left, but also the girl he’d been in love with since college?

After saying goodbye to Aidi, YN throws an awkward smile to him and walks out of the room, waiting just beside the wall. She knew Aidi wanted to be tucked in by her daddy, she had told her many times how he always said I love you, and she thought she’d give them some privacy.

She could still hear them from outside the room, the door still open, and she bit her bottom lip hard once she heard the sound of Harry’s kisses and Aidi’s quiet giggling.

“Daddy loves you so much, bug. Don’t ever forget that” she hears him say in a soft voice.

“How much?” She hears Aidi ask, and she picks up on that question she’d asked her about the time previously at the ice cream shop. This was probably something she did often with Harry, and she really had to refrain herself from peeking inside the room to watch them.

“This much!” He laughs. “How much does Aidi love her daddy?”

“What!!!” She hears him say, probably feigning shock, “that little!”

“Yes, only a little” Aidi playfully giggles, and then Harry makes a growling sound and: “the tickle monster’s gonna getcha!”

Laughter erupts and it reverberates in the hallway, and YN feels silly for standing there, invading on their privacy, so she gets off the wall and walks quietly down the hallway, reaching the staircase.

She makes her way downstairs, and once she reaches the sitting room she picks up her coat from the armrest of the couch, tugging it close to her chest to try and warm herself from the imminent cold feeling running through her body.

She hears Harry clear his throat behind her, and she jumps a little in her place.

“Didn’t hear yah there” she gasps, bringing one hand up to rest against her beating heart.

“YN, thank you for today. I really…” she watches as he shakes his head, avoiding her gaze, looking for the correct words to choose, “’m proper grateful fo’ what you did.”

“’s okay, Harry” she interrupts him, “you don’t have to thank me. I love Aidi, she’s such a sweet kid”

“She is” he agrees, “but still. Thank you.”

She nods her head at his words and gulps, and she really should’ve left it at that. It was probably the best thing to do; what any normal and sane person would do. She should’ve just accepted his thank yous, put on her coat and left, but she didn’t.

“I never should have kissed you, Harry” she starts, “I’m so sorry if I overstepped some boundaries, I thought…” she sighs, biting harshly on her bottom lip. She doesn’t know what possessed her to say that, maybe the urge to get things back to normal, because it had been three days since the kiss and she already missed how comfortable their relationship had gotten.

“YN…” he shakes his head, stopping her, “’s okay, ’s the past, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but… I shouldn’t have. I know I shouldn’t”

“What are you sayin’, YN… that you regret it? The kiss? Tha’s what you’re sayin’?” He scoffs, crossing his arms against his chest, almost like a pouty child.

“Well I… no, but… it was kind of embarrassing” she chuckles nervously, her fingers tightening their grip around the thick fabric of her coat.

“So you do regret it. ’s fine. I understood right away, clearly nothing has changed between us, you’re still really hard to read and I’m kind of tired of trying to understand you” he snaps, passing a hand through his hair frustratedly.

“I’m hard to read? — YN humorlessly chuckles, pointing an accusatory finger to him — You’re confusing! You tell me you liked me and then after I let you eat me out you leave me like that? That was so embarrassing, why would you do that?”

“Oh… are you sad you didn’t get to return the favor? You made me feel like a fuckin’ slut!” He says, exasperated.

“Is that what you’re so mad about? That I called it a… favor?” Her brows pinch at the front, and she looks at him pointedly.

“No, I’m mad because I love you and you’ve been playing with my feeling since we were fuckin’ 20 years old. But don’t worry. It’s clear now.” He snaps, somehow trying to keep his voice down to not wake Aidi.

YN feels her head spin at the conversation, and his words replay in her head, hauntingly.

“You love me?” She repeats in a small voice, but he seems to not get her question, because he keeps rambling: “I’ll get a nanny, okay? So we’ll never see each other again at school, and once the semester ends I’ll sign Aidi to another class, she’ll be so sad but it’s fine, it’ll pass. I’ll try and find someone before the end of the week, so we’ll never…”

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” She chuckles, because the situation is funny to her and she’s still hang up on those three words he said. She doesn’t miss the bewildered look that displays across his feature, his green eyes bright and reflecting in the dim yellowy light of his sitting room.

“Figured yeh’d laugh! ’s funny to you, innit?”

“It is a little bit funny. — she nods, grinning — I don’t want you to do any of that!”

“YN… i don’t think I can see you everyday and…” he sighs, his sweater clad chest heaving.

“Harry” she stops him, raising a hand up to squeeze his bicep between her fingers, in a way to make sure he was giving her undefined attention “I don’t want you to do that because I don’t want to stop seeing you. I didn’t think you loved me”

“I literally told you! So many times! And I think I showed it too…” he shakes his head, but doesn’t remove his arm from her hold.

“I kissed you! I thought you understood!” She exclaims, pinching the fabric of his sweater with her fingers.

“How am I supposed to understand if you don’t tell me anything!” He says, and for the first time, he locks eyes with her, his gaze softening at the sight of her big eyes looking hopefully inside his.

She giggles despite the uncomfortable conversation, and Harry shakes his head, “You’re so frustrating” he admits, sighing heavily once again.

“And you’re silly! I let you eat me out!” She whispers, even if it’s just them, because the intimacy of that gesture didn’t go unnoticed by her.

He doesn’t say anything, his gaze unfocused.

“I’m sorry I never said it back. — she admits, sighing — I really liked you. I didn’t think you’d even noticed me… I didn’t realize how hard I was being. I’m really sorry.”

“YN… ’s fine, I’ll get over it” he trails off, once again.

“No, listen to me, okay? I’m sorry. I genuinely didn’t know, back then. And I’m sorry I didn’t say anything when you told me weeks ago. I thought you weren’t being serious. But I liked you too, I really did. And I wasted a lot of years thinking you didn’t like me back, but it’s not your fault. I should’ve been more… more clear, maybe”

“Yeah, that would have saved us many years probably” he agrees, his heart in his throat, wary of her next words.

“Yeah” she agrees, “what I’m trying to say is that… I loved you and I still love you. If you still want me. I love you” she confesses, and she feels as if a weight has been lifted from her chest, the heaviness of her words finally setting her free after so many years of bottling up her own feelings.

“You really hurt me” he whispers, looking harshly into her eyes, and he bites the inside of his cheek before saying, “really hurt me. It’s unfair you’re telling me now”

YN swallows down her saliva, biting hard on her bottom lip, the harshness of his words hitting her, because truly, she never really thought about his feelings.

On the other hand, she’d like to tell him how much he had hurt her, and embarrassed her, but what good could it do? She already revealed the most important thing about herself: that she loved him. And she hoped it wasn’t too late.

“It’s okay if you… if you don’t like me anymore” she shakes her head, scared of her own words, because she doesn’t really mean them. It’s not okay. She doesn’t want to give him away. She wants him.

“I know ’s been a long time, but…” she continues, “I thought you had to know how I feel about you, because I never said it back. And I’m not a spiritual person for shit, but… I can’t help but think maybe this is another chance to make things right. I had to tell you. I couldn’t not tell you. And I’m really sorry for hurting you. I’ll leave now, if you don’t want me here…”

“We can pretend this conversation never happened and just… you don’t have to make Aidi change classes, I like her” she says, and it comes out in a plea, really, because she doesn’t think she has it in her to lose them now. If he wants to pretend this heartfelt conversation never happened, she’ll be sad, but she’ll do it. For the sake of their “friendship”. Because she doesn’t want to lose him again.

Harry seems to ponder a bit on her words, and in that space of time she’s almost ready to put her coat on and leave, as she should’ve done before, and she’s almost there. She’s on the point of slipping her coat on, but Harry raises one hand and takes her coat from her hold, throwing it on the couch beside them.

“I don’t want you to leave” he whispers, taking a step in front of him, they’re so close now their chests are almost touching, “don’t leave.”

“Okay” she nods, “I won’t.”

He leans down to be closer to her face and he presses his lips on her forehead, not quite kissing her, more like a comforting presence, and she feels the tenderness of his gesture.

“You really do make me go mad” he sighs against her skin, his arms sneaking around her waist, squeezing her against him. “But I love you too”

YN feels her inside warm at his words, and she wraps her arms around him too, squeezing him tightly. She was never good with words, and she’s glad he understood anyway, despite her messy attempt at confessing her feelings.

She looks up to him then, resting her chin on his chest, and he leans down to press his lips against hers. This kiss is much different than the last one, much more soft and less hungry, and even when he slips his tongue to lick at her bottom lip, there’s nothing but tenderness in his gestures.

He brings one hand up to caress her cheek, his fingertip light as a feather against her skin, and YN feels herself melt in his hold. The gesture makes her think back about that time on the bus, how he had touched her so softly, almost scared he’d ruin her, and she thinks about how much things have changed, but mostly nothing had, because he loved her then and he loves her now!

His tongue brushes against hers, and she sighs into his mouth happily.

When he parts from her mouth, he gives her another small peck, his lips wet against hers, and “taste like chocolate” he hums against her lips.

“Mmh, about that…” she ponders, “you might have to buy Aidi a new coat, don’t think those stains are gonna come out”

“Yeah? I thought I told yah no ice cream ‘fore dinner?”

YN laughs a laugh through her nose, and leans in to kiss him again, “you love me”, and there’s nothing but adoration in her eyes.

“I do” he agrees, looking at her fondly.

“And by the way, don’t worry about the coat” he smiles, “reckon I’ve gotten quite good at doin’ laundry, there’s no stain that can resist me”

“I’m really proud of you” she cackles jokingly, “i remember your mum used to do it for yah”

“Heyyyy” he pouts, “only sometimes”

She raises on her tiptoes to press her lips to his in a brief peck, but when she goes to part from him, he only squeezes her tighter against him to deepen the kiss.

“Let’s go upstairs” he breaths out, “you still have a favor to return” he says playfully, and one hand travels down to her bum to pinch at the skin.

She swats at his chest but turns around, in a hurry to reach the stairs, “yeah” she agrees, turning to look at him with a mischievous smile splayed across her mouth “we wasted enough time already”

“Tell me about it” he mumbles, biting his bottom lip as he watches her sly smirk, “thank god you finally came to your senses”

They both laugh at his words, and Harry follows her upstairs to his room, picking her up and throwing her on his bed. That night, he finally gets to kiss all over her body, as he had dreamt many many times, not only in college, but even then, when he thought she was too far away to reach despite seeing her every morning when he left his daughter at school.

Harry, too, isn’t a spiritual person for shit, but maybe, he allows himself to think, this is what it means to be loved, and he finally doesn’t have to wonder anymore what’s so hard to love about him, because, despite not knowing, he’s always been loved, in the years he’d known her, and YN, in the arch of their relationship, and in it’s imminent future, will make sure to tell him that, many times, and the memory of all the wasted years, will remain, thankfully, what it always was: a memory.

Just wanted to take this small space to thank you all for liking and reblogging the first part, you have no idea how happy you made me, so thank you so so so much 😭 the story is over but i can do updates in the future if you guys want <3, i really hope part 2 didn't disappoint, feedback is very much appreciated. love you all

🏷️ taglist: @indierockgirrl @onlystylesss28 @gemofthenight @summertime-pills @lomlhstyles @sicklscream @watarmelon212

#harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one direction #harry styles imagine #harrystyles #harry styles angst #harry styles #harry styles blurb #harry styles fluff #harry styles one shot #harrys house #harry styles fic #harry styles x reader #harry styles writing #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x you #harry styles smut #harry styles love on tour #dad harry styles #dad!harry

2K notes · View notes

pauking5 · 11 months ago

Text

New Year, New Me

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x fem reader

Genre: mutual pining, flirting, some jealousy (if you squint), a shitload of banter, teasing

Word count: 5.7k+

A/N: I told you more Zoro is coming 😉 All I'm gonna say is that it's one of my favorites. Might have a part 2 planned but we'll see. Enjoy!

Part 2

The deep bass rocked your body with every move, heart beating in sync with the music blaring from the speakers in the club. Alcohol coursed through your veins, relaxing all your nerves and worries. Only heavens above knew how much you needed this.

To let go of everything for one night.

Especially if that one night was New Year's Eve and you dreaded it a shit ton.

This year was pure torment for you on the love frontline. There were some dates, a lot of situationships and even more failed talking stages.

It felt like your heart was just a hotel for people to stop at for one night. You left the doors wide open for anyone to come in and occupy a room. They would get whatever they wanted from you, whether that was sex or just talking the night away, and leave their trash at your doorstep for you to clean it up as if it was yours.

And it left you emptier and emptier the more you let the latch open.

Not one of them wanted to truly get to know you or let you talk for that matter and it was driving you nuts. You tried hard to convince yourself it wasn't a you problem. It was just hard seeing everyone else so happy and in long-running relationships while you were there struggling to have just one normal conversation with someone.

Before you let it get worse and have another storm wracking your heart you found yourself hitting the club a lot more often. As bad as it was, at least it covered the self-deprecating your sober mind was up to the minute your mouth touched the rim of the glass of mixed alcohol in your hand.

When the city clubs stopped doing it for you, you took to the beach club nearby. The tropical house genre wasn't really your style or the club itself, but it grew on you the more you visited it. Not for the good cocktails or the fun atmosphere the club induced in you. But for the green-haired man sat at the far back of the club that captured your eye.

From the looks of it he was a regular. Every night you were there, he was there too. You didn't think anything of it until it's been a few weeks and he was still present.

The only thing that changed the more you went there was that he took notice of you too.

The most he did was glance your way as you were dancing thinking you wouldn't notice but you caught him every. single. time.

There was something about the way he looked your way that sparked something in you. Every time his eyes laid on you it felt like your body would set on fire and that feeling only grew stronger over time.

He would be the only thing occupying your mind both in your waking hours and the intoxicated ones. Besides the obvious attraction you felt for him there was also this weird sense of connection that drew you to him. You hoped he would make a move to you but all he gave you was that unwavering gaze turning your insides to mush and your head into a mess.

You took it in your hands and decided to make the first move a few weeks ago. It was one of those nights you were feeling the loneliness a little too hard and thought some sort of action would have done you good. You scanned the club for him and found him in his usual spot, nursing a glass of what looked like whiskey.

The moment you set your eyes on him his dark eyes lifted from the glass to you, as if sensing that you were looking at him. His lips were placed on the rim of the glass, but his gaze was solely trained on you.

You moved your body to the rhythm of the music without breaking eye contact. He watched your every move from behind that glass like a hunter observing its prey, dark eyes roaming over you with an expression you couldn't quite read.

The beat of the song playing intensified and so did your moves, rolling your hips in sync with it. That caught his attention since you caught him licking his lips. He was definitely interested but he didn't make a move to you that night.

So, you tried luring him in more the next time you went. You danced a but more provocative this time, a result of the combination of liquid burning down your throat. You threw your hands in your hair messing with it as you exposed your neck, all whilst narrowing your eyes on him.

The most that did was halt the glass that was halfway to his lips, hand gripping it tightly as if to preserve his self-control. You continued the teasing, this time letting your hands wander down your body following the way his eyes trailed down. That had him throwing the contents in his glass down his throat rapidly, tongue poking against his cheek. You smirked in victory at the reaction. But even that wasn't enough to bring him closer to you.

Last week you decided that it was going to be your final try. You would drop it if he still didn't understand your intentions this time around. After all, you had your pride to preserve too.

He could be God's favourite for all you cared but if he couldn't grasp the concept of a woman wanting him this badly it was his fault.

Your last resort was provoking him. You wore a shorter dress revealing just enough to get any man howling to rip it apart. But it turned out, he wasn't just any guy.

After scanning the crowd you grabbed a random guy and danced with him for the majority of the night. You let him move you along to the music, holding your body flush against his. He placed his hands on your waist and dipped his head in your neck leaving rough kisses down your neck. You tilted your head back and looked at the green-haired man only to see his jaw twitching, eyes narrowed to slits in your direction.

Smirking at his reaction you turned around to the guy, glueing yourself to him impossibly close. You leaned up to whisper in his ear, eyes still set on the man at the back. His fist tightened dangerously next to the glass on the table.

Even with those obvious responses it still didn't get the point across to him.

You didn't understand him. You literally gave him every basic hint that you were interested and he reciprocated the gestures only to keep himself in that damn darkened corner.

He gave you the attention. The intensity of his gaze couldn't lie on that. One look from him kept you wanting more and more. You craved to know that connection wasn't just a lucid dream induced by alcohol and strobe lights. You lost yourself in the need for him to want you the way you wanted him.

And you did all that for a stranger.

The pursuing ended tonight. You weren't going to wait for anyone. Tonight would just be about you and you only.

But your excitement to drown in liquor and dance the night away into the new year was short-lived as the dance floor was suddenly flooded by couples of all people.

Blocking the laughter and sweet nothings whispered way too loud around you became harder. You ordered more and more alcohol to neutralise your senses and keep your emotions at bay. But no matter how much you drank and danced, you couldn't prevent that lonely feeling from seeping into your bones once again.

The closer it got to midnight, the worse you felt. A couple to your right was making out quite grossly, hands grabbing at each other's faces like it was a hotdog eating competition. Another couple to your left were humping each other like they were the only ones on the dance floor. You were pretty sure someone already had their junk out and it was just a matter of time before it sat in your line of sight and you got scarred for life.

Ah, fuck this. I'm leaving.

There was no point in staying here longer only to make yourself hurt more than you already did. The universe wanted you to suffer till the remaining last seconds of the year and you weren't going to give it the satisfaction.

You emptied what was left in your cocktail glass and placed it on a nearby table. Grabbing your bag and hoisting it up your shoulder, you turned for the exit. You wanted to get out of here before it hit midnight and all these couples would be getting it on.

But someone had other plans for you.

You barely took two steps towards the exit when a strong arm locked on your arm and pulled you backwards. You crashed into a hard chest, world swaying around you from the rapid movement. A woody vanilla scent surrounded you, sending you into a deeper daze than you were already in.

"Leaving so soon?"

You turned your head back only to come face to face with the green-haired man that occupied your mind for the past few weeks. The same man that annoyed you to the world's end as your attempts to show your interest for him seemed in vain.

Your mind was working on overdrive to make sense of what was happening. You didn't even look for him tonight and he was here, holding your hand. It wasn't helping that he was sat right behind you, body so close that you found it hard to breathe like a normal person. What was worse was that his eyes were focused on you, a relaxed smirk dancing on his lips.

The more you gazed into his eyes the more he took your oxygen away. And you couldn't help staring at him just a little more too entranced in his presence.

He looked even more breathtaking up close, strobe lights bouncing off his features enhancing them even more. His eyes appeared a lot sharper than they looked in that poorly illuminated corner.

He had this weird way of putting you in a trance every time your eyes locked with his. It veered you away from the fact that he lead you on for the longest time anyone's ever done before.

Upon remembering why you had every reason to be sour towards him, you turned your head away from him. You also did it to gain some stability in your mind, narrowing your eyes on the blurring crowd of dancing people in front of you.

"Didn't really have anything keeping me here," you spat out.

The music changed to a slower rhythm, still bouncy enough to keep people dancing.

His hand let go of your arm and you breathed a sigh of relief, until he wrapped it around your waist instead. You prayed he couldn't hear or feel the way your heart was racing, considering your back was pressed firmly against his chest.

"Wasn't going to let you go without a dance," he whispered in your ear.

There was no telling if the shivers dancing down your spine were either from him or from how buzzed you are. But you could feel the deep tone of his voice even with the loud bass thumping through you, louder than your own heartbeat.

"Oh, really?"

You turned around to fully face him. He was a head taller than you, shoulders extending beyond your field of vision. Your eyes lingered on his bulky arms, lined with muscles upon muscles, wondering how it would feel like to be squished between them.

The relaxed dress shirt he wore tonight looked divine on him. It was unbuttoned just enough to give you a sneak peek of his pecs, the rest of the material stretching over his toned body perfectly.

Okay, maybe he is God's favourite.

Beyond his looks, he was also emanating this oddly comforting energy. It was what drew you to him in the first place. You felt it the minute he laid his eyes on you the first night you came here and you felt it now as his eyes bore into you.

He took his time checking you out too. He was finally standing this close to you and you rendered him absolutely speechless. He thought you were beautiful from that corner, but you were even more gorgeous up close.

Your hair was put up in a messy bun, a few hair pieces falling around loose, framing your face. Your eyes twinkled with the changing colours of the lights, curiosity and interest dancing in your eyes.

The white silk dress you wore fell just below your knees. The straps around your shoulders did little to keep the dress on you as they circled behind where a deep back line exposed you fully to him. That cutout of the back line stopped way too low for his liking and your chest was covered just enough to not give him a heart attack.

What surprised him was that your outfits matched. If anyone asked the two of you if you were a couple they would hit the nail beside the head, so close yet so far.

Wrapping up the staring contest, his eyes settled on your lips. They were slightly parted, eyes seemingly just as lost in him as his were in you mere moments ago.

He chuckled at you which brought you out of your own spiral of thoughts and back to the blaring music and chatter around you.

"What are you really looking for out here?" he asked, stepping just a little closer to you.

Well, for starters, you weren't looking for commitment. But you also weren't looking for a one night stand. As contradictory as that sounded.

But it was a new year, which meant you could give into that new year, new me bullshit without thinking too much about the consequences for once. Who knew, maybe something would change.

The green-haired man sitting before you did not look like the type to commit or have just a one night stand either. So, he might have been just as conflicted as you were on that topic.

"Tell you what," you stepped closer to him and traced his shoulders with the pads of your fingers. He followed your movements until your hands stopped at the collar of his shirt, palms laid flat on his chest. "We can cross that bridge when we come to it."

Your eyes moved to his lips for the millionth time tonight. They looked so plump and inviting. You wondered how they tasted. Were they soft, with a tinge of his cologne that was already getting you addicted or were they rough, tasting just like the alcohol he normally drank?

He noticed the way you eyed his lips hungrily. His eyes moved from your hands on his shirt to your own lips. He couldn't deny yours looked just as inviting.

"20 seconds to the New Year!" said the dj through the mic, gathering everyone around for the reverse countdown to the new year.

He could consider himself fucked if he didn't make a move now.

"10 seconds!"

His eyes darted between your eyes and your lips unsure if he should indulge and plant a kiss on them.

"5!"

With uncertainty still dancing in his irises he leaned in, eyes moving to your eyes to search for any sign you didn't want this. But all he found was a fire ardently raging in your eyes. It was him that started it after all.

"4!"

The look on his face made you nervous. Any moment now his lips would finally press to yours.

"3!"

He glanced at your lips, getting closer but moving so infuriatingly slow that you decided enough was enough.

"2!"

Fuck it. I'll do it myself.

You fisted his shirt harshly and pulled him down to you, unable to wait anymore.

"1!"

You smashed your lips on his just as the countdown came to an end.

"Happy New Year everyone!"

Gold confetti rained down on you from all sides, getting stuck in your hair. The song playing on the speakers accelerated and so did your heartbeat the more your lips moved in the same rhythm with his.

Your hands locked at the nape of his neck pulling him closer to you. One of his hands wrapped around your waist, while the other grabbed the side of your face.

"May this new year be filled with fun for all of you," boomed the dj through his microphone before putting up the volume on the music.

New year's wishes could wait a little more. For now, you were too busy exploring the lips of the man that started a fire deep inside of you. He bit your lower lip, eager to take the kiss somewhere else.

You've been kissed before but never like this. It felt euphoric, like you reached the seventh heaven with the help of his lips alone. You were thankful he held onto you because your knees shook dangerously. And this time it wasn't from the damn alcohol.

You pulled apart trying to will some air back into your lungs. A lone hair strand fell in front of your face and you lifted your hand to brush it away but he was faster. He took it and gently put it behind your ear, letting his fingers ghost over the side of your neck. You couldn't help the smile pulling at your lips.

"Give me a second."

He let go of you and rushed off somewhere. You waited for a bit then scanned the crowd, unable to find him anywhere.

He couldn't have just left me here after that, right?

Did I rush him into it?

He probably left, didn't he?

Oh, lord.

I scared another good guy away.

This one was special too.

Great way to start the year, doofus.

Before you could wallow into self-pity and rethink your exit plan, he came back. Turns out he just went to get his jacket.

New Year's resolution: Stop overthinking shit.

He moved his jacket to one hand and let the other one find yours again, fingers lacing with yours delicately. The same fingers you studied for nights on end wishing they were wrapped around yours were now actually interwoven with yours.

"Do you have your things with you?"

You nodded, motioning to your bag as you fixed it on your shoulder, slightly confused at the question. He started walking to the bar, dragging you with him and hastily waved over a bartender.

"Give me the best bottle of champagne you have, a bucket of ice and two glasses. I'll take one of those platters too."

"The what-," you stuttered, shocked at his detailed request. He just smirked and you felt warmth rush to your cheeks.

How is a literal stranger making me blush and feel like I'm gonna explode at the same time?

Once he received the bucket with everything he asked for stacked neatly, he paid the bartender and led you outside to the beach. Fireworks were still going on from the looks of it. You could see the displays on either side of the beach you looked at. There were a few groups gathered around bonfires on the outside extension of the club, clinking glasses together and wishing for a better year.

You got a feeling he wasn't keen on hanging around others considering the fact that he mostly drank alone. Spotting a blanket and a few cushions on a couch you grabbed them, securing them under your free arm before you linked your hand back with his.

He started walking and true to your assumptions he led you further away from the crowd. He finally stopped at a spot that was illuminated enough to see each other. It was rather reclusive, but still in the vicinity of the club.

"Is this the part where you kill me or something?"

"I try to act like a gentleman and you take me for a psychopath," he deadpanned.

"Well, are you a psychopath?"

He just chuckled at your remark and shook his head.

"If I was, I wouldn't have asked the bartender for the best champagne they had."

"Fair point," you giggled.

He took the blanket from you spreading it out on the sand. You placed the cushions down while he placed the platter in the middle and motioned for you to sit down first.

"So, why did you bring me out here, stranger?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, but I guess tonight was a better time to do it than any. And name's Zoro."

He placed the bucket down and took a seat next to you. Grabbing the bottle of champagne he worked on opening the aluminum seal. Your eyes wandered over his arms, mindlessly stopping at the label and you felt your heart fall to your ass.

"IS THAT DOM PERIGNON?!"

You covered your mouth surprised that your voice came out so loud. He chuckled at your reaction before he moved to open the wooden cork.

That champagne costs a fortune. The selling a kidney or two kind of fortune. Fortune that you will probably never reach in your lifetime to just blow away on champagne regularly.

"Yeah, it is," he smiled. "I asked the bartender for the best they had and it's safe to assume he delivered."

"And you want to drink that... with me?" you asked pointing between the bottle and yourself.

He nodded, busy fighting with the bottle. He almost had it open but the cork just needed a little shimmying. An idea seemed to pop into his head judging by the way he snickered at you.

"Wanna see a trick?"

"Sure."

He picked up one of the champagne glasses in the bucket and held the bottom to the mouth of the bottle. He wiggled it a little on its neck until he found the perfect balance, moved it back and thrusted it forwards with force.

You expected the glass to break and fly everywhere but that didn't happen. What did happen was that the cork flew towards the small waves washing up on the shore with a safe pop sound. The glass was unharmed and the bottle was at last open, cold steam escaping it.

Your mouth was hung open in surprise. So he has several tricks up his sleeve, besides the gentleman act.

Satisfied with your reaction at his trick, he smiled again, this time more widely. He poured you a glass first and handed it to you before pouring himself one.

"Happy new year, stranger," he smiled, tilting his glass to you.

"Happy new year, Zoro," you returned the smile and clinked your glasses together.

You sipped the champagne surprised at the taste. It had a rich apricot flavor, a little sweet but not too over the top. You took your time savouring it. Who knew when you would get to relish in luxury like this ever again so might as well enjoy it.

You leaned back watching the remaining firework display. He moved to get comfortable, leaning on his side with his head on his palm. He had your exposed back in full view. Your skin looked so soft that it took everything in him not to trace his fingers down your spine.

"You're an interesting man."

"So I've been told."

"You had me running circles around you for weeks, you know."

"I know," he swirled the liquid in his glass, staring at it. "I'm not exactly a pro on the dating field."

"You don't look like a beginner either," you said before throwing back the champagne in your glass down your throat for some more liquid courage.

"What about you?" he asked as he got up to pour you another glass. "Should I be wary of any male alphas that would like to smash my face for kissing you?"

You laughed heartily at that. He's been around you for half an hour at most and he already made you feel giddy inside.

"Nope, not a single soul. Main reason why I've been hanging around at the club more than I do around my own house."

That was an exaggeration but there was some truth in it. You did it hoping to find someone that you could connect with in some way. And you did, considering the green-haired man currently laying next to you. It was just a question of whether he felt that connection too.

"And I thought you were coming to see me."

"Of course I did!"

His eyes shot up from his glass just as you registered what you said. The blush on your face expanded and you probably looked like a tomato by now.

Stupid alcohol.

"Sure you did," he chuckled.

You leaned back to smack his chest and he threw his head back laughing at the sight of your red face. As annoyed as you felt, his laugh was quickly growing on you.

"Tease," you tsked.

"Can't help it," he scoffed with a tight-lipped smile, taking another sip from his glass.

"I guess it's good," you mumbled mostly to yourself.

"What's good?" he asked.

"Letting go of the past. Living in the present, as they say."

"Losing control every once in a while can do you good," he stated.

Maybe he was right. Maybe tonight wouldn't turn out so bad after all.

Watching the sea at night when it was the calmest, with the moonlight glimmering on the waves put you at ease. Just as much as the man beside you did right now.

You dove in the charcuterie platter, laying on the blanket with your heads propped on the cushions, talking about anything and everything. You learned more about him and the fact that he could handle a shit ton of alcohol seen as he was downing champagne glasses faster than you.

Telling him about yourself and what a shit year you've had in terms of dating to get him off your case a little was supposed to be just light-hearted banter. But he just took that as a sign to tease you more.

"How to lose a guy in 10 days was definitely made about you," he howled laughing, after you told him about one of your situationships.

"Really funny. As if you've seen the movie," you said, popping a grape in your mouth.

"Try me," he taunted, adjusting his position to sit above you.

You mentally searched the movie for a scene that was iconic but could have easily gone unnoticed. You found the perfect one. Suppressing your giggles to not give it away, you cleared your throat to get in character and recited the scene word for word.

"Little, big, little, big... I don't know... I guess we will find out!" You made the grabby hands and pulled on a silly face, embodying the character.

He sat thinking for a few moments until the colour drained from his face at the realization of what scene it was.

"I am not saying that line even if you shoot me."

"Come on. I did it so it's customary you do it too."

He face palmed, releasing a sigh of annoyance. He just had to put himself on the spot like that. But he was a man of his word.

Looking around for anyone that could possibly hear him and become a collateral victim, he let out an exasperated breath and got into character.

"You-You can't name my member... Princess Sophia."

You rolled around laughing as he dug his face in his cushion in shame. The look on his face was priceless and you decided to pay back his earlier teasing with even more teasing.

"I have a question."

"What now?" he mumbled, voice muffled by the blanket.

You got closer to him and tried to keep your laugh in as you whispered your question in his ear.

"Does your member have a name too?"

His head shot up, eyes squinting at you dangerously. The earlier embarrassment was gone from his face and if the twitch in his jaw wasn't a clear indicator that you were in deep shit, the hand gripping your cushion was a good sign that you should run away.

"You're so dead."

Before he could lay his hands on you, you got up and ran out towards the shoreline. He followed, rushing to catch up with you.

You lifted your dress a bit to avoid stepping on it and bolted as fast as you could. He almost had you when you took a turn to throw him off, running back to the spot your blanket was on.

"Catch me if you can," you laughed.

"There's nowhere for you to run."

"Watch me."

You slowed down on purpose, letting him get close to you again only to dash out back to the sea. The soft sand under your feet turned from smooth to damp and soon enough your feet were submerged in cold water. You thought he wouldn't follow you to avoid getting his clothes soaked but he proved you wrong again tonight.

He ran towards you at full speed and you really had nowhere else to run this time. The bottom of your dress got drenched, sticking to your legs the further you went in. The water only slowed you down, giving him the opportunity to catch up with you.

You were waist deep in the water when his hands sneaked around your middle pulling you to him. You tried to break free but it was no use. The grip he had around you was as strong as steel.

"Let me go."

"Only if you say sorry."

"What if I don't? You gonna make me?"

"Huh, so she's got guts too," he chuckled.

"Why don't you fuck around and find out just how gutsy I am?"

You refused to give in. Splashing water at him only made the grin on his face widen because he started tickling you. And everyone knew tickling was a low belt move. You roared with laughter thrashing around in his arms.

Suddenly, retreat sounded a lot better than being tickled to death.

"Okay! I'm sorry!"

"Are you really?"

"No, but stop tickling me."

Reluctantly, he let go of you. He knew you had a surprise attack in store. His suspicions were confirmed true when you ran behind him, trying to push him into the water. He lost his balance but he wasn't planning on going down alone, hand quickly clamping down on yours to pull you with him.

You gasped as the water enveloped you fully. Sitting back up, you were fully drenched. Most of your hair was wet too, water dripping out of it like you just stepped out of the shower. Zoro, on the other hand, was giggling at you like a fucking school girl proud of bullying her friends.

Annoyed with his antics, you turned around and walked back to the blanket, plopping yourself down. He walked out too, that devilish smirk plastered on his face.

He stopped in front of you. You tried to look away from him but you couldn't. Especially when his shirt was so soaked that it stuck to his body in a way that let you see all of his toned muscles.

"Like what you see?"

You snapped out of your delusions, putting your annoyed face back on.

"Go away," you waved him off.

A sudden gust of wind blew reminding you of just how exposed you were. You looked like a wet dog. Your dress was wet and stuck to you uncomfortably, increasing the cold seeping inside your body at a faster rate than you liked..

You let your hair down placing it around your neck to get some sort of warmth from the parts that weren't soaked. Covering your arms in an attempt to wash the cold away, the breeze only persisted, blowing even more harshly as if to spite you. Zoro noticed you shivering.

"Are you cold?"

Still irritated with him, you shook your head no. You didn't want his help after the stunt he pulled. But the way you held tightly onto your arms and rocked from side to side told him otherwise.

Out of nowhere, warmth enveloped you. You turned to see Zoro right behind you, hands on top of your shoulders to make his blazer jacket cover as much of your body as it could to keep you warm. It was big enough to look like a blanket on you. You sighed at the comfort, pulling it closer to snuggle into the warmth of the fabric, feeling some of the cold dissipate.

"It might be hot out here but it's still December."

"It's January now," you stated.

"Okay, smartass," he boomed.

The night sky got darker and stars twinkled brightly as you talked until you finished the bottle of champagne and the platter. As much as he liked to tease, you loved his company a lot. The more time you spent with him the more you wished tonight would never come to an end.

He suddenly got up from his spot beside you and went to stand in front of you. He scratched the back of his neck looking at you which made you confused until he spoke up about his intentions.

"May I have this dance?"

He extended his hand out to you and you hesitated. Not out of the nervousness you felt yourself, but in a ploy to push his buttons. He deserved a little more teasing after making you wait for it for so long.

"Come on. I told you I wasn't gonna let you leave without a dance."

The way he looked at you changed your playful plans. It looked like he was really trying to be more into it and you couldn't say no to those eyes.

"Okay," you gave in, letting your hand slip into his.

His eyes lit up like moon crescents as he pulled you up and brought you closer. This must have been the softer, drunken part of him.

"What about music?" you asked.

"Music?"

He moved from one side to the other until he settled on a spot a few feet away from the blanket, tugging you with him. You were about to question his actions when you heard it. The faint sound of music playing from the club mixed with the sound of the waves breaking at the edge of the shore. It wasn't too loud or too faint but just enough to be peaceful and rhythmic background noise.

"You're unbelievable, in a good way," you giggled. He just smiled at you like a fool, most likely gone on the bouts of alcohol induced giddiness.

He pulled you closer, one hand holding yours out while the other curled around your waist, similar to a fancy dancing pose. Stepping left and right he pulled you with him into something that resembled a very weird tangled waltz.

You danced a combination of everything. He twirled you around, bottom of your dress swirling around you. Then he spun you out and brought you back in to hold you close as your hands settled back on his shoulders. He even lifted you up like one of those ballerinas you see at the opera, paying attention not to drop you face forward in the sand like a true dancing partner. You couldn't deny you had chemistry.

Twisting you around again, he stopped to dip you down on your back, hands secured tightly around you. He leaned down to your face, just a small distance away from putting his lips on yours. You closed your eyes in anticipation, expecting him to kiss you.

You wanted to feel his lips against yours again, missing the way they fit just right with yours back at the club. But just when you thought he would kiss you, you felt his lips elsewhere on your face - in a small peck on your cheek.

He brought you back up and grinned as your cheeks flushed pink. You brought a hand up to your cheek to touch it, feeling the faint brush of his lips burn into your skin as you processed it. He took your hand away from your cheek and laced his fingers with yours, leading you into yet another dance.

It was ridiculous. You were dancing to faint tropical house music on the beach in the darkness of the night with no sense of rhythm. But the soft sand under your feet felt better than any rigid dance floor you've been on and your dance partner was gentler than anyone you've ever danced with. You wouldn't trade this for the world.

The side effects of all the alcohol you drank was slowly kicking in and thankfully, the pace of your swaying got slower. You laid your head on his chest and let him rock you back and forth, listening to the beating of his heart that was more music to you than anything else.

"Thank you."

"What for?" he asked, looking down at your small form in his arms.

"For tonight," you sighed. "I haven't felt this good in a while."

"You're welcome," he said softly.

He was still trying to process things himself, mostly the fact that he was finally holding you after playing hooky for so long. You curled up closer searching for more warmth in his arms and he couldn't help but smile at you once more. It wasn't like him to show his inner happiness to people, but it seemed like his smiles were limitless for you.

The high of the alcohol you consumed was long gone, replaced by a drowsy feeling overtaking your senses. The music stopped playing telling you it was way too late for the world to keep going at it. All you could hear were the waves lapping each other in close distance, accompanied by a peaceful silence and the soft breaths coming from your human pillow.

You cuddled into him, sighing at the warmth he radiated. An arm was draped around you, drawing random patterns on your back that lulled you even more towards sleep though you didn't want to give into it just yet.

His other hand busied with yours, tracing up and down your fingers one by one. He turned them on all sides, then moved to your knuckles, inspecting each ridge and mound, each fading scar evidence of your rebel childhood. Once he was satisfied with his findings he intertwined your fingers together, bringing them closer to his chest.

Your hand looked so frail in his bigger one, encased like a precious jewel in a locked treasure chest with a lost key. But that key wasn't lost. It was just waiting to be found. Just like the latch on the hotel in your heart was waiting to be put back on the door by a person who wanted to stay all year around. Could he be that person for you?

He was the only thing turning in the tides of this endless night and you couldn't take your eyes off of him. Meeting him felt like some kind of blessing was bestowed upon you. Like all the pain of the previous year and the endless waiting was finally rewarded the way it was written to happen from the start.

By the looks of it he felt that connection too. It might have been just a one night adventure but only your sober minds could decide that in the fast approaching morning. But for now, being in each other's presence was enough to calm the tempest that's been swirling in your heart for so long.

He noticed you doze off when your head felt a little heavier on his chest. Taking his eyes off the sea and the few boats popping up and down the waves in the distance, he looked at you. Your cheeks turned a rosy shade, most likely from the amount of booze you had. They puffed up against his chest, light snores escaping through your opened lips. There was a little trail of drool pooling at the edge of your lower lip. He chuckled and wiped it away, making a mental note to tease you about it when you wake up.

Truth is that he's been waiting around for you all night back at the club. Time was flowing way too slow and his patience was running thin. But once you finally walked through the door his inner clocks froze over. His breath got caught in his throat, so much that he couldn't find it in himself to make a move to you yet again.

So, he just watched you from his usual spot, hoping he could get some liquid courage if he drank a little before coming to you. But he wasted way too much time wallowing in self-pity.

When you got your things and slammed the glass on the table enraged, he knew you were about to leave. If he let you leave back then he was sure he wouldn't be able to face you again. So he finally made a move to you, running through the crowd to catch you.

The fact that you were now tucked safely in his arms, wearing his jacket, told him he made a move at the right time. Who knew what other man would've stolen you away if he waited for too long. Or if he ever got to see you again.

From what you told him, he could sense how much you craved to find someone. To stop opening up to people who didn't even want to hear about anything other than bodily pleasure. Because he craved a deeper connection with someone too. He was just bad at showing it most of the time.

"I'm so glad you didn't settle," he whispered, laying a soft kiss on the crown of your head.

He spent the remainder of the night watching over you, until the dark sky turned into the early haze of dawn. He closed his eyes for a bit, waiting for you to wake up and unknowingly, he doze off in the comfort of feeling you close.

The comfort you were wrapped in was so cozy that you found it hard to open your eyes. Once you did, you took in your surroundings, surprised to see the green-haired man still at your side. The longer edges of the blanket were wrapped around the both of you, providing some warmth in the early morning breeze.

You half expected him to leave you here on the beach. To wake up and think of it as just another drunken night out that others normally wanted to take back. But he didn't.

You looked towards the sea. The previously dark night sky that was illuminated by the glow of the moon was now a myriad of orange and pink. It was brighter than any sunrise you've ever seen.

The start of a new beginning, you smiled to yourself.

The sun was still on his way to fully light up the sky, but the rays were already bouncing off the waves in glimmering gold and the sea looked so crystalline and blue, like you were watching a movie scene unfold before you.

Turning back to the man beside you, you took your time taking him in. He was sound asleep judging by the way his chest rose up and down slowly and had one arm under his head, propping it higher than the cushion could. The other one was still wrapped around you, in the same position you remembered it to be before you fell asleep. Small chimes came from his golden earrings as they dangled on the breeze of the wind.

He looked so at peace, a close-mouthed smile on his lips. The urge to lift your hand and trace the outlines of those lips grew the more you looked at them.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," he spoke, taking you by surprise. His voice was way deeper than last night, resounding a little raspy in your half-asleep ears.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Enough to feel you staring at me like I'm made from tempered glass."

"I wasn't staring."

"Sure you weren't."

"Okay, you caught me."

His eyes crinkled in pride at getting you to admit it before opening up to look at you.

"How did you sleep?" he asked, a hint of amusement present in his voice.

"I slept fine," you replied, eyeing him with a raised eyebrow.

He looked too pleased with himself in the early hours of the morning. As if he knew something you didn't.

"Did I do something weird in my sleep?"

"I wouldn't say weird. But I'm glad you were comfortable enough to do it with me," he smirked.

What the fuck did I do? Did I snore? Did I kick him? Wait. He said I did something with him. Did we do something like-

Your eyes widened as the thought crossed your mind. The look on his face could only say that you did exactly what you thought you did.

"DID WE FUCK?" you whisper shouted.

His grin just widened and he started laughing hysterically, slapping the sand beside him like a maniac.

"Why are you laughing- YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"Your face! That was priceless."

The daggers you were throwing at him told him you weren't in the mood for ridicule you this early in the morning. Too bad he had other plans.

"But you did do something."

"JUST TELL ME ALREADY," you shouted, getting ready to strangle him.

He seemed deep in thought on whether he should tell you.

"What are you willing to do for this important information?"

The way he wiggled his eyebrows at you told you he wanted to negotiate some terms first, as if he was withholding national secrets or some shit.

"I'll do anything," you sighed, playing along with him.

"Anything?"

"Zoro, I swear to god I'm going to put my foot through your face."

"All it takes is one kiss."

"One kiss? What are you, five?"

"Rules are rules. Kiss or I'm not telling you."

Your tongue poked your cheek in annoyance as you looked out at the sea debating your choices.

You could either run away and live with the humiliation that you'll never know what you did that had him make fun of you this bad. Or you could just humour him and find out what it was quicker. The latter seemed like the better choice.

"Okay, fine."

You decided to go for a kiss on the cheek, to pay him back for the almost kiss he gave you while dancing. You leaned down to him, cheek in your direct line of sight. You were about to plant the quickest peck on it when he moved his face so your lips landed on his instead.

They tasted like a glass of freshly opened champagne, just like the one you drank with him last night. You felt him smile against your lips, holding onto the nape of your neck to pull you closer. When he was satisfied enough with his kiss, he let go of you and you separated, breaths fanning each other.

"Are you gonna tell me now?"

"Did you know you drool in your sleep?"

"I DID WHAT-"

"There was like a whole lot of it on my shirt. Like a newborn baby's."

You burried your head in his side, trying to hide the blush rising on your cheeks. He just laughed at you squeezing you closer.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of. I think it was adorable."

"You're just saying that," you mumbled.

"I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

He moved away from you and you thought he got up. Turning your gaze upwards you found him standing above you, hands on either side of you.

The playfulness in his eyes was exchanged for dark eyes staring down at you with hunger. The smirk on his lips told you that nothing remotely good passed through his mind at the moment and it made you gulp.

He leaned down to you and your breath hitched. No man made you this nervous before and you didn't even do anything together to feel this way. Like you sinned a thousand sins or something.

His lips brushed your ear, chest almost pressing against yours.

"Am I making you nervous?"

"Yeah. No. I don't know."

He looks like a sculpture and I'm supposed to not get turned on by it? Yeah, right.

He took you by surprise pressing his lips on the side of your neck. It made you forget where you were in the first place, mind entirely focused on the fluttering feeling he instilled in you. He moved the kisses all the way down to your jaw, with the goal of getting to your lips.

Just before you could feel them again, your stomach grumbled loudly interrupting your moment. Turns out the flutters were from being hungry.

"You have great timing," he shook his head at you.

"It's not my fault I'm hungry."

"Then, how about we grab something to eat?"

"I would love that."

He sat up and helped you up, starting to gather the stuff that needed to be taken back to the club in the bucket. You grabbed your heels, putting your arms through the sleeves of his jacket. Once you had everything you started making your way back.

"I'm craving seafood," you recommended. "What do you wanna eat?"

"You."

"EWW DONT SAY THAT."

"I'm joking."

"I am never kissing randos on new year's ever again."

"Only if I can become the only rando you kiss on every new year's."

"You're impossible," you smiled.

"Only for you."

Part 2

Thank you for reading! As always, comments, likes and reblogs are welcome :)

#roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro x you #roronoa zoro x reader #opla zoro #one piece #one piece x reader #i don't know about you but i am wrecked after this one

208 notes · View notes

avocado-writing · 10 months ago

Note

we need a rewrite of the tiefling party where tav can actually convince wyll to join the party and have fun please 🥹

notes: love love love writing for Wyll. he's such a sweetie! Implied bard reader but not explicit.

rating: T, but there will be a spicy part 2 coming up!

The party is lively and your head is swimming from the buzz of attention. That, and the small amount of wine you’ve had: not so much as to dull your senses but enough to make you merry. Warmed with Arkhen’s Hoard you take a break from the grateful tieflings and head out towards the familiar babble of the river. The further from camp you go the quieter your surroundings get, and you’re able to breathe a little more easily knowing there aren’t half a dozen children hanging on your every word. It’s lovely to be the centre of attention because you helped them, but a little overwhelming with all those eyes on you.

Of course, that’s not the only reason that you’ve come wandering over this way.

Wyll sits with his legs crossed on the bank, staring at the way the water dances under the moonlight. He seems at peace, the calmest he’s been since Mizora appeared and sprouted those horns for him; shoulders relaxed, tensionless.

“Wondered where you were,” you say, quietly. You don’t want to make him jump after all. It hurts your heart to see the way that his body stiffens when he hears your voice. Ah: there’s the tension again. Nevertheless, he turns to look at you over his shoulder, an easy smile on his lips - but one with a hint of sadness. You’ve studied his face enough in camp in order to know when he’s trying to hide something. It makes your heart ache bitterly that he would try and hide it from you, though.

“Thought I’d be able to sneak away. Should have known you’d be able to find me.”

You take a seat next to him in the grass. It’s a soft spot he’s managed to pick, not wet from its proximity to the river, but green and lush from its plentiful feeding. You lock eyes with him and press a hand to your chest, mock-wounded.

“Wyll! You make me sound like I’m a bloodhound tracking you down, not someone who cares about you checking in.”

He laughs, and you see him begin to lighten again. When he smiles this time, it’s sincere.

“That’s not what I meant. Apologies. Just that I’m not surprised you know me well enough to guess where I’d end up.”

“Down by the river,” you hum, fingers suddenly itching for the feel of a lute’s strings.

“You’re always singing that, you know?”

“I am, it’s a good song. I’ve never once heard you complain about it.”

“I’m not complaining! I never would, I love to hear you sing. Since I joined you on this journey, my life has been filled with so much music. It’s been wonderful.”

You put your hands behind you and lean back on them, allowing your face to become level with his. He looks into your eyes and, this close, you can see his breath hitch a little when your fingers brush together.

“I could be persuaded to do an impromptu performance, but I’d need my favourite person in the front row to give me courage.”

“I’m sure that you don’t need me for that. Courage is the one thing you couldn’t possibly lack.”

“To be my muse, then.”

You know if you lifted your hand and felt his cheek, it’d be warm.

“Please, Wyll,” you continue, softly. “Please come and join us. Everybody wants you there. Me especially, if I’m being selfish.”

“Ah…” you can see he’s warring with himself. On one side of the argument, he longs to indulge you. On the other side…

“I’m not sure. I think people may find me off-putting.”

You furrow your brow.

“You? The single most charming man I’ve ever met?”

Another flash of shyness over his face. You can tell that he enjoys the compliment, but his self-doubt wins out.

“Perhaps I was, before the horns.”

“Oh, Wyll. Do you think anybody up there cares about those? A group of your friends and people you fought tooth and nail to protect? I know for a fact that Karlach wants to challenge you to a drinking game.”

“That seems like more of a reason to hide! I think she’d drink me under one of the tables,” Wyll grimaces, and smiles when you laugh at his silliness. He seems a little more open to the idea, but still not completely sold.

“I don’t know… just… the children…”

“The children who love you and hang on your every word? Umi won’t stop asking me where you are, and someone needs to keep Mol in line…”

“I doubt even the gods themselves can do that.”

When he chuckles you find yourself reaching out to cup his cheek, running your thumb over the sharp ridge that was raised there when Mizora cursed him. His eyes widen and glaze over before sliding closed, nuzzling into the gesture, soul laid bare to the sweetness of your touch.

“Nobody feels unsettled by you. Nobody is afraid of you.”

His lips fall apart, anticipating the way you reach in to kiss him.

It’s a soft kiss. Lips dancing slowly, a waltz, noses bumping together a little, his horns grazing your hairline. Your heart soars at it.

When it’s over you sit there and breathe together. Sharing the same air, letting your blood thrum through you in an intertwined heartbeat.

“Will you come and join us? Will you come and dance with me?” you ask.

Wyll loses the argument with himself.

“Yes.”

taglist: @ghosti02art @sadandanxiouswtf @yeethaw13 @trappedinlimbo15 @infinitely-kate @dhampling @wereallbrokenangels @tilldeathdonugget

#wyll x reader #wyll x tav #wyll ravengard x reader #wyll ravengard x tav #my writing #request

105 notes · View notes

munsster · 2 years ago

Text

kurt kunkle and his bimbo girlfriend

A/N: this week has literally forced me to be obsessed with this greasy little slasher (soooooo my inbox is surely open!) (gif creds: @stevesnailbat)

Pairing: Kurt Kunkle x Fem!Bimbo!Reader

Warnings: Spree (2020) related content, kurt kunkle, smut/suggestive themes, MDNI, slasher themes (blood, gore, murder, ghostface), pet names (baby, slasher), cam/stream sex

im sorry but gamer bf x bimbo gf trope is actually flooring me rn

he’s just this greasy little streamer you started watching and you’re this total babe who’s obsessed with him

and you are really obsessed with him

you are literally his Number one fan

if kurt kunkle has 100 fans, youre one of them. if kurt kunkle has 1 fan, its you. if kurt kunkle has no fans, you’re dead.

you plugging kurtsworld96 at any given chance, like he’s so confused the first time he hears you do it, but then he gets so happy and just pulls you in

you being the first one to be super excited about his amount of viewers/followers

a celebratory kiss for ur streamer bf 🥰

also getting really worried when he seems to be in a little bit of trouble (ie cops in the background yikes)

him always reassuring you that he’s fine and he’ll figure it out

you dont know it but he’ll do anything you say, even if it meant turning off his stream for the night

you literally suggested doing cam stuff together before chat suggested it, but now chat is like obsessed with that because theyre a bunch of pervs

you treating chat like a sassy lil mama (“ew! behave yourselves” “ask nicely” “‘put it in her ass’ oh cmon, you know better” “shhh, quit being bratty, thats not how good little viewers get what they want, now is it?”)

youre such a lil price gouger, youre like “okay if someone sends in $50, i’ll let you guys watch us” and chat loves you so obviously they end up doing that

kurt really really loves you, plus you do wonders for his numbers. viewers basically double when he even mentions you

“‘kill your gf’ pfft yeah right, i know all his tricks, i’d like to see him try!” and you’re like in his lap and grinning and he just grins at you and when you turn to face him, he lands a big ol smooch on you

even after months of being together, he still gets nervous around you

and you always tell him to “relax, baby, it’s just me” all while he’s literally buzzing in your presence

he probably likes his hair pulled tbh

like even when you just run your fingers through his hair, he’s purring, he’s so slutty for it

asking him to do skincare/haircare with you as an excuse to take showers together 😝

like of course he’s gonna do it 1) because he loves you and 2) because afterwards, he smells like a candy store

you picking out his outfits because what he wears now is actually a cry for help

no because he would actually let you treat him like a dress up doll

you being really excited about it and telling him to do GRWM and OOTD segments on his streams (which are completely led + narrated by you, but he doesn’t need to know that)

him teaching you how to play video games (even though you already kinda know, you let him have his moment)

you designing the clickbait thumbnails for all of his youtube videos and they’re definitely all sparkly and pink and cute

you begging him to come with you to get your nails done, telling him he doesn’t have to get his nails done, you just want him to go with you

but of course, you convince him to get his nails done (just a basic polish *cough cough* in literally neon green, his choice) and he flaunts it to stream

he definitely makes fun of bobby like “my girlfriend is literally so hot. where’s yours? oh wait……”

and you HATE bobby

you think he’s a bad friend to kurt, but you’d never tell him that. you just scheme like “noooo baby, hang out with me, not bobby” and he’s like okay 🥰

also him being a little protective and possessive over you

like when other attractive people glance at you, he’ll grab your hand or put his arm around you or ask for a little kiss (all of which you do happily)

i love yous are thrown around like none other, and it makes him blush everytime. even when youre just tuning in, if he gets that “i love you, slasher” message, he’ll go red as a tomato

oh that reminds me: youre favorite movies being slasher films like scream and scary movie and american psycho, and he’s not stupid so he definitely senses the theme there

bonus: he definitely buys one of those ghostface masks just to surprise you (and get into your pants)

you offering to help clean his car after particularly gory kills (and he knows ur really good with aesthetics and detail work)

also you cleaning him up after particularly gory kills 🥺

like he’ll come home with blood streaked down his face, and you’re like “aw baby 😟 c’mere”

he LOVES it, he feels like a little puppy dog around you because you take care of him so well

you are all about sneak attack kisses, and he never knows what to do with them, he just sits there and smiles while you hold his face and pecks his lips

bro eventually, he’ll start laying the rizz down on you (and he’s not very good at it but) its so sweet that he’s genuinely trying and happy

like he’ll just spit pick-up line after pick-up line whenever you’re around, and you just giggle and kiss him on the cheek

you don’t even have to ask and he’ll buy you cute clothes. not that he’s insanely rich or like raking it in, but he makes enough, and he will spend money on something nice for you before he buys something for himself

him begging to drive you anywhere and anywhere even though your car works perfectly fine, he just wants to do things for you

also him begging to rig your car with cameras, too, just so when he does have to be in your car, he can still stream

ummm bonus: he definitely sets up a camera above his bed so like not only can he do sleeping streams, but…. you know…… angles 😌

you bringing him snacks and drinks during his stream and he gets the biggest googly eyes

you’ll just walk in in like the skimpiest little outfits, grinning and winking at the camera before giving kurtie a sloppy kiss

yall he’s so fucking dumb (in a loving way), but you’ll get into the car in like the most revealing and tight top and he’ll get all nervous and try to angle the cameras like ‘yall seeing this???’ all while smirking to himself

him accidentally referring to you as his wife on multiple occasions while streaming

letting you put your songs in the queue every so often

bonus: after hearing you play it literally once, his new favorite song is ‘stars are blind’ by paris hilton. that shit bangs and he knows it

him making you a playlist of all his songs (and he actually falls in love when you mention the fact that you listen to it almost constantly)

he actually can’t believe you love him and you’re of fan of his work and you’re actually the cutest thing he’s ever seen (nice tits, too)

it takes a lot of convincing and proof on his part that you truly love him, but you’re not shy about showing it and you’ll prove it to him anytime he needs

masterlist

704 notes · View notes

lemon-russ · 5 months ago

Text

good news my fever broke and my regular illness of putting Cato in situations returned

this upcoming arc has been haunting my brain since someone?? prob moodymisty?? posted a list of trope-y things Cato would be forced to endure as a body guard, specifically diplomat going to a warm planet with balls and wearing revealing dresses and making him p a n i k. anyone knows the post lemme know it's haunted me forever.

Part 8/ ???

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 7.5 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10

Cato Sicarius x F!Reader

(both POVs today)

CW: Vague alluding to sex, Cato back to being mean

Summary: Ambassador heads off on vacation with Titus, Cato takes it SUPER well and is very normal

word count: 1,720

You try not to pout as you sit on the ship heading out to the planet you were being forced to take a vacation to.

Commander Titus and a couple of lower rank ultramarine's sit across from you, talking politely among themselves. Guilliman has forced you to rest after the scare you gave him on that planet that rebelled.

You sigh a bit. You heard Cato swept through the place in a day with the second company. Titus said he was on a warpath- he always delighted in battle, but this one was a personal vengeance against the people that put them through all the trouble of having to rescue the both of you.

Now you're off to a particularly pleasant agri-world, renown for their fruits and home to hot spring baths and nightly dances. The marines with you weren't thrilled about standing around while you relaxed on warm beaches, but unlike Cato, they would never dare voice it. You were a high ranking diplomat, personal ambassador to Guilliman. Most marines show you a modicum of general respect. Then again most ultramarines were very professional all around. Cato is an outlier in his attitude and disrespect.

Which is nice. It's nice to not be bullied and teased. Nice to not have a whining huffing rain cloud following you. Nice… and a little boring. The two lower rank marines don't talk much, and when they do it’s polite “yes, Ma'am.” And “of course, Lady Ambassador.” Titus was a little better, still reserved, but seemed to at least understand you were looking for conversation, so tried his best.

You smiled at him a bit. “Will you be taking part in any of the activities, Commander?” You ask, desperate for conversation. He smiles politely. “Ah, no, Lady Ambassador. That would mean I'd not be properly guarding you, and, I am here to guard you.” He said apologetically. You sigh. “You mean here to babysit me…” you mumble, putting your head on your hand and looking out the window. Babysit was the word Guilliman used for it, specifically. Calling you a disobedient child when he'd found you sneaking paperwork.

Titus let out a soft chuckle. “I'd never want to imply you were childish, my lady.” He said with a small smile. “I am merely here to ensure a less dramatic trip for you than last time.” you sigh. You were disappointed when Guilliman told you he was removing Cato from your guard. You don't know why you were. He was a huge pain in the ass, a bully, and caused most of the issues. But your mind flashed to him pinning you to that cave wall and you flushed a little. Damn it, Cato. You couldn't get that day out of your head.

He would have just cause you issues here, too. But you had secretly hoped a bit that you'd get to convince him to join you in a hot spring- no, no stop that. Its bad enough you kissed him for some reason. Everything is so complicated with him now. You hate him a little, but you also kinda really like him, and you definitely are attracted to him… and you can't get all these images and memories of him out of your head. He's haunting you and it's making you angry at him by proxy. Stupid Cato.

Titus glances at you a bit while you think. “Lady Ambassador? You look upset, is all well…?” He asks with a small frown. You blush a little, sitting up properly. “Ah, sorry. Just have things on my mind. No need to worry, Commander.” You say, composing yourself. He looks unconvinced. “Ah, I wont pry then, my lady.” He said politely.

Cato would pry, you think. No, that is unfair to Titus. He is very kind, more personable than most other ultramarines too. But he's so… professional. And polite. He sometimes will respond with a light joke if you do so first, or laugh at something. But mostly he just smiles and nods and stands an appropriate distance away. As he should, that's how a bodyguard should act. But you'd gotten used to Cato cracking jokes at your expense, and insulting random passing nobles, and walking right next to you to force you to walk into walls and things. Which is annoying. But at least it was something.

The thunderhawk jolted a little as it began to land, and for a split second your heart skipped a beat and your hand jumped to your harness. You'd been a bit jumpy about flying in small craft since the thunderhawk crash. And much more on top of keeping buckled in.

Commander Titus frowns as you flinch and grab the belt, lifting a hand a little towards you, “Ah- my lady? Are you alright?” He asked politely, confused about what happened. You frown a bit, “oh, yes, sorry. Just, a little spooked by the landing…” you play it off a bit, giving a tight smile. He raises his brow but nods and sits back as the thunderhawk finishes its landing sequence.

The marines help you unload your things and you get off the ship and look at the pretty planet you’ve landed on. Lush tropic greenery, warm breezes, greco-romann looking buildings with lots of open to the air arches. there’s a beach and gentle waves nearby, and you think you hear a waterfall. You try and force yourself to stop thinking about how much work you’ll have back home, but what if Guilliman didn’t understand your file system? did he get those things filed in time- No, stop it, relax.

You sigh, pursing your lips. you take all your unwanted thoughts, worries about work, worries about deadlines, and the stupid thoughts of Cato Sicarius saving you from burning shipwrecks and pinning you to walls- and you file them all away in your mind in your mental LATER pile. You sigh, and try and soak in the warm air. You’ll get to it, in a few days. You were ordered to relax, and you hate not following orders.

___________________________________________________________

Cato paced the training fields, watching some of the newer aspirants to the Ultramarines do drills. They’d all passed trials, and it was one of his responsibilities to keep up on new recruits to the company. He didn’t normally take fresh marines, but he liked to keep an eye out for talented new Astartes. He needed the distraction anyways.

That world had been far to easy to run through, barley taking a day to fall to the impirium. It was meant to calm him, leading the charge, but it was only more infuriating how he had been cornered by people so weak and low tech. He growled to himself, and pulled his un-powered power sword out, practicing his regular drills on the combat dummy. Stupid primitive world. Stupid Titus, gallivanting on that stupid romance planet with the Ambassador- he chopped a chunk of the dummy off- Stupid Ambassador, kissing him randomly and then barely talking to him for two days- another chunk flew off- Stupid, warp-damned woman keeping him up all night, haunting his mind- The dummy shattered into a splintered mess with a hard swing. He growled, then stomped it a few times. Stupid combat dummy that can’t even take him going light on it.

He lets out a frustrated snarl and throws his sword to the ground, running his hands through his hair. What were they doing right now, his throne damned commander and the ambassador? Nothing good could come from them locked away together for days on a planet Guilliman described as “one of the few places left a noble could take a honeymoon.” He bets Titus is being unprofessional- he never knew how to stick to the rules. He bets he's taking her dancing- he's probably stealing a dance with her right now. She always dresses so impractically, and it's warm there, is she wearing something even more revealing? Is Titus eyeing her the way he did?

He heel stomps the dummy once more for good measure, picks up his blade, and storms off toward the Hangar. He has to go fight something, anything. He'll ask around for leads on something to kill and go focus on things that actually matter, like defending the Imperium. And not stupid, vapid women who probably are taking the first chance alone with Titus to give him secret kisses and hide away in corners with, doing emperor knows what in hot spring pools. He's fooling himself thinking he'd be an exception anyways, the way she smiles at everyone who looks at her, she's probably in everyone's beds. Everyone's but his.

He slams his fist on the button to open the hangar doors. One of his men looks up at him and grimaces. “Are we going out again today, sir…?” He asks, and Cato just nods and scowls. “Get everyone together, we're going… going… somewhere- it doesn't matter, just get the men in here!” He snaps. The marine frowns but nods, scrambling up to follow his orders.

He lets out a long, frustrated sigh, gripping his hair a bit as he runs his fingers back through it. If Titus lays a finger on her, he's going to kill him. He doesn't care if that's the worst thing a marine can do, betray a battle brother. Titus would be betraying him first, touching his woman- he stops dead in his tracks.

When did he start thinking of her as his?

Holy golden throne, she's driving him mad and she's not even here. She's broken his mind, flipped some switch he can't find to turn off again. He hates this, he hates her- but by the emperor, he hates the thought of her and Titus doing what he and she had done most. He grits his teeth and smashes his helmet on, stomping onto a thunderhawk. If his men weren't here in 30 seconds he was going without them. He white knuckled the hilt of his power sword.

In his mind he was desperately trying to shove all these feelings and thoughts into the overflowing WEAKNESS box, but there was just nothing rational left to think about. He's hanging on by a thread, and his men now have 20 seconds to be on this ship before he went and tore through some Orks alone.

#he's sooo normal about her guys #warhammer 40k #wh40k #cato sicarius #cato sicarius x reader #cato sicarius x f!reader #my work #wh40k fanfic #cato x diplomat fic

42 notes · View notes

wisteriainslumber · 2 years ago

Text

“Wait, this is supposed to be relaxing?”

alternatively: TWST cast discover ways in which animal crossing: nh should not be played

once upon a time my playstyle was the entirety of ace’s section and then i thought “what if it was Worse” and this post was born

warnings: swearing, the aggravating process of getting villagers to move out, tom nook slander

Riddle

claims he doesn’t choose favourites but everyone & their mother knows he’s particularly fond of Merengue

would participate in the stalk market because he wakes up at 6AM like a maniac

also because he refuses to time travel

has a very neat island. he uses whatever time he can to improve on his island layout and is a very good form of stress relief for him

finally, a good coping method

gifts his villagers fruit most of the time, but will occasionally give them furniture and stuffed animals

taken back by Pietro’s appearance in his campsite but now he is appointed the court jester

will tell no one that he adores the music in Pietro’s house

gets gold roses the quickest out of his classmates, but now he’s struggling with a major flower infestation

pls it won’t stop raining and he’s getting buried in petals

he really plays this game just to garden. this is not animal crossing this is Gardener Riddle Simulator now

when he gets visitors, he demands they greet every villager in town as well. its the polite thing to do, after all

blathers is a fine lad but there’s one thing about him that really irks riddle

why is he complaining about doing his job?

he owns a museum, he asks for donations, and lets his personal bias get the better of him if given a bug (he says, yk, like a hypocrite)

bugs are part of the island and fit the criteria of things blathers asks for. there is even an entire wing of the museum dedicated to insects.

even if he has a distaste for bugs, the least the owl can do is his job. no one likes a biased educator

riddle wears a pretty little shirt customed designed with stars by sebek

cute, it’s really cute. except those stars are pentagrams, and both the wearer and designer still think they are a neat star pattern

this was a relaxing game until riddle found out about the island rating system

he will settle for no less than a 6, yes, six star rating

the bulletin board isn’t used for announcements it’s used for impromptu laws he declared

such laws include no vandalizing the board (only applies to ace), no slander towards one another (watch ur tone, Blanche), no tampering with the able sisters displays (he sees you, azul), and what looks like a wanted ad for Redd

yeah, it seems that azul & riddle have a common goal

sending literal long ass letters to his villagers if he catches them being mean to each other.

after being enraged by the character limit because he wasnt finISHED, he settled for reporting them to isabelle

the peace era lasted a week

Trey

he loves the squirrel villagers so much, namely Mint. i’ll give you two guesses as to why

besides Mint he has a unique fascination for Blaire because she’s got the attitude of his classmates 😭😭

has the most variety of villager personality types on his island. the most normal villagers he’s had on there have peaked at 2 at one time. he likes the variety

or maybe he likes to convince himself hes the most normal one there who knows

gifts his villagers sunglasses when it’s sunny but then they kinda look like douches especially his jock villagers

keeps Flora on his island specifically so riddle can come visit her and chat in her home

it’s like an unbirthday party, but without any of the work #hallelujah

unsurprisingly his bathroom is the most furnished room in his home. other than that, he loves to decorate the outside of his house with flowers and has a constant rotation of wreaths on his door

big fan of Mable and Sable, they’re so sweet, reminds him of his go-to hedgehogs in croquet

accidental dealer of furniture in heartslabyul

heartslabyul student C wanted a nice moon rug and asked trey if he knew how to get one, and trey went the extra mile to find & give it to him himself

the story spread and now all his students come ask him for stuff

he did not ask for this job </3

stocks up on mystery floorings and wallpapers whenever Saharah comes to visit

perhaps it is in his heartslabyul soul to make everything in his house whack

10000% laughs at the dad jokes in this game

let out a hearty ass chuckle at "i caught a snapper! its pretty dapper!"

no one but trey thinks they’re funny. clever maybe, but not funny

every time he sees C.J he points him out to cater and asks him about his hidden beaver relative

they talk the EXACT SAME. and trey thinks hes so funny for this (okay acc hes so right for this one)

everyone’s least favourite villager has to have some fans and that fan is trey. he has major “i can fix them” energy therefore he would love the most unpopular villagers

and by love i mean he is the only one that disapproves when lilia and leona form a temporary alliance to chase Barold around the island to hit him with nets

Cater

you know damn well he went for the customizable phone case first

that horrific ugly phone case is so persistent in its survival that it transcends beyond the physical realm to do so

doodling on everyone’s bulletin boards so they get messages from their favourite senior <3

keeps one or two peppy villagers, but ultimately enjoys the chill of normal and lazy villagers the most

theyre just so kind.. and supportive :((

wants to collect all of the heart themed characters because they are pink and cute and full of love (is he convincing others or himself?)

ironically he doesnt end up collecting any of those villagers and his favourite villager is Cousteau because he has a funny mustache

let his favourite villager leave when they ask. he takes this so personally. thinks they didn’t wanna be there </3

Cousteau immediately went to rooks island too like. bruh okay then a fake french for a fake french >:(

cater now has a new favourite villager and it is Nate. they are besties, they are 4lyfers, he gets the best flowers around his house and the rarest of fruit

passes off the furniture he doesnt want to deuce and tells them they're gifts😭😭

obsessively putting smiley faces everywhere in his home to resemble his own room (???)

has matching mama bears with trey but instead of putting it inside it guards his house from the outside

having an identity crisis after the C.J comparison

he is not beating the C.J allegations but he loves to catch fish for him so they can take photos together

has a legitimate fear of Lloid because of the hollow eyes that crazy thing has. its like he can see into your soul

because cater wants Lloid out of his island pronto he doesn’t wait for donations from his villagers he just pays up front

go away ASAP s’il vous plait🙏🙏

if you thought his dialogue consisted of 60% kaomoji before, its upped to the ninteys now

he's found a way to perform the reactions IRL and hasnt stopped since

in fact this is caters and kalims main form of communication

has a vacation area on the beach specifically designed with jamil in mind

not that jamil never visits, but his visits have increased to just chillax and take photos

jamil is noticeably kinder to cater, and ruggie is seething in the back (gotta respect ur elders or smth idk)

has a million different fruit trees everywhere for the sake of fruit jokes

this is fruity island now, leave your zebra merch at the airport

unfortunately he gets unsatisfied with his island or villagers and wipes the file once every few months to start anew again

and because he’s indecisive, his name and island name will be the exact same too.

rip to his classmates that have to scroll through 5 cater copies to find his current file. this is not how they imagined Split Card was supposed to be used for

Ace

uses the type in your own answer function for evil

makes his villagers call him weird names and makes them say inappropriate things

vendetta against the smug villagers. they sound like his bossy brother and grim

Wart Jr. happens to be his favourite villager. he’s never explained why

but grim & deuce say that he and ace both share the same smug ass look

ace does not agree with this statement

unspoken agreement from the dorm to not let ace into their world but he finds a way to break in and vandalizes their notice boards for the trouble

gave Hamlet a hamster cage and laughed when he displayed it

why cant he be nice😔

karma does come back around though, and it came in the form of Francine moving onto aces island

ace has never felt so much rage in a seemingly relaxing game

he doesnt even have a good reason for disliking her either she’s just too vibrantly blue for his liking

now all of the first years terrorize him with homemade good morning gifs of Francine that they edit themselves

high effort to cause ace as much inconvenience as possible, of course

his friends hate him because he blows up their console with “Ace Trappola is Online!” from all his time travelling

he’s trying to get this bitchass villager to move out why the hell is the STUPID bubble on everyone else but Francine!!?!?!?

100000% ready to reset his island just to purge his console of that damn bunny

hes so lucky that riddle does not do island inspections because his console would be forcibly taken away

at least isabelle is nice about it, but riddle would flame him

way too lazy to make his own custom designs so he steals them and subjects all his villagers to them

despite all of the chaos he sows, he’s one of the best terraformers and genuinely helps grim with his island. still bullies him the whole time tho💀

he reaches extremely high friendships with his villagers

yeah hes been working hard on the DL why is that so surprising >:(

Deuce

he loves Celia

he imagines this is what those indentured princesses in the fairy tales look like before their big transformation

plus Celia looks and is so friendly. she reminds him of his neighbours back home

making a gift out of anything he finds in the nook store.

wraps all his gifts too! has a bunch of wrapping to choose from to match his villagers. his villagers deserve the most!

gets giddy every time he receives a letter from Mom. gets angy that he cannot send letters or gifts back to her

at first he didnt really vibe with Cherry's punk look but shes got a soft place in deuces heart now. appearances can be deceiving and he respects that (some say he has a RBF). Celia has competition

sebek had told deuce that he and Cherry look alike and deuce pestered sebek for a while asking how to look less like a bad boy :((

even in game ace & deuce have matching everything. ace has Hamlet and deuce has Hamphrey to match

they both complain endlessly about their matching stuff but always refuse when their villagers request to move out

still keep up appearances though, they start wars trying to nab a villager the other wanted first

keeps being bitten by wasps because he doesnt know you can catch them with nets

whenever riddle visits he runs around and picks up weeds for him without scolding him

takes his job as the island representative very seriously. you will not catch him slacking in making sure his island is a well decorated habitat

hasn’t gotten the hang of custom designs but trades the holiday DIYs to floyd in exchange for a few sidewalk/clothing designs

treats any request by his villagers as his god given duty

he was placed on this island to look after everyone and he is going to do his job WELL.

takes every and any opportunity he can to go on leonas island to admire the architecture and try to recreate it himself

has many heart ponds on his island after he unlocked terraforming

once he had a sleepover with the first years and they switched consoles for the night

deuce was extremely nice and helped catch a few bugs and increase friendship with villagers for sebek. wholesome stuff

but of course the terror that is ace trappola was fighting for everyone else’s console to vandalize- i mean, terraform their island

safe to say no one’s island was safe from a pp pond. thanks ace >:(

deuce did get his revenge though, he teamed up with epel just to make a trash moat around aces house

even though ace is aware that deuce put up a bulletin post on his board calling him stinky, it has not been deleted lmao

Leona

gets rid of all the lion villagers, there can only be one member of the kingscholar family on this terf

he keeps a lot of the peppy villagers on his island

if asked, he will say they are annoying and won’t gtfo but it’s because its too silent and peaceful without the annoyance

hes too used to being interrupted all the time by a tiny cub jumping on him that he doesnt know how to function without it anymore wbk

not that he would kick out as many male villagers as possible but these jock villagers are getting on his nerves. like not even jack is that muscle obsessed

plus, big macho muscle men is such an outdated thing, grow up, Dom.

leaves gulliver alone. his business is his business

for someone so cranky, he beefs with the cranky villagers the most. says theyre so entitled and annoying LMAO

only one he doesnt beef with is isabelle. yeah, she gives him shitty ratings on his island but she’s so sweet, and she’s stuck with ruggies #1 enemy so she deserves the special treatment, you hear?

leona is the first out of his classmates to get his friendship high enough to receive a villager’s photo. no one knows how, but yea, leona and Stella are like besties now. they’re 4lyfers. BFFLS <33

what can he say, that island is his pride

makes a little library in his house, it sucks that there aren’t any readable books in this game so he studies the lore instead

he gets to one-up idia on the animal crossing expertise if nothing else🎉

places down mats and pet beds anywhere in case his lazy villagers need a lil nap (it’s not how it works but gotta appreciate the thought)

ruggie and idia have this weird cahoots going on where they leave pitfall traps everywhere for him.

rivalry with malleus ended, new rivalry with these two gremlins

leona has beat the 'lazy' (is it really?) allegations hes making custom design after custom design just to spite his classmates

his interest solely lies in giving his juniors the True High School Experience

posts loving reminders on his classmates’ notice boards. such as a very “clean up ur island” on kalim’s and a very kind “the onceler called, he wants his island back” on azul’s

actually they’re not reminders at all, they’re just disguised insults

he also very kindly leaves fruit that epel doesn’t have on his island. he says it was his starter fruit (it was not) so he doesn’t need it

in fact for some reason his island has become a playground for the first years

despite his complaints about bothering him, he always ends up opening up his island for them, even if hes still complaining during it

do not comment on it if you’d like to keep your eyeballs

Ruggie

runs a not-very-lowkey nook miles ticket business

take that azul, he’s the one drowning in riches now

made mad tickets by being an animal slave trader

azul felt it was morally wrong because they were so cute but ruggie does not give a flying eff

you all think azul's the person who treats people like pawns? absolutely the hell not

my guy ruggie & jamil are the kings of human (in this case, animal) meat shields & theres no time to debate morals in this economy

only one hes not keen on slaving away is Tutu. she simply looks too sweet for ruggie to subject that treatment onto

tries really hard to draw a lil picture of his classmates’ favourite villagers onto the notice boards, because he’s nice like that

plus it doesnt hurt to have a few brownie points with everyone :)

extends extra effort to get into jades good graces because 1. no one wants to be in his bad graces and 2. he is so high maintenance >:(

ruggie is probably being hella scammed bc jade has been eating up his iron stash with nothing to show for until a few months later

living his fun little fishing dad life

bro’s a pro fisher, he’s beating the fishing tourney with flying colours. knows every fishing trick in the book & helps sebek catch all the fish he keeps scaring away

doesn’t matter who hates tom nook the most, because ruggie hates him more

his villagers are going to unionize. we rally under comrade ruggie

doesnt listen to a damn thing the raccoon tells him after the tutorial and only pays for his house if he runs out of storage

he writes letters to his villagers and has a daily graffiti notice board post to remind everyone that their island motto is “down with tom nook”

vive la revolutione

because history is important or whatever blathers said, ruggie decided to honour her majesty the queen of hearts with his island flag

it depicts tom nook under a guillotine

riddle is slightly horrified

that One Time trey visited, he left with a new anti tom nook shirt bc ruggie insisted trey show off his hard work

unlike all of his other classmates, lilia is delighted to see so much passion and joins in on the revolution not knowing a single thing

one peruse into ruggies island and malleus is now convinced that tom nook is some sort of evil mastermind keeping the player and his villagers captive

Jack

increasingly disturbed by a villager named Ace who moved in

he gifted the villager a basketball out of kindness

but seeing how different the villager was from the ace he knew (cough cough, hardworking), jack would prefer if he moved out

also a time travel anti. his friends are all time travelling but he will refuse to be tempted

stretches with his villagers every morning. it’s good to get the oxygen flowing for a good, energizing start to the day

all of his buildings have either hedges or flowers around them. hes very committed to the aesthetic of Mother Nature

joining riddle in the Gardener Simulator squad. his sole goal is making his entire island a pretty little garden

sometimes he does wish he could have Leif on his island permanently. he likes the friendly lil sloth creechure

not much preference in who moves into his island but he does have a penchant for the sisterly and jock villagers

they’re friendly and always keeping each other in check. it’s a mutually beneficial relationship

plus they have way more integrity than the rest of his friends lmao bye

personally vibes with Sterling for that diligent knight energy. jack has plenty of role models to choose from and this time he happened to want to learn from silver

even though his entire island is the most jock-oriented place, his favourite villager is Bangle. she gets along with almost all of his villagers and is always in a good mood.

he thinks she has a good personality to lead the island pack

one of the few that tries to even give tom nook an ounce of respect. he wont join in on the hate but he wont necessarily defend the raccoon either

bless his big heart

the savanaclaw students adore jacks island and his complete butterfly exhibit

every friday after dinner, the savanaclaw students all huddle and play animal crossing together i will die on this hill

they love to camp out in jacks island and by the savanaclaw lounge, you’ll see a string of photoshoots in jack’s butterfly exhibit

who initiated this? why, leona of course! he’s giving jack the recognition he deserves & it gets the dorm bonding

(it also gets ppl to visit jack’s island more, which means ppl visit leonas island less😏)

puts up a daily motivational quote on the boards

got highly offended when sebek once compared him to a jock villager. it wasnt bc he hated the villager, it was bc sebek meant it as an insult >:(

Azul

his favourite villager is Marina

she’s super nice and has never hurt a fly. he complies to all of her whims. how can you say no to her??

finally, someone can understand idias penchant for cute things

in tears after knowing the octopi are sought after by the masses he’s so proud

was less proud when jade joked the octopi were endangered bc they were getting eaten like can you not >:((

cannot participate in the stalk market he time travels so much

sure, the weeds will increase but it’s a small price to pay for efficiency

pays his debts as fast as possible. not because he’s a good noodle, but because he won’t risk interest (even though there is no interest)

has an ongoing (one-sided) rivalry with redd and gathers all of the real artworks he can get

the paintings are a good deal he supposes but redd truly needs a better atmosphere if he wishes to continue selling

his boat doesnt even look approachable, & ambiance is a big factor when getting your clients to be comfortable. azul could totally lend out a few tips. all for the generous price of free!

he changed his mind after he misclicked and bought a fake painting, so he decided to pawn it off saying it was real. as a famous princess once said, some things never change

he’s long completed his art collection, but if you’re in need of a certain artwork, you can have it for the right price <3

pissed as hell over the snooty villagers. you think you’re better than him huh???

or, that’s what he wishes he feels. he just feels bullied in his own domain

money DOES grow on trees so therefore azul’s island is decorated in bell trees

he got excited when a tree dropped a coin.

got less excited when he picked up the coin and it got put in his wallet

he thought there were different coins and he could have a digital coin collection too :(

builds something akin to a mostro lounge 2.0, not really for monetary purposes, it’s just a nice outdoor plaza for his villagers to hang out in :)

mad respect for his villagers who go to the lounge during winter season. it is very cold :(

but they look so adorable in their sweaters and hats and scarves🥺 jade, floyd, perhaps its time to invest in a miniature clothing line

a completionist! he will try to earn every achievement, and complete his critterpedia!

he heard riddle wanted to complete the critterpedia so azul did it first to impress him, but all riddle told azul is that he needed to spend less time on the game osijfgnrfg big L

Jade

starting hissy fights with floyd over the villager he wanted moving into floyd’s island

refuses to let floyd on his island for weeks because he’s So Hurt. just look at how upset he is :'(

had Raymond during his hype and refuses to let him go to this day. he’s gotten attached

hes got some cool ass preppy vest and their eyes match!!

often mentions that he wants to invite Tia on his island in hopes someone gets the hint

(so far no one has yet, but jade is a master at playing the long game)

has a concerning amount of sharks on display: both in tanks and as plaques

he misses the hunt <3

kept refusing to give back wisp’s body in hopes something would happen but ur basically forced to give it back ugh

how boring. he hoped there wouldve been consequences or something

actually he hoped that wisp would lose his shit

his house isn’t really for living in, it’s for storage. his home is the outdoors and hes placing down the furnishing to prove it

many forget that jade is also just living his best life, just a little guy. hes so jealous of his villagers. he too wants to only water flowers, fish for hours, and visit his nice neighbours in their pretty little homes

almost always wearing some kind of wide-brimmed hat to really sell the image that his home is the outdoors

cater is constantly handing jade some more trendy clothes because he thinks jade’s fashion is atrocious, but jade. never. wears. them.

hell, next year he might just use his island as a way to recruit people into the mountain-lovers club

makes ugly ass custom designs and genuinely think it looks good (anyone remember that one time jade dressed himself?)

forget leona, maybe it’s jade that has the uncle fashion. socks with sandals and all

aside from his own kin, no one has seen him physically hold a console in his hands, yet, his hours in this game would give idia a run for his money

theres some skeletons in the basement yeah

no seriously, he has skeletons in the basement. it looks like a jail. theres custom design blood on the floor

all that iron he's been pilfering from ruggie goes into steel bars👍👍

but he’ll say its for educational purposes

between you and me though, thats the corpse of Chadder. he hates rats- wait what do you mean wrong game??

Floyd

loves Zucker because “he looks edible”

because of course he’d say that

terrorizing one octopus wasn’t enough he needed to terrorize two

obsessively resets his island until he gets peaches

fighting with jade over his console to drop iron for him

his house looks fine and normal in every room besides the basement.

there’s seven skeletons chilling in there with bubblegum k on 24/7 loop

its a skeleton rave because they deserve to have fun too goddamnit

out of the twins, floyd has the neater house. hes quite committed to the aesthetics of his virtual space

his happy home academy scores have reached the peak and hasn’t moved from there at all

it’s also vil certified! he really liked floyd’s home and told him he could land a career in interior design

says he’s gonna custom design the octavinelle uniform for azul and yassified it up so its a crop top & shorts now :D

dont forget them knee high boots

had fun designing but it was less of a “mini matching octavinelle uniform for us awww” and more of a “what would azul hate to wear”

(azul absolutely fuckin hates it to shreds so yay!! mission accomplished!)

even though azul reluctantly wears it, floyd had legitimately made the real uniform for him should azul choose to change clothes

his home storage is filled with 80% clothes bc of course his shoe collection carries over to the virtual space

horrible person he loves to scare wisp but will never hunt the ghost bits to give back to him

once he got his hands on the ocarina it was over for his multiplayer invites

his most used tool frfr. depending on the day he’ll play a pop song he memorized or a cacophony of sounds

kalim is the only one who thinks its a good idea to extend floyd an invite to the pop music club

like ace, also uses the type in your own answer function for evil. except he forgets what he writes all the time and it jumps back in his face

villagers be asking him a month later if his favourite hobby was “de-boning Blathers” and then saying they “should try it out themselves”

probably owns Saharah’s entire collection of mystery everything, and just like lilia he will run around and bury them on other peoples islands like some kinda hamster

another one that just pawns off stuff to his juniors, but instead of calling them gifts he straight up says he doesnt want it before handing them off

at least he’s honest LMAO

Kalim

his entire head is a radio that is constantly playing bubblegum k on loop

leaves stuff all over the place then forgets about it

when a villager gifts him something he will make sure to put it on or find a place for it to display right away

look at the cool leaf umbrella Pashmina gave him!!

personally vibes with the peppy villagers the most since they’re so upbeat. he tries his best to talk to Wendy every day

spends most of his bells on random furniture to place everywhere. his home storage has always been empty because he wants to display everything

he especially puts in extra work for the seasonal furniture but he’s constantly out of materials

runs circles around his villagers in greeting

takes advantage of the many reactions at his disposal. makes happy gestures at his villagers in greeting

he leaves fruit and picnic baskets all over the island in case his villagers wants to hold an impromptu party or have a lil snack

vending machines are a MUST

food is his love language!

gifts too but you can only give one a day :(

gets super sad when his villagers dont want to repeatedly talk to him

puts nice lil messages into his friends notice boards and draws a lil stick figure of himself to accompany them

kalim mentioned one day that he would wear an entire line of clothes vil designed and vil puts a few of them on kalim’s island

kalim most enjoys it when his villagers wear vil’s designs because he can match with them! thanks vil :DD

hes always wearing a wetsuit underneath in case he wants to go for a dive

adores the little seal, he goes swimming often just to bump into him to give him scallops

sticks around after he hands over the scallops just to see the seal hold it

encourages his classmates to take lots of photos with him

only his fossil and art exhibits are full

(the art exhibit not really because he doesn’t know how to spot the counterfeit artworks)

he doesn’t want to take the sea creatures away from their home

this does not apply to the insects though. call him blathers’ comrade because he is a valiant knight in chasing away the bugs on jamil’s island

in exchange, jamil farms materials for kalim (why is he always short on softwood???)

Jamil

floyd breaks into his island to hit all of his villagers with nets

emphasizes with blathers because of the mutual hate for bugs

not appreciating ace making crappy renditions of jamil as blathers on the notice boards

steers clear of flick. that has got to be the freakiest thing hes ever met and hes had several conversations with rook hunt

he can take all the bugs tho, if jamil was brave enough to catch any

the lazy villagers are absolutely adorable and wholesome but jamil is sobbing on the inside. listen its nice that you want to share your fruit with your friends but u can do better than insects

if those six-legged devils are invading your space, sooner or later, you’ll be contracting the entire alphabet of hepatitis

drives all the smug villagers out of his island. he doesn’t want this negative energy in his safe haven

he keeps a few peppy villagers. he thought he would tire of them quickly, but sometimes u need a lil happy-go-lucky energy as a pick-me-up

lets kalim pillage all of the coconuts on his island for his coconut tree forest

silver’s favourite villager resides on jamils island and he asks all the time if he can come over to say hi to them

silver keeps telling him that Plucky reminds him of his dad because he also gives silver daily self-defence tips and sleeps hella late

and u know what the more jamil hears of silvers father the more confused he gets. its hard to condense so many unrelated characteristics into a single personality, but apparently silver’s dad has it all

spends an ungodly amount of time in the able sisters and nooks cranny because the characters follow him around like little ducks and he likes the sound of their liddol footsteps

also very much appreciates all the authority he has on this island its the small semblance of control his virgo ass can get

he can legit tell a villager to move their house somewhere and they’ll agree with a smile

always treats his villagers with respect

has a strange obsession with fire. he places campfires and torches all over the place

will not rest until his island looks exactly the way he wants, down to the last detail

hella annoyed during island recruiting because he cannot pick his villagers, and everyone’s uniqueness is clashing with the aesthetic jamil was going for, now he has to change it

his favourite villagers are the normal personality ones, and if he could control the villagers that move in, he would have an island to Poppy and Bertha’s liking

another one of the cries when he receives letters from mom squad. shes just really sweet.

Vil

when Whitney moved on his island he got reminded of jack then took it back after getting to know her personality. ik it looks like a bad thing but its not, she grew on him very quick

not very fussy about his villagers, no matter how strange their designs are

ik ur probably thinking “but some of them are so ugly”, yeah but vil lives with twink he-man tailing him every day

nah im joking its bc he talks to his villagers often and they’re so nice and vil Gets Attached Easily

besides, they love all the clothing and furniture vil gives them. vil can’t even get epel to appreciate his own looks, this is a certified W for vil

sometimes its the inside that matters most <3

while vil kind of still has a bit of celeb status in-game, it’s not over-the-top, so it feels extremely refreshing to be regarded as Just Vil

plus the close-knitted community in the island reminds vil of home. its nice

wishes his villagers were nicer to each other but there isn’t a scold option in the game >:( might report them to isabelle

makes it a mission to get rid of a cranky villager after seeing them be mean to Gala. Whitney is the only ‘mean’ one allowed here

dreaded inviting leona to his island for one reason and one reason only: he put his own designs into able sisters

please, Gala is wearing leopard print, this is a crime

made his own custom designs to fill leonas island with them. the third years stay beefing for eternity

(according to trey, leona camps on vils island waiting to snatch Gala up)

besides the weaponry potential he has, vil spends most of his talents on making really nice designs

rook loves to wax poetry on the artistry of vil’s mind & then he ends up creating more. it’s a continuous cycle of art appreciation <33

speaking of rook, he had gifted vil an amiibo card of Étoile telling him ‘a star for a star’

vil does a very bad job hiding his favour towards her

but he does let rook take any lion, tiger, or gorilla villagers off his island (sigh)

found the most enjoyment after one of leonas favourite villagers left and came to vils island, saying that they finally realized they deserved better💀

but cater so graciously opened his mouth to dub Cheri as “leonas leftovers” and yeah, you can probably imagine how that turned out

Rook

the hunting instinct has Awoken

mans has every fish & bug & sea creature in the critterpedia

he did lots of island hopping to do so

need a tarantula? he’s got cages of them. they’re so fuzzy and fast and their eyes are so cute!

jamil has sworn off ever visiting rooks island. evidence of his hunting instinct are inescapable

unfortunately for jamil, rook is loud and proud about the fruits of his labour. invites everyone to come take a look at his island and museum

azul comes in frequently to take pictures in the aquarium

jade would be bonding with rook more over the hunt but, they started a bet over who gets the highest score in the fishing tourney so, no bonding today

(there was no competition to begin with since ruggie swept up the entire tourney anyways)

never fails to send each and every one of his villagers a personalized letter telling them how much he adores them

‘you look radiant when you’re asleep’ holds merit because some of his villagers do nap under the trees, but it’s a still a pretty unusual comment to receive

nevertheless, his villagers are very receptive to him and tend to send him many letters back

gets max friendship with so many villagers so quickly and for why?? he just wants their portrait to display in his house

theres a room full of portraits and really it looks more like a hitlist than a documentation of his journey of friendship

do not ask him to choose a favourite villager, for he finds beauty in them all. it is simply too cruel to ask him to pick just one

unleashes the voices in his head onto the bulletin boards

they are mostly love musings and occasional tiny drawings

some of the times they are helpful hunting tips!

idia claims that there was no need to inform his villagers about how to preserve the hide of a jaguar but you never know when his villagers need to defend themselves against The Unknown (no he will not elaborate)

camps on everyone’s island to take the villagers that are moving out

yes, it is a shame that they must leave monsieur magicam's island, but he too understands the calling of adventure. please, come join his island for a rest until the next island awaits :))

hosts bigger goodbye parties than kalim. rook would be a terrible island representative if he did not give a heartwarming farewell to his now former villager, oui?

their time spent together was enriching, but who is rook to stop them from pursuing another destination on their journey? people often forget that there is beauty in endings

Epel

also obsessively reset his island until he got a certain fruit

once he got his pears he traded them with jack for his apples

almost exclusively keeps his island in winter as it reminds him of harveston aww

not appreciating the comparisons to Apple

extremely not appreciating sebek putting her into an enclosure because he doesnt like the interior of her home

considering sebek partook in the comparisons to Apple, epel is now banishing any crocodile villagers to the furthest corner of his island. they can live in isolation😡

it really doesnt last long, he got attached to Gayle. like father like son fr

even funnier his favourite villager is Judy but he will tell everyone that its Boots

he also has the most fruit trees on his island out of everyone. ace raids epels island all the time to steal fruit and sell it off (mostly with permission, but theres always that one time without)

happily gave azul some tips on tree placement & how to display as much as possible bc this is his Expertise

cue the next week azul was constantly asking epel if he needed any furniture and epel finally named something he wanted

low and behold he got it in the mail and azul stopped pestering him

huh. his seniors are really nice, arent they? :D

vil made a regal little flag design for epels island that epel swore he would never use but it’s always there when vil visits

he absolutely keeps the tune rook composed though. it sounds like boss music #weballin

highkey adores the able sisters (especially sable) they’re so kind they remind him of his town’s elders

his villagers constantly compliment him and give him clothes🥺

unlike with vil he will happily wear whatever cute shit his villagers give him, even if he prefers the cool stuff

like you said vil, charm & cuteness is a weapon and its one his villagers exploit heavily. he’s jotting down notes the next time he wants vils lessons to end sooner😏

diligent with his landscape you will never see a single weed anywhere

his tree stumps are intentional and his tree placement is all arranged nicely

takes up gardening too and is the second to get the gold roses, but it didn’t fit with his island, so he passed them off them to malleus instead

kindly takes off the flowers colonizing riddle’s island to put them in his

can we get a round of applause? for epel has every species of flower on his island !!

Idia

finally, a place where he is The Boss and people will respect him for it

ortho recommended this game to him so they can play together

(it was mostly to comfort him after his favourite ship didn’t become canon)

cried the first time his villagers gave him a compliment :((

When Audie tells him “I managed to make some awesome friends, like you, Idia!”, he understands now why ortho told him to download this game

sniffling through this game it’s so wholesome

ofc he knows the lore about Audie its why shes his favourite

idia decides to keep his island full of peppy villagers to suit the vibe, match the aesthetic, etc

the only exception to the personality rule is if theres a cat villager, then they’re forgiven for any and all crimes

(this is a trick question, for they can do no wrong)

memorizes his villagers’ preferred gifts bc they get nothing else but the best!

actually all of his custom designs are cosplays. his villagers wear his designs. hes leaked water over this game more than hes ever in his life

isabelles soft, cheerful energy is really what gets idia through his day. shes the perfect amounts of outgoing without being too overwhelming

many people often believe that vil is catty but idia is literally right There

hes a bitch and everyone knows it. its just super forgettable because theres so many other aspects of idias personality that overshadows his mean bitch energy

idia will specifically go to azuls domain just to insult his trees and the placement of his furniture

he approves of the yassified octavinelle outfit tho its very tasteful

judges people who don’t know super obscure details like why do you have to be a casual AND normal about the game pick a struggle >:(

makes little mods and tweaks to the game. he coded in that his villagers can lie down on the mats, hammocks, and on the beach

four updates in though, a bug occurred and his villagers roll around on the ground like how they do in beds

it was way too funny so idia kept it that way and didnt patch up the bug

if anyone passes by him in the halls they might hear him singing acnh tunes

absolutely evil. doxxing people (its ruggie) for trying to auction off Bob & kicking his feet and wiggling his toes while talking to Audie the next second

he finds out that ace really wants to get rid of Francine so yeah, idias making derogatory drawings of Francine on ace’s notice boards and sending him anti-Francine memes

nothing brings two people closer together more than mutual hatred they said

Ortho

he’s inviting all of the robot villagers and they are having a blast

is very supportive of Ketchup’s dreams to be a popstar! he regularly puts microphone stands near her house and gives her lots of sparkly clothing

hes a fan of all the duck villagers, really. their little beaks and happy faces :)

his favourite villager is Doc. no particular reason but ortho has always wanted a grandparent

plus Doc talks about comics and superheros and ortho will not miss an opportunity to nerd out (even though Doc’s opinions are very on the safe side. ortho thirsts for controversy)

once ortho visited riddle’s island and asked for Kid Cat if he moved out

riddle gave him a generous donation of flowers to send Kid Cat off with😭😭

if idias skipping his 8 hours of sleep, ortho will make him do the stretches with the villagers (hes the reason why they're all out of sync)

technically ortho joins in but he doesnt exactly need any stretching

hacked the star fragment trees into his world. low risk, high reward!!

uses those trees to recreate the stargazer tree and designed his own starsending gear to go along with it☺️

shared the design with jack and invited him onto his island for a photoshoot

jack is amazed by the trees and says he cant wait until he can grow star fragment trees and ortho just smiles through it all

jack would be so disappointed to learn ortho got them in less than legal means

maybe he'll hack them onto his island in secret

also puts his own little mods in. he makes some custom design furniture and FINALLY PUTS THE FROG CHAIR IN

even adds some characters he wants and brings back the ruthless dialogue from the past AC games

personally makes an entire set of furniture that references his favourite movies (extra care is given to ones vil has starred in)

ortho’s playstyle is a lot less wholesome than idias because he likes a challenge

he made an entire DLC called animal crossing: survival island because he heard silver talking about it (probably works like minecraft hard mode)

put pride flag custom designs in the shop to wait for his villagers to come out :)

after they “come out”, ortho makes a little backstory on it and gets idia to guess their stories. he’s got lore in this island now !!

fluent in the entire soundtrack. he makes the noises, hes downloaded the bgm

ortho wants an irl isabelle and he’s preparing a 70-slide powerpoint presentation to convince idia to get him a dog

kinda overkill since all ortho needs is to give him the puppy dog eyes

Malleus

for the sake of this hc lets say he at least knows the controls

confuses this game for pokemon and tries to “catch” his villagers with the net

gets confused when they get mad at him

hes very very amused by how normal his villagers treat him

these tiny little animals are cowering in fear by the thought of ghosts even though they are technically walking over bones of the dead

they gas him up so much for the tiniest things he does and if it were anyone else but these fluffy animals he would think it was belittlement

it feels like he’s important, not for his titles nor his accomplishments, but just because his animal friends love him

he can see why silver loves to talk to the birds now

when he’s on someone’s island he can lurk and be afk until he’s kicked off

has statues everywhere. he doesn’t really know how to pick them up after theyre put down so don’t mind the random statues by the airport

tries to put down as least furniture as possible bc of one too many incidents of him picking up the sidewalk instead of his fruit

anyone near him during this can add many ancient curses to their forbidden vocabulary👀👀

when his villagers threw a birthday party for him...

rumours say the valley of thorns was sunny for the first time that day!!

his favourite villager is Coco and he cherishes her with his life

he also has a certain favour towards crocodile villagers as well, namely Drago bc he shares the name of one of his tamagotchis

doesnt do much in this game but talk to his villagers

loves the night walks in the game because he can bump into two things Celeste, or Wisp

hes so intrigued by Celeste shes fr just chilling and living her best life looking at the stars. it reminds him of lilia

given lilia is way more devious so maybe not😔

Wisp is a lot less brave than any ghost hes met and malleus thinks hes adorable. he feels very guilty for frightening him all the time however

it felt so dehumanizing trying to catch a dragonfly he was pouting for weeks

highkey cannot drop the game because he left for a while and when he came back his villagers were wailing about how he left them alone for months

hes never leaving them alone again he doesnt want them to feel abandoned

Lilia

his name in the game is not lilia, oh no

his name is dad. he is now the proud father of 10 more children

11 counting isabelle

debates are still on the table of whether or not tom nook is a legitimate dignified son of lilias

he even has a time out corner for his naughty villagers

its just him barricading that villagers house

he did barricade resident services for a good 15 minutes before receiving an amiibo card from silver and he wanted to use it

favours the lazy villagers because they are a certain brand of adorable and they try to make friends with everyone

technically loves all his villagers but he always points out Kevin because he ‘looks very friendly’

had a big ass laugh after deuce compared Kevin’s smile to treys

when he’s on someones island he treats it like hide and seek. he will never be found

getting access to the custom design was fun for lillia, but not for anyone else

sometimes he throws down some eldritch horror, sometimes his outfits look like a glowstick exploded

his island is in permanent halloween mode

buries random shit on other peoples islands. they dig it up thinking it’s a fossil and instead get mystery wallpaper, random stacks of clay, and random diys

call it an everyday egg hunt if you will

he has three rooms dedicated to kitchenware and is trying to (more like going to) find a way to cook smth nice for his villagers. its the least he could do as thanks

if not then he’ll just buy fruit baskets and hand them out to his villagers. he’s such an asian dad

doesnt bat in eye when his villagers knock up on his door and barge into his house

he's welcoming them with open arms. why of course Pudge you can sit on the ground and read ur book for as long as you want ^^

he'll be doing his own thing too #parallelplay or something idk

(on a side note, Pudge’s face is probably how every visitor on lilia’s island feels)

Silver

thought there were going to be more survival elements to the game since it starts with himself & a group of animals on some remote island

as soon as the plane was hovering over the island, silver was ticking off potential water, food, & shelter sources

threw him for a loop when he found out how peaceful this game was. it’s pleasant :)

doesn’t stop him from valiantly chasing off the wasps and scorpions and fleas away from his villagers

don’t worry Lolly, you’re under silver’s protection now. nothing will hurt you :)

even though the threats in this game are minimal, silver keeps lights & campfires all over just for safety reasons

if his villagers end up lost, all they need to do is follow the light! and if they want some alone time, the fire can keep them safe & warm <3

he thinks Flick is adorable. has a shy little personality and likes to make art and bug friends (?)

constantly supports Flick by giving him bugs for commissions. everyone deserves the chance to follow their dreams :)

peacefully picking seashells on the beach while sebek is scaring away all of the fish

really fond of the zodiac furniture. he wants to collect them all

he makes around 100 wishes every time. just lays his console down and presses A

thinks celeste is very sweet. sad that she doesnt visit often

certified photographer. he takes a lot of pictures with his villagers because he’s just. so happy they like his island, they like each other, it’s such a wholesome atmosphere

cater and silver have a shared magicam account dedicated to their pics it’s very cute and the followers mostly consist of savanaclaw and diasomnia members

loves seeing his villagers interact with each other. their conversations are so cute, they visit each others homes!! bros gonna sink into his mattress and flood it with tears

do not underestimate him, even if it is most likely made up, silver will become fluent in the Language of the Coded Animals

he will not curse but the animal noises are the closest he’ll get if he ever chooses to

all of his villagers get a royalty treatment. silver's residents are the most spoiled residents ever

fills his notice boards with drawings of his villagers saying nice things, like reminding him to drink water, or to hug his friends

at the same time he also puts in survival tips just like how lilia raised him. its a very contrasting mix of messages

Sebek

even online he is Too Much

sprints everywhere and wonders why all the bugs and fish flee

hes got places to be and no amount of time to waste

his home interior is a lot like diasomnia but bro do not let him get ahold of the custom designs

im sure hes a really good artist but anyone who's tried operating the custom designs knows that it zaps any artistic skill you've ever learned

traditional art? fucking amazing. acnh art? now ur kid with a purple crayon

stick figures. drawing the diasomnifam does not work. theres 4 stick figures. one has horns, one has bat wings, ones surrounded by animals, and one is Just Green.

his priorities shifted to practicing custom design until he mastered it

does not take commissions. if he ever bestows a custom design onto someone, its a sign of sebek’s approval/respect of them

hes very committed to the aesthetic. hes terraforming his island every single week based on his current mood (bros going thru it)

competes with silver for every kind of grading they get (happy home academy, island rating, etc)

this is what motivates him to come back and play

dont be mistaken either this is not one-sided. mutual rivalry is the best way to keep the other improving !!

hoards all of the holiday materials to make the diys that he doesnt have or collect

personally having the maddest beef with the snowboys bc one accidental nudge of a snowball resulted in them insulting sebek’s snowmen-building competence

sebek obviously does better the next time, but then the snowboys are just so egotistic for no reason. all they did was sit there and get built, they could never measure up to his master malleus, or lilia

by the third run-in with the snowboys, he just opts to crush or drown the snowballs. the winter DIYs weren’t worth the effort

the fued w/ one Ace Trappola has not ended since the day he got the console because they wanted the same villager and started fighting over Agnes’ amiibo card

amiibo cards can be used multiple times and clearly they both do not know this

probably the only one out of the cast to actually use the 'ask blathers' feature

the owl is a very dutiful and knowledgeable curator. sebek believes he can learn much from him

only thing to complain about is how often blathers is asleep during the day. if blathers were a retainer he most certainly would not make the cut.

188 notes · View notes

erwinsvow · 9 months ago

Note

I know this isn’t the usual speed around here but slightly pathetic whimpery s1 Rafe is to die for!! He’s obviously cocky and entitled but it’s in a more spoiled and almost bratty way so he throws his little temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way… I think s1 has seriously overlooked toxic Rafe potential

- 💓

wait i know im allllll about season 2 rafe like hes loml seriously but i just started rewatching season 1 and i dont like his hair lol but hes so toxic and gross. i know everyone on here has been talking more about him and like fratboy rafe and i usually refrain but something about being his gf through all of season 1..... im hornee.

in particular im thinking of like how he acts so douchey with everyone in public but its so visible he has a huge soft spot for you.. waves you over when he's just hanging out with his friends to check in that you're doing okay, goes and gets you a fresh drink before giving you a kiss and sending you off back to ur friends.. makes some gross comment about how you were screaming for him in the back of his truck last night after you walk away... kelce is like bro. i always sit in the back.

you'd be lurking in his bedroom when he goes down to 'have a chat' with his dad, like when he gets yelled at about the generators. comes back all angry and literally folds you in half and fucks you until you cry because you are his favorite way to calm down <3 ... (i have no idea what the vibes on this blog are and i dont wanna make people mad but he gets so manipulative... esp if you're just like i don't feeling like fucking again right now or esp in public!!!! which he looooves.... starts going on a tangent about how he provides for you and takes care of you and he's the man of the house and if he needs to relax you should be on your knees already.... sorry omg if ur reading this n youre starting to hate me i apologize in advance. i never talk about scummy scummy rafe but hes real and hes so hot. fully wants you to be like a hyperactive horny bunny just waiting for his dick at all times.... i would 110% start doing it too... ANYWAYS)

he's so spoiled so he likes spoiling you with anything you want... most of the stuff he gets you is pretty much for him tho... gets hard because you wear an RC necklace.. lots of pretty lingerie and babydolls that he likes to rip up...handcuffs because duh.. it's almost always you in the handcuffs but every once in a while he can be convinced to get in them lol

but the temper tantrums are soooo real like especially if you're out with friends or made plans with your parents. like he seriously loves making you abandon your plans to come see him. but then youll show up and hes at a party and selling or ignoring you and ofc you cry because it's like he made you come here and not even giving you any attention... then he'll drag you out by your hair and fuck you SOOO mean in the back of his truck talkin about "just needed this dick, yeah? s'okay, dad's gonna give it to ya hard. then you'll be good as gold won'tya?" ugh. hes so mean.

im still in my rewatch but the scene where him and topper beat up pope:( this especially hits sooo hard w my pogue reader but i can just imagine that being the cause of your first real fight, like you're so upset he can be that cruel but there goes his manipulation tactics.. telling you he needs to be a proactive man to protect you and his friends and his turf. he's not letting anyone walk all over him, regardless if you like them or not. fucks you until you forget all about your pogue friends, and then you end up bandaging his bloody hand for him.

ooohh and when they go to that movie showing.. can just imagine curling up on a lawnchair with him under a blanket, him n the boys are on high alert for jj and pope but he keeps a tight arm around you, goes and gets you a soda and popcorn which you two share.. you don't want him to leave and you whine when he does.. can just imagine the scene where jj and pope turn back to look at him when kie tells them rafe is right behind them. rafe is staring so hard at them while ur tryna feed him a piece of popcorn. LOL

#waiiiit i love you babe you just made me actually want to write for s1 rafe. bye HAH #do you prefer like these long winded explanations or a real full on drabble in reply?#love u !#📮 asks #💓 anon

37 notes · View notes

devondespresso · 1 year ago

Text

writing my silly little fic and again im struck with how much opportunities they missed by pretending the s2 stancy breakup wasn't messy, specifically for Nancy's guilt about barb and forcing herself to grow up too fast

like s1 Nancy spends one night being a stupid teenager goofing off at her boyfriend's party and staying over to get spicy while Barb goes home. then she later realizes Barb disappeared and died that one night she was letting go and having fun. this is widely recognized trauma for her and informs a lot if not most of her actions through the rest of the show

in season 2 she's feeling the weight of it more around the first year anniversary. steve trys to help by taking her to a party to forget for a little while and 'be stupid teenagers' for a night. a perfectly set up parallel already

the way the show wants it to go, we get the bullshit argument, they fight, allegedly break up at some point, and nancy sleeps with Jonathan. later steve tells her to go with him and we're supposed to read it as Steve stepping back so jancy can happen. we're supposed to be seeing this as a happy ending.

but with the material we're given this would have been the perfect place for an emotional repeat of season 1 for nancy. she and steve go to the party and pretend to be stupid teenagers for the night. but oh no! nancy lets lose too much, lets herself relax and drink and dance, and the next day her boyfriend's pissed. hes saying she said things she never remembered saying and its hurt him and she doesn't know what to do. and kids around school are talking about them breaking up at the party, and that fits with Steve's anger she saw, so they must've broken up right? it sucks, even if she wasn't in love with him, that'd be the worst way to break up with someone (especially if she's confusing platonic and romantic feelings or convincing herself it has to be romantic when she really just values him as a friend)

and then she doesn't have time to work it out, she needs to go with Jonathan to avenge barbs 'disappearance' to give her family closure. She's got a lot of conspiracy shit to do and its stressful. so when murray starts going off about how she's not really in love with steve, how she actually likes Jonathan and he seems to like her back. they finished a lot of the hard work with the conspiracy stuff, she can let her guard down and have a quick good night.

then the next day is chaos. demodogs and labs and will being possessed. It a rough fucking day. Steve tells her to go with Jonathan while they get the mindflayer out of Will, civil like they're on good terms so she does (and thank god she did because that was rough and they needed all the help they could get)

and then everything's fine again, with the upside down. and it looks like she handled things better this time, was about to relax occasionally and still made it through.

except apparently she and steve didn't break up. he thought it was just a few fights, that they put their shit aside for the apocalypse and now they can work things out.

and it could ruin nancy. a year later and she's still hasn't learned her lesson, that letting her guard down hurts the people she cares about, that relaxing and having fun makes her lose people. its her fault for the messy breakup with Steve and its her fault that barb is gone. she's the reason she's lost friends close to her, 2 for 2, and now she only has Jonathan left (and what do you know, season 3 has her conflict with Jonathan and in season 4 she's not let anyone else get truly close to her and fred still dies)

you see what i mean?? by having conflict magical resolve itself in the background we loose so much powerful, painful character drama for her. our girl who thinks she has to keep the world around her up solely on her shoulders because she can't handle the loss of her best friend in season 1. Nancy who desperately wants to be normal and have people she loves but keeps losing them, through factors both in and out of her control, but feels like everything has to be her fault just because some things were.

and to be fair, that story is still present in the show. its there and definitely compelling, but it could've been even more so. i feel like if maybe there was less 'nancy has to be a strong independent girlboss' in there (abd it's definitely there, they want to make a point of making her a Strong Woman Character so bad) and she was allowed to have mistakes acknowledged by the narrative, this is the direction it would've gone. She could've been an excellent example of well written women who are strong and awesome through their own right instead of the narrative trying to make us like her

#nancy wheeler #stranger things meta #stranger things thoughts #platonic stancy #stranger things #platonic stancy because while this could definitely be used in a jancy breakup then stancy fic #my personal theory is that she thinks she should like him romantically because he sees her like that but she actually likes him as a friend #and the bullshit scene was just the worst way for her to say it because she waited so long and refused to when she was sober #also didn't tag anti-nancy because i don't think it is really? like its anti-canon-depiction-because-i-think-they-did-her-dirty #also this is kinda nancy pov so its not like she's actually at fault for everything but in her mind she blames herself anyway #so yea #the fic is my Steve Henderson AU btw for ppl who've never seen me before #stancys not the focus (its steve pov with the Hendersons being main characters) but i want to do a serious platonic stancy workthrough in i #so this is just my headcanons (technically canon compliant based on what we see on screen but not following the narrative direction y'know)#devon's steve henderson au #steve henderson au rambles #hoping praying to god this doesn't make people angry but if it does feel free to block me i don't mind and i really dont want to argue #no disc horse for me just silly little thoughts and headcanons thanks for understanding #devon thinks sometimes

84 notes · View notes

urfavoritedcwhore · 3 months ago

Text

the russian boy//part thirteen

chapter two

warnings: drug use, swearing

lowercase intended

not proof read

disclaimer: drugs are bad, drugs aren’t cool, don’t do them, rehab isn’t fun, blah blah blah. -the author (a former addict

part thirteen, chapter two: the shared secret

i wake up to darkness outside. i turn a little to look at the alarm clock, then realize im in boris's room. i look up and boris is still awake, smoking a cigarette as i lay on his chest. i lazily put my fingers up and he gives it to me. "did i wake you?", he asks blowing smoke from his nostrils. i shake my head no as i take a drag from the cigarette. i hand it back to him, "what time is it?", i ask;still looking up at him. he puts the cigarette out on the ashtray beside him bed, "2:37 am", he tells me after grabbing his phone and checking. "ugh", i groan back in reply. whenever i wake up that's it for me, i have no hope in going back to sleep. "is late, sleep.", he whispers to me while stroking my hair. "i can't, im already up.", i say with a slight sigh. i start to wonder when he sleeps. i see him sleeping when i wake up in the morning, but he's obviously not planning on sleeping tonight, and im always the first to fall asleep. "do you want something to help you fall asleep?", he interrupts my thoughts. i think about this for a second. i know i know, "lUcY YoU jUsT gOt DrUgGeD", don't y'all think i know that. but i trust boris, and i want to sleep. i'm not gonna let what happened to me change everything about me. any other night i would say fuck yes, so tonight i'm saying fuck yes. i don't care if yall don't think it's safe, it's my life. "yes please" , i say smiling at him. he gets up and walks over to his closet, opening it up and pulling a bottle out of a shoe on the floor. he uncaps the bottle and takes out one long white pill. he holds it up to me across the room, "you like xanax?", he asks in the most nonchalant tone. my eyes widen. fun fact about lucy: almost my whole sophomore year i was drowning in xans. They are utterly amazing. usually im the type to want an upper, but xanax is my ultimate weakness. and by the way how dare he only tell me NOW that he has it. i shake my head yes excitedly as he walks towards me chuckling. "this is just to help sleep, yes? not getting high off these tonight, probably shouldn't even be giving you one since we don't know if other stuff is still in your system...", he trails off overthinking it. "boris. i puked it all up, i feel fine. i promise i've mixed worse than xans and some unknown date rape drug.", i say trying to convince him. this is true by the way, i in fact have definitely mixed worse. he looks at me suspiciously before breaking the pill in half, popping half in his mouth, and handing one to me. "fair.", i say sticking my half in my mouth and swallowing it. he lays back on the bed and pulls me back onto his chest. i feel safer with this man than i've ever felt with anyone before. i lean up and give him a short, yet passionate kiss, he smiles. "what was that for?", he asks chuckling as i lay back down. "i dunno, just felt like it.", i say shrugging and closing my eyes. i hear his heart beating under my head. it's almost too hard to believe he's real.

i don't know if it's the placebo effect, or the fact that i have nothing in my stomach except the pill, but i feel its effects almost instantly. i become almost zombie like, nodding in and out of consciousness, my mind relaxed and my nostrils filled with boris's aroma of cigarettes and spearmint gum. it's as if nothing has existed in my life and nothing will happen in my life, i've only been , and will forever only live in this moment. the best part of this wasn't the drugs though it was boris, who i assume believes im asleep, humming some kind of song i didn't recognize as he played with my hair. i nod out for good, shortly after the song ended and i hear his breathing change.

i wake up with the sun is in my eyes, feeling like someone ran me over last night. i'm tired and i don't feel boris beneath my head. i sit up sleepily and hear the shower running. hey at least he's taking a shower. i wasn't gonna say anything but he certainly has the look he doesn't believe in personal hygiene. the shower stops and i decide to just look at my phone while he drys off and comes back into the room. as i glance down at my phone i see that it's almost 3pm. fuck, i guess taking a xan last night knocked me out for longer than expected. i try to kick the scrunched up sheets at the end of the bed off my feet but i hit something hard. "OW!". WHO THE HELL?? i pull the blanket up over my head and see a half asleep theo at the foot of boris's bed stretched out sideways. "YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME.", i tell him catching my breath. "mmmm", he groans as he opens his eyes and clutches his ribs, "you kicked meee". is this man serious. "how long have you been there???", i ask still holding the blanket up to look at him. "i don't know maybe a few hours, i came in at like 11am to see if you guys were awake but you were still sleeping and you both looked so comfortable.", he says rubbing his eyes. he crawls up from the foot of the bed and out of the blanket, ending up right next to me. "how ya feelin this mornin lucy lu?", he asks putting his head on my shoulder; something that i've recently learned he does to both boris and me whenever he's hungover or drunk. i rub my left eye with the back of my hand and lay my head on his, "better.", i reply. i feel his head twist until him only his chin is resting on my shoulder. i take my head off of his and look at him. he's examining my neck? "whatcha doing?", i ask slightly concerned as he takes his chin off my shoulder and holds up my chin to examine my neck closer. "shit did that guy do this to you last night?", he asks reaching for his glasses, which are lying on boris's bedside table. "do what?", i ask confused as he continues to examines my neck. "dude look", he pulls on his phone from his pants (which he never changed out of last night), and hands it to me. i look at myself in the selfie camera he has pulled up and i visibly see my checks burning red. the fucking hickey. the concealer must have rubbed off last night while i was sleeping or something. "oh i uh-", i stutter as he looks at me waiting for an answer. just then, like a gift from the heavens, boris comes out of the bathroom. his hair wet, only in boxers, and his smell of drugstore shampoo hits my nose like im smelling roses on a spring day. i'm about to say something but theo cuts me off before i can get anything out when he sees boris walking up to us. "dude, come here", he pats the part of the bed beside me that's open, "look at what that fucking dickhead did to her neck last night. boris looks confused at first, sitting down and leaning across me to look at the mark theo's pointing at. i'm sure he notices what he's talking about, because after about two seconds of looking at it, he snaps right back up to a forward position and darts his eyes to me knowingly. ladies and gentlemen i have never seen a boy so scared as boris is right now. his posture is amazingly straight, his eyes are widely open, and he's starting at me in a way that says, "oh shit.". theo looks over at him confused, "why do you look like you just shit yourself bor? we gotta fucking kill this dude, i mean who the fuck does he think he is?", theo says to him, but boris doesn't take his scared eyes off me. listen now, theo isn't stupid, but he's exactly not the brightest. "bor? hello can you hear me?", he says still not understanding what's going on. boris finally speaks, "drop it potter.", he says almost in a tone a child uses when they're in trouble. theo shifts his eyes between the two of us, "what's wrong with you two, why don't you care about-", he starts, but halfway through his sentence i see a look of realization on his face as his jaw drops. "no.", he says like someone just told him something crazy.

i see his eyebrows raise and a small smile graze his lips. "say sike right now.", he says excitedly looking between the two of us. i put my head in my heads and sigh loudly. how fucking embarrassing is this. "theo , look-", i try to explain as i'm buried behind my hands but im cut off my child like giggling. i look up and theo's eyes are still shifting between the two of us on a loop as he giggles. i look over at boris who's letting a microscopic smirk show on his lips. i immediately burst out into laughter. "I KNEW SOMETHING WAS GOING ON I FUCKING KNEW IT, WHEN I SAW YOU TWO TOGETHER THIS MORNING YOU WERE PRACTICALLY SLEEPING ONTOP OF HIM LUCY.", theo says like he's the smartest man in the world for having these suspicions. "calm down.", boris tells theo, wiping away a peice of wet curly hair from his face and smirking. "HOW LONG???!", theo asks turning to boris and crossing his legs like its story time. boris glances over at me from approval and i give him a slight smile and nod. "pretty much since first day.", explains boris. theo's mouth drops open again and he looks over at me, "i knew i felt tension between you two, i fucking knew it!", he says holding his index finger in the air. i pull his hand down and look at him, "tho you gotta promise us you won't tell anyone, okay?", i say as serious as i can. theo looks around the room, "who the fuck am i gonna tell? popchyk? you two are my only friends.", he tells me. "potter, she doesn't want anyone to know.", boris explains to him before glancing over at me. theo rolls his eyes annoyed and puts a hand over his heart, "i won't say a word, i swear i wont share your little secret with anyone", he says like this is the most obvious statement ever. "can we talk about something else now..please.", i say slightly not liking all the attention on me and boris’s "relationship". "oh booooo", theo says back to me. "ughhh seriously new topic.", i say throwing a pillow at him and laughing. "fine new topic. im hungry, i say we go get food", theo says rolling his eyes playfully. "me too, food sounds good.", boris says back smiling and flinging his arm around my shoulder. "oh yea, with what money? boris already put all of his coke money towards gas and weed yesterday.", i say giggle. the boys look at each other and and burst out laughing. "cmon księżniczka. we show you how we get food with no money.", boris says still laughing and pulling me out of bed with him. i have a very strong feeling im not gonna like how they, "get food with no money".

a/n: not my best or longest part, but i’ve been so so busy w college. sorry loves! but yay! finally at chapter two!!! i love and appreciate all of you who read these stories:))

10 notes · View notes

soft-for-yoongi · 1 year ago

Note

Hello author!

2. 🏝☀️🥵🌡😵‍💫🤢🤮🚑 My idea is here with Jungkook sick and OT7 Caretakers, if possible! (I miss them :( So, they're enjoying a vacation together, in a private place. Its hot, and Jungkook cant handle well with it. He starts to feel week, dizzy and pale. Feeling like a low blood pressure. Everyone looks at him worried. Jungkook faints while drinking some water and after he's wakes and is a little conscious, throw up the water he has drank. The members get desperate and go rushing to a hospital, calling a ambulance, bc maybe jk gets a insolation

‐-------------------‐------‐‐----------------

Sick: Jungkook

Caretaker: OT7

Tw: emeto, vom**, puking, dizziness, fainting, heat stroke, mentions of hospital, ambulance called

Word count: 795

Emojis: 2. 🏝☀️🥵🌡😵‍💫🤢🤮🚑

Yayaya two people requested sick jk with this prompt so I combined them again!! I hope you enjoy and it's what you wanted!!

(I'm also unsure of how many more I'm going to write but I think around 2-3 more!)

‐-------------------‐------‐‐----------------

Searing heat, thick humidity, a private and breathtaking oasis by the beach. With only seven of them present, there are no intrusive cameras or rigid schedules, just pure relaxation. And that's why Jungkook is so upset he's not feeling well. The thought of ruining the holiday is ten times worse than the dizzying nausea and sweat trailing his back.

Jungkook's hand shakes as he brings a water bottle to his lips, he's hiding under his hair so the others can't see how pale and sickly he's looking (and feeling). They're at this small private beach, practically in the backyard of their temporary house. Taehyung and Jimin are playing about in the water, throwing soggy sand at each other. Jungkook was with them originally, playing in the warm, crystal-clear water before the heat started taking a toll on him.

He couldn't deny the nausea and slowly made his way back to the blanket and shade they set up. With every step, his legs felt like jelly, and the world was spinning around him. He plopped onto the blanket, and now he clutches onto the water bottle with his remaining strength.

The others are frolicking about in the sand and water, laughter a comforting sound. Jungkook hoped the shade would help but now he just feels isolated and achy. Just as he was about to take another sip of water, the beach towel rustles next to him. Jungkook turns to find Namjoon, who's sat down with a book in his hand, now looking at him with concern.

"Jungkook you don't look so good, are you feeling okay?" Namjoon reaches a hand to touch the youngest's cheek, feeling unnatural warmth. Jungkook tried to laugh it off, but it came out weak and shaky. "Yeah, I just need some rest." He replies, Namjoon isn't convinced. "No, Jungkook I think you should lay down. You really don't look good." Namjoon's brows pinch together. Jungkook swallows audibly, his head is really starting to pound.

Jungkook has no clue what Namjoon just said. His ears are buzzing and he's struggling to keep up right. He can see a few others start to walk over, confusion on their faces. He registers the water in his hand and goes to take a sip, but it just ends up spilling down his front. Woah, he doesn't feel good. He feels blood pumping in his ears before losing consciousness.

"—unkook! Jungkook, hey. Nono don't sit up—" Jungkook feels his stomach lurch, hands on his body and the worried voices of his bandmates. All he can do is whimper before throwing up to his side and then clutch the nearest person. "H-hyungie—" Jungkook cries, beads of sweat on his forehead. "Kookie, Kookie shh, calm down, Jinnie-hyung has called an ambulance. You're gonna be okay." Jimin smooths Jungkook's hair and Namjoon fans his face with his book.

"I'm gonna be sick- don' feel good.." Jungkook mumbles, Yoongi thinks quick and he grabs one of their empty snack containers and shoves it under his chin. Taehyung takes a bit of a clean towel and pours some water on it to rest at the back of Jungkook's neck and try cool him down. He burps and buries his face into the container.

He pukes clear liquid and Jimin trails his hand up and down his back. His head throbs with each gag and the bright sun still hurts his eyes even in the shade. Letting out a miserable groan, the others are jittery with worry. "Guys the ambulance is here, make room for them." Hoseok instructs and the members move out the way, except for Namjoon who holds Jungkook and the container steady.

Jungkook still manages to be shy and embarrassed as the paramedics check his vitals and ask a couple questions. "Jungkook-ssi how are you feeling right now? Still like before?" A middle aged woman asks, "n-not as bad.." Jungkook turns to Namjoon, hoping he can provide some more details. "He was super pale and dissociated. He's thrown up twice now but I think it was just the heat that got to him." Namjoon explains.

The paramedics strap something to Jungkook's arm and say that they should take him in to administer an IV. "So this is a mild case of heat stroke, two of you are able to ride with him to the hospital if you'd like." One of them suggests.

Seokjin and Taehyung are quick to volunteer and the others promise to meet them at the hospital. In the ambulance Jungkook feels a mixture of emotions, shy but also too sick to suppress his need for his hyung's dotting. He holds Taehyung's hand and asks Seokjin to play with his hair. Looking forward to feeling better, Jungkook vows to always stay hydrated when going to the beach.

46 notes · View notes

g0ose-bumps · 1 year ago

Text

Soap Gets a Visitor (2/?)

Ghost becomes a ghost. Soap and Gaz have a chat.

Soap's attempts to get Ghost talking had all gone miserably. If Ghost thought he could outwait Soap, the man would only be left surprised. He was convinced that the LT was related to the cat incident. He had to have been. Soap could tell from every glance away, every pause the man held, that Ghost knew something. Something he was unwilling to speak or budge about.

It was maddening.

Soap was beginning to feel more like a dog with a particularly juicy bone than a sergeant trying to ask his lieutenant a simple question. He'd hounded Ghost at every turn, trying to sniff out the man's secrets. Of which no doubt there were many, but something about Soap's mysterious visitor had Ghost clamming up tight.

The man was even starting to avoid him, becoming more of a ghost than Soap thought possible. Except instead of haunting Soap's steps like he used to, Ghost would... well, he would turn into his namesake and disappear into their surroundings. If a man could do the physical version of ghosting in front of another's eyes, this would be it.

Soap tried not to be affected by it but he knew he wasn't convincing anyone with his 'Oscar worthy' performance. The alternative reasoning to why Ghost was ignoring him was something he didn't even want to contemplate. If it wasn't because the man didn't want to talk about Soap's visitor then— Soap cut himself off. Better to not dwell on it. He knew people were starting to worry. Perhaps it also didn't help he had been staring glumly into the wall for a good minute.

"Mate, you okay?" Gaz slides in to sit next to him. Thankfully the meeting they were in was loud enough for his whisper to be hidden.

Soap sighs and focuses on the next presenter. Ghost. His foreboding presence drew the whole room into his gravity as he stood at attention, hands tucked behind his broad back. He was standing centre front by the projector.

As usual the man seemed dismissive of all the eyes peeled on himself, casual confidence a footnote to the lieutenant. Soap traces the line of him, engraving The Ghost into his mind. He sorely missed looking at him with all the time Ghost spent avoiding him. The brooding spectre looked more like a carved statue than any mortal man should. And that voice of his. Soap had dreams about it. Many dreams.

Gaz nudges him. "Too busy daydreaming bout the Lt, huh?" He slyly whispers to Soap. "Thought there was some trouble in paradise. Guess I was wrong." The other sergeant had a massive shite eating grin strewn upon his face.

"Shut yer puss!" Soap hisses back at him, agitated despite himself. His words were louder than he'd meant it to be. A couple heads turned to look at them in irritation before focusing back in front.

Looking around briefly, Soap leans close to Gaz's ear, whispering furtively. "Look, Gaz, there's some shite. I dunno what exactly but it's gotten Ghost spooked."

"Well that explains it." Gaz says thoughtfully. "Aside from all the mandatory drills, I haven't seen Ghost around all that much." He grins mischievously. "Which is strange because if I saw your ugly mug, I'd be seeing a Ghost just around the corner afterwards."

Soap snorts. "Ye only wish ye had a face as fine as this." A halfheartedly retort back. Soap grimaces, unable to not think about the fact that Ghost had been ignoring him for the better part of a week. He grits his teeth, clenching the side of the chair hard.

A hand grips his tensed arm firmly, comforting in its solidness.

Gaz's concerned face peers up at him. "Tell me later what's up?" He asks worriedly. "Anything you want to tell me, I got your six." His eyes search Soap's for some sort of understanding.

Soap nods back, something easing in him with the other sergeant's promise to listen. If anyone were to believe him about a mysterious cat in their base, it'd be Gaz. He gradually eases his posture into something a little more relaxed.

The other sergeant leans away, his focus back on their lieutenant, thoughtful eyes noting the tenseness of Ghost's gargoyle esque impression. "Though if it's just your usual thoughts on the Lt, I might have to pass on that."

"Wheesht!" Soap exclaims. This time, Price glares at them loudly from the officers corner. A silent command to be quiet lest they wanted to attract his full ire on them.

They both shut up, unwilling to get in any more trouble. Gaz and Soap had played a prank on Price a couple weeks back that couldn't be traced to them. They could both tell that the captain was biding his time until there was something he could book them for.

The meeting goes on without a hitch afterwards: plenty of talking, tactical pointing and PowerPoints. Typical.

Gaz corners him right after the meeting ends, yanking Soap into an abandoned hallway.

"Okay, fess up." Gaz leans against the wall and crosses his arm. "What's with you and the Lieutenant?"

Soap splutters. His first instinct is to deny, deny and sprinkle some more denial onto his denial salad, but Gaz's earnest face stops him in his tracks. "There's a cat." He blurts stupidly.

"A cat?" Gaz questions, a quirked up eyebrow rising. "A cat from a mission or...?" He trails off one finger tapping at his side. Soap was beginning to regret this.

"A cat on base. It visited me one night. Laid on my bed a bunch till I fell asleep and when I woke up, it was gone." Soap cringes at his own words. Their base was patrolled nightly; a mouse couldn't squeak before it was heard and noted. A mysterious cat that showed up suddenly and disappeared as suddenly sounded patently ridiculous.

The other sergeant looks bemused. "And this relates to Ghost how?" He says, obviously humouring Soap in his words. There was a studied blankness to his expression that told Soap he was very skeptical.

"I asked Ghost about the cat and he just well," Soap pauses, unable to articulate Ghost, ghosting him in better words. "Well you saw it with yer own eyes."

Gaz hums quietly. "So you think Ghost has something to do with this mysterious cat."

"I ken he does!" His hands fly out to demonstrate. "He's been avoiding all my questions about tha' cat." Soap paces the hall, fully agitated. "The fact that he isnae saying anythin' bout it means he does ken somethin'. Why else would he keep silent on it?" His steps pick up speed. The movement felt good for his frustrated mind. This whole matter was bothering him more than he thought it would.

"Okay, Soap." Gaz hushes. "I believe you." He stops Soap in his movement, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe Ghost is the cat's owner." There's another glint in Gaz's eyes, Soap just knew he was going to say something stupid.

"Wouldn't be the first time anyone's had illicit pusses hidden in their room on base." Soap groans, the double entendre not lost on him.

Gaz continues on like he didn't hear him. "Though this would be the first time it's actually just a cat." He barks a laugh, clearly amused at his own joke.

"Real funny, Gaz." Soap gripes, knocking away the hand on his shoulder.

Gaz glances at him and sobers up quick. "Sorry mate, thought it'd be something else there." He takes a deep breath, adjusting his hat and leaning back against the wall. "If it's just The Ghost bending rules and having a pet, I don't think that's a bad thing, all things considered."

Soap bristles. "What's tha' suppose ta' mean."

Gaz shrugs. "Nothing. Just that, you and I both know the Lt could use a little more love in his life." Soap flinches a little at Gaz's words, the other man unknowingly echoing his exact phrasing to the cat oh so many days ago. "If the man has a cat and you saw it, it'd make sense he doesn't want to talk about it—not unless he wanted the cat taken away."

"Suppose that makes sense." Soap sighs. "But how'd he even get the kitty in here in the first place?" The urge to pace was at an all time high. "Cats need supplies and a litter box at the very least. All very noticeable things." He finishes weakly. The obvious answer didn't feel so obvious to him. Soap's instincts were telling him this wasn't quite right. It seemed too simple. Ghost wouldn't be this rattled if it were.

Gaz shrugs again. "He's The Ghost. If anyone could do it without getting caught, it'd be him."

"Yer right." Soap says defeatedly. What was he even thinking. The cat being Ghost's made a lot of sense. They said pets often reflected their owners and that cat looked and behaved a lot like their lieutenant: all scarred up and massive for its species. Shy too.

Gaz stops Soap again, his feet unknowingly moving him without conscious thought. "Hey if it's any consolation, the cat visiting you out of all people means it must've liked you enough to do so." Gaz pats Soap on the back heartily. "Maybe Ghost has a rival to fight for your affections."

Soap wheezes, a laugh startled out of him at the thought.

Gaz grins, lighting up at Soap's tentative smile. "Tell you what, I'll help you corner Ghost into being in a room with you for longer than 5 minutes and then you can both make up." Soap opens his mouth. "Anddd, if that doesn't clear things up about the cat situation, we can break into Ghost's room to try to find the cat ourselves." He levers a cocky grin. "If it's you and me together, I'm sure we can pull it off without him knowing."

Soap chuckles. He knew Gaz would have his back. "Thanks Gaz."

"Nothing to it brother." Gaz holds a hand out. Soap smirks and initiates their secret handshake. They bump their fists, then a high five and a low five.

Gaz snickers and checks his watch. "Look Soap, I gotta go, see you at the mess hall later?" He asks, thoughts clearly drawing him away to whatever he had to get to.

Soap waves him away. "Get on wit' it."

The other sergeant goes. He stops suddenly as he gets near the corner, turning around to face Soap. A strange look flashes over his eyes.

"What type of cat was it?" He asks, a odd note in his voice.

Soap raises a brow. "A tabby with a bushy tail. Very large."

Gaz frowns. "A massive looking cat, yellowy green eyes and a ringed tail? Black tip?"

"Aye, exactly!" Soap exclaims excitedly. Maybe Gaz had seen it before on base. That would mean Soap definitely wasn't imagining things and that Ghost wasn't ignoring him because he'd gotten tired of Soap.

"Strange." Gaz mutters to himself.

Soap straightens. "What?" He asks hurriedly.

"I saw that cat. But not on base." Gaz haltingly answers him. "It was on my mission with Ghost a month ago."

He plays at the rim of his cap, mind obviously reliving past memories. "I only remembered it cause that's when Ghost went silent on radio—thought the man died on us or something. Then all of sudden there was this tabby near me and the next thing I knew it, it was gone."

Soap shivers. There was no way Ghost took the cat with him on a mission, was there? "Did the cat have scars on its face?" He asked, not knowing what he'd think of it, if the answer was yes.

Gaz grimaces. "I was too far away and it was too dark to tell." He looks away. "It was probably a different cat. Tabby cats are really common afterall."

"Yeah probably." Soap says a little numbly. Gaz was right. It was probably a different cat.

There was no way it could be the same one, could it?

43 notes · View notes

ladythornofrivia · 2 years ago

Text

The Imperfection of Sound

In a world of sound, reader is deaf. Until she meets Ran Haitani, who shows her that life is more than just hoping for a miracle.

Pair: Ran x Reader

Warnings: Mature Content, Inappropriate Moments and Adult Language. (if you’re under 18, you can’t read this).

Author’s Note: Great news! So I’m going to expand on this series with 2 more chapters! Yay! It’s a very long chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

(Please report if someone decides to steal/plagiarize my story. And notify me. Thank you.)

Chapter 5: Stay Close To Me By My Beating Heart

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Meanwhile…

Tenjiku received a call from Rindou. It was rather urgent, but his next words caught them unprecedented. Rindou addressed regarding to a certain someone. Not to kill or to torture, or held hostage. Tenjiku needed to be proper yet bold, calm, yet fierce, gentle yet brutal. Izana’s men were often reminded and often prepared for the worst. For the next days, the battle between Tokyo Manji Gang and Tenjiku has been sealed.

But Rindou’s request is still unexpectedly odd from others.

It regarding a special take to the mission. One Tenjiku cannot fail before their enemy comes.

•••••

You hadn’t been thinking regarding to things going on in your life, and you’re trying to focus. But no matter how much focus, something pulled you away. You were pissed, heartbroken, then pissed again, then heartbroken again.

How could he do that to me? If he isn’t interested in me, why would lead me on?

Foretokened by a string of events, your body was bemused with countless activities for hours, but when it comes to your mind, it’s battling on its own, your system weren’t in sync with the malfunction in your brain. Was it malfunctioning, or was just being insurgently strong? Stubborn? Or an indestructible prideful that couldn’t breach within a resistance you pulled your consciousness to alter.

Evidently strong.

Not matter how much you convinced yourself, it feels nothing weighs a greater impact to the results of your everyday life.

In your wake, you see him. Even in sleep, you still see him, only a fragments, shielded you like blurred water spiraling. His lips moved, pearly teeth shown, shinning, you couldn’t get what he’s saying. There was no noise every time he speaks, or laughs, or shouts your name.

You only hear the blurriness of water, rippling like gash, full of blubber.

You wanted him to reach closer, you wanted him to reach your hands—your touch, your embrace and warmth delved between two bodies from a cold, listless world.

Striding towards the blurred water buried between air like walls, rippled and rumbling silently.

His long two-braided is neat and stylish adorned his sharpish face, and his violet eyes glowing like light on his downturned lids. His tall stature—a good bone structure you admired, relaxed at the sight of you.

Everything was clear. The rippling water buried the space between you and him is the obstacle to breach.

You wanted to touch him.

In your cold and listless world, you wanted to touch him, to feel the warmth he kept.

As you stepped closer to the rippling walls, your hand extended with a little hesitation—rather frightened. You didn’t want him to vanish.

His violet eyes watching you, just like how he saw you the first time—friendly and calm—a perfect combination of a smooth-talker. Other his height and his braids, his charm captivated you and enraptured your heart with a tight clutch.

Like a fairy tale.

One that you hoped for, sought for.

A taste of divinely heaven.

Your fingers reached closer to the rippled water, and behind Ran, there’s a dainty hand snaked around him, with long, expensive-looking nails and a large jewel on the index finger.

There she was. The girl who Ran professed, so womanly and mature and ripen with grace and womanly aesthetics similar to Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie—brownish locks with a beauty daggers of serpent eyes look straight to yours, a vulnerable one.

Unlike you, like a new blossom, you’re still child-like, underdeveloped and girlish.

The rippled walls turned frozen, then breached, scarring your face and hands from shielding at a dangerous side of getting too close.

Even then, even now, your heart is set of despising them.

Until now, awake or not, Ran’s face and violet eyes haunted you.

••••••

Around time during lunch, you decided to take a break after going at the library for a full research on your new assignment.

But your destination has been fully blocked by a man at your age but with blonde hair and bluish streaks with round glasses, flickered under the afternoon sunlight. Basked under the sunlight, your skin grew hot, and your locks, your bag has gotten heavy, shoulder slouching from the vigor wasted from traveling on foot despite the cold air. While the young man on a bike is still in your way. Behind you, another bike blocked you in case you're thinking of escaping, a quiet, stoic expression from another young man with a large scar slanted from the head to over the eye. Red eye still gazing at you.

Still on the expensive motorcycle, the young man with round glasses and bluish streaks fished something in his pocket, and handed it to you.

Unfolding the paper, it read:

We need to talk.

For nearly an hour, you and the young man with a scar--introduced as Kakucho--exchanged conversations with you through sign language. You could say he’s good, trying his best to reach you within other sources of communication other than paper and pen, not that you need it since Kakucho's can keep up--as a translator for you and the other man. For the other young man with blond hair and blue highlights--introduced as Rindou--is still quiet.

Growing weary, you wished to leave and rest your eyes and body for at least 3 hours of sleep. You’ve done your assignments and dealt with peers at your college.

What do these guys want?

“Get straight to the point,” you signed within the gesture of sharp movement.

“Fine,” Rindou said.

You could easily read people’s lips as long as it’s slow. Kakucho translated.

“Rindou said that there's this guy has been acting strange lately. He has been sighing, calling your name numerous times in his sleep,"

“Guy?” you signed.

Rindou sighed. “You don’t seem to understand what has been happening to him. He’s been…unwell.” Then Kakucho translated.

“Whoever it is you’re talking about, I had no clue what to do. I’m not a doctor," you signed.

Rindou's eyes glared. “I think you do know. Right now, you’re in denial, just like him…”

“Him?”

“Don’t be stupid, Miss (y/n),” he said brashly, voice still calm, directing his eyes at the other customers. So far, nobody suspected a thing. “You know who I’m referring to.”

You shook your head, crossing your arms. “I’m afraid I don’t.”

“Ran Haitani.”

Your body froze.

He noticed your alarmed stance in your seat, frozen like ice.

“So what? What does it have to do with me?"

Luckily, Kakucho is there. Otherwise, you and Rindou are going to take forever to solve the issue that has been resided since 3 weeks.

"You and Ran have to reconcile," Kakucho reasoned, almost gentle, as if he doesn't want you to storm out from the quaint restaurant.

"Why should I?" you signed, as the bitterness slightly increase. “He already made it perfectly clear to me, so I casted myself off—I was doing a favor.”

"Because there's a misunderstanding going on..." Rindou said. "He's supposed to go at the party with me that night. We agreed to to do service for the special guest, and since he didn't attend, the guest confronted him at that morning. The reason why is because her boyfriend dumped her because he cheated on her with two girls on the night before her birthday, and when she confronted Ran, Ran tried his best to keep his distance from her, but kept perusing him, demanding and cornering him to do what she wanted. That's where you saw him that day. You went away when Ran tried to approach you, try to explain things to you. But I guess you block him or ignore him."

You couldn't find words to justify yourself; it felt like it's going in circles.

"You said you know him well. Why should I trust you? It seems pretty biased."

"I know him well. He likes his high-end apartment space more than girls. He value his privacy more."

Another biased answer.

"You don't believe me," Rindou said, "Fine. I don't care since you're just a random girl to me. But try patch things up with him."

"Easy for you to say. If Ran decided to patch things up with me, why couldn't he just show up instead of sending you and Kakucho, acting like his servants?"

"He tried looking for you, but you weren't there. After all, why waste searching when you're the one who's trying to fucking hide from him, and then pin the blame?"

"I have a busy life. Something that doesn't involve with parties or seeking out bitches and dumbasses," you signed. "And I'm not hiding, I'm trying to do what every girls would do--move on. If you have a girlfriend, I'll send my condolences. Not that you have a girlfriend, not with the nerdy glasses you're wearing."

"I don't know what he sees in you, little girl," Rindou remarked. "But you better watch it."

Little girl…

"Oh, no, I'm scared," you signed, you face is filled with nonchalant sarcasm.

"Stop, I'll handle this," Kakucho told him. "What he's trying to say is, whatever feelings you have and whatever feelings Ran has, you guys have to be more honest, than just run away and denying as a source of coping mechanism."

"Oh," you signed. "Why didn't nerdy Rindou didn't say it? It seems like he favored on being personally condescending towards me, than being nice about it. Being nice won't kill you."

"Because whatever you're doing right now, won't help you," Kakucho signed back. "Ran's been denying whenever he shows up at the meetings, and every time Rindou or someone else in the group asks, Ran would randomly change the subject to fashion clothes and food from other different countries. Since you're trying to be brave by putting out denial, as well--just like him--we wanted to put an end to it."

"What are you suggesting?"

"What I'm suggesting is, how do you really feel when it comes to Ran? Be honest. If you lie, then you're not the kind of girl Ran likes--meaning, you're fake like any of the girls he encountered with--not dating--but he faced a couple of times, but does a lot of avoidance. Tell me, right here, right now."

"Seems like you're pressuring me. Do you guys hate me that much?

"It's not that I hate you, it's just that there's no other choice, because Ran tries to be gentle with you, afraid you might be offended at his sudden forwardness or his sudden appearance. He may be a brazen kind of guy, but he wouldn't lie out of selfish purposes. Let me ask you this, have you been to his parties? Have you been to his place, only to hang out and talk? Have you ever daydreamed about him while spending time on your own accord? If you said 'no' to all of them, then maybe, I suggest try not to face him, at all. Or I can give you chance to fully explain your view. Nothing but the truth."

"Understanding girls is hard," Rindou said. "But honestly, Ran and (y/n) are so fucking difficult to deal with."

And Kakucho smacked him, waiting on you to answer, while Rindou is ordering another drink to calm his nerves.

"To be honest, I avoid going to parties and I avoid going to his place, whenever he invited me, but we always go out to different places, ones I haven't been before. He took me to Harajuku, then we went to aquarium, then at the museum, then sometimes at the park, then arcade and bowling and eat large hamburgers and tall glass milkshakes. I like hanging out with him, but I'm just afraid I might be too...plain and boring. With his life different than mine, I don't think we could ever be in sync. And I don't want him to have a hard time doing sign language with me, too. Having a hearing disability is the most painful process for me, and although pen and paper and texting from phone is fine, but I don't want to put another difficulty against him; he might get tired of communicating with me, sooner than later. Being two different worlds is already saying so much. Being out of the comfort zone, is already challenging."

Kakucho nodded once you finished your explanation. "I understand. Having a hearing disability can put an increasing pressure on you on trying to be in sync with him."

"Let me ask you this. With all the questions you have given since the beginning, do you ask Ran the same?"

Rindou and Kakucho both exchanged looks. "We did, but Ran actually beat us to it. He kept talking about everything about you. About what you do and what you like. Every movement, every smile you made, stirred inside him. From what I gather, according to what you claimed, you spent time with him, and talk everything about him, but you’re afraid to go to his parties and at his place is because you’re different?”

You shook your head. “No. There are a lot of girls like him, lining up for him. That’s why I didn’t go to the party and at his place, it’s not that I’m afraid, but I’m afraid of not being good enough for him—undervalued, and ignored. Their beauty is unbeatable. Like I said, with my hearing disability, things might take things differently if plans don’t go so well. I was taking cautions, if something happens.”

“So you’re pretending?” Rindou assumed.

“First of all, you don’t know me very well, judging before getting to know someone is automatically a dealbreaker for some people.”

“But I already did,” Rindou answered.

You ignored him, facing Kakucho. “And second, I do daydream about Ran. Of what would it be like if I don’t have a hearing disability. I can see him smiling, but his laugh, never. If only I was born different, where I hear emotions, hear music and voices when talking. I want to hear the sounds of wind, ocean and storm, and rain and trees, sometimes animals. My own voice, too. I want to hear his voice, his laughter. His charisma and his whispers, I want to hear his sweets words embracing me with warmth, with kindness….everything. The way he has shown his interest, the close proximity between us…” You found yourself smiling as you look down.

“You like him,” Kakucho signed.

You shook your head once more, the determined look in your eyes gazed at Kakucho. “I love him.”

Once Rindou retained information from Kakucho’s translation, Rindou let his guard down.

“If there’s nothing else…” you signed, grabbing your bag as you stand up. But Kakucho stopped you. “I know you’re well acquainted with him, based on your words.”

“What would it take for us to gain your trust?” He signed.

“You shouldn’t have underestimated me,” you signed back. “And you shouldn’t be mean to me without knowing a single clue. Try to understand my point of view, is all I’m saying.”

“I’m sorry. But we’ll try our best to remedy the conversation and assumptions we had earlier,” Kakucho promised.

“So, what is it you want, Miss (y/n)?” Rindou’s cold voice softened.

In this moment, slowly, you sat back down and thought of the conditions.

•••••

Ran sat back at the living room, watching American shows on a wide screen tv. He’s been bored from changing from movie to movie until he finds that shows are more interesting. So far he found nothing until he watches a film, filled with serene. Minutes had gone by as Ran himself was yawning.

He hadn’t had good sleep. His mind wasn’t going to fight anymore. So he switched the television off and left to his bedroom, then passed the bed, he went out at the wide, marbled balcony.

He doesn’t want to think about it anymore. And if he ever shall, his mind would speak, beseeched against the likes of the wounded words of heart. Neglected with Tenjiku’s main objective, he could back out, but at some point Rindou will inform him on going. By any means of dragging Ran out of his bed and his sulking.

But no matter.

And dreams he’ll sleep.

Hours later, he ended up with a fever.

•••••

Around nine in the evening, Rindou and Kakucho tried their very best to get back on track in order to defeat Tokyo Manji Gang. Without Ran, Rindou is helpless. The Haitani brothers are well-known for working together. Rindou would break people’s bones. As for Ran, he would have his baton ready to strike with brutal force enough to draw a generous amount of bloodshed.

They’ve done that once to the previous leader, who’s limbs had been broken and locked by Rindou, as Ran punched the previous leader more than a hour, the previous leader died by their hands. But how could someone so brutal would ever touch someone who’s untainted? How could a strong and a charismatic man have befall under a gentle soul?

Rindou received a call from Ran, luckily, this wasn’t the day on attacking Tokyo Manji Gang.

“I’ll come home,” Rindou said, hanging up on his phone.

“He’s sick,” Rindou told Kakucho.

“It was a heartbreak he’s dealing with right now,” Kakucho said, while you are hanging onto him during the motorcycle ride.

“No, I mean he has fever. It’s not a good one. Stupid Ran. He’s been staying out on a cold weather until the morning. Doesn’t want to stay in the room.”

Kakucho sighed, steering his bike. “He had to recover. Days on attack Tokyo Manji Gang are coming up.”

“He wasn’t usually like this. When a girl break things off with him, he would ignore them without a second thought. He wouldn’t care, goes on with a smile on his face because they meant nothing to him. They all dolled up for him. But, something’s off…he wasn’t like this. So why is he bothered now?”

“Did you forget what you said earlier, moron?” Kakucho lectured through a roaring noise from the engine. “He’s the one who’s been sad for the past few days. Both of them are at fault because they weren’t trying to communicate with each other. But he isn’t the only one who’s sad.”

“Meaning?”

“I swear Rindou, did you not pay attention to what I said or what (y/n) said? She loved him, too, but she couldn’t bear to be replaced or used. Try to focus on the discussion, not your anger and your annoyance for once. Always talking out of your ass. Besides, this is the perfect opportunity for them to make up. We discussed the plans before we got out from the mall.”

“Hopefully not through sex. Because he’s been watching porn.”

Kakucho closed his eyes, grimaced. “TMI, Rindou. TMI.”

••••••

You guys reached into a newer destination by the time you’re tired. Carrying shopping bags is hard. So you inspected the bags if any items are missing. Thankfully, neither of the items you purchased are missing. But before shopping, Rindou took you to Harajuku to get a better hairstyle and a makeover all in one go.

(This hairstyle 👇)

(With this makeup look 👇)

And after the new and improved hairstyle and bolder makeup, the three of you headed shopping, picking better clothes.

Turns out this is your conditions in order for them to reconcile with you.

And at the mall, you picked two dresses, of your personal choice.

(First outfit👇)

(And the other is this 👇)

Unbeknownst, to their own ideas, their chat, you had your own. You asked them where they’re heading next. And so they decided to go by Rindou’s place first. Kakucho wanted to make sure he sees Rindou off. As they went at the different section on the road, you were sure you’re going to plop with running vehicles rolling over you. You decided to stay awake, holding onto Kakucho tighter.

You haven’t seen the high-end of Roppongi, since you’ve been busy with your college life—being an eighteen year old, you’re still young, but taking responsibilities is being an adult, a part of life. You wished to have time. At some point, you blamed yourself on not taking Ran’s offer. He promised you once—since you first met him—that he’ll take you to Roppongi and Harajuku. Instead of Ran taking you to Harajuku, it’s Rindou and Kakucho.

Therefore blaming yourself is the only option. You were scared of being stood up, of looking idiotic and shameful.

Maybe what Rindou and Kakucho were saying, they have excellent point. Why be a coward when you can profess the truth resided in you? Though too much of an honesty means vulnerability. But it can’t hurt to try.

Glimmering lights upon the Roppongi’s high-end buildings filled you with awe, with wonder.

So this is what Roppongi looks like. Now I understand why Ran likes it here, why he wanted me to be there with him.

A deep trail of thought sprung into your mind how you wanted Ran to fuck you. You pussy has been aching with tease and arousal. You wanted him to trap you, to pin you and tease you with a tantalizing speed from his cock buried into your pussy. You wanted him to cherish you, love you, dominate you in any way possible.

You want him to ruin you, mark you and claim you.

But that soon end when reaching the high-end apartment, rather looking more like a penthouse that cost more.

Rindou and Kakucho simultaneously dismounted their bikes and headed towards the wide entrance with you, leading up to escalators. Kakucho assisted you with your bag, as Rindou carried one of the shopping bags. The burdens on shopping bags has been lifted. Taking up the stairs—because the elevator is out of order—you ended up climbing up the stairs until the 5th floor. There it was Rindou’s territory.

As soon as he unlocked the doors, his phone shifted in his pants, vibrating. He picked the phone up, answering the call. Apparently, Izana needed more assistance to prepare for the next battle. And for Kakucho to be there with Izana. Izana needed support.

“We have to get going,” Kakucho signed.

“Without me,” you signed back.

“In the mean time, help yourself in the apartment. Eat what you want and watch. Our meeting will take long,” Rindou said, but Kakucho translated.

You understood and entered the apartment after you watched them leave. Heaving, you went in with your bag and the shopping bags. Everything is clean and expensive, assuming Rindou is responsible despite being the same age as you. You went to the fridge and opened it, finding lots of healthy food and snacks. Closing it, you went to take a look of the dress you chose. You admired the black dress with evening gloves and black heels. Smiling to yourself, you went to find the bathroom to change. Being lucky, you found a bathroom near and changed, complimenting the figure on your body with a current hairstyle and bold and rich makeup.

If only someone would ravish you. Someone like Ran. If what they said is true, then, you and him are both at fault. Miscommunication can lead to a downfall, like dominos fall piece by piece unless someone among both parties picks it up—to be fix.

You tried on the red dress and red heels, and it accentuated the dark color of your long and fresh locks along with your eyes, looking like a proper young lady.

As you went out, the lights are off. Quickly, you shut the lights off as well after taking off of your heels. Slowing opening the bathroom, you looked to see who it was. You couldn’t make someone’s face, especially with a large hoodie on. A tall figure walked towards at the opposite direction and you shut the door quick but quiet. You rely on the shadow behind the door gap at the bottom.

You waited for more than a minute, after the time passed, you shoved the heels back into the shopping bag and went outside, taking the belongings with you. Good thing you brought your backpack with you. Otherwise, someone in the apartment will suspect something wrong.

Though you couldn’t help but to follow where the figure went. So you checked the doors. One is Rindou’s room, and the other side of the hall must’ve been the guest. As you approached closer, your heart went fast. But your hand twisted the door handle and entered. Under the ambient lamp light, you couldn’t see who the guest was, but in a minute, your eyes could percept the line. Until it hits you.

This wasn’t the guest. It was Ran, who was sleeping, sprawled onto a king size bed. His room was slightly cold, yet a bit messy. Full of porn magazines and adult films. And the laptop rested beside him.

Approaching, you try to wake him and reached for the laptop. The screen turned out to be you and him together. Seeing him up close struck you speechless. Though speechless, your heart is still alive, alive with adoration. Even he isn’t wearing a two-braided hair, with his loose lengthy hair spread across the pillows astonished you. His hair framed his face perfectly.

Nearly gasping, Ran’s body turned away from you. Your body ached for his touch. And so, you climbed onto the empty side of the bed with caution and wrapped your arms around him, still wearing the black dress and bold makeup. You didn’t care, you wanted his warmth even into the blankets you tucked yourself in.

I’m here, Ran.

I’m here.

•••••

Another day came, the sunrise glowed and basked against the walls, Ran’s eyes stirred awake. Groaning, he shifted his body for a droning and dreary day. When his arms shifted, he felt something grasped him.

Without screaming, Ran turned around and saw none other than you.

Taglist: @galactict3a @f1yh1gh @akemiixx01 @penguinlovestowrite @goldenbeskar @colored-tr-panels @mrssano04 @onyx-blossom @sehunnies-hunnie96

109 notes · View notes