#but then i try to n i always feel n also catch onto the social cues that they don't like me n r laughing at me

[0412lvr]

it is a struggle going forth between i need to form connections with people and please please don't acknowledge my presence

[munsonsmixtapes]

Saw you had requests! And this may be a trigger warning but it’s a fix I’ve thought about for months.

Eddie, bestie female reader. You are newer to Hawkins and go to a party with Eddie robin and Steve. Not big into drugs or drinking to stick with punch.

While Eddie is off making some money you’re not paying attention to your cup. And someone slips in something.

Soon you start to feel weird… and scared. Someone finds Eddie who is by your side in a second. Friends freak out your crying and scared possible culprit is found and Eddie wants to kick his ass but he is taking care of you. And then from there where ever you think it could lead? Ed’s taking you home but staying and helping you through your high/trip so sweet doesn’t even need to be secretly in love or it could be but nothing happens because… well after a scary thing like that… no thanks.

Idk it’s been stuck in my head and again don’t write if you’re not comfortable.

Im not going to anon because I’m afraid I may miss if you do write. But again if not that’s totally okay!

Hey, thanks so much for your request!

Word count: 1,723

CW: reader gets roofied, let me know if there’s anything I missed!

Eddie x bestie!fem!reader

You looked around Steve’s house which was filled a bunch of people you didn’t know. You hadn’t really liked parties, but Eddie had begged you to go and you found yourself unable to say no to him. He was just so cool and pretty that you wanted to do whatever he asked when he flashed you those doe brown eyes.

You were still new to town and in no position to pass up friends so that meant hanging around people you didn’t like just so full your social circles. People like Brad were who you despised the most. He had been trying to sleep with you for months only to be met by rejection. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, approaching you every chance he got and that night hadn’t been an exception.

“Hey,” he smiled, leaning over the back of the couch. Eddie was always quick to jump to your defense, but of course he was nowhere to be found, taking an opportunity to sell, it being a huge party and all.

You ignored him, looking down at the red plastic cup in your hand. Eddie had given you some punch that had just been a bunch of different types of alcohol mixed with some juice. You didn’t drink much so it was perfect, the juice completely covering up the bitter alcohol taste that you weren’t a fan of.

You thought that not speaking to Brad would help him get the hint, but that only made him speak again. He took your silence as playing hard to get and goddamn was he determined to get you.

To Brad, you were just another body to use. He loved that you were innocent, having never slept with anyone. He just wanted to add yet another notch to his bedpost, wanting your name to be on the list of virgins he had fucked.

You had felt bad for the girls who had been desperate enough to sleep with Brad and you definitely weren’t going to be one of them. He was gross and you had eyes for only one man. That man being nowhere to be found when you needed him.

You hadn’t been paying attention and Brad had slipped something into your drink, quickly moving away before anyone could catch him. If you wouldn’t say yes, he was going to take matters into his own hands.

But Robin had caught him and hurried over to you to stop you from drinking the now contaminated juice. You had already taken a sip before she was able to get to you. She watched in horror as you swallowed the liquid and quickly took the cup from you. She pulled you in the kitchen to keep an eye on you and poured the juice down the sink.

She then grabbed onto Steve who just so happened to also be in the kitchen and turned him around to face her, panic in her eyes.

“Hey, what’s going on?” He could see the look on her face and started to worry. Robin was known to freak out on a regular basis, but this was different. He could feel it. Something was wrong.

“Y/n was roofied.” He felt his knees go weak at her words and looked at you for any signs of sickness, but you seemed fine. It was only a matter of time before the symptoms took over.

“I’m gonna go get Eddie. Take her to your room,” she told him, looking around the house for the curly head of hair.

Robin was quick to run from the kitchen, pushing through all of the partygoers to find the metal head. She didn’t have much time and it didn’t help that Steve’s house was packed and there was no trace of Eddie anywhere.

Steve took you to his room so you could have some quiet. You already felt dizzy, having trouble walking, feeling like the place was spinning. Everything was distorted and didn’t look right.

You continued you to try to walk but fell to the floor, the drugs in your system quickly taking over. You fell face first in the foyer and people were quick to part like the Red Sea as you laid there in the middle of them.

Everyone just stared at you while Steve was picked. He looked down at your face to see that your nose was red from where it hit the floor. He carried you up the stairs and to his room, hoping that Eddie was going to be there soon. You were fading fast and you looked so scared, it was terrifying to him. He didn’t know you as well as Eddie, but you were his friend and he hated seeing you like that. So scared and helpless.

Steve opened the door and closed it behind him with his foot before carefully laying you on his bed. His heart was racing and he was wondering where the fuck Eddie was. It didn’t take long to get to his room no matter when in the house you were coming from.

Steve sat you up against his headboard, making sure you didn’t fall asleep. He laid next to you awkwardly, not taking his eyes off of you.

“I need Eddie,” you slurred. Steve wanted Eddie too. He was the only one who always knew what you needed. Steve was going to try his best, but he was terrified for you. He couldn’t imagine going through something so scary.

“Eddie’s coming sweetheart. He’ll be here in a second.” Steve wasn’t sure how sure his statement was true, but he was going to believe it anyway.

The door burst open and Eddie and Robin rushed into the room. She sat on the bed next to Steve while Eddie made a beeline for you. He took you into his arms and the two of you slowly lowered yourselves to the floor. You cried into his chest and he let you, knowing how scared you were. You needed to let it out and he was going to let you talk about it if you wanted to.

Robin and Steve made themselves scarce, wanting to give to two of you some space. Eddie pulled you onto the bed and you cuddled up into his side, feeling nothing but dizzy. Everything was doubled and you had to close your eyes so it would go away, but it didn’t. It only got worse when you closed your eyes.

“I’m so fucking sorry, sweetheart. I should have been there with you.” Eddie was going to blame himself for the rest of his life. Sure, if he had been with you, you wouldn’t have been drugged, but it wasn’t his fault. It was just horrible incident and the only person to blame was Brad.

“Eddie, it’s okay,” you slurred. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve been paying more attention.” He was getting angry that you were blaming yourself. It wasn’t your fault at all. You should have been able to have a drink without worrying whether there were drugs in it or not.

“No,” he said a bit too harshly, sitting up he so could look you in the eyes. “None of this is your fault, y/n. It’s Brad’s.”

“Exactly,” you opened your eyes. “So you shouldn’t be blaming yourself. You should be allowed to leave me for a few minutes without worrying about me.”

“I always worry about you. You’re my best friend. That’s my job. And I didn’t do my job for one night and something horrifying happened to you, y/n. You were assaulted.” That word made it sound so much worse. You knew that was what happened to you, but didn’t really have time to think about it until Eddie had said it.

Just because Brad hadn’t done anything to you physically didn’t mean that you weren’t a victim. Eddie wanted you to know the severity of what had happened and wanted to you to know that you had every right to feel scared.

You fell silent after that, the words heavy between the two of you. Your heart rate quickened as everything set it. You didn’t want to believe it, very much in denial of the severity of the situation. In your mind, if you didn’t acknowledge it, it wasn’t actually happening.

You slowly drifted to sleep and Eddie kept an eye on you to make sure you were okay. He felt sick seeing you like that. You hadn’t been acting like yourself and even after your discussion, he was still blaming himself for what had happened to you. He’d get over it eventually, but for now, he was going to let himself drown in his guilt.

You woke up the next morning from the sun shining through the window. You felt so much better, but you were still a little groggy. You sat up and panicked when Eddie wasn’t by your side but let out a sigh of relief when you saw him sitting at Steve’s desk. He had some toilet paper in his nose and a bag of frozen peas was sitting onto top of one of his hands, his other hand of top of the bag.

He smiled when he looked at you and you returned it, his smile always infections. You eyed the peas once more and wondered what had happened while you were asleep. It seemed like Eddie was always up to trouble.

“What did you do this time?”

“I punched Brad.” He said the words so proudly and for once, you didn’t feel like scolding him. If anyone deserved to have the shit punched out of them, it was him. He deserved a lot more, but you were going to take what you could get as far as his ass kickings went.

“Steve helped. We went to his house this morning and taught him a lesson about dragging women before calling the cops. They arrested him an hour later so he’s definitely not to be bothering you anymore.”

You didn’t think anyone had done something so nice for you. Unbeknownst to you, Eddie would have done anything for you. He would have even left Brad alone if you asked.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You walked over to him and planted yourself in his lap. He wasn’t caught off guard at first, but arm quickly wrapped around your waist while you rested your head on his shoulder.

“I know,” he nodded. “But I wanted to. And that was the least that fucking dick deserved.” It was true, and even though you would probably never to get over what had happened to you, knowing that Brad was behind bars made you feel a whole lot better.

[pandorasprongs]

JAMIE TARTT | comfort crowd, you can always count.

PAIRING: jamie tartt x fem!reader

WORD COUNT: 5.5k

SUMMARY: reader gets cheated on and jamie, whose trying to be a better friend and person, decides to help her out by hiding her phone for the day.

WARNINGS: mentions of cheating, language

A/N: first time writing something full length but i hope you guys enjoy this! sorry for the length but feel free to give any comments! (also, pretend that jamie continued to see dr. sharon after she leaves the team like ted did) EDIT: changed the title which is now based on the song comfort crowd by conan gray :)

As a physical therapist for a football team, there could be a multitude of reasons why a coach would call you down during training. Maybe someone twisted their ankle or landed on their foot the wrong way. Maybe it was because they did that stupid red string drill again. You really didn’t want to explain all over again that treating that was not your area of expertise. 

Luckily, everything seemed to be going smoothly as you walked onto the field and find the team doing their regular drills. All, except one player. You find Ted and Jamie in the middle of an argument — well, more of Ted joking around while Jamie was whining about something, the usual — and you approach them.

"Hi Coach, Jamie." You greet them, before asking Ted why he called for you. Without a verbal response, he surprises you by tossing an object to you. You swiftly catch it and dodge Jamie as he tries to reach out and grab it. You look down to see Jamie's phone.

You turn curiously to Ted who finally explains what is going on. "Our star player here," he rests his hand on Jamie’s shoulder, "managed to sneak his phone onto the pitch during training." At this point, poor Jamie is practically scowling. 

You try and hide your amusement, though can't help but let out a small laugh. Even with how he was acting right now, he still looked cute. Objectively, of course. Everyone on the team knew you had a boyfriend back home, so none of them ever tried something. That didn't mean you couldn't admire the aesthetics of the players. Well, a player. 

You started working at the club a little after Jamie went back to Man City, but everyone was pretty clear about their grievances with the guy, especially after the team got relegated. You vaguely remember Colin saying something about a jaundiced worm? So when he returned, you made sure to steer clear of him outside of your work obligations. Your feelings towards him were more apathy than anything else. But, once he started to get along with the team, that was basically your go signal to be nicer to him. 

In truth, you probably knew more about Jamie than you needed to, given how often he visits the treatment room. Even if it was just a small cramp or ache, he would request a quick check-up or PT session to make sure he can still play. During those times, you would end up chatting with him and talking about whatever was going on in both of your lives. That's probably why Ted decided to give the phone to you since he knew that you were one of the only people Jamie wouldn't wrestle to get it back.

"Now, why don't you hold on to that and Jamie can swing by your office to get it after practice, yeah?" Ted instructs you and you're more than happy to oblige.

"Sure thing, Coach." You smile as you slide his phone into your back pocket. You turn to Jamie who now has a defeated look on his face. "See you later, Jamie."

"Yeah, yeah," He responded, as you leave to go back to the treatment room. 

A few hours later, their training finished and the team was getting ready to go home. You contemplated going down and returning Jamie's phone yourself, but why make it easier for him? Since none of the players needed any treatment that day and all the records were backed up and updated, you spent most of the day aimlessly scrolling through your phone and the computer in the office. 

You liked looking through social media to see what your friends and family were doing back home. It was hard being away from them for so long, but it was always a dream of yours to go abroad. When you got the offer to work for Richmond, you just couldn't pass it up. Luckily, the daily calls and messages from your parents, friends, and your boyfriend Matt, helped treat the homesickness a little bit. Though recently, Matt's were much more scattered. You didn't think much of it, assuming that he was just busy at work.

You were starting to pack up for the day when you hear a ping from your phone. You expect it to be a message from Matt checking in on you, but instead, see a message from one of your best friends. ‘Hey! Heard about you and Matt, I'm so sorry. I know you're busy with your new life in England, but I'm always here if you need to talk.’

Both confusion and anxiety fill you as you finish reading the text. Why would she be sorry? You send a quick ‘???’ before three dots appear on her end.

‘I'm at a party rn and I saw Matt with a new girl? He said you guys broke up ages ago.’

You feel your heart racing. There's no way he would do that. It's Matt, for Christ's sake! You've been together since college and your relationship has survived worse things than long distance. Your lack of response prompts your friend to send another message — ‘I'm so sorry this is how you found out’, — along with a picture this time. Your hands are trembling as you open it and you see Matt in the background making out with another girl. 

That was enough to break the dam. You feel tears pooling in your eyes blurring your vision. You turn off your phone and just let the tears fall. It was already late, so there was less chance of someone walking in on you at such a low moment. Except, you forgot that you were still holding onto something.

Jamie, your most frequent visitor, didn't bother to knock and simply barged in. "Okay! Training’s over, it's time to return what's mine. Where are you keeping it hostage?" He greeted jokingly, which you couldn't even chuckle at.

You grabbed his phone from your desk drawer and reached out your hand for him to take it without even looking up. He accepts it gratefully and you swear you even hear him give it a kiss. He continued to celebrate before asking if you looked through it by any chance. You shake your head, more furiously than you intended, and hope that it was enough to get him to leave. But Jamie knew you better than you thought. Your slumped position and the fact you hadn't looked at him this whole time were good hints, but when he heard your quiet sniffles, he knew for sure.

"Fuck, are you crying?" You shake your head again, even more desperate for him to leave. Yes, you were comfortable around him, but having a breakdown in front of someone is at least a level 5 friendship type of thing.

You feel him spin the chair to make you face him. You still don't look up from your position, continuing to pick at your fingernails. He crouches down to your level and places his hands on your shoulders to try and comfort you. When you still don't look up at him, he finally asks, "What happened?"

"Just some stupid shit, Jamie. Don't worry." You respond shakily, as you try and wipe the tears from your eyes. 

"It can't be that stupid if you're crying at work about it." You let out a weak laugh and finally look up at him. His features are much softer than usual, even giving you a smile as you face him. Not his usual cocky smirks he does when he scores a goal or when he jokingly flirts with you. A genuine smile, one that helped ease your sadness a little bit.

At this point, Jamie has already seen your puffy face that for sure has obvious tear streaks, — you always hate how red your face gets when you cry — so how much of a stretch would it be to just tell him what's going on? You reach back for your phone which still has your friend’s chat open and hand it to him.

It takes a few seconds before Jamie realizes what's going on. "Oh, fuck."

He returns the phone to your hands, but not a second later, he's already enveloping you in a hug. It's hard to ignore how this is the first time you've ever had physical contact with Jamie outside of your PT sessions and it's even harder to not feel embarrassed of the reason why.

"I'm so sorry," He whispers and you can't help but laugh as you remove yourself from him.

"Why are you saying sorry? It's not like you're the one who cheated on me. It's that dipshit over there in the photo." You emphasize the last word as you return your phone to the table. "I don't even know why I held on so long. I just hoped that we could make it, you know? We’ve been together for years!" You start, trying to hold back tears as you explain it to Jamie. "What makes it more shitty is that he didn't even have the balls to break it off with me first."

You sigh, "You know what, maybe it's me. Maybe I shouldn't have gone halfway across the world without him. If I didn't, then—"

"No, fuck that!" Jamie interrupts you as he stands up, his eyebrows knitting together in annoyance. "If anyone's at fault, it's him. You didn't do shit, so stop blaming yourself."

You can't help but be surprised at how passionate Jamie is about this, his tone reminding you of Roy. It must've shown on your face because Jamie takes a step back. "Sorry if I shouted,"

You laugh. "No, it's fine. You're right, fuck him." You get up from your chair and start collecting your stuff. Once you're ready to leave, you turn once again to the football player. "Thanks, by the way. See you tomorrow, Jamie."

As you make your way to the door, Jamie stops you. "Wait, how are you getting home?"

"Oh, I usually just walk." You respond, rubbing your nose.

"No way. Come on, I'm driving you." Jamie declares and before you can even protest, he's grabbed your hand and dragging you out of the treatment room.

"Jamie, I am perfectly capable of walking home." You remind him as the two of you make it to the parking lot. It is already dark out and definitely colder than you expected, but you remain unfazed. You didn't want to burden the football player anymore, but when had Jamie ever not been stubborn?

"I'm sure you are, but I've been working on being a good person, so who am I to let a girl walk home alone this late?" When Jamie opened the door of the passenger side for you and did a small bow, you rolled your eyes.

"You know, most good people don't say they're good people." You point out as you finally give in and sit in the car. 

"I told you I'm working on it." He reminds you as he closes your door. You chuckled, as you make yourself comfortable. You knew that all the players including Jamie had expensive and extravagant cars, but you didn't realize how nice it was even in the interior. 

You don't have enough time to admire the inside though, as Jamie gets into the driver's seat and starts the car. He instructs you to put on your seatbelt in his usual Mancunian accent which makes you laugh. The last time someone reminded you to put on your seatbelt was when your mom was visiting and you had to take a taxi back to your flat.

You input your address on his phone and finally leave the parking lot. The drive to your house was quiet, and you weren't sure if it was an awkward or comfortable silence. Maybe somewhere in between, given that Jamie didn't seem too bothered by it. It took around 10 minutes before either of you said anything since you spent that time looking through your phone.

You went through your friends' posts and notice a lot of them were at that party. In almost all of them, Matt was with that girl. You don't even recognize her, so if she was at that party, it meant that he brought her with him.

You decide to take your mind off it and finally asked something that has been on your mind since you left. "Jamie, why are you being so nice to me?"

You see him get ready to give his whole "trying to be a better person” speech and stop him. "I get you are trying to improve yourself, but you didn't have to offer to drive me home."

"Did you really want to walk home tonight?" He glances at you quickly, before turning back to the road. Truthfully, you didn't. 

Despite having lived in London for a few months, it still took an abnormal amount of focus to navigate the town. Not to mention the care it takes to make sure you don't get hit by a car by looking at the wrong side. You were in no state to make it home by yourself.

Noticing your silence, Jamie took that as your answer. "Look, we're friends, yeah? As my friend, I wouldn't want to leave you roaming the city by yourself and not being sure if you'd get home safe." You smile but keep your head straight.

He adds, "Plus, you just got your heart broken. Part of me’s worried you'd just end up in a pub and fuck someone to get over him."

You turn to him shock and punch his shoulder. "Jamie, is that what you think of me? That I'd go and find the first guy willing to sleep with me and go home with him?"

"It's what I would do!" You roll your eyes. Sometimes, you forget that the old Jamie is still in there, the him that can be a total prick. Most of the time he only came out during games, but turns out there isn’t a definite on-and-off switch for it.

"Well, I'm not Jamie fucking Tartt. But you're right, I probably would've gotten lost and ended up in a bar." You finally admit and turn to look out the window and sigh.

Jamie must've sensed something and quickly apologizes. "Hey, I didn't actually mean that. I know you wouldn't find a one-night stand. I mean, to be honest, I haven't had one in a while either, so I don't know why—"

You cringe and urge him to stop. "Jamie, it's fine. I know you don't mean it like that." He relaxes and nods his head, causing you to let out a small laugh at how nervous he was to make you feel bad. 

"But thank you," You say as he turns the corner to your flat. As he stops the car, you unbuckle your seatbelt and turn to him. "for you know, being a good friend."

You see the footballer give you a smile, a genuine one like before. Soon after though, he asks, "Could I get that in writing? I need proof for Dr. Sharon."

You roll your eyes as you get out. "Good night, Jamie." 

You walk into the building and only hear the car leave once you close the door behind you. You go up to your flat and you've never been so happy to see your bed. You take off your shoes but don't even bother changing. You spend the next few hours scrolling through whatever posts you could find that have Matt in them.

—

It's been a few weeks since that night, but your habits are even worse than before. Checking Matt's posts, looking at what his friends are saying, even stalking his new girlfriend's account was basically part of your daily routine. She's fucking beautiful too, much to your dismay. 

It's even starting to affect your work. If he hadn't shrieked in pain, you would've twisted Richard's foot off. All you were thinking about that session was the post you saw. It was a picture of Matt and the girl with the caption, ‘my favorite girl ;)’

You apologized profusely to Richard and check to make sure you didn't do too much damage. You spend the rest of the session thinking about something else. Anything else, like how nice the weather has been. How well the team's doing. How empty your bedroom wall looks now that you took off all the pictures with Matt. Fuck.

The next day, you head to the locker room to talk to Richard and to also see if anyone needs any treatment. You sit on the bench nearest to the door as you wait for the whole team. You quickly greet the players passing by you, but can't take your eyes off your phone. That is until someone rips it from your grasp.

"Hey!" You look up to see Jamie in some of his usual clothes. Dark tie-die hoodie, his 'ICON' hat, and the fanny pack where he puts your phone in. He ignores your protest and simply replied, "You're blocking my locker."

"Jamie, give it back!" You stand up and try and grab his bag, but he quickly takes it off and throws it to Ted, who had just walked out of his office. He catches it and turns to the two of you in surprise.

"You mind keeping that in your office, Coach? Need to keep this one," Jamie slings his arm on your shoulders, "away from it."

You try and plead with Ted, but he was already throwing it to Beard who shoved it in his desk drawer and locked it without question. You plop down on the bench in defeat, but not without glaring up at Jamie.

"Jamie, I will never forgive you for this." You say as seriously as you can, but it only makes him laugh. 

"You'll get it back at the end of the day." He says as he moves to take off his hoodie. You leave him to get ready and head to Richard to give him some ointment for his ankle if it bloats (you can't help but notice him flinch when you come near), before heading to the treatment room to get your treatment bag. If you weren't going to have your phone this whole time, might as well find entertainment on the pitch.

You reach the pitch and settle down next to Will, who was setting up. You make small talk with the kitman as the team starts to make their way to the pitch for training. You watch Jamie pass by, who then turns around and stops in front of you. "What are you doing down here?"

"Do you really have to ask?”

"So you'll be here for all of training?" He asks, and you nod in response. "Okay then, enjoy the view." Jamie winks at you and you only roll your eyes, as he gives you a confident smirk before joining his teammates.

If he had done that a month ago, you wouldn't have batted an eye. It's just Jamie being Jamie, right? But after breaking up with Matt and how kind Jamie was that night, it's almost like his little habits have a new meaning. 

Walking with you when you arrive at the same time, bringing you his extra pastries when he gets free muffins from the girl who runs the nearby bakery, and even what he did today. It pissed you off, yeah, but you had to admit that it was for the better. Can't be tempted to check Matt's page if you don't have anything to check it with, right? 

But you shake it off. Jamie's just a friend, a really attractive, kind, and fun to be around friend. Even if you were starting to like him — which you weren't, — it didn't matter. Jamie didn't see you like that. He's just trying to be a better person and him helping you was just a way for him to do that.

You spend the rest of your morning watching training, either being entertained by their game or looking out for any of the players getting injured. It was pretty light drills given that they had a game soon. If you weren't doing that, you were listening to Will talking about what he planned on doing during the weekend. He even invited you to a nice jazz bar, which you kindly declined.

Once they were out for their lunch break, you leave your treatment bag there since you'd be back anyway for the afternoon training. You wave goodbye to Will before walking back inside the building. As some of the players pass by you, you compliment how well they're doing in training which is met by a chorus of thank you's.

You almost open the door to the treatment room, when you hear someone call out your name. You see Jamie jogging towards you. "How's the phone drought going?"

"Well, I would've used it to call my best friend who is halfway across the world and eat lunch with them, but as you know," you shrug, watching a hint of guilt grow on the football player’s face. "I'm kidding. What's up?"

"Do you wanna go out for lunch? Keeley said there's a nice Italian place down the road from here." He explained.

"Did she also say to post it on your socials?" You add and when he takes a second to answer, you both laugh. "Sure, sounds fun. Though, I'm not taking any pictures of you." Jamie exaggerates his disappointment, placing his hand on his chest and groaning as if he's just gotten shot.

Jamie puts on a sweatshirt to hide his kit — as if that's the only way people would recognize him — before the two of you head over to the restaurant. It was way too packed to get a table so you guys decide to order take-out and eat it at your office instead.

You guys make your way back to the building, talking about the most random things. Jamie mentioned how a fan had seen him at a restaurant and spent fifteen minutes explaining and analyzing how the footballer could've won Lust Conquers All. You mentioned how much you loved Vanilla ice cream because when your parents would buy the Neapolitan ice cream, — the 3-in-1 deal was hard to resist — it was the only flavor your brothers hadn't completely devoured by the time you got some.

It didn't stop when you made it back to the building and had your lunch. As always, Keeley knew the perfect places to endorse. The Carbonara pasta from the place was absolutely delicious and after trading some for Jamie's meal, the Chicken and Mushroom Risotto might even taste better. 

You had taken a picture of the food before you started eating, but Jamie needed a picture of himself with the food for his post. Despite your statement earlier, you decide to take a picture for him anyway, for Keeley. As you took multiple shots, you started joking around to get him to make a genuine smile. Jokes ranged from ones about the sounds his teammates made during sessions and ones about the old celebration videos of Ted. You finally get a satisfying picture and call Jamie over. He leans over your shoulder and you feel the heat rising in your face. 

"Looks good," He says before sitting back down in his chair. You return his phone to him and continue to eat your Carbonara before you hear a shutter sound. You look up to see Jamie taking pictures of you. You try and (fail to) cover the camera as it’s your turn to laugh at the jokes Jamie was making. "Here, some photos of you if you feel like posting. You look nice,"

You try and ignore the feeling you get after he said that. "Thanks, Jamie. You mind sending those to me when I get my phone back?" He chuckles and nods.

The two of you continue to spend the lunch together till you had to get back on the pitch. It was only while walking did you realize that you didn't think of Matt the entire lunch time. You don't know if Jamie had been doing it on purpose, but if he was, he was doing a great job at helping you forget him. Like a good friend.

The second half of training was even more relaxed than the first, so no emergency situations for you to deal with. Sam was getting cramps after training though, so you decided to have a session with him before leaving for the day. You wait outside till most of the players had changed to find Jamie.

You see him fastening his fanny pack as he leaves the locker room and you reach out to grab it. But he's quicker. "Nope, don't you have a PT session with Sam? Your day isn't over just yet." That said football player was still changing, so you still had some time.

"Aren't you heading home soon?" You continue to try and reach over Jamie's broad chest to take it but to no avail.

"I can wait. Look, Sam's ready." You turn around to see Sam in a nice collared shirt and his spare training shorts. He'd only brought jeans to change and it's pretty difficult to treat him in them, so you'd asked him to wear whatever shorts he had. 

You give him a smile and lead him to the treatment room, not without giving Jamie a less-than-polite gesture. You hear him chuckle — “Guess you really want me to be a prick, huh?” — as you close the door behind you.

Sam said the cramps weren't too bad, but you still wanted to be thorough in case they came back later tonight. It took around 45 minutes, and Sam seemed much better afterward.

"Thank you so much," Sam said as he sat up from his position. "and sorry for holding you up, I know how much you want to go home before leaving for the game tomorrow."

"It's alright, Sam. It's my job to make sure you guys are fit and ready for all your matches. Good luck, yeah?" Sam thanks you again and hops down from the treatment table, grabbing his jacket and heading out. You stretch your back and relax before you hear the door open again.

You don't have to look up to know who it is. "Thank God, where's my phone, Tartt?"

Jamie lets out an exaggerated gasp. "We back to last-name basis now?" He tosses your phone to you, and you find multiple messages waiting. You decide to check them on the way home and slide your phone into your back pocket.

"I already sent the pics I took earlier, plus my own, in case you ever want to print it and hang it on your wall." You give up even rolling your eyes at him. You grab the bag that you fixed before the session and start heading out the door. Jamie appears at your side as you walk to the parking lot.

"Deja vu, huh?" You say as Jamie's car is the only one in the parking lot.

"Feel like going for a joyride?" He says as you turn to face him.

Your eyebrows knit together. "We’re going to be stuck on a bus for hours tomorrow. Don't you want to go home and rest or something?"

He checks his watch and shrugs. "We still got time." He leads you to the car, but this time you open the door for yourself and slide in.

You watch Jamie start the car without putting an address into his phone. As the two of you buckle your seatbelt and leave, you start to scroll through your texts. 

Your unread messages were made up of your parents sending pictures from their spontaneous date, one of your brothers asking for a video message from Isaac for his son's birthday, and your friends trying to organize a trip to visit you. 

You reply to as many of the messages as you can before you notice that Matt still hasn't sent you anything. No apology, explanation, or anything. You take a deep breath and finally unfollow him and the rest of his friends. You feel like a weight has been lifted off of you. You put the final nail in the coffin when you blocked his number. This is it, and you've never felt better.

You look up and realize that you don't recognize any of your surroundings. You turn to Jamie who is still unfazed by it, looking straight ahead. 

"Jamie, if this good friend thing was all just some elaborate ruse to bring me to the middle of nowhere and murder me, you are obligated to tell me right now."

Jamie lets out a laugh. "Calm down, will you? We're here," You turn toward the dashboard and see some people walking on the sidewalk. At least there's still civilization here. He stops the car and parks it in front of this beautiful garden. 

You get out of the car and walk towards the gate. Even with the dim lights, the place looks much more lively than the rest of the area. The entire garden is a mix of various flowers and plants, colors ranging from relaxing white and green to some brighter ones like violet and yellow. Jamie opens the gate for the both of you as you look around in awe. The two of you walk over to one of the benches in front of a small lake bordered by a fence. Despite its main purpose of making sure no one falls in, it doesn't seem out of place in the area.

"You know, if you were planning on murdering me, I wouldn't mind dying in a place like this." You turn to Jamie as you sit down. He gives you a small smile before settling next to you. "How'd you even find this place?"

Jamie hesitated for a minute, and you quickly add, "You don't have to tell me if it's too much." Jamie shakes his head and sighs.

"Back when I just got back to Richmond, I still had a lot of shit to make up for. Everyone still hated me, and I didn't really know what to do. I was pissed that they didn't want to give me a chance, so I tried to talk to Keeley about it. She brought me to Dr. Sharon." You knew that a lot of the players were seeing her when she worked here, but you didn't realize that even Jamie was seeing her.

"She knew I was trying, but said it didn't help that I'd get riled up during games and sometimes go back to my old habits like hogging the ball, so she told me to find something or someplace to relax before them. I drove around that night and just went around till I found this place. It was like a mini field of flowers like the ones in Amsterdam that my mom took me to when I was a kid."

"I go here every night before a game or before we leave for an away game and just sit here, looking at the lake and the flowers. It relaxes me, I guess." Jamie looks down and starts playing with his hands, and you see a version of the football player that you've never seen before. This Jamie is vulnerable, quiet, nervous even. He was sharing a part of himself and you’d be a massive prick if you made him feel bad about it.

You reach out and grab his hand and enclose it with both of yours. You keep your eyes on him as he looks up to meet them. You smile at him and hope it eases his nerves even just a little bit like he did for you back then. It does, as seen in how his shoulders relax afterward.

"Thanks for sharing this with me, Jamie. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone else and you can continue to keep this place all to yourself." You nudge him with your shoulder before standing up to look at the lake. It almost looked like the water was glowing, illuminating the fish swimming in it.

Jamie moves to stand next to you. You two are both quiet for a beat, before he interlaces your fingers again, "Maybe not all to myself." You turn to him and see his expression, a mix of his usual confident self but the vulnerability from a while ago. Without thinking, you lean in to kiss him.

If it caught him by surprise, he didn't show it. Jamie kisses you back, more enthusiastically than you expected. You let go of his hand and interlace your fingers behind his neck. His hands travel down to your waist and you feel him smile against you. Your back presses against the railing as he continues to deepen the kiss and holds you closer to him to steady you. Your senses kick in and finally pull away when you realize that you're in public.

"Shit Jamie, not here," You whisper, looking around to see if anyone caught you making out with AFC Richmond's star player.

"You wanna head back to your place?" That's what makes you push him away and he chuckles. 

"Take me out on a few dates." You give him a quick kiss on the lips before walking back to the car. "Maybe I'll consider it then."

[tieronecrush]

hot & heavy

chapter ten: a hidden gem, my own goldmine

neighbor!joel x f!reader

series masterlist

series rating: E (18+ MDNI)

series summary:

over the course of three summers, joel miller becomes woven into your life. the first summer is spent falling for him; nannying his daughter and sneaking around with him in a burning love affair. you know how you feel about joel, he isn’t so sure about how it all is gonna work. the second summer is brief. a month spent at home after graduation and before you move to boston for your dream job. one look at you, one time hearing your voice, and joel is hooked again. he pines over you for that month, but you think — how is long distance of over a thousand miles going to work for a single dad? the third summer, you return home burnt out and pride bruised from your post-grad life. you need time to feel at home again, like your complete self, so you’ve come back home with no return ticket booked. it’s only a matter of time before joel seeks you out, slowly spending more time with you. without an inevitable end to the summer looming over you both, what chances are you willing to take?

word count: 10k

warnings: NO OUTBREAK (don’t need to worry about the mushies), no use of y/n, inexperienced reader, age gap (joel is 30/31, reader is 22), canon-divergent (sarah is 7 y/o), nanny au, pet names (sweetheart, darling, sweet girl, mariposa, etc.), polite southern manners, feeling familial and self-pressure, ESTABLISHED relationship FINALLY, spanish cause joel is latino, fingering, unprotected p in v, dirty talkkk king joel miller, soft (and soft dom) joel, possessive joel, mentions of depression diagnosis and symptoms, struggling with self, discussion of co-parenting, angst, MAJOR doubt! and a slumber party! yay!

a/n: thank you as always to the bestie/cousin/sister wife/sweet, sweet gf @northernbluess for beta-reading this chapter, seriously i can't write without you so you're stuck with me. also this chapter is a little heavier in spanish then before, so if there are any corrections needed, please comment or message me! i went through multiple translations to try to find the best/most common, but things are bound to slip through the cracks.

Joel’s been catching up with some chores around the house this evening after Sarah’s gone to bed: dishes are washed and put away, counters wiped down and floors mopped. He reset the living room after he put the laundry in the dryer, settling onto the couch with a long sigh. Hands rub at his tired eyes, muscles aching for his bed but he is determined to stay up until you text him that you’re back at your friend’s house safe.

A few of your friends from college ended up with jobs in Austin, and tonight you’d all arranged to go out downtown. You had, sweetly, invited Joel to tag along but when you mentioned that the only other guys there would be boyfriends of your friends that were your age, he politely declined. Well, he used his daughter as an excuse because he didn’t want to admit that he was a little insecure about the age difference, even still.

It’s not even a large one, you’re twenty-five  and he’s thirty-three, but with a nearly ten year old kid and his own business, he’s willing to bet he’s in a much different place in life than your friends' significant others. And if there isn’t a lot of common ground, Joel knows he’s not the most social or conversational.

Resting his eyes, his head rolls back onto the couch while the TV drones on about the latest Astros game. A short buzz from his phone in his pocket peels his eyes open, yawning quietly as he fishes the device out and flips it open.

FROM: Mariposa

Cn u pcik me up pLs????

While deciphering your drunk text, another couple are delivered and he keys down to see them as he chuckles at the antics. 

I miiss u

Eveynoe is w their BFs n I wnt mine 

Plesaseeeeeee J

Before he can type a response to you, an incoming call blocks out his screen, his thumb hitting the accept button quickly and bringing the phone to his ear.

“Feelin’ alright, Mari?”

A hiccup on the other line makes him laugh quietly again, your voice coming in over the music and people in the background, “No, not alright. M’sad.”

“Why’re you sad, sweet girl?”

“Cause you’re not here. Every—everybody’s…No I didn’t want a vodka water, gross! I wanna vodka soooooda with lime…Oops, sorry J. What was I saying?” A giggle from your end pulls a smile on his face, only slightly worried at your level of intoxication.

“You were telling me why you’re sad.”

“Right! M’sad cause all my friends have got their boy—” One hiccup. “Boyfriends here. And you’re aaaallllll the way at home.” Another hiccup. “I wanna be home with you.”

“I see. Well, I don’t want you to be sad, darlin’, so m’gonna come pick you up. How’s that sound?”

He hears a gasp into the phone and your voice gets quieter, imagining you holding the phone or turning your head away to a nearby friend.

“He’s coming! Jus’ to pick me up though, we gotta get back for Sar—Sarah…Yeah, she’s so cute…Well, yeah duh, he’s a DILF…I mean, to me I guess he’d be a DIAF…‘Dad I Am Fucking’…Oh, shit!” There’s a rustling as he laughs to himself overhearing your conversation, a smug smile on his face from you bragging to your friends. “M’sorry, J, god I totally forgot I was on the phone!” You punctuate your sentence with an incredulous laugh before quieting down to hear Joel.

“That’s alright, Mari. M’gonna drop Sarah with Tommy and then come and get you, okay? Can you tell me where you are?” Joel is already standing from the couch, grabbing his keys from the entryway before making his way upstairs to get Sarah into the car.

“Ummm…One sec!” The line rustles again while he stands at the top of the stairs. “Okay, we’re at that place on 11th, Nickel City.”

“Yeah, I know where that is, sweetheart. Be there soon, okay?”

“Okay. Tha—” One last hiccup. “—nks, J.”

“Anytime, amor. Anytime.”

With Sarah dropped off at Tommy’s, Joel goes into town to pick you up. It takes another twenty minutes from Tommy’s place, finding a parking spot not too far from the bar. He slips in the door and starts to comb his eyes over the crowd, most people stepping out of his way from his intimidating frame while he weaves through the masses.

Spotting you off to the side at a high-top table, some friends he recognizes from your photos dotted around the surface as well. You’re wrapped up in a conversation with the person next to you while you sit on a stool, Joel’s eyes finally landing on the person you’re talking to. It’s another man, about his height, maybe a few inches shorter. He’s got light hair, a clean-cut look with some fancy shirt on. Clearly, the guy is flirting with you, standing closer and leaning an arm around the back of your chair. Knowing how drunk you sounded over the phone, it occurs to him that you likely don’t even realize this guy’s body language, a primal possessiveness taking over his judgment. 

He’s waited years for you. There’s no way in hell he isn’t putting on a show for this guy to send him a message.

Joel rolls his shoulders back, chest raising with the corrective posture. He saunters over to the table, politely smiling and waving as your friends must recognize him and welcome him to the group. He walks right up to the other side of your chair, placing a hand on your lower back and brushing against the skin exposed by the tank top you’re wearing.

A small gasp exhales from you with the surprise contact, turning your head and beaming when you see him. The look makes the wings of his butterfly flap faster, beating in time with his heartbeat.

“You’re here! M’so happy to see you.” He matches your smile before he is crushed in a hug, your arms around his neck. Unraveling from each other, you turn back toward the other man, before one of your other friends comes over to tell you something, pulling you away but still within arm’s length for Joel to keep his hand on you.

Joel reaches his hand out toward the man,  “Nice to meet you…”

“Colton.”

“Nice to meet you, Colton. Are you one of the college friends?”

Colton gives a weak handshake to Joel, shaking his head with a laugh, “No, actually, never met any of ‘em until tonight. Well, except Taylor. M’relatively new to town, met Taylor through work, so you know how it is. Trying to make some connections.”

Joel has to hold back his eye roll, annoyance clear on his face at the skirting around that this Colton is doing. Joel’s heard it before from Tommy — going up to a girl and using the ‘new in town’ line to get a conversation started and to hopefully get them to leave with you to ‘show you around’.

Mine. You’re mine, he repeats to himself, the jealousy pumping in his veins.

“So’re you one of the college friends? Or an Austin friend?” Colton makes polite conversation while you turn in Joel’s arm and wrap your own around his back. Tugging on his t-shirt the fingers of one of your hands slip under the material and skim across his skin. Joel clears his throat, chuckling dryly as he keeps his gaze on Colton.

“Uh, not quite. M’the boyfriend.” His head nods to his side to you, a tight, smug smile on his face as he watches the gears in Colton’s head turn.

It’s not happening for him tonight. Or ever.

“Oh shit! You must be Joel! We’ve been waiting for you. I’ve just been making sure she’s had some water and didn’t wander off before you got here. She’s been talkin’ about you all night, made me think about how many times I’ve drunkenly ranted about my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, Taylor’s my girlfriend — she’s the one with blonde hair right across the table.” Colton beams down the way as Taylor makes eye contact with him, waving to the woman as she smiles back at him.

The man is a golden retriever. And Joel thought he was some douchebag trying to hook up with his girlfriend. Joel opens his mouth to apologize for his cold behavior, but before he can your head pops up from his chest, grabbing his attention. Hands at his back scratch your nails against his skin, humming contently as you press a sloppy kiss to his jaw.

Colton considers his duties relieved and goes to find his girlfriend before Joel can thank him, leaving the two of you at the end of the table. Joel pulls his chin in to look down at you, smiling softly and moving a hand to the back of your neck.

“You alright, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, jus’ happy you’re here. Missed you.”

Joe presses a kiss to your forehead and you hum again, swaying sleepily in his arms. “M’glad you called me, Mariposa.”

“Can we go home now please?”

“Yeah, Mari, ‘course we can. You want me to bring you to your house?” His hands move to your sides, running up and down against the fabric of your tank top. You hook your arms around his neck and shake your head, a tiny “humpf” accompanying it.

“No, home.”

“My house?”

“Yes! Home. Wanna sleep in your bed, s’comfier than mine.”

“Yeah, sweetheart, I can bring you home.”

A warm stirring is felt in his chest, steadying you in your stance and keeping an arm around your waist. You say goodbye to your friends, all of them waving to you both as Joel steers you through the bar and to his truck outside.

Joel calls Tommy on the way home, his brother telling him that Sarah’s out cold and he can bring her back in the morning when she wakes up. He presses for an answer about why Joel had to drop Sarah off, but Joel ignores Tommy’s question again and hangs up.

Safely back at his house, he helps you out of the truck and inside, walking behind you on the stairs as you stumble. It’s like a baby deer learning to walk — he’s never seen you this drunk, tipsy, sure, but never at this level. A smile crosses his face as he imagines a moment like this in the future with you, maybe after a night out for the two of you or maybe even after your wedding.

Your voice pulls him out of his thoughts, tripping over your feet at the landing and recovering on your own. His hand hovers at your back, ready to break your fall if it happens.

“I’m alright, m’alright. Jus’ tripped a lil’.”

To be safe, Joel holds your hips the rest of the way up and into his room, sitting you on the edge of the mattress and gathering a t-shirt from his drawers for you to wear to bed.

“No, I want the funny one that I like,” you whine, waving a hand back at his dresser. Joel shakes his head to himself, chuckling about the fact that you still have a preference for sleep attire.

He grabs the shirt you’re talking about, a worn and washed one that he got as a joke from Tommy a few years ago. He normally wears it to sleep himself, if he wears one, or around the house if he knows he won’t be going out. It’s faded black now, yellow text that reads ‘I do know it all…I just can’t remember it all at once.’

Upon finding it in his drawer last week, you laughed hysterically and made him put it on for a Polaroid. You’ve also requested it every time you’ve stayed over since. 

In front of you again, with the correct shirt, he kneels down and pats the outside of your thighs. “Can you stand for me, sweetheart?”

Using his shoulders as support, you stand on sea legs, swaying back and forth as he looks up at you. “Can I take off your skirt, darlin’?”

“Yeah, you can, cutie.” You giggle and sway wider, playing with the curls at the top of his head, turning his head to your will as he unbuttons and unzips your denim skirt. “You got some grays mixed in here, mister.”

“M’getting old, Mari. No surprises there.” He chuckles and helps you lift each foot to step out of the tube of material completely, rubbing a hand on your calf before he stands in front of you again. He’s faced with a pout, brows knit together in anger.

“You’re not getting old. You’re literally in your thirties. Not old.”

“Say that to the gray hairs then, sweetheart.”

“Gray hairs—“ Hiccup. “Mean nothing ‘sides the fact that you’re gonna be a silver fox. My silver fox.”

A content smile, closed lips, pulls the corners of your mouth up. Heavy eyelids cover your irises halfway, the sight of you so drunkenly drowsy is utterly adorable to him. Fingers grip the bottom of your tank top, kissing your forehead.

“Can I take off your shirt?”

“Take it all off, bay-beeee.” Your swaying causes you to stumble again, Joel catching you before you fall back onto the bed. Once you’re steady, your own hands slip under his shirt, running over his tummy while you press sloppy kisses into his neck. “Mm, want you so bad, J.”

“I love you, darlin’, and you know I want you all the time, but not tonight. You need to get some water and go to sleep. For a while.” A defeated sigh blows against his skin, rocking back on your heels and Joel holding your weight to bring you to stand straight again. “Arms up, baby.”

You comply without another ask, lifting your arms as if they’re heavy weights, allowing Joel to tug the material over your head. With a slight slap sound, your arms drop back against your sides. Joel takes off your bra for you and gets you into his t-shirt, giving you a small kiss. He walks you to your side of the bed, tucking you in.

“Be right back, sweet girl. Gonna get you some water and then you can go to sleep, okay?”

“Okay.” You sigh, nesting into the sheets and duvet. Your eyes close, soft hums filling the room as he runs downstairs, filling a glass of water and grabbing ibuprofen to leave at your bedside for the morning.

Returning to his room, he coaxed you to sit up, having you drink half the glass. He changes for bed himself, stripping down to his boxers and slipping under the covers, pulling you closer with an arm around your waist.

“G’night, Mari.”

“Mm, night, J. Thanks for coming to get me and bringing me home. Like sleeping next to you lots more than a sleepover with my friends…”

“Like sleeping next to you too, Mari. Missed you all night. M’glad you’re home now.”

“Nightie night.”

“Nightie night, sweet girl. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” He pinches your side playfully, breathing a laugh out of his nose at your yelp and squeezing you closer. With a kiss to the top of your head, he lulls you to sleep with his fingertips running up and down your spine, thoughts going right back to those flash images of a future with you.

“Love you, Mariposa.”

There’s an ache all over your body, eyes too sore and crusted over with sleep to peel open when you first wake up. Light peeks through the curtains, shining onto the bed and directly at your face, making you groan into the pillow and attempt to roll over.

Unfortunately, your body is telling you to get up, find water or pain meds or some coffee, you really wouldn’t be all too picky at this moment. Rolling over onto your back, you reach out to your side and feel bedding underneath your hand, pouting to yourself when you finally open your eyes and see Joel’s gone. As you sit up, you can hear the shower turn on in the bathroom attached to his bedroom and you can hear some quiet humming from the other side of the door. A smile crosses your face, the idea of a shower nestling itself in your mind and feeling like it would be the only thing to get rid of all of this hangover.

On the nightstand next to you, there are two burgundy-colored tablets and a half glass of water, vaguely remembering last night when Joel made you drink the other half before going to sleep. Washing down the ibuprofen with the entirety of the water, you start to recount what you can recall from the night before, cringing internally when you get to the point that Joel showed up to pick you up. You don’t really remember getting home, but looking down at the t-shirt you’re wearing clues you in that Joel must have done most of the work to get you into bed.

Slipping out from under the duvet, you set the empty glass back down and slink over to the bathroom, twisting the knob and opening the door. The squeak of the hinges breaks your sneaking attempt and Joel’s humming stops.

He speaks up over the sound of the water, “Mariposa? That you?”

“I sure hope no one else would be sneaking into the bathroom this morning. Unless you have another drunk girlfriend you had to pick up from the bar,” you laugh at the self-deprecating joke, picking up your toothbrush and squeezing out a dollop of toothpaste to clean your teeth. And to get rid of the taste of tequila lingering on your tongue.

The shower curtain slides back a bit and Joel’s head sticks out, goofy grin on his face with curls hanging on his forehead. “Nah, just got the one. How’re feeling this morning?”

“Like I got beat up by a bunch of vodka sodas and a couple of tequila shots.” Your words are muffled around the foamy toothpaste, leaning back against the counter facing him.

“Yeah, you were pretty drunk, darlin’. But it was honestly cute, you’re a funny drunk.”

Turning back toward the sink, you fold over the sink to spit out and rinse your mouth out, groaning softly, “God, please tell me I didn’t do or say anything embarrassing.”

“Nothin’ too bad, but there were some things that I will be committing to memory,” Joel laughs and winks, the noise getting louder as you groan again and roll your head back.

“This is the worst part about getting drunk. People holding stupid shit you said over your head.” Crossing your arms in front of your chest, you look at Joel across the few feet separating you and watch him shake his head and grin sweetly.

“I’ll tell you what you said, sweetheart, but I think you’re in too physically fragile of a state right now.”

“God, you are right about that,” you sigh and shake your head, propping yourself off the counter you were leaning on, crossing the tiles to be only a foot from Joel’s face, “Can I join you? A shower sounds like exactly what I need right now.”

He nods quickly, halfway through the question and you chuckle at the antics, pulling the t-shirt over your head and slipping off your panties to leave both in a heap with Joel’s clothes. He opens the curtain for you and steps back toward the other wall while you close the curtain and drag yourself under the stream of water.

A sigh relaxes your chest and shoulders, closing your eyes as you let the warm water run all over you. Joel’s hands brush across your skin, the feeling of his work-worn palms sending a tingle of excitement down your skin and chilling your body even under the hot water. His thumbs cup under your breasts while the rest of his fingers splay out on your ribcage, tips of them toward your back as he holds you closer to him.

“Mm, you’re so beautiful, d’you know that, mi Mariposa? La mujer más hermosa del mundo (The most beautiful woman in the world),” Joel mumbles against your skin when he nestles into the crook of your neck, curving his back to fit with you perfectly. His hands wander from your ribs, circling around your back and drifting down to the swell of your ass where they settle with a gentle squeeze.

“I think I’m getting better at Spanish 'cause I understood that. And it was very sweet, thank you, J. I think you’re the most beautiful man in the world.” You giggle and feel Joel exhale a chuckle against your neck, peppering slow and spaced kisses along your shoulder.

“You also told me something else about what you think of me last night. Well, it was to one of your friends but you were still on the phone with me so I heard,” he stretches to full height again with a smug smirk, squeezing your ass again as you sigh.

“Oh god, what did I say to you? Did I feed your massive ego?” you tease, bringing your hands up to his shoulders and lightly scratching your nails against his skin.

“I learned that I am a DILF last night. Or according to you, I am a DIAF to you. Dad I Am Fucking.” He can barely get the last sentence out around his loud laugh, your embarrassed reaction of wide eyes and jaw dropped egging him on more.

“Stop, I cannot believe I said that. And that you heard! You’re never going to let me live that down.”

“Not a chance, sweetheart. Not a chance,” Joel can’t wipe the giggly smile off of his face as he continues, “Oh, and you also were definitely really into me getting you into pajamas last night. I asked if I could take off your shirt and you said ‘Take it all off bay-beeee’. Which was very tempting.”

“Oh my god, if you don’t stop telling me all of this right now, I won’t take anything off for you again.” It’s a thinly veiled threat, both of you know it holds zero weight.

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop.”

“Thank you,” you breathe out as you turn toward the shelf in the shower, reaching for the body wash before Joel intercepts your hand, holding it in his and lowering it to your side. He presses his chest to your back, the contact also nudging his hard cock into the flesh of your ass.

“Y’know, I woke up this morning after you were all over me last night with a fucking hard on. Aching for you. And then you come in here and ask to join me in the shower, made it come right back…” he leans down, kissing your shoulder, up your neck and to your ear, “D’you still want me, Mariposa? Hm?”

One of his hands drifts to your inner thighs, coaxing your legs apart and swiping two fingers from your entrance to your clit. Your arousal coats his fingers, a quiet whimper leaving your lips in an exhale, eyes closing and head rolling back against his shoulder.

“You still want me, mi dulzura? Feels like you do,” his lips are against your ear, voice low and gravelly, and he slowly circles your clit as you continue to whimper and writhe in his arms, “Sounds like you do, too, mi amor. Y’know, we have the whole house to ourselves, Mariposa. I want you to be loud for me while I touch you. Understand?”

Lost in the sparks of pleasure slowly building, your words get caught in your throat as one of your arms reaches up to wrap around to the nape of his neck. At the lack of response to his question, Joel pinches your clit before pulling his hand away.

“No, no, no, please. I understand. I’ll be loud for you, J. Please touch me…”

You grip the curls at the back of his head, biting your lip and opening your eyes again to look at Joel’s head at your side. His hand comes back, his thumb rubbing your clit while his middle finger sinks into you until the first knuckle. He keeps his eyes on your face, slowly working the finger in and out of your cunt, never giving it to you fully.

“Fuck, don’t tease me, Joel. Please, pretty please, gimme more.”

A deep chuckle rumbles from his chest, his nose nudging at your cheek to turn your head straight toward the tiled wall, pressing open-mouthed kisses along your jaw.

“You want more, Mariposa?”

“Pleasepleaseplease.”

“Mm, and are you going to be good? Give me all your pretty sounds that I love?” Joel pushes his entire middle finger into you now, holding it there, “If I give you what you want, you gotta be loud for me, pretty girl.”

“I will, I promise.” You wiggle your hips to get any more friction building, grumbling in frustration when Joel’s other arm tugs your hips back against him, strapping you to him like a seatbelt. The thumb against your clit leaves, and as you’re about to complain again, Joel adds another finger and starts to thrust them in and out frenetically, the heel of his palm rubbing the sensitive bud at the front of your folds.

A sinful moan rolls from your gut, bouncing off of the walls of the shower and drowning out the sound of the water for a few seconds. You can feel Joel’s satisfied smirk against your skin, his mouth dipping to the crook of your neck to suck at your pulse point and leave his mark. His hand continues its rapid pace, your legs bending as they start to give out the closer you reach to the edge. To attempt to hold your weight, you lean your arms against the tiles, feeling yourself being held up by Joel’s arm tightened across your hips.

“Fuck, Joel, feels so fucking good. Oh!” Your voice pitches up when his fingers graze that spot inside your walls, the sound catching in your throat. Joel pushes deeper with his fingers, hooking them to find that same spot and petting against it with small strokes of his fingers. The sounds coming from you are uncontrollable, head falling back against his shoulder as a mess of his name, lustful whimpers and whines, and wanton moans echo in the steaming shower.

“That’s it, pretty girl, I can feel how close you are. Nearly squeezing my fingers out of ya.” Joel’s small groan vibrates against your shoulder, his hard-on being pressed into your back and leaking pre-cum. You can feel yourself clench around his fingers, the edges of your vision blurring as you near your peak. “Gonna come for me, Mari? Gonna be a good girl and come all over my hand so you can be ready for my cock?”

His words are the final push, pleasure oozing around his fingers and dripping down your folds, warmth spreading in your body as your nerve endings tingle. You can hear yourself moaning his name, small encouragements spoken in your ear as Joel continues to fuck his fingers into you throughout your orgasm. When you’re fully present in your body again, Joel slips his fingers out of you slowly, turning your head and kissing you deeply.

“Need you so fucking bad, Mariposa,” he says against your lips, kissing you fervently before speaking again, “Wanna bend you over and make you take my cock, and you’ll tell me how good it feels filling you up. You want it, pretty girl?”

“Need it, J. Please, I need you so bad.” You kiss him this time, pressing your hips back and grinding against his cock, the rumble of a mouth muffled into your mouth as your tongues meld together. Joel pulls away and grips your hips, turning both of you so his back is facing the stream of water.

“Hands against the wall, amor, arch your back for me—” You follow his instructions with one of his large hands skimming along your spine, folded to an angle at your hips. “That’s it, baby. So good for me.”

Joel takes his cock in his hands, teasing his tip at your entrance and earning a whine from you. A dark laugh is heard faintly from behind you, an equally quiet sigh of relief when he gives you just the tip.

“Mm, fuck, Mari. Estás tan apretado, y húmedo, y cálido. Nunca me voy a cansar de este coño. (You’re so tight, and wet, and warm. I’m never going to get tired of this pussy.)” 

Before you can formulate any sort of response, despite not fully knowing what he said, Joel gives you a few more inches of his cock, stuttering out a moan from you before his hips set a rough, desperate pace. Grunts and groans, moans and whimpers fill the bathroom, your names exchanged back and forth as he fucks you from behind. His hands hold tightly onto your hips, digging in to surely form bruises to match the hickey at your collar, and to keep you from being rammed into the wall with how hard his thrusts are.

“More, fuck, gimme all of it, J. Want you to fill me up, make it hard to fucking walk straight.”

There’s a vibrating rumble that resonates in your own chest, Joel completely pulling out on the downstroke and heaving his chest up and down with shallow breaths.

“Fucking dirty girl. Mi chica sucia. Filthy, baby.” He runs his fingers down the line of your spine, still arched for him. You feel him lined up at your entrance again, whimpering for him and pressing your hips back to try to get him inside. Joel chuckles, shaking his head, “Mm, can’t get enough of my cock, can you, sweetheart? Greedy little thing.”

Your jaw drops open with a toe-curling moan, Joel’s hips thrusting his throbbing cock into your waiting cunt to fill you completely, the same rough and hard pace set as he makes you knock forward and brace against the wall with every movement.

“Take it, darlin’. Oh, fuck, aguantarla. Puedes aguantarla, mi dulzura. (Oh, fuck, take it. You can take it, my sweetness.)” Joel’s head rolls back with another guttural moan, tilting forward to watch his cock disappearing into your dripping hole. “Fuck, such a pretty pussy. And it’s all fucking mine, isn’t that right, Mariposa?”

“Y-Yes! Fuck yeah, it’s all yours, J. No one could ever fuck me like you,” you glance over your shoulder and he makes eye contact, a wide, knowing smile on his face. Your cunt clenches around his cock, his brutal pace hurtling you toward the edge. Just as you’re about to ask for that little bit more, he reads your mind and slips one of his hands around your front, errantly rubbing circles in your clit.

“Can feel you around me, Mari, know you’re close. You gonna let me fill you up with my come? Gonna milk my cock with your tight pussy?”

All you can do is nod, eyes shutting tightly as moans squeak out of you. One hand reaches back to grip his wrist as he keeps you right there at the edge.

“Say it, baby. Say it back to me and I’ll let you come. Give you just what you need.”

A deep breath brings enough air into your lungs to rasp out, “Please fill me up, Joel. Wanna milk your cock of everything you can give me, want you to be dripping out of me all day. Remind me of how only you can have my pussy.”

“Fuck yeah, that’s right, sweetheart. Such a good girl.” Joel eyes that you have a hand bracing you still, letting go of your hip as he fucks you, rubbing your clit continuously. He reaches his free hand around to your mouth, prodding his thumb at your lips and humming when you take it into your mouth and suck. After a minute, he pops out his saliva covered digit and brings it back to your body, pushing into the tight ring of muscle facing him. The sensation of stimulation at all three places barrels you to your high, pussy gripping his cock as everything tenses and pleasure rocks your body and clears your mind.

With the tightness felt in both holes around him, Joel takes one, two, three more thirsts before he’s spilling into you, ropes of come coating your walls and lazy jerks of his hips fucking it deeper into you.

After a moment, Joel pulls out of you slowly, gathering all that dribbles out of you and pushing it back inside with his fingers, causing a shudder down your spine.

The two of you come down from your peaks, the water running cold now. Still needing to clean yourselves, Joel washes your body while you shampoo and condition his hair as he folds over to gently exfoliate your legs. The tasks get swapped, Joel washing your hair while you wash his body.

Stepping out, he grabs a towel for you, wrapping it around you tightly and giving you a sweet, chaste kiss. He gets another towel for himself, both of you drying off and heading back into his bedroom to get dressed again.

You sit on the edge of his bed in your clothes from last night, one of his shirts pulled over your tank top and tucked into your skirt. As you comb your fingers over your wet hair, you look at Joel as he pulls on a pair of jeans standing next to his closet.

“Hey, I have a question for you, actually.”

“Shoot, darlin’.”

“Am I remembering correctly that last night when you came to the bar, you were acting a little jealous toward Colton? Did you think he was flirting with me or something and you got all possessive?” you giggle quietly.

Joel blushes and shakes his head with an overexaggerated eye roll. “Pffft, no. Don’t remember it happening like that, probably a bit clouded in your memory.”

Laughing more, you stand up and cross over to him, hands splayed on his soft tummy and head tilted away from him.

“Oh, sure. Sure, J, we’ll go with that if it makes you feel better.” Reaching up you give his cheek a gentle pat and wink at him, giggling faintly before he gathers you up in his arms and gives you a kiss.

“Good, 'cause it does make me feel better. ‘Sides can you blame me for getting a little jealous? We’ve waited like three years to get this right with each other, m’not letting it go.”

“Me neither, which is why you don’t ever have to be jealous cause it’s only you, baby.” You send him a wink and a grin, giving him a kiss before you both hear the front door open, Tommy’s voice echoing upstairs as he calls out for Joel. He looks down at you, biting his lip.

“I didn’t think he’d be bringing Sarah home this early. Uh, d’you mind that he’s here or should I jus’ say…” he trails off awkwardly, waiting for your thoughts on how to broach the fact that you’re over here, in Joel’s shirt and clearly have stayed the night with your wet hair from the shower.

“If you’re fine with him knowing, we can tell him. That is if Sarah hasn’t spilled the beans already.” Joel laughs faintly and nods, running his hands up and down your arms.

“That is highly possible. But guess we’ll have to find out when we head downstairs. And I’m apologizing now for any stupid shit my brother says.”

“You act like I don’t know Tommy already.”

“You don’t know Tommy as my girlfriend. He’s going to give you some shit, and he’s going to give a lot to me for keeping it from him.”

“Think I can survive Tommy Miller. Now, c’mon, get a shirt on, and let’s go. I need some coffee.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Joel descendsed the stairs ahead of you, rounding the corner into the kitchen and greeting his brother as Tommy pours himself a cup of coffee. Sarah is already at the table, cereal bowl in front her as she eats and reads her book. Joel grabs two mugs from the cabinet, earning a confused look from Tommy before you walk into the room, the confusion melting into mischief. His brother nudges at Joel’s arm and winks.

“Ah, así que esta es la razón de su aventura nocturna en la ciudad. Puedo ver por qué estabas tan desesperada por mi ayuda. (Oh, so this is the reason for your late-night adventure into the city. I can see why you were so desperate for my help.)”

Joel’s eyes roll into the back of his head, “Cállate, Tommy. Necesitaba que la llevaran a casa, así que le di una. (Shut up, Tommy. She needed a ride home, so I gave her one.)”

“Claro, claro. Un paseo. (Sure, sure. A ride.)”

“Pendejo de mierda (Fucking dumbass).”

“¿Qué? No estoy diciendo que haya algo malo en ello. Estoy feliz de ver a su hijo si significa que usted consigue algunos. Finalmente. (What? I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. I am happy to watch your child if it means you getting some. Finally.)” He laughs when Joel glares at him, Tommy crossing over to the table and covering Sarah’s ears. “Además, ella está jodidamente caliente. No sé lo que ve en un viejo como tú. (Plus, she’s fucking hot. Don’t know what she sees in an old man like you.)”

“Yo tampoco. Y deja de hablar de ella así. (I don’t either. And stop talking about her like that.)” Joel’s voice grits out the last sentence, his short fuse being tested with Tommy’s teasing this morning.

“No, realmente, ella es casi diez años más joven y podría conseguir a quien quisiera, pero ¿eres tú? Mejor empieza a apostar por los caballos, hermano. (No, really, she’s almost ten years younger and could get anybody she wanted, but it’s you? Better start betting on the horses, brother.)” His younger brother comes back to stand next to him, picking up his mug and taking a sip.

“Déjalo. (Quit it.)” Joel sends him another glare, grabbing the milk out of the fridge to add some to your cup.

“Maldita sea, tal vez tengo que contratar a una niñera para Sarah cuando está en mi casa. O tal vez la contrate yo mismo. (Damn, maybe I gotta hire a nanny for Sarah when she’s at my house. Or maybe I’ll hire her myself.)”

When Joel looks back at Tommy, he sees him eyeing you as you talk to Sarah at the table, smacking him upside the back of his head.

“Tommy, si no te callas la mierda ahora mismo, lo juro por Dios. (Tommy, if you don’t shut the fuck right now, I swear to god.)”

“Qué? Ella tu novia ahora? (What? She your girlfriend now?)” The young Miller questions, raising an eyebrow.

“Sí, lo es. Así que deja de hablar de lo caliente que es mi novia. (Yeah, she is. So stop talking about how hot my girlfriend is.)” Joel states matter-of-factly, shutting the fridge after returning the jug of milk.

“I understood some of that actually,” you say with a proud smile on your face, one of eager mischief on Tommy’s across the room.

Joel whips his head to you, wide eyes, “What did you understand?”

“You called him an asshole. Something about Sarah. The word girlfriend was thrown in there.”

Joel sighs quietly in relief, picking up your prepared mug of coffee.

“Oh, and something about you being old. And that your brother thinks I’m hot. ” Tommy sputters on his drink as he starts to laugh loudly, a deep blush warming Joel’s cheeks. You walk over to him and take the mug out of his hand, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Cause you’re not old and Tommy just wishes he wasn’t single at thirty years old.”

Joel laughs and Tommy waves your comment off, rolling his eyes before winking at you, “Oh please, you wish you found me before this old man.”

“Sure, Tommy. You can think that all you want, but I met you both on the same day.” Joel barks out a laugh, a smug grin on his face from you holding your own toward Tommy.

Joel looks at his brother, a smile growing on Tommy’s face, “Well, maybe you needed to get your eyes checked that day, Posey. Cause you’d have to be blind to not pick me over the decrepit ass.”

“Y’know, I’m happy to set you up with one of my friends. She likes the type of cute guys who think they’re funny.”

“I know I’m funny, Posey, so not sure if it’s gonna work out. But yes, I would like to be set up with this friend of yours, please…” You laugh and nod, sipping your coffee before answering.

“I’ll work some magic for ya, Tommy.”

“I like this one, Joel, better keep her around so she can be my wingman.”

“You say ‘this one’ as if there have been others,” Joel rolls his eyes and continues, “And I certainly don’t need your advice on that front Tommy. She’s got me as long as she wants me, but please dear god, you should not be his wingwoman. Don’t subject yourself to that torture, Mari.”

The three of you chat to catch up, Tommy genuinely asking about your time in Boston and telling you how glad he is that you’re back around to make his people happy again. The comment swells your heart before your attention is pulled to Sarah as she asks about having a sleepover with you.

“I would love to throw a sleepover with you, sweet pea. I’ll bring over all the goodies to your house and we can stay in your room and watch movies and paint our nails and do all the fun girly things.”

“Yes! And Daddy and Uncle Tommy aren’t allowed ‘cause no boys.” She points at the two of them, both of them frowning and sighing.

“Can I at least be at home, mija?” Joel jokes, and the three of you laugh as Sarah seriously considers her answer.

“Yeah, that’s fine, but you gotta leave us to do the sleepover things ourselves.”

“Deal, Bug. I can do that.”

“Oh yes! It’s all decided then, we’ll have a sleepover when your week at camp is over.” You clap your hands together and grin, already planning everything you need to do this week to prepare for it.

“Damn, Mari, you brought a lot of stuff for one night with Sarah.” Joel eyes you from head to toe, a duffle on your arm, and shopping bags in your hands. He takes the plastic bags from you, holding the back door open for you before following you over to the island to set down all of your purchases. “You do know it’s only Sarah, right, darlin’? None of her friends are coming. This is a practice run for a sleepover.”

“I know, but I wanted to make the first girly sleepover she has at her house fun. I loved having my friends stay over when I was younger, and I dunno, you’re a boy so you don’t get it.” Rustling around in the bags, you start to pull out snacks and candy, along with fun new nail polishes and nail stickers, new hair clips, some young-girl-friendly makeup, and new pajamas for Sarah and you.

“Sweetheart, this is all really nice, but let me give you some money for it all. This is a ton of stuff.” Joel glances at the counter covered in supplies, and before you can answer he’s walking to the front door to get his wallet from the entryway table.

You call out after him, “I’m not going to take it so don’t bother trying! It wasn’t even that much anyway.”

Popping back around the corner into the kitchen, cash in hand, he shakes his head with a mocking laugh, “You’re funny. Even if it was five dollars, I’m giving you ten. Now please take the cash.”

Joel stops in front of you, hand out with a hundred in his hand. A dry laugh leaves your chest, pushing his hand away as you continue to sort through everything from the shops, “Not happening. This was way less than a hundred dollars too, so definitely not accepting that. Go put it back in your wallet, Miller.”

“You’re so goddam stubborn sometimes.”

“Oh, yeah, and you’re not?”

“Hey, I didn’t say that. I know I’m stubborn, that’s why this argument is happening. And why I am about to do this.” Joel steps behind you, slipping the bill into the back pocket of your shorts. You groan, fishing it out and shoving it back in his hand, pushing at his chest.

Joel rebuttals with another attempt, stepping toward you but you step back, backing around to the other side of the counter as he follows closely. You hold your arms out to keep space between the two of you, not being able to hold back a laugh as you start to pick up the pace in your cyclical chase.

“Joel! I’m not taking your damn money, leave it!”

“Mariposa, please, we both know I am way more stubborn than you and m’not gonna stop unless you take it.”

Shaking your head, you turn around to actually move into a speedwalk-jog kind of walk around the kitchen, serpentining your steps.

“Darlin’, I can still catch you if you walk like that.”

“Well, I’d like to see you try.”

Joel takes that statement as a challenge, suddenly catching up with you and wrapping his arms to your front, slipping the bill in the waistband of your shorts before letting you go, putting his hands up in the air.

Wordlessly, you snatch the money from your bottoms, throw it on the counter, and go back to the pile of purchases on the counter. After all of that, you start to unload the drinks in the fridge and open the pantry to throw the sweets and other snacks on one of the shelves. Joel stands and watches you, eyes going back and forth between following your movements to all of the things lying out, including the money.

A feeling kicks up in your chest, tightening your insides with a wring. Small moments send you back to feelings like these, unsupported by actual occurrences but your brain doesn’t care about what actually happens; it prefers the what-ifs. What if this doesn’t last, what if you’re too young, what if you’re too anxious, too broken, too much and it all comes crumbling from under you before you fully realize it? What if this is one of those moments you look back on as a sign? It’s taut and consuming, begging you to say something about it to release the corkscrew.

“If this is too much or if I’m overstepping a — I don’t know — a parental boundary 'cause she’s not my kid, and I know that, of course, but I wanted to do this for Sarah. M’not the nanny that you have to reimburse anymore, I just thought it would be fun to make it like how my sleepovers used to be as a kid…”

Joel’s brows stitch together with what looks like confusion or concern, rounding the kitchen island and standing next to you. A hand on your hip closest to him presses into the flesh there, turning you toward him as the other hand reaches up to tilt your chin to him. Your eyes avoid his, embarrassment heating your body with licks of flames.

“Can you look at me? Please?” His voice is unwavering but shy, boyish. You answer with a flick of up, meeting his own stare. “Mari, sweetheart, this isn’t about anything like that. I know you aren’t ‘the nanny’ anymore, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think you were ever just ‘the nanny’ to either of us. I was being pigheaded, and I didn’t want you to take on doin’ all of this yourself. It’s jus’ automatic for me to want to cover for Sarah, with any sort of activity. Not that I don’t want you to do all of this. I can’t even begin to explain how much it means to me that you care so much for Sarah. I’m just, I’m being her dad. And not giving you the means to do things for her yourself. M’sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, J. I should have better explained myself from the beginning. I want to be a part of your lives, I want to….I don’t know, I don’t want to take the place of her mom, obviously, but I want to be someone she can do girly things with if we’re gonna be together for a while—”

“Not if, Mari. I don’t plan on letting you go without a serious fight,” Joel’s thumb brushes against your cheek as he holds your gaze, “I am so grateful and so relieved that Sarah has someone like you in her life. ‘Specially right now with everything around her mom leavin’, you’re exactly what she needs. What we both need…I will take the money back. But next time we’re splitting it, and every time after that ‘til it’s time that it’s coming outta a joint account.”

When Sarah arrives home from her playdate, Joel retreats upstairs after ordering pizza for the two of you (and him, because he claimed he was gonna sneak down) to watch something on the small tv in his bedroom. You and Sarah changed into your new pajamas and got all of the snacks moved into the living room, trekking blankets and pillows and stuffed animals from her room and around the house to build a nest on the floor in front of the couch.

Sarah had chosen The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants out of the stack of movies you had rented, popping it in and sitting back with you while you had her pick out a color for her nails. The two of you talked about camp and the past school year, her confessing a crush she has on a boy in her camp group this year. There’s only a few details you get from her as you paint her nails, giggling with her when she gets shy and telling her about your first crush.

Sarah eventually is the one to paint your nails, turning out a bit messy and abstract during the process but nonetheless it was fun. As she’s finishing up a second coat on the last nail of yours, the doorbell rings for the pizza and Joel jogs downstairs a minute later to answer the door. Carrying the boxes over to the kitchen after he paid and tipped, he grins at you and nods to the set up.

“Is that every pillow in our house?”

“Well, no, you still have the ones on your bed cause you were sitting on ‘em,” you reply as you walk into the kitchen behind Sarah, fingers splayed apart, careful not to smudge. The younger Miller does the same, looking up at Joel when she stands next to the pizza box.

“Daddy, can you get the slices for me? I don’t want to mess up my nails that Posey painted for me. Look at them! They’re so pretty!” She raises her arms up to give Joel a look, his hand taking one of hers and inspecting it.

“Gosh, Bug, these are just gorgeous. Mari did a great job,” he grins at you, giving you a wink at the same time an idea pops into yours.

“I could do your nails, J. They could match Sarah’s!” Your suggestion is immediately supported by his daughter, her small stature jumping up and down in front of him.

“Yes, yes! You need to get your nails painted, Daddy!”

“Wasn’t this sleepover ‘no boys allowed’?” he arches a brow before he grabs a piece of pizza, plopping it on a plate for Sarah to take into the other room, “If I can stay for longer than it takes to paint my nails and hang out and eat your snacks, you can absolutely paint my nails.”

Sarah takes her plate from her dad, grinning ear-to-ear as she retreats back to the blanket nest. Joel makes a plate for you, carrying it out with his own and setting them on the coffee table. With a groan, he lowers himself to the ground, leaning his back against the couch and holding out his hands to you.

“Go for it, sweetheart.”

“D’you want the same thing as Sarah or something different?”

“Hmm, what d’you think, mija? Should we match?”

“I think you should give Daddy the color I gave you, Posey. It’s so pretty!” she leans back against you, using you as a backrest while she eats her pizza carefully with her wet nails, engrossed in the movie.

“Alright, guess it’s decided then. We’ll be matching,” you smile at him, taking one hand in yours to pull it closer, relaxing it against your thigh as you open the polish bottle. Concentrating on the tasks at hand, Joel wiggles his fingers when you aren’t in the midst of painting to get your attention, holding up a piece of pizza near your face.

“Eat, darlin’. Gotta fuel your artistic brain,” he winks and smiles sweetly at you, earning a quiet laugh before you lean in and take a bite chewing as you go back to painting. You switch hands after a few more bites, giving him a break to eat his own pizza and you yours while the three of you watch the movie. Once your job is done, you close the bottle tight and set it on the table, getting Sarah’s attention to look at it.

“How’d I do, Sare-Bear? Does your dad look pretty?” Her giggles pull some from all of you, nodding and clapping her hands together.

“Daddy, you need some of my pretty stickers and then Posey needs to take a picture with her camera.” Sarah stands and moves over to the pile of beauty supplies, grabbing the pack of nail stickers you bought and picking out a sheet. She sits next to Joel, stickering around his face as he closes his eyes and lets it all happen.

“Is this what happens all the time at girl sleepovers?” He peeks an eye open at you, getting a wide smile and shrug.

“Guess we’ll have to have some more for you to really find out.” Sarah steps back from her handiwork, and you pick up the Polaroid camera, lining up the shot from the side of Joel where there’s multiple star stickers clustered around his eyes. The shutter snaps when he looks at you, spitting out the image. You hand it to Sarah to watch it develop, showing you both quickly before going to hang it on the fridge along with a few other of your shots. You snap another of him looking at you directly, soft rounded eyes filled with affection.

Once you set the camera down, holding onto that photo for yourself, his hands find your thighs, running over the soft cotton of your PJ pants.

“Thank you for doin’ this for her, she hasn’t been this happy and giggly since before you left last summer.” Joel leans in, giving you a gentle, lingering kiss. “I love you. So, so much, Mari.”

Instead of answering, you give him another kiss before Sarah walks back in, settling between the two of you on the floor nest, cuddling up within your little unit of three to finish out the movie.

A few nights after your slumber party, you sneak over to Joel’s again before bed, using the key to the back door that he had made for you. He’s sitting on the couch, a line of sight to the door and a sleepy smile tugging at his lips when he sees you.

Padding your feet across the floors, you climb onto the couch next to him and curl your legs under you while you lean into his side. His arm wraps you up and his lips press against your forehead with a content sigh.

“Hi, Mari.”

“Hey, J.”

“How was your day, darlin’?” he asks as he turns off the TV, fingers ghosting up and down your bicep.

“Good, it was good. Babysat for the O’Connors today with the little baby. She’s so adorable, just a day full of baby giggles.” You grin and Joel smiles back at you, nodding along, “And then after that I drove to therapy and had that for an hour and then went home and waited to come see you.”

“M’very glad you’re here. Can’t sleep without you anymore,” he kisses your temple, “How was therapy, amor?”

“Today was a little hard. Talked more about maybe looking into medicine cause I feel like it isn’t fully there yet. But I do feel like I am happy. Like in my heart. My brain just can't keep up. Still have a lack of interest in things and not a lot of energy like I used to.”

Joel hums an acknowledgment, looking down at you on his shoulder, “M’here if you need to talk about anything, sweet girl.”

“I know. Thank you,” you give him a chaste kiss, smiling drowsily, “How was your day?”

“Pretty alright. Had to go fill in for someone who called in sick today at a job site so I’m exhausted from all the lifting and using machinery. But the framing is all done which means there’s something that looks like a house standing on the lot,” Joel chuckles softly and glances out the front window, “And then, uh, ran into your mom when I got home. She must’ve been running out for something but she stopped to talk and invited me and Sarah and Tommy to celebrate the Fourth with y’all.”

You sit up, grinning excitedly, “Really? Oh my gosh, that will be so fun. Our first official holiday together. Even though it’s just the Fourth of July. Kind of lame.”

Joel chuckles along with you, nodding his head and avoiding your eyes, “I mean, I told her yes ‘cause I didn’t think you’d mind. But the more I got to thinkin’, I guess, I just—I think I need some more time before we tell your parents about us.”

Your face falls before you can hide it, Joel’s hand immediately reaching to cup your cheek delicately, “M’sorry, sweet girl. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to do it at a family event and maybe it might be best if we can sit them down sometime to talk about it all.”

A slow nod keeps you quiet, in your thoughts, rambling out an agreement as you bring your eyes to Joel’s again, “Yeah, yeah, I understand. I agree. Would be best to wait a little while longer.”

“Thank you, darlin’. M’so glad you agree. We’ll find the right time, eventually,” Joel gives you a tender kiss, lingering against your lips for a few more dopey exchanges. He pulls away, standing up and gathering you up with him, leading you to his bedroom and getting into bed with you, “Night, Mariposa. Love you.”

“Night, J,” you reply meekly, the small sound of your voice easily brushed off as fatigue. Joel keeps you close, spooning you with his front against your chest, falling asleep behind you quickly. You can’t rest, especially after that short and decided conversation.

Why did you agree so easily? And why was he even asking for more time? His daughter knows, his brother knows, your friends know. What’s any different about your family? Is he afraid that if he breaks your heart he’ll have to move? But why would he even think about that possibility when all he’s told you is how much he loves you, how he’ll be yours until you want nothing to do with him anymore?

Every reassurance that he’s given you is flooding your mind, those doubts and fears worming their way into the sweet memories and poisoning them with twisted words.

Every time he’s said he loves you, does he mean it? Or is he only saying it to say it, to placate your anxieties about the future of you two by committing in a way?

Is this push back about telling your family a response to you not being ready to say ‘I love you’ back? Is he getting fed up with waiting for it?

Are you too much too quickly? Weaving yourself too tightly into his life and his daughter’s life? Is he going to start to drift, to put off telling your parents until he can end it?

These thoughts cycle in an endless loop, keeping you up while Joel sleeps soundly beside you. Nausea stirs in your stomach, rapid heart beating from the spiraling of your mind keeping you wide awake until the early hours of the morning.

The only way you can manage to fall asleep is turning in Joel’s arms, cuddling into his chest and breathing in his scent to halt the carousel of negativity in your brain long enough for his even breaths to lull you to sleep.

One last question flashes to you before you’re finally asleep:

 What happens when Summer ends?

taglist: @beskarandblasters @undrthelights @swiftispunk @joelsversion @asirenbyanyothername @ellenmunn @ja-ehyun @sw33tp1xie @marisemonteiroo @brunetteeras @beee-haw @jenna-mcgraw19 @whore-4-pedro @katifefe @joelmillerswifu @itsgiorgiaz @soph55 @wild-hearts-runfree @youcancallmeelle @jupitre @starkovli @thatgeminigirlx @livingdeadmaria @bunnyskisses @houseofballoonsth @casual-obsessions @pedro-pascal-lvr @bimbodolls-world @burningnerdchild @tuquoquebrute @mrsvedder12 @estelivi28 @bongsrconfusing @addictedtotlou @angie2274 @pedrostories @pedroholicx @theelishad @johnwatsn @elissaaa @felicityofbakerstreet @atinylittlepain @northernbluess @cannolighost

[awriterinthenight]

"I Knew You Would Be Friends"-Anthony Lockwood

requested: anonymous

words: 1577

warnings: George and Lucy being assholes for the majority of the story, that's really it, maybe swearing

summary: Lockwood brings you to 35 Portland Row to meet George and Lucy, but it doesn't go as planned

George and Lucy were the most judgmental people in all of London most likely. George was always sceptical of everyone he met and didn't trust them. Lucy was just quite anti-social, only getting along with people after a long time, or only if they clicked right away. Sadly you weren't one of those people.

Lockwood was more than excited to introduce you to George and Lucy since they were his family, and Lockwood practically would spend every second with you from how much he was entranced by you. Lockwood had everything planned, first he would take you out for a bit, then bring you to Portland Row to meet his friends, and then hopefully you guys would get along well. Why wouldn't you? Was what he told himself every time he thought about it.

When the day finally arrived, Lockwood and you spent your time walking around London before finally heading to 35 Portland Row. You were actually quite excited to meet Lockwood's friends. From what he told you they sounded like great people.

When you entered you looked around the place admiring all the random decorations, as you put your rapier in the stand, since you were also an agent, but you freelanced. Lockwood led you around to the kitchen where, who you assumed were his friends, stood waiting for you two to return.

"Y/N this is George," he said referring to the boy with glasses," and this is Lucy," he pointed to the brunette girl, both seemed to not be the most welcoming, but sometimes agents were just like that.

You stuck out your hand for George to shake, which he did politely, but Lucy completely ignored you," I'm Y/N, I'm sure Lockwood told you about me, since he talks about you guys a lot," you said, trying to make small talk with the two.

"He actually doesn't really mention you that much," Lucy said, her tone rather bland, but the words still hurt a bit.

Lockwood seemed to start to feel a bit of tension and awkwardness between everyone, "She's being sarcastic, they're probably just annoyed by how much I've told them about you," he said, trying to diffuse the tension, "Why don't you make us some tea George."

The boy with glasses let out a sigh, "You're going to make me waste the tea bags on her, we only have so many left," he complained, making you feel a bit bad for intruding.

"I'll pick you up more tea bags when I go to the store, just pop the kettle on and maybe grab some biscuits too," he said, giving George one of his trademark smiles.

"Fine, how do you take your tea?" George asked you, grabbing the tea from the cabinet.

"A bit of honey, and a bit of sugar is fine," you told him, "I can help if you want," you offered, trying to be kind.

George was a bit caught off guard, since that was exactly how Lockwood preferred his tea, but quickly moved on, "No it's fine," he said, before mumbling just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Besides I don't need you messing up our kitchen."

You were a bit shocked by how George and Lucy were acting, since Lockwood said they were usually nice people. Even Lockwood was a bit confused, but he tried his best to keep everyone somewhat civil. He suggested they move to the library, so they did.

You quickly took to the shelves, searching for titles you recognized, and which ones sounded interesting to you, "You can borrow one sometime if you want," Lockwood offered, standing next to you as he leaned against the shelf.

"Really? I would love to borrow something sometime, maybe I could even lend you one of mine," you suggested, ecstatic at the idea.

"That sounds lovely," Lockwood said, his gaze catching onto yours. You were then interrupted by Lucy clearing her throat to remind you she was still in the room as George arrived with the tea,

You tried to make conversation with Lucy, "So Lucy, do you read much?" you asked, interested in the girl and her hobbies.

She shook her head, looking at you judgingly, "No, I'm usually too busy with jobs to have time to, plus I'm just not the biggest fan of it," she explained, seeming to act annoyed at your question.

"I'm an agent too, so I know how annoying it can be to not have much free time," you said, trying to find common ground with her.

Lucy didn't seem to be too keen on the idea though, "You're an agent?" she asked, surprised by it.

You nodded, "Yes, I freelance, it's quite enjoyable being able to work for myself."

"Working by yourself seems boring, and agencies are much nicer than freelancing," Lucy said, which was a bit weird since she usually didn't like agencies much, except Lockwood and Co., since other agencies didn't treat their agents the best,

You shrugged, Sometimes I work with other people. I actually have a scar from when I worked with another agent and the job was more complicated than we expected," you told her, trying to make conversation with her, even though she seemed unamused by you.

"So you're saying you're not good at working hard jobs," Lucy accused, taking a sip of her tea.

Lockwood was a bit too scared to intervene, afraid he'd anger the wrong person with the wrong comment. So your and Lucy's conversation continued, "I'd say I do just fine, but everything that agent heard went in one ear and out the other," you said, trying to joke with her to try and lessen the tension.

"So you don't work well with others?" she questioned. The rest of the conversation went on like this for a while. You would try to be charming, talk about a few reckless things you did during jobs, or just say something funny, and Lucy would immediately retort with something. George seemed to be bored and read his comic, only chiming in a couple of times. Lockwood only spoke up a couple times, and when he did Lucy would just say something about you again.

When it neared an hour before curfew you decided to leave, having enough of this. Lockwood offered to walk you home, but you said you were fine, he could tell you were lying, since you didn't seem fine, but he knew better than to push. When Lockwood closed the door behind him he could hear George and Lucy say how relieved they were that she was gone.

Lockwood felt bad for you, since he promised that his friends would be nice, but there was anything but that. He was also even more surprised by how they acted, since they were rarely like that with anyone. The two didn't even notice Lockwood head to bed early looking a bit sullen, but they did notice how he seemed to be less chipper.

The next morning Lucy and George were in the kitchen, Lockwood hadn't left his room yet, pondering over yesterday's events, "Do you think I was too mean?" Lucy asked, realising she might've been way more rude than she meant to be. It was just that Lockwood had lost a lot of people, so they were always sceptical when someone new entered and they had to make sure you weren't going to leave him heartbroken.

George shrugged, "I don't know, maybe. She was awfully nice and we were kind of dicks to her," he said, making a cup of coffee.

They were silent for a moment till Lucy spoke up, "You know who she reminds me of," she said, looking at George as they responded in unison, "Lockwood."

"I mean she was charming like he is, she also talked about how reckless she was on jobs, she took her tea the same way as him, and she offered to help me with the tea which is something Lockwood would do," George said, remembering everything about you.

Lucy let out a sigh, "Maybe we were too mean. We should tell Lockwood we're sorry, and tell him we want to apologise to her," Lucy admitted, and George agreed.

Lockwood was rather surprised, yet pleased his friends wanted to apologise. So after some convincing he got you to come over again to redo how yesterday was supposed to go. This time Lucy answered the door to the house.

"I'm sorry for how I was yesterday," she said letting you in, "We're just a bit defensive, and well George is just George."

You chuckled at her joke, "I'm just glad you don't seem to hate. That would've been horrible, since you'll probably be seeing me a lot more," you said, accepting her apology.

Lockwood soon came down the stairs to greet you, "Well I'm glad you two are friends, and you can work out George's situation later. Right now we have somewhere to be, so I'll see you later," he said, rushing out the door.

"Bye lovebirds," Lucy called out as the door closed behind the two of you.

Lockwood seemed to be a lot more smiley today than usual, "What's up with you?" you asked him.

He shrugged, "I knew you would be friends," he said, holding your hand in his, "That's why I'm happy love." Lockwood was more than full of joy to know the person he was desperately falling in love with was now becoming well liked by his family. 

Current Taglis (ask to be added)

@almost-gabrielle @scarlett-8 @atashiboba @that1deerpersondownstairs

[srorgana1]

Into The Reverb (Kylo Ren/Reader)

Chapter Thirty Two

“Hi Evelyn, it’s Y/N L/N, one of Dr. Morgan’s patients. I am calling to see if I can reschedule my appointment for the 21st. I have some stuff with work that day and was wondering if I could reschedule for the 24th or 25th. If you could please call me back to confirm this, I would greatly appreciate it.” You say into the voicemail system. You hang up, letting out a big sigh.

Work has been insane lately now that you are fully on your own. Chewie was available to consult but you wanted to prove to him and the others they had made the right decision. You had spent most of the last few days at the studio staying late into the night going over files that had been sent to you to review. The bands under you had promise, especially Trax. He had this cyber punk metal vibe that you knew would be a hit.

But deep down, you knew you were spending so much time at the studio was because you were lonely. You missed Kylo so much. True to his word, he continued to text, call and FaceTime when he had time, but it wasn’t the same. You missed his touch and his deep voice that you could feel as well as hear.

During your most recent session, Dr. Morgan congratulated you on your apparent progress. She said she could see how much more confidence you had and how you have been using the tools you have learned to combat stressors in your new role. She had also winked and asked if she could meet your mystery man. You smiled and simply said maybe.

You look down at your phone. It’s 8:55. The Knights will be getting ready to go on stage soon in Chicago. You watched what you could on social media and YouTube. You could feel his passion and energy even through the screen. It made your panties damp when you would watch the post-show interviews. His pale skin shimmered with sweat as he would smirk and coyly answer questions. He oozed sex and everyone wanted a taste.

You fight a shiver as you start to clean up your items so you can head home. It was still an adjustment sleeping alone. You have now sadly began to sleep in his t-shirts and spritz his cologne onto your pillow just so you could have a piece of him with you at night. You knew it was pathetic, but it helped.

You hear your phone ping as you get into your car. It’s a text from Rae. Hey girlfriend, you busy? Was wondering if you wanted to have a girl’s night. You do a double take at your phone. While you and Rae were amicable, you wouldn’t say you were besties. Sure, she has invited you out to brunch and after work drinks, but it was always with others from work. You hit her contact as it starts to ring.

“Hey girl” she says after the second ring. “Hey what’s up” you say, feeling out the situation. “Nothing, was wondering if you were free tonight?” she says. You bite your lip conflicted. Normally Kylo calls you after shows, normally hyped up on adrenaline. Your cheeks warm at the memory of his dirty words the night before.

“Honestly, I would like to but since it’s a show night, I normally FaceTime with Kylo after…” you say, embarrassed for even bringing it up. “Oh, oh okay” she says, sounding a bit defeated. You catch onto it instantly. “Rae, have you heard from Kurak recently?” you say, concerned for your coworker. “Not since earlier this week, but he’s like that” she says trying to wave it off. You can read in her voice that she’s sad, lonely. Just like you.

“Hey, I am turning off the freeway now, meet me at my place and we can watch something and order takeout” you say. “Really?! Thanks babe! I’ll text you when I get there” she says, ending the call. You huff out a breath. This wasn’t how you thought tonight was going to go but Kylo will understand.

You click on Kylo’s contact and send a quick audio message. Hey Ky, I will be hanging out with Rae tonight, so I won’t be available to FaceTime. Good luck tonight and text me when you can. Love you. Sending the message, you know he won’t be too upset. Your coworker/friend needed you and you hoped that you could do what you could for her.

When you got home, you changed and flipped on Netflix. You weren’t sure what this would entail but you were willing to take a chance. You phone pings with Twitter and Instagram notifications. The concert must be going well, you think as you pull your hair out of the high ponytail. You massage your scalp and temples, trying to alleviate the strain.

You hear a knock on your door along with a ping from your phone. Walking over, you see Rae through the peephole. Opening the door, you smile softly allowing her entry. You can tell by her eyes she has been crying. You shut the door and follow her, allowing her space.

She stands in the middle of your living room, looking sad and unsure of herself. You aren’t used to this Rae. You are used to loud and vivacious Rae. You walk up to her and hug her. You feel her stiffen and then crumble onto you, sniffling into your shoulder. “What’s wrong?” you say, leading her to your couch.

“Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen” she mutters, wiping her nose on her sleeve. You pick up the remote and put on Outlander. She smirks as she hears the opening music. You shift back, tucking your legs under you as you face her.

“What’s wrong Rae? What’s bothering you?” you ask again, eyes focused on her. “I… I think Kurak and I are over… like nothing was really said but I can just feel it” she says, looking down at her hands. Your heart hurts for her. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you know what happened” you say, wanting more. “I think it’s just we weren’t compatible. It was all surface level. When I tried to dig deeper, he would freeze and back off” she says, shaking her head.

Your heart constricts again at her pain. “It sounds like he wasn’t ready for a more complicated relationship” you say softly, trying not to hurt her more with the truth. “I know, I should’ve read the signs, but that’s not all…" she says, huffing out a breath. You reach out to her, holding her hand lightly. “Rae, I’m here for you, no matter what” you say. She snorts, laughing bitterly. You look at her, confused. “Fuck, okay here it is. I’m late, like late late.” She says, holding her head in her hands.

You freeze, shocked by her statement. “You mean…” you ask, trying to keep your anxiety at bay. She laughs weakly as she nods her head. “Pregnant? Yeah apparently. I took a test last week and two more this week” she says softly.

Tears prick your eyes as you wrap your arms around her. You squeeze tighter when you hear her sob. “Does he know?” you whisper, rubbing your hands down her back. She shakes her head no into your shoulder, “he won’t respond to my texts” she mutters.

You rub her shoulders, sad and angry on her behalf. She didn’t deserve this and neither did the life inside her. “Obviously he isn’t ready for a relationship, he has shown you that” you say evenly “and obviously it’s up to you how you move forward with this, but I want you to know both Kylo and I will support you.”

She snorts again. “Sorry, I’ve just heard that a lot in my life and they all fall through. I guess I am not cut out for fairytale endings like you” she says bitterly, pulling away from you. You freeze, not knowing what to say to that. While your relationship was good, it surely was not perfect. But you could agree you and Kylo were compatible. “Um I don’t know what to say to that” you mumble, feeling uncomfortable. You feel her eyes on you.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you” she says “I’m just all over the place and it’s frustrating.” You nod, empathizing with her. “But really, you are fucking lucky. You have a man who would destroy worlds for you. He was hooked before you guys even got together. People would kill for even a snippet of what you and Kylo have. You two are like fucking soulmates or something” she says holding your hand. You look up at her and can see in her eyes she's telling the truth. "Thank you" you whisper, squeezing her hand.

She huffs, clearing her throat. “Thank you for letting me come over. I just was stewing at home, and I don’t know…” she tails off as she focuses on Jamie Fraser’s face on the screen. You squeeze her hand again, letting her know it's okay. You know what she means.

“I think I just need to take some time. Figure out what I want and what’s best for me” she whispers, running a hand through her braids. You nod, willing to support her however she needed. “If that’s what you need, I support you. Just keep me in the loop of what you decide” you say.

She smiles fully for the first time tonight. “Thank you babe, I really do appreciate it. I think I just needed to tell someone. It was swirling and I felt like I was drowning. But really thank you Y/N.” You smile softly. “Yeah, just going to take some time, focus on me and this little one. Who knows maybe through this, I’ll find my knight in shining armor” she says, winking at you.

You both jump at the sound of your phone ringing. It’s Kylo. You pick it up quickly as Rae stands up and heads to the kitchen, smirking as she passes you. “Hey Ky” you say, feeling your cheeks warm. “Hey beautiful” he says, his voice extra low and raspy. He must have really let loose tonight. “How was the show?” you say looking between the TV and Rae. “Good. The crowd was nuts. We just got back to the bus” he says.

“Did you get my message?” you say, starting to get nervous. “What message? I hope it was that you fucking miss me and your pussy needs split open by my fat cock” he growls. Your face warms as you choke on your spit, making you cough. “No but um, yes, yes I do” you say, flustered and embarrassed. You seriously don’t know what to do.

But thankfully Rae does. Catching your eyes, she nods silently as she takes your phone and puts it on speaker phone. “Hey Ky” she says brightly. “Oh..uh hi Rae” he rasps, clearing his throat.

“Sounds like you guys had a banger show. Me and your girl here were just about to settle into takeout and watch some of it” she says. You stare at her, amazed at how fast she flipped. “That’s…that’s cool. Yeah, the show was awesome. KYBER killed it tonight, setting the crowd into a frenzy before we even got on stage” he says.

“Fuck yeah. Well, our fries are getting cold, and your girl keeps stealing them so we are gonna let you go. I promise I will return her to you in one piece” Rae says, winking at you. “I’ll call you later tonight Ky” you squeak. “Okay baby girl, love you” he croons. “Love you too” you say, feeling off balance. He hangs up, but you are still uncomfortable.

Rae looks at you, narrowing her eyes. “What’s wrong?” “I just…it feels weird saying that in front of you. It felt like I am slapping you in the face with my happiness after everything you have told me” you mumble. To your surprise, she laughs. “Girl, like I said before, I’m happy for you. You deserve it.” she says as she grabs her phone. “Now speaking of fries, how about we share a big ass portion of Disco fries?”

You smile, knowing you and Rae share a love for sauced up cheesy fries. “Yes, but only if it’s from Fat Sal’s” you say, heading to the kitchen. You laugh at the sound of Rae’s moan. “Fuck yes, they are the best, especially with Fat sauce for dipping…” You hear her hum as her fingers fly across the screen.

You freeze as you pull two sparkling waters put of the fridge. Anxiety spiking, you grit your teeth as you turn back to your friend. “Rae um… is it okay if I tell Kylo? I just don’t want to cause more drama…” you shut your eyes, grimacing. You should have thought this through. God you were so stupid…

“Yeah” You look up, eyes wide. She is smiling at you as she played with one of her braids. “Yeah, it’s fine. I trust you and if you trust Kylo, I’m fine with it” she says “but…just I don’t want him telling Kurak before I do.” You shake your head quickly. “He would never do that! He respects you too much to do something like that…”

“I don’t know about that” she says laughing “but I know if you ask him to, he won’t. Now get your booty over here, food is on the way.” She grabs the remote and switches to Hulu. “Have you watched Drag Me To Dinner? It’s fucking great!” You shake your head no as you hand her a bottle. “You are in for a treat love! Neil Patrick Harris and his hubbie are hilarious in it!” she says clicking it on. You smile as your friend settles in, hugging a throw pillow.

While it isn’t ideal, stuff like this happens. You just hope Rae does okay and Kurak steps up. Even if he doesn’t, you know she will have you, Kylo and the rest of the crew from D’Kar there for her. You are a family there and family supports each other in times of need. You send Kylo a quick I love you text and put your phone down, already letting out a giggle as a blue haired drag queen splashes a poorly made remoulade all over the kitchen set.

[yourturntosimp]

can u pls do safamiley hcs:D

A/N: hiii,,,,how yall doinggg,,,happy summerrrrrr 💀💀💀 TWs: Manipulation, Guilt tripping, Degrading talk, Mention of/allusions to murder, General toxicity

♡ the gfs ever omg ♡ tbh i feel like they would be kinda on-edge around eachother if this was asu-naro era & before the actual game,,, ♡ like the whole thing is shady as all hell, so i can imagine them working with eachother but never fully trusting eachother in case one of them were to try to damage/sabotage the other’s research to make themself look better,,, ♡ that’s probably the thing that led them to be interested in eachother JHGFDS ♡ idk they seem deranged enough to let that be the driving force im ngl ♡ anyways they’re both 100% manipulating eachother and they think the other has no idea ♡ miley going out of her way to ruin safalin’s social life, because why not ruin the few opportunities she takes to be outgoing and talk to people? ♡ It means she’ll have to spend more time with miley, and also she won’t suffer the mortification of making a fool out of herself like the idiot she is! ♡ after all, what kind of a girlfriend would she be if she didn’t stop safalin from embarrassing herself and making it clear to everyone around how completely and utterly stupid she is? It’s a win for both of them, she’s just being nice <3 ♡ safalin, on the other hand, opts to guilt trip miley and incessantly cling onto her ♡ she’s just too useless & incapable of doing anything by herself! She’ll surely crumble and fall and just ruin everything if miley is away from her for too long, so maybe they should just stick together all the time! ♡ and if that doesn’t work, well…she can always just show her how capable she is as a caring girlfriend! ♡ miley just needs to…mysteriously catch some illness, is all! and safalin, with her knowledge in medicine, will come to her rescue! ♡ they both also get SUPER jealous ♡ the problem here is that they both like to make eachother jealous on purpose,,, ♡ safalin does it if she starts to worry that miley’s getting bored of her and doesn’t care for her anymore ♡ and yk miley wouldnt do shit to reassure her that this isn’t the case bc it keeps her dependant KJHGFCD ♡ miley does it because she likes seeing safalin’s reactions to it ♡ it’s just so fun, seeing that shattered look on her face be immediately replaced with the most potent rage she’s ever seen in her life! ♡ she doesn’t really care about whoever it was that she was using to make her girlfriend jealous…it just sucks that they always scream so loudly </3

[ambroziadelphine]

Madara in the real world: Chapter 19

Masterlist

So, plans changed with Tobirama and Hashirama. Hashirama isn't coming with Tobi and Max yet. Apparently, he's made a new lady friend and wants to try to convince her to come back with him somehow, I wasn't sure. Oh, and Max's stalker ex is back so she's moving in with me! Yay! It was only a matter of days until both Tobirama, Max and my parents got here and all I could think, was how this would be one lively Christmas. I just hoped it all went well and my parents approved of Madara. I was already planning their first grandchild with him after all. Which was exactly where we were now on the 18th of December, a day before Tobi and Max got here, planning what we would tell my parents and them.

"So, what do you advise we tell your parents?" Madara asked as we laid in bed, his hands roaming my naked form, gliding over my swollen belly making me shudder. I sighed and leaned back into him; he's been different since I agreed to stop birth control, more gentle and protective almost. Our sex life wasn't slowing down either, only speeding up it seems; he would spend hours just filling me now that he had the chance to actually give me a baby, my videos being filled with his dirty words of getting me pregnant as he pulled me back onto his cock, even if I was already stuffed full. 

He was really enjoying this and it had only been days since I agreed, not that I could complain; he's also taken to joining all my lives when he wanted, especially if I was wearing a skirt or dress that gave him easy access to have me clenching on his cock as I played whatever game I was streaming at the time. I think my viewers were noticing a change in me, I didn't wear my cosplays as much for they couldn't hide my plump belly well, if at all; I almost always had Madara with me, though he never said much to my viewers, he has answered a few of their burning questions though. I've been trying to keep to wearing baggy shirts and hoodies, Madara sometimes having me wear one of his if he was feeling extra territorial over all the men flirting in my comments. I was definitely going to have to speak to him about slowing down or I'm afraid someone might get the wrong idea about what's going on and spread concerning questions through my social platforms; I didn't want people to think negatively of Madara and I's relationship from the little they do see on the internet.

"Well, starting with them meeting you is a good step." I joked, feeling him smile against my skin.

"Introductions will be first, of course." He said making me chuckle slightly, turning to look at him as I placed a hand over Madara's that had settled over my lower belly. "But.. then what? I am still, unsure about how to act around people here.. Much less the parents of the woman I plan on starting a family with." He admitted, looking down on my form to avoid my gaze almost in shame making my eyes soften.

"Madara, they don't actually care if you impress them or not. They care how you treat me, how you act with me and talk to me. If they see how happy you make me, they'll love you without a doubt." I said, leaning in to kiss him softly, his own lips kissing me back as if I'd disappear the next moment.

"I promise, I'll keep you happy. I'll do anything for you, my Queen." He muttered against my lips, kissing my forehead before he started to get up making me whine, catching his arm.

"Stay." I whined making him chuckle, leaning down to kiss my lips gently.

"I will lay with you in a bit, for now, let me go do something for you." He said making me raise an eyebrow at him.

"Do something for me? What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up only to have him push me back down by my shoulders gently.

"Just lay back and relax. I'll come get you in a moment." He said making me sigh but nod, he gave me a kiss on the forehead before getting dressed and walking out to do god knows what. I ran my hand over my lower belly, the bulge was pretty big, though he's been gentle enough to not accidentally hurt me or fill me too much, but he was getting pretty carried away with this our last round. I chuckled, thinking how I'll look very similar to this all the time in a matter of months if Madara kept this up before a wave of nausea hit me and I took in a sharp breath. Rolling over onto my other side, I clutched the pillow on Madara's side of the bed, inhaling a deep breath of the beautiful scent of my lover as I awaited his return, the smell helping to temporarily sooth my churning stomach, Seth jumping up to cuddle me in the meantime.

"What do you think Seth? Boy or girl first?" I asked the puppy in effort to distract myself, my right hand out for girl and left for boy, grinning as he tapped his paw on my right hand making me chuckle. "Girl, huh? Let's not tell Madara yet, keep it a surprise for when it happens, yea?" I asked the puppy, scratching between his ears making his leg kick as I laughed, clutching the big puppy close.

"You're gonna love having so many kids running around to play with. Just wait until your big enough for a child to ride someday, then they'll be all over you." I cooed, the puppy jumping up to start licking my face making me grin and chuckle. "Oh, yes yes, I love you too, Seth. You're my first baby, don't let anyone tell you different." I joked, not noticing as Madara stood in the doorway, he really was quick.

"I hope you aren't going to tell our kids that." He chuckled making me put a hand over my heart in shock and sigh as I saw him.

"Seriously Madara, you can't keep scaring me like that." I said, he chuckled and apologized, siting on the edge of the bed next to me as he leaned down to plant a kiss on my lips.

"I didn't mean to frighten you." He said, tucking some hair behind my ear as I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

"You don't frighten me, but you do startle me." I said, making sure he could tell I meant there to be a distinction between the two. "Are you going to make all our kids into stealthy ninja too? I might actually have a heart attack if you do." I asked him, he let out a loud laugh and shrugged.

"I might, though I'll make sure they are never as sneaky as I am." He said making me chuckle, a hand on his cheek.

"Remember, these kids are still going to be half you. Being sneaky is just something they will inherit naturally." I said playfully, he smiled and leaned back.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to teach you how to tell when they are there." He said, standing up before going to my closet and pulling out one of his shirts and a pair of my panties, which he had definitely stolen a pair or two of to keep for himself, bringing the clothes to me. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked making me sigh and nod.

"A little nauseous again, not nothing too bad. I really hate anxiety." I said, he hummed and kissed my head before helping me get dressed, kissing up my body as he did making me sigh in content. He really was the perfect lover when it came to affection, which I found very surprising.

 "Sit up, then I'll show you your little surprise." He said making me look at him suspiciously before complying, sitting up as he scooped me up in his arms. "Come on, Seth." He called for the puppy as he walked out of our room, my arms wrapped around his neck as I watched Seth chase after us as he took me downstairs where I saw the couch had multiple pillows and blankets there in the corner of the couch, the TV set to Disney+; I even heard the kettle going in the kitchen. He also had the fireplace going which made me grin, the sound of crackling fire always was calming to me.

"What's all this?" I asked him as he set me down in the corner of the couch, giving me a blanket before going to the kitchen and coming back with hot chocolate. I had to admit it was a weird sight to see Madara Uchiha doing all of this; if you had told me he would act like this in October, I would have probably told them to be realistic if they wanted to date him, he was standoffish even with Hashirama at the best of times when they were friends. I didn't think it fit his character and personality displayed in the show, but then again, now he wasn't just a character; he was here, he was my Madara now.

"I just wanted to do something for you.. before your parents get here." He said as he set the cups down, sitting next to me and wrapping me in his arms and a blanket with the remote in his hand, Seth laid at my feet curled up in a ball. "Now, what do you want to watch?" He asked making me chuckle, leaning into his side as we flicked through the shows and movies, spending the whole afternoon cuddled up together like that while we enjoyed our alone time before the house would be filled with new and familiar faces.

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

"Try again." Madara said from where he rested his head on my shoulder. Since he had gotten back to training me the last while, he was trying to see how long I could make a clone last for, though this time we were inside, me in his lap as his arms wrapped around me firmly. There was now too much snow for me to comfortably stand outside, he also didn't want to risk me getting sick just for the fact it was indeed winter and a very cold one at that. He was trying to see how long I could hold a shadow clone right now, after realizing they were more then just illusions he took to training me by creating a few of myself and holding them as long as I could as I tried to focus on something else; he thought it would be an easy way to get me used to using chakra in larger amounts, if I could do that and focus on something else at the same time, like watching a movie, then it would be easier to block out later distractions should I ever need to use my chakra to defend myself. I didn't like how he was implying something would happen, but I also understood given what he's been through so I didn't comment much.

I took a second to gather my energy, this was a lot harder then I thought maintaining the clones and this was only with 3, I raised my hands and made the signs, three more clones appearing and sitting down. They looked slightly tired, reflecting how I felt as I leaned back into Madara's hold, sighing deeply as my clones also all sat around him, leaning on him and cuddling him as he blushed at the sudden contact with so many of me.

"A-Alex.." He breathed, his hold on me tightening as I leaned my head back to look at him.

"Yes, Master?" I asked in unison with my clones, all looking up at him adoringly making him suck in a breath.

"You're so perfect.." He mumbled, stealing my lips in a kiss making me sigh, turning in his hold until I straddled him to wrap my arms around his neck, my clones suddenly disappearing at the welcome distraction. His hands caressed my skin as he pulled me close, I pressed a little harder, his hands felt like magic when they glided over my skin; everything between us felt electrified, like sparks we only saw for each other. He pulled back slightly and smirked at me, his gaze teasing as he saw my flushed face; I always got flustered by him, no matter what he did there would always be a part of me that felt like a shy little school girl around her first crush. "Careful baby. You know we only have 2 days until Max gets here, do you want to look like this when she sees you? I wouldn't complain if you did, but if not, then fucking more of my cum into you won't help." He said, lowering his voice in the way he knows makes me weak. I closed my eyes and let out a shuddering breath, his hands sliding down to cup my ass and hips as his lips left soft kisses on my neck; I was covered in hickey's by now, it got to a point I had to cover them or someone might honestly get worried for my well-being due to the amount of bruises littering my neck and collar. That's not even mentioning the ones in.. other places, he has left.

"I can't help it.. I feel like I'm addicted to you now." I muttered, feeling him chuckle against my skin before he looked back up to meet my gaze. "I wanna make you a daddy.." I said quietly, his breath hitched, eyes widening at my words. I hugged him tight, my head on his shoulder as we sat there surrounded by blankets and pillows.

"Alex.." He started softly as I laid small kisses along his neck and collar, he closed his eyes slowly, giving a sigh of bliss as I continued my kisses along any skin of his I could reach. I wasn't trying to be sexual about it, I wanted to show him I loved him and only him.

"Yes, Daddy?" I asked quietly, I could feel him freeze under me and for a moment, I believed I had made a mistake, but when I took another moment to wait for a reaction, I noticed I could sense something, a shift in his demeanor. His hands seemed to almost tremble as they held me, his skin felt hotter against mine, and I could feel this immense energy coming off of him, similar to when he had been using jutsu when I was with him but this felt.. different. I moved to pull back when he gripped me tight, preventing me from doing so making me frown. "Madara?" I questioned, he buried his face in my neck and took a deep, shuddering breath.

"As soon as your parents are gone, I'm going to ruin you." He growled, looked up at me with narrowed, predatory eyes; only it wasn't Onyx eyes staring at me, but his very own 3 tomoe Sharingan. 

[an-evergreen-rose]

Just Looking part 2

Just Looking

reader x Natasha Romanoff (established) x Yelena Belova

Warnings: cheating, mentions of some NSFW stuff, alcohol, swearing

Summary: When Natasha left you all alone at one of Tony's parties, Yelena decided to make a move.

A/N: @yelenabelovasgf you asked and you shall receive. I am also writing this at 2 in the morning because I just couldn't help myself when I saw this request. So here is some sleep deprived nonsense. Might make a part 3???

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

Wine glass in hand, you looked around the room in hopes of finding your redheaded wife. When you do, you see she is enjoying a conversation with some of her work friends, not bothered by your lack of presence.

You had begged her to come to Tony's party, explaining how you two hadn't done anything social in a while now, Natasha always being too busy with work. You walked in, hand in hand, and a smile on your face, but as soon as you got to the bar, she left you behind with a drink in her hand, going over to talk to Carol and Mariah. Not like she talks to them every day at work.

Feeling as if your thoughts were going to get the best of you, you decided to get some air. Being on the top floor balcony meant the breeze could be quite ruthless at times, making you regret your choice of a backless dress. You watched as the city lights shone, looking down to see cars moving slowly through the traffic. Why is there always traffic?

"Careful, you might catch a cold." you heard someone say behind you, hearing the door to the balcony slide shut.

Looking over your shoulder, you saw Yelena, dressed in a grey oversized suit. You thought she looked powerful… and hot. But you shouldn't think that. You gave her a small smile as she reached the balcony rail, standing close to you, letting you feel her warmth, instantly wanting more.

"So…" Yelena stated, taking a sip of her beer, "What's a pretty girl like you doing out here, all alone?"

You let out a small chuckle at her comment, dipping your head slightly to try and hide the blush that crept onto your cheeks, hoping you could just blame the cold air if she asked. "Natasha was busy," you reply, finding it hard to hide the sad tone in your voice.

You saw Yelena roll her eyes, sighing before looking out at the view. Truth be told, Yelena thought it was nothing compared to you, but she was scared if she looked at you, she wouldn't be able to look away.

"You deserve better, you know?" She said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She was thankful for the multiple vodka shots she took when she saw you walk into the room, giving her the liquid courage to finally say what she wants to.

"Lena, she's my wife…"

Letting out a scoff, Yelena looked at you, "She doesn't treat you right, Y/n. She is never even with you! I mean look how beautiful you look tonight in your dress, and she isn't there to show you off. If you were mine - I… Well." she rambled, quietening her speech as she neared the end.

This time, you couldn't help the crimson hue that took over her cheeks. She thought you looked beautiful. Not even your wife said that to you tonight. In fact, you don't remember the last time she did.

"What would you do differently?" you asked, surprising the blonde at your forwardness. "If I was yours, what would you do with me?" You knew the last part was risky, she was Natasha's sister for god's sake and here you are sending out flirty comments because you are so deprived of attention from your wife. But it's not like you hadn't thought about it before.

Yelena thought that comment was bold, so she decided to run with it, her tipsy mind wanted to scream what she wanted to do from the rooftops, but she decided that it being loud enough for you to hear would be enough. Not caring about the consequences that might come up tomorrow. You had turned to face her, one arm resting on the balcony rail when you felt her fingertips begin to trace little patterns against your skin.

"First of all, I wouldn't have left you all alone tonight. Especially when you look this good, detka." You used to love it when Natasha called you names in Russian, but hearing Yelena say it, accent much thicker, it was like honey. "I would happily have you by my side the whole night, finding it funny when people stare at you because I'd know that I was the one that got to take care of you when we were alone. And trust me, Y/n, I've seen a lot of people stare at you tonight."

With that final comment, Yelena moved her other hand to grab your waist, pulling you in closer to her, your body's now flushed together. "I would never leave you alone on our date nights and would always be there for you when you in the mornings, just so I could hear you all cute and grumpy when you woke up."

You couldn't help the small smile on your face at the blonde's words.

"And trust me, detka, you wouldn't be needing that little toy of yours at night when you're all needy and frustrated," She continued, her voice lower as she brought a hand up to your face, tucking a strand of hair away from your lips. "I would be more than happy to help you out in that department."

Your lip was placed firmly between your teeth, trying to stop the low moan that threatened to escape at the thought of her doing those things to you. You couldn't take it anymore. You knew it was wrong, you were married. To her sister of all people. But you didn't stop her when she leaned in, releasing your lip in an instant if it meant feeling hers on yours instead.

It was needy and passionate, the both of clearly releasing all your built tension, pouring it into each other. Your hands reached her hair, gripping it softly to pull her in more - if that was even possible. One hand on your waist, the other travelling down your back, leaving a trail of goosebumps on your exposed skin.

You couldn't help but let out a small whimper when that hand reached your ass, giving it a quick squeeze, she took this opportunity to deepen the kiss.

"Am I interrupting?" A familiar voice reached your ears, and your eyes widened as you pulled away, looking toward the person at the door.

Natasha. Fuck.

[inadaydream99]

Want You to Love Me

Enemies to friends to lovers, Oneshot, Angst to fluff, University au, NCT Jaehyun x female reader

A/N - woah this is a very long oneshot! I might have gotten carried away… just a little 👀

Disclaimer: swearing (just once, I think) and mentions of drinking. This is for entertainment purposes only and does not represent any of the members in real life. Also, this is very cheesy and cliché (In my opinion anyway). Let me know if I’ve missed any!

Jung Jaehyun. The most narcissistic, rude, manipulative person you have ever met. Top achiever in your university, star athlete and adored by absolutely everyone; students and lecturers alike.

Sometimes you feel like the only one who can see right through him and his tricks. You refuse to be like everyone else. You absolutely refuse.

Now it might seem like you’re coming off a bit strong here and hating on someone for no reason. But you’re not. From the first second you remember meeting Jaehyun he has been nothing but awful. Purposefully going out of his way to insult and embarrass you in front of others. It’s like he thrives off of humiliating you.

It was during the first week of your first year of university. You’d been walking to class, minding your own business, when someone suddenly bumped into you, spilling their hot coffee all over your white T-shirt. You’d landed with a thud on the damp grass, dazed as you tried to comprehend what had just happened to you.

You remember it like it was yesterday. The dark eyes and amused smirk as a bitter “watch where you’re going.” was snarled at you. Yes, none other than Jung Jaehyun was looming over you, waiting expectantly for your apology, while what felt like the entire campus full of people were laughing at you. He was famously popular from the first day and, because of his authority, you were mostly only known for being the stupidly clumsy person who had the audacity to bump into him.

People still make comments and jokes about it towards you every now and then, even as a final year student. That’s exactly the power Jaehyun has. It’s 3 years later you’re still known for that first unfortunate day.

Despite your unlucky start to university, you had met some amazing people over the course of your studies; Mark and Jungwoo being your bestest friends. You will be forever grateful to them both for sticking by your side. The three of you are truly inseparable.

They were both witness to the collision between you and Jaehyun that day. Both witness to the way he treated you and how he refused to leave you alone until you apologised to him. In fact, your friendship was initially formed because Mark had intervened, ignoring Jaehyun’s commands and instead insisted to help you up, while Jungwoo grabbed your bag and carefully picked up the belongings that had fallen out.

They sacrificed their social status out of the pure goodness of their hearts and you have been thankful to them ever since.

“(Y/N), class is over.” Jungwoo softly nudges you, making you snap back into reality. You hadn’t realised you’d zoned out, but in all fairness you’d barely gotten any sleep the previous night. You feel like a walking zombie from how tired you are. But that’s what having too many assignments does…

“Can I borrow your notes to catch up?” You ask through a yawn as you walk out of the lecture hall with Jungwoo.

“Sure.” He chuckles in amusement. “If you promise you’ll get some sleep tonight.”

“I’ll try.” You tease, shrugging your shoulders.

“Hold up a second.” Jungwoo suddenly warns, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you off of the sidewalk and onto the grass just in time for Jaehyun and his group of friends to walk past. It’s almost amusing how they are seemingly always together as a group. The most popular guys on your campus: Johnny, Taeyong, Donghyuck, Taeil, Doyoung, Yuta, and their leader Jaehyun.

You grimace when you catch Jaehyun send you a taunting smirk as he passes, having witnessed Jungwoo pull you out of his way. You don’t know why you let him get under your skin so much, but even his presence infuriates you.

“What do people see in him?” You scoff, grumbling under your breath in dissatisfaction when Jungwoo simply responds with an “I don’t know.”

Entering the library, you both head straight to the table where Mark is set up, already stuck in a textbook as he desperately tries to take in as much information as he possibly can.

His head snaps up when your bag thuds loudly onto the table.

“Someone seems happy.” He jokes, holding up his hand towards Jungwoo, eagerly waiting for a high five.

“I wouldn’t start her off if I were you.” Jungwoo shakes his head at Mark, ignoring his hand. “She’s already ranting to herself about it.” He whispers as he slides into the seat next to him.

“But he’s such a dick.” You frown and it takes everything in Mark to not burst into laughter at how comical you look. The way you are slouched in your chair, arms defensively crossed over your chest as your bottom lip juts out into a pout; you look like a sulking child. He’d almost find it cute and endearing if he wasn’t aware of your ability to bite his head off.

“Come on, you’re really gonna let him get you worked up?” Mark tries to reason with you.

“Yes, because he’s an entitled little princess who needs to be taken down a peg or two.” You snarl.

“(Y/N).” Jungwoo calls to you in warning.

“No, Jung Jaehyun is the most awful person to ever exist.” You continue.

“(Y/N).” Mark calls to you a little louder.

“Oh, come on. I know you both agree with me. He walks around like he owns the place.”

“(Y/N)!” Mark and Jungwoo finally get you to fall silent, their wide-eyed expressions telling you all you need to know.

“Actually, I think you’re the entitled little princess, sweetheart.” You freeze, heart almost palpitating out of your chest when you hear his voice. It’s a whisper, so close to your ear that goosebumps raise along your skin and burning heat creeps up the back of your neck. You know, without a doubt, who the voice belongs too. And yet, you don’t want to turn around to face him. “Look at me.” He continues to taunt, moving back a little when you slowly turn your face so you are able to meet his gaze.

You’re speechless as Jaehyun’s dark eyes intimidatingly scour into yours.

“Quiet now, aren’t you.” He laughs and you want nothing more than to lurch out of your chair and attack him.

But you don’t.

You somehow manage to control yourself and remain silent in your seat. You already feel ashamed he’s managed to catch you this angry. There’s no way you’re going to give him any more.

The library is deathly silent as all eyes focus on the tense exchange between you and Jaehyun. You gulp when you see his eyes flicker briefly over to his friends, his smirk widening further, before he slowly stands back up from leaning down to your level.

“You’re lucky I have somewhere important to be.” He states, his expression morphing into a stone cold stare, before he walks off.

“Oh my god.” Mark lets out the breath he’d been holding in the whole time. “Did that really just happen?” His worry-filled eyes glance to Jungwoo in search of confirmation.

“It really did.” You mumble, your eyes not once diverting from Jaehyun’s figure as he confidently strides out of the building, his followers- friends- walking behind.

~

The next morning you wake up late and have to rush to get to class on time. Slipping into your seat you heave a relived sigh, proud of yourself that you had actually managed to arrive just before your lecturer walks in.

“Hey (Y/N).” Johnny smiles at you warmly. He’s one of Jaehyun’s closest friends, and to your complete surprise, an incredibly nice guy.

You’d become acquainted with Johnny by accidentally sitting next to him at the beginning of the semester. You generally try to stay clear of anyone in Jaehyun’s friendship group, for obvious reasons. But, over the semester, you’ve slowly grown fond of Johnny. He’s always friendly and helps you if you aren’t sure on something the lecturer has been talking about. He’s not rude or ignorant in any way. He just treats you like a friend.

“I was beginning to think something had happened to you.” He lightheartedly jokes, making fun of the fact that you are never late.

“Just woke up later than I should have.” You chuckle.

The two of you share a smile between you, engaging in some small talk about how your weeks had been so far. You sometimes wished that you could hang out with Johnny outside of the one class you share a week. But he’s constantly with Jaehyun so it would never work.

When the class finally starts, you begin diligently taking notes and find that the hour goes incredibly quick, because before you know it, you’re packing your things to leave.

“Do you have any more classes today?” Johnny casually asks as you walk out of class together.

“Just one.” You sigh.

“Sucks to be you.” Johnny playfully sticks his tongue out, making you chuckle at him. He’s just happy he is free from lectures for the rest of the day.

“It really does.” You nod.

“I’ll walk you to class.” Johnny offers, more so stating, as you both continue to walk through campus together.

“Oh, no, you really don’t have to.” You bashfully respond, feeling nervousness set in at the thought.

It’s not that you don’t want to spend more time with Johnny, or for him not to walk you to class. In fact, you find his gesture incredibly sweet. It’s just, Jaehyun is in your next class and you’re scared that if he finds out you and Johnny are friends, it’ll all be over. Because you’re sure Jaehyun would never let you go near any of his friends.

“Ah, but I insist.” Johnny beams at you and, now you know you really are doomed, because there’s no way you can say no to him when he smiles at you like that.

You both fall into a silence as you continue walking together. It’s not awkward in any way, it’s actually really nice. You feel comfortable enough around Johnny to not feel the need for constant conversation in fear of things going quiet. And there’s not many people you can say you feel that way about.

“Well, this is the building.” You slow to a stop as you both reach the bottom of the stairs into the building. You don’t want to be obvious, but you’re hoping Johnny will decide to say goodbye to you here, rather than walk you to the classroom door. “Thanks for walking with me.” You smile at him.

“No problem, I like hanging out with you.” You feel yourself fall shy at his words. “See you later.” He chuckles in amusement, finding your reaction very endearing.

“Bye.” You wave before finally making your way into the building.

You can’t help the smile that is fixated on your face, walking through the half empty hallway happily. You’re also thankful that there hasn’t been any sign of Jaehyun yet.

Except, unbeknownst to you, Jaehyun had seen your goodbye’s with Johnny and decided to keep a distance back so he wouldn’t be seen. He doesn’t know why it irks him so much to see how flustered Johnny seemed to make you. But it makes his jaw clench as his lips turn into a frown. He’s the only one that gets to make you feel that way. Regardless of if its because you like him or are intimidated by him.

As he finally continues to walk himself to class, he can’t get rid of the image of your wide smile. And what gets him the most is that is was one of his closest friends that was the reason for it.

~

“Your final assignment will be a paired project.” Professor Watts’s words make you sit more alert in your seat. This is one of the most important assignments, weighting at 40% of your final grade for the class. So to say you want to do well is an understatement. “I’ve already assigned your partners, which are on the sheet pinned to the door. Please check as you leave class on your way out.” A unanimous groan fills the room as Professor Watts finishes briefing the assignment. Why? Because there’s still 30 minutes left…

“Yes, Jaehyun?” Professor Watts nods towards him in acknowledgment of his slightly raised hand.

Your eyes cast towards Jaehyun, sat a few rows in front of you. You take in how he is slouched back lazily in his seat, mindlessly fiddling with his pen. He looks ridiculous, with his sly grin, revealing his dimples. The very ones that you constantly hear his admirers fuss over. And it annoys you how there seems to be one little piece of hair that falls forward across his forehead, defying the hair product that he has so clearly used to perfectly brush his hair to the side, revealing his forehead.

“Would it be possible for me to choose my partner, to fit best around my sports schedules?” He sends his most charming smile and you have to fight the urge to not scoff loudly at his blatant attempt to manipulate the purpose of being put with someone randomly.

“You don’t need to worry about that, I have kept that in mind while selecting your partner.” Professor Watts responds, clearly unfazed by his attempt at swaying the rules. You’ve always liked Professor Watts. And you’re glad, for once, Jaehyun hasn’t gotten his own way.

You sit with a triumphant smile on your face, mentally throwing taunting comments towards Jaehyun, while Professor Watts resumes the lecture and everyone begins taking notes.

“Don’t look so smug now, do you.”

The contented smile you’d had throughout the class vanishes in half a second as you scan the list to find out who you’d been partnered with. Your mouth hangs agape as you see Jaehyun’s name next to yours. This can’t be real. You can’t be partnered with him. How are you ever gonna pass this assignment when neither of you can have even a decent exchange of words?

“Professor Watts, please let me change partners.” You practically beg as you follow your lecturer out of the class.

“I’m sorry (Y/N), rules are rules and I can’t change them for just one student.” She denies your pleading. “You’re both old enough to figure out how to work together.” She shoots you a sympathetic smile before walking away. This time, however, you don’t follow.

“Come on sweetheart.” Jaehyun strolls past you with the most obnoxious smirk you’ve ever seen on his stupidly handsome face. But you don’t budge, staying firmly stood in the centre of the now empty hallway.

“No.” You mumble, your voice barely audible, but the echo of the hall enables for it to reach Jaehyun’s ears.

He instantly stops walking, turning to face you. His expression is now serious and his eyes firmly settle onto you as he walks back to where you are stood. You hate how you can’t voice the words you want to say, captivated by his confidence and rendered speechless by his authority.

“Whether you like it or not, we have to work together to pass this class.” He’s calm but his voice is firm, a sense of control reigning over him as he talks down to you.

You hold his stare for a moment, both of you stood in silence. You can’t decide what you want to do. But you know what is best, sighing as you finally begin walking towards the exit with Jaehyun in tow.

“So we need to come up with something we can present to the class about attitudes or behaviour.” You grab Jaehyun’s attention as you begin to flick through the pages in your psychology textbook. “Any ideas?”

Jaehyun isn’t sure just yet, trying his best to think of any suggestion that could work.

You gradually become agitated when you’re met with silence, your head snapping up to glare at him. Not that he notices, he’s too busy looking around the library.

“I guess we could focus on behaviour.” Jaehyun suddenly speaks up. It’s almost like he’s talking to himself, because he’s still fixated on something on the opposite side of the room.

“But what type of behaviour?” You press for more, trying to get him to share his ideas with you.

It’s then that you notice the sly stretch of his lips as they form into a grin. He looks pleased with himself and jolt waves of nervousness shoot through you when his eyes finally snap to yours. “Responses to flirting.”

What you hadn’t realised is that Jaehyun had spotted Johnny at the opposite end of the library, sat with some of their friends; Taeyong and Donghyuck.

At first he hadn’t really been listening to you, trying to ignore your pestering for a topic. But then he’d spotted Johnny and the picture of you becoming shy and flustered around him before class came flooding back to him. He’s not sure how to describe the feeling that settles in his stomach, but it leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

Suddenly he’s struck gold. He knows exactly how to compromise this project so he can mess with you and still pass. It’s a win win situation. Well, for him at least…

“We can investigate responses to being flirted with.” Jaehyun begins to explain and you hate to admit, but you aren’t against the idea. “And we can be the test subjects for each other, for the purpose of the presentation.”

And then it’s ruined.

“No way.” You scoff. “I am not doing that.” You vigorously shake your head no and your strong distaste to the idea makes Jaehyun laugh.

“Ok, how about I get someone else to flirt with you?” He suggests. “Maybe… Johnny?” You gulp at the mention of his name. There’s no way he knows about your friendship with him, right?

“I mean, I don’t really know him.” You nervously fidget.

“So then there won’t be a problem, will there?.” Jaehyun smiles.

“N-no.” You trip up over your tongue, mentally cursing yourself for exposing your anxiousness at the idea.

You decide to sneak a glance over to the table that Johnny is sat at, a million worries and questions flooding you all at once. How are you possibly going to get through this project?

“Do you want to start planning out the theories we should test?” Jaehyun grabs your attention once again, although he no longer looks so chuffed with himself. You nod yes to signify your agreement and the both of you begin to go through some theories and arguments you could talk about in your project.

You remain in the library, preparing your work together for a few more hours, actually finding that when Jaehyun is focused, he’s not the worst person in the world. And as you pack up your things and leave, you can’t help but feel proud of both of you for putting your differences aside and working so well together. So far anyway.

~

Making your way back to the library the next morning, you can’t help but think of the previous afternoon you’d spend there with Jaehyun. He’d actually not been as terrible to hang around with as you’d thought. But you’re putting that down to the fact that you’d kept your focus strictly on the project.

You find yourself strangely looking forward to seeing him and you can’t help but wonder if he could possibly feel the same?

You shake yourself out of your thoughts as you walk through the entrance of the library building, making your way up to first flight of stairs to the main study area. Scanning around the room, your eyes immediately find Jaehyun and you smile to yourself as you begin making your way towards his table.

He’s sat alone, casually relaxed back into his chair, scrolling through his phone and you take the opportunity to take him in before he notices you. You hate to admit how you feel a little nervousness bubble up inside of you the closer you get to where he is sat. But he just looks so normal and, well, unlike the infamous Jaehyun the entire university knows of.

You notice how he’s left his hair natural today, simply left to fall over his forehead. You like the more casual look on him, it suits him very well and you can’t help but think he looks so cuddly in the large black hoodie he has on. But you instantly shake that thought away and remind yourself that this is Jung Jaehyun you’re thinking about.

“Hey.” You subtly smile, trying to keep hidden the way your heart flutters as his eyes meet yours. He mumbles a light “hey” back, reciprocating your smile. You are beginning to really dislike yourself for the way you’re reacting to Jaehyun now. You’ve spend one ok-ish afternoon studying together, that’s all.

“I bought you a coffee.” He passes you the takeout cup as your eyes widen in surprise. You definitely weren’t expecting this sort of kind gesture, particularly from the very guy that you’ve always clashed heads with.

“Oh! Umm, thanks.” You’re reply makes Jaehyun chuckle quietly under his breath. “I didn’t bring you anything…” you trail off, feeling slightly awkward.

“That’s ok, you didn’t have to. I just remembered you mentioning yesterday that you couldn’t survive without coffee in the morning and the cafe was on my way here so...” Jaehyun explains to you, eradicating your guilt.

“Well thank you again, that’s very sweet of you.” You beam as you sit in the seat beside him.

As you begin taking out your textbooks you can’t help but feel like Jaehyun is watching you. You can feel his gaze on the side of your face, but it’s different from how you’d expect it to make you feel. Normally you’d become agitated by even having an inkling that Jaehyun is looking at you. However, right now you don’t feel any negative way. In fact, you have to fight yourself very hard to stop the warmth raising up your body.

You’re sure you catch him off guard when you lift your head from looking at your books to face him. The way his gaze flits away and his shoulders become slightly raised indicates so and you find it hard to believe that you’d managed to see him in a moment of him being captivated by his thoughts. Although, you have no idea what exactly those thoughts could be.

“Should we pick up from the part about instinctive reactions?” You suggest, watching as Jaehyun quickly sits up properly so he can find the correct page in his own textbook.

“Sure.” He mumbles and this serves to confirm that something is off with him.

“Is everything ok?” You furrow your brows in concern, not entirely liking the more subdued Jaehyun that you’re currently witnessing. You want the guy that you’d hung out with yesterday, the one that was cool and ready to study. But today, he seems like his mind is preoccupied with something else. Something troubling him.

And you’re not wrong.

Jaehyun hopes that you aren’t able to read him, but when you ask him if something is wrong he doesn’t know what to say.

He’s not been able to get his mind off of picturing you with Johnny and it’s driving him insane. But he’s done it to himself really, after all, he’s the one that suggested roping Johnny into your project to flirt with you.

When he’d initially suggested the topic yesterday, he’d had a plan. He wanted to be the one to flirt with you in front of everyone, to show them that he can get the one person who hates him the most to change their mind. He wanted you to fall for him. But when you’d outright refused, he panicked and suggested Johnny, just so he wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

After you’d finished studying together, Jaehyun had gone straight to Johnny and asked him to help you both out with your project. And of course, Johnny being the nicest guy, agreed right away. His words “anything to help out my friend.” made Jaehyun feel so thankful. But Johnnys next words sent him into an internal spiral of every possible emotion.

“And I’d happily flirt with (Y/N), she’s incredibly cute.”

“Jaehyun!” You lean over and nudge his arm. He’s been zoned out for a few minutes now and it’s starting to worry you. “Dude!” You sigh in relief when he finally blinks out of his daze, chuckling to himself.

“Did you just dude me?” He jokes, the cheekiest grin on his face, which you hate to admit is actually kinda adorable.

“You were worrying me!” You lightheartedly defend yourself, rolling your eyes at him.

“Aw, you were worried about me?” He continues to tease and you’re unable to deny him your laughter, your pearly giggle sending shockwaves of euphoria through Jaehyun and straight to his palpitating heart.

Maybe he could still make his plan for you to fall for him work. Because he knows that you’ve definitely managed to get him to begin feeling that way for you…

~

“So he actually invited you to his party?” Mark questions you in disbelief. Though you don’t blame him because you felt the exact same when Jaehyun had initially invited you too.

“Yes.” You laugh as Mark lets out an astonished “woah”. “He said I could bring some friends too.” You wiggle your eyebrows suggestively at both Mark and Jungwoo and their faces light up at the prospect of attending the most popular guys party.

“I can’t believe you are friends with him. A week ago you hated each others guts.” Jungwoo joins in, but his statement that you and Jaehyun are friends catches you out.

You hadn’t actually given it much thought before. Are you really friends with Jaehyun now?

No, there’s no way. You refuse to admit or accept it.

“We’re not friends, he’s inviting practically everyone he knows.” You deadpan, clearly getting the message through to your friends that they shouldn’t get too ahead of themselves.

“I don’t know.” Mark purses his lips. “It’s sounds like you’re friends to me…” he continues, elated laughter erupting out of him as he dodges your attempt to shove his arm.

~

It’s a week later and the night of Jaehyun’s party has finally arrived. To say you feel nervous is an understatement. Mark and Jungwoo are really looking forward to finally getting to experience one of his famous parties. You, on the other hand, are looking forward to seeing Jaehyun. Or, at least, you’re hoping to see Jaehyun.

Over the past week you have continued meeting up daily to work on your project together. You’ve finished all the theory based writing and are now looking to put it into practice, so you’ll be ready for your final presentation. You’ve really become fond of Jaehyun and the time you’ve spent together. Each time he managed to defy one more of your assumptions or previous opinions about him, and instead replace it with the thoughtful, funny and kindhearted person he is underneath.

Entering into the main room of the party, you are overwhelmed with blaring music and a sea of people. Jungwoo instantly gets too excited and rushes off to mix in with the party, excusing himself from you and Mark as he spots some friends from one of his classes.

“Wanna get a drink?” Mark turns to you, linking arms with you when you nod in agreement, before you both begin to weave your way through the crowd in the living room to find the kitchen.

“Oh my god, I never thought we’d make it through there alive.” You exhale. Mark nods in agreement as you both approach the counter filled with cups and different assortments of drinks.

“(Y/N)!” You turn upon hearing your name to find Johnny smiling down at you. “What a great surprise, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Oh yeah, Jaehyun invited me last week.” You try to remain causal. “This is my friend Mark.” You introduce the two of them, watching as they exchange their hellos.

“Bro I love your jacket.” Mark compliments Johnny, striking off a great conversation instantaneously. You knew they’d get along and have always wanted to introduce them, but have never had the perfect opportunity until now.

You stand with them while sipping your drink, watching affectionately as Johnny talks about being part of the football team and they begin talking about their favourite sports teams and upcoming games.

After a while of the three of you talking as a group, Mark excuses himself to use the bathroom. And so you find yourself alone with Johnny. Well, not actually alone, because there is plenty of other people in the kitchen too. Just alone in conversation.

“Jaehyun mentioned about your project, sounds like it’s coming along nicely.” Johnny’s causal mention of Jaehyun makes your heart pick up pace. “Just let me know when you need me to help out.” He adds, shooting you a playful wink.

You throw your head back in laughter at his silliness. His natural flirtatiousness is one of your favourite things about him.

“I’m honestly surprised you need me to help demonstrate when Jaehyun is literally the most perfect person for flirting.” However Johnnys next comment instantly frazzles you. Of course, you’re aware of the fact that Jaehyun always has plenty of people lining up to date him. But, why would Johnny assume you would be one of them?

“What do you mean?” It’s when your confusion is aired to Johnny that he becomes aware of what he’s said, his eyes growing wide in realisation.

“Oh, I just mean, Jaehyun’s probably the more experienced out of anyone around here. He likes having everyone be in love him.” Johnny explains.

To him it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. But it makes you feel a tightness in your chest.

“But when Jaehyun told me he wanted me to flirt with you, how could I possibly say no?” He smirks, the look he sends you making you momentarily forget about Jaehyun. You can always count on Johnny to make you feel cheerful. And you know he’s only messing around when he says things like that to you, because that’s exactly Johnnys friendship with you; lighthearted and fun.

But, from where Jaehyun stands, it’s looks like so much more and he feels his grip tighten on his cup, wanting nothing more than to be the one that’s making you so flustered.

Jaehyun had been hoping to bump into you all night, so when he recognised Jungwoo in amongst the party he knew you had arrived and began his search. Initially, he was pleased to spot you after searching practically every room in his place. But then he took notice of who you were talking to.

Neither you nor Johnny had noticed him enter the room, too invested in your conversation. He notices the way Johnny reaches out to playfully pat your head, making you laugh and although Jaehyun knew you and Johnny were friendly with each other beforehand, he had no idea you were as close as you appear to be right now.

“Hey Johnny, Hyuck has been looking for you. He said something about needing to defeat you again?” Jaehyun lies straight through his forced smile, knowing fully well that Johnny would take the bait.

“Ah that little shit. I let him win one game of CoD and he suddenly thinks he’s unbeatable.” Johnny laughs. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go shut him up.” Johnny turns to you.

“Enjoying the party?” Jaehyun strikes up a conversation without wasting a second; it’s all he’s been interested in doing all evening. Except, he’s not in such a great mood, thanks to Johnnys flirting with you, and you definitely sense the irritation radiating from him.

“It’s been nice.” You nod, smiling at him in hopes that it’s lifts his mood a little.

Those fierce eyes are back again, Jaehyun’s dark orbs looking right through you as his face remains frozen in a frown. It’s a little intimidating.

“Are you enjoying it?” You nervously speak up in fear of the silence between you.

“I was. Until I saw Johnny all over you.”

Jaehyun’s accusation confuses you, your brows furrowing as you tilt you head at him. To you it had just been a friendly conversation.

“Johnny wasn’t-”

“I know what I saw.” Jaehyun cuts you off, sensing your impending excuse. “And I didn’t like it one bit.” He continues, now gritting his teeth at you in an attempt to control his flaring temper.

This makes you become visibly annoyed, your posture tensing as you feel defensiveness overcome you. Who gave him the right to be so angry and possessive over you? You thought you’d managed to move past this with Jaehyun and begin to form a friendship, but now you realise that you haven’t. He’s simply reverted back to his previous self and it’s infuriating.

“Well, it’s irrelevant how you feel. You have no right to be so possessive and controlling over me.” You fire back at him, talking Jaehyun a little by surprise.

You decide that you don’t want to hear anything more of what he has to say, storming off to find Mark or Jungwoo before Jaehyun has a chance to stop you.

You, once again, officially hate Jung Jaehyun.

~

Roughly forced up against the wall, Jaehyun’s lips collide into yours. His kiss is rushed and domineering and you find yourself clenching fistfuls of his shirt to keep you somewhat grounded. Although, you can’t deny that you’re very much enjoying the feel of his lips as they abrasively bash against yours.

How you’d ended up here is a blur in your mind, but crystal clear in Jaehyun’s. After you’d rushed off, he’d followed you, hoping to be able to talk things out some more. Wanting to get rid of him, you dashed through the house and up the stairs, crashing through the first door you could and slamming it shut.

But Jaehyun was hot on your tail and raced after you, knocking on the door that was now separating the two of you. With your back pressed up against the door, you used all of your body weight to resist against Jaehyun’s pushing, but it was no match for him as he easily overpowered you.

He walked into the dark room you’d attempted to hide yourself away in, deciding to leave the light off as he approached you.

“I just want to talk.” His voice is a complete contrast to his demeanour. He doesn’t want you to be afraid of him.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” You remain completely still, hoping that you come across as strong willed. Your tone is filled with irritation as you refuse to back down.

“Then at least give me a chance to show you.” His next words take you by surprise and before you know it you’re swept up in his hold and pressed against the wall, his lips attacking yours.

The blaring music coming from the the continuing party downstairs is completely drowned out now, all of your senses focused on the passionate, rushed and desperate locking of your lips. You feel his hand move to find yours, your fingers intertwining with his instinctively.

“I know you don’t hate me.” He states as he pulls back for air, his hot breath panting against your face as he remains millimetres from you.

He’s cocky now. And you’re not entirely mad at him for it because you haven’t exactly tried to stop him or rejected his kisses. But, at the same time, you want nothing more than to snap at him and scold him for being such an asshole. Before you have the chance, however, he’s leaned back in for another kiss. Snickering into you when you accept him right away.

You hiss in agitation when he bites down on your bottom lip. You hate his teasing. You hate how he smirks while he continues to kiss you. You hate how much you are enjoying his kiss.

“Got nothing to say?” He finally gives you an opportunity to speak, pulling away from you enough so he can drink you in. It sends him reeling seeing you helplessly leaning against the wall for support, completely breathless. Even in the dark you’re still mesmerising, luring him back in with your gaze.

“I. Hate. You.” You manage to spit between each huff of air, staring at him directly in the eyes.

“Hate you too sweetheart.” He laughs, carefully brushing his thumb over your cheek. It’s been a while since you’ve heard him call you that nickname…

It’s almost alarming how gentle and affectionate he’s suddenly being with you. And you don’t like how it makes you completely melt for him.

“Get away from me.” You use all your strength to push him away, only succeeding because you caught him off guard for the millionth time that night. “I told you, you have no right.” You scold.

“To what? To want to be the only person that makes you smile, or makes your heart skip a beat?” Jaehyun condescendingly confesses, so accusatory that you almost miss the meaning of his words, staring at him speechlessly. “I just want to make you to feel the way you make me feel.” His voice becomes softer, more and more subdued the longer you stay quiet.

He’s looking at you the same way he did in the library that morning he bought you coffee… with so much adoration pouring out of him, the air becomes too thick and suffocating.

“Let me try.” He pleas, reaching out to tuck the piece of hair that had fallen in front of your face neatly back behind your ear.

“I can’t.” Your voice is hoarse as you try to contain your emotions.

You can’t because he’s Jung Jaehyun. He doesn’t really have feelings for you, he just wants you wrapped around his finger like everyone else. And you refuse.

~

After you left the party, Jaehyun decided to disappear from the crowds. He locked himself away in his room until he was sure everyone had left.

He couldn’t believe you’d rejected him, especially after that kiss. In fact, he couldn’t believe you’d rejected him at all. He’s never been rejected before.

Why did he have to fall for the only person to ever hate him?

And to make things worse, he still had to work with you on the project.

It’s been three days since his party and he’s barely left his room. He’s skipped all his classes for the week so far, and he’s made no attempt to continue work on the project you are partnered with him on. And it’s due tomorrow…

He hears a soft knock on his bedroom door before it creeks open a little, Johnny’s head poking through the small gap before pushing the door open properly for him to step inside.

“I heard about what happened with (Y/N).” Johnny is cautious in his approach to him, watching Jaehyun’s reaction to the mention of your name.

“So she told you huh?” Jaehyun mumbles, slouching further as he leans back against the headboard of his bed.

“Actually, her friend Mark did.” Johnny informs, watching as Jaehyun raises his eyebrows in mild surprise. “He also mentioned that she’s shut herself away from everyone since the party.”

This makes Jaehyun feel a strange mix of emotions in the pit of his stomach. On one hand he couldn’t care less if you’re feeling sorry for yourself because you’re the one that had rejected him. On the other, he wishes he could talk to you and make you feel better.

“Why are you telling me this?” Jaehyun comes across harsher than he intended to, mumbling a “sorry” right after. It’s not Johnny’s fault, after all.

“Because she clearly feels the same way you do.” Johnny explains, trying his best to convince Jaehyun that he shouldn’t give up on you. Not just yet.

“But she rejected me.” Jaehyun points out, confusion clouding his mind when Johnny only responds with a laugh.

“That’s because some people take longer to figure out their feelings than others…”

~

“(Y/N), I’m coming in.” Mark announces through your bedroom door, slowly opening it to reveal you curled up under your duvet.

It hurts him to see you like this, but he’s tried everything over the past couple of days to cheer you up. Jungwoo even traveled for a hour just to get you some doughnuts from your favourite bakery.

“What time is it?” You groggily question, turning to face Mark as you shuffle yourself to sit up properly.

“11:30, almost lunch time.” You halfheartedly chuckle at his response, it’s so typically Mark that you can’t help but find him funny. And you know he’s proud of himself for making you laugh because of his triumphant smile.

He watches you for a minute as you sluggishly make a stand from your bed and drag your feet across your room to look in the mirror.

“We’re going to the library to catch you up on all the work you’ve missed.” Mark announces and you turn to give him a judging look. There’s no way that’s gonna happen. “You have 10 minutes to get ready or I’m dragging you out of here exactly as you are.”

You take notice of Marks expression and you can tell he really means every word. And the next thing he knows you’re suddenly springing to life and rushing into the bathroom to get ready.

~

Unbeknownst to both you and Jaehyun, Johnny and Mark had made a plan to get you to talk to each other.

Both of them had persuaded, and in Mark’s case threatened, to get you out of your rooms under the false pretence of doing some work. But what neither you or Jaehyun were aware of is that you’d be working together.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” You mindlessly nod as Mark excuses himself from your table in the library. You barely even acknowledge him leaving, more focused on reading the book in front of you.

Instead of doing textbook work, you had bought with you a copy of your favourite book, deciding that if you had to leave the safety of your room then you would at least bring something along with you that provides some comfort.

“Hey, I’ll catch up with you in a second.” Johnny nudges Jaehyun as they reach the entrance of the library. “I’ve just seen my lecturer over there and I need to ask about an assignment.”

“Sure.” Jaehyun, not feeling up to saying much, nods before continuing on.

And then he spots you from a distance, sat alone and clearly engrossed in whatever you’re reading. Jaehyun almost doesn’t know what to do. Should he go over to you, or find somewhere else to sit?

But before his mind has had a chance to think things though, he finds himself moving towards your table. He can’t take his eyes away you, entirely mesmerised, put in a trance. And he can’t help the summersaults he can feel in his stomach, the world around him blurring until all he can see is you.

“Where did you g-” your words fall short as your head lifts up to see that the person approaching you isn’t Mark, but instead Jaehyun. “Hey…” you’re unable to take your eyes off of him.

You’re almost worried what Jaehyun is going to say to you and you can see that he has far to many things going through his mind as he softly returns your “hey” with his own.

On his walk to the library with Johnny, he’d been thinking about how much he wanted to see you. But he didn’t actually think you’d really be here. It’s almost surreal.

“I think we need to talk.” Jaehyun clears his throat, remaining stood until he’s sure you’re ok for him to sit down with you. “I’m sorry if I overstepped boundaries the other night.”

You never thought you’d feel this way, but you’re glad Jaehyun wants to make amends with you, because from the very second you rejected him you’ve regretted it.

“I’m sorry I pushed you away.”

To say you feel relieved is an understatement and it’s evident that Jaehyun is the same as you finally get to see the smile you’ve become so fond of. A weight has been lifted off of your shoulders and the barrier that had been put up between you begins to crumble back down once again.

“Are we good to continue our project together?” He raises a brow at you in question, knowing smirk on his lips. Of course, he can already sense your answer, so if feels pointless in you replying really.

“Well I don’t think Mark will be returning anytime soon, so yeah.” You taunt.

“Wait, Johnny ditched me too.” Jaehyun realises. It’s not that he is really that surprised, because he’d noticed Johnnys abnormal behaviour. It’s more the dawning of the idea that Johnny and Mark could have done this to you both on purpose. “I knew something seemed off.”

~

“Where’s Johnny?” You rush to Jaehyun the second you spot him enter into the lecture hall you’re about to present in.

The plan had been for Johnny to arrive with you beforehand so you could run over last minute details with him. Important details like the order you are presenting in.

“He’ll be here.” Jaehyun calmly smiles at you, placing a hand on each of your shoulder’s. “Just chill, ok?”

“Ok.” You exhale a deep breath, nervously staring deeply into Jaehyun’s eyes. He’ll be here, Johnny won’t let you down.

10 minutes later there’s still no sign of him and you’re seconds away from taking your turn.

“Ok, up next. Jaehyun and (Y/N).” Professor Watts announces, her eyes briefly skimming over the list of pairs to confirm the order.

“What do we do!” You turn to Jaehyun in panic. It’s almost annoying how calm and collected he seems to be. But, then again, you’re probably stressing out enough for the both of you.

Jaehyun doesn’t say anything to you in response. Instead, he confidently strolls into the centre of the room, showing off his charming smile as he sets up the presentation on the screen.

“Our presentation will analyse the importance of building relationships and the experimentation of changing opinions.” He begins, asserting a professional tone. You remain at the side, waiting for the moment where you are supposed to begin demonstrating your theories. Except you’re somehow meant to do it without Johnny now…

“It’s no secret to any of you that my partner (Y/N) and I didn’t exactly get along before this project.”

Snickering ensues and you find yourself letting out a light puff of air through your nose in amusement, mesmerised by how Jaehyun so effortlessly captures the entire lecture halls attention.

“And I could tell you there were countless times where I’m sure she wished to be put with someone else.” He flickers his gaze over to you, sending you an adorably cheeky grin. “But not for me. I knew I had met my perfect match the second I first bumped into her all those years ago.”

Your breath hitches, completely taken away from you upon hearing Jaehyun’s words. Did he just admit that he was at fault all this time? It feels like you’re dreaming, or have been taken to some alternate universe.

“Our goal was to prove we could get along or possibly even form a friendship.” Jaehyun turns to address your classmates once again. “And I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by our outcomes. If my partner will care to finally join me for a demonstration?”

You bashfully smile, rose tinted cheeks burning hot as you walk over to where Jaehyun is stood. You’re not sure what’s about to happen, but you know you trust him with whatever the outcome is.

You turn to smile at the audience and that’s when you spot three familiar faces sat in the back row of the room. Johnny, Mark and Jungwoo all eagerly waiting on the edge of their seats in anticipation.

Before you have time to comprehend what is happening, you’re being pulled into Jaehyun’s embrace. His hand carefully reaching out to caress your cheeks before he leans in and connects your lips in a smooth kiss.

This kiss is the complete opposite of the one you shared at his party. It’s softer, more tender and heartfelt and you find yourself responding to him instinctively.

It’s like time has frozen all around you, the feel of his soft, plush lips against yours the only thing you can focus on. Your brain is foggy of anything else as you allow yourself to become fully submerged in this moment.

Jaehyun detaches your lips from him after a few more seconds, pulling away just enough for you to still be able to rest your foreheads together. It’s now that your senses tune back in and realise that this has really just happened in front of your class and as part of your presentation.

Jaehyun smiles from ear to ear when he takes notice of how flustered you are. He’s proud to finally be the reason behind your flustered state. But the cheering sounding throughout the room is also a big factor too.

You separate yourself, moving out of Jaehyun’s embrace to stand by his side instead and you feel his hand subtlety move to hold yours, intertwining your fingers together in reminder that whatever the outcome for your project, he’s right here beside you.

Despite the euphoria you feel rushing through you, you wait anxiously for Professor Watts to speak up. After all, you don’t expect her to approve of the direction your presentation has just taken.

“Well, it’s not the most conventional method of demonstration…” Professor Watts begins, standing up from her seat in the front row to make her way towards you both. Her expression doesn’t give much away, only filling you with more nerves. “But it’s definitely proved your point.” She triumphantly grins.

You let out a breathy laugh in relief to seeing Professor Watts’s smile, looking up at Jaehyun when you feel him squeeze your hand.

“That’s all for today, I’ll be posting your grades by the end of next week.” Professor Watts turns to address the entire room. “Well done everyone.”

“Oh my God!” Jungwoo comes rushing towards you, tackling you in a tight hug the second everyone is dismissed.

“Nice work bro.” Mark fist bumps Jaehyun, trying to act all cool and remain collected.

“Hey, I couldn’t have done it without you.” Jaehyun smiles thankfully, nodding towards Mark, Johnny and Jungwoo.

“So what does this make you guys now?” Johnny pipes up, clearly impatient with wanting to know exactly what label you and Jaehyun would put on your relationship.

You turn to look at Jaehyun expectantly, taunting amusement written all over your face. Jaehyun’s eyes momentarily scour at Johnny before softening when they shift to gage your reaction.

“Well we could pretend to be friends, but we both know that’s not true.” Jaehyun’s statement makes you blush, feeling your heart skip a beat upon the thought of being something more with him.

“I guess you’re right.” You coyly purse your lips in thought. Breaking out into a radiant smile when Jaehyun emits a low chuckle.

A week after your presentation you received your project results and, to your surprise, you both managed to get a high enough grade to pass.

It’s safe to say that from then on your relationship with Jaehyun flourishes. You both continue to hang out together, steadily building your friendship and laughing about all the times you’d clashed in the past.

Somewhere along the way, those hang outs turn into dates. Although you’re not really sure where exactly because the lines are a bit blurred; it pretty much sums up all the different relationships you’ve had with Jaehyun though.

Yes you’d started off on the wrong foot, hating on and arguing with each other for years. Then you’d developed a friendship, realising that you actually had more in common that you ever would have thought. Until finally, you became lovers… and you’ll never look back.

So maybe working with the enemy wasn’t a bad thing after all…

[delicrieux]

☆ﾐ 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚢 “𝚘𝚑”

PART 13: ...O-OH?

it’s the night of the big stream. y/n uncovers a strange, albeit deep, bond with charlie. corpse interrupts her garden date with sykkuno quite unceremoniously. tensions are high as ever; proximity chat reveals internal monologues and stray thoughts. y/n’s “batshit insane” energy affects everyone. this is, quite literally, the best game of among us bretman has ever played.

─── corpse husband x reader, sykkuno x reader (if you squint, it’s very one sided)  ─── soc. media + written fiction! ─── word count: 6.1k oops ─── ❥ reqs: sum people requested some interaction w bretman + jealous corpse + flirty sykkuno

author’s note: guys....GUYS WE’RE ON THE 3RD “OH” hope ur excited cus i am!!! this was rly fun to write, but then again, everything is better than writing an essay lmao! this is extremely chaotic and a bit seggsy but like a minuscule bit u wont even notice it i swear xx there’s not much social media in this one, mostly written lol. as always lmk wat u think n thank u for all ur kind words n sooo manyyyy ideassss!!! love u lots

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It’s happening, you think, picking the discreet, angelic white color for your astronaut - with a halo and all, truly, you are a seraph that stepped through the gates of heaven and descended onto earth to grace these morals with your presence...quite literally, you’re not only donning white in game, but also in real life, cute as a button or more like as a bunny. Cat girls are overrated - cat boys, on the other hand, you’ll ardently defend till your last breath - but bunny girls...Safe to say, your chat had been going feral. Your endless ego is fed well. You even swore on your heart that no devilish trickery would follow in this game - you had left your snake ways behind you.

No one believed you. The Roaches know you too fucking well.

The influx of new subs, however, do not. Look at this cute girl! She wouldn’t hurt a fly! You chuckle at the compliments. At the exact same moment, Rae pipes up on the discord call, “Y/n is leering and cackling evilly. No one trust her.”

Demon woman herself must be watching your stream before starting her own. You pout, all adorable and innocent, but your eyes gleam slyly. Truly, a mastermind of manipulation! Look at you go! The chat is swooning. The viewer number steadily climbs past 16K and you hum happily, welcoming all that decided to join your little clan, “Don’t listen to Rae. Wifey is mad because I said I’m not bringing her back a souvenir. Well guess what, bitch, I’m the gift.”

Your perfect image does not quite align with your tone, nor the affectionate nickname you call your roommate (bitch, not wifey). The new viewers are none the wiser though, just like your new stream mates.

There is laughter from people you don’t quite know. The lobby is almost full, but not everyone has trickled in yet.

“Filing divorce papers right now.” Rae mumbles, but you hear the smile in her voice. It makes you crack a grin, too. 

More hello’s and shy introductions to the people in the lobby. Sykkuno’s green astronaut pops in with a upbeat, “Hey, everyone! Hi, Y/n!” as his character circles around yours. A collective awww echoes in your stream chat as you, quite breathless at the wholesomeness, reply with a “Hi! Hi hi!” as well.

Corpse is next to join, mysteriously ominous. The discord call is pure chaos, everyone screaming over the other variations of his name while stressing different syllables. Silent as a grave, he just stands there, his black astronaut seemingly eyeing everyone in the lobby. 

Alas, when the noise dies down, he utters, “Whaddup, baby.” and it’s pandemonium all over again. You are screeching/laughing along with the rest. His astronaut swiftly glides to Sykkuno, still circling around you, “Hey, Sykkuno.” He says. The latter abruptly stops. The game hasn’t even started, and already - betrayal! Sykkuno starts circling around Corpse now, leaving you in the dust.

“Hey, dude!”

“Yo,” You interrupt, “I’m like here too, yeah?”

“Fight, fight, fight!” Pokimane jeers. You can’t see her, but you’re certain she’s pumping her fists in the air. 

“Let’s leave the bloodshed for the game, yeah?” Dream offers past her laugh ridden urging.

“No, fuck that, let’s start this shit right now,” Charlie declares - his monotone is strangely pleasant to the ear, and you lean back in your chair with a thoughtful hum. Something about his energy just clicks with yours instantly, but perhaps you’re judging too quickly- “Got my fucking knife ready to slit some throats. You can all pretend you aren’t ready to kill on sight, but that’s not me. I’ll teabag your dead fucking body.”

-yeah, no, your initial estimate had been correct! What a pleasant surprise, you feel like you and he will get along beautifully. 

“Way to be subtle, Charles.” Rae snorts.

“Subtle doesn’t make an interesting game, Rae,” He’s quick to bite back, “and if I’m Impostor, you bet your fucking ass I’m going after you first.”

“Noooooo!” She shrieks, rushing to your astronaut, which is still just standing there, abandoned, like the equivalent of that one emoji, “Y/n, protect me.”

“Of course, baby.” You purr. 

There’s mumbling in the discord call, though it’s barely audible. Corpse seems to be repeating the word to himself: Baby...Baby?...Baby...

“You’re gonna stab me in the back the first chance you get, won’t you?” She questions, already painfully aware of the answer.

“You know it!”

“Finally, someone that’s not fucking cowering in their boots and flaunting their real nature.” Charlie says, “Y/n, form a Big Dick Alliance with me.”

“Oh for sure, man.” You agree immediately, trailing to his in game figure, “Let’s show these virgins how it’s done.”

“This is going to be a mess, isn’t it?” Sean’s voice rings with a cheerful laugh, making you flustered. Yes, you’re actually playing with THE JacksepticeyeTM. You still haven’t fully wrapped your head around that part, “I’m very excited to see where this will go.”

“Nowhere good.” You say with unparalleled sincerity - every word you speak to him, the icon, the legend, the one of the few youtubers you actually actively follow, must be genuine. You doubt you can lie to him. He’s too good of a person. You admire him too much. Stuck between wanting to be a shady bitch and an absolute saint, you refrain from addressing him more - you are simply not worthy.

its the y/n trying to act like a normal person in front of jack for me

ikr she looks ready to join the monastery

each day we stray closer to gods light???

Your viewers are snide as always. Gosh, you love them.

The last player pops in, fashionably late, “Hey, y’all.”

“Hey, Bretman!” The call choruses somewhat harmoniously.

“Hi, daddy.” He’s speaking to Corpse now, a smile in his voice - you can hear it even past the static of his atrocious mic. Your eyes widen, eyebrows shooting up. Your friends are cackling, but confusion refrains you from doing the same - were you not the only one Corpse offered, seemingly so long ago!, to be his sugar baby? 

One betrayal after the other. You’re glad for the Big Dick Alliance. The name has a nice right to it, too. 

Corpse laughs, “...Hey, Bretman. How are you today?”

Damn, two sentences for him, but not even a word spoken to you!? You’re already scripting a very melodramatic paragraph you will text him after the stream. With poorly masked discontent, you mutter, “Wow, thanks for such a warm welcome, Corpse, my day’s going great, yeah, loving the company.”

“Now now miss girl,” Bretman chimes, “we can’t be all daddy’s favorite.”

“Careful,” Charlie drones, “I think you just got yourself onto Y/n’s shit list.”

“Right next to Corpse Husband and Valkyrae.” You agree, “Sykkuno!” You suddenly call him.

“Uhm-Uh-Yes?” Is his nervous reply.

“You’re safe.” You state coldly, “For now.”

“You are not going after Sykkuno on my watch.” It must be a belated holiday miracle because Corpse finally decides to address you. His words seem to awake something in him, “Hey-Hey-Hey-” He swiftly glides to you, standing right next to your minute virtuous angel, “When are you coming back to Cali?”

corpse stop acting weird challenge

literally omg lmao

he does bring up a good point y/n y u not in cali yet?!

^pack it up corpse simp he disrespected the queen when he didnt say hi

“Back off, buddy,” Charlie interjects, “this spot is for Big Dick Alliance members only.”

“I’m never returning.” You inform him, your voice cold like the Arctic snow, and the look in your eyes is no kinder. You feel like you’re having a stare down through screen. 

Silence stretches. Is this an intimidation tactic? Because if it is, it’s a paltry one. Your conviction to be petty is stronger than any vulnerability you might feel.

“Then I have nothing to say to you.” He admits and fucks right off with that. Fine, go join Sykkuno and Rae in their little corner of betrayal! Friendship ended with Corpse, now Charlie is your best friend.

“Okay, guys, guys, guys-” Toast, noting this is going to spiral any minute now, tries to catch their attention, “Let’s start?!”

You look into your camera, and the roaches know what you’re thinking. You’re twins like that, communicating telepathically. You are taking back your tender promise of not being a conniving bastard. It’s fucking on. You will destroy everyone in your path, starting with the guy you have a stupid crush on - maybe?! Feelings are confusing, you’d rather just not think point blank period.

With no objections from the cast, the counter ticks away seconds and, for the first round, you’re stuck as CREW MATE.

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Charlie is a gift. Truly, you had not expected such a sudden, wonderful relationship to bloom. How have you not known of him sooner?! It’s a crime that you hadn’t spoken to him earlier. You are a 100% certain if you had found him before you started streaming, he would’ve been a big inspiration. 

The two of you do your silly little tasks and curse like sailors, commenting about this and that thanks to proximity chat. You wouldn’t have been able to stand the claustrophobic silence if it was just a normal Among Us game - to think, missing out on all his foully worded quips! It almost springs a tear into your eye. He’s just as unhinged as you.

worried about this dynamic 

its a trainwreck lol i love it plz collab more plz

Caught in a headed discussion in Electrical - TikTok trends, or audios specifically - you defend the app the best you can. Charlie thinks it’s super cringe, and you insist it’s part of the charm as you connect wires.

“I mean, have...-do you know that one audio, the one that goes, like,” You’re spilling your words, heated, frustrated that he’s so dismissive of the app that literally saved 2020, “it goes like, uhm,” You clear your throat, prep your voice - even take a sip of your favorite drink. Drawing the syllables, you try your best to make it drop an octave - it must sound like you’re doing an atrociously bad and nauseatingly scratchy Corpse impression with an extra dramatic flair, “My assssssss, your cockkk, you do the mathhh.”

“Did-Did I just-” You freeze hearing Corpse’s voice, finally done with your task. Charlie is muffling his laughter behind his palm; Corpse’s astronaut stands in the doorway, “What the fuck did I just walk into?” He seems genuinely confused, though a strangely winded. You’re mortified. Your shoulders are shaking. You look at the stream chat but it’s going too fast for you to follow. Manic laughter bubbles in your chest and you squeeze your eyes shut, mouth split into a toothy grin, lowering your head and trying to hide the blush dusting your cheeks.

“Hey? Guys? What the fuck are you talking about?” He questions again.

“Honestly?” Charlie chimes, “No fucking clue. TikTok, I think. Ask Y/n.”

You can’t reply. You’re crying. You cover your face with your palms, muttering a soft oh my god before bursting into a full blow laugh, throwing your head back, the motion accidentally knocking your headphones off.

“Y/n.” Corpse calls you, “Fuck was that?”

You’re howling. Your stomach hurts. There are literal tears in your eyes. You think Charlie might be laughing too, but you can’t really tell over your loud screeching. Hastily fixing your headphones, you wipe away the tears stuck to your lower lashes, heaving, “S-Sorry, I-” You stutter, breaking into another fit of giggles. Corpse patiently waits you to calm down. Catching your breath, you start again with a sniffle, “TikTok, yeah.” You idly fix your hair, trying to bite down a smile, “It’s an audio.”

“What- What kind of videos are you watching?”

“The good kind.” Your reply is instant, merciless, “Also, why are you here? We’re having a BDA meeting, you know.”

“I-I...” He trails off, “I...I heard people talking and...I just came here to check it out, but...I’m regretting it.” There’s a lilt in his voice, and you know he doesn’t regret jack shit. You bet he’s smiling. You wish you could see it.

“Bitch, then leave!” You huff. You aren’t sure what is with him today, and you don’t want to stick around and find out - his playfulness makes your stomach flip at the most inappropriate times! Like when you’re trying to sound threatening. You must retreat posthaste, “No, wait, I’ll do it for you.” You say, brushing past his character. Charlie follows after you.

“Dude, you’re so fucking lucky neither of us are the Impostor because you’d be deader than I’ve been feeling since I was 10.” Your favorite companion comments. Charlie is truly a modern wordsmith. You’re pretty sure you adore him, because you’re nodding your head, so quick to agree with him that even you’re surprised. 

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A meeting is called. You spare a glance at your fallen crew mates. They will be missed. Sean most of all, God, why does heaven always take the good ones?! The game feels emptier without him, even if you really only passed him once on your trek to Cafeteria with Charlie.

You may or may not have been avoiding him, afraid you’d accidentally say something horrible and he would hate you. It’s a silly fear, though a deep one. And with Charlie keeping you company, you had not uttered a single objectively  good, or even coherent, sentence. Your parents can’t watch this stream once it’s uploaded onto your Youtube channel. They know you’re barely keeping it together in most of your videos, but here, now? Yeah, no. Charlie is already hard to listen to on his own for sensitive viewers, and hearing you agree with literally everything he says with your own chaotic ideas? Your dad would stumble into an early grave.

Mom probably wouldn’t mind too much, but you’d have to explain your relationship status again. She is under the assumption that everyone you collab with is your significant other. You’d say it began with Sykkuno, though the exclamation of “Finally! My daughter isn’t pathetically single! We need to celebrate.” had started with Rae. Truly, a scandal.

Speaking of which, Sykkuno is gone, too, but you had time to mourn him already. You found his body roughly ten minutes ago; so torn with the fresh agony of heartbreak, you could not do anything else but cry. It was Charlie, bless his heart, that reported it.

“Someone killed Jack,” You say, voice dripping with venom, “court is now in session. I’m ready to vote the fucker out.”

People speak all at once. Toast roars over them, “ORDER! ODER IN COURT!” as he slams his hand onto his desk repeatedly. That seems to work, though briefly.

“I think it’s Y/n.” Corpse says. You stare at him, hand gripping your heart, mouth falling open in surprise.

flame him

corpse boutta be a corpse fr

beat his ass queen!!!!!

“Pardon my french,” You grumble, “but nani the fuck?!”

“It’s definitely Y/n, I found her and Charlie conspiring in Electrical. Surrealist experience of my fucking life, but it’s definitely her.”

“Dude, we’ve been over this,” Charlie sighs, shushing Rae who was about to comment something - knowing your luck, it was probably in favor of the man throwing you under the bus, “we would’ve snapped your fucking neck the moment you walked in. But we didn’t.”

“Yeah, we didn’t.” Corpse notes, “I said nothing about you, I’m just saying it’s definitely her. She probably didn’t kill in front of you because of your stupid alliance-”

“Someone sounds salty because he wasn’t invited.” Pokimane snickers.

“-or possibly she did tell you and you won’t betray her for the exact same reason.”

“That’s some big brain logic you pulled there, genius,” Charlie says, absolutely unimpressed, “sure you didn’t have an aneurysm trying to connect all of that together?”

“Well,” Rae pipes up, “Y/n and Charlie did say they will kill right before the game started. If you ask me, it’s not unbelievable. And Sykkuno was sorta on the shit list.”

“I’m writing down your name twice, Rachell.” You spit.

“Not helping your case at all, Y/n...” Dream worries, “And Rae makes a good point. Charlie and you have professed desire for murder. I’m just saying! It’s a bit suspicious, you know?”

The next words to leave Corpse’s lips sound incredibly smug, “See?” He drawls.  The pressure is getting to you - you don’t understand where this beguiling talent of his to convince literally everyone comes from, but it doesn’t inspire any confidence. Your fist suddenly feels incredibly lonely, so useless - oh, how you long to swing at him, “It’s definitely Y/n.”

“I dunno...” Toast mumbles.

“It’s Y/n.”

“Corpse-” You try, but he's ignoring you - shocker, as if he hadn’t been doing that from the very start of this stupid game - and chanting your name like it’s a fucking mantra or something, a smile in his voice, knowing, relishing in the fact that he’s grating on your nerves, “FIRST OF ALL,” You scream into the mic, successfully cutting him off; catching your breath, you exhale, and continue, calmly, lowly,  “get my pretty name out of your mouth.” 

There’s a pause full of tense silence. 

Then, there’s a sound, seemingly stuck in the back of his throat, “...O-Oh...?”

“Second of all,” You continue, words like honey dipped in arsenic, “This is the clearest smear campaign I have ever witnessed. By how hard you’re trying to frame me for fuck knows what reason, I’m led to believe it’s you that killed them. You’re the Impostor.”

“Corpse wouldn’t kill Sykkuno, though.” Rae comments, skeptical.

“Then the other Impostor did it.” You counter.

“Maybe you’re both Impostors.” Pokimane chirps.

“Y/n would never betray the Big Dick Alliance like that.” Charlie states.

You grin, “Charlie, I literally love you.” 

“Wait hold up now,” Corpse seems to get his bearings together, “what’s this about love I’m hearing?”

“I have none for you, dick.” You snap, flipping him off. Your chat cheers. While he can’t see it, you hope he senses it through the screen, “I officially hate you.”

“No, wait-”

“Boo, Corpse, you suck.” Toast laughs.

“Y/n, please-”

“Let’s all vote for Corpse Husband, okay?” You say it like it’s his full official name with an encouraging smile and multiple soft nods. Sykkuno can’t be here to nod, so you’ll do it for him. You eye the rapidly decreasing timer before clicking on Corpse’s figure and voting for him. The VOTED icon instantly pops up beside your adorable astronaut.

“Baby, I-” It slips past his lips so easily, as if he’s not even thinking about it, like it’s only natural to call you that and a spike of anxiety shoots up, making you glare. It’s only halfhearted. You try your best to ignore the rapid and uncoordinated pulses of your heart. Replace unwanted feelings with anger and hate - works like a charm, every time.

“You are not allowed to call me that.” You hiss. The chat spams snake emojis. 

“Wait-” Bretman chimes, “Hold up, y’all, slow down a minute. Why does Corpse never call me baby?”

“Yeah!” Pokimane agrees, “I want to be baby, too!”

Pokimane may not have been called baby, but you just single-handedly decided her nickname for her - Target 4. Welcome to the shit list, she is officially your public enemy number 1. You aren’t sure why the thought of Corpse ever referring to anyone else as baby makes you sick to your stomach (you actually do know why, but brain no think at the moment), but you wish this whole conversation never happened. You don’t like it.

20 seconds left. More VOTED icons appear by your friends. Corpse is the last one to cast his ballot at, you assume, you, as the rest wait for his quick explanation before everyone (or not) returns to the game, “...Because she’s my baby.”

Goodbye. Life had been sweet, and there was sorrow, though the amount of embarrassment you feel now is worse than when the internet found your cringe worthy high school pictures on your mom’s Facebook. It’s a mixture of dread and excitement - the pleasure of being noticed, cherished even, though anxious from vulnerability. Someone is screaming a very prolonged “WHAAAAT?!”, or maybe multiple people are, you aren’t sure, your ears start to hurt from the loud, conflicting cacophony of voices as you stare blankly at the screen. You received two votes, just like Corpse, Charlie got one, the rest skipped. With no one flung out, you all find yourself back in Cafeteria again.

Baby. My baby? My baby. My baby. The sentence is playing ping-pong in your mind, reverberating louder each time. You’re actually speechless for the first time in your life; your chest hurts, your heart beating so fast your hands start shaking. Had he meant it? Or was this a some joke? Was he trying to get a rise out of you again? You might just go insane from so many questions. My baby. Holy shit, this is a heart attack, this is what a heart attack feels like, dear God, you figured you at least had ten years before you get one!

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First round ends with IMPOSTORS raining victorious. Your sixth sense had been working wonders since, true to you previous estimate, it had been Corpse. His companion was Pokimane. For absolutely no reason what’s so ever, you change her name once more from Target 4 to Target 1. Normally, you’re all for girls supporting girls. Men don’t deserve anything, really, but now you’re so flustered and still reeling from what you are 80% sure was cardiac arrest that you genuinely don’t care about your established morals.

Round two starts without much deliberation. You get CREW MATE again; the game must sense your growing bloodlust, making sure that once you do get IMPOSTOR, you will not hold back. True power is granted to those who are ready and strong enough to wield it. You wait for your moment with bated breath.

Charlie is taken from you too early. The two of you were once again caught in a discussion - God knows about what, Minecraft, hentai, oh! your server! - as you tried to card swipe for the umpteenth time. The lights blew out and you just knew one of you was getting murdered there and then. Charlie’s voice abruptly cut off, and you think a part of you died with him.

It’s a cold meeting; with your new best friend being the first to go, everyone decides to skip. You proclaim you seek vengeance. When the meeting comes to an end, Sykkuno is the first to offer his condolences.

“I’m sorry, Y/n.” He says, and while he’s not in Brooklyn, you somehow feel him patting your back. You feign a sniffle.

“There’s nothing to apologize for...” You murmur sadly, “Unless...” Your voice turns sharp as the knife that was surely twisted into Charlie’s back, “It was you?”

“NO!” He exclaims, “I would never-you gotta believe me! I would never kill him. I know he’s important to you. I wouldn’t do that, I swear.”

“He was like a brother to me.” You admit, solemn, “Charlie, if you’re haunting me right now, know I will avenge you. I will not let this go.”

Sykkuno hums, circling around you, “Hey, I have a task in Greenhouse. Would you, uh--Would like to, uhm, join me?” Despite the shaky start, he finishes on a firm, pleasant note. He’s trying to cheer you up. Having lost your closest friend, he’s offering you his company. You accept with a soft smile and a cute “Yes, please!” and he releases an airy little laugh. The two of you make your way to your favorite place in map MIRA.

It’s difficult to stay sad for long when Sykkuno’s so sweet; the atmosphere of the Greenhouse is strangely calming; your problems seem to be left behind the shut doors. If you tried hard enough, you could imagine being in an actual Greenhouse - the warm, damp air clinging to your skin, the unmistakable smell of earth and vegetation, the pleasant silence broken only by yours and his hushed voices and clumsy footsteps.

The two of you are talking. Mainly about your choice of attire. Cat first, Sykkuno ponders aloud, doing his task as you watch the plants grow, now bunny, what’s next? You affirm that you will most likely dress up in cow-print next, or as an adorable sheep. He laughs, admitting you’ll look good in anything before he trails off. His awkwardness is really endearing. 

“Or!” You chirp happily, content with being locked away with him for the whole game. The idea must be playing in his mind, too, because he seems in no rush to leave, “I could, like, dress as someone from My Hero Academia. I watched the stream you did with Stella, the one where she made you look like Todoroki. It was really cute. You were really cute.”

“Oh, uhm-well, uh, thank you, thanks, I, uhm-” He clears his throat, and despite his stutter, you hear the smile in his voice, “I-I think you’d look better, though. Not as Todoroki. Or, probably as Todoroki, too. But, uhm, what character are you thinking about?”

“Maybe Momo?”

“Momo!” He yeps, “Momo is good. Yeah, she’s great. You’ll-uhm-you’ll look amazing. Really. Momo is awesome. Very pretty. Just like you.”

You are blushing. A stupid, toothy grin makes your cheeks hurt. Your eyes flicker to the chat, but again, it’s going wild. Giggling, you thank him for his sweet words, so giddy it’s honestly embarrassing. Why can’t you stop smiling? This is incriminating. You hide your lips behind your palm.

“...What’s this?” Corpse question. You had failed to note his sudden appearance, too busy gushing. “Am I interrupting?”

“Hey, Corpse!” Sykkuno greets. For someone so awkward and shy, he sure is good at hiding it when he wants to. Perhaps it’s all an act and you had been deviously tricked! Probably not, but you can’t help but narrow your eyes suspiciously, finally able to calm down. You definitely underestimated him, you just haven’t figured out how yet, “Not really! Y/n was sad Charlie died so I took her here.”

“You interrupted our date, dipshit.” You deadpan. 

“...Fuck you say?” Corpse dares, his voice low and somewhat menacing - for someone who exclusively portrays his emotions through only his voice, he’s incredibly hard to read. This is payback. Your love for wreaking havoc resurfaces suddenly. Serves him right for pulling all this ignoring shit at the start. Maybe you’ll make him say oh again.

Your sly smirk is promptly wiped. Fuck. He said oh, he literally said oh out loud. The Teruhashi fangirl in you is screaming. You had been so caught up in defending yourself you didn’t even register it at first. Alarmed, you look at the camera, then at the chat. First oh, then my baby. There’s no way he had been teasing you, and this proves it. Holy shit. You mouth the words “HE SAID OH!” for your audience only.

now she notices

snail pace baby we’ve been loosing our shit for the past hour 

corpse x y/n saikik au enemies to lovers 500k words slow burn im here for it

opening wattpad rn^

Your heart races in your chest - it might be considered an Olympic medalist at this point; flustered yet again, you wish you could cave into yourself. You should’ve brought your bright blue wig with you to Brooklyn. Turns out it would have been perfect for this stream. Yes, yes thinking about unnecessary details always works in distracting you from the butterflies throwing a fucking rave in your stomach. 

“I guess it is a date!” Sykkuno admits, “Kinda after a funeral, but still.”

Corpse hums. You’re still too stunned to say anything. The black astronaut with adorable cat ears approaches Sykkuno. 

“It’s not.” He states. Your mouth falls open in shock as your date, your companion, the Shoto to your Momo is murdered in cold blood right in front of you. His lifeless body, cut in half, lays on the tiles by the growing flowers, right beside you, “You didn’t see shit.”

“...I didn’t see shit.” Is all you can utter, breathless and terrified.

“Thaaaat’s fucking right, baby.” Corpse coos, “Now I’m gonna report it, and I’ll say we found Sykkuno together. Better stick close to me after the meeting, got it?”

If Sykkuno is Shoto, then Corpse is definitely Dabi. 

why is that kinda hot tho omg

didn’t know i needed dom corpse since now but i do

y/n looks like shes boutta throw up lmao 

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You follow him around like a lost puppy - because what else is left for you to do!? You’re helpless in this situation. He’s got you in the palm of his hand, successfully eliminating everyone you had previously interacted with. First it was Charlie, then Sykkuno, even Sean, who said hello in passing, was shot instantly. Real Sangwoo behavior. You almost want to scream warnings at everyone to not approach you. You cannot mourn another lost crew mate, you don’t think your conscience can take it. But words fail to form. You’re too weak. You fake cry to your audience. They’re quick to remind you to stop acting like a little bitch.

“Mean.” Is all you say, eyeing the comments.

“Hm?”

“Was talking to the roaches.”

“What are they saying?”

“That I should betray you.”

“...Better not.”

A shiver shoots up your spine and you half believe he will bust down your door and drag you into his basement for real. A nervous laugh slips past your lips, “I won’t, I won’t.” You reassure him, “Don’t worry, I’m sticking with you. I haven’t seen shit.”

“I like that you listen to me. You always this agreeable?”

“You’re kinda not giving me a choice right now.” You grumble, vending yourself a drink while he looms behind you, protecting you. From who?! Himself?!

“Oh my fucking God, finally,” Bretman exclaims, “girl, I’ve been running around the whole map trynna find someone, is everyone like, dead?”

You’re scared to reply. Corpse does it for you, “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, maybe? Not sure. Where have you been?”

“Oh you know,” Bretman grins, “doing tasks, talking shit, the usual. You two are not, like, Impostors right?”

You shoot a look at Corpse, but he obviously can’t see it. Biting your lip, you murmur, “Nope.”

“Just your regular crew mates doing regular crew mate things.” Corpse says, no, purrs. Because that’s not suspicious at all. You’d recommend Bretman to run, and not only because that sounded shady as fuck. But he seems to enjoy danger, or he just doesn’t care.

“Hmmmm, crew mates, sure. Miss girl Y/n,” He’s addressing you now; you smile anxiously, “How come every time I see you, you’re with a different man?! Like damn, leave some for the rest of us, for real!”

You like Bretman. You like his high-pitched whine and drawl. You would like him even more if not for the complex situation at hand. You fear for his life. Chewing at your bottom lip, you snicker, “Sorry, Bret. I can leave you Corpse if you want?”

He laughs, “Girl, I’d say yes so fucking quick, but I know he wouldn’t want that. Normally I wouldn’t care, but y’all are such a cute couple it’s making me not want to be a shady motherfucking bitch. Changing my ways, embracing the lord. Love it.”

 Corpse doesn’t correct him that you are, in fact, not dating. His lack of reaction unnerves you slightly. Does he...? No! No think! Only exist! You catch that train of thought and steer it away from forbidden territory. Looks like it’s up to you to clear the air, and that is exactly what you do after trying to swallow down the lump in your throat, “Uh, we’re not together, actually. We’re just really good friends.”

“Bitch, then move over,” Bretman says snappily,”go like, back to your other boyfriends. Or find another one. I think I saw Dream near Navigation.”

“Near Navigation, huh?” Corpse hums thoughtfully. It’s a subtle warning, but you catch it. Yeah, even if you try running, Dream’s going to join your other ‘boyfriends’ in the afterlife. Granted, killing someone by just talking with them is kind of cool. Or maybe Stockholm Syndrome is finally kicking in, “Bret, the thing is, Y/n’s scared of dying, so she asked me to stay with her.”

It’s disturbing how good at lying he is. It is also really really attractive, as bizarre as that is.

y/n stop being in a toxic relationship with corpse challenge

making fanart of this omg her face

its the blushing for me girl get your head outta the gutter!

^she cant, it lives there

“Baby, you’re gonna fucking die if you stick with her,” Bretman points out, “have you noticed the mortality rate of her partners? Rest in peace, daddy.”

“He’s right, you know.” You mutter, dramatically looking to the side, “I’m no good, Corpse.”

“Not leaving you, end of discussion. Bretman, join us?” Corpse offers, catching you by surprise. He might still be lying, though. Creating a false sense of security before eliminating Bretman. Probably would laugh while doing it, too. Wow, he truly is evil.

Turns out he doesn’t have to do any of that, because when Dream strolls into Cafeteria, he kills Bretman instead. The two Impostors are finally revealed. You promised not to snitch on Corpse, but you didn’t say shit about not exposing Dream. You press the REPORT button and say just that: “Dream just murdered Bret right in front of me and Corpse.”

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

The last meeting is called. Dream had been voted out with the help of Corpse, and now only you, he, and Rae remain.

“Baby, you know what to do.”

The VOTED icon pops up beside Corpse’s astronaut. Rae wheezes, “No! Y/n, it’s not me, you gotta believe me, I swear it’s not me!”

“...I really don’t know,” You murmur, “I’ve been with Corpse a lot, and...Rae, I’m not sure...”

“Please! I swear it on my Kagayama cardboard cut out, I’m not the Impostor, please! You know me, I’d never lie to you like this.”

“She’s definitely lying.” Corpse says, sounding pleased.

“Don’t listen to him! Remember, during the first round, when he tried to convince us that you were the Impostor? He’s doing the same shit to me!”

“I also remember you agreeing with him.” You remind her.

“I was stupid! Small dumb brain moment! He was using us to win! He’s using you right now!” She votes, “Please, Y/n, make the right choice.”

You’re silent for a moment.

“I’m gonna...I’m gonna vote for who I think it is.” You lastly say.

A slow, lazy grin makes it’s way onto your lips, eyes gleaming mischievously. You had not forgotten your promise to your brother from another mother, you had not forgotten the pride of the BDA, you had not forgotten your beautiful friendship. Two miniature astronauts pop up by Corpse’s at the exact moment Rae screeches “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!”

“Fuck.” Is all Corpse says with a laugh.

The screen changes, informing of the first CREW MATE victory.

Your ears are assaulted with different voices as you appear in the lobby.

“Now that’s what I’m fucking talking about.” Charlie raves, “I swear to fucking God, Y/n, you even got me going for a second. Pulled some 1000 IQ shit right there. It was fucking amazing. Best back stabbing I’ve seen in a while, and I’ve seen a lot.”

“That was absolutely fantastic, Y/n.” Sean applauds, “I really thought you joined Corpse like some crew mate accomplice or something. Can’t believe you switched on him at the last second.”

“That’s my wifey!” Rae cheers, strolling to you, “Love you, mwah.”

“Hey, Corpse,” Charlie calls him, “How does it feel to be a fucking loser?”

“I’m surprisingly fine with it.”

yeah he would be lmao

mom is the best snake ever i love you sm y/n

rae and y/n’s friendship....the feeeeeels

As the rest sing your praises for another solid minute or two, the third round begins. CREW MATE again. Though, just because you’re stuck as an underpaid worker in a dying spaceship, it doesn’t mean you’re innocent. Your last round proved that quite well. You can’t help but silently snicker.

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

TAGLIST IS CLOSED!

tags (in italics is those i couldn’t tag! make sure all’s ok w your settings!) : @littlebabysandboxburritos - @fairywriter-oracle - @tsukishimawh0re - @ofstarsanddreams - @bbecc-a - @annshit - @leahh19 - @letsloveimagines - @bellomi-clarke - @wineandionysus - @guiltydols - @onephootinfrontoftheother - @liamakorn - @thirstyfangirl - @lilysdaydreams - @pan-ini - @mxqicshxp - @tanchosanke - @yoshinorecommends - @flightsandfantasy - @liljennyx3 - @bingusmode - @unknown-and-invisible - @sinister-sleep - @fivedicksinatrenchcoat - @mercury--moon - @peterparkerspjsuit - @unstableye - @simonsbluee - @shinyshimaagain - @ppopty - @siriuslystupid - @crapimahuman - @ofthedewthesunlight - @mythicalamphitrite - @artsyally - @corpsesimpp - @corpsewhitetee - @corpse-husbandsimp - @hyp-oh-critical - @roses-and-grasses - @rhyrhy462 - @sparklylandflaplawyer - @charbkgo - @airwaveee - @creativedogs - @kaitlyn2907 - @loxbbg - @afuckingunicornn - @fleurmoon - @yeolliedokai

more tags are in the comments bcs tumblr only allows me to tag 50 people max 💙

[thesunicarusfellfor]

Icarus( did I spell that right? ) my beloved does you have any yandere c! Technoblade and philza with a shy reader stories? 👀

Feel free to take as long as you like I'm in no rush hopefully you don't mind me requesting alot if it's a problem then I will stop requesting as much as I do

Agian I love your writing have a lovely day or evening my beloved(platonic!!)

:D

Darling Mooshroom, I adore you so much (platonically). You have my full permission to fill my inbox with any and all requests that come to mind. I love the ideas you give me and you're the only one who has requested more than once (other than anons but I can't tell with them.)

Also. Philza Philza Philza I FINALLY GET TO WRITE FOR THIS MANS WOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry ignore me. Unfortunately, this story will be shorter than my normal ones because I used up the majority of my brainpower on other stories and I feel bad for keeping you waiting <3 (plat)

(Techno is not part of sleepy bois in this story. Instead, Techno and Philza are ancient gods and set more in like Ancient Egyptian times?? Really low key Yandere in this story)

TW: Yandere, mentions of a creep, getting robbed

Mortal of Gold (Yandere!C!Techno x GN!Shy!Reader x Yandere!C!Philza)

Was it your appearance? Or your shy personality? Perhaps it was the various amounts of golden chains and jewels sprinkled strategically all over your person...

Crows and Piglins were naturally attracted to gold, so that's how Techno justified himself, but Philza wasn't stupid, he's been through this many times before. He knew what being in love was.

But they had never felt so... Strongly towards a mortal before.

The God of Blood and War continued trying to deny his feelings for you, but he always found himself watching you shuffle around the Ancient DreamSMP, curled in on yourself as you walked to and from shrines for the gods that you had made.

Philza, the God of Survival and Crows, leaned over a bowl of ink and water and stared into the swirling designs, watching as it shifted into a picture. He saw a lovely figure kneeling at the base of a statue, placing a bowl of fresh bread and cakes, before lighting some incense and standing up, their head dipped in silent prayer.

The winged god chuckled softly and adjusted his large hat before cupping his hands together in a bowl shape. Slowly, with very minor concentration, a golden chain appeared with an emerald heart shape dangling off of it. With a small but sharp whistle, a black crow swooped in through the window and perched itself on his arm, "Yes Dadza?" It chirped telepathically, tilting its head curiously.

"Hello, my child. I would like you to place this on the young mortal's doorstep. I trust you will be able to find it?" He smiled softly and held out the piece of jewellery to the feathered creature who picked it up in its beak.

"Sure, Dadza!" The bird gave a squawk before hopping over to the bowl of ink and water to study the appearance of the mortal. "Oh! It's (Y/n) again! Didn't Technoblade recently cause a man to meet his end because he was rude to them?"

The man sighed, rubbing his face with his free hand, "Yes, Techno is brash like that... I should speak to him about that after... Now, be on your way. I would like them to receive the gift before they start putting their faith in other gods." With another telepathic chirp, the bird quickly took flight and headed out the window. Once his beloved crow, Chat, was gone, he leaned over the bowl again.

The mortal was now praying to Technoblade's shrine, after giving an offering of beer and herbs with the incense now re-lit. Phil decided to disperse the image with a wave of his hand, beginning to make his way to his old friend, the God of War and Blood.

With a flurry of black feathers, Philza landed on the balcony Techno had designed specifically for him and closed his wings neatly behind him, "Techno?" He called, walking through the red curtains into the room of the God. When his emerald-coloured eyes landed on the tall man, he discovered that he was hunched over a large bronze dish like he had been moments ago.

"Yeah, I'm here." The pink-haired male sighed, adjusting his glasses before pushing his long hair out of his face as he looked up from the bowl. "What do you need, Phil?"

"I'm here to discuss (Y/n). That mortal we are both smitten with?" He watched as the god's cheeks visibly turned pink despite his tough demeanour, causing Philza to chuckle into his hand, "Relax. It's obvious. And I know how you had one of your followers beheaded that poor fisherman."

"Millionaires. Not followers." Techno retorted with a scoff as he stepped away from the bowl filled with likely water and ink. "In my defence he deserved it. He should've known better and held his tongue when being in the presents of one of my worshipers."

Phil wasn't able to hold back his sigh, "Millionaires? Good grief Techno, you're just making up words at this point. Besides, that's not the main reason I flew out here," The Survival God's eyes suddenly darkened, catching Techno off guard but nonetheless made him happy, "I heard... That (Y/n) has been getting threats from the village of L'Manberg."

Techno frowned at the thought of anything happening to their favourite mortal. The images that appeared in his mind caused the voices in his head to roar in anger, demanding for human blood to be spilt across his shrines.

"Yeah. I suggest we put a stop to it. But, I do want to meet our little mortal..." Philza smirked a bit, raising his hand in an attempt to stop Techno from seeing how violent his thoughts were becoming towards the humans.

-

You couldn't help but smile as you saw the new jewellery that had been placed at your doorstep, scooping it up into your hands and taking a moment to put the necklace and solid gold armband on. You were quite aware that the vast amounts of jewellery covering your body made you a target for thieves, but you trusted in your gods to keep you safe.

On your eighteenth birthday, your village had dressed you up and offered you to the gods in exchange for safety and a good harvest, chaining you in the middle of the dessert on a stone platform. You would have perished from starvation had a black crow not have carried a basket filled with the ripest and fresh fruits you had ever had. That's when you knew that Philza was watching over you.

Technoblade had started watching over you not long after that. On a trip into the village for yeast to make bread to offer Philza, a creep had cornered you in an alleyway. He began making disgusting remarks towards you, but a man with glowing gold eyes and red sclera came up and pummeled him into the ground before completely vanishing. It had been a high priest of Technoblade's Syndicate temple who told you that it was the God of Blood and War who saved you.

"Look," Techno whispered under his breath as he saw you standing in your doorway with a soft smile. Philza peaked around the corner as well, watching you attach the jewellery to your (s/t) skin with a smile of his own, "I take it the necklace is from you?" The tusked male asked as he pulled the hood on his cheap commoner clothing up to cover his noticeable pink hair.

Phil did the same, trying to hide his inhumane blue eyes from view, while also trying to shoo away Chat who was relentlessly teasing the two of them, "Sh! Chat, it's not like- No. Shut. WHat?! I'm not being a creep!" He hissed to the blackbird, trying to bat it away with his free hand, while Techno was snickering to himself, "Wait, no! This is my bread, (Y/n) made it for me! Get your own!"

After watching his old friend get bullied by Chat for a few minutes, he turned back to watch you walk back out of your home, holding the cup of beer you had placed at his shrine earlier today. Your offerings were always his favourite... He would burn this entire village down if they tried to chain you into the desert again... Actually.. That was a good idea...

The two gods silently followed behind you, watching you nervously try your best to avoid social conversation, but they noticed how the other mortals seemed to look down upon you for wearing so much golden jewellery.

"H-he-hello..." You murmured out meekly as you approached the man selling fruits and different herbs. Leaning forward, you carefully inspected the cranberries and cinnamon specifically, knowing that they were Philza's and Technoblade's favourite offerings.

You heard footsteps walking behind you, but because the market was busier than normal today, you decided to brush it off. Until you felt someone gently grab the golden jewellery dangling from your ears, giving it a light pull, "Solid gold, ey? Aren't you a poor little peasant?" A voice male voice cooed softly in your ear, causing you to spin around quickly, backing up until you hit the table that all the fruit and herbs were placed on.

Dream. The high priest of DreamXD's temple. The God of Control and Manipulation. This man truly believed he was the walking incarnate of the god himself, and even named himself after the god! Truly a maniac...

"Dream..." You murmured softly, your body trembling and flinching away from his touch, "I-I'm not giving them to you for you to offer up to your twisted god... I worship Technoblade and Philza... No one else."

The masked man growled in annoyance before he snapped his fingers and two men in masks grabbed onto your shoulders before beginning to tear the golden jewellery off of your body. Snapping the golden chains off from around your neck and wrists, pulling the earrings out of your ears and the golden bands from around your biceps. The entire time you yelped and begged for them to leave the gifts you had received from your gods alone, everyone else around you putting their heads down and averting their eyes, pretending not to see you.

A flurry of black feathers clouded your vision and you heard three hard thuds before a loud barking voice echoed through your ears.

"How DARE you!"

"Techno! Help me burn this damned village to the ground!"

[xiaojunsmintchoco]

I guess I'm in love - jung sungchan (teaser)

a/n: alright guys I'll be prioritising this fic first as it's part of a collab! also very sorry for the shitty banner design- i might redesign it if i can

pairing: sungchan x fem reader

genre: fluff, romance; fake dating, strangers to lovers

teaser wc: 0.9k

synopsis: when a creepy stranger messages you randomly, your friend thinks that she has the perfect solution for you – a fake boyfriend, who coincidentally is in need of a fake girlfriend as well. She sets you both up, and it goes pretty well, until his parents book a summer house for the holidays and invite you too, and you begin developing real feelings for him. Will what is fake stay fake forever? Or can they become reality?

taglist: there is one but i highly doubt anyone would wanna be on it-

"ahh...it's been such a long day," you groan, allowing yourself to flop onto your bed like a piece of cooked spaghetti. You turn on your phone to check your social media, which is something you would religiously do every night before sleeping. You scroll through your feed, double-tapping on posts you find interesting, and also checking your notifications. A message from an unknown user catches your attention, and you click on the notification. 

unknown: you look stunning...can't wait to see you again

The message had you taken aback, and you swear that you almost dropped your phone out of shock. Who even is this? You found the message slightly creepy, so you simply did not reply to the unknown sender. You thought that if you did not give him any attention, he would stop.

° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆ °° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆ ° ° ∆----- ••• -----∆°

"Ugh…why do I keep getting weird messages from this weird creep?" you groan one day as you're hanging out with your best friend, Joanne, in her room. You'd been casually chatting after finishing homework together, when your phone pinged and another similar message from the same person came. It frustrated you, as he'd been sending you creepy messages every single day.

"What messages? What weird creep? Let me see," Joanne demands, and you pass her your phone as she scrolls through the messages, face contorting into disgusted expressions as she reads them. 

Unknown: you're looking gorgeous today as always

Unknown: so beautiful

Unknown: your beauty is enchanting <3

Unknown: saw you in school today…looking pretty today for me

Unknown: can't wait to finally call you mine <3

She doesn't bother to finish scrolling through the rest of the messages, handing the phone back to you. "Ew!" she exclaims. "Whoever this is, they're such a creep. Don’t tell me he’s in the same course as you! How long has this been happening?" 

"I don't know…about 2 weeks?" you shrug your shoulders, trying to recall. Meanwhile, her jaw drops like a heavy sandbag.

"2 weeks? That's quite a while!" Joanne replies, hand flying to her mouth in shock. "Then again, I'm not surprised, considering how you're all pretty and smart and sexy," she adds, expression changing to a playful one as she wiggles her eyebrows. "Like the honey that attracts flies".

"Says the one who found a boyfriend before I did!" you retort playfully, giggling as you push her gently.

That's when Joanne suddenly stops laughing, and looks you in the eye. "Y/n, you're a genius!" she exclaims, and you swear that you can hear the gears in her brain turning again.

"What?" you ask, dumbfounded.

"We'll get you a fake boyfriend! Since this creepy guy is in the same school as us, if he sees that you're taken, maybe he'll leave you alone!" Joanne says, sharing her plan with you.

"I'm sorry, what?" you ask incredulously.

Joanne sighs exaggeratedly, feigning irritation. "I said, we'll find you a fake boyfriend!"

"What- I mean, why not just tell a teacher or something?" you offer an alternative solution, but Joanne dismisses it with a flick of her hand. "Besides, the holidays are coming soon! I won't be in school for the guy to come stalking me".

"Psh. The guy is hiding behind the shield of anonymity, fat chance they'll be able to catch him. But if he sees you with another guy, he'll get the signal that you're taken and leave you alone!" Joanne reasons, trying to get you to go along with her plan. "Plus, who said you have to be in school for the guy to stalk you? He could follow you home! At least the fake boyfriend can hang out with you during holidays and maybe chase him away".

"I don't know, man. I don't even know that many boys, how am I gonna find someone?" you question slowly. You barely even knew any boys, the only one you knew being Joanne's boyfriend, Shotaro. He was nice, yes, but you couldn't ask him to be your fake boyfriend for obvious reasons.

"Wait," Joanne instructs, holding up her palm as she types furiously on her phone. "I've asked someone. Now, we wait". 

A few minutes later, her phone pings and she hurriedly opens the message, and her eyes grow wider than saucers. "Great news! I have a friend who's willing to help you!"

"Wha-" the news that your friend had found a fake boyfriend for you so quickly gave you a huge shock. "I really don't know about this-"

"Oh and, he needs a fake girlfriend too”.

“Why’s that?” you inquire, curiosity piqued. If the guy was in need of such help too you’d be willing to-

“Essentially, that dumbass panicked under pressure and told his parents that he has a girlfriend, except he doesn’t actually have one,” Joanne snorts, clearly unimpressed by her friend. 

-okay, guess not. “I have to meet his parents too?!” you almost scream out in shock. No way are you prepared to meet the parents of someone you don’t know! You hurriedly wave your hands in front of you, shaking your head frantically to indicate that you’d backed out. 

“C'mon, y/n. He's super sweet, so don't worry! His parents are really nice too, I’ve met them before,” Joanne says, grabbing you by the arm and gently shaking you in an attempt to cajole you into agreeing to meet this mysterious boy. "He's Shotaro's friend too, so we can have double dates, it'll be fun! Besides, don't you wanna get Mr Creep off your back?"

You sigh in defeat, sagging like a sack of rice. "Fine".

Joanne's fingers run over the small screen yet again. "Sweet! Then we're all set, tomorrow after school let's meet at the 7Dream cafe".

[annathesillyfriend]

Anna's August Fic Recs

Welcome to my August fic recommendations masterpost!! This has been quite a busy month for me but I'm holding onto last weeks of freedom. I am trying to read as much before uni starts and I had a pleasure of reading some brilliant fics this month. I am so excited to share them with you all! I hope your summer is going amazing and to those, who have just started classes - good luck!

To all the writers - I love you and I appreciate you so much!

To all the readers - please, share the fics you read and love. The reblog really makes the change! It’s the least we can do to show our gratitude.

HOLLAND & Co.

✨ Tom Holland

revenges is sweet by @t-lostinworlds

series, social media au, college!au, football player!tom, fake dating, idiots to lovers, all of our fave tropes, i am invested in this series more than i am in my own life, it's just that good

sunkissed by @duskholland

one-shot, 18+, surfer!tom x lifeguard!tom, exes to lovers, h's great mind at its finest 👏

souvenirs of the heart by @veryholland

one-shot, brought me to tears no joke, such a beutiful story, mila did such an amazing job!!

heartbreak girl by @lauras-collection

one-shot, 18+, lead singer!tom, based on 5SOS song, this is so goooood 😫😫 this story lives in my heart rent free right nextdoor to laura!!

act 1: scene 5 and 6 by @youandtom

one-shot, best friends to lovers, helping tom with learning lines, i loved this very much!

happier than ever by @vendettaparker

one-shot, tom being the great lad he is comes to save an awful date and we stan

the trial of the eldest holland by @reawritesthings

one-shot, ex!tom, welcome to the angst town! this is so deeply heartbreaking but so beautifully written!

lucky to be in love by @hollandsvogue

one-shot, rose is going staright for my silly little heart :')

slide in by @uglypastels

one-shot, frat!tom, i fall in love with this story time and time again

white winged dove by @muhollands

one-shot, 18+, conuntry!tom, insert country boy i love you vine here (also, i'd like to take this moment to kindly invite you all to go through d's whole masterlist cause it's brilliant. this mj blurb has sent me straight to hell but it's so worth it)

abide by @hazofmyheart

one-shot, 18+, mob!au, tom x reader x harrison, this made me feel some type of way 👁👄👁

getting ahead of ourselves by @/hazofmyheart

one-shot, 18+, college! lacrosse player!tom holland x tutor!reader, this is soft, this is cute, this is hot, this is everything! 12/10 would recommend

✨ Harrison Osterfield

little lune by @dovenymph

one-shot, celebrating your birthday with haz, made me want a refund for my birthday cause it's so lovely 🥺🥺

it will come back by @greenorangevioletgrass

one-shot, part of the rich kid!au series, 18+, richkid!haz x richkid!reader x actor!tom, there are no words in any language that would let me express how much i love ava and this au

✨ Harry Holland

wild side by @softholand

one-shot, 18+, best friends to lovers, that trope was made to be written about mister harry holland, i swear

lost in your light by @spider-barnes

one-shot, 18+, best friends to lovers, bloody lovely 💛

falling in love at a coffee shop by @/spider-barnes

one-shot, college!au, oh to fall in love with harry holland at a coffee shop 😫

hope is frightening thing by @peterplanet

one-shot, writer!reader x first da!harry, her book gets a film adaptation and harry is being is wonderful self 🥰

my forever by @unsaidholland

blurb, talking about your future with him, it's just 🥰🥰

circles by @farfromharry

one-shot, rich kid!au, enemies to lovers, so wonderful!

MARVEL

🎂 Suz's birthday fics

this total babe @samwilsons-pillowpecs gave us four beautiful gift on her birthday! we adore you, lovely 🥰 these stories are all wonderful anddeserve their own category 💛

you're the glitter in the dark

one-shot, 18+, mob!bucky

if i could touch you...

one-shot, 18+, boxer!steve

love you in a thousand ways

one-shot, 18+, ceo!sam

miss your kiss

one-shot, 18+, biker!thor

🎂@rodrikstark ’s 1.5k follower celebration!

collecion of headcanons with our favourite marvel boys as well as some other characters, i bloody love them all but my numer one has got to be joaquin teaching you spanish 😌

✨ Sam Wilson

book smart by @indyluckycharlie

one-shot, librarian!sam x PhD student!reader, such a warm and comfy little story by my dearest cate who i love very much 😌

he we go again by @/xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, idiots in love 🥰🥰

adventures in babysitting captain america and winter solider by @princessmisery666

one-shot, reader takes the boys to disneyland and it's just so amazing!

stay awhile by @lacapucharoja

one-shot, black!reader, a saturday morning with sam 😌😌

slow motion by @ambrosiase

one-shot, 18+, sam in baggy grey sweatpants and no underwear, need i say more?

✨ Steve Rogers

bullies, bullied by @anika-ann

one-shot, my main babe is blessing us with protective steve and i love her 🥰

there's a peace in dreaming by @babycap

one-shot, i don't have the words to tell you how stunning this story is, please go read it

✨ Bucky Barnes

timer by @xbuchananbarnes

series, soulmate!au based on the movie TiMER (2009). i could go on and on about how incredible that series is but with dani it's a given, sooo 🤷‍♀️

the kids will be alright by @imaginationintowords

series, social media au, lawyer!bucky x interior designer!reader, single dad!bucky, single mom!reader raising their kid together as friends, also reader x clark kent. honestly this is one of my fave social media aus of all time. and it's got a sequel is coming!!

quick fix by @ocean-bucky

one-shot, tfatws!bucky x ofc, vidra is the queen of ofc's, you simply can't not love her characters!

grant (part 2) by @coffeecatsandsarcasm

two-shot, bucky's in a relationship with a single mom with a little boy, it's so soft, i love this little family!

before sunset, i fell by @buckysbiota

one-shot, modern!au, when i get drunk i get myself cake, when reader got drunk, she got herself a husband. a very fine husband 😏

alcohol you later by @/xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, is it the 4th of dani's fics on this list? yes, she's just that powerful

three flags up by @starbuckie

one-shot, 18+, campcounselor!bucky x campcounselor!reader, best friends to lovers, buck being a cute little puppy in love and i adore him very much

and he kissed me right there by @sunmoonandbucky

one-shot, veteran!bucky, age gap, this is so full of feelings and it's gonna steal your heart!

lost and found by @sunshinebuckybarnes

two-shot, neighbour!bucky, alpine being the matchmaker of the year and we love that for her

hazy dreams and good mornings by @angrythingstarlight

one-shot, 18+, firefighter!bucky, i think that's enough encouragement to read this gem 😏

✨ Joaquin Torres

red by @remmysbounty

one-shot, a truly exceptional story!!

hold my words, keep us together by @/xbuchananbarnes

one-shot, soulmate!au, just simply stunning!

✨Peter Parker

love lies by @rosyparkers

series, social media au, y/n is silk but peter doesn't know it, peter is spiderman but y/n doesn't know it, sarah is the brightest star in the universe and everyone knows it

sunset lovers by @duskholland

one-shot, college! au, soulmate!au where what your soulmate writes on their skin, appears on yours. i don't think i have to tell you that eveything written by h, my beloved is pure gold. the softest thing!

always waiting (for you to come home) by @peterbenjiparker

one-shot, reader comes to peter cause she needs him to patch her up after patrol, it's so funny and sweet and i just love it so much, m is the bestest!!

perfectly a little late by @/t-lostinworlds

one-shot, college!au, reader forgets about peter's birthday. or does she 👀 please, give a round of applause for this wonderful writer who's been feeding us so well this month 👏👏

this fic by @peeterparkr

one-shot, last kiss with peter :') nancy knows all the most beautiful ways to break someone's heart

the plan by @spideyyeet

series, aveneger!reader, reader likes peter, peter likes mj, mysterio shows up, lots of angsty things happen. it's so bloody good, my mates, go read it!!

burning red by @spideyspeaches

one-shot, avenger!reader who who describes people's personalities as colors, it's just a stunning story with wonderful writing and i love it!!

this fic by @mcumendes

blurb, peter brings y/n flowers and is very very adorable!!

kiss me more by @celestialholland

one-shot, first make out with peter and i'm just 😫😫 in love

the reveal by @cloudybarnes

one-shot, best friends!reader where she finds out about him being spiderman, so lovely!!

always by @ptersmj

one-shot, an absolutely adorable best friends to lovers moment

red-handed by @/vendettaparker

one-shot, stark!reader, morgan interrupts y/n and peter's alone time 😏😂

OTHERS

✨ Spencer Reid

as told by flowers by @reidingmelodies

one-shot, story about the progress of the relationship with spencer told by flowers (duh 😂), it's just wonderful!!

✨ Frank Adler

thnks fr th mmrs by @wiypt-writes

one-shot, 18+, reader goes to frank the night before his wedding, i love this with everything i have

will you hold on my love by @writerwrites

one-shot, don't come anywhere near this piece without tissues!!

✨ Ransom Drysdale

undercover boss by @chase-your-dreams-away

series, reader's working at drysdales' company and hooks up with ransom not knowing who he is. this series is so bloody good! i love the reader in here so much!!

a/n: if you catch some kind of mistake or if you see that i miscredited someone - please let me know so i can change that!

[avnkin]

Shake On It [ d. malfoy ]

Author’s Note: I originally planned on posting this as just one long fic buuut instead i’m going to do a mini series, ya know torture you guys just just a lil bit (gif is not mine) also I got all the information about the potions and the ingredients from harry potter wiki and of course I do not own harry potter or the storyline/characters.

Word Count: 8k

Summary: There’s little to nothing Draco values more than his reputation so when he sees it slipping, he’ll do anything in his power to catch it.

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Fem!Reader

Warnings: angst, foul language, some bullying and asshole!draco.

This is an AU so all the information doesn’t exactly line up with the hp storyline for example it takes place in sixth year but there’s no Voldemort so Dumbledore doesn’t die etc.

You’d never been much for the ‘social scene’ you just didn’t find enjoyment in the same things your classmates did, so you never really had a big friend group, your only acquaintance having been Irma Prince… The librarian.

That was until your second year when Hermione Granger came into your life like a ray of sunshine brightening up the dark loneliness that had consumed you your first year.

She introduced you to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, although you were never as close with them as you were with Hermione you still couldn’t be more grateful for your newfound friend group, especially since you now didn’t have to endure Draco’s and his fellow Slytherin classmates torment alone.

You were and had always been an easy target for Draco and his entourage since you never really stood up for yourself, instead choosing to ignore how he continuously called you ‘a blood traitor’ for hanging out with ‘the likes of Hermione’ which you never understood, how was someone different from him just because they didn’t have magical parents?

It was a well-known fact that Draco’s father Lucius Malfoy was the cause of his attitude towards muggle-borns, you truly believed that man didn’t have a kind bone in his body.

You remembered once when you’d arrived at platform 9¾ after your third year Draco went to greet his parents and whilst Narcissa (his mother) gave him a big welcoming hug, embracing her son after not having seen him for many months Lucius simply stared down at him with a glare that could only be described as disgust and disappointment before turning and walking away without as much as a greeting to the platinum blond.

Still, that didn’t excuse Draco’s foul behaviour, he was old enough now to have his own opinions and morals and he didn’t seem to be planning on changing them anytime soon.

You were now in your sixth year and unsurprisingly nothing had changed, Draco was still the same arse he’d always been, but as the years went on it was getting progressively easier to ignore him since you’d gotten so used to it.

It almost felt like it had become a part of your daily routine for him to yell something degrading in the hallways, mostly directed at you or Hermione or whatever Gryffindor he felt like bullying that day.

Intently focusing on the potions book that laid opened before you, you carefully followed the detailed instructions, not wanting to get a single thing wrong since you needed at least an outstanding in this class to keep up your average.

The last part was to add: ‘One drop of Unicorn blood’

You grabbed the flask that contained the silver liquid and as steadily as possible you leaned the bottle over your cauldron, letting a small drop slip past the edge and into the black water, but as you began leaning back Pansy Parkinson ‘accidentally’ bumped into you causing the entirety of the bottle to spill into your potion.

You glared up at her as you watched the black liquid turn sickly green instead of sparkly blue as it should. She shrugged her shoulders innocently, before walking back to the station she shared with Draco who greeted her with an amused smirk before turning back to his work.

“Try not to think too much about it” Hermione’s comforting voice sounded from beside you. “I’m so sick of those two” you argued pouring the remaining containments of the cauldron into a sink, now having to start the entire potion all over again.

“I know, I am too” Hermione frowned glaring at the two Slytherins who didn’t even bother to look over at her.

“Miss Y/L/N weren’t you nearly finished a couple of minutes ago?” Professor Slughorn’s voice could be heard from behind you as he looked over your shoulder, an unimpressed look on his face.

“Uh- yes sir it’s just I accidentally put too much Unicorns blood and had to start over again” you lied looking into the now-empty cauldron before you, glaring at Pansy once you heard her quiet laughter from the other side of the classroom.

“Well alright, but I’d hurry if I were you, I’m afraid you’re running a bit short on time” he smiled before moving on to the students sat in front of you.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Hermione frowned once Slughorn was out of earshot, you gave her a knowing look having had this conversation with her on more than one occasion.

Tattling on them wouldn’t change anything it would simply make their torments increase and you didn’t need that, especially with the N.E.W.T.S coming up you didn’t want anything distracting your studies.

Despite having been interrupted by Pansy you managed to be the only one who brewed the potion right and the displeased scowl placed on Pansy’s face as she watched you get praised by the teacher and the rest of the class was nothing but amusing.

Once you were finally dismissed, you were walking alongside Hermione down the long corridors leading to the Great Hall when someone again bumped into you causing all the books you’d been clutching between your arms to go flying towards the ground and you along with them.

“What a klutz” you heard the familiar squeaky voice of Pansy Parkinson, you hurriedly got back up onto your feet whilst Hermione picked up the remaining books that had sprawled all across the stone floor.

“You did that on purpose” you growled charging at Pansy who cowered away from you as you neared her but once she noticed Draco was watching she stopped dead in her tracks, a side smirk resting on her lips before she tilted her head to the side.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” she innocently smiled before walking around you and back to Draco who held an emotionless expression on his face as he walked with her down the hall.

“Bitch” you mumbled underneath your breath just before Hermione came running up to you. “Are you okay?” she faintly smiled before handing you your things.

“Fine” you deadpanned before the two of you began walking back down the hallway again.

Once you’d made it into the Great Hall you immediately spotted Harry and Ron a smile on your face as you took a seat next to Harry, and Hermione the one next to Ron the previous events being long forgotten as you distracted yourself with the comforting company of your friends.  

“Since when did Y/L/N and Potter become so close?” Draco’s face held a scowl as he watched the two of you interact from afar, he truly didn’t know why it bothered him, but for some reason it did.

“Why do you care?” Pansy replied as she began shifting in her seat to move closer to Draco who almost instinctively moved away causing a bright red tint to appear on her cheeks as she hurriedly moved back to her original seat.

“I don’t” he simply replied tearing his eyes away from you and Harry as he began playing with his food.

“You know what I think” Blaise raised an eyebrow as he daringly stared Draco down, “I think Malfoy’s gone soft” Blaise finished, the words earning loud snickers from the students sat next to them.

Draco’s stomach churned in anger at the words of his best friend throwing the boy a nasty glare before turning back to his food, but Blaise didn’t intend to stop there.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you never pick on her anymore and you always get really defensive whenever- “

“Shut the hell up Blaise” Draco commanded and even though Blaise knew he was skating on thin ice, Draco’s fury only seemed to egg him on further as his eyes wandered towards the Gryffindor table to look at you.

"You know what Malfoy since you claim you have no feelings for her at all I dare you to break her heart"

"What?" Draco questioned genuinely confused at his friends' statement. "Make her fall in love with you and then dump her" Draco looked over at Pansy who seemed almost giddy at the suggestion, of course she'd be happy about this.

Draco thought about it for a moment, he knew that if he didn't do this he'd never hear the end of it, and keeping up his 'I don't care about anyone but myself' attitude had served him well over the years so as he weighed out the pros and the cons it seemed the cons were outnumbered and without a second thought he reached his hand out to Blaise.

"You've got yourself a deal" Draco spoke as they shook hands "and when I win, you'll be my personal servant for the rest of the year" Draco finished as he pulled his hand back causing Blaise's cocky facial expression to quickly drop.

"Fine but when I win, you have to do my homework for Defence Against the Dark Arts till we graduate" Draco rolled his eyes but nodded as he let his hand fall back into his lap.

He stared at you watching as you laughed at something Harry said and couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt knowing what he was about to do, but he shook the feeling away engaging back in the conversation of his friends, pushing all thoughts of you into the back of his mind.

The following week Draco still had yet to make his move on you. He was brainstorming ideas as he made his way to Potions, none of them good enough to follow through with but when he’d finally made his way into the classroom, he went to walk over to Blaise like he usually would but instead he found himself staring at the empty seat next to you.

He looked over at Blaise who was already quizzically staring at him. Draco mouthed a ‘watch this’ in return before he made his way towards you, grabbing a hold of the chair next to yours he stared down at you before asking.

"Is this seat taken?"

You looked up from your book turning to greet who you thought would have been Harry or Ron but instead, you were met with a pair of grey eyes you were not expecting to see, your mouth slightly parting as you stared wide-eyed at him.

"Yes actually-" you began but he had already sat down before you'd been able to reply, placing his backpack on the floor below him.

You raised an eyebrow at the blond, to which he replied by smiling over at you acting as if him sitting there was the most normal thing in the world.

"Do you mind?" you finally managed to choke out as he turned to face you.

"No, not at all" your eyes went wide at his words as you frantically began looking around the classroom for Hermione.

Once you made eye contact with her, you gave her a pleading look silently begging for her to help you, but she only took a hesitant seat next to Neville shrugging her shoulders indicating that there wasn't much she could do.

You grabbed the handle of your backpack beginning to stand up when you felt a hand wrap around your wrist preventing you from moving any further.

"Seems like all the other seats are taken Y/L/N" you frowned at his words turning your head to look around the classroom and sure enough there wasn't a single seat available.

You glared at him before ripping your hand out of his grasp and reluctantly sitting back down.

"Good morning" Slughorn's voice could be heard as he made his way towards the front of the classroom.

"Today we'll be working in pairs so whoever you're sitting next to is your partner for this assignment" your eyes widened in horror at his words as you glanced over at the Slytherin clad boy next to you.

"You're going to be writing an essay on the properties of Moonstone and its uses in Potion making" why did he have to announce this assignment today of all days?

You again looked over at Draco who seemed to be smiling, why was he happy about this? You placed your head in your hands as your mind began to wander, this was probably some stupid plan he and his friends had made to get you to fail the class.

"Professor" you eagerly raised your hand "is it too late to change partners?" you asked, silently begging for him to say no so you could work with Hermione or anyone else for that matter.

"Well I'm afraid everyone else seems to be taken Miss Y/L/N, I'm sure you and Mister Malfoy will be just fine together" you felt a flash off anger as you turned to look at the boy sat next to you.

"I swear if this is your idea of some sort of sick joke Malfoy, I'll hex you into oblivion" you threatened not daring to break eye contact with him, smirking once you noticed his taken aback expression.

"Y/L/N calm down, It's not a joke? You're the best at Potions in our year so I wanted to see if you'd be willing to work together but doesn't look like you have much of a choice now" he shrugged his shoulders; something was definitely off about this.

"So, you couldn't just ask me before we got to class?" his eyes seemed to widen a bit as he thought of a response but you continued before he had the chance to say anything "because I would have said no" and with that, you turned away from him pulling a piece of parchment out of your backpack along with your quill so you could start planning the next few weeks.

As it was nearing the end of the class you and Draco hadn't spoken a word to each other since you'd shut down all his attempts of starting a conversation, not having been interested in anything he had to say.

When class was over you handed Draco the piece of parchment that had a very detailed description of what his part in the project would be, so you'd be able to spend as little time together as possible, although he seemed to be quite displeased at this beginning to protest that you should work together so you'd get a better grade.

"I'm not spending any more time with you than I have to Malfoy so if you'll excuse me" you stood up pushing him out of the way before making your way to Neville's station where Hermione stood shoving her books into her bag.

Once you finally reached her you grabbed her by the arm, quickly pulling her after you out of the classroom. Ignoring her protests until you finally reached an empty corridor, void of any students and teachers.

"Please tell me you saw all that" you pleaded as you let go of her arm.

“You mean Malfoy?” Hermione replied, “yes Malfoy! He’s acting like we’re all of a sudden, the best of friends? Like he didn’t just call me a ‘blood traitor’ last week” you exasperated a scowl on your face.

“I think that was Zabini” Hermione acknowledged making you furrow your brows your mind wandering back to the encounter and sure enough she was right, Zabini had been the one to hurl the insult.

“What does it matter who said it, he’s one of them!” you protested, angrily turning to look at Hermione once you heard her stifled laughter from beside you.

“This isn’t funny! I’m stuck with him for the next- who knows how many weeks on this stupid project” you complained letting your head fall back as you let out a groan.

“Its okay Y/N don’t worry… I reckon he just fancies you” Hermione teased wiggling her eyebrows as she lightly nudged you in the shoulder.

“Have you gone mad?” you practically gasped although you couldn’t help the unfamiliar heat that began rushing to your cheeks at her words.

“Merlin Y/N you’re blushing! You like him?” you frantically covered her mouth as you noticed students beginning to fill the previously empty hallways.

“Would you hush! And no! I do not like Draco Malfoy, I could never like someone like him” you hissed your anger only growing once you noticed the same smile still linger on her lips.

“Whatever you say” Hermione jokingly sing sang, and in response you lightly hit her across the head with a piece of parchment you’d been holding unfortunately not getting the results you wanted since it only seemed to be egging her laughter on more.

“Alright calm down you lunatic I’m only joking” Hermione frowned rubbing the spot on her head you’d begun repeatedly hitting her, “you better be” you hummed, again pulling her after you as you two began walking down the hallways blending into the crowd of students.

“You know I can walk by myself” Hermione frowned once you’d found yourself standing out in the courtyard, your eyes searching for your two other friends since when you had Potions they had a free period which they spent most of their time here.

You finally spotted them sitting on a bench below a large brown oak tree, Seamus and Dean stood in front of them.

It was now Hermione’s turn to pull you away and in mere seconds you were standing next to the four Gryffindor clad boys who all turned their heads towards the two of you.

“Hello” you smiled before looking over at Harry who had already begun scooting over gesturing for you to come and sit down next to him, to which you happily obliged.

They all greeted you and Hermione before continuing their conversation about the upcoming Quidditch game they had against Slytherin next week.

“Yeah well Malfoy hasn’t caught the snitch when competing against Harry once, so I think we’re going to be okay” Ron assured Seamus who didn’t seem to be all that convinced but still began to make his way back into school Dean following behind him shortly after.

“Speaking of Malfoy” Hermione knowingly smirked at you before turning towards the two boys.

“Hermione no-“ you began but it was already too late, “seems he as a little crush” and there it was, you inwardly face palmed feeling the now-familiar heat in your face as you turned away from the confused glances of your two friends.

“Malfoy fancies Y/N?” Ron seemed to be more disgusted rather than confused as he scrunched up his nose.

“Hermione first of all I’m going to kill you! And second of all, he doesn’t like me! He just wanted to be partners on some stupid assignment in Potions” you assured them.

“And you said yes?” Harry perplexed.

“No! Of course not, he- he didn’t give me much of a choice” you rambled scratching the back of your head before glaring over at Hermione.

“What? He forced you to work with him?” Harry again furrowed his brows, “No- or well he sat next to me in class and I couldn’t move anywhere else since all of the other seats were taken and when Professor Slughorn arrived he immediately announced that we’d be working on our essays with whoever sat next to us” you began rambling, causing your three friends to share amused glances, unbeknownst to you.

Harry seemed to understand slowly nodding before claiming him and Ron had quidditch practice pulling the ginger boy along with him out of the courtyard, leaving just you and Hermione.

After a few minutes of silence, you turned to face her, “I think I’m going to go to the library, care to join me?” Hermione shook her head at your words pointing at the book she had just opened already beginning to make herself comfortable on the little bench you’d been sitting on.

You rolled your eyes “suit yourself” you breathed out offering her a small wave as you stood up, which she returned before you began walking back into the crowded hallways.

As you neared the library you began to hear footsteps behind you, smirking since you thought Hermione had changed her mind about joining you.

You turned around expecting to see your best friend but instead, you were met with Draco who now stood still a few feet away from you.

“Are you following me?” you crossed your arms raising an eyebrow at the boy.

He shook his head now walking towards you “just wanted to see if you’d like some company and since you’re heading towards the library we can work on our essay”

“So, you were following me” you accused but before he could answer you continued, “I thought I already told you I’m not spending any more time with you than I have too so if you’ll excuse me” you turned your back to him continuing your way to the library.

“Your loss Y/L/N” you heard him teasingly call after you making a smile appear on your lips which you tried to the best of your ability to contain.

-

Your next Potions class was one you’d been dreading, knowing that the people who were paired together on the essay had also been assigned to sit next to each other, very much to your dismay.

Professor Slughorn had asked all of you to join him at the front of the classroom so he could show you a couple of the potions you’d be brewing for the next couple of weeks and of course the one you’d be working on today.

“And this one right here is-” Slughorn was abruptly cut off by the sound of the classroom door swinging open. You quizzically looked past Slughorn’s shoulder and furrowed your brows at the two boys who had entered.

“Harry?” you asked a bit louder than you intended to causing the attention of the class to turn to Harry and Ron rather than Professor Slughorn.

“Ah! Harry my boy I was beginning to worry, and you’ve brought someone with you I see, what’s your name then?” Slughorn asked, brightly smiling at the two Gryffindors.

“Ron Weasley sir, but I’m dead awful at potions- a menace actually so I’m probably just gonna-“  Ron’s voice wavered as he began to turn around but Harry quickly put his arm out in front of him pushing him back into the classroom.

“Oh, don’t be silly, we’ll sort you out! There are some books in the cupboard over there if you need them” Slughorn pointed towards the end of the classroom where Ron and Harry quickly began fighting over the last book in there.

You and Hermione both gave each other confused glances before your attention was back on the Professor stood in front of you.

“As I was saying I’ve prepared some concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these may be?” you quickly raised your hand Hermione copying your actions as Slughorn’s eyes wandered between the two of you before he eventually pointed at you.

“Yes, miss Y/L/N” Slughorn stepped out of the way as you took a step forward towards the two pots that rested on the table.

“This one is Veritaserum a truth-telling serum and that one over there is Amortentia the most powerful love potion in the world. It’s rumoured to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them” you smiled proudly at yourself before taking a step back towards the other students.

You heard Pansy scoff causing you to quickly turn around to glare at her and just as you did you saw Draco elbow her in the side whispering something in her ear before shaking his head at her actions.

You quickly looked away before Draco’s eyes could catch yours since you felt the annoying feeling of warmth rush up into your cheeks and a smile replace the frown you’d indented to direct at Pansy.

“Very good Miss Y/L/N” Slughorn smiled before beginning to tell the students that whoever managed to brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death would be walking out of the classroom with one vile of Liquid Luck.

You quickly walked over to your station Draco following in suit behind you as you both turned to page 10 on your ‘advanced potion making’ books.

Your eyes wandered over the page before you spotted the instructions.

1. Cut up one Sopophorus bean.

You frowned down at the text as you glanced between it and the bean, it didn’t look like it was meant to be cut, and your suspicions were right as you began noticing your fellow classmates struggle around you.

Your eyes widened as Draco’s bean came hurling at your face at an ungodly speed, you practically had to throw yourself to the floor so it wouldn’t hit you in the face.

“Bloody hell Y/N are you okay!?” Draco panicked as he rushed to your side offering his hand to help you up which you ignored to distracted by the fact he’d called you by your first name.

You quickly got up onto your feet still ignoring his outstretched hand. You’d never in all your years at Hogwarts heard him call anyone by their first name, let alone you, a Gryffindor he’d hated since the first year.

“What did you just call me?” you asked although it came out a bit harsher then you intended it too. You didn’t mind that he was using your first name you just found it incredibly odd especially for someone like him.

“What, Y/L/N? that’s your name isn’t it” he was acting clueless as he walked back around the table to attend to his potion.

“No, you said Y/N” you raised an eyebrow as you watched him grab another bean now simply resorting to ignoring you, whatever you thought, brewing this potion was more important than what name Draco decided to call you.

As you continued to observe the students around you, you noticed Harry grab a silver knife and slowly press it onto the bean. You mirrored his actions and to your delight, it worked.

“How did you do that?” Draco could be heard from opposite you as he furiously looked between the instructions in his book and the crushed bean in your hand.

“Crush it don’t cut it” you shrugged, your finger traveling further down the page and stopping at the second step.

2. Pour in 250 fl.oz. of Standard potioning water and add 5 oz. of African Sea Salt to the beaker. Set the beaker aside after all the water has been added. Be very careful not to shake or move the beaker now.

The rest of the lesson had gone by in a flash and even though you felt like you’d be the one rewarded with the Liquid Luck, it ended up being Harry and you couldn’t help but wonder how the hell he managed to brew something better than you.

You remembered Harry continuously failing all his Potions classes never getting more than a poor or an acceptable on any of his assignments or tests.

After class you immediately cornered him, and it didn’t take long for him to confess to the book he’d found. Property of the half-blood prince it read and as you flipped through the many pages it had all the ‘correct’ recipes to every single potion you’d be brewing throughout the term.

“I knew it! You’ve always been dreadful at potions” you finally felt at ease knowing that Harry had only won you by cheating, shaking your head as you placed the book back into his arms.

“Hey! I am not ‘dreadful’ at potions” he imitated you his hands making air quotes at the word dreadful, a laugh slipping past your lips as you remembered a certain incident from when you were younger.

“Oh really? Don’t you remember third year when Snape told us to make a shrinking solution and you poured it all over Hermione-“ you began but Harry quickly cut you off.

“Alright! Alright! You’ve made your point now shove off I don’t feel like listening to this story right now” you threw your head back in laughter as you thought back to a tiny Hermione who hadn’t spoken to Harry a whole week after the incident.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re doing a great job with Y/L/N, I reckon Potter’s in there more than you” Blaise sounded amused as he came up behind Draco who was watching yours and Harry’s exchange from afar.

“Don’t worry Blaise, I’m only getting started”

Later in the day you, Harry, Ron and Hermione had all decided to take a little trip down to Hogsmeade for a much needed break from your studies.

“No sit beside me” Harry insisted as the four of you made your way into the Three Broomsticks, you gave him a confused glance but nevertheless dragged the chair out from underneath the table and sat down next to him.

You went to ask why but quickly managed to put two and two together once you noticed professor Slughorn sat at the bar, a beer in his hand as he talked with one of the other professors.

“What’s your deal with Slughorn?” you questioned as Harry began waving the professor over. “I need to get into the slug club” you furrowed your brows but before you could question it any further Slughorn had arrived at your table.

“Ah! Mister Potter lovely to see you, you as well Miss Y/L/N” Slughorn smiled completely disregarding Hermione and Ron who sat opposite you.

“Likewise, Professor” you smiled as he and Harry began talking about something you couldn’t be less interested in, instead your eyes began to wander around the small tavern until they finally landed on Draco who was already staring intently at you.

“You’d be welcomed to Y/L/N” your gaze diverted from the platinum blond towards Slughorn who was smiling brightly down at you. “I’d love too!” you agreed having faintly heard him mention a christmas dinner.

“Wonderful! Look for my owl” you couldn’t help but let out a laugh at Hermione’s face who seemed to be more than distraught that she hadn’t received an invitation of her own.

“Oh, how silly of me Granger, I hope I’ll also be seeing you there” Hermione’s face lit up at his words as she repeatedly nodded, Slughorn awkwardly looking over at Ron before speaking, “good to see you Wallenby”.

You were finally able to let out the laugh you’d been holding in as Slughorn exited the tavern. “Oh, shut up Y/N” Ron frowned crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back into his chair.

When your laughter had finally died down you offered to go and order your drinks since the waiter had yet to make an appearance at your table.

“Four butter beers please” you smiled at the worker as you leaned onto the bar going to turn around but instead you were met with a black suit your eyes wandering upwards to see Draco towering over you.

You cleared your throat causing him to take a step back, “anything I can help you with?” you questioned as Draco stood motionless in front of you.

“Yes, would you like to join me?” Draco asked gesturing to an empty table at the far end of the tavern. You looked over to where he was pointing causing you to quickly spot his friends who were all sat at another table, their eyes set on you.

“Uhm- I think they’d loved to join you” you pointed towards them causing Draco to quickly snap his head in their direction, making them all quickly turn to each other acting as nonchalant as they could.

“But I’d much rather spend time with you” you felt a weird tingly feeling at his words but nonetheless you didn’t dare act on it your eyes going to your friend’s who were all staring quizzically at you.

“Sorry I- Uhm I can’t I came here with them” you gestured towards your table Draco’s eyes following in the direction you pointed before they were back on you.

“Well alright, but you owe me a date then” he winked before turning around and going back to join his Slytherin friends.

Your mouth hung open as you watched him walk away, did he just say date?

You power walked back towards your friends hastily taking a seat next to Harry who already had his eyes glued on you.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Ron asked as soon as you’d fully sat down.

“Oh- Uhm, he just wanted to ask me about our assignment” they all looked skeptical at your reply but didn’t question it any further another topic quickly consuming your table.

“Do any of you have a date to the Jingle Ball?” Hermione’s question rang throughout the table, causing both boys shook their heads and you along with them, in all honesty, you didn’t expect to get asked so you’d probably just end up going with Harry like last year.

“Guess we know who Ginny’s going with” you giggled gesturing towards her and Dean who were currently taking a seat at a table not so far from yours, their fingers wrapped around each other’s.

“I’d like to leave” Ron shifted in his seat uncomfortably as he stared at his sister and who he had once considered a close friend. “Honestly Ron they’re only holding hands” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“And snogging” you added on as Ginny connected her lips with Dean’s. “Yep that’s it we’re leaving” Ron stood up grabbing the coat that hung on the chair beside him.

“Oh come on we haven’t even gotten our orders yet!” you protested as all your friends began to stand up, maybe you should have joined Draco before.

“Fine” you huffed once you noticed they had no intention of staying any longer. “Why don’t you just ask Malfoy to come join you, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind” Ron teased causing you to quickly hit him in the arm.

“Shut up Ron!”

Once you’d all made it back to Hogwarts you and Hermione separated from Ron and Harry since they claimed to have yet another quidditch practice although you figured it was code for going to scout possible dates for the Jingle Ball.

“So, what did Draco really want earlier?” Hermione gave you a knowing look as she lightly bumped you in the shoulder.

“It was so weird he-he said that I owe him a date” your voice was hesitant as you turned your head to look at Hermione who didn’t seem at all surprised.

“Well, now you know who you can go to the Jingle Ball with” she stated matter of factly causing your eyes to widen as you gaped at her.

“Hermione, I love you but have you gone mad? Me and Draco? I don’t think so” you denied but there was still the lingering feeling of hope deep down in your stomach that you tried with all your might to suppress.

“Well he obviously has a thing for you, and I mean he’s not too bad to look at”

“Shove off”

-

You had been actively avoiding Draco ever since the Hogsmeade trip, something about the entire ordeal just felt weird to you, why was he all of a sudden so bold about his apparent feelings towards you when a couple of weeks ago he wouldn’t even look your way.

But it seemed your luck had run out since he now stood in front of you, hand outstretched as he leaned it against the stone wall preventing you from continuing your way to your Transfigurations class.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something” Draco breathed out. He was getting desperate, it was unbearable, the teasing he’d been receiving from his friends once they’d noticed he wasn’t making any progress with you, and he knew if he didn’t do something soon he was going to lose the bet.

“Well can it wait? I need to get to class” you huffed watching as he pushed himself off the wall to come and stand in front of you, causing your body to turn with him, your back eventually colliding with the wall behind you.

“I was wondering” Draco smirked placing a hand next to your head as he leaned in closer towards you, you now only realizing how much taller he was then you as you found yourself craning your neck upwards to meet his eyes.

“Would you like to be my date for the Jingle Ball” the words made your stomach flip and you felt the sudden urge to let out a squeal, but you somehow managed to keep yourself together, taking in a deep breath before you took a step forward his hand slipping from the wall your faces mere centimeters from each other.

“No” you stated watching as his eyes went wide, clearly, he wasn’t anticipating that answer.

“If you want me to even consider going out with you after all the shit you’ve done over the years, you’re going to have to work for it.”

He watched your ascending figure before you fully left his sight and when you did he angrily kicked the wall cursing underneath his breath, he was used to getting everything and anything he ever wanted without as much as a snap of his finger so this was something he wasn’t used too.

The stakes were high, his entire reputation was on the line and he did not intend to give Blaise the satisfaction of being right or his housemates a reason to tease him for what would probably be the rest of his life.

All the girls at this school would practically fall at his feet, why couldn’t you be like those girls? Make this easy for him, not once in his life had Draco Malfoy had a real challenge when it came to girls but now it seemed the tables had turned, he was going to play your game and he was going to win.

-

It was now the day of the Slytherin versus Gryffindor quidditch game. You, Harry and Hermione, were all sat in the Great Hall watching as Ron entered in his Quidditch gear, helmet, and everything.

You had yet to tell Hermione about Draco asking you to the ball since you didn’t really know how you felt about it yourself and also because he probably wouldn’t be asking you out again, you having let him down quite harshly.

You glared over at the Slytherin table once you heard them beginning to yell things along the lines of ‘Ron you’re a loser’, ‘he doesn’t stand a chance’ and ‘nice hat Weasley’.

“Ignore them, Ron, I know you’ll do great” you reassuringly smiled up at your friend as he took a seat opposite you, his face contorted in worry as he looked over at the Slytherin table who continued to laugh at him.

“Yeah, thanks” he gulped once he turned back to face you, this had to have been the first time you’d ever seen Ron leave his food untouched.

“You look dreadful Ron” Luna’s voice could be heard from the other end of the table, your eyes widening as you looked over at her, “Is that why you put something in his drink” she finished, the last part of her sentence directed at Harry.

You looked over at the boy sat next to you and faintly managed to see a glimmer of light before it disappeared fully into his pocket.

“Liquid Luck?” Hermione sounded from opposite you and you finally managed to put two and two together.

“Are you mental Harry? You’ll get in so much trouble if you’re caught” your eyes widened as you watched him pass Ron the cup of pumpkin juice he’d poured his one vile of Liquid Luck into moments ago, well according to Luna at least.

“Don’t drink it Ron” Hermione scolded, before you both gasped as you watched Ron without a moment’s thought chug the remaining juice in his cup.

You watched intently as his frown was turned upside down and he slammed the cup back onto the table, a sly smirk now playing on his lips.

“You could be expelled for that” Hermione pointed out glaring at Harry who innocently smiled at her before shrugging and stating that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Come on Harry we’ve got a game to win” Ron’s sudden aura of confidence was radiating off of him as he quickly pushed himself away from the table and began exiting the Great Hall.

“We’ll see you guys there?” Harry questioned as he looked between the two of you also beginning to stand up.

“We wouldn’t miss it” Hermione assured him as you both watched him awkwardly wave before he turned to follow Ron.

“This is going to be interesting”

-

Loud screams and chants began filling your ears as you watched the two teams make their way out onto the Quidditch pitch, you and Hermione quickly joined in beginning to clap and cheer as you made eye contact with Ron who looked as ready as ever.

A particular blond seemed to have caught your eye since before you knew it Madame Hooch was announcing the start of the game causing you to snap out of your trance, when you looked back at Draco he was already smirking up at you making you quickly look away as your cheeks turned bright red, pulling your Gryffindor patterned scarf up over your face in hopes that he wouldn’t notice the crimson colour.

“Seekers shake hands!” you watched as Harry and Draco walked up to each other clasping each other’s arms before Draco retorted something in Harry’s direction causing him to quickly pull his hand away from his the game now officially beginning.

It had been almost an hour now and so far Gryffindor was in the lead the score being 23-45. You were beginning to think you’d lost your voice but nevertheless you still raised your hands high in the air and cheered Harry on as he dove towards the snitch with Draco hot on his heels.

You anxiously began biting your nails as the two continuously bumped into each other both their arms outstretched as they neared the golden object.

“Come on Harry” you whispered the anticipation was killing you, but you didn’t have to wait much longer since the two boys suddenly crashed into each other sending them both flying off of their brooms and hurling towards the grass below.

You gasped as you stood up beginning to lean over the railing to get a better look at the two seekers who now both laid on the grass clutching their stomachs, but you widely smiled once you noticed a familiar shimmer coming from Harry’s hand.

“Yes!” you screamed as he carefully sat himself up raising the golden object up into the air for the rest of the stadium to see. Your happiness was quickly replaced with worry once you noticed the Slytherin boy laid next to Harry wasn’t moving.

“Is Malfoy okay?” you frantically shook Hermione as you pointed down at him but Hermione paid you no mind her eyes trained on Ron who was proudly raising his hands in the air as it was announced that Harry had caught the snitch.

Since everybody seemed to be too caught up with themselves you again leaned over the railing before screaming Draco’s name hoping it would at least capture the attention of someone from his team so they could help him.

You felt a wave of relieve wash over you as you watched his previously limp body turn over before he placed his hands on the grass pushing himself to sit up, the hand that wasn’t holding him up immediately going to rub his forehead.

He sent a glare Harry’s way before he grabbed his broom and began storming off the field his teammates following shortly after, for some odd reason you began to feel bad for him as you watched the disapproved glances from his fellow Slytherin’s being thrown his way but you decided to push the feeling away joining in on the celebration of your house.

Once you arrived at the Gryffindor common room a celebration had quickly ensued the hollering of Ron’s last name began sounding all around the room as you began clapping in rhythm to all of their chants, you and Hermione watching as Ron got pushed in the middle of the crowd.

Before you knew it a girl you didn’t know the name of had wrapped her arms around his neck, harshly pulling him down to meet her lips, you gasped as you faintly remembered a conversation between you and Hermione where she’d admitted to harboring a crush on the ginger boy.

You quickly turned to see Hermione pushing her way through the crowd and out of the common room. You began following her but quickly lost sight of her as you tried your best to squeeze through the teenagers who had now begun lifting Ron into the air.

“Hermione!” you called out but it was impossible to hear anything over the celebrations so you gave up on calling out to her simply resorting to pushing the students that stood in your way.

Once you finally managed to reach the door that led out into the hallway you frantically pushed it open beginning to search the corridors for your best friend.

When you rounded a particular corner, you came crashing into a much taller figure then yourself sending you flying towards the ground at the impact.

“Watch where you’re goin-“ the familiar voice of Draco Malfoy sounded from above you but stopped once he made eye contact with you. “Y/L/N?” he questioned before reaching his hand out to you which you accepted letting him pull you back up onto your feet.

“What are you doing out here, shouldn’t you be celebrating?” there was a defiant malice to his tone as he scowled in the direction of your common room where chants could still be faintly heard.

“I could ask you the same thing Malfoy” you raised an eyebrow since you weren’t anywhere near the dungeons where the Slytherin common room was.

“Just needed some air, some people aren’t exactly thrilled with the outcome of today’s game” Draco shrugged causing your stomach to drop slightly at his obvious disappointment. He sat himself down on a bench a heavy sigh leaving his lips as he let his head fall back onto the wall.

You slowly sat down next to him carefully contemplating your next words. “Not that it would mean anything to you but I thought you were really good” you tried to comfort him as you watched a faint smile appear on his lips before he turned his head towards you.

You didn’t realize just how close you were to each other until his eyes quickly looked down to your lips and back into your eyes. You suddenly remembered why you were out here in the first place, your thoughts traveling back to Hermione who had disappeared only moments ago.

“I’m sorry but I really need to go, uh- I’ll uh see you in class” you excused yourself before standing up and continuing your search for your best friend, but a hand wrapping around your wrist stopped you dead in your tracks as you were turned back around.

Your eyes slowly travelled up from Draco’s tight grip on you and back into his icy grey eyes. You carried a confused glance on your face which Draco seemed to notice since he quickly let go of your wrist.

“Thank you” is all he said before he swiftly turned back around and began walking down the corridor, disappearing out of sight.

next part

[deanstead]

Somebody’s Watching

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader

Request by danipearl16: Request- Jay has a girlfriend that nobody knows about and then they get a case where she’s being stalked and her stalker is killings women that seem to remind him of her and it turns out to be her ex-boyfriend from high school and Jay starts going downhill a little bit because he’s worried about her. Also his girlfriend is more on the younger than his side by 7 years

Word Count: 4,365

Warnings: cursing, mention of sexual assault/misconduct (non-graphic), mention of non-con touching, stalking, minor OC death, mention of injury, angst, fluff

A/N: Please beware of the triggers before you continue reading! I changed some parts to fit into the storyline but I still hope you like what I did with it! I’m pretty excited about this fic so I really really hope yall will like it! It’s my first time writing such a detailed case in so I hope it turned out well? Please hit me up and let me know what you think! Love yall!

---

You looked up from where you were sprawled on the couch, fiddling with your phone. Jay was sitting at the table, a small frown across his face as he pored over case notes.

Jay usually didn’t bring his work home with him but they’d just closed a big case and he had spent a whole week in the district. So instead of spending more time there to finish the paperwork, Jay had opted to bring it home instead.

You smiled to yourself just as Jay looked up. “Sorry babe.” He said, making a little face at the papers strewn across the table.

Chuckling, you climbed off the couch and moved towards him. You stood behind him, looping your arms around his shoulders, resting your chin on his shoulder. “I missed you.” You whispered.

Jay turned slightly, tugging you so that you now landed in his lap.

“Missed you too.” He whispered, smiling as one of his arms snaked around your waist, holding you securely to him, another hand reaching up to cup your cheek. “Sorry I’ve been busy.”

You shook your head, smiling.

You’d been dating for a while but no one else knew. Both of you had agreed to keep it on the down low, partly because of your age difference. Even though you had agreed you’d keep it quiet at least for the first few months, it had been a lot more than that and it had been going so well that you didn’t really want to purposefully invite anyone into this world that Jay and you had created for yourselves. Rather than keeping it a secret, you guys just hadn’t made the effort to tell anyone or publicize it to the world. This also meant that when he was stuck at the district, you didn’t get to see him but on such days, Jay was always mindful about checking in.

“What’s on your mind?” Jay asked.

“Just thinking I’m lucky to have you.” You responded, leaning in to try to give him a hug. Instead, Jay stroked your cheek and pressed his lips to yours. “Now, I really need to finish this.”

You laughed. “Go forth.”

---

Jay had taken a few well-deserved days of furlough, which he had mostly spent curled up with you. You didn’t have any complaints, it had been just what you both needed.

But Intelligence couldn’t catch a break. It was Jay’s first day back and now, he was already walking up to a crime scene.

Jay pushed the yellow crime scene tape upwards, letting Hailey walk through ahead of him before following behind her.

“What do we have?” Jay asked, approaching the spot where Adam and Kim were standing.

Kim turned. “Kate Whitewood, 22, stabbed multiple times.”

“She’s not in the system. No priors, nothing.” Adam added.

“No belongings on her?” Voight asked, looking around.

Adam shook his head. Jay frowned. “There’s barely any blood here.”

Kevin nodded, jogging forward to join them. “This is probably just the dump site. She must have been killed elsewhere.”

Hailey stood from where she had bent to examine the body. “She has defensive wounds on her. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find skin under her fingernails.”

Jay bent forward slightly. “What are those? Marks around her neck? We need to get her to the ME to get the exact cause of death.”

“Kim, bag her hands and get forensics to run a deluxe.” Voight said, as Kim nodded.

“My CI works this street, let me see what I can find out.” Jay said, turning away.

---

“So Kate was last seen at this bar right in town.” Hailey said, walking in and sticking a screenshot onto the board, which showed a camera view of the street outside the bar.

Kate could be seen on the image, her head turned slightly as she waved to someone, a man standing by her side. Hailey tapped the image.

“We can’t find this guy. His face is always turned away from the camera, facial recognition is out.”

Voight nodded. “Jay, have you heard from your CI?”

Jay nodded, resting slightly against Hailey’s desk, his arms crossed in front of him. “My guy says there haven’t been any deals going down. I think we can rule out drugs or gangs. Streets have been quiet ever since that big bust we did last month.”

“It was 28 degrees out last night, ME couldn’t find the exact time of death. But there were signs she was raped, signs of asphyxiation and five penetration wounds from a knife.” Kevin said, opening the file he had gotten from the medical examiner earlier.

Voight turned to Kim. “Who was she?”

Kim sighed. “Kate was a hard worker, she had just started her job as a receptionist at a dentist’s office in South Loop. Dad’s MIA, Mum’s remarried and relocated to New York so she’s living on her own.”

“Have we found who she was with last night?”

Adam nodded. “I’ve gone through her phone. Looks like she was meeting her friend Grace at the club last night.”

“We need to talk to her. I want to know about the last day of Kate’s life. Timeline. Check all sex offenders in the area. Comb her social media. Let’s go.” Voight instructed.

---

Jay knocked on the main door, glancing sideways at Hailey. The door swung open.

“Grace Archer? I’m Detective Upton, this is Detective Halstead, can we come in?” Hailey asked.

She furrowed her brows. “What’s this about?”

“You’re friends with Kate Whitewood?” Hailey asked, without directly answering her question. She nodded and without missing a beat, Hailey continued, “We need to ask you a few questions about last night.”

Grace stepped back to let them in, her face falling as she led them to the sitting room.

“I heard from her parents. The whole thing’s horrible.” Grace whispered, wrapping her hands around herself.

“Can you tell us what you remember?” Jay asked.

Grace looked up. “Kate’s boyfriend had broken up with her a few months ago, so I took her out. She needed to get out again.”

“Were you approached by anyone?” Hailey asked.

“Several.” She answered.

“Anyone that stood out?”

Grace paused, trying to recall. “Kate didn’t even really want to go. She barely looked at the guys… except…”

Hailey sat up a little. “There must have been something about this guy that she left with, something unique. We have a photo of him on the surveillance tape. Flashy?”

Grace nodded, “Yeah, he had this like... attitude… like he was hitting on us but he was making a joke of it at the same time.” She paused. “The last thing she told me was that she had a great time… I shouldn’t have forced her to come out.”

“This isn’t your fault.” Hailey leaned over and patted Grace comfortingly on the arm. “Thanks for talking to us. Please call us if you think of anything else.”

As Jay walked out of Grace’s house with Hailey, he looked at his partner. “This guy’s confident, he’s smooth and it doesn’t look like he knew Kate or Grace.”

---

For the rest of the day, the team had almost combed through the whole of Kate’s whereabouts before she had disappeared and all they had was a big fat nothing.

Jay typed a quick text to you to let you know that he wasn’t going to be able to come over tonight.

You read the text, smiling a little. Jay was busy but it was cute that he always kept you informed. You stopped walking, typing back a reply to tell him it was okay and to do what he had to do, before you kept her phone back into your pocket.

You walked along the street, the same street you walked on every night, frowning a little. You turned around, scanning the street behind you.

You could swear that it was like someone was watching you, or following you. But the street was empty. This wasn’t the first time you had had this feeling - like the little hairs on the back of your neck were standing but you had nothing to back up this feeling you had.

Holding your bag tighter against you, you pushed yourself forward, quickening your footsteps, only letting up as you passed the safety of your apartment building’s front door.

As you passed the threshold of your apartment and closed the door behind you, you pulled out your phone, staring at it for a while. Part of you wanted to call Jay, to hear his voice and have him tell you that you were just tired, imagining things. But the rational part of your brain convinced yourself that everything was okay, reminding you that Jay was so busy and deep in a case, he really shouldn’t have to worry about you.

Ultimately, you put your phone on the counter, chuckling at yourself. Maybe you really were too tired.

---

By the next morning, another body had turned up, not two streets away from the first dump site.

Jay felt an uneasy feeling spread in the pit of his stomach as he stared at the photo of the new victim that was already up on the board. They had a serial killer in Chicago and this guy’s victim type had physical characteristics that were scarily similar to you.

“Jay.” Hailey broke Jay out of his thoughts. “Emma Green, 23, strangulation marks, six stab wounds.”

Jay turned to his partner and nodded. “Did they go to the same club?”

Hailey handed Jay a file. “No, but look at what we picked up on the surveillance camera.” Jay opened the file, studying the photo.

“This is our guy isn’t it?” He pointed at a male figure who was standing next to their second victim, his face still hidden from the camera, wearing a plain cap.

“Hey guys, I might have found a link.” Kim said, walking in. “I checked the employee records and there’s a bartender that works in both clubs and he was on shift on each day our victims went missing. He’s got a prior for aggravated assault and harassment.”

“We’ll take it.” Jay said, grabbing his jacket and heading out of the district.

Hailey fell into step next to him, glancing at him. “Jay, you okay?”

Jay nodded. “Let’s just get this son of a bitch.”

They travelled the rest of the way in silence. Hailey seemed to pick up that this case was affecting Jay differently but she didn’t press further, allowing Jay to lead the way into the closed club.

“Ben Carlton?”

The bartender looked up from where he was, his eyes falling onto the police badge that was hung around Jay’s neck.

In a sudden motion, he ducked out and ran.

“Hey, stop!” Jay yelled, as both he and Hailey launched themselves after him, Hailey shooting out the front door to try to head him off.

“5021 George, I have a suspect fleeing on foot.” Jay called into his radio, sprinting after the bartender.

The bartender barely made it onto the next street before Hailey flung herself at him around the corner, rolling onto the ground as Jay pulled out his gun. “Don’t move!” He yelled, as Hailey pulled the bartender to his feet.

“Let’s go.” Jay snarled.

---

“It wasn’t me!” Ben yelled as he sat in the interrogation room, facing Jay and Hailey.

Jay sighed internally, watching Ben’s reactions and the way he was answering the questions Hailey was shooting at him.

“Those were mistakes, I didn’t do this!” He yelled again.

Jay pushed himself upright, getting up from where he was leaning against the wall and pushing the photos of the victims onto the table. “This. Look at this. We can place these girls at the bars you worked at just before they died.”

“Look.” Ben said, looking up at Jay. “I saw them but they left before I even finished my shift.”

Jay glanced at Hailey. “Who did they leave with?” Hailey asked.

Ben looked from Hailey to Jay. “Look, I don’t know the guy, he’s not a regular. But he’s white, about their age. I noticed him because he headed for them the moment that he walked in. Like he knew they were there.”

Before Jay or Hailey moved, a knock came from the door.

“You guys gotta see this.” Adam said, sticking his head in.

“Sit tight.” Jay said to Ben, following Adam outside, where Kevin was waiting as well.

Kevin handed the file to Jay. “We got another one.” Jay flipped open the file, which told him what he already feared. Another victim, of a physical type that not only matched the first two victims but also you.

Jay looked up. “His cooling off period is getting shorter. We need to get this son of a bitch.”

---

The feeling was getting a little stronger that someone had been watching you.

You glanced over your shoulder but as usual the street was empty. Maybe you needed to stop staying late.

You turned back towards the front. There were sounds of footsteps but you swallowed the lump in your throat, quickening your pace as discreetly as you could.

It definitely felt like someone was following you now. You were almost running by the time you rounded the corner, colliding with someone.

You gave a yelp of surprise.

“Y/N!”

You had collided with Jay.

You let out a breath, spinning around to look over your shoulder.

“What’s going on? You okay?” Jay’s eyes snapped from you to the empty street behind you.

You turned back to look at Jay. Now that he was standing in front of you, it didn’t seem that scary anymore - maybe you had imagined the whole thing.

You shook your head, taking one last glance behind you. “What are you doing here? You finished the case?”

Jay smiled but the smile didn’t really reach his eyes. “Just wanted to check in on you. I have to go back soon.”

You reached for his hand without saying anything and that’s how the both of you walked back to your apartment, your hand clenched securely in his, almost like the both of you had a tight bubble around you.

You could tell Jay’s mind was far away, and it was even more unlike him to come see you in the middle of a case. You knew there was something troubling him but you weren’t one to press. Jay would tell you when he felt he could or he wanted to.

Instead, you just squeezed his hand.

Almost as if you were prying him from his thoughts, Jay looked at you and smiled. He pulled you closer to him, tucking you under his arm.

“You’re okay, right?” You asked, without looking up at him, just as he escorted you to your door.

Jay turned to look at you and nodded. “I will be, once this case is over.” He leaned forward to give you a kiss. “If anything happens, you call me, okay? No matter what.”

You raised an eyebrow but nodded at him, watching him disappear into the elevator before you retreated back into your apartment.

---

Intelligence had been tirelessly chasing down leads but they now had four bodies and Voight was getting pressure to solve this quickly as well. They needed a break in this case and fast.

“Okay, let’s regroup, what do we have so far?” Voight barked.

“All four victims were raped and found with multiple stab wounds. We know he picks up his victims from bars and appears non-threatening enough that his victims are willing to leave with him.” Jay said, getting up.

Hailey headed to the board, frowning. “We dumped their phones but we weren’t able to find any connection between the victims other than their physical type.” Hailey cast a look at Jay, which Voight didn’t miss. “I think he’s working his way up to something.”

“Hey guys?” Kim spoke up as she walked back in, flipping open the file sitting on her desk. “I went back over the first murder to see if we missed anything. Look at this.”

Kim pulled in her chair, zooming into the photo. “This badge here on his jacket, it’s barely visible so we missed it the first few times. I sent it to the lab to see if they could enhance the image and this is what I got.”

Kim clicked and up popped the crest of a high school. “Look, it’s not just a general badge. Look at the year.”

“Okay, that is the crest for Lincoln High. It’s a jacket given to those who graduated that year.” Kevin said, frowning at it.

“I’ll run the list of students who graduated in that year.” Jay barked, heading straight for his desk, his fingers flying across his keyboard.

Cross-checking was the worst job ever but the moment Jay’s eyes landed on your name on the list of graduates, he pulled it together, eliminating the women, men who had moved out of state or country, until finally he only had three names on the list.

“Okay, I have a Steven Miller, Charles Shoemaker and John Marlin.” Jay finally spoke up as everyone looked up. “But only Steven Miller has priors.”

“For harassment, sexual misconduct, and attempted assault. Sarge, this has to be our guy.” Jay looked up at Voight.

“Do we have an LKA?” Voight asked.

“Already on it.” Adam said.

“Go pick him up.” Adam nodded, motioning to Kevin as they headed out.

Something was bugging Jay. Steven Miller. That name was…

Fuck.

Jay pushed back his chair, entering Voight’s office without knocking and closing the door behind him.

“Sarge.”

Voight looked up, frowning a little at the look on Jay’s face. He put down his pen and leaned back in his chair, looking up at Jay.

“I’ve heard Miller’s name before. It was bugging me, but I remember now.”

Voight sat up straighter.

“I’m seeing his ex-girlfriend.” The words slipped past Jay’s lips. “Sarge, everything makes sense now. The physical type, the way he’s building up because his actual target…” Jay trailed off.

You had told Jay about Steven just once. You hadn’t gone into detail but you had told Jay about the short period that you had been together with Steven – his need for control over all aspects of your life, how he had always been a little rough, how he hadn’t taken any form of rejection well, and how you’d ended it the day he struck you.

“Take Hailey.”

Jay was already halfway to the door.

---

You had left early today.

It had been a while since you had done such an early shift but you’d been feeling more and more uneasy while walking home at night and the news coverage on the murders that were happening at the moment didn’t help.

You didn’t need Jay to tell you that you looked exactly like those girls who had been murdered. It was clear as day.

You fiddled with the key in the lock, opening the door.

You felt your heart drop into your stomach as you registered the person standing in front of you. In your house.

“Steven.” You muttered, your voice trembling, barely registering the butt of a gun heading towards your temple before it went dark.

---

Hailey hadn’t said anything but she knew something was off.

“Jay, what’s going on?” She asked. “How do you know this girl’s the target?”

Jay didn’t answer but pressed harder on the accelerator, gripping the steering wheel so hard, his knuckles were white. The ringing tone going off through his bluetooth speaker in the car making him feel even worse.

“Jay.” Hailey said again. “I’m your partner.”

Jay glanced at her now. “She’s my girlfriend.”

Hailey’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t even know you were seeing someone.”

Jay let a beat of silence passed. “Miller’s her ex. I should have seen the signs, the physical type, everything, I…”

“Jay. She’ll be fine. Come on.” Hailey reassured him, as he turned his truck onto the familiar street.

“She’s still not answering.” Jay said, through gritted teeth. He’d been trying to call you since he had left the station.

Without hesitation, Jay bounded up the stairs, Hailey right behind him. From down the corridor, Jay could already tell your door was slightly ajar.

“Hang back.” Jay whispered, pulling out his service weapon.

Jay quietly approached the door. “Y/N?” He opened the door with his foot, freezing as his eyes landed on you, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, your eyes frantic as Steven held a knife to your throat from where he stood behind you.

Jay gritted his teeth, using his foot to slam the door shut, knowing that Hailey would know what to do.

“Step away from her.” Jay growled, pointing his gun directly at Steven.

Steven smiled. “I was wondering when you’d arrive. Put that down.”

Jay grinded his teeth but didn’t move. You felt the cold blade of the knife press against your skin and inhaled sharply.

“Put. It. Down.” Steven repeated.

“Okay, okay.” Jay said, glancing at you before putting his hands above his head, disarming his gun and putting it down onto the floor.

Steven smiled again, tucking a stray hair behind your ear.

“Don’t you fucking touch her.” Jay growled.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to tell me what to do.” Steven answered.

“Jay, I’m sorry.” You whispered.

Jay looked straight at you. “It’s going to be okay. You focus on me, you hear me? I’m right here.”

“We broke up a long time ago, what the hell are you doing?” You asked. You were afraid, hell you were trembling, but this was crazy and you had to help Jay to find a way out of this.

“We wouldn’t be broken up if he hadn’t come between us.” Steven snarled, moving closer towards you, his lips almost touching your ear.

Jay growled. “Leave her alone.”

Steven looked back up at Jay again.

“What, you mean don’t do this?” Steven asked, crushing his lips against yours.

“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Jay yelled. “Is that what you did? How you forced yourself on all the other girls? What do you want, Steven? What are you trying to accomplish?”

“All I wanted was to be with Y/N! But you took her.” He spat.

“So you decided to go on a rampage?” Jay asked. You saw him twitch like he was looking for something so you started talking, as much as it made you want to gag.

“Steven, why didn’t you just talk to me?” You asked, trying to distract him.

“Talk? All you care about is him!” He yelled, lifting the knife and pointing it at Jay.

It happened in a split second.

The moment he lifted the knife, Jay yelled, “Now, Y/N!”

You threw yourself forward, covering your head with your hands as you heard the gunshots go off, just two. You weren’t sure who was shooting but you didn’t move until you heard Jay’s voice again.

“Y/N, it’s okay, it’s over.” Jay whispered.

You looked up, Jay’s face hovering above you.

“Jay…”

Jay nodded, “It’s okay, come here.”

Jay pulled his arms around you.

“He…” Jay shook his head, shielding your view of Steven’s now motionless body. “Don’t look back, come on.”

Jay tried to lead you out of the apartment, barely making it to the main door before his teammates appeared. “Jay!” Kevin called, as he spotted both of you.

Jay nodded. “Thanks.” Kevin nodded, his eyes lingering on the way Jay was holding you close to his side before making way for Jay to lead you back down to the ground floor where the ambulances were waiting.

Jay led you all the way to the waiting paramedics, not even leaving your side to get himself checked.

You weren’t hurt, not really. There was a little open cut from where Steven had pressed the blade a little too hard when he had been agitated but other than that you were fine. Well, that, and that disgusting feeling that came with remembering how Steven had pressed his lips against yours.

Voight approached you and Jay. Jay squeezed your hand. “I’ll be right back.” You smiled and nodded.

Jay and Voight talked in low voices until Voight turned to look at you. “And she’s okay?”

Jay nodded. “Yeah, she is. I just need to…”

“Do what you need to do. We’ll finish up here.” Voight said, nodding and clapping Jay on the back.

---

The paramedics had dressed the wound on the scene before Jay had brought you back to his apartment.

After getting you into a clean change of clothes and some warm food in you, you had ended up back in your favourite place in the world – on Jay’s couch, in Jay’s apartment, encircled in Jay’s arms.

You lay your head on Jay’s chest.

“So this was all because of me?” You asked in a low voice.

Jay sat up, looking at you. “What?”

“He killed all those women… because of me. I got them killed.” You whispered.

“No, no, baby.” Jay propped himself up, but didn’t let you go. “This is not your fault. Steven he… he did this, not you.”

You looked up at him. “He even… in front of you… he…” You could feel tears welling up in your eyes, you felt disgusting. He’d kissed you, he’d done it in front of Jay and he’d ruined everything.

You hadn’t said that much but Jay just tilted your chin upwards and kissed you. “Jay…”

“I’ll take it all away.” Jay whispered. “I’m sorry, I should have been there sooner.”

You shook your head, swiping away the tears that had slid down your cheeks.

Jay cupped your cheek again, pulling you into his chest. You balled your hand around his shirt, gripping at Jay.

“It’s okay, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” Jay whispered.

“I’ll never let anyone touch you ever again.” He half snarled, still caressing you gently.

You leaned into his embrace, closing your eyes as the sound of Jay’s heartbeat gently lulled you back into the feeling of safety and security.