#but then my next immediate thought is the size of his hand compared to theirs

[kindahoping4forever]

second last, yw

instagram.com/p/CjLP6gXrDND/

I love you for sending me this but also how dare you attack me emotionally like this 😂😭😍🥹😩😰🤪🥲🫠💀🚀☀️

[anenbylittlepotato]

The Bros + side dateables (Minus Luke) React to You Comparing Your Hand Sizes

Warnings: Very fluffy. Not for the faint of heart. You might die of cuteness. You have been warned.

You're sitting with this person just kind of chilling while you're both doing your own thing when you glance over at their hands. You wait a long enough pause in what they're doing before reaching over and taking their hand, holding it so that you can gently press your palm against theirs. Also, this is an MC who has relatively small hands so-

Lucifer

You're sitting beside him as he works, scrolling through your D.D.D.

After several hours of both of you sitting in silence, each doing your own thing, you finally look up from your D.D.D. 

You look over at Lucifer, who's still completely absorbed in his work. 

Then your eyes drift to his hands, the pen he's gripping gliding across the paper in front of him.

As you watch, he sets the pen down and starts stretching his fingers. You aren't surprised his hands are cramping. He's been writing for a long time now. You're probably the only person he would show this kind of weakness to, which makes you feel kind of special.

As you watch, an idea pops into your head. You set down your D.D.D. and gently grab his hand.

He's a little startled at first and gives you a quizzical look, but he doesn't stop you. At least it's a distraction from all of the bills Mammon has piled up.

You hold his gloved hand so that you can gently press your palm to his, lining your fingers up with his as well.

He has pretty big hands. They're not huge, but they're somewhat significantly bigger than yours.

He lets out a low rumbling laugh.

"What, exactly, are you doing, MC?"

"Comparing our hand sizes. You have really big hands."

He lets out another small laugh.

"Or perhaps you just have small hands."

And at that, he gently folds his hand over the top of your smaller one, almost as if proving his point about your tiny hands.

He then smiles and brings his other hand over to cup your cheek as he gently plants a kiss on your forehead.

Afterward, he lets go of your hand and goes back to work.

Mammon

You two are sitting together on the couch in his room.

You're both on your D.D.D. sending each other random memes that you find and giggling together. 

And during one of the moments of quiet moments where you're both scrolling, you look over at him.

He's still absorbed in his D.D.D., a big, goofy grin plastered across his face as he scrolls through the memes.

Your eyes drift to his hands as his thumbs move, pausing every so often to read a meme, then moving on when he deems it unsuitable to send to you.

As you watch, he pauses on a particularly long meme. You take this chance to reach over and gently take the hand, pulling it toward you.

He immediately tenses and looks over at you, his face flushing bright red.

"H-Hey, just what do ya think you're doin', MC?"

Instead of answering, you move his hand so that the palm is facing upwards and you gently press your palm against his, making his fingers flatten out as you line your fingers up with his.

He watches you, his face red, his heart racing, and his fingers trembling ever-so-slightly.

His hands are probably not that big, only being a little bigger than yours.

"M-MC? What are ya doin'???"

You look at him and smile a little.

"Comparing our hand sizes. Yours are bigger than mine."

"H-Huh? Oh! W-well, of course, they are! Just shows how awesome I am! After all, I'm the GREAT Mammon!"

You laugh a little at his words.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just hand size. Doesn't make you any better or worse than me."

Then, without giving him a chance to respond, you curl your fingers between his, holding his hand.

That's it. He's dead. You've killed him.

His whole face is red and he's a flustered spluttering mess.

He literally cannot form a single coherent sentence. He's dying, help him.

It takes him a full 10 minutes just to calm down.

When he finally does, he turns his head away before gently holding your hand back.

You laugh a little at how flustered he is.

Leviathan

You guys are just chilling in his room together, sitting side by side. You're watching anime on your D.D.D. while he plays video games on his handheld console.

At the end of one of your episodes, you look up and glance over at Levi.

He's so entranced by his game that he doesn't even notice you looking at him. His brows are furrowed and his tongue is sticking out slightly in concentration.

You smile when he lets out a small cheer when he beats the level he's on. He leans back a little and lowers the game as he relishes in his victory.

Out of a random whim, you reach out and gently take his hand, pulling it toward you.

He jumps in surprise and lets out a small yelp as you turn his hand so you can flatten your palm against him.

His whole face turns red as you closely study your hands pressed together.

His hands are actually surprisingly big. Not big like Lucifer's but definitely bigger than yours.

"M-MC! Wha-what are you d-d-doing?!"

In response, you look at him and smile.

"I'm comparing our hand sizes. Yours are actually pretty big."

He covers his face with his other hand, not moving the one you have away.

"Wh-what a normie thing to do, MC… I guess it's to be expected from a normie like you…"

You were literally just watching anime but okay-

When he notices you look a little downcast at his insults, he frantically tries to apologize.

"W-wait no! I- I didn't mean that I'm sorry!"

When you look back at him, he smiles at you a little.

He was so focused on trying to apologize, he didn't even notice that you'd curled your fingers around his hand. 

When does realize, though, he's immediately back to being a flustered, stuttery mess.

You broke him.

Leviathan.exe has stopped working.

Satan

You're both sitting in his room, on his bed together.

Both of you are reading books. You're reading a really interesting fantasy book he'd recommended to you. Meanwhile, he's reading a book about cats.

At the end of the chapter you're on, you sigh and lower the book, processing what you just read. You cannot believe that just happened to the main character.

While you're doing that, you glance over at Satan. He's still very much absorbed in his book. 

As you watch, he takes one hand away from the book, shifting it so that he can balance it in one hand, and brings the other up to his chin, rubbing it as if he were deep in thought.

Then, just as he's reaching back down to turn the page, you set your book down and reach out and gently grab his hand.

He blinks, shocked, and looks over at you curiously as you gently press your palm to his. His cheeks flush a little.

His hands are only a little bigger than yours. They're still a little bigger than Mammon's though.

"MC? What are you doing?"

"Comparing our hand sizes."

He looks down at the two of your hands. 

"I see. It seems my hands are a bit bigger than yours, huh?"

You nod a little, smiling at him.

Then he glances at his book before looking back at you.

"Now… I can't exactly turn the pages with one hand, can I?"

You laugh and reach over with your other hand, turning the page of his book yourself.

He chuckles a little and thanks you as he curls his fingers around yours.

Asmodeus

You're both sitting on his bed while he's looking at his reflection in a mirror, applying makeup.

He's going to do yours next, so you're scrolling through pictures on his D.D.D. as you try to decide what look you want.

When you finally find a look that you like, you click the image and set the D.D.D. down to wait for Asmo to finish his own makeup. While you wait, you look up and watch him apply his makeup, carefully applying the pink lipstick.

When he's finished, he caps the lipstick and sets it down on the bed beside him while admiring his work.

Then, just as he's bringing his hand back up to the mirror, you grab his hand, careful not to touch his freshly painted nails.

He looks over at you quizzically at first, then he smiles at you.

"Aw, do you want my attention~? Don't worry, I'll get to you in a moment, darling."

Without responding, you press your palm to his, lining up your fingers.

Asmo has pretty small hands, being about the same size as yours, maybe even a little smaller.

He looks a little confused as he watches you study your hands.

"What are you doing, dear?"

"Comparing our hands' sizes. You have small hands."

He laughs at that.

"Oh, you are just so cute!"

He takes his hand from yours and gently taps your nose with his index finger.

"Come now, show me what you have picked out there."

He picks up his D.D.D. and looks at the image you have up.

"Ooh! Good choice! Now come here, love."

And with that, he starts working on your makeup.

Beelzebub

You're sitting in his lap on his bed. He has his chin resting on top of your head as he munches on one of the many bags of chips you two had bought earlier. You're looking at recipes online, trying to figure out what to make for breakfast tomorrow since it'll be your turn to cook.

Soon, Beel has finished his current bag of chips and he sets the empty bag aside. You glance at his hand as he reaches out to grab another bag.

You smile a little and set down the D.D.D and gently take his hand, laughing inwardly at the feeling of his greasy fingers.

He's a little shocked by this action.

"Huh? MC, what is it?"

You gently press your palm against his.

"Comparing our hand sizes."

Oh boy, does this boy have some big hands.

Very large hands.

Definitely bigger than yours. By quite a bit, actually.

You giggle a little as he moves his head down to rest on your shoulder to get a better look at your guys' hands.

"Your hands are so big, Beel."

He laughs, and you can feel the sound in his chest, vibrating you a little bit.

Then he closes his hand around yours.

"Well, yours are pretty small. At least compared to mine. I like that. It's easier to hold them."

Then, he cups your cheek and gently kisses your lips before taking his hand away from yours and finally grabbing that next bag of chips.

Belphegor

You and Belphie are sitting on your bed together. He's sitting beside you with his arms wrapped around your middle and his face nuzzled into the crook of your neck, half asleep. Meanwhile, you're in the middle of sewing up a hole in his pillow that he'd somehow managed to tear. Not surprising, seeing as he carries it everywhere. And, of course, it was Mammon's fault, even though you have a sneaking suspicion that it was everyone's fault. So now you're his new pillow until it's fixed. You have no choice. Deal with it.

After a while, you have to set down the needle and thread and stretch your cramping fingers. Sewing is painful-

He notices your pause and lifts his head, looking at you. 

"Is it done yet?"

"Not quite. I still have a little ways to go. But I need a little break. My hands are starting to cramp."

He then grabbed the pillow and peered at the mostly sewn tear.

"Huh. You weren't lying when you said you could sew. That's actually pretty good."

You laugh a little as you watch him start to pull his hand away. Without thinking, you gently grab his hand.

He blinks and looks at you as you press your palm to his.

His hands are a decent size. Not big, but decently bigger than yours.

"MC… you're being weird again."

"No, I'm not. I'm comparing our hand sizes."

He looks back down at your hands.

"Hehehehe, mine are bigger. You have small hands. Baby hands."

Baby Hands is your nickname now.

You have no choice.

He will now call you Baby Hands any chance he gets, just to see how frustrated you get with him.

He is pure evil. A gremlin man. Stinky bastard man.

Diavolo

You're sitting in his lap as he works. You're drinking tea made by Barbatos.

You watch as he writes papers and signs forms while sipping your tea.

Soon he's finished a full stack of the papers. He leans back with a sigh, wrapping his arms around you.

"I think it's about time I could take a break now. I made quite a bit of progress."

You lean your head back so you can look up at him, smiling. Big man

He grins right back at you.

Then you look down at his hands placed gently on your belly. One of his thumbs is moving, gently rubbing your belly.

You softly grab one of his hands. He's a little surprised, but he's more curious and leans down to watch what you do.

You gently press your palm to him. He tilts his head like a confused puppy, trying to understand what, exactly, you're doing.

BIG HANDS. BIG HANDS BIG HANDS BIG HANDS.

This man's hands. Are Fuckign. Enormous.

He has such big hands. The biggest. Bigger than Beel's.

They fucking engulf yours.

Big hands for a big man ig

"Is this some kind of human world tradition?"

He asks that question so earnestly I can't-

You laugh.

"No, no. I'm just comparing our hand sizes. Yours are huge."

This time it's his turn to laugh.

"Yes, I suppose they are."

He then brings your hand up to his lips and kisses the back of it.

Barbatos

You're sitting beside him while he folds laundry that just came out of the dryer. You're sipping some milk tea that he'd made you.

You're watching him as he works. Every fold was so meticulous and pristine. It's almost mesmerizing.

As you watch, he pauses briefly to let out a breath before immediately reaching to grab another article of clothing.

Before he can though, you gently take his hand.

He looks at you, not really surprised, as he likely saw this coming.

He watches quietly as you gently press your palm to his.

His hands are bigger than yours but they're not particularly large.

He smiles softly as he watches you.

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

You look at him and smile a little.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"I'm glad. I really do like seeing you enjoying yourself."

You look back down at your hands. 

"I was comparing our hand sizes! Yours are bigger than mine."

"I can see that."

He takes his other hand and places it on top of yours, smiling softly. He rubs the back of your hand with his thumb.

"Now, I must get back to work. I have many more things I must get to."

He kisses the back of your hand swiftly before returning to his laundry folding.

==

Don't worry, guys, I'm still adding Simeon and Solomon, I just... Couldn't fit them in this post. I'll be adding them in a reblog

[kiridarling]

𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐕𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.

katsuki bakugou | f!reader, implied(ish) mafia!kats, choking, exhibitionism, cockwarming, riding, mild corruption themes, degradation, whore/slut!calling. minors dni!

— 2.5k words

"Listen, I don't give a fuck about your friend—I wanna get to know you better."

“Um, excuse me? Have you seen my friend?”

The ash-blond swimming in smoke stills, mid-conversation with some half-dressed woman to his right. In fact, all the half-dressed women snap their heads your way, all ten of them, sizing you up in your non-promiscuous dress and heels (not compared to theirs, at least) and obvious awkwardness and uncouthness. The ash-blond frowns.

“How’d you fuckin’ get in here?”

“Um,” you glance at the green-haired bouncer who let you through—he’s too busy guarding the entrance to notice. “I just pretended like I knew who you were and he...let me in?”

“Fuckin’ Deku,” the ash-blond groans, rubbing a hand over his face before tossing it over the back of the booth. “Whadd’ya want?”

“Um, I was wondering if you’ve seen my friend,” you repeat, hands fiddling with your bracelets as you crack under the pressure of all the eyes. “She’s um, kinda short with long brown hair. I don’t...it was hard to see the color of her dress in the dark, but I think it was purple?”

The ash-blond blinks as you fumble over your words, causing a second of silence where he does nothing but stare until he snaps, digging his cigar into the ash-tray with finality.

“All right. Shoo, ladies.”

The women surrounding the ash-blond whine and boo. He seems unfazed though, simply shrugging as he says:

“Gotta help this pretty thing find her friend.”

The women clear out quickly and quietly after that. And though you’re unsure why, many of them shoot very nasty looks your way as they pass under the neon red exit sign and into the chaotic club. They look like they want to kill you.

Anyways.

“So...does that mean you know where my friend is?”

“Nope,” the ash-blond says, popping the ‘p’ as he adjusts to the extra space in the booth. “But you get a solid fuckin’ view from up here. Sit.”

You nod and take the spot next to him, scanning the crowd below with narrowed eyes. You look for something, anything that could hint at where your friend could be, but wind up empty-handed.

"D'ya come here often?" he asks, and you shake your head.

"No. I mean, I heard the place is kind of new anyway, so," you shrug absentmindedly. You think you see your friend for a second, just catching a glimpse of brown hair, but once the girl turns, it's clear she's not who you're looking for. Dammit.

"Guess so," the man grunts. You hear him shift but you don't look. "The o—"

"Shoes, did you see her shoes?" You ask before realizing your thought process is light years ahead of his. He gives you a blank look. "I mean—sorry, they're like, really high stilettos with gold on the bottom. I think."

The stranger's angled eyebrows drop. "No."

"Dammit," you click your tongue, before turning back to the crowd. No...no...no...no...

"Listen, I'm not gonna sugar coat it—I don't give a fuck about your friend." He says with a sigh. Your head snaps to look at him because it doesn't matter if he meant it, that's rude, but your thoughts disintegrate into nothing as he grabs you by the chin and says, "I wanna get to know you better."

"Um," You swallow. He's close to the point where your eyes cross trying to put him into focus. "M-Me?"

"You," he confirms with a cocked eyebrow. "What, never been the center of attention before, Princess?"

You falter. Not like this.

"So," he continues when you don't respond. "What's your name, Princess? I'm Katsuki."

You give him yours and meet his hand halfway for a handshake, much too aware of how big it is compared to yours. Katsuki hums, both arms on either side of your being and ultimately, caging you to the booth.

"Y/N..." He repeats, experimentally, like he's trying to see how it fits in his mouth. You don't mind the way it sounds coming from him. "I like it.”

"O-Oh, um," you're unsure of what to say, so you do nothing but blush and place a hand to his chest. You try your hardest to hide your surprise upon feeling how firm it is. "Thank you."

"Don't gotta thank me for stating the obvious," Katsuki grunts, adjusting so his eyes are leveled with yours. "What do you like to do, Y/N?"

There's a hand on your thigh.

It sits right where your dress stops, and it burns—but you find yourself unsure of what you want it to do, whether you want it to go away or continue its journey up. And that's exactly what it does, as Katsuki thumbs the hem to your skirt and you try your hardest to focus on your reply.

"U-Um..." you panic, too much heat in his eyes for comfort. "I don't know."

Katsuki raises an eyebrow in faint amusement, "You don't know?"

"W-Well, I mean—!" You try after realizing how utterly empty-headed you must sound. Katsuki's chuckle diffuses your efforts fairly quickly.

"You're cute, you know that?" He says gruffly, carmine red eyes burning through the dark of the club. You suppress the urge to shrink.

"I—um, thank you," you flush embarrassingly red. Katsuki's eyes study your being for a moment, flickering up and down, and up again until he's tapping the side of your thigh twice.

"Sit in my lap, Princess."

He guides you using your wrist and for some reason you allow him to guide you into his lap, grunting as he nestles you on him comfortably as he overlooks the club. You falter upon feeling something...strangely hard. “What’s that?”

“My dick,” Katsuki grunts, almost absentmindedly, and yet the vulgar comment takes you so off guard that it nearly knocks the wind out of you.

“Oh.”

“‘S your fault for gettin’ me all worked up, Princess,” Katsuki’s hands find their way around your waist before they’re guiding your hips into rolling small, smooth circles against him. Katsuki’s back thumps against the back of the booth as he admires the view, groaning behind a bitten lip. “Told ya to sit still and you didn’t listen.”

You suppose that’s valid.

Plus, you’re enjoying the little groans he’s letting out—along with the sharp inhales when your hips dig harder into his.

“How um—how do I help?”

“Just keep sittin’ pretty, Princess,” Katsuki growls, and you nod, allowing him to guide your hips to his will. It’s a lot of movement, and you find yourself shying away from the balcony as he hikes your dress up to your waist—ultimately exposing the entirety of your lower half. Your goosebumps rise.

“What if people see?”

”They won’t. We’re too high up,” Katsuki soothes, rubbing a thumb over your ribcage as he hooks his chin over your shoulder. “And if they’re fuckin’ nosy? Let ‘em see. The sick fuckers will appreciate the show.”

Let them see. You shiver at that.

Katsuki’s running his hot hands all over your body and they make you feel nothing short of sexy, sliding them up the sides of your body until they curve over your breasts, and drop back down to your hips. They move as if they’re mapping out your body, trying to figure out what makes you tick and what makes you crumble, and you sigh along with the satisfying glide.

“Fuck...you have a better body than those girls ever will,” he groans, but you flush at the way he seems to say it more to himself than to you. “Fuckin’ perfect, fuck.”

“T-Thank you,” you flush, unsure if you were supposed to take the praise or not. Katsuki chuckles.

“So fuckin’ cute, too. You’re welcome, Princess.” His hands move from your waist to the sides of your thighs, tapping twice with open palms. “Squat.”

“Squat?” You confirm with furrowed eyebrows. Katsuki grunts and manhandles you to your feet with a sigh. There isn’t a whole lot of space between the booth and the railing, forcing you to fold over the banister with the cool thing pressing into your gut and your arms keep you from falling completely. You shiver from the cool air as his fingers hook around the fabric of your panties, and then you feel something hot kiss your entrance before Katsuki’s guiding you back down using your hips.

You’re full of him, immediately, and you struggle to hide a whimper as he wastes no time in bottoming out.

“O-Oh—“

“Never had somethin’ this big before, huh Princess?” Katsuki’s strained voice is the only evidence that lets you know he’s feeling good, and you’re tightening around him with a nod.

“N-No, definitely not.”

You have to rest your head against the buzzing railing to just breathe through it, to adjust, and Katsuki chuckles at your shuddering chest. He taps a steady rhythm that matches the beat of the music into your side but doesn’t move, and you find a strange comfort in the vibrating club, with the addition of something inside you providing a uniquely comfortable warmth.

"C-Can I—"

"No," Katsuki grunts, placing heavy hands on your hips to ensure you'll stay in place. "Find your fuckin' friend, first. Y'got a good view."

You whimper and nod, resting your forehead against the cool railing. Fuck—he fills you up too well. As you watch people live their lives down below, you rake your eyes through the crowd in search of a purple dress—and you come up empty.

"I-I don't even know if she's here," you defend, chest shuddering. Katsuki chuckles, though it's laced with something heavier.

"Really? 'Cause you were so fuckin’ sure about twenty minutes ago."

Katsuki's hand cracks against your ass—with a sound you're surprised no one heard over the music—and you yelp. "Dirty fuckin' girl, grinding back on my cock. Impatient girls get punished, you know."

You nearly moan behind a bitten lip. You weren't even aware you were moving.

“F-Found her,” you barely croak out, so relaxed your upper body practically drapes off the balcony. Katsuki snorts, leaning forwards so his mouth is flush against the back of your neck—you gasp from the adjustment.

“Prove it.” He grunts breathily, clearly in a similar condition.

“U-Um, the gold stilettos," you barely manage, and Katsuki hisses as you tighten around him to point down into the fray—lo and behold, there she is, in the middle of the goddamn dance floor with some guy you've never seen before. You...suppose you're in a similar situation. A better one.

"Good girl," the ash-blond coos. Shivering, your hips rolling on their own, but this time Katsuki lets them. You don't stop. “Fuckin’ choking my cock, shit.”

His hands get a little shaky and though it’s hard to discern through your own arousal, you take note of how thin his voice sounds, and continue to roll your hips in the way that makes him shiver. Katsuki starts to trail kisses up your neck which turns into a bite of your earlobe, causing you to hiss from the feeling.

“‘S good?” You ask—Katsuki’s chest vibrates against your back.

“Fuckin’ perfect,” he huffs, guiding hands sliding down your waist. “Keep goin’.”

Not that you were planning on stopping.

Katsuki’s hands slide between your thighs to rub at your clit. You nearly shout, thighs seizing, and the ash-blond chuckles at your inability to stay quiet as if he wasn’t sliding a free hand up your dress to play with your chest.

“Dirty fuckin’ girl—you aren’t even trying to hide it now, are ya? Moanin’ in the club like a goddamn whore.”

You nearly choke at that, slamming a hand over your lips to muffle the sound. Not that anyone would be able to hear you over the club music, but still. Public decency.

Either way, your reaction has Katsuki chuckling, and he hooks his chin over your shoulder as he says, “You like it when I call you dirty, Princess? You like when I point out how fuckin’ filthy you are for me?”

You nod your head vehemently, now bouncing on Katsuki’s cock with a newfound enthusiasm—and you figure the slap on your ass is a signal to respond.

“Answer me, slut.”

“Y-Yeah, I do,” you whimper, and Katsuki’s hand crawls from your breasts to your neck, cutting off your oxygen supply in the best way. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, nearly gasping as you slur:

“Gonna—gonna cum.”

“Yeah? Gonna cum all over my cock in the middle of a club, huh?” Katsuki’s chuckle strains from arousal and you’re positive he’s not that far behind. The hand on your clit speeds up and Katsuki curses as you tighten around him, teeth digging into the meat of your shoulder.

“Cum for me, Princess, fuckin’ do it—“

You squeeze around him with a shout before your orgasm comes over you, shoulders shuddering. Katsuki groans out a broken good girl before his hips buck and grip tightens around your waist as he cums, hands guiding your hips to ride both of your orgasms out until they finally come to a still.

You shiver as Katsuki catches his breath in your neck. Eventually, your racing hearts beat in time with the music and bodies cool enough to not feel so slick with sweat, and finally, Katsuki pulls out with a groan. He doesn't remove you from his lap, though.

"You good?"

You nod, fixing your hair in hopes that you'll look more put together than you feel. "Yeah—yeah I'm fine. You?"

Katsuki turns you in his lap to face him (though it does take some awkward clambering due to the limited space). He zips up his fly and you pull down your dress, the next steps about as uncertain as walking in the dark.

"Why're you asking me?"

"I dunno," you shrug, bottom lip poking out in indifference, "Pussy can take a lot out of a guy, I guess."

Katsuki's pale pink lips slide into a lazy smile, and he drops his head with a snort. "I—yeah okay. Sure."

"What?" You giggle, gesturing at his heaving chest before crossing your hands over yours with a huff. "You're out of breath, aren't you? I did all the work."

Katsuki chuckles at your petulance, shaking his head in defeat, "Y'got me there."

He rests his head against the backboard of the booth to give you a look. You can't put your finger on it, but you feel exposed nonetheless, and you struggle not shrink from it. He licks his lips, "You drink, Princess?"

"Depends," you shrug. The ash-blond grins.

"What do you like?"

"Shirley Temples," you giggle, coiling your arms around his neck. Katsuki's hands return to your waist and it's...comfortable. "Why, you wanna buy me one?"

Katsuki makes a face that signifies yes, he does, and you follow his eyes in peering towards the dance floor again. You see your friend exactly where you saw her last, and upon feeling eyes on her, she looks around to find yours. She shoots you a wink—you roll your eyes.

"What about your friend?" Katsuki snorts, lifting an eyebrow. You snort.

"I found her, didn't I?" You wink, standing to your feet to pull him towards the bar. "Now c'mon! Doing all that work made me thirsty."

click to return to CLUB 777.

[spasmsofthought]

flashes. (dick grayson x reader)

I’m not really well-versed in DC, at all, but I wanted to give this a shot. let me know what you think! It’s a bit of a mess, so please take this with a grain of salt and some grace. sorry if he feels ooc; I tried my best but I am by no means an expert or even an amateur. please be kind. idk if i’ll write anymore for him, but i wanted to try. it might be trash but it’s out there now xo

-- 

It’s not like Gotham is known for being a walk in the park. The city is all alleys in the middle of the night, dark vapors rising from sewers, and secrets in the shadows. At least, in your experience. 

There were no gated communities or fences to keep the darkness out in the apartment complex you lived in with your family. Only survival and common sense keeps you returning to your bed and food on the table.

So, when your younger (genius) brother is offered a scholarship to Gotham Academy on what feels like a whim, the world shifts. 

When your mother still works, though, it means you are the de-facto adult during the day. Your job keeps your busy in the mornings, hers during the afternoon and night. You’re just getting into learning what it’s like to handle a job and bills of your own, even though you’re still living with your family (part of it is to save money, part of it is because you just don’t want to leave). Your family is the only real home you have ever known. Why leave to only find inadequate housing where you have to worry about your safety and theirs separately?

So, like every month, you swap out of your work clothes, put on your newest (at least 2 years old) pair of jeans on, the only blouse you own that hasn’t faded or stretched or shrunk from countless wash cycles, and grab the bag you’ve stored in its own special place in the cabinet by your family’s loud, old, run-down fridge. 

You chance a ride on the bus, hopeful for no public catastrophes today. You listen to your small, but loved, playlist through the one earbud that works during the ride and you almost want to leap with joy when you step back down on concrete like this is what it is like everyday.

The architecture is a thing to behold. There is no wonder why this is acclaimed as the most prestigious private school in Gotham. Light is everywhere, and it’s like the outside world doesn’t exist. Every month you step on this campus it’s like you’ve never seen it before.

The grounds are meticulously groomed, everything in lines and straight edges. Concrete and nineteenth century buildings both cast heavy, sharp shadows in the late afternoon sun. There are some students lingering about, all grouped up and chattering in their similar uniforms. Compared to public art, haphazard graffiti, and buildings of all shapes and sizes, this place feels foreign. Different. It makes you feel strange and unwelcome; like entering a different world altogether. 

When you enter the pristine, elegant office, the entrance door propped open, there’s two figures you immediately spot: the secretary and the man standing in front of her. Your brother is yet to be found. He’s running late again. 

“Hi, hun, take a seat,” Grace’s sweet voice soothes from her position behind the desk. “He should be here any minute.” The man standing in front and a little to the right of her glances behind for second, casually swiping a look at you, before he turns forward again. 

“Thanks, Grace,” You exhale as you sit down. 

The chairs are nice, soft fabric and cushioned, but small. You so desire to bring up a leg to draw close to you, but it’s impossible without making yourself a human pretzel. And you don’t want to dirty it with your less than perfect shoes so, instead, you chose to bring the bag onto your lap and you pick at your cuticles, resisting to bring your nail to your mouth and chew on it anxiously. 

There’s never been anyone else in here when you’ve come before. Grace can make polite chatter, but then she leaves you in relative silence. It makes you feel anonymous. The man uttering sweet words to the secretary and then glancing at you again before sitting down next to you does not. You stop fidgeting with your hands and intertwine them together instead. 

A flash of the ceiling’s fluorescent lighting on glass against your eyes is what you first get a taste of, then all polish and silver, or something like it, cradling a wrist. The watch looks heavy, expensive. It looks like it could buy your family a newer, safer, apartment in a suburbia far away from here. 

“Hey,” Smooth as honey it drips out, and you are drawn to blue eyes and ebony hair. There’s a softness to his face and his eyes are warm. It would only take an hour, you think before you stop the thought from going any further. An hour to do what? You’re not sure, but the list expands the longer you take him in.

The first thing you ever learned on the streets when you walked by yourself to work was how to be aware, vigilant; on guard. Men were unpredictable creatures who were driven by greed or lust or power, and any of the good ones were swooped up and carried away to better things or dead before any second glances could take place. Or carrying on just fine behind their high fences and impenetrable walls. Just because this one introduces himself first does not mean he has proven otherwise. 

“Hi,” is all you can offer, a quirk of lips to his gesture of kindness.

You glance towards to door before your eyes make their way back to him. The gesture doesn’t offend him. There’s a familiarity to his face, but you decide to not spend time right now trying to figure it out. It already only tells you one thing: this guy is way out of your league. 

Grace gets up from her seat, rounds her desk, and makes her way out of the office, leaving you two alone. You watch her the entire time. 

“You waiting for someone?” 

“Yeah,” You nod even as the word comes out, “My brother.” 

He leans back like he’s got all the time in the world, and there’s a perusal that makes you taste butterflies and gulp down caution at the same time. You wonder if he saw the scuff marks and stains on your worn-out sneakers, or if he notices that you still haven’t had the chance to wash your three-day old hair and that’s why it’s up and back, and that your blouse is definitely from the clearance rack at Goodwill.

“Your favorite one?” 

Out of self-preservation, you try to hide the reaction to the humor you feel, “My only one.”

“I think that’s the same thing.” You almost want to roll your eyes. But there’s a genuineness in his conversation, like he means the words he’s saying to you. Like this isn’t a game. 

“Sure,” You shrug, “You’re allowed to be wrong.” 

“My name’s Richard.” It’s old-fashioned. It’s something you don’t really hear rolled off of tongues in your neck of the woods, that’s for sure. A hand comes out and rests halfway between you and him, and it’s one of the most graceful things you’ve ever witnessed in your entire life. 

“It’s nice to meet you.” You smile. Your hands stay clasped in your lap. 

“You gotta earn a handshake from my sister,” A voice pops up from the open door way. You swing your head around and watch for a moment as your brother makes his way towards you.

“Hi, J,” Your stand, open your arms wide, bag moved from your lap into one of your hands. His solid presence allows a brief hug before he steps back again. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude--” 

The man sitting next to you has chosen to rise as well and you’re closer than you thought you would be when you turn back to him. You notice now that your height means your eyes literally meet his lips straight on. There’s a curve of a smirk there for a flash of a second before it straightens back out into the smile you saw at first. The rest of your sentence is forgotten. He takes one, two, three steps back.

“You got them all?” The question saves you. Your brother pulls you back to him as you hand him the brown plastic bag. In it? His favorite snacks from the liquor store on the corner (the nearly sold-out, hard-to-come-by ones). 

“Every last one,” Your hands come to his cheeks, turning his face to each side.

You have to reach up now and it strikes you just how much he’s grown even in the past month. You both spend much of your time on the phone with one another. These monthly meetings set-up frequently enough for deliveries and some quick face-to-face time and seldom enough to avoid embarrassment (that’s what he says anyway). 

He brings the chip bag out and holds it up, “You even got these.” 

“Geraldo got them special order just for you.” 

“Tell the old man I said thanks,” He smiles like he’s seven again, spoiled and self-indulgent. “Richard” is still standing behind you and to the side, silent. You can feel his eyes flipping back and forth between the two of you. 

“Of course,” Your hands smooth over his shoulders and brush away imaginary dust. “Mom sends her love and says she’ll try and call you on her lunch in a few hours.” 

“Yeah, I know. I’ll make sure I answer.” 

“Thank you.” You exhale an affectionate sigh. 

Avoidant loner that your brother can be, there’s a reason you both want him here. He’ll be able to do the things you only dreamed of when you were his age. And one day, hopefully, you’ll all be out of this hellhole, onto better things. 

“I gotta go, but thanks for these. Even though you should be saving every penny,” He chides, holding up a finger like his words are somehow a threat. 

“Okay,” You chortle like you wouldn’t give everything up for your brother in a heartbeat. There’s another quick hug before he’s looking back at the man behind you, who is still standing there like some sort of stealth ninja. 

“Like I said man,” He nods and there’s something in his face that changes as he looks at “Richard”, “You gotta earn it.” 

It’s with those parting words that he begins to walk out. You stay stock still for a second before you leap after him, “I wanna hear all about what happened last week with Cara tomorrow on the phone!” 

Your brother, a mile away already on longs legs, shouts something indistinguishable back at you from down the hallway, his figure turning a corner.  

“Who’s Cara?” The voice brings your back to reality. 

You sweep your palms against your jeans and turn back to face the man with a three-piece suit and a watch that probably costs more than 20 years of your salary. Oh God. 

“This girl my brother asked out the other week. I bribed him with some of his favorites so he would tell me what went down.” You shrug your shoulders, not worried about spilling the tea about your brother’s romantic life. 

“Does he know that?” His arms seem to relax a little more and you think you could stare at him all day. 

“Eh,” You say, creeping back towards the open door. Your small crossbody bag is already on you and there’s no reason to sit back down. Richard follows you as you, apparently, both start to make your exit from the office. Nothing about it feels unnatural. “Sometimes you got to persuade instead of demand.” 

“Ha,” There seems to be something you are missing based on the way his mouth curves and his eyes spark, “That’s the truest thing I’ve heard in a long time.” 

“You’re welcome. That’s the only one that comes for free!” Your arms swing back and forth. “Anything else is gonna cost you.” 

The hallways usually feel like a labyrinth here, but you don’t feel lost this time. 

“What forms of payment do you accept?” You pretend to be thinking, but really you’re just glancing between the different features of his face. You’re not sure you’ve ever met someone like him. You’re not sure you ever will again.  

“The bank’s closed right now, actually,” The wariness is back. This guy walks like he’s used to treading on perfectly paved gold streets in his shoes. All you’ve ever known is cracked cement and rusted pipes that burst underground. “But I think it’ll be back up and running soon.” 

He doesn’t falter and there’s no anger or hurt in his expression at the metaphorical rejection. Instead, it looks something like silent patience. Maybe even acceptance. This guy could totally not be interested and you could just be being (too) ambitious. The door to the open courtyard, and your way home, is already before you both. 

“It was nice meeting you Richard,” You say as you begin to take steps forward. Your hands nervously hold the strap across your torso. You take a few more steps before his words turn your head back to him. 

“You can call me Dick,” He says with ease. The tone makes you feel like he’s speaking a language you don’t really understand. His blue eyes seem like they’re on fire; a contradiction, you know. There’s something about him that almost makes you catch your breath. You’ve never been been winded by just looking before. 

“Maybe I’ll see you around.” You offer, hands squeezing your bag strap. 

“I look forward to earning that handshake next time!” He calls out when you’re several feet away. 

I think you’ll earn a lot more than that, you almost say, but refrain. 

Instead, you wave back to him once before making your way out of the courtyard, caught between staring at your shoes and looking ahead to make sure you’re going to right way. You smile and daydream the entire bus ride home. Blue becomes your favorite color. 

[fanmoose12]

the final part of the break up fic! (the first part is there, second one is here and the third one is here!)

It's the anniversary of their breakup and Levi is standing at Hange's doorstep.

And this - the fact that he remembers the day when they broke up but can't for the life of him remember when they got together - probably tells a lot about the reasons why their relationship didn't work out.

He doesn't remember the day they've started dating. Doesn't really remember who confessed first and what words were exchanged, but he remembers (how could he ever forget) their first kiss. It was sweet, exhilarating, it was the best thing in his life.

Every kiss with Hange felt like this.

Sometimes he closes his eyes and can almost feel her soft lips on his. Sometimes he wakes up from dream, fruitlessly chasing after her lips.

But his imagination, his dreams they don't compare to the real thing. Not even close.

Their relationship always has been more than a little bit rocky. From an unconventional start that began with "four-eyes, did you really just spill that coffee on me" to the deceptively calm middle that found both of them cuddling on the old, rackety coach he still didn't throw out to the devastating ending which Hange announced by shouting "if you don't care about me, then why bother coming back all the time".

She thought he didn't care, and Levi knew - he knew and hated himself for it - that he didn't show her just how much he had cared.

Hange wore her heart on her sleeve and he used to hide his inside a box behind a dozen locks. And even smart, brilliant Hange couldn't see through it.

And he didn't wish to show her until it was a little too late.

And now he's standing at her doorstep, dressed in his best suit and holding a large bouquet he doesn't really know what to do with in one hand and a giant plushie in another.

He blames the flowers for it, really. He was leaving another stupid corporate party with Erwin, when across the street he saw bright red peonies.

His legs moved without his consent, bringing him closer to that flower stall. His hands that took out the wallet and paid for the flowers refused to listen to him too.

And, while the flowers are a recent purchase and could be blamed on a moment of weakness, the giant pink plushie - something that looks like a horrible mix of bunny and lion - was bought a long time ago.

Three years, to be exact, on the very same evening that Hange broke up with him.

He was in particularly good mood, and when he saw that plushie looking at him with its red, bloodthirsty eyes from outside a shop, his mood became even better.

Hange would love this monstrosity so much, he had thought then.

But then he came home and saw Hange packing her stuff.

If you don't care about me, Levi, then why bother coming back all the time?

He didn't say anything then. He didn't know what. Because nothing - nothing - could be further from the truth.

He cared about Hange, still cares about her and will probably continue to do so until his dying breath.

But how could he say that, how could explain if he was never taught, never shown how to give and receive attention.

As he stood there, watching Hange leave, the damn plushie kept staring at him, as though mocking.

When the door after Hange closed and silence fell over his (theirs) apartment, he grabbed the plushie in his hands. He wanted to gauge his stupid eyes, tear his arms and legs out, rip it into pieces, destroy everything.

But he didn't. Because this plushie - it wasn't his. It was Hange's.

His heart would always be Hange's too.

***

And now he's here. Standing at her doorstep, not knowing what he's even doing here. Should he knock on the door? Ask Hange to come in?

She would just laugh in his face, and then kick him out. Or worse - her fiancé is going to kick him out.

Wouldn't that be pathetic?

He thinks of just leaving the gifts there, underneath her door - he wants Hange to have them, maybe, they'll light up that beautiful sparkle in her eyes or even make her smile... It'd be the best thanks Levi could ever get.

He is searching for the best place to drop the gifts, when the front door swings open.

Levi freezes, his heart stopping. He's afraid to look up, he doesn't know what is going to be worse - if it's Moblit standing there, or Hange.

On one hand, Moblit possibly won't kick him out forcefully. The poor sod is so kind and polite, he'd probably even invite Levi over for a cup of tea.

Hange, though... Once Levi saw her deck a man twice her size. What she is going to do to him, Levi is honestly afraid to even predict.

Still, he might be a pathetic loser, who lurks around his ex's apartment, but he's not a coward. He turns to face the door.

And locks gazes with Hange.

He swallows heavily, feeling like he's shrinking under the weight of her glare.

"You've been pacing around for more than ten minutes, Levi."

He was? He didn't even notice.

"What are you doing here?"

Good question. Levi had been asking it himself ever since he turned up here.

"I'm..." he runs a hand through his hair, his eyes darting around nervously. "I just came to congratulate you on your engagement. Here..." he passes Hange the gifts.

She looks over them skeptically. Levi thinks that the ice is ready to break, but then she sighs.

"My engagement party was two weeks ago. And," she looks down, as though in shame. Levi stares at her incredulously. "I'm not engaged anymore."

The plushie drops to the ground. His jaw drops down too, but peonies - Levi holds onto them tightly, Hange doesn't deserve a ruined bouquet.

"What did you just say?" he whispers, not sure if he had misheard.

"God, you're an asshole," Hange mutters, rolling her eyes. She answers him, though, this time she even looks him in the eyes. "We broke off our engagement."

"W-why?"

Did he do something? Did Moblit, that deceptively mild-looking bastard, hurt Hange? Did he cheat on Hange? If he did, then, god help him, Levi would go straight to him and--

His thoughts are interrupted by a strong kick to his shin.

"Stop with the fuming face, Romeo," Hange huffs. "I was the one, who called off the engagement. We-- it just didn't work out. Moblit deserves someone better than me. Someone, who doesn't lie to him and doesn't try to see in him someone he is not."

Levi's pulse speeds up, making him feel dizzy. He curls his fingers tighter around peonies. He can't believe what he's hearing, but he gathers his courage and forces the next words out.

"Who were you trying to see in him?"

He knows the answer is probably going to break him. He can't be that lucky - he doesn't deserve it, but if there is a chance - just smallest chance, he can't waste it.

"You really are one of a kind, Ackerman," Hange glowers angrily. "Don't tell me you don't know who I'm talking about. Or, what, you want to hear me say it? Want to scratch your ego on my behalf?"

"Hange--" he chokes out, looking up at her and showing her the desperation, the pain he felt for all these three years. Hange swallows as she stares back at him. "Please, tell me."

Hange takes a deep, shuddering breath, like she's preparing for a fall, for a dive in so deep she's not sure she'll swim out on the shore.

"It's you, Levi," she whispers. "Damn it, it was always you. I tried so hard to move on from you, but I... I never could."

Her words, her confession turns his insides upside down. It makes him giddy and happy and--

And he wants nothing more than to say something in return, reassure Hange that he feels this way too, that he always felt this way, but-- he was never good with words. And he doesn't want - can't allow himself - to fuck this all up right now.

He never knew - never hoped - that he would get this chance. But he'd be damned but make the most (the best) out of it.

"Hange-- can I," his voice drops, laced with helplessness, "please, can I kiss you?"

Hange gives a small nod, and immediately Levi dives in, crushing his lips against hers. God, it feels good. And Hange's body in his arms, her long fingers in his hair - it feels-- feels divine.

After a long moment of pure bliss, Hange withdraws and, subconsciously, Levi chases after her lips, desperate to get more of her.

"Wait, wait--" she turns her face to the side, and instantly his happiness turns into worry. Didn't she... enjoy it? Didn't she feel the same after all?

"I'm more than happy to continue kissing," she chuckles and he's able to breath again. "But don't you think we need to talk about this? I thought you--"

"I was a fool," Levi admits. "I was young and dumb and didn't know how lucky I was to have you. I didn't get much smarter since then, but I-- I want to try again. I'll try my best to do better. If you allow me."

"And this?" Hange points to flowers and stuffed toy. "This is your better?"

"You don't like it?" he asks, more than a little confused. He was sure Hange would enjoy the gifts...

But if she doesn't, that's alright too. Whatever Hange wants, he'll get her. She just needs to say the word and he'll bring it.

"I can bring you something else..." he almost turns away, but Hange doesn't let him, grabbing his sleeve.

"Oi, give me that, that's mine," Hange huffs and snatches peonies and plushie out of his hands. She presses the toy to her chest, and Levi's own chest warms at the sight. "So what, should I expect more of this?"

"I told you I want to do better..."

Hange scoffs, interrupting him. "Just don't overdo it. I fell in love with the grumpy shorty. I don't want you to become a different person for me."

"I... alright," Levi sighs, putting his hands into the pockets of his pants. Now that Hange had taken away the gifts, he doesn't know where to put his hands anymore. He doesn't know where to put himself too. Whatever he was thinking as he drove there (and he wasn't really thinking much), he didn't expect this to happen.

For Hange to confess her love for him... He didn't expect this to happen even in his wildest dreams.

He knows what he wants to do - get Hange into his arms and never let go, and maybe, get more kisses out of her, but he also knows that this won't happen, not right away, at least. He promised to do better, and there is a lot of work waiting for him.

"You can come in, you know," Hange suddenly speaks up, bringing him back to present. "I think my neighbors had enough of this show. We can talk a bit more..." she trails off, playing with her hair. "I just finished cooking spaghetti. It's your favorite, if I remember correctly..."

"With cheese and eggs?"

Hange laughs, and Levi smiles in return. He's so happy, he feels like flying.

Hange laces her fingers with his, and he's ready to combust. "Yes, with cheese and eggs."

"Then it's only fair if I make tea for you afterwards."

"Alright," Hange beckons him inside. "We can watch some movie too, but," she raises her hand - another one, the one that doesn't hold Levi's. "You're going home for the night."

"Okay."

"And," Hange grins, leaning in to steal a kiss. She turns away, before Levi gets his chance to deepen the kiss. "You're taking me dancing this weekend."

"As you wish," Levi murmurs.

With Hange in his arms, he's ready to dance for the rest of his life.

[luvknow]

anything for you | lee felix

genre: rich kid!felix x reader | rich kid au ; friends-to-lovers au ; food ; swearing warning ; alcohol warning ; drinking and driving warning ; abuse warning summary: felix’s family owns the largest restaurant franchise in the country and your family works under them. you two have spent your entire lives together and somehow you’ve turned into mini versions of your parents with a boss and secretary type relationship. it wasn’t until last year on his birthday when he tells you he loves you while drunk that your friendship dynamic dramatically changes, and it’s not for the better when he pretends it never happened. wc: 11.2k

You and Felix were two peas in a pod.

From the moment you two were born until your last months at university, you were tied in this relationship for life. Were you two dating? No, of course not! Were you two friends? Well…

Your friendship with Felix was complicated because it was kind of… bought. There was no way to put it lightly, that was simply the origin of your relationship. It all started when Felix’s rich ass CEO of a Dad hired your Dad to be his right hand man in all decision-making aspects of the company he ran. You thought of your Dad as a Chancellor to the King, which I mean was still a high position in the company, but your peers around you thought otherwise.

You attended all the same schools as Felix (thanks to his Dad’s connections), attended the same after school activities (also thanks to his Dad), and even attended the same overseas summer camps (thanks to his Dad who owned the plane that flew everyone). Even then, after being on the same level as Felix for over twenty years, everyone saw you as Felix’s Secretary who waited on his every word. As a kid, your Dad was transparent about how all the privileges you had were all because of Felix and his family and that you should always treat them with respect. And as an impressionable kid, of course you took that a little too literal.

Your Secretary title started in Pre-School when Felix was crying because he forgot his toy to take a nap with at home, so you offered yours. Those small, kind gestures turned into getting him drinks and snacks whenever he wanted, to tutoring him in subjects he had trouble with, to completing essays he didn’t want to complete, and you did it all without ever complaining.

So despite receiving all the same opportunities as all the other inheritance-dependent kids, you were the bottom-feeder of your entire grade.

“_____ ~” Felix whined while entering your apartment. “I’m hungry.”

You exited your bedroom fixing the last couple buttons on your dress shirt. You’re not surprised to see him in the least, as you’re used to him coming in whenever he pleased since he owned the other copy of the apartment keys. “I have food in the fridge.”

“I don’t want a huge meal before the shareholders meeting.”

“You know where the snacks are, what are you waiting for?”

“I just wanted to ask just in case.”

The excited boy wasted no time invading your pantry and grabbing a handful of fruit snack packets, some he stuffed in his dress pants pockets and some he immediately tore open. He made himself home by flopping on your couch, also known as his second bed, and scrolled through his rotation of dating apps while waiting for his dear friend to finish getting ready.

“Don’t lie down like that!” you nagged. “Your pants are going to get all wrinkly!”

Rolling his eyes, Felix sat up straight, to which you immediately fixed random strands of hair  that strayed away from the rest of his slick-back style.

“What are you, my mom?” he mumbled, swatting away your hands.

“Don’t you know how important this meeting is? We could land our internships today.”

“Do you really think I need to worry about that?”

“I guess not… You don’t even want to try out another company for a semester? Scope out your partners?”

“That’s exactly why I shouldn’t be doing that. I’ll look so shady! You probably shouldn’t be thinking about doing that either.”

A small pout emerges from your lips. As much as you owe the Lees and their company your life, you’d like to think the possibility of freeing yourself from their financial shackles was high, even if it was for just one semester. But Felix was right - in order to avoid any spying controversies, it was probably best to not even think about another company. Basically, you were trapped with this company for life.

“Ready to go?” Felix broke the silence. He was the first to leave your couch and head for the door without even bothering to wait for you to catch up.

When you finished locking your front door, you caught Felix looking at your business casual outfit a little too closely. If you weren’t so quick with your reflexes, you would have bumped right into his oddly bulging chest (has he been working out lately?). Still, his foxy eyes scanned you up and down, slowly and intimately.

“Wh-What are you doing…?” you asked nervously. “Is my outfit too bland? It’s ugly, isn’t it? I can’t really glam up for a business meeting, you know.”

“Chill, why are you being hella defensive right now?” he teased. “No, you look good. Honest. Good enough to stand next to me, at least. I wouldn’t stand next to Father if I were you.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“You kind of fit that secretary stereotype you like so much. Especially since you’ll be following me around all day.”

“I do not!”

“Yeah, ok,” Felix tossed you the keys to his expensive black sports car, to which you were also covered as a driver by his insurance. For someone who owns several expensive cars, he sure hates driving them. “Shotty.”

“There’s only two of us…”

The car ride was mostly silent other than the deafening rap music that blared through the subwoofers. Felix could tell you were nervous depending on how talkative you were. If you were blabbering on about how you looked or something arbitrary for at least fifteen minutes, you were probably nervous about a date or maybe a quiz that was coming up in class. If you were silent, he knew that the matter was much more serious. Silence meant that you believed no matter what you did to change yourself or improve upon past mistakes, there was no hope and that whatever was coming was absolute.

“Don’t worry about today,” he reassured after reading your mind. “It’s not like you’re talking in front of hundreds of people at the meeting.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re used to this type of crowd.”

“Are you not? We have class with those good-for-nothing kids of theirs, it’s like the same thing!”

“It is definitely not the same thing! These people have power and they’re smart! The uni is full of idiots who got in with bribes!”

“And you don’t think our shareholders do their fair share of bribing?”

“Of course they do, and that’s what makes them even more terrifying, Felix! They have that kind of power to either buy my entire life or buy out and make sure I never see anyone’s faces again!”

“You say it like you haven’t been shackled to me for over twenty years.”

“That’s different ok, I was a commodity, I couldn’t change anything as a fetus.”

“And now you think you can?”

“I mean, I’d like to think so. Am I crazy?”

“No, not at all.” Gingerly, Felix patted your head like a little kid. “You’ll be just fine ~ I can even introduce you to the ones you want to talk to if you’d like.”

“That’s ok. I’d like to try on my own.”

He understood completely. How he wished he could have that little bit of freedom… To even think about leaving the company behind to work for someone else was blasphemous.

The shareholders meeting was a social event like no other - like, it might as well be a ball with all the people attending and all the press surrounding and being in the building. You pulled up to the normal valet guy who only chuckled at your shocked expression. Felix, on the other hand, wasn’t all that surprised and was rather annoyed at how something as simple as a meeting was getting this much attention.

After dodging all of the press and making it through several thresholds to reach the conference room, you helped Felix prepare for his opening speech.

“You seem more nervous than me,” Felix teased while you quickly smoothed out the wrinkles in his jacket.

“I'm nervous all the damn time.”

“Well, can you quit it before I start sweating? This outfit was expensive. Do you have my speech?”

Searching through your trusty bottomless bag that held everything from tips from your part-time at the cafe to snacks in case Felix got whiny, you pulled out a medium-sized notepad with his opening speech written on it.

“Really, _____? Hand written?”

“My sentences sound better when I write them down instead of typing it!”

“At least it’s legible.” Felix’s Dad announced over the microphone on stage that the meeting will begin shortly. He saw the both of you standing off to the side and waved happily, to which you both could only wave back. The boy in front of you sighed, and it’s the first time today he seemed only slightly nervous. He turned to you. “How do I look?”

How did the most handsome boy you’ve come to know look this morning? Dressed in navy with a white button-down, ears bejeweled and shining in the bright lights, his eyes and his smile sly and foxy, so of course to you he was the only one in the room who you had your eyes on because no one else could ever compare. That’s how it’s always been. 

Gentle fingers startled Felix, only for him to realize you were fixing his monogrammed silver tie clip. “You look just fine.”

“‘Just fine’? Not the sexiest man in the entire world?”

“I’d hardly call you a man…”

“Welcome to the YONGBOK Inc. Shareholders Meeting,” greeted your Father while on stage. Felix noticeably cringed at the sound of his birth name slash company name. “We will begin this meeting with an opening remark from Mr. Lee’s son, Felix.”

“Go get ‘em, Tiger,” you whispered with two thumbs up.

A loud round of applause erupted from the audience filled with press and shareholders. Lee Felix was named one of the most influential people under twenty-five this year and has consistently landed spots on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list so yes, Felix was always highly anticipated as a guest to fashion shows and charity balls and even more so as a speaker for his future company. Though it was only less than a minute ago he was jittery with nerves, the second he stepped on stage in front of the podium, it was as if he was born to be a public speaker.

“Good morning, honored guests,” he began in his deep voice that startled unfamiliar guests..

His speech - your speech - wasn’t that long, since it was a simple welcome to all the rich people who gave the Lee’s their money. Regardless of its length, Felix somehow drifted his gaze towards the right where you stood. You, who always stood by him and was his friend through everything, stood at the sidelines giving him your unwavering support, even through this minor milestone. Despite this huge corporate building being the last place you want to be, still, you were here by his side.

In your eyes though, it looked like maybe his stage fright was worse than you expected, so you gave him two thumbs up again for reassurance. You couldn’t really tell what he was thinking because he seemed totally fine, in fact his execution was quite flawless, it was just… Why wouldn’t he look into the cameras? The stage lights that shined on him showcased the bright grin he gave when he saw how confused you looked.

“We will continue to work hard together so that YONGBOK will continue being the best restaurant franchise in the country,” was the motto of the company and how Felix ended the speech. With a deep bow and a wink for fan service, he exited the stage.

He fell into your arms clutching his heart. “Ugh, that was so scary!”

“You did fine,” you mumbled, quickly pushing him off before any cameras caught you. Still, he swung an arm around your shoulders unapologetically.

“All right, let’s ditch this popsicle stand.”

“You know we can’t do that or our Fathers will kill us.”

“You think I haven’t died and resurrected like a rising phoenix dozens of times?”

“Leave if you want, it’s your suicide.”

“You won’t come with me?” the handsome boy pouted.

“I’m not actually your secretary, you know.”

“I know, but I’ll be so lonely… Did you at least bring a snack?”

Felix decided to stay when he realized you weren’t kidding about wanting to sit through the entire meeting. Your right ear was focused on all the questions shareholders and the press had while your left ear focused on the child you were babysitting playing with the chocolate bar wrapper. Eventually the conflicting sounds merged into one when the lack of caffeine in your veins made it hard to concentrate for long hours.

“Bet you wished you left with me a couple hours ago, huh?” Felix teased once everything was over.

“Whatever. The important thing is that it’s over now.”

“Are you going to go talk with some of the shareholders?”

That was the original plan - to land an internship at a different company and slowly but surely escape the bubble that is the Lees’ world, but what was the use of making life harder on yourself if you’ll just be seen as a spy? What was the use in anything anymore when your life was determined the moment you came out of the womb?

You shook your head tiredly. “Nah, I think I’ll save that for another time.”

Felix linked his arm with yours like you were the gentleman and he was the lady. The warmth of another body so close to yours was only familiar when it was his, and you wished your body was unbiased and rejected anything within a five feet radius. “You wanna hang out with me that much?”

“Who said I’m hanging out with you? I’m driving you home.”

“No come on, let’s hang out today! Neither of us have class and when was the last time it was just the two of us?”

By ‘just the two of you’, he meant when was the last time you and him hung out without any business involved? When was the last time you and him had pizza together after a long week of midterms and studying, or the last time he picked you up from your part time at the cafe to have a cup of coffee, or the last time you talked about anything other than being ordered around by the Prince himself?

The answer to that question was last year on his birthday when he got too wasted and you didn’t have the strength to carry him up his multi-story mansion, so instead you carried him up to your humble apartment and let him crash on your bed the whole weekend (insisted upon staying the whole weekend because all the puking made him ‘weak’ and ‘dehydrated’).

Truth be told, you loved Felix’s company, whether it was business or personal. The hesitation was because you wondered if he truly felt the same way, especially since he never spoke about that night on his birthday. That night, a lot was said, but nothing was ever confirmed, so you were left in limbo while Felix managed to live in ignorant bliss.

It was better this way.

“I guess it’s been a while…” you trailed off.

“It’s been forever, love. Can we go to your cafe? I’m really craving the strawberry milk latte thing.”

“Anything for you, Felix ~”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

“Felix,” the haunting voice of his father echoed from behind. “Come here for a second -”

“That’s our cue!” The wild blond took you by the hand and sprinted out the conference room doors before his dad could catch him.

As if already predicting the time of events for the shareholders meeting, the valet already had the sports call pulled up and tossed you the keys for maximum efficiency.

“Hey, you’re hand-eye coordination is getting better!” Felix teased while hopping in the front seat.

“And your fear for your dad is not.”

“It’s not fear, it’s pure distaste. Completely different.”

The short ride to your cafe was anything but quiet as Felix filled you in on his most recent Tinder match. The story was something along the lines of ‘she was hot, but kind of stupid’, and you weren’t exactly sure what came after that because, well, you didn’t care. Hearing about the guy you were in love with slash your childhood friend slash the guy whose family bought out your family’s current dating app situation wasn’t exactly the most ideal setting, but hey, it beats sitting in that conference room for any longer.

The cafe was surprisingly not as busy around lunch time, even though it was Friday. Other than a few customers, the only other person in the cafe was your coworker Wooyoung who was busy dramatically singing to whatever drama OST was playing over the intercom.

“Are you making it?” Felix asked, referring to his strawberry latte.

“I wasn’t planning on it since I’m not working.”

“... Can you?”

“Are you serious!?”

“The last time someone other than you made my drinks, they tasted watery!”

He wasn’t wrong - a lot of the baristas here were a bit lazy with the job. You and Wooyoung were among the very few who genuinely cared for the cafe, the menu, and its customers. You supposed you could take a moment to step away from Felix - you sort of missed the barista behind the counter, anyways.

“Sit tight,” you told Felix, who obeyed happily at his favorite table.

Wooyoung with his cutesy cheeky grin chucked one of the ugly brown work aprons right at your face, to which you only whipped right back.

“I’m not working and you know that!”

“Can’t a guy dream to have the same shift with his favorite coworker? What are you doing here then?”

“Making a strawberry latte.”

“For yourself or for His Highness over there?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Wooyoung knew all too well what your relationship was like with Felix and that was because he was also one of the elite, also known as a trust fund son. Wooyoung and Felix were from the same side of a coin, reigning from families whose net worth could buy out entire towns. The circle of the elite had a lot of members, but it was tight-knit, so everyone knew everything about everyone else. You were included in Felix’s dossier.

“You know, _____, you are your own person,” Wooyoung tisked as he hovered over you making the fruity drink. It was as simple as pouring milk over some strawberry compote (Felix liked it when there was extra compote) and shaking vigorously.

“You telling me that whenever I come in with him totally makes it more valid than the last time.”

“You know I’m just looking out for you.” His soft fingers gently pinched your cheeks. “You’re so sour today, I kind of like it.”

“Aren’t you known for liking people who have zero interest in you?”

“Exactly, so you better watch your attitude or I’ll steal you away from Mr. Lee Felix ~”

“You’re so weird!” Even so, Wooyoung stole a kiss on your bruised cheek before helping the customer at the counter. The aftermath left your face burning up, even though you were used to his flirtatiousness by now.

Of course Felix saw the entire interaction. Though he tried to hide behind his phone, he made sure to still have a view of whatever you and that spoiled ‘I-own-a-yacht’ Wooyoung were doing. You were much different around him than you were with that cheeky bastard behind the counter. With Felix, you were strict, quiet, and pouty, but with Wooyoung you were able to smile more and joke around and even laugh when you flicked whipped cream in his hair. In those short five minutes, that was a type of you he hasn’t been able to see since high school.

But now? You were so cold and distant. He could barely hang out with you without it seeming like it was some business meeting. What changed?

Felix watched you walk back to him holding his pink drink with your cheeks to match its color.

“I didn’t know you two were so close,” he said bitterly after you both exited the cafe.

“We work together, of course we’re close. You’re welcome, by the way.”

You’ll take his happy humming as he inhaled the latte as a thank you. “You talk about how much you hate some of your coworkers all the time!”

“I guess I do… but he’s different.”

“Of course he is…”

The handsome and pouty boy beside you did his best to ignore your accusing glare. “Do you have some beef with him, or something.”

“No,” he said simply in between gulps. “I just don’t like him.”

“You don’t like any boy I talk to.”

“Exactly.”

“So what happens when I really like someone? Do they need your ‘Lee Seal of Approval’?”

“Yup.”

You sighed heavily. “Why do you enjoy making my life so hard?”

“Because I love you, that’s why!”

You couldn’t count on all your fingers and toes how many times Felix has said ‘I love you’ since his birthday party. With his special day coming up again, the words hit harder than usual, even when you knew he was joking, but no ‘I love you’ hurt more than the first time he said it last year before he passed out on your bed.

Speaking of which, “Sooo ~ Guess what next week is ~?” Felix sang cheekily after hopping in the car.

“Uh, midterms week?”

“No ~”

“Buy one get one free soju at the karaoke place?”

“No…”

“Oh wait, isn’t it Han’s birthday next week?” He knew you were trying to push his buttons, but it clearly worked by the way he was glaring at you. “Yeah, that must be it.”

“So mean…”

“Are you two throwing a joint party again?”

“Yeah, but I think we’re skipping the club scene and throwing it at his house instead.”

“Wow, the Lee Felix is tired of the club scene?” you scoffed. “Never thought I would see the day.”

“Maybe it’s just my eyesight getting worse - I’d like to see who I’m hitting on for once.” One sharp stab in your heart. “Will you help me plan?”

Did you really have any other choice? “Of course.”

“Yes ~ This’ll totally top last year’s party!”

You sure hoped so, and you hoped you wouldn’t remember a single moment of it.

--

Planning for the party didn’t start until a couple days before the big date. Since Jisung was hosting, it was Felix’s responsibility to come up with all the decor and the theme and literally all the smaller bits and pieces of the party.

“Honey, I’m home ~” Felix sang as he walked into your apartment. An aroma of fresh spices and cooked meat and roasted vegetables hit his nose upon entering. “Whoa, are you cooking!?”

“We can’t plan on an empty stomach,” you stated the obvious. Immediately, a bowl of rice and the fixings was handed to the grinning boy.

“I love it when you cook. I haven’t eaten your cooking in a while.”

“I didn’t know you liked my cooking,” you blushed. “I haven’t cooked for you that often.”

“It’s because we’re both always so busy or we just eat the restaurant’s food when we’re lazy.” A happy hum came from his lips. “You have a mad talent for this, you know.”

“Do I?”

“Of course! The Boy with the God Tongue himself said so!” Being the future heir of the country’s largest restaurant franchise meant ridiculous chef-related nicknames, to which Felix enjoyed whole-heartedly. “You know this means I’m never going to let you leave YONGBOK.”

“Can you stop, you’re so embarrassing, it’s not that amazing!”

“You stop! Quit undermining your talents.”

“If it’s so good, what do you like about it?”

“For one, there’s tons of balance between the flavors. It’s also not as salty, which is what some of the chefs in some locations are having trouble with lately. But the best part is that it feels like home when I eat your cooking.”

“Like home? Like… as if your in-house chef was cooking it?”

Felix chuckled cutely. “No, I mean it feels like someone who loves me very much made this with lots of care.”

You’re too stunned to say anything right away. It felt as if Felix caught you in his trap and was forcing you to admit something that he knew from the very start. But now was not the time nor was it the place. As a response, you turned away and chugged the rest of your glass of water.

“Right,” you cleared your throat awkwardly. “G-Glad you liked it.”

Felix wondered why you wouldn’t look at him. “S-So, let’s get started?”

You took a bowl of food for yourself and refilled Felix’s before settling down at the table. “Do you have an idea for a theme?”

“Ok, hear me out - casino themed?”

“Isn't that underage gambling? Sounds super illegal to me.”

“Right, right… Ok, how about, uh, a masquerade?”

“Not bad, but a little cliche, no?”

“But it’s so sexy! Classy clothes, bejeweled masks -”

“Choreographed waltzing?”

“Yes! For the first half of course, then we’ll probably bump the real shit after a couple of drinks.”

“Hm, I actually like that.” You entered the theme into your notes. “Cool, we have a theme down. Now for all the decoration…”

That itself took about an hour. Imagine, talking about banners and balloon arches, and personalized masks for a whole hour with the most indecisive human being alive. How he’s expected to make major decisions for a multi-million dollar company one day, you’ll never know.

“Ugh,” you were over it, at least for another hour. You couldn’t take comparing different shades of gold and different grades of champagne anymore. Your couch was supposed to be your safe space away from Felix, but he followed you like a puppy and laid his head on your lap.

“This weekend is going to be so much fun! Did you get me a gift yet ~?”

“Uh, maybe…”

“What is it?”

“It’s a surprise, silly.”

“Can I at least get a hint?”

“Probably the cheapest gift you’ll get.”

“Hey.” Felix silenced any doubt you had about your gift by taking one of your hands in his and holding it over his chest. He closed his eyes, tired from the day, tired by your constant doubts, tired of it all. “You know I don’t care about that kind of stuff when it comes to you.”

“I know, but I do.”

“Well, don’t. My favorite gifts have always been from you.”

“Even more than the diamond chain from Chan?”

“... Your gifts are my favorite after that one.” Your free hand poked his freckled cheek, causing him to laugh and smile brighter than the sun. Lying here with you made him happy. “I miss hanging out with you like this.”

“We hang out all the time!”

“Not like this. We never just chill out together and not worry about anything. We’re always worrying about something, especially since we started uni.”

“Uni sort of defines our future, so of course there’s tons to worry about.”

“Not for me. My life has been predetermined. If you think about it, uni doesn’t define your future, either.”

“I wish you didn’t tell me that,” you groaned. “You’re so right. What’s the point when the two of us are just going to take over our Father’s positions, anyways!?”

“Does our future together sound that miserable to you?” he teased. You wished he didn’t word it that way.

“Not miserable, but doesn’t it suck that we don’t have that sort of freedom? You and I have had our lives predetermined since birth!”

“Perhaps it was fate that you would be my Chancellor and I would be your King,” Felix snickered.

“Call it whatever you want, but where’s the joy we could get from spontaneity and disorder?”

“Good point. But I think you and I will find that joy just fine.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm. Life will always be a joy if I’m with you.” A tired smile spread across his lips. “You and I make a disorderly pair.”

You and him were definitely a disorderly pair. It was like you two were in a modern-day forbidden friendship that was only seen in royal fairy tales. Felix was the Prince, the apple of everyone’s eye, the boy with the highest ranking just below the King. You were the lowly common person who devoted their life to the castle and serving the royal family. Somehow, even with the drastic gap between your social classes, you both found each other and became inseparable. 

Through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, the time spent together naturally formed your feelings for Felix to nothing less than love. You were the number one witness of seeing him laugh, smile, cry, and scream through all his happiness, sadness, and anger. You were the only one who knew the exact number of freckles that dusted his cheeks. You knew what specific snacks he wanted for certain craving occasions, his favorite orders at every restaurant, how he liked his instant ramen (with egg, American cheese, and green onions), and especially his cafe drink orders. When they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, you supposed that was especially true for Felix.

After over twenty whole years together, how the fuck were you supposed to avoid falling in love? How were you supposed to look at Felix and feel with your whole chest that you were not madly in love with his beautiful face and his kind heart? When Felix told you he loved you with slurred words on his birthday last year, how were you supposed to let that go and live on like you didn’t cry in the shower for a whole month afterwards?

You put the blame for the disorder in this messed-up friendship all on Felix, but you couldn’t help but clean it up and do your best to keep it together. So when he forgot he said those magic words, you did your best to forget them, too, but the best you could do was bury the memory away and cover it up with work and school. It wasn’t the most ideal way to deal with the issue, you knew that, but the important part was that it was working even if it was just a little bit.

Felix was the first to wake up the next morning. You didn’t move a single muscle and ended up sleeping upright since he used you as a pillow. Still, your hand was in his and the other tangled in his messy blond hair and truly, being here with you was the only place that felt like home.

--

The day of the party was filled with chaos on your end, as you had to wake up at 6:00 am just to make it to Jisung’s pool house in time to set up the decorations for the joint birthday party. You ended up directing all the crews to where the cocktail tables needed to be set up, where the instagram photobooth should go, and where the Michelin-star chefs were going to set up for dinner. The most important part was the dance floor, which would be clean with nothing but some shoe scuffs for the first couple of hours and probably stained with different colors of liquor by the end of the night.

By noon you were totally wiped out having a stomach full of only coffee and a granola bar. The worst part was that you didn’t get a chance to buy a mask yet and would probably have to settle for some cheap recycled paper with sequins and feathers glued on it from the birthday party store down the block.

But as if the Gods’ translated your feelings telepathically to Felix, your Prince in shining armor came to the rescue with a sandwich, more coffee, and something in a matte black gift bag. The gesture, though small, made your cheeks burn the brightest of pinks. It was your first time seeing and talking with Felix since he left the comfort of your lap a couple of nights ago. Although you were unsure of yourself (as with any situation, am I right?), the Prince didn’t seem so phased.

“I figured you could use a pick-me-up,” he grinned brightly, handing you all the goods.

“You are a blessing,” you sighed, chugging the iced coffee. “What’s in the black bag?”

“It’s a surprise. Open it.”

“I thought today was your birthday?”

“It’s nothing big, I promise!”

You shot him a skeptical look, but opened up the gift regardless. Inside was an intricately bejeweled mask for tonight, colored perfectly to match your outfit.

“I went to your apartment because I thought you’d be there,” Felix began shyly. “I went to your room and saw your entire outfit laid out, but no mask, so I figured you didn’t have one yet. I bought one to match your outfit and to match mine! Mine looks exactly like that, but black.”

“You really didn’t have to,” you pouted, though staring at the shiny jewels adoringly. It was gorgeous and you never thought in your lifetime you could own anything so glamorous. The gesture lifted an extremely loaded weight off your shoulders and you couldn’t help but hug the birthday boy as a thank you. “You’re the best, thank you.”

“Anything for you, love.”

“Also, please stop going into my bedroom.”

“What, afraid I’m going to raid your panties?”

“Yes.”

“That’s fair.”

Felix spent the rest of the day helping you make the pool house perfect since it was also technically his job as the co-host. Holding the ladder while you hung up crystal decor was reminiscent of past Christmas parties that his family hosted. Your two families would come together and prepare the cookies, the eggnog, and the presents for the whole morning before the big party that started around dinner time, and you and Felix were in charge of the Christmas tree. He’s not too big on heights, so he always made you hang the ornaments on the top layer. It was a very adult networking and old people gambling games type of party, so you and Felix would always sneak off into his basement and play video games or watch corny movies with a stolen tray of sugar cookies.

The Christmas before uni was probably the last one where you two felt like kids and didn’t have to worry about what kinds of feelings would get in the way of your beautiful friendship.

“Ugh, my calves are burning,” you whined on your way down from the ladder. Your legs gave out on the second step down and the weight of your tired body pulled you down, causing you to drop to your death from a mere five feet above.

Luckily, your Prince had quick reflexes and caught you bridal style. As kids, it was surprising when Felix could carry anything even half his weight with his twiggy arms, but the fact that he could hold you without struggling or even breaking a sweat was the closest you’ve ever experienced a miracle.

A gentle, handsome smile came from his lips. “You ok?” he asked in his deep voice.

No, you’re definitely not, but lying was ok in this situation. “F-F-Fine! I am fine!”

“Are you sure?”

“Y-Yes! Uh, you can put me down now…!”

“Hm, but I kind of like holding you like this.” You hit his rock-hard chest lightly, to which he recoiled dramatically before placing you down gently. “Is that how you thank your hero!?”

“Thank you, My Hero.”

“That’s more like it.”

It wasn’t until around dinner time when you left Felix alone to be in charge of guiding all the caterers to their cooking spots while you sped home to get ready as fast as you could. You didn’t want to leave Felix in charge for more than an hour, otherwise there would be more room for error.

You must have had such little faith in him because he did as was told without any issues and was done well before the party was going to start. He took the down time to put on his satin black suit and fix his blond hair before putting on the matching mask. While looking in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, of course he admitted to himself that he would be the sexiest one at the party, but something about the view didn’t seem right. He didn’t have you beside him hyping him up like always. The view in the mirror was lonely without you.

“Good job with the chefs!” you called into the dressing room unannounced.

Felix could see you jogging in wearing the full outfit he saw on your bed this morning, now complete with the mask he gifted you in the reflection of the mirror. The view of you was stunning, so much to the point that the Prince himself was too afraid to turn around and look at you with his own eyes. You reminded him of the story of Medusa, who would turn men into stone if they dared to look at you, and Felix thought that he was well past that point, already frozen in place with his jaw dropped and hands fixated on his crooked tie.

Luckily, you didn’t seem to notice as you stepped in between him and the mirror. The feel of your knuckles brushing up against his chest broke him free of his frozen state, causing him to hitch his breath in his throat. It was very un-Felix-like to be this nervous, especially before an event that circled around him, but perhaps it was his sobriety that made him jittery.

“You good?” you reciprocated after a long moment of silence.

Prince Felix cleared his throat before speaking. “Yeah.”

“Nervous?”

“I guess so.”

“What do you have to be nervous about other than being the center of attention in front of hundreds of people?” you teased lightly.

“It’s not like I know everyone, though.”

“What do you mean? You and Han invited all the people you normally party with.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I’m friends with all of them. I don’t hang out with them before 10:00 pm.”

Even behind the mask, you could tell his nerves were sincere. “Are you having regrets about this party?”

“I wouldn’t say regrets… I don’t know. I’m sorry, I know you put a lot of work into this.”

“Do you not want to go -”

“No! No, I want to go.” To ditch a party you worked on for forty-eight hours would be like slapping you in the face and he knew that. But he also knew if he said yes, you would follow him wherever he’d go in a heartbeat because that’s how much you loved him. He cleared his throat once more. “Will you stay with me?”

You raised a brow, unsure if you heard correctly. “Stay with you?”

“As in, will you stay by my side tonight?”

“You want me by your side the whole night?” Oh, how the tables have turned, in which Felix with his blushing cheeks couldn’t look you in the eyes as he nodded shyly. It was hard to believe what you were seeing with your own eyes and you wondered if you were dreaming. “Ok.”

“Really?”

Softly, you straightened his mask. “Anything for you, birthday boy.”

The anxiety from the claustrophobia of the party was replaced with the thought of being with you the whole night, but this is how he’d rather be. No longer did he want to stay in this room he filled with bad energy, so he took you by the hand and led you back to the main room where guests quickly filled in. Anxiety filled his chest again and you felt it through his hand squeezing yours tightly, as if afraid you would let go and slip away into the crowd where he’d never see you for the rest of the night. You’re not sure what’s gotten into him and you didn’t want to make it worse, so you led him to the tables of food hoping he could fill the emptiness in hopes of loosening up a little.

Even while eating food, Felix refused to let go of your hand, so you had to act as his free hand and feed him gourmet finger foods.

“You’re even more of a baby on your birthday,” you scoffed.

“But you love babying me, right?” he teased.

“I don’t know if ‘love’ is the right answer…”

The beginning of the night was nothing short of energy-draining as every single guest came up to greet Felix on his birthday and greeted you second. It was crazy that even in a room full of hundreds of peers, the crowd was still able to distinguish the birthday boys from everyone else, but you supposed it was easy because who else was blond and this handsome? The same way you looked at Felix, everyone else also had their eyes on him because he was truly that stunning in a crowded room.

It was occasions like these when you felt most out of place. You only ‘belonged’ here because Felix was your ticket in, but you would never become one of the elite. You didn’t have all the luxury of buying a new outfit or new jewels for every occasion like everyone else here. You were a simple person in your humble apartment living your predetermined life and getting by without any conflict, all thanks to him. That was what made you believe for twenty years that you had no right to fall for Felix the way you did - you were nothing more than the King’s hired Chancellor.

Even so, when the whole room was looking at him, he only looked at you.

The next song was a common waltz song that was played at every masquerade party on the planet. With a hop in his step, you found the birthday boy in front of you bowing with his hand still in yours.

“Will you dance with me?” he asked dramatically like he was playing a character.

“Why, of course, Your Highness.”

Waltz dancing was definitely not the first talent you’d think of while wondering what Felix was good at, but to your surprise, it was like he’d been taking classes for years. You knew little-to-nothing about it yourself, but it was easier when your date took the lead and you didn’t have to think, just follow. It was a ride, honestly, and you couldn’t stop yourself from giggling, even when the dance finished with Felix dipping you, faces close and noses barely touching.

You hardly noticed his eyes shift to your lips in the midst of all the giggles. “When did you learn to do that!?”

“Last night,” he admitted sheepishly. “Are you impressed?”

“Very.”

“Then those three hours of Youtube tutorials were worth it.”

Your predicted cycle of food, dancing, alcohol, and back to food was correct. Several rounds lasted several hours to the point where you were at the perfect amount of tipsy, but still able to navigate, although if any more rounds of alcohol were going to happen, you might be in trouble. Keeping up with the birthday boy was so hard!

But you didn’t mind, because the poison made you forget about how much you didn’t belong there and swept any overreaction to Felix’s affection under the rug, though it was getting harder to do the latter, as each shot meant closing the distance between you and him. Somehow, you went from holding his hand to his hand never leaving your waste, with your bodies keeping close contact, a feeling you’ve always been familiar with even when sober, but this time was different.

“So,” he began in the middle of the dance floor. “When do I get my gift?”

“How about after your birthday cake?”

“Birthday cake?”

On cue, the lights dimmed and the music stopped. Jisung found his way next to Felix and all the chefs rolled out a giant tiered cake with candles on it, cueing all the guests to sing happy birthday. You made sure to keep the design simple, but the flavors immaculate and matching the boys’ palates because that was the most important part. Even from afar, you could smell the chocolate.

You tried to step away from him so that he and Jisung could have the spotlight together, but even then he didn’t want you to leave. He squeezed your side a little tighter, a silent gesture that said, ‘please don’t go.’

By now, you were starting to sober up a bit and that was a bad sign because now you were realizing that this whole night would be forgotten tomorrow, just like last year. Still, you stayed by his side because that’s what he wanted.

Why it had to be you, you’ll never know, but the feeling was too right to question it.

At the end of the song, the birthday boys blew out the candles and the cheers deafened your ear drums. What shocked you next was the feeling of soft lips on your cheek.

“Thank you,” Felix whispered with so much adoration. “For everything.”

You’ll never be able to recover from tonight. “Why are you like this all of a sudden? Have you had too much to drink?”

A cute giggle escaped his lips. “No, I’m fine. This day feels extra special, that’s all. You’re the reason.”

Felix was such a smooth honey talker when there was a little something swimming in his bloodstream. You should know better not to take these words to heart, but you can’t help it when they’ve all you’ve ever wanted to hear. A repeat of last year was bound to happen any second.

You did your best to avoid the compliment. “Do you want your gift now?”

“Ooh, yes!”

The gift was hidden in the room you find him in earlier today. You were too embarrassed to set it up next to the gift table that was dressed in bags with brands like Cartier and Gucci, so you stashed it away from the rest. The bouncy and excited boy had the widest grin on his face, impatiently waiting for you to present him with what you had.

“Close your eyes,” you demanded.

Felix held out his hands with his eyes closed and expected something small, like a watch or a cupcake or some plush toy that he could strap on his keychain, but instead nearly stumbled forward holding something as heavy as a textbook.

“Ok, open your eyes.”

He wasn’t too far off, actually. In his hands was a thick, heavy book titled “Felix & _____” that you printed out on an embossed label maker. Inside were infinite pages of pictures, stamps, receipts, travel brochures, foreign currency, movie tickets, anything and everything from most if not all the memories you spent together over the past twenty years. The first few pages were filled with old film pictures and polaroids you had to steal from your parents and the later pages progressively got more crowded with trinkets and things when you two were old enough to hang out on your own.

For a while, Felix was silent as he flipped through all the memories. There wasn’t a smile on his face, no tears streaming down his cheeks, in fact he was emotionless and now you were confused. He told you he didn’t care about money or the cost of gifts when it came to you, but…

“You hate it,” you stated rather than asking.

Felix looked up at you, completely sobered up, with the most incredulous expression. “Of course not,” he reassured softly. “I love it. So much. You saved all of this…?”

“I saved every receipt that wasn’t smudged with barbecue sauce or oil and every movie ticket since the start. I had boxes full of it and I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I didn’t have the heart to throw it away, so I made you a scrapbook. It took forever, but luckily your family’s historian captured a lot of the earlier stuff.” Felix was listening, but his eyes were fixated on the last page, where you pasted a single picture of a selfie you two took just a couple days ago. “Happy birthday, Felix.”

Flipping through the scrapbook made him realize that yes, so much has changed between the two of you. There’s so much growth and care and love in between the pages and the fine lines that isn’t seen unless you look for it. As he looked at you, with your cheeks dusted scarlet and wearing your heart on your sleeve, perhaps him pretending he didn’t tell you he loved you last year was what was slowly drifting you away from him, because how were you going to deny to his face that you didn’t love him, too?

Perhaps it was best you would admit it to him on your own time. For now, he hoped a gentle kiss on your forehead would push you a little bit.

His rose petal lips left your forehead tingling. “You’re the best. Thank you.”

When Felix tried to close the gap in between, you took a large step back. You couldn’t look him in his eyes and now he’s confused and his heart hurts.

“Why do you keep doing that?” you asked.

“Doing what?”

“Holding my hand, holding me, kissing me…”

“Oh, I thought you were ok with all of that.”

You take a deep breath. You can’t let last year repeat itself. “You’re wrong.”

“I’m wrong?”

“You can’t just do that whenever you feel like it.”

“Do what!?”

“Play with my feelings!” You took another breath to calm you down and prevent anymore tears that were about to pool. “I have feelings, Felix. You can’t just use me whenever you feel like it and take it all back like it never happened the next morning!”

“I have feelings, too. How the fuck else was I supposed to deal with the night I told you I love you and you didn’t say it back?”

You’re left stunned and speechless. Felix just admitted to you that he once told you he loved you. He didn’t have to say when for you to know that he was talking about the inebriated self on your bed mumbling those three words as you tucked him in on his birthday last year.

“You didn’t say it back and I thought you didn’t feel the same, so I pretended to forget all about it. But now I know you feel the same,” he begged desperately. “I just know. Tell me I’m wrong, _____. Tell me I’m wrong to think that after all these years together, I think you fell in love with me the same way I fell in love with you.”

You couldn’t say anything. You couldn’t admit that he was right because he was drunk then and he’s still a little intoxicated now. But even if he’s right, even though you both knew how much you loved every cell of Felix, what if all this sweet talk was brewed by the mix of drinks that settled in his core? What if he forgets again tomorrow and you’re left in a worse state than you were last year? What if the alcohol just jogged last year’s memory that was stored deep in his cortex that only tequila was able to unlock?

The more you tried to make an excuse for it, the more ridiculous it sounded...

When you didn’t say anything right away, Felix was sure if he had his ribs broken that it would hurt less than the pain he felt in his chest right now. But that wasn’t your fault - nothing was ever your fault. This was all his doing because that’s what Felix did best - screw everything up.

The blond’s once hurt expression turned to stone before he dropped the scrapbook onto the cushioned chair next to his belongings.

“My mistake then,” he muttered before leaving you alone in the room.

“Felix, wait -” but it was too late, he was already out of the room to do something stupid to forget what just happened.

You ran after him, but the party room was so loud and dark and filled to the brim with guests that you couldn’t find him. In a room full of people, you were always able to find Felix no matter what, but it’s like he changed the makeup of the atmosphere to make sure that wouldn’t happen again for the rest of the night. You tried looking for blond locks from high ground, you tried snaking your way on the dance floor, you even checked the private rooms and men’s bathrooms in the whole house and none of them worked. You were afraid that after all the heartbreak, you wouldn’t see him again for a long while.

You bumped into Jisung in an empty hallway, who seemed out of breath like he was running a marathon just now.

“You have to come with me,” he gasped in urgency.

“What happened?”

“It’s Felix. He’s about to race Wooyoung.”

Those five words sounded like a terrible ad-lib in the newspaper, but when you followed Jisung to the front of the pool house, lo and behold half of the guests were gathered around the two boys who looked like they were about to get into a fist fight. In Felix’s hand, you could see that he was holding the keys to his sports car that was already parked out front.

Wooyoung’s the first to see you run to them from the crowd, with Jisung following behind you. “Hey, _____. Can you tell Prince Charming here that I’m not about to race him and go to jail?”

“That’s because you’re a pus -”

Jisung held Wooyoung back before he could get a swing in and you stepped in between. This was the first time you got a good look at his face, which was tear-stained and flushed red, all because of you.

“What are you doing!?” you muttered harshly.

“Trying to understand what you see in this guy. It’s not his looks, or his brains. Can’t be his car either, but I just wanted to prove my prediction just in case.”

His breath smelled like freshly poured alcohol. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Am I ridiculous, though? I think I might be onto something when I said there’s something that you see in him.”

“There’s nothing, so can you please give me your keys so we can talk inside?”

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

Ouch. “Ok, we won’t talk. Let’s do something else -”

“I don’t want to do something else with you. I want to race and kick his ass.”

“You want to crash and burn that badly?” Wooyoung screamed over Jisung’s shoulders. “Fine, let’s drive!”

The crowd cheering only boosted Felix’s ego more, so he broke free from your wall and walked towards his car.

“Felix, don’t do this!” you cried out desperately, and for a second you could see the hesitation, but it was easily overcome.

“If you don’t want to be here, then go home. I don’t need you.”

The crowd oohed in unison and your left in the middle of the circle humiliated, watching the boy you loved the most get into his car and prepare to race your coworker. There’s a myriad of scenarios that fly through your mind of what could go wrong and you’re not sure if you should stay for the mess of the aftermath. But Felix said it himself that he didn’t need you, so maybe you should follow his advice and go home.

If something were to happen to him and you weren’t there to pick up the pieces and mend them back together, you would never forgive yourself. Your life’s purpose had always been to help Felix mend his pieces together whenever he needed it. But maybe this was his way of telling you that you were no longer needed for that - that you were free of all your duties as his personal fake secretary and since he thought you didn’t love him back that you served no purpose to him anymore.

When Felix said he didn’t need you, he meant that he didn’t need you to be the person you always were. He didn’t need you to be his babysitter trying to stop him from doing something stupid, he needed you as someone who wanted to stop him because you loved him and was afraid that he’d get hurt. And perhaps it was his mistake for saying it so harshly because you didn’t bother to stop him after that. But it hurt him to his core that you believed him when he said he didn’t need you anymore, that after twenty years you so easily believed that he could cut you out of his life, just like that. How many stupid mistakes could Felix make tonight? He was too far into this that he couldn’t back out, so all he had to do was race and make it out alive to see you again.

From the rear view mirror, he saw your distant figure fade away with the night.

--

It has been a long sixty-eight hours and twenty-four minutes since you arrived home from the birthday party. Hermit crabbing for the first twelves hours was stressful - you couldn’t sleep until 6:00 am, you only slept for a couple hours, you sent mass text messages to multiple people, including Felix, curious about his whereabouts and no one got back to you until twelve hours after that.

han solo [8:43 pm]: sorry darling, i like just woke up. he’s fine i guess.

you [8:44 pm]: what do you mean you ‘guess’!?

han solo [8:44 pm]: i mean they both came out unscathed and his dumbass won so physically he’s fine! but he didn’t seem too happy that he won. i think he’s back home with his parents atm.

That settled your racing heart only a little, but at least you knew he was fine physically, at least. Still, your hundreds of texts sent to him were all left on read, meaning he saw all your desperation and worry and didn’t bother to ease any of it.

You couldn’t eat for those long hours, but now it was getting unbearable and you needed to eat something. You had all the ingredients for Felix’s favorite soup, and as much as you didn’t want to constantly remind yourself of him, you couldn’t help yourself. The process was nice and slow, where you took extra care into washing the vegetables and bringing the broth to a gentle boil before dropping everything in. You could imagine the look on his face if he smelled what you made with your own hands.

Cooking for Felix was a very rare occasion because you were still self conscious about your abilities, especially as someone who was going to work for the country’s largest restaurant franchise. But the times he’s tasted your creations, his reaction was nothing but sincere bliss, cleaning his plate or bowl or several every time. He was the only one who truly believed in your talents and far-off dream when your parents wanted you to follow your Dad’s footsteps. You always cared about what Felix thought about you and your actions and nearly everything, but what he thought about your cooking was one of the most important things and his constant support for your craft was what made you fall for him so much harder than you already did.

The aromas of the soup made you miss him even more. If you didn’t hear back from him today, you were going to take drastic measures and find him yourself.

A quiet, eerie knock came at your door. You hesitated, wondering if you should just pretend you weren’t home, but then a voice spoke up.

“I know you’re home,” Felix said. “I can smell you cooking my favorite soup.”

You dropped your wooden spoon and hurried to open the front door. Behind the door revealed a tired Felix with one bruised up eye and cut up lip. Though the tears quickly fell from your eyes and you covered your gaping mouth, he still gave you a weak smile in hopes of easing any worry you now had.

“I kind of need you,” he admitted softly. “I really need you.”

Speechless, you took Felix by the hand and sat him on your couch before grabbing your massive first aid kit. He’s not surprised that you took him in with open arms without any hesitation because that was the kind of person you were. He loved that about you, but there’s guilt in his heart because he’s the last person who deserves this treatment. He knew you didn’t exactly forgive him yet because you still haven’t said a word, even as you were wetting a cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol.

“Is it going to sting?” he asked. You didn’t bother answering and let him feel the pain for himself. “Motherfucker!”

Through all the cleaning and wincing, though your facial expression didn’t move much, a waterfall of tears fell from your eyes at a constant speed. Since you were kids, Felix’s Dad was big on spanking and physical discipline, but this was a whole different level than you’ve ever seen before - this wasn’t discipline, this was intentional. Even so, Felix still smiled, even through all the stinging.

“Stay still,” you whispered, voice shaking. Your free hand held his face in place by pressing your palm into his nonbruised cheek. The wound still stung, but the wincing at least lessened. When the cotton swab dried up and you weren’t sure what to do, Felix calmed your racing thoughts by placing a hand on top of the one you had on your cheek.

He liked the way your thumb gently brushed across his cheek. Your touch always left tingles in its absence.

“What happened?” you finally asked.

“Dad found out about the racing because it was in the tabloids as ‘Future YONBOK CEO Caught Racing Under the Influence. Is the Future of YONGBOK in Good Hands?’ and, well, you know how that turned out.”

You said nothing while shaking your head. You took your hand back and stood up to get something and the fear of you leaving him again left Felix sweating and tears of his own pooling in his eyes. But you came back with a bag of frozen peas to press against his bruises and swollen lip.

“Are you hungry?” Felix nodded silently. “I made your favorite soup.”

“I know. Did you know that I was coming?”

“No. I guess I’m lucky.”

One of his hands is on top of yours holding the frozen peas and the other grabs hold of your other free hand. Felix wanted to hold you in every way possible, but for now this would have to do until you accepted him.

“You know I love you,” he told you. “And you know I will always need you. I’m sorry I pretended to forget about telling you last year and I’m sorry if that made you think I was insincere the second time. But now you know for sure that I love you. Was I really that wrong to think you felt the same?”

“It seems like you already know my answer.”

“I need to hear you say it.”

You sighed heavily. By now the tears had stopped, but you wouldn’t be surprised if they started up again. This was the first time you would admit aloud that you loved the stupid boy who tried to hide his smile sitting in front of you.

“I love you, Lee Felix. I always have.”

“Knew it ~” he sang. “Tell me when you fell for my handsome looks.”

“Remember Prom night?”

“Prom night!? Seriously?”

“My date standing me up and you offering to dance with me the whole night sounds like the perfect formula to fall in love with you, does it not?”

“I guess! I just thought it’d be longer than that!”

“I’m sure it has been longer than that.”

“Really?”

“Prom night was just the point of no return - that no matter what I did, my feelings were absolute and I couldn’t be in denial anymore. But I didn’t feel any different… And that’s when I assumed I just always loved you.”

“Even when I do stupid shit like this, you still loved me that much, huh?”

“Even with a busted lip, I still think you’re the most handsome.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” he chuckled. “Do you know when I knew?”

“Uh, last year?”

“Nope. On your tenth birthday.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not. When you shared your birthday cake and gave me the corner slice with the most icing flowers on it, I knew you were the one for me.”

“Can you be serious for once!?”

“Baby, I am dead serious! Look me in the eyes - well, my good eye.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.” Felix pressed a long kiss to your forehead and then rested his own up against it. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“And being an ass.”

“Yes, and being the biggest ass.”

You dared to kiss his lips, but just enough for them to touch, too worried about hurting his bruise. Felix didn’t care - this was the only time you’d have your first kiss and he wanted it to be long and slow, putting his all into your very first kiss even if it hurt a little. His lips were hungry for yours and so were his hands, making you drop the frozen peas on the floor so he could pull you into his lap to deepen the kiss. Wandering hands traveled your waist and your own in his hair and all your worries about wondering if love was truly real melted away with every second. Even when you broke free to come up for air, Felix refused to loosen his grip on your waist, holding you so close that he buried his face in the nape of your neck. He short breaths tickled your skin and when you giggled, he peppered kisses all over. Your laugh was music to his ears.

“Do you forgive me?” he said in between kisses.

“Mm,” you hummed. “Just don’t leave my side again.”

“Never again. I promise you.”

“Well… Where do we go from here?”

“Hm… I get to eat my favorite soup with the love of my life?”

“I like the sound of that.”

“And then straight to bed.”

“But it’s only 9:00 pm?” A playful, naughty smirk spread across Felix’s lips. “Lee Felix!”

“What!? I won the race, can’t I get a prize!?”

“Stop.”

Soup was always better with your love and a cup of frozen peas.

[tanakavox]

A look into the multiverse chapter 9. Reacts by @bssaz97

The members of the audience began reconvening to their seats as the next viewing was about to begin. With the many different worlds they had seen, there was no telling what they would be seeing next.

"Wonder what kind of world we'll see today," Yang states.

"I have a good feeling about this one. Maybe it'll show us as expert huntresses on a mission to save the world!" Ruby enthusiastically told her team.

"...Ruby that's what we're currently doing in our world." Weiss replies with an unimpressed look.

"Ohhh yeah… Well maybe it'll be different!" Ruby adds, causing her teammates and sister to roll their eyes.

The screen rolls and shows Taiyang at home on Patch, making steaks on a grill with a huge smile on his face.

"Finally, the girls are coming home after so long." Taiyang mutters to him "Better to start cooking now before the girls come. Tai's face falls into a frown.

"Hey look Yang it's Dad!" Ruby points out, excited to see her father once again. Even if it was on the screen.

"Yeah. Actually, this looks exactly like our house back in Patch." Yang was a bit confused why the setting of this world was so similar to their own.

Most of the world's they've seen thus far were much different from their own. Which made her think of what could possibly be different about this world compared to theirs.

"Oh yeah. That's right. Ruby's bringing her boyfriend here. Tai sighs and adds another steak to the grill and turns to yell into the house.

"Say WHAAAT?!" Ruby's eyes grew nearly twice their size and a look of shock had grown on her face.

"Ruby… has a boyfriend?" Blake questioned.

Nearly in her peer group turned their eyes from the screen and looked to the crimsonette in shock. Ruby notices their stares and quickly grabs her hood and covers her face in embarrassment.

"Red has a boyfriend in this one? Now that's something I never expected to see today," Coco stated before turning back around to face the screen. Her team followed as well.

Ruby whimpered to herself, while she was slightly embarrassed about the revelation of her alternate having a boyfriend she was curious as to see who this said boyfriend was.

"ZWEI! DON'T EAT THIS EXTRA STEAK, IT'S FOR RUBY'S BOYFRIEND!" He didn't get a response. Taiyang sighed again. "Guess he's asleep. He mutters to himself. He took the steaks off the grill and as he walked back into the house he heard the door open and heard his daughters yell into the house.

"WE'RE HOMEEEEEEEE!" Taiyang rushed up to his girls and hugged them tightly. Yang and Ruby hugging him back just as tightly.

"Whoa you two look the same as you did back in Beacon!" Nora stated. Her expression started falling as soon as she mentioned the last part.

Ruby had removed her hood and she began recalling past events. If she was right then this was taking place at the time when her and Yang went back to Patch to visit their Dad shortly before the Vytal Festival.

Hopefully they wouldn't have to revisit those memories during this viewing.

"Hey Dad!" Yang cooed looking at her father with a smile.

"Did ya miss us?" Ruby asks,smiling as well.

Taiyang pretends to ponder on it for a while before grinning at them.

"Nope." He said jokingly to both, laughing when Ruby and Yang punch him in the arm lightly. Taiyang looks around a bit. "Uh. Where is this boyfriend of yours Ruby?"

Ruby's eyes light up. "Oh he's coming with our bags. Trust me daddy. You'll love him!"

Taiyang lets out a snort. "We'll see."

Yang began to look around the house as well. "Where Zwei? I thought he would be down here to greet us?"

Taiyang saw that Zwei was indeed not there and grumbled to himself. "That boy. ZWEI! YOUR SISTERS ARE HOME!"

"Sisters?" Both Ruby, Yang, and Qrow said at the same time, leaving all of them very confused. Zwei was indeed a part of the family, but he was still Corgi after all. So why did Taiyang refer to him as though he wasn't such?

Their question was answered very quickly.

Zwei's ears twitch at the sound of that, and a thumping comes from up stairs aside the noise of something falling down the stairs, before Yang and Ruby could react a black blur launch itself at them. A Ten year old dog faunus boy with curly unkempt hair color that matched Ruby's and little corgi ears was hugging the two tightly raising his head to show silver eyes beaming with joy.

"Ruby! Yang! I missed, I missed you, I missed you! He cried out hugging them tighter. The girls laugh and hug him back.

Ruby's, Yang's, and Qrow's eyes reached the size of dinner plates and they couldn't believe what they were seeing was real.

Ruby was the first to speak and began visibly shaking, "Oh my gods...Zwei- he's...he's..."

"Sooo Adorable!~" Ruby/Weiss/Yang/Nora cooed as the good little boy she remembered from Beacon was now literally an adorable little boy.

Blake, the rest of ALP(N), Qrow and Ozpin were shocked beyond words. This certainly was not what they were expecting at all today.

"Wait who's Zwei?" Oscar turned to ask Qrow.

"Well...in our world, he's the family dog. But in this world it seems like he's the youngest child?" Qrow said but still seemed unsure of himself.

As he remembers, Summer only had one child in the form of Ruby. But this world's version of Zwei shares many of the same traits that Summer and Ruby have/had….but why was he a faunus? Was this world's version of Summer a faunus? These questions were beginning to cause Qrow a headache so he resigned himself to just watch the viewing. Hopefully some of his questions could be answered.

"Hey Zwei!" Yang greeted ruffling his hair.

"How's my baby brother doing?" Ruby asked lightly, pinching his cheeks letting go when he tried to swat her hand away.

"Oh!~ Look at his hair, his lil ears and his lil cheeks. I just wanna pinch them all day!" Ruby cooed. She never had the privilege of having a younger sibling, so seeing that her alternate had one left her somewhat envious.

However, she still loved her family after all and wouldn't trade them for anything. But she could at least relish in the moment for as long as she was allowed to.

Zwei kept smiling and went to babble on about what he did while they were gone, about the games he wanted to play with them when he was interrupted by the sound of bags hitting the floor and looked behind Yang and Ruby to see a very tall Blonde.

"Jeez girls. You had to make me carry all of those? Jaune said while giving Ruby and Yang a halfhearted glare.

Suddenly the room became silent once more, a very recurring theme happening in this viewing as the reveal of Ruby Rose's mystery boyfriend was revealed.

The two team leaders both looked towards each other if only for a brief moment before turning away and blushing up a storm. The members of their teams, minus Weiss as she was too engrossed in looking at tiny Faunus Zwei, observed both reactions of Ruby and Jaune before turning back towards the screen. They could discuss this matter another time, as they still had a viewing to see.

Qrow, however, saw the short display between the two and his eyes narrowed. He had a feeling he was going to have to keep a close eye on those two. Particularly Jaune.

Ruby grinned and walked up to Jaune and began to slowly rub his arm. "Aww was it too much for my big tough guy hm?" She cooed snuggling up to and turning to her father and brother. "This is my boyfriend Jaune!" She shoved him in front of them. Jaune nervously looked toward Taiyang and reached his hand out.

"Hello sir. I'm Jaune Arc." He said keeping a stutter out of his voice and his hand steady

Taiyang raised an eyebrow at that. "Arc? …...What is your mother's name?"

"Uh Jeanne?" He still had his hand outstretched. Taiyang let out a large groan and grabbed Jaune's hand firmly shaking it.

"Nice to meet you Jaune." Tai said, with a forced smile leaving Jaune and Ruby confused.

Yang's eyebrow quirked, "What the heck was that about?"

"Is this not normally how your Dad reacts when either of you bring a boy home?" Blake asks her partner.

"Actually, Ruby and I never brought any boys home. At least I never did, too risky and I knew he would overreact. Ruby on the other hand hasn't dated anyone in… ever. But that's not what I was talking about."

"What did you mean then?" Blake looked confused.

"It's more with how he reacted when Jaune told him his mom's name. It's just weird I guess, Dad didn't talk too much about his days as a student in Beacon so maybe he's got some form of beef with Mama Arc." Yang theorized. She leaned towards where Jaune was seated and nudged him, "Hey VB."

"Hm What? I'm sorry Yang did you want something?" Jaune asked, looking very tense.

"You know about any beef between your mom and a guy named Taiyang?" Yang inquired.

"Oh. Uhhh, no I don't remember her mentioning anybody by that name. At least to my knowledge. Wait, isn't that your Dad's name?"

"Yeah I just wanted to ask you since I don't know anything about any beef between our parents. Oh well, question for later. Thanks anyway." Yang patted his shoulder with her prosthetic hand before leaning back towards her seat.

Ruby turned to Zwei who looked at Jaune oddly. "Say hi to Jaune Zwei." Zwei latched himself to Ruby's leg and shot a glare at Jaune.

"Hello." He said quietly, clutching her tightly which caused Ruby and Yang to till her head at their baby brother's odd behavior. But a knowing look came across Jaune's face Immediately. But he said nothing for the moment. Taiyang claps his hand to get everyone attention.

"I'm sure you guys are hungry so let's eat!"

A knowing look also appeared on Jaune's face as he sat in the audience. While he may not be… dating his best friend in this world, he recognized all to well the signs of a threatened sibling. He himself had acted the same way when he himself was around Faunus Zwei's age. While he may not know exactly what the young boys feelings were, Jaune knew where they were coming from.

Zwei had sat close to Ruby the entire time and tried to keep her attention on him and not Jaune. After the dinner when Jaune stood, Zwei smiled brightly.

"Leaving already? Oh noooo" He said faking sadness. I guess you're going home now….."

Many in the audience soon were beginning to now understand what exactly was going on now.

"Aww~ Looks like the little brother is threatened by Jaune-Jaune over here." Nora nodged her fearless leader.

"Nora, please…" Jaune practicality begged his energetic teammates/surrogate sister.

Ruby giggles and pats Zwei's head.

"No silly. Jaune's gonna be staying with us for the next months before we hit the road again!'

Zwei's eyes widen and he tears up

"Oh no, poor baby." Weiss almost wept at the broken-hearted expression on the poor boy's face. Many of the other members of the audience also felt sympathetic.

"You're leaving? But you just got back!" he whimpered. Yang sighed a bit.

"No Zwei. We're leaving in a month." She replied, still finishing off her steak and turning to look at Tai. "This really good dad." Taiyang thanks her while Zwei glares at Jaune.

"But why is he staying here?"

Ruby tilts her head. "Cause he's got nowhere else to go?"

"Why doesn't he go home?"

"He lives in Mistral Zwei. It's pretty far and it's easier for him to stay here."

Zwei growled and crossed his arms and turned away from them. "I'm not sharing my room with him." He says looking at the floor. Ruby laughs a little.

"Course not. He's sleeping in my room." Taiyang raises a finger to complain but Yang stops him and shakes her head with a look that says "Don't even bother." To which Tai reluctantly complies with. Ruby could be really stubborn.

"Wow, your Dad is not how I was expecting him to be," Blake states.

"Yeah Dad doesn't get angry as much as Yang does." Ruby replies.

"Yeah...Hey wait a minute!" Yang's eyes narrowed.

The members of RWB(Y) and ALPN laughed at her expense. Yang sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."

"Fine." Zwei begans to stomp up upstairs into his room and slams it shut. Ruby looked a bit annoyed and worried.

"What's his problem?" Ruby asks turning the others? Yang and Taiyang shrugged and Jaune remained silent. They all talk for a while before heading to bed.

The next day had come and Jaune had gotten up and ate breakfast with the family. Zwei never looked at him and ran up into his room when he was done. Ruby taps him on the shoulder.

"Maybe try playing with him? He just met you and I'm sure he's just being shy." Ruby said smiling. Jaune sighed a bit.

Jaune shook his head at what Ruby's alternate self was presuming to be the issue at hand.

"It's not that he's shy. He thinks I'm gonna steal you away." He thought to himself. But he nodded and started to walk up to Zwei's room knocking before walking in. the ten year old faunus glaring at him immediately.

"What?" He said quite rudely.

"Whoa shit. He may look like Red but he certainly doesn't act like her." Mercury said honestly surprised.

"Be quiet Black! Zwei is a good boy and he shall remain that way!" Weiss threw this way.

The villains in the room only rolled their eyes at the former heiress's retort.

Jaune looked around the room and saw it was a Ten year boy's dream. Poster of plenty of shows, A xbox and a ps4 the works. He looks at Zwei to see a bunch of toys around him and he walks up and picks up a toy that looks like a ghost kneeing to Zwei's eye level and smiles at him.

"Hey I was hoping I could play with you, maybe I can be… Ghostface? Zwei looked at Jaune like he was stupid.

"His name is Ghostfreak." Zwei states turning his gaze from Jaune to play with his other toys. "And I ain't playing with him. I'm not crossovering over Ben 10 with Transformers."

"Hey Merc, wake me whenever this snooze fest is over. I'm gonna take a nap." Emerald whispers to Mercury.

"No promises."

"Well why not?"

"Because they don't take place in the universe."

"Well maybe ghost freak can use is ghostfreak can use his powers to end up in the Transformers Universe with Optuis prines." Jaune had clearly said the worst thing possible because Zwei's face went red and he started screaming at him.

"IT'S OPTIMUS PRIME AND GHOSTFREAK POWERS DON'T WORK LIKE THAT! GET OUT! GET OUT OFF MY ROOM!" Jaune hopped up and speed walk out Zwei's room into Ruby, looking a bit assumed.

"Didn't go well? Ah wait don't tell me… you say Optimus Prime name wrong."

Jaune glares at his girlfriend as she laughs at him.

"You knew that was gonna happen."

Ruby stops laughing to give Jaune a smirk.

"I didn't. But it was still funny."

"Well… that went as well as I expected." Jaune stated.

[corvidshipping]

Heartbeat

Summary: On a sleepless night, Possum tells Cliff they think his heartbeat is comforting. He’s not quite sure what they mean Pairing: Cliff Stｅｅlｅ/Heather “Red” Bowers (Possum) Warnings: none Rating: G/T Word count: 2.8k A/N: Editing? Outline? bitch what outline here we go

The manor creaked and sighed in the wind, the ancient and fragile upper floors almost seeming to sway with each gust. Cliff's heavy steps echoed through the silent halls, his eyes straining to pick up obstacles in his way with only moonlight to guide him. His outdated cameras failed him often even in good conditions, but in dead of night he usually had to make his way nearly blind, worsened by the lack of other senses like touch. He cringed internally as he noticed, through the static in his hearing that was ever-present now, how loud his footsteps were, and he wished it were easier for him to walk softly. He hoped it wouldn't wake anyone up.

As carefully as one could in a metal body, Cliff made his way down from his bedroom to the living room of the manor. A digital clock glowed softly on the mantle, a nightlight that the Chief liked to keep for Dorothy. The lit numbers read 1:47 AM. Cliff sighed out loud at the sight of it, realizing he had been trying and failing to sleep for almost three hours. He had managed it, at one point, briefly, but was haunted by visions of the past melding with the present - watching the accident over and over from an outside view, every time Clara replaced by someone different. Dorothy, Jane, and at one point, for some reason, Rachel Weisz was there. He watched a specter of his daughter, trapped in her youth, falling into the hands of Mr. Nobody. He saw worlds where he had died, and Clara was retrieved, her brain shoved into a cold, metallic prison, unforgiving and unfeeling. He heard his only child screaming, trying to cry, slowly realizing that robotic eyes could spill no tears. That was the worst dream so far, and the one that jolted him awake hours ago, the one that kept occupying his brain with anxieties and guilt.

An odd feeling rose within him, one he had grown unpleasantly familiar with. In his youth - that is, when he was human - he would grow sick with anxiety, a physical feeling that felt heavy in his gut. Now, with no body, he had no physical response to the near-constant dread, but a phantom response followed him, something he thought of as a leaden ball. It almost always was accompanied by a ghostly chill, one he should not feel - the expectation of a feeling that his brain, the only soft and organic part of him left, still remembered. Uselessly, Cliff shook his head, as if he were a dog trying to clear his ears of water. He tried to pretend the motion helped.

In the dark, Cliff ventured to the couch, dropping heavily onto it. He wasn't sure why, truly, he still sat there. Not like it's any more comfortable than anywhere else, he thought bitterly. He supposed it was habit, or maybe just that these joints were stiff, and it was awfully hard to bend enough to get up and down off the floor. Getting up the stairs was enough of an effort as it was, he didn't need to make life harder for himself. He blinked slowly, he needed to get his mind off this. His thoughts were just running in circles now, a car on an empty racetrack, making endless grim laps.

Somewhere to the right of him, the curtains fluttered over a closed window, the glass fogging just a little.

"Hey, Possum." Cliff's voice was quiet, and tinged with a hint of static tonight. He turned his head to the window to see writing forming, as if drawn by an invisible finger.

"It's late." The window read, drips slowly forming in the condensation. Slowly, the writing faded back into fog.

"Yeah, yeah, like you're one to talk. We're both awake right now." The curtain moved again, gently. He wondered if that was their way of laughing.

In the silvery moonlight, a soft voice rang out, barely audible and almost a whisper. "I'm a ghost. It's my job to haunt people late at night."

The resident bump-in-the-night, Heather Bowers - or as she preferred to be called, Red, and as Jane had christened her, Possum - could not be easily described in generally accepted terms. In the 1970s, when she was in her 20s, she was met with a terrible accident in small-town Ohio that she refused to speak about. At the exact moment of this accident, her latent psychic powers apparently activated, causing her body to cease to exist and become a thoughtform - a living consciousness, separate from a body, that exists only in its own thoughts, spread across multiple planes of existence. They now spent most of their time incorporeal, floating through the halls (and sometimes the walls) of Doom Manor, rattling chains and giving ghostly moans - the usual fare for a stereotypical ghost. At times, they could become corporeal - though it consumed quite a lot of energy - and, as a thoughtform, they could enter others' minds as a concept, especially in dreams, where they could form a body for themself and act corporeal in the sleeping person's dreamscape. It was almost comparable to Mr. Nobody, but rather than using these powers to cause harm and distress, they just tended to act as a year-round Halloween prop. The easiest way to describe her, in that case, was simply as a ghost, or poltergeist. Or at least, that was how Chief described it.

The accent pillows that Rita had insisted on earlier in the month shifted next to Cliff. "You weren't in the dreamscape when I came looking for you." Possum and Cliff had met when the former had begun entering his dreams, seeking an escape from the loneliness and boredom of life as an invisible consciousness. Possum was shocked when Cliff was able to see her and pointed her out as an anomaly in the memory he frequently revisited when he slept, and after she explained her situation to him and the Patrol, they had formed a comfortable routine of her entering his dreams frequently. An open invitation stood now between the two of them, Cliff trusting them never to overstep boundaries or snoop in memories that weren't theirs. It was a symbiotic thing, mutually beneficial; they got to re-experience corporeality and interact with the world, and they could influence the world of his mind, quelling anxiety and keeping nightmares at bay. Plus they were able to help him dream of his old body, so he got to experience human senses again.

Cliff made a sound between a scoff and a laugh. "You wouldn't have wanted to see what I was dreaming about anyway." Immediately, he regretted speaking, knowing that those words would make Possum worry. "It wasn't that bad," he quickly added before she could respond. "Just the usual shit."

There was a heavy silence after that, each passing second making Cliff more and more uncomfortable, wondering what he could say to cut the tension.

Finally, Possum responded.

"I'm sorry. I wish I'd been there earlier," they said gently.

"Aw, don't sweat it, Red." He leaned further forward on the couch, his aging metal joints groaning with the effort. "I'm up now, anyway. And so are you."

A hand reached out from the darkness, pale white and translucent, landing on his arm. He couldn't feel her touch, but he could tell from looking that it was gentle, resting on the plates of his forearm delicately, like he was something fragile, precious. Like she was afraid he would break.

When they spoke, Possum's voice was even quieter, lower, as if she hoped he wouldn't hear her. "Can I... will you, um, rest with me?"

"Huh?"

Possum cleared her throat. "You need rest. I uh, I saw once on the Discovery Channel that if you can't sleep, it's better to lay down and close your eyes, even if you don't sleep. Y'know, it helps, um, y'know, you don't strain yourself that way. Your brain, and stuff."

"Oh. Yeah, I'll be okay, pint-size." Cliff leaned back against the couch arm again. "You okay?"

He heard her inhale, a strange sound in the empty darkness. "Can I sleep with you here, tonight?" Before Cliff could respond, she continued. "It's just that the attic is so far away from everyone else, it's so quiet, and the trains keep coming through, and it's cold up there. And no one's been around all day, you know? I haven't been able to talk to anyone, it's been a bad day for corporeality. And, y'know. The attic is just... really cold."

If he could have furrowed his brows, he would have. Instead, he settled for a nonplussed blink. Briefly, he wondered if she might just be afraid of the dark. The thought made him laugh a bit, the bonafide ghost haunting the manor being scared of the dark in the attic she occupies. "Sure, yeah."

Before him, Possum's figure manifested fully. The nickname "pint-size" was not a misnomer - when Cliff stood at full height next to them, the very top of their head barely hit his shoulder. They were a tiny, ghostly apparition, red hair floating as if they were underwater shocking against the pale glowing white of their skin. Right now, this phantom was floating in midair, as if laying on some bed, one hand propping up their chin and the other still on his arm, their legs kicking slowly behind them. Slowly, moving as if in a pool, they rearranged their body's positioning, pulling their legs under them so they were sitting normally on the couch next to him. Cliff saw the couch shift as they became more corporeal, taking up more weight on the cushions as they became more grounded in physical reality. Once they had fully manifested, they slowly leaned over towards him, eyes averting from his.

They laid their head on his shoulder, gently, like they were testing if he would pull away. He didn't, just looking at them. They took a deep, quiet breath, and relaxed, positioning themself so their head was laying on his chest. Once they were in the position they wanted, they stretched out, the tips of their toes stretching to the other arm of the couch. Cliff shifted a bit, leaning back to make them more comfortable. Possum closed their eyes and smiled, and it reminded him a bit of an extremely self-satisfied cat.

Cliff looked down at their head nestled on his metal torso. "There's no way you're comfortable like that," he muttered, trying to be mindful of his volume with how close to his voicebox their ear was. With the way they smiled when he spoke, he could swear they liked the vibrations of his voicebox in his chest.

She opened her eyes to look up at him, black eyes gazing up at him and glittering like the stars reflected in a deep black pool. Their spectral ailment only served to deepen the effect of their eyes, leaving very little white to their sclerae, completing an otherworldly look. "No, I am. I like to listen to your heartbeat."

Was she making fun of him? "I don't have a heartbeat," Cliff said flatly.

They sat up, propping themself on their arms so they were eye-to-eye with him. "No, you do. Sometimes when we sleep and I'm not in the dreamscape, I listen to it, just like this."

"Possum, I don't have any organs. I barely have a brain." He laughed a bit at the end, trying to cover his confusion.

"I'll show you!" Suddenly, she had bolted upright, and swooped down to the ground like an Olympic diver, passing through the floor towards the basement level. Cliff waited a minute in the silence, the dark no longer lit by their odd phantasmic glow. Finally, they flew back up through a different space in the floor closer to the television with the same vigor. They held a stethoscope in their hands, likely borrowed from Chief's hoard, and Cliff wondered in bemusement what the logic of a solid object passing through the floor with them was.

"Here." They clambered back onto the couch, regaining solidity, and leaned against him. They stretched up to his head, and he leaned forward a bit to help them put the earpieces against the auditory inputs on either side of his head. "Listen!" They placed the resonator against his chest.

Cliff heard nothing, but Possum sat staring at him, their index finger placed against their lips in a hushing gesture. After a moment, he was about to call it quits and say they were hearing things, but their stare was so earnest, he couldn't bring himself to. He waited,

and waited,

and waited,

and Possum shifted the resonator,

and then he heard it.

It wasn't that it had just started. It had been there. But it was a low noise, one he was used to, and when Possum shifted the resonator it only then became loud enough for him to recognize as a sound distinct from his usual background noise.

It wasn't a heartbeat, per se. Not in the organic sense, at least. It was more of a mechanical thrumming, a pulsing, a deep noise that wasn't so much like the beating of a drum as it was like the quiet revving of an engine a few streets over, reduced by distance and acoustics to only its most bassy components. He looked down, and he heard the whirring and whining of the servos in his neck and shoulders through the stethoscope. The placement of the stethoscope was slightly left of center of his chest, where his heart naturally should be.

Possum pulled away the stethoscope, the earpieces falling away from his head. "You hear it, right?"

"That's not my heart," Cliff repeated. "None of my body past my neck was saved. I think that's my nutrient tubes. Or maybe my power system. Or my servos."

"So?" 

"... So what?" He blinked at her.

Possum sat upright and spread their arms out to either side of them, palms up, theatrically. "That's exactly what I'm saying!" They said with overdramatic exasperation.

She let herself fall back onto his body, a soft thud echoing inside his chest. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and serious. "So what? I know it isn't an organ, dummy. It doesn't have to be an organ to be your heart. It's comforting either way. It just reminds me that you're here, right now. It doesn't have to be a literal heart to do that, just as long as it's part of you."

Cliff sat silently, as they shifted back into their preferred positioning. He mulled over their words as they pulled themself as close as possible to his body, snuggling their head into the crevice between his shoulder and chest. Mindlessly, he moved his right arm to the small of their back, like he was supporting them, and his left hand moved to their hair, gently running through the strands, liquid copper over the rust of his fingers.

When he finally moved to respond, he realized they had fallen asleep long ago, letting out small snuffles every once in a while. So instead of giving a retort, he simply pulled them closer to his chest, tighter, like if he held them tightly enough he could feel the warmth of their body or the softness of their skin. He nestled his face in their hair, a nuzzling motion with his nose, and let his eyelids drop closed.

✥﹤ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ﹥✥

The manor creaked and sighed in the wind, the ancient and fragile upper floors almost seeming to sway with each gust. Between the slats of the half-drawn blinds, dawn light crept through the windows, lighting up the motes of dust that floated in the air and landing in stripes across sleeping forms. Cliff slept, now, on the couch, half sitting, Heather's pale form clutched in his arms and her hair tangled over his left hand's fingers like wild vines. In his chest, a mechanical heart thrummed and pulsed in a gentle rhythm, delivering power to his limbs, his brain. There were no nightmares, now, no dreams of his anxieties, no personified guilt; nor did he dream of the past, the bittersweet memories that, though happy, always left him with an empty feeling when he woke. He didn't dream of Clara's youth, of his last phone call to Kate. He didn't dream of Mr. Nobody, he didn't dream of Chief locking him away in an iron prison. He simply didn't dream. For once, it was quiet within his mind, even without the shared dreamscape.

The manor creaked and sighed in the wind, the ancient and fragile upper floors almost seeming to sway with each gust. As the manor began to stir and come to life with the others, Cliff was at peace there on the couch in the living room, and so was Heather.

And two hearts beat between them.

[debbiechanclub]

Best Two Out of Three, Part 12

I don’t know if this is too soon but I’m too excited, so. This part is @what-does-mine-say‘s fault. And by fault I mean she basically read my mind so we’re running with it.

So. Much. Angst.

Best Two Out of Three

Part: 12/26

Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC x Cash Wheeler and Adam Page x OFC

Warnings: Language, angst

Word Count: 3.1k

Catch up on previous parts here.

Five weeks later… AEW Fight for the Fallen

Alex sat on the couch in FTR’s locker room, her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her. Dax and Cash were wrestling the Lucha Bros, and she’d been on the edge of her seat the entire time. It didn’t help matters that Butcher and Blade had driven the Lucha Bros to the ring in Dax and Cash’s stolen truck. Alex had considered sneaking out there to try to steal it back; but Butcher was quite literally twice her size, so she thought better of it.

Suddenly, Dax pulled Fenix by his mask down into an inside cradle.

One.

Two.

Three.

“Yes!” Alex clapped her hands, happy that FTR had won. She pushed herself off the couch to go meet them at Gorilla—but something on the monitor caught her eye and she stopped. Cash and Dax had been jaw-jacking Butcher and Blade at ringside when the Young Bucks had appeared and superkicked Butcher and Blade. Matt took the key to the truck, and he and Nick walked to the ring and returned it to Cash and Dax. It surprised Alex; the Bucks and FTR weren’t exactly friends. But it was nothing compared to the shock she got when she saw Kenny walk to the ring—and he was carrying a cooler full of beer.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she watched. Kenny offered Cash and Dax each a beer. Then he took one himself. What was he doing? He didn’t drink. She saw him say, “Just this once” as Cash and Dax cracked theirs open. But neither of them took a sip. Instead, FTR raised their beers and emptied them over Kenny’s head.

“What. The. Fuck.” Alex didn’t wait to see what happened next. She tore out the locker room door, making a beeline for Gorilla. She paced back and forth, feeling herself growing angrier by the second as she waited for Cash and Dax to come back through the curtain. Mercifully, it wasn’t long before they did.

“There’s my girl!” Cash proclaimed when he saw Alex. He walked over and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close against him. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said as he started to kiss her neck; but she pulled away.

“Are you serious?”

He froze. “What?”

Her eyebrows arched. “What? You just dumped beer on Kenny’s head, that’s what.” She looked between him and Dax both. “Was that really necessary?”

“Oh, come on,” Dax breathed. “It was just a rib.”

She blinked. “A rib?”

“Yeah! Kenny poured out the beer we offered him two weeks ago, so we poured out the beer he offered us… on him.”

Alex’s eyes bulged at his smirk. Was he being serious? “He was literally about to have a drink with you out there,” she said with a gesture toward the ring. “You do realize that, right? Kenny doesn’t drink.”

Dax rolled his eyes. “You can take care of this,” he said lowly to Cash. It angered Alex even more—but before she could lay into him, Cash stepped in between them.

“Alex, come on. Why are you so upset about this?”

She opened her mouth—but before she could answer, Kenny, Matt, and Nick came back through the curtain. For a brief second, Kenny’s eyes met Alex’s; but he turned and walked away, disappearing backstage without a word.

Matt cut Dax and Cash a look. “Real mature, guys.”

“Oh, and you’re welcome for the keys, by the way,” Nick shot, and with that they followed after Kenny, leaving Alex alone with FTR once more.

Cash looked at her with remorseful eyes. “Sweetheart…” he started, but she cut him off.

“Don’t,” she said, and she turned and walked away. She couldn’t talk to Cash about this now; not after Kenny had looked at her like she’d been the one who’d just dumped beer on his head.

* * * * * * * * * *

The door hit the wall with a loud bang as Kenny burst into the Elite’s locker room, Matt and Nick at his heels. He kicked a chair, sending it skittering across the floor, and when he couldn’t find anything else to hit, he pulled his beer-soaked shirt over his head and threw it hard against the wall. Matt and Nick looked on, unsure what to do or say. It would probably be best to just let him get it out of his system.

“What the fuck was that?” Kenny shouted. “Who the fuck do they think they are?”

Matt opened his mouth to answer—but Kenny cut him off.

“She left me for that? For someone that fucking childish?”

Matt and Nick glanced at each other. So that was why he was so angry. “I don’t think Alex is happy about it either, man,” Nick said.

“Yeah, she looked pretty upset,” Matt agreed.

“Oh, did she? I didn’t notice because of all the fucking beer her boyfriend dumped on me,” Kenny sarcastically bit, just as the door to the locker room opened again. Kenny’s brow lowered when he saw who it was. Adam. “Oh look, it’s FTR’s new best friend! Thanks for the warning, pal.”

Adam bit down on his jaw. “I didn’t know they were gonna do that, Kenny,” he evenly returned. “But I didn’t know you were gonna go out there and try to have a drink with them, either. What did you honestly think was gonna happen?”

Kenny’s eyes widened. “Oh, so it’s my fault I got beer dumped all over me?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Adam returned with a frustrated sigh. “But did you really think Dax and Cash would believe that you wanted to have a drink with them? You don’t drink, man. They probably thought you were trying to pull something on them.”

Kenny ran a hand through his hair, momentarily forgetting that it was wet with beer. He angrily shook the liquid off as he pulled his hand away in disgust. “Well, I guess you’re right, Adam. Because honestly, I didn’t want to have a drink with them. I wanted to throw that whole fucking cooler at Cash’s fucking head.”

Adam’s eyebrows arched. He saw the situation with a little more clarity now. “Is this about the beer or is it about Alex?”

Kenny’s eyes darkened at him. “Don’t you fucking talk to me about Alex,” he spat.

For a second, Adam was stunned. But then he got angry. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means,” Kenny returned. “You didn’t want her to be with me and it was fucking obvious.”

Adam faltered when he heard that. But this was a long overdue conversation—and if Kenny wanted the truth, then he’d give it to him. “Because I didn’t want her to get hurt again,” he said.

Kenny took a threatening step toward him. “Oh, so you just assumed I would hurt her?”

“Well, it was kind of hard not to, Kenny!” Adam argued. “Do you know how many times Alex came crying to me over you last year? And I don’t mean complaining or whining—I mean full-blown fucking crying. There were times I wanted to deck you in the fucking face for how you treated her.”

“I know!” Kenny burst. “You don’t need to remind me about how fucking shitty I treated her!”

“Then why are you so surprised that I was concerned about it happening again? She’s one of my closest friends, Kenny!”

“Yeah, well I’m in love with her, Adam!”

The room went instantly quiet. Adam, Matt, and Nick all stared at Kenny in open-mouthed shock. “What?” Matt said.

Kenny ran a hand over his face, fully realizing what he’d just said. It had just come out—and he didn’t want to talk about it. “Forget it,” he quickly breathed. “I’m gonna take a shower.” He walked over to his bag, grabbed his things, and retreated into the bathroom before any of them could ask anything else. It wasn’t that he’d shocked himself with what he’d said. He’d known for weeks that he was in love with Alex. Five weeks, to be specific; he’d known it the moment she’d walked out of his hotel room after she’d admitted her feelings for Cash. But this was the first time he’d admitted how he felt out loud—and now that he had, he was worried it was too late.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Thanks for meeting me.” Alex looked down into her beer as she sat across from Callie in a booth at the hotel bar. “I actually really appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Callie returned as she stirred her straw in her cocktail. “I’m not gonna lie, though—I was surprised I was the one you asked.”

Alex laughed wryly to herself. She was a little surprised, too. But, somehow, Adam’s cookout scheme had actually worked. She and Callie weren’t best friends, but they’d grown on each other over the last five weeks. And honestly? It was nice. “Well, I didn’t want to go to Adam because he’s probably sick to death of hearing about my guy problems. And I didn’t want to go to Trent or James because they’re not good with this stuff, and I definitely didn’t want to go to Chuck now that I know he actually was in love with me at one point. And Kris is out injured so… honestly, you were my sixth-string pick of who to talk to.”

She smirked. Callie playfully rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky this drink is good,” she returned.

Alex’s grin grew wider; but it quickly faded. “Speaking of drinks… I can’t fucking believe Cash and Dax did that to Kenny.”

Callie frowned. “Is this your first fight with Cash?”

She just nodded. She and Cash had only been official for three weeks now—it seemed way too soon for them to have their first fight. But he’d poured beer on Kenny’s head. If it had been anyone else, she probably wouldn’t have cared. But Cash knew damn well she’d picked him over Kenny. Because of that, his and Dax’s stunt was a step too far.

“Well, you have every right to be upset,” Callie said. “It was a jerk move to begin with… and Cash knows your history with Kenny.”

“It’s barely history,” she returned.  “I was sleeping with him five weeks ago.” She ran a frustrated hand through her long dark brown hair. “Did you know he was gonna go out there like that?”

Callie immediately shook her head, her blonde waves moving over her shoulders. “Kenny? No. Neither did Adam. I couldn’t believe he was actually going to have a beer with them.”

“Right? It didn’t make any sense.” She took a sip of her own beer then, but suddenly realized she didn’t want it and pushed it away. It had been the wrong drink to order tonight.

“So I guess you haven’t talked to Cash about it yet?” Callie asked as she eyed Alex’s suitcase next to the booth.

She shook her head. “No. I came straight here from the arena; I haven’t even gone up to our room yet.”

“Well, now might be your chance, then,” Callie said with a glance at the entrance to the bar. Alex turned to follow her line of sight. Cash had walked in. Their eyes connected across the room. She turned back around.

“I guess so,” she breathed.

Callie didn’t say anything in return. The next thing Alex knew, Cash was standing next to the booth. He looked down at her. “Hey. Can we talk?”

She hesitantly bit her lip; but she nodded. Callie knew that was her cue. “I’ll give you two some privacy,” she said as she picked up her drink and stood from the booth. Alex expected Cash to take her place, but he nudged his chin at her.

“Scoot over. Please.”

She slid further into the booth as he sat down next to her. Their legs touched underneath the table. He gripped her thigh. “Are you still mad at me?”

“I’m annoyed with you, yeah,” she admitted as she looked at him. It made him frown.

“I know. I’m sorry. But it’s like Dax said—it was just a rib.”

She rolled her eyes. “It might have seemed like just a rib to you, Cash, but to me it seemed like you were rubbing salt in a wound.”

He looked down at the tabletop. “I know,” he admitted. “I see that now. But I’m surprised by how much it upset you.”

She looked down at her hands, picking at her fingernails. “Well,” she breathed, “I get that you and Dax have your eyes set on the tag titles; I want that for you, too. And I know things will be more tense than average between you and Kenny because of everything that’s happened. But I would really appreciate it if you didn’t make it any more tense or awkward than it already is, Cash. I don’t want our relationship starting out with that… bad juju hanging over it.”

He squeezed her thigh. “I don’t either,” he said. “You’re right—it was a step too far tonight. I apologize for that. The last thing I want to do is make things worse on you.”

He looked into her eyes. It was obvious by the earnest look on his face that he meant every word. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m still not happy about it, but… I know it wasn’t intentional.”

He smiled. “Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. “I don’t ever want to upset you like that, sweetheart.”

A frown tugged at her lips. “This was our first fight.”

“I know. But hey.” He brushed her hair over her shoulder and said into her ear, “Now we get to have makeup sex.”

A pleasant tingle ran up her spine as he kissed her neck. Makeup sex was definitely a silver lining of the situation. “You better bring your A game, then,” she teased.

“Please, you know I always do. You certainly didn’t complain last night. Or this morning.”

Alex bit her lip. They needed to get to the room—now. “Well, you can start by taking my bag to our room.”

He smirked. “Yes, ma’am.” He stood from the booth and offered her his hand as he grabbed her suitcase. Alex took it, interlacing their fingers together. It was less than ideal to start off her relationship with her new boyfriend while he was literally feuding with her “ex.” But, judging by how good her hand felt in Cash’s as he led her up to the room, she was hopeful that they’d get through it.

* * * * * * * * * *

“That was quick,” Adam said when Callie walked back into their room, obviously surprised she was back so soon. She hadn’t even been gone for ten minutes.

“Yeah well, Cash showed up and asked to talk to her, so I figured I should leave them to it,” Callie explained. She joined him on the bed and snuggled against his side, wrapping her arm around his middle. He hugged her close.

“I’m glad you two are getting along. It seems like you’re even becoming friends?”

She looked up at him. “She called me her sixth-string pick of who to talk to.”

“Ha!” he let out a loud burst of laughter. “Sorry,” he quickly said. “That’s kinda funny.”

Callie smirked despite herself as she rested her head back on his chest. But it faded as her thoughts turned to her conversation with Alex. “I don’t know what I’m more shocked by—that FTR did that to Kenny or that Kenny was honestly going to have a drink with them.”

Adam shook his head. “I don’t know what Kenny was thinking. I don’t think he was, to be honest.”

“Probably not,” Callie agreed. “Matt and Nick told me he was pretty heated afterward. They said he kicked a chair across the room.”

There was a pause. And then Adam asked, “Is that all they told you?”

She looked up at him again. “Yeah… why? Did something else happen?”

He drew in a deep breath, causing her head to rise with his chest. “Oh, something else happened, alright.”

Callie sat up and looked at him then, equal parts concerned and curious. “What?” she asked. She couldn’t have predicted what Adam said next.

“Kenny said he’s in love with Alex.”

Her mouth dropped. “What?” she repeated. “When? How?”

“Right after the thing with FTR happened,” he said. “I went to the locker room because I had a feeling I’d have to diffuse the situation. But then Kenny and I started yelling at each other about Alex… and he just spit it out.”

Callie’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it. “Do you think he meant it?”

Adam nodded. “Yeah. I mean, he shut down the conversation after he said it but… he definitely meant it.”

“Wow,” Callie breathed. She was stunned. She knew Kenny cared for Alex—but love? And now, after she’d already chosen Cash? “Well, I guess it’s good that he admitted it, but… Alex seems really happy with Cash. Well, not tonight. But in general.”

Adam let his head fall back against the headboard. “Yeah,” he breathed. “She does.”

Callie’s brow furrowed. He looked upset. “What’s wrong?”

He sighed again. “I just… I’m responsible for Cash and Alex getting together. I literally told Alex that I thought Cash would be better for her than Kenny. And now that I know how Kenny feels... I don’t know. I feel guilty.”

“No,” Callie immediately soothed, shaking her head. “So what if you said that? You were just looking out for your friend, Adam. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.”

He frowned at her. “I went behind Kenny’s back, Cal.”

She pouted. He really did look guilty—and she wanted to make it better. “Don’t beat yourself up about it,” she said, rubbing her hand over his chest. “Kenny made his bed by hurting Alex the first time, and now he has to lie in it. That’s not your fault. So stop worrying about it…” She trailed off and placed kisses along his jaw leading up to his ear. She nibbled his earlobe.

“Mm,” he hummed. “Are you trying to distract me?”

She smirked. “Is it working?”

He growled deep in his chest as she nipped his ear again. “Go get in the shower,” he ordered.

Callie didn’t need to be told twice. She jumped off the bed and hurried into the bathroom. Adam wasn’t far behind. If there was anything he could use right now, it was a distraction.

[wakaoujisenhime]

OMG! Now you are the best writer in my heart! I'm crying because your writing is so wonderful! Headcanons about Kise and Aomine are so soft! I in love with them! May I ask scenario about Kise female best friend who helps Kaijo boys (if you read Replace novel, you know their problems) with group date preparation.

A/N: I remember that being one of my favorite chapters, so thank you for the cute request! I’ve also decided to change the scenario up a little and have Kise’s best friend help them out after seeing them fail the first time & I tried something ‘special’ featuring Kise, so I hope you like it! ( ᵘ ꒳ ᵘ )

Tags: Kaijo x reader ✅  SFW ✅  friendship ✅  fluff ✅

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

Summer school festival - Kaijo x reader

You were just about to leave school, take the bus back home, and end this tiring schoolday as your phone suddenly began vibrating. One look at the screen was enough to cheer you up.

“Kise, what’s up? It’s quite rare of you to call me...something wrong?”

“(Y/N)-cchi, I know this may come as a surprise to you, but I’ll need your help with something.“

——

“Damn it Kise what are we waiting for now?!“

The five stars of the Kaijo basketball club had all gathered at the main entrance of their school, planning on going to pick up girls. The idea originated from Moriyama, who had proudly stated that summer supposedly was the best time for festivities and ideally those activities are meant for pairs. So today’s mission was to look for a crowded place and try to get to know as many girls as possible...and that’s where you come in.

Your friend already had some suspicions considering his teammates, since they didn’t have that many skills in such flirty situations. He knew that some of them - Kasamatsu and Hatakawa - had no experience whatsoever with girls while others - Moriyama and Kobori - were just having some light problems they needed help with.

The others were slowly getting impatient and intended on leaving for the station and just as they had set foot past the main gates, the basketball club ran into you.

“(Y/N)-cchi, there you are!”, shouted the yellow-haired man as a bright grin adorned his features. He ran up to you and wrapped his arms around your body, signalizing just how happy he was to see you.

Wordlessly you returned his hug and patted his back, your eyes though were fixated on the men behind him.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?”, asked Moriyama gently.

As gentle as you could, you escaped your best friend’s arms and bowed to the other four.

“My name is (Y/N) (L/N). It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet the rumored Kaijo basketball club personally.”

Only the tall man who had asked for an introduction answered, while all the others just nodded or didn’t say anything at all.

Hm...were they always so cold? They appear so talkative on the court, but in person, they seem quite distant...

“So uhm...Miss (L/N)...what are you here for exactly, if I may ask.”

The young man who uttered that question was quite tall and slim, had spiky brown hair but nonetheless appeared to be a nice person deep down. You actually appreciated what he’d asked since you had been wondering the exact same thing all the way to this school, but before you could even answer the man next to you took the initiative.

“I invited her to come with us!”

“You did what?!”

——

On your way to the station, Kise had explained the entire situation to you and his teammates.

In summary, this man truly believed that you would prove to be the best teacher and helper for them to overcome their inexperience and fear of women, and in order for you to get a good picture of their current standpoint, you had to watch them try and pick up girls.

Honestly speaking, it wasn’t the best idea, but it was so ‘Kise-like’ that even if you wanted to, you couldn’t refuse. His nice personality that made sure to always help people out is one of the many qualities that made you so fond of him.

So here you were, looking at five determined young men, raring to go out there and find their potential counterpart.

That was the plan at least...

Half an hour had passed during which three of them had taken turns in trying to talk to some random girls, one of them even tried speaking to the same woman who had dumped his teammate some minutes ago. Now just the captain and Kise were the only ones missing, but if there was one thing you knew and expected then it was for your best friend to actually steal the entire show and win over five or more girls at the same time, so before that happened you wanted to at least see just what kind of problem the man, who proudly wore the number 4 on his back, was trying to resolve. So instead of standing there and wondering on your own, you decided to just straight out ask him, but the moment he saw you approaching, he froze up.

After such a crushing defeat, the blond took it upon himself to initiate a second try and managed to invite five girls to join him and his teammates for a cup of tea. During their time at the coffee shop, you had taken a seat on a table for two which was close enough to theirs, listening and as subtly as possible observing the team’s behavior...

“You guys are hopeless as of right now”, you stated after everyone had gathered close to the fountain once again, “...but if the four of you are willing to overcome your current issues, I might have some tips ready.”

“(Y/N)-cchi, it’s so unfair that you only want to help them! What about me?”, complained Kise with his typical pouting grimace. It took you quite some time to get used to it and become immune, but at times like this, it really did pay off. Convincing this man was another problem you had to fully master, so you chose your words as carefully as you could, explaining that he didn’t need that much advice as the others.

On your way back home, you recalled today’s events with a small smile on your face.

Alright, if I remember correctly there was one very handsome and tall guy, who failed because he instantly started talking about how meeting that young girl was his destiny.

Then we had the other one who straight out asked one of them if they wanted some tea...great pickup line, huh?

There was also a loud but cute one who aske-...screamed at the same girl that rejected the spiky-haired one...

The captain, Kasamatsu I believe was so embarrassed and impressed with the chest size of that one girl at the cafe that he straight out said ‘oppai’ instead of ‘kanpai’...

After giggling to yourself you began thinking of possible ways to actually help them out, but you were quick to notice that this might become a greater challenge than expected. There were countless possibilities for dates or places where they could meet girls, but you didn’t know what the perfect scenario might be.

Suddenly your phone vibrated in your pocket and as you looked at the message you had just received, an idea you urgently needed to share with your best friend struck you almost immediately.

——

The rest of the week passed by in a flash and before any of you knew it, the day of your school’s festival had finally arrived.

“Miss (Y/N) hello.“, greeted Moriyama as soon as the five of them had met up with you at the promised spot. As soon as you saw that all of them had dressed up, you immediately began smiling to yourself, hoping that they wouldn’t notice the faint blush that adorned your cheeks.

“Good evening everyone, I’m glad to see that you guys found the way without any problems!“

It didn’t take Kise too long to run up to you and start complaining about how you’ve left him in the dark and ignored all his messages and questions concerning today’s plans. All you could do was pat his head and apologize for it.

“I know I shouldn’t have kept it hidden from you, but I figured it would be best if I told you guys about my plan today, so I could spare you from overthinking it too much.“

“That’s so nice of you, thank you very much!! We’ll be in your care tonight!!“, yelled the young man whom you remembered as Hayakawa and bowed to you multiple times, the action earning him a lot of curious glances from your classmates who passed by. It did take you some time to actually get him to stop his formal apology and you even got help from someone quite unexpected, namely Kasamtasu.

So he can do it if he wants to...

“Alright then, let me tell you guys what I came up with“, you began and lowered your voice, “some of my classmates are actually quite interested in basketball and as they heard that I know Kise they immediately started asking me if I could introduce them to him, but that wish extended the moment he joined Kaijo...and soon they wanted me to introduce you to them as well.“

The more you elaborated the more they understood in which direction this talk was headed, as for their thoughts...they varied, but out of respect to you they remained silent and kept on listening.

“So the moment my classmate reminded of today, I figured: why not invite you guys and finally introduce you to them.”

Kobori nodded slowly and placed a finger on his chin: ”That might actually work out...”

You smiled confidently and put your hands on your hips, striking a slight victory pose. “Oh, it will, since your interest and knowledge in basketball will be of great aid and advantage, since a lot of girls these days are really fond of you basketball players. And besides...have you actually noticed something peculiar?”

“Something peculiar you say..?”, repeated Moriyama who looked around, wondering just what you could possibly mean with that.

“Well compared to the girls at the station, you can actually talk pretty normal to me, right?“

The moment realization hit them several loud and surprised ‘oh’s escaped their mouths.

“Fact is that the four of you have no real problem talking with girls...your approaches are the main reason for concern.”

You turned to Hayakawa and began listing the results of your observations as well as giving them individual advice for the planned ‘group date’ that was about to follow.

Hayakawa, an ambitious young man who didn’t know how to tame his loud personality as well as his obvious love for the ball sport. That eagerness and dedication is actually quite the positive character trait a lot of women look for in a man, so his only obstacle would be to slowly drift off from basketball as a topic and strive for one which was more centered on the romantic life. So the advice you gave him was that he should begin imagining the date as some sort of basketball game. He - the player - had to somehow maneuver his way to the hoop which was the successful date or conversation, the girl would be the ball, and the enemies that try to block his way his passion for basketball.

Kobori, a really respectful and innocent young man who has no experience whatsoever and knows almost nothing about girls or pickup lines. Someone like that is quite rare to find and even if he may see it as some kind of disadvantage, you first and foremost reassured him that his ‘pureness’ is quite beneficial for girls who were in the same situation as him. It’s better to be unexperienced together and advance as a pair than solo. Your advice? ‘Be yourself and don’t be embarrassed to state that you’ve got no experience at all since that alone is commendable enough considering your age, looks, and club affinity.’    

Moriyama, the ‘pitiful handsome guy’ who believed that every encounter with the female gender was fated and destined for greatness. His nickname already gave anyone who witnessed his way of flirting a sufficient idea of what the problem with this man might be. He had the looks and gentleness for it, but the moment he opened his mouth it all went downhill for him, his conversation partner, and the success of the dialog. It was hard to give him advice since the idea of fateful meetings was deeply rooted in his head, so all you told him was that he should bring that topic up more subtly and maybe combine fate with some pickup lines since you had no doubt that if someone could pull off such cheesy sayings then that would be him.

Last but not least Kasamatsu the captain who barely managed a single word when women were around. For some unknown reason, he seemed afraid of the female kind, but he at least knew what he wanted, and back at the cafe he also proved to be somewhat capable of expressing that. So your advice to him was to actually let his actions speak for himself. Like that he’d get somewhat accustomed to the girl’s presence and that would make it easier for him to start a conversation, additionally, the fact that your classmates were also interested in basketball would help the captain out the most.  

As for Kise, well...he was your best friend, and during all these shared years of friendship you’ve pretty much told him everything concerning ‘problems’ he might have during such group dates. He was a desired and flashy young man who had a very unique sense of humor that was well received amongst his peers - female as well as male. The only problem was that he rarely managed to concentrate on one person and that, of course, hurt his conversation partner. Your advice to him was simple: turn your back to the crowd and face her and her alone.

After you had finally finished sharing your thoughts they all looked at you with wide, impressed, and somewhat loving eyes.

Sadly the group of girls came earlier than expected so the boys couldn’t manage to thank you properly, but you didn’t mind that and just sent them off with a smile on your face, hoping they’d have a good time and finally succeed in picking up girls. You couldn’t deny the fact that you felt lonely after literally sending off five people on a date with some other female students, but that loneliness soon perished as some moments later you heard a familiar voice calling out your name...  

[artificial-daydream]

Audacious

Rating: T Fandom: Bleach (Ichigo x Rukia) Summary: The way this orange-haired random guy smirked at each of her peculiar habits that definitely defeats the norms of college life shows it might be not so bad to actually agree with the date. Maybe.

Notes: Based on this otp prompt I saw but couldn’t find the post anywhere?? Please do tell me if you were the one who created this prompt or if anyone does know which blog was it so I can credit the person properly. Also posted this on my ao3.

When Byakuya insisted on buying her a unit on Seireitei Apartment rather than renting on the dormitory, Rukia had confidently claimed she preferred the latter. What was the point on trying to live normally if she was buying the most expensive residence in the whole district?

The first thing she thought on her eighteenth birthday was fucking finally. She had the opportunity to leave Kuchiki mansion and decide her own life for the very first time. Moreover, she had prepped herself so much about this. Rukia was very sure she had the common ethics of non-nobles memorized.

However, she soon realized the books covered barely nothing about college.

Her hair was tied into a messy bun; tangled strands were kept in bay with the ugliest scrunchie she kept for the last five years. Her eyebags were so palpable she could feel it weighing down below her eyes. The first week living on her own and she already had her seventh cups of coffee. It was barely Wednesday.

There were downsides on living as a normal college student, Rukia concludes. The most common things she could list were the rushed deadlines, the mountain-sized projects, and old professors rambling how youngsters have it easy these days while yet again, giving them more preps.

It didn’t bother her as much, surprisingly. She liked how she could stay all night working on her papers, it was better than learning etiquette on how to be a proper lady. Her professors were also far better off on their lectures compared to the elders back home. She definitely could get used to all of this. Slowly, but surely.

The first thing she most likely had to get used to was the room upstairs having very loud sex which leaves her hanging out for coffee in the kitchen every 2 AM.

Recalling the noise she heard barely twenty minutes ago, Rukia scrunches her face in disgust. She wouldn’t mind as much if they weren’t reciting every detail of their activities. By now, she had their routine memorized- no, stop. Bad brain.

Rukia groaned, she had another one hour and forty-five minutes to spend in the kitchen until the tenant upstairs finally remembered they were not wild animals supported with infinite stamina. Apparently, she has to follow their sleeping schedule if she wants to get any rest at all.

These past days, she would just bring all her papers and study to spend her time alone. However today, right the second she had finished all of them, her phone decided it was the best time to signal its low battery and die. With nothing left to do, she just entertains herself with caffeine and staring in a daze. She swears the floor starts to look like it’s inviting her to take a nap on it.

Her decision was put into an immediate halt, however, once she heard other footsteps coming along towards the kitchen. Huh, how strange. These past two days, she never encountered any other person. Everyone seemed able to stay calmly in their own rooms. She thought the weird one was her; that maybe she was just too used with the silence in Kuchiki mansion so she couldn’t stand the disturbing sound upstairs. Perhaps the person brings a phone charger that I can borrow.

Once the sounds of footsteps got even clearer, the first thing Rukia recognized was orange spikes. Then she darted her attention downwards and were met with furrowed eyebrows and half opened lidded eyes. The person was wearing the deepest scowl she had ever seen with his hand ruffling his hair in a look of annoyance. Looking at first glance, Rukia could only come up with one conclusion.

“They woke you up too, didn’t they?” Now don’t misunderstand her. Rukia is not the type to strike out conversations, especially with a total stranger. However, she was driving insane keeping herself awake and god forbids the floor looks so comfortable- she just had to distract her attention somewhere.

It took two good seconds before the uninvited guest blinked his eyes, as if still registering her words with his half-awake brain. “How long have you hung here?”

Rukia shrugs, “about twenty minutes.”

“Wow.”

The short talk ended uneventfully. The next thing Rukia knew, the random person just walked towards the fridge, opening it and scanning it as if looking for something, then frowning before closing it again without taking anything out. Rukia raised an eyebrow at his action, decided not to question it before sipping on her coffee and minding her own business. The peace ended shortly though, with the man suddenly sat across her and folded his arms, decided to create another conversation.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Rukia blinks, unsure of how to respond with his sudden conclusion. “How did you come up with that?”

He smirks, “Either that, or you just don’t give a fuck. Nobody hangs out here anymore after Senna raided the place to make out with different partners every week.”

Rukia scrunched her face in pure disgusts. “What is up with college students deciding to make out in every corner of the dorm?”

“So, you’re new then.” He affirmed. “Name’s Ichigo, by the way,” He offered his hand as he introduced himself, which Rukia gratefully accepted.

“Rukia,” she responded, “and why are you here if you knew about it?”

The man called Ichigo shrugs, “I left my coffee sachets here last Friday, but apparently it’s all gone,” he explained, palpably confused, “which is strange because I had seven packs of them; maybe somebody mistook it as theirs?”

Rukia blinks. The coffees were not from the dorms? Her heads turned to look at her cup of coffee before looking back at the orange haired man with a sheepish smile, “Is that coffee brand, by chance, Soul Society?”

Ichigo furrows his eyebrows, “How did you- hold up,” he paused as he looked at her cup, eyeing it suspiciously before staring back at her, “don’t tell me you were-?”

“Unintentionally,” she quickly defended, “I had no idea it was yours. I thought the dorm provided it for students’ late night's study sessions.”

“What kind of dorm supplies something like that?” Ichigo scoffed, eyes staring at her amusedly.

Rukia bit the inside of her mouth, attempting not to counter back as she embarrassedly cleared her throat. How the hell was she supposed to know? Hotels usually provide stuffs like that, right? So she just assumed it was public common sense. Albeit, this was her mistake to begin with. She shouldn’t have jumped into conclusions.

She took a deep breath. “I apologize, I will repay you immediately. Tomorrow, I promise.” She emphasized, not wanting to be labeled as a coffee thief the first week of her stay.

“Sure,” he coolly agreed, “pay me back tomorrow by Urahara’s at nine?”

Rukia stills, “Excuse me?”

“You’re buying coffee, right?”

“Well, yeah,” she deadpanned, “I was thinking somewhere along coffee packets. You know, one with similar brand and flavor preference.”

Ichigo snorts, “You’re repaying seven packs with one strike. Don’t I get to name the repayment?”

“Fair enough.” Rukia calculatedly stated, eyes still looking at him purposefully. She raises an eyebrow, “Just to make this clear; are you asking me out?”

“If you put it that way,” he answered with no hesitation, one hand hidden inside his pocket and for Chappy’s sake what is it with boys and their tendencies to hide their hands in their pockets? He shrugs, “Unless you don’t want it to be.”

“I don’t mind in particular,” Rukia wouldn’t lie, he is attractive. It was one date, which definitely won’t hurt anybody. And the way this orange haired random guy smirked at each of her peculiar habits that definitely defeats the norms of college life shows it maybe not so bad to actually agree with the casual agreement. “Can you make it to ten, though? I still have class by nine.”

“Deal.”

Maybe.

[homogrimoire]

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

Fair Game Week 2020: Day 5 - Hurt / Comfort

Read it on AO3 here.

Atlas had successfully defended against Salem’s attack, so naturally, a victory celebration scheduled for the next week. In the face of such an evil, people needed to be reminded of all the good things in the world that they were protecting. It was just a day for everyone to let loose and live life before having to go back to Atlesian monotony, which meant everyone was really going to let loose. And thankfully, the next day was also given off so that people could recuperate from the reverie of the previous day. Most citizens were free to spend the two days as they pleased, leaving For the students, a makeshift school dance was in preparation.

A little birdy told Clover that the kids were going, and Qrow would be there as a chaperone. The little birdy also told Clover that Ironwood had to beg Qrow to be a chaperone. Qrow was going to go anyways, but he liked messing around with Ironwood. To Clover, it was a very funny thing to imagine. The only other chaperones were Winter, Robyn, who lost a bet with her sister, and Ironwood himself. Of course, with nothing better to do, Clover volunteered to join the other brave adults who dared to attempt to control a group of teenagers. While many students opted to spend time with their families, some chose to party at their academy. Despite this, the dance would still be a decent size, so Clover’s “sacrifice,” as his team called it, was greatly appreciated by the other adults at the party. Clover didn’t really think of it as such. The way he saw it, it was a way to spend more time with Qrow. Over the months they spent together, Clover had developed a serious crush. It didn’t start out as such, though. Clover remembers the exact moment he realized he had fallen in love with Qrow. It began during their trip back from a supply run where he and Qrow were joined by Jaune and Ren. 

-

“And so, our boy’s night out comes to its end.” Jaune exhaled dejectedly. 

“No one said it has to end.” Qrow said with a grin. Jaune’s face immediately lit up.

“You mean ─!” He beamed.

“Well, it is the last mission of the day for all of us, and the sun’s barely setting. If you two,” Qrow said as he  referred to Ren and Clover, “don’t have plans, we could have some fun and see where the night takes us.”

“I don't have any important plans, so count me in.” Clover did have a reservation for a training room, but that hardly counted as important compared to living his life and spending time with Qrow and his kids. 

“And how about you, Ren? Are you gonna come, or do you have a hot date waiting for you?” Jaune asked as he nudged Ren, alluding to Ren and Nora’s new development in their relationship. 

“Actually, kinda. Me and Nora are going to spar later to develop our synergy more.” 

“Aww...” Poor Jaune deflated like a balloon.

“Don’t get too sad about it. It’s not like I’d know what to do anyways.” Immediately, the three of them looked at Ren, shock and concern in their eyes.

“Jaune.” Qrow ordered.

“On it.” He said as he pulled out his scroll. A mere moment later, Ren’s scroll rang. Before answering the call, he made sure to keep it a reasonable distance from his ears. 

“RENNNN!” Nora’s thunderous voice wailed. In the background, sounds of violence could be heard.

“Yes, Nora?” Ren moved the phone closer to his ear.

“Why didn’t you tell me you guys were planning a boys night out?!” The sounds of Yang screaming and grimm dying could be heard as Nora herself grunted in between words.

“It kind of came up just right now.”

“Well ─ Hold on a moment, would you?” From the other side of the line, her warrior’s cry could be heard, followed by the sound of multiple grimm having their armor and bones shattered. “Sorry about that,” she laughed, “but Ren, you should go and have some fun. Besides, we need a break from training. Oh! This gives me an idea! HEY!!! YANG!!!” A distant “what” could be heard. “WANNA HAVE A GIRLS NIGHT!!!” After the sound of a yell and a whimpering grimm, a “sure” was heard. “Nice! Alright, well bye! Love you!!!” Just before the call disconnected, the sound of a structure falling and roaring grimm through were heard.

“Are they ─” Clover looked concerned.

“They’ll be fine.” Ren assured without a drop of worry as he nodded his head. “Well, I guess we should pick up Oscar then.” Picking up Oscar proved to be a wise move. It gave them some time to think about where they could start their night. They were mostly drawing blanks, knowing so little about the area. Qrow mostly just knew about the location of some bars, but those obviously weren’t even going to be considered. So, Qrow asked the local “Lucky Charm” if he knew any good places to begin their night. Lucky for Qrow, he did. However, much to their dismay, Clover decided to keep where they were going a secret, except to Qrow. It made Clover’s heart skip a beat when he saw Qrow’s face lit up. And, needless to say, they all had a fun night. It was the break they needed from all their time working. By the time they got back, they were tired, and the girls were still out, likely having their fun. They said their goodbyes as they parted ways to their respective dorms, Qrow walking with the kids to theirs first. About part of the way to his residence, Clover turned around, deciding that he’d rather spend a bit more time with Qrow rather than just shower and go to sleep. Just before he rounded a corner, he heard Qrow and the kids talking, and stopped. He didn’t want to interrupt. However, despite knowing that he should give them their privacy, he stayed just around the corner, out of sight.

“I guess, what we’re trying to say is, thanks Qrow. We really do appreciate all the stuff you’ve done for us, and we’re proud of you too.” said Ren. Qrow really does have some good kids Clover thought.

“Well, I should thank you kids too. You all helped me a lot too.” To Clover, it sounded like Qrow was on the verge of shedding a tear. 

“Group hug?” asked Oscar, opening his arms.

“Group hug.” Qrow replied, opening his arms As they hugged, Clover could hear Jaune sniffling. Clover was undoubtedly happy for Qrow, but in the moment, he could also not help but feel his own loneliness wash over him. 

“Alright, that's enough.” Qrow laughed after the hug broke off. “I don’t want you kids making me go soft. I’ve got an image to maintain.” The boys laughed a little. “Welp, we should all go and get some sleep now. Good night kids.” Clover could hear his footsteps as he walked away as he walked away.

“Night Uncle Qrow.” the kids said in unison as they chuckled. Uncle Qrow? That's new. Of course Clover was happy that Qrow had people that cared about him so much, yet, he could also feel his loneliness consuming him even more. Normally, he didn’t mind the loneliness, but knowing that he was missing out on stuff like that always seemed to get him, showing no mercy and going straight for his heart. 

“You two can go on without me. I’m gonna go check on Nora. Apparently, their idea of a fun night is a free for all in the training room. They even got Winter and some other students to join. I can only imagine the carnage.” Crap! The way to the large training room they were in involved some backtracking from where they were, which meant Ren was going down the hall and around the corner where Clover was. He had to act natural. He didn’t want it to seem like he was purposely eavesdropping. He heard Jaune and Oscar’s footsteps as they faded away, and Ren’s as they got closer and closer. Just as he was about to make his move, heard Ren speak up. 

“I know you’re there.” Bested, he walked out from behind the corner.

“You’re pretty perceptive. I’m impressed.”

“Why were you there?” Ren asked, the question free of any malice. Clover sighed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything. I just decided that I’d rather spend some more time with Qrow, so I came this way to find him, but then I accidentally walked in on your guys’ conversation. Uh, sorry, again.” Clover felt rather embarrassed.

“You didn’t mean any harm. It’s alright. But, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Oh boy…

“Do you… like Qrow?” Oh, that’s not so bad.

“Of course I like him. He’s my friend.”

“I mean, do you like like him?” Oh fuck. Clover could feel his face getting hotter as he tried to get out an answer, but ended up stammering. “I’m sorry if I’m just being too straight forward. I know I’m not the best with emotions, so I just want to know if Qrow will be in good hands.” Heh. Qrow doesn’t know how lucky he really is. Well, it’s not luck, its just what he deserves. 

“I think...” Clover thinks back on his time with Qrow, from their shared jokes, to seeing him grow to accept himself little by little, and to seeing him adore the kids, and the kids look up to him. “I think I do love him.” He leaned against the wall, coming to terms with the realization.

“Good.” With that, Ren left him to think about his newfound love for Qrow.

-

Clover knew his days with Qrow were numbered, so he wanted to share as much time with him as possible. Eventually, Qrow and his kids would leave for Vacuo, and he would stay in Atlas, alone once more. So, he looked forward to the day of the dance. He decided that it would be the day he would tell Qrow how he felt. If all went as he hoped, they would share the last dance. Clover was an optimistic, that that didn’t mean he couldn’t be realistic. He still considered the possibility that Qrow could turn him down, for either not feeling that he was ready for a serious relationship, or not reciprocating the feelings. The former, he could live with. It meant he still had a chance and that Qrow probably did like him too. That latter, he feared. If it came to that outcome, he just hoped they could still be friends.

-

As the days leading up to the dance had come and gone, he began to feel more and more confident. After all, the man flirted back with him all the time, at least, he was very sure it was flirting. Then there was his brief talk with Ren. From what Clover had heard, he didn’t even realize at all that his lifelong friend had a crush on him until she kissed him. Since, he was slowly getting better at understanding emotions. So, if even Ren noticed that Clover had feelings for Qrow, then everyone else definitely knew, which was a bit mortifying to Clover. He didn’t want the cat out of the bag too early. And then there was his response when Clover told him he loved Qrow. Good.  Not a You’re wasting your time, or a Qrow deserves better than you, but a simple Good.  Ren was an honest and good kid. If he knew either of those things were true, he would have told Clover. He didn’t, and, in a sense, basically told Clover that Qrow liked, even loved, him back. It was also kind of like Ren told him that he approved of him, which made Clover very happy. If he had Ren’s approval, he probably had the approval of the other kids too. The quickest way to know you can have a man’s heart is if his kids approve of you. his father would tell him. If he doesn’t have any kids, then have some kids with him and see if they approve of you. That worked out fine for me. His pa was funny, but Clover knew he had his dad’s sense of humor. 

The night of the dance Clover made sure not even a hair was out of place. He also mentally prepared himself for what would transpire. He had no doubt that Qrow would accept his love and the dance now, he just needed to prepare himself. It was a major thing he was doing. After checking his hair one last time, he made his way to the ballroom. Clover was guarding the punch bowl as Qrow arrived with the kids, Ruby eagerly dragging him along. Clover admired the man as he walked in. He was standing tall now, as opposed to the hunched over posture he would hold when he first arrived. And of course, he looked as stunning as ever. Hot, great with kids, amazing personality, and literally one of the best huntsmen to have ever lived. He was the whole package. How could Clover not fall in love with him? Qrow then split from the kids as they went do their own things, and made his way over to Clover.

“Hey there hot stuff.” Clover winked. He poured himself another cup of the punch and took a drink. It tasted all right, but as to be expected of a school dance planned on such short notice.

“You’re pretty easy on the eyes yourself Lucky Charm.”

“Mmm, approval from Remnant’s finest. Lucky me.” Clover smiled as Qrow laughed at his joke. It made him excited for what was to come. As the night progressed, they continued chatting and joking as usual. If anyone asked Clover if he was being more flirty than usual, he would have said yes. Qrow was laughing as he told Clover about what went down in the Girl’s Free For All Night. As Ruby told him, Winter was suspected of helping Weiss, so Yang called her out and they began fighting. Ruby had called out “Big Sister Fight!,” which caught everyone’s attention. Everyone picked a side and began chanting “Big Sister Fight! Big sister Fight!” Upon hearing those words, one of the girls literally threw her own big sister into the mix, who Yang caught and threw at Winter. It was determined a tie, but Qrow was proud nonetheless.

“They grow up so fast.” Qrow said as he wiped away an imaginary tear, making Clover chuckle. “I remember my first fight with Atlas personnel like it was yesterday. It was back when Jimmy first joined Ozpin’s circle. This might come as a surprise to you, but we disagreed on a lot of things.” Qrow joked. “We butted heads a lot more then, so one day, we were both at each other’s necks, and Oz told us to take our problem out to the arena. We did, and I won.” Qrow said proudly.

“I’d LOVE to hear that story.” Clover shouted as he slung his arm around Qrow, his drink sloshing around. His volume caught Qrow a bit off guard, but he didn’t notice. Before he could respond, Yang called for her uncle to join them on the dance floor, wanting to see his “legendary” dance moves. Unsurprisingly, he agreed.

“Wanna show them how it’s done, Boy Scout?” Qrow asked.

“No thanks. *hic* I’m good. We need our forces to be spread out anyways! Can’t let these kids have too much fun, now can we?” 

“If you say so.” Qrow shrugged, and went off to put the kids in their place. Clover watched Qrow as he put everyone else to shame with his moves. Every now and then, he would partner up with one of the kids for a real show stopper, leaving them giddy. That went on for about an hour. The man certainly had excellent stamina. At the end of a combo with Nora, she loudly proclaimed him her Uncle Qrow and gave him a tight hug, lifting him off the round, which caused him to beam proudly. Meanwhile, Clover was still standing back, keeping his eyes on Qrow as he drank more of the punch. They all look so happy. Clover smiled. He thought that if, just if, Qrow turned him down later, he wouldn’t mind too much. As long as I can see him happy. It won’t be so bad anyways. I’ve been alone all along anyways. It won’t be so different. 

“What’s with the long face?” Clover heard, breaking him free of his thoughts.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing.” He didn’t notice that Qrow looked a bit sweaty.

“Are you sure? You don’t seem alright Cloves.”

“I can assure, you, cutie. I am a- *hic* okay.” He stammered out. He moved to lean on the table, but missed it. Fortunately for him, Qrow caught him before he could hit the ground. “Heh, lucky me huh?” Qrow grunted as he picked him up, slinging Clover’s arm over his shoulder. 

“Come on Boy Scout, let’s get you back to your place.” 

“Shouldn’t you take me out on a date first? Not that I’m gonna complain though.” He winked, but it lacked its usual charm

Weiss!” Qrow shouted. “Get your sister to take care of this punch! Someone spiked it! I’ve got Clover to take care of!” Clover felt his heart drop. 

“Will do!”

“Wuh? It’s not spiked! I’ve been watching it like a hawk alll nighT.”

“Someone must have been waiting until you got distracted and did it then.” Qrow wasn’t too surprised. It may have been Atlas, but teens will be teens regardless.

“Well, at least you drank most of it rather than the kids.” Qrow noticed that Clover was still holding onto the cup, which still had some of the alcoholic punch in it. The thought to steal some did not cross his mind. “Here, let me see.” he said, referring to the cup. Clover handed it to him, and he took a sniff. He let out a low whistle. He almost pitied the parent who lost whatever it was the kid dumped in the punch.

“That’s some strong stuff.” he said as he tossed it into a trash can. However a sniffling Clover quickly caught his attention.

“Hey, hey, no need to cry. You're fine.” He cooed softly as he wiped away a tear.

“*sniff* I know, I only *hic* only wanted yOu to have a good night. And now? *sniff*You─ you’ve got to take care of me. Some, sad and lonely guy, who got drunk around the─  the amazing guY, who gave up alcohol *sniff* cold turkey! for his kids! *hic*” 

“Hey! Don't blame yourself. It was an accident. I know you wouldn’t do that to me.” Mentally, Qrow noted to really thank Tai for dealing with his drunkenness for so long. “And if it helps you, I’m grateful that I can at least use my experience being drunk to help you out. It’s nice to know I can use it for something good.” Clover looked up at Qrow. Only he could look divine in the unflattering cold lights of Atlas.

“Thankss Qrow. Means a lot to me.” Clover began to lean on him more, drowsiness evidently kicking in. 

“Well, what are friends for?”

“Yeah… Friends...” Qrow found the sad face he made perplexing. He just chalked it up to the drunkenness. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. They continued the rest of their walk in silence until they reached Clover’s room. By then, he was carrying Clover bridal style as he was too drowsy to walk, even with Qrow’s support. He was obviously trying to keep himself awake. 

“Here we are Cloves.” He got out Clover’s keys, which asked for earlier, and opened the door and walked over to his bed. Clover weakly resisted and murmured, wanting to stay in Qrow’s arms, as he set him down onto his side. After making sure he wouldn’t roll over, he gathered a glass of water and the small trash can that was in the restroom. A side effect of the magic enacted upon him was slightly enhanced night vision, which allowed him to see well enough in the darkness of the room. He could have turned on the lights, but he wanted Clover to be comfortable as much as possible. Placing the trash can by the bed, he gently shook Clover. “Hey, Clover.” It took a moment, but he soon opened his eyes. 

“Yes?”

“Here.” he said, turning on the desk lamp so he could see the water being handed to him. “So you don’t get dehydrated.”

“Thanks.” Clover sat up and downed half of the glass before setting it down on the nightstand. He went back to laying down on his bed. With that, Qrow turned the light off and sat next to the bed on the floor so he could keep Clover in his view. Qrow was beginning to feel a bit tired as well.

“Get some rest now Lucky Charm. I’ll be here if you need me. Good night.”

“Good night. I love you.” 

“Love you too Cloves.” Let’s see if you’ll still love me tomorrow. Clover thought, just before drifting into sleep. Mid-yawn, he realized what they had just said to each other. He looked at Clover to see his reaction, but he was out cold. Qrow wasn’t exactly sure why he said it. It just felt like the natural thing to say. And there goes my sleep. Qrow thought. Sitting there, he wondered if Clover truly meant it. He had been harboring a crush on him for sometime now. He just hadn’t acted upon it. He wasn’t sure how to. His formative years left little room for a serious relationship, and definitely hadn’t taught him to think he was even worthy of love. As a result, his adult years were mostly spent drunk, leaving him still unable to love in such a way, and think he was worthy of such love. Only recently did that change. However, that didn’t mean he would know how to convey those feelings as he would have liked to. Against the odds, he fell asleep in about an hour, still thinking about those few words, and daring to hope they would ring true in the morning. Clover only woke up once, just to drink more water and to go to the restroom. With the alcohol still in his system, Qrow helped him move around. Clover didn’t say anything. Qrow only kept thinking about those words, kept daring to hope. 

-

Come the morning sun, Qrow found himself to be the first to wake. Knowing firsthand what it was like to wake up with a nasty hangover, Qrow went into the small kitchen to see what he could find some eggs and orange juice. He found some eggs, but no juice. He went to check on Clover before texting Ruby to see if she could bring some orange juice from the cafeteria, telling her to take her time since he was still asleep. He was still sound asleep. He got out a frying pan and made some eggs, periodically checking in on Clover. The time tested hangover cure usually involved raw eggs and orange juice, but he didn’t want to risk salmonella, and had the time to cook the eggs anyways. As he was searching the cupboards for pain relief / fever medicine, he heard a groaning, hungover Clover with messy hair walk into the kitchen. 

“Ughhh, what happened last night?” he asked as he rubbed his temples.

“You accidentally got drunk off of some spike punch.”

“I what?” Clover asked quickly, eyes wide from shock. 

“If it’s any consolation, it was some strong stuff they snuck in.” He looks adorable when he’s surprised.

“Oh my gods, Qrow, I am so sorry. I─”

“Calm down Lucky Charm, it’s no big deal. You didn’t mean to get drunk or anything. I will say that you’re pretty lucky that I know a lot about being drunk.” Qrow teased with a smirk. The familiarity of their joking nature with each other helped calm Clover down. “Here. You’ll want this stuff.” He set down a plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of water, along with a pain relief pill to help with the headache. If anyone were to just walk in on Qrow setting down the food with a soft smile and Clover returning the smile, they would have thought it domestic. This did not evade Qrow and Clover’s minds.

It’s like we’re actually dating.

“Thank’s Qrow. Let me just brush my teeth first.”

“No problem. You’d do the same for me, and smart move.” Meanwhile, Qrow thought about last night. “Say, do you... remember anything from last night?” Qrow asked once Clover returned, as  he made some food for himself. For a moment, he tried to remember as far back into the night as he could.

“Last thing I can recall is when you went to dance with kids.” he replied before taking another bite of the food. Except for a dream where I told you I loved you, and you told me that you loved me back. 

“I imagined as much. At least you didn’t throw up. You should consider yourself lucky.”

“It’s probably because of the pretty good luck charm in front of me.” 

“Careful Boy Scout. Keep talking like that, and I just might have to stay the night.” With a single wink, Qrow made Clover’s heart skip a beat. “You know, to make sure the alcohol is out of your system.” 

“Yeah, of course...” Clover hid his sadness well. Figures. However, he couldn’t see the blush that was spreading across Qrow’s face. A knock on the door knocked Clover out of his sad state. “I got it.”

“It should be Ruby.” Qrow told him. “I asked her to bring some orange juice. It’ll help with your hangover.” 

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby exclaimed as she zoomed into the room, latching onto the person who opened the door. She quickly noticed that the man she tackled was, in fact, not her Uncle Qrow.

“Whoops, eh he. Not Uncle Qrow. Sorry about that.” 

“It’s alright Ruby. I’d have to be pretty used to being knocked around by now anyways.” He chuckled. 

“You really should be more careful Ruby. He might have a headache.” Weiss said as she peaked around the corner, trying to keep her voice low. He didn’t expect her to be here, or the rest of her team.

“Lucky for me, I don’t. Your Uncle here’s been taking good care of me.” He said as Ruby helped him up

“Oh, good. I hope you don’t mind if the rest of us then.” Nora said as she peaked through the door. Clover laughed at the small surprise. 

“Nope. The more the merrier, they say. But, uh, sorry it's a bit cramped. This place wasn’t made with so many people in mind.” Clover rubbed the back of his neck, a bit embarrassed. His place wasn’t messy or anything, he was just surprised that all the kids came along. 

“It’s nice to hear that you’re holding up well.” Ren said as he walked in, hiving Clover a quick but knowing glance. 

“Had a real doozy, huh?” Oscar asked. 

“And you should have seen Yang. She went around with Winter to interrogate everyone, trying to find out who spiked the punch.” Blake told him.

“We’ll find ‘em soon enough.” Yang said as she pounded a fist into her palm, causing Blake to laugh.

“I’m sure you and Ice Queen will bring our Boy Scout’s perpetrator to justice, Firecracker. Just don’t go too hard on them though, we need ‘em alive.”

“No promises.” They all laughed. Clover didn’t doubt that she would be merciful, or that Winter would either. 

“You kids ate, right?” Qrow asked.

“Yes Uncle Qrow, we ate. We’re not little kids. We can feed ourselves, you know.” Ruby told him.

“Looks like your Uncle Qrow might actually be a Mother Hen.” The kids laughed.

“Clover! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Qrow said as he tried to hold back his laugh, but he could not hide his smile.

“Which reminds me, here’s the juice Qrow requested for you.” Ren placed the bottle on the table beside his plate. 

“Thanks Ren.”

“You’re welcome.” He replied with a smile. 

“Even if you think you feel better, you should still drink some.”

“I will, my knight in shining armor.” After taking a drink, he did feel better than before. A he put the bottle down. The kids were chatting in the background as Qrow sat across from him, his back towards the kids. He could see Ren, towards the back, motioning him to look at the bottle of orange juice. After briefly scanning it, he noticed the phrase “Tell him!” written discreetly on it. He could feel the temperature rising in his face. Qrow was quick to notice. 

“You good Lucky Charm? Looks like your fever might be stronger than I thought.” Qrow moved his hand to feel Clover’s forehead, which only made him feel even warmer. “Here.” He said, offering a cold glass of water and some more medicine. 

“It’s─ it’s not that.” His heart told him to stop, that he would be fine if he didn’t tell Qrow, that it wouldn’t be able to take it if Qrow rejected him. His mind told him to tell Qrow, that the kids cared for him, that Qrow cared for him, and that his heart would thank him later. 

“”Everyone. I have something to say.” He said as he stood up from his chair. All eyes were on him. He took in a deep breath to calm himself. “Qrow, I...” All the way in the back, Ren was giving him a thumbs up. “I love you.”

“I had a feeling you did.”

“Huh?”

“You told me last night.” Okay, so that wasn’t a dream. That means... Qrow got up from his seat and moved closer to Clover. “I could tell you what I told you” Qrow teased, a blush spreading across his face, “but I’ll do you one better.”  Slowly, he closed the distance between them, bringing their lips closer and closer. Once their lips touched, nothing else seemed to matter in the world at that moment, not Atlas, not the grimm, and not Salem. As they parted, Clover wished they could continue. “I love you too Clover.” Qrow pulled him in for a soft embrace. Somehow, it meant more than the kiss. He felt even more people joining in on the hug. He opened his eyes to see that all the kids had joined in. He noticed that he was crying. However, it was not from sadness. Clover just knew that it felt right, knew that he wouldn’t be alone anymore, and knew that he was loved.

[wordsfromthesol]

Out of Place (3/6)

Author: @wordsfromthesol Pairing: Dick Grayson x Reader Summary: Meeting Dick, and the rest of the batboys.  You’re confused, since you are nowhere near Bludhaven or Gotham. Some tragedies, some battles, etc. Happy ending because I’m a sap. Warnings: Language, blood and torture and other injuries, light smut Word Count: 1.5k A/N: I’m almost finished with the story and hope to post the rest soon.

Part 1   Part 2   Part 4   Part 5   Part 6

You watched vigilantly, while making mindless conversation with some patriarchal asshole. He did most of the talking, so it was easy for you to keep an eye on the boys, even if you weren’t entirely sure what this plan of theirs was. Suddenly, you see a fire fight break out. Fuck. Everyone on the beach was scattering, you lost your cover for being there. You ran over to a nearby tree and climbed. Hoping to stay out of sight, while making sure these two didn’t die. You see John pined to the ground with a sword at his throat. Well I guess that’s where all the cuts came from. Jason was nowhere to be seen. Come on John, get up. You seen the pain grimaced on his face. You knew it was too soon for him to be back in the field. Fuck. I’m so going to regret this. You jumped from your hiding place and rolled onto the ground. The assailant glanced up, unsure of what kind of foe you were. You whipped the gun from your waistband and shot directly at the swordsman’s shoulder. Wincing the figure was thrown backwards just enough that Nightwing was freed. He ran over to you.

“Y/N! What the fuck were you thinking?!”

“That you were going to be killed. It was whelming.” Your lips turned upward into a smirk. “I’m going to go back into hiding now, stay safe!” Without a thought you pecked him on the cheek and ran into the darkness. Climbing a nearby tree, you sat watching the fight unfold once more.

Jason ran over, “Fuck dude, I thought you were a goner. Where the fuck did Y/N come from?”

“I don’t even know. I just hope she’s safe.”

The two turned back to back as six men surrounded them. Thankfully, the two leaguers had taken off. This was not the job they were paid to do. Little did you know; their job was more centered around you than the two vigilantes.

Pulling up to your apartment, you helped John up the stairs. Several of his wounds had reopened. Thankfully, no more life-threatening ones were given. You fixed up both Jason and John and slumped onto the couch.

“Oh Jay,” not even thinking about the nickname you had just given him, “if you want a change of clothes, I bought a few things for John. Ya’ll are about the same size.”

The boys excuse was to go get clean clothes. Though you knew they were probably talking about the mission.

“Jay?” Dick questioned.

“I don’t know, maybe she heard you say it”

“Hmm..mm. Well, the leaguers got away. What do you think they were after?”

“Clearly, not the drugs. Or the gang dealing them.”

“Fuck. This isn’t over is it, Red?”

“’Fraid not Dickiebird”

Jason hopped in the shower, and John plopped on the couch next to you.

“Looks like this thing isn’t over”

“Yeah, I gathered that we the sword freak got away”

“You…you mind if we stay?”

“What kind of nurse would I be if I said no, Dickiebird?”

After the initial shock had passed, “Were you ease dropping, Y/N/N?”

“Blame my upbringing,” nonchalantly waving your hand. “Plus, it is my apartment.”

After a few moments in silence, you turned towards him, “Alright, so 1. That’s a weird ass nickname, John. 2. What the fuck are these guys after, if not drugs? 3. Who the fuck is the league?”

*Sigh* “I guess I should read you in…My name is actually Richard, but I go by Dick…hence how Jay came up with the colorful nickname. We have absolutely no clue, we thought it was just the drugs, and now Razorburn saw your face.” Dick put his head in his hands. “The League of Assassins is the full name, and the name is pretty self-explanatory. Razorburn is one of Ra’s al Ghul’s personal hitman. If he’s here, that can only mean more trouble will follow. Me and Jay may need more backup.”

“Ra’s al Ghul is…”

“The leader, the Demon.”

“Great…look, Dick, are you sure this is your job? I get you’re a superhero or whatever, but isn’t there someone else that can do this?”

“Y/N/N, I do this because I’m the someone else that can. I’ve trained since I was nine years old. Even earlier for some types of training. I can’t risk the lives of the police, they would have no idea what they are getting into.”

Jason steps out of the bathroom and sees Dick’s hand and yours intertwined. “You love birds need some more room? Plenty of things I can do in the bathroom…”

“Don’t you dare…” you growl at him, quickly pulling your hand away from Dick’s. “Right, well. You guys call whoever you need, not sure how many more can fit in my apartment…but whatever. I need a drink.” You see Dick glance over at the bottles of wine on the counter. “I need a strong drink.” Quickly you grab your keys and walk out the door.

“Jay, follow her…will ya? I am in desperate need of a shower.”

Though the words didn’t even need to be said, Jason was already headed towards the door.

Soon, weeks had gone by. You had gone back to your normal life. The boys had left. Though, both kept up with you. Guess you made an impression. Surprisingly Dick had come to visit you nearly every weekend. Jay even tagged along every once in a while.

Now almost a year had passed.

Dick stumbled out from your bedroom to find you, unshockingly, at the coffee machine. He came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist.

“Dick…you okay?” Yeah, you slept in the same bed, but it’s not like anything ever happened. You two were best friends, yeah you tossed the idea around, but no. It was Grayson, your best friend, and this…this was very out of character.

“Yeah, just…just needed a hug I guess.”

“Have a bad patrol?”

He looked up at the ceiling, “Yeah, I didn’t make it in time.” He remembered the young girl. She looked just like you. That’s what really got him, though he wouldn’t admit that out loud.

He had gotten in late last night, so you figured he hopped on Bruce’s plane as soon as his patrol was over. You don’t even think he showered, just pulled off his costume and put on the sweatpants he left there. What you didn’t know, is he really didn’t sleep at all. Just crawled into bed and pulled you in close. He was thankful you were sleeping heavily that night, because all he needed was your touch. He pulled away as soon as you started to stir and drifted to sleep for a few short moments.

“Dick” you cupped your hands around his face, “you can’t save everyone. You have to be grateful for the people that get another chance at life. Thanks to you.” You walked towards the bedroom and called out “I’m thinking it’s a pool day. Grab some coffee and meet me down there?” He nodded as you walked into your room and put your suit on. A few minutes later Dick joined you at the pool downstairs. It was still too early for anyone else to be out.

Razorburn, however, was hardly a person. He laid in the valley of the pool house roof. Head barely peaking over the ridge. He had been watching for weeks, waiting for Ra’s al Ghul signal to strike. Finally, he saw Cheshire leaping from the rooftops. It was time. Dick should’ve spotted the two, but his mind was still clouded from the events that transpired the night before. The events that Ra’s al Ghul had set up. He needed Grayson’s mind clouded. He needed you out of the apartment and focused on Grayson.

Cheshire bounded, and landed on your apartment’s patio. She waltzed into the apartment, however, she was not expecting the Red Hood to be on your couch.

*Back at the pool*

“Oh, Jay’s here”

“Really? Look, I’ve got both my boys this weekend” you smiled up at him from the water.

“Yeah, he’s pissed at dad…big shocker there.”

“You know there is always room for you two here. I’ll go up and say hi. I could use a mimosa anyways…” you winked his way and got out of the pool.

“Oh…Irish coffee!” He called after you as he sat on the pool chair.

You walked up the stairs and heard a crash coming from your apartment. Shit. You ran to the other side of the building and screamed, “DICK!”

You saw him racing towards your apartment, but you had to see if Jay was okay. You opened the door to find your things massacred. Jay and a woman in a cat mask were grappling on the floor. You rushed to your room, to grab your gun.

“Y/N, don’t!” Jason called after you.

It was too late, you stood face to face with Razorburn. You had been in martial arts training since meeting the boys. But a year of practice hardly compared to the skills of the assassin.

Dick raced into the apartment and headed immediately towards his brother, pinned down on the floor. Cheshire jumped back, freeing Jason.

“Get Y/N! I’ve got this!”

Dick looked around frantic and ran to the bedroom. Just in time to see Razorburn exit through the window with you on his shoulder.

“They’ve got her Jay! Don’t let Cheshire leave, I’m following…” the rest of Dick’s sentence was cut short as he leaped from the window.

“Well…where are you taking her?”

Cheshire smirked as the two cautiously went in circles. “Oh little birdie, you really don’t know your Y/N very well do you?”

“What do you mean? She is not involved in any of this.”

“Maybe not intentionally, but some very powerful men want something she has. Or at least, something she can get,” she waved her hands around, “that’s not my information to give.” She winked and ran to the balcony door.

“Fuck.” Jay didn’t even have the energy for a chase. Dick was already after Razorburn. Jason pulled out his phone.

“Tim, I need your help. Me and Dick both. You need to get to Y/Address, now.” He didn’t even wait for a response.

Soon after Dick stumbled into the apartment. “I fucking lost her. How…how did I lose her?”

“Tim’s on his way.”

[secret-engima]

Nox and/or Ardyn meeting little Prom?

(Ohhhh okay then. Buckle up because I can do literally nothing by halves and this ask exploded into a 2.5k long HC format story/thing. Also @wolfsrainrules @hamelin-born @sparklecryptid you three might find this interesting?)

…

-Nox likes to think he knows himself pretty well. Which is why he would be the first one to admit that, in some things, he is a total coward. Ask him to blow up a Nif base, no problem. Tell him to face down daemons, sure as long as he had enough flasks to set everything on fire. Ask him to escort his little brother to school? The school where, somewhere amidst the other faceless classmates, Prompto also goes and learns and Nox might encounter him?

-In that, Nox is the greatest of cowards.

-It’s been four years since he was discovered by Regis and talked into living in the Citadel and while Nox has learned to swallow the pain of being around so many people who don’t remember him anymore (have never been through what he went through with them once upon a time) and embrace the happiness that they are alive and whole… some wounds still felt too deep. It was why Nox tended to discreetly vacate the room when Ignis and Gladiolus were chatting with Noctis (their Noctis, not him, not the brother who had died for them because they were not the brothers he had died for). It still hurt too much sometimes to look at them and know that, on the one hand, they were happy and whole and loyal to their Noctis, unblinded and unscarred. But on the other hand … they didn’t know him. They were … younger than him. Looked at him with a mix of respect and confused hurt (respect because he had protected Noctis when they couldn’t, confused hurt because they both knew that Nox tended to abruptly leave the room when they were in it despite his best efforts to be friendly).

-The thought of meeting Prompto like that, seeing blue eyes look at him like a stranger where once he had been a most trusted friend…. Nox was a coward. He didn’t want that kind of pain. (Prompto had always been different compared to Ignis and Gladiolus, the commoner brother who sought him out rather than the brothers who were bound by oath first before love had formed. The brother who followed not because of oath first and affection second but always, always because of their friendship first. Because the Crownsguard oath had just been a convenient excuse to follow Noctis into the jaws of death and back where otherwise Noctis would have tried to make him stay behind. If seeing Ignis and Gladiolus made it hard to breathe sometimes, Nox didn’t want to know what seeing Prompto would do to him). So he avoided Noctis’s school like the coward he was and prayed Noctis could make friends with Prompto on his own.

-Of course, the world seemed to make a hobby out of forcing Nox to jump headfirst into his fears.

-Nox is exploring Insomnia in the middle of a faintly drizzly late afternoon, hoodie pulled over his head to help keep people from noticing him and recognizing the Second Prince of Lucis (eldest prince yet not crown prince, the tabloids were still going on about that and it had been four years), meandering down some random, mostly unpopulated stretch when he hears the cursing. Loud, ugly cursing, slurred and edged with violence in the way only angry drunks could get (who gets drunk in the middle of the afternoon anyway?). Nox frowns and jogs closer, some instinct niggling in his head that the drunk wasn’t cursing at air, and that if Nox wasn’t there to break it up, something might go wrong. He’s about ten yards away when he sees the drunk begin stomping on something, hears the crunch of plastic and glass and a young voice begin sobbing in fear and grief both, “St-stop! Stop, that’s m-my- m-my-!”

-Nox feels the world slow down, every hair on his body prickling from the static of his own rising magic. Sees the drunk raising a fist toward the blond little boy who had done nothing but protest the destruction of his treasure. The world freezes in place, like one of Prompto’s battle snapshots. Everything is clear. The drunk, the broken fragments of camera under the man’s feet, the chubby little boy cringing away from the impending violence, blue eyes wide and terrified behind his glasses. Nox exhales and feels the world turn blue.

-Prompto-my friend-my Sharpshot-my Prompto-you-dARE- 

-The drunk slams into the dirt hard enough to knock the wind out of him, has one chance to gasp out a curse before magic swells like deadly blue tides and sobriety is burned into the man’s brain by the sheer, painful weight of terror at having at least fifteen blades of varying shapes and sizes, all of them pulsing with barely leashed power, pointed at his throat. Nox towers over the man, fury stirring his long hair like a breeze, eyes gleaming like fresh blood as the clouds over their heads thicken and snarl with promise (the taste of the Fulgarian’s magic sits on the back of Nox’s tongue, waiting for the barest hint of desire on Nox’s part for Ramuh to manifest and unleash Judgement). Nox inhales and tightens his mental grasp on what is left of his self control. Exhales past bared fangs and hisses in the voice of a hundred old kings, “Touch Prompto and I’ll make you scream.” The former-drunk cringes into the dirt, not enough air in his lungs to plead for mercy that Nox doesn’t want to give. Nox gives it anyway, using the last scrap of self control to hiss, “Leave. And don’t come back.”

-The man crawls out from under Nox’s glittering armory and then runs without once looking back.

-Nox inhales, exhales, reels in the screaming power in his blood that wants to chase the man down and cut him open slowly for his transgressions (Lucis Caelums were not possessive because they were kings, they were kings because they would gladly tear apart nations for what was Theirs), dismisses both his armiger and Ramuh lingering in the clouds with a flick of his hand. He pulls his hood down and turns around to look at Prompto, swallowing back his own fear of being face to face with the boy who was once his best friend (so small, so small and civilian and oh astrals what if Nox has scared him off forever, to the point even Noctis will never befriend him?), as he drops down to his knees in front of the shaking boy, “Are you- are you okay?”

-Prompto is shaking, and there are still tears in his eyes, but after a moment of gaping the boy doesn’t run. He roughly swipes his eyes clear and bows, “Y-Your Highness! I- I-!” His gaze catches on his ruined camera and tears start to return, and Nox can’t stop himself from reaching out with his hoodie sleeve to wipe them away with a gentle shushing noise.

-“It’s okay, Prom,” Nox breathes, “You’re safe, it’s going to be okay. I’m sorry about your camera. Hey,” Nox wracks his brain for the camera parts and trivia Prompto always chatted about, oblivious to the way the little boy in front of him stares in confusion, “let’s see if the memory card survived, yeah? Then we’ll know what to do.”

-Somehow, Nox talks Prompto’s tears down without breaking down himself, helps the befuddled boy rescue his memory card from the pieces of his camera, then takes him down to a little camera store to buy a replacement (Nox had taken the camera in his armiger down there for repairs once, because even if the old timeline was gone he still wanted to keep the pictures and memories it held). Prompto starts crying again when Nox splurges his royal allowance to get Prompto a good camera (or, he assumes it is, he’d just watched to see which one Prompto stared longingly at the longest and grabbed it), which almost sets off Nox’s tears, but somehow he manages to talk them both down again long enough to pay for the camera, a protective case, and a carrying strap and walk the boy home.

-Somewhere in all that, Nox thinks he introduces himself, but honestly he isn’t sure. His mind is hazing a little from the panic.

-Somewhere in all that, Nox thinks Prompto asks how Nox knew his name. Nox freaks out internally for twenty seconds before blurting out some nonsense about looking up the faces and names of Noctis’s classmates for security purposes, which the twelve year old seems to buy without a blink (thank goodness).

-Nox walks Prompto to his house and realizes that the house is dark and … empty. Not just physically, but … to his senses. There’s no warm glow that seeps into wood and stone when happy life-forces spend a lot of time there, no signs of Prompto’s parents at all. Just a lonely little impression of the life-force Nox knows is Prompto’s. He asks where Prompto’s parents are (it’s evening already, shouldn’t they be home? Or at least worried about the whereabouts of their son?). Prompto answers that they’re busy at work, in a melancholy voice that means this is normal. Something ugly and black and possessive (something that purrs like Ardyn’s voice when he’s more Accursed than Uncle) rises up in Nox’s soul and drags the next questions out of him.

-“How often are they home? How often do you see them?”

-Prompto doesn’t hear the ugliness, doesn’t seem to think anything of the questions beyond answering the kindly, teenage prince who bought him a camera that is probably worth his parents’ car, “Once a m-month. Maybe. If they aren’t called out of town to a c-conference.”

-Nox sits on his emotions so fast it least his ears ringing. He manages to say goodbye to Prompto and walk home, immediately sweeps into a training room and tears it apart in his efforts to bleed off the fury that makes him want to kill something. His uncle and father all but sprint into the room in concern for why the entire Citadel is faintly trembling with Nox’s magic, Axis lurks in the corner with an expression that says he’s just waiting for Nox to give him names to murder on Nox’s behalf. Nox waves Axis and his father away, hides his face in Ardyn’s shoulder until they reluctantly leave and then tells Uncle what he’s seen and heard and learned.

-Ardyn listens to his story, to his soul-deep pain that the child version of his best friend is being neglected, was neglected all his childhood in the past timeline and Nox never knew, and in Ardyn’s eyes Nox can see the same ugly, possessive thing seething in Nox’s chest.

-Ardyn presses a kiss to his nephew’s forehead and says one thing, “Give me three weeks, Dearest Nephew, and have a suitable guardian picked out.” Then Ardyn sweeps out of the training room with a predatory stride Nox hasn’t seen since they were tracking down Bersithia for some well deserved murder.

….

-Ardyn has no real opinion on Prompto Argentum. He remembers the boy, of course. The defiant little thing that fought the Accursed at every turn despite his terror, the boy who was destined to be just another MT unit until the Lucians stole him away. But when his Dearest Nephew returns from one of his wanderings through Insomnia and shakes the Citadel with his grief-fury-fury-grief, Ardyn is already mentally preparing to do something drastic. Nox refuses to speak of it to anyone but him, which immediately narrows down the options to something involving their time-travel. Once Axis and Nox’s father have been convinced to leave, his Dearest Nephew huddles into his shoulder, physically vibrating with barely contained magic as he tells his story, explains the source of his pain.

-And Ardyn feels fury too. He does not know Prompto Argentum, especially not in this timeline, but this was the counterpart of the young man who had spat in the Accursed’s eye and followed Nox into the jaws of death without hesitation despite the aura of fear coming off the blond that Ardyn’s daemonic half had been able to taste like fine wine. This is one of Nox’s Chosen, one of his former brothers who was still precious to his heart.

-Ardyn kisses his Dearest Nephew’s forehead, tells him to give Ardyn three weeks and to have a suitable guardian picked out.

-Then Ardyn goes hunting.

-It is easy, pathetically easy, to get what he needs. The paperwork, the evidence of neglect, all the formal steps to his plan. Really, the longest part of it would have been orchestrating the emotional leverage, but Nox has accidentally done that for him by being so kind and protective of Prompto. Ardyn doesn’t need to lift a finger to recreate the budding friendship between Crown Prince and little Niflheim survivor, as Prompto pulls on his unknown wells of courage and befriends Noctis himself at school, probably as an unspoken thanks to Nox, or possibly just because the boy is too lonely to resist trying any longer. Either way, by the time Ardyn sweeps into Regis’s study and casually drops the case folder on the king’s desk, Noctis and Prompto are already fast friends who have been enjoying a continuous sleepover at the Citadel for about five days now (Ardyn’s idea, casually aired during one of Prompto’s day visits and then reinforced every time the boy reluctantly makes to return to his empty house, the excuse Ardyn is going to use to explain why he took interest in Prompto’s existence and home life).

-Regis gives Ardyn a look of long suffering, because apparently the former Chancellor of Niflheim shouldn’t be able to manipulate the Lucian legal system this thoroughly or some such nonsense, but the look fades into one of concern when he reads everything Ardyn has gathered about Noctis’s new best friend.

-With the king himself serving as the judge of the private court case, the former guardians of Prompto Argentum stand no chance (the fact that they don’t even try, don’t even fight to keep what they should have treasured makes something in Ardyn’s blood snarl. He makes a note to join his Dearest Nephew in the training room later).

-Prompto Argentum becomes Prompto Leonis almost overnight (and isn’t that an interesting choice of guardian, Ardyn wishes he knew how Nox pulled that off) and Ardyn is dragged along to visit the boy as the poor child adjusts to suddenly having a new home and a guardian that actually makes time for him despite his busy schedule.

-Ardyn looks down into large blue eyes in a very adorable face and feels a tiny piece of his heart melt. He sees the way Prompto looks at both Nox and Noctis with utter loyalty and adoration and a part of him coos.

-He relishes in the exasperated noises Dearest Nephew makes when Ardyn happily plops his hat onto the little blond’s head and sits on the floor to let the child ramble about the fancy camera Nox bought him and all the amazing (confusing) things it can do (why something meant to take pictures needed that many buttons and settings, Ardyn didn’t know).

-Ardyn feels himself smiling and takes far too much glee in the sputtering sounds both Nox and Cor make when he dubs Prompto his Artist Nephew. Inwardly cackles at everyone’s protests when he tells Prompto that he is now Ardyn’s fifth nephew and that Ardyn’s other nephews are Dearest Nephew (Nox), Littlest Nephew (Noctis), Logical Nephew (Ignis, who sighs at the sound of his new nickname every time), and Angry Nephew (in the corner, Gladiolus growls).

-“For the last time, it doesn’t…!” Protests Nox, but one look at Prompto’s hopeful look (at having more family, at having people who genuinely care) and the protest dies. Ardyn sits back smugly. Artist Nephew acquired.

-Now, to lure Cid and Cindy to Insomnia so Ardyn can watch the infamous crush Nox talked about in their previous timeline form…

[shadow-wasser]

WIP Fic Whenever: Molting Pains

Might as well start doing this again. WIP Fic Friday Whenever is a place where I will put a ‘quick and dirty’ first draft of either a short story or a chapter from a longer story. This will hopefully encourage me to improve my writing output. This is from the ‘Meteorstuck’ AU, but is not strictly-speaking canonical to it. Molting Trolls, yaaaaaaay.

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

Molting Pains

or

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Troll Puberty but Were Too Afraid to Ask

There were lots of strange things about trolls, . Their widely diverse horn shapes, their lack of anything that looked like an ear, their black tongues. And though they were aliens, and some oddities were to be expected, both Dave and Rose agreed that one of the most surprising things about the trolls was that they were so short.

Kanaya only came up to Rose’s chin, Terezi was even smaller, and Karkat’s tantrums made Dave think of an excessively angry gerbil. Even Gamzee was shorter than Rose, though his horns made him look bigger.

Seriously. It was kind of adorable.

Of course, they were still only thirteen, or six if you count in sweeps. Dave and Rose knew they might still put on some inches, and assumed that similar growth rates were true of trolls.

So as the years passed, the humans were only more perplexed and amused to see that the trolls did not grow at all. By the time Dave turned sixteen, he was 5’10” and could easily give Terezi piggy-back rides. He would make jokes frequently at Karkat’s expense, mostly about how the tiny troll was the perfect size for stuffing into a locker.

And the humans didn’t much think of it, honestly, in the chaotic years surrounding the revelation that they would never reach their destination. Even when they had to talk frankly about reproduction, they assumed growing up worked for trolls much the same as humans, differences in anatomy aside. They could be excused for this.

One day, five years after starting their journey, Terezi stopped eating. This would have been of note even if she hadn’t been stuffing her face ravenously for the past several weeks

“You ok?” asked Dave, as for third meal in a row she found herself unable to take a single bite of her grubloaf. “You’re not going to go anorexic on me, are you babe? Is this like, the purge after your binge?”

“I’m fine Dave, it’s none of your business!” snapped Terezi. “I’m just not hungry, that’s all.”

Dave held up his hands defensively. “Ok, ok TZ. Jeeze don’t bite my head off just ‘cause I care, goddamn.”

“If you care then you’ll leave me alone!” growled the troll, and she stomped off to her respiteblock.

“Not that it’s any of my business, but that joke was a bit off-color,” commented Rose, from the next table. “For all you know, Terezi might indeed be having body-image issues.”

Dave frowned. “Aw, come on, that is not happening. She knows I think she’s sexy as hell.”

Rose shrugged. “Have you told her that?”

“Sis, when you’re in a relationship as close as Terezi and I, that shit can go unsaid.”

Rose fixed her brother with a Look, and Dave shut his mouth.

“I’ll… tell her when she comes out.”

-----

Two days later, Terezi had still not come out. She only barely responded to pestering from Dave and Rose, and then usually snippily and without explaining her actions.

“Is she sick?” wondered Dave. “Is she even getting anything to eat or…?”

“She comes out sometimes,” noted Rose. “I saw her in the kitchen the other night. All the lights were off, and she fled the moment I came in. She left the tap running, so I assume she was getting something to drink.”

“She won’t let me help her,” continued Dave. “God, she’s driving me around the bend and right into oncoming traffic like some sort of drunk motorcyclist on a slippery mountain road, guzzling Jack Daniels while he slides towards his certain-”

Rose gave her brother a Look, and he shut his mouth.

“I’ll ask Kanaya,” said Rose. “Maybe she’ll have insight into Terezi’s behavior.”

-----

The other trolls had been remarkably reticent about Terezi, avoiding mentioning her in conversation. And when Rose brought it up to Kanaya, she looked distinctly uncomfortable. Maybe even more so than she had been years ago, when Rose had first inquired into the details of pailing.

Well. Maybe not that much. But comparable, definitely.

“It’s…” Kanaya fidgeted. “It is understandable behavior. Considering her condition.”

Rose blinked. “Condition? You think she’s sick?”

Kanaya shook her head vehemently. “No, no, I did not mean to imply she is ill. She is… well, remember how you described your monthly punctuation marks? I found that to be rather alarming at first, though you seem to find it natural.”

Rose smiled, slightly. “Ah. That explains some, but not all. I thought trolls didn’t get menstrual cycles?”

“Of course not. But the… mood alteration appears to be similar, during molt.”

That was a new term. “Molt?”

“Yes,” Kanaya nodded. “That’s right.”

There was a long pause.

“Well,” said Rose. “I think you might need to explain, as I associate the word ‘molt’ with a bird losing its feathers.”

Kanaya glanced uncomfortably to the side. “But… surely… when you transition to adulthood…”

It took some time, and considerable coaxing, for Rose to get the whole story from her matesprit

Dave, meanwhile, had taken things into his own hands.

----

“Terezi!” hollered Dave, pounding his girlfriend’s door. “Terezi, Gamzee is going on a rampage! You have to-”

The door opened and out whipped a cane, roughly shoving Dave out of the way. “Where? Where is he??”

“Oof!” Dave stumbled, fending off the cane. “Terezi, I’m kidding, he’s not actually-” Then he straightened, and got a good look at her.

Terezi looked horrible. Her skin looked sickly, mottled with irregular patches of light and dark grey. Her face was bloated and swollen, like she was having a severe allergic reaction, her horns had lost some of their vibrant ‘candy corn’ coloration, and even her hair looked like it was thinning. She was also not wearing any clothes, though she’d wrapped a towel around herself. She looked furious.

Dave stared. “Jesus, Terezi, what happened to you?”

-----

“I have not started the molt myself, obviously. At least not my terminal one. We molt when we are wigglers, and presumably pupation is a kind of molt.” Kanaya brushed back a strand of hair. “Anyway, I learned some basic anatomical diagrams from the schoolfeed, but most of what I know comes from hearsay. So I cannot say for sure which anecdotes are over-generalized or exaggerated, and which universal.”

Rose nodded, and continued to take notes.

-----

“Dave!?! How could you kid about something like that?” Terezi gripped her towel around herself more tightly. “This isn’t a fucking joke!”

“Terezi, you look like shit,” said Dave bluntly. “Is this some kinda troll disease? Did friendship literally give you a disease?”

“Oh my god. Dave, just… Ok, fine, come in.”

------

“Terezi may be acting in a self-defensive manner because she feels herself vulnerable,” continued Kanaya. “During molt, it’s expected that one’s usual physical capabilities become lessened. So the urge to retreat to a safe, secluded place is common.”

-------

Terezi’s room was dark, and Dave briefly lifted his shades so he could see. Terezi had covered the floor with rags, towels, and old clothes, and there were some stuffed dragons stacked in the corner, but the room looked otherwise normal.

Dave lowered the shades and sat down cross-legged across from Terezi, who had pulled the towel around her like a kind of robe.

“So,” said Dave after a moment. “You gonna tell me what’s going on, or what?”

Terezi said nothing.

“I’m worried about you,” said Dave. “And fuck, Rose is worried too.”

He reached over, to put his hand on Terezi’s shoulder, but she flinched away. “Please don’t touch me right now, Dave.”

------

“And is this process…. painful?” asked Rose.

Kanaya shrugged. “I imagine so. Sollux once confided that his hivestem neighbor screamed for days, during theirs. But it might not be so bad for everyone.”

-----

��Terezi…” Dave’s voice was quiet. “You're not... dying, are you?”

Terezi barked an explosive laugh. “Dying! Ahahaha, Dave, you’re so stupid.”

“Well excuse me that I don’t know the difference between like, Troll Chickenpox and Troll Ebola!”

“Dave, I’m not dying.” There was a rustle as Terezi wiped a tear, of what Dave assumed was laughter, out of her eyes. “I’m just growing up.”

----

“I think, beyond even the physical nature of the molt, the experience can be mentally very painful and frightening,” mused Kanaya. “Because we mostly learn the details from our cohort, who go through it and then are immediately shipped off world by the drones. It’s a great unknown, almost as much so as dying.”

Rose paused to consider. “That is… very insightful of you, Kanaya. I think you’d be good at psychoanalysis.”

Kanaya smiled. “I shall take that as a compliment.”

----

Dave nodded, slowly. “Ok. So let me get this straight. You’re… going through like, troll puberty?”

“I don’t know much about your teas of puber, but I am transitioning from an adolescent to an adult.”

“Right, same thing.” Dave paused. “But, I gotta say, when we humans do this, we don’t starve ourselves alone in the fucking dark.”

Terezi groaned. “Can we not go into the details? It is extremely embarrassing.”

“No, really,” pushed Dave. “Is this gonna be a regular thing now? As your boyfriendsprit, I just want to know.”

-------

“So how long does this take?” Rose queried.

“Not terribly long. The pre-molt appetite disturbances might last several weeks, but I haven’t heard of a molt itself lasting longer than perhaps a few days.”

-----

“No.” Terezi sighed, and shook her head. “When it’s done, it’s done.”

“Well, thank Troll Jegus for that.” Dave paused, embarrassed. “Terezi, look, I’m sorry I interrupted you in your adolescent emo phase or whatever, but I really was worried.”

“I appreciate your concern,” replied Terezi. “But I really will be fine.”

Dave got to his feet. “And since I take it you don’t want company, I will respect that and give you your privacy. Just… let me know if you need anything, ok? Food… Blankets… Faygo…”

Terezi made a gagging noise. “Smartass.” But he could hear the smile in her voice.

Dave turned to leave, opening the door.

“Wait. Dave.”

Dave paused.

“I… would actually like it if… you stayed. Not in the block but… outside? Like you were guarding the door?”

Dave’s face was impassive. “Sure, anything you need.”

Dave left, and took a place outside the room. He leaned against the door to the respiteblock, and made himself comfortable.

-----

And Rose found him there, leaning against Terezi’s door. “Dave,” she said. “I think I’ve gleaned the information we need, from Kanaya.”

Dave shrugged. “Yeah, I know. Puberty comes late for trolls, go figure.”

Rose paused. “You know about the molt? Did you speak to Terezi about it?”

Dave nodded. “Yep. It’s all cool now.”

“Oh,” Rose blinked. “Good, then. I’m glad we’ve sorted this out.”

After a moment, she continued on her way. But Dave stayed.

-----

Dave stayed by Terezi’s door, awake and asleep, for the next two days. Rose, Kanaya, and sometimes Karkat brought him food, but he ate only sparingly.

“It could be Terezi’s pheromones,” murmured Kanaya. “I’ve heard false-molt like symptoms can be induced by staying close to someone going through it.”

Rose doubted that, not least because Dave was human and not troll. But still, sympathy might have something to do with it. She would have to take notes on this fascinating new development.

------

On the second night, Dave was jolted awake by the sound of a door opening. He sat up, heart pounding, and watched as a stranger stepped out of Terezi’s room.

The stranger turned to face Dave. She - and it was definitely a she, she was only wearing two towels wrapped around her top and bottom like a toga- she must have been six foot at least, and she had pointed, deep orange horns, and thick, black hair, down to her shoulders. Her skin was this insane shade of velvet black, with a matte sheen, so dark he could barely make out the features of her face. She smiled, dead-red eyes gleaming, and showed a mouthful of silvery fangs.

“Hello, Dave,” she said.

Holy shit.

“Dave? You okay, coolkid?”

The troll-woman reached down to help Dave up, pulling him easily to his feet.

“Terezi,” gasped Dave. “You-”

Terezi crossed her arms, and twisted her mouth to the side. “I what?”

Dave swallowed, looked her up and down.

“You,” he said. “Are sexy as hell.”

[thatesqcrush]

Mr. In Between, Ch. 4

Rafael Barba x Reader. Rafael Barba x Olivia Benson. Prompt inspired by @sweetsummertime99: “ I was watching friends and it was the episode where Ross writes the pro/con list for Rachel and Emily. I’d like to see if someone would write the same kind of scenario not with a waitress but other attributes. Rafael Barba x Female Reader where Rafael writes the list and the reader finds it. Possibly comparing to Olivia?”

CW: continued angst; language.

Tags: @madpanda75 @ottosuricato @delia26 @dreila03 @sass-and-suspenders @glimmerglittergirl @melsquared79 @mommakat32 @garturbo @southern-magnolia @niyashell @tropes-and-tales @imjustreallynosy @whyissvuruiningmylovelife @sweetsummertime99 @evee87 @scarletsoldierrr @kscarlett1 @cesarofangirl78 @redlipstickandplaid​ - anyone else just ask.

***

The forecast had called for blizzard like conditions. You trudged into your apartment building with your snowstorm reinforcements: a few bottles of cheap red wine, a wheel of the good brie from the specialty cheese shop along with prosciutto and a bag of your go-to indulgence: sour cream and onion potato chips.

Turning to your mailbox, you lowered your bags and began to collect your mail. You flipped through the stack - bill after bill followed - you were so engrossed in your mail, that you almost didn’t hear the footsteps behind you. Fingers tapped your shoulder and you yelled as you jumped, your mail scattering all over.

“My apologies,” the tall, silver-haired man apologized. “Here, let me get that,” he continued as he bent down to pick up your fallen mail. You collected the fallen pieces and looked up at him, your brow furrowed.

“Carisi - what are you doing here?” You questioned.

“Listen don’t shoot the messenger. I was told to give you this,” Carisi replied handing you a thick envelope. You immediately recognized the handwriting as Rafael’s. Silently, you nodded and took the envelope.

You cocked your head and waited another beat. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. Like I said, I’m just the messenger.” Sonny threw his hands up in defense and walked backwards, until he got to the door. Before he exited, he turned back to you. “Stay warm y/n. - it was nice seeing you.”

You watched as a gangly detective walk away. You looked back down at the envelope and gently, you traced your name. Tucking the rest of your mail under your arm, you opened the envelope, unsure as to what to expect.

Y/N, please give me a second chance. I miss you. You know my number. -Rafael

There was another piece of paper behind the letter. You opened the letter encased inside. It was a “pro” list:

Number one: the way you just get “me”/ I can be completely myself.

Number two: Our emotional bond.

Number three: How much you love your friends and family.

Number four: Our similar sense of humor

Number five: The way you tear-up at cooking game shows.

Number six: The way you play with your hair when you're nervous.

Number seven: How passionate you are with life (and in bed!)

Number eight: The way you always see the good in others.

Number nine: How sweet you smell.

Number ten: How giving and generous you are.

You bit your lip, feeling your eyes water as you read through the list. You chuckled at number seven and nodded - well, Rafael wasn’t wrong on that.

You looked at your watch and then looked outside the glass door. It hadn’t started snowing yet. You picked up your items and walked back outside to the curb. Raising your hand, you motioned for a cab.

****

Rafael shivered as he entered his apartment building. He greeted Hugo, the doorman. “Snow is really starting to come down,” he gruffed. “Any mail or packages?”

“No, sir. But there is a young woman waiting for you at your apartment. I told her she had to wait downstairs but she insisted that she wait at your apartment,” Hugo replied.

“How many times do I have to insist that you call me Rafael — wait someone is waiting for me? Do you know who?” Rafael asked, his brow furrowed. “Should I be concerned?” He undid his scarf so that it just hung loosely around his neck and removed his hat, leaving his hair unkempt.

Hugo shook his head. “She said she was a personal friend,” he replied, and with that, he began to describe you. Rafael tried to play it cool, and he nodded. “Oh, yes. Thanks for the heads up,” he replied as he made his way to the elevator.

As the doors shut, he smiled; his heart was full of hope.

****

Stepping off the elevator onto his floor, Rafael rounded the corner and found you sitting on the floor by his door, criss-crossed, openly drinking one of the bottles of wine. The twist cap to the wine bottle was a foot or so away, from where you sat.

“Rafael,” you acknowledged, looking up.

Rafael extended his arm and helped you fully stand. “You’re here,” he replied, taking the bottle from you and twisting the cap on.

“I’m here,” you replied. You waved your arm at your grocery bags. “With snacks.” Rafael chuckled at your comment.

Taking the bags from you, Rafael opened the door to his apartment and stood against the door, holding it open so that you could enter past. As you wandered into the living room, Rafael turned towards the kitchen and set the bags on the counter.

Rafael returned to the living room. He took off his coat and hung it up on his closet. Rafael looked strikingly handsome in his chocolate brown sweater and dark jeans.

Your arms were wrapped around yourself, your coat still on. Rafael extended an arm towards you, and you nodded, slowly removing your bouclé wool coat.

You wore blue skinny jeans, with brown booties. You donned an speckled ivory cream sweater that appeared two sizes two big. Your hair was in a messy bun. Despite your fashion forward appearance, you appeared weary with dark circles under your eyes.

Rafael took in your worn appearance. Your eyes met and you were struck by the pained look on his face.

“I got your letter and list,” you replied softly.

Rafael nodded. “I figured that’s why you were here.” He approached you and placed his large hands on the top of your hips. You closed your eyes. His hands moved up your sides and despite you wearing an over-sized sweater, he could feel that you had lost weight. And then, before you could even think your next thought, Rafael enveloped you completely into a tight embrace. You allowed yourself to get completely lost in the moment.

Rafael pressed his nose into your hair, inhaling your scent. “Oh Y/N,” he murmured. And that is when you felt it; splashes of warm drops. You pulled away, and you stared into Rafael’s eyes, which were shiny and wet. You opened your mouth to speak but nothing came out.

And then, the last remainder of Rafael’s resolve crumbled. “Lo siento,” he sobbed. “I am so sorry. I am so sorry for hurting you. Can you ever forgive me?”

You pulled away, so your back was to Rafael. Your own eyes filled with tears. “Rafael, I don’t know if I can! A list isn’t going to undo the damage! You broke my heart!” Your voice echoed in the otherwise quiet apartment.

“Please. I need to make this right. There has to be something that I can do,” Rafael pleaded, turning you to face him. He closed the gap between you, and cupped your cheek. You leaned into his touch, closing your eyes once more as tears rolled down.

Rafael’s hand moved from your cheek to your chin. He tilted your head up and pressed his lips to yours. The kiss was soft, almost chaste, but it grew with intensity quickly. You moaned at the reunion. His tongue swiped your bottom lip, seeking permission to deepen the kiss. You opened your mouth and returned the kiss. His hands entangled in your hair, keeping you in place. You leaned up into his embrace, and you wrapped your arms around his neck.

You had missed this: the feel of his hands on your body, the warmth of his body against yours, the taste of his kiss. Rafael caught the sigh that escaped as he began to kiss and suck on the hollow of your throat.

Rafael’s hands moved from your head, and traveled south. He gave your butt a squeeze before settling on the outside of your thighs. Taking his cue, you jumped into his embrace, wrapping your legs around his waist. Rafael walked backwards, all the while you two continued to kiss. Feeling the back of his couch, he sat down, pulling you down with him.

Finally you broke away to catch your breath. You rested your forehead against his. “Rafael, I —“ you began, but he cut you off.

“I love you Y/N. I am in love with you. I haven’t stopped loving you,” Rafael confessed.

You bit your lip. You wanted nothing more than confess how much you still loved him - but the wound was still raw, a scab hadn’t fully formed.

“There’s a snowstorm coming. Stay the night. Please.” Rafael continued.

“Okay,” you agreed. “But there’s something you need to know first.”

Rafael nodded. “What is it?”

You felt a knot in your stomach form. “It shouldn’t matter since we - we were not together, but I’ve been with others. I’m clean; I got tested. But I want you to know.”

Rafael’s eyes darkened. He knew he shouldn’t be jealous - he had no reason to be. “You what?” 

The idea of other men with you, your sweaty bodies touching, your naked flesh under theirs - Rafael almost felt ill.

Rafael’s silence made you uneasy. You climbed off his lap and pushed yourself to the corner of the couch. “Come on, tell me what you're thinking,” you implored.

Rafael let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I’m...thinking.”

Your brows furrowed and you leapt off the couch and stood in front of him. “What do you want Rafael Barba? How do you want to handle it? You want to fight for us or bail again? Look, I did some terrible, stupid things, okay? I'm sorry. But so did you. And I did my stupid things because you fucking hurt me. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't.”

Rafael rubbed his face, before he leaned back on the couch. “I just can't see us throwing away something we know is so damn good. I love you so much. I want to be with you. Because, I mean, it's you.

“I was out of my mind,” you replied softly.

“So was I,” Rafael replied. He reached up and pulled you back onto his lap. You smoothed his hair, looking deeply into his eyes.

“It’s going to be work. Trust. We need to rebuild that,” you replied. Rafael nodded. “I know.”

You smiled before leaning down to kiss him once more. “Make love to me. Tonight let’s just forget it all.”

TBC.