#but they had that random cut to the wide shot in between (for drama i guess?) and it was also the end of the ep

[airenyah]

i'm only 4 minutes into ep 11 of 10 years ticket and i'm already cring over ohm pawat's acting

HE'S DOING THE SAME THING AS HE DID IN EP 5 ROOFTOP SCENE (MY BELOVED <3) AND YET IT'S SO DIFFERENT

[rotblut]

i just finished to the wonder and i’m 😭😭 how am i gonna move on from this drama. it was such a perfect slice of life, the relationships were so stellar, i was SOBBING at ep 8 was not seeing that thing with snowshoe coming at ALL. i absolutely loved the look into nomadic culture and WDYM WE NEVER GOT A KISS 😭😭😭 AND THERES NO FANFIC 😭😭😭

RIGHTTT FUCKING MOOD FRFR

still crazy how his whole story arc was more or less about his love for his horse and his love for his girl (and of course family tradition and resisting his father just so he would accept it in the end), and they always made a running gag about how he loves his horse more than her, and in the end it was HE who had to kill his beloved horse to keep her from dying. kinda sick, kinda evil, I knew at the end of episode 5 that Horseshoe would NOT make it out alive, but that they would write it that way. damn. the red filter was kinda nasty i would have put a b/w filter on top but yeah.

the way he even left her after he killed horseshoe and walked away with the head not even looking back at her kinda crazy and they had a 5 year or so time skip of not contacting each other at all like the guilt had crazy mental impact as well.......

alsooooooo 8 eps when you think about it they didn't meet in ep1 and in ep2 they met like that's 7 eps and really hardly any scenes between them they could have added 2 more eps and gone up to 10 eps and put in even more random moments and filler scenes i know they have a bunch of unreleased footage in the archives...........

aside from not even getting a peck on the lips kinda *kiss* WE DIDN'T EVEN GET A HUG!!!!!!!! like those gut-wrenching hugs that make you go insane.

my sobbing crying ass was expecting them to end this drama (in the last 2 mins) with them looking at each other and before it cuts to black she runs to him and they embrace and hug and you hear sobs and cut to a wide shot and after that the credits roll

[achubbydumpling]

Modern Bucky is fat and Steve’s sugar baby. Steve likes to spoil him. :3

eyy only took me a month and a half to answer 😂😂 I'm sorry, nonnie, but I'm highjacking your idea and using it for today's chubtober prompt :D

(I ended up having a lot more ideas for this than I could actually finish writing in time, so this ends pretty abruptly as soon as Steve and Bucky actually meet)

[unfinished] Oct 3: Masks and Malfunctions

Rating: Mature Words: 1911 Relationship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Additional Tags: Sugar Daddy AU, Daddy Kink, Belly Kink, Weight Gain, Verbal Humiliation, Stuffing, Corsets, Age Gap

Bucky’s phone chimed and he didn’t even have to look at the screen to know that “Steve” just sent him more than enough money for the costume Bucky wanted. He didn’t actually know if that was the guy’s real name, but he’d been funding Bucky’s lifestyle since the beginning of college and Bucky wasn’t about to fuck that up by questioning the guy’s identity.

If this were a normal Halloween party Bucky would have just bought a random costume at Spirit Halloween, but his kinda boyfriend Jonas (it’s complicated) had invited him as a plus one to an actual masquerade ball. Bucky didn’t even know those kinds of things existed outside of fantasy novels, but right now he was at a high-end clothing store getting an “appropriate” costume.

[Bucky] Thank you, Daddy❤

Bucky texted Steve and then went back to trying on another dress shirt. This one had a looser cut that reminded him of something the male love interest in a period drama would wear or a pirate.

“Wonderful choice,” the store clerk told Bucky when he stepped back from the mirror. Bucky would probably never get used to having someone help him pick out clothes, but the higher-end stores Bucky had been to all offered this type of assistance.

“It drapes very well,” the clerk said with a sneer on his face. Bucky turned back to the mirror. Yes, he had to admit he’d fallen victim to the freshman 15. A small belly was rounding out even against the loose fabric of the shirt, but he didn’t actually feel self-conscious.

Steve had complimented him on every single one of those pounds. Bucky probably wouldn’t even have noticed all the changes to his body if Steve hadn’t been constantly talking about them. Bucky had never put much effort into maintaining his physique, but being hyped up by Steve over the smallest changes of his body made him feel desired and his heart fluttered every time his sugar daddy complimented his thicker thighs and soft belly.

“Any other suggestions?” Bucky asked and the clerk scoffed.

“A corset,” he muttered under his breath, but Bucky’s ears pricked up at the suggestion. His first instinct was to text Steve. Bucky didn’t know why it was important for him to know Steve’s opinion when Bucky was going to the party as someone else’s plus one, but excitement stirred in Bucky’s stomach at what Steve might say.

“Sure, get the corset.” Bucky sent the clerk on their way and then sat down to text Steve. He could feel his belly straining against the shirt buttons now that he was sitting down and he snapped a picture of the way the buttons on the otherwise loose shirt were straining over the thickest part of his belly.

[Bucky] Daddy~ they’re telling me I’m fat

[Bucky] they said I need a corset

[Steve] You will look incredible either way.

Annoyance prickled at the back of Bucky’s neck from the generic compliment.

[Bucky] that’s not what I asked

[Steve] You didn’t ask anything.

Bucky rolled his eyes at how literal Steve could sometimes be, but Bucky also didn’t know how to ask for what he really wanted to hear.

Some of his classmates had teased him for his weight gain and instead of making Bucky feel insecure, the hot shame had shot straight to his dick and he’d had to excuse himself to deal with the problem. Since then Bucky couldn’t stop thinking about Steve telling him those things.

Bucky didn’t even know what the guy looked like, but he’d quickly developed a crush just from texting him. It was actually fun to talk. Bucky couldn’t understand how the guy was single when he seemed like this perfect, interesting and kind guy—and rich on top of all that.

There has to be something wrong with him, but so far Bucky hadn’t been able to figure it out. Not for the first time Bucky wondered who Steve actually was, but his thoughts were interrupted when the clerk came back with three different corsets.

All the same material and color, just different cuts. Bucky’s eyes were immediately drawn to the tiny waist cincher—just tall enough to cover the widest part of his belly. Despite his grumblings the clerk helped Bucky lace up the corset and when he looked in the mirror he couldn’t believe it was him looking back.

His entire body shape seemed different. From the billowing sleeves of the shirt emphasizing his wide shoulders to the waist cincher doing an excellent job of making it look like he still had a waist instead of the soft belly that was hidden underneath. The simple black slacks he was wearing completed his outfit. Simple colors, just black and white.

The mask he had chosen matched as well. A deep midnight black that contrasted with his piercing blue eyes and gold detailing that caught the light when Bucky turned his head. He snapped another picture for Steve, but didn’t wait for his response. Bucky could still hardly believe that a single outfit could be this expensive, but Steve of course had transferred enough money to pay for it. On his way home Bucky finally checked his phone.

[Steve] What did I tell you? Incredible.

[Bucky] better than without the corset?

[Steve] This feels like a set-up.

Bucky groaned at Steve’s response. Of course, Bucky would luck out and get the sugar daddy that won’t humiliate him for gaining fifteen pounds before the semester was even over and wasn’t that a personal revelation. Bucky had never thought of himself as someone who could want something like this, but since gaining weight he had become more aware of his body—and how others perceived it.

[Bucky] it is

He quickly pocketed his phone after sending that text. Bucky immediately regretted it. He’d had a good thing going with Steve. Why risk fucking that up? His phone vibrated multiple times, but Bucky was too worried to check his messages until he got home. As soon as he’d closed the apartment door behind him he fished his phone out of his pocket.

[Steve] What does that mean?

[Steve] If you don’t want to continue this arrangement, you can just tell me.

[Steve] Bucky.

[Steve] Answer me.

[Steve] What do you want me to say? That you’re a spoiled pig? That you’ve gotten fat on your Daddy’s money and need a corset to look good for your little boytoy?

Bucky’s throat went dry as he read Steve’s message. The wave of lust that crashed through him, threw him off balance and he sat down heavily on the bench in the entry way of his apartment. He read the message again. And again. His dick gave an interested twitch. It was embarrassing how much he reacted to Steve’s words.

[Steve] Is that what you want?

[Steve] Don’t leave me on read.

Bucky didn’t know what to say. He typed and retyped the same message again until another one from Steve popped up.

[Steve] ‘Yes’ or ‘no’? It can’t be this hard to type one fucking word.

Bucky couldn’t breathe. Steve had always been kind and considerate, it made Bucky’s heart race to see this side of him.

[Bucky] Yes.

[Steve] Thank you, but we will talk more about this tomorrow.

Bucky’s phone chimed to tell him, he should be on his way now if he wanted to get to the party on time. His mind was still caught up in foggy arousal, his cock tenting his slacks. It’s too much, he wasn’t thinking straight and Steve wasn’t even here—wasn’t even touching him. Just a text and Bucky was a mess.

At least the walk to the subway station helped to clear Bucky’s head and chase away some of the immediate, burning need that had been burning in his guts just a few minutes earlier. It left him frustrated, but slightly more level-headed and in a more appropriate mood to be out in public.

When Bucky met up with Jonas outside the high-rise office building the guy was already wasted. He was surrounded by his office buddies and Bucky was honestly about to turn on his heel and go back home when Jonas called out to him. With all his mates there Jonas treated Bucky like another one of them and Bucky was already over the metaphorical dick-measuring contest that was happening whenever one of these guys opened their mouth.

Once they got inside Bucky split off from the group, Jonas didn’t even seem to notice. So, he explored the venue. The party stretched across multiple floors. The bottom floor was full of rich and wanna-be rich people schmoozing and socializing, barely anyone of them had stuck to the masquerade theme and Bucky kept debating whether he should take off his own mask.

He was much more comfortable on the upper floor. There were less people here and most of them kept to themselves. He felt less out of place when he noticed that most of the people here stuck to the masquerade theme, there were only a few people who’s face wasn’t at least partially hidden behind a mask.

Jonas didn’t even shoot him a quick text to ask where he had disappeared to, so Bucky was more than ready to just find whatever food this place offered, eat for free tonight and make the best of the situation. He didn’t know what he’d expected dating someone his age, but Bucky was done settling for anything and he made a resolution to break up whatever was going on between him and Jonas.

When Bucky finally found the buffet that was standard for these types of events, he couldn’t stop himself from loading up two plates and searching for a quiet, secluded place to eat. At this point it had become a reflex to send Steve a text whenever he sat down to stuff himself.

[Bucky] found the food

He sent a picture with his hand next to the plates to give Steve a sense of how big they were. Some guy’s phone went off as soon as Bucky hit send two tables over and for a moment Bucky wondered if that’s Steve.

He had a commanding presence even sitting down. Bucky could tell he’s a gym buff from his ridiculous shape. His shoulders looked almost double the size of his waist. As well as the large plate of food in front of him. This man needed to fuel his body with all those calories, but Bucky was eating more than him and only planning on getting fatter. Bucky dug in.

His little costume went from fitting perfectly fine to too tight within half a plate of food. The corset was throwing a wrench into Bucky’s plan of stuffing himself. He already felt full before he had even really gotten started. The blond guy from two tables over caught Bucky’s eye again. He was frowning at his phone and looking back up at Bucky.

[Steve] What are you doing here?

[Bucky] what do you mean?

Another phone chime from two tables down. Bucky re-read the text two times before he looked back at the blond guy. No way that’s Steve. That would be too much of a coincidence, right? Bucky sent another message and the guy’s phone went off again. For a moment Bucky contemplates just getting up and walking away, but then Steve was already out of his chair and walking up to Bucky’s table.

[raleighcarrera]

outpoint

foreign affairs | m!blaine hayes x mc (kennedy monroe)

a cut scene from chapter 4; after dionne’s party, blaine and kennedy work on their project a little bit and then not at all.

catch up: knockout (E) / on the ropes (T)

tagging: @pixeljazzy ; @zigtheeortega ; @pixelsandkink ; @writinghereandthere ; @choicesarehard ; @natesewell ; @flyawayboo ; @withbeautyandrage ; @blainehellyes

~3.3k words | T

it would be easier not to be seen together if not for the fact that they’re no where near done with their project. in fact, they’ve barely even started.

there’s also the added complication of their less-than-platonic relationship; they’re far from just classmates, or even friends. 

everything feels like it’s gotten out of control so quickly.

but he hadn’t planned for this. he’d agreed to go to vancross because it was that or the campaign trail; when he’d first arrived on campus, blaine had expected to coast through his classes, party until he forgot how pissed off at his parents he was and wait out the boring political drama unfolding back home with a few more years of school.

he hadn’t expected her. 

to their credit, his father’s advisors had done their best to warn him. still, he’d slept through so many briefings before packing up and heading out that he lost count -- going to vancross was supposed to be a reprieve from being blaine hayes, a chance to get out from under his parents’ noses. the first daughter of rutherland was a nonissue, hardly part of the equation at all.

...then he’d met her, and she’d called him a jackass with that cute little challenging sparkle in her eyes, and a part of him that had long since been quiet slowly stirred awake again.

and now he’s here: playing it so cool that kennedy is clearly starting to doubt whether he even likes her at all, fidgety and tense where she’s doing her very best to pretend to be engrossed in her textbook, sitting right beside him on the couch in her suite. 

her bodyguard is definitely glaring at him, too. 

blaine looks away, clearing his throat and nudging kennedy with his shoulder. “hey,” he murmurs, voice purposefully low, “i think i found something.”

it’s only when she blinks at him curiously that he realizes he has absolutely nothing at all to offer her and only wanted an excuse to break the silence between them. he points to a random passage in the book in his lap. “we can use this for our argument.”

kennedy looks down at the section he’s indicated and then stares back at him as though he’s one of the dumbest people she’s ever had the displeasure of talking to. rather than wilt under the disappointment in her eyes, he only smiles charmingly back at her, until she heaves a sigh and says, “maybe you should just work on our citations.” 

god, no. anything but that. panicked, he grabs for the book she’s holding before she can retreat silently into its pages, burying her nose in the spine and refusing to look at him like she has been for the last hour. “look,” he starts, tongue darting out to wet his lips. the sudden spike of nervousness that flares up within him is... new, to say the least. he needs a plan. “can we talk privately for a minute?”

she looks past him, quirking an eyebrow at her bodyguard. there’s a beat or two of silent communication between them that makes him feel uneasy and a sharp twist of her mouth before he hears the front door open and shut, and then they’re alone.

blaine exhales, jumping to his feet. “okay -- come on.” 

he crosses the room without waiting for a response from her, prying open one of the windows in her kitchen. his head leans out to judge the distance to the cobblestones beneath them; it’ll be a bit of a jump, but he’s had worse. when he looks back at kennedy, she’s still blinking at him owlishly. “uh, what are you doing?”

“we’re ditching your bodyguard,” he grins, more confidently than he feels. it is kind of funny how she’s looking at him, like he just suggested a bank heist. “come on. he’ll be back any second.”

kennedy glances at the front door, then rushes over to meet him at the window. “but -- why -- we’re supposed to be working on our project.”

he arches his eyebrows at her, unimpressed. “and we’re obviously not making any headway. plus, i can tell you’re distracted, and since i’m pretty sure that’s my fault... i want to fix it.” well, those are words he’s almost definitely never said to anyone before. to cover up his own surprise at himself, and how uncomfortably true they ring, he widens his grin and asks, “don’t you trust me?”

as soon as she leans around him to peer down at the length of the drop, he knows he’s won. “not enough to go first.”

blaine winks at her before deciding to hell with it, leaning out the window and jumping down to the ground, wincing when his shoes slam against the pavement. fuck. that probably wasn’t worth a shot at impressing her.

though it is worth being in the perfect position to catch her, when she slips from the windowsill and straight into his arms, windswept and adorable. her trip down had been clumsy and imprecise, with all the grace of someone who had probably never snuck out of anywhere before. 

before he can stop himself, he lifts a hand to her face to brush her hair back behind her ear. she smiles at him, as his fingertips graze her temple, and for a moment it’s like they both forget who and where they are.

it’s terrifying. 

he sets kennedy down on her feet as quickly as he can, reaching for her wrist to tug her through the courtyard. “come on.”

“where are we going?” she asks, stumbling to catch up with him, “and -- slow down, jesus. i can’t run in these shoes. no one’s chasing us, anyway.”

right. he knows that. he’s done this plenty of times -- evaded his own security detail so frequently he could probably do it in his sleep. he’s snuck plenty of pretty girls around behind guards, including this pretty girl just a few days ago. there’s no reason he should be off his game now.

blaine shakes his head at himself and then slows to a stop, finally dropping kennedy’s wrist back to her side. “well, you can’t ever be too sure,” he muses, pleased to find that they’re definitively alone, no other students or faculty or wayward paparazzi following behind them. “but you’re off the grid, now. how’s it feel?”

kennedy pauses, then unleashes a blinding grin that’s a little bit dazzling. “i see why you do this all the time.”

he hums his agreement, trying not to stare at her smile. “we’re not even at our final destination yet.”

she makes an interested noise that he tries not to find sexy and fails. no one ever said he didn’t have a one-track mind. “where are we going?”

“you’ll see,” blaine promises, his own smirk sharpening as soon as they reach the gate and his hands find it unlocked. some state-of-the-art security.

kennedy falters beside him as he holds the wrought-iron out wide for her. “we didn’t fill out any paperwork.”

that’s true. but it would’ve been impossible to ask for permission when the plan was still only half-baked in his mind, sprung into being just twenty minutes ago. “we’ll be back before anyone notices,” he assures her, “except maybe your shadow.”

kennedy rolls her eyes, but his teasing does the trick. she saunters out of the gate with him without a glance back. “tatum’s just doing his job.”

“right,” blaine scoffs, “that’s all he’s doing.” 

there’s a pause that feels just a touch too long before kennedy carefully asks, “what do you mean?” 

“i mean --” he adopts the most casual tone of voice he can muster. it still feels like not enough, making him instantly regret dancing around this topic of conversation. “it just seems like there’s something else going on between you two.”

yep. kennedy smirks wide, as obviously delighted as any one person can look. he should’ve seen that coming. “is that so?”

“don’t be smug,” he mutters, hunching his shoulders in when a group of random strangers walk past them on the sidewalk. 

“no, i’m going to,” kennedy argues, looking unfairly cute as she does the same, mimicking his movements. god, he hates her. “tell me, what do you think is going on between us?”

“only if you tell me why you’ve been so quiet,” he fires back, leading them off down a side street. “you’ve been weird ever since we got back from pavadena.”

“i have not,” kennedy insists immediately, though when he looks her way again while they wait for the light to change so they can cross the street he sees she’s biting down anxiously on her bottom lip. “i’m not even supposed to be seen with you.”

“i know.” he’s not, either. yet here they both are, in broad daylight together, in the middle of town. “so?”

“so, i’m risking a lot, and it’s like, for what? you didn’t even -- you’ve barely spoken to me, too.” she looks embarrassed by the admission, avoiding his gaze while she stares at the sidewalk instead. “when other people are around, you act like... it’s nothing. me and you.”

blaine frowns. it’s unexpected, how hurtful it is to hear her say that in the soft tone of voice she’s using, uncertain and uncomfortable. she shouldn’t sound like that. “isn’t that what you want?”

she sighs, hesitating for a moment before opening her mouth again. “i --” kennedy cuts off abruptly, leaning to the side to peer around his shoulder. with a sheepish shrug, he realizes they’ve reached their destination, and that kennedy’s stopped talking because of the music playing, trying its best to lure them across the street and into the carnival. “oh my god,” she laughs, her whole face transforming from shy to excited so quickly it makes his head spin, “how did you know this was here?”

her reaction is worth any potential disaster waiting for them back on campus. it might even be worth the ass kicking that’s definitely heading his way from that surly bodyguard of hers, too. “doesn’t matter. come on.”

they jog across the street with their heads down, though as soon as they’re actually on the fairgrounds he realizes there’s no need to look over their shoulders; it’s the middle of the day and the carnival is pretty much empty, a wayward toddler being chased by an au pair the only other sign of life on the premises besides a few bored looking workers hanging out of their booths. 

“god, i haven’t been to something like this in ages,” kennedy gushes, already dragging him over to a big table marked tickets. “this is amazing.”

the thing is -- he knows exactly what she means. growing up like they did, being who they are, it’s impossible to do anything normal. he can’t remember the last time he had an afternoon out that was as mundane as this one, either. even date night with his last girlfriend had become a production; nothing was ever just dinner and a movie.

instead of acknowledging her gratitude, he shoves her out of the way with his shoulder and opens his wallet for the most tickets the teenager behind the counter will give him. kennedy completely ignores him while he pays, twisted around to look out over the fairgrounds, cataloging every offering with wide, overeager eyes. somehow she makes this traveling carnival that’s absolutely seen better days feel like a luxury destination, and as he passes the tickets over to her blaine finds that his smile is tough to dampen, despite his best efforts to keep his expression contained.

they burn through a good chunk of the tickets throwing baseballs at milk bottles -- mostly because kennedy insists she can knock down more than he can, and that simply won’t do. he refuses to stop until he’s won her the biggest prize they have available, an obnoxiously pink stuffed elephant with giant, floppy ears. 

fortunately, there’s still enough tickets left for the fun house and the photo booth and every other stupid thing she wants to do that he pretends to hate but doesn’t, until eventually the sun’s starting to set and he knows their afternoon out is coming to an end. 

“we should head back,” blaine suggests regretfully, watching her pick her way through the giant cotton candy he probably shouldn’t have bought for her with a mix of disgust and pride. “we’ve been gone awhile.”

“have we?” kennedy blinks, as though she’s only now noticing how late it’s gotten. “ugh. one more ride -- i have to finish this.”

“you don’t,” he remarks with amusement, noting the tips of her dyed-blue fingers even as they walk off indulgently towards the only ride they’ve yet to approach. “you can just throw it out.”

“that’s quitter’s talk,” she says through a mouthful of melting sugar, chewing with her cheeks bulged out while blaine uses the last of their tickets to get them onto the ferris wheel, which is completely abandoned except for the two of them, as far as he can tell. 

once the door is shut and they take off it’s the most alone they’ve been in awhile. the last time they were this secluded was in the kitchen in pavadena, when he’d licked frosting off her fingers and she’d looked at him like maybe she wanted him to kiss her, too -- like maybe she wanted even more than that.

sort of like how she’s looking at him now, doe eyes wide and nervous, the cogs of her mind very clearly turning into overdrive behind them.

it seems so obvious, now, staring at her in the cart. of course she’d wanted him to kiss her on dionne’s birthday. she’d dressed up, searching for a sincere compliment that she hadn’t gotten and invited him to dance in the hopes that if she made the first move he’d make the finishing one, like they’d done before. and he hadn’t even realized it.

so -- he probably is as stupid as everyone thinks he is. 

the ferris wheel creaks around them as they slowly ascend to the top, old machinery groaning while they climb higher and higher. it feels like it takes forever for him to sort his thoughts into a sentence that’s actually passable, but for once, he wants to be careful about what he says. “i didn’t mean to make you think i don’t care.”

he hears her inhale. kennedy flicks her gaze out at the view behind him, then bravely looks back at his face. “no?”

“no,” he confirms, shrugging helplessly again. “this is new to me.” even this conversation is beyond him.

but judging by the look on her face, he’s yet to colossally fuck up. that’s good. “me, too,” she admits, leaning in a little closer across the metal bench they’re both sitting on. “it’d be weird even if we weren’t... us.”

except that who they are has nothing to do with why this is so strange for him. kennedy could be from antartica, and he’d still be the unlucky bastard who finally met someone he thinks understands him and has botched talking to her about it at every opportunity. 

well, there’s one thing he knows he can still execute perfectly. as the ferris wheel glides to a stop for them to take in the view, the setting sun streaming in picturesquely through the little window in the cart, he leans in and kisses her, hands fanning out low over the small of her back.

kennedy tastes like cotton candy and her hands are sticky when they cup his face -- sticky like they would have been if he’d seen the signs for what they were and kissed her in pavadena like he’d wanted to, if he’d taken advantage of the rare moment alone in the way he was now, crowding her back into the corner of the cart with a grip that he knows is probably too tight.

but she kisses him back just as urgently as he’s kissing her, dragging him in closer and biting at his mouth. she’s kissing him like she’s been thinking about this, too -- like she’s found it even a fraction as all-consuming as he has, late at night when he can’t get to sleep and he’s staring at his ceiling cursing the absurdity of it all.

the moment is gone in the blink of an eye. the ferris wheel lurches back into motion with a sound that would be alarming if he wasn’t so distracted, the cart swaying in the wind as they slowly come down the other side of the circle.

she pulls away despite blaine’s best efforts to keep her in his personal space, his hands still firm on her hips. “blaine,” she murmurs, so prettily he actually has to shut his eyes -- just for a second -- just to catch his breath -- 

light spills into the cart as the door is wrenched open. they’re on the ground again, and there’s a line of kids waiting for their turn on the ride. going up had felt like forever, but the descent was done before he could even figure out what he wanted to say. 

they make their way back to the street silently. blaine is so lost in thought it takes him a minute to realize kennedy is on the phone, wincing and rushing to promise the world to whoever she’s talking to -- that they’d only run out for a little, that she was perfectly safe, that she’d be back soon. tatum, she mouths at him as soon as he catches her eye, though as she talks he finds it hard to do anything but stare at the blue corners of her mouth, where she probably still tastes like cloyingly sweet artificial sugar.

he half expects an ambush to be waiting for them at the vancross gates, but it’s quiet when they head back across the quad. after a few steps in the direction of kennedy’s dorm, blaine’s horrified to find that he’s dragging his feet, reluctant to let what was probably one of the better days of his adult life come to an end.

this is going to be a problem.

they stop on the side of her building, out of sight from any students who may be using the main entrance. kennedy clears her throat, then announces, “well... this was fun. consider me -- fixed. i think i’ll be able to get my head in the game, now.”

he should make a joke. she’s lobbed up the spike perfectly, all he has to do is hit it. he’s done it a thousand times before -- it should be as easy as breathing.

instead, he finds himself staring at her. blaine ignores what she’s said. “it’s not nothing.”

kennedy blinks. “huh?”

well -- saying it once was one thing. repeating it is something else entirely. he shoves his hands deep into his pockets, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. “you. this. it’s not nothing... to me.”

she’s smiled at him a lot since they’ve met, in pretty much every way imaginable: exasperated, fond, excited, alluring. none of them compare to the way she’s looking at him now, her whole face lit up with joy.

the kiss she presses to his cheek is soft, yet still so heavy. there’s a promise of something that makes him feel off-kilter weighted beneath it, and his stomach unknots as he realizes he’s said the right thing. “me either. goodnight, blaine.”

she disappears around the corner, pink elephant tucked up under her arm, half-finished bag of cotton candy dangling from her free hand. he watches her go, shaking his head at himself again and running his fingers through his hair once she’s out of sight.

ideally she’d be out of his mind, now, too, but he’s starting to realize there’s just about nothing that can make that happen and, if he’s being honest with himself, he doesn’t really want it, anyway.

you just went on a date, chirps an annoying little voice in the back of his mind. 

huh.

so he did.

for the first time since he came to this stupid school, blaine whistles on the way back to his room.

[rebellconquerer]

My insomnia is paying off, though it really could focus on any of the 4 WIP I have instead of writing random one shots. In any case, a little ficlet of Bucky and his haircut. 

He’s not sure when he makes the decision, really. 

Sometime after he realizes that he lost another 5 years of his life to not living, sometime after Steve comes back looking his age for once, sometime after the US government makes it clear that while he may be about to be pardoned, his life will not be his to live. 

He’s been in Wakanda more than in the United States because he’s safe there and he’s familiar with life there, and because it’s the last place outside of Steve’s company that he knows he’s wanted. But his days are numbered, he knows that. T’Challa can only keep the government at bay so long, and so he knows with a certainty that aches in his bones that he will be leaving soon.

He could wait to go back. 

Once the decision is made, the when and where and how don’t really matter all that much. Hell, he’d probably have more luck in the States (very few people look like him here), but he doesn’t know when he’ll feel comfortable having someone have a sharp object behind his back and the longer the hair stays with him the more he feels like he’s dragging around the corpse of the Winter Soldier. 

So he goes to Ramonda out of some innate instinct in him that shouts that she is a mother and capable and will not turn him away. His own mother cut his hair until he was almost 22, and yes, Ramonda is royalty and probably has no experience with any hair like his, but it’s the trust that matters. 

She smiles at him when he shows up at her official office, still cobwebbed and dusty from the time away, but her immediate expression of pleasure at seeing him helps soothe his jittery thoughts. 

“Mahlubandile, it is good to see you, come in, come in,” she says lightly, stepping away from her door. 

He hovers in the doorway only momentarily before he shuffles inside. 

“I know you are probably busy, I don’t want to take too much of your time, but I-” suddenly the words get stuck in his throat. He doesn’t know how to ask for things anymore, much less things for himself (much less ridiculous things that the Queen of a country wouldn’t want to, or care to, do a vicious voice spits at him from the back of his head.) He finds himself frozen, mouth open and eyes wide, unable to go on but unsure how to go back. 

“Yes?” Ramonda asks, face clouding with concern. When he still says nothing, she frowns at him. “You look just like him when he wants something, so go ahead and ask,” she says kindly. 

He grimaces uncomfortably at being read so easily, but if there is one thing he is good at, it is following instructions. 

“I want to cut my hair.” he manages to get out all in one breath. 

Ramonda frowns at him, dark eyes clouded with confusion. 

“Ok. You do not require permission to do so, Mahlubandile. We can try and find someone here who would be able to-”

“No, I… I would like you to cut my hair,” he says softly. Her mouth forms a perfect ‘O’ of surprise as her eyes widen minutely. He watches carefully for any signs that she is uncomfortable with his request, but he sees only concern and kindness. 

“I do not know if I would be the best person for this, I have never done it before,” she says gently. It’s not a no.

“It doesn’t matter what it looks like when it’s done, just that it’s gone. Please, Ramonda,” he says clearly, trying to convey with his expression, the words he cannot bring himself to say. She seems to understand, brow furrowing for a moment before she purses her lips. 

“See, you say that, but Shuri will have lots of thoughts and opinions on what it looks like after,” she mutters and Bucky can’t help the small smile that curves his lips even though that thought hurts. He’s going to miss them after he leaves. 

“Come to the palace this evening. We will get it done, though I cannot promise you will not have an audience.” she proclaims, with an air of finality. Bucky huffs out a breath of laughter, knowing she means Shuri, and nods. She’ll be a good distraction anyway. 

**********************************

“This is going to be amazing, seriously, I have so many style options.” Shuri greets him as he walks towards one of the guest bathrooms. 

“No style options. I have watched a few videos and I think I can make do with scissors and clippers. Styling will be out of my repertoire,” Ramonda says honestly, her eyes solemn and on him. He nods, as he said before, he doesn’t particularly care what it looks like, just wants it gone. 

“The only style thought I have right now is - short,” he reassures. Shuri groans with all the drama of a 19-year-old.

They have a little area set up for him. A stool over some sort of colourful sheet, a full layout of scissors of different types and multiple clippers. He barely speaks, focused mostly on breathing through the bubbling panic rolling his stomach and an uneasy sense of fear, though he doesn’t know of what. 

Ramonda says nothing, for which he is grateful, and Shuri perches herself in the corner of the room, talking mostly to herself about some projects she is planning to start working on. He doesn’t think she realises yet that he will likely be forced to leave, but Ramonda knows. He can see it in her eyes. 

He settles easily on the seat, closing his eyes and thinking of anything else but what is about to happen. He focuses on the sound of Shuri’s voice, the tired but easy cadence of it that had become so familiar throughout the process of his deprogramming. 

Ramonda sprays his hair with water, dampening the strands, then he feels her hand rest on his shoulder for a moment. She doesn’t ask if he’s sure, for which he is thankful because he doesn’t know what his answer would have been beneath the hummingbird beat of his heart, but he needs this done. Needs it gone. 

He doesn’t flinch at the first cut but it’s a near thing. And it gets easier and easier with each successive snip until his muscles aren't tensing at Ramonda's every move.

It takes her almost an hour, between her getting rid of most of the length and then her and Shuri bickering goodnaturedly over which clipper to use at which length with some additional time to stop and consult YouTube, but eventually she taps him in the shoulder and whispers 'all done' in a voice that's almost choked with emotion.

He brushes the strands of his hair that are caught on his shirt slowly, delaying the inevitable of looking at himself in the mirror as long as he can in case it's not enough, in case no matter the change this has made, he'll still see the Winter Soldier staring back at him in his reflection.

But he can't delay forever, especially with Shuri and Ramonda hovering, clearly waiting for a reaction. So he takes a steadying breath, walks over the mirror and counts himself down from 3 before he looks up and meets his own eyes.

It makes him look younger somehow. The short hair provides no distractions from the blue of his eyes and the sharp contour of his cheekbones. He reaches up and rubs his hand through the soft bristles at the back of his head, taking in the difference.

He doesn't look like the Soldier, that's for sure, but he also doesn't look like Bucky Barnes. It's not even something he realised he was dreading until he feels the relief in his chest. 

Bucky Barnes was a good looking boy who prided himself on having a swell haircut with just the right amount of brylcream shine. He'd have never been caught dead with hair this short. Bucky isn't that boy anymore, and looking like him would just give him another ghost to outrun. 

"Well? The United Nation deliberates for less time." Shuri grumbles and receives a short, sharp word in Xhosa from her mother.

Bucky actually laughs, the sound feeling more at home in his mouth than at any time in the last 70 years. 

"It's very good." He pronounces and turns to face Ramonda who's hovering behind him.

He gives her the most honest, warm look he can muster.

"Thank you" he says, feeling the strength of that statement tug at whatever is left of his heart.

She smiles.

[smutbymia]

Omg can u pls make another nipple sucking fic but w jeno 🥺

You sat on the floor of Jenos dorm room in a fit of soft giggles as the two of you passed your third bottle of soju between each other.

The moonlight bore through the only open window in the little room and you tried your hardest to stifle your laughter since you had already gotten noise complaints from the other dreamies after returning from the barbecue place that you and Jeno had gone to for dinner.

Jeno loved moments like this more than anything in the world. Lately it seemed as though he was happiest around you and it wasn’t until his group members pointed it out that he realized that he may have possibly found what the rest of the boys often joked about and called — the “girl” best friend.

Basically it was a running jokes among idols that at some point during their career they’d stumble across a girl. A perfect girl who seemed to lift your spirits despite the hectic routine of your career. Jaemin had found and then lost his girl best friend all within the span of a couple of months as their friendship progressed into a whirlwind romance that was doomed from the start; another trait of the dreaded “girl” best friend.

The legend stated that the idol and the girl would always teeter between a platonic and romantic relationship, eventually causing conflict between the two and thus dooming the perfect relationship. The only way things seemed to work with these relationships was if the idol was to give up their career and dream to lead a normal life with their partner.

You and Jeno started hanging out quite frequently about 5 months prior to this very night on the bedroom floor. Usually when you hung out it was late at night, after practice or on his days off when you’d take walks by the Han river at 6am to stay discrete and watch the sun rise. Of course these could be seen as dates but the energy between you two wasn’t that heavy. It felt easy — for you.

Jeno was a bit of a nervous wreck. He didn’t think it would be so easy. He really did see you as a friend at first but he messed up. He started seeing you way too often and it was only inevitable that his feelings for you would develop just as quickly. It didn’t fully register until he found himself doing things boyfriends did, like taking you out on frequent dinner dates, or the ease of roping his hands in yours whenever you guys took your morning walks. It all seemed quite normal and natural for him until the rest of his members had grilled him about your situationship after the night of Chenles birthday party.

The two of you had lots to drink (as usual) and were carrying on like your normal selves — which apparently wasn’t very normal at all. Jeno leaned back in his seat with his hand stretched across your bare thigh. You sat next to him with your legs crossed as you sat silently, nursing at the drink in your hand while the boys engaged in an animated conversation about some drama they were binge watching back at the dorm.

Jeno rubbed circles against your leg with his thumb as the rest of his fingers gripped at your thighs. The other members certainly took notice of their friends hand placement but ignored it as they continued speaking. It wasn’t until you leaned over to rest your head against Jeno’s shoulder and he turned his head to plant a quick kiss on your forehead that the conversation at the table went quiet, momentarily.

Needless to say, Jeno was bombarded with questions that night after the boys had come to the conclusion that he was being far too reckless in public, and above all else — he had fallen for you.

Ever since then he struggled to keep from crossing the line drawn between the two of you but that line always became far too blurry when he was drunk. And boy was he drunk tonight.

The boys had warned him against it but he couldn’t resist inviting you over to spend the night. He wanted to hang out longer than you usually got to, and wanted to be able to let loose somewhere where he knew you’d be away from prying eyes.

Now here you were, a drunk and giggly mess on Jenos floor. The other members were hanging out with the two of you before but they had retreated to their rooms for the night to get rest — which apparently you were stopping them from doing with your laughing over the last hour. For you and Jeno the party was only just starting.

“Hide and seek?” Jeno suggested.

You shook your head vigorously before shutting him down, “too drunk and definitely too loud!”

Jeno covered his hand with his mouth as he muffled a laugh at your shaking head and rosy cheeks.

“Truth or dare!” said Jeno after uncovering his mouth and not even attempting to keep his voice down. Your hand flew over his lips as you shushed him, tumbling forward a bit as his arm flew out to your waist as he steadied you infront of him on the floor again. You felt his warm breath tickle your skin as he giggled against your palm.

“Fine but we have to be quiet!” you whispered, your faces inches from his as you carefully removed your hand from over his mouth.

“Okay, y/n... you first. Truth or dare?” asked Jeno. You hesitated before speaking. “Dare... no truth!” you squeaked. This time it was Jenos turn to cover your mouth is he pressed forward into you, sending the two of you slipping onto the floor.

His body was directly on top of yours as you felt the cool wood of the floor against your back. He winced as he waited for the inevitable to happen.

A soft ping filled the room and you and Jeno both turned your heads to peer at the phone that was on the ground next to you. The first ping was followed by 4 more as messages from the NCT Dream group chat spilled in — complaining again.

Jeno texted the group back to apologize, with only one hand because he still needed to muffle your laugh with his other. When he was finished he turned back to you with a stern expression on his drunken face.

“Truth— what are you thinking of right now?” he whispered, still above you.

“You’re not as heavy as I thought you’d be,” you answered without missing a beat.

“Truth or dare?” you asked Jeno.

“Truth,” he responded.

“What’s your biggest secret?” you asked.

“Honestly, you. You’re my biggest secret,” he said. He was right. If fans knew about the two of you spending so much time together he really could be in trouble.

“Truth or dare?” he said, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Truth again,” you answered.

“How many people have you slept with?” Jeno asked carefully... his eyes narrowed and his lips pouty.

“Jeno!” you gasped quietly. He raised his eyebrows, challenging you and letting you know that he was expecting an honest reply.

“Fine,” you said before confessing, “just one!”

Your cheeks flushed red as you shifted your gaze away from him but you could see a small smile dance on his lips before it disappeared. “Wait, do I know them?” he asked suddenly.

“You only get one question each turn,” you teased, “now truth or dare!”

“Truth again!” he said.

“Uh... okay,” you pondered for a while, “what’s your biggest kink?”

Jeno’s eyes went wide as you watched the heat rush to his face. You were almost certain that you felt him begin to harden before he shifted above you in a position that allowed him to be a bit more discrete about his excitement.

“Ah, y/n... don’t be so shameless,” he scolded. Your mouth dropped open as the shock set in. How dare he make up such and excuse to avoid your question when he had asked you a personal one first.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that! Give me a dare instead” he said as he flashed a smile down at you before finally moving and drawing you up into a sitting position as he poured the final shots of soju for the night.

You cheersed and downed them quickly before you stacked the shot glasses and pushed them aside. The alcohol was flowing through your system and you were beginning to feel a little mischievous so you decided to challenge your friend once more.

You watched as Jeno ran his fingers through his dark hair and looked at you expectantly, thinking he was off the hook. Inside, he was feeling a little overwhelmed. He had just narrowly escaped popping a boner with you right under him and the alcohol was starting to cause words to slip from his mouth carelessly. And you. You looked so beautiful that he could barely keep away from you.

“I dare you to show me,” you said. Jeno could have sworn your lips had began moving in slow motion as his own fell open.

“Wh-what do you mean?” he stammered.

“If you won’t tell me then show me. What’s your biggest kink?” you asked as you moved closer to sit directly in front of him. Your voices had dropped to a whisper lower than any volume you had been in speaking all night.

“Y/n... you dont know what you’re saying,” he warned.

“Truth,” you said randomly.

“What?”Jeno said, confused by your sudden interruption.

“Truth,” you repeated before continuing, “you look really handsome tonight.”

Jeno opened his mouth to respond as a smile spread across his lips but you cut him off before he could get a word out.

“Another truth,” you began, “I’m not sure if it’s just the alcohol but having you on top of me like that made me... feel things.”

“So,” you continued, “I’m just a little curious. I want to know what your biggest kink is. What turns you on?”

Jenos eyes were locked with yours. Even in the dark room, he held your gaze before letting out a deep breath. “So I guess this is it then,” he said under his breath.

You cocked your head to one side, waiting for him to elaborate on that random thought, but he never did. Jeno thought to himself, this was the moment where he’d have to choose wether or not to cross the line. He was nervous. Nervous about what you’d think of him but the more his eyes trailed across your body, the harder it was for him to hold back.

He watched as your chest rose and fell in anticipation for his next words — hoping to learn a dirty little secret about your best friend. He watched as your nipples pressed against the cotton fabric of your white shirt, as he caught sight of the faint outline of your areoles.

“Y/n... I don’t know,” he said as he tore his eyes away from your skin and shut them.

“I-it won’t change anything. I promise,” you said. “I know. I know all about that stupid story about having girls as friends that you all keep spreading around the company!”

Jeno froze as he opened his eyes again. You had reached out and landed your hand on his crossed legs. He reached out, slowly wrapping his hand around your wrist before jerking your arm forward, and pulling you closer to him so your faces nearly touched.

“Promise me. Promise me that you’ll still be my best friend no matter what,” he said as the words spilled quickly from his mouth.

You nodded your head and before you could register what was happening, your best friends lips were pressed firmly against yours.

“Truth,” he said as he broke the kiss. “I’m in love with you.”

You froze in front of him as he drew your bottom lip between his teeth before releasing it and planting a peck on your lips. You roped your hands around his neck as you climbed into his lap, deepening the kiss.

Jenos hands rubbed along your sides, down to your waist and across your butt until he squeezed at your ass through the fabric of your shorts. You could feel him grow hard under you as you let soft moans escape from your lips.

Jeno brushed a finger across your lips.

“Shhh..” he whispered under hooded eyes. You nodded silently as you pressed your lips back together.

“So what is it then? Your kink,” you whispered.

Jeno scratched at the nape of his neck, still feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Come on, you can’t go back on your dares!” you warned.

He sighed before signalling for you to get on the bed as he followed. He ran his thumb across your cheek before lifting at the hem of you shirt and leaning you back onto the bed so you were laying flat against the pillows, topless.

Jeno snuggled into your side before looking up to meet your gaze — not saying anything. You watched as he opened his mouth, allowing his tongue to dart across his lips, wetting them, before planting kisses across your chest and drawing a nipple into his mouth.

“Oh —“ you said as the sensitive bud met the warmth of his tongue while he suckled away. You could hear Jeno’s breathing increase slightly as he grew hard against your leg. This time he pulled his pants down and jerked at his length softly, whining against your skin.

You wrapped an arm around him, supporting his neck as continued to work at your flesh as you ran your fingers through his hair — soothing him as he pumped at his length.

You could feel the pre-crum that had gathered at the head of his penis drip against your leg. Your arousal became too much for you to ignore but you couldn’t interrupt Jeno.

This was it, clearly. He had shown you his vulnerable side and now the pretty boy was fucking himself right infront of your eyes while he nursed at your nipple. You watched as the pretty pink head of his member disappeared between the fist he had formed with his slender and pale fingers.

You couldn’t take it anymore as you allowed your free hand to trail down your body and settle between your legs. You circled at your clit, groaning at the contact that you had been yearning for.

You whimpered as your fingers massaged at your center, causing wetness to pool against your fingers. Jeno suckled harder against your skin as you slipped your fingers inside of yourself. He jerked at himself faster this time, aroused at the sight of you playing with yourself while he was occupied with your soft nipples.

Your orgasm ripped through you as your insides throbbed against your fingers. You bit down on your lip to stop yourself from crying out as Jeno gazed up at you, loving every second of the show you were putting on. He loved the sight of your face as you finally reached your climax. He himself was close but it wasn’t until you slipped your fingers out of yourself and into his mouth in place of your nipple, that he was able to finally cum. His lips circled your fingers as he sucked at the juices that coated them while warm spurts of cum splattered across your thighs.

Jeno collapsed at your side, lifting his fingers up to your lips where you drew them into your mouth to have a taste of him. When you were done licking his fingers clean, he planted a soft kiss on your lips before snuggling back into your chest and licking at your nipples in silence.

“You really like doing that, don’t you baby?” you whispered against his hair as you combed your fingers through.

Jeno hummed against your skin. “It’s my favourite thing in the world,” he whispered as he lulled off to sleep, shortly followed by you.

The next morning, the two of you woke up tangled together beneath the sheets. Jeno was the first one up, and drew circles softly along your back as your eyes began to flutter open.

He paused his movements before nervously speaking. “G-good morning,” he said. “I didn’t mean to sit here and watch you or anything I just didn’t want to leave you alone on your first morning here,” he stammered.

You groaned as you snuggled up closer to him, feeling his body relax at the contact. “How are you feeling,” he asked you.

“Frustrated,” you responded before dropping your voice to a whisper, “someone spent hours sucking on my nipples and I’m almost certain it’s the reason why I’ve been dripping wet all night long!”

Jeno giggled while he planted kisses down your neck as you rubbed softly at your eyes, trying your best to fully wake up.

“I’m sorry,” said Jeno as he flipped you over onto you side to spoon you. He drew your body close against his before slipping his hands back down to your hips and pulling them against his front so you could feel the erection that had grown in his pants.

“Let me make it up to you,” he cooed in your ear as he touched at your body. And he did. He made it up to you all morning long.

thank you to the anon that came up with the truth or dare concept for this mini blurb! ❤️ I haven’t written in so long so forgive me if it takes a while to get into the swing of things again. I feel a bit rusty haha.

[honeypiehotchner]

Where do broken hearts go? -- Bucky Barnes x Reader one shot

But Kay. Don’t you have an essay due Wednesday that you haven’t started? Shhh. Enjoy this Bucky Barnes angst to fluff one shot. Based purely on this picture. You’re welcome.

Summary: You and Bucky used to date, but once the honeymoon phase died down, things took a turn for the worse. Now, months later, your roommate finally manages to get you out to a bar. Only for you to run into some dumbass wearing a tiara.

“This is exactly what you need, Y/N,” your best friend, Jada, tugs on your arm. She’s been trying to get you out of bed for the past hour and she has had no luck whatsoever.

“What I need is to finish this show.” You twist your arm out of her grip, shoveling another fistful of popcorn into your mouth. You’re finally at the good part in this episode, and you’ll be damned if you let Jada ruin it for you.

“Okay, I can’t watch you like this.” Jada grabs the remote and turns the TV off, which is then followed by loud protesting from you.

“What the fuck! I was watching that!”

“You can finish it later,” Jada mutters, tossing the remote to the side. “Listen, it’s been months. Literal months. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to get back out there.”

“Make it later,” you reply curtly. “Hand me the remote.”

“No.”

“Jada, I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“Every time you say you can’t, I just hear excuses,” your best friend raises an eyebrow at you. “I’m not asking you to go out and fall in love again. I’m just asking you, as your best friend and roommate of five years, to please come get drinks with me. I miss going out to the bars and pretending to be waiting for a date. And getting sympathy drinks when our nonexistent dates don’t show. Come on, please?”

You chew on your lower lip. You have to admit, you do miss doing that. It’s been longer than months since you and Jada have enacted that master plan. It was a normal thing before you had a boyfriend and after the two of you broke up, you haven’t been back to a bar to even try.

“Fine,” you mumble. “But only because you know I can’t turn down pity drinks.”

“Yes! Thank you! Okay, you have to wear this new outfit I got you--”

“Were you planning this?”

“...no.”

“Whatever,” you smile, missing this rush of adrenaline. “Let’s do this before I change my mind.”

+++

The bar is crowded. But what bar isn’t?

You can’t help but get the sense, though, that this is more crowded than the usual Saturday night. Or maybe it really has been a long time since you were out of the apartment.

When you and your boyfriend -- none other than Bucky Barnes, the famous Winter Soldier and best friend to Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America, both heartthrobs to the universe -- broke things off a few months ago, your desire to go anywhere that wasn’t work-related had left your body. And since work for you consists of sitting on the couch with your laptop, that meant your desire to leave the apartment was nowhere to be seen.

The only times -- and they were few and far between -- that Jada would manage to get you out would be for food. Groceries or dinner, but that was it. No bars. No “having fun” as Jada would put it, even though you have plenty of fun. Netflix is fun. Comedy specials are fun.

As you and Jada score the last two stools at the bar, you send her a wary glance. You definitely didn’t miss this atmosphere.

It was one thing to play the game to your advantage, but when you haven’t played in so long, it’s terrifying. You’re out of practice entirely.

And the crowd certainly isn’t helping. You don’t remember it ever being this packed. How is this not a violation of the fire code or something?

“Relax,” Jada yells over the commotion. “You look like you’re going to hurl.”

“I might,” you joke, but you’re not going to. You know when you’re about to throw up, and that’s not the feeling you have right now.

When you and Bucky ended, it wasn’t because he cheated. And it wasn’t because you cheated, either. Everything was smooth sailing. It was all so...easy with Bucky. Which doesn’t make sense, you know, because Bucky is a literal block of ice sometimes. Even more so than Steve at times.

But Bucky was tender with you. You had wormed your way right into his heart not knowing he was doing the exact same to you. It was effortless. No pushing, no pulling. Just smooth. Exactly how love should be.

Then, the honeymoon phase ended.

Bucky started going on missions again. You started spending more time back at the apartment because of this -- which Jada was at least thankful for; she missed having you around. But with you and Bucky separated, it meant you weren’t talking as much.

Granted, he wasn’t available during missions. And you understood that. You also understood that when he came back, he needed his space. No offense to you, and it has nothing to do with you -- or anyone else for that matter. He just needs space. That’s just Bucky.

But he took your willingness to give him space as something else entirely.

You didn’t break up because you cheated. The accusation itself was thrown around more than once.

He accused you of it on nights when all you had been doing was watching some shitty Netflix drama on the couch with Jada. And on nights when you had been working nonstop.

After the second time, you told him that if he didn’t trust you at all, then maybe it meant things weren’t working anymore.

Bucky realized his mistake. You saw it in his eyes when he realized it. But you were too fed up with his games to even bother forgiving him then.

You slammed the door on your way out. And sent every call of his to voicemail. When you were worried you might have to block him, he stopped calling.

The two of you haven’t spoken since.

Have you thought about him? Every second of every day.

“Don’t hate me for telling you this,” Jada leans over so she isn’t yelling as much. “But I think I might’ve just seen Tony Stark.”

Your eyes go wide. “What?”

Jada discretely nods over to where the crowd has been all night. “But it could just be someone who looks like him. A creepy cosplayer. You never know.”

“It better be.” You don’t know that you can handle seeing Bucky. Not when you haven’t spoken since the breakup.

The bartender brings you a refill with a sad smile. Sympathy drink number one.

Some idle chatter flows between you, Jada, and the random guy sitting beside your best friend. He’s the classic just-got-his-heart-broken kind of guy, so you can empathize with that. He’s cute, too, and you silently cheer when he rests his hand on your roommate’s arm.

Jada’s eyes catch on something over your shoulder and you freeze, staring at her. “What?”

“Cutie staring at you.”

“Huh?”

“A cutie. Is staring. At you.”

You chuckle, deciding to play your cards. You look over your shoulder with a smile. What you don’t expect is for your gaze to fall right to Bucky Barnes.

“Fuck,” you hiss, turning back around.

Jada gives you a strange look. “What now?”

“That’s Bucky.”

Jada looks again, disbelieving. “No, that’s-- holy shit, he cut his hair.”

Yeah, he cut his hair. It looks fucking good on him, too, the shorter length. You kept trying to get him to entertain the idea of cutting it when you were together, but he wouldn’t budge. You didn’t totally mind because you did like his long hair. But the pictures you saw of him from the ‘40s? No wonder all the girls swooned over him. You fell in love with his long hair, but one look at him from the ‘40s had you falling all over again.

Just like right now. You can feel it. You know he’s still looking at you. And damnit, you want to look, too. But it’s a bad idea.

Apparently, the idea isn’t bad enough to stop you. Because you look again.

You snicker quietly to yourself as you take him in. His hair is shorter, yes, but he’s got a tiara sitting on the top of his head. The sight of that alone has you grinning. What dumbass bet did he lose?

You get a little too carried away with making eyes at Bucky across the room because then you’re spotted by none other than Tony Stark, and all hell breaks loose.

“Y/N!” You’d hear Tony’s voice from a mile away if he tried hard enough. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Hi Tony,” you reply, watching as the poor guy next to you is promptly shoved off the stool by a somewhat tipsy Tony Stark. “How much have you had?”

“Not nearly enough to be okay with seeing you and Barnes have eye sex.”

“Tony!” You smack his arm. “Knock it off. I was just laughing at the crown on princess’s head.”

Tony grins wide. “There’s that fire. We’ve missed you.”

“Sure,” you shake your head, sipping your drink. Next to you, Jada is giving you a look of sheer disbelief. “Tony you’re scaring my best friend.”

“Best friend!” Tony exclaims, looking over at her. “Both of you, come join our party! More the merrier!”

“You’re drunk off your ass.”

“Not yet,” Tony winks. “Come on, Barnes wants to see you anyway.”

“No,” you stay put. “I don’t want to.”

“Oh, give it up,” Tony yells. “He’s been moping around my goddamn tower for months, please go have sex with him or something to make it stop--”

You don’t have time for another protest before Bucky comes up next to you, pushing Tony away. Bucky Barnes. Taking every chance he can get to save the day.

Your ex slides easily into the stool. You look to your right for help from Jada only to find she’s fully facing and flirting with the guy beside her. You’re stuck.

Bucky waves down the bartender and asks for two beers.

“You’re gonna drink two? Seriously?” It’s a weak jab, but you don’t know what else to do. You’ve had speeches made up in your head for months, what you’d say when you saw him again, but they were all in scenarios where you weren’t in a loud ass bar.

“Actually,” Bucky takes both bottles in his hand, sliding one toward you. “I got one of them for you.”

If it wasn’t your favorite kind, you would’ve poured it on his stupid tiara. “Thanks.”

“Come on,” Bucky nods, standing from the stool.

“What?”

“Let’s get away from the bar,” he says. “Too many people.”

“Fine,” you huff, ignoring his hand that is stretched out to help you down. You try to walk with more than an inch between you two, but it’s so crowded that when Bucky grabs lightly onto your arm, you let him.

Suddenly, the crowd opens up, and you realize it’s because Tony Stark -- of course -- has rented and blocked off one section of the place, forcing everyone else to crowd around the bar.

You ignore the weird glances coming from the other Avengers that haven’t seen your face in months. One, in particular, is Steve.

Bucky finds an open booth and slides in, waiting for you to do the same. You do, but you keep your distance. He accepts defeat, leaning onto his arms on the table, beer bottle in one hand.

“Nice tiara,” you comment, not looking at him. “It suits you.”

“Thanks,” he chuckles, shaking his head until the plastic crown falls into his hands. He sets it down on the table, running his fingers through his hair, messing it up. You want to fix it so badly, but you leave it alone. “How’ve you been?”

“Good.” A lie. “How’ve you been?”

“Awful.”

You turn your head to look at him, not expecting that answer. “Okay…”

“Y/N, I’m…” Bucky pauses, grabbing a fistful of his hair and letting go. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

“Can’t argue with you there,” you mutter, picking at the label on the side of the bottle. “What made you come to this revelation?”

Bucky’s lips stretch into a smile. “I miss that.”

“What?”

“Your wit,” he replies. “Your ability to call me on my bullshit.”

“I shouldn’t have to be there to call out your bullshit.”

He frowns. “I know.”

“What are you doing?” You blurt. “Whatever you’re trying to do.”

“I’m trying to say I’m sorry.”

“Then just say it,” you almost laugh. He’s being ridiculous. “Stop trying to-- To drag me back in. Just say you’re sorry so I can go.”

“I don’t want you to go, that’s the thing,” Bucky pleads. “I’m sorry, doll, I’ve been so stupid. I am stupid and I don’t blame you one bit if you get up and leave right now, but I’m asking you to please, don’t go.”

“Why?” You murmur, surprised he can even hear you.

“Because I’m miserable without you. And every day I think of how I would change things if I could--”

“You can’t.”

“But I want to try. If you’ll let me.”

You stare hard at the bottle in your hands. If you had even an ounce of Bucky’s strength, the glass would be a shattered mess all over the table.

“Please, baby,” Bucky scoots closer, knowing he’s testing his luck. But what else does he have left to do? “Let me love you right this time.”

Slowly, because you can’t believe he’s telling you all that you ever wanted to hear, you look up at him, tears in your eyes. One slides down your cheek and he wipes it away, hand cradling your jaw.

You shake your head. “I can’t do this again, Buck.”

He frowns deeply, his hand slipping away. His eyes lower themselves to his lap, accepting his defeat once more.

“So you better not break my fucking heart this time.”

His gaze snaps to meet yours, thinking he’s imagined those words, but you’re smiling. Smiling, even though you’re also glaring. But he sees the hurt behind your eyes.

“I won’t,” he swears to you, hand returning to caress your cheek. “And if I do, you can kill me.”

“I might,” you giggle, scooting an inch closer.

“Good,” he says seriously. “Because I’d deserve it.”

He leans down as you tilt your head forward, pressing your lips against his in an aching kiss, one you’ve both been longing to share for far too long.

Bucky scoots closer, body right next to yours, metal arm fitting around your waist perfectly, right where it should be, right where you’ve been missing it.

You grab the tiara off the table and put it back in the top of his hair, smoothing down the strands. He gives you a strange look.

“What? It suits you.”

He laughs, pulling you into him. “Okay, doll.”

“Hey Buck?”

“Yes?”

“I still love you.”

His forehead rests against yours as he sighs in relief. “Oh, thank God. I love you, too, doll. Always.”

[a-yellow-book]

If you were words on a page, you’d be fine print.

In which Wen Kexing shamelessly courts Zhou Zishu with cheesy pick-up lines instead of beautiful ancient Chinese poetry, and Zishu falls for him anyway. (Alternatively, if Word of Honor was a modern romantic comedy.)

[read on ao3 instead]

Zhou Zishu was not looking forward to his closing shift at the cafe tonight. Thinking about the pile of case studies he still had to read through sent him down a spiral of sadness. It was a Saturday night, for goodness’ sake. He wasn’t gunning for a rowdy night-out at bars. All he wanted was to finish his readings and then to curl up on his cozy couch and snuggle in with his cat to watch a wuxia drama. But alas, Zishu couldn’t say no when his boss called, asking if he could cover A-Ying at the last minute because he’d gone skating and knocked his head on the metal railings, no doubt concussed.

It’s ok! It might be a slow night and I can get some readings done there, Zishu reassured himself. That, and also he needed extra money anyway. Jiuxiou’s surgery was coming up soon and they needed whatever extra funds they could get.

Pushing the cafe’s door open, Zishu greeted Heilan, who barely looked over at him. “Urg, you’re finally here. Took you long enough,” he grumbled.

“Sorry, I missed the bus,” Zishu said, shrugging off Heilan’s rudeness. The kid treated everyone whose parents weren’t millionaires with disdain. He was forced to get a job so his dad would let him keep his (unlimited) credit card. Something about teaching him a lesson. Zishu didn’t think it was working.

Before Zishu even managed to set his bag down in the back room and clock in, Heilan had already gathered his stuff and left. “Tsk, tsk, youths these days,” Zishu shook his head mockingly.

It was already close to five o’clock. There might be a bit of a rush as the office workers and students stop by for a quick pick-me-up after a long day. Zishu put on a new apron around his waist, washed his hands, and headed out to the front counter to take stock of the status of the store. Heilan was notorious for not caring to refill any supplies at the end of his shifts.

The cup racks were almost empty. There were random mixing utensils, cups, and blenders left unwashed, littering around the equipment. Sighing, Zishu rolled up his sleeves to get to work cleaning the mess Heilan left behind.

Just as Zishu put the last bit of clean dishes away, the door’s bell rang, signaling the entrance of the first customers since he clocked in. Turning around, drying his hands on his apron, Zishu greeted, “Welcome to Four Seasons Cafe!” And promptly stopped dead in his tracks when he finally processed what he was looking at.

The person standing in front of Zishu had to be the most stunning man he’d ever seen. His eyes sparkled with mirth, his lips quirked up in a perpetual smirk, and his jawline was as sharp as knives. And his hair! It was a beautiful silver starlight waves cascading down his shoulders. And his beautiful pastel green suit! Ahh! Realizing he was staring, Zishu awkwardly cleared his throat and asked, “What can I get for ya?”

The beautiful man kept looking at Zishu. He definitely noticed the blush that was blooming on Zishu’s cheeks. “I assume you know what’s on the menu?” Zishu was taken a bit off guard by the strange question, but before he could answer, the man continued, “Me ‘n’ u.”

For all the years he’d worked at various restaurants and coffee shops, Zishu had yet to encounter someone so... alluring (?) and shameless (!). “I’m afraid that’s not on our blackboard,” he replied after a short moment spent recovering his wits, and pointed at the said blackboard nailed on the wall behind him.

Undeterred, the stranger smiled and continued, “Oh? Well, that’s a shame - because if I were the alphabet, I would put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together when I write your menu.”

Zishu had to give him points for those cheesy lines only made funnier and cheesier with his dead-ass serious delivery. “If we ever decide to rewrite our boards, I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Zishu said, biting his lips to keep himself from smiling at the ridiculousness of the conversation.

“Hmm, hmm, good, that is reassuring to hear,” the stranger nodded thoughtfully.

“So! Is there anything on our board that I could get for ya?” Zishu asked, clapping his hands together and putting on a chirpy tone. If this guy was flirting with him, he might leave a hefty tip!

“Uhmm,” he paused, pursuing the menu with great care. “I would love to try the ‘you mocha me crazy’ with an extra espresso shot, please.”

Grabbing a cup and marker, Zishu fought against the urge to dig a hole to hide in before asking, “Alrighty! What’s your name?” Internally, he was cursing A-Ying for coming up with the outrageous and horrific punny names for their specials.

“Kexing, Wen Kexing.”

“Great! It’ll be right out!” Zishu said, scribbling the name down on the side of the cup and promptly turned around, about to get started making the drink.

“Uhm, excuse me?” Kexing, the beautiful stranger said, sounding full of suppressed laughter. “Should I pay now?”

“OH!” Zishu immediately turned back around, “Yes, right. Sorry about that!” He quickly ran up the total, accepted the money from the smiling stranger, and repeated, “Great! It’ll be right out!”

There had to be a hole large enough for him to hide in. He could not endure this embarrassment any longer.

“There’s no need to rush!” Kexing, the infuriating stranger said.

“I don’t want to...uhm... delay you...” Zishu said lamely.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

Zishu could feel his cheeks flaming up. He turned all his attention and focused on making the mocha, which he could do in his sleep, to avoid looking at the (shameless!) man. With a flick of his wrist, he drizzled the raspberry syrup around the cup, letting it drip down to make a fancy pattern before pouring in the chocolate syrup, milk, and topping it off with the espresso shots.

Giving the cup a slight shake, Zishu grabbed a bamboo straw and handed both to the (shameless!) man, who hadn’t moved an inch from his spot by the front counter. “Here you go!”

“Thank you,” he said, reaching out with both hands to grab the cup and incidentally caught Zishu’s hand as well. (Zishu was sure it was a deliberate move, considering how shameless the man was.) “I’ve told you my name, but I still don’t know yours,” he said, continuing to hold onto the cup (and Zishu’s hand).

“Oh, uhm,” Zishu wiggled his hand, successfully dislodging it. Before he could think of a fake name to give out, the cafe’s door swung open and A-Ying stepped in.

“A-Xu!” A-Ying greeted, seemingly not noticing the tension between his best friend and the customer. “I’m here!!!!!!!”

Seeing A-Ying all bandaged up standing in the cafe was enough to jerk Zishu out of the staring contest he had unwittingly been engaged in with the stranger. “What are you doing here?!”

“Hi!” A-Ying greeted the stranger, thinking he was just a normal customer. “Sorry - I wanted to come in to help you close! It’s too much work for one person.”

“But you have a concussion! You need to go rest!” Zishu grabbed A-Ying by the shoulders, turned him around and about to march him right the fuck back home.

“No, I’m fine! Just a tiny headache and a scratched forehead,” A-Ying protested.

“But---!”

“Besides, I’ve been taking so many days off recently. I need to make up for that.”

“A-Ying, you’re going to clock in and you’re going to sit in the back, resting,” Zishu declared. “Or else I’d knock you out for real.”

A-Ying raised his hands placatingly, “Ok, ok, ok!”

With A-Ying retreating to the back, Zishu let out a sigh. This kid, always trying to be helpful to others but didn’t know how to take care of himself.

“A-Xu?” It was the stranger who called out to Zishu, “Xu is a beautiful name.”

“I--uhm, thanks. It’s a nickname,” Zishu corrected.

“Oh? Then would it be ok if I call you by A-Xu?” Wen Kexing asked.

“Sure,” Zishu shrugged. He figured the man might not come back anyway.

“It was really nice to meet you, A-Xu!” He said cheerfully before leaving (finally!).

“Who was that?” A-Ying emerged from the back, tying an apron on and looking at the retreating Wen Kexing curiously.

“No one, just a customer,” Zishu might have said that a tad too quickly. Also, he was sure his cheeks were still dusting pink from all the flirting.

“Ooooohhhhh, I’m sensing something else is going on!!!” A-Ying teased. He could read his best friend as easily as an open book. “That guy is so cute! Good for you, A-Xu!”

“If you aren’t already hurt, I will kick you so hard right now,” Zishu threatened without much bite.

“Yea, yea, sureeee.”

The glare Zishu directed at A-Ying was sharp enough to cut steel. “Why did you come out here? Huh? What did I tell you?”

“A-Xu, A-Xu!! I’m just going to sit here and do nothing! Ok!” A-Ying said, waving his hands wildly at the chair propped against the back counter.

Just as Zishu was about to scold A-Ying, the door swung open, and a group of students piled in, talking loudly among themselves. Turning around to A-Ying, Zishu pointed a stern finger and said, “You will not move an inch from that chair. Got it?”

“Got it, boss!” A-Ying said, smiling widely, already thinking of how he was going to stealthily make the drinks anyway.

[a-square-minus-one]

Honey: Chapter 2

Just a series of semi-connected one shots that lead for Garfield and Raven falling in love.

Read Chapter 1 here.

Garfield plays with a chain around his neck, looking out at the twinkling skyline of Jump City. The sun is starting to set, weaving brush strokes of purple and yellow between the tall steel buildings. He starts drumming a beat on his thigh.

“...so tomorrow is the big premiere date,” says the woman sitting across from him. He’s deduced that she’s in her mid-sixties from stories she’s shared with him in previous meetings of her own grown children and grandchildren.

“Yeah,” Garfield mumbles, continuing to look out the window. He had a hard time looking at her face. Her eyes were an impossible shade of blue and very hard to read. During their first session he had joked for thirty minutes straight. She had smiled brightly at each one, teeth perfectly straight and blindingly white. Then she asked “So why do you think you joke so often?” and his rehearsed jokes shriveled up in his mouth. That was a year ago, he’s been coming to her bi-weekly ever since.

When she doesn’t say anything for a few moments, Garfield focuses her attention back on her. She’s looking at his hand that’s fiddling with the chain on his neck. He drops it and shuffles in his seat again.

“It was Elastigirl’s,” he says. Irma nods, shrugging to let him know that he doesn’t have to say anymore.

“Who’s coming to the premiere?” she asks.

“Everyone-” he says, then pauses. “‘Cept for Rae. Didn’t want to dress up.” He chuckles, running a hand through his hair. Irma smirks and nods.

“Terra is going I assume?” Irma asks. Garfield nods.

“Yeah, she’s gonna meet me at the premiere. Titans East gave her the night off. She looked for a dress for months.”

“She’s really proud of you.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t seem excited.”

“No! I am!” Garfield says, his butt rises out of his seat as he rushes to correct her. He plops back down when he notices Irma’s arched brow. 

“I am,” he says again, this time more softly. “Just a little nervous.” 

Irma nods, silently asking him to continue. Garfield runs a hand through his hair.

“It’s my first drama. Up until now casting directors have only casted me in supporting roles for comedies. Mostly as a favor to Nightwing. Or because-” Garfield chuckles but knows Irma would never let him stop the sentence halfway. She looks at him expectantly. “Or, well, because I’m green and the world knows me.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone knows Changeling,” Garfield shakes his head. “No. They know Beast Boy. So they put me in these movies and it’s almost an afterthought. Like Oh cool! That superhero was in that movie for five minutes. What’s funnier or more random than a green guy. But it’s...forgettable.”

“And you’re hoping that this role will be the one that makes people take you seriously.”

“Yeah! I mean, when I started acting, I know people thought it was a superficial thing. Raven rolled her eyes when I told her about my first role. I don’t think she ever got past how giant my ego got when we went to Tokyo and those girls were my fans. But I was younger than and so thirsty for attention.”

“This role is more than that.”

“Exactly!” Garfield exclaims, his body rising out of his seat. He settles down again. It grows silent for a few seconds. “When I was younger, Elastigirl used to show me all these movies from the 50s. I remember watching Roman Holiday and being completely entranced by how beautiful Audrey Hepburn was-” Garfield pauses, playing with his chain again. “But it’s not just the beauty, it was her air. She was a captivating actress.” Garfield thinks of how Rita looked in her own films and smirks to himself. She was equally as mesmerizing but he wasn’t going to bring that up to Irma.

“Why did you bring up Raven specifically?” Irma cuts through his thoughts.

“Huh?” Garfield asks, confused by the random question. 

“You brought up Raven specifically. When you talked about your first role.”

Garfield nods slowly, trying to jump ahead to what Irma was getting at.

“Why does her opinion matter?”

“Well she’s my friend.” Garfield says immediately. Irma nods.

“But you didn’t bring up Cyborg or Starfire. Why’d you bring up Raven?”

Garfield pauses, running a hand through his hair. It’s silent for a couple of minutes.

“I guess...well….everything Raven does and says has weight to it. She’s never said anything just to fill time or space,” Garfield feels his forehead scrunch up in concentration. Irma waits. “She’s just...different than me. I don’t know why her opinion matters. I just...I know that all the words that come out of her mouth are honest. Her delivery is shit sometimes,” Garfield chuckles. “A lot of people think she’s rude. But she really holds no anger towards anyone. She’s-”

“Impartial?” Irma offers. Garfield waits a minute to digest that word and then nods. 

“It just...always feels like she’s right. She weighs all of her thoughts before she settles on an opinion.”

��No one can be right always.” Irma says. Garfield shrugs. Irma hums. 

“So what color dress did Terra settle on?” Irma asks. Garfield laughs.

“It’s green but a completely different shade of green than my skin. We won’t match,” Garfield places a hand over his chest, feigning tragedy. Irma laughs.

“Pity,” she jokes and the session continues.

….

“How was the workout superstar?” Nightwing asks with a wide smile when Garfield bursts into the common room with a towel around his neck.

“Completely worth all the food I’m gonna eat at the premiere,” Garfield says, laughing as Nightwing’s smile falters immediately. Nightwing always harped on keeping track of your protein intake with the team. And the carbs. And the sugar. Garfield wasn’t sure which he had heard from their leader more, “Titans Go!” or “Food is energy!” Garfield kind of just ate what he wanted. He figured out in his late teens that he could just turn into a different animal that would process and digest the food he ate a little differently. It pissed Nightwing off who would have long talks with him about discipline. Garfield laughed with Irma about it all the time.

Garfield spots Raven with her nose in a book and saunters over with a grin.

“Did you hear that Rae? My premiere is tonight,” Garfield says, stepping just a centimeter into her personal space. Raven snaps her book closed.

“I may have overheard it one of the twenty times you’ve brought it up this past week.”

“Really? Twenty?” Garfield asks, rubbing his chin. “Seems like it should be higher. It’s a pretty big film. Lotta big names.” 

“Mmmm and you,” Raven says, opening her book up again. Garfield chuckles. He takes the book out of Raven’s hands and shuts it, making sure he places a finger in it so he can keep her page. Raven glares at him. Garfield hears Irma’s voice screaming “boundaries” in the back of his head. But he doesn’t think he’s pushed her too far just yet. 

“You know we still have a seat saved for you.” Garfield says. Starfire bursts from the kitchen.

“Oh yes friend it would be glorious. I know we could find you a dress if we left right this instant,” Kori says, hands clasped tightly together in front of her. Garfield cringes internally knowing that dress shopping really wouldn’t be the way to convince Raven. 

“You can wear whatever you like,” he amends, feeling as the finger that was holding her book open twitched nervously. Raven makes direct eye contact with Garfield and he feels himself still completely. 

“You know I would have liked to Garfield but I can’t,” Raven says. Garfield feels his body sink a little.

“I get it Rae,” he says, handing her back her book. And he does. Large crowds were still hard for her. Shouting fans, even worse. “But I’m sorry you’ll miss my academy award winning performance,” he jokes. Raven looks at him seriously for a moment, just long enough for Garfield to question whether she thought he was letting the fame go to his head. Then she smirks impishly, reverting her eyes to the text he placed back in her hands.

“You’re a regular Tom Hanks.” Garfield laughs, almost not recognizing the arm that loops around his. 

“My man is better than Tom Hanks. Ooh sweaty,” Terra says, running her hand down Garfield’s arm. He laughs.

“Don’t tell the pap, the gossip magazines would find a way to eat me for it,” Garfield jokes, looking down at his girlfriend. She raises her eyebrow naughtily. Garfield feels his face heat up and looks around at his friends but they’re all too preoccupied to notice Terra’s blatant suggestiveness. 

“I thought you were getting ready at home and then meeting me at the premiere,” Garfield says.

“I decided I’d stop by early. Maybe get ready with Star?” Terra asks loudly enough for Starfire to hear. Kori nearly drops the bowl she was eating out of. She puts it on the table and squeals. Garfield smiles warmly at Terra. It was moments like this that he remembered why they’ve lasted so long. Getting ready with Starfire was an Olympic sport for anyone. The only people who chose to get ready with Starfire were the people who loved her and wanted to see her happy.

“Oh friend! That would be the most delightful!” Then Starfire pauses.

“What’s wrong Star?” Nightwing says, grabbing her hand.

“Well I had scheduled an appointment with my makeup artist and hair stylist for you and I,” Starfire says. Nightwing’s eyes widen so much behind his mask that Garfield has to put his hand over his mouth to cover his smile. He looks at Raven quickly and realizes that she too is on the verge of laughter behind her book. They make eye contact. Garfield’s laugh has quieted down into a soft smile. Raven lowers her book and smirks back. 

“That won’t be necessary Star!” Nightwing says in one breath. Starfire’s face falls a little. Terra chuckles.

“Star I’d love to join you!” Terra says enthusiastically. Garfield sends a big smile Starfire’s way.

“I know you ladies are going to look spectacular,” he says. “I should go grab my suit though,” he finishes, looking at his watch. He plants a hasty kiss on Terra’s cheek and jogs out the common room. 

….

And they did look amazing. Starfire had gone for a shimmering golden dress, her hair falling down her back in loose waves. Cyborg joked that Nightwing had almost choked on his spit when he saw her. Garfield had helped Terra pick out her silk emerald dress so he was less starstruck when he saw her but she looked extra pretty with her hair curled up in a fancy little updo. 

“I have like three hundred pins in my hair,” she had said to him when he helped her out of the limo. He laughed. “Looks nice,” he had said.

They are currently on the red carpet and Garfield’s nerves are shot. He always felt trapped at these things. It’s not that he didn’t love his fans but all at once, it was a little much to handle. He didn’t have it as bad as Raven but he did have millions of potential animals living inside him. All the flashing lights gave him a headache. Everyone spoke so loud too, he had to resist the urge to put his hands over his sensitive ears.  

“Changeling himself!” shouts an interviewer into her microphone. Her skin is almost the same shade of orange as Kori’s. Garfield smiles at her but has to grind his teeth together as his ears ring. He tightens his grip on Terra’s hand. She squeezes back.

“And the beautiful Terra,” the interviewer says, directing her attention to Terra. “You guys are quite the power couple. Are you excited to see the movie?” 

Terra has to move her head back an inch as the microphone is shoved into her personal space. The interviewer is way too energetic. Garfield knew way too much about the business to know that this interviewer wasn’t completely sober right now. This kind of energy was not normal around all these people. Even Starfire got tired at these events.

“Of course I am. I know he’s gonna kill it. Like everything else he does in his life,” Terra says, her excitement much more muted that the woman in front of them. Garfield tries to block out the sensory overload so he can fully experience his gratitude at Terra’s honest words but it’s hard.

“Aww! So sweet!” their interviewer squeals and looks at the cameras with comically wide eyes.

“Changeling! This is your first drama. I’m told the plot doesn’t mention the green skin at all,” the interviewer asks. Garfield nods, immediately feeling like there was a heavy ball rolling around in his head, smacking at the walls of his skull. He pushes himself to answer the question though, feeling its importance even through the pain. 

“Michael was interested in me for this role when he wrote it but he couldn’t get past the green skin at first. I loved the character so much that I was even considering doing CGI to make me look different. But that...wouldn’t be honest. I am...a green man. And anyways all movies involve some suspension of disbelief. So if we can believe that Sandy Bullock is an astronaut then we can believe that I am a regular man...with regular motivations,” Garfield pauses when he says regular man. He always felt like a regular man so telling people to pretend he was a regular man felt cheap. The interviewer nods and if the blank look in her eyes was any indication, Garfield is certain she didn’t register a word he said. He keeps his smile up despite the fiery ball that grows in the pit of his stomach.

“So, do you guys think kids will be in your future?” the interviewer asks. Garfield feels himself take a step back at the blunt question. He shakes his head. She wasn’t even going to pretend to listen to anything he was saying.

“Uh-” he began shaking his head, trying to erase the disbelief off his face.

“Well I certainly want one or two,” Terra says with a chuckle. Garfield looks towards Terra. A flash goes off to the right of them and it makes the jewels in Terra’s hair shine right into his eyes. He closes his eyes.

“Wha-” he starts and Terra turns to him with an eyebrow quirked.

“What?” she asks. In his peripheral as the interviewer moves the microphone closer to the couple and Garfield feels the heat flow from his core into his limbs. He puts one of his hands in his pockets and clenches it. He smiles at the interviewer.

“Well we should be heading in,” he says politely, his smile tight and uncomfortable. “Thank you for your questions.”

Garfield doesn’t listen to the interviewer’s response as he walks hastily into where the movie will be played, dragging Terra along behind him. When they are far enough from inquiring ears Terra rips her hand out of his.

“What was that?” she asks, arms crossed. Garfield blinks a couple times and shakes his head. He senses that Terra’s anger was directed towards him but that couldn’t be right. 

“She asked you if you wanted to have kids with me and you said ‘uh-’,” Terra says, making a dumb face to mimic how he looked when he answered the question. It plucked at Garfield’s nerves like a guitar string.

“Of course I said ‘uh.’ It’s none of her business,” Garfield says, palms lifted to the air as if this was the most obvious thing ever.

“Do you not want to have kids with me?” Terra asks.

“What? Um-” Garfield shakes his head. He still hasn’t been able to quiet his anxiety from being out there with all those flashes of light. 

“Gar why are you hesitating?” Terra asks.

“Terra, I can barely concentrate on my own thoughts. You know how these things are for me,” he says carefully, placing three fingers on his forehead.

“I just feel like that’s something that should come automatically to you. I know I want to have kids with you,” Terra says.

“We haven’t even discussed having kids ourselves, why would I tell a random reporter about something I should be discussing with you.”

“Because you’re excited about our future. Because you want to tell the world,” Terra says, lips twitching in a way that makes the fireball in his stomach explode.

“Terra we don’t even know if I can have kids,” he wants to shout but he doesn’t trust that no one is around. The restraint it takes makes the veins pop out in his neck. Terra takes a step back and looks him up and down.

“I’ll meet you inside,” she says slowly and turns away from him. He sucks his teeth.

“Wait. Terra,” he says, grabbing her hand to stop her but she snatches it away. He groans.

…. 

Garfield settles down in his seat next to Terra fives minutes later. Nightwing, Cyborg and Starfire give him enthusiastic thumbs ups as he walks past them. Terra doesn’t look at him, her shoulders tense. The theater is much quieter than outside of course and Garfield is able to get his bearings. He practices the mindfulness skills that Irma taught him. Closing his eyes, he mentally catalogues what he feels, tastes, smells, and hears. He opens his eyes when he feels a small hand move over his.

“Are you okay?” Terra asks. Her lips are still in a thin line so he knows she’s still angry but she does look genuinely concerned. He nods and puts a hand over her hand. She nods back, takes her hand back and settles into her seat. 

Garfield looks at the empty seat to the right of him that was saved for Raven and feels a confusing tug in his stomach. He doesn’t have time to interpret it though as he hears the announcement for the start of the movie. He feels a heavy weight in his stomach that leaves him digging himself deep into his chair.

…

When the lights slowly start coming back on, Garfield has not felt the weight ease off of him. He took mental notes of the things he could change in his acting as he was watching. The role came out slightly different than he had intended. He’s looking down at his lap and everything is silent, making the weight in his stomach grow so heavy that he is sure he’ll be pulled through the ground at any moment. 

And then he hears something small. Like a phone falling on the floor. And he hears it again. And again. A rhythm. They’re clapping. He looks up at Terra next to him. Her face makeup is smudged and there are tear tracks on her cheeks but she’s looking at him with the most loving smile. He stands up. She puts both her hands on his face.

“Beast Bo-Changeling, that was amazing,” she says, completely in awe. A few late tears slip from her lids. He looks around at the audience who are all looking at him. Cyborg comes behind him and slaps him on the back aggressively.

“I didn’t know you had it in you grass stain!” he booms. Garfield feels himself chuckle but his being feels a little disconnected from his body. He peaks over Terra’s shoulder and Starfire looks about ready to explode. She is practically vibrating. Garfield is sure she’d burst through the ceiling if Nightwing wasn’t holding onto her hand so tightly. Nightwing looks...proud. Something about that makes Garfield’s eyes sting. He knows Nightwing loves him but between the stink ball and the corny jokes, it wasn’t always that Nightwing admired Garfield.

He receives compliments like this from his costars and the Titans as they all begin to trickle out of the theatre to the after party. He has never felt bigger or more humbly blessed in his life. He and Terra are the last people in the theatre. 

“Listen,” she says when Starfire and Nightwing leave. “I’m sorry about what I said before.”

“I know. I am too,” he says, settling back down into his seat. She squeezes his hand.

“I am so beyond proud of you,” she says, and her eyes become glossy with tears. He gives her a closed lip smile and squeezes her hand again. She stands up and shoots him a questioning look when he doesn’t stand up with her. He puts a hand over hers to quiet her worries.

“I just...need to sit here a while. Kinda doesn’t feel real.” Garfield says in a very small voice. Terra smiles, the jewels in her hair twinkling in the low lighting. 

“I get it,” she says, placing a simple kiss on his cheek. “I’ll catch up with Nightwing and Starfire and meet you there, okay?” 

He nods. 

When she leaves the room Garfield feels himself collapse into his chair. He can’t believe he did it. All those long nights. Going to sets at 5 am with injuries from battles with Plasmus. He feels his throat tighten as he plays with his chain.

“She would have been proud of you.”

His head snaps up. Raven is walking towards him in a giant Hanes sweater, rolled up jeans and white sneakers. He stands up quickly.

“How-” he clears his throat. “How long have you been here?”

“Whole movie.”

Garfield gapes at her.

“I phased into the room where the man handles the film and projector. It was quieter there. Didn’t have to worry about the crowd.”

Garfield nods dazedly and sits back down. Raven walks up and gestures to the seat next to him.

“Can I sit?” she asks, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear.

“It was your seat.”

“Right,” Raven mumbles and sits in her chair. She draws her knees to her chest. Garfield feels a tightening in his chest about how small and adorable she looks. She could stop the world and yet she could fit her whole body in these tiny chairs.

“You look comfy,” he says, feeling an easy smile slip on his face.

“Well I certainly wasn’t going to wear a dress,” she says. The laughter escapes his lips like bubbles. They sit for a few moments in a comfortable silence looking at the empty screen in front of them.

“She would have been proud of you,” Raven says again and Garfield turns to her with a brow arched. She’s looking at something on his chest. He realizes he’s playing with his chain.

“Rita, I mean.” Raven says, playing with her shoe laces. Garfield feels his whole body still. 

“I know that’s why you do all of this,” Raven says, lifting her hand and waving it around. Garfield fixates on her delicate fingers as they weave through the air. He imagines her magic swimming between her fingers. “For Rita.” Raven finishes and Garfield looks back at her eyes again. He notices she’s not wearing any makeup and yet her skin looks completely smooth and clean.

“She would have loved seeing you do this,” Raven says. “You were like...Gregory Peck.”

Garfield feels a breath escape his lips. “Sorry...just...Roman Holiday was one of Rita’s favorite movies,” he says even though his throat feels weirdly tight and awkward.

“I know.”

“What?”

“Rita and I used to talk,” Raven says, shrugging. Garfield feels himself smiling again despite himself.

“You used to talk?” he asks in disbelief. “To Rita?” Raven crosses her arms, looking slightly peeved. She shrugs.

“Yes...about things.”

“Oh!” Garfield exclaims. Nodding as if Raven had just clarified everything. “You used to talk about things. My bad. Of course you used to talk about things.” He teases, wiggling his fingers whenever he says ‘things.’ 

“Gar…” Raven says, looking him up and down. It is then that he realized how close he’s gotten to her. Definitely closer than she’s allowed before. He hears Irma saying something about “boundaries” in the back of his mind. Still, it takes him a few seconds to put a respectable amount of space between them.

“Are you coming to the after party?” he asks, when the tingling he just felt in his stomach settles down. Raven shoots him a look. He raises his hands.

“Got it.” 

“I’m going to leave now,” she says, standing abruptly and he feels himself standing with her. He’s smiling at her; his cheeks hurt. She looks up at him and bites her lips. Then she smiles. Not one of her smirks but a full smile. It’s enough to make Garfield feel like he needs to sit down again. 

And suddenly he can’t see her face because she’s wrapped him in a tight hug. He feels the breath leave his lungs.

“I’m happy for you.” Her breath manages to find its way through the buttons of his button up and tickles the hair on his chest. He feels his chest expand. 

And suddenly she’s gone, before he can even wrap his arms around her too.

[thewritingstar]

Falling Back to You

Pairing: Blossick (Blossom x Brick, Reds)

Fandom: The Powerpuff Girls

Soft, sweet reds because I've been feeling angsty lately and needed a breather lol. Sorry to everyone who follows me for other fandoms, I promise Ill write more for FT (you can always leave asks lol)

Tag List: @over-under-through1 @shellielyzabeth (if you want to be on my tag list, you can find the post or dm me)

I hope you enjoy. This has been sitting in my drafts for a few months and decided to just finish it lol. 

---

“I’m surprised you don’t have your hat on.” A voice came from behind him. But not just any voice. The moment the first word left those lips, the hair on his neck stood up and sent a familiar chill down his back. It was a voice that he knew well, could distinguish in a crowd of a thousand voices, it was the equivalent of his favorite song or the taste of the sweetest thing to melt in your mouth.

“Blossom.” He said under his breath but her super hearing picked it up.

She thought she was prepared to see him, after all its been two years. That’s enough time to heal, right? But she prayed that he didn’t hear the small gasp that escaped her lips as he turned. That crisp dark red suit fit him like a glove and she spotted him from a mile away in that signature color. He looked good in red.

“Hi.” She managed to say smoothly as he took a step towards her. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked with a reluctant tone. It was only the most important night of his life. The one where he would be promoted to the head of the department, the one he busted his ass off from the ground up. Not to mention an award for a case he worked on last year. 

She shrugged and bit her lip. “My boss is here and I have to write a report for him.” Then added. “And I wasn’t going to miss the achievement you have been talking about for literal years.” She said shyly. “I promised after all.” 

And she did. Back when they had dated all those years ago. Blossom was by his side as he worked from being an assistant at the law firm to one of the most promising lawyers, and now the highest ranked lawyer, but she missed the last part. Unfortunately. 

He studied his ass off and she did too, both of them determined to outshine anyone in their paths, maybe that why they chose different companies. They had traded their childhood rivalry for a path of lust and love, a simple competition would not be throwing them down that path. In fact their jobs were the reason they weren’t together.

“You remembered.” He said under his breath. She heard it, of course. 

She tapped her foot and looked around before giving a puzzling look. “Wheres Jasmine?” It pained her to ask. 

Jasmine. Oh yes, his girlfriend who couldn’t be bothered to celebrate to most important time of his career. Or rather, ex girlfriend, As of last night where he found her with another man. 

“Not my girlfriend.” He simply stated as she nodded before taking a sip of her drink. 

It must have been good if she brought it to her lips. Blossom loved a good cocktail but if it was hard liquor, she required top shelf, something he admired. He was like that too and was the reason she only drank the highest quality. 

“What about Tyson?” 

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Not my boyfriend.” She said bitterly and he didn’t know why he was happy about it. “Cheated on me for a blonde.” Her glass was on the verge of cracking before she smoothed out her dress. “Typical.” 

He hummed in agreement. There was a feeling of anger running through him as he thought about any man hurting Blossom, sure he hurt her too but nothing like that. No their fight was different, it was a fight about whats best for both of them. 

They had just under an hour before the cermony started. He didn’t want to bother being inside socailzing with a bunch of random people and he had a feeling she didn’t either. The wide open hallway was becoming stuffy and he could see a trio of men walking their way and knew Blossom would become the talking point. 

Before Brick could turn them the other way, the men were already there. 

“Brick.” The tall one spat. 

“Landon.” Brick matched his tone. What a dumb name he thought. 

Landon turned and did not bother to hide the fact that he was checking out Blossom. Of course he was. Even in her simple black cocktail dress that screamed sophistication, she was a walking dream. 

“And you are?” He gave her a smirk that could charm anyone, expcet for Blossom of course. 

Brick was pracitcally smiling as Blossom shook his hand. He knew she wouldn’t take his bait. 

“Blossom Utonium. Head of corrupt affairs at Duchess Law.” She started with what Brick likes to call her “Miss Business voice”. 

Landon smirked. “Duchess Law? Someones a smart cookie.” He winked. 

The other men behind him agreed and Blossom held her tounge. She hated being patronized or looked down on. He should be thanking the lucky stars that he’s even in her presence.

Brick could tell she was annoyed and wrapped his arm around her waist before looking at Landon. “She makes more money than all three of you combine and actally can win a case so show some repect.” He spat and he turned them around towards the back doors that led to the garden space. 

The feeling of having his arm around her sent a spark through her body. At first it felt foreign but the memories came rolling in waves as they walked.

“I could handle myself.” She stated and he hid his laugh.

“I know, but you won’t because of your repuation. I for one don’t care about mine that much.”

“Or maybe its because you still care.” She teased as she sat on the stone bench with him. 

He was about to response but his phone began to ring. He wanted to ignore it but Blossom probably would say something about it. 

“Its Butch.” He said before trying to put it back into his pocket. 

“You should anwser it. I’m sure he’s wanting to wish his brother well.”

He huffed and anwsered on the final ring. 

“Hello?”

“Hey quick question. Do you think that I would win in a fight against Thanos?” 

Brick only shook his head.

“Butch.”

“Its serious cause Buttercup doesn’t think so but I could take him for sure.” 

Blossom was holding a hand to her mouth as the guy kept going on about the stupid question. 

“Oh shit dude, tonights your night!”

“Yes it is now Imma hang up now.”

“Brick be nice.”

“Wait a minute bro. Is that Miss Blossom with you?”

“Yes because shes the only one who bothered to care.”

“Hey you’re the one who said not to come. Anyways tell her I said hi and that you two should totally get back together because you kept going on and on about how you missed her and leaving her was the worst choice you made-” The line cut dead and the phone was shoved in his pocket. 

“Hes stupid.” He mumbled and Blossom drank the rest of her drink. 

“Hes not wrong.”

He turned towards her and gazed silently. She was just as he remembered. Gorgeous and graceful and even without a word spoken, she could command a room. He admired her greatly and she felt the same. 

“Brick, can we just skip all of it?” She asked softly. 

“I’ve kinda been looking forward to my award.”

“No, not this.” She gestured to the building. “But this.” She pointed between them. 

“Skip what?”

“Oh I don’t know, the drama of it all? Because if we don’t confess now we are going to waste so much time running after each other and I-I dont want to waste time.” She looked down at her shoes. A sad sigh leaving her lips. “I just miss you.” 

The confession surprised him. They were both forward people who never beat around the bush but when it came to their feelings between them, they had always been shy. Boomer and Bubbles were easy to confess and even Butch and Buttercup seemed to have it together but for them, it felt impossible sometimes.

No matter where he turned, she was there. They had always crossed paths like star-crossed lovers and it was as if the universe was constantly pulling them together and they had tried. They really did. 

Perhaps the timing wasn’t enough or their pride had stood in the way. they never meant to fall apart the way they did but when the other side of the bed was empty, those walls they held up became transparent and it only took a mere few seconds to see what they had lost. 

But he understood what she meant. They both knew that if anything were to happen between them tonight it would start a snowball effect that everyone was tired of seeing. Over and over they would fall in line and build each other up before something came between them and pulled them apart. 

He wanted to get past all the hurdles of playing cat and mouse until on of them caved and said their feelings. But her saying she missed him wasn’t her caving, she was just tired and so was he.

They had been young when they had fallen in love. The rules of life tossing them into a sea of doubt but now they were adults who knew the game and could easily avoid anything in their paths, except each other. 

His hand slid over hers. “I missed you too.”

She smiled softly before her hand rested on his cheek. “I’m really proud of you Brick, you’ve come along way.” 

“I’m just happy you got to see it.” He whispered before his lips touched hers with a fire they both had missed. 

A swirl of fire and ice that only they knew. No matter how much life decided to pull them apart or change the course, he would always find himself coming back to her. 

The kiss didn’t last as long as he would have liked but seeing the faint blush on her cheeks made it all worth it. 

“What are you doing later?” He asked as he helped her up from the bench. 

“I was going to get take out and sit in my hotel room watching movies.” 

Brick leaned over to fix the bow in her hair, taking the time to have her close. “I don’t suppose you would accept any company?” He winked before kissing the back of her hand and handing her the red purse.

“I think I can make an exception.” She winked and he had never thought she had looked more stunning. 

She took his hand, their palms resting naturally together, before walking back to the ceremony, where he would leave with not only his award but the woman he had loved for years and years. 

--

was the ending lazy? yes. do I care, only a little bit. Lol. I’ve had a really off day so I hope this is good.

Hope you enjoyed :) 

[mjscornerr]

the can-can

for @broskepol (i don’t know if you meant this to be a writing prompt but i vibed with it and im bored at work)

(warning: can-can from orpheus in the underworld was blasted during the writing of this fic and as a result the entire work is on crack)

It had been stuck in Loki’s head all damn day.

It was a classical song with some sort of trumpet melody. “Can-can,” he remembers Peter calling it last night at his after-school Drama Club meeting. Peter claimed it was the Drama Club’s theme song.

A drama club that, believe it or not, Loki was a proud member of.

When Thor had brought Loki back to Earth, the team decided first and foremost that the god of mischief needed to be contained, to be isolated. He was too chaotic for their planet.

Whatever, Loki had thought. This coming from the gentleman that wanted to put a suit of armor around the world? Talk about paranoid.

Though when all was said and done, Thor hadn’t even been able to convince Tony to let Loki exist in harmony with mortals.

It had been Peter.

Peter suggested rehabilitation. He was the one that had seen Loki sitting bored out of his mind behind a thick sheet of glass, had been the one to hear Thor’s story of how Loki saved their people. He was the one that demanded Tony find any other method of familiarizing Loki with both humans and the world because, as far as Peter had been concerned, locking a person away just because they unleashed an entire alien race on the biggest city in the world “wasn’t fair.”

The punishment didn’t fit the crime, so it goes.

So there Loki was. Spreading strawberry jam and peanut butter on two slices of bread, humming “Can-can,” and silently wondering how he was finally living without a target on his back, silently thanking Peter.

“Are you...humming?”

Loki spun on his heel with a jump, butter knife flying out of his hold and splattering peanut butter and jelly on the floor as he made eye contact with Clint, who was leaning against the compound refrigerator with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

“No.” Loki spun back around, his chin raised as he brought the two pieces of bread together and settled the sandwich on a plate. “I hate music. It’s too...happy.”

Clint scoffed, his arms crossed over his chest as he sauntered forward. “And I’m...what? Just supposed to believe that?”

“Do what you will,” Loki shrugged, taking a bite of his sandwich and raising a brow smugly at the avenger. “I don’t control you.”

Clint clicked his tongue with a laugh, shaking his head. “Alright. I see how it is.”

“And how is it, bird man?”

“Don’t bullshit me. You’ve been in my head before. I don’t know what fucked up game you’re playing here, but we’ve taken you down once. Don’t think for a second we won’t do it again.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Cut the crap. Alright? You’re the god of mischief for christ’s sake. It’s in your blood.”

Loki clenched his jaw, his chin remaining raised as Clint stood inches from his face.

“You may have everyone else fooled, but not me. You can never belong here.”

Loki puffed his chest out, anger seeping into his gaze, his ears and cheeks burning red-

“Woah, woah, woah-“

Loki snapped his head toward the kitchen island as Tony jogged inside, his hands raised in mock surrender.

“Let’s all just take a breath. Alright? Legolas, you want to, uh...?”

Clint scoffed and turned on his heel as Tony brought a hand to the man’s shoulder and clapped it, turning over his shoulder and offering Loki a smile.

“Makin’ yourself some lunch there, Dark Knight?”

“...Trying to.”

“Right. Carry on.”

Tony led Clint out of the kitchen and heaved a sigh, hand remaining on his friend’s shoulder as they sauntered toward the great windows of the compound.

“...You wanna pull yourself together, dear?”

“He was humming, Tony. Humming a song like he’s innocent.”

“Look, alright, he’s getting there. But we can’t provoke him like that anymore.”

“Why are you okay with this? The guy is the literal master of manipulation and deceit, Tony. And why do you let him hang around the kid?”

“Loki can’t hurt Peter. There’s no one alive that can look in that kid’s eyes and try to hurt him. I don’t make the rules. Besides, Loki needs a friend that isn’t Thor.”

“I’m sorry, since when are we beating around the bush and treating him like royalty? In 2012 he’s killing at random and sending galactic armies down on us and now he’s making sandwiches in our kitchen? Humming?”

“Maybe he likes music.”

“Where did he even hear it?”

“Does that matter? He’s...immersing himself. He’s trying to be better. Who cares where he heard it?”

“It’s just weird,” Clint shrugged, squinting as he looked out the window at the blinding blue sky. “He doesn’t have a phone, and he definitely doesn’t watch TV. Just makes you wonder, you know, where he heard the song.”

Tony raised his jaw and narrowed his ryes suspiciously Clint’s direction, imagining all the ways Clint would flip his lid if he ever found out that Loki, for some reason Clint’s great enemy, was attending Drama Club meetings at the Midtown School of Science and Technology with Tony’s kid.

“...Could’ve been anywhere.”

“Hm.”

Tony’s answer had been far from satisfactory.

Clint was about to head home to his family for the weekend when he spotted Loki sneaking out of the compound, fully clad in a sweatshirt and jeans. He looked over his shoulder once before he was letting the door slip shut behind him.

Clint narrowed his eyes and followed him out, bow in hand.

Loki stopped beside one of Tony’s Audi’s. He looked both ways again anxiously before he was opening the passenger side door.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Clint growled and reached behind him for an arrow, fastening it in place, closing one eye for precision-

Clint’s eyes flew wide when he spotted Tony in the driver’s seat. He choked, quickly lowered his weapon, and watched numbly as Loki climbed inside the vehicle and shut the door behind him. The Audi peeled out of the driveway soon after.

“...What are you up to, Stark?”

Clint followed loosely behind the two in his car for about forty five minutes before Tony finally parked the car.

Midtown School of Science and Technology...?

The two climbed out of the car and began making their way through the front doors. It was four o’clock, so obviously school had ended by then.

Clint narrowed his eyes in suspicion and snuck after them.

They sauntered through the halls casually before Tony led them into the auditorium. Clint hurriedly ran to keep the door from shutting and slipped inside after them, bow and arrows still at the ready.

“...Okay, so, looks like everyone’s here, except...”

Clint crawled behind a row of seats in the audience, squinting as he watched a group of kids conversing, all seated in a circle on stage.

Two kids were standing looking at a clipboard. A blonde girl, sixteen or so by the looks of it, and...

Peter...?

“Oh, nevermind, there he is!”

“Hey, Loki!”

“What, no greeting for me?”

“Hi, Mister Stark.”

Tony patted Loki’s back as Loki hopped over the lip of the stage and crossed to the one empty chair in the circle.

“I beg your pardon,” Loki said in a polite, unfamiliar tone, smiling nervously as he sent an awkward wave to the group of kids. “I appear to have lost track of time.”

“You’re right on time,” the blonde one assured him, her smile beaming. “We’re covering improv today!”

“Oh, great,” Tony grunted as he seated himself on the front row in the audience. “I’m something of an expert at improv myself, you know. I have never planned anything that’s ever happened to me, ever.”

“Do you wanna join, Mister Stark?”

“...Nah. You guys got it.”

“If you say so. Alright, someone get the music.”

One of the kids hopped up from their seat and jogged backstage. A second later, classical music began playing softly around the theatre.

Clint gasped, betrayal flashing in his eyes as he narrowed them.

“The can-can...”

“Let’s warm up with the freeze game! Noes goes!”

The kids each quickly raised a finger to their nose. Loki was the last to do so.

“Aw, okay, Loki’s it for the first round.”

Clint scoffed. It? Loki’s it? Like he’s playing a god damn game of hide and go seek?!

“This should be good,” Tony said from the front row.

Clint saw red.

Peter sensed this, snapping his head out toward the audience in alarm. Tony frowned, turning over his shoulder.

But Clint was already running and fast, the music crescendoing as he grabbed an arrow, positioned it in his bow, leapt over the stage, landed on the apron-

“Get down!”

Peter’s cry of alarm sent everyone screaming and diving to the stage floor, hands over their heads protectively. Loki was standing with wide, terrified eyes as Clint aimed and fired his bow.

“No!”

Peter leapt forward and caught the bow a mere few inches before it could collide with Loki’s face. He stared at it in shock for only a moment before he was turning back to Clint, eyes wide.

“Mister Clint, what’re you-?!”

“Get down, kid.” Clint shot another arrow Peter’s way, the arrow exploding into a net and entrapping Peter inside as he collapsed to the ground. “I’m trying to protect you.”

Loki reached for Peter desperately, though Clint returned his aim to the demigod, expression seething.

“Don’t move a muscle.”

“Are you out of your damn mind?!”

Clint glanced to the side as Tony jumped over the lip of the stage, horrified gaze darting between the arrow aimed at Loki’s face and his kid, kicking and thrashing inside of a net.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“I mean, Jesus Christ, Barton. I shouldn’t even have to tell you how wrong this is.”

“Dammit, Tony, this isn’t real. Okay? None of this is real! Until he’s been inside of your head, until he’s controlled your mind, you’ll never understand that everything he’s ever done was just for show.”

The auditorium doors clicked open. Clint faltered as Natasha, Thor, Steve, and Bruce walked inside, eyes immediately wide at the sight on stage.

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Brother? What is the meaning of this?!”

“Golden Archer here had a bright idea to ambush a high school to settle a grudge. That’s the meaning of this.”

Clint lowered his weapon, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

“...what are you guys doing here?”

“We’re here for the play.” Steve lifted a flyer from his pocket, eyebrow raised. “It’s Loki’s first show. It was on the fridge.”

“...What?!”

Loki sent an accusatory scowl Tony’s way. “You told them?!”

“It...might’ve slipped out over dinner. But I didn’t hang that on the fridge, I swear.”

Loki narrowed his eyes again, this time Peter being the victim.

“...sorry, Lo.”

“Wait...” Clint scoffed, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “You signed him up for this, Tony?”

“...The guy’s already a drama queen. What else was I supposed to do?”

“We came to find you,” Natasha explained to Clint, “but you weren’t in your room. We assumed you already went home for the weekend.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Um, excuse me,” the blonde girl was saying from the floor, her friends around her shivering in fear, “but what is going on? And why is Peter in a net?!”

“Good question, Miss Brant.” Tony strode forward, sending a seething glance Clint’s way before he swiped one of his arrows from out of Clint’s pouch and used it as a knife to slice through the ropes of the net.

“You good, kid?” Tony brushed Peter’s hair out of his eyes gently, worry etched into the lines of his face.

“‘M good, Mister Stark. Thanks.”

Tony was just about to turn around and tear Clint to shreds, though someone beat him to it.

“If you hurt the child again,” Loki warned through gritted teeth, “I’ll be the one holding the arrow to your face.”

Clint scoffed. “See, Tony? He’s still the same Loki. He hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Do you even hear yourself right now? That was eleven years ago. I mean, look at him. He’s wearing a sweatshirt and jeans for godsake. He’s at a Drama Club rehearsal. What’s he gonna do, huh? Kill us all with the plastic prop sword backstage?”

“I don’t-I don’t know, okay? He’s got Asgardian powers. Any second he could turn on us.”

“He would never do that.”

Clint raised an eyebrow as one of the kids rose from the ground hesitantly, hands still raised in the air.

“Loki is...we really like him here. He’s good at drama.”

“Yeah,” Betty nodded, rising to her knees. “He’s the club historian. He takes all of our pictures for us. He even started on a scrapbook.”

The group chorused in agreement. Loki fought a genuine grin when he remembered that the avengers were watching from the audience seating, listening.

“Plus, he’s one of my best friends.” Peter smiled up at Loki from his knees. “Right, Lo?”

Loki bit his lip before he grumbled something under his breath, throwing up his hands in mock surrender.

“Fine. Fine, okay? I may have...I may have bonded with the humans. And I-I listen to music now, and I go to Drama Club meetings, and I wear...whatever style of clothing this is.” Loki turned to Clint, his stance still defensive though his gaze was sincere. “I’ve changed. Or, at least, I’m trying to change. All I need is a second...second chance.”

Loki stuck his hand out for Clint to shake. Clint raised an eyebrow, raising his jaw.

“No tricks?”

“No tricks.”

“No lying? No infinity stones? No alien armies?”

“None whatsoever.”

Despite himself, Clint’s lip quirked ever so slightly in a smile and he was taking Loki’s hand in his, shaking it with a nod.

“Well...alright then.”

Clint slung his bow over his shoulder and turned to face the avengers in the house of the auditorium, his gaze apologetic. Natasha, Steve, and Bruce was smiling up at him. Thor was wiping tears out of the corner of his eye.

“Brava!” Thor clapped, his lip quivering. “Excellent! Excellent display!”

“...You realize that wasnt the show, right?”

“I would be fine if it was.”

“Eh,” Tony shrugged. “I think that’s enough Drama Club for one day. What do you say, kids? Rendezvous for some shawarma?”

The group of teens all chorused in excitement, rising from the ground and all thoughts of danger vanishing from their minds. They slung their backpacks over their shoulders and descended the steps of the stage excitedly.

“Mister Stark,” Peter frowned as Tony wrapped Peter in a side hug, squeezing him. “I thought shwarma was reserved for after missions?”

“Well...” Tony gestured his head toward the lip of the stage, where Loki was dangling his legs off of the side and engaging in conversation with the avengers.

Actually talking. No fighting, no weapons, nothing.

Thor was ruffling his brother’s hair fondly, tears still brimming his eyes. Loki was rolling his own, scoffing at Thor’s adoration.

Clint was still suspicious though Natasha was nudging him in the shoulder, a smirk on her lips. Bruce had an arm draped around Steve’s shoulders as Steve threw his head back with a laugh at something Loki had said.

“...Mission accomplished, kiddo.”

//do not tag as st*rker or th*rki//

[minniemixe]

Beauty And The Beast

Gangster AU

Stray Kids Fanfic

Chan x Reader

Other Appearances: GOT7 BTS

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Angst

Warnings: Mention of rape, family drama

Beauty and the Beast Masterlist

Chapter 6

“What happened to your hand?” Moon’s mother asked pointing towards her bandaged hand as the two sat in the lounge, Moon cuddled up next to her mom “Oh this, nothing big, I was walking down the stairs and slipped, there was glass in my hand, it broke and I cut myself” she told. “I can bet you were running down the stairs. Sweetheart how many times have I told you to be careful on stairs, huh?” the older lady dotted “I’m fine mom, it’s just a cut” she looked up at her mom smiling, the mother kissed her daughter’s head, hugging her tighter, “MMhhmm, I missed my baby so much” she said repeatedly kissing her cheeks   “I missed you guys too, sorry for not contacting you much and visiting sooner” Moon replied, snuggling closer in her mom’s chest. “I’m still surprised you visited. I thought you’d be busy with your work, we’d have been happy even if you just frequently contacted us telling us you’re okay” she spoke “You’re not wrong, I am quite busy with my work, I was also surprised when my colleague asked me if I wanted to visit” she replied “Colleague?” her mother asked “Ah yeah, he had some work in this area so he asked me to tag along, saying I could visit you guys while he ran his errand” Moon replied “When is he returning? Why don’t you ask him to stay for dinner?” her mother said “He said he wa-” Moon was cut off by the doorbell “Is that him?” “I don’t think so, he said it would take him two or more hours. It hasn’t even been an hour yet” Moon replied, getting up to check. When she opened the door, Chan stood there with a bouquet of roses and a gift bag in his hands.

“Oh hey. Back so early?” Moon asked letting him in “Ahh yeah, I got done earlier than expected, so thought why not visit your parents” he said “Ofcourse, I’m glad you did, Mom was asking about you. Oh by the way, introduce yourself as my colleague, that’s what I told my mom” Moon said as the two made their way to the living room “Hello ma’am, I’m Chris, a colleague of your daughter's. These are for you” Chan introduced himself, handing the roses to her. “And this is for- where’s your dad?” he asked, looking around “Oh he’s not home, I’ll take that” Moon replied, taking the brown gift bag from him “Oh My God, this is so sweet of you, you didn’t have to do this” her mother smiled at Chan. "I couldn't visit empty handed for the first time" Chan reasoned, bowing politely "You didn't come empty handed, you brought my daughter with you" Moon's mother smiled patting Chan's back who smiled sheepishly in return. “So, Chris, I hope you’ll be staying for dinner” Moon’s mother asked “Ofcourse, I’d love to” he replied politely “Well, make yourself comfortable, I’ll go make dinner” her mother said walking out of the living room. “Wait mom!” Moon called out running after the older lady “Yes hunny?” she asked turning around “Can we have pizza? I really missed homemade pizza” Moon said playing with her fingers “Sure baby, anything you want.” the older lady replied kissing Moon’s forehead. Moon jumped up and down excitedly hugging her mother, “Thank you Thank you Thank you” she said repeatedly. Her mother laughed, cooing at her daughter affectionately “C’mon, lets make you some pizza”, walking towards the kitchen, with Moon skipping behind. Chan saw the whole interaction, smiling to himself about how cute and happy Moon looked. Her whole aura had changed, Chan loved every second of it and hoped that he’d get to see it more often. Chan too followed the two ladies, to the kitchen, opting to help the two. “Can I help with anything?” Chan asked entering the kitchen “Oh no honey, make yourself comfortable.” Moon’s mom answered “Please ma’am, I insist” he said “You can cut the vegetables, I’ll stir fry them” Moon said before her mother could say anything “I’ll make the dough, you guys get started on the topping” her mother said “Should I make the sauce?” Moon asked “No, I made pasta yesterday, so there’s plenty of sauce. I made extra yesterday” the mother replied, disappearing into the pantry. “Where is your father though?” Chan asked, folding his sleeves, Moon’s eyes focused on his veiny arms “Earth to Moon. Are you still here?” Chan snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, snapping her out of her thoughts “Oh huh? What?” Moon said “I asked, where is your father?” Chan laughed at her bewildered expression “Don’t know, don’t care. He left the moment he saw me” Moon shrugged. Chan didn’t know what to say so he just began at his task, glancing at Moon who was taking out the pots and pans. “You okay?” he asked, not being able to control the urge “Why wouldn’t I be. This isn’t the first time. I’m used to it. I don’t give a shit anymore” Moon said “What about your mom? Does she never confront him?” Chan asked “As if he’d listen. Besides, I don’t want mom to get involved, the man is unpredictable. The last thing I want is my mom to get hurt at the hands of that monster” Moon said washing the chicken “I’m -” he stopped mid sentence seeing her mother return to the kitchen “Sweetheart, please grate the cheese after you’re done with the topping” her mom said, getting started on the dough “Sure Mom” she smiled "So Chris. What line of work are you in?" Moon's mother initiated a conversation "I'm on the management side ma'am" Chan replied "Oh but isn't that different from hers, last I talked to her, she was in the web developing department” she asked pointing towards Moon “Ahh yes, but it’s a small system so there isn’t much with departments and stuff” Chan said “Oh I see” “Yeah, there are like 13, now 14 of us, each of us with a different role” “Mom, remember the client I had to meet out of town, that’s him, I edited a few things for him, and since it was up to his satisfaction he offered me a job” Moon played along “That’s nice. What is it that you guys do, like as a group?” the mother questioned “Well, it’s a lot of different things, we design websites, we do shipping for different online shopping mediums, photography, videography and event planning and management” Chan answered. Moon was impressed with how quickly he came up with something so believable “Well that’s nice” the older lady smiled. The conversation went on with random topics. “Oh I almost forgot. Baby your friend has been visiting a lot lately. He asked where you lived but I didn’t know where, but he kept coming back saying, he just wants to see you since it’s been so long. He even came yesterday” Moon’s mom told “Mark? But I met him a few weeks back” Moon said confused “No, not Mark, I think his name was something like Alan?” Moon’s mom said “I don’t know any Alans” she replied brows furrowed “No, I think it was something like Andrew or Andy?” the mother said “Andre?” Moon said grimacing “Yeah yeah, that was it” her mom’s face lit up “If he comes again, tell him I have nothing to do with him, never did, never will” Moon scowled “Why, was he a bu-” her mom started when the doorbell rang “Mavis?” Moon asked looking at her mom “But she’s in UK and she’s not returning until late tonight” her mother answered going out of the kitchen to check “Who’s Mavis?” Chan asked “My little sister” Moon answered. Moon’s mom walked in with a man beside him, who’s face instantly lit up seeing Moon. “Princess!!” he exclaimed, running towards her hugging her tight. Moon harshly pushed him away, slapping him hard across the face. “I’m not your fucking princess. Get lost. I never want to see your face ever again. Stay away from me, stay away from my parents.” To say Chan and Moon’s mom were confused about everything would be an understatement, their faces were contorted in utter confusion, looking from each other to the two, expressions bewildered. “Wha-” the man started “NO, NO Andre, I don’t want to hear it. And don’t even try to play dumb, you completely ruined my life, and I’m not exaggerating and you know that very well. I don’t want any explanation, I don’t want an apology either, I just want you out of here.” Moon said, her voice cracking “Please give me a second chance” Andre pleaded “Get lost before I kill you. Don’t test me, I really will kill you” Moon gritted “Hunny what is this about. At least hear the kid out.” her mother said “No mom, I can’t stand him” “Excuse me, Mr Andre, I think you should leave. I’ve never seen my girlfriend this stressed. I trust she has a very valid reason for it, so leave with respect while you can” Chan smirked “You may not want to hear this, but I really like you, I have, ever since highschool. And I’m not saying this because I want you to break up with him, but because I want you to be safe. He’s not what you think he is, he’s a gang leader” Andre said, the three’s eyes went wide and Moon’s mother let out a loud gasp. Moon wasn’t having any of it and his remark only angered her more. Grabbing the knife from the kitchen top, she lunged forward, “THIS AGAIN. YOU FUCKING BASTARD. I’M GONNA KILL YOU”. Chan quickly moved forward to stop her while her mother just stood there rooted to the ground, completely shook. Andre laughed maniacally, smirking at her. “What do you mean again?” Moon’s mother asked “Oh she doesn’t know?” Andre smiled like a lunatic “I SAID LEAVE” Moon shouted “But I think she deserves to know, look at her, are you really going to keep it from her?” Moon thrashed around trying to get out of his hold, but to no avail. What was supposed to be a nice reunion between Moon and her family, turned into something unimaginable. “If you’re not going to talk. Let me, your mother seems really confused and she deserves to know.” Andre spoke again “There is nothing to know about, get lost” Moon said through gritted teeth “Aww, are you really going to make your parents think you died in a car crash when in reality someone slit your throat or shot you in the head?” Andre questioned “What is he talking about?” her mother asked “Nothing mom, he’s just blabbering, this is what he does. This is exactly what he did in highschool” Moon answered “It was to protect you” Andre said “Protect me? You twisted sick creature. You completely turned my life upside down and you have the audacity to say that. Get out before I kill you” Moon said, Throwing a knife at him, he moved to the side and dodged it. “You’re going to regret this.” Andre said, turning around to leave. Moon released a breath and leaned on the kitchen top, burying her head in her arms while her mother rubbed her back. “Sorry mom, the whole day is ruined” Moon said lifting her head “No, no Sweetheart, don’t apologize, it isn’t your fault” her mother said “Here take this” Chan said, handing Moon a glass of cold water “Thank you” she said taking it from him “What was all that about? And what does he mean by Chris being in a gang, and is he your boyfriend? Were you really going to kill him?” Moon’s mother bombarded her with questions “Hey hey Mom, calm down, let me explain, he’s just getting in your head, take a deep breath, everything is alright” Moon said rubbing her mom’s arm to calm her down “Okay, but you better be honest about every single detail” her mom said “Yes, let's put the pizza in the oven first, we’ll talk while it bakes” Moon replied After putting the pizzas in the oven, the three gathered in the living room. Moon took a deep breath before speaking. “Back in highschool, he was my classmate. An annoying one at that. He would follow me around, complimenting me, giving me flowers and all that stuff. He confessed to me numerous times and I’d turn him down everytime, saying I wasn’t interested. He was a delusional psychopath, he’d always tell me I didn’t give him a chance because of Mark, seeing how close I was with him. He’d always try to pull stupid stunts to ruin what Mark and I had. And one time he took it too far, I have no idea what he had planned but whatever it was, it backfired, it didn’t affect him as much as it affected me. He went abroad two weeks after the incident while I suffered. The only explanation he gave was ‘I just wanted to keep you safe’ because apparently Mark was also in a ‘gang’. He ruined my entire life and for that I’ll never forgive him” Moon explained “What could he have possibly done to make you hate him this much, and if this is about your highschool life being difficult, don’t you think you might be exaggerating” Moon’s mom reasoned “I really didn’t think I’d ever have to tell you this” she sighed “It’s already out of the bag, might as well tell the whole thing” her mom said “Remember the sports day? The one that determined whether I got the scholarship to the college or not?” Moon asked “The one you couldn’t play in because of the mishap?” her mom questioned “Yes that one. But everything that happened that day was a lie” Moon replied “What?” she asked confused “I did go to the locker room to change into my uniform, but everything that happened inside was different from what I told you, or anyone for that matter. The only people who know what actually happened inside were Andre, Mark, Jaebum, Jinyoung, even I don't know. And the event that lead to what happened in that room, that only Mark, Andre and I know” she spoke “If it was something this big, why would you keep it from us?” her mom said. Moon took a deep breath before she started explaining "It's complicated, I was 15 and everything happened so quickly I couldn't handle it. When I did finally get around to telling you, well you know what happened" Moon said looking into her mother’s eyes. The older lady sighed, knowing exactly what her daughter was talking about

5 Years Ago

"I have practice after school today. I can see you tonight if you want" Moon spoke into the phone "When are you gonna get free from that?" Mark asked on the other line "Not sure, probably by 5:00 or 5:30, maybe after, maybe before. Why, something important?" She replied "Nah, just wanted to hang out, we can go out tomorrow as well, you'll be tired anyways" he shrugged "You're not wrong, I'm not even gonna bother walking back home, just gonna call an Uber" she laughed "Why? Isn't your mom picking you up?" He questioned "Not today. She said she and dad have some work so they won't be able to pick me up. It's no biggie anyways, I understand, especially with renovations going on, they have a lot on their plate already" she answered "I'll pick you. I'm free, plus it's safer" he said "Is that supposed to be a pun?" Moon laughed "How?" He asked confused "Free? And safe" Moon quoted the words "Oh, totally unintentional. And I want you to be safe" Mark laughed catching on to what she was insinuating "Well, no need, who knows when I'll get free anyways" she said, heart fluttering at his words "Too late, I'm already on my way" he said "Dude, my practice hasn't even started yet" she laughed "Yeah well, I haven't got much to do so might as well watch you practice. See you in 5 Bitty" Mark said "See you. Bye" she said ending the call. "Who was that" Andre asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere "What the hell! Stop sneaking up on me and it's none of your business" Moon replied walking away

"Mrs Smith, can I talk to you privately" Moon asked her coach, who was currently instructing a few girls "Of course, girls would you please excuse us" the coach replied "It's about the application" Moon started "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry about that, I mixed up the applications. Yours was perfectly fine and congratulations, it got accepted. Now all you have to do is pass the audition. Coaches from the top colleges will be here on the final day. Practice hard, I know you can do it. Good luck" Mrs Smith patted Moon's shoulder "Are you serious. The application for scholarship was accepted? Oh my God, I'm so excited. I didn't think I'd get accepted" Moon said enthusiastically "Don't underestimate yourself. You've got great potential, give yourself more credit. Now get to practice, you have a scholarship to win" the coach cheered Moon giggled and walked away thanking the older lady. On her way back from the lockers she spotted Mark, Moon ran up to him and hugged him tight shouting enthusiastically. "Woah there little lady, why so hyper. Did you eat chocolate again?" Mark laughed "Okay so, oh my God, I'm so happy right now" she kept jumping up and down. "I can see that. So tell me, what's the good news" he laughed "Remember the application I told you about, the one which had some problems with it, guess what, my coach accidentally mixed mine with someone else's. I just found out mine got accepted. Now all I have to do is get a perfect score in my games and I'll get the sports scholarship" Moon told enthusiastically. "Bitty, that's amazing. See I told you everything will work out, you were stressing for no reason. I'm so proud of you, I knew you could do it" Mark exclaimed hugging her tightly, swinging right to left. "Not just yet, I still have to play in the finals and then pass the entrance test. The competition is tough, so I'm kinda nervous" Moon said "You. Are. Going. To. Do. Great." He said shaking her with every word. Moon laughed at his actions, smiling brightly at him. "Now get to practice, I'll cheer for you" he said turning her around and pushing her forward, Moon laughed running towards the ground with Mark following behind. "Alright girls, take 5" the coach called out. The team walked towards their benches to get a rest for a few minutes. “That was a good game. But you girls can do better. Nattalie, you have to work on your goal blocking strategy. Ruth and June practice on your kicks. The rest of you, you’re still lacking good positioning” the coach said. The girls nodding along to what they were being told “In the next game I want you all to change the positions, understood” the couch asked “Yes coach” the girls shouted in sync

“Weren’t you playing badminton?” Mark asked Moon, handing her a bottle of water, after another football game “I am, I’m playing both” she replied, gulping down the entire bottle “One game doesn’t scratch your itch?” he asked folding his arms “Nope, you know me. Need to play every single game. Life’s too short to play just one.” she replied “Why didn’t you try out for all of em?” he said sarcastically “According to rules, one person can participate in only two sports, otherwise, I would’ve” she replied “You are one of a kind Bitty” he laughed, patting her head

“Number 5, I need you to come with me, we need balls for the dodge ball” the coach called out to Moon. “Yes coach” she called out, walking towards the older woman. “Have you decided on any majors yet?” the coach asked Moon as the two entered the storage room “I haven’t got anything planned to be honest, I want to be an athlete so this scholarship would be a great boost for me. I guess I’ll see as I go along” she replied placing the needed stuff inside a basket “That is great. From the years of watching you grow, I know you have great potential. I wish you all the luck in your career.” she smiled at her student “Thank you ma’am” Moon smiled as the two exited the room “It’s stuck” Moon said pulling on the door “That’s weird, maybe something is stuck from the inside” the coach said. Moon went inside to check but saw nothing near the door that could be causing it to jam. “There’s nothing here” she replied. She tried opening it further but it wouldn’t budge. Pushing the door harshly, it moved a little, making a creaking noise. “It’s easier from the inside since I have to push, I’ll close as much I can from the inside, slip out and then pull the rest” Moon said “Let me help you, I’ll pull from the outside and you push” the coach said “No no, it’s alright. You go ahead, I’ll lock up and come back” Moon said “Are you sure?” the coach asked “Yes, it’s all good” she replied “Here are the keys.” she said, handing the keys to Moon and walked away. After 5 minutes of pushing the door, she was able to close it enough for her to easily slip out. She put a foot outside but before she could get out, someone shoved her inside and slipped in right after her. He harshly pushed the door and closed it from the inside. Moon looked up to see Andre standing right above her. “Finally. I have you all to myself” he said and leaned over her, Moon’s breath hitched as she tried to think about ways to escape. Kicking him in the leg as hard as she could, she ran towards the door, she tried to open in but it was jammed after opening just a little bit. Before she could pull on it more, Andre grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back, making her fall on the ground. “HELP!!! SOMEBODY HELP!!!! MARK!!!!” she screamed out. Pushing the door and closing it once again, he moved towards her and spoke “No one can hear you. We’re on the other side. Your precious Mark isn't coming to save you.” he said straddling her waist and pinning her arms above her head “STOP!! PLEASE STOP!! AAAHHHH” Moon sobbed “And when I’m done with you, he won’t even want to look at you, he’ll be so disgusted” he said kissing down her jaw to her neck. “PLEASE STOP, ANdRE, STOP IT” “Just like that, keep screaming my name” he said groping her.

“Okay boys team, you’re up.” the coach announced. The team got up from their benches and walked towards their coach. “1, 2, 3, 4 - where’s Andre?” the coach asked as she was counting the members “He said he was going to the toilet, it’s been five minutes now” one of the team members replied “HAS ANYONE SEEN ANDRE?” the coach turned around and announced. Hearing the announcement, Mark started looking around, having an uneasy feeling when he didn’t see Moon or Andre. Getting up from his spot he went towards the coach and asked about her “She and I went to get some sports equipment from the storage room, the door was stuck so she stayed back saying she’ll close up and get back. Why? She isn’t back?” the coach asked “No” Mark replied “Could you go check on her, see if she needs help with the door, and if doesn’t close, just tell someone from the admin and bring her here” the coach said Mark nodded his head and ran towards the storage area. Being an alumni, he was quite familiar with the building and didn’t have much difficulty getting to the storage room.  As he got closer he could hear Moon screaming, assuming she was stuck inside he fastened his pace, but what he heard next made his blood oil with anger and started running. Kicking open the door his fists clenched in anger at the scene in front of him. Moon was sprawled on the ground, her shorts halfway down, shirt riding up her chest and Andre on top of her groping her in the most inappropriate of ways. “You fucking bastard” Mark gritted and pushed him off her. Moon quickly scrambled to the side, fixing her clothes she curled in the corner sobbing harshly, her body shaking uncontrollably. Mark grabbed Andre from the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. Throwing him against the wall, Mark threw a punch to his face, making him stumble. Mark kept throwing punch after punch until Andre was lying on the ground. Mark was about to kick him when he kicked his foot under Mark’s, sending Mark stumbling back. Taking the opportunity Andre got up and ran out of the room. Mark wanted to follow after him but decided against it taking a look at Moon’s figure.   Getting closer to her curled up figure, he gently touched her shoulder. “AAHH, NO PLEASE, NO-” she started thrashing around, “hey, hey, hey, it’s me, it’s just Mark” he spoke soothingly “M...Ma….Maa…” she stuttered, eyes glossy, cheeks tear stained, face completely red and body shaking uncontrollably. “Yeah it’s just me, I’m here, I’m not gonna hurt you. I got you now, everything’s alright” he said wiping away her tears. Letting out a sob, Moon threw herself at Mark, wrapping her arms and legs around him, clutching onto him for dear life. “I...I..di...didn’t..th...thi….think...an...anyone wa..was gonna co..come” She spoke trying to calm herself “It’s okay, I’m here now. I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you” He said, rubbing her back, trying to get her to stop shaking. The two sat there in silence, Moon releasing deep breaths occasionally. “You better?” Mark asked as Moon loosened her hold on him and pulled away “Mhhmm” she nodded getting off of him and standing up, her legs still feeling wobbly “C’mon, we have to tell your coach.” Mark said, grabbing her hand, and pulling her out of the storage room but Moon stood there rooted to the ground “It’s no use” she said pulling him back “What do you mean? You’re not walking away without taking action, I’m not gonna let you. The bastard needs to be punished” Mark said harshly “You think I don’t know that. We’re gonna tell the coach, then what?” she retorted “The school admin takes action, that’s what” “How do you plan on proving him guilty? There are no security cameras in this room.” she folded her arms “What about the hallways? If we can catch him going in th-” “Come with me” she cut him off, dragging him with her. “Look at that” she said pointing towards the broken security camera “Ho-” he started “It broke this morning, A bunch of boys were throwing around balls and ended up kitting the camera, It’s supposed to be fixed tomorrow. Andre knew this too and took the opportunity. There's no point in telling anyone” she sighed hanging her head low, tears streaming down her face “I’m sorry. We’ll get him back, I’ll make him pay for ever laying a finger on you. I promise you that” Mark said hugging her small figure closer to him “Teach me, teach me how to protect myself. What if he does it again, and you’re not there” Moon said, lifting her head “I’m not leaving your side, ever. You don’t ever have to worry about me not being there” he said wiping her tears “But I still want you to teach me, I don’t want to depend on anyone” she said, taking in a deep breath, finally calming down “Okay, whatever you want. But what are you going to tell your coach. You look horrible” Mark questioned “Let’s go, I know what I have to say” she said walking away, with him following behind

“Number 5. What happened, you were gone for more than 20 minutes” the coach asked when Moon handed her the keys “I was trying to close it from the inside, when it closed and got stuck, I kept banging on the door since I didn’t have my phone, Mark opened it from outside” she lied “You look sick, your face is all red, are you sure you’re alright” the coach asked concerned “Yes, I just get claustrophobic in tight spaces, that’s all” “Oh, explains a lot. Leave the practice early today. Get some rest” the said “No ma’am I’m fine, I can practice” she said “Don’t tire yourself out, get some rest, There is a week till the final day, you’ll have plenty of time to practice. Go home today, rest up, get better and we’ll practice tomorrow. I don’t want one of my top athletes to pass out from exhaustion.” the coach said sternly “Yes ma’am” she replied and walked away to gather her things

“You’re coach is right you know, you don’t have to tire yourself” Mark said, starting the car “It’s just, you know how it is. This scholarship may be my only chance to get out, and I don’t want to risk losing it. Being completely honest with you, one of the reasons I didn’t want to tell anyone about what happened with Andre is because I don’t want it to hinder my scholarship. Yeah it’s because there isn’t sufficient proof to prove it was him. I could pursue it, but that would just take my focus away. I don’t want that” Moon explained “I wish you weren’t so hard on yourself all the time” he said “I wish the world wasn’t so cruel to me” she whispered looking out the window. Mark didn’t have much to say to her, knowing she indeed went through a lot on a daily basis. He just sighed and kept driving in silence.

The next went smoothly, Moon would practice after school, and after practice she would learn self defence with Mark. As promised, he didn’t leave her side.  It was the final day and everything was going smoothly. Moon’s football team won with a good score, and she was really ecstatic especially since she kicked the winning goal. Going into the girls locker room she began to change into her badminton uniform. After getting changed, she sat on the benches to put her shoes on. Halfway through Andre entered the locker room. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? THIS THE GIRLS LOCKER ROOM, YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED HERE” Moon shouted at him “Relax girl, I’m just here to grab something for June from her locker. I asked coach before coming inside” he replied “Where’s coach?” she asked “In the ground” he smirked at her. “But don’t worry. I’m not gonna do anything” he added before walking away. Moon quickly took out her phone, texting Mark, who immediately replied

Moon: Mark please come to my locker room Mark: Why? Everything okay? Moon: Andre, he’s here. He says he’s here to get something, but I don’t trust him Mark: Take a deep breath Bitty, I’m on my way. Moon: Please hurry

Putting her phone aside she quickly got to putting on her shoes. Chugging down her water, Moon quickly got up to run out. But as soon as she stood up, she started feeling dizzy and light headed. She looked down at the water bottle and cursed, realizing it was drugged. Releasing a laugh, Andre walked over to her. “Staaayyyyy awaaayy” Moon slurred, pushing him away. All the self defence tricks she learned now useless as her movements were very delayed “C’mon we have to get out of here before your boyfriend shows up” Andre said, dragging Moon’s intoxicated self with him. “Booyfrieend, I wiiiiish~” Moon giggled, completely drunk “As if that matters anyway. You’re mine now” Andre whispered. Reaching for the door. Mark was quick and smart. Knowing Andre was going to do something, he didn’t come alone. Pulling Moon towards himself, he pushed Andre towards Jaebum. “Take care of him, I’ll take her out”. Nodding his head Jaebum dragged Andre away. Picking Moon up, Mark walked inside. Sitting her down on the benches, he went to her locker and started rummaging through it. Silently thanking the Gods when he found a juicebox in her locker, he went to her and took her phone and texted himself

Moon: Hey could you bring me a juice box, I don’t feel so good

After sending the text he removed the previous conversation and manipulated the text time to make seem as if it was sent 10 minutes ago. Taking out his phone, he texted Jinyoung.

Mark: Bring Bitty’s coach here in 5 minutes Jinyoung: Why? I thought you’ll keep it under control Mark: Shit went down big time. We can’t get her out quietly now Jinyoung: Fuck Mark: Just text me when you reach near the locker room

“You look hot” Moon suddenly said. This caught Mark off guard as she was simply giggling to herself all this time “Say what now” he asked bewildered “Don’t act like you don’t know. You’ve always known how I liked you. I never said anything. But for some reason I feel like confronting you about it” she said walking up to him. Mark sighed “Bitty, this really isn’t the time. You’re intoxicated. Let’s talk when you’re sober” he said “No, I wanna talk right now. I’m completely sober. You’re the one who needs to man up. You never tell me you like me but your actions say otherwise. Either tell me you don’t feel the same and that your actions are platonic or be honest with me. Stop leading me on” she slurred stumbling. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her, before he could say anything his phone went off

Jinyoung: On our way, two minutes max Mark: Stall her till I come out. I have a situation Jinyoung: You’re kidding? What even is going on? Mark: Don’t have time to explain

“You’re being a real jerk here” she poked him “Gosh I can’t believe I’m gonna do this”  he whispered before kissing Moon. she was caught off guard but nonetheless kissed back. He felt horrible for taking advantage of her like this but he knew he didn’t have much time. Putting two fingers on her neck, he pressed on her pressure point until she fainted in his arms. Lying her on the ground, he took out his pocket knife. Apologizing to the unconscious figure he made a small cut on her temple. Letting a little blood pool on the floor he dipped his fingers in it before smearing it on the side of the bench. Once he made sure everything was in place. He picked her up princess style and walked out of the locker room. “Oh my lord. What happened?” Moon’s coach asked looking at her unconcious figure in Mark’s arms “I’m not sure. She texted me she wasn’t feeling well and that she wanted me to bring her juice. I did as told, but when I called her she didn’t pick up so I went inside the locker room. She was unconscious when I got there. I think she hit her head on the benches because there was blood on the bench’s corner.” He lied “Coach, we should tell everyone she won’t be playing. Mark will take her to the hospital” Jinyoung said catching on to Mark’s lie “Oh yeah yeah, please call me as soon as she wakes up, Jinyoung, you tell her parents, I’ll make the announcement” the coach said walking away “Tell aunt and uncle what I told the coach. I’ll take her to your apartment. Make something up and make sure they don’t ask to go to the hospital.” Mark warned “If she hit her head, she needs a CT scan” JInyoung said “No, she didn’t hit her head, she was drugged, I had to make her faint to get her out, made a little cut just to make up a story” he explained “It’s 2:00 right now, I can stall them until 6:00, 7:00 max” Jinyoung sighed “That’s plenty of time.” Mark said, turning around and walking away from him.

Head bent over the toilet bowl, Moon threw up. Her stomach emptied and the more she hurled the more her throat burned. Mark returned with a glass of water, he kneeled down next to her and rubbed her back. “Any better?” he asked as she looked at him “Water.” she told him. Mark handed her the glass and she chugged the whole thing down in one go. Handing him the glass back she stood up. “Do you have a spare toothbrush?” She asked flushing the toilet “Yeah, here” he handed her the new brush from the cupboard. Moon started brushing her teeth and Mark left the toilet giving her privacy.

“I made some hangover soup,”  Mark said as Moon walked into the kitchen. “Can I get something for a headache? I feel like someone is hammering my head” Moon said clutching her head “Yeah, here you go” he said handing her a glass of water and two pills “Thanks” she said popping the pills “So, what happened? All I remember is drinking water which happened to be drugged. After that, it’s like I blacked out. And what happened to my head?” she asked, touching the bandage on her temple. Mark was internally relieved that she didn’t remember anything. He really didn’t want to talk about the kiss “When I got there, you were totally wasted and were being dragged out by Andre. Thankfully we got to you in time. JB took care of Andre, while I got you out.” Mark said “Wait. I was wasted, please tell me I didn’t say anything stupid” she asked “You were just a giggly mess. Drunk you is like a 3 year old kid with candy” he laughed, handing her the bowl of soup. “Oh. how’d you get me out without anyone noticing? And what about my parents?” she asked taking a spoonful of the soup “Well, I strangled you until you passed out and then took you out” he shrugged. Moon’s mouth went wide open as she dropped her spoon in the bowl. Mark laughed at her expression before continuing “You have pressure points in your neck, I pressed on it and you were out cold. I made a little cut on your head, made your coach think you fell and hit your head. Voila perfect escape plan. Although I am really sorry about your head” “Nah, it’s cool, it’s better than being seen drunk. Especially since i’m a minor and it was an important day” she casually waved him off. Mark and Moon went over the plan one more time, before he dropped her back at home. “Wanna come inside, I’m sure they’ll wanna see you” Moon said unbuckling her seat belt “Yeah sure, let’s just get it over with” he said exiting the car with her.

The following week became a living hell for Moon. She lost her scholarship and her coach referred her to the school psychologist. After a few sessions, it was concluded that Moon was mentally unstable and should avoid extra curricular until she was better. Moon knew very well that she was mentally disturbed and knew exactly why, but her coping mechanism was different and she hated talking about her problems. So to avoid confrontation, she did everything she was told by the psychologist. The problem got bigger and bigger and Moon decided it would be better to just drop college altogether. After graduating from high school, Moon became interested in online games and started developing love for computers. Starting with freelancing she built up her skills with time and forgot about her highschool life and dreams.

End Of Flashback

By the time Moon finished explaining, the pizza was cooked and now the three sat there in silence and ate the pizza. “Did you really hate us that much to not bring up such a big thing?” Moons mother asked “At first I felt it wasn’t important and I just wanted to forget it, so I avoided talking about it. After the sports day, I wanted to tell you but I needed some time to accept it. Then the whole thing with the psychologist took place and when I tried to talk to you about it, I knew it was too late, Andre was gone and I couldn’t really do anything. You know how I can get, just like dad I too can get hot headed, and when I bought it up things didn’t exactly go as planned so I gave up” Moon casually answered “I’m sorry. We couldn’t be there when you needed us the most and you had to go through that all by yourself” her mom said “Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong” Moon said “I was hard on you sometimes. I couldn't protect you like I should’ve” “You did more than you could, I’ll always be thankful for that.” she said tightly hugging the older lady. “This must be really awkward for you. First time meeting your girlfriend's parents and all you get is drama” her mom said looking at Chan “Girlfriend?” Moon questioned “He did say he was your boyfriend” “I was planning to tell you after some time, we just started going out” Moon blushed “It’s completely alright ma’am. I was somewhat aware of Moon’s relation with her father, so you don’t have to worry about that.” he smiled politely.

“Thank you so much for having me ma’am. It was really nice to meet you. You’re an amazing chef. Thank you once again, I really enjoyed your company.” Chan said as the two were now getting ready to leave. “Oh you flatter me Chris. It was amazing to meet you too. And please, don’t call me ma’am, just call my Aunt” her mother said patting his back “Thank you” he smiled shyly, his ears turning red. “Bye mom” Moon said, hugging mom one last time for the day. “Bye sweetheart, visit again soon” her mother said “I will, ba-bye” she said waving at her, getting inside the car

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

The next morning Moon woke up earlier than expected. Finishing her morning routine, she went downstairs to the kitchen to whip something up for herself. Entering the kitchen, she was met with Bree and El preparing breakfast. “What’s for breakfast today?” she asked the older girls “Toast and egg. You want orange juice or mango?” Bree answered “Mango” she smiled, getting herself a glass of water “Hey guys” an unfamiliar yet recognizable voice spoke “NAY!!” Moon shouted turning around “SUNNY” Nay said with the same enthusiasm and  embraced Moon tightly “What are you doing here?” Moon asked as the two pulled apart “I should be asking you. No contact for a year and you’re in a gang.” Nay said “Yeah, long story” Moon smiled sheepishly “Your dad?” she raised a brow “Something along the lines yeah. What about you?” Moon questioned “Well you know my hoe-ish tendencies. Gotta sell my drugs somehow” she shrugged “Why am I not surprised” Moon laughed “Because you know me so well” Nay said swinging her arm around Moon’s shoulder “You girls seem close” Bree said “Been besties since high school” Nay replied “Speaking of highschool. How’s Madzi, what’s she been upto lately?” Moon asked, the two girls taking a seat on the bar stool near the counter top “Oh you don’t know?” Nay said “Oh no, I don’t like that tone. What’s going on?” Moon said “Well, it’s a long story. She was in a relationship an-” Nay started “Woah, I’m gonna stop you right there, was it an abusive relationship. Tell me where she is, I swear to God I’m about to kill someone” Moon cut her off “Slow down tiger. I like how you’re so feisty yet the tiniest of us three. Where do you store all that anger” Nay said, causing Bree and El to laugh “Ha ha, but for real, you know how I get protective over her, she’s the youngest amongst us” “Yeah yeah I know. Anywho. She was in a committed and happy relationship, but her parents found out.  Being homophobic, they were completely against their daughter being in a relationship with a woman. Things did not end well. She was forced to marry someone and break up with Didi. A month into her marriage, she found out that her husband is in a gang. And the last time I talked to her she didn’t sound really good” Nay explained “Didi from computer class? The cute shawty.” Moon asked “Yeah her. They made such a cute couple” “Literally everyone knew the two were whipped for each other, but neither of them said anything” “They were meant to be. The two met in a nightclub a few months after highschool. Both were drunk, guess it was the perfect opportunity.” Nay told “Can’t we do something about it? I mean you’re probably involved with more than one gang, maybe team up and get her out” Moon said “I checked. But her Gang has very strong alliances, so we can’t do anything” “Well, let’s just hope the universe has mercy on her” “Yeah well, there's not much we can do anyway” “So you tell. How’d you get into the whole drug business?” Moon asked “Well, Madzi, Didi and I started it about two years ago. We wanted to ask you but you were having issues of your own with your father, so we thought best to give you space. We didn’t think we’d succeed but damn was it fun once we got there. Didi and I are still in the business, Madzi however, well I just told you” Nay answered “What did you guys call yourselves?” “Stonewhores” she grinned “I- I’m not even gonna ask” moon said making her laugh “Alright girls breakfast is ready. Moon, go upstairs and get everyone”  Bree told “Yep” the younger girl replied and went up the stairs Knocking on everyone's door she did as she was told. “Hey, Min have you seen Innie? He’s not in his room” Moon asked Seungmin “I think he went to Channie’s office.” he replied “Oh okay, I’ll check, thanks” she smiled at him walking towards Chan’s office She knocked twice, waiting for someone to open the door “It’s open” Chan called from the inside. She opened the door and stepped inside. Chan and Jeongin seemed to be in the middle of some serious discussion. “Am I interrupting something?” she asked looking at their serious expressions. “No, it’s okay, we’re done. What brings you here?” Jeongin asked “Oh, Bree’s calling everyone downstairs for breakfast,” Moon said. Jeongin moved closer to Chan and hugged him “Thank you.” he said pulling away “I trust you, Don’t let me down” he said patting his back “I won’t” he said walking out of the office “What was that about?” Moon asked confused, looking at Jeongin’s disappearing figure. “He came to tell me about Him and Anessa. He said they like like each other and want to go out, came to ask for my permission” Chan answered “That’s so sweet and cute of him. You know he looks up to you a lot” Moon replied “Yeah I know. He’s a good kid, that’s why I didn’t object” Chan said, the two walking out of his office. “It’s cute, he even asked me to talk to Felix” Chan chuckled “What for?” “Seungmin and Liv also have a thing for each other, but they’re both afraid to tell Felix because of what happened when El and Woojin started going out. It’s like Romeo and Juliet” Chan answered “I don’t think so, in my defense Romeo and Juliet were dumb and dumber” “It’s a classical romance novel, what even woman” “I think if Seungmin ever came across liv’s unconscious figure, lying next to sleeping pills, his first instinct would be to try to wake her up or take her to the infirmary, not take the pills and kill himself. Whereas Romeo was a dumbass who thought that Juliet was dead, he didn’t even try to wake her up, just straight up took the poison and comitted suicide.” “I never knew you were into reading classical romance” he teased her “Oh please, it was compulsory in high school. I’m more into violent, gore, kinky, bloody kind of shit” “Kinky you say” “From the whole list, that’s what you picked up?” “I only hear what I wanna hear” he laughed As the two reached the kitchen Moon grimaced when she saw Hyunjin slap Nay’s ass. “Get your dirty hands off my baby” Moon said slapping Hyunjins back “What’s your problem?” he said “You just harassed my best friend, I’m not gonna stand here and watch” “Uhh babe, he didn’t harass me” Nay said “WHAT!?!?! Him? Seriously of all people, why him? Girl you could do so much better than him” Moon made a disgusted face “Well I’m offended” Hyunjin said overdramatically “Oh boi, she’s the best” Han laughed “What’s wrong with him?” Nay asked “Everything” Moon replied, everyone now seated on the dining table “But he has a nice dick and he knows how to use it” Nay shrugged “Ewww Nay, I’m eating” Moon pretended to throw up. Everyone just watching the two with amused expressions “I’m sure he’d be delighted to show you” Nay smirked “No thank you, I’d rather get stabbed by him again” Moon said “I can stab you with my  dick” Hyunjin chirped “Oh boi, bad move” El whistled “Why?” Hyunjin asked “Her boyfriend does not seem happy” Woojin said looking at Chan who had an unreadable expression “You do that and I chop it off” Chan said “Wait what? When did you two happen” Felix asked “Yesterday” Bree answered “Who confessed?” Han asked “Chan made the first move” Moon replied “Yess. Hwang, pay up.” Hyunjin grumbled and took out a $50 note from his wallet and handed it to Han “Come to papa” Han said kissing the note “You guys were betting on us?” Moon exclaimed “Only about who was gonna confess first” Han shrugged “Well, nobody confessed, which means both of you lost. So thank you very much for the money” Moon said reaching forward and took the money from his hand “But-” Han pouted “Too bad for you” Minho laughed “So Moon, How was your visit to your parents house” Liv said changing the topic “Oh it was great” she replied “Your mom and sister must’ve been happy to see you” Anna chirped “Well my sister was out of country so I couldn’t see her, but I met my mom and it was amazing” Moon smiled “When is she returning, I’ll take you to visit her” Chan said “Last night. Can we go this afternoon” Moon replied “I have some work this afternoon. You can take my car, but if you want to go with me, we can go tomorrow” Chan said “Oh it’s okay, I can go by myself” she replied “You sure?” “Yeah”

Moon rang the bell about three times but there was no answer. It was 4:00 in the evening and a Sunday so she couldn’t be at work. Not wanting to wait anymore she took out the spare key she always kept with her and unlocked the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming” her sister called out when Moon walked inside her apartment “Sis!!” her sister ran towards Moon and hugged her tight “What the pleasant surprise, and I see you still have the key” she giggled “And I see you still haven’t given up on your habit of sleeping around” Moon said taking in her appearance “C’mon sis, stop being such a party pooper” she said walking into the kitchen “Mavis. You know I don’t have any problem with the way you live your life, but please, this isn’t exactly safe. There are so many dangers, what if someone creepy takes advantage of you while drunk, or what about an STD. you have to be careful” Moon sighed “Sis, I understand your concern but don’t worry, I’ve gotten out of the habit of sleeping around with anyone. It’s just one person now. And no strings attached” “Well that’s good to hear, and I hope you use protection, because God knows where he’s been” Moon said “He too only sleeps with me, and yes, we do use protection if that’s what your worried about” Mavis said “Babe, should we order takeout?” a voice called out “He’s still here?” Moon asked “You’re the one who came unannounced” Mavis shrugged “Babe, I aske-” he stopped mid sentence when he saw Moon “YOU!?!” Moon’s eyes went wide wide

[princessflip]

Outstanding (Chapter 1) ~ Adam Sackler x Black!Reader

     Enjoy my babies! I know it’s late! I’m sorry! <3

When you first met Sackler, you hated him. He was an obnoxious manboy who had no filter whatsoever. With his inappropriate jokes and outbursts during the commercial shoot, you never thought you would finish before the deadline. He couldn’t keep his head in one place no matter how many times the director put him in check. You figured he was one of the many boys who came to New York thinking they could profit off their looks and make it to stardom.

     You had suffered about 4 hours of Sackler’s grueling annoyance when a pretty blonde woman walked on set. She walked over to Sackler, speaking to him first before she walked over with a wide smile. “Hi, I’m Jessa! I’m Adam’s girlfriend... Although that is up for debate.” She glared back at him. You stood there with a wide smile that was slowly faltering at the odd and uncomfortable glares they shot at one another. “It’s um... It’s nice to meet you, Jessa. I’m Y/N.” You gave her a short smile when she finally looked back. “It’s nice to meet you too, hun.” Her accent thick as she spoke. “Well... I’ll step off to the side. I figure you want to wrap this up as soon as you can.” She laughed shortly before stepping off to the side.

     With the small break over and the lights shining on the both of you, the shooting started once again. “What’s for dinner, honey?” You recite your lines eloquently. “Well, I’m glad you asked, babe. We got our first delivery of Blue Apron today.” Adam carried the box to the island and set it down. “Blue Apron? What’s that?” You strode over to meet him. “Well, I’m glad you- fuck.. I already said that.” Adam let out a bubbly laugh. You sighed heavily as the director shouted for the shoot to cut. Sackler shoved your shoulder slightly. “My bad. Next take. I promise.” He was only met with a sharp stare.

    You felt a bead of sweat roll down your back from the hot lights as you and Adam ran through the scene for what had to be the 12th time. You practically held your breath each time it was his turn to speak. When the director finally shouted for the final cut, you wanted to dance and cheer, but you digressed.

    With Sackler running over to celebrate a successful shoot with his girlfriend, you left to go get changed to retreat to your apartment with a bottle of wine and some sushi for the rest of the night. You apologized as you slipped by and pushed into the dressing room. You could feel the hard stare of someone on your back, but you tossed the feeling away, too concentrated on the task at hand. The wardrobe wasn’t anything too intense, just some jewelry pieces and your top. You were back out the door in no time, headed to part ways with the director until you heard a voice shout for you.

     “Y/N! Hey girl, before you leave, Adam and I were wondering if you wanted to stop by our apartment tonight? Ya know... Have some dinner and talk. You dealt with him all day, I figured we could treat you to some food at the least.” She laughed softly. Flickering your eyes between the two of them, you debated your answer before swallowing your apprehension. “Sure. I would love to.” You smiled softly and shuffled your bag onto your other shoulder.

     It was quite the kicker for Sackler who was laughing about it practically the whole dinner. The wine bottle had been left outside on the steps and probably stolen by some random edgy teenagers while you all talked for the third hour. You had learned all about their drama with Hannah and all her other friends and how Adam and Jessa came to be. It was a fun dinner at the least, especially fun when you compared it to the shoot earlier that day.

     You decided it was best not to come empty-handed, so you brought a bottle of wine and some apple pie with you. Your mama had taught you better than to go to anyone's house and just take their food with no thanks. Finding the apartment was a bit of struggle, but you made it eventually. You pressed on the button by the door and shuffled the pie on your arm, clearing your throat softly until you earned a loud crackling in your ear. “Who is it?!” You heard Sackler’s voice shout through the speaker. You cringed away and cursed softly. “Y/N. It’s Y/N… damn.” You rolled your eyes and huffed softly. Without any apology, the door buzzed loudly.

     Their apartment was all the way on the other end of the old townhome, which caused you to lose your breath on the way there. You huffed softly and shook your head as you knocked firmly on the door. It wasn’t even seconds later until Jessa ripped the door open with a wide smile. “Y/N! Welcome! Here I’ll take this from you.” She grabbed the pie from your hands. You slipped the wine from your bag with a soft smile. “I also brought some merlot.” That only earned you a shocked, blank stare. “Oh.. Oh Y/N.. we’re um... We’re in AA.” You could feel blood rush to your ears as you stood there. “Oh my god. I am so sorry.”

     You were sad to leave oddly enough, but you had a different shoot the next day that required some rest. You all gathered at the door to say your goodbyes. You swung your jacket onto your arms as Adam grabbed your bag and handed it over. “We’ll have to plan a dinner at mine next time.” You suggested. “Then we’ll have to see who really cooks the meanest chicken.” You teased Adam. “Thank you for having me over guys.” You walked out the door. They both waved you goodbye as you slipped out the door and down the stairs.

     The subway ride back home seemed to pass in a flash before you were in your apartment, bra on the couch, and bag on the coffee table. You walked to the kitchen and poured yourself a glass of water before heading to the couch and collapsing down. You shuffled through your purse in search of your contact case but brushed against a slip of paper. You pulled it out in a bit of confusion and scanned over the paper. Your heart skipped a beat as you stared at Sackler’s chicken scratch with an attached number. You figured it was for planning purposes or arguing about who could cook better, so you simply set it down to the side, but your heart was still racing.

     Your brain still hadn’t settled by the time you laid down in bed. Had he given his number to you for the purpose of setting up another number? Why hadn’t he just given it to you in front of Jessa? You theorized in your head until it all just became a jumbled mess. Finally convincing yourself that Adam was in a happy and presumably healthy relationship, you decided to let your mind and body relax for a good night's sleep.

[saventhhaven]

Musically Inclined

Pairing; Sam Winchester x reader

Tags: implied smut, flustered!reader, flustered!Sam, Supernatural the Musical, confused!Dean

Word Count: 1,720

A/N: Based on S10, E5

(Gif not mine)

The two Winchesters got out of the front seats of the car in unrehearsed and unplanned unison, causing you to roll your eyes. It's like they were trying to be the unrealistic FBI agents from hoaky television shows. By the time you made it out of the car, they were already making their way up to the school. Damn them and their long legs.

"Hey!" you called after them irritably. "Are you guys gonna wait for me, or what?"

"Nah," Dean responded. Had you not been trying to keep up the professional façade, you may or may not have punched him in the arm.

"So," Sam started his signature run-down, "the last place Mrs. Chandler was seen by anyone was in the auditorium. Turns out, she's the drama teacher." Dean let out an exasperated sigh as you walked, his face more than enough for you to be able to tell that he already didn't like where this case was going.

"Theater kids. Great," he mumbled sarcastically.

"I was a theater kid," Sam said defensively. A wide grin broke out across your face, and you looked up at the tall Winchester with glee.

"No shit? I've got to hear this." Sam's lips turned almost nonexistent as he pressed them into a tight line. "No, wait, don't tell me. I can see it now: Sam Winchester himself on a stage under a spotlight, reciting Shakespearian verses in iambic pentameter."

"That ain't too far off from what he does now," Dean said under his breath as he leaned toward you conspiratorially. You snorted loudly, and Sam came to an immediate stop. Had you not been paying attention, you probably would've rammed right into him.

"You done?" he asked. Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Sam, give us a line!" He only shook his head in response as the two of you continued to poke fun at him.

"Shut up."

"That's a shame," you piped up. "He would've made a great Hamlet." As the younger Winchester turned away, you thought you caught him fighting a smile. When the three of you entered the auditorium, Dean shook his head with slight disgust.

"Okay, seriously, what could possibly-"

"Idjits!" The three of you turned in surprise. It had been a long time since you had heard that. The only person who ever called the boys that was... Bobby? A teenage girl turned around, dressed in a khaki fisherman's vest, a plaid button-up t-shirt, and a worn baseball hat. She even had on a fake beard to match Bobby's appearance. "You are idjits!" she continued. You turned to the boys with a question on your lips, but before you could say anything-

"Hey, assbutt!" Another girl further away held a fake molotov cocktail with sparkly angel wings, a trenchcoat, and an unmistakable blue tie.

"Do-" You were cut off once again as an urgent piano chorus began to play throughout the auditorium, effectively causing you and the boys to jolt in surprise.

"John and Mary, husband and wife. Bringing home a brand-new life.” Your attention was diverted to the stage, where what you were assuming what was supposed to be Sam and Dean's parents carried in a fake baby, placing it in a crib.

"No way," you breathed as you latched onto Sam's arm for support. You were in total shock as the musical number continued to go on. "Th-that's you!" you stammered, fighting the urge to point. Sam nodded tightly.

"I know," he replied.

"On the road so far. They met a woman on the way-” The teenage actress version of you came onto the stage with an impressive-looking fake shotgun. The weapon recoiled in her hands, and the fake werewolf collapsed to the ground. 

“And that’s me!” You remembered meeting the boys like it was yesterday, but seeing it acted out in front of you with such accuracy was surreal.

“When the boys were toast, she saved the day. Birds of a feather, now they hunt together. Teaming up to save the world.”

"Cut!" Suddenly, the music came to a stop, and a girl with a beret leaped to her feet in the front row.

"What in the h-holy..." Dean breathed.

"There is a case," Sam put in. "Probably has something to do with all this." How he was able to keep such a level head right now, you had no clue. You could barely think straight.

"You think?" Dean sassed. The girl with the beret came rushing up to the three of you with another girl at her side, and all traces of your conversation died.

"Are you guys from the publisher?" she asked excitedly. She didn't even wait to take a breath before continuing. "I'm Marie, the writer/director, this is Maeve, my stage manager, and..." Marie trailed off as you fished through your blazer pocket for your FBI badge. Before you could get it out, though, Sam placed an urgent hand on your arm, causing you to look up at the stage. No way. The three girls playing Sam, Dean, and you were all holding up fake badges to their counterparts.

"I'm Special Agent Smith," Sam introduced somewhat breathlessly. "These are my partners, Special Agent-"

"Jones," you filled in.

"Smith," Dean said. Two Smiths? You would have to remember to thank Dean for overcomplicating things later.

"No relation," Sam was quick to explain. "We're here to look into the appearance-"

"There's no singing in Supernatural!" Dean exclaimed. Biting back a sigh, you and Sam both shot Dean a look. So much for subtlety.

"Well, this is Marie's interpretation," Maeve said with a frown. Dean let out a sound that was a mixture of a strangled laugh and a groan.

"They're entitled to their creative vision," you justified before he could say anything else. "Just because you don't like that they made Supernatural into a musical doesn't mean that you have to-"

"Dean cannot find out about this." The words instantly clicked in your brain, and you totally lost track of what you had been saying. On the stage behind Marie and Maeve, the two actresses playing Sam and yourself were running lines. "He would never let us live it down." Sam's actress took your actress's hand, and you felt a blush rise to your cheeks.

"If Dean finds out, he can deal with it. We're all adults here. Besides, it's not like he's never slept with someone before." The teenage actress version of you shook her head.

"Yeah, Sam, but it's different this time! We're not just talking about sex between two random people. This is you and me that we're talking about here."

"Oh, God," was all you were able to say. That had happened a few years ago when you were still blissfully unaware that Chuck was writing and selling books about your life with the Winchesters. That moment, in particular, was supposed to be private. Sam caught your eye with an expression of horror that was incredibly similar to your own. Holy shit. Dean spluttered for a moment before he was finally able to get comprehensible words out. He looked at you with disbelief.

"You-" Thankfully, you were able to give him a discreet shake of your head before he totally blew your cover. "Y/N and Sam," he corrected himself, "are... together?"

"They're not together," you and Sam chimed in at the same time. The skin between Marie's eyebrows crinkled as she stared at you.

"What are you talking about?" she asked incredulously. "Y/N and Sam have been hooking up since book two. That's canon."

"Oh my God," you repeated miserably. You barely heard a word the boys said as they did the standard case questioning with Marie and Maeve. Meanwhile, you were more focused on how many of your intimate moments with Sam were going to be on stage.

"So, how 'bout you give the two of us a behind-the-scenes tour-" You tuned in just as Sam was gesturing between him and yourself. "-while your director shows my partner Mrs. Chandler's office. Deal?" The two girls nodded wordlessly. "Great. Give us a moment, please."

"Okay," Marie agreed. As the two of them made their way back down to the stage, you continued to stand there in stunned silence.

"I'm gonna throw up," Dean said. You nodded numbly.

"Seconded."

"Yeah, by the way, were you two ever gonna tell me about that?" he asked.

"No."

"Absolutely not." Both your and Sam's words came out in a jumble, and you glanced at the tall man sheepishly.

"Well, you heard the girl!" Dean said, throwing his hands up in the air. "It's 'canon!' So, is it still going on, or what?" You made a face at his question.

"Dean!" Sam scolded. Your entire lives were on display in musical form for the rest of the world to see, and he wanted to know if you were still sleeping with his brother?

"That can't seriously be what you're most concerned about right now," you huffed as you crossed your arms over your chest. Dean's eyes only got wider as he ignored your comment.

"Well?" he pressed on. "Is it?" You and the younger Winchester exchanged another wary glance. He clearly wasn't going to let it go until he got his answer.

"No!" you exclaimed. Dean arched an eyebrow disbelievingly. "I'm serious, Dean. Sam and I haven't hooked up in a long time." The oldest Winchester looked to his brother for verification.

"It's true," Sam confirmed. Dean shook his head somewhat manically.

"I can't believe this. Friggin' musicals," he started to mutter as he shuffled away. "Andrew Floyd Webber crap."

"Andrew Lloyd," Sam corrected. Dean turned around, making a face.

"What?" When you shook your head at him, he rolled his eyes and headed for the stage. When he was finally out of earshot, you let out a breath of relief.

"I think we're in the clear," you whispered. Sam watched his brother, who seemed to be coaching "Cas" on how to throw his molotov cocktail. What a dweeb. The younger Winchester's hand found its way to the small of your back.

"You really think he bought that?" he leaned down to murmur in your ear. You shrugged.

"I don't know," you admitted. "But maybe we should knock it off for a while just to be safe." Sam nodded.

"Agreed."

Thank you so much for reading!

As always, links to my masterlist, taglist, and inbox (requests are open!) are in my bio!

My Everythings:

@cole-winchester​ @alexwinchester23​ @1-am-made-of-stardust​ @thorukindig​ @fiftyshadesoffandom6783​ @hobby27​ @supernaturalenchanted​ @organicpurplepants​ @odysseyofasiren​ @defenderrosetyler​ @crystal-lilac​ @youshrimpdickfucknugget​

Sam Darlings:

@calaofnoldor​

[et-lesailes]

one touch

pairing: steve rogers x reader

word count: 1700

prompt: “Hello! Can you pretty please write a one shot with Steve rogers where the reader has an issue with human contact (nothing specific has happened) & is touch deprived & Steve is very understanding and soft with her until she trust him & eventually falls asleep on the couch on him and theres a lot of fluff &soft kisses?? Thank you so much!!!”

themes: fluff, romance, mentions of anxiety

taglist: @viarogers , @evanstush , @chibi-crazy , @chalamet-evans , @world-of-losers , @songforhema, @sebabestianstan101 , @tanyam93 , @bval-1, @wonderwinchester , @little-miss-exo, @poerebel , @pining-and-tired , @gogomez-509 , @patzammit, @a-distantdreamer, @malthestorytellerblog, @rainbowkisses31, @jbug491writinghelp, @quaideraid, @melannie77, @gigistorm, @lille-kattunge, @teller258316, @rohaintahquil, @deidrashouseofpain, @firstangeldragonranch, @peach-acid, @allsortsofinterests, @xoxabs88xox, @heyiamthatbitch, @cptn-sgrogers, @heyyouwiththeassbutt, @bangtan-serendipity, @troublermalik, @beardburnsupersoldiers

note: requested by anonymous // was way too tired n lazy to make a proper graphic so accept this pls. now that i’m actually back into using photoshop tho imma start trying to create (very average) graphics for all of my stories lmao.

While being on the run with Captain America seemed like it would be intense and full of drama and surprises, it was a fairly isolated and sometimes even melancholy experience. Ever since Steve’s fight with Tony leading to the breakup of the Avengers, you had dutifully sided with Steve on his nomadic journey. You had started out as his right-hand, and that was how your story would end, whenever that day may be. 

Based on all of this, it would make sense to have 100% trust in him. He was your captain and you practically followed him into the jaws of death when it came to your missions and battles. You could trust that he would never leave you behind and that he would always have a plan. But this trust was apparently only on the battlefield. When Steve had tried to kiss you in the tiny, remote apartment the two of you now shared in the middle of nowhere, you immediately flinched. You felt even worse seeing the guilt upon his features, as if he had done something wrong. No, this was all on you and your terribly aloof nature, the side of you that held you back from maintaining close, personal relationships with anyone else.

It was only a matter of time before this happened. Even during the Avengers days, you and Steve had been inseparable. Everyone on the team had predicted the two of you would end up together, they had even made bets on it. Yet still, the two of you had not even shared one hug. He probably had not thought much of it. Why would he? He probably thought you were a normal human being who wouldn’t have such issues with physical touch, you thought bitterly.

“I’m so sorry,” he had apologized the second you stepped back, looking disappointed and ashamed at the same time. “I just-- I thought… that maybe we…”

“N-no, it’s not that.” You quickly cut him off, shaking your head. You knew what he was going to say, and he was right. You had felt something between the two of you for a while now, but it had escalated during the time you shared together alone, living together and doing what you could to help the people around you. “I just… I need time. I’m sorry.” He had nodded his head immediately, taking a step back himself. “Of course. I don’t want to rush this at all, Y/N. I know how I feel for you and it makes me happy in itself that something could happen between us one day. So take as much time as you need. Okay?”

As usual, he had been his perfect, gentlemanly self ever since. He was patient. If he sensed discomfort even from the mere proximity between your bodies on the couch, he scooted aside. When he saw your body stiffen upon a stranger placing his hand on your back to get by you in a crowded street, he walked close to you to make sure no one else came near you, while maintaining an appropriate distance himself. Somehow, without you even having to say anything, he understood that it was difficult for you to act upon the urge of physical touch, or to even receive it. 

And yet you definitely felt those urges, despite your anxiety about it. You couldn’t even count the nights you had dreaming about curling up close to Steve’s side, or even thinking of small actions like him squeezing your hand tight as a gesture of comfort or casually placing an arm around your shoulders while watching a movie. When his fingers brushed against your own on accident when he took your empty glass to place in the sink, you felt electricity. You were starting to become more and more frustrated with yourself. If you wanted it so bad, why wasn’t your mind letting you go through with it? You could envision a perfect fantasy of the two of you sharing a passionate, romantic kiss, and yet when he had tried to make that fantasy come to life you had acted as though he were trying to poison you. 

It took time, but it got better. Soon, you were scooting closer to him on the couch, experimenting with the mere feeling of your thighs touching his. It seemed insignificant, but for you, it was a big step. From there, letting him hold your hand for a few moments every now and then. Whether it be while watching something on TV, while the two of you were reading, or even while he was driving. His touches were becoming almost addictive despite how fleeting they were. You loved how large his hands were in comparison to your own and you wished you had the courage to reach out for them yourself. Instead of having anxiety about him touching you at all, you were anxious waiting for him to touch you; you were starting to crave it and yet you could not find the strength to tell him that. 

Then came one day he wanted to watch a movie with you. You gladly obliged, heart racing like a schoolgirl with a crush when he sat down close to you, one hand holding a freshly hot microwavable bag of popcorn and the other managing to hold two cans of Coke. Your eyes may have been on the screen, but you weren’t watching. No, all you could think about was Steve sitting inches away from you, how secure you would feel under one of those bulging, muscular arms, the warmth of his lips against yours….

‘For God’s sake, Y/N, you could make a move. He’s made it clear that he likes you, he wouldn’t reject you.’ However, it wasn’t rejection you were afraid of. It was that damn anxiety that came with physical contact, and yet your body wanted to keep reminding you how deprived you were of it. What was up with that? You tried to push all of your thoughts away, doing your best to actually watch the movie; you felt bad seeing Steve so invested while you were here driving yourself crazy. 

And then you ended up falling asleep, which was arguably worse. 

However, when you woke up, you were shocked to find your head laying on Steve’s shoulder, his arm wrapped around you and his fingers grazing across your back. Upon carefully tilting your head up, you saw that his own eyes were closed, his blond head tilted towards you in as much of a resting position as he could get in. Your eyes flickered to the black screen, wondering how long the movie had been finished for-- had Steve stayed in this semi uncomfortable position just for you? You looked back up towards him, your heart skipping a beat. Everything about this felt so perfect, so warm… 

He suddenly opened his eyes, blinking before looking down at you. “Oh,” he mumbled as he began to adjust himself, lifting his arm. “I didn’t mean-”

You cut him off, suddenly taking a light hold of his face as you leaned in and kissed him, deciding in one split second to overcome all of your biggest fears. Not even five seconds in and you were already convinced this decision was the best one you had ever made. He was clearly surprised but certainly not complaining; one large hand framed the side of your face as he moved his lips perfectly against yours, turning to face you more properly and pull you closer to his body. 

You pulled back after a few moments but kept your face close to his, looking up into his blue eyes. He searched your own hues, a smile slowly crossing his lips. “I… wasn’t expecting that, but I can’t say I’m not in heaven right now,” he told you in his handsome low voice, and you couldn’t help but giggle. “I don’t want to keep being scared with you,” you whispered, biting your lip as you slowly lifted your hand to experiment playing with his short blond hair. You weren’t used to casual touches like this, but you wanted to be. “I know you’re not the problem. It’s just me and all this weird anxiety, I don’t even know why I feel this way. But… I don’t want to let it win.”

He smiled widely and gently moved in to kiss your cheek. “We can still take it as slow as you’d like, sweetheart. No rush, no pressure. You’re worth waiting for, Y/N, and besides, a relationship shouldn’t be all about the physical stuff. There’s so much more.” You smiled, touched that he seemed to understand so well. You allowed yourself to lean into his body, a little blissful sigh even escaping your lips upon feeling his arm wrap securely around you. You had expected it to feel awkward, but instead it was as if you fit perfectly into his frame, the two of you as comfortable together as ever. He lowered his head to press a kiss to your hair, mumbling, “Thank you for opening yourself up to me, Y/N. That means more than you’ll ever know.” 

You didn’t even need the TV on anymore. You spent the next hour or so cuddling and talking, going into deep conversations about your past and your personal experiences. His arm remained around you, sometimes his other one joining to give you a loving squeeze at random times, his lips occasionally pressing upon your forehead, nose, and lips. It felt so easy, so right-- why had you been so scared before? You hadn’t even noticed that the two of you had started moving your bodies lower and lower until you were fully lying down on the couch together, bodies pressed close and faces inches apart. You couldn’t help but kiss him again, excited with your new ability to take initiative, but appreciative that he remained gentle and loving with his kisses instead of attempting to take it even further. 

It wasn’t long before the two of you eventually drifted off to sleep once again, legs intertwined due to the small space and chests lightly heaving in peaceful breaths. You had a feeling you’d be sleeping with the same peace and content for a while from now on.

[scottybrock]

Neighbors (2) - Colby Brock

A/N: Requested by a lovely anon: “Hello, I was wondering if you could write an imagine where reader is a youtuber with her friend and they move into the same apartment building as Sam and Colby, and the reader and Colby meet and it’s all cute and fluffy. Maybe she’s lost in the building and that’s how they meet?? Or something? Idk!!”

Tag list: @azurebrock @absolute-randomness-forever @absolutelynobodyposts

“So, he’s hot?”

Your best friend’s eyes glimmered with amusement. You rolled your eyes at her, letting out a soft huff. “Obviously,” You replied. Your friend leaned forward, interested. “Is his friend hot?” She asked, her voice hopeful. You snickered, rolling your eyes again. You’d done your research; Sam was definitely a hottie, but he had a serious relationship going on. You’d admit- you thought Sam and Katrina were super cute together. Her bubbly personality seemed to balance out nicely with Sam’s more demure, laid-back personality.

Your friend pouted, her shoulders slumping. “Do we ship?” She asked, her voice defeated. You shot her a warning look, narrowing your eyes at her. “We ship,” You replied, your voice firm. She sighed, her shoulders slumping even further. “Damn. He’s really hot,” She pouted. Her eyes skimmed briefly over Colby, but to your relief, she shrugged once more. “He’s hot, not gonna lie,” She told you. 

You tensed- if anyone had a shot with Colby, it would be her; she was loud and funny, not to mention ridiculously beautiful. For a moment, you cursed yourself for having such a beautiful best friend. However, she continued, “But he’s not my type,” She smirked knowingly at you. “He’s too much of an emo, sad boy for me.” Your shoulders slumped in relief. You caught yourself- you’d only known Colby for about a day now. What was it about that man that made you lose your cool?

“He’s cute,” Your best friend pointed at the picture. Her finger rested against the face of a man with a man bun and sparkly brown eyes. You shrugged. He was cute, for sure. But you were definitely more into Colby. “Dude,” You rolled your eyes for the millionth time. “You literally have a boyfriend.” It was true. Your best friend was dating a dude back in your hometown. They’d been dating for a few months.

Your best friend shrugged in response, tossing her hair over her shoulders. “I’m well aware,” She replied dryly. “But I’m not settling down quite yet. If something happens, it happens.” She told you, her voice breezy and carefree. You were the opposite; your best friend could easily distance herself from previous lovers, and move on quite quickly. Funnily enough, it wasn’t really noticed by your fanbase- the thing that was noticed, however, was the fact that you’d been single for years. You’d never been linked to anyone since starting your YouTube career. 

Unlike your best friend, you preferred to keep your private life, well, private. You weren’t one to gush about celebrity crushes, or blare your relationships online. You’d dated people since starting your YouTube career, but you were especially careful to keep it on the down low. 

You’d done your research on Colby, and a few of his friends. You felt like a creep, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Colby had no traceable dating history, same as you. You weren’t sure if it was a good thing, or a bad thing. Colby was hesitant to be seen with a girl, due to his overzealous fans, who jumped to conclusions, even if Colby insisted the girl was just a friend. You knew that Sam and Jake had girlfriend’s- Tara and Katrina. Apparently the man with the bun previously dated the pretty girl with the even prettier green eyes, named Devyn. The brown-haired boy covered in tattoos was called Mike, and he was single. As was everyone else, except for Jake’s brother, Reggie, who edited Colby’s videos. 

Colby had done his research as well. He didn’t know what it was, but he couldn’t stop thinking abput you; the soft curve of your lips when you smiled at him. The way your eyes twinkled brighter than the stars in the night sky, when you looked at him. The gentleness of your voice, but the surge of excitement he had heard when you told him about your YouTube channel with your best friend. It was just everything about you. He’d met a plethora of beautiful girls, but none he ever met were like you. He’d only known you for a day, but it felt different, this time. It felt right. 

He knew that your best friend was sort of a player, when it came to relationships. To his relief, you were the opposite. There were absolutely no traces of previous relationships that you had anywhere; no angry exes trying to defame you, or trying to ruin your career. You seemed to be very careful with how you presented yourself online, much like him. 

Corey and Mike seemed to be infatuated with your best friend, and were both disappointed when they found out that she had a boyfriend. However, they were relieved to know that the relationship seemed to be barely hanging on by a thread. Colby wasn’t looking forward to the possible drama between your best friend and Devyn- he cringed at the thought of it. Your best friend could be ruthless and almost too blunt. You were there to soften her edges, the blow of her words. 

“Should we invite her to Pizza Night?” He asked Sam, who shrugged. Katrina looked interested, her brows raising. “I feel like it’d be a cool way for her to meet new people,” Colby offered, scratching at the back of his neck. Sam snorted. “You just want to see her again,” He teased his best friend, his blue eyes bright with amusement. 

Colby’s cheeks flushed, and he ducked his head, grumbling. “So what if I do?” Katrina clapped her hands together excitedly. “I want to meet her!” The blue-haired songstress declared, her wide brown eyes falling onto her boyfriend, raising her eyebrows expectantly. Sam shrugged once more, then nodded. “Go ahead, invite her,” He permitted. Colby and Katrina’s expressions brightened so much, it was almost painful to look at- brighter than the fucking sun, Sam swore. 

A knock on your door interrupted your conversation with your best friend. You stood up, brushing yourself off. You walked over to the door, then carefully opened it. You came face-to-face with Colby. Your cheeks instantly flushed, and a wide smile spread across your face on its own accord. “Hey!” You chirped, not sounding like your usual self at all. Your best friend raised an eyebrow at you, then leaned over to see who was at the door. 

Her smile reached Cheshire-cat levels when she spotted the brunette standing across from you. She hopped up from the couch, her grin practically reaching the tips of her ears. Colby offered her a polite smile, then turned back to you, his smile melting into something more soft, more genuine. “Hey,” He replied, his bright blue eyes focused on your face. “So, every week my friend Sam has a little get together at his place. I was wondering if…” He trailed off, his cheeks flushing a pretty shade of pink. 

His eyes fluctuated between dark and light blue, and you were absolutely mesmerized. “Would you,” Colby fumbled, his eyes flickering from you, to your best friend. “Would you guys want to join us, tonight?” 

Colby’s heart fluttered in his chest when you beamed at him, your eyes twinkling. “Of course! I’d-” You cut yourself off, gesturing towards your friend behind you. “I mean, we’d love to join you guys tonight,” Your smile grew impossibly wider. “Thanks for the invite, Colby.”

Colby’s cheeks were aching from smiling so hard. His cheeks flushed an even darker shade of pink, and he ducked his head bashfully. “It’s no problem,” He replied, sounding a tiny bit flustered. “If you want, we can walk there together?” Colby ventured hopefully. His heart soared when you nodded eagerly, a rich shade of red flooding your cheeks. “Yeah, I’d like that, a lot.” You replied, rocking back and forth on your heels. 

Your best friend was watching amusedly- you and Colby were so wrapped up in each other, neither of you noticed that she hadn’t said anything at all, during the entire conversation. 

Colby gave you his number, then told you what time Pizza Night usually began. With another grin and a wave, Colby hurried off. He hoped you hadn’t noticed how badly his hands were shaking. You closed the door, then leaned against it, smiling goofily to yourself. 

“So,” Your best friend’s voice brought you out of your thoughts. “What kind of pizza do you think they buy?”