#but to believe he's naive enough to think the best of his father is uh lmao ok

[yaeggravate]

clarification on kaeya's behavior in the caribert quest

seen a surprising amount of people taking kaeya's words at face value so i'd like to point out a very important detail that has been easily overlooked

i don't have any video clips of this and the official soundbite unfortunately cuts off abruptly so you'll have to trust me on this or just do the quest again yourself lol but

right here, in the very beginning of the conversation with kaeya, kaeya suddenly goes quiet and contemplative. if you pause long enough and NOT immediately skip ahead, you can actually HEAR footsteps approaching and kaeya going "hm?". and THIS is the moment when kaeya starts talking about his past. this means he knew dainsleif was there from the very beginning.

he then loudly proclaims that he knows NOTHING about khaenriah and that his dad probably had GOOD intentions (directly contradicting his character story) making himself purposely look naive and harmless in front of dainsleif so he could lure him out and get answers out of him or maybe he was just tired of this guy following him around. though to his credit dainsleif himself didn't seem totally convinced of his act

as to why kaeya knew it was dainsleif just by his footsteps, there could be several reasons: 1) he saw dainsleif in sumeru beforehand and just guessed it was him, 2) he can sense the abyssal corruption inside of him and because he already spotted dainsleif before in mondstadt, could tell it belonged to him, 3) he's an all according to keikaku character and we're not supposed to think any deeper of it

tl;dr sometimes characters who are known to lie, lie

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Batgirl: *working in a case with Montoya and trying to convince her to also quit the police and join her pal Barbara Gordon in her PI agency*

Montoya: I understand you can't revel your secret identity but I would like to know a bit more about my partner. Like why did you became a hero?

Batgirl: Because the other option was a cop and being a cop we want to believe that if we are good enough we can fix the system but it's not reality we will either end up a passive member that ignores the violence and corruption even if they don' t practice it, the naive person that thinks enough complaint notes will change anything, or corrupt yourself or be driven away via either being fired or physical violence and sometimes murder. We have to fight against it. To defund the police, to abolish it althogether and create something new.

Renee: You sound like you speak from experience.

Batgirl: *realizing she is waay to close into reviewing her secret identity AND having to explain to her best friend that the reason Batgirl flirts so much with her is because Babs wants to and she needs more time also is just dangerous* Uh. I know people. Nothing more and nothing less.

Montoya: I guess. Anyway that was not a good answer it still doesn't why explain you risk your own life to save people.

Batgirl: Well.. when I was a young girl my father *realizes she already told the same story as Barbara and actually needs to lie* *flasbacks from being in a car with Bruce listeing his top 5 songs on loop for hours* ...uh... my father took me into the city to see a marching band.

Montoya: Keep going.

[Bruce on the coms: *Oh no, she won't"]

Batgirl: He said: "kid, when you grow up would you be the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned?" [Bruce: she did!]

Montoya: Wow that's a huge pressure to put on a kid.

Batgirl: Mayhaps, but it was a question. I was the one who accepted it and it made me who I am today.

[Later that day at Babs]

*Bruce calls Barbara, her ringtone for him is waay to familiar*

Montoya: WAIT A SECOND!!

[dreamy625]

This rockstar life - 3.17 Freelance

Words: 1343

Content: The occasional swearword

—-----------------------------

“You know you said you’d always wanted to go on a proper tour, in a bus?”

“Uh huh.”

“So it turns out, we’re going to do the Australia dates by bus. Something about the insurance for a jet being astronomical, according to Peter. So do you think you could get more time off? It’d be about a month. Then there’s a bit of a break before the next lot, so we could do a bit of travelling around too.”

“Oh wow, that does sound cool. Aw, but I don’t think I can. I’m already taking three weeks for Europe and that month unpaid to come to America. I’m seriously stretching their goodwill as it is.”

“But this is a once in a lifetime thing. My last one, remember? I want you to see it too.”

“I know, and I will, the European leg and a bunch of the American dates, and maybe some more later if it keeps going like last time.”

“It could be months and months away. I’ll miss you, won’t you miss me?”

“Of course. It’s going to be awful. I’m trying not to think about it. But I can’t take all that time off.”

“You could just quit, it’s not like we need the money.”

“I do. I don’t want to sponge off you for everything.”

He makes an impatient shrugging gesture, “But you know I don’t care. It’s just stuff.”

“It matters to me. And it’s not just about money, I like my job. It makes me feel… useful… functional. Like a proper person, not a total waste of space.”

“But you complain about it all the time.”

“Okay, yeah, it’s not the best job ever. But one day, if I don’t fuck it up, I’ll be able to get another one, a better one, that’s just mine and nothing to do with my father. And then I’ll be free, not beholden to them anymore.” 

“You could be free now, just leave. You can get another job later if you want, after the tour.”

“Oh can I? Thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, it doesn’t stop you going back to it later.”

“But then I’d have a big gap. I’d probably have to start right at the bottom again. You don’t know what publishing’s like. Who’s going to want to employ someone who just up and quits to swan off round the world?”

“You could do whatever you wanted, you don’t ever have to work again, I’ll look after you.”

Alice’s frown softens.

“That’s very sweet of you, but I don’t want to be kept.”

Steve opens his mouth to protest but Alice holds up a finger to shush him, “And besides, what if we break up?”

“You don’t trust me.”

“No, it’s not that at all, I’m just not naive enough to believe that things will necessarily last forever just because you want them to. And what if you…” She stops and blinks her eyes shut at the sudden painful thought, “what if you died?”

“I’ll leave you everything.”

“What if we’ve already spent it?”

“Oh you’re just making things up now.”

“I’m just trying to make you understand. This matters to me. Not just for the paycheque but for security, and for making me feel like a person in my own right, not just Martin’s daughter or Steve’s girlfriend.”

“Okay, I get it. I really do.” He walks back to Alice and wraps his arms around her. “I just… miss you when I’m away.” He kisses the top of her head and then plaintively adds “Why doesn’t anyone just want to be with me?”

“Oh baby, we do, I do. You just pick stroppy, independent women that want their own life too. If you want someone who follows you everywhere and caters to your every whim you’d better find some… dippy girl who just likes… shoes and Dynasty.”

Steve scrunches his face up.

“Exactly.”

—-----------------------------

When the taxi at last drops Steve home just before 7am, he is met by the highly unusual sight of Alice awake and up and dressed in outdoor clothes. She is scurrying from the dining room to the hall to the living room and back again in a frantic manner, muttering to herself. 

Spotting him in the doorway, she pauses for as long as it takes to say, ‘Oh hi. Hello. You’re back. Right.’ before scooting back to the dining room again.

Slightly disappointed with this less than ecstatic welcome after more than a week apart, Steve shuts the front door behind him, drops his bag down, and waits to see if there will be some sort of explanation for this uncharacteristic early morning activity.

A few moments later, after some thumping and rattling noises, Alice reemerges carrying her capacious work handbag with a folder clutched under one arm and starts vigorously attacking her hair with a brush in front of the hall mirror. 

“Everything alright, love?”

“Mm? Yes. No. I have to… do a thing. A really stressful thing. It’s… argh, I’ve got to go. Are you here tonight?”

“Think so.”

“Excellent, I’ll tell you later.” 

With a final hurried glance in the mirror, muttered ‘oh god’, and last desperate smoothing of wayward tendrils of hair, she dashes out the door, banging it behind her. 

Steve blinks, befuddled, at the closed door before turning to the mirror and shrugging at his similarly confused reflection. 

—-----------------------------

Steve wakes to someone stroking his cheek and he opens his eyes to find Alice’s face just inches from his own. She is radiating outdoor chill, but none of the tension that was crackling off her that morning. In the orangey glow from the streetlight outside the window he can see that she is smiling.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Have you been asleep all day?”

“No, just since it started to get dark. Couldn’t keep my eyes open. What time is it?”

“About half six.”

Steve swings his legs round and sits up rubbing his eyes. He pats the cushion next to him and Alice shucks off her coat and sits down. He leans sideways until his head rests on her shoulder.

“I fucking hate jetlag.”

Alice yawns, “I think I have it too, from waking up at five-thirty.”

“Oh yeah, your stressful thing. How’d it go? What was it?”

“I think, I hope, I’ve fixed it so I can come to Australia!”

Steve’s head jerks up, “You did? How?”

“I’m going freelance.”

“What’s that?”

“Where you don’t work all the time for a company but they just hire you for particular projects. There’s a couple of people at the office that aren’t employees, they just come in when we’ve got a job on that needs their area of expertise. So I talked to them and found out how they did it and then just asked. So yeah, I’ve got to stay until the series we’re working on now is finished, but then I can be their on-call translator for art and architecture, which is mostly what I’ve been doing the past year anyway. And I can work for other people as well, if I want.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” He looks genuinely impressed.

“It’s a bit scary. No security. And I’ll have to do taxes.”

“No problem, I’ve got an accountant.”

“And I’m going to need a better word processor.”

“I’ll buy you a supercomputer if it means you can come on tour!”

“I don’t think that’d fit in my suitcase.” 

“Oh love, that really is brilliant.” He wraps his arms around her and presses a kiss to her temple. 

“And I do actually have to do work, not just follow you around like a live-in groupie!” Steve laughs. “And I’ll need access to a fax machine, and a modem, whatever that is, and…”

Steve can tell from the rising pitch of her voice that she’s starting to stress about the details. “It’s fine, all the big hotels have that stuff. For businessmen and journalists and grumpy band managers. Speaking of which, I’ll phone Menschy and tell him there’s one more passenger for the bus.”

[buckyseddie]

secret feelings

pairings — jj maybank x bff!fem!kook!reader

summary — in which, she’s jj’s best friend and completely in love with him, but upon seeing him with another girl, everything comes crashing down for her.

word count — 2.8k.

warnings — swearing, mentions of abuse and reader and jj bonding over it, a little bit angst, fluff, friends to lovers, mentions of reader not liking swimming or fishing, use of pet-names [princess]

notes — this is my VERY first time using tumblr, so PLEASE take it easy on me with my writing, (although, it’s not my first time writing, because i usually post on my wattpad account, and i’ve been writing since i was just a kid) since this is my first time using this app! if you see ANY incorrect grammar, i’m sorry about that. i don’t always see writing errors, so please ignore that. i hope anyone that reads this enjoys! gif and divider creds to owner!

p.s., feedback is very much encouraged and appreciated <3.

main masterlist

HAVING A PARENT THAT TREATS you like shit — even when you do everything that they ever ask of you — is literally one of the absolute worst things in the world.

[y/n]’s mother died when she was just seven years old; she’d been walking home from her night job and around the wrong side of outer banks, near the cut, where the — as the kooks call them — pogues live.

a random man had held her at gunpoint and shot her because she ‘didn’t have anything to offer’.

she found out what happened, days after her step-father had ran out after a suspicious phone call, leaving her all alone, wondering what happened and why her mother still hadn’t returned home to tuck her into bed.

she could barely comprehend what really happened, especially since she was still very young — her step-father had only told her that her mother had left, but was somewhere better, and at peace.

[y/n] obviously believed him — she was still just a child and gullible enough to believe anything.

but, a few years later, she started to hear the real story from both kooks and pogues — she’d learnt that her mother was shot by a psycho pogue when she was walking home from work.

she had to learn the hard way that there are bad people out in the world, especially in outer banks.

but, never in a million years did she think that her own step-father could become just as terrible and cruel as the person that ended her mother’s life.

after she learnt about the truth behind her mother’s death, her step-father began to go down an extremely dark path — he loved her mother so deeply to a point that her death affected him so terribly that he stopped showing up to work, pushed all of his friends away, and locked himself up in his room and started drinking.

when his dark path became known to [y/n], she was just only thirteen years old.

she didn’t understand the truth at all, so she acted as if she hadn’t noticed what was happening.

but, that was her first mistake.

because of the fact that she never stepped up and tried to help him, he started to snap at her.

the first time it happened, she didn’t understand why he hit her, but she — still being quite naive — thought it wasn’t his fault as he was always drunk.

but then, it happened more times than she could count and she began to realize a year later that he meant it because he was still doing it, even when he was sober.

it’s obvious that she reminds him of her mother, which always led him to getting angry. though, that’s not an excuse.

but, now? she’s barely around him. unless it’s to make dinner — fear makes you do extra cautious things.

and there she was, cautiously sitting in front of him at a restaurant cafe with the name of the wreck.

she was completely shocked when he told her the two of them were going out to get some food and that a discussion was to be brought up afterwards.

but, she certainly didn’t expect him to tell her to move out of the house.

“uh, wha—what do you mean?” she slowly asks in a cautious tone, her brows knitting together in confusion.

he can’t possibly be serious about this, right?

her thoughts are abruptly interrupted when he rolls his eyes and grunts, before grabbing onto one of her arms tightly.

“you’re. moving. out. did i fucking stutter, you worthless cunt?!” he yells out, quickly losing his temper.

“i—i’m sorry!” she squeaks out as her voice slightly cracks.

she tries to pull her arm out of his tight as hell grip, but it’s nearly impossible.

he grips her arm more tightly.

“if you aren’t out by tonight, i’ll force you.” he states, glaring daggers at her.

“i… okay. i—i’m sorry.” she barely whispers as he smirks in satisfaction, letting go of her arm and getting up and walking away from her.

she holds onto her arm, rubbing it slightly to erase the mark on it.

she can’t help but let out a little whimper, tears brimming her eyes as fear begins to overwhelm her entire body.

[y/n] blinks the tears away as best as she can and gets up from the bench she previously was sitting on and turns around, only to be met by a set of pogues’ cautious and confused eyes.

“are you okay, [y/n]?” kiara carrera, an outsider of the kook community — much like [y/n] herself — asks her with jj maybank, pope heyward and john booker routledge standing behind her.

“yeah… why wouldn’t i be? i’m great! what about you?” she asks with her signature fake smile and fake enthusiastic tone she uses all the time to convince people to stay away.

but, jj seems to see right through her facade; rolling his eyes, he gives her a pointed look.

“we’re not stupid, kook. we saw and heard what happened just a few minutes ago with your dad. there’s no need to lie.” he states, which causes her to sigh.

well, i guess it’s safe to say that she’s not as good at lying as much as she thought she was.

“okay, fine. but, if you really saw and heard that entire thing, then you should know by now that i’m clearly not okay.” she mumbles, grabbing her bag, hoping if she walks away, they won’t follow.

just as she passes them, kiara calls out to her, “wait, [y/n]! we heard that your dad is kicking you out of your house. if you need somewhere to stay, you can crash at my house. also would you want to go on a boat ride with us later?”

[y/n] turns around to face her and the boys, just staring at kiara for a second, wondering if all of this is just a ploy to get close to her and then abandon her like everyone else has done.

as seconds pass by, she doesn’t see anything suspicious in her words or expression.

“if this isn’t you using a pity card on me and trying to get close to me in order to manipulate me, then sure. sounds great. but, only if you won’t make me swim or fish because i hate doing both.” she answers tightly as kiara nods in understanding.

[y/n] had to return back home to get some things packed, so that she’d be able to stay with kiara.

but, of course, her step-father had ended up being home at this time and by the time she’d finished packing her things and walked down the stairs, he’d woken up from one of his drunken hangovers.

and what happens next? just one of his normal violent mood-swings, of course.

after he screamed in her face and walked back inside the house angrily, [y/n] gets up and grabs her duffel bag and beach bag from the ground.

looking up to see kiara and jj waiting for her on the sidewalk, fear clouding their expressions, [y/n] sighs embarrassedly.

“please, don’t say anything. i don’t need anyone’s pity. i’m fine.” she mumbles, waiting for them to lead the way.

kiara turns around, sighing and walking down the sidewalk.

but, [y/n] doesn’t miss the sad look on jj’s face.

that was the first time she realized he didn’t pity her — he understood what she was going through.

after that day, she confided in him about the drowning feeling of feeling worthless and unloved.

jj and her got super close after he saw what she went through and the two of them bonded through the similarities of having abusive, drunk father-figures.

now, it’s been months and things have shifted differently between the two of them.

kiara and sarah were the first ones to find out about [y/n]’s crush on jj and it was not easy asking them to keep her crush a secret.

but, the whole struggle of getting them to keep her secret was no use because john b and pope ended up figuring it out anyways.

and here she was, at one of john b’s famous parties, watching jj practically shove his tongue down some tourist girl’s throat.

“you don’t have to force yourself to stay at these parties, just for him, you know? if it’s too much for you, you know that there’s always a place for you in the chateau, right?” john b says, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder with sarah sitting by his side.

“what do you mean? i’m here to party!” [y/n] exclaims, the fake smile already placed on her face.

“you don’t have to pretend with us. we know how you feel about him, so just take a second for yourself. the party will still be here when you’re ready.” john b states with sarah nodding in agreement.

“you know what? you’re right. i’m not the type of girl to let a boy define me. i think i’m going to crash here and go to bed. goodnight guys.” she admits truthfully, getting up and hugging the pair individually.

“okay. see you in the morning, [y/n/n].” sarah calls out to her.

although, before she goes inside, she says goodnight to both pope and kiara.

once inside, [y/n] makes her way into the kitchen to get a glass of water for the night.

after taking a huge gulp of the water, she sets the glass down and puts both of her hands on the counter, trying not to let the tears fall.

“[y/n]?” kiara’s voice breaks her out of her broken state.

as [y/n] turns around to face her, it takes her only a second to spot her friend’s tear-stained cheeks. “oh, babes… what’s going on?” she asks in worry and concern.

“jj…” she mutters, not being able to control the tears this time as kiara walks over to her and pulls her into a hug.

this time, she doesn’t hold back the tears; she lets out everything that she’s feeling.

“what happened with him?” kiara softly asks.

“he was making out with some girl and i—i just couldn’t watch it anymore. i know i don’t have the right to be jealous, but i can’t h—help it…” she cries out, clutching onto her friend’s shoulders, practically staining her top with her tears.

“i’m sorry. you’ve been having such a good time at this party and i’m totally ruining it for you.” [y/n] says after taking a deep breathe and pulling away from kiara’s embrace.

“no. don’t apologize for that. you’re allowed to feel upset. you’re only human… but, can i ask you a question?” she shakes her head, putting two comforting hands on her shoulders.

“what is it?” she asks, anxiety swirling around in the pit of her gut.

“why don’t you just tell jj the truth?” she asks softly, awaiting [y/n]’s answer.

but, before she can even open her mouth, a voice cuts her off, “tell me what?”

kiara abruptly turns around as both of their eyes meet jj’s curious blue ones.

“i’m going to leave you guys alone to talk.” kiara says gently, before [y/n] grabs her wrist, pleading with her to not leave her alone with him.

“kie…” she trails off, anxiety filling her body at the thought of talking to the famous heartbreaker of outer banks.

“everything will be fine. just tell him the truth. his opinion on you won’t change, i promise. good luck.” she says, giving [y/n] a warm smile as she hesitantly lets go of kiara’s wrist and she walks over to jj.

“listen to her and don’t be a dick!” she whispers to him, before walking out of the room.

“what’s going on, princess?” jj asks as her heart beats a little faster after hearing the pet name — he gave her that name when she had first became good friends with him, referring to her as ‘kook princess’, much similar to how he had first treated sarah when she started dating and hanging out with john b.

now, he just calls her princess.

“please, don’t call me that.” she mumbles, the tears continuing to fall.

she can hear his footsteps coming closer, but she refuses to look up.

realizing this, jj gently grabs her chin and lifts it up, making her eyes meet his.

“why are you crying? what’s going on?” he asks softly as he gently wipes away the remaining wet tears off of her cheeks.

scoffing, she rolls her eyes and pulls herself away from him.

“for someone like yourself, who’s actually really smart, you can be incredibly oblivious to what’s literally right in front of you.”

“wait,” he says, stopping her by grabbing onto her arm. “please. just tell me what’s going on. why are you being so cold towards me?” he asks, the hurt clear in his blue eyes.

“i can’t, okay? i’m not going to admit what’s going on with me, only for you to see me completely different and not feel the same as i do.” she admits stubbornly.

“please. what’s so terrible that you can’t tell me — your best friend?!” he exclaims, running his fingers through his messy blonde hair.

“see, that’s just it! i can’t tell you because of that. because you’re my best friend — if i admit the truth — i’ll lose you forever!” she exclaims, running her hands over her face in stress and hurt.

“i promise that no matter what you tell me, i’ll never leave you. i will still see you as the same person i know.” he states truthfully cupping her cheeks.

“so, you promise that if i tell you the secret that i’ve been keeping for this past year from you, you’re not going to hate me?” she asks shakily.

“yes.”

“fine. i guess if i don’t tell you now, you won’t leave me alone until i do.” she mumbles to herself as he nods, raising an eyebrow in agreement.

“ever since i met you, i’ve felt this undeniable connection with you. it’s different than just being friends with someone — it’s like i can’t breathe unless i’m near you.” she starts off, an outburst of confidence flowing through her.

“at first… when i started to feel this way, i thought it was just me being protective of the first person that made me feel like i was deserving of love. but, the longer i kept bottling my feelings up, it was easier for the others to figure out the truth. kie and sar helped me realize that i was lying to myself. they made me figure out that i had developed a… small crush. but, then, right when i found the courage to tell you the truth, you started hanging out with more girls. and then, i started to realize that my feelings were just one-sided.” she explains softly, daring to look up at her best friend.

“what are you saying?” he asks quietly, brows furrowed, the crease in between becoming more noticeable.

“i’m saying that i’m in love with you. i have been for awhile now.” she admits, running her fingers through her hair, looking away from his shocked expression.

“then, i saw you and that girl tonight and i couldn’t hold in the constant heartache i felt for all of these months. i could literally feel my heart shatter to pieces and i couldn’t bare to pine after someone who doesn’t love me like that.”

“and if you want this friendship to be done with, i under—” before she can even finish, her head is being lifted up and a pair of lips crash down onto hers.

it’s hard to understand what’s happening.

seconds go by as she remains frozen, before finally breaking out of her shocked state and kisses him back.

she puts every ounce of passion and angst and love she feels for him into that one kiss.

“you have no idea how much i’ve wanted to do that.” jj murmurs, resting his forehead against hers, both of them completely breathless.

“why didn’t you tell me that you felt the same?” she asks, tears forming in her eyes.

“hey, hey, i’m sorry. i’m so, so sorry that i hurt you. that was never my intention.” he apologizes, pecking her on the lips and pulling back to kiss her on the forehead.

“i know. i just wish we got together, without hurting one another.” she whispers as he pulls away and grabs her hand, lacing it together with his and bringing it up to his lips to kiss it softly.

“i’m sorry for breaking your heart. but, i promise to put it back together and take good care of it.” he vows, pulling her in for a tight hug.

if only she’d just fessed up about her feelings right away, she would have avoided the pain.

but, the two of them would’ve found each other, either way.

[mellowswriting]

I saw that requests are open! would it be possible for you to write a follow up to Second Chances with javi and reader? Maybe you have another kid and this time javi is able to be there for you throughout the whole pregnancy, and get to experience the first kick, you giving birth, etc (I am a sucker for domestic!javi if you can't tell haha) I think it would be really cute!!

From the Beginning

pairing || Javier Peña x afab!Reader

summary || Javier gets to experience the chaotic excitement of welcoming a new baby to the family.

word count || 6,466 

warnings || kid fic, pregnant reader, non-graphic childbirth, some spiciness but no smut, dad!Javi being adorable 

a/n || I can’t even express how much I love writing about the boys as dads, especially Javier! I really hope you all enjoy this, it was so very much fun to write.

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Early spring mornings always had a special quality about them. The air was never too hot, pleasantly warm with a hint of a cool breeze that still lingered from winter’s sharp grip. Plants were beginning to bloom, the trees regaining their bright green foliage that ruffled in a symphony with every pass of the wind. Spring was the bringer of warmth after the ice and snow, the nurturer that coaxed seeds to sprout and flourish, the guide for new life and hope.

Ironic, then, that those very qualities you had grown to love were the ones causing you so much inner turmoil that you couldn’t even enjoy the gorgeous morning happening around you. You hadn’t even realized what was happening at first. Mother nature hadn’t exactly gifted you with a cycle that could be easily followed and predicted. Instead you had the supreme pleasure of having to carry around menstrual products everywhere you went and having to replace your underwear far more often than usual. So when you went two months without the waves of cramps and frustration of your period, it wasn’t all that remarkable.

It was when you were doing some last minute grocery shopping the night before that you realized something was off. Well, more off than usual. The sight of the shelves of tampons made your stomach bottom out with realization. You must’ve made quite a sight as you stood in that aisle with a cart half full of food, just staring at tampons with dread. Two boxes of pregnancy tests got tossed in with the various other items in your cart and you hoped that Javier was too tired from work to insist he help you put away the groceries.

For once, the universe appeared to be on your side. Your husband was sitting on the floor with Elianna, a spread of coloring books and crayons scattered on the living room carpet, and he actually listened to you when you waved him off to carry the bags in yourself. The tests were tucked away in the bathroom behind your tampons - ironic, yes, but it was the one place Javier really wouldn’t be poking around.

Honestly, a part of you felt bad for not telling Javier right away. He had more than proven himself as a great father and husband in the nearly two years since he returned to your life. Those irrational little fears of him leaving you and little Ellie had been crushed into nothing in the wake of the role he readily took on with his daughter, but this was different. Maybe it was pretty naive of you to not have that conversation with him, but it was something you thought you still had time for.

The plus sign on the pregnancy tests told you the time for that conversation was now, apparently. You were grateful for the timing of your little realization. Saturday mornings saw the standing trend of your sister whisking Ellie away for some ‘auntie and niece time’, and you really didn’t want her to feel the tension you were carrying. She was such a perceptive little girl that had an eye for everything.

Javier was still asleep. You usually slept in with him on the weekends, but you were restless to find out if your period was just pulling a fast one on you or if you actually were pregnant. Now you had four positive tests sitting in front of you and a sleeping husband who you couldn’t decide whether or not to wake up. Luckily, you ended up not having to make that choice since two sharp raps of his knuckles against the bathroom door snapped you out of your trance.

The door opened a millisecond after you snatched up the tests and hid them behind your back, not so unlike Ellie when she was hiding a treat she wasn’t supposed to have yet. The difference was that you didn’t know if this would be a treat to Javier. He was still half asleep, his thin pajama pants slug low on his hips and his eyes squinted against the bathroom light.

“G’morning,” He grunted as he moved to shuffle past you. “Move over, I gotta piss.”

You were rooted to the spot, though, your brain floundering to gain control of your muscles. “Uhm…”

“What’s wrong?” Javier slowly perked up through his sleepy haze at the realization that you looked downright terrified. He put his hand on your bicep and squeezed slightly. “Is Ellie okay?”

“What? No, yeah, Ellie’s fine. She’s with Amelia.” You spluttered, cringing at your inability to function.

“Then why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Javi pressed. There really wasn’t any hiding things from him. Ellie must get that sharp eye of hers from her father. “What are you holding behind your back?”

You tried to swallow down the thickness that enveloped your throat to form some sort of words, literally anything to convey to him what the hell was going on, but your body was seized with fear. So you held out the tests wordlessly. His eyebrows furrowed as he took the bundle of tests from your hand, staring at them with a split second’s confusion before it dawned on him. “This…? You…?”

“Yeah.” You whispered. The worry in your voice must’ve been obvious because Javier was on you in a second flat, his arms crowding you into his chest with a crushing strength.

“You’re pregnant?” Javier croaked into your neck and the dam of emotion in your chest crumbled. His voice was full of excited disbelief, and relief crashed over you.

“Yeah, I am.” You said with a tearful chuckle, winding your arms around him to burrow yourself even further into his chest. “I know we never really talked about having another kid but… is this something you want, Javi?”

“Fuck, this is ironic.” Javier laughed quietly and when you looked up at him, he avoided your eyes with an almost bashful look. “I was gonna ask you today if you ever thought about it. Do you have any idea how many times I went over it in my head?”

You couldn’t help it - you cracked up laughing. The whole thing was almost ridiculous - the both of you worrying despite wanting the exact same thing. Tears of relief and laughter soaked into his t-shirt as you both broke into chaotic laughter, fingers clutching at each other’s shirts as you tried to catch your breath.

“So, uh… are we doing this?” Javier sounded nervous, his hands rubbing up and down your back as if to reassure himself. “You really wanna have a baby with me? Again?”

“Yeah.” Your voice was choked with a tense mix of emotions, so you cleared your throat and tried again. “Yeah, I do.”

“I can’t… fuck, I can’t believe you - you’d… thank you.” He babbled, nearly unintelligible in his scramble to convey how fucking grateful he was, but you knew. It wasn’t the first time you had heard the desperate need to spit words he couldn’t really find, the words that matched the swell of emotions in his chest that still wasn’t used to voicing. “Fuck, Ellie’s gonna be such a good big sister.”

That choked you up more than you expected. She really would be, you knew that for a fact, but it was a dream you had boxed up and shoved on a shelf with all your other unrealistic dreams for your future. Never in your life did you let yourself really think you could have the whole package deal - the loving (albeit gruff) husband, the big house, the sound of little feet chasing each other through the halls…

“Wait, how long have you been…? Or do we have to see a doctor first? Oh shit, we have to find a doctor for you, what the fuck are they called..? A fucking... obstetrician!” Javi rambled in a mix of nerves and excitement, breaking from your embrace to pace the length of the bathroom. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help, because -”

“Javi, breathe!” You calmed him with both hands out to stop his walking and braced your hands on his shoulders to rub at him firmly. “We have plenty of time, okay? Let me go make some coffee for you and we can sit down and make a plan. First, didn’t you have to go to the bathroom?”

“Oh… yeah.”

----------

Javier couldn’t stop bouncing his knee. It was a subconscious thing, something he stopped the moment he realized but soon found it moving of its own volition all over again. He really was trying not to let his nerves show even though he knew that you could tell. It was all so new to him, which wouldn’t be a problem if the reminder didn’t gut him every goddamn time. He couldn’t imagine how alone you must have felt the first time around when you were pregnant with Elianna, especially in these cold, sterile doctors offices.

His grip tightened on your hand. The feeling of your fingertips pressed against the top of his hand kept him grounded, helped him remind himself that there was no going back and changing everything else that happened. All he could do was be there this time around, be the best version of himself that he could be for you and his kid - well, kids now. Plural. The excitement was almost enough to drown away the guilt. Javi really could barely believe that he was getting the privilege of experiencing this with you.

“I’ve seen files on drug lords shorter than all that.” Javier nodded at the pile of forms and paperwork you held in your lap and you laughed brightly. He preened a little at the sound. It was something he could never get enough of, that laugh of yours. “I love you.”

You looked up at him, the pen in your hand stopping its constant scratching for the first time in forever, and gave him a lopsided smile. “I love you, too.”

There was no way he wasn’t going to kiss you after that adorable little display. Your cheek felt soft against his palm and the little sigh of relief you huffed against him was addictive. Just knowing that he was an anchor for you made Javier feel so incredibly loved and important and all he wanted to do was imbue you with that same sense of security. He held you close, his hand slipping back to the back of your neck to keep you right where he wanted you, and gave you those soft little kisses that never failed to make you melt.

“Mrs. Peña?” A nurse called out and he had no choice but to let you go with one last peck against your lips. He followed you and the nurse into the exam room, nerves and excitement soaring even higher in his chest.

It was kind of fascinating, watching you answer the nurse’s barrage of questions. Questions about your medical history, how many pregnancies you’ve had, all about your menstrual cycle. The two of you went back and forth for at least fifteen minutes, tossing questions and answers back and forth like a tennis match. The nurse left with the promise of the doctor being in momentarily for an ultrasound.

“Come hold my hand?” You asked, and how could he deny such a sweet request?

“Of course,” He pulled a chair from across the room and settled himself next to the exam table, both of his hands wrapping around one of yours as he brought it up to his lips to kiss your knuckles. “So what happens now?”

“The doctor will give me an ultrasound. She’ll probably want to run some blood tests, too.” You sighed, obviously uncomfortable at the thought of needles.

“I’ll hold your hand then, too.” Javier promised.

“It’ll be good practice for you, ‘cause once I’m in labor I’ll probably break your hand.” You teased and yeah, broken fingers didn’t sound all that great but fuck, he was more than ready to let you do just that. Javier wanted to be your rock, wanted to support you through it all - especially since he couldn’t the first time.

Two quick knocks sounded against the door made Javier straighten up hastily. The doctor came in with a smile and a large machine wheeling in behind her. “Good morning, mom and dad! How’re we feeling?”

“All good here, Dr. Hall. A little nauseous, but still… good.” You gave Javier’s hand a little squeeze before letting go to unbutton your jeans and fold the waistband down, followed by pulling the hem of your shirt up. It was hard to believe that the beginning of an entire new life was right there between your hips.

“Good to hear!” Dr. Hall fiddled with the ultrasound machine for a moment before turning to you. “So today we’re going to take a look and find out how far along you are, make sure mom and baby both look healthy, okay?”

“Okay,” You and Javier said in unison, and he took your hand again, needing to feel you there with him.

The gel must’ve been cold based on the way you hissed slightly. Javier watched the screen as Dr. Hall trailed the wand over your belly, lips parting at the sight of the black and white image. It was hard to make out what exactly he was seeing at first, but the image shifted slightly and he could make out the tiniest, vague shape of the newest edition to his little family.

“It looks like you’re about ten weeks along.” Dr. Hall murmured without taking her eyes off of the screen. “Baby is about the size of a plum.”

Javier squeezed your hand lightly, the both of you sparing a glance at each other before staring back at the screen in wonder. The doctor pointed out the baby’s head and a little foot as she took her measurements, reassuring you both that everything looked perfect. He gave a rushed “yes, absolutely” when she asked if he wanted the ultrasound photos - there was a spot in his wallet that he had in mind for it already.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been in situations that left him shocked before. This was Javier Peña, after all. Life and career experiences had given him plenty of moments where his mind was completely washed blank with surprise, but never had it been such a good thing. There were so many times that the shock was accompanied by grief or anger, but excitement? Gratefulness? That was new to him, left him reeling the entire drive home, all throughout dinner. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him that he couldn’t be like this when Ellie got home the next day. She was smarter than he could’ve imagined any kid being at three years old and even though he agreed with your assertion that no one should know about your pregnancy for a few more weeks at least, Javier was certain his daughter would be able to needle it out of him.

Those expert interrogation skills must be hereditary.

It wasn’t until he was getting ready for bed that it really hit him how real it was, that you really were sitting in the bed you shared with him, pregnant with his baby and making plans for the usual Sunday brunch and park visit you all did every week. As he set his wallet on the nightstand, he couldn’t help but pull out the little ultrasound picture. He had a feeling he would be doing that a lot, especially when the new cadets were driving him crazy at work. It all swelled up in his chest, the appreciation and excitement and disbelief, because holy shit, how did he get so lucky? One finger traced the little image in his hand, and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Thank you.”

The confused look you gave him made him flounder for the words.

“I just… I know everything was fucked up the first time around but I swear, it’s going to be different this time. I am not going anywhere.” Javier slid closer at the sight of the tears in your eyes, easily welcoming your arms around his neck as you practically drug yourself into his lap. He held you close to his chest, trying to instill the certainty and promise of it all. “God, fuck, and I thought I couldn’t get enough of you before…”

“Javi…” You croaked, laughing wetly into his neck.

“I’m serious! You’re gonna have to tell me to fuck off when you want space because I can’t keep my hands off you.” Javi teased, relief washing over him at your seeming acceptance of his promises. “And now like this, growing my baby… fuck, I am in this with you. Me and you and Ellie… and our little plum.”

That night, Javier fell asleep with his head on your shoulder, his face buried in your neck, and his hand tucked into the waistband of your sweatpants to cradle that precious space that held his newest child.

----------

Ellie couldn’t stop touting her new title to anyone who would listen.

“I’m a big sister!” She told the cashier at the grocery store, the other kids at the park and their moms for good measure, and even the mailman when they came by each morning. The brightness in her eyes when she said it made your heart flip in your chest. You had expected some sort of confusion or even for her to be upset at the idea of a new sibling, but she launched right into a story about how her friend from playgroup has a baby sister, and you knew that she would be just fine.

With your sixteenth week rapidly approaching, you couldn’t be more grateful that Ellie was excited for the new addition to the family. It was one less thing for you to worry about amidst the chaos of bringing a new person into the world. The fatigue was something you definitely didn’t miss about pregnancy - it washed over you without warning, left you nodding off wherever you sat. Thank god Javier was such a hands on father. He had no problem herding Ellie off into the backyard or off for a walk to let you get some much needed rest.

You hadn’t expected him to be such a hands on husband, though. Sure, you knew he was excited and you knew he already loved everything about your body, but he really wasn’t lying when he said pregnancy made him want you even more. Every night, Javi’s hands gravitated to your body to ease the kinks out of your muscles, to rub your feet until the aches went away, to cheekily offer you an orgasm if you were up for one. It made you feel cherished, something you sorely missed the first time you were pregnant.

“Thank you, Javi,” You groaned lowly as those strong hands of his worked at your lower back. He easily hitched your thigh up slightly to ease some of the pressure on the new swell to your belly. There was a slur in your voice when you said, “Feels so good.”

Javier chuckled behind you, moving on to rub your feet. “Be quiet, you don’t want to wake Ellie.”

“Did you ever see this being our life?” You murmured though your voice was muffled by the pillows you buried your head in. “Telling each other not to wake the kids, making bacon smiley faces for a toddler’s breakfast?”

“I didn’t think I’d actually get it, but I wished for it. Dreamt about how pretty you’d look all full of me.” Javi placed a teasing kiss to the inside of your thigh. “The real thing is so much better.”

You could only groan under his praise. His thumbs dug into the arch of your foot and rubbed in methodical circles, drawing another pleased groan from you that you muffled in your pillow. The pain slowly melted from your tired muscles under his thorough ministrations, leaving a pleasant warmth in his wake that made you all pliant and drowsy beneath him.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Javi asked as he rubbed his hands up your calves and you smiled. You knew exactly what he was gunning for.

You eased yourself onto your back and reached out for him with both arms, bringing him forward with grabby hands that he could never refuse. Javier settled between your thighs, a knowing smirk on his face, and leaned down to kiss you deeply. “‘M feeling good, Javi.”

“You know I love making my girl feel good,” Javi murmured as he kissed down your neck, one hand trailing back and forth over your hip and thigh lovingly. “Can I make you feel even better?”

“Please?” You asked breathily and your husband was more than happy to oblige. The loose tank top you wore was the first to go, followed quickly by your shorts and underwear.

Javier set about lavishing your neck and chest with affection, his touch more gentle than usual on your oversensitive breasts, and once again you were struck by the surrealness of it all. The fact that this had begun in Colombia all those years ago as two coworkers using sex for stress relief and had blossomed into this beautiful life you shared together was a thing of dreams. But there you were, with Javier Peña making love to you, quietly as to not wake your daughter and gently as to keep you and your baby safe and happy, and you could barely believe it.

“I love you,” You choked out through the tears that sprung into your eyes and Javi sat up to look at you with a concerned expression.

“What? What’s wrong?” He asked, his eyes roaming all over to find the apparent source of your tears.

“Nothing’s wrong.” You tried to pull him back down to you but he didn’t budge, the concern unwavering.

“Then why are you crying?” Javier brushed a thumb under your eyes to wipe away the evidence of your strong burst of emotion.

“Because I love you,” You chuckled as you held his hand close to your cheek and pressed a kiss to the middle of his palm. “And I’m pregnant, so everything is a thousand times more intense and you don’t get to tease me for that.”

“I would never,” Javi muttered but the mischievous grin on his face betrayed him. “Let me make you feel better, baby,”

“I’m already better, Javi - oh,”

----------

Two o’clock in the morning was not an ideal time to wake up, especially since Javier knew that Ellie would be awake and full of energy by seven, but something felt off. Even in his unconscious state, he could feel the absence of you in bed and his mind nagged at him to get up and find you. The hardwood was cold beneath his feet as he wandered from the bedroom, finding the bathroom empty before he made his way down the stairs. You often would rest on the recliner in the living room when your back was bothering you particularly bad, especially since your center of gravity had so drastically changed the further along you got in your pregnancy - but you weren’t there either.

Before Javi could start really worrying, he heard the refrigerator open and found you peering into the illuminated fridge in search of… something. A pint of ice cream was already in your hand, a spoonful of it hanging from your lips as you browsed with a frustrated look on your face, and honestly… Javi loved how you looked. It was so domestic and sweet, the sight of you in your pajamas that barely covered your belly as you raided the kitchen.

Thirty-six weeks and four days. He could barely believe how much time had passed since he saw those positive tests. It felt like forever and the blink of an eye at the same time, and he was beyond excited to meet his newest little one.

“What are you looking for, sweetheart?” Javi asked after a moment of watching you helplessly search around.

The sheepish smile you gave him made his heart swell in his chest and he automatically opened his arms as you shuffled over to bury your face in his chest. “Your kid is driving me crazy with the cravings.”

Javier hugged you tightly, relishing in the way you relaxed against him. “Well, if they’re anything like me, they probably want those barbecue chips, then.”

It didn’t take long for him to get you herded back up to bed with the chips in hand and the sight of you sleepily munching away while burrowed in the blankets eased an almost innate need Javier had to see you safe and happy, all nice and taken care of in his bed. He climbed into bed once he was sure you didn’t need anything else, settling on his side with his head propped up against his hand to watch you despite his own sleepiness.

“Let your mama sleep, troublemaker.” He murmured to your belly as he rubbed gentle circles over the spots he could feel the nudges of his little one retaliating to their father’s stern words. “Need some lotion?”

“Hmmm, please?” You hummed.

Rubbing lotion into your skin was something Javi had taken a particular liking to. The first time he had seen you doing it yourself, he was quick to take over. That was the first time he felt his little one kick at his hands and he fell even more in love - something he hadn’t thought was possible. It was a good way to feel closer to you both, to his wife and the baby you were bringing into the world, and the way you dozed slightly as he helped you relax made him feel needed, like he was doing right by you. That’s all he ever wanted to do.

A nudge to the edge of his hand made Javier glance back down to where his hands were running all over your belly, but it was the sight of the baby rolling that made him do a double take. “Holy shit,” He whispered, hands frozen as he saw what had to be the imprint of a little foot or hand poke out before disappearing. “There really is a whole person in there.”

“You’re tellin’ me,” You grumbled, grimacing slightly at the feeling. “It’s aerobics hour, apparently.”

“That’s fucking crazy.” Javi tentatively resumed massaging the lotion into your skin. It was hard to fathom, the idea that your body was so capable of creating and nurturing a brand new life, and for the millionth time he found himself thanking the universe for letting him have this second chance.

----------

Gabriel Peña came early, quick, and with a sharp cry you were sure could be heard throughout the entire hospital. His little nose was scrunched up, his face all red from his wailing, hands curled into angry fists over his sudden eviction from the warmth and darkness he was accustomed to. It was a short labor, so very different from your first with Ellie for so many reasons but the biggest being the strong presence of Javier at your side. The moment the contractions began at the crisp hour of six a.m., he was alert and full of nervous excitement.

True to his word, Javier let you clutch onto him through it all - every contraction, every push, every angered grumble you threw his way for getting you pregnant in the first place. That sharp mind of his kept up under the pressure. He spoonfed you ice chips and let you use him for support as you rocked your way through particularly bad contractions.

There were tears in Javier’s eyes as he carefully set his hand on his son’s head, carefully musing the shock of dark, wispy hair on his head. You leaned your head against Javi’s shoulder, exhaustion, relief, and happiness warring with each other after hours of labor. You felt his lips press against your temple before he sniffled and whispered, “Thank you.”

Javier stayed by Gabriel’s side the entire time the doctors checked him over and cleaned him up, per your instructions, and he was the one to return your son to your arms. It was the most careful you had ever seen him, his movements slow and deliberate, eyes on the baby’s adorable, chubby face.

“Seven pounds, nine ounces,” Javi murmured as he drug a chair as close to your bedside as possible and settled in, his hand resting on your thigh. A disgruntled whine came from the baby wriggling in your arms and you smiled, knowing he was hungry and could probably smell the milk your body had been preparing to make for his arrival. You pulled the gown down to expose your breast, propping your arm with a pillow to better support him, and adjusted his latch to settle in.

“Nice latch, mama,” One of the nurses said as she finished settling the blankets around your feet.

“Not my first time at this rodeo.” You chuckled quietly. It had been a while since Ellie weaned but you still remembered the struggle of figuring out how to get a newborn to latch properly when you had no idea what you were doing. You set your hand over Javi’s, smiling at him when he blinked sleepily up at you. Neither of you had gotten much rest before Gabriel decided to make his appearance into the world. “Can you hand me some water, honey?”

“Of course,” Javi perked up with the small task you gave him. There wasn’t much he could do at this point, but you wanted him to feel involved, to feel like he was helping you, and even though his mere presence helped you relax, you knew he was an ‘action’ kind of man. He needed something to do to feel useful. He held the straw steady for you and everything, your sweet husband. “How’re you feeling?”

“Tired.” You answered honestly, leaning into his hand when he brushed stray hairs from your face.

“I know this wasn’t easy. I’m proud of you.” It was a simple statement but it hit you right in your chest. As excited as you were to have another baby, it was hard. Exhausting. He could see it all, how tired you were and how hard you were working just to carry on like normal through your pregnancy, and while he did everything he could to ease some of that burden, the plain acknowledgement of how hard you worked felt good.

“I love you so much.” You whispered, pulling his hand close to kiss his palm.

“I love you, too.” Javier leaned over the side of the bed and kissed you softly, careful not to jostle his son where he sleepily nursed against you. “How are our kids so damn cute?”

You huffed a laugh, which made Gabriel shift against you before settling back down, sighing suspiciously similar to his father. “It helps that their dad is incredibly good looking.”

“True,” Javi said, trying for that cocky tone you loved but you didn’t miss the pink tinge to the tips of his ears. Compliments always got him like that, all red-faced and adorable - though he would never admit it.

A short nap later and you had one very excited Ellie fidgeting in the chair next to your bed, impatiently waiting to meet her baby brother. Javier stood behind her, quietly reminding her to be careful as you helped keep the squirming newborn steady in her lap. Your heart damn near exploded when she began cooing at her brother and very gently touching his soft cheeks. She was enamored by him, asking so many questions that you and her father could barely keep up.

“Can we share my bed?” “No, he can’t sleep in your bed, baby. He has to sleep in a special bed in mommy and daddy’s room.”

“Does he get a special seat like me?” “Yep! Daddy’s putting his carseat in next to yours right now. You’ll get to talk to him the whole way home.”

“Is he gonna cry a lot?” “Yeah, he will. That’s how babies let people know they need something since they don’t have words like we do.”

“Can I share my crackers with him?” “Not yet! Right now, he only drinks milk.” “Milk? Like for cereal?” “Kind of, but it comes from your mommy.” “What?!” “You ate the same thing when you were a little baby, too.” “What?!”

The entire drive home was full of little Ellie chatting away at her baby brother, mostly about the stuffed animals she had at home that she promised to show him the moment they got home. There was a small smile on Javier’s face as he drove, his hand curled around yours on the center console. He practically radiated contentment and damn did it look good on him.

----------

For what felt like the millionth time, you woke before the sun had a chance to rise. Though this time, it was to the feeling of a full bladder rather than the sound of a hungry baby, so that could be counted as a small win at the very least. You tried to ignore the ache in your healing body as you stumbled your way to and from the bathroom, near silent in your movements even though you were half asleep. It was a well practiced dance, getting out and back into bed without waking your sleeping children.

But something was off. The sheets were cooler than usual, missing the fire-like heat that Javier radiated constantly. You sat up, blinking against the drowsiness and darkness to see your husband passed out on the rocking chair in the corner of the room with Gabriel curled up on his bare chest. Skin-to-skin contact was something Javier couldn’t get enough of. He told you how close it made him feel to his son and you couldn’t complain. It was a precious sight. Avoiding the creaky floorboards, you carefully covered Gabriel with a soft baby blanket and smoothed it down his back.

“S’wrong?” Javier mumbled, words slurred with sleep, his eyes barely cracking open. On instinct, his hands shifted over the little baby asleep on him to hold him closer, even more secure.

“Shh, nothing’s wrong.” You soothed as you gently tucked his curls back away from his forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

“M’kay.” And with that his eyes were closed, back to dozing like he was never interrupted in the first place. You were glad. Tomorrow was an early morning, and paired with all of the midnight feedings and diaper changes, you all could use some rest. So you laid back down, sleep dragging you back under swiftly.

Javier was practically bouncing with nerves just hours later, even though he was trying not to show it. It brought you back to that first appointment when you were pregnant, only this time he held a sleeping one-month old who he was trying not to wake up with his nervousness.

“I just want it to go well.” He grumbled when you asked if he was okay.

“It will.” You reassured him, rubbing circles into his knee. “They’re both perfectly healthy, the pediatrician will tell you that, too.”

You were right - then again, when weren’t you? Gabe was a healthy nine and a half pounds, strong heart and lungs, and good reflexes. Javier was hooked on the pediatrician’s every word, nodding along and giving you a relieved smile with each positive statement. And of course, Ellie’s rambunctiousness had the pediatrician and nurses completely captivated as she told them all about her preschool and the antics she got up to while they checked her over.

The pride on Javier’s face with every positive comment and reassurance that both of his kids were on track developmentally made your heart flip. You felt so beyond lucky to have this little family of yours, with two beautiful children and the man you always loved. It felt too good to be true sometimes, especially when Javi pulled you close for a tight hug and a kiss to the side of your head before he worked to get one wiggly Gabe back into his onesie.

One impromptu trip to the park later and you and Javier had two very tired kids on your hands. Ellie was already passed out by the time Javier pulled into the driveway but Gabe was quickly venturing into ‘overtired’ territory. He was grumpy, wriggling around in your arms like he couldn’t get comfortable, all the while giving little whines and grunts that threatened to turn into full on wailing. He didn’t want milk, he didn’t need a diaper change, he just wanted to sleep but was too frustrated to let a nap take him.

“Give ‘em here.” Javier offered and you freely handed him over. The postpartum fatigue was no joke, and even though it was lessening with each passing day, you were damn tired so you had no issue with letting your husband put the baby down for a nap. You curled up on the couch, not quite going to sleep but still letting your mind and body rest as you listened to Javi try to negotiate with Gabriel as if he were some sicario and not just a particularly stubborn baby.

“C’mon, little man. Just go to sleep. All of your problems if you went to sleep right now? Solved. Completely solved. Instead of crying you could just… go to sleep.” Javier whispered over the cooing and grunting of his son. “Oh, don’t give me that face, mister.”

You snorted a laugh - you knew exactly what face Gabe was pulling. His nose and eyebrows would scrunch up, lips pursed as he huffed angry breaths like a little baby bull. It was an exaggerated copy of the face Javier pulled anytime he was frustrated, which you found ridiculously adorable. Slowly, the grumpy grunts became more and more quiet until they disappeared completely, and a few moments later, Javier flopped down on the couch next to you with a sigh.

“Got him down.” Javi said as he pressed close to you, burying himself between the back of the couch and your body to press his face into your neck. A blanket of drowsiness must have settled over the entire house as both kids napped peacefully in their beds and you cuddled up to your husband in the living room. The both of you would doze until the sound of little feet on the hardwood or the sounds of a hungry baby woke you, and then it would be back on the grind of parenthood, but you knew… with Javier by your side, you could do it.

{Taglist}

@iamburdened @everyhowlmarksthedead @jenrebloggingfics @xserenax-13 @silverstarsandsuns @luminescentlily @peterpstuff @leonieb @lazybeeches @withasideofmeg @freeshavocadoooo @chattychell @ew-erin @i-ship-it-ironically @artsymaddie @mrsparknuts @wyn-dixie @notabotiswear @lunaserenade @jitterbugs927 @theorganasolo @the-witty-pen-name @northernpunk @lemonlime09 @la-lunaluna @andruxx @greeneyedblondie44 @bloodsuckingbastards @coldlilheart @gracie7209 @green-socks @paintballkid711 @lord-of-restingbiface @asta-lily @xgoldenjenny @mummifymecaptain @cjbtw @a-skov @himbotroy @xjsteph @marvelousmermaid @over300books @castleamc @darnitdraco @janebby @cannedsoupsucks @itssmashedavo @mtjoi @triggerhappyflygirl 

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC’s Half Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar Lesson 17

Series Masterlist

So, the aftermath’s here! This took significantly longer than I thought it would, but oh well. Enjoy everyone!

So, to recap where everyone’s favourite dysfunctional demon family are at right now: Belphie’s still guilt spiralling but he wants to make amends, MC is having a self worth crisis because of what happened, Lucifer was homicidal less than a day ago, and the rest of the brothers are very mad at Belphie.

So, a good little while passes, MC moves back into their room and doesn’t really come out or try to talk to anyone, Lucifer practically lives in his study, and Belphie holes himself up in whichever room that no one else is in.

Keep in mind, no one knows the truth about Lilith’s death yet because it never came up because MC isn’t a descendent of the human version of Lilith.

The brothers (sans Belphie) went and visited MC, who was very happy to see all of them, but everything felt kind of off, everyone was slightly on edge. But nobody brought it up because no one wanted to be the catalyst for the next big family fight, especially so soon after MC got hurt.

It had been almost a week and MC could barely cobble together the desire to leave their room. They had made themselves a prisoner in their own house right after freeing Belphie from his house arrest, how ironic is that?

Stupid…

How naive could they get? To think that just because they were family that everyone would welcome them with open arms? And how stupid would they have to be to believe that they were a proper demon like the rest of them? Demons were manipulative tricksters at their nicest, if MC didn’t understand that than they were a shit excuse for a demon.

Spending time lying in bed staring up at the ceiling wasn’t the best way to pass the time, but MC had grown tired of flicking through the same five apps on their DDD and had contemplated chucking it at the wall. With nothing to distract them, MC was alone with their thoughts.

Of course they couldn’t fend off Belphegor, of course they lost… they barely had any better a hold on their magic than they did when the year started. They weren’t a full demon, but they weren’t some weak little human either, but maybe things would have been better if they were human. If they were human, they wouldn’t have had magic, they wouldn’t have had a fighting chance at all. There would have been no shame in losing. But MC wasn’t a full human, they had their fighting chance and lost anyway.

“MC?”

Their head snapped towards the source of the voice. Through a bright gold glow, they saw an unfamiliar woman, her eyebrows were knit with concern. Not being able to muster up the energy to really be openly panicked, MC sat up and rested their head on their chin, then raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Oh! Um…” the ghostly woman puffed out her cheek and twiddled her fingers as her eyes darted around the room. “I didn’t exactly think this introduction through, my bad…”

It was MC’s turn to be confused, standing in front of her was a woman who didn’t look like an angel or a demon, yet somehow was able to cobble together the magical strength necessary to actually make herself visible to MC. And now, she was stressing about an awkward introduction.

“I’m Lilith!” The woman finally blurted out, she clamped her eyes shut and quickly stuck her hand out.

MC blinked at the outstretched hand like it was a completely foreign gesture. “…what?”

“Yeah! Um… I uh…” Lilith withdrew her hand and facepalmed. “I’m really sorry…”

“I-uh… Lilith? Like… Lilith, my father’s sister Lilith?”

“…yes?”

“…please explain.”

And Lilith did explain, she explained the ghost bit, how she can’t technically go up to the Celestial Realm nor does she want to, and how she’s kind of been playing guardian Fallen Angel to the entire family.

MC finally got to learn the reason the Grimoire was in the tomb, and why their father was so damn loyal to Diavolo.

Lilith also explains that she’s kind of the reason MC is down in the Devildom in the first place. Lucifer picked an entirely different totally normal human, but Lilith switched the files and MC was brought down instead.

MC still obviously had questions.

“So…” MC mumbled. “That’s why he tried to kill me.”

Lilith pursed her lips and looked away. “Yeah…”

MC let out an explosive sigh as their hand unconsciously creeped to their neck. MC’s fingers brushed over raised skin from barely healed over scratches.

“He wants to apologize.”

“What?”

“Belphie, he wants to apologize to you.”

MC snorted and rolled their eyes, they shifted over so Lilith couldn’t see their face. “Hmph… maybe if he grovels enough I won’t sic Cerberus on him…”

“You’re under no obligation to forgive him-”

“I know!” MC snapped, grinding the base of their palm against their eye to stop the tears that threatened to burst. “And I won’t!”

The problem was, Lilith’s story actually ended up making MC feel bad for him, which made them feel angry at themselves, which made them feel more upset than before.

On one hand, Belphie was motivated by the loss of someone incredibly close to him and never received closure because Lucifer kept Lilith’s “survival” a secret.

On the other hand, Belphie tricked, manipulated, and then tried to kill MC. That couldn’t just be waved off with an “oh he was just grieving”

After some deliberation, MC decided they were going to do one more thing to help Belphie.

“Father.” MC hit their knuckles against the door to their father’s room. The door opened almost immediately and Lucifer stood in the doorway.

“Yes MC? Do you need anything, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just need to talk to you.”

“Come in then,” Lucifer stepped aside and MC walked into the room, he closed the door behind them. “What is it?”

“I know about what happened with Lilith.”

Lucifer froze, MC did their best to hold his gaze and not waver.

“You need to tell everyone.”

“…how did you find out?”

“She um… told me. Lilith, I mean… she’s still around.” MC awkwardly twirled their finger in the air as they explained. “You’ve kept this hidden for too long, the secret has to be told so this can end.”

Lucifer wasn’t on board immediately, but eventually, he was convinced.

Everyone was gathered, including Belphie, and Lucifer explained what had really happened the day Lilith had died.

Of course there were shouts of shock and outrage that slowly melted into a melancholy silence. Lilith was still around, but her presence was so limited, but she was still there with them! Their sister was still there!

When everyone dispersed to go process the news, Belphie approached MC.

“H-hey.”

MC almost outwardly shuddered at the sound of the Avatar of Sloth’s voice, but they held firm and turned to face him.

Anything they wanted to say died in their throat as MC got a good look at Belphie for the first time in over a week. He looked like complete and utter garbage. His hair was a mess, bags lined the underside of his eyes, and his entire posture seemed to just droop like a wilting flower. Though, it wasn’t like MC had much of a platform to stand on when it came to critiquing appearance at that point in time, they looked just as awful.

“What do you want?” MC asked quietly, they had meant to put more force behind their words, but most if not all of their focus had gone towards not allowing their voice to break or waver.

“To apologize.”

So, Lilith was right, he was sorry. Rage bubbled in MC’s gut as they clenched their fist. How dare he think he could just, apologize and think everything could turn out okay?! MC opened their mouth to scream, cry, hurl every insult they had spent the previous week thinking about, but nothing came out. The anger subsided and MC deflated, they crossed their arms and gestured for Belphie to go ahead.

“Go on.” They mumbled.

Belphie’s gaze drifted to the wall, he clenched his pillow tighter to his chest, then looked back to MC. At least he had the decency to look them in the eye.

“I’m sorry for what I did, MC. I messed up and I hurt you. I blamed you for something you had nothing to do with, even though you were nothing but nice to me. No excuse would make what I did any better, so I’m… I’m sorry…”

MC gnawed on their lower lip and knitted their eyebrows. He sounded sincere enough, but MC wasn’t just going to roll over and forgive him just like that. They were still so angry and betrayed, but they didn’t want to be. Stupid feelings…

They took a deep breath and squared their shoulders, looking Belphie directly in the eyes.

“Okay.”

“…okay?”

“Okay.” MC repeated. “I’m not going to forgive you just to absolve your guilt, but I’m done with this. It’s over and I’m moving on. If you’re really sorry, don’t ever do something like that again.”

The tiniest glimmer of hope sparkled in Belphie’s eyes as he nodded. “I swear on my life I’ll never do anything like that again.”

MC stiffly nodded. “Good. Now, I’m going to my room. I have school tomorrow.”

When Belphie turned to go back to his room, Lucifer melted out of the shadows and stood next to MC.

“That was very big of you.”

“Thanks father.” MC mumbled.

“Are you sure you want to go to school tomorrow? I can ask Lord Diavolo to extend your time off.”

“No,” MC shook their head. “I’m ready. Besides,” They stifled a giggle. “I don’t want to miss everyone’s reactions to Human History.”

Wanting to watch demons freak out about weird parts of human history is a very valid reason to want to go to school.

Anyway, all eight residents of the HOL goes back to school, and MC’s cover story was that they had gotten the flu and was too sick to go to school, and Belphie had been brought back from the human world early. No one had the balls to question the seven rulers of hell, so no one asked any questions.

Luke was very excited to see his friend again, so excited that he got in trouble for talking in class. No big deal, lunchtime was still free for them to talk!

The day was perfectly normal, which was a blessing for everyone.

Diavolo officially deemed that Belphie was no longer a threat to the exchange program, so Belphie was allowed to return to his student council duties without issue.

Things between Diavolo and Barbatos and MC were quite… confusing.

For one thing, Diavolo was the crown prince and MC had really liked him before the stuff in the previous timeline and learning about exactly how he had secured their father’s loyalty.

And for Barbatos… he was just fucking terrifying.

“MC!”

The sound of Diavolo jovially calling their name jolted MC out of their thoughts. Thinking about the upcoming Demonology midterm would have to wait.

“Hello, Lord Diavolo.” MC knew better than to be openly pissed at the soon to be monarch, especially after everything that had transpired.

“Are you doing alright, MC? How has school been treating you?” Diavolo continued to pepper MC with questions with barely any gaps for MC to actually reply. Barbatos stood on the sidelines with a soft neutral smile on his face, which only served to unnerve MC more.

“I’m doing fine, Lord Diavolo. There’s no need for concern.”

Diavolo’s rampant questioning came to a stop, and MC swore they could see his expression fall ever so slightly.

“I’m glad to hear that, MC. If you need anything, just ask!”

He ended the interaction with a hesitant pat on MC’s head before walking off to his next class. Though, the presence of the butler still loomed behind MC.

“While I’m very glad you’re well, MC,” Barbatos said icily calm. “I must ask that you refrain from going into my room again.”

“Y-yes sir.” MC mumbled.

“Have a lovely day.”

Reason why everyone should be at least a little afraid of Barbatos #473

The relationship between MC and the Royals does end up getting repaired eventually, it’s just… really awkward for the time being.

Home was still awkward as all hell, the murder attempt definitely weakened the brotherly bonds MC had spent months repairing, and the hostility wasn’t doing MC’s emotional recovery much good.

“This is ridiculous.” Lilith’s voice popped into MC’s head while they sat at the dining table finishing up their homework. MC jumped slightly in their seat and frantically looked around for their aunt’s apparition.

“What’s got you spooked?” Satan asked from his place across the table.

“N-nothing. Just a chill.” MC quickly replied, trying to go back to their work.

“Nice recovery, MC. Very smooth.”

“Shut up!” MC thought. “What are you doing in my head?”

“If you want me to leave, just say so.” Lilith’s nasally childlike huff nearly caused MC to openly roll their eyes.

“No, what is it? What do you need?”

“I don’t really need anything, but look at this fractured house!” Lilith cried. “This is worse than the time Mammon stole everyone’s pocket watches!”

“Pocket…watches?”

“It was 1803, get with the program, MC.”

“Lilith, what are we talking about here?”

“Oh! Right! Well, this house is insanely divided and sucky right now, it’s terrible!” Lilith whined, as much as MC hated to submit to their ghostly aunt’s whining, she did have a point.

Just that morning Asmo just happened to neglect to paint Belphie’s nails when he went out of his way just minutes earlier to track down Lucifer to make sure his nails were painted. Later when Belphie walked into the library with Beel, Satan ended up picking up the cat and walking straight out. Satan walking out of a library was like a fish walking out of water.

That wasn’t the only thing either, Mammon had taken it upon himself to be a human (or demon to be more precise) barrier between Belphie and MC at almost all times. The only times when Mammon couldn’t do that was when the witches decided to summon him.

Levi continued to be a recluse, but on the rare occasion he did come out, there was no friendly hellos between him and Belphie.

Lucifer… well, he did a good job hiding his contempt. He had respected MC’s decision to let Belphie try and fix things and he himself seemed eager for everything to be fixed, but he wasn’t exactly aiding in the repairs. Every time he had to look at Belphie it was so expressionless that MC swore that Mammon could swipe someone’s wallet right in front of him and Lucifer wouldn’t even frown.

Even Beel, he bounced back the quickest in terms of being ready to be around Belphie again, but the even psychically linked twins couldn’t fully shake the feeling of distance between the two.

“Well, what do you want me to do? Last time I tried to fix this family’s problems I almost died.”

“H-hey, I don’t think you should joke about that just yet…”

“Bite me. I wasn’t joking.”

“Well… okay. But I can’t really manifest any power right now! Smacking some sense into Belphie really took a toll on my ability to do much.”

“Hmph…” MC thought long and hard, well, two minutes long. “We could hold a movie night.”

Lilith gasped and MC swore they could hear the sound of her clapping her hands together. “Yes! Everyone can hang out and eat popcorn! Oh it’ll be great! Build a Fort! Forts bring people closer together!”

The movie night was the first of many little get togethers that MC quietly orchestrated to get everyone back on speaking terms with each other. They weren’t a direct part of all of them, but they could see the good they were doing.

A small video game tournament, going out to eat together, just relaxing in the same room, all of it added up, and sooner rather than later everyone was back to… not hating each other.

The brothers are still brothers after all, there’s always that tiny instinct that tells siblings to try and ruin the other’s day

As for Belphie and MC’s relationship…

Things slowly but surely moved back to the way they were before. MC came out of their room to sit with everyone and hang out, everyone progressively let Belphie back into their lives, and the nightmares gradually lessened.

For the first time in a little over a month and a half, MC felt truly safe again, which was odd considering they were in their planetarium with someone who they declared they’d never forgive. They still hadn’t, but things had gotten better.

Belphie was doing his damndest to show that he was truly sorry about everything. It started off with small things; helping MC clean the house, giving them pencils when they didn’t have any, covering for them when they had dinner duty,

The little victories may not have seemed very noteworthy, but to Belphie and MC, they were everything.

“That’s Orion, that’s Orion’s Belt,” Belphie pointed up at the shifting ceiling of the planetarium, tracing each and every constellation that he saw and pointing them out to MC and Beel. The latter had seen these stars and heard Belphie’s explanations a thousand times over, but never tired of them. MC was staring up at the gorgeous sight of the human world night sky they had left behind with a small smile on their face.

“That’s Ursa Major,” Beel pointed up as he offered MC the bag of chips he was eating.

“Mhm,” Belphie quietly chirped, he then pointed to a nearby constellation. “And that’s Ursa Minor.”

“Huh, if you connect these stars, it looks like a pair of pants.” MC piped up, tracing the set of stars.

Belphie snickered and nodded. “Yeah, it kind of does.”

“Look, that one’s a spatula!” Beel pointed at a constellation, Belphie snorted and facepalmed.

“Beel, Buddy, that’s the Little Dipper.”

After a little while longer Belphie let out an explosive yawn and stretched out like a cat. MC and Beel yawned in response.

“I’m goin’ to sleep.”

“Belphie wait,” MC giggled. “You can’t sleep here!”

“Watch me.”

“You’ll get a sore back, Belphie.” Beel picked up Belphie and slung him over his shoulder as the Avatar of sloth began to snore, he then turned and sat MC on his other shoulder. “Bedtime for everyone.”

MC let out another yawn and rubbed their eyes. Maybe Belphie had the right idea, it was late as hell…

——————

Author’s Note: You ever know how you want something to turn out in your head, but the moment you go to write it down you kind of want to yeet yourself into oblivion? Yeah that’s what happened here.

The game itself didn’t give me much to work with in terms of how everyone would react if MC didn’t shrug off their near death, so… 🤷‍♀️ oh well! What’s done is done!

[shyficwriter]

Who's Tougher part 2

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!) Guest starring Thor

Summary: So the Guardians now know you aren't Terran. That makes things awkward, but things only get more awkward when they find out what you are.

Author’s Note: Part 1 here.

Word Count: 3,337

"Any chance we can just forget that happened?" you ask, nervously chuckling as you wring your hands. "I promise I'll fix that-" you stand up and look again at the ruined metal that was once the arm of a chair, "or uh... replace it?" You grin hopefully, though you were sure it came out more like a grimace.

"No! Of course we're not just gonna forget that happened!" Peter cried, his face a mix of startled amazement and incredulity, like he couldn't quite believe what he had just witnessed from his friend. "Are you crazy!? What are you!?"

You shrank back a bit, his words stung a little, whether he intended them to or not. "Ok, I had a feeling that wouldn't fly..." Your gaze dropped to the table. What were you? You were his friend... right?

"Why did you lie?" Gamora asked, not nearly as harshly as Peter, but it hurt more regardless.

You furrow your brows as you look up to her, insulted. "Hey! I didn't lie!"

"You said you was from Terra." Kraglin interjected. "An' you ain't a Terran. Think that counts as lyin'." He sat back in his chair, eyeing you. Yondu still stood next to him, doing the same.

Drax, still sat in his chair but removing his electrode leads, then threw in a, "Friends shouldn't lie," with Groot nodding in agreement as well as Mantis, but you ignored them.

"I was born there- Pretty sure that counts as 'being from' someplace." You suppressed the urge to call him a jerk and crossed your arms in front of you with a hurt expression. "Not my fault you filled in the blanks yourselves."

Yondu spoke up now. "Ya didn't exactly tell us otherwise, either." He doesn't sound angry or as confused or suspicious like the others, his statement was more matter-of-fact. You had been with the team longer than he had, but in the time that he had known you, you had never given an inclining that you were anything other than a normal Terran like Quill- or well, maybe that's a bad example... but now that Ego is dead that probably makes him a normal Terran, right?

You merely responded to him with, "You didn't ask." You had a feeling that likely wouldn't go over well, but you were too busy being offended for being called a liar to give it much thought before it was out of your mouth.

Peter made noises that couldn't be classified as words as he waved his hands around in exasperation. "Wha- You- HOW- Were we really just supposed to ask, 'Hey, do you have any cool or weird powers you haven't told us about? Like glowing eyes or the ability to crush metal with your bare freaking hands?!'"

You don't respond, just stare off into a corner.

"I think you better start talking. Or, ya know, we can always hook you back up to this thing you hated so much until you spill the goods." Rocket said with a chuckle, holding up what you now mentally dubbed as a torture device. You couldn't quite tell if he was trying to lighten the mood or not, but either way it didn't work.

You blush and instinctively wrap your arms protectively around your middle. "You don't have to be mean about it..." you say, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Ok," says Gamora, trying to calm the situation down, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "I think what Peter means is why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you feel you could trust us?"

That hurt. You didn't want them to think you thought so little of them. You sigh, "It's not like that. I just- I dunno."

"You don't know?" Gamora repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"Look, I'm sorry. Ok? It's not that I didn't trust you, I trust you guys with my life! I do! I- I just couldn't. I don't have a better answer." You did actually, but it was too complicated. You wanted to melt into the floor.

"Hey, I got a question." Kraglin spoke back up when everyone else seemed to be at a loss for words. "'While back, when Thor was here, he told you he thought ya looked familiar, and you got all nervous-like when you told him he was mistaken. Now, at the time I thought you was just crushin' on him mighty hard, but now you've got me thinking maybe you didn't wanna be recognized."

You cringed. You knew what he was referring to. When Thor had briefly been with the Guardians he came up to you, stating he swore he knew you from somewhere. You had replied that you merely had 'one of those faces' and that he was mistaking you for someone else before scurrying off to talk to Gamora.

You had lied.

Kraglin continued. "Cuz now that I think about it, you're kinda like him... Kinda like a-"

You knew what he was about to say, and you hated it. "Please don't-"

He finished the sentence anyway, "-god."

Something seemed to click for the rest of the team and they now stared at you wide-eyed. Little Groot's mouth dropped open, while Mantis covered hers. Peter and Gamora exchanged stunned glances with Drax. Yondu and Rocket each raised an eyebrow while Kraglin just looked at you expectantly for an answer.

You pinched the bridge of your nose. "Please don't call me that."

Peter stared at you. "You're a god?!" All this time... All this freaking time one of his friends had been a god and never told him?? Were you a celestial like Ego? Were you another Asgardian like Thor? He had so many questions, but couldn't verbalize any of them in his shock.

You shoot Kraglin a pained look. "Dammit! You've gone and made it all weird!" You turn back to Peter. "No! I'm not a god!" This seemed to relax the others some, but not much. Yeah, you seemed cool, but why hide you could do what you just did to the chair? What else were you hiding?

"But ya are, aren't ya? Like Thor, I mean." Kraglin pressed.

You scrambled for the right words. "I- No- Well, not exactly..." You hated this. Everything was so simple ten minutes ago, couldn't you just go back to that?

"I'm calling him." Rocket says, pulling out his media pad and beginning to dial.

"Wait! No no no no no!" you exclaim, stepping forward with your hands raised. You realized you shouldn't have done that, it looked suspicious as hell, but you panicked.

Rocket looked up at you, smirking, "Why? Is it because he'll recognize you and confirm you're like him? Or... wait..." He thought for a second. "Are you some kind of fugitive?"

"No!" you say, wincing. "I mean-" You brush a hand over your face. "Ok. I did know him," you admitted, making Kraglin laugh out a "Knew it!" You shoot him a look before returning to Rocket. "I'm not a god- or a fugitive- I would just rather he -uh- didn't remember me." Truthfully, it wasn't Thor you were worried about, it was his brother, and if Thor remembered you there was a chance he'd bring it up to Loki. But, that was another story for another day. Or never. Never was good.

The rest of the team gave you a weird look for a moment. Eventually Gamora asked suspiciously, "Why?" You being vague wasn't exactly helping you right now, but you couldn't help it.

"Just... personal reasons." you reply, hoping it would be enough.

Spoiler: it wasn't.

"Yeah, no, I'm calling him." Rocket said, he had already dialed and it was ringing. If there was one thing Rocket liked, it was uncovering other people's secrets, usually to hold them over there heads, and Thor was clearly a lead to figuring out yours.

Your eyes went wide in panic again and you tried to stop him, but before you could do anything Thor's face appeared in the screen and you muttered an, "Aw, fuck."

"Rabbit! Hi! It's been a bit, what brings you to call me?" Thor said cheerfully. "And everyone else is there, too! Hello!"

Mantis waved cutely at the screen and the others verbalized their greetings. Well, aside from Yondu and Kraglin, who just gave a nod to be polite.

"Hey Thor," Rocket started, "I was hoping you could settle something. You remember our friend here, right?" He turned the screen to you and you quickly changed your expression from exasperated pleading as you mouthed the word "No!" over and over with a wave of your hands into to a forced smile as you waved and awkwardly said "Hi, Thor..."

Rocket grinned, taking glee in watching you squirm. Yes, partially because he was a dick, but also because he was actually offended that you, his pranking buddy, had kept something like this from him. It hurt, and this was how he was choosing to deal with that.

"You know, I thought I did, but I was told it was a misunderstanding... although..." Thor said thoughtfully, squinting his eyes.

Your stomach sank.

Thors face lit up. "Oh yes! I knew I recognized you! You were one of mine and Loki's playmates when Mother and Father would visit old friends on Earth!"

You winced but retained your forced smile, but it immediately fell with what he said next.

"You were the lovely Nephilim girl that Loki would get into so much trouble with!" Thor laughed heartily. "My, it's been a long time. I don't really remember why we didn't keep in touch..."

Your eyes grew wide, you didn't expect him to just blurt out what you were right there and then. Part of you had still been naive enough to think it could have been avoided altogether. However, you didn't have much time to dwell on it before the other shoe dropped. Your stomach jumped into your throat when he asked, "Loki's around here somewhere... Would you like me to fetch him?"

"No!" you say, a little too loudly, before trying to cover, "No, that's fine Thor. I- I don't think that's the best idea!"

Thor didn't hear you, he was already too busy calling for Loki.

The others could see you were real nervous about Thor putting Loki on the call. Yondu and Kraglin exchanged a look that was a mix of suspicion and amusement. It was evident now you had been telling the truth about not being a fugitive, but why were you so nervous? Was this Loki fella an ex-boyfriend or something? And what even was a Nephlilim?

The question on Gamora's mind was why were you avoiding what were apparently your childhood friends if they didn't seem to be angry with you?

Rocket just grinned a shit-eating grin, clearly thinking he was about to see something very funny -- meaning completely embarrassing for you-- happen.

He wouldn't get to see that happen, however, because with a quick, "Goodbye, Thor!" you lunged forward to push the button that would end the call just before Rocket could pull away.

"Hey!" Rocket complained, "You know I can just call him back, right?"

"Later, Rat." Yondu said, looking at you inquisitively. "He said ya were a Nephilim, what's that?" He didn't think you were dangerous from what he'd seen of you before today. You were about as damn goofy as Peter was... but what if that had been a cover this whole time? He did just see you destroy that chair arm without even realizing, like it was nothing. Why else would you have hidden who/what you were from the team? He had to be cautious.

Peter spoke up. "I've heard of those. My grandparents made me go to Sunday school. It's like the baby of an angel and a human... and they're like... super powerful... but- but you're not supposed to be real!" he said, amazement in his eyes. "I thought that was all religious bullcrap! Does this mean that God, like thee God is real??" He was asking out of utter disbelief rather than anything, having never actually believed in any of that stuff, especially after being taken by Yondu when he was a boy.

You cringed so hard. "Peter please. You're being so embarrassing right now!" You covered your face before letting your hands fall again. The rest of the team just kind of stared at each other, not really sure what to do with all this information. "Look, if the dude exists, I've never met him, and that Terran religion stuff made things so awkward for people like me. And you wonder why I didn't tell!"

Now Peter looked a little sorry, and to your surprise he actually apologized. "Look, ok, I'm sorry. You're right, but can you blame us?"

Your shoulders fell and you sighed, breaking your gaze from his. "I get it, I do. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but why does it matter what I am? I'm still me. I'm still the same person."

Drax spoke up for the first time in a while, standing up from his chair to stand with you as he patted you on the shoulder. "This small neffle-thing is right. We are family. It shouldn't matter what anyone is."

You awkwardly pat his hand on your shoulder, honestly not expecting the sudden solidarity. "Thanks, buddy."

"I do have a question though." he added, removing his hand.

You dropped your head, muttering, "Dammit."

"Peter said your kind are very powerful, does that mean this whole time you've been holding back on missions?"

The realization of what Drax had asked put strange expressions on half the faces of your team. The kinda look that says, "Hey! You've been holding out on us! What the hell?!" Rocket nearly verbalized this sentiment as such with a, "Hey! He's right! How many jobs could we have just been in and out of with a snap of your fingers?! Rude, is what that is."

"Ok, first off, I can't make anything happen 'with the snap of my fingers,' ok? I just want to make that clear," you scolded. Your cheeks began to grow hot as you continued, "and secondly... um... none."

"None!? Quill just said you were some super powerful being, and you're really gonna tell us that none of your powers could have helped us on any of those missions?" Rocket stood staring at you in disbelief, his hands on his hips in a way that would have been super adorable if you weren't so uncomfortable right now.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly great at... controlling them." you admitted, rubbing your arm.

"You can't control them?" Gamora asked, sounding a bit surprised, and maybe a little sympathetic too.

"No." You admitted again, begrudgingly. You saw they were looking at you like they wanted some sort of explanation, so you sighed before making wildish gestures with your hands at the ruined chair arm, saying sarcastically, "Exhibit A! I broke the damn chair just because the damn trash panda... tickled me too hard with his electrocution-torture- thingy..." your sentence trailed off in a mix of bitterness and embarrassment, your face flushed a decent shade of scarlet as you crossed your arms. "You know, if you ask me this is all his fault. We wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for him."

"You can't blame me! It was supposed to hurt! Not my fault you didn't tell us you're some weird-god thing." Rocket then proceeded to mock you. "oH No! NoT AN elEcTRiC SHOCK! IT TiCkLES TOO mUcH! i'm GOnnA bEg ROCkEt FOR MERCY And BreAK A ChAIR BeCAUsE eVEn ThOUgh I'm a GOD i'm StiLL a Big bABy!"

"I hate you," you say flatly, glaring at him before looking up at the ceiling in frustration as you said, "and stop calling me a god, I'm not a god!"

The sound of laughter brought your gaze back to the team. It was Rocket, of course. Yondu and Kraglin were also snickering, mostly due to your pouty expression, but Rocket was definitely the loudest. You frowned. "It's not funny."

"The hell if it ain't," Yondu laughed. Everyone had been so surprised by what you had done to the chair that they actually had forgotten what had made you do it in the first place.

"Aw, don't give us that long face," Kraglin teased, still laughing. "It could've been worse. Getting tickled til ya break a chair is a whole lot less embarrasin' than gettin' tickled til yer pissin' yer pants."

You gave Kraglin a scandalized look as his comment earned snickers from more of the team. He might have been trying to make you feel better, but he had actually only embarrassed you more. The only one not actually laughing was Gamora, and she looked like she was going to tell the others off for you, but she was cut off by Rocket.

"Oh cheer up, or I'll do it again!" Rocket laughed, giving you a mischievous look. "That'll teach you to blame me! If you and Quill hadn't been bickering all the time I wouldn't have made this thing to shut you up!"

You glared at him. "Threaten me with that again and I'm taking it," you warned.

To your surprise, Yondu took that moment and actually snatched the device from Rocket himself. This surprised Rocket too, and he looked up at Yondu with a dejected, "Hey!"

"Sorry there, Rat, but we don't need anymore broken chairs." He chuckled and slipped you a wink as he slipped the device into one of the inside pockets of his duster. He might have been making a joke at your expense as he did it, but you were grateful for the gesture nonetheless. You didn't need Rocket threatening you with it every time he wanted something from you- and you know he would have. As did Yondu, hence why he snatched it. You may have been a goofy little shit like Peter, and you may have hidden powers (and don't get him wrong, he was still going to keep an eye on you), but he still liked ya well enough to save you from a sadistic raccoon, for now.

Rocket pouted, muttering something about "Never let me have any fun!" as he collected Groot and sulked off.

You smiled at Yondu in return, glad the mood had been somewhat lifted, even if it was at your own expense. After a beat you look back to Peter. "Are we good?" you asked, with so much more meaning behind those three words than just asking if you two were good. Peter could see that you were desperately asking not only for forgiveness, but acceptance. There was thinly veiled fear and nervousness in your eyes that he might cast you out for keeping this secret from the team, from him. It made him feel a little guilty.

He looked at you softly. "Yeah. I mean, I still have a lot of questions, but yeah, we're good."

"I guess that's fair," you say, a relieved grin cracking your face. "But another day, ok? It's late and I'm tired." With that you excused yourself for bed, barely waiting for an acknowledgment of what you said before you were walking away, eager to just get away from this conversation for now. You did smirk a little, however, when you heard Drax ask Peter if you being a "Neffleling" meant you were the tougher one, only for Peter to sigh irritably and say, "No, Drax," and Kraglin to laugh in response and say to Peter, "Nah, I think it does," just to rile him up.

Once you were gone Kraglin spoke again, wondering out loud what had happened with Loki that made you so nervous when Rocket called Thor.

This made Peter look back and share a look with the rest of the team. Kraglin was right. You were nervous enough to hang up the phone when Thor called for Loki to join the conversation. Nervous enough to wish Thor didn't remember your face.

What had happened?

[wouldpollyapprove]

Child’s Play

Summary:  She will only ever be seen as a child in Tommy’s eyes. That’s what she gets for being Finn’s friend. No matter, her feelings for the man refuse to fade. Finn tried to help her, tried to get something out of his brother, but the man was unbreakable. Y/n decides that maybe it’s time to move and the best way to do that is to avoid him. If she can’t see him then he can’t bother her, right? Wrong. You can’t avoid Thomas Shelby.

Request: Helloo can i request an imagine where the reader is way younger than tommy(maybe around finn's age or between him or john)works for him and has a major crush on him but she's vv insecure bc of her age, grace has already died, and because it's very hard to figure out if tommy likes her or not, so she gets sad bc she really wants to be with him and have children other than his own

Thomas Shelby x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: Lanuage, age gap

A/N: I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. Sure, it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but it’s pretty good either way. Oneshot requests are still closed and I wish you guys would respect that. It’s not all of you, just some. I want to have all my oneshot requests done before I open requests back up and I can’t do that if people keep sending them in.

Masterlist 

Life was hard.

That was a common fact that everyone knew. Y/n didn’t believe herself to be any the wiser for knowing that one simple thing. It just made life easier to deal with. When the market was out of apples or her seamstress ruined her favorite dress, she simply remembered that life is hard. That meant that not everything was supposed to go her way. She didn’t fret over anything, knowing it wasn’t worth it. Life was hard and if it was meant to happen then it would happen.

However, she was young and naive, and those words didn’t always mean as much as they should have. 

Her life became extremely hard when she started working for Thomas Shelby. Y/n had been a friend of his youngest brother’s, Finn, since they were children. The two would often be found creating havoc throughout the streets of Small Heath along with the other children they’d befriended. Y/n never spent much time at the Shebly household, though. Her mother always wanted her home in time for supper with enough time to get chores done before the table was set. 

Finn and Y/n were close, not as close as Finn and Isiah were, but they were close nonetheless. And Finn cared enough to get her a job at his family’s company when she was old enough. It was a sweet offer that she couldn’t pass up. Her parents didn’t bring in much money and what was brought in her father usually spent on beer. So with shaking hands, she entered Thomas Shelby’s office and accepted the job. 

She wasn’t given an easy job, being one of Tommy’s secretaries, but not for the reason she would have thought.

“Don’t tell me it’s still bothering you,” Finn rolled his eyes, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. The two sat across from each other in his family’s private room at the Garrison. It was one of Y/n’s days off and it had been a slow day for Finn so he decided the two needed a drink. Being early in the day, just around noon, the pub was empty except for them.

Y/n leaned back in her chair, a sigh escaping her lips. “Yeah, I mean I see him every day. What am I supposed to do, forget about him?”

Her friend nodded and handed her a drink.

She scoffed, taking the drink. Looking down at the amber liquid, she said, “You just don’t get it, Finn. I know I don’t stand a chance. Fuck, every woman in fucking Small Heath has fallen for your brother. I’m not special and I know that, but that doesn’t change how I feel.”

“God, you really like him, don’t you?” he shook his head, a smile on his lips.

Y/n nodded, taking a sip of her drink. She hated how she felt. She had always been an emotional person. Not everything made her cry, but it wasn’t hard to have tears prick her eyes. She hated being confronted or yelled at because the tears always showed up and didn’t know when to take their leave. And that didn’t change when she started to feel something towards her employer. Those feelings were always present and could never leave her alone. Y/n tried her best to keep it from interfering with her work, but it was hard when the man was always around her.

Y/n hated that she loved, not liked, Thomas Shelby.

“Yeah, I do,” she mumbled more to herself than Finn.

At first, she hadn’t even realized she was falling for the man. But over time, Finn started to notice something was off. He had known her long enough to know when something was wrong and something was definitely wrong. Y/n would have thought that he would be upset with her for liking his brother, but he simply laughed. Honestly, if she was in his position, she would have to. Since then, Finn went out of his way to tease her about it.

“I could probably talk to him for you,” Finn offered, giving her a small encouraging smile.

Y/n shook her head. “I don’t need you to do that, Finn. It’s my problem, not yours.” There was a short pause while she sipped at her whiskey. “I can barely talk to him on my own, it wouldn’t be worth having you do anything.”

He laughed, “Did you ever think that it’s him and not you? Tommy is shit at communicating with people, doesn’t matter who it is. And have you seen the way he looks at you?”

“He has only ever seen me as a child,” she scoffed. “And he lets me know every day.”

“You know he’s not good with feelings, right?”

Y/n rolled her eyes. Sometimes she wished she was as distant when it came to emotions as the man she loved. It would probably make life miserable, but not as miserable as she was at the moment. “What about Grace, uh? He still loves her. And what about Charlie? Tommy seems to be content with what he has.”

Finn leaned forward, looking his friend dead in the eye. “Grace was everything he was looking for in a woman, but that doesn’t make it love. She betrayed him and didn’t do much for Tommy but give him a son. That’s it. He’s moved on.” He shifted in his seat. “Tommy deserves someone real and Charlie deserves a mother. I hate to say this, but I hope it’d be you. You care a lot about Tommy and his wellbeing and if he can’t see that then fuck him.”

Maybe that was true, maybe it wasn’t. Y/n had no clue, but she hoped that there was truth to what Finn had said. She hoped that something would happen. It was stupid, she felt like a school girl all over again, waiting for her crush to make a move. She just hoped that there was some truth to those words, maybe then she stood a chance.

*~~*~~*

A few days later, Finn had found himself over at Tommy’s house, helping him look over plans for a new stable. John and Arthur were supposed to be there, but they both had family matters to deal with. It didn’t matter, though, as the work was small and gave more time for drinking. 

Sitting in one of the house’s many sitting rooms, Finn leaned back in his chair while he watched his brother fetch a bottle of whiskey. The conversation he’d had with Y/n days earlier was still at the front of his mind. He felt bad for her, for the position she was stuck in. Finn knew all too well how hard it was to fall for someone and he remembered Y/n telling him almost the same thing he had told her the other day. He wanted to do something for her, help her out any way he could, but what was he to do? There was little that could be done when it came to his cold, distant brother. Few could get through to him and even fewer could read what he was thinking. But Finn was certain of one thing, the way Tommy looked at Y/n. It was more loving than how he had once looked at Grace. It wasn’t lust, it was love. It was more than just one emotion. It was happiness, love, lust. Anything that sparked joy, that is what his eyes showed when he looked at Y/n. Finn knew his brother felt something for his friend and he was going to get him to admit it.

Tommy reappeared with a full bottle of whiskey and poured himself and his brother a glass. He handed one to Finn before taking a seat across from him. “Are you ready to go to the races?”

Finn looked over at him and shrugged. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been before. “I suppose.”

“There shouldn’t be any problems this time,” his brother commented. Mentioning the races gave the youngest Shelby an idea. “Could Y/n come then?”

Tommy raised a brow, sipping at his drink. “Why?” his voice was flat, not exposing anything. 

“Why not? She’s never been and if it’s supposed to be calm then I don’t see why not,” he explained.

“No.”

Finn frowned and rolled his eyes. “Come on Tommy, why?”

The older brother sighed in frustration. “Because she’s never been and she would just be a distraction for you. Y/n’s practically a child as it is, she’d just get in the way.”

“She the same age as I am! Why can I go but she can’t?”

“Because this is family business and you’re family!” Tommy almost shouted at him. “Y/n probably wouldn’t want to be around a bunch of Peaky Blinders as it is.”

A laugh escaped the younger brother’s lips causing Tommy to frown and set his glass down. “Are you blind or something?” Finn asked, laughing. “Are you? Do you not see that she likes you? It’s very fucking obvious! The fucking king would even notice! Not to mention, you seem to feel the same way. So, why don’t you invite her and make a date out of it?”

Tommy rolled his eyes and decided to stare out the window. He was silent for a long while, Finn sitting restless opposite of him. “She’ll get over it. They always do.”

Finn sighed in defeat. He wasn’t quite sure what he was trying to accomplish but it wasn’t going to happen. Nothing was going to happen. Thomas Shelby was a brick wall, that was how Finn could best describe him. A brick wall that nothing could penetrate. You could throw things over it, but more often than not, everyone fell short. 

Now, what was he going to tell Y/n? He tried, he really did, but there was no breaking Thomas Shelby. He was a selfish bastard that only cared about his own wellbeing. Sure, he’d tell people everything he did was for them, but it was nothing but a lie. He only ever cared about himself.

*~~*~~*

It had been a few weeks since Finn and Y/n had talked in the Garrison and things with Tommy hadn’t improved at all. In fact, they had somehow gotten worse. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but the man was more distant than normal. But only towards her. He never called her into his office to go over paperwork like he used to, instead asking for Lizzie. And he did his best to keep her out of things. Everything she used to be a part of, she was shut out of.

Y/n tired to think nothing of it at first. Tommy was a strange man and his mood changed with the wind. It wasn’t worth it to read into anything. But then there came a point when she had enough and wanted nothing more than to confront Tommy. She told Finn about it but he simply told her to leave it alone, that it wasn’t worth bringing up to his brother, so she didn’t. 

Instead, with all the newfound time on her hands, she was given time to rethink her life. She no longer wanted to be hung up on a man who would never love her back. Why waste her time when there were plenty of men who wanted her? Y/n laughed thinking about all the times she had refused men’s advances because she thought that Tommy would come around. Foolish. Fucking stupid. She was wasting her life and she just couldn’t do that any longer.

So, she wasn’t going to.

Y/n then started to go on dates, they were boring, but it was better than sitting at home, feeling sorry for herself. Some of them worked in the factories, covering dust, and others were businessmen that wanted nothing to do with Small Heath. It was too poor for them, too dirty, too this, too that. It always made her wonder why they wanted anything to do with her as she was a great example of what came from Small Heath. No matter how many dates she went on, though, she found nothing she liked. But she just had to wait it out, the right one would come.

She was only 19, she had time to find someone and settle down. But there was only one man she wanted to do that with.

In the back of her mind, she still had feelings for Tommy, but if she never spoke of them, then she believed they weren’t real. He no longer caused her problems and was only apart of her work life. And as Tommy started to distance himself from her in the office, she decided to do the same. It would help her move on because being hung up on that man would be the death of her if she didn’t.

Putting her finished paperwork in a file, Y/n placed it in a bin on her desk for Tommy to look at later. She stood from her chair, placing a few files on Lizzie’s desk for her to go over the next day and started to clean her own. The door to Tommy’s office opened, but she didn’t hear it close, telling her he was lurking in the doorway, something he was known to do. 

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he stated.

Y/n shrugged, not bothering to look up at him. “Only because you have.”

He was silent for a second, searching his pockets for his pack of cigarettes. Once found, he dragged it between his lips before placing it between them and liting a match. “It’s nothing personal, Y/n. Just business.”

She scoffed, searching for her bracelet that had fallen off earlier in the day. She thought it landed in one of her drawers, but they were both empty. “Oh, yeah, I figured,” she spat. “Everythings always about business to you.”

Try as he might, Tommy couldn’t fool her. Y/n knew what it was like to not be welcome. To be pushed away. Most of her life, her father wanted nothing to do with her and he often did what Tommy was doing now. Without saying anything, he would just leave her out of things and when she was in the room, he would keep her out of the conversation. The girl was used to it at home, but she didn’t like the treatment at work. And not from someone she cared about.

“I’m glad you understand.”

Y/n rolled her eyes and finally looked up at him. “You’re glad I understand? Understand what? That you’re a fucking arsehole? Yeah, I’m glad I understand that.”

“Y/n I-” he was cut off before he could say anything more.

“I’ve been avoiding you because you’ve been avoiding me. And I know Finn talked to you, I’m not stupid and that boy is shit at keeping secrets! So, how about you just tell me how you feel instead of keeping me from my work? I’d rather know the truth than be treated like shit!”

Tommy didn’t say anything, he just stood there, blank face and all. It was hard to read him, but Y/n didn’t even bother, if he couldn’t give her an answer then she wanted nothing to do with him. 

“Forget it,” she mumbled and grabbed her coat off the hook. Shrugging it on, she headed for the door, leaving Tommy standing in the doorway of his office. 

The man let out a sigh once he saw her slip out the office door. Pushing himself off the door, he went after her. He didn’t know what he was going to say as he wasn’t good at expressing his emotions, but he couldn’t let her leave like that. He’d seen what pushing her away had done, Y/n was miserable yet she pretended to be cheerful and happy. It broke his heart that he had caused that and Finn made sure he knew it. 

“Y/n wait,” he jogged after her once on the street.

She sighed, turning around as he came to a stop. “What now? You want to tell me it’s childish to be upset over this? That it’s just fucking life? What Tommy?”

He shook his head. “No, no. None of that. I just…” He let out a sigh. This was one conversation he should have thought through first. “I like you I do. Fuck, I might even love you, but I can’t risk it. Not with what happened to Grace, not with what’s happened to everyone around me. I can’t do that to you.”

“You can’t do that, but you forget it’s not just your choice. Everyone in your life has chosen to be there no matter what happens,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m Finn’s friend, I work for you, so no matter what I’m at risk. So don’t give me that bullshit.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Y/n,” he sighed, a look of defeat in his eyes. “I would rather see you sitting at your desk, alive, then dying in my arms somewhere down the road.”

Y/n laughed, giving him a small smile. Tommy raised a brow at the action, unsure what caused such a reaction. “Life happens, Tommy. We can’t predict it and we can rarely change it. It’s not worth fretting over especially when you’re not in control. But I know how I feel,” she told him. “I love you and I’ve tried not to, but it doesn’t work like that. I love you, Tommy, and I could see a life with you, but if you can’t see that then fine. Just tell me and you never have to hear about it again.”

Tommy took a drag of his cigarette, processing her words. He looked around, distracting himself with the people on the street. Was he ready to risk it? Was he ready to willingly put his heart on his sleeve for a woman again? He wanted a life with Y/n, she was smart, beautiful, and caring. Tommy could honestly see himself with her and maybe down the road, they would have a few kids. “Come one.” 

He tugged on her arm and started walking away. Y/n quickly fell in step beside him. Looking over at him, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“To dinner and I promise I’ll stop pushing you away if you do the same.”

A smile lite up Y/n’s face. She honestly didn’t think she’d get through to him, but the man was full of surprises. She knew that it would take Tommy time to adjust to being in a relationship, she understood that, but she was willing to wait.

*~~*~~*

Let me know if you would like to be added to the tag list.

@amirahiddleston @captivatedbycillianmurphy @haphazardhufflepuff @woahitslucyylu

[neoptolemid]

Neoptolemus super doc ? ??

ARE WE ABSOLUTELY SURE,, , ,, ,

uh okay, I pull together my super document of Pyrrhus, have pardon cause it's a bit old and i'm gonna spread it through like 3 or 4 posts probably , , so uh enjoy and I'm sorry for all grammatical errors

Skyros

Pyrrhus was born by the name Pyrrhus and this was based either on his red hair or due to Achilles name of Skyros being Pyrrha.

When it comes to appearances I generally describe him as a good mix of both Deidamia and Achilles’ traits, having inherited Deidamia’s red hair and Achilles Blue/teal eyes. He is around the middle of both of his parent’s height as I make Achilles 6’0 and Deidamia 5’3 when full grown, Pyrhhus rounds out to be 5’6. He also has a number of beauty marks which are similar to Achilles’.

It is unknown how long Achilles stayed on Skyros or when Pyrrhus was born. Either way Achilles did know about his son, we know this from the fact Achilles makes references to his son within the Iliad and Odyssey.

I like to believe that part of Pyrrhus growing up with his mother and aunts is that he has a lot of appreciation for women’s crafts and what they do. That he as a younger child would simply sit and be by his mother and/or aunts as they worked enjoying their company.

He would try his best growing up to join into their songs and dances, and at least once dressed himself in girls clothes to show his mother and aunts which got a good laugh out of them.

From Quintus ‘Fall of Troy’ we are informed that learning to fight and it was Odysseus and Diomedes who came with their black sails to ask him to join the war cause. He was promised to marry Menelaus’s daughter Hermione, he was also promised to have Achilles’ armor and gold, riches, and glory for coming with them.

While work will generally age him to being a young man or simply portray him to be very well spoken, if you follow along with the time line it is very possible that Pyrrhus is only 11 or 12 when he leaves Skyros, I tend to write him as being 13 for my own comfort.

Another thing to note form Quintus’s piece on Pyrrhus is they depict this being especially sad for Deidamia, she is written as having weeped and weeped. She doesn’t want him to leave because she doesn’t want him going to war and leaving her. She doesn’t want him hurt and she doesn’t want another person she loves leaving her again.

Deidamia Pyrrhus’s mother is written as loving him and I interpret bits of this story as Pyrrhus is the only tie to Achilles she has. Generally I prefer the idea that Deidamia did care for Achilles and so it did break her heart that he left and she had hoped that he would return eventually to her and their son.

Over the years she understood more and more that he would not return, so all she had was her son, and then eventually they come and take him from her as well.

Mattering on the version of the story, it is fully possible that Deidamia may have never seen her son again once he left the island.

Dawn climbed the wide-arched heaven, straightway they rose from their beds. Then Deidameia knew; and on her son's broad breast she cast herself, and bitterly wailed: her cry thrilled through the air, as when a cow loud-lowing mid the hills seeks through the glens her calf, and all around Echo long ridges of the mountain-steep; so on all sides from dim recesses rang the hall; and in her misery she cried: "Child, wherefore is thy soul now on the wing to follow strangers unto Ilium the fount of tears, where perish many in fight, yea, cunning men in war and battle grim? And thou art but a youth, and hast not learnt the ways of war, which save men in the day of peril. Hearken thou to me, abide here in thine home, lest evil tidings come from Troy unto my ears, that thou in fight hast perished; for mine heart saith, never thou hitherward shalt from battle-toil return. Not even thy sire escaped the doom of death -- he, mightier than thou, mightier than all heroes on earth, yea, and a Goddess' son -- but was in battle slain, all through the wiles and crafty counsels of these very men who now to woeful war be kindling thee. Therefore mine heart is full of shuddering fear lest, son, my lot should be to live bereaved of thee, and to endure dishonour and pain, for never heavier blow on woman falls than when her lord hath perished, and her sons die also, and her house is left to her desolate. Straightway evil men remove her landmarks, yea, and rob her of her all, setting the right at naught. There is no lot more woeful and more helpless than is hers who is left a widow in a desolate home."

Lemnos

Pyrrhus agrees to go with them and on the way they stop by the island of Lemnos to get Philoctetes. Odysseus makes Neoptolemus lie to Philoctetes because he knows that he hates Odysseus because he is the man who abandoned him on Lemnos and he knows that Philoctetes doesn’t want to go to Troy but back to Greece and to his home.

This causes a Pyrrhus strife because he has been taught to be noble up until now, in the play Philoctetes by Sophocles we are shown multiple times how this causes him strife because he is having to lie. Philoctetes also considers Pyrrhus to be a friend because Pyrrhus lies and says that he wants to go back home to Skyros because of the way he is treated by the other Greeks even though he hasn’t met any of them yet to our knowledge.

Good lines from this play that I personally characterize him are

‘It would have been better if i had never left scyros. Everything around me oppresses me ..’

‘He’ll (odysseus) claim i’m too soft-hearted’

‘I can’t. It is right and in our interest to listen to those in authority’

Some of the best development to see from this is how he was raised to be noble and how he doesn’t want to trick people or lie, he wants to be honest.

Another thing I find interesting to read from specifically this play is how Pyrrhus is very rarely called by his own name, he is almost always referred to ‘son of achilles’ and also in this play he is often referred to as ‘child’ or ‘boy’.

While none of these things are brought up as an issue in the play I do think it is a detail you can play with, like how it might weigh on an individual to be always referred to by your famous father or how people don’t recognize you by your name but by your father’s.

I think these are things that would weigh on Pyrrhus he wants to live up to his father but it also oppresses him to be referred in such a way. He wants to be like his father but he is still his own individual which he doesn’t feel recognized by as people continually anything but his own name.

To the idea of playing into the fact he is also often called ‘boy’ or ‘child’ These could be names that eventually upset and anger him. He is being dragged into this war like he is old enough to fight, which he is not and yet he is not recognized as such by those around him.

It is a case of a child feeling indignatinge by being called terms which denote being naive, though I like to think there is some justification for his anger because this isn’t just a small thing but he is being taken into a man's world.

In Philoctetes he is referred to by the name Neoptolemus, he was given this name by Phoenix, a man also considered to be a father by Achilles. Phoenix is one of the oldest men in the Trojan war and he is either involved with Pyrrhus coming from the island to Skyros to the war or some time later down the road. He gave him this name because it means ‘new war/warrior’ it is meant to reflect how Achilles himself was a young man when he entered the war.

It is honestly more common to see Pyrrhus referred to as Neoptolemus by the Greeks and Pyrrhus by Roman sources to my knowledge. (i’ll be using Pyrrhus just for simplicity)

Troy

There are a lot of various stories that have to do with the fall of Troy, we have records again from Quintus “Fall of Troy” and the “Aeneid” by Vergil. There are also a number of plays by the three tragedians of Ancient Greece(Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus) that have to do with the end of the war and various stories of the aftermath.

While Pyrrhus doesn’t appear in these very often they still help to give more insight to his possible character.

Pyrrhus makes a minor appearance within the play of ‘hecuba’ and is in the background of ‘andromache’, he makes no appearance within this story but he is directly related to things happening in the play.

Back onto the subject of the fall of Troy, he is regarded as the killer of both Astyanax and Priam. These are generally agreed upon details and sometimes Odysseus fills the role of Pyrrhus when the story decides they don’t want to introduce more characters.

He is generally described as being ‘battle-eager’ ‘Fierce-hearted’ and a few other epithets relating to fighting. In general he is not described as being worse than anyone else. The fall of Troy is a greek work and all the Greeks within this work are killing and fighting people. He is by all means a competent fighter within the text.

In the Odyssey when Odysseus goes into the underworld and speaks with the dead, and when Achilles comes to speak he asks about his son.

Odysseus describes him as

‘but I can tell you all about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from Scyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and I were the only two who could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valour. Many a man did he kill in battle- I cannot name every single one of those whom he slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; many others also of the Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman's bribes. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Argives went inside the horse that Epeus had made, and it was left to me to settle when we should either open the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other leaders and chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he was all the time urging me to break out from the horse- grasping the handle of his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his handsome share of the prize money and went on board (such is the fortune of war) without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Mars is a matter of great chance.'

In general from the greek sources he is described as nobly.

He is noted for killing quite a few people during the fall of Troy but his most notable kills are Priam, who he kills within the throne room (to my knowledge) and Astyanax who is killed after Troy has fallen.

In the Aeneid by Vergil he is described in ways that frame him a more villainous or evil way

‘The fatal work inhuman Pyrrhus plies,’

During when Pyrrhus is about to kill Priam there is a line that I believe characterizes him as more of a tragic character than anything else. Before killing Priam, Priam berates him about how Pyrrhus is about to treat Priam because of how Achilles showed him humanity and how Achilles gives Priam his son’s body back. This is partly brung up because Pyrrhus getting into the throne room kills one of Priam’s sons in front of his face.

The line basically translates out to be Pyrrhus telling Priam that when he dies and sees his father to tell him of the terrible deed of his son, of how terrible his son is.

In the translation that I read they use the line ‘Tell him of degenerate Neoptolemus’

When in the context of the Philoctetes I think this paints Pyrrhus as being a rather tragic and sad character, because prior to going to the island of Lemnos Pyrrhus tried to act most noble, he wants to be noble like his father. When on Lemnos he has his morals questioned and is forced to go against his morales at the hand of Odysseus.

I interpret this as him vocalizing how he might be upset with himself as he is forced to look at the reality of war which isn’t noble or glorious at all. He wants to live up to the noble idea of his father and everything he is forced to do makes him feel terrible.

I personally think that Pyrrhus probably doesn’t know a lot about the terrible things that Achilles has done or he tries to ignore them. When fighting in the war he might realize his idea of his father might not truly be acturte, he was raised on stories from his mother telling him of his outstanding father.

In terms of justifying his actions during the war because going off my own headcanon he probably wouldn’t be so interested in killing so many people, I imagine he kinda just turns off his head and acts purely on his emotions and just acts like that of a soldier. (Is this PTSD?)

He follows the orders given to him and acts without questioning and lets all his emotions out. I personally don’t assign Pyrrhus that much pride but I like to think he inherited some of his fathers famous anger. All of his anger at what he is being forced to do comes out when he is forced to fight.

That is where the brutality of his portrayal within the Aeneid comes from.

[heliads]

The Lookout (Part Two)

Your brother, Stiles Stilinski, has a feeling that newcomer Theo Raeken only means trouble for the McCall pack. When he sends you to spy on the werewolf, you’re not sure what to expect.

part one / masterlist

You arrive home late that night. The driveway is still empty other than Stiles’ jeep, so you have a desperate, fleeting hope that you might be able to slip away into your room without being found out. Yet the second you close the front door behind you, the lights flick on in the kitchen, revealing the silhouette of your brother, who appears to have been waiting for you. You can tell from the glower on his face that this talk isn’t going to be good.

You force yourself to crack a smile, hoping against hope that you might be able to sidle out of this without too much of a lecture. You have no idea when your father will be returning from the sheriff’s station, and if Stiles tells him even a fraction of what you’ve been up to, the combined shame of the two of them staring you down will probably end up with you being grounded for life. “Have you been waiting here this long? I mean, I get the want for the dramatic lighting, but I think that’s a little much.”

Stiles, however, is not to be deterred. He stands up, folding his arms across his chest. “Do you know what time it is?” You squint at the clock across the kitchen, feeling your heart sink as you read the tiny illuminated numbers. “It’s, uh, midnight.” Stiles nods once, the mechanical motion betraying how irritated he is. “I’m going to assume that you have been out all night with Theo Raeken. Am I wrong?”

You hold up your hands defensively. “First of all, you have been out way later with Scott and the others, doing way more dangerous stuff than speaking to one boy. Besides, you’re the one who told me to get close to Theo anyway. I’m just doing what you asked.” Stiles gives you a look. “Scott and the others were my friends, I could trust them. Theo is dangerous, and I don’t like the idea of you staying out this late with him. He could have killed you in a second, and there would have been nothing you could do about it.”

You shake your head, walking further into the room. “He’s not going to kill me.” Stiles’ eyes widen. “How do you know that? There is nothing stopping him from killing you and pretending it was something else. From the way you’re talking, I’d think you actually cared about him. He doesn’t feel the same way about you, Y/N, trust me. He’s just using you, and I thought you knew enough to remember that, but I guess not.” You flinch as if he’s hit you. “Great talk, Stiles. I’ll keep that in mind for the next time. I’m just a stupid, naive younger sister, who would never know more than you. How could I have forgotten?”

You’re already starting to leave the room, but Stiles still moves to follow you. His tone is softening, as if realizing he’s gone too far. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just trying to watch out for you.” You turn around to look at him one more time, and your brother draws back at the icy look in your eyes. “I can handle myself. I’d appreciate it if you at least pretended to believe that.” With that, you spin around, heading back up the stairs and into the room. You can hear Stiles calling after you, but you ignore him, closing the door soundly behind you.

You flop onto your bed, staring at the ceiling. There’s a part of you that knows he’s right, that Theo is truly just using you. Yet you can still remember the kiss in the woods, the way he looked at you. Surely he wasn’t faking that, right? You can only pretend so much, and there’s no way he didn’t feel at least something for you. You groan, covering your face with your hand. You’ve gotten in over your head, and you have no idea how to get yourself out of this.

You try your best to keep Stiles’ words in your head when you see Theo the next day. You keep up the act, smiling when you talk to him and pretending that nothing has changed. Yet you force yourself to harden your heart, to know that this is a lie for both of you. But it’s harder to remember that when he laces his fingers through yours absentmindedly, or when he steals a kiss between classes. It’s hard to remember it at all.

The confrontation happens after a while. You knew it would, had been dreading this moment all along. This is the time when Theo finally reveals his true nature, that you had been wrong to trust him when you did. It happens at the library, when Theo first convinces Liam to try and kill Scott, and when that doesn’t work, Theo tries to kill Scott himself. You heard the sounds of fighting and ran over to the library, standing horrified in the door as you watch the fight unfold. You have no claws or fangs, there’s nothing you can do except stand there. It might be one of the most painful things you’ve ever done.

Theo throws Scott to the ground, the alpha battered and bleeding from claw marks on his arms and chest. Theo raises his arm, ready to deliver the killing blow, when Scott suddenly pulls a thin package up over his chest. Theo’s claws rake through the paper-wrapped object, but then he rears back, holding up his claws. There’s a yellow liquid coating his hands, running down his arm. He stares for a second, then names it. “Yellow wolfsbane.” He turns now, sees you standing at the door. His eyes widen as he realizes what this means.

“You knew that I was a chimera, that I could only be hurt by yellow wolfsbane. You told Scott. You told all of them.” Theo stands up, walking slowly towards you. You feel frozen, unable to move. “You were lying to me all along. You never loved me, you were just using me.” You laugh bitterly. “And how is that different from what you did to me?” You can see the hurt in Theo’s eyes, along with the realization that he’d done the same thing to you. Theo’s chest is heaving, but his gaze remains locked on yours.

“I still loved you. Even when I didn’t want to. I wish I could say the same thing for you.” Theo says, and you watch with horrified eyes as the yellow wolfsbane flows across his arm, obviously hurting him. Theo stands there a moment longer, then his head jerks up as he hears the sound of footsteps in the hall outside. He turns, running so fast you can barely see him. There’s a shattering of glass, and then he is gone.

Seconds later, Stiles races into the library. He takes in the sight of Scott on the ground, just starting to stir. Then his eyes lock on you, the way you’re standing utterly still in the doorway. He rushes over to you, pausing when he sees the tortured look on your face. Stiles’ face falls as he realizes what must have happened, and he pulls you close in a hug. You don’t feel like you can move a muscle. Stiles speak softly. “It isn’t your fault. He was the one who wanted to betray all of us.” You nod slowly, but can’t find the words to speak. It isn’t just the sight of your brother’s best friend, almost dead on the floor. It’s the look in Theo’s eyes, telling you that you might have actually hurt the boy you loved.

After that, it’s obvious that Theo is against the pack, so there’s no need for you to speak to him again. Theo keeps his distance, staying with his new pack. You avoid him in the halls, staying with Scott and Stiles and the others. You pretend you don’t feel his gaze flickering to you, or that after everything, you still love him. Some things hurt more than feels possible.

One night after school, you’re startled by a knock on your window. It’s late, late enough that Stiles and your father have both gone to bed, so you grab a jacket before heading over to the window, curious. When you throw open the sash, you look around for a second before jumping back, startled. Theo Raeken is standing on your roof, hair blown slightly by the night breeze. You go to close the window again but his hand flies out, stopping you. “Wait. I need to talk to you.”

You glance around behind you, making sure Stiles is still asleep and you can’t hear anyone. You speak to Theo in a muted whisper. “What are you doing here?” Theo sighs. “I can’t keep ignoring you. We have to talk.” You consider this, then climb out of your window, bare feet touching down lightly onto the shingled roof. You slip slightly, but Theo catches you, pulling you close to him. You shiver slightly in the cold of the night, and he doesn’t let you go.

“What could you possibly want to talk about?” You ask, forcing yourself to stay calm. “We both made our choices. We can’t go back.” Theo looks down at you, and for the first time you notice the stress and regret lining his brow. He might actually be having doubts, you realize, and you’re not sure what to think. “If there’s one thing I could change, it would be you. I didn’t plan on falling in love with you, but I did. I just need you to let me know if you felt the same way, or if that was all a lie. If you say no, then I’ll leave now and we can never talk to each other again. I just-” His voice breaks off, disappearing into the night. “I just wanted to know if there was a chance you felt differently.”

“Yes.”

Theo stares at you, something like hope flooding his eyes. “What?” You return his gaze. “Yes. I knew that I shouldn’t fall in love with you, but it’s not like I can stop now. I couldn’t leave if I tried.” Theo smiles now, a quiet smile that you don’t think you’ve ever seen on him before. It isn’t daring, or the usual cocky confidence. It’s a genuine smile, a promise that he’s willing to change. “Well, in that case I feel a little better about doing this.”

When he kisses you, you can’t help but think back to that first kiss in the woods. This is different, somehow. You don’t have those same doubts about lying to him or about him lying to the pack. Maybe Theo is still considered an enemy of the pack, but you don’t think he’s going to hurt you. No, Theo is willing to stay with you no matter what. Even if it means sneaking out to rooftops like tonight.

[jesters-gambit]

i made this account just for this- anyways @howaboutalittlehelpneos heres my 1k word yuya n yuri final duel analysis!

okay, so while they’re very different characters with different personalities, yuri and yuya are actually very similar, in that they share the same core desire: to be loved. however, due to each of their upbringings, this ends up manifesting and developing in different ways.

yuya learns from his dad that love and attention come from making people smile and be happy. yusho is his own bundle of issues, but he teaches yuya that to be loved you have to make others happy and want to love you. everyone loves him, so yuya assumes that if he’s the same, everyone will love him too. thats his issue throughout the series, he has no idea how to exist outside his father.

yuri on the other hand, learns that hes unlovable. he doesnt know HOW to make people love him. leo akaba never ‘loved’ yuri, he just used him, but his attention was the closest he got, so he followed him. the farther he spirals into his sadism, the more he becomes convinced hes unlovable, to the point where he decides, if he cant be loved, he’ll just kill everyone else so its only him. then he’ll be the strongest. because at academia, only the strongest are ‘loved’.

first, id like to say while yuya and yuris duel had a LOT of homoerotic tension, i doubt yuri was actually romantically attracted to yuya, more,,, jealous and confused i think? the same way he feels towards asuka just,,,,,, more, like, much more (doesnt help that hes fruity as shit istg). yuri and yuyas battle was them sort of… abandoning their previous ideals of how to be ‘loved’.

okay, rewind.

lets talk about zarc.

zarc is the EPITOME of the yu-boys desire to be loved in general. he becomes what he becomes because he wants nothing other than to be loved by the audience and the people. he then decides the love of his dragons is more important, and changes for THEIR love instead.

and how do the yu-boys treat zarc?

yuya is, of course, how zarc was at the beginning: naive and only wanting to entertain. he doesnt like who zarc becomes, and resists him, because he still believes in his own version of love. yuri, on the other hand, no longer believes he is lovable (please note that at this point he associates love with strength rather than happiness like yuya), so, when zarc gives him a way to be stronger, of course, he takes it.

however, there is… one thing ive always thought was odd about that.

if they become one… zarc has the power, not yuri. yuri probably knows this, as hes seen berserk yuya and can tell its not quite him. so, then, what was he after? back to the theme of it all, the answer is, of course, love. well, uh, kind of. zarc is giving yuri the chance to be loved, to be understood. its… twisted as shit, but to yuri, ‘being one’ is a chance to finally be loved and have friends. “be loved” and “have friends” are very solidly in quotation marks, because being forced to share a body with someone and become a literal dragon demon thing is probably not actual friendship or love, but, like i said before, yuris got a twisted idea of what that actually is. ‘becoming one’, to yuri, is the best way to get the two (one) things he wants most: love and power.

okay, now flash forward a bit. yuya and yusho are at academia, they now know yuya is part of zarc. i dont know exactly what it is, but something about yushos reaction always… irked me. (this part isnt fact, more vibes and feelings i got from the time, but the way a show makes you feel is as important as its text if you ask me) just, the way he seemed like he would abandon yuya (again) almost immediately is well,,,, uncomfortable to say the least. but yuya is still TRYING, he still loves his dad and wants him back and wants him to love him again.

and then he sees his dad lose, and he realizes maybe he… isnt infallible. and if his dad can lose, maybe… his ideals aren’t perfect.

yuyas duel with yuri, i think, is the first duel he really duels to win. despite how the anime tries to frame it, its clear all yuya wants is vengeance. the reason yuya is able to stay happy and motivated throughout arc-v, no matter how much weight is on his shoulders and everything that’s happening, is because he believed in his father, but, when that belief is broken, he’s just a kid. a tired, sad, angry kid with the weight of the fucking world on his shoulders. he duels yuri, the opposite of his ideals, in one last vain hope of proving his father is still right, but i think, deep down, he knew that maybe it was over. and when he wins, he finally wins, hes tired and afraid and just a kid and i think that maybe for a second, just a quick second, he wonders if ‘becoming one’ is what he might want. he doesnt have the energy or naive belief to hold zarc off anymore, and thats when he loses and zarc wins.

lets get back to my point of the duel really being them ‘abandoning’ their ideals of love against each other. yuri GAINS an idealized version of love through the idea of becoming one, and yuya LOSES an idealized version of love after he loses his dad. and even though yuri lost, i think he affected yuya enough that his ideals sunk in a bit, just enough for zarc to slip in through the cracks.

neither version of love for them was very… healthy. not the ones during their duel or their normal ones, but i just found the fact that they dueled for the same thing in the end was… kind of interesting. i dunno if this has a point or even makes that much sense, but ive been thinking about it a lot. that duel was a clash of ideals between two boys who have pretty unhealthy ideas of love and desperately need therapy, and in hindsight, its kind of sad? many thoughts head full

[syndxlla]

Be

part six of the Dinner and Diatribes series

part five here

summary: When you see Mando in action for the first time, you begin to recall more and more of your childhood memories.

word count: 4.7k words

warnings: Swearing, passing out, being shot at, Mando kills a guy, mentions of abuse.

a/n: “Be” is the tenth song on Hozier’s album Wasteland, Baby!

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated! I got a little uh *cough* depressed *cough* but I’m feeling much better now, I also wanted to be present for all the holidays and didn’t want to be glued to my phone the whole time haha. ANYWAYS enjoy!!!

-

“Be”

“We need to refuel.” The Mandalorian said through the modulator. This time, it wasn’t a lie. The three of you were a little less than halfway to Kiros, travelling through hyperspace for almost a full day now. It had been a few hours since the kiss, enough time for the kid to wake up, eat, and play enough to get tired again. He was nestled sleepily on your lap, mindlessly fidgeting with the beskar ball you gave back to him to occupy to little squirt while you sat in the cockpit with Mando. You think the bounty hunter slept while you were down in the Hull taking care of kid. It made you wonder how he ever got rest when he was alone with the monster. 

“Already?” You ask, finding it hard to believe you already needed fuel. After you spoke up, the kid drowsily babbled, slowly getting more fatigued. 

The Mandalorian nodded. “She’s onto me,” He said to himself. He couldn’t lie to you again, the truth would get back to you eventually, and it would be best to keep it as accurate as possible. “Should be fast.” He explained. 

“That’s alright.” You shrug, you didn’t mind, and it’s not like you could change the course. You remind yourself that he does what he wants. 

“We’ll stop on Uyter, it was just liberated by the New Republic a few years ago, so it’ll be pretty dangerous.” He began after clicking a few random buttons, “Feel up to the challenge?” Mando asked, the slightest bit of teasing in his voice. 

“Oh I’ll be fine. You’re the one we need worry about.” You sighed, sarcastically playing along.

 He very lightly chuckled, “We’ll see about that.” 

You smirked. Neither of you have brought up the kiss yet, between being occupied with the kid and not wanting to ruin the lingering magic of it, you both made a silent agreement to leave the moment alone. Every time you thought of it, however, you received a wave of shocks through your body, causing your spine to shiver in euphoric bliss. You hoped it wouldn’t be the last time he kissed you. However, you didn’t want to get your hopes up, as far as you know, that was just a short moment of weakness for him. But his words lingered on your mind, “that’s how you can help”. His remark after kissing you implied that it would happen again, but you were still walking on egg-shells in every situation with him. He would have to be the one to make the move every time, you were too timid to be the one to initiate any form of physical contact. 

It wasn’t much longer before you were snapping out of light speed, a small but lush planet in your view. “Utter?” You raise an eyebrow, the kid now asleep in your arms. 

“Uyter. You-ter.” He enunciated. 

“I’m sorry, could you say that again?” You ask, poking your tongue to your cheek, enjoying teasing him far too much.

“No.” He grunted, making you quietly giggle. 

“Have you been here before?” This was one of your favorite things to ask him, it was so interesting to hear about his adventures through the galaxy. 

He nodded in response, “Capital City has a good Cantina, found a bounty there once.” 

Cantina meant actual food, which made you happy. 

“So, how dangerous is this place.” You try to ask nonchalantly, like you didn’t really care how dangerous it might be (but you did care, a lot). 

“The empire used to have an academy here, a pretty big one too. It’s been dismantled now, but there are still remnants.”

“There are all over the galaxy.” You sigh. The Empire was even able to reach out to Nal Hutta at some points. 

The Razor Crest moved into the atmosphere, and before you knew it, the Mandalorian’s ship landed on the surface. The descent was boring, and all you could see for miles and miles was farmland. 

“They used to produce food for the Empire, one of my first missions with the Mandalorian’s was to burn the fields.” He explained. 

“What? I thought you bucket-heads were neutral when it came to imperial affairs.” You tilt your head as you ask. 

“We are, but if the price is right, we’ll work for anyone...” 

“How old were you?”

“...Eighteen. I think, not sure about how hold I really am.” Mando cleared his throat, something told you that you are the only person he’s ever told something like that. “It was me and some of my brothers of the creed... I’m the only one of that troupe still alive...” You swear you could hear a little bit of sadness in his voice, but it was hard to tell. You thought you were getting better at reading him, but he’s so mechanical from the outside, it makes you wonder what he’s really thinking. In no way do you want to seem invasive, and the last thing you want to do is offend him, but you couldn’t help yourself from wanting to know more about him, to be...closer to him in some way. 

“I-I’m sorry. Let’s just be fast then, yeah?” You reassured. 

Capital city was nice, much nicer than Nal Hutta. It was a relatively large city, bigger than any city on your home-world. You were significantly closer to the inner-rim as well, which meant more wealth, prosperity and civilization. You knew this, but that didn’t stop your childlike awe as you looked up at the towering skyscrapers above. 

Mando noticed the way you looked up at the sky, “Two hyperspace lanes cross here, we’ll be moving onto the other one after we leave, getting us closer to Kiros.” He spoke up. 

“Can we eat here?” You shamelessly ask. He nods in response as he powers down the ship, and stands up from the pilot’s chair. 

Uyter was just like Junkfort station but on the surface, bustling and diverse, but running with more crime than the space station. Mando payed a few credits to the Rodian crew at the docking bay, and the three of you were off. The kid was nestled safely in a metal pram, the lid sealed shut, keeping the outside world from distracting him (and vice versa). The carriage followed you, who followed Mando as the trio walked into the heart of the city. This was the first real city you’ve ever been in (that you can remember). And you knew that this was a significantly smaller city than anything on the core worlds. The galaxy was so big, so much bigger than your little shack on the bayou. As you weaved through the winding streets and pop-up shops, you wanted to attach to the bounty hunter at the hip. Although you were mesmerized by the higher level of civilization, you didn’t feel safe, and you knew he would protect you. You remember that this is what every planet is like, every city. They all have a crime rate, they all have dark alleyways and bounty hunters and remnants of the Empire. You’re sure Lothal wasn’t much different from here. Men of all types of species watched as you and the metal man walked through the crowded streets, the hordes of people seemed to part at your expense. It gave you a sense of fulfillment, a feeling of power. When you were seen with the Mandalorian, you were seen as a threat, too. As far as any of these strangers know, you are just as intimidating as a bounty hunter in a beskar shell. In reality, you were nothing more than a naive girl with no childhood and the only useful experience you have has come from a cantina owner and abusive ex-boyfriend on a planet ran by massive slugs. But none of these people needed to know that. That was something you could definitely get used to; in the rest of the galaxy, no one knew your name. It was like a fresh start, and you could become anyone you wanted to be. Hell, you could even become a Mandalorian if you wanted, but life inside of a can isn’t very appealing to you. You hardly know how to shoot a blaster anyways, so maybe life as a bounty hunter isn’t the one for you. You could accept that. 

Mando wandered into the Cantina. It was about mid-day, so it wasn’t too busy yet. A few droids worked behind the counter and there were a handful of aliens quietly conversing. The three of you found a place to sit at the bar, and you timidly pulled out some of the credits the Mandalorian gave you a few days ago. “Get something for the kid.” His voice quiet through the modulator.

You nodded before ordering some generic and cheap food from one of the droids. You pull the pram forward before unlatching the lid, letting the little monster see outside again. His eyes adjusted to the light, and turned to look up at you.You hand him the food you gt, and he was immediately happy to be eating. Something about him being a glutton was so cute to you. You hoped he was getting enough to eat, that Mando was taking good care of him. You still have so many questions about who the little monster is and where he came from. How had the Mandalorian came into possession of the kid? What species was he? You know they haven’t been together for very long, but you do know that it’s been long enough that they have a very special bond. Almost like father and son. 

You mindlessly ate your food, completely unaware that something might’ve been wrong. You were so used to the silence bounty hunter at your side was so comfortable with that you didn’t think twice when he sat completely still, his visor facing straight forward. “Gotta go.” He said so quietly he might as well have stayed silent.

“What?”

“Hurry.” He cleared his throat. You were confused, but were too afraid to ask what was going on, so you quickly helped the kid finish eating.

“All right let’s-” You began to say but was interrupted.

“Now how did the guild let you get away with that?” A deep and dangerous voice said from behind you. You froze up, and darted your eyes over to Mando, side-eyeing him. You slowly move your hand back to close the metal case holding the kid. It snapped closed at the touch of your finger, slightly startling you with the noise it made. “Heard you’re the most wanted member right now...” The voice from behind you said again, Mando stayed perfectly still and collected, almost like he knew this was coming. He was so good at his job that he probably did, you remind yourself. You looked to him for reassurance again, and he slightly nodded before quickly turning around and drawing his gun, shooting the man behind you two in the leg. He yelled out in pain and you jumped in shock. You stayed frozen in place as the other patrons in the Cantina all stopped what they were doing to look at the scene. The loud blast from the gunfire had silenced the semi-busy establishment, and the only sound was the thud of the man falling on the floor in pain. You turned to look down at him in shock, he wasn’t dead, Mando wasn’t trying to kill him, but the sight of his blood put a pit in your stomach, like you could puke. 

“Mando-” You swallowed thickly. 

“Hey! Take that outside!” An alien yelled from across the room. 

The man on the floor writhed in pain but somehow pulled together enough strength to pull his own blaster out and point it at not Mando, but you. You weren’t sure what do to, and thank the maker the Mandalorian noticed what was happening and acted quickly. He bent down to grab the gun from his hand right before the shot was fired, ripping it out of his grasp and shooting the guy in the head with it instead. As you held your breath, your eyebrows slowly started to knit together, processing what had happened. The murder caused the other patrons of the bar to get rowdy, no one wanted to see that but something told you that this wasn’t the first time. 

“I said let’s go.” Mando repeated himself as he dropped the blaster he stole and grabbed your hand, pulling you towards the door. A few people surrounded the man and it wasn’t much longer until yelling could be heard.

“Who was that?” You timidly ask as the bounty hunter tugs you into the street. 

“Not sure, but I didn’t like how much he knew about me.”

“Knew about you? He hardly knew anything!” You contradict, trying not to go into a state of shock. 

“He knew enough, he knew that I’m wanted in the guild and he knew about you and the kid.” 

“Me?”

“If I had let him live, your face would’ve gotten out, you’d never be able to stay in one place for very long.” He explained. The pit in your stomach only seemed to grow. 

“You aren’t getting away that easily!” A new voice yelled from down the street, the noise causing Mando to move into a light jog, yanking you forward with him. A few blaster shots were sent in your direction, and it took everything in you not to scream. It had been a long time since you had been shot at. Mando pulled the three of you into a side alley, pushing you up against a brick wall and pulling out his own blaster. He held the weapon up by his helmet and turned his head to look around the corner of the wall, lowering the gun and firing a few shots back. As he worked, you turned to metal cradle and opened it to make sure the kid was alright. As the lid snapped open, big, beady eyes looked up at you, completely unaware of the situation at hand. 

“You okay?” You ask before giving an awkward smile of reassurance and closing the case again. You took a deep breath, trying to calm your heart rate. “Can I help?” You as the Mandalorian, who like usual ignored you. “I’ll take that has a no.” Before you could decompress again, he was turning and grabbing your wrist again. The chase continued down the alley, and you were able to make good time before you were being shot at again. Your mouth was dry, and you began to get tired of all the running. Mando must have noticed this because he pulled your arm forward so you were in front of him and he could shield you with his body, the carriage following closely behind. You tried to lead but the alley way led to a dead-end, and suddenly, you were cornered. “Shit, what now?” You turn to ask him. He was already turned around and shooting back at the people chasing you. It was the first time you had really seen him in action, and you had to admit, he was good at it. He took down one, two, three of the people against you, making it look easy, effortless. You stared at him in awe, you knew he would be good at this, you’ve seen Mandalorians in action before, but he was... different. Everything he did had a purpose, the way he moved was like a strictly choreographed dance, and it practically put you in a trance. 

More men were coming, and you genuinely wondered how you were going to get out of this. Soon, the shots stopped, but men gathered on the rooftops around the dead-end. You looked up at them in fear, Mando’s helmet tilted up too. “How are we getting out of this?” You muttered, asking out of genuine concern for your life. 

“Don’t worry about it.” He responded. 

“Oh yeah, twenty men are pointing blasters at me from all directions, I’ll stay calm.” You sarcastically reply. Before you could really think to get scared though, Mando was taking a step behind him in your direction, bumping into you as he was cocking his wrist back. Two dozen small missiles shot from his wrist guard, all of them flying in different directions and hitting man after man, causing them to fall to their deaths as a whistle of power shot towards them. You close your eyes and push into his back, not wanting to see the pain of so many people. The sounds of yelling and pain filled your ears and it was almost like you were dreaming as your memories began to flood to view. “Not here, not now.” You whisper to yourself when you start to recall things from your childhood again. 

Like you said, it had been a long time since you were shot at, and the last time you were involved a ship, an old one, one you hadn’t seen since you were little. You memories flashed before your eyes: a man in full armor pointing his gun at you, his voice rough with a thick accent, it was a voice you had heard before. The sight of an explosion in the distance, a man with blaring red swords being flown from a building. A girl flying, you were in her arms, was she wearing a Mandalorian helmet? You weren’t sure, although the memories were vivid, you were getting dizzy and tired. The unfamiliar face of the woman holding you as you flew towards the rafters of a building was becoming blurry, and her helmed face slowly turned into the Mandalorian’s who you were travelling with. You regained your vision for just one more short moment and you saw you were down on the ground looking up at Mando’s. After that, you slowly faded into unconsciousness. 

--

When you woke up, you were back in the Hull of the Crest, your sore back and pounding head lay against the Mandalorian’s rough cot. All the lights were off, and you could tell you were back in hyperspace. Why had this happened again? You were still sick to your stomach, and probably should have gone back to sleep, but scooted out of the bed instead. You rub the sleep from your eyes, and drowsily made your way to the ladder to the cockpit. You slowly climb up it, carefully working not to fall off, you were still very dizzy and weren’t sure of what happened after you regained some of your memories. You eventually made it up the ladder, and knocked one time on the cockpit door before going on. The Mandalorian sat in the pilots chair like usual, his head leaned back against the read rest, sitting perfectly still. In his arms was the kid, sleeping comfortably in the protection of a strong embrace. He was drooling just a little bit onto the bounty hunter’s elbow. You smiled warmly at the image, and assumed he was asleep too. Not wanting to bother his rest, you sat in one of the extra chairs, pulling one of your legs up onto the seat and holding it there with your arms, resting your forehead against your knee. You sat there comfortable for a long time, not sleeping, but just contently enjoying some peace and quiet. If Mando had been awake, he would have said something by now to let you know. It gave you a moment to process what had just happened, and the memories you had possibly regained. They were so vivid it almost felt like you were watching a holorecording, which is why you are so confused on what was real and what wasn’t. Is it possible that all of this was an elaborate mirage? Something your mind was making up to fill in the blanks? Your childhood was a complete mystery up until a few days ago, so what about this experience has triggered your memories to come back? 

“You feeling okay?” His modulated voice startled you, and you lifted your head up to see his helmet turned in your direction. 

“I-I’m sorry,” Your voice was hoarse, you cleared your throat after speaking. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a burden on you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’ve never had anything like this happen before.” You admit, trying to explain what was going on. “If you want to leave me on Kiros I understand-”

“Stop.”

“What?” you raise an eyebrow. 

“Stop. I don’t care, I’m just glad to see you up and moving.” He sighed. 

“Oh?” You eyes widened.

“I don’t think it’s safe for you to be out of the ship, both times you have been this has happened.”

“I know, that’s why I’m saying sorry-”

“It’s not your fault, you’ve spent your whole life isolated, the galaxy can be... overwhelming.”

You thought about what he said, “Why are you being so kind to me?” You timidly speak up. He was a dangerous man, so what had you done to gain his favor? 

He shrugged, “Can’t just leave you behind.”

“Yes you could, you’re a dangerous bounty hunter and I’m just... just-”

“The only person to treat me like a man.” He interrupted you. 

“Huh?” You weren’t sure if you heard him correctly. 

“Everyone treats me as just that: a dangerous bounty hunter. But you didn’t, you looked me in the eyes when you spoke to me, you weren’t afraid to tell me no. I’ll admit, it’s pretty frustrating to not get everything I want when I ask the first time, but I wouldn’t have ever known that if you hadn’t come along.” He explained. 

“Oh... you’re welcome? I guess.” You shrugged, not really sure how to respond. “But really, if I’m too much of a burden, you don’t have to keep me around, I don’t mind.” You reassured. He lightly chuckled, “No offense, but you wouldn’t last very long on your own.” 

“Hey now.” You teased back, while you understood he wasn’t serious, you knew there was some truth behind what he was saying. “So.. you’re okay with me staying?” You asked after smiling. 

“If you want, after Kiros I’ll still take you to Lothal, hopefully by then you won’t faint at any minor inconvenience.” He tilted his head, this one made you roll your eyes, but you still smiled at what he said. 

“Sounds like you want me to stick around, too.” You raise an eyebrow. 

The Mandalorian didn’t respond to this, and instead turned his head down to look at the sleeping kid on his arm. You followed him with your eyes, your chest filling with warmth as you watched the dangerous man’s fatherly instincts. Somewhere in there, there was a man, and you were determined to find him. 

“How close are we to Kiros?” You finally ask, interrupting the comfortable silence. 

“Still a few rotations, get comfortable, we aren’t going to need fuel any time soon.” Mando nodded. Sometimes it was so easy to make conversation with him, but a lot of the time he was like a brick wall: impossible to break through. This entire journey you were walking on egg-shells, trying to stay on his good side and prove that you were worth his time. However, at the end of the day, you were only human, and after years of almost complete isolation, constant companionship is starting to sound nice, even if it’s just for a few weeks. You slouch in your seat, letting your foot fall back to the metal ground. You stared up at the glass overhead, admiring the swirl of light speed. You can’t remember if you had ever been in hyperspace as a child, everything is so unclear. At least you thought it was. Now you were unsure. You spent over twenty years being completely content with your lack of childhood, it rarely crossed your mind. As you recall, you remember that there were only a few instances in which you felt like you were missing something. Once when a mother helped her child off of a speeder, and another time when you watched future bounty hunters and criminals play with a ball. You don’t remember ever having friends growing up, but seeing kids interact with each other before they become corrupt from a galaxy of bad made you long for what could have been. If you made it this far without wanting more, why do you suddenly want to now? 

“I think I know why I’ve been passing out.” You say, cursing yourself after. He probably didn’t care, you didn’t think before you spoke and now you’ve sprung your own trap. He tilted his head after you spoke, urging you to go on. You took a deep breath, maybe he had some answers, it doesn’t hurt to try and find out. “Growing up on Hutta, I never remembered much...” You began, unsure of how to even go about this. “I would forget simple things, like names or times...” You shrug, considering you were a literal child, you suppose it didn’t matter much. “I know I wasn’t always on that planet, there’s a chapter to my story before then... but no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember what it was.” You sigh. You felt silly, but he didn’t tell you to stop, and something about the situation convinced you to keep talking, “That was until a few days ago... when you mentioned the war.” You cleared your throat after you said this. “I don’t know, it must’ve triggered something in my memory because now... now I’m starting to remember things, strange things, but they’re incredibly vivid.” You wanted to shrink, could he at least confirm he was listening to you? “Both times I’ve... passed out... it was because I remembered something.” A wash of relief flooded your body when you finished speaking, whatever happened next was in his hands. You looked over to him, hopeful that he would respond. You bring your fist to your mouth, waiting in suspense for his response. “Say something, say something, say something...” You think silently to yourself. 

“What did you see?” He said, you felt like you could sing after he spoke up, thankful he was even listening. 

“Gun fire, bright lights, a helmet that looked like yours...” You listed out, trying to remember all the things you saw, “Flying up towards rafters, a man yelling at me, his voice was familiar...” You recall, thinking hard about the memories. “And the strangest thing was a man with red swords? I know that sounds ridiculous. I had a dream about it once before, but I was very sick, the doctor on Nal Hutta told me I had a fever and that’s why I was having strange dreams but now I’m not so sure.” You falter off as you speak, you probably sound crazy. Mando didn’t reply, you hoped he was absorbing what you had just said. “I know it sounds crazy but I don’t know what to do and until I figure out what’s going on I’m gonna continue to faint at any minor inconvenience.” You finish on a lighter note, hoping to take some of the tension off the mood. He still didn’t respond, and you sighed in defeat. You should have known this would happen. You shift in your seat, and try to fall back asleep, if you’re lucky you could get another hour or two in. So you were relieved when you began to dream about a mysterious boy softly kissing you, telling you everything will be alright. You just wish you could believe him. 

[multifandom-girlie]

𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞

Imagine: "Can you do one where Daniel Gillies and the reader have an interview but they are divorced and have kids together *name doesn't matter*but the interviewer ask them why they divorce since it was unknown to why they did."

Pairing: Daniel Gillies x Wife!Reader

Warning: RPF, minorly angsty.

Words: 1813

A/N: I hope you like it anon, I will be honest it's not my best imagine but I really did try and make it the best I could. I hope you Enjoy!

The un-consensual ringing of my alarm tone triggered me to open my eyes. I glanced over to my phone and quickly made sure i didn't have any notifications before sitting up and wiping the crustiness of the sleep from my eyes. I decided to not wake the kids up yet, as it would be easier to get ready without two screaming children bouncing of the walls and begging for food. I chuckled the covers off and walked into my bathroom and heading straight for the sink to brush my teeth and wash my face. After I had, I heard two feet slapping against the hardwood flooring and I shut my eyes hoping for just two more minutes. I stepped out of the bathroom, guess we won't have a shower this morning then. Peeking my head out of the door, I saw two big brown eyes looking around my room. I put on a smile and walked over to them. It was my son, Tyler. I picked him up and sitting on my bed with him resting on my lap. I brushed his soft brown hairs out of his face and kissed him on the forehead as we hugged, like every morning.

"Good morning, baby. Are you ok ?"

He muttered a yes but still buried his head into my neck, I frowned. Of course I knew he was lying to me when he said yes but I thought it was just because he was tired from having just woken up. He's usually running around and screaming so loud you'd think he was getting murdered. The look on his face though wasn't just tiredness, it was a look he used to give me very rarely; when he was upset.

"I miss daddy, when can we see him ? Uncle Joe said that he wasn't sure if we gonna see him today."

I closed my eyes lightly. Damn you Joseph, making my job as a mom way harder than it already was.

"Don't listen to Uncle Joe, he's just playing around. I will make sure you see daddy today, I promise."

He made a big grin on his face, very similar to his father's and I couldn't help but smile back. God I missed that man, like crazy but I got two wonderful children and one on the way as a product of it. So, I will always have a part of him.

"Now, go and get your best clothes on to impress daddy when you seem him and tell your sister as well, okay ?"

He nodded running out my room and screaming to his sister, there it is...the screaming and running.

20 minutes later...

I was taking my first two aspirin of the day already and I had only been awake half and hour. Today was going to be a long day. I was sipping on the water when I heard the door knock and a bowl smash. I ran into the dining room to see that Lily's breakfast bowl was smashed into little pieces on the floor. She knelt down the pick it up until I spoke.

"Lily! Do not pick that glass up, I will do it. Go and put your shoes on baby and help your brother please. I need to go answer the door, hurry up."

I walked out of the dining room and over to the front door. Opening it I came face to face with Joseph, Paul and more importantly Daniel. I let them all in and as I was hugging Paul to say hi. I hear a bang followed by some crying in Lily's room. I widened my eyes and raced upstairs to her room. As I arrived, I saw Tyler standing in the doorway with a sheepish smile on her face.

"What happened ?"

"I haven't done anything, mommy."

"What was that bang then ?"

I moved him out the way and walked over to Lily, who was sat on the rubbing her bleeding knee. She started crying more as I went over to pick her up.

"Oh, baby what happened ?"

"T-t-tyler pus-sh-shed m-m-me o-o-ov-v-ver."

I hated seeing my kids cry it broke my heart. However, I managed to pick her up and take her downstairs whilst grabbing Tyler's wrist with my free hand. As we were walking downstairs, I asked Tyler what happened.

"She was trying to help me put my shoes on and being a bossy pants."

"Tyler, I asked her to help you. She wasn't doing anything wrong. Was that really want a good enough reason to push your sister over ? Look at her knee."

"I'm sorry, mama."

"Your saying it to the wrong person, baby."

As we walked into the kitchen and he saw everyone he screamed and ran into Daniel's arms. I would be lying if I said the sight didn't make my heart swell a million times but he had been naughty.

"Tyler James Gillies!"

Daniel looked up confused. Most likely thinking that I was trying to make sure Tyler didn't hug him.

"What did I just say ?"

I sat Lily down on the island and went to the medicine cabinet to get the band-aids, he trudged towards his sister and put his head down.

"I'm sorry I pushed you over."

She smiled at him in acceptance as I cleaned her knee and put on a band-aid. I lifted her down and I finished saying hi to everyone and walked out the door and then realised I didn't clean the glass up. I'll do it later.

At the comic con, 40 minutes later...

When we arrived, we were screamed at by millions of fans that had come from everywhere.However, if my kids weren't here covering their ears because of loud noise, I would've stopped and greeted a few of them. Not only that but since we were late, we didn't have much time but we did have a tight schedule.

5 minutes later...

Most of 'The Originals' cast had finished their interviews for a day but me and Daniel had been roped into to doing one more, just us. So, I let the kids spend time with all their 'aunts' and 'uncles' and we headed off. Wasn't looking forward to this.

"Hi Guys, I'm here with the lovely Y/N and Daniel Gillies. Who portray the sexiest vampires on 'The Originals' and we are going to be answering your questions that you've sent in on twitter."

I couldn't help but feel slightly awkward as he said 'Y/N and Daniel Gillies'. I thought everyone had been told now but it's okay.

"Okay so our first question comes in from @vampirefiction333 who says 'I really love Elijah and Aviana but will they ever have a relationship with each other because I NEED it.'"

"Um, I'm not entirely sure. We have certainly pushed in the past but I feel as though it just wouldn't end well."

"Yeah, I think what Y/N said was absolutely right. Considering her past relationship with Klaus I don't think it would end well for Elijah let alone Aviana."

“Okay, next question come from @y/n.y/l/n_ishot. Creative username, um so their question is ‘I know that Daniel and Y/N aren’t together anymore but I really want to know where they had their honeymoon because have you seen the pictures😍!!”

We both laughed despite the user making a spectacle of the mutual split.

“We had our honeymoon at ‘The Samaya Bali’ hotel in Bali and we loved it. We stayed in the one bedroom royal courtyard villa, which was just incredible.”

“Yeah it was wonderful because it’s quite a small and private hotel by it is beautiful and it was definitely worth every penny.”

“That sounds great. Okay, last question is from @Y/NandDanielGilliesShipper. Very long name but uh their question was ‘I really wish Y/N and Daniel stayed together and it hurts that I don’t know the reason why they got a divorce. Someone please tell me😭.”

We both looked at each other and smiled slightly before he nodded for me to go first.

“Um okay. So, it was a mutual decision, we just realised that it wasn’t working anymore. I think that first initial spark that we had kind of disappeared and due to that the relationship just felt like a burden almost. The last kinda months we were together we just spent constantly having small disagreements which would then lead to a much bigger argument. I don’t think either of us deserved that and so we had a talk and we decided it was just better off.”

He looked at me kinda sadly as we knew the main reason behind those arguments but for the sake of privacy we decided to keep it to ourselves.

“Yeah what Y/N said. I believe that there is always going to be a deep and passionate love between us, there always will be. I think that’s due to how young and naive we were when we even started dating and then not long after we met; we married and had kids so yeah there will always be some love there, no matter what. I just feel as though because of being each other’s first every thing it led us to believe that there was nothing else.”

“Do you believe there is something else ? Not to make you feel uncomfortable or pressure you into answering.”

We all chuckled.

“No honestly it’s fine. I do believe there isn’t something else out there even if I haven’t fallen out of love with Y/N. There always is something else out there.”

“I think there is a lot of truth in what Daniel’s saying but we both definitely need to let ourselves heal and let our children heal before even entertaining the idea of new people.”

“Talking of your children, how’d you tell them ? How did they handle it ?”

“They handled it quite maturely, I have to say. Which was quite shocking as they are both very upbeat all the time and they are never serious or truly upset. So, to see them so quiet was kind of worrying actually. I think they were in a state of shock for just a moment and then they had a little cry and they accepted it. It was quite sudden though, which I do regret. They literally woke up 20 minutes prior, I was drinking coffee, Daniel was making breakfast and it was normal but then we just sprung it on them whilst they were eating breakfast. So, if we could change that I would but I think the sooner they knew, the smoother and quicker the healing would be.”

He smiled at us. I looked at Daniel and we smiled at each other once again. I was happy for him whether he was moving on with someone else or not. Even if we weren’t together there was still and us and that was some hope and I love that.

I loved him.

No.

I love him.

Children:

Tyler James Gillies- 7 years old

Lily Aviana Gillies-5 years old

MASTERLIST

[bratkook]

clairvoyant. (m) part ten.

 masterlist

pairing: jungkook x reader , taehyung x reader word count: 21.3k genre: smut, angst, fluff warnings: mentions of violence (jungkook gets decked), a series of very unfortunate events happen to jungkook i’m sorry lol, its cute at the end tho, penetrative sex, nothing too crazy  author’s note: hi i know this is like very overdue...but the writers block was gnarly with this chapter. nonetheless it’s here!! i’m gonna go bury my head under sand now that this is finished bc i can’t believe i actually finished this story...anyways i hope you enjoyed it, pls let me know what you think of the series! byeee ily

“Hey,” Jimin snaps his fingers in front of Jungkook’s face, only making the boys nose crinkle up but otherwise not stirring him from his slumber. Hazy dreams consisting of the potential child that could have been, wrapped up in a white blanket, cloud his mind too much to hear Jimin’s attempt to wake up.

“Wakey wakey.” He pats your cheeks this time, his fingers pressing into your face and squishing your cheeks until your lips are puckered out. On the flip side you’re too tired out to dream, your mind playing a nice little montage of pure white noise, showcasing that your brain was currently out of service.

To be fair, Jimin had given the two of you more than enough time to wake up on your own terms but he had been sitting in his own home bored beyond belief while you two snoozed away and honestly, neither of you looked comfortable.

Jungkook was slouched into the couch, his butt near the edge while his head hung forward, you were contorted into a pretzel with your limbs sprawled in unnatural positions. Your head still lay resting on Jungkook’s lap, your neck tilting up at an angle that bordered on painful but your face looked at ease while Jimin squished it.

His fingers move from squishing your cheeks to pinching your nose because desperate times called for desperate measures.

He counts slowly and before he gets to nine, you let out a strangled gasp, your eyes shooting open as you aggressively swat in front of you, smacking Jimin’s hands off of your face as your lungs search for oxygen.

You’re half asleep still, not entirely sure what happened so when Jimin stares at you innocently, a fake look of concern on his face, you don’t catch on to his bullshit when he asks whats wrong.

“Jimin?” You mumble out, rubbing at your eyes weakly as you push yourself up into a sitting position. The muscles in your neck ache considering you had slept half lifted up on Jungkook’s thighs. Your hand digs into the still sleeping boy as you push up, more specifically his crotch, the pressure causing him to groan before his own eyes are fluttering open.

“What’s going on?” He rasps out, his face screwed up while he tries to blink the sleep away, the throbbing pain in his crotch being momentarily forgotten.

“Wow, so weird that you two woke up at the same time. An absolute mystery.” Jimin shrugs, an unconvincing smile on his plump lips, the piercing you gave him months ago glimmering at the action. “But now that you’re up, anyone want breakfast?”

As you slowly come to, the dull ache in your head reminds you of the bottle of wine you and Jungkook downed last night, and with that comes the feeling of relief once more.

Jungkook on the other hand had focused his blurry sight on the last remaining test still on the coffee table. The two of you had celebrated last night but there was still the slim, slim, chance that those two tests were duds. Jungkook liked to think he had some good karma saved up but the chain of events of the last few weeks had proven him otherwise. Now he was partially convinced that someone of a higher power had it out for him, but he would pray to whoever would listen to give him another stroke of luck with this.

He raises one weak hand, finger pointing at the cardboard box in a way that resembles a horror movie and when you and Jimin follow the line and you sigh as you realize it was in fact a horror movie, “Right, fuck. It’s fine, it’ll be fine.”

When your eyes look to Jimin, a look in them making it clear that he had to say some comforting words right now, and he can only muster up a pathetic, “Right.”

Jungkook chuckles under his breath when you scoff, reaching out with his hand to rest on your shoulder to comfort you, “Yeah it’ll be fine, do you uh–“ he pauses slightly, not wanting to push his luck once more, “do you want me to go with you again?”

Jimin is merely an observer, his butt rested on his coffee table as his eyes flicker back and forth between you two, acting like shy teenagers as if Jungkook hadn’t blown his load in you, resulting in the pregnancy test drama of last night. 

Cute.

“No, I think i’ll be fine alone this time.” You turn to fully face him for the first time this morning and when you smile at him Jungkook smiles back. His eyes are puffy and his hair is ruffled up on one side and completely flat on the other, in return, you still have traces on your face of whatever makeup you hadn’t cried off, your hair tangled together at the side of your head. The two of you look like absolute messes but theres a small glow of happiness around the two of you.

“Im thinking eggs & bacon, do we agree?” Jimin speaks up, breaking the small staring match you two had going. He would’ve let you continue, really he loved watching the lovey dovey heart eyes or whatever, but his stomach was growling and the way you two are acting along with that has the tiniest twinge of nausea curling in his gut.

“Do you have hash browns?”

Jimin can only scoff, pulling out his phone to add as much hash browns as Jungkook’s heart desired, “Baby, its uber eats I can get you all the hash browns you want.” He reaches out and pats his cheek gently, “Don’t you worry.”

When Jungkook places a hand over his chest in dramatics, you reach over and grab the remaining test, wanting to leave the bromance swirling in the air. As your hands curl around the cardboard the initial nerves and pure panic you felt last night was missing, you had been reassured twice that you weren’t and you were blocking out the fact that todays test could be different.

You weren’t going to be a mother. Jungkook wasn’t going to be a father.

As you walk over to the bathroom Jimin watches you from the corner of his eyes as he fills out the order on his phone, he knew your breakfast favorites so he didn’t have the need to ask you.

The second he deems you far away enough his eyes look up at Jungkook and the boy looks nervous, his teeth nibbling on his bottom lip as his eyes bounce from staring at Jimin’s phone to the now closed bathroom door. It’s evident that Jungkook is no longer nervous about the idea of you being with child, no his nerves were on royally fucking this up a second time, because thats apparently what he did best.

Jungkook jumps slightly when Jimin places his hand on his bouncing knee, a reassuring smile on his face as he stares at him, “Relax Thumper, just don’t be an idiot and you’ll be fine.”

The look Jungkook throws his way has Jimin laughing, don’t be an idiot right like he had done such a good job before.

“Right, sorry. Just–“ he sighs and completes the order on the phone, “be honest with her man. I know you mean well but don’t be naive enough to think all you need to do is bat your eyes at her and she’s yours.”

In theory, Jungkook knows this, he knows that just because you two had cleared the air last night didn’t necessarily mean everything was golden now. He wanted to properly make amends, properly confess to the way he was feeling after having it bottled down and shoved so far down his throat he was surprised he could even speak. But he didn’t really want to do it over breakfast while Jimin watched the entire exchange go down like his favorite movie.

When you exit the bathroom with a giant smile at being confirmed once again that you were not pregnant, he can’t even get himself to match your cheers of glee as you clap, Jimin standing up and joining in on your frolicking, the two of you twirling around like school children playing games.

The only thing on Jungkook’s mind is last night, how thanks to the wine you were so quick to deny being with Taehyung even though it was half true, telling him he’s on thin ice but somewhat forgiven. He’s absolutely stumped on what is and what isn’t okay in terms of acting.

But the more he thinks of it the more he feels queasy, so he forces the thought away, focusing instead on the breakfast placed in front of him by Jimin, hoping the hash browns he had asked for were enough to settle his nerves.

You take note of Jungkook’s behavior, how he’s quiet as he pushes his food around with his fork, lost in his mind while you and Jimin joked around sat at his dining table. His ears only tune in near the end once Jimin states he has to leave.

“Wait why?” Jungkook mumbles out, pushing his half finished breakfast away from him as he stares at Jimin, already stood up and tossing the containers away.

“Damage control, my parents are pretty pissed we ditched their event so I need to go make amends before they cut me off.” He mimics a scissor cutting motion with his fingers, trying to make light of the situation but you can only cringe at his words, covering your face with your palms as you remember the slight scene you had caused.

You had surely did it now, crying in the hallway of some fancy event and only solidifying the hatred you knew his mom had for you.

“Im sorry.” You mumble behind your hands, dragging them down your face as you frown.

Jimin waves you off with a roll of his eyes, slipping on his leather jacket and pulling out his phone, “Don’t be, it’ll be fine. You guys can stay here if you want to.”

You sigh and begin cleaning up your mess as well, “No, I think I’ve used up my allotted time for refuge for the entire week.” The slight guilt you felt from last night not allowing you to overstay your welcome even though you knew that there was no such thing with him but Jimin had done enough for you already, you couldn’t hide in his apartment all day.

“Yeah, I should probably go too.” Jungkook speaks up, if you were leaving he wanted to go with you, desperately wanting some alone time when neither of you were inebriated to properly talk.

As you say your goodbyes and order the uber Jungkook’s nerves take over once more, standing in relative silence on the sidewalk as you wait for the car. He can see the way you stare at him in curiosity, your hands clasped in front of you as you wonder what was clouding his mind so much to turn him into this.

It only gets worse when you get into the car, and once he sees the campus approaching in the distance he feels that same anxiety seize his throat, wrapping around his tongue and weighing it down. His window of opportunity was minimizing, slowly slipping out of his grasp because he was too tongue tied, too nervous to say the wrong thing again.

It’s not until you two step out and onto the pathway leading towards the center of campus that he forces his mouth to start moving, “Wait–“ he practically chokes out, his tongue remembering how to form words after being held captive by his nerves.

He doesn’t even notice he had reached out and grabbed onto your shoulder in an attempt to stop you from walking away after saying goodbye. A curious smile is on your lips as you stare at his hand and follow it up to his face, the typical Jungkook look on it that softens you up.

When you raise your brow up in question he forces himself to sputter out the rest of his sentence, “Do you maybe want a coffee, you know, for old times sake?”

He finally feels his body relax when the smile doesn’t leave your face, a tiny nod of your head easing his nerves further, “Sure, I promise not to toss it this time.”

Jungkook matches your smile, “Deal.”

He shoves his hands into his jean pockets, inching away from you backwards towards the cafe, a tiny grin on his face as he motions you over with a flick of his head. He continues to step away, his strides getting wider when you start to follow him, a teasing lift of his lips that only increases when he speeds up, a laugh spilling out of him when he sees you run after him to catch up.

Your arm hooks around his when you reach him, a similar laugh leaving you when he knocks his hip in to yours, the two of you walking in calm silence up the path. Its still relatively early in the day, and considering it’s a Sunday the majority of students are still in bed nursing hangovers from the night before so everything around you seems untouched. The colored leaves on the floor laying in piles along the stoned path, the occasional squirrel shooting past in a haste to get to the next tree, not at all what you’re used to seeing on campus.

Its such a stark contrast from the chaotic events of last night, the both of you getting a chance to actually breathe, the small sense of normalcy returning and you didn’t realize how much you missed it until this moment, how much you missed just being around Jungkook in a casual setting.

Unfortunately that tiny taste of serenity doesn’t last for long, the minute the two of you step into the cafe, your arm still locked around Jungkook’s, you feel his body tense up instantly. His eyes lock onto Jisoo’s as she’s stood behind the counter, her lips pulled together tightly as she tries her best to keep a neutral face for the sake of her job, but when she sees the way your arm is holding onto his she can’t control the way her brows pinch on her forehead.

“Oh man.” Jungkook groans, stepping further into the building and you have enough sense to unhook your arm to prevent the situation from taking a turn for the worst.

“Hi, welcome to Java Brew, what can I get you.” She speaks through gritted teeth, a forced smile on her face as she glances at Jungkook before looking directly at you. She looks like she wants to combust, maybe have the floor swallow her whole while taking one of you with her.

Neither of you were on her good side, with Jungkook rejecting her advances and you verbally coming to his rescue and calling her out in this exact shop, it’s not a shock when the same coworker as last time swoops in as he senses the tension and tells her to go to the back.

When she enters the employee back room, slamming the door and having it echo in the empty cafe the other worker sends you an apologetic look, “Sorry, she’s not having a good day. What can I get you?”

Jungkook feels his body relax now that there wasn’t a stare down happening, being able to list out both of your orders and paying with ease, the two of you slowly making your way to the furthest booth from the counter, wanting to remain hidden if Jisoo came back out.

By the time your drinks are brought to you Jungkook has built up enough courage to do what he wanted to do. His hands cup his drink cautiously, his lips rolling together as he watches you take a small sip of your own. It was now or never and realistically the worst that could happen was flat out rejection and he was willing to accept that, especially after everything that had transpired.

“Hey Y/N,” he softly speaks out, “look I know we barely got on okay terms last night but I need to be honest with you.”

Your eyebrows raise slightly at his words, setting your cup back down as you stare at him inquisitively, ��Oh, honesty? Thats a big change from before, sure Jungkook.”

He knows your words are teasing, especially with the way you grin at him, a roll of his eyes being sent your way as his mind tries to wrap around the words he wants to say.

“I’m just going to go ahead and say everything I wanted to say that one morning.” His voice is stern, not towards you, almost to himself in an attempt to prevent him from chickening out.

“Okay.” Is your only response, taking another sip of your drink as he lets out a tiny breath of air.

“Okay.” He repeats, pursing his lips, “First off, I want to thank you, for being a good friend to me even when I clearly didn’t deserve it, for going out of your way and offering to help my inexperienced ass out.”

As much as you want to chime in with a teasing joke you swallow it down, seeing just how much he was struggling to find the right words.

“It probably doesn’t seem like much to you because thats just the kind of person you are so maybe you don’t notice it, but you’ve helped me bring out a side of myself that I’ve always wanted to show.”

He takes a second to breathe, sneaking a small glance at you and seeing a tiny smile on your face as you wait patiently, “I know I have moments where I’m still stuck in my shell but more often than not the moments I have where I feel like the person I want to be, its when I’m around you. And after everything that happened I’m so–“

The word dies on the way out when he watches as your eyes narrow at him and he already knows why, the apology hanging off his tongue being the culprit, something you told him you didn’t want to hear. So Jungkook shoves it back, stomping it down his throat with cleated shoes to prevent it from ever coming back up.

With a slight clear of his throat he continues like it never happened, “I don’t want to lie to myself or you anymore, the crush I have on you is still here, growing even and I’ve been wanting to ask you this for weeks now. If you think you feel anything for me, even the slightest bit, can I please take you out on a date. A proper one.”

Its starts as a flutter in your gut, the sensation spreading until the warmth in your cheeks gives away to how you’re feeling. Jungkook’s confession made you feel the way you thought it would, the nervous glint in his eyes but determination set in his tone had words of acceptance itching to fall from your tongue.

Thats when the flashes of Taehyung’s words ring in your ear, talk of going on dates and figuring out feelings echoing inside your mind. Jungkook can see your inner turmoil, your eyebrows creasing your forehead, your lips pursed in a way that shows him you’re holding back and he knows rejections coming. He can just feel it in his bones, a sad smile on his face as he just waits for you to say it.

“Oh Jungkook,” you sigh almost solemnly, a slight frown tugging down your lips as you stare at him, “had you told me this the morning of I would’ve said yes, instantly. I know I’m not officially with Taehyung but we’re kind of in the middle of figuring it out and I don’t think it’d be fair for anyones feelings if I try to juggle the both of you.”

It was the truth, as much as you knew where your feelings lied with both of them, you owed it to Taehyung to be honest with him, especially after everything he had done to try to prove his feelings. Although the two of you were navigating this rather blindly, jumping ship just because Jungkook had decided to finally own up to his emotions seemed too impulsive even for you, no matter how much you wanted to.

Jungkook understood, you didn’t owe him anything, but at least now he had that weight lifted off of his shoulders. Being able to speak his truth without letting other people’s off handed comments influence him made a small sense of pride bloom inside of him.

This wouldn’t stop Jungkook from nurturing the seed of a crush he had, now blossomed into the prettiest petals, it didn’t matter how much space it took in his chest. If and when things with you and Taehyung moved forward or fizzled out he’d like to think that you and him would remain okay regardless. That was good enough for him.

So as he walks you back to your dorm he doesn’t feel the sting of rejection he anticipated, being able to joke and talk to you like he used to, no longer worried about looking into your eyes because he knew the fire you had in them from before was long gone. He lets himself smile along to the way you laugh at a stupid joke he had told, his eyes crinkling up as he sees how your head drops forward as your laughter fills the air.

It was the obvious heart eyes he was currently sporting that allowed any onlookers to know just how he felt, and unfortunately for Jungkook one of those onlookers just so happens to be Kim Taehyung.

That streak of bad luck Jungkook thought was cleared after this morning seems to make a u-turn and head right back his way, full speed, with no intention of breaking.

Whoever must be in charge of Jungkook’s timeline of events must be cackling from up above when they see Taehyung glance up from his phone by chance. He was currently perched on one of the benches outside of your dorms, nerves causing him to overthink everything as he scrolled through his phone. 

You hadn’t responded to any of his texts last night, and neither had Jimin, so he had assumed the worst. He found himself stalking your socials and his friends’, checked the morning news for anything and then forced himself to calm down because the rational side of his brain told him that odds were you were drunk off your ass and asleep at Jimin’s.

The very last thing he expected to see was you walking up to your building, a giddy smile on your face, with Jungkook right beside you and those dumb heart eyes on his.

Taehyung is somewhat regretting not having gone up to your room to wait if you’d show up because the minute he sees Jungkook he’s seeing red. It’s almost a blessing that you or Jungkook don’t see the way he stands up from the bench and swoops in, firmly pressing his hands against Jungkook’s chest and shoving him a little harder than he might have intended.

Jungkook goes from looking at you to the world spinning around until his back collides with the floor in a nasty thud, the air leaving his lungs in a whoosh, the burning feeling of being winded only leaving him more confused as he lays on the floor.

“Oh my god!” Your voice sounds warped from the way his blood pounds in his ears, your head whipping to the side when you see the way Jungkook gets tackled in a blur.

Taehyung says nothing as he hops onto the boy with a grunt, straddling his chest and swinging once, his fist colliding with Jungkook’s jaw, his knuckles swiping his nose, leaving a burning trail in its wake. Instantly Jungkook knows it broke skin, with the coppery taste of blood filling his mouth and the warmth of it dripping down his nose it’s not hard to tell.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay the fuck away?” Is all Taehyung snarls out, no longer fighting, one punch was enough to get his point across. Instead he just rests his weight on Jungkook’s stomach, his jean clad knees digging into the concrete. 

The anger he feels slowly starts to fizzle out until his tunnel vision widens and he realizes Jungkook is merely laying underneath him without saying a word, a dazed look on his face from just having been pummeled into the ground.

“Are you kidding me?” You shout out, your brows pinched together as you move to stand behind him, scooping your hands under his arms and hauling his body off the freshman with all your strength.

Taehyung doesn’t resist, letting you stand him up and away while Jungkook groans on the floor, having to shake his head slightly to try to see straight.

He hadn’t even realized who had been the attacker until Taehyung spoke, this just confirmed that Jungkook would have definitely not been able to stand his ground against him if he was actually getting jumped. Jungkook might have the up on him in terms of muscle and strength but where Taehyung lacked in muscle he made up is quickness, along with pure determination and rage on his side, and that always won.

“Fuck..” Jungkook wipes at his face, effectively smearing the blood around and making it worse, he pulls his fingers away from his face and see the mess on them. At least this time the shirt he was wearing was black.

“Taehyung,” you snap, twirling him around in your grasp and having to cup his face to get him to stare at you since he kept glaring at Jungkook, “what the hell was that for?”

His eyes immediately soften when he stares at you, even though you look absolutely livid his heart still melts at the way your nose scrunched up as you glared at him, anger swirling around in your eyes.

“Honestly, just had to get that out of my system.” He shrugs like its no big deal and has the audacity to try to go in for a kiss as if he hadn’t just plowed Jungkook down like a wrestling match. His eyes open up once his lips meet air when you dodge it and he frowns, “What?”

When you say nothing he sighs in defeat, eyes moving back over to Jungkook when the boy groans to life and starts to haul himself up, his hand coming to cradle his jaw, turning his head to spit out the blood in his mouth in a grimace.

“Fair, I think I’ve had that coming.” Jungkook speaks with a wince when his fingers touch his nose, thankful that his track record hadn’t resulted in it breaking, yet.

Taehyung motions out with his arm to prove his point and you sigh when you look back at him, seeing the innocent look on his face, “Is he bothering you?”

“Bothering me? What?”

“Yeah,” he leans in closer as Jungkook finally stands up, “I mean, why else is he with you...” he trails off, curiously turning his head to stare at Jungkook. The younger boy was a shit liar and pretender, all it took was one sharp stare for the guilt to be written all over his face. Taehyung could see that Jungkook had done something, what it was though he had yet to find out.

As much as you didn’t want to tell Taehyung about last night you felt like you owed him that much since you were loosely dating. However, you really didn’t want to tell him out in public after he had knocked Jungkook onto his ass once already.

“Its a long story, I’ll tell you inside.”

Taehyung wasn’t this alpha male that wanted to have a claim over you, he had just set Jungkook straight for the disrespect, but the slight guilt was growing inside of him when he sees the defeated look on the younger boy’s face. He was unaware that you and him had talked it out briefly so when he saw him strutting up with you after he had told him to stay away it seemed like he was pushing his luck. As he looks around and sees the tiny crowd that had gathered to watch what they thought would be a beat down he realizes he might have crossed a line.

Jungkook was currently using Jimin’s borrowed shirt to wipe the blood off his face, his arm waving you off when he saw the look of concern on it, “Really, I’m fine. I don’t blame him.”

“I’m sorry Kook.” You weakly respond, stepping towards him to make sure he was okay but he stops you, a shake of his head as he looks at Taehyung again. The last thing he needed was Taehyung swinging a second time because you had checked up on him.

When he wipes at his nose once more he hisses when he feels the burn of whatever skin had broken open, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll see you in class.” He doesn’t wait for a response, feeling a tiny bit of embarrassment at just being pummeled in front of you after you had a decent night, all things considered, and a pretty nice morning. Somehow the morning after never seemed to work in his favor.

You watch as Jungkook’s silhouette gets smaller in the distance, Taehyung finally relaxing when he can no longer see him, turning to you and taking the lead to walk into your dorm.

He wraps his arms around you, resting his chin on your head as you shuffle inside, his arms squeezing you until you’re laughing instead of trying to push him away, succeeding in momentarily distracting you of the small beating he had done. Joy just gives you a wave as you two walk on by, your arms digging into Taehyung’s side to get him to release you since his hold had become crushing.

Tae just laughs when you shove him away forcefully, his back hitting the side of the elevator as you gasp for air dramatically, “Jesus, you trying to strangle me?”

“Aren’t you into that?”

You scoff and press the elevator button for the second floor, “Usually not like that.”

He steps towards you again with a goofy smile, his large palm spreading open as he guides it to your throat like he knew you liked, “Oh, baby don’t worry I know how to do that.” He gingerly wraps it around you, pressing into your skin with a smirk on his face when your mouth drops open slightly in shock at the audacity he had.

He steps closer to you, his hand still on your throat as he looks down at you. But as he leans down, just about to press his lips to yours its never comes, your hand pulls his palm away from your neck as you step further away from him, “You think I’m gonna kiss you after that?” You question, your eyes narrowing at him and he gulps, not knowing if you were being serious or not but the elevator dings, the door sliding open.

“C’mon.” You shrug, stepping out of the elevator and waving him towards you. His long strides match yours, grabbing your hand and tugging you along in an attempt to lighten the mood. Success ringing in his head once more when he hears you giggling softly as you stumble behind him, but he only tugs you faster until you’re forced to keep up. It’s a playful race to your room, just for the sake of making a challenge out of it but Taehyung’s legs are too long and you’re barely able to keep up with his pace as he drags you along chaotically.

“You’re like fucking bambi.” Taehyung laughs out as you collide with his back when he reaches your door and stops abruptly.

“Dude, you’re hauling my ass around.” You swat at him before pulling out your room key, he takes it from your hand and slides it into the compartment until your door clicks open.

He’s expecting to walk in and see your room mate knocked out on her side but its spotless, her sheets neatly folded and the ever present sticky note pressed against your desk, announcing that she’d be gone most of the day cramming with her study group. You could picture Wendy now, a big gulp size of coffee in front of her and her jumbo framed glasses sitting on her face as she scrambles through her notes.

“So,” you start, facing Taehyung as he makes himself beyond comfortable on your bed, “you want to go ahead and tell me why the hell you decided to tackle Jungkook down like a wrestling match?”

Taehyung scoffs in disbelief, “You wanna tell me why you guys were chillin together all buddy buddy when you were icing him out just yesterday?”

“Not really.” You mutter out under your breath, setting your bag on top of your desk and slipping out of your shoes. You knew you had to tell him though, if things seriously progressed with Taehyung you’d feel guilty having never told him what transpired in the early stages of this.

“Does this require me tackling him down again?” He implores, a stupid grin on his face.

“No, definitely not. Please don’t ever do that again, need I remind you you’re not exactly on the administrations good graces, if you get caught fighting you’ll be kicked out Taehyung.”

He waves you off without a care, if Taehyung was kicked out it would be a blessing in disguise.

“I won’t, now can you tell me whats up? You look like you wanna barf.”

A laugh reaches his ears as you shuffle onto the bed with him, choosing to face him fully as you sat with your back towards the end of your bed.

“You should’ve seen me last night.”

His eyes widen up, a smile accompanying it, “Oh my god, did you and Jimin get shit faced? Did you finally destroy the stupid ice sculpture they always have?” Taehyung’s mind is already going into overdrive as he tries to mentally calculate the amount of money in damages you and Jimin could have theoretically caused but then he pauses. 

How did Jungkook fit into this?

“I wish we got shit faced.” Your voice lowers in tone, your fingers deciding to pluck at the exposed thread on your comforter, “We kind of had to leave early because I was having a panic attack.”

Taehyung just tilts his head in curiosity, choosing to remain silent because he still didn’t know how Jungkook came into the picture, how you having a panic attack at Jimin’s parents event resulted in you and Jungkook getting coffee this morning. It all seemed like a riddle and Taehyung really didn’t want to have to guess his was through it.

“I kind of thought I was pregnant last night.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me anything, should I go get a test?” The look on your face shuts him up entirely once more, the realization hitting him at once when he understands. It all makes sense now, Jungkook slotting into the missing piece, “Oh...it was?”

“Jungkook’s yeah.”

Its quiet for a moment, Taehyung briefly wondering if you were in fact pregnant with his room mates child and thats why you two had decided to make amends. His gaze lands on your stomach, wishing he could see through the fabric of your shirt.

“Are you?”

Your eyes practically bulge out when you look up at him, “No! No, I’m not.”

Taehyung joins in on your nervous laughter, finally feeling like he could breathe,  “Poor kid,” he jokes, his hand running through his hair as he laughs, “I bet he was in a hurry to tell you it wasn’t his or something huh?”

A frown replaces the smile on your lips and Taehyung catches it right away, the scrunch in your brows as you almost look offended by his comment, “No actually. He was very supportive, he was ready to replan his entire life and let me have the baby if thats what I wanted.”

Taehyung hadn’t been expecting that, he hadn’t thought the boy who had pretended you two weren’t friends anymore would be ready to become a dad after one night together. Hell Taehyung hadn’t been ready to become a dad the last time you had a pregnancy scare, he wasn’t sure he ever would be ready.

“Are you guys relieved then or?” He couldn’t gauge the tone, usually one would be ecstatic over not being pregnant but you just seemed nonchalant about it all. You sat on your bed like you had so much more you had to say and it makes him a little nervous.

“Of course we are, I’m not ready to be a mom just yet and Jungkook, as supportive as he was, isn’t ready for a kid either. We weren’t even talking before last night so can you imagine?” You try to tease but the tone drops too much for him to play along because he knows what he has to do.

Taehyung just studies your face for a minute, the way you’re refusing to look into his eyes as you talk to him. He knows more went on between you and Jungkook, a pregnancy scare was not the sole reason you two were walking back to campus with the biggest smiles on your faces.

He knew of Jungkook’s crush on you and it seemed like you knew now too, the guilty expression on his face couldn’t be hidden even behind the small trails of blood and it spelled it out for him.

“Can I ask you something?” Taehyung whispers out, waiting until you finally look into his eyes and nod before speaking again, “If Jungkook hadn’t done what he did after Halloween, would this,” he motions between you two, “be a thing?”

“Thats not fair to ask.” You defend, a blank look on your face.

“Yes it is Y/N.”

“No it’s not Taehyung, if that wouldn’t have happened with Jungkook you wouldn’t have confessed and you know that.”

He sighs, sitting up higher on your bed and reaching for your hands gently, “But would you have wanted me to? I remember the night of the party after it all happened Y/N, the way you were acting wasn’t just because Jungkook stopped being a friend.”

“Its–“

“No, it’s fine Y/N. I know you’ve liked Jungkook for a while now, you can admit it. Please admit it, because acting like you don’t isn’t helping anyone.” He pauses to take a breath, his fingers still rubbing your knuckles in his grasp, “But as much as it hurts to know, I need you to tell me if you’re only pursuing things with me just because of what Jungkook did.”

It feels like theres a lump in your throat that you can’t swallow, and as much as you don’t want to cry again you can feel the slight sting in your eyes. “I like you Taehyung.”

He laughs, a gentle laugh that lets you know he isn’t upset, “I know you do babe, but do you like me as Taehyung your potential boyfriend or Taehyung your good friend.”

He can see the gears churning in your head, your eyes focused on his fingers instead of his face again, “Do you like me as much as you like Jungkook.” Is the final blow he gives, the way your face falls is answer enough for him but he needs to hear you say it for his own sanity.

“Taehyung.” You breathe out, finally looking into his eyes with a defeated expression.

“It’s okay if you don’t know.” He lets go of your hands now, “but I think you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t try to find out.”

He moves to get up from your bed and you reach for him when he finally stands, your hand wrapping around his arm and keeping him next to your bed, the earlier conversation with Jungkook coming back, “That’s not fair to you.”

Taehyung shrugs solemnly, “It’s not fair to you if I expect you to be with me regardless of how you might feel for someone else. I’ll always be here and you know that.”

“I love you Taehyung.” You mumble out with a small frown, your heart only twisting more when he laughs as if he’s not hurt.

He knows when you say you love him it’s not in the way he wants it to be, you love him as a friend, you love the Taehyung that would go out with you until 3am, the Taehyung that forces you to blow up prints of his ass. Not as the Taehyung who wanted to introduce you to his parents, who wanted to have you be his phone background. But he could live with that.

“I love you too Y/N.” He leans down to press a kiss against your forehead, giving you a final smile before pulling away from your grasp and leaving the room. It’s not until the door shuts behind him that he feels his resolve cracking, the small smile he had forced onto his face falling off. This was definitely not the way he thought the morning would go. He felt a little naive in thinking he could ease you into feeling the same way he did, especially when he already knew how you felt about Jungkook.

Maybe that was why he had been so hell bent on making sure Jungkook knew to stay away from you, knowing how easy it would be for him to win you over if he had to chance to talk to you. Taehyung and your relationship seemed doomed to fail from the beginning and it stung a little more when he realized that he was the only person who hadn’t seen it coming.

The buzzing from your back pocket makes you jump, the nerves you currently have only aiding in your heart pumping erratically. You set the coffee down on the bench beside you as you pull out your phone.

Jimin 7:56am : Don’t pussy out.

You glare at the phone, wishing he could see your face through the device. Don’t pussy out? Really. Thats sound advice but what else could you expect from Park Jimin.

The phone gets shoved back into your pocket as you grab the coffee once more and continue walking to your morning class. You had a plan set, Jungkook was always early to this lecture but you hoped the seat beside him was still open, at least for today.

It had been a few days since the pregnancy scare but it feels like it happened so long ago, the roller coaster of emotions that coursed through you during that night and the morning after had been such an over load for you. Jungkook and you hadn’t spoken in between it all, he said he’d see you in class so thats what you were going to do.

When you enter your building the chatter of students roaming around before their class fills the space. A familiar set of eyes spots you when you enter, a smile lifting his lips when he looks down at his own hands and spots the same coffee you most likely carry as well. He’s a good distance away from you, having chosen to sit at a table in the main room of the building instead of inside the classroom but now that he’s spotted you he gets up as well.

Once you enter your class you see that Jungkook isn’t here but his usual desk mate is, she’s sitting in her spot with her notebook spread out as she scribbles on it. Your plan had met a tiny hitch in the road but its surely something a charming smile could fix. She only looks up when you’re stood directly in front of her, a subtle clear of your throat getting her attention.

“Hi.” You grin in the friendliest way you can muster, “I know we’ve never spoken but do you mind if we switch seats for the day?”

Her eyebrow cocks up, a little confused by your odd request, “Oh uh, sure?”

“Great! Thank you, I sit up there.” You point with your pinky towards the top, right beside Jackson who’s currently staring at you like you’ve grown a third head, “He’s single and flirty so have fun.”

A blush tints her cheeks as she packs up her stuff with a bit of excitement at sitting next to another cute boy and when Jackson sees her making her way up the steps he can’t find it in himself to be upset because the girls cute too, shooting you a sly thumbs up as he fixes his hair up.

“Thats not your seat.”

The voice startles you, nearly dropping the drinks as you try to sit down in your new seat. Jungkook chuckles at your flustered state, setting his drinks down onto his own desk before sliding into his seat.

“I know it’s not, I can move if you want.” You tease, your eyes widening when they land on the identical cups of coffee he also has. Looks like the two of you had the same plan.

“Please don’t.” Jungkook slides into his own seat, sheepishly smiling when he stares at your drinks as well. “Am I being bold by assuming one of those is for me?”

“No,” you laugh, your fingers toying with the lid of your cup, “I think we both had the same idea tho.”

He just smiles widely as he hands your coffee over, “Fine by me, I drink two cups in the morning anyways.”

The both of you swap drinks, ending up with two of the same on your desks but the action makes you feel somewhat giddy inside, hiding your smile behind your cup as you take a sip.

“Why are you sitting here though, really?” He asks softly as he sips his coffee, his wide eyes glancing around the room and seeing the students slowly start to fill it up.

“Just wanted to sit next to you today, can we talk after class? I have something I need to tell you.”

That instantly makes Jungkook nervous, his stomach turning and making him stop drinking his coffee. There was something you needed to tell him...that could go in so many different directions.

You take note of his anxious face and try not to laugh as you drink your coffee, “Nothing bad I swear.”

“Okay,” he hesitates, biting around his straw, “sure.”

Jungkook can honestly say anything said during the entire lecture went in one ear and out the other. His brain was too busy exploring the different scenarios regarding why you wanted to talk after class. A million and one different options came to mind but he couldn’t find himself thinking any of them would be good for him.

Maybe you were going to tell him you two couldn’t be friends anymore after Taehyung had slammed him into the concrete. Or maybe the realization that you two almost had a baby had sunk in and when the smoke cleared you came to terms with the fact that Jungkook was a horrible potential partner and friend so you would be kicking him to the curb.

“Jungkook?”

His eyes are glazed over as he stares at the floor, his lips pursed in thought while his mind ran like a tiny hamster on a wheel.

“Jungkook.” You try again, reaching out and patting his cheek with your palm, smiling when his eyes blink back to the present. “You were up in the clouds.”

His eyes stare at you for a moment before roaming the room, only a handful of students remain packing up their belongings while Jungkook, who normally bolts out, stays seated for the first time in forever.

“Sorry.” He mumbles with a grin, finally coming into motion and stuffing his notebook into his bag. “Where did you wanna go?”

You patiently wait for him, your hip resting on the side of his desk, “We can go to that crepe place you showed me near campus?”

His face brightens up at the mention of it, standing up with a smile as he hooks his backpack over his shoulders, “Okay! C’mon.”

In a turn of events it’s now you who’s full of nerves as you and Jungkook walk off campus, fiddling with your hands in front of you while you made small talk, the tiny nervous habits he had picked up on coming out to play but he doesn’t comment on it.

He forces himself to not overthink anything again, not allowing his self sabotaging comments to derail anything, for all he knew you wanted to talk about possibly having secret santa since Christmas would be approaching soon.

Even as the two of you step into the crepe shop, placing your orders and taking a seat at a small table in a corner he doesn’t speak first, he just sits there with a small smile as he watches the way you scrape the polish off your fingernails. 

“I’m really sorry about Taehyung,” Is what you blurt out, his smile falling from his face as he remembers being body slammed onto the ground with passing students watching in shock. Those were excellent first words for diving into this conversation.

“Please-” he chokes, thankful that your food gets brought out at that moment, “please don’t mention it. I’m okay, see, no bruises.” He motions to his face with a forced smile, eventually melting into a real one once more when he sees the way you start to giggle.

“Okay, sorry. I’ll pretend it never happened then?” Your pitch raises at the end and he nods in agreement. Pretending it never happened was fantastic, maybe it would help him forget as well.

“So was that why you asked to hang out?”

“No.”

Jungkook just blinks at you, slow and practiced, his mind displaying an error screen because he was at a loss. His mouth opens and closes once and you pity him, knowing he really doesn’t know how to respond to your vague answer.

“Is this about secret santa then?”

That has you at a loss too, your head tilting at him, “What?”

“Nothing.” He deflects, cutting up his banana and nutella crepe and stuffing it into his mouth just as quickly. It makes you laugh, your nerves momentarily fizzling out until it falls silent once more, the sound of his munching filling the empty space.

“Remember that conversation we had at the cafe before, you know.” You wave off, seeing him lick his lips and nod in confirmation, he definitely remembered that. Spilling his emotions out to you and getting a reality check in the form of rejection in return.

“Yeah,” he breathes out, pursing his lips as he stares at your untouched strawberry covered crepe, “sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

“Jungkook, no, it didn’t. I just-” you wipe your sweaty palms on your thighs, begging your courage to not slip between your clammy fingers, “I was wondering if I could...maybe change my answer.”

The beeping computer noises in his brain quiet at that, his lips pushing out further in confusion, not wanting the excitement of the possibility that you might change your answer from a no into a yes to take over his rational thinking.

“But I thought you said no because of Taehyung?”

The slight sting of remembering Taehyung’s sad face flashes through your mind and you fidget in your seat uncomfortably.

“I did, but Taehyung and I had a conversation about all of it and we ended things.”

Jungkook frowns at that, not feeling the happiness he thought he would. He hoped it wasn’t because Taehyung had given him a gnarly right hook, he didn’t want that altercation to be what came between the two of you, “Wait, why?”

It was time for you to be honest, Jungkook had given that to you and considering these feelings had been clouding your mind ever since October, you owed it to yourself to finally admit to still having them. “Because I realized that I really like you Jungkook, a lot.”

He sets his fork down, letting the words process and fully sink in. The first inkling of happiness starts to creep up his spine, he feels a little bad that you and Taehyung ended things, especially because of him, but he can’t deny his feelings. 

The nerves you felt start to dissipate when you see his lips stretch into a smile, his wide eyes almost sparkling as he stares at you with hints of excitement that match the way you feel inside.

“Really?” He almost whispers, leaning forward in his chair as if you two are sharing a forbidden secret.

A grin is sent his way as you mimic his actions, leaning over in your own seat to meet him halfway, “Yes really, so is that offer for a date still on the table?”

“Of course it is.”

You sit straight in your seat again, finally cutting in to your food now that you didn’t feel like puking out of nerves. Jungkook feels like things were going in his favor once more, maybe his good karma just took a while to kick in, the string of unfortunate events just being hurdles to test his patience. 

“So, secret santa huh?”

He hums as he chews his food, wagging his fork at you as he swallows, “Don’t tell me you guys don’t do it?”

You stab through a strawberry as you think it over, you had actually never participated in secret santa before but it did seem like a fun exchange, “Can’t say we have, theres a first time for everything though.”

Jungkook wonders if your friend group would be civil with him if things with you progressed, sure Jimin seemed to be on okay terms with him but then again if Taehyung had plowed him down and Yoongi had sat him down for a talking, how the rest of them would act was currently a big mystery. Maybe Jungkook would have some ass kissing to do, but for now he found it was best to focus on ensuring your future date went exactly the way he wanted it to.

“I’m gonna need a detailed list of your favorite foods.”

That makes you laugh before you bring your food to your mouth, “Really, why?”

He just shrugs, “Because I want it to be perfect.”

Wendy sighs as she’s stood in front of you, her fingers gripping your jaw as she forces you to stop fidgeting in your chair.

“Can you stop!” She snaps, giving up on trying to apply your eyeliner. The last thing she needed was the right side to end up looking like a tribute to her emo days, raccoon eyes and all.

“Sorry, it tickles.”

She snorts at that, knowing that wasn’t the only reason you were wiggling around like a toddler. “Oh really, thats the only reason why?”

Your eyes flutter open at her teasing tone, knowing better than to open them all the way because if you transfer your eyeliner onto your lid you know Wendy will smack you.

“Yes you whore, why else.”

She blows you a kiss at the endearing nickname, motioning for you to shut your eyes again to finish up the eyeliner. Wendy waits until she flicks the wing, biting down on her lip as she forces herself not to say what she wants to say until the chance of ruining your makeup is in the clear.

You feel her fanning your face, your brows pinching together as she remains quiet for another moment.

“Because you’re nervous, you’ve had it bad for the greek god for a long time okay don’t front.” Her tone is confident and it makes you scrunch your face up.

“What is with you and comparing these guys to Jesus and greek gods, they really don’t need their egos inflated Wendy.”

Her laughs fills the room as she moves on to coating a pair of false lashes with glue, resting her butt on the edge of your desk as she waits for it to get tacky. “Oh hush, you know I’ll never say it to their faces.” She gives the lashes a blow, curving them in her grasp to help them shape to your lid easier, “Either way stop changing the subject, you’re way more nervous about this date than you were for your date with McDreamy.”

You couldn’t deny that, the jitters running through your body, your mind running through how the night would play out, the slight tingle in your lips when you wondered if Jungkook would be the type to kiss you good bye when the date was finished. Those were all the things that were missing last time.

“You seem to be rooting for this despite you claiming he was a pig last time Wendy.” You bite back, being defensive was your coping mechanism.

She hums as she starts to apply your left eyelash, securing the inner corner and pushing them up so they wouldn’t droop over your eye once fully dry.

“I may have spoken prematurely, you only give me rundowns when shit get catastrophic okay.”

That much was true, even though you two were room mates and friends underneath it all, you rarely told her every single detail of your life. She was always busy with course work and you didn’t want to swamp her further with every minuscule thing. Which lead to you dumping everything on to her when it became too much.

So, after things with Taehyung fizzled out you came to her and laid it all out once more. Her and Jimin had been the ones to push you towards accepting Jungkook’s offer for a date after you had already declined.

“Either way, you’re deflecting. Just admit you’re nervous because you want this to work out.”

You remain silent as she applies your other lash, rolling your lips together and not opening your eye until she deems it safe to do so. When your eyes flutter open and meet hers you see the smug look she has on her face, she could read you like a book.

“Okay fine, I want this to work out so badly. But realistically, I don’t think there’s anything that can happen that can make me not enjoy this date.”

“Really, nothing?”

Your mind sorts through every possible scenario that could make this date a disaster and comes up blank, “Well, unless he calls me some other girl’s name-”

“Please,” Wendy laughs out, “the boy probably has a notebook page filled up with just your name. Oh my god, he probably writes Jeon Y/N and circles hearts all around it!”

“Stop!” You swat at her arm with a playful scowl on your face, “Don’t poke fun at him.”

That image was swirling through your head now, picturing Jungkook hunched over his desk during class or in the middle of studying and instead of taking notes he’d be scribbling your name into the corner of the paper. It makes a stupid smile spread across your face and Wendy chuckles when she sees it.

“You’re such a simp.”

“Okay, give me that.” You snatch the brush from her hands, going to apply your own makeup since she seemed determined to make you more flustered than you were. There was about twenty minutes left until you were set to meet up with Jungkook and if you kept getting distracted you’d end up running late and thats the last thing you wanted to do.

She raises her hands up in defense and lets you do your thing, choosing to approach your closet instead to help you pick out a shirt for tonight. You were hell bent on wearing the black high waisted jeans you had on because they made your ass look good and also hit your ankles just right so you could wear the cute chunky black heels you had just bought. Wendy pulls out a few shirts and holds them up beside you as you apply your bronzer, weighing out the options in front of her.

“Whats the vibe for today? Super classy or classy with a dash of slutty?”

You hum in thought, setting the bronzer down and moving on to the finishing touches, “Classy with a dash of slutty never fails...”

She agrees wholeheartedly, hanging up the second option and handing you the first one as you give your makeup a final check. When you grab the shirt from her an approving nod is sent her way, the black lace corset top was right on the edge of classy and slutty, perfect.

Even as you slip on the black wool coat, something you absolutely needed to ward off the cold December air, the jittery feeling inside of you doesn’t lessen. In fact it increases, more so when your phone vibrates with a text from the man of the hour.

Jungkook 8:27pm : I’m ready whenever you are (:

“Do you know where you’re going?” Wendy asks as she plops back down onto her bed, her hands crossed on her lap with a tiny smile on her face, pretty proud of her makeup skills.

“Not the exact place, I’m pretty sure it’s a Japanese restaurant because I’ve been bombarding him with sushi places.” You smile to yourself when you scroll through your thread with Jungkook, seeing the countless screenshots of restaurants in the area, surely he was overwhelmed by how many different places you had sent him but you wanted to give him options while still allowing yourself to be surprised.

Y/N 8:28pm : I’ll be down in like 2 minutes!

You pocket your phone again, analyzing your full outfit in the mirror and ruffling your hair as a final check. Wiping your palms onto your jeans you take a brief moment to think about how nervous Jungkook was, remembering the way he had acted before his date with Jisoo, how he had been so unsure of absolutely everything including his outfit. He had needed your guidance to calm down, needed your opinion on which shirt to wear, had he asked someone else for guidance tonight?

“Everything’s gonna be fine okay? By the way, do you need me to vacate the room for the night?” Wendy questions from her spot on the bed, her eyebrows wiggling at you through the mirror.

“No,” you laugh, with the fear of the pregnancy scare still fresh in your system you highly doubt the two of you will be in a rush to repeat the actions of that night, “you’re safe in this room.”

Wendy doesn’t fully believe you but she doesn’t argue, just agrees and gives you a quick hug before waving you out of the room with a massive smile, hoping just as much as you were that tonight went well.

Right as you exit your building you spot Jungkook, he’s sat on one of the benches by the front door, his hands folded over his knees as he stares off towards the middle of the quad. He only looks your way when he hears the soft clacking of your heels on the concrete and when he takes you in he feels his heart skip a beat.

He stands up from the bench in a swift motion, his dark hair fluffing on top of his head from his haste action. For a moment he says nothing, his eyes fully giving you a once over and admiring how beautiful you look, its only once he meets your eyes that his slight slack jawed expression turns into a sweet smile.

“Wow, you look beautiful.” He breathes out, his hands reaching for yours and bringing you in for a hug. His arms wrap around you easily, pulling you into his chest and giving you a squeeze that invades all your senses, warmth spreading throughout you when you feel surrounded in Jungkook.

“Thank you.” You mumble out, your own hand placed on his back, your fingers rubbing the material of his coat. As they trail up towards his shoulders they catch on something and you pull back slightly, your hands turning his body around without a warning, a small noise of question leaving Jungkook.

“Kookie, your coats on inside out.”

His eyes widen at that, craning his head around to see what you meant, “What, really?”

“Yeah,” you laugh out, your finger flicking the white tag by the collar as you bit your lip, trying not to laugh more when he whirls around as if he’ll get a better glimpse at it that way, “here take it off.”

He stops his moving instantly, standing still with slightly red cheeks as you help slide the black coat off of him. When his eyes catch on to the tag he feels more embarrassment fill his system, his first date jitters being the sole reason for the slight wardrobe mistake.

You found it endearing though, picturing him in such a haste to get out and meet you that he didn’t get a proper look at his coat, shoving his arms through it without a care just as he exited his room.

“There, all better.” You ease his arms back into the jacket, your hands adjusting the collar of it, leaving them placed on his shoulders as you stare up at him. Your close proximity has Jungkook gulping, his eyes flicking down onto your lips, desperately fighting the urge to kiss you. He wanted to do this right, do it respectfully, no matter how badly he wanted to plant one on your nude colored lips.

“Thanks,” he whispers out, his breath hitching in his throat when you lean up and press a soft kiss to the side of his cheek, the gentle smack of your lips on his skin only flusters him further, “we should get going to make the reservations.”

“Okay, let’s go.” You pull away with a satisfied smile, absolutely loving the effect you had on him, the shy Jungkook that had taken your heart captive being shown once more.

The cold air keeps you walking close to him, needing the extra body warmth to stop the chill from creeping into your bones. Because of this, every step you took left fluttering touches on your hand as his grazed it. Jungkook keeps his gaze forward, his lips pressed together lightly as he contemplated what to do. His fingers twitched at his side, slowly spreading apart until the courage grew inside of him and he was reaching out to clasp your hand with his.

His large palm envelopes yours easily, dwarfing it in comparison and it leaves you feeling secure. He notices the extra pep in your step, the soft swinging of your intertwined hands and he sneaks a glance over at you, a smile spreading across his face when he notices the giddy expression on yours.

Neither of you mention it, you just enjoy the innocent sensation of feeling connected as you walked together, nearing the awaiting car Jungkook had gone ahead and ordered.

Everything was going just the way he wanted it, the antsy feeling he had the day before that prevented him from getting a good nights sleep, the frantic texting between him and Eunwoo as he asked for help on his choice of restaurant had left him so anxious.

But all of it was worth it, especially when he sees the way your face absolutely lights up once the uber approaches the restaurant of the night. You had snuck it in between the large batch of others, having never been there before but heard so much about it, you were secretly hoping Jungkook had looked into it a little deeper.

“You got reservations for Urasawa?” You finally speak up, your head leaning towards Jungkook as you duck to look at the bright sign.

Jungkook feels a little proud to have caused the marvel in your voice as your wide eyes peer up at the building, bouncing over to him and showing the elation you had when he nods at you.

Once again, everything was going just the way he wanted it to.

The pair of you enter the restaurant with excitement evident in your faces, you take a moment to admire the dim interior while Jungkook approaches the host’s booth.

“Welcome, do you have a reservation?” The brunette woman questions, a smile on her lips as she taps onto the ipad in front of her.

“Yes, it should be under Jungkook for 9 o’clock.”

Its at that very moment that everything starts to slowly go downhill, the mirage of perfection fading out, the light trickling of the sand that wasn’t noticeable before becomes increasingly hard to ignore when it seems as if the floor continues to sink underneath him.

The final avalanche that buries him under comes in the form of a sympathetic smile from the hostess as she scrolls up and down on the reservations list, Jungkook’s name coming up short.

“Sorry sir, there’s nothing here for the name you provided. Is it under another name perhaps?” She tries to find a solution for him, seeing the growing desperation in his eyes as he turns his head over to look at you, seeing you blissfully unaware as you continue to eye the decor around the waiting area.

“Uh, n-no, it has to be under Jungkook.” His brows pinch onto his forehead as his fingers begin to nervously fidget on top of the counter. “Can you check again?” He pleads.

The hostess, which he learns is named Tera thanks to her name tag, nods immediately, going back onto the ipad and typing his name once more. Just like before it pulls up nothing so she goes as far as typing it in every form she possibly could, hoping a typo was the reason behind this reservation being lost.

“I’m sorry–“ she starts, her own hands becoming clammy as she realizes she’d have to be the bearer of bad news and ruin whatever date plans Jungkook currently had. She flicks over to tomorrows date and checks there, her eyes widening when she spots Jungkook’s name in the 9 o’clock spot he had mentioned. It seems as if whoever had booked the reservation for him had officially fucked up and slotted him in for the wrong date.

“Oh, I found it.” She cringes more when Jungkook looks relieved, maybe she shouldn’t have said it in that tone. “But it’s booked for tomorrow.”

He’s about ready to slam his head down onto the wooden counter attached to the booth, a concussion would be a hell of a lot better than wherever the hell this situation would take him. How could it possibly be booked for tomorrow, when he had called and made the reservation he had repeated the date and time about fifteen times, going as far as spelling out his name to avoid any possible confusions.

This was just concrete evidence that someone of a higher power really did have it out for him.

Tera must sense the complete despair Jungkook was currently going through, if the blank look on his face as he tried not to let out a scream didn’t spell it out, the way he tenses up when you finally approach him does. When you wrap your arm around him and gently nudge his side, asking if there was a hold up because the restaurant looked fairly busy, Tera decides to try to throw Jungkook a rope to prevent him from sinking further into the sand.

Jungkook is at a loss, not knowing how to break the news that the reservations you two had been excited for had been booked incorrectly and you’d have to settle going to Mcdonalds instead. So much for a perfect first date.

After frantically scrolling through the current customers seated she manages to find one table that just cleared up, it’s meant to be used by another customer in half and hour but by then she’ll be off the clock and they’ll just have to wait. She didn’t get paid enough for this.

“Perfect, if you could just follow me, I’ll lead you to your table.” She speaks up as if she hadn’t just told Jungkook his reservation was fucked.

Jungkook looks utterly confused as he stares at the hostess, seeing the way she’s trying her best to communicate through her eyes so you wouldn’t know what was going on. Unfortunately Jungkook is not fluent in telepathy but he knows enough to understand that she had just done him a solid, absolutely saving his ass from further embarrassment and giving him another shot at redemption.

He mutters out a thank you and follows behind her, subtly wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead from the stress, finally getting a second to admire the interior much like you had earlier and he’s pretty glad he had chosen this restaurant.

Once Tera shows you both to your table, placing the menus in front of each seat she retreats back to her booth with another thankful glance from Jungkook. He pulls out your chair and scoots you in to your seat before sliding into his own with a grin.

“Can I be honest?” Jungkook asks with a sheepish smile as he toys with the edges of the menu.

“Sure.”

His eyes roam the selection of options, placing the menu back down to stare at you across from him, “I’ve never had sushi.”

Your curious stare turns into one of disbelief as you set your own menu down, leaning towards him slightly, “Jungkook we’re at a sushi restaurant.”

He simply shrugs his shoulders, “Well this is the best place to try it then huh?”

Well, you guess he’s not wrong. You dive in head first as you start to explain every item on the menu to the best of your abilities, questioning him on his likes and dislikes to be able to advise him on what he’d most likely enjoy eating.

Jungkook just sits there with a goofy smile, nodding along as you point to each item, his eyes switching over from your own eyes and then your lips, tracing the way they move as you talk.

He honestly wouldn’t mind it if he ended up totally hating sushi, he just wanted to make you happy and to properly spend time with you on a date that he had probably thought about way too many times. In the end, he lets you take the reins as you decide on one of the assorted plates, letting him get a taste of a few different options and if he liked any in particular you could just order more of it.

“I hope you like it.” You breathe out once the waiter leaves with your order, your fingers playing with edge of the table.

“I will, I eat almost anything.” That much was true, Jungkook wasn’t a picky eater by any means. He enjoyed seafood and judging the few plates that have gone by your table he can’t imagine he won’t enjoy it.

“So, how are things are your job?” He asks after taking a sip of his water, he had missed hearing about the random things you and Yoongi got into at work. Most of the time it was mindless editing on the computer, the occasional drama happening with entitled customers, but he lived for hearing about the days you assisted on shoots. The way your face lit up as you talked about your passion made him want to listen to you talk all day.

“Pretty good, one of our usual photographers who rents the space actually asked me to assist her on a location in a few weeks.” Your smile says it all, finally catching the eye of someone who’s work you actually admired, it helped ease the thought of you being a nobody after you graduated.

“Holy shit thats great, does she do the same style you’re into?” Something about the genuine excitement laced in Jungkook’s tone has you sitting in your seat a little higher, unloading every tidbit of information about the photographer you had.

Jungkook lets you rant, watching the way you move your hands around as you talk, his questions only fueling your fire of talking about your career finally blossoming. It flows from one topic to the next, mentions of Jimin and Yoongi being brought into the mix, the two of you avoiding talking about Taehyung and Jungkook’s dumb friends, until the topic switches once more when Jungkook mentions his workplace.

“Wait, since when do you have a job?” You ask just as your food gets brought out, an assortment of rolls laid on for you to choose from and you hold in a cheer when you see how delicious they all look.

Jungkook eyes them curiously, seeing the array of different colors, your question leaving his mind when he spots one with a black and yellow coloring. You watch the way he visually picks a roll and smile to yourself as you pick up your chopstick and grab onto the sushi roll of choice, bringing it up to his mouth, “It has shrimp tempura, avocado and cucumber.”

It takes no convincing for him to open his mouth for the train of food, chewing the roll and savoring the flavor as you analyze his reaction, hoping he enjoys it. Jungkook presses his lips together after he swallows, a thoughtful look on his face as he looks up for a moment, “I think I’m a sushi fan now.” He laughs out, smiling wider at the look of relief on your face.

“Try out the others too, this is my favorite.” You plop another roll onto the single dish in front of him, hoping he’d also enjoy the spicy tuna roll as well.

Jungkook pops it into his mouth with no hesitation, enjoying the slight heat this one had compared to the previous one. You eat the same roll as well, the two of you smiling at each other as you chewed, no longer anxious on if Jungkook would have to settle with eating teriyaki chicken if the sushi was a fail.

“Oh, I got a job last month–“ he finally answers when he swallows, “nothing fancy, I just work part-time at a clothing store not too far from campus.”

“Any reason why you chose to get a job now?”

He hesitates as he reaches for another roll of sushi, his chopsticks pausing in the air for a moment, “I just needed a reason to not be in my dorm.”

That didn’t need any further explaining, after knowing the atmosphere Taehyung had created in their shared dorm plus the rundown Yoongi had given you on Jungkook and his friends, it wasn’t a surprise that he was scrambling for a reason to not be in his room at all. Choosing to focus on his new job, doing all of his school work in the library instead of his dorm, and only retreating into his room to sleep, had become his new routine.

“Well, do you like it?” You try to deter the conversation away from bringing up the past string of unfortunate events.

“It pays good and we rarely get asshole customers so it’s alright. Either way it’s only temporary until I land an internship or something.” You gasp when you realize that meant Jungkook had finally decided on his major. He breaks out into a smile when he explains he decided on computer science, eager to get his general education over with so he could dive into the best parts of his major.

Now its your turn to fire off the questions, dying to see Jungkook as excited as you were when you talked about your job and it works, the two of you finishing up your assorted plate and ordering more of your favorites while Jungkook gushes about a start-up company he had shown interest in. Wanting to get a one up and already contacting them for a potential internship for the following year.

“Why are you in ceramics and creative writing if you always knew you wanted to get into software development?”

Jungkook can only grin at you as he picks at the extra rolls on the table, his stomach nearing on being full but he just can’t seem to get enough.

“I needed extra units and I actually really enjoy ceramics, plus creative writing could come in handy with the story aspect of things if I decide to branch into video game development.”

You set your chopsticks down, not being able to eat any more or your pants would surely pop open, Jungkook on the other hand finishes off the remaining rolls with a smile on his face, completely satisfied with his choice.

“I still have the ceramic mug you made me by the way.” You admit, your lips curling up as you recall the jumbo mug Jungkook had so kindly hand crafted just for you. It was currently sitting on the edge of your desk, exactly where you always put it after you had your morning cup on the days you didn’t have early morning classes.

“Really?” He wonders, a slight burst of something he can’t pinpoint going off inside of him. He finally sets his own chopsticks down after obliterating the food, stacking up the empty plates in the center of the table.

“Of course Kook, although i’m really glad you made it as big as I asked you, I think it’s contributing to my coffee addiction because now I feel like the cup isn’t big enough.”

He quickly tells you he’ll make you an even bigger one, smiling when you start to laugh over the mental image in your head. Really how much bigger could it be before the cup resembled an actual pot.

As the waiter swings by to clear off the plates Jungkook shyly orders mochi ice cream for the two of you to share, definitely not something you’d ever dream of declining so you settled further into the seat as the two of you continuing mindlessly chatting.

It’s not until motion coming from your left grabs your attention, successfully losing your train of thought when your eyes land on someone you thought you’d never see again. He’s being brought to his table, right next to yours and Jungkook’s, with a pretty blonde as his date. You hold no special feelings for this person, just a mindless hookup that happened before summer ended, but just knowing they were seated right there while you were on a date with Jungkook made you uneasy.

Jungkook catches onto your change, how you started to subtly tilt your head away from your left, framing your hand by your face to prevent someone from spotting you. If it wasn’t for the small gasp of realization he hears, followed by a semi obnoxious whisper of your name, Jungkook would’ve asked you what was wrong.

Instead his own head follows the sound of the voice, landing a mere 6 feet away from the table, the boy seated almost parallel to Jungkook but his attention was clearly on you and not his date.

“Y/N!” The stranger tries once more when you squeeze your eyes shut and try to pretend you couldn’t hear him. He was on a date for fucks sake, why the hell was he calling out your name like you were old friends, you two had barely even talked after you hooked up.

Jungkook continues to watch in slight concern because you really didn’t look like you wanted to speak to him, even his own date looked slightly embarrassed, reaching her hand out to try to shush him in the rather quiet restaurant but whoever this was seemed very persistent.

“Uh Y/N, who is that?” He asks through his teeth, trying his best to be discreet to not grab his attention further.

“It’s no one.” You say with a slight clear of your throat, clear code for I’ll tell you afterwards so Jungkook nods in understanding.

Clearly the stranger didn’t think he was no one, because he had turned towards theatrics, extending his arm out to wave at you in such a chaotic motion you can’t stop yourself from finally whipping your head towards him and giving him a glare. 

Because of that you spot the exact moment his hand rams into the passing waiter who’s holding a tray of drinks, watching in almost slow motion as they topple over on the tray and the mixture of sake and soda spills directly onto Jungkook’s front.

Jungkook’s reaction is instant once he feels the cold liquid trailing down his skin, pushing back from the table in shock, the slight screech of the legs against the wooden floor catching the attention of the surrounding people.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” The waiter apologizes, frantically reaching into his apron for spare napkins as Jungkook stands up, the front of his light colored shirt being absolutely ruined, the strong smell of alcohol sticking to the fabric.

Jungkook can only sigh as he drops his head back, eyes looking up at the ceiling, practically piercing through it as he attempts to glare at the sky. Really?

“It’s okay.” Jungkook reassures the waiter, he knew it wasn’t his fault, so he gives him a soft smile as he take his own napkin off the table and tries his best to dab at the liquid soaking into his shirt.

The more guests grow curious the bigger the scene gets, eventually grabbing the attention of the manager as he makes his way towards the two of you trying to clean up the mess.

Try as you might the murky looking stain wouldn’t be going away with just your napkin but Jungkook still appreciates your effort, letting you pull at his shirt as you tried your best.

“Folks, I am so sorry about this!” The manager speaks up from behind you, nearly startling you as you set the soiled napkin down onto the table.

The poor waiter had already scrambled to the back, most likely worried he’d be getting fired so Jungkook feels inclined to clear his name, “It’s fine, it wasn’t the waiter’s fault–“

“Yeah, it was totally my mistake!” The same boy from before chooses now to speak up after having caused this mess and seeing the way he’s still comfortably sat in his seat is what makes you snap.

“Jesus Jaehyun take a fucking hint!” You hiss out, not missing the way his eyes widen at your tone. He takes that hint loud and clear, turning to fully face his now very uninterested date with his eyes not daring to look over at you again.

“Listen your meal is on the house.” The manager continues, choosing to ignore your little outburst that honestly has Jungkook wanting to laugh.

“Really you don’t have to do that.”

“No we insist, please don’t worry about it.”

You and Jungkook share a look before nodding because sure, who didn’t enjoy free food. With you now seemingly satisfied the manager makes his exit right as your mochi ice cream gets brought out.

By now Jungkook can say he has lost the craving for sweets, his cheeks burning in embarrassment at the lingering eyes who are no doubt talking about him under their breath. He really wanted to leave now and you catch on to that as quickly as it comes.

“You wanna go?” You ask softly, reaching for his hand as you stay stood beside him.

“Yeah.” He mumbles out, still choosing to slide out his wallet to at least leave a tip for your server.

“Okay, let’s go.” You tug him along after he leaves some cash on the table, watching as you give a final glare at the stranger dubbed Jaehyun.

Jungkook wonders if first dates always went this bad, his date with Jisoo failed to have any bumps in the road this extreme. Maybe it was the universe’s way of testing him, your relationship already had a handful of bumps so whats a few more to solidify that you both felt a certain way for each other despite the bad karma that seemed to follow Jungkook.

And as you two exit the restaurant Jungkook doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry when he sees, or more so feels, that its pouring outside. Neither of you are prepared, the forecast of the day never mentioning the possibility of rain at all.

“Oh my god.” You laugh out, ducking your head and practically running down the sidewalk as you yank Jungkook behind you, not stopping until you’re stood under a small area where the roof of the building hung over the sidewalk.

“At least now the wet stain will blend in with the rest of your shirt.” You joke and Jungkook smiles once more, bringing his free hand up to ruffle his now damp hair.

“Silver linings I guess.”

You slide your phone out and order an uber for the two if you, ignoring Jungkook’s voice of protest at you having done that. He had paid for the last uber and even though dinner was technically free he had also provided the tip, so it only felt right to spot the uber back.

Jungkook doesn’t start to feel a little defeated until you’re both stood there waiting for the car, his eyes are focused on the sidewalk, the splatters of rain being the next thing in line to put a hitch in the night. He had planned on going for a walk not too far from here, having seen a park that had sculptures that lit up once the sun went down. In his mind that would be the perfect place for the two of you to come down from the food you had eaten and Jungkook could get an idea on where your feelings stood.

That same defeated feeling lingers as you two exit the uber but Jungkook really tries to not let it put a damper on his mood when the night had been nice overall. You didn’t seem to be upset about anything, a giant smile on your face as you and Jungkook sprint towards your building to seek shelter from the bullets of rain. He had taken off his black coat and held it over the two of you as a makeshift umbrella, having to wring the coat out once you entered the dorm building.

“I thought monsoon season ended months ago.” You laugh out breathlessly, tucking your damp hair behind your ears and resting against the plain wall behind you.

“I’m telling you, i’ve got bad karma.” He grumbles as she shakes his coat off, walking towards you with a wry smile on his face.

You pout when you notice his expression, reaching for his hands once more and leading him towards the elevator, “Jungkook no you don’t–“

“Yes I do.” He playfully whines, resting his forehead on the cold elevator wall, feeling the rumble against his head as he makes a childish noise.

“Jungkook!” You laugh, pulling him away from the wall to face you as you cup his cheeks in your hands, “No you don’t, look I had a good time tonight.”

“You did?” He mumbles out, his cheeks still being pushed in your hold and puckering out his lips slightly.

“Yeah Jungkook, I did. I would’ve had a good time even if we would’ve stayed in my room doing nothing. I like spending time with you.” It was an honest confession, it didn’t matter where Jungkook had decided to take you for your first date you knew from the start that you’d have a good time.

But you knew Jungkook had wanted this date to go a certain way, from the way he emphasized how perfect he wanted it to be, so you let him playfully mope about it as you lead him towards your room.

When your door clicks open Wendy scrambles up from her laying position on the bed, her headphones hanging around her neck loosely as she yanks them off, “So, how was the date with the greek go–“ she freezes when she sees the state you’re both in as you walk inside, your hair is sitting in wet clumps on your head, your clothing looking damp but not as wet as Jungkook’s considering he had a massive stain of a questionable substance on his shirt.

“What happened?” She slowly asks, her eyes glued to Jungkook’s shirt and he feels himself bringing his arms up to shield it from view and Wendy averts her gaze to look at you instead.

“Just some rain.” You shrug as you take off your coat and hang it from the back of your chair, Jungkook takes a moment to stare at your exposed back, not realizing how revealing your shirt was since you’d kept your coat on the entire night.

“Yeah but his shirt.” Wendy tries again and when Jungkook makes a small noise of despair from the back of his throat she stops talking, pressing her lips together to stop from laughing.

“I got caught in the crossfire between some drinks.” Jungkook finally mumbles out, stuffing his hands into his cold and damp jeans with a slight grimace when he remembers the feeling of it all.

Wendy’s mouth drops open slightly in confusion, turning to you again for further explanation, “Well drinks and Jaehyun.”

At that she hums, having heard about Jaehyun considering he was the last random person you had casually slept with his name was on a list of fallen soldiers. She wanted more details, craved them, but she also knew it would be best not to ask right now. Plus with the solemn look on Jungkook’s face she kind of wants to give the two of you space to talk if you need to. “Oh wow, okay well I’m gonna head down to the student lobby and grab some snacks. You guys want something?”

You give her a pointed look, especially when she starts to gather her laptop up, clearly showing she would be gone for a while, “Wendy you don’t have to leave.”

“I’m not leaving, I’m going to get snacks.” She corrects you with a scoff, shoving her feet into her fluffy slippers as she approaches the door. She gives you and Jungkook a quick wave before she dips out in a hurry, no doubt going next door to hang out with Yeri.

“Okay so who was Jaehyun?” Jungkook finally asks as you take his wet coat from him as well, hanging it off the corner of the room divider you have propped open beside the wall. Your back is turned to him so you miss the teasing smile on his face, your tiny outburst at the restaurant had been kind of hot but Jungkook would keep that to himself for right now.

As you think of Jaehyun and the stupid scene he had cause it makes a soft groan leave you. You ebb the annoyance away when you sort through your closet to try to get Jungkook something to wear so he could get out of his sticky shirt, settling on an oversized university shirt you sometimes wore to bed.

“He’s some guy I slept with a while ago, it happened once, we never spoke again so I don’t know why he was so insistent on talking to me.” You really didn’t want to give him more details than that so you’re thankful when he doesn’t ask anymore questions about him. Leave it to the higher ups to plant Jaehyun at the same restaurant as you two, the perfect plan set in motion to lead to the chain of events resulting in Jungkook’s now ruined shirt.

He lets out a soft sigh as he starts to unbutton his shirt, his eyes focused on his fingers and missing the way you try and fail to look away from his exposed chest. “This is the bad karma I was telling you about.” He pouts as he slides off the stained shirt, grabbing the cotton tee from your hands and slipping it on quickly.

“Jungkook, you don’t have bad karma.”

“Yes I do, look I didn’t say anything but they fucked up the reservations today, we were this close,” he pinches his fingers for added effect, “to having to eat at Mcdonalds.”

That finally earns a laugh from you as you step out of your heels, “Wait really?”

“Yes!” He shouts with a laugh, his eyebrow cocking up when you offer him some black sweats, he highly doubts they’ll fit so he declines them.

You shrug and decide to slip them on yourself, along with a comfy shirt, sliding behind the room divider since you were currently braless. “Okay to be fair–“ you peak your head back out as you shimmy into the sweats, “I really wouldn’t have minded that, Mcdonald’s fries paired up with a soft serve would slap.”

Jungkook flops halfway onto your bed, his feet planted on the floor as his upper body splayed out. As much as he agreed with that, and now sort of craved it, he didn’t want that to be the route this date took.

“Why do you think you have bad karma?” You ask once you step out from behind the divider, looking cozy as you sit onto the bed next to him, your hands reaching out to trace on his arm closest to you.

“Because of the dumb shit I did I mean, first the pregnancy scare–“

“Okay but it was negative.” You chime in and he mulls it over before nodding. Alright, that one cancelled out like pemdas.

“Then it was running into Jisoo at the cafe, getting a light beat down from Taehyung, our reservations getting booked wrong, getting a sick mixture of sake and soda spilled all over me, not getting to eat that mochi ice cream!” He adds on with more emphasis, “And then we leave and it’s pouring so I couldn’t take you to the next part of the date.”

At that you pause, your head tilting as you stare down at his flustered face. He gives you a side glance when he notices your silence, seeing the way your lips slowly curve up, “Wait, there was supposed to be more?”

“Yeah,” Jungkook breathes out, he wanted to continue being honest with you and his feelings, not letting his nerves and doubt weigh his tongue down like it always did, “I was gonna take you to this park near by, they have these really pretty sculptures that light up scattered all around. I thought it would be a nice place to just walk around and talk, and if things went well I was gonna ask–“ he pauses to take a breath, the words jamming in his throat as he forces his eyes shut for a brief moment.

“If you wanted to be my girlfriend.” He finally gets out, his eyes fluttering open and looking over at you, seeing you already looking at him with the softest gleam in your eyes.

The simple question has you smiling like a giddy school girl, finding out your crush liked you as much as you liked them, the fuzzy sensation in your chest spreading the longer you stared at him. Jungkook on the other hand only feels his nerves flip in his stomach the longer you don’t say anything, his eyes widening up in worry at your prolonged silence.

“Yeah Jungkook, I wanna be your girlfriend.” You shyly respond, biting your lip when you see a smile replace his worried expression, his lips spreading out and revealing his teeth.

“Really?”

“Yes.” You laugh as he sits back up, his face now level with yours as he looks at you, and he can’t stop himself from planting one on you now, desperately wanting to feel your lips on his. His hands cup your face with a sense confidence you hadn’t experienced from him, guiding you towards him before he meets you halfway and presses his lips against yours.

His lips feel soft as they slot between yours, your eyes falling closed as your own hands come up and rest on top of his. The nerves Jungkook felt earlier fizzle away as you press harder against his lips, starting a gentle rhythm as your lips move together in a slow dance that he had grown to miss since the last time you kissed him.

The soft huffs of his breath escaping his nose as he kisses you fan across your cheek, a smile spreading across your face and making it difficult to properly kiss him back the way you wanted so you pull away with a light smack. Your teeth gently press down onto your lip as you smile at him, your noses still nudged against each other. His own eyes are still shut, being too scared to open them up and reveal he was actually dreaming, he had spent too many nights stuck in his dreams that all consisted of you.

They don’t crack open until you press another soft kiss against his lips, your hands moving away from his and going to cup his own face, your thumb softly caressing the skin of his cheek.

“I’d really like to go to that park you mentioned though.” You whisper out, not wanting to speak any louder and break the soft atmosphere created.

Jungkook kisses you once, twice, three more times before nodding, “I’ll take you, I promise.” He knew you’d love it there, maybe it’d be a good place for you to take picture of, find inspiration if you were in search of it. Whatever it may be Jungkook knew it’d make you smile and awe and he wants to give that to you.

“You wanna stay here for a while?” You ask as he leans a little further back so he can stare at you without going cross-eyed. Jungkook nods instantly, wanting to spend as much time with you, his girlfriend, as he possibly could.

He had another hour or so before they did rounds for the weekend and all you wanted to do was snuggle on your bed, maybe watch a movie– “Lets order delivery for some Mcdonald’s dessert?” He reads your mind, a playful smile on his face, he really had a sweet tooth and being robbed the enjoyment of eating that mochi ice cream still stung.

“Jungkook, you absolute mind reader, yes we can.” He manages to sneak another kiss from you before you stand up to grab your laptop, ready to search for something the two of you can watch while Jungkook places the order, grinning when you crane your head over the device to ensure he had gotten the mcflurry you wanted.

Maybe first dates didn’t need to be perfect if they were with someone you were meant to be with.

“So are ya’ll like doing it.” Hoseok questions, an innocent look on his face as he takes a sip of his water. You were currently gathered outside of a giant warehouse that Taehyung had demanded you meet him at. His birthday was nearing and all he had asked was for a friendly game of paintball. There was absolutely nothing friendly about paintball, you could already picture the baseball sized bruises that would litter your body but if thats what he wanted then so be it.

“Doing it?” You question right back, your eyes narrowing at him as he nods, looking at you before turning his head to look at Jungkook who was currently talking to Jimin while Chaeyoung and Wendy laughed at something.

“He’s my boyfriend, so yeah.” 

“Oh, so it’s official. You know, sex hits a little different when there’s a title on it.” He teases, a playful smile on his face when he sees the way your cheeks puff out when you scrunch your face up in slight embarrassment.  Hoseok knew you and Jungkook were officially together, your whole group knew, Taehyung included, he just enjoyed getting under your skin like an annoying brother would.

“Shut up.” You laugh out, swatting at his stomach with the back of your hand. He dodges your attack with ease, hopping to the side with a cackle that grabs the other’s attention.

All of you had come in groups in separate cars, Jimin, Chaeyoung, Jungkook, you and Wendy coming together in Jimin’s car; Namjoon, Hoseok, and Yoongi had come together and gave one of Chaeyoung’s friends, Chungha, a ride as well. You were all just waiting on Jin, Arang and the man of the hour, Taehyung.

“Where are they?” Yoongi huffs out as he leans against the metal benches set up outside the warehouse, his foot kicking up some of the rocks that littered the floor.

“Taehyung probably had some trouble with his hair, fifty bucks says Jin is currently lecturing him in the car.” Namjoon adds, laughing when everyone agrees with no hesitation.

Jungkook slowly creeps his way over to you, slithering his arm around your shoulders and tugging you into his side with a grin on his face. He leans down and presses a kiss to the top of your head, you can sense his uneasiness, having felt it the second you brought up the events Taehyung had planned and extended the invite to Jungkook. 

“You okay?” You ask softly, not wanting to grab everyone’s attention again as they all began their own conversations.

Jungkook just gives you a squeeze at the question, “Yeah, just a little nervous about being here with everyone you know.”

That was understandable, after everything went down it was only normal that all of your friends got the low down of what happened between you and Jungkook. Your friendship was very tight knit so it made sense that they all took your side and distanced themselves from Jungkook instantly. So far none of them had been malicious or cold towards him, greeting him as if nothing had happened, because if you told them everything was okay then everything was okay.

The main person Jungkook was uneasy around was Taehyung, and with good reason. The two of you hadn’t spoken at all since things ended, he had asked you for a bit of distance which you completely understood. So when he had texted you with the invitation for today, with an okay to bring Jungkook along, you had been a little surprised, not being able to decline because you knew it was for his birthday.

But Jungkook still couldn’t help but feel like he shouldn’t be here, add some guns to the mix and he can’t stop thinking he’d have a massive fucking target on his back the second he entered the paintball field.

Taehyung did in fact have a plan, nothing as aggressive as Jungkook was currently picturing, but it was sort of the reason he was running a little late. He had practiced the simple words he wanted to say in front of the mirror in the boys bathroom over and over, gaining himself some odd stares as he did so, before he knew it the time had flown by and he was scurrying out of the bathroom like it was on fire.

Seokjin was currently scolding him about being timely like Namjoon had joked, Arang sat in the passengers side trying really hard not to laugh whenever she saw the faces Taehyung made through the mirror. This felt like being stuck in the car with your parents after you got a bad grade in school, “Alright, I get it. I’m sorry, but can you blame me.”

Silence fell over the car at that, Jin taking a moment to think it over before shaking his head, no he couldn’t blame him. Taehyung had told him that he wanted to speak to Jungkook before bullets went flying. He knew deep down that you and him were going to be okay, he just needed time to get over his feelings for you, his main concern was clearing the air with his room mate, not wanting any awkwardness lingering.

When the sound of Jin’s tires rolling onto the tarmac creep up all of you turn your heads to look at it, the boys throwing their arms up in relief because finally! Now that they knew he was here everyone slowly starts to make their way inside the building, ready to sign whatever waivers and other paperwork was needed before they all got torn up by the paintballs.

Taehyung gets out of the car when he notices you and Jungkook trailing behind, wanting to get your attention, specifically Jungkook’s, before he was around everyone else, “Wait, Jungkook!” He shouts out, succeeding in having the both of you stop in your path, turning to face him with your brows raised.

Jungkook doesn’t think he heard him right until he waves him over. He feels like his feet are cemented into the floor, needing you to give him a gentle push before he jumps into action and slowly walks his way, a little unsure of himself. Seokjin was still outside so you felt secure that if a fight broke out, he could separate them, but hopefully that wouldn’t happen.

“Happy early birthday.” Jungkook starts first, cringing slightly at his words until he sees the way Taehyung smiles, something he hadn’t seen directed towards him in weeks.

“Thanks man, look I just wanted to say sorry-”

“No, you don’t have to.” Jungkook tries to wave him off because in his head everything was absolutely justified.

“Yes I do Jungkook, look we both fucked up okay but I took it a little too far. I never should’ve put my hands on you, or threatened you the way I did when the situation had nothing to do with me.” He knew he did it because he was protective of you but he had enough sense to know that maybe he could’ve let you handle it the way you wanted to without getting involved himself. All it caused was an uncomfortable atmosphere in their room when it used to be easy going, the two of them getting along pretty well despite their differences in personality.

“I still think it was well deserved but I appreciate the apology. I know it might not mean much, and I hope this doesn’t rub you the wrong way, but I promise I’ll never hurt Y/N again.” Jungkook means it, the way you had stared at him with so much hate in your eyes was forever burned into his mind, seeing you cry because of something he did or rather didn’t do wasn’t something he ever wanted to be the cause of again.

That makes Taehyung smile, the hollow feeling in his chest still being felt but all he wanted was your happiness. Beneath it all you and Taehyung were close friends and just because things weren’t meant to be between the two of you didn’t mean he didn’t wish for you to find it with someone else. If that person happened to be Jungkook then that was okay with him.

“Treat her right for her own sake, not to save your ass from getting plowed down again.” He teases, throwing a soft punch onto Jungkook’s shoulder.

The younger boy chuckles as he clutches his arm, “I will, by the way, was inviting me your ploy to shoot me with no consequences?”

Taehyung lets out his classic laugh as he makes his way into the building, Jungkook following him closely and watching as he shakes his head, “Hell no man, I need you on my team.”

“Fuck Jungkook.” You mewl out, your hands tangling into his hair and yanking him towards you for a kiss, your tongues gliding together messily, letting Jungkook swallow your moans down as he rolled his hips into you.

He knew he had to be quick but he wanted to relish in being inside of you, always loving being in this position with you, it didn’t matter how often of an occurrence it was now. Seeing you with your hair splayed out and messy, your lips swollen from his kisses and bites, the soft moans of his name filling the room as he fucked you, it would never get old.

The way your pussy pulses around his length has him gasping out, his fingers curling around his bed sheets as he rocks harder into you, your heels digging into his butt to urge him closer. Your hands release his hair and trail down his back, your nails digging into his skin and he hisses. Having discovered that Jungkook had a light kink for pain you lived for it, subtle scrapes of your nails,  harsh bites to his skin, pinching his nipples, it was all stuff Jungkook never knew he would be into until he got with you.

“You always feel so good.” He grunts out, his eyes squeezing shut when you clamp down on him on purpose, smiling when he lets out a guttural moan. “Ah, shit, do you want me to cum before you.” He snaps playfully, seeing the way you pout and shake your head.

“No, please make me cum.” You plead, a soft pout on your lips as you lift your hips up to match his motions, keening when his dick expertly hits your g-spot. Jungkook had more than enough time to get acquainted with your body during winter break, the two of you choosing to remain on campus and getting as much time alone together as you wanted since both Wendy and Taehyung had gone to visit family.

“Fuck, when you ask like that I can never say no.” He mutters out, his hips pulling back before snapping forward once more. The sound of your skin connecting from the force of his thrusts fill the empty dorm room and Jungkook knows he found the pace to get you quivering underneath him once your back arches up, your pebbled nipples grazing his chest as you moan out his name. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard his name sound so pretty.

The coil inside you tightens up as his pelvis continues to grind against your clit with every roll of his hips, your desperate cries raising in pitch and Jungkook smiles when he realizes he’s got you right where he wants you.

“Nngh, right there Kook–shit.” You gasp out when he chooses to bring one hand down between you, the pad of his thumb rubbing tight circles onto your aching clit. Your jaw drops open as your climax creeps up on you, only needing a few more flicks of his thumb until you’re unraveling below him.

Jungkook groans when your orgasm crashes over you, your walls pulsing around him as you gasp and moan his name out, your fingers digging into his skin further as you throw your head back into his sheets. He leans forward and latches his mouth onto your neck, suckling on the skin below your ear as he fucks you through your orgasm.

“Oh god,” you groan out when he leans back onto his knees, his large palms gripping onto your hips and fucking you with more force. His eyes are glued to the way your tits bounce, moving up to stare at the fucked out look on your face as you start to come down from your climax, “love your cock.”

You’re slurring your words now and he chuckles at the effect he has on you, shutting his eyes as he feels his own orgasm creeping up on him. It’s not until the constant buzzing of your phone beside your head starts that his eyes open up. Your hand swats the bed as you reach for it, quickly seeing that Jimin had texted you a handful of times and was now calling you, you were late.

“Fuck, Kookie you gotta cum.” You sigh out, tightening your sensitive walls around him, making him gasp and almost double over.

“I know, fuck. Almost there.” He groans, quickening up his pace when he feels the pleasure about to send him over the edge. His grip on your hips tightens up, his fingers digging into your skin as his thrusts become sloppier, losing the grace they had when he had made you see stars. No, now he was desperate, whines of your name leaving the back of his throat and his eyes fluttering shut as he finally spills into the condom.

He hunches over your body as he shallowly ruts his hips, milking his orgasm until he was absolutely spent. The two of you lay panting on his bed sheets, a sheen of sweat on your skin and dopey smiles on your faces.

Jungkook sighs as he pulls out of you, his eyes glancing at the condom covering his cock, he’d be damned if the two of you ever got a pregnancy scare again during college.

Your snort and nudge his hips with your knees when you notice what he’s looking at, “You love condoms huh.” You tease, laughing harder when he nods with a giddy smile.

“You’re gonna have to sign a contract if you want me to fuck you raw.” He jokes, slipping the condom off and tossing it into his bin by his bed. He grabs a towel from his desk before approaching you once more, helping clean you up before cleaning himself.

“I’ll do it, don’t temp me.”

He shoots you a playful glare as he slides into his boxers, he knew you would, “Stop trying to corrupt me.”

“Mm, you like it.”

He doesn’t deny it, a blush coloring his cheeks as he watches you get dressed in a hurry. You fight back a smile at his silence, choosing not to tease him further because you were really late.

“Okay we really gotta go.” You speak out, grabbing your phone and shooting Jimin a quick text saying you were on your way, all he sends back is the middle finger emoji and you scoff.

Jungkook reaches for your camera that was propped on his desk, double checking the memory card and battery before handing it to you. You don’t bother checking your appearance, trusting Jungkook’s thumbs up of approval before you both bolt out of his room.

The herd of students gets more dense the closer you get to the main quad, having to weave between everyone as you approached the area your friends wanted to meet up at. They’re all huddled near a corner outside of the literature building, looking totally inconspicuous, none of them noticing you or Jungkook approaching until you’re tapping Jimin on the shoulder.

He whirls around because he knows it’s you, the glare in his face softening up when he takes note of your hair, “Nice sex hair.”

“Fuck off.” You swat his hand away from your tangled locks, hastily pulling it away from your face and trying ti rake through it. “Also why the fuck is your hair blue now.”

He rolls his eyes like it’s obvious, motioning over to Taehyung who now also had blue hair, “It’s so they don’t tell us apart.”

“Wait, us? You’re doing this bullshit too?”

Taehyung lets out a laugh at that, nodding his head proudly at having roped Jimin into his antics, “I bet him the new iPhone if I could outrun him.”

Namjoon snorts, his fingers pinching his nose because Jimin is absolutely getting scammed and you knew this too, hell everyone knew it even Jungkook judging by the laugh he holds back.

“And what does Jimin get if he wins?” You ask, your hands coming to cross over your chest as you give Taehyung a pointed stare.

“The pride of having beat me?” Taehyung attempts, his pitch rising up as his face screws together at his plan being revealed.

“Tae you’re an ass.” You laugh out when Jimin finally gasps at the obvious betrayal. Admittedly the distance you had given him, along with the time apart during winter break had been good for your friendship. The two of you were now back to acting like you used to, no longer wary of any lingering feelings.

“Plus, did you two forget that Jimin has tattoos on his arm?” Yoongi drawls out, his head tilted as he stares at the exposed ink on Jimin’s skin. If they were going to go streaking again and had gone to the lengths of matching their hair color all it took was someone recognizing Jimin’s art work to snitch on him.

“We’re not amateurs.” Taehyung scoffs, yanking up the fabric of his hoodie sleeve and revealing the horribly fake tattoos on his own arm.

All of you choke down laughter at the chicken scratch on his skin, they were totally fucked.

“Right, my mistake.” Yoongi chuckles under his breath, “Here are the masks, good luck you idiots.”

Jin and Arang make their retreat with Yoongi, wanting to get a decent view since they had missed the time Taehyung did this last semester.

“We’re doing this for you Yoongi, it’s your last semester with us!” Tae shouts out.

The older boy turns around with an exasperated look on his face, “I don’t need to see your bare ass to celebrate my last semester Taehyung, don’t rope me into this!”

Hoseok sighs as he shakes Jimin’s shoulder, “I hope you can run man, Taehyung’s kind of a seasoned pro so best of luck to you.” Its not reassuring at all, Jimin feels like he got blindsided with this. Sure Taehyung had brought the idea up when he was a little drunk so maybe he had agreed too easily but now that he was sober he wasn’t sure why he had said yes.

“You wanna join us Kook?” Taehyung speaks up once more, beginning to hop in place as the nerves kicked in, wanting to get nice and limber to outrun Jimin and the security that would no doubt get unleashed on them.

“Yeah, no thanks.” Jungkook laughs, stuffing his hands into his jeans and looking at the two blue haired idiots. There was no way in hell he’d be joining them.

“C’mon, think of it as initiation into the group.” Taehyung winces out in pain when Namjoon smacks the back of his head.

“He’s already in the group asshat.” He mutters out and Hoseok nods along, giving him a shrug when Taehyung looks for back up. Instead he grumbles out in agreement.

“Whatever, just make sure you get all our good parts Y/N.” He points his finger at you and slides out of his hoodie, the less clothes he had on from the start the better. Namjoon holds onto it for him, beginning to walk away towards Yoongi with Hoseok by his side.

“Will do, is this gonna get blown up into a canvas too?” You question, hoping the answer would be no but you knew Taehyung too well, his head nodding along instantly and Jimin joins in. Of course.

You give them both a salute, Jungkook jokingly wishing them good luck as you leave them behind to go join your group in their spot. It was the start of the spring semester now, the mandatory rally being held to welcome the students back from break with news on exciting events happening in the coming months. The perfect time for Taehyung and Jimin to do what they wanted to do, a bigger audience than last time ready to witness it first hand.

The soft music playing through the speakers gets cut off abruptly as the two smurfs jump on stage, their black masks covering them from the nose down and judging by some screams of glee you realize that some of the freshman recognize the situation from last year.

“This is gonna be good.” Hoseok laughs out, hiding his smile behind his hands as Jimin snatches the mic off the stand.

“Welcome to the new semester!” He shouts out, slightly muffled by the fabric but his words get their point across.

Taehyung reaches forward and yanks the mic from his grasp, the rustling being heard as he places it directly on his mouth through the mask, “I see some familiar faces, here’s the rundown–“ he starts, turning around to double check his surroundings and when he spots the same principle huffing and puffing her way over, already knowing what was next, he continues, “you guys gotta help us get away, do what you gotta do.”

“Are you gonna help us?” Jimin asks as he leans towards the mic in Taehyung’s hand, laughing when the whole crowd screams yes in unison. That satisfies them both, the mic dropping between them and landing with a thud, the feedback ringing through for a moment and thats when they both strip out of their clothes.

When poor principle Kang sees the nudity she lets out a shriek, pointing towards the boys and sending off the guards in a wave of deja vu. Jimin screams as he yanks his clothes off, taking off the stage while Taehyung nearly trips while yanking off his sweats.

He grunts when he takes off after Jimin, the entire crowd whistling and yelling at their bare bodies. Your eyes are glued to your viewfinder once more, holding in your laughter to keep it steady as you followed their path.

Jimin still has the lead, weaving between students with grace as he looks behind him, shooting you a peace sign when he spots your camera. When he bolts passed you, you make sure to focus on his back side, snapping a few photos of the winner of this streaking race to later blow up.

The entire crowd gasps and you whirl back around, a laugh finally leaving you when you spot the security man that took a tumble trying to literally tackle Taehyung down. The shout that leaves Taehyung makes your whole group laugh, he doesn’t look as carefree as the first time, not trying to pose and dance with students. No, he had a brush with near-death at almost being caught so his main concern was getting the fuck out of there.

“Holy shit!” Namjoon laughs even louder when two other guards close in on him.

“He’s gonna get caught.” Seokjin groans, already imagining the hell Tae’s gonna face with administration.

But then a group of students slip in between them, causing the guards to ram into them and leaving Taehyung with enough of a gap to escape. His eyes spot your camera and he blows a kiss towards it, smacking his ass as you take a photo before being lost in between the cars. God they were idiots, but they were your friends and you love them.

“That was...amazing.” Hoseok whispers, starting a slow clap that begins to grow with everyone attending.

You’re still recording the whole thing, panning your camera around to get everyone’s reactions before it’s suddenly stopping, your nose bumping into the side of your device.

“Ow.” You wince, pulling back and gasping when you see Jungkook had his palm wrapped around the lens that was just about to pop him in the face like before.

“Listen, you won me over the first time you did that you don’t have to do it again.” He teases, smiling when you lean up to kiss him in apology.

“I’m sorry.” You laugh, letting the camera fall against your chest when he releases his grip on it.

“Is this where you tell me you hope I have a good first year in college?” His eyebrow cocks up, remembering your chosen words from the first time you had met.

You shake your head as you recall them as well, still somewhat thankful your camera had decked Jungkook’s face.

“No, this is where I tell you I love you.”

His smile matches yours now, his hand coming up to cup your cheek and bring you in for another kiss, “I love you too.”

[9h4mn]

you, who | sf9

➞ sf9 as the type of guys you had a crush on

➞ fluff, pinning, slight! angst, unrequited love

➞ in filipino, they call it kilig and its basically like that butterfly in your stomach exploded which leaves you a flustered mess. what are some of the nine different types of guys that causes you to feel that way?

warnings: insecurity, mentions of divorce, mentions of kidnap attempt, ghosting

inseong:

the senior type

this type of crush is older by a year or two and has this sort of vibe. in school, he has this dazzling smile, kind personality, and an easy to approach demeanor

also known as this genius gentleman

you can see that he isn't like your previous crushes who were rude to you

he drinks respect women juice on the daily

at one point, he will most likely be the one who helped you in a problem regarding school

again he is easy to approach and conversations can flow so easily between the two of you

on inseong's graduating year, you had gained enough courage to try and confess to him

the plan was simple: approach him when he's free, bring him somewhere private, then confess your feelings

its simple — you thought it was simple — but things aren't that easy

of course he would end up liking her, the perfect girl and your classmate

she was beautiful, smart, kind, and tall

you can't even hate her when you want to

but you hope, even just once, that someone out there would choose you over her — its unfortunate that this someone isn't inseong

youngbin:

the brother's best friend type

this type of crush is someone your family has known for some time. he has also most likely saw you in your awkward phrase

don't worry the both of you have seen each other's awkward phrases

your brother always has youngbin over and if not then its your brother who is at youngbin's

they were two peas in a pod never to be separated

however, if your brother teases you too much youngbin is there to the rescue

something about how your brother shouldn't stress our sister

thats right, he had already sisterzoned you but despite that you still like him

your friends helped you in getting over him and all he had to do was smile for that wall to crumble

you were hopelessly in love with a guy who will never see you as a woman

when a few years have passed and you're already living in your college's dorm, you had received an invitation

what was it you ask? youngbin's wedding invitation and you were invited

even until the very end, he had always seen you as his little sister

jaeyoon:

the boy next door type

this type of crush is your neighbor from a much better family. of course your family is nice but they were almost like the picture perfect family

you and jaeyoon happened to be of the same age so when your parents found out they urged you to befriend him

you were lucky that jaeyoon was as sweet as he appeared to be because if he was wicked in the inside you would't have able to survive

staying over at each other's house and watching movies became your thing until jaeyoon's perfect family cracked

his father got swamped in heavy workload and what did his mother do? she cheated on him and got pregnant

his parents' fights were really terrible while they were processing the divorce

at times he would even sleep over at your house with his sister following him

in his time of need, you never once abandoned him

it didn't came as much as a surprise when you and jaeyoon began to date

time may choose to be cruel but when you have each other, everything will be ok

dawon:

the class clown type

this type of crush brings life inside the classroom. everyone laughs at his jokes, even teachers, and he is safe from many things because they just like him like that

you are probably the class president and what does it mean when dawon is your classmate? headaches

seriously though you're the one who gets embarrassed for him

through the years you have been the class president, dawon was always your classmate

it was expected that you'd be annoyed of his antics with how long you've been dealing with him

your relationship changed when he crossed the line and made you cry

since that day you met a new side to the class clown, a boy with a broken past and high expectations — that was the true dawon

hurting you was never his intention. he had also thought that you found things annoying

as he spends more time with you, many classmates begin to notice how that strict and stern president softened

during school festival, you had held his hands and confessed, all while the fireworks began

who would have thought that the class president and class clown would be a good pair?

zuho:

the unattainable type

this type of crush is always taken by your sister or best friend. it doesn't matter which one of the two, he will always date someone close to your heart

you had met him as that person's crush and as a good friend/sister you tried to find out more about this guy

approaching him, sharing conversations, and finding out his interests were your priority

so when you fell for him and find yourself unable to sleep at night due to thinking of him? you knew you were doomed

everything began for her so why were your feelings acting up?

seeing the obvious sparks, you had continued with your original plans and even began to play the role of the matchmaker

you see both zuho's and your friend/sister's struggle with expressing their feelings for each other

they were shy and reluctant, without you it would have been hard for them to strike a conversation without getting flustered

eventually they began to date

and what does it leave you?

the one who gave up on love for the sake of her other loved ones

rowoon:

the popular type

this type of crush is always receiving confessions but for some reason is still single. he is the epitome of a perfect guy sculpted by the gods

there is a high chance that he even has a fanclub of some sort going on

rowoon is that popular

so you liked him because he is popular? no, there is more to rowoon then just that

he is caring, he likes to nag, sometimes he boasts himself too much for your liking, he is almost like a mother too

why do you know all that? you are rowoon's shield against his fangirls

and it all began simply because he noticed how indifferent you were to him

at one point he had even proposed a fake dating idea

seokwoo, you naive fool. thats how shojou love stories begin

of course you declined and he knew how to respect that

your relationship stayed that way until you began to get a fanclub yourself

rowoon only knew the extent of his feelings through jealousy

it had reached a point where he had accidentally blurted out his feelings

well remember that fake dating ploy? there was no need when both your hearts were already beating for each other

taeyang:

the closed off type

this type of crush is like a loner. he isn't necessarily avoiding people and he's more on the shy side. his height and gaze just makes him look intimidating

you sat behind him in class and though it seems stupid since he was tall and could cover your entire body — it was the exact reason you liked sitting behind him

you could draw during class and not get your sketchbook confiscated because of him

the day had come when you would absentmindedly draw taeyang

at first you could defend it as you appreciating pretty things but when you had stopped to draw in class just to stare at taeyang during class? uh-oh

it worsened when you saw taeyang dance for the first time

imagine his surprise when that smol girl who sits behind him began to talk to him nonstop and even does her best to include him

people had began to talk but you weren't the type to get bothered

instead it was taeyang who got worried and even told you to stop talking to him

what did you do? you straight out confessed to him

if he wasn't going to notice all the signs you've given then its time to just blurt it out

you succeeded in flustering him but not at making him believe in your words

maybe one of these days yoo taeyang will understand your feelings but for now you could just settle with this — the silent boy all flustered because of you

hwiyoung:

the "i always see him" type

this type of crush is someone who doesn't go in the same school as you but somehow the both of you always cross paths

and no neither hwiyoung or you are intentionally following each other

you first crossed paths with him at the playground and you two merely walked past each other

then many more circumstances began to present itself and now you and hwiyoung can't help but make faces at each other when you locked eyes

yes, while technically strangers you can act like that with him

the first moment the both of you truly talk to each other was when someone tried to kidnap you

you would have fought back but it was nearly impossible with how sudden you were grabbed

hwiyoung then arrived for your rescue. he simply kicked that kidnapper and you were free

that night while you two were waiting for the police, you shared jokes and laughter as if you both knew each other for a long time

there were more moments of you and hwiyoung but alas it was just memories of your youth

years and years have passed but you could never forget the boy who made your heart race back in high school

you don't know what happened to him

he just stopped appearing one day and since then you haven't saw him again

it was as if he never existed and he was just your dream

chani:

the childhood friend type

this type of crush is someone you had known since you were young and you even grew up alongside him

for sure both your families shipped you

yeah its kinda weird how adults are rooting for a relationship between their barely 5 years old children

both of you were like the butt of the cooties joke, i know immature children at it again

also can see you two having those cute matching clothes when you were much younger

now sometime before high school the both of you got in a huge argument and it ended in bad terms

people who knew you two were shocked on how you became enemies

heated glares and rude remarks were thrown to each other at every moment possible

you don't know how it got to this point. it was a stupid argument and the fact it was enough to end years of friendship? just how little does chani think of you?

but of course this anger slowly turns into pain

you just want your best friend back

and luckily for you, he thought the same

it was a slow process for the both of you to mend things to the way it was before

the argument, though stupid, really caused a heavy rift

when you and chani had gotten close again, it was the first time spring became clear to you

you like your best friend — that was even the reason you argued with him

however, despite being aware of your feelings, you never made a move

maybe if you were braver back then you could have known that he had also liked you

©9h4mn | all contents belong to me. do not modify or repost.

[a-storm-of-roses]

October Fics Day 5: Baking

Pairing: Teyla Emmagen/Jennifer Keller

Rating: G

Words: 2015

Summary: Teyla is good at many things, but baking isn't one of them. Luckily, Jennifer knows a trick.

A/N: Saw this prompt and HAD to make it about the two women who are canonically bad cooks!

Read on AO3 or below!

Teyla choked back a cough, as a cloud of flour rose up from the bowl. She stirred vigorously, but the mixture simply would not come together. And she was certain it wasn’t intended to look so chunky. Or so oily.

“Whatcha up to?” Jennifer leaned comfortably against the entry to the kitchen, a Driffen apple in her hand, looking bemused and more than a little curious. She was dressed casually, in jeans and a loose shirt, and Teyla realized she must be taking advantage of a rare day off.

With a sigh, Teyla wiped a hand across her forehead. It was only as she felt the drag of flour and grit across her skin, that she realized her error.

“I am baking,” Teyla ground out. Fetching a rag to wipe her face. “Or, at least I am trying to.”

Jennifer wandered over to the large, industrial counter where Teyla had been working. She peered over into the bowl, took one look at the contents and scrunched up her nose. Teyla would have found it cute, if she hadn’t been distracted by the annoyance and frustration of an hour wasted in the kitchen. She was hot, her arm was sore, and she was no closer to having created anything remotely resembling a cake.

“Uh, what exactly are you trying to make here?” Jennifer asked. She could tell the doctor was schooling her tone, adopting that forced, cheery accent that sometimes drove Teyla up a wall. Rodney called it Midwest nice. John, in his weaker moments, called it fake.

“A birthday cake for John. He does not particularly enjoy celebrations, but a cake seemed like a pleasant and simple tradition.”

“And you didn’t just ask the kitchen staff?” Jennifer asked. She picked up the mixing spoon, abandoned in the bowl of batter. Slowly, she lifted it out, and made a face as the oily, chunky mix splattered back into the bowl.

“I was under the impression that the cake was more meaningful when baked by a loved one.”

“In that case, shouldn’t Rodney be making it?” Teyla shot Jennifer a look, and it seemed to serve her purpose, because she blushed and stammered out quickly, “Or Ronon, or maybe Major Lorne? You know,” she continued, regaining her equilibrium, “don’t let them convince you that you have to do the cooking, just because you’re a woman. It’s sexist and outdated.”

Teyla sighed, and picked up the recipe again, smudging brown batter on the white paper.

“Ronon was going to join me. He is actually quite a good cook and baker, and he received the recipe from Evan. But then he implied that I would not be capable of doing this on my own, when Evan specifically said this was an easy recipe, and so…”

"So you got a bit competitive.” Jennifer smiled, real and easy, and Teyla felt some of the tension drain from her shoulders. “But I still don’t understand why you didn’t just use an Athosian recipe. Surely that would have been more familiar.”

Teyla shook her head, and picked up the bowl again, futilely attempting to stir the batter into submission.

“I’m afraid I am not a terribly accomplished baker, regardless of the recipe’s origins. My tuun bread was always too flat, and a bit hard. And at least I have access to the ingredients for this recipe.”

Jennifer hummed in agreement, before leaning forward on the counter, careful to avoid the stray flour and batter, and watching Teyla stir vigorously a few moments longer.

“I don’t think that’s how it’s meant to look.”

“I am aware of that,” Teyla snapped. Jennifer straightened up, her lips tugged down in a frown. Teyla sighed and placed the bowl on the counter, rubbing firmly at her temples. “I apologize, Jennifer, cooking always brings out the worst in me. It is not my strong suit.”

Jennifer brightened a bit.

“I have an idea, let me just see…” Jennifer made her way to one of the pantries, and crouched down, digging on one of the lower back shelves. She moved boxes, shifted tins, until she reemerged, looking triumphant and holding a small, cardboard box.

“Here! I thought we might still have some left over.” She presented the box to Teyla as though it were a prize, and looked so pleased with herself, so eager for Teyla’s approval. Teyla took the box and examined it more closely. The front displayed an image of a cake, and the back was covered with simple, short instructions.

“What is this?” Teyla asked.

Jennifer’s smile never faltered. “Boxed cake mix. A culinarily-challenged Midwestern girl’s best friend.”

Moving to the cabinets and pulling down a fresh bowl, Jennifer then rifled through the shelved ingredients, placing a bottle of cooking oil and some eggs on the counter.

“All you do is pour the mix in the bowl, add some oil, water and eggs, and pop it into the oven! I suppose not-chicken eggs will work just as well.”

Teyla eyed the collection of items warily. She was not usually one to take a shortcut, especially when it came to her friends, but then again, she also wasn’t one to bake.

“I could help?” Jennifer offered, clearly misinterpreting her silence for trepidation. It had sounded simple enough, she didn’t think she particularly needed the other woman’s help, but then again, Evan’s recipe had also sounded simple.

“That would be very appreciated, thank you Jennifer,” Teyla offered warmly. Jennifer beamed.

“Great! Why don’t I measure the oil, and you crack the eggs. That’s the hardest part, anyhow.”

They worked silently and companionably, Jennifer pouring the mix into the bowl, adding the oil, before Teyla added the eggs and the water. Before Teyla could reach the bowl, Jennifer had it in her arms, stirring slowly and steadily.

“Figured your arms could use the break,” she said, looking pointedly over at the bowl where Teyla’s first attempt sat congealing.

“Thank you.”

For a moment the kitchen was silent, the only noise the quiet squelch of Jennifer stirring the batter.

Teyla would be the first to admit that she had spent little time with Jennifer, especially following their disastrous mission to New Athos. It wasn’t that Teyla disliked her - there were very few people out there that Teyla truly disliked - but the doctor tested her patience at times. She was too soft, too naive for life here, it seemed. Too earnest, and too kind. She worried that one day the lovely doctor would go off-world, and would not return.

But as she watched Jennifer pour the batter into the cake tins, and pop them into the oven, she wondered if perhaps a bit of softness was not always a bad thing.

“Think we can toss this, then?” Jennifer asked, holding the bowl of chunky batter.

“Yes,” Teyla laughed, “I believe we can.” They moved in tandem, cleaning the used dishes and wiping down the counters, before Teyla grabbed a broom to sweep the spilled flour from the floor.

Jennifer leaned back against the counter and watched her, her gaze direct and focussed. Teyla was certain the other woman had never looked at her like this before, but she found, surprisingly, it was not unwelcome. Teyla met her gaze in return, and smiled, laughing a bit, as Jennifer’s eyes widened and looked away.

“So,” Teyla began, “you have done this before?”

“I- um, what exactly-”

“Made cake from a box?” Teyla took mercy on her.

“Oh,” Jennifer blushed. “Right. Yeah, I used to be in a lot of activities when I was younger. Girl Scouts, debating. Swim team, for a bit. I was always ahead of the class, and my parents thought it would be a good way for me to meet other kids my own age, you know, acclimate socially.

“Anyways, these activities always had a lot of bake sales. Um, where you bake things and sell them to raise money for the club? We all had to bring something. My mom was a great baker - she used to make the best cupcakes. But after she died, I had to figure something out. I tried making a couple of her recipes, but they never really turned out right. That’s when Betty Crocker and I became BFFs.”

Teyla felt a sudden pang of her own grief.

“Your father did not bake?”

“No, I come from a pretty conservative area. It was enough that he took over making all of our meals, I couldn’t ask him to make me a devil’s food cake for my debate tournament too.”

Jennifer busied herself checking the cake, showing Teyla the clean toothpick and bringing it out of the oven to cool. The two round cakes were golden yellow, edging into a bit browned at the edges. They looked not unlike the cake the mess served on special occasions. Teyla was just relieved to see that they appeared edible.

“We’ll need to wait a bit before we can frost it.”

Teyla sat on one of the high stools, and regarded Jennifer closely. After a moment, she spoke.

“I lost my mother when I was quite young as well. No one ever quite made fried melo like her. I tried to get it right, for many years, but even the best cooks in our settlement never came close.”

“You miss her,” Jennifer stated, leaning over and placing her hand on Teyla’s. Her palm was warm, a bit damp, but soft. Teyla nodded. “I miss mine too. I don’t think it ever goes away.”

For a moment, Teyla considered leaning in. Brushing the hair that had fallen loose from Jennifer’s ponytail back, swiping her thumb across a smooth cheek.

But then, Jennifer pulled her hand away, cleared her throat and stood.

“I think we can frost it now.”

“Do we need to make the frosting, or does that also come in a box?”

“Even better,” Jennifer responded, placing two small containers on the counter. “It comes in a tub.”

They each took one cake, Jennifer showing her how to spread the frosting evenly, without causing the cake to crumble. Finally, carefully, Teyla lifted one layer on top of the other, smoothing down the frosting covering the sides.

“It looks great! I’m sure John will love it.”

“I just hope it tastes alright,” Teyla laughed.

Jennifer grinned at her, happy and relaxed. Even more hair had fallen out of her ponytail, and ridiculously, there was a smudge of frosting across her cheek. She looked messy, not at all like her normal, put-together self, and Teyla was surprised to find it endearing.

“Here, you have a bit of-” Teyla reached out, and wiped the frosting from her face. Almost instinctively, she popped her finger in her mouth, licking the sweetness from her own skin. Jennifer’s pupils dilated.

“How’s- um- how’s it taste?” She asked, voice just a touch breathy.

“Delicious,” Teyla answered, her eyes never breaking contact. “Perhaps you should try some.”

It was a challenge. Jennifer could take the risk, take what Teyla was offering. Or she could pretend she didn’t understand, pretend she wasn’t feeling this thing thrumming between the two of them.

Jennifer’s eyes dropped down to her lips, and her hand settled on Teyla’s arm, before she moved closer, leaning in to gently kiss her, barely a brush, before pulling away.

“Was that alright?” She asked, uncertain, her hand still gripping Teyla’s bicep with more force than she would have expected.

“Yes, but I don’t believe you got to sample the frosting.” Teyla swiped her finger across the base of the cake, before sucking it into her mouth, making a little show of licking the excess frosting off. It was ridiculous, she knew it, but it had the desired effect, Jennifer pulling her in close and kissing her again, this time with a confident heat, her tongue venturing out to pull the sweetness from Teyla’s own mouth.

They kissed for long minutes, before breathless, Teyla finally pulled away.

“I believe I have found something pleasurable about baking after all.”

Jennifer laughed. “Just wait til I show you what I can do with a roll of cookie dough.”