#but we already know and like haru. so he's just kind of boring to me

[triccina]

The Photograph Part Two

The Sunday morning was pleasant. On the street, people could be seen walking towards the Church of Light. The wind blew like any other sunny autumn morning in Highwind, and the few clouds indicated a day without climatic twists.

In the smallest workshop in the neighborhood, the girl and her mother shared a common goal: to try to finish their academic tasks. Lua's homework was so boring, and the girl had just woken up, a perfect recipe for getting distracted by any noise or smell that entered the place. The woman, on the other hand, was about to light a cigarette, even knowing that it would teach her daughter a bad habit. Aimê resisted with all her might, but felt that without the right fuel, her new article would not be completed.

The builder observed the pair and prepared a cup of black coffee for the woman and a glass of milk for the girl. He served them and received smiles from both.

"Thanks, Max!" Aimê thanked. "Before I forget, I saw the mail arrive today. Can you check if my Atara professor sent me the files I asked for?" The man made a disdainful expression. "I'm making Bamboo Papaya with Egg-on-Top for dinner," concluded the woman with a friendly smile.

The builder's and the girl's eyes sparkled, already dreaming of the day's dinner.

Max went to the mailbox and took out the letters. Bills, guild messages, and some cheerful messages from friendly neighbors. The last letter in this stack made the builder's heart race! Addressed to him from Sandrock. He turned the letter, expecting to see the sender's name. And like a wind bringing good news, the name Howlett made the man smile.

His thought was interrupted by the commotion in the workshop; Aimê was in a fit of laughter while Lua, with a pencil above her upper lip, imitated Max's rival. Not even the man could withstand the comedic scene.

When he approached the two, everyone tried to stay serious.

"Look what arrived!" The man showed. The woman smiled, and Lua, without much restraint, replied.

"Oh, your ex-boyfriend from Sandrock!" Max looked at her with a gaze.

"We never had that kind of relationship..."

“Don't bother him, dear, he was anxious waiting for this letter." Lua looked at Max as if apologizing. The builder just messed up the girl's hair. "Let's open it now! It got me curious."

Without much interest, Lua took a leaf and started playing with Deimos, who walked around the workshop looking for food until he reached the small lake. She showed the leaf to him and took it out of his reach, starting to annoy the turtle.

Max opened the letter and began to read. Aimê hoped he would read it aloud. A bit embarrassed, he began,

"My dear friend,

How have you been? Things in Sandrock have changed gradually, unfortunately not for the better. As I said in the last letter, people are increasingly leaving the city, and that hasn't changed. Some hired builders from Email still remain, but I don't know for how long. Something that has changed for the better is our relationship with the Geeglers. The new president is a friendly and sociable creature. Larry agreed to make a deal to leave the city in peace; we are getting closer and closer to living in harmony with mutants, just as you said. Logan thanked you for his sixteenth birthday present; he says it will be useful and a great help on patrols. You never disappoint when it comes to knives and daggers. Don't let Hugo know, but I still prefer to use your dagger than the one he forged for me. I have another big news! I have another boy under my protection now, Haru. He lived in a village in the mountains, but Logan found him on one of his patrols, and we ended up helping him get home. But the village is going through difficulties, so I decided to keep the boy under my care in Sandrock; the family didn't seem to care much, which saddened me. The boy is very intelligent and kind; he will be a great man in the future. I'm sending a photo we took recently.

P.S.: I think your girl's birthday is approaching, wish her my congratulations and give her this amber earring; it will bring her good health.

Sincerely, Howlett."

"He's a very kind man," said Aimê enchanted by the hunter's affection for her daughter. "You should go back and never let him escape again!

“You know, Aimê, I'm one of the best builders of my generation, but I couldn't fix a broken heart," Max replied with a certain pain in his voice.

Aimê sympathized and fell silent. Lua paid attention to the conversation without saying anything, pretending not to care, but deep down, she shared Max's sadness. In her conclusion, love wasn't worth the effort because that's how the relationships around her seemed to be. Max and his mother were an example of how happiness quickly turned into unhappiness, leaving everyone hurt, except those who didn't care. This thought bothered her because it reminded her of her grandmother's words, but perhaps that was one of the few things the two agreed on.

The builder took the photo out of the letter, and his face changed to a soft and genuinely happy expression; he couldn't hold back the sincere smile. Howlett, who had started to show signs of age but still charming since the day they met. The new family member, Haru, a boy with blue hair and gentle eyes. And Logan, who was no longer a boy but began to show signs of maturity, yet still exuded the youthfulness of a teenager. Sheathed was the blade forged by Max. The builder was radiant.

Lua got up, leaving Deimos without the leaf he had been desperately trying to eat; he was losing his reptilian patience. The girl saw the photo and was surprised, as her last memory of Logan was the same as the photograph in the workshop.

"That yellow shirt is horrible," she said with all sincerity. Aimê laughed, surprised by the girl's reaction. "So he's becoming that kind of guy," she said in a lower tone, only Max heard. "But he still looks the same as always."

"People grow, but they're still themselves. I bet he'll say the same thing about you," Max replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's take a picture to send to them too, come on!"

The girl made a disapproving face, while Aimê loved the idea. Max went to get the camera while the girl tried to escape, but her mother intimidated her with just a look, making Lua stay for the photo.

After everything was arranged, they positioned themselves to take the photo. Deimos wouldn't be left out. Aimê held him, but he was restless. Before the automatic shot, Lua tried to calm him, and the photo was taken a second before disaster struck. Deimos, in his opportunity for revenge, bit the girl's finger, who screamed in pain. He let her go immediately, as if he just wanted to teach her a lesson. He even let out a grunt, and Lua seemed to understand what he said, as if it sounded like a "served you right!"

"Sorry, I won't do it again," she replied whining.

3 days later in Sandrock.

The boy entered the house reading the sender of the letter; without questioning, he handed the paper to Howlett, who was having his traditional yakmel milk sitting in the armchair, while Logan set the table for breakfast.

"It arrived from Highwind," the boy said, sitting at the table.

"Thank you, Haru," replied the man. Reading the sender's name, he smiled a little and promptly opened the letter.

"Is it Max's reply?" Logan asked eagerly. Howlett nodded. Logan waited for his father to read the letter aloud.

"My dear Howlett and Logan,

I'm glad to hear the good news. I hope the truce can lead to a good relationship with the Geeglers. I'm also glad to hear about the newest family member. This boy couldn't be in better hands; be good to him and Haru, don't let these two take advantage of your goodwill. They are clumsy with household chores, but they are the best companions you could find. Logan, I'm glad you liked the present; I hope it serves you well in your time of need. I'm also glad to see how you've grown; I'm proud of the man you're becoming every day. I'm sure Howlett shares this feeling too. Lua is also surprised to see how you've changed. Ah, and don't let your pa carry this whole town on his shoulders. I'm sure he's getting more immersed in defending Sandrock and forgetting to take care of himself, so take good care of him, please, do it for me. Lua said she loved the present and thanked. She doesn't usually wear these feminine things, but as soon as I gave it to her, she put it on. And by her expression, only confirmed her words. Aimê was also grateful for remembering Lua's birthday and sent greetings. I sent a photo with the letter.

I miss you.

Sincerely, Maxwell."

Taking the photo out of the envelope, Howlett was confronted with the image of his old companion with the girl and the woman he welcomed into his workshop. His eyes were tired, but he still maintained his youthful and confident demeanor. The girl had a joyful expression, trying to appease the visibly irritated reptile. She wore the earring she had received. The young-looking woman didn't seem her age, but she had serenity, even with the surprised expression of holding the agitated reptile.

"He's without a hat," Logan said, looking directly at the turtle.

"Why would the turtle wear a hat?" Haru asked.

"Why not?" replied the teenager. The boy decided not to question it.

"He seems happy, doesn't he?" Howlett asked himself aloud.

"Pa?"

"It's nothing."

The teenager noticed the bitter tone in his father's voice but didn't question him further because he too had his own thoughts. Logan looked at the photo again, noticing the smiling girl. "It's good that now you have someone waiting for you at home," he thought while a smile escaped onto his face.

🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻

[lightmelodyva]

-Haruka's Takeda Route-

Later that day, it was time for dinner. They were all in the common room. Chizuru was sitting next to Harada, Nagakura, and Heisuke. Haruka was sitting opposite of her with Saito and Okita. Of course things can’t be quiet at all. Nagakura was trying to steal Heisuke’s food.

“Hey! Shin! That’s mine back off!” Heisuke yelled as he tried to keep Nagakura from reaching in.

“Well, I need it! I’m a big guy! I need more food!”

“And I’m still growing so find some food somewhere else!”

The two stared at each other intensely. Chizuru just gave a small strained laugh at the sight. Haruka just sighed. “Seriously you two…Can’t you just eat your own food?”

“You’ve been here three months and you still aren’t use to it, Haruka?” Okita grinned.

“Shut up, Souji.” Haruka stared at him, but he kept grinning. She then turned back to the scene in Front of her. “Shinpachi! Leave Heisuke’s food alone and eat your own damn food! Do it again and I’ll make your portions smaller.”

“Eh!? Haruka! How can you be so mean!” Nagakura said.

“Then stop going after food.” Haruka said deadpanned.

Heisuke just grinned. “You heard, Ka-san~ Stop taking my food.”

Chizuru couldn't help but smile at their interactions, the Shinsengumi basically felt like a huge family. Harada, noticing her smile, leaned over and grinned.

"Sorry, they are this way."

Chizuru shook her head. "I'm slowly getting used to it."

Haruka glanced at Chizuru. "Just don't let them influence you too much, Chizuru."

Okita decided to add some chaos by teasing Chizuru. "You know, you should smile more, Chizuru-chan."

"H-Huh?" Chizuru was caught off guard.

Okita just leaned a bit forward. "You kinda got this mopey vibe about you lately. But when you smile it's kinda uplifting." He then grinned a big smile. "I don't mind if you smiled all the time in this place. Get's boring with all the serious stuff Hijikata and Haruka do all day."

Haruka sighed. "Souji, leave her be. Not everyone needs to smile like a maniac." She then proceeded to look pissed off as she held her cup in one hand and hugged her knees. "Seriously, Hijikata-san and Sanan-san left me in charge of you idiots like I'm some babysitter."

Saito took a sip of his tea. "That's because we listen to you."

Haruka's eye twitched. "Saito...That includes you too! Don't make me count how many times you get distracted by a sword shop on rounds!" Saito just looked stunned for a minute as a faint blush appeared on his face before clearing his throat.

"T-there's no need for that, Shinomi-san..."

Chizuru couldn't help but giggle at the exchange during this eventful dinner. Haruka noticed Okita and Harada were just drinking and not eating. She took a bite of her food before speaking again. “Sano, Souji, can you please eat tonight and not just drink sake?”

“But I’m alright with just a little Sake..” Okita said.

“Yeah, I’m alright with just this, Haru.” Harada added on.

Haruka sighed. “I didn’t want to do this..” She looked over at Nagakura. “Shinpachi, if you’re really that hungry, I’m offering those two plates since they don’t wanna eat. Just leave Heisuke’s food alone.”

Okita and Harada were both stunned at her words. Nagakura's eyes lit up. "Really, Haruka!?"

Haruka just looked done with everything. "It's better than wasting the food. Go ahead." Nagakura then quickly took both of their trays over to his side. Usually, they would fight over the food protectively but Haruka was already at her limit with their antics.

“Damn..Your a different kind of scary than Hijikata..” Okita said.

Haruka just moved her eyes to Okita. “What was that, Souji?”

“Nothing~” Okita grinned. "Just enjoying this sake." Haruka just shook her head before picking up a piece of fish and eating it.

[buttclench-ryugazaki]

gonna be hater so here are my half-inebriated thoughts about what i didn't like about the final stroke part dos

• boring. you can even stop reading right here because that's my overarching opinion

• i still don't fully understand or like the conflict between rin and haru and resolution was... confusing? and frustrating! the race and following conversation don't actually address the issue of haru feeling abandoned. he apologizes for saying hurtful things he didn't actually mean and rin apologizes for... not thinking of haru's feelings when making decisions about his own swimming career? (i don't want to turn this into what is basically an r/AmITheAsshole thread, because i hate how contemporary fandom discourse treats every fictional conflict like one, but like. haru's TA. rin did nothing wrong. they kind of acknowledge it but they don't follow through). i don't really know what i was supposed to take away from this ordeal

• if not outright retconning stuff, attempting to write around or re-contextualize stuff in a way that i find dishonest or disrespectful to viewers' intelligence. the big example being haru confronting his younger inner self, where it actually turns out he was actively repressing his desire to swim in a relay as an affect of his loneliness (?), instead of simply being apathetic as he was previously written. why rewrite the main character's backstory and motivations at the very last minute? we've been along for this ride for the past nine years, come on

• rin continuing with his "my relation to haru isn't that simple" explanation to ikuya, who as far as i remember simply described them as friends. or suggested that rin see haru in the infirmary because that's an inconsequential but kind thing to do? i do not fucking understand. i hated this stance in fs1 and i hate it now. they have a unique bond for sure but they're not not friends

• speaking of rin and haru's friendship, i was put off by the "red-blue super sentai destined partners" imagery, and then the shot of them holding hands as kids. i've always viewed rin and haru as two people who were undoubtedly important to each other but, in regards to certain parts of their individual lives, not particularly close. those shots felt like they mischaracterized their relationship to be a lot closer retroactively (but because of the nature of interpretation i am more willing to let this one go. also nobody can accuse me of having a bias against rinharu, by the way, i used to be huge on rinharu. but i have thoughts about what it looks like and it wasn't this)

• i got a little irritated with how many times a character would start talking about haru and how much they need to support haru, oh we haven't seen him in a while is he doing okay? my times are getting better don't you think BUT HARU- i don't think this is an inherently bad way to convey information to an audience but it happens too frequently in scenes that are already too short. so i never felt like i got to see the characters fully as i know and love them because they were too busy providing commentary

• kinjou barely had any impact as a character, as a villain, as an ally, etc. his big climactic heel-turn moment is him finally giving teamwork a try (at the expense of asahi's participation, press f to pay respects lmao), i guess. when he was introduced in df i was excited for him to be an honest to goodness asshole for once in free!'s history but his presence quickly fizzled out. he stopped being threatening right away and there wasn't nearly enough there to make me care about him

• what were these two movies about, anyway? what was the arc and what was the resolution? early promotional material, as well as a significant portion of part 1, made me believe it was about haru reexamining his relationship to competitive swimming and the possibility of going pro, but it just concludes with "haru continues to do the thing he set out to do a season ago." i admit i am one of those people who wasn't completely satisfied with the ending of eternal summer, where haru decides to start competing seriously after a season of fighting exactly that. it didn't feel like a solid resolution. so i was intrigued with the idea that haru could outright quit, or reorient his goals, something. but that didn't happen. and it didn't have to, really, but anything other than "and the story continues!!!" would have been better. nothing changed in the end. what was the point

[ezzydean]

trick or treat - TanaHaru

come trick-or-treat in my inbox requesting ficcies and I’ll either treat you to some fluff or humor or trick you with a horribly twisted sad AU  (I’ll use a random generator to pick trick or treat)

send me “trick or treat” and a character(s) or ship in my inbox and I’ll write you a short little thing (I’ll be doing these all of October so send away!)

trick or treat #2 in the boooooks!!

treat

“Haru.”

“Ryuu.”

“Haruka.”

“Ryuunosuke.”

“Seriously?”

“What?”  Haru finally looks up from the book in his lap.  “I thought we were just acknowledging that we know each other’s names.”

“While that is an important thing for us to know.  I’m a little more curious to see if we were going to acknowledge that.”

Ryuu points to the corner and waits for Haru to drag his impossibly unfathomable blue-eyed gaze in that direction.

“What?”

“What, what?  That.”

“That?”  Haru gestures vaguely to the corner.

“Yes.  Yes, that.”

“What about it?”

“What is it doing there?”

“Sitting.”  Haru studies it for a moment and then shrugs.  “It’s cold outside.  She doesn’t like the cold.”

Ryuu groans and buries his head in his hands for a few seconds.  Saeko had told him, many times, that living with and loving someone like Haru would come with trials.

He didn’t realize that those trials would include life-size gargoyle statues that were made to be outside being brought inside and left in the corner of the kitchen because it’s too cold out.  There’s already one in the closet — the one that Oikawa gave to Haru years ago and Haru did not find the parallels of the gargoyle and the person who gave it to Haru both being in the closet nearly as funny as Ryuu did but to be fair Haru brings the freaking gargoyles inside because it is cold out so, clearly, his state of mind is already questionable.  Ryuu is hilarious thank you very much.

Anyway.  No one ever told him the trials of loving someone like Haru would include life-size solid stone statues being brought inside because of bad weather.  He still has dreams sometimes about the time he walked into the bathroom during a thunderstorm and spotted the gargoyle from Nagisa out of the corner of his eye.  Seriously.  Giant stone gargoyle lit up from a lightning flash.  Out of the corner of his eye at 2AM when he shuffles in to pee.

Actually…

“Haru?”

“Ryuu?”  Haru shuts his book and gives Ryuu a bored look.  “What is it now?”

“I know that you’re not, like, a weak little kitten or anything.  But I just realized that I’ve never asked before.”

“Asked what?”

“How the hell do you get them inside and then back outside?  They’re literally solid stone.  They’ve gotta weigh a ton.”

“Oh.  That.”  Haru huffs out a soft laugh and shakes his head.  “Rei and Kei help me.”

Ryuu blinks hard a few times as he turns that statement around in his mind.

“Rei.  And Kei.”

“Yeah.”

“Rei and Kei are on the other side of the country.”

“Not when I need them to help me.”

“I.  You.  They.”  Ryuu buries his head in his hands again.  “What the hell kind of person did I move in with?” he mutters as he scrubs at his face.  “Who the hell are you?”

“Haruka.”  Haru unfolds himself from the chair and walks over to kiss to Ryuu’s cheek.  “We already established that.”

[clubatsumu]

saw ur requests were open and wanted to maybe request smth w tsukishima or atsumu, like established relationship and (i'm searching but can't find the right word for it) boring? but like in a familiar and comforting way if you get what i mean? 😭 like yk that feeling u get sometimes where u feel like ur life is stuck at like this one point and u feel a weird need to have it be Exciting and Fun and Fast Paced! i forget often that you don't need to be constantly progressing to be satisfied

im so sorry this request got kind of rambly pls interpret this however u would like :)

(+i'm glad you're back on tumblr <3)

atsumu turns 29 and suddenly he’s domesticated. like an animal — he’d insist on tiger, but all his bravado really amounts to is the waddle of a fattened beagle.

you take home Fattened Beagle (literal) in question one day and Fattened Beagle (man) slams the door in your face with a look of disgust and an emphatic, solid, “no.”

you rap your fist on the door. your door. your door that is used in your house with your name on the lease. “but i already named him!”

“i’m not takin’ care of a dog!” atsumu replies from behind the wood and screen. “nothin’ good comes outta takin’ care of a dog.”

“oh, but i take care of you!”

that earns you a look at his face because he comes out to open his mouth. and before he can say anything, you bust out laughing. that sours his expression even more. you adjust Fattened Beagle in your hands, cradling it like a baby, presenting it like a prize — which it is. you smile, and then blink slowly, knowing he is weak and you are winning. “he was yaga-san’s. his name is haru.”

atsumu scoffs. “what a stupid name.”

you cover the beagle’s ears, which are large, you think with wonder. they’re large and flappy and floppy — like wings without any aeronautical structure. “don’t listen to the grumpy man, haru-chan.”

“you never call me atsumu-chan.”

oh, what a kid.

you kick the back of his knee. “because you’re not sweet.”

it proves difficult. you have to bend your ankle at a degree that pushes your foot back up your leg, then you have to go on your tiptoes because more than he’s tall, there’s also a two-step difference between the inside of the house and outside of it. atsumu yelps and trips a bit, genuinely -- not as an act -- and it’s all worth it. 

“stop comparing me to the dog,” he grumbles.

“stop living in my house for free.”

“we’re married.”

you’re sure you’ll be greeted by a sock on the floor when you enter the house. a sock with a lost pair. everytime you ask him where the other one is, he shrugs like he isn’t the one responsible for where his feet go, why they aren’t going to places together. you let out a large sigh. “everyday i am reminded.”

atsumu is more disoriented than usual. he points at the dog. “how old is…”

you adjust him in your arms. “he’s two.”

he takes haru-chan from you, sensing your strained shoulders. he finally, finally let’s you in the house. and there is the sock. you bend to pick it up and toss it in the laundry room. “what did i tell you about --”

“i’ve always wanted a dog.” he cuts loudly, knowing where you’re about to go.

as planned, you lose your original train of thought. you nod, starting to smile again, forgetting all about the sock and starting to get excited because he’ll say yes to the dog. you haven’t even told yaga-san you’d take him for good, just out for a walk, knowing there’s a chance atsumu might say no. but if he says yes, you won’t complain. “i heard something along those lines as well.”

“you could have asked me before so we could’a picked one together.”

“i did.” you blink slowly, making your eyes large and innocent. “last night.”

“i was drunk," he deadpans.

“and you told me to get anythin’ i wanted, because you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. light and joy and happiness. darlin’! i would give you the sun if you asked for it!” you cough something raspy out of your throat. atsumu is unamused. you shake your head, leaning closer. “what did rin feed you last night?”

“no clue. something dark and fruity and disgusting. like we were still college students and shit.”

you scrunch your nose. “ew. how’d you get home?”

“cab. it was midnight and i didn’t want to wake you.”

“but you did.” it was hard not to wake up when the front door all but slammed on its frame. atsumu is a large man by anyone’s standards, and a large man stumbling up the steps isn’t exactly inspiring confidence when it’s dark out and past midnight. 

so you grabbed your bat, and there he was in all his blond glory, smiling like a stupid idiot, ears red from the cold, in the hallway outside your room, murmuring declarations of love. 

“i didn’t want you to drive out.” he tells you now. now that you can take a better look at him, he does look like he had a rough night. his sweatpants are hanging low on his hips, his shirt crumpled. his eyes are red and he looks pale. “anyway, this is what i get for going to suna’s birthday party. a stinky-ass dog. jesus.” he sniffs its belly, and haru-chan stays still. “ya ever heard of body spray? probably not. come on. out. let’s try to make you smell less like shit.”

.

“we’re takin’ the dog back to the pound.” he says later that night. he didn’t talk to you the whole day, even after you made him hangover soup, but you guessed that was just an aftereffect of everything related to Suna Rintaro’s Big Birthday Bash. but maybe not. you blink, looking at him from the bathroom mirror as he leans on the door behind you. “huh?” you effectively stop brushing your teeth. this is… a surprise.

“yeah. final.” he says in that clipped tone he seems to get on when he's pissed off or inside his head.

“oh.” your brows furrow. was he menstruating? because last you saw him, we was gushing over the dog -- practically drooling more than it was. how did it turn around this quickly? “um. okay.”

he leaves.

atsumu comes back a second later, stomping. “don’t think of wallowing.”

the fuck was he on?

he can be a little bitch all he wants, but really? really, you can do it better.

“i’m not,” you deny, starting to get pissed at the attitude, putting the cap back on your toothbrush with more force than necessary. “who said i was?” you move past him and out of the bathroom, and out of the bedroom in easy steps. 

he follows you down the stairs. “where are ya goin’?”

“away from you.” you let the door slam as you go the the makeshift playpen he set up for the haru-chan in the garage.

“quit wallowing.”

“i’m not. i’m taking the dog back to the pound. like you said. final.” you stomp like he did. there is, admittedly, a fair amount of stomping in your house. annoyance starts from your gut and spreads to your spine, and now it is thrumming through your veins like a steady dose of adrenaline.

“quit bein' that way.”

“you quit being that way.” you swivel on your heels. “you’ve been mean to me all day. what’s wrong with you?”

“i didn’t want the dog.”

he could have started with that this morning. but he was grudgingly happy, you saw, so maybe this is about another thing entirely. “you’ve been with the dog all day!”

“well...”

“i got the dog for you ‘cause i knew you had one when you were a kid. osamu told me you loved dogs -- so i wondered -- sorry if i thought wrong--”

“you weren’t wrong.”

“we weren’t even supposed to keep him overnight. i had to text yaga-san to let me keep him for a bit longer because i’d told him i’d just take him out for a walk. but then you went off and bathed him and played with him all day, so of course i decided to just tell you tomorrow that the dog isn’t actually ours yet because you’re having a shit enough day as it is.”

you swear, the look on atsumu's face cannot be drawn or captured. it was pure distress and devasatation, curling the ends of his lips and drooping his ears. “so haru-chan isn’t really ours?”

you almost scratch your head in frustration. “i thought you wanted him back in the pound?”

“you brought home a dog that isn’t ours?” he repeats.

“i thought you’d turn him away if you really didn’t want him. but he was supposed to be a present if you did. so do you?”

“do i what?”

“want the dog.”

“no.” he answers.

you open your palms, gesturing at the dog he's cradling to his chest as it starts to bark at the commotion. “then give me the dog so i can give him back.”

“no.” he replies.

you gape. “what is going on with you?”

.

late -- later, he comes inside the room with silent steps, and you shuffle closer to your end of the bed. atsumu's footsteps aren’t the only ones there. he brought the beagle to your bedroom. the bed dips with a familiar weight along with something small and skittish, laying beside your back, between you and atsumu. 

“i can’t hold my drinks anymore.” he says into the room, knowing you’re probably awake. probably. most likely.

okay, but what does it have to do with the dog?

“you never have.” you grumble.

“yeah, but... it’s -- rin’s still the same as he used to be. no care in the world. a fuckin’ airhead if there was one." he continues, “the younger players in the mix were all there... i’m getting closer to retirement.”

there it is. the real reason rears its head, sprouting from a mouth you wanted to punch so much earlier. all the fight and the annoyance flushes out of your body at hearing the word retirement, because no one said that word around atsumu the same way no one said the word fuck around a baby.

still -- you knew what you were dealing with when you married atsumu, all moods and barbs and blundering words. you love him for his sincerity, for his candor, for everything really. and putting up with you isn't an easy task either, you know all too well, but atsumu does it with genuine pleasure.

even if you saw him take his fears out on the dog, it's scary to realize you still love him the same. you love him differently than when you first met, and you know you'll love him differently ten years from now, but the only thing that's sure is that there will never come a day when you don't love atsumu.

and so, in the spirit of love, you forgive him even if his apology doesn't come in the form of a sorry.

“aren’t there forty year olds in your team?” you try.

“they’re all almost seven feet, so they can play until they’re eighty, probably. me? i can’t do that, babe. i need to be the fastest one on that court and i’ll be a whole lot slower soon. i can feel it. my legs'll be slower than my brain, my sets'll all turn to shit --”

“hey.”

“‘s true.”

“when do you plan on retiring? and you have a plan for it when it comes, i know.”

“never, i hoped. i was twenty-three when i last thought about it. six years flew by like nothin'. and i do have a plan, believe me, i just didn’t think i’d ever reach a point where i’d need it.”

the admittance settles between the two of you like an uncomfortable weight.

“and?” you prompt, knowing there's still something he hasn't said.

“i like it here.” he tells you. he looks at you as he does it, head turning on the pillow. you aren't quite sure what he means, so your brows furrow as you reply, “i’d hope so.”

“no, i mean — i’m satisfied here. with ya." he swallows. "if someone wanted me to pick between this and stayin’ twenty-three and invinsible forever, i’d pick this over and over again without blinkin’. and it’s scary, because my job -- it revolves around bein’ young enough and fast enough and -- this...”

it cleaves your chest, what he says. it makes it squeeze in a way only atsumu has the power to do.

“i know.” you nod. “i know.”

“the dog was the icing on the cake. i thought it last night, but this morning? when you were holdin' it? i swear i felt... like something's changed. something's been changing. and ya know how i am with that. i like this dog too much.” haru-chan sleeps between you. "and i always thought people who had dogs are... settled, ya know. secure. 's why i never got any in the past. who'd feed it at away games? what if it forgets my face?"

you let out a half-hearted smile. “i knew you liked it.”

“you mad?” he asks.

“no. you still have a few years left in you.”

“yeah. but -- if i’m not playing on that court, what am i really?”

the end of the sentence comes out so meek, so low, it hurts you so much, drives a dagger into your chest and twists so slowly that tears spring at the corner of your eyes. and to think you were pissed as hell at him earlier, stomping on floors and banging doors. but then again, that seems to be a language the two of you have no problem sharing, and the end always leads to resolution.

you move closer to him, squishing the dog closer in the caged parenthesis of him and you, and atsumu's arm reaches out as a fingertip skims where your hair meets your temple. this is nice. quiet is nice. and sometimes, you've learned, nothing matters outside the parenthesis.

you met atsumu when you were young. he was a loudmouthed prick with a bad dye-job and you were the only person who was as much of an asshole as he was. and the years spanning in between, somehow, someway, after working and re-working and growing up and growing some more, the two of you ended up in this two storey house in a town twenty minutes away from the city, with a nice breeze and south facing windows in the kitchen, and a backyard that's big enough for a dog, and maybe, just maybe, a couple of kids.

a house of boring people. people who, six years ago, would have made you look at each other with an identical curl in the bridge of your noses.

you and atsumu thrived by jabbing at each other best you can, verbal pinches and pricks, but sometimes, you remember atsumu is a man with a heart of gold, something so soft that you want to protect it with everything you are.

you get those people now. you know he does too. and something in that acceptance was the change that was so slow and gradual he was talking about, that when you try to pinpoint where everything shifted, you'd have to pick at the whole timeline.

“what are you without volleyball?" you say softly. everything will change again too, once he retires, but that's for later. "well. a pain in my ass is one. if you're worrying about what to do, you can always fix the shed. wash the dog. and i like that you don’t have to be so far away half the year anymore. i miss you when you're not around, you know. and you can admit you like taking things slow, and then you can quit the full throttle mode you’ve been operating at your whole life, because i can see that it’s tiring you out now. you can take things slow, and i'll still be here, however you need me, and you'll figure it out like you always do with everything.”

you swallow a lump in your throat, palm brushing haru-chan's fur as atsumu's palm brushes your hair.

“you can be just atsumu. not musubi’s sexy setter — god, i hate that nickname. i hate it so much, tsumu.” you laugh.

"'course you would," he replies, and you can hear a bit of ease in his voice that wasn't there earlier.

you swallow, looking him in the eyes. you see yourself there, in the same place, ten, twenty, fifty years from now, and you find that it doesn't bother you at all, the banality of it, the predicatbility of how it'll go. the thought of you loving him as long as you can fills you with so much comfort.

“my atsumu. you’ve always been my atsumu. it won’t be anything different at all.”

[mf-despair-queen]

Partners in Crime - Lee Taeyong

Author: @mf-despair-queen

Pairing: Lee Taeyong/Reader - Mafia AU

Word Count: 17,864

Summary: Y/N meets the man of her dreams one day randomly on the street. Little does she know - he is the boss of a mafia in town. But does she care? No. They were partners in life - and partners in crime. 

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, I am too lazy to put more to this. 

Notes: April Fools - I’m actually posting! I’ve only had this sitting in my drafts completed for over 3 months. Be warned - I didn’t really proofread this. But it’s fine. everything is fine! Enjoy! 

“You should have left while you could…”

“You know that wasn’t a choice.” A hand slid into his.”We are partners in crime after all. If you go down, I’m going down with you. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, and I will never regret it.”

A small smile graced the man’s face, lacing his fingers with yours. With a reassuring squeeze and the click of his gun in his right hand, he glanced to his side. 

“I honestly knew this day was going to come eventually. I knew I would go down one way or another,,” he rasped, tucking the gun once more into the back of his jeans. His eyes locked on yours before continuing, “But I’m glad that I have you by my side.”

You smiled at him before placing a tender kiss to his lips, your free hand carefully placed on his bandaged shoulder. His eyes closed, relishing in the feeling and taste of your lips on his. The screams from outside the building fell on deaf ears. The threats made went unheard. In those ten seconds, it was just the both of you, embraced by the calm emotions shared between your forms. Silent tears slid down your cheeks from fear and sadness, knowing your impending fate, but he wiped them away gently after pulling away. His lips dragged down yours as he backed away solemnly, wishing this wouldn’t be the end.

“I love you,” he mumbled just loud enough to be heard. 

“I love you too,” you repeated, taking his hand and preparing to stand and face the gallows of red and blue lights flashing through broken windows and bent blinds. “I always will, Taeyong.”

“Excuse me!” The young man called, though his calls went unnoticed. Heavy footsteps fell along the concrete as he attempted to catch your retreating figure, clutching the book you dropped while rapidly making your way down the road. When he finally caught up and tapped your shoulder to get your attention, he understood why you ignored his calls. 

With a jump in shock, you turned to the red haired man in awe. Earbuds were tucked deep in your ears, soothing jams filling your mind as you moved. Time stood still when your eyes met his deep brown ones, your heart jumping slightly. Before you stood a handsome man, mid-twenties if you had to guess, with sweet, angelic eyes, fluffy hair draping across his forehead and shielding the small slit in his eyebrow, and the sharpest jaw you had ever encountered. 

He wore a simple red wool shirt that hugged his neck and lean torso, a thin black hoodie and a puffed gray vest that was decorated in red designs. Black jeans hugged his slim waist, a black belt wrapped through the looks, and black vans covered the white socks on his feet. Three sparkling earrings dangled from his left ear, a ring adorning his left helix and one single stud rounded out his jewelry. 

Realizing that all you were doing was staring, the man awkwardly smiling and uttering mumbled words through your music, you tugged the earbuds out. “I’m sorry about that,” you whispered sheepishly. “Music.”

“I get it,” he chuckled deeply. His voice was smooth and sweet, the underlying rasp making your heart jump a second time. “I don’t mean to bother you, but I saw you drop this earlier.”

He extended the book towards you, your eyes widening at his gesture. Carefully, you took the book from him, glancing into your small bag to find it empty. “Oh my god. I didn’t even realize it fell out. Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem at all,” he laughed, tucking his hands in his pockets. “It’s the least I could do to help a beautiful girl.”

A blush spread along your cheeks, a shy smile growing on your lips. Tucking the book safely back into your bag, you glanced at the handsome man. “Well, can I know the name of the lovely gentleman that returned my book and made my trip to the cafe to read not in vain?”

He smiled, extending a hand toward you. “I’m Taeyong.”

You took his hand, finding it warm and soft. “Y/N.”

“It’s a pleasure, Y/N.”

“Same,” you chimed. “Well Taeyong, how can I ever repay you for this?”

“Oh, you don’t have to-” he started to say, sealing his lips when you shook your head.

“Please, I insist! I really appreciate what you did. I would have lost it in the middle of the cafe if I found I lost this book. It’s my favorite and it was a gift from my sister,” you confided. “I want to repay you somehow. Please?”

“Well,” he started, rubbing his lips together. His eyes narrowed and his lips curled into a cheshire-like smirk. “You could let me buy you a coffee.”

You giggled at his suggestion, tucking some hair behind your ear. “I’d like that, but only on one condition.”

“Oh?”

“You join me for said coffee?”

Taeyong chuckled, nodding happily. “I’d love that.”

A smile grew on your face, butterflies fluttering rampantly inside your stomach. You could feel a small blush spreading across your cheeks as your looked up at the handsome man. “Great. Shall we get going?”

Taeyong smiled back, his glowing smile infectious. “Lead the way, beautiful,” he uttered. You nodded, turning on your heel and leading him towards your original destination - Haru & Oneday - with Taeyong at your side. His hands were tucked deep in his pockets as you walked, a happy hum coming from the man. “So, tell me about yourself.”

You giggled, shaking your head. “That’s a deep conversation. I hope you know that.”

“I have time.”

A skip inside your chest, a knot of excitement in your gut, a flash of heat across your face despite the chilled weather of December.

“Well…”

The entire afternoon was spent talking, tucked into a small corner of the cafe. The second you arrived, Taeyong asked what you wanted. While he ordered your coffee, you picked a secluded place to talk, knowing the book you planned to read that day would go untouched. You were more interested in the mysterious man that captivated you on the street, kindly returning your lost item. 

And learn about him you did. He was a kind soul, living in the same building as a bunch of friends that he worked with in business. He enjoyed singing and dancing in his free time, spitting a rap that made you laugh and clap in excitement. He liked to cook, but you figured out that he had a massive sweet tooth more than anything from the way he devoured a whole slice of chocolate cake by himself. The smile that lit up his face as he ate the decadent treat made you smile happily. 

You told him your story - where you were from, growing up in Busan, your love for cooking and reading. You even told him about the boring desk job you worked to pay for the small apartment you had. You lived an ordinary, boring life in your opinion, but Taeyong listened intently, taking interest in the little things that made you happy. 

Just as the sun was setting and his phone was ringing, presumably from his friends asking where he had disappeared to, did you agree to wrap up for the day. Taeyong slipped from his seat first, but not before sliding a folded napkin in your direction. 

“I enjoyed spending the day together, Y/N,” he mused, pocketing his hands. “I’m glad I was able to meet you today. It really made my day better. I hope we can do it again sometime.”

He waved before walking off, leaving you to gather your stuff. Just as you were finishing, you glanced at the napkin he left. Your stomach flipped and your heart raced, finding his phone number written on the paper, a cute doodle of himself, and the simple words of Call me? printed underneath. Tucking the napkin in your bag, you left the cafe, thanking the owners on your way out.

It was dark by the time you arrived home, closing the front door with a soft click of the lock. Your shoes were left forgotten in the doorway, headed straight for a shower to wash away the day’ odor. Finishing your nightly routine, you returned to the bag you left on your bed, sitting on the plush mattress. Your fingers tugged out the napkin, your lip tugged between your teeth as you contemplated shortly.

Your fingers moved without much though, grabbing your phone and typing the number into a new contact. The message you sent him was simple.

To: Taeyongie - Hey. This is Y/N. I just wanted to thank you again for today. It was great meeting you and getting to know you. I hope we can do it again sometime. 

His response didn’t take long.

From: Taeyongie - I’m glad you messaged me. I was worried for a bit that I wouldn’t get to hear from you again. 

From: Taeyongie - I’m glad I got to meet you too. You really brightened up my day, so for that, I have to say thank you.

From: Taeyongie - I can’t wait to see you again.

Your heart was aflutter, sinking into your bed and rereading the message a few times. You were glad you decided to brave the cold and travel to your favorite cafe, even if you hadn’t intended to almost lose your book and meet a gorgeous gentleman that seemed to steal your heart from under your nose already. After many failed relationships through school and early adulthood, you didn’t think you’d find someone like him that would sweep you off your feet so easily. 

When your phone buzzed again, making you jump slightly in shock, you reread his last message three times before your eyes grew wide.

From: Taeyongie - Though next time, I hope you’ll allow me to take you out for a proper first date.

Your fingers shook as you tried to type a coherent response, 

To: Taeyongie - I’m looking forward to it.

He really was one of a kind.

~

Nearly four months after meeting Taeyong, you were head over heels for the man. You talked to him daily, waking up to sweet messages wishing you a good day and falling asleep to messages bidding you sweet dreams. You had learned much about the man, finding yourself falling deep into the abyss of his chocolate colored eyes. You were wrapped around his finger, though not in a bad sense. He had stolen your heart, and you were willing to let him keep it.

Every other week, you found yourself going out with the man when you weren’t at your house together. When you chose to stay in, you would be wrapped up on your couch or in your bed watching movies while his fingers ran through your hair soothingly, or the tips of his fingers ghostling along your arms. You’d make dinner together, play games together, and even go out to walk Ruby together when he brought the small dog over for your amusement. You’d occasionally find yourself dancing together around the house, singing whatever song he decided to play for you, but you never once hated these moments. They were some of your favorites.

But he would insist on taking you out to dinner, treating you kindly to a romantic date that consisted of expensive dinners or trips to random places - the arcade and the beach being recurring destinations. He’d never let you pay, sometimes making you wonder how he could afford the expensive meals - he never did clarify what his job was - but you wouldn’t decline the dates if it meant you could see him. After the second date, he would always tentatively kiss you goodnight, the connect short and sweet, leaving you craving more. You never shared more than that - though you wished you did.

Tonight was one of those nights. Taeyong had sent you a sweet morning greeting, telling you that he was going to take you out for dinner that night. He didn’t specify where - only to dress elegantly, finishing with a cheesy remark that you always looked fabulous. He planned to pick you up at six sharp, leaving you the rest of the day to clean around the house and prepare for your fancy date. 

At five, you jumped in a shower, dressing in a lacy set of red lingerie before doing your hair and make up. You picked a sleek black dress from your closet - an expensive present you had gotten from your family one year but never found reason to wear - that would accentuate your curves, but not flaunt you in a promiscuous way. The skirt flared out against your thighs and the top hugged your chest, not being too showy around your cleavage. You wanted to impress the man, not make it seem like a slut. You finished with a pair of low heels and minimal jewelry consisting of earrings and a necklace Taeyong insisted he buy you on your third date.

Exactly at six, he was knocking on your door, holding a bouquet of roses in his hands. He smiled brightly, tilting his head cutely in greeting. The silver earrings swung with the movement, a few loose strands from his slicked back hair flopping loose. He wore a red and black checkered jacket over a black and white checkered button up shirt, tight black jeans with rips in the knees hugging his lean waist. 

“Hey beautiful,” he greeted, extending the flowers towards you. “These are for you.”

“You know you didn’t have to, Tae,” you giggled, taking the flowers from him and relishing in the delicate aroma they offered. “But they are beautiful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I know I didn’t have to but they always make you smile,” he mused with a smile. He watched you rush to put the flowers in a vase before grabbing your purse, locking the door on your way out. His arms wrapped around you, hanging loosely at your side as he stared down at your smiling face. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” you murmured with a light blush, running your hands up his arms, resting on his biceps. “You don’t look half bad yourself. Not that it’s hard for you with your face.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he laughed, taking your hand. “Shall we get going? Dinner awaits.”

“Lead the way.”

He led you to a car - which was rare - that took you to your mysterious location. The tall man in the driver’s seat introduced himself as Johnny, giving you both a smile before driving off. Turned out the man was one of Taeyong’s friends that he had told you briefly about before, and he had kindly offered to drive you both seeing as Taeyong didn’t have a license himself. Johnny kept to himself, allowing you to talk freely with Taeyong, the red haired man flirting carelessly the entire time.

You arrived at a tall building, Taeyong chuckling at the confused look on your face when Johnny parked the car and opened Taeyong’s door for him. Taeyong held out a hand to help you from the vehicle, thanking Johnny for the ride. The tall man simply pat his friend on the back and gave him a wink before returning to the car and driving off. Your hand slid back into Taeyong’s as he led you to the doors of the building, the doorman nodding.

“Good evening, Mr. Lee.”

The interaction with the doorman and Taeyong further confused you. This was different than your normal dinner dates where you always had a private room or balcony in the restaurants, servers catering to your every need. He wasn’t leading you into a high class restaurant where he could bypass the line and walk straight to a table without question. You were in a pristine lobby with a fountain and couches, a giant chandelier above your head. 

He led you to the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, snickering at your confusion. He didn’t bother to clarify what was going on. He simply ran his thumb over the back of your hand, listening to the music play above you. When the elevator dinged that you were at the top floor, the man led you out wordlessly, digging into his pocket for a set of keys for the door at the end of the hall.

“Where are we?” you finally questioned, watching him unlock the door. 

Taeyong hummed while pushing the door open, allowing you to walk in first. He witnessed you gawking at your new surroundings, the elegant living room of the penthouse you found yourself in leaving you flabbergasted. “Welcome home,” he chimed, shutting the door.

“This is where you live?” you asked, turning to the man. In the time you knew him, he had never once talked about where he lived. You had never seen his house, always spending time together in your tiny, cozy apartment. Now, you were staring at the large living room with multiple plush couches, art lining the walls, and a large kitchen and dining room in the distance. The table was decorated with candles and place settings, a bottle of wine being chilled in a bucket.

“Is it too much?” he asked, pouting slightly. 

“You just never mentioned you live in a penthouse!” you scolded, shoving him lightly before wrapping your arms around him. “But this is breathtaking.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he whispered. “I figured that today is our fifth date, not counting our little cafe rendezvous when we first met, so what better date night than for me to make you dinner in my own home.”

“You’re making dinner?” you chirped, gleefully bouncing on the balls of your feet. “I love your cooking so much.”

“Well, go ahead and get comfortable and I will get cooking.”

You nodded, watching him make his way into the kitchen. He poured you a glass of wine before he started cooking, watching you sink into one of the couches to watch him. He caught you occasionally looking around to take in the impressive surroundings, laughing to himself. He told you that his friends lived in their own apartments in the lower floors, leaving you to wonder what exactly they did to afford this. You didn’t know his exact line of work - he always just said business - but he was obviously successful enough to afford the penthouse of the building.

Taeyong beckoned you over when food was ready, pulling out your chair for you. He poured you more wine before serving you a piping hot bowl of bibimbap. Taking his place beside you with his own glass and bowl, he tilted his glass towards you. “To the most beautiful girl in the world.”

You giggled, flushing brightly and tilting your glass to his. With a clink of cups, you responded, “to the most handsome man in the world.”

The meal was delicious, melting on your tongue. You made small talk as you ate, enjoying Taeyong’s giddy nature from drinking. The man couldn’t hold his alcohol at all, and one sip left him red faced and giggly. You helped him with dishes when you were finished, even though he protested it vehemently, finding yourselves flicking water at each other and blowing bubbles into the air.

You curled up on the couch together for a while before he would have to take you home, Your head on his chest and his fingers running through your hair. The silence was welcoming, the sound of his erratic heartbeat all you needed for comfort. He would sometimes hum a song for you, but mostly you just relaxed in his grasp. It was times like this that you enjoyed the most - being with him made you feel content. 

In your entire life, you never cared for someone as much as you did the red haired man before you. Never in your life did you like someone as much as you did Taeyong. He made you feel loved and cherished. He made you feel beautiful and wanted. 

You wanted nothing more than to be with him forever.

You frowned when he suggested it was time to take you home. Instead of calling Johnny to drive you back, you opted for a late night walk so Taeyong could sober himself up, treating yourselves to some crepes on the way. You walked hand in hand the entire way, the sway between you both making your heart jump in your chest. 

Arriving at your apartment, you sighed under your breath, turning to look at the man. “Thank you for tonight,” you told him, giving his hand a squeeze. “I enjoyed our date. I think this was my favorite date so far.”

“Well, there’s more of these to come,” he chuckled, tugging his lip between his teeth. He stared at you silently, moving his free hand up to your face. His fingers curled against your cheek, smoothing across your skin as you sank into his touch. “Y/N…”

“I should probably go inside-”

He cut you off with a passionate kiss, tugging you into him. Your hand was dropped so he could cup your face in both hands, putting everything he could into the connection. The shock from the initial kiss wore off, your eyes fluttering closed and returning his kiss. It was deeper than any kiss you shared before. His head was tilted and your lips meshed together perfectly. Your hands gripped at his jacket, pushing up into him as much as possible. 

The world around you stopped. It was just you both in that moment, sharing the most amazing kiss you had ever dreamt of. This was what you wanted, this was what you had waited for. The way his lips dragged against yours as he smothered you with his lips left you eager for more. The smack of his lips disconnecting from yours left you gasping for precious air, yet a desire to return your lips to his.

“Be my girlfriend,” he rasped deeply against your lips. 

All you could do was nod in return before he was kissing you again, dropping his hands to your waist to tug you closer. Your hands moved up and around his neck, tangling into his hair, pulling him deeper into you. The kiss intensified, lips speeding up and parting for an entourage of open-mouth kisses to start. Your bodies were flush against one another, heat spreading along your limbs.

The moment was broken from the ring of his phone, the red-haired man pulled back with a scowl. He kept you against him as he fished the phone from his pocket, reading the message he had received. Low strings of curses left his mouth before dropping the phone back into his pants, tilting your head to place a kiss on your forehead. 

“I’m sorry, but I have to go. Something came up that I need to take care of.”

“Is everything ok?” you wondered, frowning at his for his reaction to the message.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine, I promise. Just some last minute work popped up that I need to help Mark with,” he tried to reassure you. Something was off about his tone, but you nodded at him anyway. He must have caught your uncertainty, pulling you into a light kiss. “I promise it’s nothing to worry about. Now, go inside and I will talk to you tomorrow, alright?”

“Alright, Taeyong,” you whispered, kissing him one last time before backing away to unlock your door. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he said, blowing you a kiss as he backed away, turning on his heel and stampeding away. 

You watched his form vanish around the corner, tucking yourself into your apartment. Leaning against the door, you let your fingers run along your lips, smiling at the thought of your new boyfriend. The questions you had about his late night business venture were pushed aside for now as you chose to trust the man. You rushed to your room to prepare for sleep, enveloped in happy dreams of the red-haired man.

Outside your building, Taeyong stared up at your window for a moment before a black car pulled up. He quietly filled the backseat, meeting eyes with Johnny and Mark. The blank tint of the windows kept the outside from seeing the gun passed to him by the young lad int he passenger seat, Taeyong checking the clip once over.

“How’d it go?” Johnny questioned cheekily.

“You know the rules,” Taeyong glowered. “Don’t touch my girlfriend and protect her from this shit.”

“What’s going to happen when she finds out?” Mark asked.

“Don’t worry about that. That’s my problem,” Taeyong hummed, tucking the gun into the waistband of his jeans. “Focus on this deal for now. I can’t have you distracted if this goes south.”

“Yes sir,” both men spoke, the car going quiet as they advanced towards an abandoned warehouse where their deal was to take place. 

~

One year. 

One year since you started dating the love of your life. Six months in, you had been the one to say it first.

“I love you, Lee Taeyong.”

He didn’t hesitate to repeat the phrase multiple times while placing kiss after kiss to every inch of your face and neck before curling into you and cuddling you tightly. You didn’t regret saying it, especially after he responded the way he did, loving you just as much as you loved him. You knew you wanted to spend your life with this man; you knew he held your heart in the palm of his hand. But you were happier than you had ever been. This was the highest point in your life.

You started spending more time around Taeyong’s massive penthouse on your days off or after work, your routine with Taeyong nothing different than before. Everything just seemed to get better - especially as his friends started to migrate into your life as well. There were twenty boys living in the building that he worked with, but he had a group of eight others that were closest to the man and popped up most often. 

You had met Johnny before when he was your chauffeur for your date, so getting to know the tall American was different. He loved photography and fashion, sometimes spending his time with you on your days off by having mini fashion shows in Taeyong’s penthouse. Taeyong always had a good laugh when he walked in on your faux walking down a runway, planting himself on the couch to watch and take his own pictures.

Taeil was the oldest of the bunch, a quiet man that enjoyed singing with his friends Doyoung and Jungwoo. He was famous in the group for his dad jokes, becoming the butt of many jokes. He also had an equally bad alcohol tolerance to your boyfriend.

Doyoung was a snarky man that loved to pick on Taeyong, but you could tell he cared about him. He had rabbit-like qualities that you found adorable. When Taeyong was busy when you were around, Doyoung would make you delicious meals that left you in a food coma on the couch until Taeyong would return.

Jungwoo was a mischievous little brat, but you always found him to be funny. He whined childishly for attention and played around with the others. He craved long hugs that made Taeyong yell at him because he was taking his girlfriend from him. 

Jaehyun was your workout buddy. The fittest of the bunch, the man with deep dimples had offered to exercise with you when you complained you had gotten lazy in Taeyong’s house. You could never keep up with him or Johnny, who often joined you both in the gym, but having someone there to push you was worth it. 

Yuta had the most infectious smile. He would always play games with you and make you smile. But the thing you did most often was watch soccer together. The man loved the sport, having grown up playing in Japan, so watching games together was always exciting. He got so captivated by them that he wouldn’t realize he was jumping around wildly.

Haechan was a brat, but he was skilled in dances. He had this innate ability to watch a dance on tv and perform it. His time would be split between the main group of nine and the younger boys in the building. Even with his evil personality, you loved the young boy, happily failing by his side when you would dance together.

Mark was probably your favorite. He was the one around most often, caring for you when Taeyong was working. He had quickly grown to be like a little brother that supported you through everything. He told you about his life in Canada while you told him about your life in Korea, sharing the littlest things with each other. He would play the guitar for you in his spare time, often lulling you to sleep with the beautiful melodies.

You didn’t expect to meet such a rowdy bunch, but they made your relationship with Taeyong even sweeter. And though you still often had dates with Taeyong, you also spent a lot of time with the group on outings. Going out for meals or going around the city was more special with your hand clamped in Taeyong’s and the bundle of males running around you.

As much as you have enjoyed your one year anniversary alone with Taeyong on a romantic date, eating an expensive dinner that you knew Taeyong would insist you have and finishing the night together tangled in the sheets, you were glad you went with the current idea. When the group found out that it was your anniversary, they insisted on taking you both out for a good night.

What started with a fun meal of barbeque that they paid for completely, not a single cent paid by you or Taeyong, turned into a drunken mess at a nightclub. Hesitant at first, you barely took a shot or two of soju with the others. Taeyong was wrecked just from those couple shots, beginning to drink more and more. Watching him enjoy himself let you relax, beginning to down your own drinks.

The night slowly became a blur of flashing lights and loud music, but you knew Taeyong was always by your side. Either his hand was in yours or resting somewhere on your body - the small of your back, wrapped around your waist and hugging you to his side, and resting on your thigh as you sat at a booth, drinking and playing games together. 

You danced together, your body rolling against his. He was obviously more skilled than you were, but even in his shrunken state, he led you confidently and naturally, grinding against you eagerly. Your back pressed against his chest as his hands sat on your hips, fingers splayed against bare skin from where you shirt rode up. When you faced him, you arms wrapped around his neck, fingers tangling in his fluffy red threads. 

Hot kisses were left on your mouth, your lips left puffy and swollen from the multiple attacks he left on you. You were already warm from the club and the plethora of people around you, but your body was searing against his. Each taunting kiss he gave you, lips parted and tongue slipping into your mouth, left you craving more. Your hands wandering against his form, trailing up and down his arms, let him panting, the man tugging his lip between his teeth.

“We should get out of here…”

That’s all he had to mutter once for you to find yourself escaping the heat of the club and back in Taeyong’s penthouse. It was past midnight when you stumbled through the door together, your lips latched together in a sloppy kiss. Your arms were wrapped weakly around him, trying to kick off your shoes as you pushed into the doorway. Taeyong kicked the door shut with his foot, struggling to lock it and discord his sneakers before entering the house. He couldn’t focus with your lips connected to his, your tongues swirling together eagerly between your cheeks.

He picked you up with easy, a squeal of shock lost to his throat. His steps were uneven as he moved forward, supporting you with one hand on your ass, the other following the wall to guide him through the darkness. The kiss broke when he tripped over the rug and bumped into a table, a bruise bound to form on his knee. Low curses left his lips, the man rushing into the bedroom. 

The door slammed shut behind you, Taeyong turning to trap you against the sealed entryway. His lips found home once more on your own, igniting another fiery kiss between you. You happily returned it, tasting the vast amounts of alcohol that lingered on his taste buds. A subtle swipe of his tongue against your lips told you to part them and let him inside, which you willingly complied. The taste of the bitter liquid from the evening was heavy on his tongue as it roamed your cheeks.

Your moans were muffled, mind foggy in the midst of the kiss. It didn’t occur to you that his hands were traveling up your sides, pushing at the bottom of your shirt until it was resting underneath your breasts. The skim of the pads of his thumbs against your sides and ribs sent shivers up your spine, more mewls of delight lost to the sensual lip lock. Taeyong pushed harder against your, his hips rutting against your clothed core, both sets of jeans blocking what you truly desired in that moment. His head tilted to deepen the kiss, letting out a groan of his own.

The first time you separated, chests heaving for precious amounts of air, he uttered two short words. 

“May I?” 

You knew what he wanted, even in the blur of words that met your ears. You nodded at him, arching off the door long enough for him to rid you of your top, the cotton fabric strewn across the floor carelessly. Lips back to yours for a single second before disappearing south, searing hot kisses leaving a wet trail along your neck and clavicle. Your swollen lips parted with delicious moans for him to savor, trembling fingers lacing through his locks on the back of his head. 

His teeth toyed with the strap on your left shoulder first, playfully nipping at your skin in his futile attempts to drag the strap down your arm. Your mewls of delight mixed with short giggles before taking the opportunity to rid yourself of the pesky garment. Taeyong pouted without a doubt - he always hated when you did it for him - but didn’t bother to argue. 

His lips found home on your bare chest, lips wrapping around the pert nipple on your right breast. A content sigh left your mouth, back arching into his touch. Your hands twisted through his red strands, giving him a tug whenever he found a sensitive spot on your chest. You tried to watch him through the haze, but your eyes were blurring too much. 

Was it the alcohol still present, slowly wearing off? Or, was it the pleasure of him suckling at your nipples, giving them short tugs with his teeth, and pulling away with short pops that rang in your ears?

You didn’t know, nor did you care. You were in heaven.

Taeyong spent several long minutes pleasuring your chest, red marks lingering on the mounds and between them when he swaps between them on occasion. With each kiss he left, and each bite he left, his hands holding you up against the wall grabbed at your backside. His hips ground against yours, becoming more frequent and harder against your covered core. The bulge in his tight jeans was obvious, growing more prevelant by the second. His cock was stiff, and his actions just solidified what he wanted.

Placing you on unsteady legs, his nimble fingers made quick work of your pants, the man kneeling long enough to tug them down your legs. Your panties came with, leaving you naked before his eyes. The red head toppled slightly, nearly falling on his ass in his tipsy state. A mixture of the alcohol and his awe at your body left him speechless and wobbly, slowly standing while working at his own jeans.

Your hands were quick to replace his, struggling to undo the button of his dark skinny jeans. Taeyong had to place a hand on the wall to keep himself upright, his other hand massaging his face a few times before pushing his hair back. Low groans and swears escaped, staring down at you when you grew frustrated and collapsed to your knees, stumbling just as he had. 

“Dammit,” you growled, tugging angrily at the jeans when they wouldn’t unbutton. Taeyong chuckled deeply.

“Need a hand?”

“No. Fuck you. I can do it myself.”

The man let out a hefty chortle at your frustration, repaying you for what you did earlier. His fingers made quick work of his own jeans, the button unsnapping and zipper slowly lowered before your eyes. With a short huff, you tugged the dark denim down his legs, leaving them around his ankles so you could rub at his covered cock.

“Fuck, baby,” he groaned loudly. The hand he had on the wall slowly curled into a fist, pounding against the wall lightly. You smirked up at him, biting at your lip. He rarely cursed, but when he did, you knew he meant business. “Don’t tease me.”

You clicked your tongue at him as you tugged his boxers down, letting him spring free. The fabric was left to pool at his feet, you focus turning to the large cock staring straight at your face. It twitched with anticipation, the tip red, swollen and oozing precum. It pulsed as your fingers grazed along the shaft. The sight made your mouth water, tongue tracing your lips slowly.

Taeyong’s fist pounded harder to the wall, a loud grunt exhaled when he felt your lips on the tip just before taking the entire length between your cheeks. He struggled to focus, blinking repeatedly to clear his vision to watch you bobbing your head along his cock. Your hand gripped the base firmly, pumping it in time with your bobs. Your tongue trailed along the underside of his shaft as you moved, the tip traveling along the pulsing vein that protruded out. Your other hand toyed with his balls, juggling them between your fingers and giving them light squeezes.

“Shit,” he cursed again, earning a small smile from you. Taeyong leaned forward, placing his head against the wall, heavier pants starting to leave his lips. He could barely form words with the overwhelming ecstasy of your mouth around his cock. “Please, baby. Give me more.”

You kept your motion steady, not giving into his plea entirely. You wanted to savor the taste of his salty sweetness that seeped onto your tongue, overriding the bitter drink from the early evening. Taeyong didn’t seem pleased; his hand gripped at the hair on the back of your head, his hips jutting forward suddenly. He halted when you gagged once, knowing his abrasive stunt was a bit much.

When you were situated, stilling your movements but keeping his cock resting on your tongue, he thrust forward against. He leveraged the hold he had on your hair to push you forward, your nose meeting his pelvis. His cock met the back of your throat repeatedly as his timed thrusts met your forced head bobs, a slobbering wet gurgle of him fucking your mouth filling the air. Taeyong moaned loudly, unable to keep his voice down - not that he needed to. 

He didn’t stop until he was groaning loudly, his wild thrusts that had grown sloppy ceasing and he was spilling his salty seed down your throat, the white ribbons of cum filling your cheeks and swallowed happily. He pulled out at the end, hand wrapping around the base and giving it a few final pumps. The last few shots landed on your face and chest, your tongue extended to try and capture them. You let out a hearty giggle, tracing the cum along your face and chest with a finger.

Taeyong huffed when he watched you suck the finger clean. The man, fed up of waiting, hoisted you up by the hand before lifting you bridal and turning towards the bed. With the fabric still bundled around his ankles, he stumbled forward, kicking anxiously at them to discard. 

You were thrown careless on the bed with a light yelp and laugh, Taeyong pouncing on top of your bare form. His lips instantly met yours, furious open mouth kisses shared. Your bodies were grinding against each other rapidly, hands eagerly tracing each other’s forms. Your legs twisted together, feet playfully nuzzling against one another. Your arms looped around Taeyong’s neck, fingers curling through his tangled red hair. 

Taeyong pulled away, glancing between your forms long enough to align himself with your core, sheathing himself inside you with one quick thrust. Your eyes closed, moaning and groaning from his size. He wasn’t the largest man out there, but it never ceased to amaze you whenever you were intimate how well he could fill your pussy up. The man stilled, peppering your face with kisses and uttering sweet nothings until you gave him the signature tap on the shoulder to let him know he could continue.

His thursts always started slow, pulling back until he was about to leave you empty and then pushing back in completely. The pace would be slow and steady, soft moans leaving you both. But as time went on, he would gain momentum, hips starting to snap into yours hastily until he was slamming into you, pressing you into the mattress. The sound of clapping skin grew louder, the moans became screams of his name, and your body trembled under his. 

You were quick to orgasm, feeling his thick cock sliding in and out of your tight core quickly, pounding at you quickly. The tip pushed against your g-spot every time he pushed into you, earning himself a breathy pant from below him. Your walls would hug around him, making it harder for him to concentrate on his thrusts. It grew worse when he felt you shudder, back arching and toes curling. Your pussy squeezed him, spilling around his thick shaft and soaking it completely. 

Taeyong stopped moving, not wanting to fill you up so soon, watching your twitching form relax after a minute. Leaning back on his knees between your legs, he pulled himself out, satisfied at how wet his shaft was. HIs fingers toyed with your sensitive entrance for a moment, hearing you groan and watching you twist in subtle discomfort.

He placed a longing kiss on your lips before turning you on your side, laying behind you. His fingers ran along your sides soothingly, drawing different shapes on your stomach and chest. He carefully draped your leg back over his hips, jutting his forward to slide himself between your pussy lips. A low mewl escaped, turning your head back to him to share a loving kiss just as he pushed into you once more.

His hand gripped at your breast, lips pressed to your shoulder. His thrusts picked up steadily, pushing himself deeply into you from behind. The new angle allowed him to hit deeper inside you, his already moist length sliding with ease between your tight walls. He collided with your backside with each thrust, groaning happily with every smack he heard. The bed squeaked with his quick thrusts, jostling with the movements of your bodies. 

Despite his hard and fast repetition of his cock pushing into you, his lips placed kisses to your ear. You could hear his pants and low grunts in the buzz of your ecstasy, enjoying the way he felt thrusting into you furiously. Every slam into you made your head spin, the feeling of his length sliding against your walls causing your heart to beat faster. The way his lips felt against the side of your head at the same time that his cock pushed deeping to and pressed against the most sensitive spot to make you quiver was causing your stomach to burn.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured into your ear softly, nipping at your earlobe. When you moaned in response, his lips curled upwards. His hand grasped tighter to your breast, burrowing his face into you. “Fuck, I love you so much.”

“I-I love…” you started, panting quickly. 

Taeyong knew what you wanted to say. It was clear. He also knew that you were close again - because so was he. His thrusts were growing sloppy and he could feel your walls tightening sporadically around him. You were both chasing the final high of the night as exhaustion was becoming apparent.

He pulled out, leaving you whining and empty. It wasn’t for long because he pushed you once more on to your back, sliding into you quickly and roughly. Every time, Taeyong had a thing for finishing in a way where he could see your face. He loved to watch you ascend into heaven, feeling blissful from sex. He leaned on his knees between your legs, one hand pushing your leg back and resting on the back of your thigh so your foot rested on his shoulder, and the other pushing your other leg out to spread you wide for him. His eyes were cast onto you body, swapping between your breasts bouncing with his quick snaps, to your heavenly face, swollen lips parted with moans.

“Come on,” he whispered, feeling the sweat running down his brow. “Cum for me, baby,” he pleaded. Rule number one with Taeyong: he always wanted to make sure you were pleased before he was. He always made sure to make you cum before him, and if he didn’t he would work extra hard to please you. It wasn’t uncommon for him to beg for you to snap under him.

“Tae…”

“I know baby,” he let out, heaving for air. “Come on. We’re almost there. Just let it go for me.”

“I love you…”

He grit his teeth and dove in for one last kiss, both of you breaking at the same time. Your bodies trembled together, your juices spilling around his length and his thick seed filling your core completely. Your inner walls were painted white by the strings he spewed, letting them decorate your core in warm stickiness. You moaned into his kiss, too weak to hug him close. 

You were limp when he pulled out, half-lidded eyes watching the satisfied man. His fingers danced along your core, spreading your pussy lips to watch your combined juices trying to escape. One slick finger carefully pushed the juices back in, causing you to shutter and mewl his name. Content with the pleasure, he collapsed beside you, two sweaty bodies sticking to his silk sheets. A thin blanket was dragged over your bodies, one of his arms draping across your stomach. You curled into his side, letting out a long breath.

“I love you so much,” you whispered again. Taeyong didn’t reply, making you glance up at him. “Taeyong?”

“Move in with me,” he whispered. you almost felt like you didn’t hear him right. You blinked a few times before sitting up slowly, groaning in pain. You hugged the blanket to your chest, turning to the man. 

“What?”

“Move in with me,” he repeated, louder this time. “You’re already here all the time, and you shouldn’t have to be paying for the dingy apartment. I love you so much, baby, and I want you to live with me.”

The room grew quiet, the air thick. You repeated the offer in your mind. The alcohol had worn off at this point, so there was little chance that he wasn’t thinking straight. Taeyong stared at you silently as you thought, biting at his lip. Only when you carefully took his hand in yours and placed them laced together in your lap did he let out the breath he had been holding. 

“I will,” you mumbled before turning to him and kissing him passionately. “I will, Taeyong. I love you so much. I will move in with you.”

“Wonderful,” he whispered, kissing you once more. “You just made a man very happy today.”

“Well, you always make me happy,” you told him back.

“Yeah. I always will…”

~

You awoke to the sunlight streaming through a small crack in the curtains, the light hitting your face directly. A low groan left your lips as you turned over, finding the bed cold and empty beside you. Since moving in with Taeyong, you had become accustomed to the morning he was gone when you woke up. He had work to do, and he hated to disturb you when he left. 

When your eyes fell on a small box on your side tab and a folded note, you smiled. Carefully sitting up, blanket to your chest, you grabbed the two items, looking at the note first. It was short:

A beautiful present for a beautiful woman. I will be home for dinner, so I will see you then. I love you. Have a wonderful day babe.

You shook your head, looking into the box. It was a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings that would dangle and shine from your lobes. You shook your head, letting out a short laugh. 

“That man,” you scowled playfully. “He just doesn’t know when to quit.”

He always bought you presents, especially after you moved in months ago. They were always expensive, and you would yell at him for wasting so much on you. He said it wasn’t an issue and he wanted to spoil you. It left you wondering how much money he had. You never fought him hard about it; the gesture was always sweet and made you smile because he thought of you so much.

Climbing out of bed, you grabbed an outfit from the closet, showering and dressing quickly. It was the early afternoon when you stepped out of the penthouse, leaving the large building with a pep in your step. You walked down the road to a small market store on the corner, a place you would frequent when you had small cravings or needed mild groceries. With the thought of Taeyong returning in time for dinner, you wanted to return his generous gift with a homemade meal of his favorite items - complete with a chocolate cake.

The only issue was you were low on groceries. The last of your groceries went to a large group dinner a few nights prior, the pair of you opting for take out after that. You figured you would only get a few groceries for the time being until Johnny could take you down for a full grocery run. 

The door jingled when you walked in, the street oddly empty. You paid no attention to the lack of people around, waving at the store owner who sat at the register behind the counter. You grabbed the small reusable bag and disappeared down the aisles, humming to yourself as you searched for what you needed. 

“Let’s see. If I make kalguktsu, I will need more noodles and vegetables. We have stock still, and I could pick up some prawns for it too. Maybe grab some snacks and something for lunch. Maybe some kimbap…”

You talked to yourself as you placed the desired items in your bag. Making it to the last aisle for your snacks, your eyes ran over the items, searching for anything that sounded good. You kneeled to the floor to look at the lower shelves, placing the bag aside, when the door jingled again. Initially, you paid no mind to it, figuring another customer walked in.

Until you heard a gunshot. 

You collapsed to the side in shock, watching the water canister in the corner get pierced, water leaking onto the ground and flooding it. You covered your mouth in shock, afraid to make a noise. 

“Well, well, Dohyeon,” someone spoke, causing you to shake. “Is anyone else here?”

Your breathing stopped. you glanced towards the end of the aisle, afraid they would hear you or find you. You could feel your hands shaking, tears starting to leak from your eyes. With bated breath, you awaited the owner’s response. 

“No,” he responded confidently, no waiver in his voice. “It’s been slow today. But I guess I know why.”

“Yeah,” the person responded. “Come on in, boss. Coast is clear.”

The door jingled, two pairs of footsteps tapping against the floor. You waited to hear what they would have to say, but what you heard made your heart stop for reasons other than fear.

“You should have known I would find out.”

Through bleary eyes, you glanced up, finding a reflective mirror in the corner of the store. In front of the counter stood four men - four men you knew too well. Johnny and Jaehyun held guns at the owner - Dohyeon - while Mark stood behind the man with familiar red hair. You wanted to cry and sob, but you couldn’t. You were appalled to find Taeyong there, staring down Dohyeon with his own gun.

“You knew those drugs were mine. You were supposed to sell them for us. But no. You had to go and doublecross us and sell the stock to Stray Kids? What kind of profit did you make off that.”

Dohyeon was quiet.

“Yeah, you know I’m fucking pissed. You know better than to cross me. But you did anyway!” Another shot fired, making you jump as a counter behind Dohyeon collapsed. “Now, you’re lucky I’m willing to give you one last chance. I could easily kill you here and now, but you haven’t done us wrong until now. 

“But, it won’t come free. I want you to hand over all of the cash you received from them, plus interest. And I expect the next time we give you something, you make sure to stay selling for us. Your cut will be reduced until you are back in good faith, but it’s better than being dead, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Dohyeon whispered bitterly. 

“You don’t sound very grateful,” Taeyong growled. “Would you prefer I just shoot you here and now? I can make that happen.”

“No, sir.”

“Good.” Mark threw a bag on the counter. “Put the money in the bag. All of it.”

You watched Dohyeon load the bag with money from under the counter, as well at the money from the register to satisfy Taeyong’s demands. The bag was zipped shut, Mark taking it from Dohyeon’s grasp. The owner sat back down, watching the four men.

“Think of this as a warning,” Taeyong sneered. “You agreed to this. You work for me and if I find out you are pulling some shady shit again, I will have you killed in the most gruesome way possible. No one fucks with NCT. Am I clear?”

“Yes…”

“I say am I clear?!”

“Yes sir!”

“Good. And if anyone asks what happened here, we were never here. Some kids vandalized you, or something of the sort. You’re a smart man. That’s obvious by trying to sell to Stray Kids, but not smart enough if you didn’t think you’d be caught.”

Taeyong made his way to the door, Mark in tow. Johnny and Jaehyun followed behind them both, never lowering the guns. Taeyong sent one last glance at the man behind the counter. 

“Pleasure doing business as always.”

When the door closed and the jingling stopped, you dropped your hand, feeling your entire body trembling. After a minute passed, and you were sure they had left, you stood on shaky legs, grabbing the bag from the ground. You stumbled out of the aisle, slipping in the pool of water on your way to the door. Dohyeon said nothing as he watched you slap money onto the counter and rush out the door. You ran down the street with bag in hand, disappearing into the sudden sea of people that flooded the previously vacant area.

Sitting at home awaiting his return was nerve wracking.  The second you got home, you threw yourself into another shower, collapsing to the floor and wailing loudly with sobs. The remainder of the afternoon was spent replaying what happened, and pondering how to confront Taeyong about what you had witnessed. You watched the time tick on, curling into yourself with a blanket on the couch.

Taeyong walked through the door with a smile, dropping his keys on the table by the door, kicking off his shoes and stripping off his red jacket. “Baby, I’m home,” he called happily, making his way into the living room. He expected to find you cooking or watching tv, but let his smile fade when he noticed the silence and you curled up on the couch staring at nothing. “Babe?”

You didn’t respond, worrying the red-haired man. He rushed forward, taking a seat at your feet. His hand ran along your blanket covered leg, pausing when he felt you flinch. Taeyong frowned, tilting his head at you. “Y/N, what’s going on? Are you ok?”

“I saw you…”

“What?” he questioned. “What are you talking about?”

You finally looked up at him. He could immediately tell you had been crying from your red and swollen eyes. “Tell me honestly - what is your job?”

“I…” he started, but stopped, turning away.

“I saw you at the little corner store you took me too and we always shop at.”

He stayed silent.

“Taeyong, I want the truth.”

“I think you already figured it out,” he rasped bitterly before sighing. “If you want out now, I won’t blame you. I won’t hold it against you. And I will make sure that no one comes after you for it as long as you remain quiet about what you know.

“But I… I have lied to you many times. And I’m not proud of that. I honestly should have never dragged you into this, but I couldn’t help myself. I have lied about many things, but I have never lied about my feelings for you. I love you with all my heart, Y/N, and I will do anything to keep you safe.

“But I understand that I have made mistakes by keeping this from you. I never wanted you to be involved, but I should have seen this coming one day. And I’m sorry.”

His gaze was on the floor as he talked, but shot up when your cold hand took his, lacing your fingers together. He stared at you, nervously holding his breath. “I don’t like that you lied about this. That you kept this from me for so long.”

“I know…”

“But, I’m also in too deep,” you murmured. Taeyong gave your hand a squeeze. “I fell in love with you the day I met you and I’ve only gotten deeper since then. I… I don’t want to leave you. I love you too much to leave you.”

“You know I live a dangerous life, right?”

“Yeah, I figured that out,” you told him. “But, we are in this together. I will support you and help you where I can. We’ll just be partners in crime.”

Taeyong bit his lip, running a hand through his red hair until the strands were tousled and sticking up in random directions. “Are you sure you want to get involved in this? I don’t want you to feel pressured to join this lifestyle because of me.”

“I’m sure,” came your meek voice. The man could tell you were scared of the answer, of the path you were agreeing to, but the solid grip on his hand and the fire behind your blown orbs gave him your resolve. “I want to stay by your side. I will help you no matter what.”

“Partners in crime, eh?” he chuckled weakly, smiling weakly at your own giggle in return. 

“Yeah. Partners in crime. If you go down, I go down with you. I’m not leaving your side in this. I know I may not seem like the best candidate for this, but I am a quick learner for whatever you need. Train me for whatever you think you need me for. 

“But going forward, you can’t keep things like this from me. If you want to make this work - to make us work - we need to have this trust. If you are as serious about us as you say you are, and I know you are because I have felt your love and passion, then we need to be open. Which means no lies, no deceit, and most of all, standing by each other’s decisions. We are partners in life, in death, and now, in crime I guess.” 

You paused briefly to let out a breath, watching the man nod at your words. “I won’t deny that I am scared of what I am agreeing to, but I will do what I have to because I want to be with you. Until death do us part.”

Taeyong didn’t say anything. The leader silently crawled onto the couch with you, your body shifting slightly so he could nestle himself between you and the back cushions. His head rested on your breast, one arm looped loosely around your waist. Your hand ran through his ruffled locks, feeling his tense form starting to relax at the soothing motion. You couldn’t see his face, but you knew he was scared too - not for the work he did, but for your inevitable involvement. 

“I love you. So much…”

His voice was low and muffled, but his words were clear.

“I love you too…”

It made you wonder how a man as soft as the one curled into your side was when you were alone could be so ruthless. You heard him that day threaten the owner of the store, and the thought alone still sent shivers up your spine. But it was just another thing you were going to accept about the mysterious man. 

You were serious when you said to death do you part. You were determined to stand by his side in every situation. He loved you and you loved him. Even though he was a dangerous man, you knew you couldn’t escape.

He had your heart in his hand after all.

Hours later, long after the sun had set and the clock struck midnight, you sat on the same couch, listening to Taeyong pace around behind you. After your confrontation upon his return home, you prepared dinner and had an emotional discussion about everything. He revealed everything to you in that time, laying his life on the table before you. 

He led a small mafia group called NCT. They were one group under a larger organization, and their group controlled the area you lived in. There were twenty-one boys in their unit, breaking into smaller units to manage their territory. Taeyong mentioned there were rival groups that tended to do business in their area, but for the most part, they didn’t clash too much. 

Taeyong, though he led all of the boys in the building, worked mostly with the eight other boys you had spent so much of your time with. The other two groups, Dream and WayV, had members who lead them when Taeyong couldn’t. The building they lived in was owned by their organization. 

And as he spilled everything, including his background and how he got involved coming out of high school, everything seemed to click more given everything you had been through with him since you met. Yet, it didn’t change your feelings for him. It just solidified his trust in you and his desire to have you in his life. 

Now ame the hard part.

“What’s going on boss?” a loud voice chimed as the front door opened widely, eight chipper boys filing through the entryway quickly, led by Mark. “Did something happen with that weapons… call…”

Mark’s voice faded away when the group saw you sitting on the couch and their leader anxiously walking back and forth, his thumb nail in his mouth as he nibbled at it. All of the boys gaped at the sight, unprepared for your presence. Mark seemed the most uncomfortable, seeing as he was about to talk business, assuming that was what they were being called for given the cryptic message they had received that simply said “we have something to discuss. It’s important.”

“Y/N…” Mark stuttered out, panic laced in his voice. “I didn’t know you were here…”

“She lives here,” Yuta pointed out lowly, only to receive a jab in his side from Mark’s elbow.

“Well, just ignore whatever I was saying! It wa a joke really-”

“It’s fine,” Taeyong said, cutting the young boy off. He stopped pacing to face the group, still biting at his nail. “She knows.”

The boys stared at their leader for a minute before bursting into a loud mixture of questions and concerns. Taeyong stared blankly at them until he got fed up with their loud noise, motioning them to silence. The room grew quiet in an instant, all eight of the boys finding places to eat to listen to what Taeyong had to say. 

“She saw us earlier today when we went to handle Dohyeon. She knows who we are and what we do. We’ve already talked about it,” Taeyong muttered.

You stayed silent, waiting for someone to react. But the last thing you expected was Jaehyun, your trusted workout buddy, to stand from his seat across from you and point a gun at your forehead. His eyes narrowed on your form, your stare on him unwavering. Deep inside, you were quaking with fear. You barely registered the remaining boys behind him yelling at him to stand down.

The leader wasn’t having this action. Taeyong was swift to react himself, grabbing a gun he kept in a drawer near the couch and aiming it at Jaehyun. Taeyong’s glare at his friend was sharp, eyes darker than normal. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarled, gritting his teeth to keep from snapping completely. “Stand down, Jae.”

“She knows, Taeyong,” Jaehyun retorted, never moving his gaze to his leader. “What’s to stop her from spilling this to the cops? What’s to stop her from leaving when we least expect it and turning us in? We aren’t the good guys here, and now your little girlfriend knows our secret. I knew this wasn’t a good idea when you started bringing her here. It was only a matter of time. So now, we need to make sure she isn’t going to turn.”

“Jaehyun-”

“I don’t plan to sell you out,” you spoke up, cutting off Taeyong. “If I did, I wouldn’t have come back here and confronted Taeyong about this.”

“So? That means nothing. You could be gathering evidence to bring to the cops-”

“I love Taeyong,” you cut in. “I wouldn’t do that to him, and I wouldn’t do that to you guys. You guys are my friends. We have spent so much time together and I love you guys to death.”

“How can I trust you?” Jaehyun snapped.

“You’ll just have to,” you told him.

“Put the gun down, Jae,” Taeyong told him, watching the man slowly lower the weapon and return to his seat. His own gun was placed aside, placing his hands on your shoulders instead. “We’ve talked about this all night. It hasn’t been easy. But you guys know I love Y/N to death. I don’t want to lose her. And her saying she is willing to accept this part of me, this part of us, means everything to me. I don’t want to lose her.

“So, after talking about it, I’ve agreed to let her join us. She said she wants to help us. But, we wanted to get your guys’ approval for her to join as well. We are a team and I can’t decide this on my own.”

You placed a hand on his that was on your shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I know you guys may be concerned, but I promise you that I am here to help. I don’t want to sell anyone out or see anyone get hurt. I just want to be with Taeyong and all of you.” You paused, feeling Taeyong lean down to kiss the top of your head. “Taeyong and I are partners. I love him with all my heart and I will stand by his side until death do us part. Now, we’ll just be partners in crime too.”

The room grew quiet again, your stomach bubbling with nerves. You weren’t sure what their response would be, or what would happen if they decided you didn’t belong. You feared you would be forced to leave the man you loved because of his occupation.

“So, till death do you part? Does that mean you guys are going to get married finally?” Jungwoo chimed happily, eyes sparkling. “I’ve been waiting for Taeyong to propose for so long. Can I be the flower boy?”

“You’re not even the youngest!” Haechan growled, Jungwoo giving him a smug smile.

“But I’m cuter!”

“Hey, no fighting!” Doyoung scolded the two boys. “They didn’t say anything about marriage yet!”

“We all know it’s coming,” Yuta chuckled, watching your cheeks instantly flush a bright red. You turned to Taeyong, flustered. Taeyong shrugged with an obvious smile.

“They aren’t wrong. One day, you will be mine. But, I plan to propose to you properly.”

“Taeyong!” you screamed, swatting at him. Everyone laughed, Jaehyun excluded. As everyone quieted down, Taeyong spoke back up.

“By a show of hands, how many of you are in favor or letting Y/N join? Before you decide, please know that we will need to train her in what we do.” His eyes turned to Jaehyun for a moment before continuing. “On a count of three. One… two… three…”

Four hands shot up instantly - Mark, Jungwoo, Haechan and Yuta. three hands were slow to follow - Taeil, Doyoung and Johnny. Everyone turned to Jaehyun, who had yet to decide. The man stared deeply at you, mouth in a tight line.

“If she joins, I am in charge of training,” his cold voice cut in. “I don’t trust her in this situation and if things turn south, I will not hesitate to end this deal.” 

You shivered at his words, but glanced up at Taeyong, giving him a nod. Taeyong sighed.

“Fine, but just know that if you turn around and kill her, I will kill you.”

“Deal,” Jaehyun said before raising his hand.

Taeyong smiled slightly before nodding. “That’s it. With everyone’s consent,” he hummed, moving to sit beside you. He kissed your cheek swiftly, your face heating. “Welcome to NCT, Y/N.”

You smiled, bowing to the boys. “Thank you for having me.”

“This is going to be interesting,” Mark hummed, everyone agreeing.

You knew he wasn’t wrong. 

~

If you ever thought you’d be good at something in life, it wasn’t your skill with fighting or with a gun. It wasn’t your natural ability to be intimidating on command. Maybe you thought you’d be good at sewing, or maybe drawing beautiful scenary on paper. 

But no. 

Under Jaehyun’s watchful eye, the glint from the darkness as he watched you punch at a dummy in the weight room before pushing it back completely despite being twice your size, or when your eyes narrowed on a target, the sudden jolt of the gun in your hands leading to a bulls eyes through the forehead of your paper victim, you had managed to fit right now with the mafia boys you had come to love. 

Jaehyun, naturally, still had minor suspicions of you, even after months of one-on-one training to get you in tip top shape to be a member. But, the day you managed to take him down in a spar, leaving you giddy with delight before hopping around the room ecstatically, he started to lay off on his threats to end you so willingly. When you hadn’t spilled the truth to anyone, even when your former boss asked why you were quitting so suddenly, he felt a bit more at ease. When you took training seriously, showing up early and staying extra late to master what he was trying to teach, pushing through pain to continue, he would smile just a bit at your determination.

Taeyong couldn’t have been more proud. He had told you that on many occasions. When he would pop in to assess your progress, he never found a second to be unimpressed. You had grown strong in your time with Jaehyun, making you a force to be reckoned with.

And he couldn’t lie when he said it wasn’t attractive. 

There were the days when he would join in on your hand-to-hand training, after Jaehyun was willing to allow his boss to intervene. There were days he would be in the gun range on the ground floor, hidden deep in the back in a soundproof room, where we would watch you fire shot after shot without missing your mark, sometimes joining for a small competition. He never lost, but you didn’t make it easy when he would get distracted by your beauty.

In those days, Jaehyun would dismiss himself early, trusting his boss and friend in case something were to happen. And he was right - in a sense. Those were the days you found yourself getting frisky with your lover, moaning loudly while he thrust into your wet core. He’d have you pressed against a mat in the training room, or sitting atop the table in the gun range where you’d place your unused weapons, pounding you like an animal in heat, leaving searing hot kisses along your face and throat. You’d have to clean up afterwards, but it was worth it to be with Taeyong in that way; night time was never the best for intimacy when you were both exhausted. 

Part of you was glad that no one ever walked in when you had those moments, but part of you was also convinced that Jaehyun knew what would happen when you were left alone together, and he would warn the others not to disturb you. 

He was cold, but you knew he meant well. 

When you awoke one morning nearly six months into your newfound profession, you found Taeyong dressed in a black turtleneck and tan trench coat, loose blue jeans hugging his slim waist, and his bright red locks slicked back the way he did when he meant business, you knew he was on a job that day. 

“I want to join,” you meekly voiced, catching him off guard. The man whipped around to face you, adjusting his necklaces.

“You’re worn out, baby. And this is a pretty big job today. I don’t want you to get involved,” he voiced, biting at his lower lip. “This jewelry store owner that we leant money to so he could start up his business hasn’t paid, but he’s not a pushover. I don’t want you there in case things turn ugly.”

“I’ll be fine, Yong,” you hushed him, slinging yourself from the bed and rushing to the closet. Taeyong pouted, following after you.

“Babe-”

“No, don’t start,” you huffed at him. “You’ve only sent me on small jobs. I’m ready for something more, Taeyong.”

“I know, but-”

“But nothing!” you yelled. When Taeyong recoiled slightly, you sighed. “I’m sorry, Yongie. But I think I’m ready. I agreed to do this, to join you guys. So, let me do my job. I can help. And if things go sour, I can handle myself. I’m almost as good of a marksman as you. I can sometimes take down Jaehyun in a fight and he’s not an easy target. Yes, I’m tired because of yesterday’s training, but I’m not too tired to go help you with this. So, please-”

He cut you off with a kiss, his plump lips sealing yours. Your body instantly melted into his, wrapping your arms around his torso. His hands were clasped to your hips, tugging you closer. When he pulled away, finding your eyes closed and lips puckered, he chuckled. 

“Shut up and get dressed. We don’t have all day.”

You were left alone, a silent cheer leaving your body before rushing to find an outfit. In a matter of minutes, you were bouncing into the living room, pulling on a loose blouse to go with the tight black jeans. Taeyong’s eyes followed after you from the breakfast bar, licking his lips.

“Do you plan to seduce someone?” he chirped cheekily. “Because I must say, it’s working.”

“Shut up,” you scowled at him, trying to hide the blush and smile on your face while trekking to the front door. You picked up a pair of sleek heels - ones that Taeyong gifted you one day - and turned to the red haired man, giving a sultry wink. “Now, shall we get going, big boy? We have a job to do.”

“I’m starting to regret agreeing to this. You’re gonna be the death of me before we ever get to the store.”

You giggled, pulling on your shoes and slipping out the door. Taeyong closely followed, taking your hand on the way to the elevator and to the garage. Johnny and Mark were waiting, as per usual for things like this, but the look of surprise on their faces when they saw you at their boss’ side made you chuckle. They didn’t question, Johnny simply opening the door so you and Taeyong could slide into the back. The tall man took his place at the wheel, Mark bouncing in the passenger seat as the car rolled from its spot onto the crowded street.

On the drive, you were briefed more in depth about what was going on. Mark, who was busy loading ammo into an arsenal of guns, passed two back, Taeyong tucking one into his jeans and handing you the other. Your heart pounded, looking down at the gun in your hand. It felt heavy in your grip. Despite the training, and the few things you had done for Taeyong, you had not actually used the weapon on someone. Would today be the day? You couldn’t say, but something in your gut said today wouldn’t be a good day. Bile rose in your throat at the worrisome feeling that lingered inside.

The street was near desolate when you arrived, the four of you sliding out of the car and approaching the jewelry store. No one was inside when you entered, a small bell ringing upon your entrance. The store owner, an older man named Youngjae, sitting behind the counter turned his head up with a smile that quickly vanished when he realized who had entered. Taeyong approached him confidently, you and Mark on his tail. The young blonde boy carried a large duffle bag in his left hand. Johnny guarded the door, flipping the sign to closed, securing the lock, and pulling down the sun visor so people couldn’t see what was happening so clearly. 

“Time to pay up, Youngjae,” Taeyong spoke clearly, skipping the theatrics and jumping straight to the point. Youngjae’s gaze on the young mafia leader didn’t falter, his lips sealed in a tight line. “Are you deaf? You’re lucky we waited until now to come collect. You are nearly six months overdue on that loan for this shop. And from what I’ve heard, you’ve been doing rather well for yourself.”

Taeyong walked around the store, picking up some necklaces on display that had diamonds that shone brightly, trailing some fingers along the sapphire bracelets, and finally stopping at the engagement rings. He picked one up that had a square cut diamond in the center, two smaller ones adorning either side of it. He seemed to hum in approval, grabbing a velvet box from a stand and turning to Mark. 

“Pack up some of the jewelry. We can use it as part of the payment.” Youngjae went to move when the younger male moved to collect from open stands, Taeyong quick to pull his weapon on the man. The older gentleman rose both hands, stilling in his movements, his stoic face unchanged. “Don’t even think about it.”

When Mark finished collecting what he deemed most valuable, he placed the bag in front of Youngjae. “Money,” the boy spoke.

When he didn’t move, Taeyong’s eyes narrowed. “You heard him,” the boss sneered angrily, narrowing his eyes. “All of the money in your safe deposit under the counter - I know it’s there because we installed it - and in your register. We’ll take that for now. If you continue to avoid payment, we will come back for the bank account. Sound fair?”

Youngjae continued to stay unmoving.

In a flash, you pulled out your own gun, clicking the safety off and aiming directly at his forehead. Your eyes were dark, making the older man visibly swallow. You were mildly thankful for your quick makeup job, making you somewhat more intimidating than your normal soft exterior. 

“I won’t say it again,” you huffed. “Put the money in the bag, or I will shoot you. I don’t have time to play this game with you, so if you value your life, i suggest you do what you’ve been told, pay up when you need to, and move on with your life. You made a deal with the devil for this, so it’s time to pay up. What do you say, sweetie?”

Youngjae silently nodded, opening the register and pulling handfuls of bills out. He followed by kneeling down on the floor to unlock the safe deposit box, pulling out more wads of bills that were all placed into the duffle bag. When he was finished, he backed away slowly, hands still in the air.

“That’s what I thought,” you smiled eerily, nodding at Mark to grab the bag. Taeyong smirked at himself, waving at Johnny to unlock the door. Mark left first, Johnny following to bring the car forward. “Pleasure doing business sweetheart. Don’t let this happen again.”

Blowing in a quick kiss, you made your way to the door, heels clicking and hips swaying. Taeyong followed after you, keeping an eye on the owner before slipping out of the door. You both piled back into the car, the vehicle quick to disappear down the road.

But what you had both missed in that moment was Youngjae pressing the small panic button on the underside of his countertop. His eyes traveled to the small tv on the side of his counter that showed security footage of the car you had gotten into, the man narrowing on the license plate. When his phone rang, police on the other line, he picked up.

“I’ve just been robbed by the mafia. I have their plate number. It’s��”

The events went unbeknownst to you on your way back to the penthouse, Taeyong’s hand on your thigh. He placed a kiss to your ear, nipping it lightly. “That was hot,” he whispered. “I never thought I’d be so turned on hearing you talk like that.”

“Is that so?” you hummed, turning to face him. His eyes were dark and lustful, making you wiggle in your seat. His lips curled up, giving a toothy grin.

“Guys, take care of the goods,” he voiced when Johnny pulled into the garage. You were nearly yanked from the car before it could come to a complete stop, Taeyong lifting you into his arms and carrying you away. Mark and Johnny watched you squeal loudly, cringing when they saw Taeyong smack your backside on his way to the elevator.

“I didn’t need to see that,” Mark mumbled, Johnny nodding in agreement.

The moment you were pushed through the penthouse door, you were dropped onto the couch, shoes and blouse discarded immediately. Taeyong went to pounce on your, narrowly missing your escaping form into your shared bedroom. His huff of annoyance could be heard as you ran into the bathroom, pulling off your jeans and undergarments as you went. You disappeared into the glass shower before Taeyong could join you, starting the hot water up. 

Taeyong’s eyes narrowed on your now wet form, watching you make faces at him through the glass. Your form was bare and dripping, and adding that to the memory of early, he was twitching already. The tan coat had been discarded on the bed before he joined you in the bathroom, but he didn’t hesitate to shed the turtleneck and jeans as well. The door was shut, and the glass door was opened, the man appearing at your side.

Immediately, you were tugged into a searing kiss, your body melting into his grasp under the waterfall of droplets that cascaded down your forms. He didn’t bother to ask for permission, his tongue bypassing your lips to attack the inside of your mouth. His hands gripped harder to your hips, veins running along up his hands and along his arms. His head tilted to the side to press perfectly against you, his mouth molding into yours without issue.

He pulled away for air, the steam from the shower making it harder to breath. Taeyong eyes were darker than normal, lust slated within the brown orbs. His tongue passed over his swollen lips, tracing yours slightly from the close proximity, earning a small whimper from within your throat.

“You were wonderful out there today,” he hummed lowly, nipping at your skin until he reached your ear. “I wasn’t expecting you to jump in the way you did. And you way you handled everything?” He paused for a moment, his breath hot on your ear. “It was pretty fucking hot.”

His words made you shiver, a mewl of delight piercing the sound of falling water. Taeyong pushed back his now wet hair, biting at his lip. 

“I should reward you for it. How does that sound?”

You didn’t even respond. His face was simply tugged back to yours, eagerly kissing his plump lips once more. Your hands cupped his cheeks, taeyong pulling you taut against his body. His steps moved forward; yours moved back. You found yourself pressed against the chillingly cold wall of the shower, grimacing in the midst of the sloppy connection and arch your back away from the steely frost against your skin. It only pushed you further into the mafia boss’ needy body, feeling the heat that radiated from his skin.

His lips traveled from your ear, down your cheek and to your neck, attacking it with suckling kisses that left dark red blotches ebbed on your skin. Your hands on his cheeks slid up to his wet red locks, scratching at his scalp happily. Your body burned under his light touches, feeling his fingers ghosting along your arms to your chest, fondling your breasts for a moment before his lips replaced his diligent digits to suckle at the hardened nipples, finally sliding down between your soaked forms to to with your moist pussy. 

The combination of his long fingers alternating between circling your clit and prodding at your core, and his gentle cites and kisses to your sensitive mounds sent your head reeling back, loud moans unceremoniously filling the air. Taeyong’s wicked grin against your chest was obvious almost as much as his increased actions, speeding up rubbing at your nub and popping his lips against your chest when he would tug at the buds.  

“Yong,” you whimpered at him, squirming in his grasp. Your stomach churned with arousal and delight, the feeling of his fingers sliding into your tight core adding to the stars you were already feeling. The thrusts of the two digits made you body jolt, his hand quick and nimble. His thumb pressed to your clit as he moved, the man grinning at your face that was twisted with ecstasy. “Oh god, baby. Yes.”

“You like that?” he mused, kissing his way back up to your face. “Or, do you like my cock better?”

“At this point, anything,” you managed to get out, breath picking up the closer you got to your end. “I love you so much, Taeyong.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” he murmured, kissing you lightly. “I love you too, baby.”

He pulled his fingers back before you could finish, a whining groan escaping you. “You love me but you don’t let me finish? How dare you-”

In a flash, you were spun around, your eyes meeting the wall, barely able to make out the condensation dripping along the white porcelain. Your hands pressed to the surface to keep from falling over, fingers curling against it. The feeling stung against your palms, your hands cold in contrast to the wet wall heated from the water that rained around you. The heat of a body pressed against your back, searing kisses placed along your neck and shoulder, sent shivers along your spine. Strong but delicate hands roamed along your form, hips rutting against your backside slowly, before your right leg was hiked up swiftly. 

“Are you ready for me?” he whispered seductively into your ears, lips tracing along the shell delicately.

“Yes, please,” you mewled at him, tilting your head back to rest on his shoulder. “Please, Taeyong.”

The low hum heard amongst the shower left your mind blank, anticipation flooding your veins. The slow rut of his hips was agonizing, and it wasn’t until he finally slid into you with one swift thrust that you felt full. A loud moan left your lips, your forehead placed against the wall happily. His thrusts began quick, wasting no time with slamming himself into your tight center and shoving your body further against the wall. 

“Oh Tae,” you let out. The familiar curl of his grin against the side of your head was unmistakable at the sound you made. 

“God, you always feel so good,” he rasped lowly, jutting himself harder than before and grinding against you harshly. The deep grunt he let out was thrilling to hear. “How did I get so lucky with you?”

“I think it’s me that got lucky,” you managed to say through plants, jolting when he resumed his rapid thrusts. “I’m so lucky:”

Taeyong seemed to speed up from your broken words, his cock pistoning in and out of you swiftly. His hips clapped against your ass, your leg hiked up bits at a time that made the angle deeper and his cock hit spots that made you shake. Every push into you, he found that one spot that had you moaning his name pathetically, chanting it like a mantra. 

The water was beginning to go cold by the time you were convulsing from his thrusts, feeling his hand wrap around your throat the closer you got to your high. You begged him softly to let you cum, the man commanding you to wait until he was ready to fill you to the brim with his own milky essence. His lips trailed down your neck nipping at the skin with his teeth and giving a gentle squeeze that made your sight go white with a rainbow of stars for a moment. 

“Yong, please.”

“Hold on, baby,” he kept saying, gasping the more he did. His thrusts were growing sloppy and forced the longer he went, his grip on your body hardening. With his forehead on your shoulder, he managed to utter a quick, “I’m almost there,” before grunting loudly.

THe last of his thrusts were the hardest and deepest, his cock lingering inside your wet pussy as he released. His milky seed spilled into you in bursts of warmth, painting your inner walls in the creamy white substance. His release sent your own into a fit of spasms, your walls tightening and convulsing around his length. They hugged at his thick shaft, coating it in your release while milking his own. Taeyong’s movements slowed to a gentle rhythm, letting your two forms meld into one against the wall and your cum mixing together deep inside of you.

Fingers pressed against the side of your face, tilting your head to the side. Your hazy gaze landed on the deep brown irises of Taeyong, a warm smile on his lips. Slowly, he leaned forward, remaining buried deep inside of you as he pressed a firm and loving kiss to your lips, conveying every ounce of love he felt into the connection. The frozen droplets of water did nothing to you against the heat of your bodies and the smoldering kiss you shared. 

And as his lips dragged down against yours, you couldn’t help but to smile.

With your body dried and dressed in onee of Taeyong’s baggy, long-sleeved shirts and a pair of jeans, you walked into the living room, headed for the kitchen. As you opened the fridge to find something to make for dinner, two arms wrapped around your form, a giggle erupting from your lips. Taeyong snuggled into your neck, lifting you off your feet and kicking the fridge shut.

“Taeyong, no! I’m hungry!” you scowled through a laugh, flailing in the man’s arms. Your actions proved futile, Taeyong carrying you to the couch and falling on his back atop it, placing you on his lap. 

“I know. But I wanted to spend some more time with you,” he pouted, the look adorable in your opinion. His fingers played with the hem of the shirt you wore, dipping under it to trace his fingers along your side. “Have I ever mentioned how beautiful you are?”

“Maybe once or twice,” you joked, leaning forward to place a butterfly kiss to his nose. 

Taeyong sent you a shimmering smile, pulling you into a harder kiss. His tongue bypassed your lips instantly, the kiss growing hotter by the second. Your eyes slipped closed, your body eagerly rolling against his. A deep groan was muffled in his throat, hands pushing desperately at your shirt until your chest was exposed. That was the only time he broke the kiss - so he could attach his lips to your perk nipples, tongue flicking them happily.

“Tae,” you moaned loudly. 

You pushed against his chest to sit upright, rolling against him harder and faster. Your jeans pushed into your aching core, feeling his growing hard on through his own pair of black denim bottoms. His hands gripped at your chest, hooded eyes watching you grind against him. Your eyes slid shut, head falling back as his name left your mouth.

“Tae,” you whimpered, cracking open your eyes and turning to look at him. But your movements slowed, much to his dismay. The male under you whimpered and pushed up into you, eager to continue. “Taeyong, what is that?”

The mafia leader ceased his movements, propping himself up on his elbows and turning to follow your gaze. His brow creased at the flashing blue and red lights that reflected slightly on the window.

“The fuck?” he murmured, moving you from his lap and rushing to the window. “Why the fuck are the cops here?”

“The cops?” you whispered to yourself, eying the man you love. Before you could question him more, muffled gunshots could be heard through the building. 

Taeyong was quick to rush to the door, grabbing a gun on the way and sliding on his shoes. You jumped up after him, stumbling as you pulled on your own shoes and following after him. The noise in the hallway was louder than in the penthouse, screaming and shouting growing louder as your bounded down the stairwell. Exhaustion was setting in from the numerous stairs you rushed down, but neither of you stopped.

“Taeyong, wait!” you called at the man who refused to slow down. “Don’t rush in there! You could get hurt!”

Seething with anger, he didn’t listen, pushing open the door to the ground floor as soon as he hit the bottom step. You barely could register someone yelling Taeyong’s name and a shot being fired before he was stumbling back, a hand on his shoulder. 

“Fuck!” he yelled out in pain, pulling his hand back to see the crimson blood coating his fingers. 

“Baby, are you alright?” you asked, pulling him further from the door and seating him on the steps of the stairwell. Your own hand trembled, placed on his and feeling the blood slide between your fingers. “Shit, you’re hurt.”

“I’m fine,” he grimaced, wincing while adjusting how he was sitting. 

“You’re far from, sir,” you told him, ripping off one of the sleeve of the shirt you wore and wrapping it around his arm. “This will help for now but…”

“It’s fine,” he said again. “We need to get out there and meet with the others. I saw them briefly when I opened the door.”

“But what if they shoot again?” you asked, your voice meek.

“I will protect you,” he said, letting out a deep breath before pressing a kiss to your temple. “Stay low and you’re going to go left. Jaehyun and Yuta are behind the reception desk.”

“Alright,” you let out. 

“Don’t worry. I will be right behind you.”

Nodding, you cracked open the door, crouching low. The flashing of the police vehicles was brighter when you entered the lobby, finding the once beautiful area destroyed. Dead bodies of the staff that were employed by the NCT mafia to man their building were laid in various areas of the room, blood pooling around their unfortunate bodies after being caught in the crossfire. Furniture was ridden with bullet holes, upholstery exposed, and tables and desks having their wood flaked and chipped. 

Jaehyun was quick to aid you, pulling you behind the front desk before helping Taeyong over. Yuta, Jungwoo and Mark were with him, heavily breathing and reloading their guns with the limited ammo they had. 

“What the hell is going on?” Taeyong snarled at no one in particular. 

“The cops, obviously,” Yuta cheekily joked, his laughter ceased with Taeyong’s glare.

“Obviously,” came the leader’s retort. “Did the police say anything?”

“No,” Mark told him, leaning against the desk. “I can only assume we were ratted out after what happened earlier.”

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Taeyong yelled. “Shit!”

“Yong, calm down,” you told him, taking his shaking hand. This seemed to calm him slightly.

“Where is everyone else?”

“Already sent off to the escape tunnels,” Jungwoo mumbled, eyes darting to a wall to the right. Taeyong had told you of the secret passage for escape in case of emergencies. “We told them that we would hold them off so they could get to the cars and escape.”

Taeyong nodded, running a hand through his red locks. His mouth opened, only to be silenced by the squeal of a microphone outside.

“This is the Seoul Police. We have the place surrounded. Come out with your hands up, or we will be forced to fire!”

The boys seemed adamant on fighting, telling you to stay down as they opened fire at the door and windows, the police firing back with each shot. The ring of the shots made your head hurt, your hands cupping your ears in an attempt to shield them. Your eyes squeezed closed, curling in on yourself and only hoping that a stray shot didn’t hit anyone. 

When the firing came to a stop, and the boys ducked down, thankfully unharmed, they were all cursing. Jaehyun pushed at the desk, dropping his now empty gun.

“We’re fucked,” he growled, ruffling his dark locks. 

“No,” Taeyong said firmly. “You guys go and escape. I will keep them distracted.”

“What, no-” Yuta began to protest, but Taeyong shook his head.

“I’m your leader. I swore to protect you all. I will go down fighting for my family.”

Yuta, Jungwoo, Mark and Jaehyun nodded, Marking peering around the desk. “We have a chance now. They aren’t looking in that way. If we can make it to the passage, we’re fine.”

“Good, then go,” Taeyong ordered, turning to look at you. “You need to go with them.”

“No,” you firmly said. 

“That wasn’t an offer, Y/N,” Taeyong huffed. “Please, I need you to go. I need you to be safe-”

“I know it wasn’t an offer. I know what you’re thinking, but my answer is still no. I told you a long time ago when I learned what you do that I would be by your side until the end. I will be by your side until death do us part. I’m not leaving you to handle this on your own, Lee Taeyong. If you go down, I’m going with you.”

“Y/N,” he started, glancing at the others. They all held looks of concern, but chose to say nothing when their leader nodded hesitantly. The four men gave you a soft look before they darted for the passageway, the wall sliding open and closed quickly, their forms gone.

Taeyong sighed, leaning his back against the desk. He took the gun from his jeans that he grabbed on his way out of the penthouse, checking the ammo he had. “Not much left, eh?”

“Never thought this would be the end, did you?” you teased, trying to lighten the mood. Taeyong smiled for a second before becoming serious. 

“You should have left while you could…”

“You know that wasn’t a choice.” A hand slid into his.”We are partners in crime after all. If you go down, I’m going down with you. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, and I will never regret it.”

A small smile graced the man’s face, lacing his fingers with yours. With a reassuring squeeze and the click of his gun in his right hand, he glanced to his side. 

“I honestly knew this day was going to come eventually. I knew I would go down one way or another,,” he rasped, tucking the gun once more into the back of his jeans. His eyes locked on yours before continuing, “But I’m glad that I have you by my side.”

You smiled at him before placing a tender kiss to his lips, your free hand carefully placed on his bandaged shoulder. His eyes closed, relishing in the feeling and taste of your lips on his. The screams from outside the building fell on deaf ears. The threats made went unheard. In those ten seconds, it was just the both of you, embraced by the calm emotions shared between your forms. Silent tears slid down your cheeks from fear and sadness, knowing your impending fate, but he wiped them away gently after pulling away. His lips dragged down yours as he backed away solemnly, wishing this wouldn’t be the end.

“I love you,” he mumbled just loud enough to be heard. 

“I love you too,” you repeated, taking his hand and preparing to stand and face the gallows of red and blue lights flashing through broken windows and bent blinds. “I always will, Taeyong.”

Together you stood, lifting your hands as you walked towards the door. You spied the barrel of guns aimed at you as you stopped at the door, staring down the cops. Their words fell deaf on your ears waiting for Taeyong to pull the gun and proceed with his last hurrah. Your heart was pounding, hands clammy.

This was the end. 

Just as Taeyong reached for his gun, smoke filled the area, shouts and screams and shots firing around the blinded area. Taeyong gripped your hand, tugging you back into the lobby of the building. He rushed towards the secret passage holding your hand tightly. As the wall slid open, he turned back to the doorway, spotting a figure in dark blue with a gas mask on watching them. You turned to follow his gaze, spotting the figure gesture before disappearing into the smoke.

“Who was that?” you asked quietly.

Taeyong pushed against the small of your back to force you into the passage, the wall sliding shut behind him. “Heechul.”

“Who’s that?”

“Our older brother mafia,” Taeyong hummed, smiling giddily. “Super Junior.”

“They came to our rescue?”

“Yeah,” the leader mumbled. “The others must have called them as soon as it was safe.”

“Well, I’m glad then…”

Taeyong chuckled, pulling you into a hug despite the pain he felt in his injured arm. His face nestled into your hair, a low sob escaping his throat. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“We’re both safe.”

“Well, not yet I guess,” Taeyong said. “We need to go. Now.”

“Alright…”

Taeyong took your hand once more, the two of you running down the darkened hall, hoping that nothing would find you at the end.

~

You hummed a song softly, staring out a crack in the window at the barren road in front of the motel. Your fingers ran soothingly through the dyed black locks of your lover, who was curled up in your lap. Turning to look down at him, your own dyed locks fell against your cheeks, ticking his nose. A smile grew on his face, eyes remaining closed. 

You had taken refuge in a small motel far from the city, waiting for things to die down. The boys were scattered and in hiding, just like yourselves. Disposable phones were the only way to keep in contact to make sure everyone was safe still. There was no telling how long you were to live like this, but you didn’t mind it. 

“Y/N,” Taeyong sang, finally opening his chocolate colored orbs to look up at you. “I love you.”

He took your hand that was previously resting on his chest into his, playing  with the square cut diamond ring you wore. It was the same one he took from the shop that day. A few days after your escape, after Taeyong had been patched up for his injury by the Super Junior mafia and everyone separated for protection, going into hiding, he pulled out the box from his jeans pocket. 

“I was going to propose with this that night. I had everything planned - a nice dinner, a big speech, and a night to make love to you - but it all got fucked up. I would understand if you didn’t want to be with me,” he had said while laying in bed, fiddling with the box. 

“You’re stupid if you think after all of this that I would say no and leave you. Till death do we part, remember?”

You happily wore the ring still, never once taking it off since he slid it on your finger. It wasn’t your ideal proposal, but you weren’t going to argue if it meant you got to be with him. Watching him fiddle with it now, a grin on his soft, handsome features, left your heart fluttering. 

“I love you too, Lee Taeyong,” you hummed. “And remember, I will always be by your side.”

“Partners until the end?” He asked. You smiled leaning down to kiss him softly.

“Naturally.”

[aremiies]

DRUMMER BOY.

pairings: drummer!bakugou x fem!reader

warnings: a bit of swearing, fluff and bad writing, band!au

prompt(s): it’s a song prompt (v cheesy ik) the song is misery business by paramore.

part two.

not my gif !

—

“guys!” yelled a certain pink haired girl, as she chaotically ran into the stores back room to alert her friends of the newly aquired news she may or may not have learned two minutes prior. her friends, all on their lunch break, stopped what they were doing to look up to the girl who was practically jumping out of her skin.

“are you okay, mina? is there a reason you almost broke a rib trying to get through the door frame?” jirou raised a brow, looking up from her phone to entertain mina’s obvious excitement. mina squealed, trying to somewhat contain herself.

“can you get to the point already, dumbass?!” bakugou growled.

“yeah, mina,” kirishima added, “what’s got you so jumpy?”

mina sighed, somewhat dramatically, before she (finally) told her friends what she was so happy about, “so, guys, remember how we wanted to play a show at that lounge a couple blocks over?” her friends nodded before she continued, “they finally called back! the manager said it’s a yes!”

“no way.” jirou stood up.

“that’s great!” kaminari spoke up.

“yeah, no kidding! they approved of the songs?” kirishima inquired.

mina nodded, “yeah! i sent them them the lyrics to a couple of our songs, and they said that they didn’t mind which ones we played, but they’d really like if we played misery business. they’re even gonna pay us!”

“wait... isn’t that the song that you and jirou couldn’t get the vocals right to?” kaminari puzzled.

it went quiet for a second before bakugou groaned, “oh look, the pink freak didn’t think before she acted! what a surprise.”

“hey! don’t blame me i th-“

mina was cut off by bakugou’s thunderous yelling, “don’t blame you?! who else are we gonna blame?! you’re the one who sent in the request form!”

“guys, calm down,” kirishima laughed nervously, “i’m sure it’ll be fine. we could just change the chords of the song to compliment jirou’s vocal range.”

kaminari cut in, “or... no offense, maybe we could find somebody else with that vocal range to sing it for her. jirou already plays bass— oh! what about sero? we could ask him if he could-“

“no, dumbass, sero said he didn’t wanna be apart of the band anymore, remember?” bakugou grumbled.

before the group could think of anymore solutions, the bell on the front counter rang, followed by a voice calling out a to someone who could potentially help them checkout, “um... hello? is anyone back there?”

jirou sighed as she got up from the black leather couch that complimented the break room, “i’ll go help them. break is over anyways.” as jirou emerged from the back room, her eyes widened slightly as she spotted you holding a red, six stringed electric bass guitar. well, five strings actually, since it seemed that there was one missing.

“hi! sorry to keep you waiting, how can i help you today?” jirou smiled, walking behind the counter and taking in your features. you seemed like a shy type of girl... even if you weren’t, just by looking at you, she wouldn’t have suspected that you played electric guitar. your eyes looked so soft and your hands so delicate as they wrapped around the neck of the guitar. your clothes as well. as much as she didn’t want to stereotype, the clothes that adorned your body didn’t give in to the ‘edgy guitarist’ aesthetic that the guitar itself did. besides all that, she couldn’t help but to feel you looked oddly familiar.

“yeah actually, haha. i saw on the sign outside that you guys do string repairs? my ‘a’ string snapped a couple days ago..” you explained to the raven haired girl behind the counter.

jirou nodded, “yeah, of course! we’re actually having a sale right now, so if you’d like to get all you string replaced, it’d only cost $10.”

“oh? hell yeah, thanks. i’ve never taken myself to get my strings repaired, though... does it take long? should i leave and come back?” you trailed off.

she shook her head, “nah, all these should only take about ten minutes max.”

—

“so, what’s your name?” jirou made easy conversation as she began repairing your strings.

“i’m y/n, nice to meet you... jirou?” you read her name tag.

she let out a small chuckle and nodded, “you as well. so, you in a band or something?”

“oh! no, i’ve thought about starting one before, but i don’t really have anyone to do so with. i write songs and play them on haru.” you explained.

“haru?”

“yeah, that’s her name.”

jirou chuckled once more, “you named your bass?”

“uh— duh.” you playfully rolled your eyes before another figure stepped from the back room, catching your attention.

“oh.” muttered the blonde.

jirou turned to look behind her, “oh, hey bakugou. is there anything you needed?”

the boy ignored her and walked towards the counter, “you play bass?” he asked you. crimson eyes boring into your y/e/c ones.

“y-yes. not a lot... just here and there when i think it’ll compliment one of my songs.” you verified.

“you write songs?” bakugou questioned.

“only when i’m bored-“

“what kind of songs are th-“

“katsuki! stop questioning her, this isn’t a police interrogation!” jirou interjected.

“what! don’t we need another person to sing that song? i’m trying to look for options.” he shrugged.

you furrowed your brows, “you guys are a band?”

“yeah, there’s more of us. they’re in the break room though.” jirou shared. “it’s just... okay, we have this ‘gig’ soon, and one of our members entered us in under a song that we can’t seem to get right. and it’s just our luck that, that’s the song the managers would likes us to sing especially.”

you tilted your head leaning on the counter as she spoke. as you did so, bakugou studied your features— just as jirou had done minutes before. he found you interesting. just as jirou had thought, he also didn’t see you as the type to play the electric guitar out of all the different types available.

“you don’t look like the type to play.” he blurted out.

“katsuki-!” jirou sighed.

“what?! she doesn’t. she’s so... average looking.” he reckoned.

your face dropped immediately and you turned to look at him, “excuse me? what’s that supposed to mean?”

“it’s not a bad thing,” he began, “i’m just saying that you don’t look like the other people who come in her with these types of guitars.”

you subtly rolled your eyes before looking back to jirou, “so, what lounge are you supposed to be playing at?”

“the one a few blocks from here. it’s called ‘rolling red’ i believe.” she replied.

“oh! i’ve played there before!”

the two employees looked at you with furrowed brows, “you have?!”

the sudden realization crashed on top of jirou as soon as the words left her mouth, “that’s where i know you from! i’ve seen you play before! you played that cover of frances forever by mitski! i loved it, i thought about it for days after!”

you looked down at your feet as you felt your cheeks heat up, “th-thank you. i didn’t think it was that good..”

“well it was-! dude, you should totally sing for our band when we play our gig!” the usually laid back girl was brimming with happiness at the thought of finding their replacement singer on such short notice.

“i-i don’t know-“

before you could finish, you felt someone wrap their arms around your shoulders, “oh come on! you’d be great! your voice would sound great with the songs we have picked out!” you spot the pink toned arms around you and turn around.

“where did she come from?” you mumbled.

“so, what do you say? it’ll only be a one time thing.” jirou smiled hopefully.

you sighed and looked at the (now three) employees in front of you, “okay— w-wait. when is the gig anyways?”

“two weeks away.” the pink girl giggled.

“well... i guess it wouldn’t hurt.” you shrugged.

“really?! thank you!” mina engulfed you in a hug.

“yeah, don’t mention it.” you smiled.

jirou grinned and handed you your guitar, “meet us back here tomorrow. we can start our first official practice.”

you nodded, grabbing your wallet beginning to pay for the string repair before a hand fell over yours, “don’t bother. you agreeing to do this for us is payment enough... i- i guess.” bakugou hesitantly ensured.

you thanked the employees before exiting the store with a grin adorning your face. you barely knew these people, but you couldn’t help but to be the least bit excited.

—

“so, do you get it?” mina asked as she helped you understand the chords to the song.

you tilted your head in slight confusion, “uh... i think so? i’ve just never played so... aggressively? no offense.”

it was the next day and you were currently in one of the practice rooms in the back of the music store. you’d formally met everyone and it seemed that the rest of the band were cool with having you as their replacement singer. kirishima and kaminari thought you were pretty nice. bakugou said you were “pretty cool... i guess.”, but it was obvious that jirou and mina adored you the most. you weren’t too shy, you just weren’t rowdy. you weren’t too quiet, you just only spoke when spoken to out of fear of being too a annoying for the band.

“okay, let’s try again then?” jirou smiled and you nodded, placing your fingers on the strings and praying you didn’t mess up again. though it was your first time hearing the song and learning the chords, you were doing fairly well. you knew the chords and how to play them, it was just the aggressiveness in which you were supposed to play that you were screwing up on.

you sighed as you heard bakugou give the infamous drummer count off, and began to play. you weren’t using a pick, so you felt the tips of your thumb and index began to beat up as you strummed the strings quickly and found the tempo. you counted the amount of times you’d screw up by the end. the total being only seven. not bad for a four minute song.

“that wasn’t bad, y/n!” you heard kaminari compliment you.

“yeah, you did a lot better this time! it’s like you’ve already memorized everything and we’ve only been practicing for about three hours.” mina added.

you smiled at the two, “thanks, guys. really. i tried to relax more this time, so i only messed up... seven times. i think.”

“you counted?” jirou asked as she took a sip of her water.

“yeah, the last time we did it, i messed up nine times, but i found out what it was i was doing wrong and fixed it, now i only have seven more errors to correct.” you explained.

“well look at you go! at this rate, we’ll be practicing with the lyrics by this evening.” mina praised.

unlike the other four, bakugou didn’t say anything about how well you were doing. he couldn’t really bring himself to say anything to you. it wasn’t like he was embarrassed or anything; more like he was nervous to. the whole time you’d all been practicing he’d been watching your facial expressions change as you played he chords on your guitar. he could tell that you were feeling it, and that made him feel something.

—

“i’m in the business of misery, let’s take it from the top. she’s got a body like an hourglass, it’s ticking like a clock.” you mumbled the lyrics to the song as you shadow played the chords. you were liking the song so far. it wasn’t something you usually played and you liked that. you sat in the corner of the practice room as everyone took their break. either going to use the bathroom or just walking around the shop to stretch their legs. you decided on staying back and practicing the lyrics on your own before you did in front of everyone else. the thought of embarrassing yourself loomed in the back of your mind and you were absolutely terrified of it. you didn’t care if it was a rehearsal or not. embarrassing yourself was, simply, not an option.

“you sound nice.” and deeper voice spoke.

startled, you looked up from the notepad of lyrics in front of you and up to the door where, there stood bakugou; hands shoved in his pockets as he leaned against the doorframe.

“o-oh. thank you...” you muttered.

“i think i know where you keep messing up at on the chords.” he quipped.

“you do? but how? you play drums.”

he scoffed light heartedly, “just because i play drums doesn’t mean i’m oblivious to the workings and notes of other instruments.”

“oh...” you voiced, looking at the floor below you.

“here, let me see it.”

“see what?”

“your guitar, dumbass. i’m going to help you.”

you handed the boy your guitar and followed his figure with your eyes as he sat down next to you.

“after the third eight-count, your finger placement is off. i can hear it.” he stated as he began placing his finger on the strings.

“oh no... it was that obvious?” you whined burying your face in your hands. so much for embarrassment not being an option.

“stop whining, dumbass. it’s not that bad, but you can still tell that there’s something off.” he expressed, “now look, you have the right idea. but the wrong action. it’s not much, just move your finger up the neck a bit more.” bakugou strummed the note and looked back up at you, “like that. now you try.” he instructed handing you the guitar.

“okay...” copying the boys previous actions, you place your fingers on the strings. sliding your middle finger up the neck a bit, just as he’d instructed. you stunned the note and looked at him for approval.

“perf— good.” bakugou complimented hesitantly.

“mhm... thank you.” you have him a slight smile.

he nodded as he got up and headed towards the door, “if you want... i can start helping you with things like this privately. like... like we did just now. if you want, though. i don’t really care. just a suggestion.”

you nodded vigorously, “yes please. i like the way you teach.”

“o-oh... okay... well just give me your number and i can text you when we leave. or we can stay after.” bakugou suggested. the crimson eyed boy was slightly taken aback. he didn’t really expect you to say yes to him “tutoring” you. not like he was complaining though, he actually may or may not have enjoyed your company.

“can we stay after?” you asked.

he shrugged, “if that’s what you’d like.”

—

“bye guys! bakugou, remember to lock up.” kirishima waved as he and the rest of the group made their separate ways home. as for you and bakugou? you two had some after hours lessons to attend to.

the two of you made your ways back to the practice rooms.

upon entering, bakugou closed the door and turned to you, “do you want to start where we left off?”

you nodded, “yeah. after the third eight-count.”

bakugou sat down in the corner from earlier and patted the spot next to him, signaling for you to sit next to him. you complied and sat next to the blonde handing him your guitar.

“the part after the one we practiced earlier... the part where theres singing and then there’s just instrumental? can we work on that part?” you pleaded.

bakugou felt his cheeks heat up as he looked at you so find your eyes staring back into his. there was something about your eyes that made him feel warm. the feeling that your gaze gave him made him feel safe, “y- sure. okay it for me and we can start from there.”

—

it was about 8pm when the two of you decided that you’d practiced enough for the day. you helped him clean up around she shop before locking up and walking you home.

“you don’t have to, you know.” you expressed to him.

“it’s the right thing to do. i’m not just gonna let you walk home alone in the dark, dumbass.” he replied looking straight ahead.

it was quiet after that, until you walked past a convenience store, “i’m gonna go in to get something. i haven’t eaten since breakfast and i’m starving.” you let out a breathy laugh as you turned to walk in.

“eh?! dumbass, you need to eat properly. come on, i’ll but you some dinner. you don’t need to eat from a convenience store.” bakugou reprimanded. “follow me.” the two of you took a detour to a restaurant not too far away from where you guys were currently at.

“you don’t have to do this. i’m fine with getting something quick and cheap—“

“no,” he cut you off, “you need to eat properly. we won’t be long.”

—

onigiri in hand, the two of you continued your walk home in a comfortable silence as the two of you ate.

“thank you,” you said looking up at him.

bakugou glanced down at you before looking back up, “yeah, no problem.”

“we can stop here, my house is only around the corner. i’ll be fine on my own for now.”

bakugou nodded slightly, “yeah uh... sure. make sure to come to the shop tomorrow.”

you looked at the blonde in slight confusion, “huh? it’s closed tomorrow, is it not?”

“yeah,” he began, “but we still have to work through some of your screw ups. meet me there no later than noon.” he stated before walking away.

you silently agreed before turning away and walking the remainder of the way to your house alone.

—

“y/n, it’s been a bit more than a week since we’ve started these practices and you still don’t have that note down!” bakugou snapped. you two had been practcing with each other for a bit of a while now, and during that time you’ve gotten a bit more comfortable with each other.

“you idiot, i’m trying! you have to understand that i’m not used to singing notes on that octave.” you said rubbing your temples.

“okay, we’ll get used to it! you have two more days to get it right.” katsuki grumbled. “if you don’t, you’re going to embarrass yourself, dumbass.”

you narrowed your eyes at him, though, he was right. the note you were trying to hit wasn’t that hard. you could do it— you knew you could.

“you guys alright in here?”

you looked up to find mina at the door, peaking her head in from the outside.

“what the hell? i thought your alien ass went home.” bakugou stated.

“i could say the same about you guys. i went home and realized i forgot my charger, but you both should go home. it’s nearly ten pm. get some rest.” mina noted.

“ten pm?!” you exclaimed, quickly jumping up.

“holy shit!” bakugou chimed in grabbing his things.

the two of you exited the practice rooms and made your way to the front of the store. as you began to exit, the boy was quick to stop you, “h-hey—! don’t be so quick to leave. i still have to walk you home, y’know.”

you let go of the door and looked back at the male, “well come on then.”

the two of you waved goodbye to mina before taking the oath to your house. upon arriving, you felt bakugou’s hand ok your shoulder, “we won’t be able to practice tomorrow, we all have things to do, so make sure you work on that note, dumbass. we don’t need you screwing up.”

you nodded before walking to your door, “goodnight, bakugou.”

—

the day of the gig was finally here and though you told katsuki that’s you’d practice, you never did. that being said, you still hadn’t attempted to hit that high note. it was too late, though. you were now sitting backstage waiting for your guys’ turn.

“i’m nervous..” mina admitted as she paced back and forth.

“why?” jirou raised a brow in confusion, “we’ve practiced a lot these past few days. we’ve got this in the bag. if y/n worked out the thing with her high note, we shouldn’t be worried about anything. let’s just pretend this is another rehearsal.” the girl smiled.

the mentioning of your high high note mad your stomach churn. you hadn’t told them you didn’t practice in fear of coming off as irresponsible.

“yeah, we’ve been sounding really good! we got this, guys. besides, we’re up next so you’d probably want to try and calm down.” kaminari tried to somewhat comfort the pink skinned girl.

meanwhile, you were chewing your nails down to the cuticle. all of your practicing had led up to this moment and bakugou could tell you were nervous. he watched as your leg bounced up and down and you spit out the pieces of nail you’d bite off.

“hey, dumba— er... y/n,” bakugou prattled, walking over to and placing a hand on your shoulder, “calm down, yeah? you’re gonna do fine. i-... i believe in your dumbass... i-i guess.” he trailed off.

your soft eyes looked into his narrowed ones, your face softening at his comforting (?) words. you nodded, and as if on cue, the six of you were called onto stage.

—

this was it. this was what you’d practiced for. you looked out into the ‘crowd’; there were a lot of people for this just being a bar and lounge. maybe because it was a saturday? or, maybe you were just seeing blurry. whatever it was, you didn’t have time to worry about it as the sound of bakugou’s infamous drummer count off filled your ears.

you took a deep breath, one last chance to calm your nerves before you started to strum the notes on your guitar.

you counted off the final eighth of the instrumental and began to sing, “i’m in the business of misery, let’s take it from the top. she’s got a body like an hour glass it’s tickin like clock. it’s a matter of time before we all run out, when i thought he was mine, she grabbed him by the mouth,”

you have a jirou a look out the corner of your eye and was met with her approving, close-lipped smile. looking over to mina, you were meg with the same smile, only wider and toothier.

you took that as a sign and pulled yourself together, hands still sweaty from your nerves being a wreck, “i waited eight long months, she finally set him free. i told him i can’t lie, he was the only one for me. two weeks and we had caught on fire, she’s got it out for me, but i wear the biggest smile,”

so far, so good. you hadn’t had a voice crack (yet), and as the song went on you could feel your anxiety washing away. the song continued and it seemed the crowd was enjoying it quite a lot. you liked seeing the smiles on their faces, it made you happy. though, your smile quickly faded when you realized what part was coming. the part you took upon yourself to not practice for. your mind started to race; the note isn’t that hard to hit. you’ve hit notes like this before— that was a lie. but, hey, you’ve hit notes close to it before ! soon, there was no more time for you to think about it. it was now or never, and it wasn’t like you could just skip the part all together.

without a second thought, you scraped together the little courage you find in yourself and sang, “but god, does it feel so good. cause i’ve got ‘em where i want him now. and if you could, then you know you would, cause god, it just feels so... it just feels so good.”

your eyes widened as the final lyrics left your mouth. you did it— who are you kidding, of course you did. you knew you had it in you. and with that, the crowd cheered. you let go of the microphone stand that you didn’t even remember grabbing hold of, and smiled. in a matter of second you felt arms around you.

“you did amazing, y/n!” jirou congratulated.

“you sounded great!” mina added with a wide grin.

you smiled and hugged the two girls back, “thanks guys...”

—

the six of you eventaully made your ways back to backstage.

“did you guys see how everyone applauded?! they loved us out there!” kaminari grinned. the rest of you nodded, giving each other compliments on how well they played. you looked over to find bakugou looking at you. you smiled, walking over to sit next to him.

“you... you did good, dumbass,” he gave you a subtle smile, “if i’m being honest, i didn’t think you were gonna do it.”

you chuckled a bit before looking up at him, “would you believe me if i said i didn’t either?”

the blonde shook his head, “hell no. you let go of your bass and everything. you knew you were gonna hit it. there was too much confidence in your movements to say otherwise.”

“thank you.” you said after a few moments of silence between you two.

“yeah, whatever.”

“no, seriously,” you said putting a hand on his shoulder. he felt his cheeks heat up as he looked into your eyes. they had the same sincere look the always did, “you’re a great teacher. and i could tell you genuinely believed in me. that made it easier to preform.”

bakugou was silent for a second, “yeah. anytime..”

you engulfed the boy into a hug before you began towards the rest of the band.

“oh uh, y/n?”

you turned around, “hm?”

“you should consider joining the band... we could use you here. and you’re... cool to hand around. i-i guess, i uh... like having you around and you’re talented or whatever... so yeah.”

you smiled, “are you sure you just don’t want to keep me around a bit longer for your own sake?” you teased.

“wh-what?! hell no, dumbass. you’re delusional.” bakugou retorted.

“mhm, whatever. in any case, i’ll think about it, cutie.”

—

idk of i want to leave this open ended, or make a second part- lmk? :) anyways, hope you enjoyed !

[listless-brainrot]

I get haru’s chemistry with katara, but how does he connect with any of the other members of the gaang in your opinion? I'm genuinely curious

hey thanks so much for your curiosity anon!! i love talking about this and i’ve actually made a post about it already, lemme add it here but also elaborate further to include zuko and toph this time

haru’s character is one never intended to be anything beyond surface level given that he’s a background character but there is a LOT to deduce from his character and it’s really interesting how they managed to make a “boring” side character with a lot of main character potential, and i think i’ve finally managed to crack why and it’s because of how much of his character has in terms of potential with connecting and working with the main gaang

just gonna put it out here i’m also gonna pull some haru characterization from the videogames to help my case

let’s start with aang, who is actually kind of similar to katara in terms of complete cultural devastation, it’s of course much worse for him as he lost all of his people but that’s still a point of sympathy and i’m sad it’s not brought up as much as it should be because it’s absolutely integral to his character and position as the avatar. speaking of being the avatar haru clearly knows who he is and believes he represents hope in this world coming back, there’s that sense of wonder and true faith in his cause to end this war and just as katara gives haru that inspiration to fight and make a stand against this war, i think aang does that too, whether he realizes it or not. there’s also this cultural obligation to continue bending or practicing your culture when everything else has been erased or suppressed, whether it be to preserve the memory of someone you once held dear or just because you know its the right thing to do. i think haru would really understand that on a personal level, even if his dad and the earthbenders did come back, and in turn try to give aang hope as well. in terms of personality i’d also just love to see haru, who probably has some sort of reverence for the avatar and was taught to respect him and be polite all the time, see aang as this kid who’s optimistic and sweet while also being a wielder of all four elements and learn to see him as a person and even a friend.

i’m not going to go too in depth with katara, as that post already did a phenomenal job, but i will add on the fact that i believe that haru and katara would also bond over how they had to learn bending and its sources, especially if we cite the “haru bends using firebending techniques” meta, which is also super in depth and well worth the read, and especially considering how katara learned bloodbending if this was something actually expanded on within the show i think haru would be able to help her understand that she is much more than that pain and suffering, and even if the techniques were used to hurt people in the past, she can be much more than that now.

and man. haru and sokka. they’d get along so well like. “my dad who is the leader of my tribe/village was sent away due to the war and i have idolized/missed him so much since then and though it’s unspoken there is a lot of pressure on me as man of the house to protect what little i have left”?? cmon. “my dad who used to be a rebellious leader full of hope and strength was broken down over the course of his five year imprisonment and i struggle with who he has become now” haru and “my dad left me in charge of a tribe of women and children on my own and i want to be a warrior just like him but i wonder if he could see me now if he’d really be proud of me and who i had to become” sokka. that sense of imposter syndrome that comes with being the eldest and the son of a leader?? the sympathy and that personal understanding?? i would’ve loved to see it. also in the games haru often makes fun of sokka just as much as he makes fun of everyone else and it would’ve been really funny to see these two smartasses clash given their different styles of whiny attitudes. also haru is pretty book-smart, and knows a lot about earth kingdom culture and technology, and i think he’d work well with sokka in terms of strategy. however, given haru’s lack of an impulse control, the plans he suggests may be a bit debatable.

now we get to haru and toph, who i should honestly make an entire separate post on but. to summarize most of my thoughts, haru and toph are both earth kingdom kids who come from entirely different places and positions of power and class in the war, and have been affected by the war to differing degrees. haru is a peasant from a coastal farm living under fire nation control for five years. he’s our prime example of what average life in the earth kingdom was like under the fire nation. toph comes from the rich beifong family, with personal bending tutors and even guards. she’s so far removed from the war, and she joined to fight it on a whim. their personalities and viewpoints would clash so much, and i think they’d have a really hard time getting along at first. there would be a lot of misunderstanding and haru wanting to understand toph somehow but toph being toph thinking he just wants to parent her or something. it would’ve been interesting interpersonal conflict. but i think when they do eventually become friends they’d become really close, they’d have shared experiences and inside earth kingdom jokes the rest wouldn’t get and hell maybe even toph would try to teach him how to metalbend cause you can’t win the war with just one metalbender, and haru would finally be able to learn from a real earthbending teacher, whose style is so unrestrained and powerful because it developed in a place away from war. also they can bond over having strained relationships with their parental figures!

zuko is... hard to place with haru, i’ll admit. the fact that he’s fire nation is an inseparable fact given how much of haru’s life has been directly affected and ruined by it, as everyone else’s has. i think that, if he was treated more like an actual character, haru would offer a valuable perspective on the gaang later accepting him into their group. sure, he hasn’t been hurt by zuko personally (unless we count the possibility that after the prison break zuko may have followed the prison boats back to the village looking for katara and aang after getting her necklace but that’s another can of worms entirely), but he’s experienced the horrors of the fire nation soldiers firsthand. they’ve heavily taxed his village, they’ve taken all of the earthbenders including his dad, they’ve broken into and threatened to burn down his mom’s shop... these are things not easily forgiven, and it’d be interesting to explore his side. but in terms of them as people, i think what’s funny is that both haru and zuko are extremely dramatic and angry and their similarities, while tragic, would also be kind of funny to see. though, i think out of everyone on this list, haru and zuko wouldn’t get that close- i don’t think haru would let himself, but if there was an arc involving zuko gaining his trust on some personal level, maybe it’d be interesting to explore.

all in all, though- haru has been cited as lonely in many of his official characterizations. i’d just like to have some friends, and maybe he’d find them with the gaang.

[sideblogformindtrash]

CW: Descriptive torture; mentions of body fluids; finger whump; whipping; branding; deshumanization; conditioning; pet/slave whump; creepy whumper; mentioned human trafficking; stress position; restraints; panic attacks; mentioning death/wishing for death.

It’s probably the goriest one I’ve written yet, so viewer discretion is advised and read content warning(?)

I think I’ll stop hurting poor baby Haru for a while after this, I’m almost feeling bad about it. And honestly mr. generic whumper here is so evil it’s boring;

He was curled up against a white, familiar wall, waiting for hell to break loose.

He had spent the night walking around the city, cold, hungry and lost. People stared at him weird, because he was disgusting and worthless.

And the more he walked the more he got lost, and all he wanted as to go back… Back to before he had done what he did.. He had run away… One of the worst offenses he could have ever committed. Useless, stupid, stupid.

It was already early morning when he saw one of the Black Coats, tall and scary, all dressed in the uniform of people he remembered so well. People who worked with… With taming and selling… those like him, who should never, ever be considered people.

He ran up to the scary person, and instinctively grabbed the side of their coat, wide eyed and desperate, pleading blue eyes. They took one look at him and looked at his collar with the contact for his owners.

The person thought he was lost and led him to the facility. Well he… He was a runaway. But telling that to the handler wouldn’t help him on any way, it would only make that handler treat him worse... And look at him with disappointment.

He knew he deserved every bit of it… But he wasn’t even sure he would survive what was planned as his punishment once he was............... home. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to survive.

He missed being in the facility. It was… familiar. It was also safer than he had ever felt at that mansion. He would never have dared escape the facility, he wouldn’t even want to. Where would he even go?

So he crawled up to the corner, hugging his knees, tired and scared. He tried to sleep, but the anxiety was too much. All he could do was cry, bracing against the comforting familiarity of those walls.

…But soon they came to take him back.

The same handler opened the cell, grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the main hallway. He lifted his pale blue eyes just for a moment, just to see Young Master’s face. He was… calm, and smiling.

He lowered his head immediately, as the handler threw him to his knees and removed the muzzle. Master gave him a deadly glance, while he signed off the papers and paid the retrieval fee.

Part of him had prayed Young Master decided to give up on him and just… Let him be sold again.

But he knew he wouldn’t get off this one so easily.

…It was raining outside. He went for the trunk, but Master held his arm and pointed.

“…Go on the passenger’s sit” That calm, gentle tone was unfamiliar and dangerous. He shivered, but obeyed. He couldn’t be stupid and do things worse for himself. He looked upwards, trying to prevent the tears from falling, almost choking to swallow the sobs. He wished he had been kept muzzled.

Young Master turned the radio on, cheerfully humming the tune. He curled up on the car sit, not even interested in looking outside. He just wanted so bad to disappear. He was expecting Young Master to be screaming, furious, like he always was… But seeing him smiling like that was more terrifying than anything.

“You want to speak, little bird?” He was looking at the pet with the corner of his eyes “Well, you won’t. I’ve been wanting some really some good reason to hurt you for some time now, you know? I have some different things that I would like to try, but normally, it would make dad angry. He likes you more than you deserve…. Well, now I have a reason. Isn’t that wonderful, little bird?”

His eyes widened. Breathe. Breathe. A sob escaped. He quickly hid his face on his palms… Master kept humming the tune, driving idly trough the city.

“Oh, little one. Don’t look so sad now. If only you weren’t so stupid…” he laughed “I was just messing with you yesterday. I wasn’t really going to cut you open. Just make some markings, here and there, the usual. But today… I’ll make sure to cut off your little wings so you never dare to cross that door again.”

Young Master savored the sheer panic on his face, as he struggled so much not to beg, his heart  beating like a drum, the air seeming so scarce he couldn’t breathe. Safe for his sobs and the song, the rest of the car-ride was silent.

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

The servants gave him some pitiful, pale looks as he was guided to the basement. Young Master wasn’t being rough with him. He was just… gently pushing him, a hand on his back, still cheerfully humming… and that terrified him far more than he would if he had just been dragged. Young Master was never kind. Kindness wasn’t free. His kindness was poison.

He closed the heavy door behind them, guiding him to the center of the room, where he fell on his knees.  He had to be good. He couldn’t be dumb and make things worse.

The basement was always a bit dark, walls made of wood and a floor of stone. A lot of scary things hanging from the walls and shelves, and large hooks they could be chained to, a fireplace and old carcasses of cars.

“Hands”

He raised them as fast as he could, despite how much effort that took… they were shaking so much… So pale and so weak, against the heavy metal shackles master locked them with. Young Master lifted him without any difficulty and hang the chain on one of the hooks, leaving him hanging on his tip-toes.

He picked up a whip, first.

“Now… This one is for vomiting over my shoes” Master walked behind him. He ran his fingers over the scarred back, where bruises and marks from other beatings hadn’t healed yet, throwing the long hair over his shoulder so it wouldn’t get on his way “…Twenty. Keep count. Don’t speak, but keep count, or we start over.”

…The whip stroke hard. He whimpered, but otherwise managed to keep composure. Twenty wasn’t so bad. He could take twenty. The second one was worse than the first, and the one after that made him sob. Then again, and again, blood rushing to his back, warm, stinging.

“How many?” Master stopped hitting, he walked closer and led the whip over his back slowly, just, letting it slide over the wounds.

“F-five”

“Good” Master whispered, stepped back and hit again “You are allowed to scream, birdie”

He felt dizzy, he wasn’t strong enough to keep balance. His wrists hurt. The next hits were drawing blood. He wanted to scream but… He didn’t had the strength to do it. He let his head hang low and allowed himself to whimper.

“How many?”

“..A-a…S-six..teen..”  words were hard “P-plea”

“A-ah” Master said, grabbing his cheeks, his nails digging on his skin “We barely begun. You’ll be allowed to beg later. Now you can only scream and cry. I want to hear your pain.”

Master was so close to his face now, entangling his fingers on the white hair.

“Did you understand me?” he nodded “Good. Sixteen, is that your answer?”

He lifted his head slightly. Master had a mocking, dangerous smile… he… He was sure it was sixteen. He had been counting. Had he missed one? Was Master giving him a chance? Was this so he would get it wrong?

He couldn’t begin again. Not when this was just the start. He couldn’t he-

A hard slap, turning his head to the side. Fingers marked on his face.

“I made you a question, mutt” …anger. This was familiar. He nodded quickly. He wasn’t sure but… What else could he do? There was no time to think. Master smiled again “…You are correct. Four left.”

He sighed, relieved. It was a taunt after all… The relief was gone with the next hit, more vicious than the other ones, crossing so many of the other marks. He gasped, closing his eyes shut. Three more and he was sobbing once it ended.

He… Should be able to endure more than that. He had before. Was it the fear that was making it worse? Or… the fact that he really deserved it this time?  He deserved every one of the hits – and more. He hated himself for being bad, and stupid and dumb, just like Young Master said he was. He deserved it, and all that would come later too.

Young Master walked around him, admiring his work. He was still smiling, still calm, hiding… It wasn’t anger. It was excitement. Master hang the whip back on the wall. He dragged… an arm chair to the center of the room, before letting him off the hook and onto it. A chair that belonged to the dinner set upstairs, he recognized it. Young Master must have brought it to the basement before going to pick him up.

He dry swallowed, wondering how much thought had been put into this punishment.

“Now, stay still for me, will you?”

He made his best to, only slightly shivering as the handcuffs were removed and replaced by rope, so tight it dug into his skin. There was no room to move, except for his head. He let the hair fall over his face, trying to hide… But that prompted Master to pull his head back.

“Smile for the camera dear…” Camera? Was there one? He didn’t knew and it didn’t matter, really. Master pulled his hair, dragging his neck backwards so much it hurt. He whimpered, but didn’t resist. He wanted to be good. He deserved this.

He deserved this. It would help him. It would make him better.

He didn’t like pain if it wasn’t to make him better, to correct his mistakes… But this one was. It was pain he deserved. He needed to be grateful.

He swallowed hard, and tried to be grateful.

But it was too scary, and now he couldn’t really see, as tears and panic where clouding his vision. So when Master approached again, he wasn’t very sure what was he was holding. A gentle touch over his hand caught him off guard. He almost relaxed a bit as Young Master rubbed gentle circles on his hand… And then excruciating pain.

…He passed out.

…A second, equally terrifying pain brought him back to reality a few seconds later.

“Don’t you go passing out on me, darling. You know how angry that makes me”

Dizzy… Hurting. Hurting so much it made the lashes on his back seem like nothing. Trembling, he looked down, the world swirling around him, almost incomprehensible… Red.

Young Master lifted something to his field of vision. A pair of bloodied fingernails. His… His fingernails.

He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t breathe couldn’t breathe couldn’t breathe couldn’t breath-

Master took the pliers to the next one. He wanted to beg, he tried to lean forward… He finally screamed.

Blood. Red. Pain. No air. No air no air no air. Red. Pain.

“please”

A slap. He doesn’t care, it feels like nothing compared to what just happened. His eyes are wide, teary and shocked.

“Ah-a. No begging yet. I haven’t allowed it.”

“Mercy. P—lease. Mercy? I-it will-”

Another slap, and his head was pulled backwards. Young Master runs his thumb over his face, cleaning tears and sweat while the other hand is firmly tugging his hair.

“Now now, you crossed every single limit yesterday, dear little bird. You disrespected me. And I’ll make sure you never dare to do it again”

He lets his head go, taking some time to admire his pet’s face. He moves to the next nail, an almost childlike smile.

He is fully aware this time. No shock and no adrenaline rush to coat a bit of the pain. No feelings of being lost, just the pain of flesh tearing. He feels sick. He can’t choke his screams anymore, not when they are being pulled, exposing the tender, bloodied skin underneath. Master praises him, but it’s mocking. It doesn’t really matter; his voice is distant behind a wall of pain.

Time seems to slow down. All he has now is agony, his body trembling, pulling hard against the ropes.

“Last one now, baby” Master says “Then we move to your little feet.”

…A strangled whimper is all he can manage. At some point, his bladder gives out, much to Master’s amusement. He is mocked for it but can barely understand the words.

He stares into nothing, wide eyed, as the minutes drag themselves. Everything is red. Everything is pain. Everything is blood.

And at some point a hand… full of bloodied nails is placed in front of his eyes. He has no strength to react… No voice to scream anymore. He stares, wide blue eyes, drenched in sweat and tears, shaking so much his teeth clank.

“I should start collecting those” Master says… returning to the table. Sounds of metal. He shivers, trying so hard to just… breathe. It’s not over yet? What is it going to be now? How will he survive?

He can’t breathe, he feels like he will die, he wishes he would die.

Master comes back without anything. He holds the pets chin, gently pulling the hair off his face, using his sleeves to clean the tears, sweat and snot. He smiles.

“This was… very fun. You look so pretty now little bird. I think I can finally understand why father thinks you are beautiful” he laughs “…Now you think you have learned your lesson?”

He needs a moment to realize he has to… to answer.

“y-ye-s I-“ he sobs “P-please I, I … It will neve-r, nev-er, i-it it is… Mas-master, p-pleas-“

Master places a hand over his lips, shushing him. He tried to lean closer to Master, but is held back by the ropes. The burn they cause seems so minor in comparison to the sheer agony right now, he barely notices.

“There there, pet” Master smiles “Just one more thing, and we will be done. “

He whimpers.

“N-no…m-more…no…” His voice is broken. He mouths please, over and over and over even if his voice has given out.

“Shush, don’t discuss with me now, bird. I need to make sure you know your place” He smiles, the pet follows him with his eyes, terrified to even blink “It will be quick.”

Master moves away. He has no strength to hold his head up when Master lets his chin, but looking down is bad, he sees the bloodied fingers. Thankfully there is nothing on his stomach to throw up. Red. Blood. Pain.

“Tell me little bird” Master appears back in his vision field “You’ll never run again, will you?”

…blazing iron, held so close to his face he can feel the heat.

“i-iit w-wil n-ev-er run f-from… mas-master…ple-ase” so, so hard to speak. So hard to breathe. Nothing in the whole world exists anymore. Just Master, burning iron, the bloodied fingers and the pain. “it-is is is yo—rs f-for-e-vv-ver. M-mer-mercy…”

He can’t anymore. Teeth clank as he shivers. His tears have stopped, even. Master smiles, contempt with the answer.

“Good boy. Now let’s make sure you don’t forget”

…He presses the iron against the sole of his feet. His vision goes black, and then covered with spots of red pain. And he feels cold. A terrible shiver runs down his spine, as the heat seems to be drained from his whole body, except that one, awful burn. The smell is nauseating.

It’s just a few seconds, but it feels like hours. It’s only removed to be placed on the other one.

Everything seems to fade again, and he wishes… He wishes he was dead.

It’s all… Red. Burning. Blood. Pain.

…Cold water on his lips brings him to tears again. He barely realizes as the ropes are cut off. Young Master is speaking a lot, but he can’t make sense of it.

He is lifted from the chair, scooped by Master’s arms. He wants to grab Master’s shirt, but the bloody fingers hurt too badly. He lets his body limp, his head resting over Master’s shoulder, and the world goes dark again.

Taglist: @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-me-all-night-long @whumpzone

[osakaso5]

IDOLiSH7 5th Anniversary Special Story: Opening Doors...

Chapter 3: A Weight Lifted Off Their Hearts

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

Haruka Isumi: Ahaha! That's so funny!

Mitsuki Izumi: We've gotten way off the rails again. Where were we?

Nagi Rokuya: OH! We were discussing our team divisions!

Gaku Yaotome: We're probably ending up in different teams, too. But I think the three of us are better off separated.  

Tamaki Yotsuba: Really?

Gaku Yaotome: If Ryu, Tenn, and Osaka were singing in a shuffle unit, it wouldn't sit right with me.

Tenn Kujo: So what you're actually saying is that you'd feel left out.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: That's so cute! You act exactly like my little brothers sometimes, Gaku.

Gaku Yaotome: No, that's not what I meant...

Tenn Kujo: Now you're just embarrassed.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Don't leave me out, either! That's mean!

Sogo Osaka: I think I'd feel more uncomfortable than anyone else in that equation...

Minami Natsume: Since there are four of us, does that mean one of us will be in each team?

Toma Inumaru: Good guess!

Torao Mido: Wait, seriously..?

Mitsuki Izumi: Don't look so  depressed. I guess you must be afraid of strangers, too.

Torao Mido: Not really... Wait, maybe I am a little bit?

Torao Mido: I used to be sociable, but I feel like there might've been a point where I became scared of celebrities...

Yuki: Oh, you poor thing.

Torao Mido: .........

Yuki: Show business can be scary.

Momo: Not everyone's as kind as we are!

Minami Natsume: Mido-san, what's the matter? You look tense...

Torao Mido: ...I think I unearthed some repressed memories just now...

Haruka Isumi: Hey, Toma. Who's in my team? Can you give me a hint?

Toma Inumaru: Just wait a little longer.

Riku Nanase: I'm getting kind of hungry. I should've brought a snack.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I've got snacks. Want some?

Nagi Rokuya: OH! Excuse me for a moment. It is time for new merchandise to be released.

Mitsuki Izumi: Hey, we're working.

Yuki: It's fine, this is just a meeting.

Minami Natsume: Would anyone like more coffee?

Gaku Yaotome: Me.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Could you pour me another cup, too? I don't need sugar or milk.

Iori Izumi: We're starting to lose focus...

Tenn Kujo: Everyone's having trouble concentrating. How far along have we gotten, so far?

Iori Izumi: We haven't gotten anywhere.

Tenn Kujo: ........

Iori Izumi: We're still at the starting line.

Nagi Rokuya: Whoo..! Bravo! I got it!

Riku Nanase: Wow! What did you buy!?

Nagi Rokuya: Something!

Riku Nanase: Something..?

Nagi Rokuya: The site is too crowded for the pictures to load... But I managed to complete an order!

Riku Nanase: Yay! That's great!  

Nagi Rokuya: Yay!

Iori Izumi: Congratulations. Now that Rokuya-san has made a successful purchase, let's return to the topic at hand.

Tenn Kujo: Before Tamaki Yotsuba gets bored beyond salvation again.

Minami Natsume: Again?

Tenn Kujo: Our three groups had a training camp together, and we played statues together.

Riku Nanase: That was so much fun! Yuki-san was so excited he wrote a song in one day.

Yuki: I wasn't excited, really. I would never have done that if it hadn't been for a work project.

Gaku Yaotome: We had to choreograph it in one day, too. That was tough!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: But it was a good experience! When did we all perform it, again? I don't remember...

Torao Mido: .........

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Ah...

Torao Mido: .........

Yamato Nikaido: This is so awkward... And the cameras are still rolling.

Mitsuki Izumi: I think a little awkwardness will do them good, honestly.

Mitsuki Izumi: ŹOOĻ might've done a favor for us, but they've done nothing but the opposite to TRIGGER.

Haruka Isumi: .........

Haruka Isumi: ......... ...I need to go to the bathroom...

Toma Inumaru: Haru.

Haruka Isumi: .........

Toma Inumaru: Don't go anywhere.

Haruka Isumi: ......... But...

Toma Inumaru: Stay here and watch. We decided not to run, remember?

Toma Inumaru: We couldn't keep running, remember? It'll be fine.

Haruka Isumi: .........

Minami Natsume: Look, Isumi-san. I'm holding your hand.

Tenn Kujo: ...Hehe.

Haruka Isumi: ...What?

Tenn Kujo: Stop frowning and listen. We'll tell you what happened, and what kind of song we made.

Haruka Isumi: ...I know already. It's the song they sang at Friends Day, right? And you guys were supposed to sing it with them.

Tenn Kujo: That's not all there is to it. We also had a fun time lodging together for the first time.

Haruka Isumi: .........

Tenn Kujo: We've got a song that brings back painful memories, too.   A song we can't bear to see, no matter how much we love it.

Riku Nanase: Ah... Could it be, our...

Iori Izumi: Hush, Nanase-san.

Tenn Kujo: Every time we heard it, our hearts would sting. But then someone told us something.

Tenn Kujo: That music ties people together. That we'd be tied together by it, too.

Haruka Isumi: ...Tied together by music...

Tenn Kujo: Exactly. Even if the first notes make your ears hurt, the song will eventually tie together...

Tenn Kujo: Our futures.

Haruka Isumi: .........

Haruka Isumi: ...Fine. I'll stay here and listen.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Let's sing Happy Days Creation!

Iori Izumi: Right now? Are you serious?

Gaku Yaotome: Yeah. Not for the cameras, just for us. I've been wanting to do it for ages.

Toma Inumaru: Yaotome...

Gaku Yaotome: We were in the audience for Friends Day. IDOLiSH7, you sang our song, right?

Gaku Yaotome: I was happy to hear your version of SECRET NIGHT.

Riku Nanase: ...Right.

Iori Izumi: ........

Momo: Ahaha. Okay, let's do it!

Yuki: Let's.

Gaku Yaotome: Thanks for going along with this, Re:vale.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Haha... ...Ahh, for some reason, I...

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: ...Started crying, without even meaning to. Oh no...

Yamato Nikaido: Haha... You always have been quick to cry, Tsunashi-san.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Should we move the table? We can't just start dancing here with 12 people, can we?

Mitsuki Izumi: I bet TRIGGER would bump into it. Let's move it over there by a little.

Sogo Osaka: Around here?

Nagi Rokuya: OH! How nostalgic! It is as though we have gone back in time.

Nagi Rokuya: The moment that slipped through our fingers the first time is finally within our grasp.

Riku Nanase: Yeah!

Riku Nanase: Here we go! Stand right there and watch, ŹOOĻ!

Yuki: You're all so youthful.

Momo: You look pretty pleased yourself, Yuki.

Yuki: That's because writing that song was a struggle. Right, Sogo-kun?

Sogo Osaka: Right...

Sogo Osaka: I still remember how you strummed the guitar that night. It changed my life.

Yuki: Well said. You should put that in your autobiography.

Tenn Kujo: Let's do this.

Riku Nanase: Yeah!

Yuki: Happy Days Creation!

- - - -

Kaoru Anesagi: ...Sniffle... I never thought I'd get to see something like this...

Tsumugi Takanashi: ...It feels like I'm dreaming...

Banri Ogami: Tsumugi-san... Here, have a handkerchief.

Tsumugi Takanashi: Thank you...

Staff: This is great footage! We really appreciate being able to show their singing and dancing, even if this is a cooking show...

Rinto Okazaki: ...Sniffle...

Rinto Okazaki: Cut this out of the episode, please...

Staff: Huh!? Cut it!? So we can't use it!?

Kaoru Anesagi: No... Stop the cameras, please... Sniffle...

Staff: Oh, come on... That would be a waste of valuable footage...

Tsumugi Takanashi: ...Cut the cameras...

Staff: Seriously?

Kaoru Anesagi: Uuh... You three are incredible... 

- - - -

Momo: Phew, we really danced our hearts out.

Yamato Nikaido: Ah, we really did.

Riku Nanase: Ehehe! That was fun!

Yamato Nikaido: Sure was!

Yamato Nikaido: ........

Yamato Nikaido: That's all, folks!

Mitsuki Izumi: Wait, hold on! Don't just wave this all off with a smile!

Yamato Nikaido: Why not? That was the perfect moment for the end credits to start rolling.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: It did feel like closure of some kind!

Tenn Kujo: Nothing is over yet. The long hand on the clock has made one complete trip around the clock face, and we haven't gotten a single thing done.

Riku Nanase: What do you mean?

Iori Izumi: He means a full hour has passed. Weren't you taught how to tell the time by the time you  began grade school?

Riku Nanase: But he said it in such a roundabout way!

Tenn Kujo: I apologize, Nanase-san.

Iori Izumi: There you go again...

Tenn Kujo: Excuse me?

Iori Izumi: I was just thinking out loud about how over-indulgent certain people can be.

Riku Nanase: Now you're talking funny too, Iori! Is this a new trend or something?

Iori & Tenn: Just with us.

Toma Inumaru: 'Kay! So, about our divisions...

Tamaki Yotsuba: You're announcing the teams!?

Toma Inumaru: Yeah. Since everyone's so curious about the teams, I think I'll just reveal them now!

Sogo Osaka: Huh, are you sure? We haven't even decided on our menu yet...

Mitsuki Izumi: I know I was against it earlier, but maybe knowing our teams might help move the conversation along.

Toma Inumaru: Especially since there's 16 of us. 'Scuse me, may I reveal the teams now?

Toma Inumaru: ...Ah, they said it's fine!

Sogo Osaka: You're very proactive, Inumaru-san... I'm not very rock 'n' roll in that regard, myself.

Tamaki Yotsuba: You're plenty active already, trust me.

Toma Inumaru: Quit calling me "Inumaru-san". Just Toma is fine. We're the same age, remember?

Mitsuki Izumi: Oh, looks like our leads are forming a friendship.

Yamato Nikaido: Nice.

Sogo Osaka: Thank you, Toma. In that case, you may call me Osaka.

Torao Mido: That's not your first name, though.

Sogo Osaka: No, I meant to say Sogo.

Toma Inumaru: Hehe, this feels kinda awkward.

Sogo Osaka: Haha, it does.

Toma Inumaru: Alright, here I go. The first team is..!

Toma Inumaru: Iori Izumi, Yamato Nikaido, Tenn Kujo, and Haruka Isumi!

Iori Izumi: Hmm.

Yamato Nikaido: Oh, not too different from normal, then. Glad to have you.

Tenn Kujo: Glad to have you, too...

Haruka Isumi: What?!

Iori, Yamato, & Tenn: ........

Tenn Kujo: Haruka Isumi. Who is making you react the way you just did?

Iori Izumi: Certainly not me. It has to be either you, Kujo-san, or this grandpa.

Yamato Nikaido: Can you not call me a grandpa!? If I'm one, then so is Grandpa Gaku over there.

Gaku Yaotome: Did someone call me?

Yamato Nikaido: Don't respond when someone calls you a grandpa.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: He's right. Think of how that must make Yuki-san feel.

Yuki: It's fine. I'm 16 years old.

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Huh? That can't be right. I could've sworn you were turning...

Momo: Ryu-chan! Just let it go!

Tenn Kujo: So, who's the one that made you yell out like that?

Haruka Isumi: ......... I couldn't help my shock at being in the same group as Tenn Kujo from TRIGGER...

Tenn Kujo: You're very honest. But also rude.

Haruka Isumi: I'm sorry...

Tenn Kujo: Hehe, and obedient.

Yamato Nikaido: As you're about to find out, having Kujo in your team makes things easier. He knows just about anything.

Tenn Kujo: I could say the same about you, or Iori Izumi.

Iori Izumi: I suppose you could call us Team Honor Students, then.

Haruka Isumi: I'm not an honor student.

Iori Izumi: I know. You can be our variety expert.

Haruka Isumi: Variety expert!? Like how..?

Yamato Nikaido: By being the funny man to all our straight man.

Tenn Kujo: Right.

Iori Izumi: Right.

Haruka Isumi: Funny man... I guess I'll try my best.

Tenn Kujo: Alright. We have the honor student team. Sogo Osaka, what are the other teams?

Sogo Osaka: Next up is, um...

Sogo Osaka: Mitsuki Izumi, Tamaki Yotsuba, Ryunosuke Tsunashi, and Toma Inumaru.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Ooh! I get to be with Mikki! And Ryu-aniki! And Marucchi!

Mitsuki Izumi: Ahaha! Quit jumping around!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: He looks so happy! It's adorable!

Toma Inumaru: Ahaha, glad to have you! Okay, I guess we're borrowing your partner.

Sogo Osaka: Haha. Look after him, okay?

Yamato Nikaido: What's your team name?

Mitsuki Izumi: Team name!? I dunno. What do you think, Tamaki?

Tamaki Yotsuba: If Iorin's team is Team Honor Students, then we're rascals! Team Rascals!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: That's so cute! Let's all be rascals, then!

Toma Inumaru: Yep! On to the next team!

Toma Inumaru: Sogo Osaka! Nagi Rokuya! Momo-san! Tora!

Sogo Osaka: It's a pleasure to be working with you.

Nagi Rokuya: OH! It is a pleasure!

Torao Mido: The pleasure's all mine.

Momo: I'm surrounded by rich boys!

Sogo Osaka: You're rich yourself, Momo-san. Like the... I... I... I...

Torao Mido: You okay?

Nagi Rokuya: OH! The ita car! They made an ita car for TRIGGER!

Gaku Yaotome: That thing was a big help for us.

Momo: I know, but unlike you guys, I'm nouveau riche! You guys are the real deal!

Torao Mido: The real deal...

Momo: Just because I look like a celeb doesn't mean I am one on the inside.

Momo: I probably couldn't tell the difference between caviar and flying fish roe that's just been dyed black...

Sogo Osaka: What makes you say that?

Nagi Rokuya: OH... Are you feeling ill?

Momo: Don't look at me with your pure celeb eyes..!

Toma Inumaru: So what's your team name?

Torao Mido: Team Celeb?

Momo: You're really driving me into a corner, huh!?

Nagi Rokuya: OH, worry not, Mister Momo.

Nagi Rokuya: Our status may not affect our senses as much as you think.

Nagi Rokuya: It will merely allow us to feel a single pea underneath countless mattresses.

Momo: That means you have to be super well-bred... I guess you are a prince, after all...

Nagi Rokuya: Hiii.

Momo: A prince winked at me! I'll do my best..!

Sogo Osaka: Well then, that leaves the last team.

Sogo Osaka: Riku-kun, Yaotome-san, Yuki-san, and Natsume-san.

Riku Nanase: Wow! One of each!

Yuki: Ah, you're right.

Gaku Yaotome: And we're the only ones. Awesome!

Minami Natsume: ......? "One of each"? What do you mean?

Riku Nanase: Our team is the only one that has someone from IDOLiSH7, TRIGGER, Re:vale, and ŹOOĻ.

Minami Natsume: Ah... That's true.

Nagi Rokuya: OH! How wonderful! You are like a symbol of our peace.

Yuki: What about Momo's team?

Momo: We don't have anyone from TRIGGER.

Gaku Yaotome: We've got someone representing every group. I bet we'll have a fun time filming!

Riku Nanase: True! We can share stories about our groups!

Minami Natsume: I look forward to working with you all. Well then, as Rokuya-san so aptly referred to us, let's call ourselves Team Peace.

Yuki: Sounds good to me.

Gaku Yaotome: I doubt any of us would get into a fight, anyway!

Riku Nanase: Let's all work together!

Toma Inumaru: Alright! That's it for the teams!

Sogo Osaka: Let's begin coming up with idol-themed dishes.

Mitsuki Izumi: Finally!

Yamato Nikaido: We're finally getting started!

Gaku Yaotome: Let's give a round of applause!

Torao Mido: ...Are you guys always like this?

Sogo Osaka: Yes, we are.

Momo: Okay, let's keep going!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Let's do our best! 

To be continued...

[furubabes]

Okay. Somebody Asked. @shoujobell and @cryptidaicat, y’all encouraged this. I’m gonna tag this #long post if you wanna filter.

So here. I got the urge to write and so I ranked the Fruits Basket couples from my favorite to least favorite. These aren’t my complete thoughts because I could honestly do multiple full meta posts on each pairing, but I tried to justify and explain all my choices. Standard disclaimer, this is subjective and we can agree to disagree.

Part 1: Just the reasonably popular ones

1. Kyoru: Someone’s gonna call me unoriginal for this but it’s fine. Kyoru is the main romance of Fruits Basket! They bring out the best in each other and build each other up as characters. Kyoru is basically my gold standard take on Sunshine Girl x Grouchy Dude, and I’m not even usually into that trope otherwise. Their romance is one of the few that feels so genuinely necessary to the story. They love each other and like each other. Kyo understands Tohru in a way no one else in the narrative does, and vice versa. They’re in love like soulmates and also like awkward teenagers. Kyoru invented romance. If it’s boring to like healthy romances with realistic development, I’ll be boring.

2. Tohrin: If Tohru didn’t end up with Kyo I would only want her to be with Rin. I guess they have some of the same appeal as Kyoru for me - Rin reads Tohru in a way a lot of people don’t. I also like how honest and raw they are with each other. They yell! They fight! Rin is down to just straight up knock Tohru over to keep her from rushing off. Also, they’re both absolute fashion icons. Goth x Prep rights. I firmly believe Tohru Honda is bisexual.

3. Yukeru: This is my favorite Yuki pairing. I followed @yunsoh way back when the reboot first started and her blog has got me absolutely hooked on Yukeru. I think Yuki’s arc would have just made a ridiculous amount of sense if he was gay. It screams comphet. Kakeru is an excellent complement to Yuki, and their bond feels incredibly natural. Honestly I feel like it’s the most organic romantic development outside of Kyoru. I think realistically they wouldn’t have gotten together until post-canon and frankly Yuki shines in his friendships much more than romances, so I’m not absolutely dying for them to be together, but if Yuki’s going to date anyone Kakeru is my pick.

4. Arisaki: Man... I just like them. They strike me as less of an epic love and more of a comfortable partnership. I also read them both as lesbians anyway lol. Honestly I think they both had feelings for Tohru at one point and bonded over it. The way I picture them happening is honestly just Arisa at 25 frantically googling “is it gay to hold hands with my girl roommate who I spend all my time with and also we never date men“ because Saki bought them rings that look like wedding bands but they could just be super close friendship rings and oh god she’s in too deep. They’re dating for four years before they notice.

5. AyaMine: But Jessie! You literally never post about this pairing! Yeah, you’re right. I never think about them actively. But when ranking the canon ships I realized that I like the two of them together because they’re chill and understated. They’re huge loud personalities on their own but as a couple, they just feel like two people who are happy together and like spending time with one another. No drama, no mess, very understated. No plot contrivances driving their relationship. Good for them.

6. YukiKyo: Okay, so I can be convinced to put on my YukiKyo goggles more often than not. It feels iffy because there’s debate about how closely related all the Sohmas are and these two are called “cousins” a lot in school, but since half of the Sohmas are dating each other anyway, I err on the side of them being more of a clan than a proper blood family. Anyway, YukiKyo is my designated angst fuel. I think it would realistically be pretty one-sided from Yuki’s side, since we see him wanting Kyo’s approval from a very young age, but I like exploring the what-ifs of their lives if they’d been friends instead of rivals. In canon, I like to think that after high school they’re not best friends in the traditional sense, but either one could show up with a dead body and the other would help them bury it, no questions asked.

7. Yuchi: Really? Yuki’s wife is my third favorite pairing for him? Look, I adore Machi, and I still like Yuchi. But as I’ve been watching the reboot and reading others’ metas, I think I agree that their relationship could have been very powerful as a platonic one, sort of running parallel to Yuki and Tohru. I like them together but I think there wasn’t quite time for a complete character arc for Machi and her growth sort of begins and ends with Yuki. I don’t object to them being a couple in canon and I think they’re genuinely very sweet, but once again, I think Yuki stands out in his friendships more than anything. I would have liked to see Machi strike out on her own a little more.

8. Haru x Yuki: I don’t have any particular feelings towards them but I love their dynamic already and I think as a couple they’d both be really easygoing and comfortable with each other. I think a childhood crush turned close friendship is honestly the narrative that works best for them so I have no need for the two to date canonically, but every time they interact in the anime it gets a laugh out of me. They’re cool. They’d make a very pretty pair.

9. Mayutori: I’m Mayutori-neutral. I think they suffer from Fruits Basket’s pair the spare syndrome, but out of the side pairings that don’t have too much impact, they’re one I enjoy. Mayu’s fun as a character, and painfully relatable, and I like that Hatori’s eventual romance isn’t with someone who reminds him of Kana or something like that. I also want good things for Hatori. Mayutori has serious heterosexual energy though. I’m not saying this as a pro or con, they’re just very straight.

10. Hatsuzu: Okay, Haru and Rin aren’t this far down because I hate them. I’m perfectly fine with them being together in canon. But I think their romance almost... functions better as individual motivation for their character arcs than it does as an actual relationship, if that makes sense? Rin’s backstory episode is heartbreaking and her motivation to protect Haru is compelling and sympathetic, but their actual scenes together just don’t move me that much. Their romance is the least interesting part of either character for me.

11. Hiro x Kisa: Yeah I never got into it that much. It’s cute, it’s a sweet depiction of childhood crushes, but I’m not a fan of the idea of them ending up together. Kisa’s a cutie and Hiro is entertaining but the two of them together don’t actually do much for me. The dynamic between them is almost like if someone did Kyoru with none of the nuance. Ultimately though, they’re kids. I don’t expect them to have a deep and complex romance.

12. Yukiru: I think it would be a disservice to their characters if they were a couple. People far more eloquent than me have already written plenty of meta on why Yuki and Tohru aren’t what the other needs romantically, so I won’t get into it, but basically I just think their canon friendship is so beautiful and meaningful that I wouldn’t want to change it. Yuki and Tohru support my thesis that not all soulmates are romantic.

13. Tohru x Momiji: Welcome to the subjective dislike corner! This pairing is reasonably popular among people theorizing who Tohru would be with if not Kyo, but for some reason it just sits poorly with me. I can’t rank it any lower because there’s nothing evil or morally wrong about it! I just really don’t like it. I’ve quit a few fics because this pairing came up and I just can’t enjoy it.

14. Kakeru x Komaki: Idk, I just think Kakeru latching onto the one girl who was nice to him and put up with his bullshit and then being with her forever isn’t compelling. Komaki’s also probably his beard. She’s likable as an individual though.

15. Akigure: There’s plenty to say about the age gap, Shigure being in love with Akito since she was a fetus because of The Dream, the implications of a 15-18 year old knowing he’d one day want to be with a then-10-year-old... yeah, you get it. But even if I was able to put all that aside because Soulmate Destiny Logic, I still don’t think I’d like Akigure. I think they’re interesting as bitter, codependent exes, but I don’t like the idea of Akito ending up with anyone who she abused or who abused her. I think she has so much growing to do as a character and staying in a relationship within the Sohma family to do it can’t be healthy for her. I can’t see them living happily ever after, nor do I really want to.

16. Kurisa: I think what frustrates me the most here is that I want to like Kureno and everything about this romance is written to dull his most interesting traits. First of all, the age gap. Yeah, it’s gross, I don’t like it. But even past that, the love at first sight, instant fixation with each other, and lack of actual chemistry just kills me. Arisa’s stated reason to like Kureno is that he reminds her of Tohru, basically piggybacking off the chemistry she and Tohru already have, and his total lack of agency means the plot just sort of carries him along. It frustrates me that Takaya could have done something pretty cool by making them simply friends who have a chance encounter and then build a friendship from there that parallels Kureno’s abusive dynamic with Akito. It would be neat if a stranger’s kindness was the push Kureno needed to get himself out of the Sohmas’ grasp, without all the nonsensical drama about them being in love. It would also be less of a disservice to Arisa, who basically just spends the whole series pining for Kureno after they meet and I hate it. I could write a whole post about this. Maybe I will sometime.

17. Kyoko x Katsuya: I don’t think their story is romantic. I think it’s tragic for Kyoko, and if it were framed that way within the narrative, I wouldn’t object so much to its existence. But... Takaya just really likes age gaps with a younger woman and an older man, so the narrative romanticizes this man marrying his student. Katsuya can be depicted as well-meaning as you want, but he’s still got a ridiculous amount of power over Kyoko. She was also still pretty young when she had Tohru, which doesn’t make things any better because it’s clear that the relationship turned physical when Kyoko was a teen, thus dashing the idea of Katsuya legally marrying her to save her but not actually doing anything creepy. I wish Fruits Basket framed this as a story of Kyoko escaping one dangerous situation by entering a relationship with a huge power imbalance, because that happens to girls all the time and it’s tragic and compelling. The events of the story could stay the exact same and if the framing changed I would be fine with it. But this is not that. This is just a really romanticized teacher/student age gap. I’m not into it.

Part 2: Rarepairs, weird shit, and others (oh my!)

1. Yuki x Kakeru x Kimi: OT3. I’m enamored with the idea of this hot mess polycule.

2. Momiji x Kimi: Chaos meets chaos. This couple would say uwu without any irony and also steal your car keys. They’re both perceptive and smart hidden under a layer of cute and I’d wanna watch them play 4D chess with each other.

3. Kazuma x Kunimitsu: Idk how old Kunimitsu is so if he’s like 20, strike this one from the record. But I saw one post once that was like Kyo slowly realizing Kazuma and Kunimitsu were gay and had been dating for years and it was funny as hell.

4. AyaTori: It’s cute. Opposites attract, black and white hair, and Aya only listens to Hatori anyway. It’s just fun to think about.

5. Megumi x Hiro: They don’t interact in canon I just think Goth x Punk-Ass Bitch is a great concept.

6. Motoko x Nao: They’re both loud as hell and Nao having a gf that towers over him is funny. Maybe Yuki would finally get some peace.

7. Machi x Kimi: I don’t see them actually being compatible in canon but I think they could have a really homoerotic college friendship.

8. Hajime x Mutsuki: This is just YukiKyo, the non angst version.

9. Akito x Hanajima: I’m so wary of shipping Akito with anyone but this is kind of fun. The two are friends in canon and Hana isn’t remotely afraid of Akito. Plus Akito never abused Hana. I can sort of see it.

10. Hiroshi x Yusuke: Makes no sense, wouldn’t be relevant, but if those two just never spent any time apart and continued being a pair for life it would be a really good bit.

11. Akitohru: I don’t think it’s healthy to date anyone who’s previously stabbed you.

12. Kazuma x Hanajima: Stop. Go to jail. Hana’s one-sided crush is funny though.

[kannra21]

Haru Kato x Reader 💗

I'm sad that there's no Haru x reader hcs/scenarios so I wrote smtng to make y'all's day *PS it gets kinda dirty but nothing happens lol*. Hope you enjoy!

It was on a cold cloudy afternoon that y/n decided to go on a little stroll through the nature. She already informed her family about it and took her phone just in case, because let's be honest, who in today's world doesn't have a phone with themselves? She put on her favorite pair of boots and a jacket her mother often complained about. So what if it wasn't thick enough? She loved the jacket and guys would usually give her the looks whenever she crossed paths with them. She loved the attention, that brought her in trouble most of the time.

She entered the snow-covered forest, a place she knew and paths that led to the unknown. However, the curiosity took the best of her so she continued through the branches that lay on the ground and the stones that challenged her. Going for a little adventure wasn't such a bad thing, exploring her surroundings was supposed to be a positive experience. Every once in a while a person grows tired with responsibilities, sometimes people wander around in order to avoid facing the boring part of their lives. It was relaxing and the fresh air cooled away her worries. As much as she appreciated the bird's singing in the distance, y/n put on her headphones and listened to her favorite music. The crunching of snow no longer bothered her and a little penetration through it brought a smile on her face. The place was quiet and peaceful and she loved the way everything looked so much more beautiful thanks to the icicles shining from the pine woods. I mean, holy cow! Sometimes she forgot to just stop and take it all in.

And nothing could ever compare to that awestrucking view on the other side of the hill. The landscape was covered in beautiful combinations of white, blue and black and y/n couldn't help herself but to feel amazed. This was soooo going to end up on her Instagram profile. Her friend would be absolutely devastated upon seeing it, she should be sorry for not joining her when she called and y/n enjoyed every bit of it. She approached and climbed a wrecked tree to catch a better picture, her hands were a little shaky and the cool air sent chills though her body. Mom was always right about everything. Screw it.

She took a step further and, unfortunately, the crust she was standing on was so slippery that her leg moved away and she fell into a trapping pit. Her body hurt a little but otherwise she regained herself, everything seemed to be fine, she was okay and she comforted herself, until she tried to move her left leg but to no avail. She was in so much pain and she felt like screaming. It wasn't fair and the tears started to gather in her eyes. She felt cold and her pants and jacket were soaked from being covered in the snow thanks to the awkward fall.

Fuck, fuck, FUCK! What the fuck was the goddamn pit even doing here? It seemed like the freaking hunters forgot to clean after their stupid ass selves. And rangers never reported the losers in the first place. Screw them! Screw them all!... But then she laughed under her breath. Who was she kidding? It was her who was so stupidly clumsily that she couldn't keep her fucking balance. Maybe she messed up her leg for a reason? Was she punished by some higher ass force for her stupid deeds? Of course, she was so goddamn stupid and she hated herself. The pain and the cold never ceased to leave her body and she rubbed her hands together.

And then she remembered something, her phone! She tried to find it somewhere, anywhere around the place but after 5min of thorough searching she concluded that it wasn't there, that it landed somewhere around the pit and y/n felt like loosing all the hope that still remained in her.

Hopeless and disappointed, y/n squeezed into herself and, having no other choice, endured the pain and waited for someone to save her. She yelled and yelled for help in case someone was walking nearby but after so many times of persistently trying to attract someone's attention, she decided to give up because she only grew weaker and colder.

She didn't even know how much the time has passed and she felt so tired that everything she wanted to do was fall asleep but she tried to keep herself awake. She didn't want to pass out just yet. Y/n continued blowing warm air on her hands, hoping to keep herself warm. She often watched on the television how professional survivers kept themselves warm by doing all kinds of exercises. Since y/n couldn't walk, she stretched the rest of her upper body but it didn't feel any better. The more she stretched, the colder she felt. She was also afraid of sweat freezing her skin so she decided to sit like that, pinned to the wall as much as possible to at least keep her back covered.

Fuck her and her fucked ass life. She started to overthink things. How she let her family and her friends down. Everyone who loved and cared for her so dearly will hear about the news, that is, if anyone manages to find her and her dead body lying on the ground all frozen. She replayed her entire life in her head and y/n felt like crying again. She slowly but surely lost all the expectations of returning home alive.

After a while of quiet sobbing she heard someone's steps nearing her place and shouting her name. Y/n grew alert.

"I'm here!! I'm here!! Oh God please help me out please!" she exclaimed desperately.

A guy with light brown hair and golden eyes peered from the corner of the pit. His hair looked somewhat unruly and styled with messy and loose bangs framing his face.

"So you're Y/N! Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Well duh Sherlock, how do you think I ended up here? The pit is at least 5m deep! And I rolled down that hill over there!"

Haru flinched, he didn't like the tone of her voice. "Everything is going to be fine, try to calm down and take my hand.", he got to his knees and leaned forward to reach her.

Y/n tried to stand up one more time but the immense pain pierced through her once again and she screamed.

"What happened?!" Haru grew concerned.

"I.. I can't stand on my left leg. It hurts so much."

"Alright, stay where you are. I'll try to-" as Haru was about to turn from leaning from his previous position, his hand slipped and, losing the support, he fell into the pit and groaned in discomfort. Y/n couldn't believe her own eyes. The only person who could help her in this very moment got trapped together with her. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry, she felt like losing her mind.

"Y/n, it isn't as bad as you think. Here, I took my ph-" Haru looked at his phone and noticed that it got broken from falling to the ground full force.

Y/n started sobbing and Haru jumped in surprise. He felt really bad and hugged her to calm her down. "I know you're in pain and I know how harsh it must be to stay down here for such a long time, but everything is going to be okay. Your parents already informed the police and we were searc-"

"My parents called the police?!" y/n shouted in surprise.

"Yes they noticed you've been absent longer than usual so they sent us to search after you."

"Wait. You're a police officer?"

"Yea I'm sorry for not wearing the classic black uniform you people got so used to. Things happened and I-"

"iactuallythinkthatyou'rekindahot"

"What?"

"nevermind"

Haru blushed and y/n tried to change the topic.

"How did you manage to find me?"

"I barely caught your location through your phone so I followed it, but the signal got interrupted every once in a while because we're in the middle of the forest after all so let's say that it was the sheer luck that I managed to find y-"

Y/n started tearing again and Haru panicked "I mean it's not the luck that helped me, you have to believe me! Look, my colleagues are already searching for us so they'll definitely find us!"

"Yes but how long will it take them to do so?"

"..." Haru felt really bad for her, he tried to make her feel better but even he wasn't so sure how to do it. "They're professionals so don't worry. They'll come here soon."

"I hope you're right.." y/n squeezed into herself once again and hid her face between her crossed hands. "Why do I always need to mess everything up? Because of me you ended up trapped as well."

"Please don't blame yourself, I ended up here because of my own clumsiness.. Man I'm such a klutz."

"We're both like walking disasters."

They laughed and Haru continued the conversation to pass the time. He talked about himself and the tragic thing that happened which led him to leave the First Division and join the MCPTF. He also talked about Daisuke and all the things that annoyed him about his partner, but in the end he concluded that he believes that he's not so bad despite his wealthy background.

Y/n fell more in love the further she listened to him. He was so kind, humanistic and just. He always paid attention to other people's needs and risked his life on many occasions to protect others. He's passionate about his work and he's really sympathetic, even towards those who didn't deserve it.

"You're such a nice person Haru. Just like a guardian angel." y/n smiled.

"R-really? I don't hear this often haha!" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"It's true. Why are you being so modest? You should appreciate yourself more."

"I think it’s for the best if only one of us has an ego. Because, if I were of the same nature, I don't know how Kambe would react. He is a difficult person."

"I think you're too good for him. Try to give him a taste of his own medicine."

"You want to corrupt me? You're the bad girl type or something?" Haru teased and y/n blushed.

"N-no I just think that you deserve more respect from him." y/n fiddled with her fingers and Haru smiled, he found her little quirks so adorable.

"I think that you're a beautiful person as well, Y/n."

The air between them became tense and they blushed.

"Thank you Haru, I'm glad you think so."

Y/n talked about herself as well, her job, family and friends and how she ended up in the pit in the first place. She tried to stand up again but it still hurt her and she hissed in pain.

"You shouldn't force yourself. Here, take my jacket."

"You want me to put the jacket over a jacket? But what about you? You'll only stay in your shirt."

"I don't mind. My top priority right now is to make sure that you come home safe and sound and in order to do this, I need to keep you warm."

"But-"

"No buts." Haru took off his jacket, wrapped her up, lifted her closer to him and put her into his lap.

"W-w-what are you doing?!!" y/n bonked him on the head and he yelped in pain.

"It's better if you sit on me than on the cold hard floor, you're going to get sick. Besides, I can easily warm you up like this so you don't catch hypothermia."

"Oh.. sorry about that."

"It's okay. Look, I understand how you feel right now but I'm not trying to harm you in any way. I already told you everything about myself and I'm not a weirdo. You can trust me."

"Aight aight." Y/n smiled and shifted closer this time. Haru, being the pure guy he was, probably didn't notice how this position made her feel so she wanted to let him know.

She further adjusted in his lap and leaned completely against him, with Haru's head lying on her left shoulder and taking her hands in his bigger ones, rubbing and warming them up.

The close proximity between them was unreal and Y/n smirked at him from the corner of her face.

"Just so you know, this is a very professional behavior." Haru defended himself and y/n felt like breaking into laughter."

"However you say, Mr. Police officer." she whispered in his ear, lips touching the earlobe with every word she spoke and it took him all self-control in this world not to go wild just from that small gesture.

He succeeded at keeping his cool but he didn't succeed at keeping his cool down there and y/n teased him further until he couldn't sit like this anymore.

"Okay okay I get it. Let me think.. try to change positions." Y/n stood up and sat in front of him this time, legs crossed behind his back and hugging him around the torso.

"Warmer~" y/n hummed in delight.

"Y-y/n.. do you really have to put your legs like this?"

"Whoops my bad." she took her leg and threw it over the other, making them face the same direction. Now she was leaning on his left hand, head lying under his own. It was the posture they were both satisfied with and although he could warm her like this, Haru had other problems.

The strain on his suit pants refused to subdue and y/n's hair felt so soft and smelled so nice to him. He became warmer in the face. What was going on with him?

Y/n could feel how stiff and nervous he was so she lifted her head to look at him but his eyes were averted to the other side.

"Is everything alright? Can I help?"

Haru couldn't help himself but to be honest, otherwise he'd just look like an idiot "It's.. not every day that I hold such a beautiful girl in my lap." He looked red and he was breathing heavily. "I'm sorry.. it's just that-"

She stood up from her previous position and sat between him this time.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly. Y/n took his face in her hands and kissed him carefully which surprised both of them.

What seemed to be a soft passionate exchange soon turned into something rougher, with hands roaming through their bodies and tongues colliding. Haru turned her around and pinned her to the wall.

"This is *sigh* a very bad idea *sigh*".

"Why? Are you seeing someone?"

"No."

"Neither do I." she took him for the collar of his shirt and they made out. Their movements became more frantic and Haru felt a twinge of guilt dawning on him.

"I don't want to hurt you.." he whispered, excitement running through him. "It's hard to suppress myself when I feel like this."

"Why? What do you feel?"

"I.." Haru stopped, his thoughts jumbled inside. "I'm so in love with you and we just met. I mean, it's not like you're a compete stranger since we introduced ourselves and said things about ourselves. You're a beautiful person y/n, and I'm afraid of betraying your trust."

"Haru, there's nothing to be worried about."

"Are you sure about this? Honey this is a big thing."

"Honey huh?" Y/n teased and he hid his face in her neck, embarrassment taking the best of him.

She kissed his hair and hugged him around the neck. "I love you too, Haru. You're the best thing that happened to me."

He took advantage of their position and sucked on her neck, earning a moan from her. As he kissed down her collar bone and she unbuttoned his shirt, they heard someone coughing from above and they froze.

"You're supposed to help a civilian in trouble, Kato-keibu."

Haru stumbled back on the snow in surprise. "I-It's not.. Where were you?! We were waiting for you in ages!"

"HEUSC managed to determine the location despite the signal interference. Seems like you succeeded in finding a nice occupation to fill the time gap."

"It's called body warmth, Kambe."

"I'm sure that body warmth doesn't look like that." Daisuke smirked and Haru looked angry.

"So you're Daisuke Kambe, right?" y/n asked and Daisuke analysed her face with his high tech glasses.

"Yes and you're the person we're searching for. Kato, what are you doing down there besides snogging?"

"Kambe I swear, I slipped awkwardly and fell. Can you grab her with anything to help her get out of here? She sprained her ankle and can't move much."

Daisuke's mechanic hands protruded from his specially-equipped suit and he hoisted them up to the safety.

"Thanks I guess." Haru brushed the snow off of himself and sneezed.

Y/n looked at his unbuttoned shirt and she quickly buttoned it up, blushing from embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, you can take your jacket back."

"No this is staying on you." He turned his back to her and squatted a little. "Get on, you can't walk this far by yourself."

"A-are you sure?" y/n asked worried.

"It's going to be okay." he smiled at her reassuringly and she complied.

Daisuke watched them from behind and thought about Haru's smile, it wasn't the same as when he looked at Suzue for the first time during their Isezaki mission. His partner was in love and he didn't know why but he found the fact pretty entertaining.

[nalu4emily]

The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 9

Summary: Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised. Nalu/cute/fluff/multi-chapter.

Lucy had been startled awake again that morning. Her heart was pounding and her breathing heavy from the same recurring nightmare she dreamt of every so often. A nightmare that had continued to disturb her sleep ever since they'd returned from their last mission, the fateful one where they'd been stalked by Haru's biological father. It always started with him looking for them in the forest. Sometimes her dreams replayed what actually happened, other times it was Haru he'd kidnapped instead of Amelia. Then there were the worst ones where he'd carried out his threats on the children and it made her sick to her stomach, jolting her awake covered in sweat. Each dream always ended the same, Natsu was no where to be seen and she was unable to stop the man from harming the children.

They'd returned from that job two months ago now, and every time Lucy thought back to it, she remembered every word that guy had said and the horrific things he'd planned to do. She'd been so thrown off by who it was, she'd let her guard down and her nightmares were a constant reminder of what could have happened if Natsu hadn't been there to protect her and the girl. What if he'd been a mage? What if it'd been Haru he'd kidnapped? It's those sorts of thoughts that made her question herself and tormented her conscience.

Natsu had become acutely aware of her waking during the night and in order to help her get over it, he'd taken it upon himself to find a solution. She needed something that would bring back her confidence in her abilities, not just as a mage but as a mother who could protect her child without the assistance of others. She needed something where she had to rely on herself to pull her through and what better than a solo mission, Natsu thought it was perfect. He'd had a hard time convincing her, but she'd finally accepted the job he'd picked out. Lucy was about to embark on her first solo job since who knows when and as nervous as she was, she couldn't wait to get back in action and hopefully prove to herself that she was still just as strong as she'd always been.

Natsu had accompanied Lucy to the station, and waited with her. "You doing alright, Luce?" Natsu asked, he knew she was super anxious about going alone, but he wanted her to know that he had every faith in her, he knew she was strong, she always had been, he just needed her to see that.

"Yeah, I just hope it all goes well." She said, a few sweat drops appearing on her brow. She was just glad the mission he'd picked (without her permission, she might add) looked pretty simple, it wouldn't take more than a day to complete, which meant she'd be home late that evening. "Are you going to be okay on your own with Haru?"

"Sure, I'll be fine. Haru and I are gonna have lots of fun! Aren't we, buddy?" He beamed, lifting the smiling baby up to his face. Little Haru spent most of his awake time smiling these days, he was such a happy little guy. At only three months old, he already had his own personality coming through. Natsu chuckled at his adorable expression, nuzzling his nose up against the baby's making him giggle uncontrollably. "Listen Lucy! He's laughing! See, I told you we were gonna have fun!" Natsu couldn't stop smiling, the infants giggle reverberated through the station and it was the cutest noise either mage had ever heard.

"Oh my goodness! That was the sweetest little laugh ever!" Lucy felt her chest warm as she stepped closer to join in on the fun, "Did Daddy make you laugh? He's silly isn't he?" She chuckled, as Natsu handed him to her so that she could have one last cuddle. "Mama's going to miss you so much today!"

"Think of it as a break, Luce. You're a great mom, but you need your space too and then you can tell us all about it when you get home." He grinned at her, trying to relieve her stress somewhat with the approaching train thundering into the station.

She gave Haru one last little kiss on his cheek, before giving him back to Natsu. As she was about to walk away, Natsu grabbed her wrist and drew her to him, placing his hand on the back of her head and tangling his fingers into her hair. "Remember why you're doing this, Luce. You've saved my ass more times than I can count, but you've just gotta believe in yourself again, like I believe in you." Her chest flood with warmth, eyes turning watery from his kind words.

Laying eyes on his beautiful partners face, he kissed her wantonly, heatedly, not caring who was around to see. He smirked against her, gazing at the cute blush that'd crept up onto her skin. Still in each others embrace, they pulled their heads away, lost in their own small bubble.

"Damn you and that mouth of yours! How am I supposed to get on the train looking like this?" She gave him a bashful smile, her eyes flickering between his hot mouth and fiery gaze.

He leaned closer, sporting a sly grin and tickling her ear whilst whispering into it, "Maybe I'll show you more of what my mouth can do later."

Lucy's ears were red and steaming, her entire face felt like it was on fire. How was she meant to concentrate on this job now, when all she was going to be plagued with was erotic images of his hot mouth all over her. He chuckled lowly, leaning back to get a good look at her flushed face. Feeling satisfied with her reaction he let go, wishing her luck as she boarded the carriage and they waved at each other through the window when the train pulled away. It was strange seeing Lucy go off on a mission without him, he'd always accompanied her before, but he knew she needed this, it was for her own good and so, with that in mind he looked down at the gurgling baby, and grinned.

"What do you think, little guy? Where d'you wanna go?" He waited for some sort of response. The baby held his head up from his father's shoulder and smiled once again, "To the guild? Good choice! Daddy was thinking that too! Happy should be there by now." Natsu grinned, turning to walk in the direction of the city.

He wandered slowly through the streets of Magnolia, talking softly to the little one as he showed him all the different market stalls, making sure Haru knew exactly where to get the best food in town. Although he never liked being apart from Lucy, Natsu did enjoy spending his time with just Haru. He loved to show him all the things he found cool and exciting, or spend hours playing with him whilst telling him stories of Igneel or his and the teams past adventures. It was their special bonding time, something Natsu hoped they would continue to do as Haru got older. It was these precious moments that the slayer would cherish for the rest of his life, one's he wished he could've had more of with Igneel, but that was the past and Haru was his future and what a bright one it was turning into.

After finally reaching the guild hall, Gajeel was quick to run over, "Salamander! Are we still on or what?" Referring to a bet they'd made the other day. Natsu had been bored, so challenged Gajeel to see who could use their roar attack for the longest, but before he could follow through with it, Haru had woken up from his nap. "Or do you surrender to the superior dragon?"

"Superior? Ha! Don't make me laugh, Metal head, I just got better things to do." Natsu scoffed, gesturing to the bundle he was carrying, whilst continuing to walk straight passed Gajeel without a second glance.

Gajeel's mouth dropped open, totally dumbstruck. Did the infamous salamander just turn down a bet? The iron dragon slayer was speechless, he couldn't believe his own ears and apparently neither could any other guild member that'd heard him.

"Are you sick, Natsu?" Lisanna asked, putting her hand against his forehead to check his temperature.

"No, of course not. I don't get sick!" He looked up at her hand until she removed it from his head. Checking his temperature wasn't going to work, it was always high. "I feel fine." He reassured her. He sat down at the bar and turned to the crowd gathering around him, staring sceptically at the bewildered looks they were giving him. "What did I do now?" He groaned, rolling his eyes.

"What don't you do, Pinky!" Gray muttered under his breath from across the bar, knowing Natsu would hear him. The fire breather turned swiftly to the smug looking demon slayer and scowled, about to give him a piece of his mind but instead was interrupted by a barrage of comments flying at him from all over the room.

"Uh-oh! He's pussy whipped!" Macao shouted from a nearby bench.

"You're damn right he's pussy whipped, what's she threatened you with? No sex? That'll do it!" Wakaba shouted straight after, then they both began to laugh when Natsu choked on and spat out the drink Mira had just given to him. Luckily his reflexes were quick enough to move Haru out of the way.

"He's on his best behaviour so Lucy gives him some once she gets back!" Cana drunkenly blurted, "Good boy Natsu, you'll be getting your dick wet tonight!"

"Making babies is MANLY!" Elfman cried.

"Who said anything about making babies you big dolt!" Evergreen scolded, smacking Elfman with her fan.

"You're trying for another baby? That's so cute! Haru needs a sibling." Levy said with a little sparkle in her eye.

What the hell were they all going on about? A question Natsu often asked himself with regards to his guild mates. He'd stopped trying to look at each person individually as they spoke and had started to drift off. Is this what Lucy had to put up with every time their relationship was brought up, because, man, did he feel sorry for her! The only thing he could do was wait patiently until they all shut up, because unlike Lucy, he was use to their antics.

"You guys are like vultures…" Natsu sighed, not looking remotely amused whilst raising his eyebrow at them. Haru had started to get tired and began whimpering from all of the commotion. "See, now look what you've all done! Haru was the reason I turned the bet down, not because of whatever you old lechers were calling it." He accused, pointing his finger at a sniggering Wakaba and Macao, then turned back to the others. "And anyway, what's it to all of you what Lucy and I do?" He pulled Haru away from his chest and laid him down in his arms, making the little one comfortable and pulled out a bottle of milk from his backpack to warm up and feed him, watching as the baby's eyes instantly lit up.

"So… you are trying for another baby?" Mira sneaked in there, her eyes like stars at the possibility of that being true. "It's okay, you can tell me."

"Why would I tell you that?" Natsu looked up, confused as to why he'd tell her something that wasn't true, until he realised she'd misunderstood him. "That's not what I meant!"

"But you didn't deny it, so how're we to know?" Levy teased, elbowing Natsu in the arm.

"I think they are! You should hear the noises they make when they think they're alone together." Happy flew over, and started circling Natsu's head, giggling along with some of the girls.

"Happy! You'll upset Haru if you keep doing that!" He growled at the exceed, then turned back to the rest of them. "No, we're not trying for anything. Lucy and I haven't even… er-" He stopped mid sentence as he realised what he was about to say would doom him for all eternity, but by the looks on their faces, it was too late.

"How is that even possible? You've been together for months now, what are you both doing?!" Cana shrieked, making Haru burst in to tears from her racket. She was gobsmacked. How is it they'd been sharing the same bed and not touched each other?

"Oh no, it's okay buddy, don't cry. Cana's just got a big mouth that she can't keep shut." He frowned when Haru refused the rest of his milk, deciding that he wanted to be held against Natsu's chest and have a cuddle instead.

"Natsu, even I have to admit I'm surprised that neither of you have fornicated, I assumed most loving couples did that sort of thing, to, er, procreate or otherwise…" Erza had tried to keep her composure whilst saying that and even though she'd sounded the part, she'd failed miserably by turning the same colour as her hair.

"Forn-a-what now? I don't get what the big deal is here? It's not like I don't wanna, I'm just waiting for Lucy to want it too." He thought he was doing the right thing by waiting for Lucy, was that not what he was supposed to do then?

"Have you not thought that maybe Lucy's waiting for you too? If she's not done that sort of thing before, there's no way she's gonna initiate it with you. You gotta be the man and go for it." Gajeel grinned, making Levy blush.

"Go for it? But wouldn't that scare Lucy off?" He asked, if he knew Lucy would be ready for it then he would have done it ages ago, but he couldn't be sure without asking her directly and there was no way he was going to do that.

"Well you haven't scared her off yet and that's a feat all in itself!" Gray smirked again, man did he love to wind Natsu up.

"Hey droopy! What's that supposed to mean?!" Natsu snarled through gritted teeth.

"Gray, your clothes…" Cana huffed at the ice mage as he looked down at himself and freaked over losing his clothing, then turned back to Natsu, gaining his attention again. "Just go for it and see where it takes you. You never know, you might be pleasantly surprised…" She smirked, like she knew something he didn't.

Natsu had picked up on the subtle cue, and smirked to himself. So Lucy had spoken to them about it? Which was surprising but by the sounds of it, she wanted it just as much as he did. However, it's not like he could do much about it right now, she wasn't there, but she would be later and he couldn't stop his imagination from running wild. However, those lewd thoughts were unfortunately interrupted by the she demon and her sister.

"If you want, Natsu, Mira and I could take the little one tonight, so you and Lucy can spend some time together?" Lisanna offered, she'd been dying to get her hands on the baby and so had her sister. "I imagine being parents is hard work especially without a break every once in a while."

"But, I'm not sure if Lucy would-"

"Lucy would appreciate it as well I'm sure. You could do something romantic for her for when she gets home?" Mira said, smiling at the dragon slayer.

"You got to have time to yourselves every once in a while, Gajeel and I do. It doesn't make you a bad parent for wanting some space." Levy explained. It did sound quite tempting to take them up on the offer, spending a night with just Lucy sounded like heaven.

"Then you got no excuse not to bend her over." Cana laughed, watching as the dragon slayer's face started to redden a little.

"You've always gotta lower the tone!" Natsu said staring at her, before turning back to Lisanna, "Fine, but you forgot about Happy, it's his house too."

"I don't wanna get in the way of your gross kissing, you always sound like you're trying to eat each other. I'm going night fishing, Lily said he'd come with me!" Happy laughed to himself, earning a scowl from Natsu to shut him up, but it quickly turned into a chuckle, shaking his head, that cat would never change.

Natsu spent the afternoon at the bar stuffing himself silly and playing with Haru, when he was awake, and Happy, before it was time to hand the little guy over. He gave Haru a kiss on the cheek and smiled when the baby smiled back at him. He gave him to Mira, gauging his expression to make sure he was alright before he left. He noticed a slight hesitancy from the baby as he stared into the smiling face of the she-demon. But it wasn't long until Mira had managed to win him over allowing Natsu to relax a bit, making his leave he smiled to himself when he heard the baby giggle again at all the weird noises Mira was making.

Once out of the guild, Natsu halted and took a long, deep breath, he was kinda nervous and excited about the night he'd somewhat planned for Lucy. He hoped her job was a success because then she'd be in a good mood as well. He began to walk again, carrying himself all the way home.

Lucy's job had been a triumph, she was so thrilled to be back in action and she was doing it without the help of anyone else, just her and her spirits. The job itself had been relatively easy, it was to transport a load of ancient artefacts across from Hargeon to a small town on the west coast of Fiore, she was requested to keep them safe and stop anyone from trying to steal them. It had been exhausting using her magic for the entire journey but she had completed it, got paid and had just pulled in to Magnolia station.

She couldn't wait to get home to take a nice long shower and see Natsu. It had gotten quite late now and she imagined Haru would be asleep in bed, so she'd have to wait to see him. Lucy was curious to hear how Natsu's day had gone too and wondered briefly if he would make good on his words from earlier.

She felt herself flush at just the very thought of it, would he do it? They'd been together for a few months and they hadn't got passed overly passionate kissing and heated flirting. Lucy absolutely loved how he made her feel but she still wanted to go further, she wanted to experience what it was like to be truly intimate with someone and surely he did to, or was he really that clueless? In her desperation, she'd even gone to Cana for advice which hadn't really helped, she was much too vulgar to have a serious conversation with. It had left her at a dead end, she was too shy about that sort of thing to outright ask for it, but she wanted to do something, even if it wasn't all the way it could be at least some of it.

Lucy had finally reached her house, only to be startled when Natsu seemingly appeared from nowhere, he grinned, pleased to see her home at last. "Hey, Luce. I thought I could smell you." He said, watching her relax a little and smile back at him. "Are you just gonna stand there or do I have to come to you?"

She dropped her bags and ran up to him, jumping into his arms. They kissed fervently and it instantly made Lucy's skin heat up, she really didn't think she'd ever get use to kissing him like that. When they finally pulled away, grinning like idiots at each other, she remembered that she hadn't seen Haru or Happy and wondered where they were. But before she could ask, Natsu took her hand and guided her to the nearby hill top close to their house. Her breath caught in her throat when she laid eyes upon the dazzling sight before her.

Just like the view from their bedroom but even more spectacular, was Magnolia city, all lit up and mimicking the beautiful night sky above them, the stars were out in full force and she could see the constellations clearly. She looked at the ground and noticed a large blanket and a few cushions had been laid out, in just the right spot for stargazing, it was simple but effective and very much Natsu. She realised then that he must've planned this for them and that Haru was probably with one of their friends for the night.

"It's so beautiful! Did you plan this?" She asked, not being able to rip her gaze away from the stunning scenery.

"Sort of, I guess. You always say the stars are brighter from up here, so I figured you'd want to spend some time looking at them." He said, watching her reaction to it all. "Come and sit down, Luce, I made some dinner for you too if you're hungry?" Her face paled at the thought of Natsu wrecking their kitchen, she made a note to check it before they went to bed. "And before you bombard me with questions; no, I didn't mess up the kitchen and Haru is with Mira, he's fine." Natsu said, leading her down onto the blanket and bringing out a basket full of food. "Oh, and Happy's gone night fishing with Lily." He finished, feeling like a responsible adult.

"Well, look at you acting like a grown up and for the record I wasn't going to ask. I'd already guessed that Haru was with someone else, otherwise you wouldn't be so calm. However, I'm still dubious about the kitchen." She chuckled at his sheepish grin, whilst digging into the food to settle her rumbling stomach. "My job was a success by the way. You were right, I really did need that, it felt good to use my magic again. I had fun!"

"Good, did you get any one trying to steal the stuff?" He asked, he was genuinely interested in how her job went, wanting to hear how bad-ass she'd been. Which had always secretly been a huge turn on for him.

"Yeah, loads! I didn't realise the relics were that important. I sat on top of the train and used my Sagittarius star dress to shoot them all as they approached. It was like playing a game…" She continued to tell Natsu all about it, smiling and laughing at all the things that'd happened.

"...and just as we were pulling into the last station, some big burly guy came onto the train and knocked me out of the way. His size took me by surprise at first, but I quickly changed into my Taurus form and beat him. It was like letting all my anxiety out at once." She finished, grinning from ear to ear. "Apart from the train ride, you would have loved it. There must have been over a hundred of them trying to ambush me and I took down every single one of them."

She felt so refreshed telling Natsu about her achievements and he looked so pleased for her, soaking up every word she told him. He could see the little glint in her eyes had returned, the way she was talking about what she did had brought hope to him that her confidence had returned. He stared into her beautiful eyes as they held this new type of vigour, she looked ready to take on the world and just like always, he'd be right there beside her.

After what seemed like hours of talking about their days, they found themselves laying down on the blanket, huddled closely to one another, gazing up at the stars. Lucy felt like a weight had been lifted and now she had time to relax with her dorky partner, and just be themselves for a change. She couldn't remember a time where she felt more at peace then what she did in that moment, she could have stayed there like that, forever.

"Thank you for today, Natsu, it's really helped clear my head of everything that's been troubling me. I should've listened to you all along, I am strong enough, I know I am and just like always, you've been there to help me see it." She said, nuzzling her head further into the crook of his neck. His hand was splayed against her exposed stomach, stroking it lightly. "And laying here like this with you is just the perfect way to end the day."

"Anything to keep you smiling, Luce!" He murmured against her hair. "I'm just glad it all worked out! I told you I believed in you."

"You did and I'm so grateful for it." She beamed, she was so content in that moment. It got her thinking of how precious times like these were, where they could be just Natsu and Lucy, the two best friend turned lovers. "I could stay like this with you forever, but I guess now we have Haru, we'll miss out on times like this. It's a shame we didn't do more of this before becoming parents." It wasn't that they didn't spend time together, they did plenty of that, but it was always as friends not as anything more.

"We won't miss out, Luce. We'll find time to be just us, I promise. Haru won't always be this small, then we'll have all the time in the world to be with each other. I said forever didn't I?" Natsu thought back to when he'd told her that, it'd been when he first came to terms with his feelings for her. It felt so long ago now and so much had changed since then, they'd achieved so much together. However, he understood how she felt, it was a shame they'd both been too dense to see what was in right front of them. But without Haru, they'd still be in denial and who knows how long it would've taken for them both to act.

"Yeah, you did say that." She smiled up at him and kissed his jaw.

Natsu brought her closer, brushing his fingers over her hip, grazing a sore spot and making Lucy hiss suddenly. She flinched at the painful vault that ran through her leg, making her sit up. Natsu bolted upright, concerned by her reaction, he wanted to check her over to make sure she was okay. After a quick scan of her body, he caught sight of a huge dark bruise that'd appeared on her right hip.

"Whoa, Lucy! That's one hell of a bruise!" Natsu was shocked by how big it was, it must have been fresh because that hadn't been there earlier. He brushed his fingers gently over it, earning a small whimper from her, as she tried to hide how painful it was. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." He grimaced as he looked up to her eyes and saw her bravely trying to hold back her tears from the pain it had caused.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt that much. I'll be okay." She said as she went to touch it herself, "Ouch! I take it back, that's so sore! It must have been from that huge guy I defeated earlier, he was pretty tough." She yelped, whipping her hand away from the darkened area.

"That bastard! At least you beat him, Luce!" He said smiling at her, trying to lighten the mood. "I'd apply heat to it if I knew it would help, but I don't think it will. You need ice on that."

"Hmm, looks like I'll have to go and find some ice then…" She said slyly. Putting her finger to her lip, she put on a cute thinking face. "Do you know of anyone in particular, that could be of assistance, Natsu?" She pretended innocence, struggling to hold her smile down when she saw Natsu's face turn into one of disgust.

"Don't even go there!" He raised his eyebrow at her, realising that she was trying to provoke him, but after all of her past failed attempts at doing just that she definitely wasn't going to succeed this time either.

"Go where? I only asked if you knew of anyone that could provide me with ice, or would you prefer to see me suffer?" She said, moving slowly closer to him, careful not to touch the bruise. She put on her best innocent smile as she looked deep into his eyes through her lashes.

"I think you know my answer already, Lucy. And as much as it would kill me to say it…" His eyes bore deep into hers, his hands clutched both sides of her head and gently stroked her skin. His face remained calm and serious as he spoke, "I'm sorry, Luce, but I'd have to let you suffer." He murmured, flicking his nose against hers, before moving back a bit.

She gasped, watching his lips split into a mischievous grin, "You're so mean! How could you? And here I was thinking you loved me." She joked. It's only when she noticed Natsu's eyes go wide that her own mirrored his, her hands shot up to her mouth when she realised what she'd said out loud. "N-No, wait, I-I, er, that's not, I d-didn't mean…" Feeling herself become quickly flustered, she started babbling, trying but failing to make up any excuse for what she'd blurted.

Natsu tilted his head at her and furrowed his brows whilst she rambled on, confused by what she was trying to tell him, "Didn't mean what, Luce?" He asked.

She stopped her erratic talking instantly, "What I said, did you not hear me?" Was he pretending that he hadn't heard her? Her heart sank a little, maybe he wasn't ready for that yet? She felt her mood dampen, who was she trying to kid? He really was clueless. She went to stand, her painful hip pushed to the back of her mind, no longer caring about the discomfort as she tried to adjust to being on her feet. "Never mind, Natsu."

Just as she was about to turn she felt a warm hand wrap around her wrist, stopping her from walking off, but she was no longer in the mood for his antics. "Wait, don't go! I heard what you said, Luce." He said, almost frantically. He stood and took a step closer, hand cupping her cheek, totally transfixed by the radiant glow of her glossy brown eyes, wavering back and forth between them. "And you're right… I do love you."

She gasped, not actually expecting him to say it. "You love me?" She blushed a little but not caring about her pink skin. He loved her? Natsu Dragneel loved her? Why was it so surprising? That was usually how relationships developed, yet she still couldn't believe what her ears were hearing.

"Now who isn't listening?" He grinned fondly, taking in her gorgeous stunned features, with his hand still on her cheek, rubbing softly at her delicate skin. "I wouldn't lie to you, weirdo. I said it because I meant it." He brought her head closer to his, their lips brushing together and curling up into a tender smile, "You mean everything to me, Lucy."

Lucy's mind had turned to mush, she felt her knees turn weak, like they were about to collapse. She clung to his jacket to steady herself and wrap her head around what he'd just told her. She didn't know what to do with herself, she was so filled with joy it was making it hard to think straight, but luckily Natsu was there to save the day. He pressed his mouth to hers, slowly bringing her down until she was laying against the blanket, never breaking contact. He caged her between the soft floor and his hot body, overwhelming her lips, it was a feeling like no other. She wanted to sate his hunger for her, to be completely and utterly consumed by him and have him gorge on every part of her body until there was nothing left except pure, sweet bliss.

Unable to control her inner desires any more, she snaked her hands up his body and ever so slowly unzipped his jacket until his front was completely exposed. The cool air against his burning hot skin seemed to shock him at first, stopping in his tracks when he felt her colder hands lay flat against his chest. Disconnecting from her mouth and gazing deep into her eyes, it seemed like he was looking for something, a sign maybe? Or a reason to her actions? Usually, she wouldn't have been so forward, but now that he'd confessed his love for her, she didn't want to back down, no matter how inexperienced and nervous she was, but he still didn't look too convinced.

"Is this really what you want, Lucy? There's no pressure to do anything if you don't wanna. We can just have a bit of fun?" He spoke tenderly to her, wanting to show his utmost sincerity, because this wasn't some one night fling. He wanted to make sure she was actually ready for it, and not just doing it because Cana or Mira had told her she should be, and definitely not because she thought that this was what he wanted. "We can just start slow, then see where it goes."

Lucy's chest flooded with nervous energy, he was so sweet sometimes, and she definitely wanted this, she'd wanted it for the longest time, but her nerves were starting to get the better of her. "Of course I want this! I love you, Natsu. I've loved you for so long and now I want to show you just how much." She rested her hands on his broad shoulders, her words made his stomach do back flips and then she smiled, the most beautiful shy smile appearing on her smooth features and it took his breath away."I've just never done this before and I'm kinda nervous is all."

"I know, Luce, neither have I, but we can learn together. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, your trust means everything to me and I would never break that." He spoke lowly, almost like a whisper. She nodded back at him, smiling sweetly at his words.

He leaned back down to her mouth and kissed her softly and full of passion for the girl he adored so much. It wasn't long before the kiss became more needy but it still held the same amount of love in it, because that's what he intended to do, make love to her, whether that be tonight or any other night. Natsu loved Lucy with every fibre of his being and she deserved his very best efforts.

He made his way down to her neck, paying extra attention to all the areas he knew made her squirm. Her hands went straight into his hair, while his were laid next to her head. Travelling down to his shoulders, she hooked her fingers under his open jacket and pushed it off of him, hearing it crumple on the floor. Wanting to feel his hard muscles against her skin, Lucy reached down to her own top and slowly pulled it over her head, forcing Natsu to detach himself from her. He pulled back a bit to gaze over her slender form, and damn, was she stunning! She could make any man hers if she truly wanted, but she'd chosen him and for that, he would be forever grateful.

He looked down to Lucy's chest and noticed they were still encased in her bra, that was no good! He wanted to get a birds eye view and that stupid bit of material was stopping him. He smirked up at Lucy, as an idea popped into his head. He hooked his finger around the material and in a second her chest was on fire, burning the bra away, but not hurting Lucy, exposing her enormous chest to him and all she could do was shriek at the sudden warm sensation on her skin.

He seemed pleased with himself but she never got a chance to scold him before his mouth dived down to her nipple and latched on, flicking his tongue over it. Her mouth dropped open and inhaled sharply at the new sensation, her head flung back as she arched herself a little into the air, pushing more of herself into him. His free hand came up to play with the other one, making Lucy moan out loud. Natsu felt himself respond to the noise she'd made to the point where it was now very obvious in his pants. He was so turned on from watching her enjoy herself, it was a stunning sight to behold and he could only imagine what having sex with her would be like.

He released the nipple from his mouth but kept his hand firmly on the other one as he began to make his descent to her stomach. Her creamy skin was so sensitive, and so deliciously sweet, her scent was ever so strong right now and it was overwhelming his senses the closer he got to her legs. He finally reached the band of her skirt, looking up to Lucy to make sure they were both in sync.

"P-Please don't burn it…" She whimpered out quickly as he continued to play with her nipple.

He smirked at her, she could barely get the words out, and all he was doing was playing with her breast. He removed the skirt, the proper way, as swiftly as possible, leaving her thigh high socks on and taking off her boots to make her more comfortable. She was now laying before him in nothing but her skimpy (pointless, he thought) underwear and some thigh high socks and what a sight it was. His cock twitched again, he could feel the blood rushing from his head down to his groin as his arousal began to take over. He was glad for self control because, by god, was it difficult seeing her like that.

He was having a hard time controlling the heat radiating off of him, which she was glad for because the air had a bit of a chill to it. He was staring at her, like she was some delicate piece of jewellery that might break if touched in the wrong way, but she missed the contact and so proceeded to help him along. She reached down and slowly took off her underwear until only the socks remained on her body. She felt her face blush like crazy, but couldn't take her eyes off of his face. He looked mesmerised by her, he'd seen her naked a hundred times before and yet it all felt so new. He gave her a soft smile as he began kissing her again, making his way down from her hips, to her inner thigh, nipping at her sensitive skin. He edged closer and closer to the area her overpowering scent was strongest until he could go no further.

"P-Please, Natsu, touch me. I want you to touch me." Her voice soft and wavering as she looked down at him, her heart pounded uncontrollably when she saw how close he was to her.

"Touch you where, Lucy? Show me." He said, he wanted to get this right, but with having no previous experience a little guidance was needed until he got the hang of it.

Lucy felt herself flush even more as she opened her legs wide, giving him the full view of her nether region. She reached her hand down, using her fingers to separate her lips to reveal her swollen clit. Now this was an area he'd definitely not seen before, but still felt compelled to see what that would taste like and moved his face down to where she was showing him. He held her legs apart and encased her clit with his mouth and began to suck lightly, using his tongue to swirl over and around it, whilst keeping his gaze on Lucy's face. Her eyes instantly rolled to the back of her head and let out a long breathy moan. Her hands landed back in his hair, pulling and tugging as he continued his onslaught, his warm tongue felt like heaven.

"Yes, Natsu, right there, i-it feels so good…" She mewled, totally lost in the pleasure he was giving her.

He wanted to elicit more of those erotic sounds from her and make her tell him just how amazing she felt, it was like music to his ears knowing that he was the one causing her to feel that way. Natsu grazed his fingers lightly over her entrance and watched her breathing become harsh and heavy, then ever so slowly pushed a single digit into her. He could feel her tense around him and she groaned at the new sensation. Once she seemed to relax, he added another finger, stretching her even more, but this time her expression turned strained.

"Does that still feel good, Luce?" He asked, he didn't want to hurt her, that wasn't the point of this.

"Mm-hmm… really good." She breathed, bucking her hips up a little, "Fuck me with your fingers, Natsu."

Smirking at her choice of words, she was quite the dirty talker, if she liked that then he'd have to up his game too. "As you wish." he murmured, going back down to suck on her clit, whilst moving his hand back and forth inside of her, making her groan loudly over and over again.

She could feel the tension building up within her and to add to her sweet torture, the more she moaned the faster he would go. The feeling of his fingers massaging the inside of her walls was enough to almost send her over the edge, and he could see she was close. Natsu was enjoying watching her teeter on the edge, he kissed and nipped his way up her body, fingers continuing to work their magic before he eventually found himself face to face with a very flushed and burning hot Lucy, and fuck, did she look absolutely breathtaking in this state.

She could feel her climax approaching and it was so intimate with their eyes locked on each other as he brought her closer and closer. He leaned down to her ear and sucked on her lobe, "That's it, Lucy, come on my hand, show me how good it feels." He growled against her, sending a shiver through her spine.

Hearing him speak like that made her snap. Tremors racked Lucy's body as her orgasm took hold, tensing around his fingers and crying out into the night. She felt her mind go blank, while her eyes rolled into the back of her head, it was like nothing she'd ever felt. He halted his movements, allowing her to ride it out with his fingers still firmly inside her. He gawked at her writhing body beneath him, totally captivated by how incredible she was. When she finally came down from her high, Natsu was staring down at her with the biggest smirk on his face, obviously pleased with himself that he'd managed to make her climax.

"That was so hot!" He growled against her mouth, claiming her lips briefly and removing his fingers from her. "We should take this indoors." He grinned playfully, carefully lifting her from the ground. Natsu chucked her over his shoulder, ignoring her protests to put her down and took her inside. Now the fun could really begin!

Hi! Sorry this took a bit longer to come out, I must have rewritten it about 6 times in the end, but it's here now, thank god! :D And don't worry, I haven't cheated you out of smut, this chapter was long enough without adding any more to it, so you will be getting the full, unadulterated smuttiness you've probably been waiting for, or not if you don't like that sort of thing. I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading! :)

[animegenork]

Fruits Baskets Final Season Episodes 2 & 3

What? No, I didn’t watch these on the Fridays of the weeks they came out. No, I wasn’t dying from school---

Anyway, back to the grind.

Episode 2

I swear the gif search function HATES me and what I’m trying to do---

Anyway.

I would like to make this very clear. Shigure is a little bit evil. A little bit. But it’s mostly from being twisted by the zodiac curse and his strange form of love. So if you wanted to punch him this episode, that’s good. He needs to be punched. A lot. Like a lot. God, he’s so evil. Moving on.

So the episode begins with young Akito asking Shigure if he loves her. This is, as we’ve seen, something that Akito fixates on, mostly due to her father accidentally warping her with the idea of being eternally loved by the zodiac members. He responds with a very earnest love confession that sort of explains why they spend so much time together, but it also confuses things a bit, at least at first. What with the zodiac spirit, it’s unclear how much of Shigure’s love is real and how much isn’t up to him. That may factor in to whatever the hell is up with him now.

Cut to Tohru working on graduation ceremony flowers and nearly asking Shigure about breaking the curse. Of course, she can’t, because it’s hard to bring up, and she’s only seen 2 sides of Shigure at most. Naturally, he already knows what she’s thinking about, because he’s Shigure. He’s just that good.

Tohru continues to struggle even at school, when she realizes that there’s so much she knows that she probably can’t talk about with Momiji or Haru or anyone else. And since the curse is this ever-present thing to them, she’s not even sure if they’ll believe her or how they’ll react. Rin is the exception to this, of course, since she was already looking for information on it.

There are some shenanigans with the Prince Yuki Fan Club, and Tohru and Kyo are left alone (probably on purpose) by Hanajima, Uotani, and company. But I’ll get back to that in a sec.

Yuki tries to help out other classes with things, but they won’t let him because... well, uh, they think he’s too busy... and he... isn’t... I’m sorry, that’s just so funny to me. So anyway, he runs into Machi, who is being all adorable and stubborn because she wanted to say hello and chased him all over the school to do so. It’s cute, because Yuki’s not used to that much effort being put in to something for his sake. I love Machi like that UwU

Back to Tohru and Kyo, they’ve been waiting for HOURS. Tohru decides to tentatively try out her Kureno talking point, but as soon as she brings up the curse maybe being broken, Kyo tells her that hypotheticals like that are pointless (this is implied paraphrase). He does this mostly because he’s in that pit of despair of “I’m never getting out of this” but also because he doesn’t want to give himself a false hope that might never come true. Tohru, however, becomes sad, because of course she wants to save him from having to be locked away like the previous Cat. So there’s a bit of moment where she’s about to cry.

And then Kyo *sniffle* gives her a flower to make her feel better. *sobs*

Technically speaking, this scene should’ve been in the last season or SOMETHING, I honestly thought they WEREN’T going to put my FAVORITE scene in the anime, and then they did. What’s cute about this scene is how torn up Kyo is from hurting Tohru’s feelings, and how almost desperate he is to make her feel better. It’s a sweet moment, if slightly awkwardly animated, but it’s a rare Tohru and Kyo moment where they don’t even say anything and you can SEE everything they want to say. Of course, they’re interrupted, because they always are (HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT LIKE NEVER HAPPENS WHENEVER YUKI AND TOHRU HAVE A MOMENT?), but hey, I got my fluff, I am fed.

There’s brief mention of Rin and how Tohru hasn’t seen her lately, and I hate it because I know where she is.

Anyway, now on to Shigure being Shigure.

He’s torturing his poor editor again, and he walks away from what appears to have been a heated conversation with... HIS PARENTS. THEY EXIST. I dunno what it is with rarely seeing zodiac parents (besides the obvious cases of Kyo and Momiji), but there you have it. We see then that there’s a big Sohma dinner outing with Akito there, so clearly Shigure planned that. His skills of perception and foresight are serious scary, and I really wonder how the hell he developed them.

There’s a flashback to before Tohru and Kureno’s revealing conversation, and we see that Shigure hates Kureno for being so close to Akito. Of course, Kureno makes it clear that Akito doesn’t love him, that she’s always wanted.... well, he doesn’t say, but I think all of us are familiar enough with how this anime works that we know who he means. But Kureno basically wants Shigure to stop being so cold to Akito, and this is because of how much he wants to keep her happy more than any personal feelings about Shigure.

This is where it gets a bit dicey. I’ve actually got a strange fondness for this scene, if only because it sort of but also not really gets to the heart of why Shigure is the way he is.

Shigure appears in Akito’s room, and she’s basically jealous that he was out with another woman. Then she brings up his sexual relationship with his editor (nonexistent), which is rather petty, but then, when was this duo not about pettiness? The implication Akito makes is that he sleeps with every woman he meets (explains a lot). She then mentions that Shigure slept with Ren, Akito’s mother (I’m not going to touch on how screwed up that is), which is why he’s living in a house away from the main estate. Shigure acts all cool and says that was a long time ago, he’s been punished, but Akito points out that he almost wanted to leave. Which... he did, but not for any lack of love on his part. And he says that. He recalls the conversation we see at the beginning, in which he tells her he cares about her more than anyone else. Understandably, she’s frustrated, and she asks why he always tests her.

It’s because she slept with Kureno. Petty, I know.

The phone conversation comes back. Everything you need to understand about Shigure is in one sentence: “I love her so much that sometimes I want to spoil her rotten, and sometimes I want to crush her into a pulp.” This is nearly verbatim of the manga translation I read a long time ago, and it’s always stuck with me. The thing is, Akito was always told she’s special and she can do with the zodiac as she pleases (which she says directly in this episode). It seems a part of Shigure didn’t like that that extended to those that weren’t him (Kureno), and his love for her warped and twisted into this kinda toxic relationship. (Kinda, she says, as if it’s not very.) This makes him want to be kind to her, but at the same time, he wants to be mean to her and show her how much pain she’s put him through, too. It’s pettiness at its extreme, but it’s somehow more believable than other forms of petty jealousy I’ve seen.

Oh yeah, and then they have sex.

Once again, there’s brief mention of Rin, perhaps she’s in the hospital, we don’t really know. But the main part of this all is Shigure remembering that before Akito was born/in his life, he had always been sort of waiting for her, which is mostly the zodiac spirit talking but is also interesting nonetheless. How much of Shigure’s love is influenced by the zodiac curse? How much of it is him? I don’t know if we ever find that out, because frankly, the curse did a lot of things to everyone involved, including him.

I still love Shigure, don’t get me wrong, but this is SUCH an interesting episode.

Episode 3

Precisely the gif I wanted. Hehehe.

IT’S A MACHI EPISODE! AND I LOVE HER, SO THAT’S ALRIGHT!

Still pissed about Kyo’s screentime being so awful lately. ads;fkjsad;fklsda

Some student council shenangians occur as always, and it’s revealed that Nao has a crush on someone, which is why he declared Yuki to be his rival on day one. Also, Kimi is a golddigger.

Some girls come in and gossip about Machi making a mess again with one of her outbursts, and they mention a rumor about her trying to kill her brother, which is why she lives alone. Kakeru looks quite displeased to hear this, and Machi walks in on the conversation and runs away, with Yuki wanting to go after her. 

Kakeru tells Yuki later that the rumor is “mostly true”--that is, that’s the story he’s been told as well. Of course, he’s wary to believe it, because while they’re not terribly close, he knows her a little better than the parents do. He then tells a story of seeing Machi making footprints in the snow, almost obsessively, and he’s not quite sure why she did it (but Kakeru has a Shigure streak, so I wonder if maybe he does know?).

So Kakeru decides to pull a sort of jerk move and visit Machi while with Yuki, and she tries to turn them away to no avail. Of course, Yuki isn’t put off by the mess, since he and Shigure used to live that way, so he’s all cheerful about it while Machi is dying in the corner. I will not talk much about the bra incident, but that was honestly the most hilarious few seconds.

Finally left alone, Machi asks why Yuki is there, assuming it’s about the rumor her classmates mentioned. She says she’s done trying to correct everybody, since no one ever seems to believe her anyway. (That is all too relatable, especially in high school.)

But Yuki doesn’t even mind. He asks something else instead: does she hate perfection? And she says yes. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR.

Wait. My bad.

Anyway, Machi has a flashback to what I believe I’ve mentioned before, which is Machi’s mom forcing her to be perfect so that she could beat Kakeru in the succession war (England?) with her family. When that was called off, her mother would say right in front of her face (jerk) that Machi was boring. Machi asked her why she would say that when she was just trying to do what she was told. Her mother has the gall to be offended by the implication that it’s her fault (IT IS, YOU IDIOT--) and then turns around and says maybe she raised Machi wrong.

Here’s a hint: that’s not what you say to your CHILD.

Poor Machi didn’t know what to do with herself. What is she supposed to do if she’s just a “mistake” her mother made?

Yuki, in his cute way of knowing precisely what she means, tells her she’s worked hard to get where she is, and that he’s glad she’s here. She’s not used to compliments like that, and it’s a very sweet moment. That’s when she admits that she was just trying to take care of her brother, but her parents wrongly and automatically assumed she was jealous and trying to kill him (which says a lot about how god awful they are). And she’s finally able to let it out and cry with Yuki, who offers to go leave footprints in the snow with her.

My heart might’ve burst during that, not gonna lie--

I think my favorite part of the episode is the next day, during a student council meeting. A new, perfect box of chalk is placed in front of Machi, and you can see in her eyes that the perfection is about to make her snap. Yuki, knowing this, calmly reaches over and breaks a piece of chalk, ruining the “perfection” of it. It’s very sweet of him and a very cute moment for both.

Then we cut to Tohru handing Kyo a flower, which is whiplash to the previous episode I’m glad we got.

The next sequence was a bit confusing at first, as I thought we’d sort of covered this already in season one, but we get to see Motoko. She’s called Yuki out in order to tell him that he made her high school days happier, and that she truly loved him. Motoko also hopes that Yuki himself will find happiness, which I think is a nod at her recognizing Tohru’s influence on him. It’s kind of cute, because even Yuki seems to appreciate her words, and we get to cut to a nice graduation song that actually kind of made me cry.

Motoko is still in a classroom when someone finds her. It’s Nao, and it appears that she was the girl he was in love with, which I LOVE. I HOPE HE OR SHE OR THEY ARE HAPPY TOGETHER OR EVEN APART, JUST THAT HE EVENTUALLY GOT TO TELL HER OR SOMETHING AND AHHHHHH. He tells her that goodbye is not the end, and it always leads to “nice to meet you,” which is sweet for both of them, considering her graduation and his being left behind.

Then we get to meet Hiro’s baby sister, Hinata, a true cutie pie. I think I cried here, too, for different reasons.

Finally, we see Kagura having picked up Rin’s diploma (YAY SHE GRADUATED YAYYYY), and wondering where she is despite her mother’s warnings not to investigate. Hatori and Shigure are a bit suspicious, too, and we see Akito with a pair of scissors.... OwO

[I know what happened and I hate it.]

I’m glad I could finally do these, it’s been a couple of weeks of hell, to be honest. Hopefully, Fruits Basket will be back at it again and I’ll have something more to wax poetic about, haha. Thanks for reading!

[fanfictiondreamscape]

When One Wants Ice Cream

Title: When One Wants Ice Cream

Genre: maybe a little bit fluffy, but primarily comedic (hopefully - i make no promises) 

Pairing: Rin Matsuoka/Haruka Nanase/Nagisa Hazuki/Makoto Tachibana x Reader (all separate) 

Notes: Okay, so this was a random idea that popped into my head while going to get ice cream about a week ago. What happened before going was what inspired this was, when my mom asked me to take our dog outside, I randomly had a craving for ice cream. Instead of answering her question about taking the dog out, I just randomly said, “I want ice cream.” 

The rest of the night we couldn’t stop laughing about it, and I still can’t get over it. (Seriously, typing this up was hard enough as I couldn’t type anything correctly while laughing). 

So, I hope you guys enjoy a rendition of my random sense of language combined with swimmer boys! 

Below the cut! 

Rin Matsuoka

we are all aware that this boy would die for you 

seriously, certified best boyfriend #1

but that also means that he isn’t afraid to make fun of you when you do or say something weird

which made this moment leagues funnier than it initially seemed

earlier, he had come into the living area of the apartment you two shared with a question

he seemed upbeat, but you were severely drained due to schoolwork aftermath and work stress

unlike him, you worked in a clothing store as a manager

it was v e r y stressful

and sometimes, you just need some comfort food

“hey, babe, what should we do on your day off?”

he was excited, that’s for sure - it’s the first night you’ve had a day off in a while, and he wanted to go out on a date with you. 

but he wasn’t expecting your answer to be so...random.

“i want ice cream.”

he paused, smiled, and bust out laughing. 

“w-what did you just say?”

you weren’t 100% aware of what you said, but that made it all the more funny

“i want ice cream, rin.” 

he continued laughing while you continued to fully realize what you said. 

“like right- right now?”

“yes, i have a craving for ice cream right now.”

he eventually calmed down enough to get out more than giggles.

“well, you wanna go? we can walk up there, but you gotta hurry, babe.”

you were up off the couch in less than a second.

“already on it!’

you both walked up there with your hands connected, smiling and laughing at the most recent occurrence.

and for the trouble, you paid for the ice cream under the circumstance that rin pays it next them.

in general, though, the statement became a small inside joke between the two of you

(seriously. kou, haru, sasuke, you name it - when you pulled this out in front of them and busted out laughing right after, they were so confused.)

(contrary to rin, though, you had to take a photo of every time their reactions came - you have an album dedicated to it and you post the images to tease them) 

Haruka Nanase

haru is soft despite what he comes off as

but he still has his moments of randomness.

and this was one of them.

you two were walking next to each other, side-by-side on your way to the park. 

you were hungry, he was hungry, and you didn’t want fish for the umpteenth time in a row.

and he knew this, as he really does love you and wants to expand his tastes for the future you two have planned. 

so when you decided to ask a question in regards to what to eat, his answer shocked you just the slightest.

“hey, haru, what do you want to eat?”

“i want ice cream.”

you giggled the second you heard his response to your inquiry, watching as he turned to you

though he kept a straight face, you could see the confusion in your eyes

which just made you laugh harder

you two had to stop and he had to hold you up as you nearly collapsed from laughing too hard

“what’s so funny?”

you were still laughing.

“you- you- ohmygod- you’ve never said anything like that before!”

poor boy was still confused

seriously confused

it kind of hurt, if he were to be honest

but he couldn’t help but smile at your expression

or your laugh

or just you in general

and you saw it as you were calming down from your laughing high

“we can get some ice cream, haru. that was just odd coming from you.”

he was confused again.

“i like it, though. it’s sweet.”

he returned to his mellow expression, still stoic and his eyes soft

his hand was held out as you stood up, and you both continued your walk to the ice cream shop from there

now, from time after time, you tease him about his smile

(and you may have asked his friends how to get him to smile and/or laugh)

(to which they told you to tickle him when you could)

(and now he’s on guard constantly)

(look what you’ve become)

Nagisa Hazuki

boi is upbeat

like-

very upbeat

and this translates to college life as well.

so he makes the boring days so much better when they hit a terribly low point.

and while you didn’t deal with these types of days very much, the heat was starting to get to you.

nagisa was still bouncing around and trying to find something to do

even suggesting some crappy board games

you didn’t even bring anything up until you felt your stomach grumble.

“hey, nagisa, are you hungry?”

he jumped up from his cross-legged seat on the floor and yelled his response

“i want ice cream!”

you couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the reaction, as you were in the mood for something cold to counteract the scorching heat

he had to pull you up from your position on the couch, but you were down for ice cream

which was also reflected in the way you two walked to your favorite ice cream shop.

he had you by the hand, you were dragging your feet behind you, and he had decided to mess with you from time to time

of course, those moments were out-of-the-blue in your zombie like state, but they were fun

people had even watched as you squealed when he’d tickle you or hug your torso like his life depended on it.

still adorable to the bystanders. 

either way, the fun was continued from that point on.

you both got your ice cream, he got his, and you both sat on a nearby bench beside each other

you were happy it was under the shade, he was happy that you both got ice cream

you both enjoyed the fact that this was practically an impromptu date, as well.

at one point, some of his ice cream melted off onto the grass beneath your feet

he pouted, you laughed

and patted his head.

he blushed, and you got your revenge :)

he still enjoyed it, though :)

(he got you back when you both got home by sending you into a tickle frenzy)

(pillows were involved and he still won)

(he’s vicious when he wants to be)

due to the both of you enjoying the experience so much, you’d both be 100% down to do something like this again

which translates to ‘who’s gonna say it first?’

and those impulse dates usually end in one of you getting tickled when you get home.

so yeah, fun times

(if you wanna include the time that you managed to knock your head in against the wall from one of his pillow hits)

(you hit him back hard enough to make him tumble off the couch arm and onto the floor, though)

(but, you know, just couple things i guess-)

Makoto Tachibana

yet another swimmer boi that would 100% die for you

certified best boyfriend #2, everybody!

no seriously

this is the type of guy you want to take home to meet your parents/parental figures

and he will then manage to inadvertently make them fall in love with him within five minutes

but one of the reasons he is so loved by them is his care and patience.

which is why he was worried for you at the moment

you were staring blankly at a wall in your house, despite the sound of the tv playing a screaming match in a show

he noticed, of course, and he was lost

“are you doing okay, s/o?”

you rarely did this, and it usually meant that something weird would be coming out of your mouth within the next-

“i want ice cream.”

there it is.

he laughed a little at the statement, and when you were able to fully process it, you did the same thing.

his lasted for about 5 seconds while yours lasted around 10

good times, as he got to see your smile for another time tonight.

(you’re adorable. he is soft for you. like, more so than usual)

so he was worried for nothing, thank god.

but he still didn’t know what to do about it as the shops were all closing down soon.

so he decided to check the convenience stores

a few were open!

so, at around 9:30 at night, you two were walking out to get one

it wasn’t very long, but as you two were holding hands tightly 

(and swinging them. again, the sight was adorable)

(god, that was so cheesy, holy shit-)

it went by faster.

upon entering your choice of store, the cashier just peeked up from their trashy magazine

makoto was driven to find the ice cream for you as he was getting a little scared, 

but you were driven to annoy the cashier upon the nonchalant interaction that just occurred.

yes, you definitely did want ice cream, but you also wanted this. 

you were reaching for a two liter of soda near the machine, and luckily for makoto, he stopped you

he could see the gears turning in your head.

don’t tell me he can not and would not stop you.

(it was dark, he was scared - leave him be) 

he had stopped you from causing trouble multiple times in your endeavor to get late night ice cream

thank god, cause you both knew that you’d most likely get kicked out if that were to happen. 

either way, you both had your cheap ice cream after a few minutes

and the rest of the night was spent peacefully at your place, watching cheesy movies 

and of course, scaring the crap out of makoto with a horror movie to provide an excuse to cuddle him when you both went to sleep

(your tsundere jumped out)

(also #savemakoto)

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #692: Teenagers React to Everyone Losing in Mario Golf World Tour (SSBU)

Mario

Mario gets hit by a Green She'll and turns into his little self on Screen.

Futuba: Wait. (Eyes Widened in Complete Disbelief at the Screen) THAT CAN ACTUALLY HAPPEN TO HIM!?

Ren: We've seen this man get stabbed, detonated, and knocked out many times than any of us can count. And none them ever resulted him into being little.

Lavenza: Perhaps it's the Green Shell's doing......(Place her Hand on her Chin and Starts Thinking) Hmmmmm.........

Futuba: (Turns to Lavenza) Anything on your mind, Lavvy-chan?

Lavenza: This might be hunch, but....How about we try devising a plan? Where we can try hitting Mario with a Green Shell ourselves.

Futuba: That way, we can see if he can turn into a small plumber or not. (Smiles Brightly and Excitedly) That's GENIUS!

Ren: (Has a bit of a Curious Smirk on his Face) Wouldn't mind being a part of that plan myself. I think my throwing skills has gotten better overtime.

Futuba: Mines too!

Makoto: (Immediately Gives the Trio Her Signature Cold Niijima Glare) We are NOT throwing a Green Shell at Mario.

Ren: There it is.

Futuba: (Starts Giving Makoto a Disappointed Pouty Face) Makotooo.....

Lavenza: (Genuinely Shocked and Disappointed) But why ever not, Ms. Queen?

Makoto: Because it's very rude and completely uncalled for. I mean seriously, what would Peach say if she saw you three going through with plan? She would be very disappointed. As I am with you three for even thinking about doing this.

Futuba: Come on, sis! Can't we just-

Makoto: (Stares Piercing her Glare) The answer's no and that's final.

Ren/Lavenza/Futuba: (Straighten Themselves Up in a Bit of Fear) Yes, ma'am!

Lavenza: (Genuinely Surprised) Goodness! I have no idea the Queen could be so terrifying....

Futuba: (Starts Shrugging) That's Makoto for ya. Her glares and motherly attitude are completely outmatched in our ragtag group. You know, besides Haru.

Haru: (Happily and Gently Scratches Under Morgana's Chin While He's Sitting and Purring onto her Lap, Causing her to Giggle Softly Altogether)

Lavenza: I see.... So I suppose nothing could ever try and faze her in some occasions, yes?

Futuba: For the most part.

Ren: (Smirks Like a Love Struck Dork) That's one of the million reasons why I love that beautiful woman after all~

Makoto: (Pouts at Ren) Stop trying to flattering me, Ren-Ren!~ The answer's still no!

Ren: (Chuckles Lightly) We know that already, 'hon~ I just wanted to tell you how much I love you is all~ (Kiss Makoto on the Cheek)

Makoto: (Lays her Head on Ren's Shoulder Once She Begins to Blush) Dummyhead~ (Hugs Ren Afterwards) Love you too~

Futuba: (Puts on a Deadpinned Look on Her Planned) Unless your name is Ren-Ren and try making her blush like a strawberry.....

Lavenza: Fascinating.....

Coco: (Writing Down Somthing on her Notepad)

Tails: Writing down possible theories and methods of any of this makes sense?

Coco: Yup!~

Luigi

Luigi sadly slouches down onto the floor and gets licked by a Boo on screen.

Yoshi: I dunno which is sadder.... Seeing my Luigi being sad or seeing him getting licked by a random Boo.

Pit: (Starts Shrugging Slowly) At least he didn't call himself a loser that time.

Yoshi: Yeah.

Peach

Peach dramatically faints, with heartstrings playing in the background, on screen.

Sonic: ('Sigh') There goes mom being dramatic again.....

Amy: (Happily Resting her Head into Sonic's Shoulder) I feel like you've gotten that from her as of late.

Sonic: ('Heh') Yeah right. Like I can be a drama as well-

Amy: Ice cream on Chili Dogs.

Sonic: (Eyes Widened and Gasps Loudly From his Girlfriend's Sudden Words and Dramatically Points at her) How DARE YOU say those words in front of me!? Your own BOYFRIEND!

Amy: (Giggles Softly at How Adorable her Sonic is Being Right Now) I rest my case~

Yoshi

Yoshi went into his egg in a very sad manner and starts rolling around the area before falling down on screen.

Ann: (Place her Hands onto her Mouth) Oh my gosh! This is so hard to watch!

Shiho: (Hugs Ann's Arm) This is so sad....

Haru: And so adorable at the same time!~

Morgana: (Sighs While Rolling his Eyes)

Futuba: (Raise her Hand) All in a agreement to hug Yoshi later on, say aye!

Ann/Shiho/Haru: (Raises Their Hands as Well) AYE!~

Lavenza: (Raises her Hand as Well) I would also like to join in this event as well!

Dark Pit: (Smirks Smugly at an Already Annoyed Yoshi) Guess who's back on his cuteness bullshit?

Ryuji: (Chuckles Lightly) Yeah.

Yoshi: For the love of...(Gets Up From his Seat) Why does everyone in this room thinks I'm cute?

Ann: Because you are-

Yoshi: Okay. I get. I flutter jump, I turn into an egg, and I admit, I do have a cute face. But for GOD SAKES, I know Kung Fu! I-I know how to drive a car with little to no problem! (Got Out his Trusty Nunchucks) I even learned how to use Nunchucks and everything!!!

Ryuji: Come on, man. You're overreacting.

Coco: Yeah. There's nothing wrong having a little cuteness in ya. (Happily Gives Yoshi a Thumbs Up) I think it suits you perfectly well.

Yoshi: (Turns to Tails) See, even your girlfriend thinks I'm cute, Tails!

Tails: (Eyes Widened at What Yoshi Just Said) Wait.....

Tails/Coco: WHAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!?

Coco: (Starts Blushing Herself) B-B-But weren't not dating! We're best friends!

Tails: (Starts Blushing as Well) E-Exactly! A-And besides.....(Chuckles a bit Lately) I-I'm pretty sure Coco wouldn't really be interested in dating someone as boring as me-

Coco: ('GASPS') (Pouts at Tails) Miles Tails Prower, how could you!!?

Tails: (Taken Aback by Coco's Sudden Change of Attitude) What? W-What did I say?

Coco: How could you say that about yourself!? You are absolutely NOT boring to me at all!

Tails: Y-You think so-

Coco: (Grabs Tails' Hands and Gently Squeezes Them) I KNOW so, mister! You're the most smartest, brilliant, precious little cinnamon roll I've ever met and anyone who thinks otherwise are dumb and stupid!

Tails: (Almost at a Loss of Words) Coco.....

Coco: I mean it, Tails! I don't EVER wanna see you put yourself down like that ever again, you hear me!?

Tails: I won't do that anymore! I promise!

Coco: (Stares at Tails For a Brief Second Before Sighing) Good. (Gives Tails a Loving Hug) I'm glad we come to an understanding. I love you, bud.

Tails: (Chuckles Lightly While Hugging Coco Back) I love you too, Coco. Thank you.

Almost Everyone: (Stares at the Best Friends Hugging Each Other) (Yeah. They would SO be cute couple together.)

Amy: (So CUUUUUUUUTEEEE!!!~)

Daisy

Daisy tries calming herself down before taking one look at the camera and starts angrily stomping and looking away on screen.

Ryuji: Sheesh. Even when she try to calm down, she still gets angry....

Yoshi: That's my mom for ya. Always a low-key bad sport.

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong starts slapping the ground angrily before a random barrel came down and hit his head, causing him to fall down unconscious on screen.

Yusuke: That has to be a painful experience to go through.

Futuba: Tell me about it. I highly doubt that any normal human could survive a random barrel falling down on their heads.....or their entire body.

Ryuji: I envy that gorilla sometimes....

Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong lazily eats his banana, throws the peel on the floor beside him, gets up, ,immediately slips on the peel and fell on screen.

Ren: Yeah. No. He had that one coming.

Everyone: (Nodding and Completely Agrees to What Ren was Saying) Yeah./ Very True./ Uh huh.

Wario

Wario gets struck by lightning on screen.

Ryuji: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) JESUS! Where the hell did that lightning came from? It's not even raining outside!

Yusuke: Perhaps there's more to this universe than we originally thought....

Waluigi

Waluigi starts acting dramatic to losing before falling down into a black hole, that suddenly appears out of nowhere, on screen.

Futuba: Wha-Wha- WHAT!? How is even possible!? W-W-WHERE DID THAT BLACK HOLE EVEN CAME FROM!?

Morgana: (Shakes his Head Slowly) I don't even know anymore, Futuba....

Futuba: Damnit! (Looks Up Into the Ceiling in Anger) NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!!!

Lavenza: There's a lot of things that doesn't make sense, Big Sister Futuba.

Bowser

Bowser angrily punches a camera on screen.

Ryuji: WOAH WOAH WOAH! What the hell was that all about!?

Ren: A evil, giant turtle getting mad over a simple game of golf....Kind of sounds a lot sadder when I say it out loud.

Ryuji: Right!? It's just a frickin' golf game! Why do they have get so hell-bent over it everytime they lose!?

Ren: I don't think anyone really knows at this point, man.

Bowser Jr.

Bowser Jr throwing his usual temper tantrum on screen.

Morgana: (Starts Sighing While Rolling his Eyes) Here comes another Bowser Jr's cuteness hour.....

Futuba: (Teasingly Pokes Morgan's Cheeks) Getting jealous there, Mona?~

Haru: (Immediately Pulls Morgana into a Loving Hug) Oh my sweet, little Mona-Chan!~ Please don't be jealous of Bowser Jr-kun anymore! I promise I love you with all of my heart!~ (Begins Kissing Morgana's Cheek)

Morgana: (Starts Getting Ticklish by Haru's Kisses) Haru! Come on! I believe you already! Really!

Lavenza: (Turns to Futuba) What exactly is happening here right now? Is Mona-Chan really jealous of this Bowser Jr character?

Futuba; (Simply Nodded) Oh big time. He thinks Haru thinks that the little guy is more cuter than he is.

Lavenza: ('Gasps') That is crazy talk....(Turns to Morgana) Mona-Chan!

Morgana: (Turns to Lavenza) Huh? What's wrong, Lavenza?

Lavenza: (Gently Grab Both of Mona's Paws) There us no need for you feel any jealousy towards Bowser Jr. While it is true that his overall appearance is cute to look at, you are and always will a precious feline in my very eyes!

Morgana: (Eyes Widened in Genuine Surprise While Blushing) Y-You.... really mean that, Lavenza?

Lavenza: Why, of course I do. (Joins into Morgana and Haru's Hug) I wouldn't be here, telling you this if I don't.

Haru: Lavvy-chan is absolutely right on this, sweetheart. You're a lot more precious than give yourself credit for. So please don't be jealous anymore, okay?

Morgana: (Sighs While Being Overwhelmed by the Group Hug) I'll try not to....(Smiles a Little) Thanks, you guys.

Futuba: (Smirk Softly at the Trio While Silently Taking a Few Pictures of Them ('Heh Heh') Dorks.

Rosalina

Rosalina faints....and accidentally fell down on the Lumas, who were trying to help her up, on screen.

'Thud'

Most People in the Living Room: Oh!

Yoshi: That has got to leave a mark.

Pit: I know. I kind of feel bad for those poor little Lumas....

Dark Pit: They're floating, magical stars with eyes, Pit-Stain. They'll be fine.

Birdo

Birdo angrily shoots eggs at the camera on screen.

Ann: (Really Glares at the Screen) Really?! What is with these people and breaking camera screens!? Do they honestly even know how much those things cost!!?

Shiho: (Simply Shrugs) I guess they really can't stand the fact they've lost a game golf.

Ann: Right!?

Toad

Two Toads tries to cheer up the main Toad by cheerleading on screen.

Ren: Huh. Cheerleading Toads.... That's a new one.

Makoto: It's cute how they try to do whatever they can to support each other.

Ren: I agree. It's also ironic how this is the most normal reaction of losing out of everyone else we've seen so far.

Makoto: ('Sigh') Yeah.....

Nabbit

Nabbit hides under a bag....only to get eaten by a Piranha Plant on screen.

Dark Pit: Alright. I'm about to lose it in a matter of seconds, if someone in this room don't tell me why in the hell does that dumbass thought that having a Piranha in his bag was even remotely a good idea!

Ren: ('Sigh') Yeah. I think we're done here.

..............................................................

Sonic: Sheesh....That was a lot more insane to watch through than I thought it would be.....

Yusuke: Not the most cringe worthy event I have ever seen so far, but it was still rather.... interesting to watch, to say the least.

Amy: I know..... I had no idea they would took golf so seriously...

Ryuji: You're telling me. I mean, really, I can't believe these guys were making a huge deal about losing one single game of golf! GOLF!! Probably one of the most boring sports in all of the frickin universe!!

Ren: Well, knowing Mario and the gang, I'm pretty sure they found a way to make the sport more fun to them.

Ryuji: That might be the true, but that doesn't make what we just saw, any better, bro!!

Ren: ('Sigh') Yeah. It.... really doesn't.

Futuba: (Found Something Interesting on his Phone) Huh.

Pit: What you found, Futuba?

Futuba: (Shows Everyone Beside her Phone) It says here that Mario and the others are hosting an all new golf tournament next month. It's called the "Mario Golf: Super Rush Tournament"

Yoshi: (Takes a Look at Futuba's Phone) Yep. Seems pretty legit to me.

Everyone: (Nodded in Agreement)

Makoto: They're going to embarrass themselves in that tournament, are they?

Ren: I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Makoto: You're gonna record the whole thing, are you?

Ren: (Chuckles Lightly) Oho yeah.....

@keyenuta

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@italian-love-cake

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