#but writing it made me FEEL panicky

[galwithalibrarycard]

I finished one of the prompts I got the other week. I’m sleeping on it and posting it tomorrow, but it’s done. And I just- wow, I didn’t mean to give this character an anxiety disorder as clearly as I did. I literally gave this character a panic spiral I have had before, because the topic of the panic was the intended topic of the fic. (It’s less heavy than it probably sounds.) but it’s a panic spiral from more than a decade ago, and I can’t believe how IN those old emotions this fic made me get. because I still panic like that, just about different topics. I wanna hug my younger self.

Update: reread the draft and it doesn’t read nearly as anxious as writing it made me feel. At least I don’t think it does. Hmm.

[arklay]

have a diana comm in progress again 🥰

[meezer]

oh and I finished my otome game. well just kai's route. I really loved it and it touched me in a way I'd find it hard to articulate. kai is a fantastic character imo, very well-written. I got his best ending and uhm, at the end there... everyone in that cafe fangirling over him must've had their jaws drop when they heard him tell the MC that, after they hang out there, they'd be going to his place, so he can say things "he can't say in public." everyone in that cafe now thinks these two popular up-and-coming actors are gay as fuck. and well are they wrong

[ponderingmoonlight]

hi lovely ! you asked for kny requests and i've just finished my kny volume 22 re-read, so thats perfect timing 💙

I was wondering if you could write something with Yoriichi — (tw for potential child loss)

Maybe a hurt/comfort fic where his pregnant wife actually survives the demon attack while he's away (but maybe she gets quite badly injured and their unborn child doesn't make it, if you want to add a little extra angst to it. If not then that's totally fine, this man deserves a happy ending after all 🥺)

Of course, you're the writer — feel free to take any creative direction you'd like or ignore this request if you're not comfortable with it. Have a lovely day/night! <3

Again, I'm beyond sorry you were forced to wait for this so long! But here you go honey, let me know what you think <3

Yoriichi saving his pregnant wife and unborn child just in time

Pairing: Yoriichi x pregnant!wife!reader

Word Count: 4,2k

Synopsis: You never expected to face a demon ever again, especially not when you are about to deliver your child while your beloved husband Yoriichi is in search for a midwife. Will you and your child be alright? Will your husband make it back on time?

Warnings: injury, horror, child birth, tortue, description of death, extreme angst to fluff, last part is not proofread

Notes: Since the first Yoriichi fic I wrote, I'm so deeply in love with his character that I adore writing him so much! Since this fic took a while, I would totally appreciate your support through liking, commenting and reblogging this fic - thank's a lot babes <3

He can’t get enough from simply looking at you. You with your head in the clouds, you with your hand mindlessly roaming around the soft grass underneath, the other one caressing your heavy pregnant belly, you when you give him those surprised eyes as soon as you notice his presence.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware that you’re already here”, you say in a small panicky voice.

You didn’t expect your beloved husband back this soon. If you would have known that he’ll be here by know you would have cleaned the whole house, made him something to eat and-

“I can only imagine what is going on inside your head again.”

His soft but at the same time rough hand touches your cheek gently, the loving gleam in his fuchsia eyes making you blush in an instant. All the voices in your head stop right in their track when he’s around.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Your savior, your best friend. And most importantly, your husband and father of your future child.

“How are you feeling, love? Did you enjoy your afternoon?”, he questions, eyes wandering down your body to your swollen belly.

It was hard leaving you alone in a state like this, but he wasn’t able to resist the urgent call from last night. He might be nothing but another simple man holding a sword, but it is his responsibility to save those who are in need. What else is he able to give to this world?

His hand lands on your belly, feels the tiniest kick of his unborn child against the palm of his hand. At least he was able to create a smaller version of you. Is it a boy, a girl maybe?

“I hope our child is a reflection of you”, he finally mutters into the silence, a small but somehow sad smile forming itself on his lips.

You suddenly forget how to breathe, glossy eyes fixated on his captivating sight. Oh, oh much you hate the stinging fact that your husband thinks so negatively about himself. Why can’t he see all the heroic things he has done so far, how respected he is in the demon slayer corps? Why can’t he see that every inch of his body is flawless? Out of instinct, you let your head rest against his broad chest, breathe in his strong scent. If you could only stay like this here forever, his hand resting against your body while the sun tickles your skin-

A violent moan escapes your lips when a sharp pain runs through your stomach. A kick. A really rough kick, to be exact.

“Are you alright, love? Did something hurt you? Is it the baby?”, your husband asks feverishly, his usual neutral face garbled by worry lines on his forehead.

“Just a kick”, you press out, still fighting to regain your composure.

“I will search for a mid-wife, (y/n).”

His words make your eyes widen in an instant, a wave of fear crushing down on you. Is it really time already? You look down at your swollen belly, so big that you aren’t even able to sit down properly anymore. This has to be the ninth month of your pregnancy.

Your heart sinks. The ninth month. If the books you’ve read are accurate, it really is time.

“I can’t do this, Yoriichi.”

Thick panic runs through your veins, forces your heart almost out of your chest. You aren’t ready to deliver a child, let alone to be a mother. All the things you haven’t read yet, the things you’ve probably never heard of…What if you mess it up? Until you met Yoriichi, all you were able to do was trying to survive. Your mother never had the chance to tell you about those things, isn’t here anymore to stay by your side.

You are…on your own.

“Look at me, (y/n). I will go out and search for a mid-wife and I’ll be back at sunset, you hear me? Just stay inside the house and nothing will happen. I promise to return as early as possible.”

Fuchsia eyes that radiate through your soul immediately. An angelic voice that calms down your tingling nerves with only four sentences. Strong arms that lift you off the ground and lead you back into the warmth of your home.

But know, it’s not the wooden cabin that feels like home. Your eyes wander to the neutral expression he wears on his face, only betrayed by a worried glow in his orbs. It’s him, your beloved husband.

“Are you feeling alright, love?”

You take a deep breath in, a deep breath out. Eyes focused exclusively on him until your mind finally silences. It’s just you and him. You and your beloved husband, the man you would trust with your life without battling an eyelid, the man who made you the person you are today.

“I do”, you breathe out.

Your heartbeat tames down as well as the kicks of your unborn baby, Yoriichi’s hands keeping you from falling over.

“Promise me to lock the doors and wait in bed until I return, (y/n).”

A seriousness you only know from him when he is forced to leave at night veils his calm eyes.

“But…you will be back before the sun sinks, right?”

He gifts you a small smile, hand caressing your cheek so gently that you almost forget about the worry lines decorating his face. The truth is that the next midwife lives miles away. Even if he gets to the village as soon as possible, the sun will be about to set when he returns. Yoriichi can’t help but clench his other hand into a fist next to your stomach. The sheer thought of not making it in time, that you’ll be defenceless.

“Don’t worry, love. Rest your eyes and be assured that I’ll return as soon as possible.”

But he cannot allow himself to fail you, to leave you alone in those oh so merciless nights. He will return, no matter what it costs.

He presses a soft kiss against your forehead before grabbing his sword tightly.

This. This is his fate, his family. You are his whole life.

And he’ll do everything to protect you.

-later that evening-

You are exhausted. Over the last few hours, your body was haunted by waves of pain coming and going like the seasons. Again, you dig your nail into the wooden floor, your heavy breaths hanging in the thick air. You definitely don’t need a midwife to tell you it’s time. Yes, your baby is on its way.

And your husband didn’t return yet.

Your glossy eyes dart towards the window, witness how the sky outside turns bright red in the down-going sun. Is Yoriichi alright? You know how cruel life can be. Maybe he met a person who needed to be saved on his way, maybe the midwife is too old to rush to your side in time.

“Rest your eyes and be assured that I’ll return as soon as possible.”

Those words. Even though he’s not yet by your side, you are able to feel his powerful presence around you, how he calms down your aching heart.

“Everything will turn out alright”, you mutter to yourself while caressing your tummy.

“Everything will be alight…”

You allow your lids to rest, body relaxing for the first time since your husband left. You will get through this, you will deliver your wonderful child tonight. A tiny bundle of joy, an image of its father. Is it a boy, a girl? As long as your child is healthy, you couldn’t care less.

Carefully, you curl up on your futon, snuggle yourself into the blanket that still holds his scent. Maybe you’ll be able to catch a few hours of sleep until he finally comes back. Sleep sure does sound very appealing at the moment.

But just when your breath begins to steady, a violent scratch forces you to sit straight up. It came from outside, without a doubt. Is it an animal, is it…

Your throat gets tight immediately, glossy eyes staring at the closed window in sheer horror. The trees bend back and forth peacefully in what looks like a tender night. But that scratch, it sounded exactly like claws digging into hard wood, sent shivers down your spine immediately. You know that sound all too well, experienced what it means to get slaughtered by a demon before. Just before your whole family died violently, this was exactly what you’ve heard.

Out of instinct, you bury yourself into the corner of the room, the blanket that holds Yoriichi’s scent still pressed against your now shivering body tightly. Please, let it be nothing but a wild animal, let your husband come back home soon. Maybe this is nothing but a nightmare and you’ll wake up any given minute-

A violent pain runs through your body so suddenly that a shriek escapes your lips. Suddenly all air escapes your lungs, the way your belly cramps making you see start. No, you know exactly what this means, that this is not the right time to deliver a baby. Isn’t there anything you can do to stop this? You still need to wait for your husband, the midwife, for this gut-turning feeling to vanish. Your breath gets stuck in your throat, sharp and fast breaths hanging in the thick atmosphere.

But it doesn’t stop there. As if this wasn’t enough already, you can only stare at the door that gets opened painfully slow, claws digging into the wooden frame.

Without any doubt, this is a demon.

You press your sweaty palm against your mouth, force yourself to stop screaming, to stop breathing.

“I know you’re here, human. You smell like a…woman.”

It’s like all life is drained from the dead shell of your body, widened orbs staring at the frightful creature that makes its way into your home. Get up, fight, defend yourself like you saw Yoriichi do countless times, use the knowledge you gained from him.

But you don’t move an inch, don’t dare to look away. For a brief moment, time seems to stand still. Out of all the nights you’ve spent together with your husband, this is the first away from him, the first without his protection. Is all of this a dream, a hallucination to test your nerves?

The second the monster’s deadly red orbs meet yours, you get hit by reality. No, this isn’t a dream.

This will be your death.

“I knew you were here, lady. Let me help you up, okay?”

“N-no. Please d-don’t”, you whimper under your breath.

Your coward of a body doesn’t even fight back when he lifts you off the ground with ease, his nails digging into your soft flesh.

“Oh, you’re expecting a baby, don’t you? Well, does this count as a double kill, then?”

Your baby getting killed? If that thing ends your life, it means your unborn child will never experience dawn, will never get to see the face of its father, will never take in his scent. Your glossy eyes widen in sheer horror, tears now streaming down your face like waterfalls when a single frown form on your forehead.

You couldn’t care less about your own life. After all, you were lucky that Yoriichi saved you back then, didn’t even deserve to survive when your whole family had to die before you. But that oh so innocent child that might have the eyes of its father, the blessing of your life right after your husband. That innocent life cannot be taken.  

There is no way you will let this creature lay hands on it.

Your body reacts faster than your mind. With a surprisingly well-placed kick, you free yourself out of the monster’s casual grip. You need to get out of the house, out where you are able to find shelter, to run away. Your lungs feel like bursting any given minute, legs trembling underneath the weight of yourself and the unborn baby you still carry right under your heart. Even if it means you’ll die in vain, even if you won’t be able to see Yoriichi’s tender eyes ever again, you have to make sure your child is safe.

“I underestimated you, stupid woman. As it seems you didn’t give up on life yet”, the creature purrs what feels like right next to you.

A new nauseous wave of panic rises up your veins, makes you sprint even faster through the thick woods that surround your house. This has always been your favorite place to be. The calm trees waving back and forth in a soft breeze, your husband right by your side-

Your husband. Just the thought of never getting to see him again makes your heart ache. You didn’t even get the chance to thank him one last time, to let him know how much he truly means to you, that he’s way more than the man who saved your life back then.

He’s everything you ever wanted, everything you ever needed.

A sharp pain that radiates through your lower body sends you straight onto the ground immediately, figure cramping so violently that you can’t catch your breath. No, this is not the time labor, not when a demon is this close.

“Oh, there you are. Did you really think you can run away like that? You, a little human? You made me so man that I will kill you as painfully slow as possible.”

You try to lift your trembling figure off the ground, try to get back onto your feet, to sprint down the forest you know so well. But just when you’re about to get back onto your knees, a stinging pain in your right thigh paired with a contraction sends you straight back.

A violent scream escapes your lips.

Red. Everything around you is discoloured red. Is this your blood? Did this thing kill you already, are you going to die? Despite the way your guts start to turn when you follow the trail of blood, you can’t look away. And there it is indeed, a gaping hole in your leg, throbbing and bleeding.

All color that is left now drains from your face. With an injured leg, your chance to escape this demon’s claws is non-existent. Which means…

Your heart skips a beat, threatens to fail you any given second. What about your unborn child? A violent storm of anger and determination clouds your mind, makes all logical thoughts vanish into thin air.

“You can’t kill me”, you press out.

Since the day you first laid eyes on a demon, you accepted your own death. Your life is worthless anyway, compared to great warriors like your husband himself. But that oh so innocent child, that tiny life you were given to. You ball your hands into fists so tight your knuckles stand out white and lift your throbbing self off the ground. You cannot allow a demon to take the life of that unborn baby.

“I won’t allow you to touch me.”

You realize the stupidity of your words after they spill out of your mouth in rage. You, not allowing a demon to touch your puny figure? Another contraction makes your guts turn and vision almost go black.

As expected the frightful creature draws closer, its unpromising pair of razor-sharp teeth glittering in the dim moonlight. You never expected to see a demon this close again. Oh, how much you hoped you’d never find yourself in that situation again. But you have to get through this, have to make sure you will survive long enough for the mid wife to deliver your child to this world.

His child.

“I’m sorry Yoriichi. I never planned on leaving you alone like this”, you mumble to yourself, shaky lips tinted in salty tears.

“But this all I’m able to do.”

-Yoriichi’s POV-

Something seems off. Is it the way the trees bent back and forth in the soft breeze of the already set sun? Is it that distant smell that hangs in the air, the one that reminds him of fresh blood and lavender?

“We must make haste. I can sense that danger is ahead of us”, he speaks out with firm voice.

He promised you that he’ll be back before the sun goes down, that he will make it on time before demon are able to roam around freely. Are you feeling alright? Is the pain unbearable at this point? Do you still hold trust for him in your heart? His footsteps pick up instinctively, eyes set on the visibly stressed man behind him. In contrary to most people, Yoriichi doesn’t fear the night or the demons it brings. The only thing he fears at the moment is what you have to endure without your husband by your side.

With every he takes forward, the stinging smell of blood mixed with lavender becomes more urgent in his nose.

Lavender.

He always wondered how you did it. Even after washing, all your clothes kept that calming scent that surrounded you as if you were standing in a lavender bush. A smell so sweet that it caught his interest back then before he caught a glimpse of your fascinating orbs, a smell that always reminds him of home. Yoriichi’s home will always be where you are, where the sensation of lavender is the strongest.

Lavender, the stinging smell of blood that hangs in the air. His eyes widen when his mind starts to race. The smell, it radiates from the direction of your shared home, from the direction that usually fills him with excitement. Can it be…?

His heart starts racing uncontrollably while he dashes forward and draws his sword. Let it be nothing but coincidence, a cruel joke his thoughts play on him. But the stinging fragrance of lavender mixed with iron fills his heart with dread, makes his mind go numb. What if you got attacked by a demon, what if you are in great danger? All because he didn’t live up to his promise, because he didn’t make it on time. His eyes roam around the dark area, desperately searching for a sign.

And then his eyes find you.

Yoriichi’s heart stops.

There you lay, leaning against a nearby tree with a puddle of blood surrounding you, widened eyes starring straight into the face of a demon who hollers above you.

“No one is coming to save you, stupid girl.”

He doesn’t waste another second. With a swift motion of his sharp blade, Yoriichi beheads the demon on top of you while a toe-curling scream escapes your lips. Just one look at your sliced-up kimono reveals countless injuries, especially a gaping hole in your thigh. You hold onto your swollen belly for what looks like dear life, eyes still widened in nothing but shock.

“(y/n)”, he gently speaks out while letting himself fall down next to you.

You have to blink a few times. The demon, it was just about to dig its sharp teeth into your sensitive skin, to take the life of your unborn child in front of your eyes.

Maroon.

But those aren’t the deadly red orbs. No, those oh so gorgeous eyes look so familiar that your heart tames down in an instant. Could it really be, is it possible that it’s…him?

“Yoriichi.”

You breathe his name into the night like a prayer.

Maybe this is nothing but an illusion, a cruel trick your own brain plays on you.

“Words can’t express how sorry I am for arriving too late. I will never forgive myself for leaving you alone this long, for causing this to happen”, his oh so familiar voice blurts out.

Yoriichi’s usual so composed face twists in sheer agony, eyes filling with salty tears. All of this is his fault. He should have arrived sooner, he should have made hurry, he-

“We didn’t come this far to worry now. Please, help be delivering this child, let it all make sense”, you press out while grabbing his hand tightly.

It doesn’t matter that you’re severely injured, it doesn’t matter that your beloved husband took longer than expected to come back to you. All that matters now are you, him and your unborn child that waits to be delivered.

“Allow me to assist you.”

A foreign man suddenly speaks out with sweat dripping from his forehead in waterfalls. Just when another wave of nauseous pain hits you with full force, as if you got kicked into your stomach by a horse. You fail to breathe for a second, hands holding onto your husband for dear life.

“You are already close, it won’t be long now”, the man reassures you while gently opening your legs.

“You can do it, (y/n). After all the things you had to endure today, you will be able to get through this. With me by your side. I love you more than any words could ever say, darling.”

One more push.

One more wave of pain before your body goes numb, before you lose the ability to feel anything except for sweet nothingness.

Until a loud shriek finds its way to your ear.

A violent scream, almost frustrating. When you open your eyes again, you are greeted by a crying but alive bundle of joy, carefully wrapped into a white cloth and placed onto the arm of its father.

Those eyes.

“I prayed every night that he would have your eyes”, you whimper with tears running down your cheek uncontrollably.

You did it. You saved your beloved child who looks just like its father, you managed to somehow stay alive.

“She”, the midwife corrects you gently.

“She…”, you mumble with a small smile.

The last thing you see are the troubled maroon eyes of your husband before your world goes dark.

-the next day-

A foreign but still so familiar laughter fills the atmosphere around you with joy while you see nothing but black. When your stubborn lids finally open, you are greeted by the wooden ceiling you know so well. This is your home, without any doubt.

The home a demon invaded.

The home where you feared for your life while your husband rushed to the midwife in order to deliver your child.

Your child.

You get up way too quickly, glossy eyes darting around the room without a real aim. Is your baby okay? What happened after the delivery? All you can remember are those familiar maroon eyes that looked so much like the orbs of your beloved husband. Your husband…Where is Yoriichi?

“Don’t move too quickly, love. The doctor strictly forbids you to be in a haste”, his gentle voice speaks out next to you.

Just a few moments later, you get invited by the warmth of his arms swallowing you whole. Out of instinct, you let yourself fall against him, press your very own body into his despite the scorching pain that immediately takes over your whole self.

Right, you were attacked by a demon the night you gave birth. How did you manage to escape? Are your injuries critical.

But most important: How is your baby?

“Look what you have accomplished. A little wonder. Just like you, my love”, your husband murmurs, carefully lifting a little bundle off a blanket nearby.

Your heart nearly stops when you catch a glimpse of her. Those maroon eyes are the last thing you remember before everything goes black. With shaky hands, you start caressing her puffy cheek. This. This is what you fought for, what makes it all worth it in the end.

“She has your eyes”, you hush, tears now streaming down your face in waterfalls.

“And your hair”, Yoriichi replies with a soft smile towards you.

“(y/n), I promise I’ll do anything in my power to protect you and her from something like this. I promise I will stand by your side no matter what. And I hope that someday, you will be able to forgive me for not being there for you when you needed me the most.”

The second your husband’s voice cracks, you can’t hold onto yourself any longer. You wrap your arms around him and your daughter longingly, take in the scent who gave you strength that night.

“There is nothing to forgive and nothing to feel sorry about. You did your very best and that is all that matters. I love you, Yoriichi. And I have to thank you for saving both of us just in time.”

“You are my greatest treasure on earth”, he mumbles against your lips while giving you a passionate kiss.

What a plot twist, what a happy end after all. Yesterday you were sure your life is over, that you won’t live onto the next day. And now you’re lying in your house, holding your giggling daughter while pressing your heavy head against your husband’s broad chest.

“Well, I fear I will have to share this special place by now”, you comment while gazing at your perfect little daughter.

“This might be true, love.”

Tags: @chilichopsticks @hellkaiserinphoenix  @ynackerman9499 @keepghostly @beatrexworld

@froufrousnowman @hidazinie @tomiokathedepresso  @poketrainer2270 @chaoticwinnercupcake

@lees-chaotic-brain @wordskeeper @polarbvnny @kayleegomez @ryva @baku2345

@komelrebi-san

[coquettetoji]

i need more bf armin if you can please🥹🥹

i’m such a hoe for this man so like

QUESTIONS WITH BF ARMIN 🎀

warnings: literally just gonna make you hate couples in love, i’m nauseous reading my own writing bc i want this so bad. a little suggestive but doesn’t get into it much

context: y/n, as armin’s lovely girlfriend, asks him a series of questions in her own little interview that she records on her phone.

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

it was your average Tuesday night, and you with your ever so spontaneous ideas wanted to sit down with your boyfriend of 2 years— Armin, to put him to the test on a multitude of semi-serious but mostly ridiculous questions.

you take in a deep overdramatic sigh, staring at your boyfriend with a dead-set look in your eyes “so, armin.” you cross your arms in front of you as you sit criss cross apple sauce straddled in his lap, with a small stack of flash cards held in your hands. your phone was stood up by a box of paper tissues off to the side, showing both you and your boyfriend in the phone screen recording.

“yes, baby?” he answers you with a soft dazed smile, his pupils dilated staring at you intently, hands on your waist drawing small circles waiting for you to ask him the oh-so-serious questions, he shouldn’t be scared. after all, they’re just some questions, right?

you stare at him with a glare trying to look intimidating, “question one…” you trail off dramatically.

Armin stares at you with a stifled smile, trying to remain serious just for your sake and to make you happy for this little TikTok trend you want to participate in again. He leans slightly forward to place a small chaste kiss on your cheek.

“that was not part of the question, i told you to be serious.” you huff jokingly but he just smiles brightly up at you.

“i can’t help it, you’re right here in my reach and you’re just so- ugh..” he emphasizes with a fake swoon and a chuckle.

“okay, AGHEM-”

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

question number 1:

“what pet names do you call me the most? n’ what’s the favorite name that I call you?” you say sweetly. your eyes bore into his awaiting his answers while clutching onto your flash cards.

his fingers lightly tapped the sides of your legs, occasionally tracing small circles dazedly as he thought about it.

“i call you baby the most. i dunno what else. there’s sweetheart, angel, honey. momm-” he trails before you cut him off and stare at the camera with wide eyes. you clear your throat slightly side eyeing the camera before returning your view to him and his stupidly adorable dazed smile.

“OKAY! and what’s your favorite name that i call you, minnie?” you ask him with a tilt of your head, reaching a hand out to play with the tufts of his blonde hair.

he huffs, softly dropping his head onto your chest while wrapping his arms around you tighter, squeezing gently.

“mmm, i like everything you call me. but i think that one time i was uh like panicky and stressed and you called me baby, my heart kinda j-just like.. skipped. ya know? like what are they called— heart palpitations? in that situation it just made me feel really good.” he tilts his head up at you, his chin propped up, slightly rambling.

in this moment he really just looked like the embodiment of the cutest golden retriever ever.

you smile at him, “you’re just adorable aren’t you?” he reacts to this with a small blush forming on his cheeks shaking his head side to side slightly.

“y/n/n you have to cut off some parts of this video. i ramble too much when it comes to you i just start rapid firing shit out like i’m rapping.”

“it’s for comedic purposes. shush.”

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

question number 2:

“if you would rather have me with the personality of your ex, or your ex with my body. who would you choose to date? choose carefully and think about what you say before you say it.” you tease him.

his eyes widen slightly as if you had just asked him the most life threatening question ever (honestly to him it could be).

“w-well..” he buffers. he looks up at the ceiling in deep thought or as if it’s gonna have an answer written out on it.

“i would remain single until you return back to normal.” he nods, seemingly assured that his answer was the right one.

you stare blankly at him, then at the camera, then back to him. “the audience is going to have to decide on that one.” you assert.

at this armin’s eyebrows furrow confusedly and his arms wrap around you tighter. “w-what? baby i don’t have much to work with here for an answer.” he sasses.

“you could’ve just said you would- you could like- well in the sense that.. yeah you’re lowkey right.” you shrug sheepishly.

he rolls his eyes jokingly, “can i ask you a question now?”

“if this is another question like gay son or thot daughter im not answering it.”

he laughs slightly, “no no no. it’s something different.”

you nod for him to continue, “what is it then?”

“uhhh can we turn off the camera for this one?” he looks at the camera quickly before returning his eyes back to you.

your eyebrows raised at his shy question, his gaze adverting from you and staring down at your his shirt that you are wearing.

“whisper it to me.”

pst pst pst whisper whisper whisper

you stare blankly at him after pulling the side of your head away from his face with a rosy pink blush now surfacing on your cheeks.

“s-so you see.. i can not answer that…?” you buffer just as he did earlier.

he giggled softly at your confuzzled expression and he squeezed your leg gently with his hand.

“mm see how you can’t answer that one either, angel?” he grinned smugly tilting his chin up at you slightly.

“oh shut up.”

(news flash: he asked you what position he hits it best in 😸)

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

question number 3:

you grab your phone, quickly clicking the .5 button as the phone camera zooms out in view, now causing armin in the view of the camera to look a bit—stretched?

he stares up at the camera, the angle making his puppy eyes just like that much larger and cuter in the process.

“can we not film me from this angle, baby? i don’t get to look at you properly with the phone in the way.” he huffs slightly.

“no.”

“yes ma’am.”

“anyways, next question and i want you to think about this in depth.” you nudge him

he hums along, “i’m listening.”

“what made you realize you loved me?” you ask him deeply.

this question causes armins mind to suddenly blank over a tad bit just to reminisce about the first moments he met you.

he stares up into the camera as you try and withhold a laugh at how stupidly cute the .5 angle is making him look.

flashback:

it was junior year of high school, and at your lovely age of 17.

the teacher was passing back the recent scores from your latest exams. high school was definitely hard but you always seemed to manage with your high grades, expectations, and your extremely competitive nature.

the only person who seemed to have always come close to you or beat you was Armin Arlert.

*insert sparkle noises here*

yeah, he was a little infuriating when it came to competitive aspects but his pretty face lets him get away with it—but definitely not when it comes to you right?

the teacher came around the corner and placed your paper upside down on the surface of your desk. feeling confident with the results, you flip it over to reveal the high score of 98 percent on the white parchment. with a giddy smile, you turn directly behind you in your chair to come face to face with Armin.

only to see him already staring directly at you with a dimpled smile.

“98. what did you get, arlert?” you boast to him while holding up your paper.

“really? i can’t believe it after your poor performance last time.” he teased still grinning at you.

“i got a 90 last time, that’s not even poor.” you roll your ey at him with your mouth slightly agape. “what did you get if you’re so smart?” you huff.

he hummed, his glasses shifting slightly down the bridge of his nose as he leaned slightly forward closer to you in his seat, “a 94, y/n/n.” however his paper remained flipped over and his forearm rested on top of it.

you glanced down at his desk where his veiny arms lay upon the paper, your tried to squint to see some type of number in red but his arms covered it.

you brushed this off, instead focusing on how you scored higher than him as an even bigger smile now appeared on your face. “hm, better catch up next time, arlert.” you nudge him.

“you already know i will, princess.” he nods as his he leaned his head on his left hand looking into your eyes.

you turn around in your seat and face back towards your desk as the school bell rings to signal the next period of the school day. “i’ll see you tomorrow, might wanna get back to studying a little more.”

you pack up your bags, proudly stuffing the 98% exam in your bag. zipping up your backup, you smile, happily leaving the classroom oblivious to Armin’s lovingly proud gaze, as well as his now-flipped-over exam on his desk that revealed a 100%.

flashback over

armin looked up into your eyes with you still in his lap, disregarding the camera shoved into his face.

“i think the moment i realized i would do anything to make you happy, even lie and make myself look worse, is when i just knew i would do absolutely anything for you.” he gushed.

“like you didn’t even know i lied about half my scores until like a year ago. i just loved seeing you smile because you’re so just— ahh.” he hums as he throws his head back slightly and dramatically with a toothy grin.

you cup his cheeks in your hands as you trail your eyes over all his features. “i’m honored that if anyone was my academic rival, it was you, blondie.”

“oh stop it.” he gushed. “but yeah, i just knew when i just felt that weird feeling in my chest every time i saw you happy.”

your heart felt as if it was going to explode, sure you’ve been with armin for a solid 2 years. but this has never really ever been brought up.

“and i also realized when i had the urge to throw jean against a wall when he was flirting with you.”

“okay well atleast chivalry isn’t dead.” you sigh, armin laughs before reaching up slightly to place a gentle peck on your lips.

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

let’s just say the peck led to other things because your lips now were noticeably swollen and your hair was messy from armin’s hands running through it.

you pick up your phone camera that was absentmindedly discarded when the two of your guys’ small peck definitely did NOT escalate into a make-out session **blame armin.

“so g-guys.” you take a second to collect your breath. “that’s some questions that my boyfriend answered. this definitely will get me banned if i post all the clips but they will be edited so..” you glance at armin who drags his eyes from up and down your body.

“yeah. i gotta go.” you quickly blurt before clicking the end record button then immediately drop your phone back onto the couch, crawling back into armin’s lap and continuing where you left off.

“love you, love you, love you.” armin mumbles against your lips, clutching his arms tighter around your middle.

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

notes —

hi guys!! lets just pretend it hasn’t been 2 months since i last posted. i’m reading requests and im gonna try and put out as much as i can before spring break ends. thank you for all the love and support <3

also armin as a hot nerd is just everything i’ll ever need.

[m-musings]

Hii, so excited to find someone who writes for Jack Frost! Could you possibly write some headcanons for him with a s/o that's a fairy that cares for the forest. They are easily flustered by his charms despite how far in denial they are about it...

A/N: love me some good ol' frosty boy headcanons lol hope you like these! :)

NOTICE (7/10/24) : NO LONGER WRITING FOR ROTG

Word Count:635 Warnings: none, all fluff

Headcanons: Jack Frost X Forest Fairy! Reader

Jack has been flirty with you since the very first moment he saw you.

He had been flying through the countryside to give a nearby town one final snow day for the year when from the corner of his eye, he saw you entering the treeline in a soft green outfit.

Being the curious guy he is, he decided to follow you, just to see what you were doing alone in the wild.

When he found you, you were growing some new spring flowers on the forest floor and after he had introduced himself, he seized the opportunity to use a flower themed picked up line.

And while it was kind of a dumb line, it still made a few butterflies erupt in your stomach.

That’s where your friendship (and mutual crush) began!

Once you get more comfortable in each other's presence, Jack will take every chance he gets to spend time with you.

He’ll try and help you with things around the forest or even help you relax if you’ve been working a little too hard.

In his typical fashion, Jack will lay on the charm and banter 100x’s more than usual just to see you try and hide the bashful expression on your face

You try your best not to be affected, but with how smooth he is, you almost always end up swooning as he flirts his way further into your heart.

Jack is enamored with every little thing you do and isn’t afraid to tell you exactly how he feels. He’ll even use his powers to create things for you as a way to show his affection and ask you to be his significant other.

And while you may feel the same way, you refuse to give in to his advances that easily. After all, You’re very busy and won’t let your fondness for him get in the way of your responsibilities to the woods.

Even so, you will also give him small plants and flowers with a subtle smile etched on your face as you thank him.

There are times when Jack will invite you to North’s workshop so that you can meet the Guardians and tell them about all of your experiences while taking care of the woods (and so that he can show you off to Bunny).

It’s important to him that you are always comfortable with and around him so if he feels like he’s overstepping any boundaries with you, he’ll take a step back and give you any space you may need.

But, If you or the forest are ever in any kind of danger, he will gather up the others as quickly as he can and rush over to help you beat whatever villain was threatening you. 

In the moments after, his only thought would be making sure that you’re safe and will frantically scan over your body to make sure you got through unscathed.

Seeing the normally joyful winter spirit so distraught over a simple nature fairy like you fills you with a need to break away from your typical hesitancy, so to calm him down, you’d carefully place your palm against his pale face and redirect his gaze to yours.

When he feels your gentle touch and finally makes eye contact with you, Jack’s panicky breathing would begin to even out with a relieved sigh as he realizes that you’re okay.

He’d give you a soft smile and gingerly pull you into his chest for a chilly but still somehow warm hug, which you end up accepting even if you still deny just how much you actually care for the snowy spirit man.

He would playfully tease you about loving him the next time he comes to see you and notice that this time, you aren’t as quick to shut down the idea.

[thatmooncake]

To be honest and these are all personal interpretations but Sun has always read as kind of more on the sassy and short-tempered side to me, he’s never been fond of letting people move around too freely, from the start he’s always made sure things work a particular way and you go in a particular place and he’s always been super pernickety about how and where things should go and how they should work, he’s always been panicky like that for as long as we’ve seen him because he’s endlessly stressed and has a million things to take care of otherwise he’ll get in trouble and if he’s referencing keeping the lights on he has Moon to hold at bay too and has likely seen the terrible outcome of not keeping Moon in check given the way he panics so much in response to any chance the lights might go out. The implications that he knows how limited his ability to fix the problem is and yet so desperately wants to but is left basically helpless at the mercy of the lights going off at any given time is also pretty horrific and it’s no wonder he has some issues trusting others to keep themselves out of danger with that in mind.

I don’t think he’s massively different personality-wise between games, just the circumstances are different and he is under varying levels of stress in each setting which is contributing to how much or little he may be acting out or trying to control what’s going on around him (and if the daycare has been shut for a while in Security Breach he’s got an extra good reason to want to keep a new friend around despite the potential danger because he must be going stir crazy).

Also I don’t think Sun is particularly mean or a bully, I think he has his reasons to get snarky with people who are going out of their way to mess up in his space and he already has enough on his plate as it is, the guy is trying his best. I think his enthusiasm and creativity is genuine and he is sincerely trying his best but to be honest in the FNAF franchise not a single character has really been programmed perfectly to do their job in all scenarios and I don’t think he’s any exception to that. However I also think you can feel free to write anything off in fanon as being due to the virus, or due to circumstance, and basically end up with whatever version of the character sparks joy. Fanon is fanon after all, we’re all just guessing here and that isn’t a bad thing.

[souryoong]

good for you | myg (18+)

Pairing: boyfriend!yoongi x f!reader

Genre: smut!! (18+ readers only pls), established relationship

Word Count: 2,278

Summary: you've been teasing your boyfriend over text while he's been away in paris for business, and he comes home early to teach you a lesson.

Warnings: mentions of sexting, cunnilingus, fingering, making out, clitoral stimulation, tongue kissing, praise kink, edging, reader gets teary, orgasm denial, hitting it from the back, creampie (god I still hate that word!!). also showering together is henced because after all, they are a couple.

Authors Note: hi guys!!! welcome to my own version of march madness (some watch basketball, I write smut. jk I do like basketball too.) I said it before, but just in case you didn't hear, I am celebrating yoongi's bday as well as my own this month by posting my favorite pisces 2 (or 3? its the aries in me to be a menace) times this month. enjoy the smut and happy birthday to my twin flame, yoongi!!

______________________________________________

Yoongi’s patience with you seemed to always be never ending. Nothing that you did ever seemed to cross the line, and when it did, you knew.

Well, today was one of those days.

Yoongi had been in Paris for work for a few days, and with the time difference, you got bored at night and stayed up late, sending him pictures and videos of yourself. They started off with sending him cute outfits that you bought, and then lingerie. However, he stopped responding when you sent him a video of yourself in the bathtub, making you wonder if you might have taken things a little too far. You didn’t want to interrupt him if he was dealing with important business.

Feeling kind of panicky and unsure what Yoongi was thinking, you eventually went to bed, hoping he would somehow not see it, or completely forget about it.

In the morning, you woke up to a text from Yoongi.

Yoongi: You like teasing me like that don’t you, distracting me from work?

You knew he wasn’t actually mad, he probably did enjoy what you were sending him, but maybe it was a bad time.

You thought for a second, and sent a quick text back to him.

You: Just thinking about you, baby.

Hoping that smoothed things over, you went on with your day. Since the time difference, you weren’t expecting to hear from Yoongi until later on in the night.

Later on, when you were winding down for the night, changing into your pajamas, your boss at work called a zoom meeting, discussing some business endeavors.

Since you were very much not modest — your pajamas were a pair of underwear and a big t shirt, your camera was turned off so no one could see you.

The meeting felt like it was going on for forever, you had one of your AirPods in even though sometimes you felt like you probably weren’t even paying attention. The good thing was is that you probably didn’t have to talk.

You pulled your knees in towards your chest in your chair at your desk, taking a drink from your glass that was next to your computer mouse. Suddenly, you heard a knock, but brushed it off as one of your coworkers making noise. You didn’t look away from your computer screen.

A few seconds later, there was another knock that was slightly louder than before; making you realize it was in the room and not coming from the computer. You looked around the room and was almost in disbelief when you saw Yoongi leaning against the doorway, one of his hands in his pocket of his tan colored suit.

“Yoongi?” You questioned him quickly. “I thought you wouldn’t be home until tomorrow.”

Yoongi stepped towards you. “My manager told me there was an earlier flight, so I left right after my event; hence why I’m so dressed up.”

“Yeah, you look so sexy.” You complimented him as he walked behind you. “What made you decide to leave early?”

That was a stupid question.

“Oh did someone suddenly forget what she did to me?” Yoongi’s large hands were on your shoulders.

You were silent, looking at your computer.

“Hey sweetheart. That was a question.” Yoongi leaned down, his low voice in your ear.

“I forgot about it.” You responded, reaching to rest one of your hands onto his.

“I’m not mad. You can send me whatever you want; you know that.” Yoongi brushed a piece of hair away from his face. “But to send me a video of you in the bathtub, while I’m sitting at a meeting? I had to cover my lap like I’m a goddamn teenager.”

You smirked to yourself at his reaction, not realizing he wasn’t done talking.

“Now I’m in the mood to edge you until you cry. Make you learn your lesson.”

You bit down on your bottom lip. Fuck. You knew Yoongi meant it when he said things like that.

“Yoongi, I —" You started to speak, but you were cut off.

“Hey, looks like someone has a meeting to listen to, right?” You wondered how long he was standing there earlier as he planted a few kisses along your neck, making you close your eyes. He was for sure pushing your buttons as you hummed in response.

“How was Paris?” You tried to distract your mind, at this point you weren’t even paying attention to your meeting.

“It was nice. I think you’d like it. Next time you should go with me.” One of his hands was now on your inner thigh, and you knew for sure that you were probably soaking your panties.

“I think —“ Your words were cut off when Yoongi’s fingers brushed against your clothed clit, making you swallow hard.

He moved one of your legs to rest on top of the desk, giving himself full view of your panties that were in fact soaked.

“Already worked up for me?” It was a stupid question to ask; you always were.

“Yoongi.” You spoke, a neediness in your voice.

He moved your chair back, somewhat startling you. Then he was hovering over you; his face close to yours. He gave you a quick kiss, making your heart flutter.

He slipped his fingers underneath the waistband of your panties. “Lift your hips.” Yoongi suddenly spoke, and you did.

Yoongi pulled down your panties, swearing to himself when he saw how wet you were. Stuffing them in his suit pocket, he turned your chair and got on his knees in front of you.

“Fuck.” Yoongi muttered to himself, putting his hands on your thighs. You felt like you were holding your breath. Trying to focus on your computer screen, but also trying to brace yourself for Yoongi’s tongue or fingers.

Yoongi barely touched your clit with his thumb; making you jump. He pressed harder, moving in slow circles.

You let out a sigh, practically feeling your arousal dripping out of you at this point. Yoongi paused for a second, pulling your hips towards himself so that you were sort of laying back in your chair; and more comfortable. Just as you looked away from Yoongi, you felt him push his middle and ring finger inside of you, pressing against your front wall hard.

You cried out his name, leaning your head back.

“You’re so fucking wet.” Yoongi grunted. “Fuck.” He was right, you could hear the squelching noises from his fingers going in and out of you.

Yoongi didn’t say anything before leaning down and sucking your clit into his mouth; forming a rhythm with the way his fingers were moving in and out of you.

Your body shuddered when his fingers brushed against your sweet spot; and you knew you weren’t going to last long if he kept going like this.

One of your hands was in his long, dark hair; trying to hold him there. You could feel yourself getting close, hanging on the edge of your orgasm.

Until suddenly, Yoongi stopped.

“Yoongi!” You were so frustrated, panting. “What the fuck?”

“Baby.” Yoongi spoke lowly, kissing your inner thigh. “Did I say that you could cum?”

“No.” You sighed, looking towards your computer screen.

“Be good for me.” Yoongi glanced up at you, giving you a look that gave you chills and reminded you that you were practically naked in your home office, while he was still fully clothed.

He suddenly stood up in front of you, removing his tan suit jacket; and then throwing it off to the floor. Yoongi leaned in close, grabbing your jaw and giving you a deep kiss; making you taste your own arousal.

“Can you do that for me?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“Yes.” You answered, even though it didn’t sound very promising. “But Yoongi, I think I might have to talk in this.”

“Then you can talk.” Yoongi pressed three of his fingers against your clit, then in a half of a second they were inside of you again.

Yoongi was going way harder than before; fucking you with his fingers. He stood up, trying to get better leverage. You felt his fingers bump your sweet spot, making you grab onto him; practically begging him not to stop.

“Yoongi, don’t stop. Please don’t stop.” Your voice was a whine as your walls were clenching his fingers.

On the brink of your second orgasm, you could hear the squelching noise coming from between your legs; realizing that you were probably gushing at this point.

“Yoongi.” You whined, pulling him in for a kiss.

You felt his fingers leave you again, making you let out a sob of a moan against his mouth. At this point you wanted to cry. You wished that your stupid meeting was over and Yoongi was pounding you into your mattress.

“Yoongi, I don’t know if I can take it anymore.” Your voice was shaky as you exhaled.

“I think you can handle more.” Yoongi answered you. He was right, you always liked to push yourself until you found your limit.

You let out a whine when you felt his fingers teasing your entrance again. “Yoongi, please.”

In what seemed like perfect timing; you heard everyone in your meeting saying their goodbyes and wrapping up.

“Alright have a good night everyone, see you Monday morning.”

You watched Yoongi in front of you undoing his belt, and throw it onto the floor with a thud. You quickly unmuted yourself in the meeting to say good bye, then left.

You took out the one AirPod you had in your right ear just in time for Yoongi to grab your chin with one of his hands, kissing you with such a force you thought he’d bruise you.

You grabbed onto his wrist when he simultaneously slipped his tongue into your mouth as his fingers started rubbing your now over sensitive clit.

Yoongi let out a moan into your mouth, making your core clench around nothing.

You broke away from the kiss, his face was still close to yours. Practically aching for him, you whined. “Yoongi, please.”

Swiping his tongue over his bottom lip, Yoongi stood back up, and began unbuttoning his shirt. “Go to the couch. With your back towards me.”

As Yoongi’s shirt was discarded onto the floor, you got up out of your chair; your legs feeling like they didn’t belong to yourself at first. The couch was only a few steps away from your chair at your desk.

You put your knees onto the seat of the couch, then leaned your upper body onto the back rest. Never thinking you’d be having sex in your office; you were glad that this couch was surprisingly roomy.

Hearing movement and fabric rustling, you could only assume that Yoongi’s pants were now off. He moved his hand along the small of your back, pushing your t shirt up to expose more of your body to him.

“Fuck.” Yoongi swore as you arched your back, getting ready for him. “Look at you.”

You let out a moan when you felt his cock head against your entrance, and you moved, trying to fuck yourself onto him.

Yoongi grabbed a hold of your hips, keeping you still he pushed himself inside of you; bottoming out in one thrust.

“Fuck!” You let out a moan, your mouth falling open.

Yoongi sucked in a harsh breath. “God, you feel so fucking good.”

You put your knees further apart on the couch in attempts to feel him a little deeper.

“Yoongi, fuck.” You slightly turned, grabbing onto his wrist as he held onto you. “Don’t stop.”

You felt him nudge your g-spot, making your walls abruptly clench around him. You could tell that your orgasm was somewhat close.

Suddenly Yoongi pulled you up so your back was against his chest; the new angle making you feel him so deep it was like he was in your stomach.

Your eyes were watering as you still clutch onto him. “Fuck, Yoongi I’m so close.” Leaning back into him, he planted a few kisses along your shoulder and neck.

Yoongi reached between hour legs with one hand and started to rub your clit, and your legs started to shake underneath you.

Your eyes were getting teary as Yoongi’s pace never faltered. “Yoongi, please.” Your voice was a whine. “Let me cum.”

“Yeah, you wanna cum?” Yoongi’s voice was breathy against your neck.

“Please.” You leaned into him, one of your hands making its way to his dark hair as you craned your neck to kiss him. “Tell me I’m a good girl.”

Yoongi grunted, starting to fuck into you so hard that you fell forwards back onto the couch. “My good girl.” It was almost as if he was enunciating the words with his thrusts.

“Oh god.” The words left your mouth like a sob as your orgasm crashed into you; this time Yoongi doing nothing to stop it. Your body nearly trembling as Yoongi continued fucking into you. “Fuck.”

“Shit.” Yoongi swore under his breath, his hips stuttering before releasing himself inside of you.

“Yoongi.” You whined at the feeling before it was apparent it was running down your inner thigh. You laughed slightly. “My couch.”

“What?” He was panting, then laughed with you. “Sorry, baby.”

You turned to face him. “God, what time is it? I’m exhausted.”

“You’re telling me. I’m jetlagged as fuck right now.”

You looked up at him, both of you were sweaty, fucked out, and exhausted.

“I’m happy you’re home.”

Yoongi smiled at you, pulling you up off of the couch. “Me too, now let’s take a shower and go the fuck to bed.”

______________________________________________

Tags: @dearlyjoonie @thepurpleghost @che-er-ful @thoughtfullysassysublime @yoongiscta @polyparkj

[storygremlin]

Okay, for very real I need everyone acting like Colin didn’t “suffer enough” or whatever to take a breath and like…I dunno, rethink how u treat ur friends or something.

Like, Penelope’s feelings being hurt about the comment he made at the end of S2 is so real, but also her forgiving him as soon as he genuinely apologizes and follows through on being a solid friend is what friendship is??? Have none of you ever been accused by random people you only kinda know about being into ur close friends just bc ur opposite genders and then doing that panicky defense thing where you laugh really loud and go “what r u even saying dude? Hahaha that’s ridiculous they’re my bestie we are The Most Platonic (tm)” just to get them to leave u alone?

Does Colin overcompensate? Yes. Is it understandable, especially given the information we have about Penelope’s feelings, that she feels hurt and made fun of? Also yes. But very obviously, he wasn’t trying to make fun of her because he didn’t know how she felt. Very obviously, he loves talking to her and spending time with her. Very obviously, he values her opinion of him. He just didn’t want other people implying things about their friendship, specifically because it’s so important to him. If it wasn’t important to him, he wouldn’t have kept writing her even when she wasn’t writing him back. He wouldn’t have followed her out of that ball and tried to figure out what was wrong. He wouldn’t have sought her out in her garden, listened to her explanation, and offered his help despite the risk to their reputations. And he wouldn’t have quickly forgiven her snooping in his private journal and smiled so bashfully when she complimented his writing.

And when he realizes he’s in love with her he gives her the choice. He risks being so deeply vulnerable, kneels in front of her, and says, “I need you, I crave you, this is torture but I want it cause it’s you, do you want me?” And he’s fully ready to back off when he thinks she’s rejecting him. That’s respect.

Friends to lovers isn’t friends to lovers if they’re punishing each other over mistakes or lack of communication.

Friends to lovers is only good when there’s inherent love and trust and a desire to understand, support, and forgive each other pulling people together. Not despite themselves. If you want love despite themselves watch S2. Friends to lovers is love because. Because they’ll talk things out. Because they’ll try to encourage and forgive. Because they’ll do whatever is necessary to keep it good. Its love because of themselves. Because they value and love each other enough to keep trying.

That’s friendship bitch. And I love theirs.

[mountttmase]

a mason imagine where you’re pregnant with your second child and you tell your first child so you can surprise mason together, but one day he catches your first daughter drawing a family picture of you all and includes the second baby by accident and mason founds out you’re pregnant due to the drawing! super fluffy of course ☺️💗

Mummy’s Got One Growing Too

Note - so this fic obviously mentions pregnancy which if that’s not your thing then I totally get it but I absolutely loved writing this 🙊 would love to hear what you all think 💙

Pairing - Mason Mount x Reader

Word count - 4k

Warnings - fluffy fluff

Feeling dizzy and sick like you had been for the past few days wasn’t something you felt regularly. living with Mason meant you pretty much always made sure the pair of you were eating correctly, drinking enough and generally taking care of yourselves but you knew something had been off the past few weeks.

You were tired beyond belief, everything ached and you were loosing your appetite a bit but you’d put all this down to stress. Life in the Mount household had been far from perfect lately what with Masons injury and the current mess that was Chelsea football club. Looking after Mason whilst also trying to look after your four year old little boy at the same time was proving to be a lot to handle and it was seeming starting to show it’s self in physical symptoms.

The dizziness was new though and had only come on in the last few days. You kept it to yourself as not to add anything else onto Masons plate but it was growing harder to keep from him and only getting worse. That night you sat in bed whilst Mason was putting Ollie to sleep, promising to make yourself a doctors appointment in the morning.

‘Do you know where I put that new bottle of aftershave?’ Mason questioned as he walked into your room and you were quick to jump up to help him find it.

‘Yeah it should be-‘ you started but were quickly stopping. Holding onto your forehead as you grabbed onto whatever you could, which turned out to the mattress as you fell forward, legs turning to jelly as your head spun and a loud whooshing noise ran between your ears.

‘Baby?’ You faintly heard and you felt Masons hands on your thighs, turning your body around so you were sat on the bed properly but he let you come to on your own as not to push you too much but you could tell he was frightened about what he’d just seen. ‘Are you okay, love?’

‘Yeah, sorry’ you giggled, looking up at him once you felt somewhat normal, hoping to reassure him it was just a blip and you were alright. ‘Just lost my bearings a bit’

‘You sure?’ I haven’t seen you that dizzy since before Ollie was born’ he laughed and it was like everything clicked into place for you.

Could it be? Could you really be pregnant again?the pair of you had never exactly been careful but another baby wasn’t in your plans right now, and you were unsure if Mason wanted another one what with everything going on. You felt like it would be more stress to add onto his plate but you couldnt get to far ahead of yourself as Mason was standing back up.

‘Stay there, just tell me where it is and I’ll get it’ he chuckled and you gave him a soft smile before letting him know you’d put it in one of the drawers of his wardrobe. You left him to rummage around whilst you thought over what to do, thinking back to when your last period was but you were so panicky that you couldn’t think of when it was. What about tests, did you have any in the house? Would they even be in date and fine to use? ‘Are you sure you’re alright, love? You look white a sheet’ Mason spoke, interrupting you out of your crazed thoughts.

‘Yeah sorry, it’s just been a bit of a long day’ you chuckled, moving back in the bed so you could lay down before he slid in next to you.

‘Yeah? I know things have been a bit tense lately but you would tell me if something was wrong wouldn’t you?’

‘Of course’

‘Cause I love you a lot. Even if I haven’t been great at telling you or showing you how much lately’

‘Mase it’s-‘

‘Don’t say it’s fine. It’s not fine’ he told you, cupping your jaw as you stared back at him with glassy eyes. ‘I can’t even remember the last time I held you like this. You’re my girl and we’re supposed to be a team but youve been pulling most of the weight. I feel like I haven’t taken a proper look at you in weeks and you look exhausted’ he told you softly and you finally let a few tears escape your eyes that he kissed away softly. ‘I’m really sorry, baby’ he whispered, making you nuzzle into his neck so he didn’t see you cry anymore. ‘Let’s get some sleep yeah? How about you turn your alarm off and I’ll get Ollie up tomorrow. I’ve got a shoot in the afternoon that I can take him to and then after I can take him over to stay with lewis for the evening. He’s already said yes so it’s fine. We can just chill out yeah? Spend some time just the two of us’

‘I’d like that’ you whispered before he kissed your forehead and snuggled down. ‘I love you too, Mase. A lot’

You felt him press a heavy kiss to your lips before settling back down, holding you tightly in his arms and he stroked you back to help you drift off whilst placing feather light kisses to your hairline. You thought it might of been a struggle to get to sleep tonight with all the thoughts rushing around your head and what ifs, but Mason always knew how to settle you and you knew everything would be fine whatever the outcome.

Mason kept to his promise and got Ollie up and ready giving you a much needed lie in until he had to go to cobham for some rehabilitation sessions, leaving you alone with the little one and your racing thoughts. Would it be worth waiting to take a test? Would it be worth taking one at all? You didn’t feel like you could be pregnant but you never knew. Maybe it would be worth taking one just to settle your mind? In the end you told yourself you couldn’t wait anymore and you needed to get out of the house for your own sanity and grab a test to calm your mind.

‘Hey Ollie? How do you fancy going out for lunch today? We can go for a walk and look round the shops after?’ You asked him and he was up running about to get his shoes on before he’d even answered you properly, but you were grateful as you couldn’t stand another second in the house without knowing if there was a little human growing inside you or not, so after a quick trip to Ollie’s favourite coffee shop you made a trip into the pharmacy to pick up a few tests before a trip to the toy shop where he picked out some new crayons and a colouring book.

‘I’m just going to have a look for something in the other room okay? You stay here I won’t be long’ you told him with a kiss on his head before you made you way to the downstairs loo that was just across the hall. Sitting and waiting for those two minutes felt like a lifetime but soon enough you were turning the stick over to read the one little word that carried so much weight.

Pregnant

You gasped before choking out a sob. You hands started shaking as you placed the test down on the sink, no longer able to read the word as your eyes filled with tears. You couldn’t believe it and you couldn’t believe how long it had taken you to realise this was the cause of all your issues. There was a mini mix of Mason and you growing and had been for over two months according to the test.

A knock on the door pulled you from your thoughts before your little boy opened the door. His face full of concern as he looked at you crying on toilet floor.

‘Mummy? What’s wrong?’

You didn’t want to frighten him so you sent him a smile, opening your arms for him to run into. Giving him a massive squeeze before rubbing your eyes to clear the tears away.

‘Nothings wrong baby I promise’

‘You’re crying’

‘I know but they’re happy tears’ you laughed before letting him go, leading him back into the living room before sitting him on your lap. You felt like you were about to burst as you needed to tell someone and you figured it was no harm in telling him before you let Mason know later as you knew Ollie would pester you until he knew what was happening. ‘If I tell you a secret do you promise not to tell anyone? Not even daddy?’

‘I promise’ he nodded excitedly, pretending to zip his lips and you chuckled at his cheekiness. It was times like this he looked like Mason the most which made your heart hurt. You wished he was here so you could all share this moment together but it gave you a little bit of time to think of a way to tell him so you gave Ollie a quick kiss on the forehead before carrying on.

‘You remember when baby Mila was growing in auntie Jaz’s tummy?’ You asked him and he nodded his head, glancing down to your tummy and placing a gentle hand there which made you laugh. ‘Yes baby, mummy’s got one growing too now. And in a little while you’ll have your own brother or sister to play with. How does that sound?’

Ollie’s hand’s clenched into fists as he did a little excited dance on your lap, letting you know he was happy about it and you hugged him to you tightly as fresh tears welled up in your eyes. But you were soon knocked out of your trance but the front door opening Masons voice booming through the house.

‘Hello? I’m home. Is Ollie ready to go? I just need to get changed and I’ll take him’

The sudden realisation that a positive pregnancy test was still sitting on your downstairs bathroom sink made you jump up, dragging Ollie with you but thankfully he was already halfway up the stairs and nowhere near it but you caught the confused look he gave you both when you emerged. The test hidden in your back pocket

‘What are you doing?’ He laughed but you just brushed him off with a shake of your head.

‘Nothing. Ollie’s ready so be quick’ you laughed and he rolled his eyes before continuing on. You crouched down so you were Ollie’s level, holding him by his chubby cheeks so he’d look at you properly before you started placing little kisses all over his face, making him giggle adorably. ‘Remember baby. Not a word to anyone, yeah? Our secret until tomorrow’

‘Yes mummy’ he laughed, holding up his little finger for you link yours with which you did with a laugh before pulling him in for a big hug.

‘And you be good for uncle Lew yeah?’ You told him, his head nodding up and down furiously as you stood to grab his coat and bag. ‘Why don’t you go grab your new colouring things so you’ve got something to do at daddy’s shoot?’ You told him as Mason was making his way back down the stairs.

‘You alright?’ He asked, pressing a quick kiss to your lips. You wanted to blurt it out there and then but you knew the timing wasn’t right. You wanted to tell him when you had time, just the two of you so you just nodded before he kissed you again. This time slowly and gently, filling your tummy with butterflies just like he always did.

‘I’m ready’ Ollie shouted, running towards you both and hugging Masons legs so he could pick him up. Once he was both your heights you gave him a kiss on the cheek and a little tickle of his tummy, making him laugh.

‘Have a nice time. And remember, be a good boy’ you told him, kissing his cheek before turning to face Mason. ‘You be a good boy too’ you laughed, reaching up to kiss him gently as he chuckled.

‘I’m always a good boy. Come on then mate, let’s get going. Say bye to mummy’

‘Bye mummy’ Ollie sung, giving you a hug and kissing you on the cheek before Mason put him on the floor so he could go and get in the car, leaving you and Mason alone for him to pull you into a big hug.

‘I’ll see you later yeah?’ He whispered and you nodded into his neck before pulling away to give him a quick kiss. ‘Take it easy’ he winked and with one final kiss he was gone.

You knew you needed to nip back out to the shops to get a few things for dinner and on the way you thought over some ways that you could tell Mason about the sprog in your belly, scrolling through Pinterest before eventually picking up everything you needed and returning home.

You were antsy about his arrival, trying to distract yourself by making a start on dinner and when you heard the front door open, you felt your heart in your throat and you tried to swallow down the nervous lump. You had t thought about what part of the night would be best to tell him it if you could could even keep it in for much longer.

‘Baby?’ He bellowed, trying to locate you and you let out a nervous laugh, slightly apprehensive about how the night would go.

‘Kitchen’ you replied, hearing him making his way to you, his smiley face coming into view not long after before he made his way over to plant a kiss on you cheek.

‘You okay? How was your afternoon?’

‘Yeah fine thanks. How was your shoot?’

‘Yeah same old same old’ he told you, rolling his eyes with a smile. ‘Ollie seems to really like his new colouring stuff. In fact he drew us a really nice picture but I’m a little bit confused by it’ he laughed, pulling out a folded up piece of paper from his pocket that he flattened out. ‘You wanna have a look?’ He asked, placing it down in front of you before settling his hands on your hips as he looked over your shoulder to tell you about it.

‘What’s this?’ You laughed, eyes glancing over the page of what you assumed was Ollie’s depiction of your family and your heart warmed at the fact that was what he wanted to draw out of everything else in the world.

‘Well this is you apparently, and that’s one’s me’ Mason pointed, his lips by your ear as he described everything to you. ‘That one there with the ball is Ollie and that’s our dog Buster that apparently I have to get him. Not so sure when I agreed to that though’ he laughed before he pointed at the the other figure drawn to the right hand side next to the dog. ‘And this person here, this is his little sister that you’re apparently growing in your belly at the moment, but he’s not allowed to tell me anymore cause it’s a secret?’ he told you quietly and your whole body stiffened at his words, you blood running cold at the fact that he knew before you could tell him.

Your eyes began to fill up as he pulled back and turned you to face him, not sure what sort of expression you were expecting to meet but when he tilted you chin up to look at him, his kind glossy eyes and heartwarming smile settled you instantly and you felt stupid for even worrying about telling him.

‘Is it true? Are you pregnant?’

‘Yes’ you sobbed, throwing your arms around his shoulders and holding him as tightly as you could. ‘I found out this afternoon, I was gonna tell you tonight, I’m sorry’ you cried as he held you close you him, swaying you from side to side and he tried to calm your sobs down.

‘Hey, it’s okay. Come on love, just breathe for me yeah? You’re okay i promise’ he whispered, letting you get yourself together before you pulled back to take him in.

He looked so happy, his bright smile making you smile back at him just as hard before he held you by your face, pressing little kisses all over it before making his way to your lips, kissing you gently but pouring himself into you. Letting you know how loved and appreciated you were by his lips alone and you felt yourself turn to jelly as he grabbed you by your thighs and lifted you to sit on the counter. Slotting himself in between your legs as he came back to stroke your cheeks gently.

‘Are you okay? Are you feeling alright? I knew something was up but I never thought it could be this’ he laughed and you nodded at him whilst wiping your eyes as his soon spilled over with tears.

‘I’m alright. I didn’t know either like I’ve been feeling a bit rough but when you said you hadn’t seen me dizzy since before Ollie it all sort of clicked into place and I took a test earlier. It says I’m two months plus but I’ll have to make an appointment soon to get everything checked’

‘Well let me know I wanna be there’ he laughed, gently pulling up the bottom of your top so he could press kisses onto the bare skin of your tummy. ‘Hello baby, it’s your daddy. I love you so so much you have no idea’ he spoke to your belly and you laughed as you brushed you fingers through his hair. ‘And you’re gonna love your brother and your mummy too. Just like I do’

‘Oh yeah?’ You laughed ‘You sure you’re still gonna love me when I’m all fat again?’ And he looked back up to give you a soft loving stare.

‘You gave me my best friend in the world and you’re about to give me another one. I couldn’t be more in love with you if I tried’ he whispered making you shiver and your heart race at his sweet words. ‘You, and this little family we’re building mean absolutely everything to me, like more than I could ever tell you. I know I’ve been caught up in myself lately and I need to do better but I will, I promise’ he told you, tears still falling from his eyes and you brushed them away gently.

‘Thank you’ you whispered, pulling him in for a much needed kiss as you could tell you both needed some comfort. He held you at your waist gently, his thumb seeming to automatically stroke over your tummy softly like he was letting the baby know he was there and everything was okay.

‘No, thank you. You’re making me a dad again and it’s my favourite thing in the whole world like I could never repay you for any of this’ he uttered, the emotion taking over his voice before you held him close to you.

‘Would you like your present?’ You laughed and he looked at you in confusion before you passed him a small white box that had a doughnut inside and a handwritten message on the inside of the lid.

Eat me! Mummy doesn’t want to be the only one with a belly 💛

Mason laughed, picking it up to take a bite before you could stop him, rolling your eyes in annoyance as you tried to grab it but he was halfway across the kitchen in a flash.

‘Mase, you’ll ruin your dinner’ you laughed, gently getting down from the counter so you could take it off of him and he pouted but gave it up straight away.

‘Go sit down, I can finish dinner off. You need to be resting’ he told you. ‘I know us Mounts can be exhausting’

‘You can say that again’ you laughed, popping yourself down on the stool at the kitchen island. ‘I tell you what, I’m never telling Ollie any secrets again. He promised not to blab’ you smiled and he laughed loudly.

‘He’s was so excited though. I think he really wants a sister’ he laughed ‘which I think would be nice. You know, complete the set? I think I’d make a pretty good girl dad’

‘You’d make the best girl dad’ you smiled as he kissed your forehead gently.

‘Well you’re already the best mum and I’ve learnt everything I know from you’ he winked. ‘We’ll keep this between the three of us for now yeah? Maybe four if Ollie can’t keep his mouth shut around Lewis’ Mason laughed, picking his phone up to give him a quick call to see if he’d blabbed yet. ‘Nah apparently he’s promised he’s not said anything and Lewis seems none the wiser so I think we’re safe’ he told you, giving you a disapproving look as you were dishing the food up and not sat where he’d left you. ‘Come on then you two, let’s eat so we can have a cuddle’ he laughed and you felt your face flush at the fact he’d referred to you as a pair.

‘Can I see the test?’ Mason asked after dinner and you quickly retrieved it from your bedside drawer so he could read the words for himself as you cuddled up together on the sofa, you practically sitting in his lap as he rested his chin on your shoulder. ‘Two months, when was two months ago?’ He asked and you both counted back to the middle of January, your face flushing when you realised what date it must of been, his own face a look of shock when he realised when it could potentially be. ‘You don’t think it was mine and Decs birthday party do you? You know when we-

‘Had drunk sex in Decs summer house in his garden?’ You laughed ‘I mean the dates match up’

‘He’s gonna murder me when he finds out, he’ll make us name the baby after him and everything. Even if it is a little girl we’ll have to call it Declan’ he teased.

‘I’m not calling my baby Declan just cause you couldn’t keep it in your pants’ you laughed bringing him in for a kiss. ‘What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him’ you reasoned and he agreed before resting his head on your shoulder, his hand resting on your tummy just like he did when you were pregnant with Ollie, making you look back at him with a smile. ‘I love you so much, Mase’

‘I love you too, gorgeous. More than anything’ he whispered. ‘How are you feeling about it all?’

‘Scared’ you laughed, your own hand brushing up against his on your tummy and you felt him link your fingers together, making a safe little barrier to protect the tiny life inside you. ‘I’m not really sure it’s sunk in yet. How are you feeling?’

‘Excited’ he smiled, kissing your neck gently as he tried calm you. ‘You don’t need to be scared, love. I’m here for you. Anything you need I’ve got you yeah? I’m gonna take such good care of you. Both of you’ he reassured you

‘I know you will’ you whispered, eyes filling up for the millionth time that day as he kissed you gently and you knew you were in safe hands.

[hearts-hunger]

january blue || josh kiszka x reader

Read on AO3 | Masterlist | Cabin Fever Masterlist

Summary: You're sick, and Josh takes good care of you.

Pairings: Josh x Reader | Genre: fluff, h/c, sickfic | Word Count: 2k | Warnings: none!

A/N: Here's another one of those self-serving fics that I hope you like :) Also this is lowkey an ad for Netflix's “The Greatest Night in Pop” because that was a great documentary. Anyhoopla I hope you like it! ♡

“Sweet baby, when is your birthday again?”

You pulled your blank gaze from the waiting room wall, frowning a little as you looked over at Josh. It took you a second to think of a response; the fluorescents overhead were harsh, and everything seemed unnaturally bright under them. Josh held the pen poised and ready above the intake form, waiting for you to tell him your birthdate.

The uncomfortable vinyl chair creaked when you turned towards him. “You don't know my birthday?” you asked, unsure if you should be surprised by that. You were surprised, but you were also rather disoriented, so maybe it was a normal question for an attentive boyfriend to ask.

He cracked a smile, a welcome bit of tenderness in the cold, stark doctor’s office. 

“I do,” he said. “I was only teasing.” He jotted it down along with your other details, taking care of the task for you as you sat in the waiting room together. It was sweet of him to do it and try to take your mind off things while he did, and it made the appointment seem a little less daunting.

“What are your symptoms?” he asked, writing down the ones he already knew. “Earache, sore throat, congestion?”

You nodded, covering your ear with your hand, careful of pressing too hard. “Dizziness, too. And a headache.”

“My poor baby,” he said sympathetically. He finished up the intake form. “Okay, honey. You’re all set.” He returned the clipboard to the front desk, taking your hand when he came back to sit next to you.

“What do you think?” he asked. His hair was a golden halo of soft curls, and it didn’t surprise you that even the awful atmosphere of the doctor’s office didn’t dim his warmth and cheerfulness. “Do you wanna read one of these magazines that have been here since the eighties? There’s probably some older ones if that sounds too modern.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “I think I’m okay, thanks.”

He smiled. “Well, let me know if you change your mind.”

He pulled out his phone to answer a text from Danny; you rested your head on his shoulder, trying to ignore the persistent ache and the vaguely panicky feeling you always got at the doctor. 

Josh gave you a quick smooch on your forehead. You smiled.

“What was that for?” you asked.

“Danny said to give you a get-well kiss,” he said. “So there you go.”

You cuddled closer to him. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Of course, baby.” He pocketed his phone. “Thanks for asking me. I would have been sad to find out you went without me.”

You raised your head to look at him, a bemused smile crossing your face. “Why?”

He shrugged. “I know you don’t like the doctor, and I like to be with you for things that make you nervous, if I can. I’m glad you know you can ask me for help.”

Your smile was wobbly, then. “Aw, Joshy. I love you, you know.”

He gave you a sweet smile. “I love you too, baby. Hopefully we’ll be in and out, and then we can spend the rest of the day cuddled up on the couch. Sound good?”

“Sounds wonderful,” you said with a sigh. 

You lost track of time in the waiting room, sucked into the weird vortex of discomfort and the smell of antiseptic, but eventually your name was called. Josh went with you, and though you might have felt a little embarrassed to be a grown woman with a personal escort to the doctor, you just didn’t have the energy to care. Besides, there was nothing wrong with having Josh with you, and you were glad you didn’t have to do it alone.

He waited patiently while you got your vitals checked, making jokes about your pulse being a little high with white coat syndrome. When the nurse left you alone in the room again, he gave you a thumbs up.

“You’re doing great, baby,” he said with a sweet smile. “I bet you’re the best patient they’ve had all day.”

“I do my best,” you said. You fidgeted on the table, the paper crinkling under you. “Can we get coffee after this?”

“Sure, honey. Whatever you want.”

You gave him a teasing smile. “Whatever I want, huh? Could you strip naked right now and do the hula for me?”

He laughed, and the warm sound of it took the edge off the chill of the sterile room.

“Maybe not whatever you want,” he corrected. He stood and came over to the exam table, giving your thigh a comforting pat. “But I think I can handle coffee.”

You winced and tilted your head as you felt a sharp pain go from your ear all the way down your neck. Josh gently covered the spot with his warm hand, and you leaned into his touch.

“There’s this new documentary on Netflix,” you said, trying to distract yourself from the ache. “About the night they got the supergroup together for ‘We Are The World’.”

“I saw the trailer,” he agreed. He slowly ran his fingers over your fevered skin. “You want to watch that when we get home?”

“Sure. We can make a roster of who should be in the next version with you guys.”

He smiled. “Okay, baby. I’d like that.” A sympathetic frown tugged at his features when you grimaced again.

“I'm sorry you don't feel good, honey,” he said. “I know a jacked up ear isn't very fun.”

You breathed a laugh. “I shouldn't complain. Your whole eardrum exploded, so mine’s easy in comparison.”

He chuckled. “Are we in a competition for worst ear injury? That's kinda weird, even for us.”

You leaned your head against his, thankful for the way he comforted you and made you smile without even trying. 

He pulled back when the door handle turned, and gave your hand a squeeze before he took his seat again. The doctor gave you a quick exam, confirming an ear infection secondary to a sinus infection, and prescribed you a round of antibiotics. 

Josh got you squared away at the desk before you left, and you were content to let him do the talking as the pain started to catch up with you. He led you out to the car, getting you settled in the passenger seat before he got in himself.

“Still feel up for coffee?” he asked.

You curled up in a pitiful little ball. “Yes, please. But maybe I’ll get the Medicine Ball instead.”

He kept one hand on your thigh as he drove, and you half dozed with your hands wrapped around the wonderfully warm Starbucks cup. He ran into the store to pick up your prescription and a few other things, and though he’d promised to be quick, he was gone longer than you’d expected.

“Where did you go?” you said, an irritated, petulant tone creeping into your voice. “The Bermuda Triangle?”

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said sincerely, putting the bags in the back of the Jeep. “The pharmacy line was super long. I guess I should have taken you home and come back out for your medicine.”

You softened, feeling a little guilty. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be grumpy with you when you're running around doing everything for me.”

He touched a hand to your cheek. “You don’t have to apologize, baby. I know you don't feel good. I understand if you’re grumpy.”

You held his hand and kept it pressed to your cheek for a moment. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, baby. Let’s get you home, okay?”

At home, he got your medicine and some painkillers into you before he ran you a bath. He sat on the edge of the tub, brushing your hair back from your face.

“I think you’ll feel better if you have a nap, baby,” he said, keeping his voice quiet. “Do you want to eat something before you lay down?”

You shook your head. “I don’t really have an appetite.”

“I understand. I’d like you to try and eat a little something, though, just so the medicine doesn't make you sick. How about some soup?”

You looked up at him. “Can you do the spinach and rice one Jake makes?”

He nodded slowly. “Uh... yes. I think so.” You laughed when he pulled out his phone to ask his brother for the recipe.

He pressed a kiss to your hair. “Let me go get it cooking,” he said. “You enjoy your bath.”

You gratefully sank into the warm water, letting it soothe your aches until you felt all jellied and tired. Still, you were reaching the edge of your tolerance for the consistent pain; you knew the Tylenol had to be kicking in soon, but until it did, you were steadily getting more outdone with feeling so miserable. You hardly spoke when Josh came to help you out and brought you warm pajamas, and he watched you with worry as he steered you to the couch.

You winced when the pain spiked suddenly. “Oh my god, ow.”

Josh pulled back from you. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

“No. My stupid ear.” You gingerly pressed your hand to it, close to tears with frustration and discomfort. You looked pitifully up at him. “It hurts, Joshy.”

“I know, baby,” he said gently. “I’m sorry. What can I do?”

You shook your head, unable to think of anything, even if there was anything he could do. He just pulled you close and held you in a safe, steady hug, and it was exactly what you needed.

“My sweet baby,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry you’re hurting.”

A few tears spilled over, and you buried your face against his chest.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” you said in a small voice.

“Honey,” he soothed. “You’re welcome. You don't have to thank me. I wish I could do more to help.”

You hugged him tighter, resting in his warmth and closeness. “You’re perfect, Josh.”

He rested his head against yours and rocked you gently. “I love you, my sweet girl.”

When the uptick in pain finally subsided, maybe because the medicine had finally kicked in, you let yourself be settled on the couch in a nest of pillows. Josh covered you with every fuzzy blanket he could find until you were practically buried in them.

“Joshy,” you giggled. 

He smiled. “There’s that sweet laugh,” he said tenderly. “I missed it. What’s got you so tickled?”

You tried to lift your arms under the blankets. “I’m gonna be trapped in here.”

He chuckled. “It’s my master plan. Keep you wrapped up in blankets so you can never escape me.”

“I don’t want to escape you.”

“Just making sure.” He held your face in his hands and gave you kiss after kiss after kiss, each one sweet and gentle and joyful. “I love you very much, you know.”

You gave him a bashful smile. “Yeah, I know.”

You had dinner — Josh had replicated Jake’s recipe perfectly, which he insisted was thanks to his twin’s detailed instructions — and watched the documentary about the recording of ‘We Are The World’. The two of you spent a while listing people you wanted in your supergroup to play with Greta Van Fleet.

“I want Noah Kahan and Gregory Alan Isakov,” you said.

Josh nodded sagely. “I see the vision. We should get Labi Siffre too.”

“Can we go back in time and get John Denver?” you asked.

He smiled. “Yes. I’m making that executive decision. Because I want to grab the original lineup of Fairport Convention.”

“So... we’re doing a folk rock version, then?”

He hummed in agreement. “And we make friends with everybody, and it’s the number one single in the world, and it’s your favorite song that we’ve ever done.”

You laughed and cuddled against him when he pulled you close.

He ran his hand up and down your arm. “I'm glad you’re feeling a little better, honey.”

You gave a contented sigh. “Me too.”

It had started to rain when you got home, and there was still a gentle, steady drumbeat on the roof that matched the hazy blue wash against your windows. Josh held you close and told you about what they’d worked on in the studio, and before long, the warmth of his voice and the sound of the rain worked as surely as a lullaby to pull you towards sleep.

Josh brushed his thumb over your cheek. “You’re so beautiful, baby,” he said softly.

You tilted your face up for a kiss, and he obliged you. He was all love and gentleness and warmth, as he always was, and you melted into his touch.

“You love me lots, don’t you?” you asked.

“Yes, baby. Lots and lots.”

“Oh good,” you said, cosy and sleepy and content in the safety of his arms. “I love you lots too.”

gvf taglist:@malany-gvf@spark-my-nature@eearevee@madneedshelp@demonrat444@josh-iamyour-mama@honeyandsweettae@mydarlingdanny@gretavandann@sacredjake@myleftsock@joshskittytickler21@hellowgoodbye@watchingovergvf2@fearfulspirit@mywaysoon@carbondancingthroughtime@caprisunsister@eraofstardustchords@sacredthefran@shesawomaninadream@serendipiti@demonrat444@wildflowerxx-x@tearsofdanny@iluvjoshkiszka@jordie-gvf-admin@demolitionndann@hi-hi-hello11@wildbluesorbit@nessie-glorpa@laneygvf @jazzyfigz @musicspeaks @amythestars @missharvestmoon @readyforthegarden

@gvfrry@ohhey1293@the-chaotic-cow@mountain-in-springtime@xserenax-13@stardustjtk @brooke-gvf@weightofdreams-gvf@jakeydoesit @hayley1623@doodle417@finestoflines@brokenbellz@bowievanfleet@s0livagant@strugglingtodoshit@s-u-t@kay-jordan@gretavanfleas@jakeyboiiiiiii@gretavansteph@gretavanbitches@myownparadise96@luverleaver@weightofdreamz@greatervanfleet@maedesculpaeusoubi@jakekiszkasbestie@pineapple-photographer@baguettejuliette@alexxavicry@levi-wants-ur-bones@carlybubs@cowboysamkiszka@dannyandthekiszkas@jordierama@slutforsteve@starshine-wagner@quartzzzzzzz@edgeofdreams@writingcold@lostoverseer@catharu77@mackalah@jaketlove@haileygvf@blacksoul-27@ur-m0ms-blog@hi-hi-hello11@wildbluesorbit @nessie-glorpa @laneygvf@madneedshelp@dreamsingxld

[wrens-writings]

Pretty Boy

: ̗̀➛ Jason Grace x clearsighted mortal!gn!reader

: ̗̀➛ In which you witness something horrible and wake up wishing it was just a dream, only to be met with the prettiest man you’ve ever laid your eyes on

: ̗̀➛ oh my gods??? hi??? yall absolutely ATE UP my percy fic??? i was actually SO nervous abt posting my writing, but the positive feedback made me so happy :,) also yes, this is set during HoH. do i care? no! piper is a gay icon and im sorry but i clocked in IMMEDIATELY that she wasn’t straight. my gaydar is just THAT good. also, i’m not entirely the biggest fan of this piece, but i believe in posting what i make. i use it as progress markers :)

: ̗̀➛ WARNINGS: probably out of character, near allusions to a panic attack (mr stapler eater thwarts it quickly 😌), jason being FINE.

‘oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!’ you think to yourself as you stare, unable to tear your eyes away from the Neptune statue that you frequently found yourself at this summer.

you watch as two weird furry things giggle and laugh at two boys. you don’t understand any of what’s happening right now, but you do know that whatever those weird ass creatures are, they stole the boys belongings.

you’ve never been the type to just let people get harassed, even if you don’t know them, or if their harassers are… four foot tall furry things… “hey! those don’t belong to you!” you growl at the creatures, stepping out of the shadows of the alleyway and approaching the broken fountain.

you let out a startled squeak as the shorter boy lights his hands on fire out of shock and defence when you approach. the sound that left your body as well as the EVERYTHING happening around you somehow distracted you from the telltale feeling of lightning preparing to strike on you.

in a flash, golden cords extend from Neptunes fingers, wrapping mostly around the blond boy. one of them misses the brunet, only to latch itself onto you.

just as you’re caught up in the tight golden cords, your body pressed tightly against the blond boy’s, a bolt of lightning strikes Neptunes trident, and suddenly the world went black.

vaguely, you can hear someone telling you to wake up, almost as if they were in a panic. thinking it was your mother trying to tell you that you’re going to be late for school, despite it being july, you curl yourself tighter into the nearest surface.

‘wait a damn minute…’ you think to yourself briefly. ‘this… this isn’t my pillow or my blanket…’

your eyes fly open, and are met with the clearest blue you’ve ever seen. theyre so blue that you weren’t sure if you were looking at the sky for a split second. and then it all comes rushing back.

“oh my god!” you cry, your voice shaking with confusion. it was real? why did it have to be real? why couldn’t this whole thing have just been a dream??

the pretty blond boy was clearly panicking a bit himself. “hey! hey! calm down, it’s okay!” he says over your panicky breathing. “my name is Jason. everything is oka— breathe, dude oh my gods calm down?!”

well that snapped you out of it.

“excuse me?!” you snap, your eyes narrowing with distaste. “don’t you tell me to calm down when i’m hanging upside down with some himbo lookin’ ass who’s acting like this is a regular ole thursday!”

the boy, Jason, bites his lip to stifle a laugh. if he wasn’t so damn attractive, you would’ve been incredibly offended. “sorry.” he giggles.

as you study his face, your own softens slightly. Jason didn’t portray it with his heart on his sleeve, but looking deeper into those mesmerizing clear blue eyes, you could see the horrors. something tells you that he doesn’t get to let loose very often.

“y/n.” you say, much softer than before. “my name is y/n.”

Jason smiles, and the small scar on his lip twitches. briefly, you wonder what the story behind it is. “it’s nice to meet you, y/n. i’m Jason. i wish it could’ve been under better circumstances.” he offers kindly.

you scoff and roll your eyes with a hint of fondness. “yea yea. you know how to get us out of this, Pretty Boy?” you ask with a small, slightly nervous smile.

Jason chokes, clearly not expecting the compliment. “er- yea. uh, just… don’t freak out when i pull out my sword.” he says sheepishly.

your eyes widen. sword?! before you even realize it, there’s a satisfying shrng! of metal in the air. Jason’s golden blade cuts through the cords that hold the two of you up and you tumble to the ground.

you wince and cradle your head. “ow…” you murmur, a frown on your lips.

despite you CLEARLY being in pain, Jason laughs at you softly. he offers you his hand to help you up, and with a shy smile, you take it. “these streets probably aren’t that safe right now… let me walk you back to… er… wherever you came from?” he offers kindly.

you can’t help but chuckle now yourself. “oh, sure, let’s walk to america.” you say with a snort as you begin to walk down the pretty streets of italy with an equally pretty boy. “won’t your friend need help, though?”

Jason shrugs your worry off. “nah, Leo’s fine. he’s as resourceful as they come.” he tells you with a smirk.

you nod and continue walking. “so i assume that there’s a reason i could see those weird things?” you ask softly, almost afraid of the answer.

Jason nods stiffly. he opens his mouth to answer you, but you don’t hear it. you’re too busy staring at him. at those clear, electric blue eyes that are shielded by a pair of glasses and hide so much pain. his soft looking pink lips and the scar along them. his windswept blond hair, as though he’d been flying through the sky without any protection. the way he talks and walks, as if he’s been trained his whole life to be a diplomat.

jesus christ, this boy is pretty as they come.

when you finally tear your eyes away from him, you frown. you’re somehow at the home your family has rented for the summer. already?

“thank you, for walking me back.” you say to him shyly as you look back into his gorgeous eyes.

Jason’s cheeks light pink, just barely, but enough that you can see. “of course. it’s no problem.” he responds as he rubs the back of his head nervously. “take care of yourself, okay, y/n?”

you nod and say your farewells, watching him as he turns and runs back the way you walked, intent on finding his friend. you wonder if you’ll ever see him again, if the fates will ever allow you to cross paths with such a beautiful person ever again.

your eyes fall as you watch him leave, but snap back up quickly. damn! he has a nice ass, too…

[live-laugh-lenney]

Hey, sorry if you aren't comfy with writing this/me requesting it but I just want to know if you could do a period comfort type thing with Arthur or Will? On my period rn and my lord it is killing me :/

the girlies are hungry for some willne content so here we go!

she had a feeling.

a horrid feeling that sat low in her stomach, along with the cramps that were contracting her muscles and the damp sensation that she could feel between her thighs, and she couldn't bring herself to leave the warmth and the comfort of the bed to see a bloodied stain left in her place on will's bed because she hadn't been paying attention to what time of the month it was. and she so badly wanted to get up, to check, to make sure she hadn't leaked too much, if at all, on his bed sheets... yet she found herself panicking.

this was the first time she'd started her period in the presence of him.

usually, she would busy her life to the point where they'd go almost a week without seeing each other because her hormones made her feel gross and grumpy and hormonal. and will wasn't stupid and yn, deep down, knew that... but he never went digging and he never forced plans to happen during that one particular week each month. if she knew she was due to start then there was no way she'd have agreed to stay at his place for the weekend.

"if you stare up at the ceiling any longer, the upstairs owner will be in bed with us."

"what?"

her features scrunch up with her eyebrows pinching together on her browline and she turns her head to look in his direction, being met with a cheeky smirk on his lips and a pair of tired eyes watching her, and she could feel her cheeks heating up with embarrassment.

"you'll burn a hole in the ceiling if you stare at it any longer," he says in amusement and she rolls her eyes, "what did it ever do to you?"

"nothing," she grumbles, grasping at his duvet and pulling it up to cover her face, "i'm going back to sleep."

there's a moment where neither of them move... until she feels him tug on the comforter to remove it from her face, only to be met with a tight grip and a straight-up refusal on her part. and he wasn't in the mood to back down, ducking beneath the covers and coming face-to-face with her.

"something's bothering you," he says softly, almost like a whisper, and he can see the emotions written across her face, "what's the matter?"

"nothing," she whines and turns her face away from him, squeezing her eyes tightly and he sighs heavily, dropping his face into the swell of her breasts that were dressed with one of his old t-shirts, "i'm just sleepy. guess i struggled to sleep last night."

"come on," he scoffs and buries his face a little more into her breast, "i know you, yn. i'm not an idiot."

there's a wave of silence and she really contemplates whether she wanted to tell him or not... it was silly for her to be embarrassed over something as natural as a period but she felt silly for getting so upset and panicky over it. it wasn't something she could control.

"you're gonna be grossed out."

"nonsense," he lifts his head and looks at her, "i'm up in your morning breath right now, nothing can be worse than that."

she scoffs and lifts an arm to whack into his shoulder, making strong contact, enough to elicit a groan from him.

"i hate you," she grumbles and he cackles softly, cosying down beside her and laying an arm across her stomach - unknowing to him that she found instant comfort in feeling his warmth and the weight of his arm resting just where her cramps were aching, "seriously, it's gross."

"what is it? i can't help if you don't tell me."

she pouts her lips out and she wants the ground to swallow her whole because this wasn't a conversation she was prepared for.

"i think i've started my period," she murmurs quietly and she's timid when she looks him in the eye, "but i have none of my stuff. no pads, no tampons, i have no paracetamol or clean pants or anything. and i think i've leaked on your sheets and-"

"is this all you were worried about?"

she gulps thickly and he smiles softly.

"oh, you're a silly goose," he shakes his head, "you think i'm not at all prepared for this?"

"prepared?"

"the only thing i don't have for you is clean pants," he admits and he removes the covers from where they were almost suffocating the two of them, "i have everything you need in the cupboard under the sink in the bathroom. tampons, pads, everything you need. as for the bed sheets, we can wash them, no worries about that."

"you-"

"you think i don't know?" he lifts an arm up and brings a hand to cup her cheek, brushing his thumb across her cheek in a soothing way, "i know when you pretend to be busy for a week so you don't have to see me. i know you keep yourself occupied so you can't come over," her cheeks pink up and, yeah, she feels a lot sillier now, "sunshine, i've been with you for over six months now. i'm not an idiot."

"i can't believe you," she giggles sweetly and she stretches her neck to press a kiss to his cheek, "i love you."

"i love you too," he grins, "now, go and freshen up. have a shower, do what you need to do, and i'll pop out and grab us some breakfast."

"can you get some croissants and pancakes?" she wonders and he nods, "maybe some fruit? and some bacon."

"i'll see what i can do," he presses a kiss to her forehead before he swings his legs over the edge of the bed and stands to his feet, "take as long as you want, yeah? i'll some clean clothes for you on the bed for when you get out."

"thank you," she smiles, watching as he dug through his wardrobe for a fresh outfit to wear for the morning, "now hurry up, otherwise i'm going to turn into some hormonal monster. and you won't like that."

"yes, ma'am." xx

[blueskylinesx]

Tomato Red - Chapter Two

Parings: Jesse Cash x Female Reader

Warnings/Triggers: Language, talks about relationship traumas/abuse, mother/father relationships, mentions of cheating, anxiety, nervousness/panicky behavior, self doubt, fluff, sexual tension.

Summary: The local cafe/bookstore down the street was Jesse's usual hang out spot where he spent hours reading books and working on music. Until one day when he meets a new barista working the bookstore cafe. Suddenly, Jesse's reasons for visiting the bookstore down the road were no longer just for reading and work... but were suddenly meant for much more.

Author's Note: This GIF took me forever to get right.. Tumblr gave me the hardest time BUT I was determined to make it work. I feel like it really captures Jesse's fidgetiness and anxiety that I tried to portray in this chapter. This one was a super fun one to write and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do. The story is just beginning ya'll, buckle in! Please feel free to share your thoughts! :)

The orange scones were heavily inspired by @thefallennightmare 's story "Just Pretend." IF you somehow haven't read it yet, do yourself the favor and exit out of this and go read it right now. Seriously. Thank you SO much again Tina for giving me the okay to add Jesse's fruit addiction to Tomato Red. You're the sweetest ever and I'm honored to have a little piece of Just Pretend be apart of this story.

I'm also trying to work on putting together a little master list so that all these chapters will be in one place that's easier to navigate for everyone. Thank you all for baring with me while I fought to get this chapter up. <3

Tags: @thefallennightmare @thatchickwiththecamera @xxkittenkissesxx @arkiliastuff @lma1986 @cncohshit @collidewiththesav

If you would like to be added to the tags list please let me know! I would be happy to do so! Thank you all for your support and for reading these. <3

READER

I rolled over on my side to shut off the alarm that loudly echoed from my phone which sat on my bedside nightstand. Pulling the charger cord out and letting it fall onto the floor, I dismissed the alarm and let out a long sigh. 5:00 am right on the dot.

I had to be at the cafe early this morning to help Kate bake the first few rounds of pastries for the front display case. Normally Kate could handle the morning bake load by herself. But, with it being so busy lately she asked me to start coming in a few times a week to help out since having to increase the morning bake amount.

I brushed the messy strands of hair away from my face and pulled the covers off of me to fully sit up in bed. I let out a long yawn and rubbed my eyes before finally stepping out into the cold air of my bedroom. 

Kate always kept the AC in the apartment on the temperature of Alaska and although I’ve lived with her for a little over a year, my Floridian blood still wasn’t used to it. Goosebumps lined both my arms and legs and I quickly rushed over to my dresser to remove the oversized shirt I had slept in. I then threw on a pair of black leggings followed by a pair of gray high socks, my white bra, and an oversized dark green sweatshirt.

I then made my way over to my bathroom within a few steps and ran my hand along the wall to find the light switch. With a loud click from flipping the switch up, the sudden brightness filled the room and caused my eyes to squint.

Taking a second for my eyes to adjust, I reached over to the side mirror on the wall and pulled out my toothbrush and toothpaste. With my toothbrush pushed to the side of my mouth I lazily threw my hair up in a messy bun. Not having the energy to put in the effort to do anything cute with it, other than potentially seeing the cutie from last night, and then finishing it off with a few sprays of dry shampoo, just in case.

Shaking the thought from my mind, I finished brushing my teeth with a quick gargle of mouthwash and then made my way back into my room to throw on my pair of black high top converse and sprayed myself with my usual coconut vanilla body mist.

I grabbed my purse off of the hook that hung on the back of my bedroom door, closing it behind me, and finally made my way out of the long hallway and into the front room of mine and Kate’s apartment. 

Stopping right before the front door to grab my car keys from the small side table and double checking to make sure I had my phone and cafe key on me. With everything in place, I reached for the front door handle and stepped out into the gray, dim, overcast LA weather. Feeling the breeze blow around the loose strands of my bun while I turned to lock the door behind me.

Taking in the fresh cool air as it swept across my nose I headed down the two flights of stairs, making my way to the parking lot, and finally into my car. Before inserting my key into the ignition I lifted my butt slightly above my seat to pull my phone out from my back pocket. Sitting back down and unlocking the screen to search for Kate and mine’s thread of text messages.

I quickly typed out, “Hey, currently in the car and on my way now. I made sure to leave a few minutes early today so you wouldn’t put me in a chokehold the second I walked through the door if I was late again. See you soon. Love you.” and then clicked send before starting my car and finally heading out of the parking lot. 

READER

I pulled into the back parking lot of the cafe and parked next to Kate’s blue Mini Cooper, which was the only other car in the lot. The cafe didn’t open until seven and since it was still pretty early the rest of the cafe crew hadn’t shown up yet. 

I shut the car off and reached over to the passenger seat to grab my purse and the rest of my belongings before stepping out of the car. I then headed towards the back door of the cafe and clicked the lock button on my car remote twice as the two car beeps echoed through the parking lot back to me. 

Inserting my cafe key into the lock and using a little bit of force to push the old wooden door open I was greeted by the warm heat that filled the air from the ovens and the sweet aroma of the fresh baked pastries Kate had been working on all morning.

“About time you showed up, I was wondering if you may have hit your snooze button a few extra times this morning.” I heard Kate call out from over by the bakers table.

Glancing down at my phone to check the time that now showed 5:47am, “What do you mean about time? I literally rushed out of the house so fast this morning you would have been proud. Plus you said to get here around six and I’m exactly thirteen minutes early, thank you very much”. I responded back while making my way over to her.

Flour, bowls of mixed pastry batter, baking utensils both clean and coated in all kinds of different pastry mix, and baking pans all covered the table before me. Kate had been here since four and it definitely showed from the mess that also coated her apron. She even managed to get some flour in the ends of her ponytail and on her face.

“Had a little accident this morning, did we?” I asked while swiping my finger across her cheek to scoop up some of the loose flower from her face.

“This mixer is crazy! I don’t know if it’s acting out in retaliation from the use and abuse I’ve been putting this thing through lately… but here I was rolling cinnamon rolls and when I had walked over to check the next batch of dough, the bowl about flew off the stand and threw flower all over the place, as you can clearly see.” Kate said while huffing her hair out of her face with a forceful sigh.

“Well I’ve come to your rescue! Where would you like me to start boss?” I replied with a snicker while pulling my apron strings into a tight knot around my waist.

“First and most importantly, can you bring me my iced coffee and hold it up to me so I can get a sip? I am in desperate need of rejuvenation.”  Kate asked while continuing to roll out the cinnamon rolls before her. “Then if you could start on the orange scones I would be forever in your debt.”

“Wow the orange scones huh? Normally those are your babies, are you suuure you want me to be making the tried and true orange scones? Afterall, I mean I know how particular you are -” 

“Oh shut up and just bring me my iced coffee you brat.” Kate said with a playful laugh.

I held the cup of iced coffee up to Kate’s mouth and she eagerly started sipping away at the half melted liquid inside. I went to set the cup back down on the table after she pulled away but not before noticing the strange look that she was suddenly giving me.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re oddly cheery this morning, normally when you come in you’re quiet and a little grumpy. But today you’re talkative and even have a sort of glow to you. You even texted me before you left home... Did I miss something somewhere from when I last saw you after yesterday’s crazy morning rush?” Kate replied while tapping her finger to her chin.

I could feel my cheeks suddenly getting warm and a rush of nervousness suddenly hit the inside of my stomach like a tsunami. Did Kristina say something to her about last night? I wondered.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just saying as your sister, I know when something is different about you. I even got a whiff of your dry shampoo while you were standing next to me with my coffee. Which for you to put dry shampoo in your hair at five in the morning… is a pretty big deal.”

Rolling my eyes and shifting in my shoes I adjusted my apron and smoothed it down over my waist and legs. I was hesitant to respond to Kate’s assumptions. Not because she was wrong or because she’s always had an annoyingly accurate attention to detail. But because I was scared of the reaction I might get from her.

Kate was older than me by five years and she always sort of took on a motherly role even when we were kids. Our mom was hardly present while we were growing up. Her and our father divorced and separated shortly after our dad started going out of town for months at a time for work. He was in the military and was constantly having to leave and would sometimes be gone for almost an entire year. Our mom did the best she could but couldn’t handle the stress of being the one to handle it all by herself while our dad was away. 

When he was home, they were constantly fighting and my sister was always trying to pick up the pieces. Not only for both of our parents but for me as well. When our parents finally decided to divorce and our father moved to North Carolina, our mother quickly grew lonely and would often try to desperately fill the void of our father in whatever man she could at the time. 

This resulted in her constantly bringing multiple men back to the house all throughout our childhood and her focus became more on whatever boyfriend she had for that short period of time, until something would happen and she’d be forced to move on to the next one. Which is probably why now both mine and Kate’s opinions on love is so fucked up.

…And is also probably why I stayed in my previous relationship for three years with my toxic ex boyfriend back in Florida. From the first month we were together, Kate picked up on all of Jake’s red flags while I was too mesmerized by the first boy that treated me with the bare minimum of what I thought was love.

The three years we lasted together Kate begged me throughout the entire relationship to cut things off but I was too scared of losing something that I thought I’d never find again. Regardless of how horrible it made me feel. It didn’t matter because I was young, dumb, and so blinded by the extremely little good moments me and Jake shared. Which casted such dark shadows over the actual reality of the entire relationship. 

When Kate first moved to California to start college, I moved in with Jake shortly after graduating high school so I wouldn’t have to deal with living with our mother by myself. But it only lasted for about a year before I caught Jake cheating on me with some girl he worked with. Which resulted in a loud screaming fight and me kicking all his shit out of the apartment. 

That same night after everything happened I broke down and called Kate and without zero hesitation she was on a plane to Florida the next day to help me pack my stuff to come move in with her in LA. Something that I’ll forever be grateful for, and the fact that she was always there to help me pick up the pieces when I couldn’t do it by myself.

But I knew if I mentioned my encounter with Jesse from last night, Kate would most likely give me shit for it. Which is why I was so nervous to mention it to her. I also knew that I couldn’t avoid her forever, especially when she was already picking up suspicions and I had just met the man last night. 

But, deep down I was eager to share my excitement about meeting him and wanted to get a second opinion on the conversation we had.

Fuck it.

I let out a deep sigh and tucked the few pieces of loose stray hairs that clung to the side of my face behind my ear. “I hate how you always know everything. I swear you’re a witch or something.” I said nervously while clearing a space on the baking table so I could begin prepping the orange scones.

“I’m your sister and we’ve lived together for basically our entire lives Y/N. I know when something is up or when you’re acting differently. That’s how I knew it was always you who would drink my capri suns, even though you would always blame mom. It was all over your face and you’ve always been bad at hiding shit.” Kate replied with a light chuckle.

“Promise me you won’t be mad?”

Suddenly halting in place, Kate immediately turned her head in my direction. “Please tell me you’re not talking with Jake again.”

“Oh God no, definitely not.”

Letting out a long sigh of relief, Kate turned back down to finish icing the rest of the cinnamon rolls on the tray in front of her before grabbing another rack to work on. 

“Thank the Heavens, you about gave me a damn heart attack. If it has nothing to do with that idiot, moron, piece of garbage, then I can’t think of a reason as to why I would be mad Y/N.” 

“Okay soooo,” I started with a long pause. “A really, really, really cute guy came into the cafe last night while me and Kristina were closing. I probably wouldn’t have even known he was there if it wasn’t for Kristina calling me up to the register to help show her how to cash out a card transaction.”

I glanced over at Kate in an attempt to read her body language. She wasn’t giving off any signs that raised any flags yet so I continued to describe my interaction from last night.

“Well anyways, I had also seen him earlier in the day during our morning rush when I had to go out and refill the cinnamon rolls…”

“Was it the same guy who I caught checking out your ass when you walked past him by chance?” Kate suddenly interrupted. 

Feeling the heat suddenly returning to my cheeks I glanced back over at Kate with wide eyes. 

“Wait, you caught him staring at my ass?”

“Uh yeah, he wasn’t exactly discreet about it. Pretty sure he knew I busted him because when he came up to the register he was all fidgety and nervous. Handed me his debit card with shaky hands too.”

For some reason Kate telling me how she picked up on Jesse’s nervousness suddenly made me feel a bit more at ease. I was so nervous and embarrassed yesterday after he had mentioned my name tag being upside down that I spent the entire drive back home thinking of ways to permanently attach my nametag to my apron so that it always stays upright.  

“Are you sure he was staring at my ass or are you just assuming he was because your big sister was showing?” 

Either way, I wasn’t complaining.

“Y/N, he was staring at your ass, trust me. But anyways, continue about last night.” Kate said while waving me off.

“Oh yeah so anyways, we made some small talk. I may have been a tad bit flirty to which I think he may have been flirty back?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Kate mumbled under her breath.

Ignoring her comment I continued on with my description of last night, “Well, to keep a long story short I ended up asking him his name and he told me it was Jesse. We made some more flirty conversation and then I ended up telling him my name.”

I left the part out about me giving him the name tag. I knew Kate would have grown three gray hairs had I told her I was giving out name tags, especially after she went off on a tangent yesterday morning about how everyone keeps stealing all the backup name tags from her drawer up front.

“I unfortunately didn’t get much further than that with our conversation though. I still had a lot to show Kristina for the closing shift and wanted to make sure she was picking up on everything. So, I told him that I had hoped to see him around and that was pretty much that.” I said while grabbing a few metal baking pans from under the baking table so I could begin scooping the dough of the orange scones onto them.

Kate was finishing arranging the few plates of pastries she had finished baking earlier onto the plates for the pastry case. I tried to read her facial expression from the side to see if I could attempt to understand any of what she might be thinking. But, my detective skills weren’t nearly as up to par as hers.

“Well, just promise me you’ll take it slow. I know you’re older now and I’m trying hard not to mom you all the time. But, I just worry about you and the guys here in LA aren’t exactly much better than back home. If anything, I’d say they’re worse.” 

Kate actually took it a lot better than I thought she would and I definitely understood her reasons for being concerned. It felt good to finally be getting a weight off of my shoulders and to have told her about Jesse. 

“But despite me being your protective older sister it is nice to see you so glowy and happy, especially this early in the morning. Maybe I should thank Jesse myself if I see him again.” Kate  said while making her way towards the silver door with a few plates of pastries in her hands.

Rolling my eyes I then motioned towards the trays of orange scones before me, “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Before you head up front, come check these scones to see if they’re to your liking before I put them in the oven.”

Glancing over to the trays on the table a smile spread across Kate’s face.

“I taught you well. Now get started on the chocolate chip muffins while I start setting up out front. If your little crush comes in before you’re finished back here I’ll make sure to sound an alarm or something.” She said before finally stepping out from the back kitchen and making her way out to the cafe to begin setting up for the day.

JESSE

I sat on the kitchen countertop while swaying both my legs to the side as I was finishing up a bowl of oatmeal. I had spent the morning working on some more music for my band ERRA and also helping my roommates with some of their bands music as well.

I lived with my three best friends Michael, Noah, and Jolly ever since I moved from Nashville to California. Noah and Jolly were in a band called Bad Omens together and Michael was in a separate band called Chief. It was nice to live with three other musicians because we could always bounce back and forth ideas to one another.

Also if I ever needed advice or a second opinion on something, all I had to do was just take a few steps out into the hallway and I could knock on one of their bedroom doors regardless of whatever time it was. 

With us all being in touring bands it also worked out because we were usually on opposite touring schedules. So even though it was four of us in one house, I was still able to have some time away for myself when I needed it.  

“Would anyone know why the Crunchyroll login won’t work when I try to use it?” Noah’s voice suddenly echoing out from the front room.

“I don’t know man, I don’t watch those cartoons or whatever you guys call it. Maybe try logging in to the PBS Kids channel. You might have better luck.” Jolly responded back.

“Fuck off, they’re not cartoons man. The new Attack On Titan dropped and I was trying to watch it before my session with Ash. But for some reason all of a sudden I mysteriously can’t log in to my own account.” Noah said in an aggravated tone. 

…“Ah, the TV disconnected from the wifi and that’s why it won’t let me log in.” 

Hopping off the counter I brought my empty bowl over to the sink and rinsed it out before placing it in the dishwasher. I turned to head towards the front room where Jolly and Noah were sitting on the couch together.

“Aw, are my two boys over here having a little spiffle?” I asked as I entered the front room and then plopped down on the couch between them.

“Noah is just dumb and doesn’t know how to work a TV apparently.” Jolly responded in a joking tone.

“I know how to work a TV alright. It’s not my fault the wifi is faulty.”

“The wifi is faulty.” I repeated while laughing.

“I think it’s just user error.” Jolly retorted back.

Noah rolled his eyes and let out a long aggravated sigh. “Enough about the wifi. Where the hell were you last night? I came over to your room to see if you wanted to go grab something for dinner and when I knocked you weren’t in there. Michael had said you’d been gone all day?”

“Oh yeah, I got caught up at the cafe down the road working on some of the new ERRA songs.” I answered.

“All the way past 10:30?” Noah asked with a raised brow.

“Well I ended up having some friendly conversation with one of the girls who works at the cafe. So, I got a bit caught up and lost track of the time.”

Jolly and Noah both turned to each other. Both of them now having raised eyebrows as they returned their sight back to me.

“You got a bit caught up and lost track of the time? As in lost track of time with the girl from the cafe, if ya know what I’m sayin?” Jolly responded with a sly smirk while raising both his brows.

Noah now chiming back in, “Oh shit dude, is that why you were out so late? Good for you man.” 

“No, no, no. You guys are getting way too ahead of yourselves. Plus you both know better than anyone that I’m not the kind of guy to just be going out on lust filled adventures especially with someone I just met.” I responded while nervously running my hands over the tan pants that hugged my thighs.

Oh shit man, I didn’t mean to throw out accusations. I just thought maybe you were finally starting to open up and explore the dating world again, especially after the whole situation with what's her name.” Noah replied while patting the back of my shoulder.

I felt my shoulders tense up from his response. I tried to push that whole situation to the back of my mind as far as possible. So when someone would occasionally bring it back up, the bad taste that lingered on my tongue for so long would overtake all my taste buds. Leaving me with a burning taste of despair and disappointment that I desperately fought so long to be rid of.

“Uh -” I started with a hard swallow. “Not that I’m exploring the dating world per say. But more like she definitely caught my attention and I couldn’t help myself from wanting to talk to her.”

“Well man, don’t be shy. Share the details!” Jolly excitedly responded while sitting further up on the couch. 

Feeling a little more at ease with this new excitement about sharing my encounter with the beautiful girl from last night, I began sharing our interaction with my two friends.

“It actually all happened pretty suddenly. I went to the cafe like normal just to work on some shit for the band. Had myself a coffee and a croissant, yadda, yadda, yadda. When I went to go take my empty plate back up and to get another refill, that’s when I first saw her. She was putting a new plate of pastries in the little case thing up front and the sunlight that casted off her hair caught the corner of my eye.”

“Oh this sounds like some Titanic lovey dovey romance type shit.” Jolly said.

“Dude, did you even watch the movie? Did you see how it ended?” Noah responded with a click of his tongue.

“Uh yeah of course I’ve seen the movie, who hasn’t? That redhead girl and the blonde dude were smashing and then he drew that photo of her with her all naked on the chair and shit. Pretty romantic lovey dovey if you ask me.” 

“Jesus.” Noah said while rubbing both his eyes. “Jesse, please continue before this idiot continues talking.”

Turning my gaze away from Jolly I began explaining mine and Y/N’s encounter again.

“Yeah, so anyways…” Trying to regain my focus after Jolly’s Titanic comment. “I saw her standing there and I just couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I honestly think I stood there in my own disbelief because I couldn’t comprehend how she was real. She was so effortlessly beautiful in the way she did something as simple as putting some baked goods behind a glass container. Then when she walked past me and I caught the vanilla coconut scent coming off of her and I was put into an even bigger trance.”

I looked back up and over at Noah, who was sitting beside me silently listening to what I had been saying with his arm stretched over the back of the couch. My friend looked back at me with friendly yet concerned eyes, and I enterlocked my hands together before continuing further.

Taking in a deep breath I went to begin again but Jolly had interrupted once again.

“But were you staring at the booty though? Be honest!” 

My cheeks suddenly became hot and I could feel the saliva in my throat start to quickly dry. 

Fuck. Even I couldn’t deny to myself that I maybe caught a glance or two of her lower half from underneath her apron strings.

Noah suddenly broke out with laughter, “The silence is very telling. My man, you just got busted and by Jolly at all costs.”

“Okay, whatever. So I may have glanced at her ass once or twice. Sue me.” I said as I threw my hands up. “But that wasn’t the reason for why she caught my attention. Something about this girl had me weak in the knees from just the first sight of her.”

“You’re fucked Jesse.” Jolly stated while crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I hate to admit it, but I gotta agree with Jolly on this one. The way you’re describing this girl it sounds like you may be in love at first sight.” Noah added.

I also hated to admit it, but even I couldn’t help but agree with their statements. I was fucked. This girl had me hooked from just the first sight of her.

“Well, did you talk to her or what?” Noah asked while flipping up his hand.

“Later on in the night I did. I’m pretty sure she caught me staring at her while I was standing in line and I had to go work out my embarrassment before even thinking about facing her again. But once I calmed my nerves, I used wanting to get a refill on coffee as an excuse to try to talk to her again.” 

“And? Did it work?” Jolly asked eagerly. 

A smile now spread across my face and my heart began to pick up pace. “Yeah actually, it did. We exchanged some flirty banter and I think she was into me? It’s hard to tell though since it was just one conversation and she was working, so she may have just been being friendly. But we exchanged names and then I made a comment about her nametag being upside down and then she ended up making me my own upside down name tag. It was probably the cutest thing a girl has ever done for me.” I admitted.

“Is that what I saw this morning sitting on the counter by the coffee machine?” Michael asked, suddenly appearing out from the kitchen holding his leftover chipotle bowl.

“Wait, it's in the kitchen? Dude bring it in here so we can see it!” Jolly excitedly exclaimed.

Michael appeared back into the front room holding the name tag that Y/N had made for me last night and handed it over to Noah first.

“Dude, she’s definitely into you. No girl would take the time to do some shit like this if she was just being friendly.” Noah stated while holding the name tag in between his fingers.

“Oh definitely and look, she even added a little smiley face right next to his name”. Michael said with a mumbled tone from the chipotle he had shoved in his mouth.

Jolly now leaned over me so he could grab the name tag from Noah’s hand. “Oh fuck man, yeah she’s definitely feeling you. She took her time with this, look how much detail she added to the little frame around your name.”

I slunk back down into the couch, “You guys are embarrassing me.”

Ignoring my statement, “I think the real question now is, when are you going back to the cafe?” Noah turned to ask me.

I had been thinking about going back to the cafe the second I stepped out the front door of the cafe last night, from the entire drive back home, and up until this moment. That’s all I had been thinking about. 

“I say we all go to the cafe now so we can see who’s got our boy all flustered like this.” Michael said with a grin.

“Hey I’m down. I don’t have to meet up with Ash until a few hours from now. Plus, I could use some caffeine before my session anyways.” Noah replied while pushing his hands off his knees to stand up from the couch.

“Do I have a say in any of this?” I asked with nerves suddenly building up in my stomach.

“Nope.” The three of them all responded back at the same time.

“Quit being a pussy and go put your shoes on. We’re just going to grab some coffee and potentially force you to get her number.” Michael said while walking back over to the kitchen to throw out his now empty chipotle bowl. 

Fuck me.

KATE

This was the first time all morning that I was able to catch my breath. From the moment the cafe doors opened we were slammed back to back. We had a line that stretched almost all the way down to the bookstore registers.

Thankfully I staffed today’s shift with our strongest employees so everything went smoothly for the most part. Other than Kristina spilling an entire pot of hot coffee all over the floor. But, it could have gone worse I suppose. Plus, the floors were probably in need of a good scrubbing anyways.

I walked towards the silver door that separated the back of house from the front cafe and pushed it open to make my way back over towards the sink area to check on Y/N. With this being the first break we’ve had all morning she offered to go catch up on all the dishes from this morning's pastry bake.

Bringing Y/N to work at the cafe with me was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Even though we also lived together, me and Y/N very rarely ever got into arguments. Even as children, we would bicker and then we would always be able to patch it up right then and there. So I was so thankful when she finally agreed to come work with me after months of desperately begging every day. 

Despite being my sister, Y/N was reliable and I could count on her. Plus she was a hard worker and I never had to worry if she would show up for her shifts or not.

Finally making my way to the sink I came up beside Y/N and put my hand on the back of her shoulder. “Thank you for coming in this morning to help me and for knocking out these dishes. I know I say it a lot but, I really am grateful you decided to come work here with me.”

Turning her head to meet my gaze, “You’re sucking up, what do you want?” 

“Nothing.” I replied back with a laugh. “I just want you to know that I’m thankful and I’m happy to have you here is all. But, don’t let it go to your head. You still owe me a matcha latte for being late yesterday. Don’t think I forgot!”

“Ah, so it was a matcha latte you wanted.” Y/N replied back with a grin across her face. “Give me a few seconds to get cleaned up and I’ll be out there to make it for you, brat.”

“Did I ever mention that you’re the best sister ever?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, suuuuure.” Y/N responded while waving me off.

I turned to make my way back towards the cafe. Pushing the silver door open and checking the times on the pots of coffee. I bent down to the cabinet underneath the coffee pots and scooped out two cups of coffee beans and poured them into the grinder. 

Once they were all grinded up I lined the coffee pot trays with coffee filters and then poured the ground coffee grinds inside and began brewing fresh pots of coffee for the afternoon. When I went to turn back around there was a gentleman standing at the register. 

Holy mother of God.

This man was absolutely beautiful. His short brown hair framed his face perfectly and he was covered from neck to toe with tattoos. Not to mention the fact that he practically towered over the register, and those arms… Jesus those arms.

I took in a deep breath and tried to find my footing again before finally making my way over to the register. I licked my lips and had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t drooling down my apron.

“Good afternoon, did you have any questions about the menu?” I asked.

“Oh no, I was just reading over everything you guys have here. I’m actually waiting for the rest of my friends to come up but they went to grab a table over in the book store first.”

Mmm, I’d like to grab something myself.

“Okay no worries, take your time and whenever you’re ready to order just holler.” 

“Will do.” He responded back with a friendly smile while tucking his hands into his pockets.

I walked back over to the coffee pots to make it seem like I was doing something while peeking out from behind the coffee grinder so I could continue to stare at the man up at the register.

He was wearing a white shirt that appeared to have an image of Jesus playing basketball with Satan and a pair of black shorts that hugged his thighs perfectly. He had paired them with a pair of high white socks and all white vans.

Suddenly another man appeared beside him. He had long brown hair and was also covered in tattoos. He wore a black tee shirt paired with black sweatpants and had them tucked into a pair of yellow high top shoes. 

What was in the air today? My God. These two men were gorgeous.

“Jesse’s being a pussy so Michael stayed back to try to work up his confidence.” The second man said to the short haired man.

He had an accent that I couldn’t exactly place my finger on. But whatever it was, it sounded beautiful and I wished he would whisper sweet nothings into my ears forever after hearing it.

“Uh Kate, what are you doing?” 

Almost slamming face first into the coffee grinder I whipped my head around to see Jasmine standing at the food counter staring at me with a wild expression on her face.

“Oh, um, I was just listening to the grinder. It has been making a weird sound all morning and I just wanted to make sure the motor wasn’t going bad or anything.” I said with a shaky breath.

“Riiiiiiiight.” She responded with a sly smirk and then glanced over to the register. “Must really be making some concerning sounds then.”

Rolling my eyes at her comment I then brushed my hair back down with my hands and flattened out my apron double checking to make sure I didn’t have any food or coffee gunk on me.

Two more men suddenly appeared behind the two tall gentlemen who had been standing up at the register. One of them caught my attention immediately. I recognized the gray hat he was wearing that had a white flower embroidered on the front. He hung towards the back with his arms nervously crossed over his chest. 

The man with the long brown hair turned over in my direction, “Excuse me ma'am, we are ready to order whenever you’re ready.” He called out with a smile.

Oh shit. I quickly turned over to Jasmine, “Hey can you do me a favor really quick? Can you go in the back and have Y/N come up front please. Tell her it’s urgent. I’m gonna need her to help me knock out these next orders of drinks.” 

“Sure thing!” She responded and turned to head towards the silver door. But before she could place her hands on it to push it open it already began to push forward from the back. Y/N now stepping out into the cafe.

“Hey sorry I took so long, I ended up getting water all over the front of my apron so I had to go search for a new one.” 

“No, it’s okay.” I quickly replied back. “You came at the perfect time. I’m going to need you at the register to help me take these four guys' orders, especially the one in the back.” Then winked my right eye at her.

Y/N quickly looked up and her eyes suddenly grew wide. I could see the pink starting to flush into her cheeks. 

“I’m also going to need you to hold me upright while I have to talk to these two tall ones in the front.” I said while urging Y/N back towards the register with me.

JESSE

“I hate all of you.” I let out with a nervous sigh as I stood behind Noah, Michael, and Jesse in line.

“Oh stop being such a wuss. We are gonna keep conversation with the brunette girl because she clearly can’t keep her eyes off of Noah, and then you can slide on over and try to catch a conversation with your little crush.” Michael replied.

Jolly turned to look back at me, “I do see what you mean though Jesse, she is pretty cute.” 

If you think she’s cute from this far back just wait until you're up close to her. She’s breathtaking. I thought.

“Oh shit dude, they’re walking over this way. Jesse get your ass up here.” Noah then turned to place his giant ass hand on my shoulder and pushed me up to the front between him and Jolly.

There she was, standing right before me once again. Her hair tied up in a messy bun while the loose strands hugged around her face. Her dark green sweater hugged her slender frame and her cheeks were flushed pink, highlighting the beautiful paleness of her skin.

“Alrighty, what can we get started for you guys?” Kate asked while Y/N stood still at her side.

“Do you guys know what you want?” Noah turned around to ask us all.

“Uhhh, let me just get a white mocha please.” Jolly responded.

“Okay, one white mocha. Anything else?”

“Oh it’s all gonna be together, todays a special occasion.” Noah answered back while bumping his shoulder into mine.

Just end me now please.

Y/N glanced up and I immediately made eye contact with her. I gave her a small smile to which she had returned.

Michael leaned over to whisper in my ear, “Now’s your chance man get your ass over there and go ask her for her number.”

Ignoring his comment and letting out a deep breath I inched a little bit closer to the side of the counter where Y/N stood.

“Can I have an iced sugar free vanilla latte with oat milk please.” Noah asked and then shifted over to let Michael come up between us to order next.

“Okay an iced sugar free vanilla latte for you and did you want anything else?” Kate asked with a shaky tone to her voice.

“Nah, he's gotta drink just his fancy little sugar free beverage because he’s gotta go get swole after this.” Michael blurted out with a chuckle.

“Man shut up.” Noah replied back with a long sigh.

“You do order like a girl”, Jolly chimed in with a playful smack to Noah’s arm.

“I’m sick of your guys shit. When we get back home I’m turning the AC down to 62.” 

Kate and Y/N both let out a laugh at Noah’s comment. That was the first time I heard her laugh. It was just as beautiful as she was. Everything about this girl set my soul on fire. Every time I was near her my fingertips tingled with nerves and it was so hard to think straight. 

I knew soon I was going to have to step out of my comfort zone before one of these idiots made a scene and embarrassed me even further. So, I took in a deep breath and came up close to the counter where Y/N was standing to be directly right in front of her.

Her eyes last night were tired and glossy but today, they shined brightly with the sunlight that shone in from the windows. I could probably stand here forever just getting lost in them.

“Hey you.” Y/N’s voice suddenly broke me from getting lost any further in thought.

“Hey yourself.” I replied back with a grin.

“What can I get started for you?” She asked, her smile now growing a little wider to show her teeth.

“I’m feeling adventurous and kind of want to stray away from my usual hot coffee order. What do you recommend?”

“Hmmm” she replied while tapping her fingers to her chin. “It depends, are you looking for something sweet or are you looking for something to wake you up?”

“How about both?”

“I think I can do that.” Y/N responded while reaching over to grab one of the white cups from out of the holder. 

“Just the coffee then?” Kate asked.

Staring intently at the pastry case to the side, I caught sight of a plate that was filled with a stack of orange scones. My stomach suddenly growled and my mouth watered at the sight of the white icing and pieces of orange zest that lined the top of them.

“Can I also get one of those orange scones? I have a sweet spot for anything sweet and fruity.” I turned to look back over at Kate.

“Good choice. My sister actually made those fresh this morning.” She replied back while motioning over to Y/N who was working on making mine and the guys drinks.

Kate walked over to the pastry case and put on a pair of plastic gloves. She opened the door to the back of the case and grabbed the orange scone that rested on the top of the stack and then placed it inside of a brown pastry bag.

“I’d offer to warm it up for you but the icing melts and gets all hard on the top when we do.”

“Oh it’s no worries, I’m sure it will be delicious either way.” I responded back to her.

She handed me the bag that held the orange scone inside. I grabbed it from her and then turned around to face my three friends again. “Are you guys finished ordering?” I asked.

“Yeah I think so.” Jolly answered back.

I set the bag down on the counter and reached into my back pocket to pull my wallet out. But before I could finish pulling my debit card out of its slot Noah came up beside me and handed his debit card over to Kate.

“Hey man, what are you doing?” I asked.

“I told you, it’s a special day. So it’s my treat.”

“Noah, you didn’t have to do that, seriously.” 

Retrieving his card from Kate, he then slid it into the holder he had on the back of his phone, and then shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. We put you through enough hell today so it’s the least I can do.” He replied quietly while patting my back.

“Thanks Noah, I appreciate it.” I grabbed the bag off the counter and looked back over to Y/N who had her back turned towards my direction. She was still working on finishing up our drinks. Noah and the rest of the guys turned to go head back over to the table they found earlier.

I knew this was their attempt at leaving me alone so I could talk with Y/N.

“You don’t have to stand and wait. I’ll have Y/N bring your drinks over if you want to go take a seat.” Kate said while motioning over to Noah, Jolly, and Michael. 

“Oh, are you sure? I don’t mind waiting.”

“I’m sure Y/N wouldn’t mind at all.” She replied back with a wink.

READER

I really, really hope he likes this. I thought to myself while placing the lid on top of the drink I made for Jesse.

“What did you decide on?” Kate asked while leaning over my shoulder to look down at the drinks before me.

“You’re favorite, a vanilla matcha latte. I also made one for you, it’s the cup over there by the espresso machine. I didn’t forget about it.” I said while nudging her arm with my elbow.

“Good choice, after he takes one sip of that he’ll probably get down on one knee.” Kate eagerly turned to grab her matcha latte off the counter and brought it up to take a sip. “I told him to go take a seat while they waited for their drinks. I may have also told him that you’d personally bring it out to him.”

I slowly turned my head to her and shot her a look, “You what?”

“I figured you’d want some time to talk to him more one on one without having to worry about other people being around. I can handle the front by myself for now, plus Jasmine is still here so if we get a little pop we will be okay. Now go, before the coffee and your feet both get cold.” 

I grabbed the tray that held the four coffees. My hands shook with nerves and I tried to focus my breathing before making my way around the counter. Trying to clear my thoughts so by the time I approached the table where he was sitting with his friends I would appear more confident than what I actually was. 

Shifting in my shoes I quickly turned around to smile back at Kate, “Thank you, sis.” I said before finally turning around and walking over towards the corner table of the bookstore where the four guys all sat around exchanging smiles and laughter.

I took in a deep breath as I slowly made my way closer to them. Still trying to focus on my breathing and doing the best to shake out the nerves. I could pick up the smell from the coffees I was holding as I continued walking forward and as I appeared at the table Jesse immediately looked up to greet me with a smile. 

“Okay I have all four coffees here and ready” I reached down to pull the first coffee out of the top left corner of the drink holder, picking it up and reading the description label and name Kate had written on the side. “Alright, I’ve got one white mocha for Jolly?.” I asked while holding up the beverage.

The man with long brown hair sitting furthest in the corner facing me lifted up a finger, “Ah yes, that would be mine.” 

I reached across the table, Jesse now right at my side. I could feel his warm breath fan across the side of my arm and it gave me goosebumps. Trying not to focus too hard over it I reached out to hand Jolly, who sat directly next to Jesse, his beverage.

“Thank you so much.” He responded.

“You’re very welcome” I replied back with a smile. Now reaching over to grab the next drink, I lifted the clear cold cup out of the holder and turned it to the side to read the name and description. “Alright next up, I’ve got an iced sugar free vanilla latte with oat milk for Noah.” I said while holding out the cup.

The man sitting in the chair across from Jesse lifted his head up to look at me and with a soft smile he reached over to take the cup from me, “Yep, that's me. Thank you!” He kindly replied back.

“You’re also very welcome.” I answered back with a light chuckle. I reached back down to grab the next drink, making sure to save Jesse’s for last. I wrote something special on his cup so I knew which cup was his from before I walked over here. 

“Okay next up, I’ve got a strawberry banana smoothie for Michael.” The man who sat next to Noah and across from Jolly raised his hand. “That one is for me” he said while dragging out the e playfully.

“You came to a bookstore coffee shop and ordered a smoothie?” Noah asked him with a sigh.

“Oh sorry, we can’t all be sugar free, oat milk, fancy getting swole, coffee drinkers like you Noah.” He responded back while taking the drink from me. Michael then looked back up from Noah, who was rolling his eyes, to thank me for handing him his beverage.

“Alright, last but certainly not least, I have a vanilla matcha latte for Jesse.” I said while pulling the last cup out of the holder and handing it to the man who was sitting directly next to me. He reached out to take it from me and his fingers brushed against mine. His hands were warm and a little rough. But I still shivered from his touch.

“Wow that’s fancy, probably the fanciest coffee I’ll ever drink in my life.” Jesse replied back with a laugh. “Thank you very much, Y/N. For not only making all of our drinks but for also bringing them over here to us. I told your sister I think it was? That I didn’t mind waiting for them but she insisted that you wouldn’t mind bringing them out.” His gaze continued to linger on me.

I could feel all four of them staring at me now and I knew my cheeks were probably putting my nervousness right on display. I placed my hand on the back of my neck and with a hard swallow I replied back, “Yeah it's no problem at all, my sister Kate likes everyone to be able to relax and grab a book while they wait. That’s her inner manager coming out.” 

“Oh shit, she’s your sister and your manager? Do you guys ever duke it out back there?” Jolly asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

“Surprisingly no, me and Kate actually get along really well together, for the most part. When she isn’t keeping our apartment in the temperatures of Alaska.” I responded back with a chuckle.

“Well, your sister and Noah have something in common.” Jesse said while motioning towards Noah.

“Do you guys all live together?” I asked. 

“Unfortunately.” Noah responded in a joking tone.

“He doesn’t mean that. I know your ass misses me when I’m gone.” Jesse replied while giving Noah a light kick under the table.

I laughed in response to their interaction. I could tell just from the few moments standing here conversing with them that they were all very close. It reminded me a lot of mine and Kate’s relationship and it made me feel safe to be around in their presence. Something that was very rare, especially around a group of guys in LA. 

“Did you want to sit down? If you’re not busy that is.” Jesse asked while tapping at the chair next to him. 

Suddenly all of my focus was on Jesse and I turned back over to make direct eye contact with him. His eyes were a beautiful golden brown. They were sweet and shined like honey from the sunlight that laid across his face which casted in from the windows. 

His voice was soft and kind and his lips were a warm shade of pink from which his teeth peaked out from behind. I traced his face down to his neck that met at his off white tee shirt, then down his tattoo covered arm, and finally over to his hand which was covered with a red mandala tattoo that was tapping against the seat.

I would have rather taken a seat right on his lap but for now, the chair will have to do.

He scooched over the orange scone that was sitting on the table on top of one of the brown bags from the cafe. There were two bites taken out of it and crumbs lined the top of the bag. I made my way over to the chair next to him and sat down right beside him.

I glanced back up to meet his face, and my eyes lingered on his lips. They looked soft and warm and I found myself thinking about what they would taste like. Possibly from the vanilla matcha latte that lingered on his breath, or the hints of orange scone he had eaten from earlier.

Jesse shifted a bit closer to me and now our thighs were touching. I could feel my heart beat pick up and I opened my mouth slightly to breathe in some air to prevent myself from getting light headed. My leg brushed up against his and I could feel him lean into the touch.

He sat up and leaned in closer to me putting his elbow on the table, “By the way your sister told me you had baked the orange scones and I must say they’re quite delicious. I have a sweet spot for all things fruit flavored but especially anything citrusy.” His warm breath fanned across my face.

I was so dazed by this man that I forgot there were three other people sitting at the same table with us. If they weren’t sitting here I probably would have leaned in to taste his lips by now.

I leaned in closer to him, our lips just a few inches apart now. “Well now that I know you enjoy them so much I’ll be sure to always keep a few extra in the back just for you.” 

“Is that an attempt to keep me coming back?” He asked with a raised brow.

“If it was, would you say it was working?” I asked him back.

“If I’m being honest, the orange scones wouldn’t be the reason to keep me coming back. Although they are quite tasty, It would be the girl who made them that would keep bringing me back.”

Holy hell. Holy shit. Holy fuck.

I laid my arm down on the table and brought my hand closer to his elbow. I let my finger rest up against the side of his arm and Jesse brought his arm down to place his hand on top of mine. 

“If it’s alright with you and if I’m not coming off too strong, I am experiencing a wave of confidence I normally don’t carry. So I would really like to take advantage of it and ask you for your number.”

A wide smile spread across my face and I looked down at the table to hide my bright red cheeks. I felt like a little girl in a candy store with the way this man flooded my heart and my stomach with butterflies. 

He took his finger and gently placed it under my chin to lift my face back up to him. Our eyes greeted and it took everything in me to hold restraint and not kiss him. I knew Kate was probably watching and if she caught me sucking face with this guy at work and in my work uniform I would never hear the end of it.

I reached over to his now empty cup and picked it up, “I had already written a little message on here for you earlier but since you asked so nicely..” I took out one of the sharpies from my apron, using my teeth to take the lid off, and began writing my phone number onto the cup. 

I placed the cup back in front of him, “I went ahead and added my number here on the bottom.” I spun the cup around where the message I had written earlier and my phone number was now facing Jesse.

With a giant smile spreading across his face he picked it up and I could see his cheeks begin to lightly flush pink. “I’m a very happy boy right now.” He responded while setting the cup back down on the table before us.

[dhiings]

𖦹 Going Seventeen - Grudge (EP. 96)

"Why do i suddenly feel scared?", Seungkwan suddenly said

"Ah, i've been scared from the start when waiting for our turn", Jane whined.

"Where are we supposed to go?", Wonwoo ask to the cameraman. The cameraman just point out a direction to go to.

"Can i be in the middle of you guys?", Jane ask, flashing them with her smiling teeth. She was then welcomed by Wonwoo's and Seungkwan's hand.

"Let's go", Seungkwan said

Today's Going Seventeen Concept is ....

Whom to trust and whom not to trust? An overwhelming fear that has left them speechless What lies at the end of this long-lasting grudge? Grudge(舊怨)

Jane felt something's fishy and unordinary since the briefing of this episode. It was such a bizarre time and location to film, midnight and inside a foreign village, which looks like no one live in or actually pass by. They were actually not inform on the actual concept of this episode.

When she first knew that she's going to be in the same team with Wonwoo, it made her more suspicious of this episode. It is widely known by carats that when both of them are paired up together, they are going to do something that related with mystery and dark concepts. For example, EGO, The Tag, and ESCAPE ROOM. At this point, carats know that it's not a coincidence to pair them up during these kinds of contents.

In the "Grudge" episode, it's not just the two of them who's going to do this mission, but they are also accompanied with Seungkwan, making a group of 3.

"We need to find the other members", Wonwoo starting up a conversation.

"The other members? We're in competition with them", Seungkwan add making Jane laugh.

Out of nowhere, Seungkwan start singing to lighten up the mood. Still walking deeper into the village, Jane saw some writings on the wall, making both of the other member look at the same direction and start reading them one by one.

In the clip, it could be seen that Jane doesn't talk as much as the other two, it looks like she's in a silent mode. Rather than talking, she just look at the road by illuminating it with a flashlight, making sure she doesn't fall. It was raining at that time, so, it's a bit slippery.

"Having all of these house along the way makes it a little less-", "No, it's still scary", Seungkwan quickly change his words. This makes Jane smiled.

"Why are you so funny kwan-ie", Jane said. "I'm not trying to be funny", he said while pouting.

"What's that?" Seungkwan ask.

"Huh?"

Both Jane and Wonwoo look up to a nearby lighted spot.

"Oh, it's a light", Seungkwan answered his own question.

"This is scary", Seungkwan added. "I'm scared too", Jane proceed to hold his biceps stronger than before.

At the corner of her eye, she noticed a woman in a shadow.

"I'm sorry, but can you help me?", the woman ask while sobbing. "PLEASE HELP ME!" , she shouted again, still sobbing. She looks very scared and panicky.

The three of them quickly approach her. "What's going on?", saying in unison.

"Do you live here? What, what's going on?", Seungkwan ask nicely to the woman, who looks older than them.

"My husband isn't answering his phone..", she answered. Jane tries to go beside her and comfort the woman.

"Why are you here?", the woman asked to the three of them.

"We're, here to, um..", they can't find the right words to answer her. "We're here to check out an abandoned house", Seungkwan quickly intterupt.

"Were you the ones here earlier?", she continue asking.

"No, no, those were our friends", Jane said.

"When, where is your husband? How can we help you?", Seungkwan further asked.

The woman answered by pointing into a direction. "He went looking. But, nobody is picking up their phone. My husband and the villagers. Nobody. Please help me", she kept on pleading.

"I think, i think, It's because of him..he's back", she quickly added while looking into Jane's eye. Jane looked at Wonwoo with confused look.

"Him? Who are you talking about?", Wonwoo asked.

"Have you seen the news about Ko Sungil? He was released from prison", the woman asked.

Wonwoo answered while maintaining an eye contact with her, "Yes, Ko Sungil.."

"That person.. that man, has always been stranger really. I'm not crazy, i swear, please..", she continued.

"It's okay, we're going to try to help you. Just try to calm yourself first and tell us about that man", Jane told her while soothing the woman.

The woman slowly take a deeper breath to calm herself. Then, she proceed to tell them the story about the man called Ko Sungil.

"Not only did he kill his parents, but he was eating them too. You have to be careful!". Jane was shocked hearing what the women said in between her cries.

"Okay, it's okay. We will try to find your husband, Kim Mansu", Jane lastly said before the three of them resume their journey.

Jane kept grumbling along the way until they see a house with the lights on. "Ah, no. Why. Whhyy. We're not ghost hunters seungkwan-ah. Oh dear Lord. What have i done to accept going with today's content", she cried.

"Should we check the house first?", Wonwoo asked while lighting up the house in front of them with a flashlight. "Is the abandoned house this one?", Seungkwan asked.

Out of nowhere a shout is heard coming from the inside of the house, "SEUNGKWAN-AH"

"Shit, ah-", Jane cursed in a small voice, looking around hoping no one caught her.

They rushed to unlock the house and search for the source of the shout.

"Oh-, mingoo oppa? ah.. uji oppa is here too?", Jane slowly entering the house.

"Are you guys okay? Is this the abandoned house that we were supposed to go to?", Wonwoo asked to both Woozi and Mingyu. Woozi quickly deny it, instead, he ask them if they haven't been there yet.

Jane quickly shakes her head.

"So, we're here because we met this stranger and he said that all of the villagers are strange. And he said 'Come inside my house for now'. That way, we could leave safely", Mingyu explained.

"But, why are you shouting to save you guys?", Seungkwan asked while standing right behind the sofa, Mingyu and Woozi sitting on. Meanwhile, Wonwoo and Jane decide to just sit down on another sofa beside them.

"So we walked inside-", cutting his own sentence to tell Wonwoo, "That way is blocked", and proceed to finish his sentence.

"But then, he took Vernon with him. He said all of the villagers are crazy and strange. He said he'd find a way out for us-"

"And told us to wait here", Woozi quickly added

"He told us to wait here and that person-", Mingyu carry on. But, he was quickly stopped by Woozi saying, "He needed someone to help him so he took Vernon with him".

Hearing that, Jane become suspicious of that stranger.

"According to him, he has an older brother which was released from prison. But, later, we found out, that the culprit can't be his older brother because we looked around the house and there's no older brother in any of the photos. We roamed around the house when he left to clear a path so we could all go home", Woozi explained.

Jane looked stunned hearing the story. "I'm getting goosebumps for real...poor Vernon", she said

"it's either him or he's lying about something right now.."

Wonwoo add another information, "We met someone on our way up here". "The one searching for her husband?", Seungkwan said. Wonwoo quickly nod.

"She said that her husband came up here to find the people visiting the abandoned house but he disappeared. And then, she also tell us that there's a murderer called Ko Sungil coming back here", Wonwoo continued.

"Ko sungil? that's his older brother name..", Mingyu said.

"What?!", Jane standing up from the Sofa.

"Why are you sop calm right now? Doesn't that mean Vernon is missing? ", Seungkwan asked.

"Vernon.. well.. he went with him to help. But, we don't know what's the truth and what's a lie", Woozi said.

"It could really be that the villagers are the bad people or he could be the bad person",

"Yes, but either way, this is a really strange place to be"

While, Woozi and Mingyu start displaying all of the informations from the diaries and newspapers that they found, Seungkwan and Wonwoo decide to start looking around the place.

During discussion, Jane was quiet. She tries to match all the information like a puzzle.

"Ah! Isn't it obvious? The man that take Vernon away IS Ko Sungil.. he's tricking us. It's not possible that the villagers are the one who we should stay away from. I saw the woman earlier, she was distraught and she kept giving us the opposite things that the man said. I just feel that it's him. He's the one we should stay away from because why else he would be lying about him having a brother, right?"

"Woah. Wait. Woah", their reaction starts to bubbled up.

"You know what.. we should really go... NOW", Jane insisted.

One by one, they start going out of the house and starts heading the lower part of the village, where Vernon left with that man. Woozi leading the way, followed by Seungkwan, then Mingyu, and lastly, Jane and Wonwoo at the back. Jane hold his hand very tight, she was scared as hell.

"I can't see anything without a flashlight", Mingyu said.

"Woozi-ah, want me to give you my flashlight? if you're leading the way", Wonwoo offered.

They kept walking and walking, till they met a car with the headlights on.

"That's.. what that's", Jane said while pointing out at a direction where a man is walking toward them while dragging an axe.

They were startled by the man's sudden shout. Seeing the man starts running towards them, they run as fast as they can. All five of them kept running to the other side to avoid the man, the one they thought was a 'helpful man', Ko Sungil.

[THE END]

ngl, i feel like my writing doesn't make any sense 😃😅, hope you guys like itt, see u with my another writings!!

[withacapitalp]

How to Rehabilitate a Jock in Four Months Part 11

Part One Part 10 Part Twelve Link to Ao3

Alrighty guys I want you all to thank @stevethehairington for betaing this and making it fantastic, @henderdads for making the poll that made me finally finish writing this, and @steveshairychest for being a furry lmaooo (Sorry I had to)

Also I know you guys reallllly aren't going to want to hear this, but I wanted to put out one more chapter before I let you know that HTRAJ is going on a hiatus. Not a long one! I just have way too many WIPs going right now, and two of them are Valentines gifts (and good reads if I do say so myself!)

Step Eleven: Play Some Music

“Steve gets shotgun,” Eddie called as they exited the trailer, tossing Steve a smile that made his chest feel fuzzy as he jumped down the last two steps. 

“What the hell man?” Jeff grumbled, looking slightly put out, “We take turns,” 

Steve opened his mouth to say he didn’t mind and he would take sitting in the back, but Eddie pushed him towards the van with ease. 

“Steve’s never been inside of Hortensia, he deserves to see her at her absolute best,” He reasoned, giving Jeff a big megawatt smile and waiting to see what he would say. He still didn’t seem thrilled, but Jeff just rolled his eyes and climbed into the backseat. 

Steve would have made a comment on the fact that Eddie had named his beat up clunker ‘Hortensia’ of all things, but it was just so Eddie that all he could do was smile and shake his head. That was classic Eddie, always seeing the good, always finding something to make better. A trashy white van was Hortensia, an ex-jock was a potential friend. 

It was his superpower, almost as strong as El’s. 

“Your ride, my liege,” Eddie said, opening the passenger side theatrically. Steve rolled his eyes and climbed in, buckling his seatbelt as Eddie jumped into the drivers side seat and flourished his keys. 

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Eddie declared, turning the ignition. 

Nothing. 

Another attempt. The van gave a low grumble but did nothing. 

“Damn hunk of junk, piece of shit, mother-”

“Hortensia, huh?” Steve said with a raised brow, interrupting Eddie’s tirade of angry muttering. He threw Steve a slightly dirty look, staring at him directly in the eye as he tried the ignition again. 

Bingo. The van roared to life, headlights instantly taking the empty blackness around the trailer and filling it with trees. The entire group cheered as Eddie victoriously beeped the horn, and Steve opened his mouth to say some stupid comment that would probably make everyone laugh. 

Then the headlights flickered. 

In a single moment the ease, the happiness, it was just gone. Like a fire in dry brush, it had disappeared, and all that was left was a quick panicky feeling that there was something watching them, something waiting nearby. 

He needed his bat. 

“What the hell- Woah, what’re you doing?!” Eddie demanded as Steve shoved his way out of the car, walking over to his Beemer. He had already gotten his backpack out and was rifling through it by the time Eddie snuck up on him. 

“Steve?” Eddie asked softly. 

Eddie was out of the van. He was vulnerable. If something was sneaking up on them, then he would be the first one down.

Steve moved quickly, spinning the two of them so Eddie was up against his car, and Steve was out in front of him. That was better. He didn’t have a weapon, but he knew how to fight these things. At the very least, Eddie would have the time to run to the van if things went bad. 

“Do you see anything?” Steve asked, looking around them. 

The lights had only flickered once, just once, but once was enough. Once was a warning, and ignoring that would be stupid. 

That was Hopper’s number one rule. Don’t be Stupid. 

“What should I be seeing? A boogeyman?” Eddie teased, standing up straight and walking over to Steve, “You think I’m gonna see a were-”

“Eddie,” Steve cut him off with a severe look, grabbing Eddie’s wrist and pulling him behind him again, “Do you see anything?”

“No,” Eddie murmured after a moment. Steve spared a quick glance behind him, faltering when he saw just how uneasy Eddie was. 

“There’s…Steve there’s nothing out there,” 

Nothing out there. The lights were clear, they had been the entire time, and there was no growling, no sound of strange steps creeping up. Just the purr of a rusty engine, and the sound of Steve’s blood racing in his ears. 

Eddie was right. There was nothing out there. 

A rush of humiliation barreled over Steve, erasing everything else. He let out a slow shaking breath, running a hand over his face and hating the way his eyes were starting to burn. 

A few lights acting funny and he turned into this? Over lights? 

“Are you-”

“I’m fine,” Steve whispered, the lie strikingly obvious to both of them, “Just-”

Steve reached around Eddie and grabbed his backpack off of the ground, hefting it up over one shoulder and turning back to the van. 

“I have what I need. Let’s go,” Steve said, closing the door before Eddie could ask him again if he was okay. 

Flashlight, walkie-talkie, car keys, first aid kit, knife. 

Flashlight, walkie-talkie, car keys, first aid kid, knife. 

Flashlight-

What was he doing? 

Steve forced an exhale, pushing all of the air out of his lungs, letting the deafening chatter from the car around sink back in, and finally releasing the death grip he had on his bag. 

The backpack that had his flashlight, walkie-talkie, car keys, first aid kit, and knife. Everything he could carry inconspicuously in case of an emergency. His knife wasn’t ideal, but better than nothing. Steve would have loved to have Baby with him too, but she had to stay in the trunk of the Beemer. The last thing he needed was everyone to know how actually insane he was now, and carrying around a bat full of nails was a one way ticket to the loony bin.  

Maybe he should ask Nancy to teach him how to shoot a gun. A pistol was easily hidden, and-

Jesus. There really was something wrong with him. 

This was fun. Steve was supposed to be having fun. It was just a nice normal night with nice normal friends. The gates were closed, the kids were all together having a sleepover at the Wheeler’s, everything was just fine. 

So why was his stomach still twisted up in knots? Why was he obsessively looking out the window at the trees, just to make sure nothing was running alongside the van?

“What do you think, Steve?” Eddie asked, thrusting Steve back into the conversation happening all around him. The bumping bass from the radio was gone, and the rest of the group was now staring at him, waiting for an answer. 

Shit. 

Steve curled his hand around the strap of his backpack again, shrugging and giving Eddie a tight lipped smile, hoping that would be at least a somewhat adequate answer. Judging by Eddie’s furrowed brow and downturned mouth, it wasn’t. 

Flashlight. Walkie-Talkie. Car Keys. First Aid Kit. Knife. Flashlight. Walkie-Talkie. Car Keys. First Aid Kit. Knife. 

“He probably hasn’t listened to either of them yet,” Jeff cut in, tapping his chin. 

Oh. They were still talking about bands. Steve probably couldn’t have answered that question even if he had been listening instead of quietly freaking out. 

“You can tell us which was your favorite after the show,” Frank said, making eye contact with Steve from the rearview mirror and giving him an easygoing smile. Steve returned it, feeling the tension in his shoulders ease up ever so slightly. 

Frank was a cool guy. Understated, but nice. He always kind of hung around in the back, but that was fine. In a group like Hellfire with so many big personalities, having a steady person like Frank helped to balance everything out. 

“I still think he would like Black Sabbath best,” Jeff said, settling back in his seat. 

“Of course you think that,” Gareth replied with a roll of his eyes, pausing for a minute before crossing his arms and continuing in a begrudging tone, “Quiet Riot. Everyone can appreciate them. Even Steve.”

It wasn’t exactly an insult, so Steve decided to let go of any part of him that bristled at Gareth’s words. Gareth was a lot like Mike, it took him time to warm up. It was just…taking a bit longer than Steve had expected it to. 

Whatever. He liked a good challenge. 

“Trust me, we’ll play a song from the new Dio album and Steve’ll be a total convert,” Eddie said, shooting Steve a bright smile that warmed him from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. “We’ll have to get you a battle vest to match mine soon enough,” 

Without really thinking about it, Steve let go of his bag and reached up to play with the guitar pick hanging around his neck. Even just touching it was enough to ease away whatever nerves were still rolling around his body. 

It wasn’t like he was magically some different person, but wearing Eddie’s clothes and having his necklace was… it was almost like there was a shield. They were a buffer, a barrier between Steve and the fear that seemed to rule over everything he did nowadays. Here he wasn’t the babysitter or the protector. He was the new kid, someone who was still learning and allowed to slip up. If he didn’t know something, then it wasn’t the end of the world. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Eddie asked, staying quiet so the other three who were still debating wouldn’t hear him. 

“Yeah,” Steve replied immediately, squeezing his fingers around the chain and taking a slow deep breath, “better now,” 

“If you wanna talk, I’m always here,” Eddie whispered back, giving Steve one more soft glance before turning his eyes back to the road. Steve sighed, dropping his hands back to his lap and letting his head rest against the seatbelt, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to see the forest around them. 

The thing was, Steve knew he wanted to talk to Eddie. He wanted to tell him that Dustin had left at 4 o’clock today, and Steve had been late because he was nervous about coming tonight. He wanted to tell Eddie that he was worried about fitting in, worried about letting his guard down, worried about the endless ‘what-if's' that seemed to run around in his mind in an endless loop these days. Eddie would listen, and even if he didn’t understand, he would empathize. 

Steve wanted to, but he couldn’t. 

Because Eddie was understanding, but he was also so so nosey. He would poke and prod and try to learn the whole story, because he wouldn’t be able to help himself, and Steve couldn’t handle that. If that happened, Steve would have to pull back, put distance between them. Not only to protect himself and his people, but to protect Eddie too. 

Steve had seen what happened to people who got pulled into their world. 

Bob was what happened. 

And even the thought of something like that happening to Eddie made Steve’s heart race. He reached up to touch the guitar pick again just to ground himself in the moment. 

It was fine. Nothing was going to happen to Eddie. Nothing was going to happen to any of them. Steve wouldn’t let anything ever happen to any of them. 

“Alright freeloaders, we’re here!” Eddie crowed, and Steve opened his eyes just as they pulled into the parking lot of a dingy looking hovel. 

The place looked about two steps from being closed for a health code violation, and Steve was instantly reminded that his mom had made him promise to never get within a thousand feet of the Hideout. It was apparently a bar for ‘other’ kinds of people. Mechanics and factory workers and cashiers. Not Harringtons. 

But here he was, right outside, and the world hadn’t caved in. Imagine that. Steve laughed quietly to himself, getting out of the van and coming around to the back with the rest. 

“‘Sup douchebags!” A voice called from across the parking lot. 

Rocky and Janet were walking over, both decked out in their metal best. Rocky was wearing the same spiked vest he wore every day, but he had chosen a pair of jeans to go with it that was more chain than denim, a look that would have gotten him sent straight to detention if he so much as stepped onto the parking lot of the school wearing it. Janet was wearing her usual attire, but her hair was up in a messy bun complete with deep dark eyeliner and a skull patterned choker. 

“Hey asshole,” Gareth replied, slapping Rocky’s hand against his own and opening the van door, “Help us with set up?” 

As they began to coordinate getting all of the stuff out of the van, Janet skipped over to Frank to chat. 

“I thought you weren’t allowed to come out tonight,” Frank said, rubbing his arm and giving her a timid smile. 

“I wasn’t. As far as my parents know I’m asleep in bed right now,” She replied, giving Frank a mischievous little grin as she kissed him quickly on the cheek, turning around before she could see the way the boy immediately turned into a tomato. 

“Hi Steve. I like the new look. You should wear it to school when we go back. Start 1985 off with a bang,” Janet said in her normal slightly snarky tone. 

“Hi Janet,” Steve said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and ducking his head down to hide the stupid grin on his face as she came over to inspect him, pointing out various add-ons he could have made to get the ‘true full metal experience’. 

This was the thing he had been searching for. Blissful normalcy with dumb conversations and stupid lighthearted jabs. Something easy that wasn’t bogged down in reality. 

“Hup two, guys. We’re already late,” Eddie huffed, pulling on an amp that was far too big for him to hold up on his own. 

“And who’s fault is that?” Jeff said with a roll of his eyes, quickly stepping in to take the other side of the equipment and gently easing it out of the van. Steve grabbed a random box and hefted it up, walking towards the door with Janet hot on his heels, still examining his new outfit. 

“Is that Eddie’s necklace?” She blurted out the second she spotted the dark red swirls, her jaw dropping open comically wide as she stared at it with huge eyes. 

“Someone decided to play Heavy Metal Barbie with pretty boy right before we were supposed to leave,” Gareth grunted, accidentally smacking Rocky with one of his drums as he stepped out of the van.

“Okay! Let’s just get moving, please!” Eddie quickly shouted in an uncharacteristically high pitched voice, practically dragging Jeff as he hurried into the bar. 

If Steve wanted to let himself over examine things, then he would have dared to say that Eddie was blushing. Instead of assessing that particular thought, he grabbed the door and held it open for the rest. 

With all seven of them working, set up went quickly, and before too long there were only a few things left to get. 

“I’ll grab them so you can start tuning or whatever,” Steve offered. 

“I’ll go with you,” Rocky said, pulling Steve out of the bar.  

“You know, I can’t believe he let you wear his lucky pick,” Rocky said the second they were alone outside, pitching his voice low even though there was no one to overhear them. “He doesn’t even let anyone else touch it, let alone wear it. ” 

This was enough to stop Steve in his tracks, his eyes darting down to the little piece of plastic around his neck.

No one else was even allowed to touch it? 

The necklace was already sentimental enough when it was just Eddie’s favorite. Now it was something precious, a treasure that wasn’t meant for any other person. Steve had been joking about Eddie staking a claim on him before, but the guitar pick practically felt like a brand at this point. 

The startling thing was just how much Steve didn’t mind. 

It was the same as ‘Sweetheart’. This was another thing that guys weren’t supposed to do for other guys, another thing that Steve shouldn’t want. He should be taking it off right now, handing it back to Eddie and going home back to the life he belonged in. 

None of this was right. Steve shouldn’t be here at a bar meant for people who were supposedly below him, he shouldn’t be dressed up like a metalhead going to listen to thrashing loud music in the middle of the night, and he certainly shouldn’t be happy Eddie Munson was having him wear something he wouldn’t even let anyone else even touch. 

This wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. This wasn’t who Steve was supposed to be. 

But was anything the way it was meant to be anymore? 

There were monsters from other dimensions and little girls who could move things with their minds. There were government cover ups, evil scientists, and dead people all over the place. 

No, nothing was how it was supposed to be anymore. At least this was a change that made Steve happy. He didn’t need to think about that too much, or try to figure out why. 

At least, he didn’t need to yet. 

“Well…maybe he just thought I could use some good luck tonight,” Steve murmured, reaching up and letting his fingers rest against the necklace for a moment before grabbing one last amp and walking back into the bar. He put it down gently on the floor of the ‘stage’ (It was a rickety wooden platform that was barely a feet off the ground, but Eddie had called it a stage), fully intending to turn right around and go back to the car to get his backpack. 

“That was the last of it, Sweetheart,” Eddie called from behind, making Steve stop short, “Rocky and Jan grabbed the best table in the house for you guys. It’s far enough that the drunks won’t hurl on you if they end up having a little bit too much. ” 

“Oh um,” Steve’s mind flitted around as he looked for any excuse he could use, “I…left my wallet in the van,” 

Steve crossed his fingers, praying that Eddie wouldn’t call out the very obvious wallet shaped lump in his right pants pocket. 

“You won’t need it,” Eddie said smoothly, hopping down and steering Steve gently towards the table with their friends, “The barkeep knows to keep my people fed and watered. Just let him know you’re here with me, or better yet, make Rocky do all the heavy lifting. He is a freshman after all, he has to take his licks.” 

That would be great if Steve was actually worried about his wallet. He wasn’t. He needed his flashlight, walkie-talkie, car keys, first aid kit, and knife. He needed to be prepared in case things went wrong. 

He needed those things, but he couldn’t explain to Eddie why, and he couldn’t walk out right now without looking like he was trying to ditch. Steve’s breathing started to kick up, and he could feel his heart leaping in his chest. 

They weren’t safe right now. Anything could happen, and he wasn’t prepared. Anything could go wrong, and- 

“Relax,” Eddie said slowly as they reached the table, pulling out a stool and nudging Steve towards it, “No one’s gonna bite,” 

“I will,” Rocky immediately replied, baring his teeth just for show. 

“Okay well don’t sit too close to him, and you’ll be just fine,” Eddie laughed, the other two Hellfire members snickering alongside him. This was where Steve should laugh with them too, but his throat was closing up. 

He was in a place he didn’t know, with a group who he didn’t really know, without anything to defend himself or keep in touch with his people. 

This wasn’t safe. Steve wasn’t safe right now. 

A soft touch on his arm startled him and he jumped back. Or he would have, if Eddie hadn’t held on and kept him from moving and crashing into the table. Steve stiffened up, looking up at Eddie knowing that he wasn’t doing a damn thing to hide how freaked out he had become. 

He couldn’t care about that. He couldn't care about anything except how dangerous everything had suddenly become. 

“Seriously. Everything’s okay. I promise,” Eddie whispered, leaning in so their heads were close together. Steve closed his eyes, taking a deep breath the way Joyce had shown him. In for four, hold for four, out for four. 

Usually it didn’t do anything for him, breathing slowly normally only made him even more aware of how little air there was in the room, but the breathing combined with Eddie’s hand still on his arm was enough to get Steve centered again. 

Everything was okay. The kids were safe, Nancy and Jonathan were safe, Hopper and Joyce were safe. 

Steve was safe. 

He was out with friends doing something fun, and there was nothing wrong with that. This was normal. This was what he was working towards. All he wanted was something easy, and this was easy. He didn’t have to make things complicated by being afraid. 

And, if anything went wrong, he could just run outside and get his things. 

“Thanks,” Steve whispered.

“Anytime,” Eddie whispered back, his big dark eyes locked on Steve’s. Once again Steve was completely aware of the guitar pick around his neck, and the fact that no one else was even allowed to touch it. 

“Eddie! Seriously! Tick fucking tock!” Frank shouted from the ‘stage’. Eddie growled quietly, muttering to himself about evil bandmates who had no sense of boundaries. Steve snorted, chuckling softly until Eddie stopped grumbling.  

“Have a good show,” Steve said, pulling away from Eddie and hopping up onto the stool. 

“Prepare to have your world rocked,” Eddie said, trying to act cool as he walked backwards, but tripping on the world’s tiniest step and falling flat on his ass on the stage. 

Steve made a valiant attempt to not laugh along with the rest of the bar, but he quickly failed, tossing his head back and laughing loudly, putting a hand on his chest and feeling the hard plastic against his fingertips. Eddie paused, giving Steve an indescribable look before straightening up and brushing away the invisible dirt from his vest. 

“And with that incredibly suave move, I’d like to formally introduce our band to the dozen or so drunks that are here tonight,” Eddie said into the mic, spreading his arms out wide like he would at Hellfire. The meager crowd yelled back and raised their drinks, making Eddie put on an absolutely feral grin

“Ladies and gentleworms, we are Corroded Coffin,” 

Much like Dungeons and Dragons, Steve hadn’t really expected that he would enjoy the show. He liked Eddie and he enjoyed the rest of the group, so he figured he would come and watch and be a good sport. 

And, much like Dungeons and Dragons, he was completely wrong. 

It wasn’t his favorite genre of music by any means, but the energy in the air was absolutely enthralling. From the first note there was just this push, this indescribable palpable movement in the air that was exhilarating while also being settling. It was like they were collectively experiencing something special, and all having a grand old time while doing it. 

It didn’t hurt that he was also about four whiskey sours in.

He had only planned to drink one, maybe two, but every time his glass was empty another magically appeared by his arm, courtesy of Rocky and Janet. He had tried to turn them down a few times, but they could be awfully persuasive when they wanted to be, and Steve couldn’t help hoping that the alcohol might clear up the last bit of the panic that was still rolling around in his head.

So with a warm fire in his belly and a brain that was finally for once quieting down, he happily listened as Janet and Rocky screamed the lyrics right alongside Eddie and the rest. He couldn’t really understand, per say, but the energy was all that mattered. 

And then, halfway into their set, everything fell apart. 

“Alright, everyone,” Eddie said as they caught their breath from an original that left everyone slapping their tables and stomping their feet, “It’s time to settle a bet.”

He turned to face Steve dead on, a gleam in his eyes that had nothing to do with the low light of the bar. 

“We have, let’s call him a…metal virgin, with us tonight,” Eddie drawled, letting the crowd hoot and holler as they pleased. There was less than two dozen people in the bar with them, and there was no way any of them besides Hellfire knew that Eddie was talking about Steve, but he still felt like every eye in the room had just turned to him. 

“Earlier tonight the band and I were trying to figure out who would make him a convert. Black Sabbath, Quiet Riot, Metallica. I said Dio, because I think this song is right up his alley. So, this one’s for you,” 

Steve’s heart began to race in a completely brand new way as Eddie began shredding down on his guitar, joined by Gareth with an impressively quick beat on the drums. 

The song was good. It was fast-paced, lively, and Steve could actually follow along with the lyrics unlike some of the more intense songs from before. Eddie had hit it exactly. The song was just another example of Eddie knowing him even more than Steve expected him to. 

It was so good in fact, that Steve almost didn’t notice the lights behind the bar begin to flicker. 

Almost. 

Steve’s hands began to shake as his eyes darted around, looking at all of the walls. The other lights were also flickering, but the walls were still straight and narrow. No bending. No monsters. 

Not yet. 

Or not here. 

Steve’s heart dropped as reality slapped him square across the face. If the lights were flickering, but there was no sign of any monsters, then they were close, but not here. They could be anywhere, going after anyone. 

Going after one of his people. 

Steve stumbled off the stool, catching Janet and Rocky’s attention as he nearly toppled to the ground. 

“Steve! Are you okay?!” Janet yelled above the noise. 

No, he wasn’t okay. He was a stupid fool in fact. A complete idiot who had honestly let himself believe that the danger was gone when he knew it wasn’t. 

“I- I need to-” Steve couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t make his breath even enough to find the words for what he needed. 

He needed his bat. He needed his backpack. He needed to get in touch with Hopper. He needed to get out of here. 

He needed to find his kids. 

And then, just as Eddie hit one last screeching solo note on his guitar, everything went dark. 

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