#can you notice that i have never stepped foot in a gym?
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The note shows up in Eddie's mailbox cubby on Valentine's Day.
It's nothing fancy, loopy cursive handwriting on lined paper:
"I know this is probably silly but I can't go another day without saying it, and today seems appropriate for this kind of confession. Seeing you in the morning is the best part of my day. You're so gorgeous it leaves me breathless. I hope you don't mind if I don't leave my name. Just wanted you to know that you're beautiful."
His eyes fill with tears that he blinks back, a goofy smile stretching his mouth wide.
"You good there, Munson?" Robin Buckley asks.
"Oh, yup, yeah, all good." He laughs. "Just got one of those 'you're my favorite teacher Mr. Munson!' notes."
He squeezes the letter to his chest before slipping it in his pocket.
---
The worst thing about Eddie's new job is that someway, somehow, Steve-fucking-Harrington works here too. PE teacher, JV basketball coach, of-fucking-course. Once a douchebag jock, always a douchebag jock. What makes it all worse is that he's still the prettiest guy Eddie's ever seen.
---
The first week of March, there's a commotion in the hallway that has him rushing out of his room, ready to breakup a fight. He finds Harrington already there, holding Dustin Henderson and Will Byers by their shoulders. Troy Walsh and James Dante stand across from them, wearing matching snarls.
Of course Harrington is picking on little nerd kids; he knew it. But before he steps forwards to break it up, Steve speaks, voice low and angry. "You want to tell me what happened here, Troy?"
"Byers tripped. He really should watch where he's going," Troy says. James laughs.
Steve's glare goes even more icy, more disdainful (it's so fucking hot, Eddie hates it). "You want to take that again? And try being honest this time, or you're suspend from the team."
Troy splutters for long enough that Eddie finally notices Will's stricken face, the sketchpad and snapped colored pencils littering the linoleum.
"I saw you take those things from Will, and unfortunately, I'll have to call your parents and you will be responsible for purchasing a new sketchbook and pencils. You're also benched for the next four games."
The boys shout, but when Steve raises a hand they quiet immediately. "You want to complain more, or do you want it to be five games?"
"No, sir," they answer before scampering off.
Harrington faces Dustin and Will. "You boys okay?" he asks them.
"We're good, Mr. H," Dustin answers.
"Glad to hear it." Steve begins collecting Will's ruined belongings, stops to study one of the drawings.
"This is really good, Will."
Will flushes. "Thanks. It's my character for dnd,"
"Dnd? That's that game that El and Max are always talking about? With the character sheets and the dice?"
"Yeah!" says Dustin. "You know it?"
Steve's smile is a little bashful, and it tugs at Eddie's heart in a way he has to ignore. "Not much. Just from what the girls have said. You want to tell me about it?"
"Really?" Their eyes light up.
"Really. You can stop by the gym during lunch. Only if you want to, though."
"Cool," says Dustin.
He pats them both on the shoulder, and they hurry away, leaving Steve and Eddie suddenly alone.
Eddie should head back to his class, hasn't been needed in this situation at all, really, but before he can disappear, Steve spots him and his eyes widen.
"You need something, Munson?" Steve's cheeks go a faint pink.
He shakes his head, feels wrong-footed. "Uh, that was really cool what you did just there."
"They're really good kids," Steve says. "I know them a little. Used to babysit El Hopper." He slides his hands into the pockets of his khakis and, seriously, fuck Harrington for looking like that in a pair of Dockers.
"Babysitter, Harrington? Never thought I'd see the day. Or that you'd be the one defending a bunch of nerds," Eddie says. He means it teasing, but Steve's face warps into a frown.
"Y--yeah, I guess. I mean. I'm trying not to be that guy anymore, and Robin's really helped--"
"Shit, man, I'm sorry. That's not what I meant, at all--"
"--I feel terrible about all that shit I pulled back in school. That King Steve stuff? I was awful and you didn't deserve--"
"Steve!" Eddie cuts him off. "I forgive you. For everything." He looks down at his shoes. "For all I didn't want to believe it, you really have changed."
They're both pink faced now, avoiding each other's eyes. "Thanks," Steve says. "I should get going, but--for the future-- I really wouldn't mind--um--trying to be friends."
The grin that passes across Eddie's face is huge. "Yeah, Harrington, I'd like that."
Eddie has to run to make it to his classroom on time. He passes Dustin and Will and the rest of their gaggle of friends, rushing them along, but forgets all about it as he steps in front of his third period juniors.
---
He and Steve are...friendly now. They chat, they joke, they share smiles that have Eddie's heart beating too fast even though it's not like that. Turns out Steve is kind and funny (a little bit of a bitch too, but in a way that ties Eddie's stomach in knots), and a hell of a teacher.
---
His freshman are in small groups, peer-reviewing an essays, when Max Mayfield catches his eye. She's one of his favorite students and absolute trouble.
"What's up, Mayfield." He asks.
"Are you friends with Mr. Harrington?" She asks.
He chuckles. "Sure, Max, we're friendly enough. Why?"
She narrows her eyes, like she knows he's not being totally honest. "Oh, nothing. He just talks about you all the time."
He's blushing horribly and Max, and all of her friends, smirk up at him. "He does?" He chokes out.
"Mmhmm," Lucas Sinclair says. "Says he thinks you're really cool."
"Definitely one of the best teachers here," Mike Wheeler adds.
Eddie rolls his eyes. "Okay, very funny, guys. How're your essays going?"
They answer, but before Eddie goes to help another group, Will says, "he really does like you, Mr. Munson. A lot."
El nods earnestly up at him. "It is true," she says. "I know him."
"Thanks, kids. I'll keep that in mind." He gives them a smile, tries not to let their words get to him. When he reaches the next group, though, he notices his hands are shaking.
---
Gifts start turning up in Eddie's cubby. It starts with a bag of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from his favorite bakery. There's a small note that says "from your secret admirer," on the packaging. Every two weeks or so, something new shows up in his little mailbox; a woven friendship bracelet, a yellow rose, Hershey kisses, a delicately painted dnd figure that gives Eddie a small crisis because it's his own bard character, an Iron Maiden cassette, a bag of dice that almost brings him to genuine tears.
Eventually, he gets another note. This one is typed and reads: "I would love to have coffee with you 11am this Saturday at the Cafe on Main Street."
---
He walks into the cafe at 10:50am, wearing his favorite pair of ripped black jeans and a burgundy button-down, his hair pulled into a loose bun. He doesn't recognize anyone there.
Eddie gets in line, studies the menu, and the little bell above the door rings. He whips towards the sound to find none other than Steve Harrington in little wire rim glasses, a butter colored sweater, and jeans the man must have painted on, Jesus Christ. Honestly, the whole thing is enough to give Eddie a coronary (and to, embarrassingly, chub up in his own tight jeans).
"Steve?" He asks. He's overwhelmed with the (stupid, stupid) hope that it's been Harrington all along. "What are you doing here?"
"Henderson asked me to meet him. He around?"
"Uh, no?" Eddie feels heat creeping up his throat.
Steve shakes his head, as though he expected as much. "You alone? We could grab drink."
"I can't believe this." Eddie hides his face in his hands, knows it's gone horrifyingly crimson.
"What's wrong?"
"My secret admirer told me to be here now, so we could meet," Eddie's misery slices through his words. "I'm such an idiot."
"I--your--what?" Steve stammers.
He gathers himself enough to look Steve in his hazel eyes and ask, "I'm assuming it wasn't you leaving notes and gifts for me at work?"
And he expects Steve to say no. To laugh and ask why he'd ever do something like that, but instead, instead he flushes a deep red. "O-only one note."
"What?"
"I, uh," Steve clears his throat. "I left you a note. On Valentine's Day. I--we weren't friends yet, and I wanted you to know how much I liked you. It's --uh--it's pretty silly, huh? Robin's--"
"Steve," Eddie interrupts. He's going to tell Steve that he reads the note often enough that he has parts memorized; that it's the kindest thing anyone has done for him, but what he says instead is, "Dustin Henderson told you to meet him here at 11?"
"Yeah. Said he had something to show me."
Eddie remembers running into Will and Dustin and their friends that day in the hall, the weird conversation in class, the dice and the miniature. Something must click for Steve at the same time because his mouth drops, blush getting somehow deeper.
"Oh my god. Henderson! I'm gonna kill him. They figured out I had a crush on you."
"They WHAT?" Eddie says, loud enough that several looks are aimed their way.
"I'm so, so sorry, Eddie. Holy shit, this is so humiliating. You have to believe me, I had no idea they were doing this. God, I'm really starting to think it is possible to die from embarrassment."
"You have a crush on me," Eddie says instead of any of the dozens of helpful things he could say.
"Um. Yes?"
Eddie takes a deep breath, straightens his spine, and asks, "You wanna have coffee with me?"
"I'd really like that." Steve's return smile is so beautiful, it makes Eddie weak.
---
Eddie Munson is making out with Steve Harrington in the backseat of Steve's BMW. He and Steve spent the day together. They've kissed for so long that the sun has set, both of their lips are swollen, their skin red from stubble, and Eddie is nowhere near ready for the night to end.
Steve breaks away, gently pulling their mouths apart, but arms still tight around Eddie. "Hey, what kind of gifts were they giving you anyway? The kids?"
"Oh," Eddie blushes. "Uh, cookies, a dnd mini, lots of candy, a set of dice."
"Oh my god," Steve says, he pulls a little more away. "Oh my god, I'm going to kill her, Jesus Christ."
"Who are are you killing, sweetheart?"
Steve groans. "Robin. She was helping them. We found a set of dice at this little bookstore and she told me to get them for you, and--" he breaks off with a helpless, frustrated noise.
Eddie doesn't mean to, but he starts to giggle.
"It's not funny!" Steve says.
That only makes Eddie laugh harder. "Your best friend," he squeaks. "And a group of literal children set us up. That's hilarious, Harrington."
Steve's mouth drops and for a second Eddie thinks he'll be upset, but then he's giggling too, his whole face crumpling into it.
Steve pulls Eddie close once the laughter subsides, his eyes trained on Eddie's lips.
"We could pretend we didn't get together," Eddie manages to say.
"What, like, make them think they failed?"
"Yeah. We could tell them I got stood up, but you and I hung out. Had a bro day."
Steve giggles again, and it's the best sound Eddie's ever heard. "I'm absolutely on board with this plan, but you should definitely kiss me some more."
"Oh, yeah?" Eddie asks, his voice low. "And what'll I get out of it?"
"Why don't you get over here and see."
As if Eddie could turn down an invite that enticing. He slides a hand behind Steve's head, drawing him in, and they're kissing like they never stopped. It only been a few hours, but Eddie knows--without a doubt--he's already head over heels.
#steddie#steve x eddie#steve harrington#eddie munson#ficlet#oneshot#fluff#mutual pining#matchmaking#secret admirers#pe teacher steve harrington#english teacher eddie munson#kinda doing a parent trap thing#in which robin and the party parent trap eddie and steve#it's also the part of clueless where they do matchmaking with the teachers#first date#the party#robin buckley#platonic soulmates#rough winds do shake the darling buds of may but thy eternal summer shall not fade#phat did you write that
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𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝟐
f!reader x PT!Jamie (modern au) 1.5k words
summary: reader has a bad gym experience and jamie gets protective
cw: working out, mention of potential injury, mentions of sexual harrassment (ass grabbing)
sidenote, that I've seen a lot of this behaviour in the gym before and it makes me sick. writing about it and imagining how jamie would handle it makes me less sick. imagining big strong pt!james making the world better, one set of keys at a time. please, always be aware of your surroundings if you are working out at the gym, especially alone <3
James pulls you out from under the bar of the smith machine by the hips seconds before it clatters to the ground with a sickening thud and clang of metal. You stumble under his harsh hands, land on the ground at his feet and let out a pained whoosh of breath. Luckily, the gym is empty save for the two of you, sparing you the embarrassment of having people watch the commotion.
He's on you in an instant, gentle hands that cradle your neck as he crouches in front of you and pushes your head from side to side with a little pressure from his thumbs. All you can do is blink, try to process what, exactly, just happened. "You're not sore here?" James asks you, brows furrowed and almost touching in the middle, his fingers pressing into the base of your neck.
Your first thought is that James doesn't suit frowning. A silly thought, considering you almost decapitated yourself with a one hundred kilogram squat rack. "No. Just my ass from crash landing." You don't fail to notice the way your voice sounds distant, detached.
James' hands are warm on your neck, a burning touch that you want to lean into. You don't, and it's gone as James collapses down across from you, his elbows resting against his knees. His face turns stern, "What's going on?"
You feel like you're being scolded, and maybe you should be. It's a well known fact that form is everything, that being distracted in the gym can lead to serious injuries. You'd known you wouldn't be able to focus today, you'd known you should've stopped that set and corrected yourself when you could feel the weight more in your back than your legs. But, you hadn't. You're distracted, you're angry. You'd walked into the gym full of frustration and it'd almost ended terribly.
Tears fight their way to your eyes and they burn. You feel a lump forming in your throat that forces you to look away from James. Kind, patient James, who allows you the moment to collect yourself as you pull your legs to your chest. "Shitty week." It comes out mumbled, your voice defeated.
James nods understandingly. "A shitty week doesn't make you lose focus like that, though. There's something more to it."
It's not like James to push. He's friendly and he's kind, he can be a menace when he wants to be, and sometimes you even think he's flirting with you - but he never pushes. You want to open up, you want to step out of that weird area of professionalism you can never seem to get past with him. But unloading your shitty week on him doesn't feel like the way to do that. So you shrug, pulling your knees to your chest until your chin rests atop them, "I'm just stressed. I'm sorry I didn't say anything, I knew my form was wrong but I was too distracted to stop and fix it."
"I don't care that your form was wrong," James shakes his head as though offended you'd think such a thing, "I mean," He pauses, searching for the words, "Obviously, I care that it was wrong because you almost got hurt. But what I mean is that you should've told me you were stressed, that you were feeling a bit distracted."
You find yourself nodding, eyes downcast at your crossed ankles.
"I was waiting for you to correct the form yourself. If I knew you were distracted, I'd have told you to stop. I'm sorry, too." James' voice has turned soft, less stern. He nudges his foot until it's in your line of vision, tapping it against yours until you're looking up.
He's waiting with a smile, his eyes gentle and patient. It feels odd. New, foreign. You can't really describe the feeling. "A guy grabbed my ass in the gym, yesterday." You breathe out, unsure really of what it is that's made you tell him.
It could be that you trust him. It's hard not to build trust with someone in James' position, it's literally his job to stop things like one hundred kilogram bar bells falling on top of you. Or, it could be that not telling anyone, reliving how powerless you'd felt, going over everything you could've done differently, it's eating you alive. Sharing this with James, who sees every day what gyms are like, how people in some gyms behave, you have a feeling that he'll get it. That he'll help you process.
But, he doesn't say anything. Just stares with a look that you can't read. The muscles in his arms shift, his hands clenching around each other tightly, and his jaw clenches. You think he might not say anything, though, you know James is better than that. The silence stretches until the tears in your eyes abate, then James finally croaks, "He what?"
Your veins crackle with the anger in his voice, the darkness that clouds his eyes. You'd never have imagined James in such a light if he wasn't sitting right in front of you, the very picture of livid. You shrug, as though feigning nonchalance might abate the white hot anger you know very well the feeling of. "I was doing those stupid kick back thingies you're always on about. Just messing about as a cool down, trying to correct my own form. He came over and started giving me advice, which I thought was just him being nice."
James shakes his head, remorse like a white sheet of dread across his beautiful face. You swallow, picking at a hangnail on your thumb, "He kind of just," You shift your hands as though grabbing your own hips, "Grabbed me like that and my throat went dry. When he was leaving he grabbed my ass and said 'you're welcome'."
"You didn't report him to the gym staff?"
You shake your head, lip trapped between your teeth. "I wasn't even planning on telling you until I nearly killed myself with the smith machine."
James sighs, one of his hands coming up to rub at his face. He looks nauseous, almost. "I'll get you a set of keys for this gym. You can work out here, from now on. No one will bother you."
It's a nice offer. It makes your heart swell and your cheeks heat. James has always gone above and beyond. He fits you into his schedule despite your crazy work hours and never charges you for the session if you have to cancel day of. But the reason you don't have a membership at his gym is because it's not in your price range. So you smile, kind, if a little tight lipped, "James, you know I can't."
"I'm not saying get a membership. I'm saying I'll get you a set of keys. You can come and go as you please, even after work, whatever time you want." His voice is thick, his eyes earnest and almost pleading.
"I can't ask you to do that."
James scoots closer, fingers flexing as though he might reach out for you, but is stopping himself. He chases your gaze, waits until he has it, until your lips part under the weight of it and your heart hammers against your chest, to speak. "You're not asking. I'm offering. I can't believe that happened to you and it makes me so angry. I'm not going to sit by and do nothing about it."
You sigh, unwilling to argue when James sounds so passionate, so sure of himself. A smile makes its way to your lips, timid, unsure, "Thanks, Jamie."
He nods. "Any time."
"Are you sure the owner won't mind?" You ask.
James grins, some of the mischievous twinkle returning to his eyes, "He's my best mate, it'll be fine."
He offers you a hand as he stands, the storm clouds passing and the weight already lifting from your chest. It feels brighter, in the gym. You take James' hand, let him pull you up. He does his signature move of tugging you until you're stumbling towards him, his laugh echoing off of the concrete walls when you curse him out for it.
"Start from the beginning?" James asks, moving to return the smith machine to where you need it to be.
You take a breath, watch the way his shoulder muscles strain against his top as he bends and lifts. It brings a smile to your lips, the feeling of familiarity you hadn't felt upon entering the gym earlier. "I believe I was at five reps when I dropped the bar."
James tsks, "Dropping it doesn't count as a rep. Call it four."
"Cruel."
James only winks, offers you his award winning smile as you settle yourself under the bar. This time, with the correct form. He nods, and you twist to unlock, eyes on his in the mirror.
"That's one." He grins, crossing his arms over his chest.
You consider dropping the bar on his head, next.
#james potter#james potter fic#james potter imagine#james potter oneshot#james potter x reader#james potter x f!reader#james potter fluff#james potter angst#marauders#marauders era#marauders fic#marauders imagine#sirius black#remus lupin#fourmoony#angst#love#fluff#smut#pt!jamie#pt!james potter#pt!james
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FIRSTS ━━ paige bueckers x azzi fudd
☆ ��� summary: paige and azzi’s firsts.
☆ ━ word count: 12.9K (jesus)
☆ ━ warnings: slight smut, angst, fluff.
☆ ━ author’s notes: hiiii!!!! this is my first time posting on tumblr, even though i’ve literally been lurking on here for actual years… yeah! but i write on both wattpad and ao3 and decided that i might as well start publishing my work on here too. i hope you enjoy!!
I. MAY 2017
They're at the USA basketball U16 Trials, the gym buzzing with the energy of teenage girls and their need to prove themselves. The court echoes with the sounds of squeaking sneakers and bouncing basketballs. Two teams have been created—jerseys and no jerseys—for a practice scrimmage. The air is thick with anticipation, the scent of fresh sweat mingling with the sharp tang of floor polish.
Paige adjusts her jersey, fingers brushing against the cool, breathable fabric. She stretches her arms overhead, feeling the muscles lengthen and relax. Her eyes scan the court, taking in the familiar sights and sounds of the game she loves. She's been here before, in this exact position, waiting for the competition to begin, and each time it feels like the most important moment of her life. The adrenaline hums in her veins, a steady current of energy that she channels into focus.
The whistle blows, sharp and clear, slicing through the ambient noise. It's not long before Paige's team is on defense, and she positions herself near the top of the key, ready.
Paige doesn't think much of anything when she first sets eyes on the girl she's guarding. The blonde made a few fast friends earlier in the morning and this girl surely isn't one of them. She doesn't know her; doesn't care about knowing her; doesn't think about knowing her. She doesn't notice the way her brown eyes are glazed over with focus, the slight crinkle in between her brows as she furrows them, the way her mouth hangs open ever so slightly. In fact, Paige's eyes barely scan the girl before they trail right back to the orange basketball set in her hands. She watches as the girl dribbles the ball with a practiced ease, focus unwavering.
Paige moves into a defensive stance, eyes never leaving the basketball. Knees bent, arms outstretched, the blonde is ready to react to any move the girl before her might make. She can feel the eyes of the coaches on her, the pressure of the moment heavy on her shoulders. But she thrives on this; the intensity sharpens her focus.
The dribbling of the girl before Paige is rhythmic, almost meditative, the ball bouncing in a steady beat that matches the thumping in the blonde's chest. For a short moment, the pair stay like that, testing the waters. And then the girl starts to move, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, gauging Paige's reaction. She fakes left, then darts right, the ball a blur between her hands. Paige follows, movements fluid and quick, matching the girl step for step.
The girl changes pace, pushing off her back foot and driving toward the basket. Paige is right there, her hand reaching out instinctively. Her fingers brush against the ball, and in a split second, she hooks it cleanly from the other girl's grasp.
Paige takes off down the court, her legs pumping, heart pounding in her chest. She hears the surprised gasps and murmurs from the sidelines, but she blocks it all out. All that matters is the basket ahead of her. She dodges a defender, movements a blur of agility and speed. With a final burst of energy, she leaps toward the hoop, laying the ball gently against the backboard. It falls through the net with a satisfying swish.
It's what she does best: steals, swifts, scores.
☆
The scrimmage ends with the final whistle and the players disperse, heading for their water bottles and towels. The gym slowly empties out as everyone make their way to the locker rooms. Paige follows suit, breathless and sweaty as she walks alongside Celeste and Jordan, two girls she made friends with at the beginning of the day. She takes slow, methodic sips from her water bottle as she does her best to return her heart rate and breathing back to what it was before all the cardio.
After a moment, Paige excuses herself from her new friends, heading to the bathroom. It's quiet in there, only for the faint hum of the ventilation system. Paige goes to a stall and locks the door behind her. She takes a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline that only basketball can bring her slowly ebbing away. It's not long before she flushes and exits the stall, heading to wash her hands.
As she approaches, she notices the girl from before standing at the sink, hands under the running water. Paige hesitates for a second, then moves to the sink next to her, the proximity making her suddenly aware of the dull silence between them. The blonde turns on the faucet, letting the cold water rush over her hands. She glances sideways at the girl, who's now drying her hands with a paper towel.
Despite Paige's initial steal on the girl, it turns out she's a total bucket-getter. She'd surprised Paige and certainly got her revenge on her, scoring four three-pointers right over the blonde's head. Each one had swished so perfectly that all Paige could think was: sharpshooter.
It takes Paige a moment to summon her courage and confidence—considering it's usually right on the surface and doesn't need to be summoned—but when she does, she speaks.
"Hey," she says, voice breaking the quiet of the sterile bathroom. "You were great out there. Seriously, like, one of the best shooters I've ever gone against."
The girl looks up, eyes meeting Paige's. There's a moment of surprise, followed by a small but genuine smile. "Thanks," she replies, voice warm and somehow smooth like butter. "You're really good, too. Surprised me a little bit, actually," she adds, a joking tone curling around her vocals.
Paige lets an offended yet amused smile overtake her features, putting a hand on her heart as she amusedly says, "Hey!"
The girl isn't on her own there, though. Paige knows that most people who look like her—skinny as bones and white as paper—can't play basketball like her. She's had people doubt her since she was little, but she manages to prove them wrong every time. Another case in point right here.
Before the other girl can retort back, Paige asks, curious, "What's your name?"
"I'm Azzi," the girl answers, her smile widening just enough for a dimple to appear.
Azzi, Paige notes, tucking it in the back of her mind, thinking it may be important one day. Whether that be sooner or later.
And now, for the first time, Paige lets herself really look at this girl—Azzi, she reminds herself. She's probably about an inch or so shorter than Paige, and she's got tan skin and dark, curly hair that's been pulled back into two braids. Her brows, without the furrow of intensity she held during the game, lay flat, smoothing her forehead and giving her a softer look. Her brown eyes are deep and expressive, framed by long lashes. Her lips are full and her jawline is sharp but soft, with a smooth curve to it. Her two front teeth are slightly longer than the others, a bit like bunny teeth, and the dimples digging into her cheeks are charming in a way Paige has never seen before.
And there, Paige realizes—with a slight sense of embarrassment—just how pretty Azzi is.
It's a realization that catches her off guard, and—humiliatingly—she stumbles over her words as she introduces herself, coughing out, "'m Paige."
Azzi nods, and Paige does her absolute hardest to try to push down the blush she can feel rising in her cheeks as the girl murmurs, "It's nice to meet you, Paige."
Azzi's slowly walking towards the bathroom door now, and as she opens it, she adds, calling over her shoulder, "Hopefully next time we can be on the same team."
Paige stands there by the sinks, slightly frozen as she responds, "Yeah."
Only after Azzi has closed the door behind her, leaving Paige alone there in the bathroom, the blonde adds, voice low in a whisper meant only for herself, "Hopefully."
II. AUGUST 2018
"Az, can you get my back?" Paige's voice echoes from the bathroom, where she's been applying sunscreen to her pale skin for the last few minutes.
Azzi hums in response, halting her movements of packing her small drawstring up. She glances at her bag, half-full with essentials for their boat outing, before heading towards the bathroom.
They're at the lake house, the last month of summer in full force. Azzi's grateful to get away from home for a little while, now in a different kind of home that she much prefers to the other.
The door to the bathroom is slightly ajar, and Azzi pushes it open gently. Paige is standing there, clad in her hot pink bikini—the girl sure does love her bright colors, Azzi knows that—with her back exposed, a bottle of sunscreen in hand. The sight of Paige is one Azzi has grown accustomed to over the past year, yet, especially more recently, it never fails to send a jolt through her. Paige's skin is a blank canvas, pale and soft, a stark contrast to Azzi's own tan complexion.
"Gimme," Azzi says, hand reaching for the bottle. Her voice is steady despite the unmistakable flutter of those butterfly wings she feels in her chest, her stomach, her everywhere. They've got the kind of pitter-patter that only Paige can bring her. And it only worsens when the blonde looks back at Azzi, meeting her eyes, baby blue on chocolate brown, hands brushing as Paige gives the younger girl the bottle, a stupid, beautiful grin of gratitude stretching her features. Azzi ignores the feeling, having grown accustomed to that, too, instead taking the bottle and squirting a generous amount of sunscreen into her palm.
Paige pulls her hair to one side, giving Azzi full access to her back. Azzi's hands hover for a moment—a stupid hesitation considering how much she and Paige touch each other—before she gently places them on the older girl's shoulders, starting at the top and working her way down. The lotion spreads smoothly, a thin layer of protection against the summer sun.
As her hands move across Paige's back, Azzi doesn't miss the silence. It's odd. Paige is such a chatter box that Azzi really never gets any silence when around her. Azzi remembers being a bit fed up with Paige last year because of it. It was in the earliest stages of their relationship, following them both securing their own roster spots on the FIBA U16 team. Paige was always talking and talking and talking, and Azzi was tired. Maybe it was because Paige was never talking to her. For some odd reason, that whole month of USA basketball, Paige had been such a babbler with anyone and everyone that didn't have the name Azzi Fudd. At first, Azzi thought Paige didn't like her. It made sense: Paige wouldn't speak to her, wouldn't make eye contact with her (on the off chance that their eyes did meet, Paige would immediately flit her own to anything that wasn't the chocolate color of Azzi's irises), and sometimes stared at her like she was something else completely. It made Azzi uncomfortable and even a little disheartened because they played so well together, and yet this girl wouldn't give her the light of day off the court. Of course, Paige was never rude to her. Azzi knows that Paige hardly even has the capacity to fulfill the word, ever the people pleaser. If Azzi spoke to her, Paige would respond kindly. She just never went out of her way to start the conversions on her own. And Azzi guesses she shouldn't have cared that much about it, except that Paige would start conversations with everyone else. In a way, it made her feel alienated.
However, it didn't take too long for Azzi to realize that whatever Paige's shyness around her was caused by, it wasn't that the blonde disliked her. Because whenever their team took group photos, the spot next to Azzi always seemed to be taken by Paige. The weight of the older girl's palm on Azzi's waist, the way their shoulders brushed as the camera would snap the shot, quickly became familiar nature between the two of them. And then, when they won the gold medal, Azzi was the first person Paige went to. Paige had let out a little scream of victory before launching herself into Azzi, arms wrapping around the younger girl's neck. They'd never been that close before, and Azzi recalls it making her head spin slightly. They had been sweaty and full of adrenaline, and Azzi had let herself hold onto Paige tightly, because they'd won. And then, in line while getting their medals, the pair held hands and Azzi got her first taste of what Paige's fingers felt like intertwined with her own.
Truly though, the turning point was the flight back to Minnesota. Azzi supposes Paige was feeling bold, because as soon as the blonde's eyes set on her, she made a beeline for the seat right next to Azzi. Despite the celebratory affinity they'd shared earlier in the week, it caught Azzi a bit off guard. And yet, as soon as Paige sat down next to her, all that chatter that Azzi had watched the girl bestow upon their teammates was suddenly entirely reserved for her. Throughout the whole flight, Paige talked and talked and talked, and Azzi listened and listened and listened. They shared grins and fought to hide blushes and when the plane finally landed, it sealed the deal for Azzi.
This chatterbox, bottle blonde, skinny white girl (that also happened to be one of the prettiest people Azzi had ever laid eyes on) was meant to be her best friend.
So, now that they're standing here, Azzi's hands on Paige's skin, and Paige isn't saying anything, and Azzi—true to her quiet, listening nature—isn't either, things feel strange. The younger girl doesn't know why Paige is silent. She certainly doesn't let herself get so far as to guessing, though, because she knows that her mind will only take her to places she shouldn't go. Places she knows Paige has never let herself go to.
But it's difficult. The silent air between them is thick, charged with a tension that's always there but never so predominant as now. Each touch sends a spark through Azzi, a reminder of the stupid fucking feelings she's been harboring for months now. It's maddening that Paige, her best friend of all people, has suddenly become the center of Azzi's thoughts, the place her mind always seems to be wandering back to.
But, really, Azzi thinks, if you knew Paige, how could she not? She's a vibrant hue in a world of grey, so full of life. She's got a laugh that lights up any (and every) room she walks in, and a smile that makes Azzi's heart skip a beat. For Azzi, being around Paige is like basking in the warmth of the sun—comforting, but sometimes too intense to bear.
Azzi's fingers brush against the nape of Paige's neck, and she feels a shiver run through her body. Her touch is careful, deliberate, but the closeness makes it hard to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. She takes a deep breath, hoping to steady her racing heart.
Azzi finishes spreading the sunscreen, her hands lingering for a fraction of a second longer than necessary. In that brief moment, she's acutely aware of everything—the warmth of Paige's skin under her fingertips, the faint scent of the sunscreen mingling with Paige's own subtle fragrance, the soft rise and fall of Paige's breath.
She pulls her hands away, taking a step back. Paige turns to face her, a grateful smile on her lips. "Thanks, Az."
Az, Az, Az, Az. Azzi's mind replays the way her nickname sounds falling from Paige's lips.
"Mhm," Azzi hums, her voice more casual than she feels.
And, before anything else can be said between the two of them, Katie calls out from downstairs, "You girls ready yet? We're waiting on you!"
"Yeah, we're coming!" Azzi calls back, grateful for the interruption. She gives Paige one last smile before heading out of the bathroom, her heart still pounding in her chest.
☆
Azzi's tired, curled up under the quilt laid upon her bed. Her bones ache with exhaustion, her skin burns from the extra exposure to the sun, her eyes are red and sore from rubbing all of the lake water out of them. She scrolls mindlessly on her phone, knowing she won't be able to sleep until Paige is over whatever energy burst she's got right now.
The blonde girl is sprawled on the floor, digging through her duffle bag vigorously, searching for something she clearly needs. When she began the hunt a few minutes ago, Azzi asked what she was looking for and offered to help, but Paige had only waved her off, saying she'd find it herself. Azzi rolled her eyes and collapsed back onto her bed, trying to ignore the annoying sounds of Paige zipping and unzipping her bag, as well as tossing items along the floor.
Azzi notices when Paige finally finds what she's been so longingly looking for. The shuffling halts, and Azzi sees Paige stand from the corner of her eye. Azzi begrudgingly sits up in bed, eyes set on her best friend, raising her brows ludicrously as she sees Paige's hands holding something behind her back, almost as if she's hiding it from Azzi.
"Don't be mad, okay?" the blonde says slowly, smile full of suppressed energy. Azzi catches the spark that glints in Paige's eyes, a hint of mischief that usually means trouble.
The younger girl rolls her eyes, ignoring the comment. "What do you have, Paige?" she asks, feeling a little bit like a mother that's about to have to reprimand her child.
Paige, sheepishly, pulls a small object that's tucked in a ziplock baggie from behind her back, holding it up with a hopeful grin.
Azzi's eyes widen and her jaw drops in surprise. Whatever she thought her best friend was hiding, it wasn't a blunt. But there it is, and Azzi can't help but stumble out, "Where did you even get that?"
"One of my friends from back home gave it to me when I told her I'd never smoked before. Said it was good stuff," Paige replies, grin widening. "I brought it here and, well... thought we should try it?"
Azzi feels the familiar hand of anxiety wrap it's fingers around her rib cage. She gulps, asking incredulously, "Are you serious? What if we get caught? My parents will kill us!"
"It was a long day, they're knocked out," Paige reasons, her tone reassuring. "No one's going to catch us. Besides, don't you wanna try it? Just once?"
Azzi bites her lip, torn between the thrill of doing something forbidden and the fear of getting caught. Her mind races with the possible consequences, the weeks of grounding she'd face should her parents find out about this. But then she looks at Paige, who's watching her with those bright blue eyes, full of excitement and trust.
"C'mon, Azzi," Paige coaxes. "It'll be fun. Just you and me. We've never done anything like this before. Don't you wanna know what it feels like?"
The logic is flimsy, but Paige's enthusiasm is infectious, per usual. Azzi feels a thrill of rebellion bubbling up inside her, fueled by the day's excitement and the safety of her parents' sure exhaustion. She takes a deep breath and nods.
"Okay, fine. But we have to be careful," Azzi says seriously, feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety.
Paige's face lights up with a triumphant smile. "Deal. Let's sneak out the back."
They move quietly through the dark cabin, careful not to wake anyone. The night air is cool against Azzi's skin as she and Paige slip out the back door, making their way down to the dock. The lake is a mirror, reflecting the starlit sky, and the only sound is the soft rustling of leaves and the gentle splash of water against the wooden posts. It's comforting; no one is out here to catch them.
The pair sit on the edge of the dock, legs dangling over the water. Azzi watches, heart pounding in her chest, as Paige fumbles with a lighter, her hands shaking slightly with anticipation.
"Ready?" Paige asks, looking at Azzi with a mix of excitement and nervousness.
Azzi nods, her stomach a knot of nerves. Slowly, Paige brings the blunt to her lips and flicks the lighter, the small flame dancing in the night. As the blunt is lit, she takes a deep drag, holding the smoke in her lungs before exhaling slowly. She coughs a bit, but otherwise does pretty well for her first time. If Azzi didn't know better, she'd think her best friend has done this before.
"Your turn," Paige says, passing the blunt to Azzi.
The younger girl takes it with trembling hands, bringing it to her lips. She mimics Paige, inhaling deeply. The smoke burns her throat, feeling like fire, and as soon as it makes contact with it, she coughs violently, tears springing to her eyes. Beside her, Paige laughs softly, patting her on the back.
"It gets easier, I think," Paige does her best to assure her, taking another drag and passing it back.
They continue like this, passing the blunt back and forth. Paige was right; each drag becomes a little easier than the last. The initial discomfort gives way to a strange, floating sensation. Azzi feels lightheaded, her thoughts fuzzy and her body relaxed.
The tension that Azzi has felt lingering between them all day seems to dissipate, dissolving into the lake air, replaced by a sense of peace and friendship. They giggle at nothing and everything, words flowing freely as the high takes hold.
"You know, I've always thought you were like, the coolest person ever," Paige breaks the silence, her voice dreamy and sincere.
Azzi laughs, feeling a warm glow spread through her chest. "Please," she scoffs lightly, rolling her eyes. That makes her feel a little dizzy; she notes not to do that again. "You're the cool one, Paige. You're so confident and, just, like, fearless. I wish I could be more like you."
Paige shakes her head, eyes bright and unfocused, irises tinted pink. "Nah, you've got this... quiet strength," she murmurs slowly, trying to find her words through the haze of intoxication. "You're always there, you know? Always solid. I really admire that."
The words strike a chord in Azzi, her heart swelling with affection. "Thanks, P," she mumbles, trying to keep her voice steady. "That means a lot."
They fall into a comfortable silence, the sounds of the night filling the gaps between their words. Crickets chirp, leaves rustle, the breeze ruffles the water slightly. Azzi feels a strange sense of peace, a connection to Paige that goes beyond what she can put into words. It's as if the high has stripped away all the pretense, leaving only the raw, unfiltered truth of their friendship.
Azzi's mind drifts to the past year, to all the moments they've shared. Late-night FaceTimes, endless basketball practices and 1v1s, and quiet moments like this one. She thinks about how much Paige means to her, how her presence has become nothing short of a constant source of comfort and joy.
And then, unbidden, comes the realization of just how deep her feelings run. It's not just some crush she's got; it's something more profound, more terrifying. Azzi thinks she feels that certain way about Paige. She can't think it, can't conjure up that certain word, but, deep down, in that corner of her heart that's reserved exactly for the blonde girl and no one else, Azzi knows. And, no matter how terrifying it is, it's real. It makes her heart ache with longing.
"Hey, Azzi?" Paige's voice breaks through the younger girl's thoughts, soft and curious.
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever thought about... you know, like, what it would be like to be with someone? Like, really be with them?"
Azzi's heart skipped a beat, her mind racing. "Yeah, I guess I have," she murmurs. I imagine being with you, she fights the urge to say. Instead, she adds, "Why do you ask?"
Paige shrugs, looking out at the lake. "I don't know. Just wondering. Sometimes, I think about it, and it's weird, you know?" She pauses, and Azzi guesses it's to gather her thoughts. "Like, how do you know if you really like someone or if it's just... I don't know, a crush?"
Azzi swallows hard, trying to keep her voice steady. "I think you just... know," she murmurs, nearly choking on the words. "It's like, you can't stop thinking about them, and you want to be around them all the time. They make you feel... different."
Paige turns to look at her, her eyes searching Azzi's face. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just... confusing."
Azzi nods, her heart aching with unspoken words. "Yeah, it is."
Another bout of silence settles around them like a warm embrace, the lake shimmering under the starlit sky as the pair continue passing the blunt back and forth. Azzi's mind fogs thick with cannabis, the effects of the drug heightening her senses. Her anxiety is long gone, replaced by a much gentler buzz. She looks over at Paige, who's watching the ripples on the lake with a dreamy expression.
It's not long before Paige speaks again, unable to bear silence. Even high, she remains a chatterbox. Azzi would never admit it, but she finds it slightly endearing.
"You know," Paige begins, her voice soft and contemplative, "I've never kissed anyone before."
Azzi turns to her, nearly choking at the admission. She didn't think their conversation would take a turn like this. And... truthfully, she's quite surprised. She knows how sought after Paige is; she's witnessed it. "Really?"
Paige nods, a small smile playing on her lips. "Yeah. What about you?"
Azzi hesitates for a moment. She thinks about lying; she doesn't know why. However, all thoughts of that go out the window when she meets Paige's gaze. It's full of a tenderness that's beckoning her, begging her, to be honest. "No," she mumbles. "I've never kissed anyone either."
The words hang between them, a delicate thread of unspoken desires and uncertainties. Azzi dares a glance at Paige, meeting her eyes briefly before looking away, a blush creeping up her cheeks. She curses herself for it, wishing she were able to hide it better.
Azzi feels Paige shift closer, their shoulders brushing. Her breath hitches slightly at the contact, the warmth of Paige's presence sending a shiver down her spine. "Azzi," Paige whispers, her voice barely audible over the gentle lapping of the lake.
Azzi turns to face Paige fully, her heart pounding in her chest. She feels slightly nauseous as Paige's eyes search hers. She can't tell what exactly is swirling in Paige's pupils. Azzi has an idea, but it's so ludicrous she thinks she should never let the thought enter her own head ever again.
"Have you ever thought about... what it would be like to kiss a girl?" Paige's words are soft, tentative, testing the waters.
It's safe to say they nearly make Azzi fall into the lake and drown.
The younger girl feels her cheeks flush with warmth, the question catching her off guard. She looks down at her hands, picking at a loose thread on her shorts. She knows the answer. It's a simple yes or no question. And yet, it takes so much strength to say the words. Because it's terrifying. It's absolutely mortifying. Maybe if Azzi had thought about kissing literally any other girl, it wouldn't be so bad. But it's the fact that the girl she's thought about kissing, and liking to kiss, is Paige... that's what truly scares Azzi.
"Um," Azzi stumbles, coughing. She doesn't let the tears that she feel behind her eyes spring up. She's braver than that. "Yeah. I have," she finally admits quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Paige's expression softens, a tender understanding in her eyes. It makes Azzi know what's coming next. "Me too," Paige murmurs, her gaze lingering on her best friend's face. "Sometimes, I think about what it would be like."
(Azzi might actually die.)
There's a pause, a shared moment of vulnerability hanging between them. Azzi feels a knot in her stomach, a mix of fear and anticipation. This conversation feels like a threshold they're tiptoeing towards, a door they're both hesitant to open but curious to explore. Maybe every single little thing she thought was one sided... isn't.
Paige reaches out, her thumb gently tracing the indent of where Azzi's dimple is. It's a familiar gesture, one that Azzi has grown used to, but tonight, under the influence and with the weight of their words hanging in the air, it feels different. Paige's touch lingers, and it makes Azzi's lungs feel like they're going out.
Without a word, Paige's hand slides along Azzi's jawline and moves to cup her cheek, her touch warm and tender. Their eyes meet, and in that moment, every single little thing, every single line they've not yet crossed, seems to shift right before their very eyes. Azzi can feel the rhythm of her heart echoing in the silence between them, a steady drumbeat of anticipation.
Azzi closes her eyes, surrendering to the moment, the high helping her do so. It's a soft press of lips that starts it, barely a graze. Azzi feels their breath mingle, feels Paige's hand move from her cheek to the nape of her neck, pulling her closer. And then she deepens the kiss.
Azzi's hand finds Paige's waist, holding her close as she leans into her, their bodies fitting together as if they've always belonged. If Azzi could get any closer to Paige, she would. The world around them seems to fade into the background, leaving only the sensation of Paige's touch, the taste of her lips against Azzi's.
When they finally pull away, Azzi's heart might as well be failing, her mind buzzing with the fact that she just kissed her best friend, who she may also be a little in love with.
She feels Paige lean her head against Azzi's shoulder, grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers. It's familiar; something they do so often it might as well be second nature at this point. But as Paige's thumb rubs circles on Azzi's hand, the younger girl thinks this might be a little different. She hopes it's a little different.
"I'm glad it was you," Paige whispers, her voice filled with warmth and sincerity.
Azzi smiles softly, feeling something she's never quite encountered before. "Me too, P," she murmurs, heart swelling with affection. "Me too."
III. MAY 2020
It's baking night, they've decided. A little after dinner, Paige's stomach began growling, and she'd complained to Azzi that she was hungry once more. Azzi wouldn't hear it, considering this was an everyday occurrence. So, Paige had begrudgingly rolled her eyes and gone to the kitchen, searching for a snack. The cupboards were mostly bare if not for ingredients; the Fudds needed to make another grocery trip. But Paige was hungry now, so she began searching into cabinets she'd previously left untouched. Eventually, she reached the smaller ones above the microwave and stove. What she found there made her face light up in an excitement that's been dull for a few days now (what with her and Azzi's family having exhausted most of their quarantine activity ideas). In the cabinet was a litany of baking mixes, frosting, piping bags, and sprinkles.
And, of course, when Paige begged to make cupcakes, Katie and the others were all ears. (What else can they do?)
Paige isn't very good at baking, she's found. They'd had to throw the first batch away after the girl had accidentally spilled far too much milk in, effectively ruining it. It's not her fault; she swears she's out of practice. And she is. The last time she baked was when it was just her and her mom in that apartment, when Paige was still living half-and-half with her parents following their divorce. It was before her mom moved over to Montana, met Paige's step-father, and had two more kids. They'd been cramped in a tiny kitchen, in what Paige's mom called her "temporary apartment" (it was), and it would be too cold outside to take Paige to the playground or let her shoot hoops on the concrete. So, they'd decided to try baking. It was something they loved doing together, but Paige has watched it slowly fade away because now whenever she's in Montana, Ryan and Lauren get their way and they decidedly don't like baking. So, Paige thinks it's okay that she's a little terrible at it considering she hasn't done it since she was practically still in pull-ups.
But here, with Azzi's family, Paige also thinks she can learn to be better at it. Because it's just so easy with them. It's not as if being at home in Minnesota, or being with her mom in Montana, is difficult necessarily. She loves her dad's little house in Hopkins, where the basketball courts freeze over and there's snow more often than not. She loves her dad, who's always pushing her to be better, coaching her even though it's not his job anymore. She loves Drew and his wild need to be just like her, her own personal mini-me. She loves her step-mother and step-brother, who have raised her in more ways than one. And she loves her mom's house in Billings, with its family-fun pool and sprawling backyard. She loves her mom, who will always be her biggest supporter, no matter what. She loves Ryan and Lauren and the endless stories they always have to tell her when she's visiting. But it never quite feels whole, on either side. Almost like there's a little cavity that won't fill, no matter how much amalgam is used to try and whisk it away.
Paige doesn't feel that here with the Fudds. There's no missing puzzle piece, no hole to fill. And she's somehow managed to worm her way right into their welcoming arms. There's this sense of utter belonging she feels here, with them, with the rhythm they've created, and she's grateful. She's grateful for Katie and Tim, who treat her nothing short of another daughter. She's grateful for Jon and Jose, who are a constant source of entertainment and chaos, poking fun and making Paige laugh until her sides ache. She's grateful for Azzi, who's her best friend, her anchor, her constant.
Paige is just grateful to be apart of something so loving and warm, especially now when the world outside is so uncertain.
"Paige, can you pass me the vanilla extract?" Katie's voice echoes from behind the blonde girl's back, pulling her from her thoughts.
Paige's ears perk up at the sound of her name, and she reaches for the small bottle. "Here," she calls, tossing it to her best friend's mother. Katie catches it easily, sending the girl a grateful smile.
Paige then returns her focus back to Azzi, who's focused on mixing the batter, brows furrowed in concentration. It's the same crease she gets when she's playing, Paige realizes easily, having committed every corner of Azzi's features to memory. The blonde feels a rush of warmth when her best friend's arm lightly brushes hers, as if they haven't been practically living in each others skin for weeks now. Paige, entranced and unblinking, watches as Azzi continues mixing, taking note of the way the reflecting sunset highlights her best friend's features through the kitchen window.
Apparently she's been staring for too long, though, because Azzi, exasperated, asks, waving a hand in front of the blonde's face, "Hello, earth to Paige? You good?"
Paige snaps back to reality, feeling a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Yeah, just thinkin'," she mutters absentmindedly, shrugging as she tries to play it off. "What did you say?"
"I asked if you wanted to lick the spoon," Azzi teases, holding out the batter-covered utensil.
Paige smirks, responding, "Nah, I'll let you do the honors."
The blonde watches as her best friend raises her brows at the rejection, surprised. Paige just shrugs, still smirking. Azzi repeats the action, and then slowly, maybe a little too slowly, brings the spoon up to her lips. She makes eye contact with Paige, keeping the same pace as she licks the utensil, tongue flicking against it before putting the whole thing in her mouth, sucking it clean. Paige feels herself freeze as she watches, breath hitching at Azzi's actions and the look on her face as she does it.
Jesus Christ, Paige curses in her head. It's an anomaly; she's not one to usually think or say the Lord's name in vain. But, seriously, Jesus.
Azzi's smirk is wide as she drops the spoon in the sink. As Paige's eyes scan the younger girl's face, she decides she wants to get her back. She's about to stick her finger in the batter, ready to make a show of licking it clean just as Azzi did to her. But as her finger hovers over the bowl, she feels Katie smack her hand away, effectively ending Paige's plan and the moment she was sharing with Azzi.
"Enough of that," Azzi's mother scolds Paige, but the girl can see the hint of a smile on Katie's lips. "The cupcakes are ready for the oven."
The next half hour is spent cleaning up the mess they've made, with plenty of giggles and a few playful splashes from the sink shared between the two teenage girls. It doesn't take too long for the cupcakes to finish, and the whole family relocates to the back deck to start the decorating process.
"These look amazing," Jose says, eyeing the cupcakes hungrily.
"Wait until we decorate them, fatty," Jon replies, elbowing his brother in the ribs as he picks up a tube of icing.
Paige begins decorating her own cupcake, picking blue and red colors. She hopes she has room for a husky and the word UCONN. She begins to squeeze a swirl of blue icing onto her cupcake, the air filled with the scent of vanilla and laughter as they all concentrate on their own cupcakes.
"I think you missed a spot, P," the blonde hears Jon say from across from her, his voice too innocent to be sincere.
Before she can even look up at him, she feels the cold spelt of frosting hitting her grey sweatshirt. Outraged, she turns to see Jon grinning at her, piping tube filled with hot pink icing still in hand.
"Oh, you are so dead," she says, scooping up a handful of icing and launching it at the younger boy. It hits him square in the chest, and Paige thinks the look of shock on his face is utterly priceless.
Chaos erupts.
Jon retaliates, and it's not long before icing is flying in every direction. Paige dodges a glob of frosting thrown by Jose and responds by smearing a streak of bright red icing across his cheek.
"Hey, stop! You guys are gonna make a mess!" Katie's voice rings out by the door, having backed away from the rambunctious food fight. Beside her, Tim is doubled over on his knees, lungs aching with his wheezing laughter.
The four teenagers pay neither adult a piece of mind. Instead, the deck becomes a war zone. Paige soon finds herself caught in a fierce battle with Azzi. They're both laughing uncontrollably, slipping and sliding on the icing-covered deck. Azzi manages to smear a handful of frosting onto Paige's face, and the blonde retaliates by tackling the younger girl, sending them both crashing to the ground.
They lay there for a moment, breathless and laughing, before Azzi attempts to crawl away. But Paige is determined. She scrambles after Azzi, finally managing to pin her down. As the younger girl squirms beneath the blonde, Paige nuzzles her face into Azzi's neck, smearing icing everywhere.
"Paige! Stop!" Azzi manages to squeal out between laughs; Paige knows her neck is where she's most ticklish. Azzi continues trying to wiggle free, but she's laughing much too hard to put up a real fight.
Paige grins and pulls back slightly, only to realize their faces are inches apart. As Azzi fights to catch her breath, her eyes sparkle with mischief and something else, something deeper. Paige's heart skips a beat at it. She knows they both look ridiculous, covered in icing and laying on the dirty deck, but there's something there, between them. And it makes her heart race and stop all at once.
For a moment, the world seems to stand still. Paige feels a rush of emotions—affection, longing, confusion. The three that always seem to be associated with Azzi. She's acutely aware of the younger girl's breath against her skin, the way their bodies are pressed together. It would be so easy to lean in, to close the gap between them. They've done it a couple times before.
Katie's voice cuts through the moment like a knife. "Alright, enough! Go clean up, all of you. This is a disaster."
Paige, coming back to her senses, quickly breaks her stare and rolls off of Azzi, standing up and offering her best friend a hand. She helps Azzi to her feet, and they both glance around, seeing the mess they've made. A few feet away, Jon and Jose do the same.
"We outdid ourselves this time," Paige says, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"No kidding," the three Fudd siblings say in unison.
☆
Paige stands under the hot spray of the shower, letting the water wash away the remnants of icing and the chaos from earlier. She closes her eyes, tilting her head back in the water, trying to relax. But all her mind can think about is her best friend, the feeling of her breath on Paige's face, her lips...
Paige is confused.
If only things with Azzi could be a straight path, one without all the twists and turns. She presses her hands against the cool tile wall of the shower, trying to ground herself. The water pours down her back, soothing her muscles but not her mind. Every thought leads back to Azzi, to the way her touch lingers, the way her smile lights up the room. Paige wants to scream, to cry, to laugh—all at once. She hates and loves and loathes and adores the way Azzi makes her feel.
When she and Azzi first kissed—out on that dock nearly two years ago—it had been spontaneous, a sudden burst of emotion that Paige attributed to the weed. It had felt right in the moment, but they had never talked about it, never addressed it. They had just continued as if nothing had changed, even though everything had. And then, each subsequent kiss after only deepened Paige's confusion. Trust her, she's tried to convince herself that they're just best friends who occasionally cross a line that most don't, but deep down, she knows it's more than that. Her feelings for Azzi... they're too much, too saturated, too bright of a burst that Paige can't label them as merely friendly.
It makes her heart and her lungs and her head ache, the uncertainty of it all. She's gone out with other girls, kissed other lips, but none of them compare to Azzi. None of them make her feel like she might implode from one look, one touch. None of them make her heart soar and plummet at the same time. For a while, Paige tried to chase that feeling, kissing all different people, searching for that high. She never found it. Because it always comes back to Azzi, to the way she makes Paige feel alive and terrified at once. It's almost like the younger girl has carved a piece of her heart and kept it, leaving Paige feeling incomplete without her. For Paige, the realization that she likes girls has been a difficult journey, fraught with self-doubt and fear. But coming to terms with her feelings for Azzi is an even greater challenge. It's one thing to accept her own sexuality; it's another to confront the possibility of loving her best friend.
And, of course the knowledge that—other than Paige—Azzi has only gone out with boys adds another layer to the blonde's confusion. It makes her feel like an outsider in Azzi's world, like she's asking for something Azzi can't give. Paige hates that thought, hates the idea of being a complication in Azzi's life. She wants to be everything to Azzi, but she's scared that she'll only end up being a burden. She tries to push those thoughts away, to focus on the present, but it's hard. The fear and longing are too strong, too deeply rooted.
When Paige finishes showering, she towels off and dresses into a Hopkins t-shirt and basketball shorts quickly, not bothering to dry her hair, letting it drip onto the floor as she walks back into Azzi's bedroom. There, she finds Azzi already settled in her bed, searching for something to watch on the TV. It's become basic tradition ever since Paige got here: watching a new movie every night (even though more often than not, they fall asleep during it). Azzi looks up and smiles warmly as Paige enters. It's a smile that makes Paige's heart flutter.
"Find somethin' yet?" Paige asks, trying to keep her voice steady.
Azzi shakes her head. "Not yet. Come help me look."
Paige smiles and climbs into bed beside her. It's almost automatic how they cuddle up together, Azzi's head resting on Paige's shoulder, Paige's arm wrapped around Azzi's waist. This closeness is familiar, comforting, and Paige finds herself shifting her weight into her best friend further, craving the feeling. She thinks she belongs right here, holding Azzi, Azzi holding her.
Eventually, they settle on Love, Rosie. Apparently, Azzi heard it was good on TikTok and decided they should try it.
As the movie starts, Paige's hand begins to move almost unconsciously, tracing small circles and patterns along Azzi's inner thigh. It's something she's done countless times, just another way she expresses physical touch. As she does it, she can feel the warmth of Azzi's skin through the thin fabric of her shorts. It sends shivers down Paige's spine, and she does her best to pay attention to the TV, to ignore the way her chest feels like it's on fire.
However, it's hard to do that when she feels Azzi shift slightly, spreading her legs just a little more. It could be a natural movement, unintentional. But Paige's heart skips a beat anyways, and she glances at Azzi, whose eyes remain fixed on the screen. Paige hesitates for a moment, unsure. And then, very slowly, she inches her hand higher on Azzi's thigh, testing the waters. When Azzi spreads her legs a bit more, Paige knows she's reading the signals right. It makes her heart stop and speed up in one go.
Paige's fingers move with the pace of a snail but ultimately continue their journey upwards until they reach the edge of Azzi's shorts. She leans closer, her breath catching in her throat. "Can I?" she whispers, her voice barely audible.
Azzi nods slowly, her eyes still locked on the TV. Paige slips her fingers under Azzi's shorts and underwear, her touch gentle but deliberate. She's done this with other girls, but it's never felt like this. The anticipation, the excitement, the sheer intensity of the moment is almost overwhelming. She's wanted this for so long, quite literally dreamed of it, and now that it's happening, it feels surreal.
Paige begins to slowly work her fingers on Azzi's clit, movements careful and measured. Her eyes scan the younger girl's face for any sign of discomfort, but all she sees is pleasure. Azzi's breathing slowly grows more ragged, her body responding to Paige's touch in a way that makes Paige's own lungs feel heavy. As she watches Azzi, irises locked on her features, the only word that comes to mind is beautiful.
Unable to resist any longer, Paige leans in and captures Azzi's lips in a kiss. It's only the fourth time they've ever kissed (yes, Paige may have been counting), but it feels like coming home. Azzi's lips are soft and warm, and the way she kisses back is so perfect, so desperate, that it makes Paige dizzy. The little noises Azzi makes underneath her only heighten the intensity, and Paige finds herself smirking against her best friend's lips.
The kiss deepens, becoming more heated, more urgent. Paige's hand moves with more confidence now, her fingers working Azzi's clit with increasing intensity. Azzi moans into the kiss, her body arching against Paige's touch. It's all Paige can do to keep herself grounded, to focus on Azzi and the present.
Paige breaks the kiss just long enough to tear Azzi's shorts and underwear off completely, her hands shaking with a mix of nerves and excitement. She positions herself between Azzi's legs, her fingers slipping inside with a confidence she's never felt before. The feeling of Azzi's warmth, her wetness, is almost too much to bear. Paige moves her fingers in and out, slow at first, then faster as Azzi's moans grow louder.
Azzi's hands grip her sheets, her eyes squeezed shut. Paige watches her, mesmerized by the sight. This is everything she's ever wanted, everything she's ever dreamed of. She leans down, capturing Azzi's lips in another kiss, her free hand tangling in Azzi's hair. The kiss is fierce, almost desperate, their tongues tangling as their bodies move together.
"Paige," Azzi whimpers. Hearing her name on Azzi's lips like that sends a jolt of desire—of absolute need—through Paige. She moves her fingers faster, pressing deeper.
And, fuck, as Azzi repeats her name again, Paige can't help herself. She has to taste her best friend.
Paige moves down, her fingers still pumping in and out as she lowers her mouth to Azzi's core. The first taste is intoxicating, and Paige's mind goes blank with desire. She licks and sucks with a hunger she's never felt before, almost primal in a way, her fingers and tongue working in perfect harmony. All she knows is she wants Azzi to feel good, to feel perfect.
Azzi's hips buck against Paige's mouth, her moans growing louder with each passing second. Paige feels like she's drowning in Azzi, in the taste and the smell and the feel of her. It's everything she's ever wanted and more, a dream come true. She can feel Azzi's orgasm building, the way her body tenses and her breathing quickens. Paige redoubles her efforts, determined to make it good.
"Fuck—" Azzi gasps, her voice barely more than a whisper. "'M so close, don't stop."
Paige hums in response, the vibrations sending Azzi over the edge. She comes with a cry, her body shuddering with the force of it. Paige keeps going, prolonging Azzi's pleasure as long as she can.
Finally, Azzi collapses back on the bed, spent. Paige pulls back, her face flushed and her heart racing. She looks down at her best friend, who's gazing up at her with an expression that makes Paige's legs feel like jelly.
"Paige," Azzi whispers the girl's name again, the only word her mind can conjure. Her hands reach for her, and Paige lets herself be pulled in for a kiss. Their lips meet, softer this time. Paige sighs into it—she could kiss Azzi for hours on end and never get sick of it.
The blonde lays down next to Azzi, ready to sleep, ignoring the ongoing movie. However, before Paige can barely close her eyes, she feels them fly open as Azzi shifts so that she's on top of Paige now, straddling her.
Paige flushes pink, mumbling, "Az, you don't have to—"
"Shut up," the younger girl interrupts, effectively halting Paige's words. Azzi leans down, lips finding purchase on the blonde's neck. Immediately, Paige's hands fly up to Azzi's hips, gripping the skin.
However, Azzi stops far too soon for Paige's liking, pulling away. Paige tries to mask her disappointment at the lack of feeling, eyes feeling wide as she watches her best friend's every move.
Azzi leans closer to Paige, lips nearly brushing the older girl's as she toys with the strings of Paige's basketball shorts. Paige feels her breathing stop.
"Do you want this?" Azzi asks, fingers slowly undoing the tie.
Paige nods, probably a little too quick and a little too enthusiastically. "Yes."
Azzi smirks. "Good."
IV. MARCH 2022
Azzi stares at herself in the mirror, her reflection looking back with a set determination. It's been weeks since she's gone out with the team, weeks since she's allowed herself to think about anything other than basketball. Tonight, she's determined to let loose, to have fun, and to forget about everything that's happened with Paige, if only for a few hours.
"Az, you look great," Caroline says, standing beside her and applying the final touches to her own makeup.
"She's right," Amari pitches in from where she sits on the closed toilet seat. "If Paige doesn't take you home tonight, I will."
Caroline gives Amari a little slap on the arm for bringing up the "P word," as she's dubbed it. Since the fight and the ultimate end, or break, or whatever it is, of Paige and Azzi, Azzi has made it clear that she doesn't want to talk about the Bueckers girl if not necessary. And Caroline has respected that, doing everything she can to distract her friend from anything Paige-related (unless it came to basketball, of course).
Azzi lets herself smile a little, interjecting, "Carol, it's okay." But then she does give Amari a pointed look, saying firmly, "But I will not be going home with Paige tonight. That would only make things even more fucked than they already are."
Amari nods in understanding as Caroline glances at Azzi whilst putting her lip gloss on. "So, if not Paige..." she starts in a questioning tone, "will you be going home with someone else?"
Azzi sighs, shrugging. "Depends on what happens, who I run into," she responds. "Could be a good distraction, though."
She doesn't miss the worry that flashes in Caroline's eyes at that, but she also doesn't have it in herself to care about why. She's in college, fucking someone to get her mind off something isn't exactly uncommon.
Nonetheless, Azzi appreciates Caroline's support in more ways than she can express. She knows her friend has noticed the change in her over the past few weeks, the way she's thrown herself into training with an almost obsessive fervor. Basketball has always been her refuge, but, lately, it's become her lifeline, a way to drown out the pain of seeing Paige with other girls, of knowing she isn't enough for the person she loves most.
Azzi takes a deep breath and adjusts the strap of her top. It's a lilac number which truthfully could pass more as a bra than the cropped tank it's labeled as. She wears it with her new, perfect jeans which she knows hug her in all the right places. She hasn't worn anything like this in ages, preferring the comfort of sweatpants and oversized hoodies. But tonight is different. Tonight, she wants to look and feel her best (and maybe get someone to help her with that last part).
"Let's go," Azzi says, squaring her shoulders. She grabs her wallet and follows Caroline and Amari out of the bathroom and into the living room where the rest of their teammates have been waiting, Paige excluded. Azzi doesn't know where the blonde is. She tells herself that she doesn't care either.
As they walk to the bar, the chilly Storrs air nipping at their skin, Azzi can't help but think about the last time she went out with the team. She remembers the way Paige had laughed and flirted with other girls, the way she'd entertained their advances while Azzi stood by, pretending it didn't bother her. But it had. It had hurt more than she'd ever let on, and it was that night—where she watched Paige willingly leave the bar with another girl that wasn't Azzi, not even bothering to say goodbye to her best friend—that had solidified her decision to end whatever undefined thing they had between them.
Ted's is buzzing with energy and life when they arrive, music thumping and people crowding. Almost immediately, Aubrey and Aaliyah are pulling Azzi to the dance floor, getting swept up into the excitement. Azzi goes with it, swaying her hips to the music and laughing with her teammates.
Of course, it isn't long before Azzi sets eyes on her best friend, bright blonde hair sticking out in the sea of people. Quick after, Nika, from beside Azzi, catches sight of the girl, too, eagerly calling her name and waving her over.
When she approaches, Azzi doesn't even give her the satisfaction of looking at her. She is not letting Paige Bueckers ruin her night.
☆
And yet, despite her proclamation, Azzi thinks she may indeed be letting Paige Bueckers ruin her night.
The brunette girl leans against the bar, vision blurry as she tries to focus on the bartender, on the who-knows-what-number drink of the night in her hand, on anything that is not the corner of the bar on her left side. It doesn't work. Curiosity manages to get the best of her, and she finds her eyes sliding over. She watches as Paige flirts with some girl, smirking as she leans down and says something into the girl's ear. Azzi's stomach twists with jealousy and longing. She's been in that position before, knowing exactly how it feels to have Paige's breath warm against her skin, her words sending shivers down her spine. Now, all she can do is watch. It makes her want to die that she isn't the one with Paige, and that she's the reason she isn't.
You did this, she tells herself as she takes a sip from the glass in her hand, letting the alcohol burn down her throat, hoping it'll numb the ache in her chest. (It doesn't.)
"Hey, you're Azzi Fudd, right?" a voice sounds on Azzi's left side.
At the sound of her name, Azzi glances over, eyes landing on some guy probably a year or two older than herself. He's tall—taller than Azzi—with blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes that twinkle in the light. He's cute, she thinks half-heartedly.
"That's me," Azzi responds, managing a smile.
"I'm Sam," the guy introduces himself, sending her a grin of his own. It's charming, the kind that most girls would swoon over. Azzi hardly even blinks at it.
They chat for a bit, Azzi allowing herself to enjoy the attention, though admittedly pretending to be more interested than she is. He's funny, though, and she laughs at his jokes, letting herself put a hand on his arm flirtatiously. But even as she entertains him, a part of her can't stop thinking about Paige, especially because she's right behind Sam, talking to someone who isn't Azzi.
Azzi tries not to sigh, thinking about how many times they've done this. Gone out, had fun, flirted with other people, only to end up in each other's arms by the end of the night. Still, she knows she can't do that. She refuses to let herself get sucked back into that cycle.
However, as Azzi continues harmlessly flirting with Sam, she manages to catch Paige's gaze from across the bar. She watches as Paige takes in the sight of her and the Sam, eyes narrowing slightly, a challenge in them. Azzi feels a spark of defiance ignite in her chest. If Paige can flirt with other people, so can she.
Quickly, the conversation with Sam becomes a sort of competition. Azzi flirts more boldly, leaning closer, laughing louder, all while keeping an eye on Paige. Paige, in turn, seems to double down on her own flirting, making sure Azzi sees every touch, every smirk. It's maddening, and yet, it only fuels Azzi's resolve.
"Wanna get outta here?" Sam asks lowly, eyes trailing to the door.
Azzi smirks and nods, letting him take her hand. As they make a beeline for the exit, Azzi feels a rush of triumph in her chest. She's won this twisted game, if only for a moment.
But before they can leave, Azzi feels a more familiar hand encircle her wrist, pulling her away from Sam. It's Paige, of course. Azzi wants nothing more than to scream at the blonde as she gives Sam a short, apologetic smile, saying, "I'm so sorry, I really need to talk to Azzi for a second."
Anyone that knows anything about UCONN basketball knows that Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd are a package deal, so Sam, looking a bit disappointed but understanding, nods and lets go of Azzi's hand. Azzi mutters protests to Paige as she's practically dragged to the bathroom by the older girl.
Once inside, Azzi barely has time to process everything before Paige has her pushed against the wall, kissing her fiercely. The suddenness and intensity of it makes Azzi's head spin. Her body responds instinctively, hands reaching for Paige, gripping the skin of the blonde's waist. And then she remembers herself. Azzi's eyes fly open and she pushes Paige off, her anger flaring.
"Stop, Paige! What the fuck?" Azzi practically shouts, voice echoing in the small space.
Paige stares at her breathlessly, baby blue eyes looking foolishly innocent as they contort with confusion. "Why? We both want this."
Azzi shakes her head, trying to settle the fuzziness of the alcohol. "No, Paige, we can't. I can't."
"Why not?" Paige demands, stepping closer again. Azzi puts a hand on her bare stomach to stop her. It sends a jolt through her, and she's quick to remove it.
As they stand there, face to face, Azzi can't help but let her mind wander to their last real conversation that wasn't just a murmur here and there on the court or on the bench. It was a few weeks ago, the morning after Paige had left the bar with that girl. It was early, Azzi still half-asleep as she felt her best friend crawl into her bed, maneuvering herself into Azzi's arms. Azzi had welcomed the embrace sleepily, before her mind traced back to the events of the night before. How lonely Azzi had been at the bar while Paige outright ignored her, how she'd gone home early feeling nothing short of miserable. And it only got worse when Azzi's eyes flew open to see Paige sporting a UCONN volleyball shirt, no doubt from the girl she'd fucked last night over Azzi.
And then they'd fought. Azzi was uncharacteristically mean, words biting at Paige's every movement. She could tell Paige was confused, but when Azzi pointed out what she was wearing, everything seemed to click into place. Paige apologized, but it wasn't enough. It would never be enough, because—very clearly—Azzi wasn't enough for her.
Azzi didn't tell her that, of course. Instead, she'd ended it. Just like that.
And they haven't spoken since.
Until now.
"Why not, Azzi?" Paige demands again, voice raising slightly as her breath fans against Azzi's face.
Azzi takes a deep breath, feeling the weight of the alcohol and her words pressing hard against her chest. "Because I can't keep doing this, Paige! I can't keep pretending that it doesn't hurt every time I see you with someone else! I can't keep acting like it's okay to be your best friend who you casually fuck when I'm in love with you!"
Paige's eyes widens, but Azzi presses on, the words tumbling out of her in a rush. "Yes, I've been in love with you for years, Paige. And every time you're with someone else, it hurts. I thought I could handle it, but I can't. I thought that maybe, when I came here, things would change. That we'd stop seeing other people, that we could be together for real. But I was wrong. Clearly, I'm not enough for you. And it fucking kills me. I can't keep watching you with other girls and pretending it doesn't hurt. I can't keep pretending that I'm okay with just being your friend. Because I'm not. I want to be everything to you, and it hurts that I'm not. And it hurts even more that I know you don't want me to."
Paige stands there, speechless, her eyes wide with shock. As she stares, Azzi realizes exactly what she's done. She's just spilled all of her well-kept secrets and feelings, and it makes her feel sick. She is going to be sick.
"You're in love with me?" Paige asks quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Before Azzi can answer, she feels the familiar bout of nausea rise up. She rushes into one of the stalls, puking into the toilet, all the drinks from the night spilling from her guts. Almost immediately, Paige is right behind her, holding her hair back, ever the best friend.
When Azzi is done, there's a long, quiet moment. The reality of what she's just confessed hangs heavily in the air. She doesn't know whether to cry or scream or run away. Maybe all three.
Maybe none.
"You need water, and some carbs, too," Paige murmurs softly, voice gentle as she swipes a hand through Azzi's hair in an attempt to comfort her.
Azzi doesn't say a word, too drained and emotionally spent to respond. She lets Paige help her up, and together, they leave Ted's, Paige's steady hand on her back as they exit the bar. Azzi's body trembles with the aftereffects of alcohol and the intense outpouring of emotions. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, feeling utterly drained. Paige tries to guide her, but Azzi steps away, keeping her distance, needing space.
Azzi follows Paige's lead in the night air, walking alongside her. It's cool outside, helping to clear her head a little. They walk in silence, the only sounds the occasional car passing by and their footsteps on the pavement. Paige stays close, but Azzi can feel the tension between them, an invisible barrier that she can't bring herself to cross.
Eventually, they arrive at a small diner. The neon sign buzzes softly, casting a warm glow over the entrance. Paige holds the door open, and Azzi steps inside, the smell of greasy food and coffee hitting her immediately. It's oddly comforting.
They find a booth near the back, away from the few other patrons scattered around. Azzi slides into the seat, her body feeling heavy and sluggish. Paige sits across from her, and for a moment, they just look at each other, the weight of the night hanging between them.
When the waitress comes over, Paige orders for both of them, getting burgers and waters. Azzi doesn't have the energy to object. She just needs something to settle her stomach and clear her head.
As they wait, Azzi stares at the table, tracing patterns in the worn Formica surface. Her mind is a hurricane of thoughts and emotions, the confession she made to Paige replaying over and over again. She feels raw, exposed, and utterly vulnerable. She hates it.
At one point, she glances up and catches Paige staring at her, her expression a mix of concern and something softer, something that makes Azzi's heart ache. Paige's lips part, and she murmurs, her voice barely audible, "Azzi—"
"Don't," Azzi interrupts firmly, her voice trembling slightly. "Please, just don't."
Paige's face falls, but she nods, looking down at her hands. The silence between them stretches out, heavy and oppressive. All Azzi knows is that she can't bear to hear whatever Paige has to say. She doesn't want to know if it's pity, regret, or something else. She isn't ready for any of it.
The waitress brings their food, and Azzi takes a bite of her burger, the familiar taste grounding her somewhat. She sips her water, feeling the cool liquid soothe her throat. Paige eats in silence as well, and Azzi occasionally catches her glancing up to watch her, though never saying a word.
As they eat, Azzi's mind trails back to their time together, the stolen moments and secret kisses. She thinks about the mornings spent tangled in each other's arms, the way Paige's touch made her feel alive and cherished. But those moments were always fleeting, overshadowed by the reality of their situation. They were never truly together, just best friends who blurred the lines and hurt each other in the process.
Azzi's chest tightens as she reminds herself about all the girls Paige has been with, the countless nights spent in other beds. It hurts to think about, to know that she isn't enough for Paige, that she can't be the one to make her stay. The jealousy and pain are like a constant thorn in her side, a reminder of everything she wants but can't have.
She sneaks a glance at the blonde, who picks at her food, lost in thought. Azzi wonders if Paige feels the same, if there's any part of her that wants more, that feels the same ache and longing. She thinks there has to be. There have been too many moments that seem so domestic, so intimate that some corner of Paige's heart has to feel something other than friendship with Azzi. But she can't bring herself to ask. Not now, not when everything feels so raw, like a fresh wound.
The rest of the meal passes in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts. When they finish, it's Paige that pays the bill. And then they leave the diner, stepping back into the cool night air. Azzi still keeps her distance, heart heavy.
When they reach Azzi's apartment, she fumbles with her keys, the silence stretching unbearably. She opens the door and steps inside, ready to close it behind her. But then Paige's small voice halts her movements and she pauses.
"Azzi?"
Azzi turns, and she feels her heart clench at the sight of Paige, eyes filled with unshed tears. Azzi stands there, unable to speak, her breath catching in her throat.
Paige takes a hesitant step forward, her voice trembling. It's very un-Paige-like. "Can I say something? Please?"
Azzi nods, throat tight. She can't refuse Paige anything, not when she looks so vulnerable.
She watches as Paige takes a deep breath, before her words begin spilling out in a rush. "I'm so sorry, Azzi. For all the other girls, for everything. If I'd known how you felt, I never would have done any of it. I was scared. Scared of how strong my feelings are for you, scared of what it would mean for us. We're so young, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship and everything we have. And even if it didn't ruin things, I was scared that one day it would all fall apart. My parents divorced, my mom and dad both divorced from my step-parents... I don't know how to believe in something lasting."
Paige's voice breaks, and she wipes at her eyes. "But, Azzi, even though I'm scared, I want to try. If you still want to, I want to try. Because I'm in love with you, too. So fucking in love with you. And I have been since I met you at those basketball trials. You were so perfect and beautiful and it's like as soon as you told me your name, I knew I was a goner."
Azzi's breath hitches, and she feels wetness on her cheeks from tears she doesn't register shedding. Paige's words cut through her defenses, melting the walls she's built around her heart. This is Paige, her Paige, standing there with her heart in her hands.
Without thinking, Azzi reaches out, pulling Paige inside and kissing her hard. Paige responds immediately, her arms wrapping around Azzi's waist, pulling her closer. The kiss is fierce, desperate, and full of all the emotions they've kept bottled up for so long.
In between kisses, Paige murmurs against Azzi's lips, "I love you, I love you, I love you."
Azzi giggles and her heart feels like bursting. Finally.
V. APRIL 2022
Considering everything they’ve gone through after all this time, it’s a little odd that this is their first real date.
Paige can’t help but smile as she watches Azzi get ready in their hotel room. The sun filters through the curtains, casting a warm glow over Azzi’s face. It’s nice to have a moment together without all the stress of the past month. No basketball, no fans, no pressure—just them.
Paige has been planning this date for weeks, determined to make it perfect. She wants nothing more than to create a memory that’ll belong to just the two of them, something that’ll mark the beginning of their new chapter. Sure, it’s a little bittersweet that it came the day after losing the national championship, but maybe that’s fitting. Paige knows they can both use a little joy after the disappointment.
“Ready?” she asks, grabbing her keys and their jackets.
Azzi nods, excitement and curiosity shining in her eyes. “Definitely. What’s the plan?”
Paige grins, her heart pounding. “It’s a surprise, but I promise you’ll love it.”
They leave the hotel together, walking through the crisp air of Minneapolis. It’s a city that both of them are rather familiar with. However, Paige can tell as they continue walking that Azzi doesn’t know this particularly part that they’re in. It makes her glad; more of a surprise.
Finally, they reach it. Paige stops walking, letting Azzi take in what they’re doing. They’re in front of a small, charming theater. The marquee reads: “Private Screening — Welcome, Paige and Azzi.”
“You rented out a theater?” Azzi asks, eyes widening in surprise.
Paige nods, now a bit nervous that the moment is finally here. “Yeah. I thought it would be better to go somewhere where it could be just the two of us, no interruptions. No distractions.”
Azzi smiles, that smile that Paige will never be able to get enough of, and murmurs, “It’s perfect, P.” And then, she adds, as they enter the building, “What movie are we watching?”
Paige just shakes her head, letting that be a surprise, too. Besides, it shouldn’t be hard for Azzi to guess: they share the same favorite movie, after all.
The staff greets the pair, leaving them to the theater they’re watching in. Paige anxiously watches Azzi’s face as they enter, wanting everything to be perfect. Inside, there’s blankets and snacks—and, on the screen, the opening credits of “Love & Basketball” begins to play.
Azzi lets out a little laugh at that, muttering into the skin of Paige’s shoulder, “I should’ve known.”
Paige grins down at the younger girl, glad she’s happy with what they’re doing. And, as they watch the movie that both of them can probably quote word-for-word, she continues stealing glances at the girl, her heart swelling with affection. Azzi looks completely at ease, her eyes glued to the screen, a soft smile playing on her lips. This movie had always been special to them, their favorite—and, after all, the first movie they ever watched together.
As the movie continues, Paige’s thoughts drift. She lets herself think about the journey that had brought them here, the highs and lows, the moments of doubt and certainty. She thinks about the first time she realized she was in love with Azzi, the fear of ruining their friendship, the countless nights spent wondering what could be. She thinks about how she had been terrified at first, afraid of the intensity of her own feelings. But, eventually, she couldn’t deny the truth any longer. She was—she is—in love with Azzi, deeply and irrevocably. And, after Azzi had confessed her feelings that night in the bar, everything had changed.
Paige reaches over, intertwining her fingers with Azzi’s. Azzi turns to her, eyes locking with Paige’s, nothing but deep, true love in them. Paige feels a rush of emotion at it, overwhelmed by the depth of her feelings. It’s nothing new; Azzi manages to make Paige feel like this every single day.
“I love you,” Paige whispers, her voice barely audible over the movie’s dialogue.
Azzi’s eyes soften, and she leans in to kiss Paige gently. “I love you, too.”
Eventually, the movie ends and they leave the theater, going to get dinner. And, as the sky begins to darken and their date begins to end, Paige can’t help but think that she wants every first to be with Azzi, as well as every last. There’s no one else, and there will never be anyone else ever again. And, even if she’s getting ahead of herself, even if this is their first “real” date, Paige knows she wants to spend the rest of her life with Azzi.
And she fucking plans to.
#pazzi#paige bueckers#azzi fudd#uconn wbb#uconn#paige bueckers x azzi fudd#paige x azzi#pazzi fic#wcbb
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Sink or Swim
Pairing: Eddie Diaz x Reader
Word count: …whoops
Notes: Guys I’m posting this while at the salon, my hair is processing it’s gonna be b l u e
Day 1: Public Sex
“I’m telling you man-” Buck puts his arms up on the edge of the pool and Eddie rolls his eyes “You just gotta get laid”
Eddie had been on edge lately, everyone had noticed it, after his latest fling had fizzled out he’d been hitting the gym more, hitting the bar more. Hell, he’d even started going to the library again.
He was this close to taking up bungee jumping.
“I don’t need-“
“Don’t even start” Buck puts his hands up “Literally do not. I swear to god you’re gonna burst at any second if you don’t just get some”
Eddie sighs “You know, sex doesn’t actually solve everything?”
“Oh, but it sure as fuck would this time” He winks and Eddie rolls his eyes again, crossing his arms over his chest as he puts his back against the wall.
“You know that’s not me dude… I’m not- I’m not a one-night stand kind of-“
“We’re here!!”
Both boys look up to see Tommy walking in through the house, Buck immediately gets up and swims over to the stairs.
“Hey gorgeous,” Buck says as he gets out, coming over to Tommy. Tommy takes his chin in his fingers, pulling him forward and giving him a little peck on the lips with a wink.
“Oh fucking gag”
A voice comes from behind him and Buck pulls away, giddy as ever
“Hi Y/N”
“Hi Ev- Buck” She corrects herself as she steps out of Tommy’s ginormous shadow.
Eddie comes out of the pool now, the water cascading down his body, he shakes out his hair and smoothes it back.
Buck looks at Tommy. Tommy looks at Buck.
“Hey Eddie, c’mere I want you to meet someone”
He steps aside and holds his arms out, presenting you to Eddie, he gives Tommy a nod, who rolls his eyes and does the same thing.
“Tada,” He says sarcastically and Eddie shakes his head, chuckling as he walks over.
“Eddie Diaz” He holds his hand out and you smile, shaking it
“Y/N Kinard. I’m-“
“Tommy’s little sister!!!” Buck squeals and puts his arm around Eddie.
“Jesus Christ” Tommy mutters under his breath as he grabs Buck by the arm and pulls him off of Eddie.
“She’s staying with me, I thought it’d be nice if she came to hang out with us!”
“If you don’t mind” You pipe up and Tommy has to fight to keep Buck from going feral
“Oh no! Of course, I don’t come on I’ll show you where to put your stuff” Eddie reaches for your pool bag and you hand it to him, your cheeks flushing a little as he leads you over to the pool chairs.
“Evan- Evan you have to-“ Tommy puts his hands on Buck's shoulders as he’s nearly bouncing out of his shorts.
“Evan let it happen, it’s gotta be organic okay? We’ve done our part”
“So I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t play my baby-making playlist?” He shakes his head and Tommy shakes his head with him
“No babe, no you shouldn’t”
Eddie sets your bag down on the pool chair and you smile up at him, he knows what the guys are doing god does he know.
But fuck if you’re not the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life. He’s surprised you’re even related to Tommy you’re so… petite. You’ve gotta be a good foot shorter than he is and god the way your curves fill out that swimsuit.
“I’m sorry, by the way,” You rub the back of your neck awkwardly “I know you probably like wanted a boys thing and-“
“Oh no! No, I’m glad you decided to come!” He puts his hands on your arms and you blush, he pulls his hands back quickly and copies your stance, rubbing the back of his neck
“I’m uh- I'm glad you’re here…Do you- do you have sunscreen? Gotta… make sure you’re all… sun protected”
You snicker a little and turn away from him to go through your bag and he nearly pulls his hair out as he digs the heels of his palms into his eyes, groaning to himself. He’s never this fucking awkward around women.
“You think Tommy would let me go anywhere without it?” You joke as you stand back up “Did you need some?”
“Uh no- no I’m covered but um- I can-‘I can get your back for you if you’d like” He offers as he puts his hand out and you shrug, pouring some into it.
“Thanks”
“Mhm!!” His voice is high-pitched as you turn around and lie down on the beach chair. He gets on his knees, rubbing his hands together before rubbing your back, you reach back and pull the string of your stop, letting it fall off and adjust yourself a little
“That should make things easier,” You say as you pull your hair to the side and Eddie has to work very hard to ignore the perfect view he has of your side boob.
“Ha yeah. So- so much easier yeah” He rubs your shoulders first, working the lotion down your sides and across your golden skin. He likes the way it shimmers as it dries into your skin, how soft your skin is, how pretty it is. He’s so busy giving you a massage, rubbing the lotion in he doesn’t even realize the little noises you’re making at first until you moan his name. His hands freeze in place and he finally snaps out of it.
“You’re pretty good with your hands,” You say softly, propping yourself up on your elbows.
“I work with them,” He says dumbly and you giggle while he internally terminates his life contract.
“Yeah, I know, with Buck, right? You’re a firefighter too?”
“Yeah actually, it feels like my calling sometimes you know? Helping people just feels right. Plus you know I get to ride in a fire truck and who doesn’t want to freaking do that”
“Yeah he’s like super sexy, he saves people!! He’s a hero!!!” Buck pops up behind Eddie who nearly swings on him and you scream
“I’m sorry I’m so-“ Tommy lifts Buck by the waist, throwing him over his shoulder.
“Eddie can do this too!! I’ve seen him do it!!” Buck yells before Tommy dumps him into the pool and jumps in with him to try and drown him
You laugh as you get up, facing away from Eddie, you look at him from over your shoulder and Eddie practically melts, his heart pounding in his chest.
“Mind retying this for me?” You ask and he nods absentmindedly, his hands fumbling a little as he grabs the strings and ties them back for you
“This good?” He rests his hands on your shoulders and you look up at him
“Uh huh…” You both stare at each other for a second and he smirks, blushing
“Cool. You ready to get in? Or?” His hands travel down your sides and he grips your hips
“Yeah I guess I’m-“
Before you can even finish your sentence Eddie grabs you by your hips, running over to the pool.
“Wait, wait no wait!!!” You scream as he launches you both into the water. You come back to the surface and jump on him, trying to shove him back under
“You asshat!!”
He’s laughing as he grabs you again and dunks you back under, his body staying pressed to yours as you make him bring you back up.
“Hey, that’s not fair!!” You kick and splash and he turns you in his arms so you’re facing him
“Awwwww is the Princess pouting?” He smirks and your jaw drops
“Princess??” You scoff “I’m not a Princess.”
“I don’t know that” Eddie shrugs “Maybe if I got to know you better…”
“Is he asking you on a date” Buck comes up out of the water and Eddie shoves him right back down.
“Because Tommy and I are going out for lunch after this!! I was just gonna make Eddie take you home but this works too”
Now it’s your turn to shove him back down
“How bout it? Just a little getting to know you”
“I’m just saying it could be a double date”
You sigh, leaning your head on Eddie’s shoulder, and smile, shaking your head.
“Yeah Buck we can go on a double date”
“Why do you indulge him” Eddie groans as he goes running through the water, splashing wildly to tell Tommy.
“Because he won’t stop popping up if we don’t”
Buck actually stops bothering you two after that, not that it’s really much to bother you about now that you’ve agreed to a date. You spend the next couple of hours just messing around with them, playing stupid pool games and even mermaids with Buck. He keeps making you do hair flips like Ariel and Tommy puts a stop to that the second you nearly smack your head into the wall after how dizzy it’s made you.
Buck eventually finds a way to convince Tommy to play chicken and he promises he’ll take it easy on you as he helps you onto Eddie’s shoulders and pats your butt.
Eddie though nearly has a heart attack as you settle on his shoulders, your thighs are so perfect and soft and warm, his head rests against your breasts and he tries to be normal about it he does but they’re just so perfect.
He’s never been more glad he’s in a pool because you can’t see the way his cock is rock hard as you squeal and laugh while fighting Buck and trying to shove him over. Eventually, you fall over onto Buck and you both go laughing and splashing into the water and Eddie feels the tiniest hint of jealousy at the way you cling to Buck as he stands you both up.
He quickly passes you back to Eddie though who is more than happy to be holding you again.
“Hey, Ed why don’t you uh- go inside, maybe help Y/N get ready to go?”
“Did you just call me Ed-“
“Yeah yeah go go” He shoves you and Eddie out of the pool and the two of you gather your stuff up and leave just as Tommy pulls Buck over to him, cupping his face and pressing their lips together.
You and Eddie make gagging noises and Buck flips you off
“I literally hate having siblings,” You say as you both walk into the house, Eddie holds the door for you and you sneak under his arm
“Buck is the closest thing I have to a brother here. I can painfully agree with you”
“At least you don’t live with him” you laugh, as you start to dry off more. You rub your arms, trying to generate some heat and Eddie reaches for you
“For warmth” He shrugs like it doesn’t really mean much, trying to pretend like he’s not internally freaking out as you pull your arms to your chest and snuggle into his, he wraps his arms around you and rests his chin on your head
“Better?” He asks, feeling you squirm a little and you shrug, clearing your throat
“Uh huh, a lot better”
His body is so warm and so… hard. His abs feel nice under your fingertips and you try not to get caught as you totally feel him up and he tries not to get caught feeling you up. His hands rub your arms slowly, his fingertips sliding up your back and massaging you gently again.
“We should probably see what’s keeping them” You pull away after a little bit, biting your lip.
“Yeah… probably” he makes you pull away from him, he doesn’t want to do it himself. You take his hand and pull him back over to the door with you and open it.
“Guys? Can we go please soon?? I’m star-“
Buck is bent over the side of the pool, his head hanging low as he moans, Tommy is over him, kissing his neck and buried deeply inside him.
“MY EYESSSS” Eddie screams as he slams the door shut
Buck has been crazy about double dates, really he just wanted you and Eddie to hang out more and he also wanted to hang out with Eddie and since he wanted to be with Eddie and Tommy it just made sense to bring you too because you’re Tommy’s little sister and he wanted to hang out with you too.
Or at least that’s how he explains it as Eddie blinks at him over his morning coffee.
It wasn’t like it bothered him you tagged along, things were starting to heat up between the two of you. You’d been calling and texting all day since you’d met and he was really starting to feel something for you.
What that was?… he wasn’t really ready to put it into words.
Too bad Buck was.
He’d sent the “What are we?” Text from Eddie’s phone one night when he slept over, and though it got him beat the fuck down Eddie had woken up to an endearing, awkwardly-worded text saying that you “maybe kinda sorta” didn’t mind being his girlfriend.
That’s when the pictures started.
And if getting with you meant you’d be sending him that? Well fuck he would have manned up so much sooner. The first pic arrives when they’re on their way back to the firehouse, he can see the text-
“Is this cute enough for our date?”
And he opens it like a complete dumbass. Because there you are, standing in front of your mirror wearing a sheer corset and a pair of blue jean shorts that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. His jaw drops as he stares at you, and his eyes travel up your body… right to the dripping popsicle you’re eating.
“Holy shit” He lets out a quiet breath as he stares at you. Buck looks over at him and makes little grabby hands.
“Hey is that Y/N? Lemme see!!!”
Eddie hugs his phone to his chest like the gentleman he is, protecting your virtue.
“Uhhh it’s just a picture of her rabbit!! It’s- it’s just you know- a really, like super furry rabbit that’s all it’s nothing! It’s nothing it’s fine”
You guys ended up staying in that night.
A couple days later Buck invited you and Eddie for brunch, he said all cool couples go to brunch (really he just wanted the blueberry pancakes they had at this place and you both agreed to go.
“Hello beautiful” He smiles, pecking your lips as he pulls back your chair
“Hi, Eddie” You blush, kissing him back. He sits next to you puts his arm on the back of your chair and pulls you closer to him
“Can you guys stop being so gross” Buck sips his mimosa and Eddie rolls his eyes
“Dude how many times have I caught you and Tommy fu-“
“Not in front of the kids!!!” Buck nearly spits his drink out as he covers Eddie’s mouth with his hands
Buck and Eddie go back and forth like children before Tommy grabs Buck by the chin and turns him toward him, planting a sweet kiss on his lips
“Focus on the pancakes babe”
Buck pulls away, her cheeks pink, his eyes a little dazed
“Yeah… okay..”
The rest of the time is fun, the boys are really into whatever stupid story they’re remembering and trying to tell you but they keep laughing and talking over each other.
You’re nodding along absentmindedly when Eddie feels your hand. He thinks it’s just a fluke, an accident. But… no? It’s creeping higher up his thigh, stroking his muscles softly.
He can feel his cock hardening in his pants, and he tries to maintain his composure, keeping the conversation going with Buck and Tommy.
He thinks? Are they talking about like bees now? Or maybe horses? He has no fucking clue, not with your fingers doing a little walk up his thigh.
He leans back in his chair, allowing your hand to inch closer, and when you finally touch his growing bulge, he lets out a soft breath, his eyes drifting shut for a moment.
You giggle at something Tommy said, rolling your eyes at the stupid dad joke before glancing at Eddie, your nose crinkles, your eyes sparkling with mischief as you start to stroke him slowly.
Eddie's breath hitches at your touch, his body tensing slightly. He forces himself to relax as best he can, keeping his composure as he listens to the conversation. Your giggle sends shivers down his spine, his heart racing. He’s not sure how much longer he can keep this up before he just shoves you down on the table and fucks you right in front of Buck’s salad.
“Eddie?” You look up at him innocently, acting like the sweetest little angel “Can you show me where the bathroom is?”
His eyes light up as he looks over at you, eager to please. His voice is huskier than normal and Buck definitely picks up on that.
“Yeah of course” He gets up from the table, clearing his throat “Excuse us” he takes your hand and pulls you behind him, leading you toward the back of the restaurant. You can feel the excitement and anticipation building up in your chest, and you can see from the grin on his face he’s feeling exactly the same way you are
He pulls you into the family bathroom and pushes you against the door the second it closes, kissing you passionately as he locks it. Your hands come up to cup his cheeks, your tongues battling for dominance. His fist hits the door beside you and you gasp into his mouth, he grins, his tongue winning easily now.
“Oh… oh you like it rough don’t you?”
He chuckles darkly as he attacks your neck, biting and kissing. You pull at his belt and whine.
“We don’t have much time, it has to be quick!” Your breath is ragged as he scoops you up and carries you over to the counter
“You think you’re wet enough for me?”
He shoves your skirt up around your waist and pulls your panties to the side, his eyes widening at the sticky tendrils of your wetness plastered against them.
“Holy….”
“I think I’m wet enough” you whisper seductively, reaching for his belt and taking it off.
He pulls his thick cock from his pants, stroking it slowly and tapping your clit with it, your body shudders as he rubs it through your folds, gathering your wetness all over the tip. Your head falls back as he thrusts into you in one quick motion, the wind is knocked out of you as you slap your hand over your mouth, trying to muffle your moan.
He gives you a few moments to adjust to his size before he sets a brutal pace, he has to, not that you’re complaining in the least. You wrap your legs around his waist, pushing him in deeper each time. His grip on your thighs tightens as your nails scrape over his skin.
“You feel so fucking good” he groans, his body burning with need. Your breathy moans and whimpers spur him on. His hand comes up to brace himself against the mirror as he loses himself in your body, the sounds of the way he’s fucking you echoing in the small bathroom. He can feel your tightness, how wet you are for him, the way you clench around him with each thrust like he belongs inside you, like you own him.
“Y-you have to p-pull out” you pant harshly, your head falling back so you can see yourself in the mirror.
“Oh baby girl, if you think for one second I’m not making you sit at that table with my cum dripping between your legs?”
His thrusts become sharper and you cry out
“I’m not fucking you dumb enough”
He covers your mouth as he thrusts into you harder, keeping all those high-pitched whines and noises quiet. He wishes he didn’t have to keep you so quiet, but he doesn’t care all that much when you take his hand and push it up further covering your nose too.
“Oh, Y/N” He moans, holding his hand down harder so you can barely breathe, it sends his head spinning, his hips stuttering and jerking messily as he pounds into you so desperately.
His lips spill praises for you, “Good girl” “so fucking tight” he can feel you clenching around him more and more as your back arches and your body shudders, your orgasm rippling through you and that’s all it takes for him to cum with you, pumping his seed into you.
He pulls his hand away and you gasp in air as he collapses against you. You hug him to your chest as he nuzzles his face into you.
“Fucking hell” he moans into your neck and you trail your fingers through his hair in response, tugging lightly so he’ll look up at you. You press your lips to his, giggling quietly and he grins, kissing you back.
“You think they know?” You blush while he sets you back down, helping you rearrange your clothes, your legs are still wobbling and it just makes him want to do it all over again
“I mean, probably” he chuckles, and you groan, letting your head fall against his chest.
“That’s…. Something”
“Hey you’re the one who started this, you really didn’t think it through huh?” He taps your forehead and you huff at him while he gets himself put back together. You make him bend down to fix his hair and he smirks, staring into your eyes while you do it.
“Quit it!!” You frown a little and that just makes him smile more
“You’re really pretty”
You look at him, your fingers tangled in his hair and he leans in, giving you a soft kiss, still staring into your eyes.
“You’re really intimidating” you admit shyly and he gives you a funny look
“Honey we just fucked in a public bathroom and now you want to get all shy on me? Now you want to tell me how intimidating I am?”
“Oh shut up!!” You whack his chest and shove him away and he laughs, pulling you back into him and kissing your neck
“Awww don’t pout baby girl, you’ll turn me on again”
“Eddie Diaz!” You squeak and before he can embarrass you anymore there’s a knock at the door
“Occupied!” Eddie calls out as he pushes you against the wall now, you whimper and lift your leg around his waist and he picks you back up
“Yeah I know, Tommy and I are hungry. Are you guys done yet?? Because she’s gonna be too exhausted to eat”
Your mouth drops open and Eddie lets his head fall onto your shoulder. He chuckles and shakes his head before setting you back down carefully
“Yeah... Buck. We’re done.”
Two weeks later Eddie comes into work, a little pep in his step. He jogs up the stairs and stops at the top, his team standing there. Bobby has a cake in his hands as the other three cheer and a little burst of confetti is thrown on him.
“Whaaat’s this all about?” He laughs, shaking the confetti from his hair
“Congratulations on getting laid!!” Chimney cheers
“Continuously!” Hen adds and Bobby shows him the cake that says “Congrats! You got laid!” With a cute little bed in the middle of it
“We’re gonna be brothers!!” Buck squeals as he jumps on him
#words by rhys#911 x reader#rhys writes#eddie diaz#911 fox#eddie diaz x reader#911 show#evan buckley#911 abc#tommy kinard#911#911 fanfic#911 fandom#Kinktober 2024
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KCC, “if you think I’m cute when I’m mad I’m about to be gorgeous”, at home or training🫶🫶
forgotten coffee II k.cooney-cross
today was not a good day.
normally you were someone who let issues run away from you like water off a ducks back, who brushed hardships off and continued forward with a smile on your face and optimism on your tongue.
you had to in order to have dated kyra for as long as you had, as everyone loved to remind you had the patience of a saint and you had years of experience in calming down and dealing with the sporadic and often juvenile behaviours she displayed.
the two of you growing up in the youth teams and progressing through the a-league together you'd realised on a team night out you were harboring more than just friendly feelings for her.
never one to shy away from what you want you were the one who made the first move though fearful of rejection. but luckily that rejection never came, and years later you were still going strong.
but today, today was not a good day.
you'd had one of the worst night sleeps you thought possible, waking up what felt like every half an hour with a groan and a huff tossing and turning until finally you'd drift off again only to wake up a few moments later and start the routine over again.
normally kyra would be there to try and help you but she'd spent the last few days helping charli move in and you'd encouraged she spend the night there to really help your friend feel settled and at home.
plus you knew better than anyone how much kyra truly missed her best friend now they weren't both playing in sweden and able to see one another whenever they pleased.
you contemplated calling the girl around three thirty wondering if even the sound of her voice might help but you decided against it, not wanting the interrupt the night you insisted they both have despite how much both girls tried to invite you to come along.
so when your alarm finally went at seven thirty indicating you needed to get up and ready for training you were positively exhausted, miserable and grumpy.
which was obvious to your girlfriend the very moment you stepped outside, the brunette having taken her training things to charli's but offering you a lift she sat in her car in your shared driveway not bothered to go inside as she waited you to come out.
"for fuck sakes!" you threw your head back with a groan as the keys slipped from your hand as you tried to lock up, kicking the door with a grunt as kyra watched on cautiously.
you slung your gym bag over your shoulder grumbling obscenities under your breath as of course because you were already in a foul mood you caught your foot on the edge of the steps and went tumbling down to the ground.
kyra went to unbuckle herself and help you but you were already to your feet, snatching your bag and storming off to the car with a scowl plastered into your features.
"good morning sunshine." the midfielder greeted as you slid into the passenger seat after tossing your bag in the boot. "fuck off." you mumbled with a frown, catching yourself and sighing. "sorry, had the worst night sleep." you apologised, leaning over the console to peck her lips.
"babe why didn't you call me? i can sleepover at char's anytime i would have come home." kyra grabbed your hand, rubbing a thumb over your knuckles with a frown as you buckled in.
"because you deserved a nice night with char i know you missed your little sleepovers. but its fine i just need a fucking coffee!" you exhaled deeply as kyra's eyes widened and she bit her bottom lip as suddenly you noticed the coffee you assumed was yours in the cup holder was not.
"you didn't get me a coffee?" you asked in disbelief as kyra winced. "i assumed you'd make one at home! we can get one on the way?" kyra tried, starting up the engine as you sank deeper into the seat. "we don't have time for that because you're late because you stopped to get a coffee and didn't get me one." you mumbled grumpily, scowl returning as kyra grimaced.
"i'm sorry!" your girlfriend apologized again as you hummed, refusing to look at her. "baby, please i'm really really sorry." her eyes burned into the side of your head as you continued to ignore her.
"babe!" the girl whined, reaching out for you as you pushed her hand away and huffed. "i have never ever gotten a coffee and not at least offered you one, we always get one another a coffee." you finally looked at her though the look in your eyes had kyra breaking it and glancing away.
"babe i really am sorry. i love you?" kyra tried as you hummed, pulling out your phone. "i love you so much?" she tried again with a charming smile, met with even more silence. "you look really cute when you're mad?" kyra poked at you, still met with silence as she gave in and started up the car backing out of the driveway.
"hi lessi." kyra's head whipped toward you at a red light as you held your phone to your ear. "have you grabbed coffee yet?" you questioned hopefully, knowing the blonde lived a lot closer to colney than you and kyra did.
"oh my god yes please, kyra doesn't care about me and my needs anymore." you shot her a pointed look as she gasped. "less she's lying!" the midfielder yelled as you rolled your eyes. "i love you! and i owe you, thanks less." you blew her a kiss and hung up the phone.
"so you'll tell less you love her but not me!" kyra scoffed as you shrugged, head buried in your phone still grumpy, ignoring all of her attempts at conversation as she gave up with a groan and turned the music up louder instead.
you sighed in relief seeing alessia, vic and emily waiting around for you, a coffee held securely in alessia's hand which you knew had your name on it, the three girls hovering near where kyra always parked in waiting.
barely putting the car in park kyra had hopped out and darted around to the side opening the door for you with a wide eager smile. laughter rung out as kyra tried to kiss you but you ducked under her arm leaving her behind with a frown as you popped her boot and grabbed your bag out.
"trouble in paradise cooney cross?" vic teased with a smirk as your girlfriend shot her a glare, slamming your door and grabbing her own bag with a huff. "you alright?" alessia murmured with a concerned gaze as she handed you the coffee.
"i am in a terrible mood." you muttered, sighing in relief at the first sip of your coffee, melting into a hug from the taller girl who patted your back. "oh kyra! get off." you heard steph groan as you pulled away from the hug seeing your girlfriend latched onto your national teammate.
"call her off! please." steph caught your eye and begged as you sipped on your coffee and walked off without a word, kyra clambering off steph and chasing after you.
"that was frosty, ouch." steph winced as the four girls followed after the pair of you, watching in amusement as your girlfriend tried routinely to grab your free hand or sling an arm over your shoulder as you pushed her off time after time.
you continued to ignore kyra's attempts to charm, flirt and schmooze with you as you entered the locker room. "oo ouch. now what did you do?" caitlin caught on instantly, steering kyra away from hovering after you as you dropped down into your cubby to change shoes.
"didn't get her a coffee and she's extra grumpy today because she didn't sleep and i slept over at charli's." kyra mumbled with a huff, fighting to wrench off caitlins arm which only tightened around her neck.
"oh girlfriend of the year!" caitlin whistled as kyra broke free and jumped onto her back wrapping her arm around the older girls neck now. "get off ya leech!" caitlin groaned trying to shake her off with no real luck as you laced up your boots and grabbed your coffee ready to head off for the team briefing.
but what kyra failed to see as she was clinging on tightly to caitlin was you try to shuffle past, accidentally kicking your coffee right from your hand as it clattered to the floor and kyra dropped away from caitlin who winced and hurried away.
"baby-" kyra started as you held up a hand, silencing her.
"if you think i'm cute when i'm mad i'm about to be gorgeous." you warned calmly, eyes narrowing as you let out a war cry and charged at your girlfriend who sprinted off away from you.
"come here babe i'm gonna kill you!"
#woso x reader#woso#woso fanfics#kyra cooney cross x reader#kyra cooney cross#woso community#woso imagine#woso blurbs
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Across the Natashaverse - Part 2
Natasha Romanoff x F!R
Summary: After you're sent to another world, Natasha has to deal with yourself, from another universe, and a very different life.
Other POV from this fic.
“Put more weight on your left foot” Natasha says, barely checking America’s movements.
Of course she knows this is important. Maria asked her to train Chavez in the basics of hand to hand combat. Her mind is elsewhere, though.
Especifically, you.
Natasha thought she was doing you a favor, she really did. Someone as kind as you could do much better than her. Agreeing to a date would only give you false hope, so she rejected the invitation.
It was foolish of her to think that things would be the same after that. You weren’t distant or rude, though that might have been easier.
Every morning, you’d still have breakfast with her, show her funny videos or tell her about your latest discoveries in the lab with Stark, which in the end, were related to her work as well.
You simply stopped sharing your interests, or going out of your way to seek her company. Long gone were the days of sitting together at the Met while you talked about your favorite paintings. Or the grocery shopping that turned into strolls through Central Park and ended in your favorite bookshop.
All that was left now were pleasantries.
“Am I doing it right?” America asks. She sure as hell isn’t, so Natasha shakes her head, hoping she can manage to focus on the task at hand.
“Stop” she says, stepping on the sparring mat.
“Please don’t tell me you want me to fight you”
“You’re punching the air, Chavez. The only way to learn is by doing. It will be fine”
The girl doesn’t seem too convinced, but Natasha starts with slow movements and corrects America as they go. When the intensity of the training increases, the girl’s powers begin to stir. A yellow flash on the ceiling distracts Natasha, and the next thing she feels is America’s fist colliding with her cheek.
“Crap! Agent Romanoff, I’m so sorry”
But there’s another loud thud, not far from the gym.
“Did you hear that?” Natasha asks, trying to figure what the noise is.
“Maybe”
“Take a break” Natasha instructs, looking around the room to check if everything’s alright. The team is still figuring out the extent of her powers and Natasha worries the girl just unleashed a demonic creature or something.
The redhead is so focused on the room, she doesn’t notice someone approaching.
That is, until she feels a hard slap on her ass, and a sultry voice against her ear.
“There’s my favorite ass-assin”
Five seconds later, she has the intruder upside down, back against the floor, gasping for air.
“Baby, I know you don’t like my jokes but this is a little too much, don’t you think?”
It takes her a second to process what’s happening.
“Y/N?”
“Hey, love” you smirk, all smug despite being knocked down by Natasha. “The weirdest thing just happened, I was going to get a snack because Anya was moody and then fell on my ass right outside the gym”
Natasha stares at you, as if you’re speaking a foreign language. And then it all clicks. The slightly longer hair, how you smell and feel different.
She let’s go of you and starts pulling your shirt by the collar.
“Hell yeah, let’s get naked”
“Where’s your birthmark?”
“I don’t have a…”
“You’re from another world”
“Ah, that’s so sweet…” you try to lean forward and kiss her, but she pushes you away. “Babe, I’m getting mixed signals here”
“F.R.I.D.A.Y., call for an emergency meeting”
—
“I’m sorry, she’s what?” Sam points at you, and Natasha pinches the bridge of her nose.
“She’s from another universe. America must have opened up a portal when we were training”
“Alright, so she just opens it back and we correct the mistake”
“It’s not that simple” Tony walks in.
“Uhm, guys. This meeting should be for Avengers only” you lower your voice, eyeing the man suspiciously.
“Hello? That table you’re sitting in so carelessly. Mahogany. Paid by me”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen this man before”
“A world without Tony Stark” Steve says, amused.
“Must be really quiet in your Compound” Sam says and you smirk.
“Why, no thanks to you. Not with all those super models you’re always bringing back to your room” you raise your eyebrows and Sam’s eyes widen.
“I date super models? I wanna go to her world”
Steve and Tony begin to argue about how that will make the multiverse collapse, when Natasha interrupts them.
“She’s messing with you, idiots”
Tony and Sam look at each other and then at you. You almost fall to the ground as you laugh. Since you’re not helpful, the team ignores you as they keep discussing the best way to identify your reality and correct the glitch.
“Y/N 2.0, we need more information about your… where did she go?” Tony grumbles.
“I got this” Natasha sighs, stomping to the kitchen. Sure enough, you’re rummaging through the fridge, complaining at every item of food you find.
“Don’t you have anything with sugar here?”
“You’re free to prepare anything for yourself”
“Not unless you want the kitchen to explode, Nat”
The redhead pushes you aside, while you look around the living room, inspecting the pictures on every place you can find.
“No wedding? Or Anya?”
“Nope” Natasha says, her voice shaking lightly.
“Why?”
“None of your business” she says, handing you a plate with a sanwich.
“Thanks. How did you know I was lying about Stark and Wilson?”
“Your voice gets all high pitched when you tell a lie” she answers, refusing to look at you.
“Huh” you mumble, taking a bite out of the sandwich. “Um. Is this peanut butter?”
“Would her Highness prefer caviar?” Natasha teases, but turns around and finds you covered in hives. “Shit!”
“That’s fine” you say, struggling to breathe. “Nothing an epi can’t fix, love”
You pass out in the middle of the kitchen, wondering if you’ll leave this foreign universe in one piece.
—
After leaving you at the medbay, Natasha goes back to the meeting room. She’s examining all the reports and missions that are related to multiverses. It’s a lot to digest, including all the quantum physics.
Alone for the first time since this whole thing started, she finally allows herself the chance to miss you. Right around this time, you’d be making dinner, and she’d be in the kitchen, pretending to help just to be close to you.
What if she never gets you back?
“Hello, there” a voice says. You approach slowly, knowing it’s best not to surprise her.
“How are you feeling? I’m really sorry…”
“There’s no way you could have known. It honestly never occurred to me that things like allergies were different” you say, patting her leg. “Interested in string theory?”
“Yeah, it’s a great ice breaker” Natasha says, and you chuckle. “You don’t seem too worried”
“The America Chavez of my world has had a bit more training. I’m sure I’ll be back home for lunch tomorrow”
“You could have said something!” Natasha feels the need to kick your ass again.
“Hey, I was gonna! And then I almost died”
“Jerk”
“What are you so worried about? She’s in a safe world”
“What if your Natasha gave Y/N a similar welcome?”
“Oh, I’m sure she had her pinned to a wall, only for very different reasons”
Natasha turns to you, alarmed. Her jealousy is so obvious that all you can do is laugh.
“There it is. I wasn’t sure you had any feelings towards her. Wanna tell me what happened?” you nudge her chair with your foot and she looks at you, annoyed.
“She asked me out, gave me flowers, I said no”
“Flowers, huh? Well, she’s more romantic than me. Natasha and I were pretending to be a couple for a mission and then I just blurted out I wouldn’t mind doing it again under different circumstances” you explain, laughing at the memory. “But hey, if flowers and chocolates aren’t your thing, I respect it”
“It’s not like that”
“Then, what is it like?”
She thinks back to all the times you’ve made her feel safe, cared for, loved. You make it look so easy, but for the life of her, Natasha can’t figure out how to reciprocate.
What you make her feel, is too good and beautiful for someone like her.
“I haven’t earned her love” is all she manages to say.
“Natasha” you call, softly, and only speak when she finally turns to you. “You don’t have to do anything to be deserving of love”
There is silence, and then you take her hand in yours.
“Come on, I’m starving. Let’s grab some Chinese”
“Fine. No more peanut butter, though. I don’t want to fight myself if something happens to you”
“Now that would be entertaining”
—
Next morning, everyone is back in the meeting room. Apparently, due to some bad experiences, they’ve decided you should come back to your world immediately, before the universes collapse.
“I promise you, it will be fine” you insist. Natasha is the only one that seems to believe you, so you save yourself the trouble and spin around in the office chair.
“Can you stop?” Steve says, irritated.
“I’m trying to create a vortex that is powerful enough to send me back to my reality, Steve” but he still glares and you stand up. “Fine. I’m getting a snack”
As you exit the room, Natasha comes running behind you.
“Wait. I wanted to apologize”
“Steve is an old grumpy man, don’t sweat it”
“No, not about that. I’m sorry for… being so hard on you when you first got here”
“We deal with aliens and all kinds of threats. It’s not so crazy to think that an intruder is dangerous. It’s all good, Nat” you shrug your shoulders.
“I just wouldn’t be ok if your Natasha had acted that way with my Y/N”
“Your Y/N?” you repeat, pleased as Natasha blushes. “Good for you, Romanoff. Get the girl. Trust me when I say, she’ll make it worth it” you wiggle your eyebrows.
“Such a flirt”
“We can’t help ourselves around you, no matter the universe”
You wink, and walk to the kitchen, leaving Natasha in the hallway.
Inevitably, she thinks about you. The one that belongs here, with her. Are you enjoying your time in that other universe? Will you resent her for bringing you back? Maybe that Natasha is more loving and sweet, and you’ll finally realise that she can’t actually make you happy…
Her thoughts begin to spiral again, until the commotion in the room breaks her train of thought.
“Damn, you fell from the ceiling” Sam says, looking up. A yellow portal closes just as Natasha opens up the door. Everyone’s around you, and when your face comes to view, Natasha’s heart almost stops.
There’s a little cut and bruising from the fall, but you’re back.
She pushes everyone, and wraps you in her arms. You return the gesture.
“Hey, it’s ok. It’s me”
She hugs you closer, smiling against your neck.
Natasha’s never letting go again.
—
“So, tell me everything!” you say, sitting next to Natasha as you drive back home. “Did I tell you I almost died to peanut exposure?”
“Looks like someone had fun” your wife comments and you smile.
“What about you, my love? Did you do anything dirty with my other self?”
“Well, there might have been some kissing and touching before I noticed…”
“Not to brag, but the other Natasha was on top of me” you say, trying to pretend like it’s no big deal your wife kissed another you.
“You pissed her off and she threw you to the ground, didn’t she?” Natasha smirks.
Damn it.
“Maybe”
Seeing your daughter brings you back to reality. Fun as it was to be in another universe, your life is perfect here.
“Mommy, are you cooking dinner again tonight?” the girl says as you carry her to the kitchen.
“Uh… let’s have lunch first, yes? Go wash your hands”
Natasha hands you a plate of what the other Y/N made and you gasp.
“Holy crap, this is delicious! Babe, not gonna lie, I wouldn’t have judged you if you fucked her against a wall after tasting her food”
“You’re such an idiot” Natasha rolls her eyes, sitting on your lap and stealing a bite of the pasta. “But you are my idiot”
“Always and in every universe, baby”
You kiss her softly, happy to be home.
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hey, i was wondering how bonten (or ran, rindo, and sanzu) would act if they misunderstood a situation between you and your older brother and they got all jealous. (no inc*st or step-cest or anything like that). it’s a funny trope so i thought i’d ask lol
MISUNDERSTANDINGS
syn: bonten trio accidentally misunderstanding a situation between you and your older brother.
TR ft. RAN, RINDOU, SANZU
cw: swearing, jealous!bonten trio but other than that, just pure fluff, pet names (baby, babe, princess, darling)
a/n: sorry this took quite a while, anon! wrote this while i was at the gym hehe
₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ RAN HAITANI
— tries to understand the situation. ran tries to keep a cool front, keyword: tries. he knows he’s mature enough to not jump to conclusions but it’s driving him absolutely crazy so he resorts to confrontation.
“oh, hey babe! just getting this sorted out.” ran stared at the scene in front of him, he could feel his limbs tingling from he didn’t know what exactly—jealousy? anger? confusion? you sat on the living room floor, assembling the new coffee table you and ran had bought; it was all fine until his eyes landed on a man sitting across you, helping with the furniture. what the fuck? you had come up to him so casually with another man in his presence, kissing his cheek as you greeted him. were you not ashamed one bit? guilty? that another man was under the roof the two of you shared? stepped foot in a home designed for you and him only? ran stood there, pools of lilac boring holes onto the unknown man’s head.
you turned to ran, noticing the shift in his aura but his eyes were locked onto the man next to you. before you could call out his name, he opened his mouth, “and who might you be? didn’t know we had a.. guest, if i may.” his tone was flat and cold but a saccharine smile made its way to his lips as if to taunt the man. you furrowed your brows, “ran—” “no, princess. i want to hear from him. he’s got his own voice, yeah?” you blinked up at ran as he cut you off. was he being for real right now? why was he being rude?
your older brother let out an awkward chuckle and scratched at his nape, “i’m- i’m their older brother.. uh, nice to meet you, ran haitani, right?” your sibling hastily stood up, jutting out an arm at ran who looked like he had seen a ghost. every single feeling was drained from his body at the man’s introduction. well shit. “darling.. i’ve told you about my older brother so many times.. do you not remember?” ran wracked around his brain. shit. shit. you had told him but he somewhat forgot about it.
he stood there for a few seconds before quickly shaking your brother’s hand, “oh fuck, i’m so sorry! shit shit— i didn’t mean to be rude at all!” ran’s eyes widened before profusely bowing in front of your older brother. you bit back a smile, ran has never acted like this before—it was such a sight to see him all flustered and embarrassed. a man who’s nothing but self assured turned into a flustered mess in front of your brother. “you treat all strangers like this..?” your brother mused, clearly joking. ran’s mouth opened and closed as he turned crimson red. both you and your sibling laughed out loud at his awkward state.
₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ RINDOU HAITANI
— waits for you to admit it. rindou is not a man of many words, he doesn’t really like confrontations and would rather hear it from you without him having to ask you—even if it swarms his thoughts day and night.
“you know.. you can tell me anything..” rindou’s deep voice sliced through the peaceful silence of the night, the vibrations from his chest going straight to your ear as you lie your head atop it. there was this slight hesitancy in his tone that made you furrow your brows, “hm? what do you mean?” you angled your head to look up at his face—his amethyst eyes were cast with the warm glow of the bedside lamp but you could see the swirling storm behind it. rindou stared straight ahead, his hand had stopped rubbing your back. he bit his lip, feeling a lump in his throat as he mustered the courage to say something. to address the elephant in the room.
“i.. i know you’re seeing someone else.. i saw another man’s shoes at the doorstep when i came home.” upon seeing it earlier, rindou turned and left to clear his thoughts. he closed his eyes, his hand that hovered over your back balled into a fist. furrowing your brows, you put the pieces together in your head and before you knew it, a wide grin was plastered on your face. rindou’s eyes shot open as you burst out laughing, no sign of guilt on your face. he was confused. “wha—” “baby.. those shoes you saw earlier? they were my brother’s! he came by to meet you but you came home later than usual.” you buried your face in his chest, shaking with laughter.
rindou’s brows shot up, “but— how— you didn’t tell me..?” “i texted you, remember? though i don’t think you replied at all.” realisation sank in and rindou wanted the bed to swallow him whole. his phone had died and had no way of charging it, hence why he didn’t see your text earlier. he buried his face in his palms as he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. how could he be so silly? “fuck, how embarrassing.. i’m so sorry for assuming, baby. i—” “baby, it’s okay.” you tried to console him but ended up bursting with laughter at the situation, earning a deep sigh from rindou and his face shielded with his hands.
₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ HARUCHIYO SANZU
— immediately jumps to a conclusion. sanzu is a very clingy partner, he sees another man next to you? he sees red. doesn’t beat around the bush, and he gets straight to the point—this behaviour of his, he’s picked up from doing his job in bonten.
“who the hell is this?! are you cheating on me?” you almost dropped the plate you were holding at sanzu’s loud voice. there he stood at the entrance of the kitchen, sleeves of his button down shirt rolled up, hair tousled—a clear sign of a rough day from work. a vein was prominent at the side of his neck as he questioned you. sanzu narrowed his eyes at the man who stood next to you, not only was he in his kitchen, he also wore his apron. “sanzu! that-that’s not the way to greet my brother!” you took a few steps to stand in front of him as you saw rage brewing behind his azure eyes; it all quickly dissipated as his eyes darted between the two of you. oh. you two did have the same eyes.
sanzu bit his bottom lip, embarrassment quickly swallowing him. he remembered his outburst a few seconds ago and he wanted nothing but to crawl into a hole. “ah.. um.. my apologies. didn’t know you had an older brother.” he sheepishly smiled at you, scratching at his nape. “well now you do. he was so eager to meet you, you know.” you raised a brow at him before proceeding to set up for dinner—with the help of your older brother. sanzu awkwardly stood there, feeling out of place. he locked gazes with your brother before shuffling to his feet and warmly greeting the man; you playfully shook your head at sanzu as you heard him profusely apologising, his tone much calmer and quieter now.
throughout the night, sanzu kept close. he fully knew you were still a bit upset at how he acted towards your brother. he didn’t blame you, it was entirely his fault. he was clingy—a hand on your thigh, an arm slung around your waist, his shoulder touching yours. you’ve already forgiven him earlier but you wanted to see how far he’d keep up with this; it was cute to say the least. how he followed you like a puppy with it’s tail between it’s legs, clearly guilty of his actions.
© mitsuyeaah
#ran haitani#rindou haitani#sanzu haruchiyo#ran fluff#rindou fluff#sanzu fluff#ran headcanons#rindou headcanons#sanzu headcanons#ran x you#rindou x you#sanzu x you#ran x reader#rindou x reader#sanzu x reader#tokyo revengers fluff#tokyo revengers headcanons#tokyo revengers x you#tokyo revengers x reader#tokyo revengers#tokrev fluff#tokrev headcanons#tokrev
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What you need | 03
Synopsis: everybody needs, but how do you define need? Do you even know what you need.
Genre: best friends au, angst, fluff, smut, slow burn.
Jungkook x femreader.
wc: 4.9k
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Jungkook completed the end of his deal, now it’s your turn.
Your shoulders and eyebrows rise in unison as you walk into the moderately lit large space. Your eyes glance over all the arranged equipment and you can’t help but frown at yourself.
Your jean, turtle neck and black blazer outfit contradict the environment you’re in. You look so out of place that it warrants some unwanted eyes, but it could also be to the fact that you look lost.
The place is so intimidating, you feel like a little doe in a room full of lions. You wonder why they are so many men in here. You swear it was an all-gender gym.
You’ve seen this gym before but because you’ve never stepped foot into it, you barely know the layout or the rules.
The girl at the reception looked at you weird when she saw your outfit.
‘’do you have a membership?’’ she asks unamused, for whatever reason.
‘’no, I’m actually here to see a friend’’ you don’t care for a membership, with the way you walk around at work that’s enough working out for you.
‘’well that’s not how it works you need a membership to enter’’ she says matter-of-factly. You can’t help but notice how bitchy she sounds.
‘’i-well I’m not here to workout’’ i don’t know if you could tell.
She just stares at you and you stare back.
You can’t help but sigh and roll your eyes.
All this trouble just to be where you don’t want to be.
You guess that’s how jungkook felt when you had to style him and his hair for his date. But he did it anyways, and so do you. you don’t know how you’re gonna pass those doors though.
You could bolt through when someone who has a membership walks in, jungkook would laugh at that story. But you don’t want any bad blood or embarrass yourself with getting kicked out.
So you do the only thing you can do.
Call jungkook and cancel.
‘’i can’t kook because i don’t have a membership ‘’ you whine turning to squint at the girl at the reception. She looks like the type that’s bitchy cause she’s worked here for so long.
The corner of your upper lip twitches.
‘’i told her she should let you in when you come’’ he sounds so breathy ‘’did you tell her you’re here to see me’’
‘’nope but i told her I’m here to see a friend’’ you hear him chuckle. You can’t help but feel like he’s mocking you.
‘’tell her your name and that your here to see jungkook’’ his laugh dies down.
You scoff and roll your eyes. This is too much work.
‘’and how am i guaranteed that she’ll let me in?’’ you question with a little sass in your tone which jungkook catches. He always does.
‘’she will, trust me’’
jungkook knows you can be awkward, nervous and anxious in new situations. And since he knew you couldn’t walk in without a membership, he called in a favour from his good friend Liz. The woman you’re currently having a one-sided feud with.
You hum before the call is cut. And with your tail in between your legs you walk to the reception.
She stares at you ready for your words.
‘’i’m here for jungkook’’ you almost murmur almost too low for ears to catch
‘’your name?’’ you groan, how hard can she makes this for you. Being here dressed like a billionaire single mom here to see her son is embarrassing enough.
‘’y/n’’ you say tucking in your lips.
‘’okay you can go in’’
You release the breath you didn’t know you were holding.
So it was that easy, you slap yourself mentally. You give her one last look, as if apologising for overreacting.
Your heeled boots clink against the clean white floors. You’re glad the gym noises and music drown out your heels and banging hearts.
You look around for where jungkook texted you he’d be.
At the end with the dark windows.
Wooow. If only he knew how many ends had dark windows. You curse as you continue walking. You jump over rolling dumbbells and duck people doing pullups. Is this what being at the gym is:
Playing Mario kart.
You gasp when a figure bumps into you.
‘’im sorry i didn’t see you there’’ he turns.
And you couldn’t believe your eyes.
‘’hoseok? What the fuck are you doing here?’’ you once over him in his gym outfit. You never had seeing hoseok in the gym or sweaty on your bingo card.
‘’working out,duh’’ he gives you a look ‘’ i should be asking you the same, but looking at your outfit i don’t think you’re here to workout’’ his eyes glance you over, he saw you wearing this outfit at work today and he doesn’t know if he’s ever going to tell you how much this outfit doesn’t look so bad on you.
You can’t help but feel small under his intense gaze.
‘’i’m not. Just here to see a friend’’
He nods, not really caring. ‘’enjoy your workout’’ you say as he turns away.
You roll your eyes at how he just hums.
You never thought of hoseok as the gym type but you guess he didn’t get that figure for free. Maybe you should get to the gym too, hoseok was pretty much telling you that with his eyes anyways.
Now back to finding jungkook.
“yn’’ you were walking around aimlessly when a familiar voice calls out your name.
Oh that’s the end he was talking about. Honestly it looks the same with the others, except for the large punching bag hanging for the ceiling.
Your eyes are met with a smiling jungkook as you giddily walk over to him, you have to physically stop yourself from skipping.
Seeing jungkook is always comforting and peaceful.
His curly hair falls loosely on his face. It still shocks you how fast his hair grows.
His black t-shirt falls baggy over the his fern green cargo pants, you remember gifting him those when you were starting off your friendship. You didn’t know what to get him for his birthday cause you didn’t know him that well. So you just got him those pants with a hoodie. He was very appreciative. You would say you’re a better gift giver now, cause you know what he likes.
You walk over to him and his eyes don’t leave you as you approach.
You’re about to open your mouth to greet him and scold him for bad direction, but you’re shushed when his hands wrap around you and lift you off the ground. You use his shoulder for balance. The action takes you by surprise cause jungkook’s has never carried you like that, but you’ve never visited him at the gym as well.
As he sets you down you realise how nice it feels to be carried. His hands don’t leave your waist as you look up at him.
‘’i like your outfit, but i thought you’d dress more...’’ his eyes look around and you understand what he means.
‘’i came here immediately after work kook, so i didn’t get to change’’ you stare down at your outfit with a pout. he licks his lips as he nods accepting your reason.
The close proximity causes you to see jungkook in another angle, a very good one at that. Your nose takes in his scent, even though you can smell the sweat it doesn’t bother you cause it somehow mixes with his cologne and forms a scent so masculine you wanna drown in it.
‘’plus i came here to watch you workout’’ you push him away at the chest and jungkook moves away, not offended at all. ‘’not me’’
As he moves away he realizes how carried away he got with the feeling of you being close. Having you look up at him like you just did makes his heart rate faster than exercise.
‘’i hear you chicken’’ he grins and you raise a brow at his new nickname for you.
He tries to play of the feeling of being enamoured by your scent.
‘’chicken?’’
‘’yeah chicken’’
‘’and why is that?’’ you fold your arms over your chest.
‘’because you failed to get past Liv’’
The receptionist? You roll your eyes. He can’t tease you for this cause he knows you get anxious and your brain stops working.
‘’you can’t bla-‘’
‘’chicken’’ he sing-songs swinging his head side to side as he puts his boxing gloves on.
You roll your eyes, he’s not going to stop teasing you with that.
‘’so am i a chicken or bunny’’ you take a seat on the bench next to his things, you know cause you recognize the scent.
‘’i think....’’ he pretends to think as he walk over and towers over you.
And in a low voice and flicking your chin he says ‘’...you’re mine’’
You’re taken aback by his words and it causes a tingle in your stomach. Yoiu brush off the feeling as a normal human reaction to being taken aback.
‘’i’m just joking, look at your face’’ he lets out a chuckle and so do you, but yours is more awkward.
‘’i think you’re more a bunny’’ he walks back ‘’that’s why i call you bunny’’
You just stay silent with your words not knowing what to say, you don’t think, or want to think any of it cause that’s how jungkook jokes. But it’s been a while since you’ve heard him joke like that, maybe it’s cause you were in a relationship with yunho. But now you’re not so he brings back his teasing.
That’s how he is, you can’t think more of it.
‘’oh i forgot to introduce you to yoongi’’ he says calling you from the abyss of you mind.
‘’ yn this is yoongi my boxing partner’’ he turns to you. ‘’and yoongi this is my good friend yn’’
You wave at yoongi and give him a warm smile, he simply raise his hand and mumbles out a hi.
With the way he doesn’t smile at you, you think he’s probably not fond of watchers or maybe it’s just you.
‘’you missed the warmup, but you can watch the first round’’ he informs. You hum still not used to the environment. your heart begins to quicken but you try to ignore it as you see them getting ready to start.
‘’you’re not going to wear head gear or something’’ they both laugh out and make you sound like a noob.
‘’it’s okay to take a hit or two raw sometimes, princess’’ new nickname unlocked.
You don’t know if the jk in the gym is the same one you know. He seems more cocky and ... flirty, nothing you can’t handle. Just not used to it.
You sit back and shut your mouth. You don’t want to say something and not seem like you know what you’re talking about.
‘’i’m not going to take it easy on you just cause your girl’s here ‘’ yoongi fixes his glove.
‘’i don’t need you to take it easy on me.‘’ jungkook husks out, eyes lowered and fists prepared.
Your scent grazes jungkook’s senses in that moment and he loves how, in addition to your perfume, you’ve been smelling like lavender lately.
The lavender scent is like a fuel for him.
Yoongi throws a punch and jungkook is almost met with it before he dodges it.
He grins as he licks his teeth. That would’ve been a bad way to start.
He’s tryna get you to like boxing, he can’t if he’s losing.
You’re sat shit scared in your seat as you watch jungkook almost get hit. You can’t handle this, and you just started.
Jungkook throws a punch but yoongi blocks.
Grunts, curses and smacks echo in the room as jungkook and yoongi go at it. No one’s taken a hit yet but that only makes your anxiety rise. Why does he have to have you here.
A form of motivation.
A reminder of his strength.
That’s why jungkook boxes.
He’s loved it ever since he was a child. He’s father had him in a class for a month before his mother said it was dangerous. If only his mother was willing to watch him box like you.
But you aren’t willing, you’re just on obligation.
‘’that was a light round’’ you hear him say out of breathe. The way he breathes and the way sweat drips down his face as he does so has your heart beating carelessly, and it shouldn’t.
You cross your legs as you watch him wipe his sweat off with his shirt.
‘’YN’’ he calls your name out aggressively.
‘’huh?’’ you come back from where you went.
‘’i said are you good, do you want water’’
You shake your head at the water.
‘’im fine.’’ You’re not. The room feels hot even though it’s an open space with air conditioning.
You wonder how much jungkook pays for that membership.
‘’good. Now time for round 3’’
Your eyes bulge out at his words.
‘’round 3?’’
Jungkook turns to you with knitted brows and laughs at then shock on your face. From your body language and eyes he can see how tired you look. You’ve been at work and it’s not fair for him to keep you here for over 45 minutes, when his date didn’t even last a quarter of that.
‘’i promise this is the last round then we can go home, okay?’’
You nod and lean back taking in the fact that you have to stay here longer. It’s getting late out and you wonder why the gym isn’t closing but then it clicks that it’s a 24hr gym.
If jungkook wanted he would stay here the whole night. Gym bros.
You stare at your gym bro analysing, there’s something different about jungkook. You wouldn’t place him as a gym bro, maybe because you know him outside the gym and he’s your friend.
But its nice and warms your heart to watch him do what he loves.
In the past two rounds not much has happened except for the hits yoongi had to take from jungkook. You found yourself unintentionally cheering, you wonder why it didn’t bother you seeing jungkook hit someone but the thought of.......
Bang.
That’s all you hear until your gasping, the blood drains from your face.
Yoongi just hit jungkook. Your mind is racing like a soccer mom until you see jungkook recover, still doesn’t help the ache in your heart.
You know it’s just a friendly game, but yoongi is really making a bad impression for himself.
The way yoongi throws another punch has you cringing in your seat.
This is torture.
For jungkook this is motivation, he blocks the third punch that comes his way.
No way he’s gonna let yoongi smack him a third time. Fuck no.
With determination filling him, he throws rapid smacks and punches. He continues until all yoongi can do is block.
‘’time out, time out, time out’’ yoongi calls out and jungkook ceases his throws. He smirks knowing he’s won.
‘’that wasn’t a win jeon’’
‘’it sure was’’ he chuckles out. ‘’what do you think bunny, did i win?’’
He turns to an exhausted looking you.
You have no opinions let alone knowledge on these things.
‘’what i think...’’ you make a dramatic pause ‘’ is that it’s time to go home’’
Jungkook scoffs as he rolls his eyes at you.
‘’fine’’ he starts taking off his gloves and bandages and nobody as ever looked hotter doing something mundane ‘’since you’re tired we’ll end it here’’
‘’how caring of you’’ you murmur.
He grabs his bag and you stand finally glad that this is over.
‘’it was nice beating you yoongi, see you later’’
Yoongi scoffs at him.
‘’it was nice meeting you yn, even though we didn’t talk much’’ he says instead.
You chuckle un-enthuastically. ‘’it was nice meeting you too, maybe we can talk when you’re not punching each other’’
You both awkwardly laugh at that.
You and jungkook walk out the gym doors as fast as light, mainly cause you’re pushing him out the door.
You walk a little slower to his car in the parking lot.
‘’you wanna drive?’’ he stretches his keys out to you but you shake your head so fast as you run to the passenger’s seat.
‘’chicken’’ he says as he opens the doors.
You’re sat and the warm air from the air conditioner pushes out the cold Seoul night air.
‘’did you enjoy?’’ his bellow voice speaks as he drives: one hand on the steering and the other on his thigh.
You turn your body to him, head still resting on the car seat and body relaxed. And as you stare at him your eyes almost closing you can’t help but think whether he looks hotter driving or boxing with yoongi.
‘’i enjoyed watching you do what you love’’
Watching him box, even though it was torture, was heart-warming. Cause even though you’ve been friends for long, there’s still somethings that you need to know and understand about each other.
‘’do you wanna watch me do it agai-‘’ he smiles but your abrupt voice interrupts him.
‘’nope.’’ You shake your head ‘’i never want to do that again’’ your head leave it’s comfortable position.
He chuckles and licks his lip. Your brows knit when you hear him hiss at the cut on the corner of his lip.
‘’you okay?’’
Jungkook’s confused at your question and when his turns to stare at you he’s met with your thumb on his wound.
‘’does it hurt?’’ you ask worried. Jungkook tries to keep his eyes on the road but his head turned to you.
‘’just stings’’ he speaks your thumb caressing his lip.
You don’t realiz but jungkook does, the way you caress his lip and stare at it makes the air tense.
‘’i’m okay yn’’ he wraps his hand around your wrist, and it’s nothing more than a warm and gentle touch ‘’but, you’re gonna make me crash’’
You were so focused on him that you didn’t realize he was driving. You feel stupid you don’t even know why you got carried away.
‘’oh, sorry’’ you abruptly move your hand away. Jungkook’s hand leaves yours almost like he didn’t want you to stop. But he lets it drop anyways, now he has both hands on the steering.
You fold your arms and let the silence sink in.
‘’who was that guy you were talking to’’ you give him a confused hum. ‘’in the gym’’
‘’uh, hoseok?’’
‘’hoseok? Isn’t that the collegue you say is a pain in your ass’’
‘’yep, but i think im a pain in his too’’ you chuckle ‘’were even’’
Jungkook shrugs.
‘’i was actually surprised to see him in the gym’’ jungkook watches you ponder on something ‘’but i guess he didn’t get that body from bossing me around’’
Jungkook looks at that lost look on your face.
‘’looks like someone has a crush’’ jungkook melodies out.
‘’heck no’’ you puff out ‘’ the last person i’d have a crush on is hoseok. He’s attractive of course but a crush is going too far’’ you argue.
‘’you think he’s attractive?’’ his voice lowers.
‘’yeah i do’’ you spit out reluctantly and watch the look on Jungkook’s face.
‘’what?’’
‘’you have a crush on him, yn’’
You scoff. ‘’i don’t have a crush on him’’ you argue. ‘’if i had a crush on everyone i found attractive, i’d have a crush on you’’ you spit out without thinking, you kinda regret saying that.
‘’i dont know if i should be offended or honored’’ jungkook chuckles.
You want to add on but his words cut you off.
‘’we’re here’’
You turn out the window and see the familiar building you haven’t seen in a while.
‘’kook, you were supposed to take me home’’ you whine.
‘’it’s the weekend, stay at mine. It’s been a while since you’ve visited me.’’ It’s almost like he’s begging you and it cause you a little smugness.
You ponder not needing much motivation anyways. ‘’okay’’
Jungkook’s surprised that you’ve accepted so easily but little does he know that you’ve been wanting an excuse to leave your house, too many pieces of yunho left around. Plus, you’ve missed you and jungkook’s little sleepovers.
‘’but i’m getting the bed’’ you declare.
‘’you’re gonna have to fight me on that one princess’’
You loved jungkook’s bed, there was something so soft and comforting about it. Maybe it’s the fluffy beddings and the fact that it smells like him.
-
When jungkook turns the lights on you realize how long it’s been and how you’ve missed the warm and homey feel of his home. Maybe it’s just because you’re finally in a place that has nothing to do with yunho.
The warm feeling in your heart extends to your skin.
Contrary to you’d thought before you met him, Jungkook’s house has a feminine and floral scent to it. Which creates a soft ambience (with the help from the light colours of his walls.)
he slumps himself on his couch, manspreading everywhere.
You place your purse on his minimalistic, white modern kitchen table.
You grunt as you slump down next to him, bodies only centimetres away from each other.
His body immediately turns to you as you sit.
‘’your house hasn’t changed one bit’’ you say and he looks around.
‘’yeah, i’m not that creative. It needs a woman’s touch’’ turns to you and you shift in your seat.
‘’you still have the plants I gifted you’’ you turn to the short three leafed one by the hallway the small one on his coffee table and the large ceiling touching one at the corner of the couch (which was a pain in the ass toe move in, for jungkook and jimin)
‘’they look healthy’’
jungkook looks at you as you admire how attentive he’s been to your gift.
‘’yeah, i’m a great plant dad’’
You both smile.
And for a few minutes there’s a comfortable silence as you stare at each other. Nothing but smiles around, it’s almost awkward for some reason.
‘’are you sure your lip only stings’’ you go back to being worried about how it’s starting to bruise.
‘’i actually forgot it was there’’ he says softly as his fingers caress it and you watch every move he makes.
You watch him look at his fingers checking for any blood. There’s none and it cause a smile on his face, yours too.
You awkwardly and quickly move your eyes away when he lifts his eyes to look at you.
‘’you should put some petroleum jelly on it’’ you lecture out as you clear your throat.
Jungkook smiles.
‘’will do after i take a shower’’ he stands and your eyes follow him.
‘’do you wanna like..’’ he points between the both of you.
‘’ew, fuck not jungkook’’ you choke out.
‘’come on, we’ve done it before’’ he defends arms open.
‘’that was at the public beach shower and jimin and willoe were there too’’
‘’that doesn’t change anything’’ he grins sarcastically.
You roll your eyes.
You and jungkook are comfortable with eachother but you don’t think it’s that far that you can shower together. Naked.
You wouldn’t be able to do that, feels like crossing a line.
‘’go take a shower i’ll wait’’ you shoo him away.
Jungkook doesn’t argue and watches you pull out your phone.
He was only joking about the shower thing anyways, he hopes he doesn’t make you uncomfortable
But your legs on his couch make you look more than comfortable.
It makes him happy to watch you relax especially with what happened with your boyfriend, well ex now. That’s why he’s been trying to get you out and forget about it.
‘’pick a movie’’ he tells you before he leaves.
-
‘’i can’t believe how tight these shorts have become’’ you walk into the living room with the shorts you left at his house 6 months ago and one of his grey t-shirts.
Jungkook watches the subject of your concern. He doesn’t mean to but he’s got eyes. He watches the shorts you wore 6 months ago at your sleepovers and he can’t help but notice how they wrap tightly around your thighs, accentuating your curves.
‘’they don’t look bad right?’’ you frown.
And all jungkook can find to do is shake his head.
‘’as long as you’re comfortable’’ he can’t seem to move his eyes away from you.
‘’shockingly they’re still comfortable’’
You take a seat close to him and your shirt (well his) rolls over your thighs lightly.
‘’what snacks did you get’’ you lean over to the coffee table and Jungkook’s eyes move with your body.
He can’t help but think of how a loser yunho is for letting you go. But you’ll find someone better than him. Someone who cares about you and will take care of you like you deserve.
Jungkook coughs out causing your brows to frown.
He honestly doesn’t know why he’s behaving like this. It’s just you he shouldn’t be acting this way.
The air seems a little bit different ever since you and yunho broke up. As much as you’re still the same girl he’s known these years, same one who denies herself of good things and thinks any of these guys are good for her-ugh it pisses him off for whatever reason-
Whatever.
As much as you’re still the same girl, you just seem different nowadays and he doesn’t like it. Makes an uncomfortable feeling brew in his chest.
‘’you good?’’ you raise a brow at him.
‘’huh?’’ he sounds so dumb right now.
‘’you’re staring at me all weird’’ you give him an awkward smile and stuff your face with some snacks.
‘’yeah i was hoping you feel my glare for making me go on that date’’ he turns to the movie and grabs a can of beer.
A little beer sprits onto your thigh as he opens it. He quickly reaches out to wipe it and mumbles an apology.
Little goosebumps form on your skin at the touch and you shift in your seat.
‘’i was meaning to ask, how did it go?” you try to keep a relaxed tone.
‘’boring’’
You scoff.
‘’how was it boring? I picked the best’’ you lean your elbow against the couch to get a better look at him.
‘’you did, but she wasn’t my type’’
‘’has your type changed cause, last time i checked she’s definitely your type’’ you narrow your eyes at him.
You watch a smile grow on his face and one does on yours too.
‘’see? She is your type’’ you slap his shoulder and laugh.
‘’you’re right she is’’ he chuckles playing with his lip ring.
‘’then what happened?’’ you bug at him.
‘’i don’t know, i guess my priorities aren’t on dating right now’’
You groan at his words.
‘’then what are your priorities on?’’ you lower your voice in a mocking tone.
You watch him down his beer, place it on the table and turn to you with lowered eyes.
‘’you’’ he simply says but the one word stops your thinking and your tongue to stop.
‘’i’ve been worried about you’’
‘’and you don’t have to’’ your legs meet the carpet.
‘’you say that, but you’ve been off ever since...’’
At the thought of it your heart drops and your face does to.
‘’i don’t want to talk about it’’ you frown.
‘’that’s the problem, you’re avoiding it an waiting for the next douchebag to come and break your heart and give you a new reason to be depressed.’’ Jungkook says getting carried away in his passion to express his thoughts.
‘’what the fuck do you mean by that?’’ your reaction causes him to rethink his approach.
‘’yn-‘’
‘’-no. What are you tyring to say, that i jump from guy to guy’’ you raise a brow at him and his blood pressure raise. He knows his answer but he doesn’t think he should answer especially seeing your reaction.
‘’listen...’’
Jungkook doesn’t even get another word in when you’re standing.
‘’maybe i should just go to sleep’’ you say sounding down and jungkook couldn’t feel any sicker.
‘’yn please’’
‘’good night kook, see you in the morning’’
Jungkook sighs as he watches you disappears.
That’s not how he was wanting it to go.
He leans back into the couch. Well you did end up getting the bed after-all.
As you lay down you think about whether you’re actually upset. You know he’s kinda right, he’s delivery was awful though.
But you can’t deny.
That’s why you decided to leave the dating scene, nothing ever comes out of it but heart break.
You thought yunho would be your refuge, your final home. But instead he was your destruction and his reason for it was absolutely pathetic.
You feel a tear roll down your cheek but you immediately hide it when you hear jungkook walk in.
‘’sorry, just wanted a pillow’’
You just hum.
He grabs his pillow and you feel his figure linger for a little longer as if debating on wanting to say something.
But you assume he decides against saying anything and just walks out.
Immediately he leaves you feel the tears roll down like rain.
Jungkook can hear your sniffles from the living room and god he wishes you never met yunho.
-
an:wellllll
#fanfic#jungkook#jungkook x reader#jeon jungguk#jungkook x y/n#bts#jeon jungkook#jungkook fanfic#jungkook au#jeon jeongguk#jungkook angst#jungkook and reader#jungkook bts#jungkook imagine#jungkook smut
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Just Another Notch
Bucky Barnes x Plus Size F!Reader
Masterlist Part 3/?? Part 4
Word Count: 1,824
Summary: If Bucky thinks his charms will work on you, then you’re gonna put up one hell of a fight to prove him wrong.
Warnings: Nothing explicit 18+, until later chapters, read at your own discretion. Fat shaming, bully!Steve. Protective!Bruce
Training felt useless. When you made it to the simulation room, you didn’t even power up the hologram tech. You sat in the chair facing the super computer. Seeing your reflection in the monitor screen, cause tears to well in your eyes. You thought you were beautiful, when you looked in the mirror after you got dressed, you felt so confident. The look on Bucky’s face when you emerged from your room boosted that confidence tenfold. You could laugh at yourself now. How quickly things change, it’s the cosmos teasing you. Blowing a long breath out of puckered lips, you drop your forehead, landing it on the cool glass desktop. Maybe you bit off more than you can chew. Maybe you weren’t strong enough to play this kind of game.
You knew you never stepped foot in that gym for a reason. Why did you think today would be different? “You ok?” You raise up, searching the room. “Uh hello?” You say, standing up when you still don’t spot anyone. You see the top of a curly head of hair bent under a desk. Walking up to it, the gym situation leaves your mind instantly. You see Bruce folded up untangling wires underneath a desk. “What a sight.” You laugh. “Yeah, yeah, poke your fun.” He contorts himself free, standing up to press the power button on the monitor screen.
When he’s met with continued darkness, he rolls his eyes and faces you. “Your forehead.” He motions towards his own. You make eye contact with yourself in the mirrored wall behind him. Apparently you’d banged your head harder than you thought. You didn’t feel it but you saw the blood at your hairline. “Oh my.” Your eyes grew to be big like saucers.
You look at the desk to see a large crack down the center of it. “I heard you do it, that’s why I asked if you were okay.” He was looking at you with disbelief that you did that to yourself without noticing. “It didn’t hurt, don’t worry about me.” You brush him off, running to the sink in the corner to wash the blood and sweat from your face.
“I know you have a hard head, my desk though? Priceless and fragile.” He jokes, you can hear the real concern under his voice. “What happened, really?” Bruce steals your rolling chair, sitting below you, looking up intently. His big brown eyes gave you the courage to admit it. “Just the same old, same old.” You kick at one of the wheels to the chair.
“C’mon, you know it’s not good to hold it in. Let the doctor help.” He sounds playful, but you know he’s dead serious. You never considered Bruce one of the main team, so there was no reason to ice him out. He was a scientist more than anything. He spent almost one hundred percent of his time in this simulation room, save for when you both knew you’d rather be training alone. He kept you company, not in the verbal sense.
Most of the time the room was filled with the clicking of keys and hard labored breaths. You both did your own thing, over time you started appreciating each others meekness and opened up. Once you got the man talking, he never stopped. You’re sure his brain is a computer, he soaks up information and spits it back out, corrected. You knew better than to ever lie to him, he was far too smart to fall for whatever you planned to say.
“Tell me.” His smile drops and you feel yourself break a little more. “I embarrassed myself, Bruce.” You look away from his saddening eyes. They were starting to pool with pity, and that’s the last thing you want from him. “Hard to believe, but how?” He says, grabbing your wrist to keep you from running away.
With a deep breath you begin, “I went the the gym with Bucky this morning, mistake one.”. Bruce quickly interjects “Bucky? What are you doing hanging out with him?” He presses his eyebrows together, you can’t discern his expression, was it judgement or something else? “It’s a long story.” You find yourself looking down and away from him again. Like there’s a smudge of guilt and shame creeping in.
“I’ve got time.” He raises his arms in a gesture that conveyed ‘bring it on’. God he wanted the details, why? You glance around the room, finding another chair and rolling it infront of him. “Where should I start?” You giggle, forcing yourself to lighten the mood. “The beginning, please.” He starts to bounce his knee.
“Last night, I was eating my late night cereal in the kitchen, when everyone got home.” Bruce folds his arms and nods. “Bucky joined me in the kitchen and well, he dumped a bowl of milk on me. It was an accident, I think.”
“You think it was an accident? Or you have proof of otherwise?” He says, tilting his head. “Maybe the latter.” You admit. “Okay, so the guy spills milk on you, so you go workout with him?” He was obviously confused. “Not directly after! He apologized and brought me coffee this morning to apologize again, offered to help me out with training.” Bruce rolls his eyes again and you’re sure they’ll fall out the next time.
“Please tell me you didn’t believe he was just innocently apologizing.” He sounds annoyed with you, it kinda stings. You never expected Bruce to get upset with you over it. “What else would he be doing?” You shrug your shoulders at him, genuinely curious if he saw it the same way. “Anyone with eyes here knows, that Casanova, will pull any girl in the building, I’m sure he doesn’t even have a type.”. So Bruce also thinks Bucky was flirting with you.
“I honestly didn’t want to believe it. Why would a guy like him be with me?” You shake your head, trying to throw the thoughts from your mind. “He has been nothing but nice to me, I promise.” You look him in the eyes and you see the tone you’ve been hearing in his voice. Flecks of green shine and then die out instantly, his knee was bouncing faster than before. “If he was so nice then why’d you leave the gym?” His voice wasn’t questioning, it was accusatory.
You choose your next words carefully. “Steve came in, and he said something that wasn’t so nice, so I left. That’s all, Bucky didn’t even do anything, there goes his attempt at sleeping with the whole office.” You try to laugh it off, but Bruce isn’t budging. “What did he say?”
“I was getting a water from the vending machine-“ before you could finish, his knee stopped bouncing, and he unfolded his arms. Now you were worried. “Did he comment on your weight, yes or no?” He stands up, harshly slamming the chair into the desk. You would never lie to Bruce, but the truth might start something you don’t want. “Sorta…” you say, ashamed. He strides past you, and now you’re reaching out for him, “Wait.”.
“No, I’m tired of these pompous assholes doing and saying what they want. I’m not letting it happen, especially to you.”. He looks back before exiting the room, and you feel something in your chest swell. He was so serious right now, you could feel the anger radiating off of him. You didn’t know Bruce felt anything besides casual friendship for you, now you’re starting to think differently.
“I’m coming.” You run to catch up with him, taking long strides behind him as his white lab coat swings behind him, and in front of you. “What makes him think he can even speak on my- on you?” He redirects as he swings the gym door open.
You’re met with Bucky and Steve racing each other in push-ups. “99-100!” “You suck.” “You cheated.” They’re laughing as if you and Bruce didn’t just walk in. “No one cares.” Bruce cuts in. The look of annoyance on his face was enough to confuse the super soldiers. “What are you doing out of the lab?” Steve jokes, but no one laughs. “The next time you even so much as think about Y/N, you’ll be talking to the big guy, not me.”. Steve looks around the gym, wondering who Bruce thinks he is. “Sure, pal.” He grabs a towel and wipes the sweat from his neck. “Tell your girlfriend to lose some weight then.” Before you could even be hurt, all you saw was green.
Hulk was infront of you now, taking heaving breaths. You poke your head out from behind him and see Steve and Bucky holding their hands out as if they were calming a wild boar. “Woah, don’t you think you’re over reacting?” Steve says, stepping back. “Y/N! Call off your dog!.” He says, tripping over his own feet.
Hulk slowly stalks towards both of the men, ready to shred them to pieces. A sinister smile on his face. You feel no pity for Steve, but the thought of Bucky being hurt in the crossfire didn’t sit right with you. Before the jolly green giant could break a bone you pipe up loudly. “Hulk? Hey! Over here!” You wave your hands around in the air.
He can see your tiny form trying to catch his attention, and Hulk has the peace of mind to just ignore you, and do what he knows best, smash. The first fist landed on the gym floor, splinters of wood flew everywhere, a hole to the basement left in its place. “Hulk!” You scream this time and it catches his attention. “Go home!” You demand. You knew better than to have a civilized conversation with him. He knew how to take orders from Fury, so maybe it would work. When he just stands there and looks at you, you double down. With a faux confidence, you looked him in his giant green eyes. “Now, Hulk!” You raise an eyebrow, like a tested mother, as if you were about to count to three.
You don’t know why, the hulk didn’t frighten you one bit, but silly, mean words would make you crumble. He growls one last time at the scared super soldiers before breaking through the door way leading outside. Leaving you alone with the men you almost had killed. Bucky looks in disbelief, like he wasn’t almost used for a human punching bag. “Sorry.” You shy away, stepping on fallen bricks to follow Bruce outside.
“What the actual fuck just happened?” You hear Steve ask, but you’re halfway to the swaying trees before you could hear his response. You don’t really know where Bruce lives, so following him through the woods was your only option. You don’t want him destroying more floor boards on your account. Also, you need to find out why he was so passionate about defending you.
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#avengers fanfiction#bucky barnes#bucky barnes fanfiction#bucky x reader#avengers#bucky barnes x y/n#bucky x y/n#bucky barnes x reader#mcu#fanfic#james bucky barnes#bucky barnes x plus size reader#bucky barnes x you#bruce banner#hulk#bruce banner x reader#bruce banner x you
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[10.0 americano fiasco] BETTER THAN REVENGE !
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you would have thought that the campus walk ways would be empty considering the match that was about to start in less than fifteen minutes, everyone eager to get a good seat, but it's surprisingly crowded as you and hyunjin walk down the old, cobbled path.
"-and then changbin fell down smack on his ass. funniest thing that's ever happened during practice," hyunjin finishes his story, throwing his head back to laugh. "i wish we got that on camera."
the wind is cold, kissing your skin as it pushes back your hair, and you're slightly concerned at your friend's insistence to drink his iced americano despite the weather.
"you will never let him live it down, will you?"
"of course not!"
hyunjin's excitement is contagious, because you find yourself laughing along as he skips ahead, forcing you to take bigger steps too.
"sometimes i feel bad for him. but then i remember how he keeps stealing my protein powder!"
right. of course. every few days you are reminded your best friend is only a man whose brain is hard wired into thinking about two things - the gym and girls. specifically in that order.
"and-" here hyunjin stumbles over a crack on the ground, squealing a bit.
"careful or you're going to be the one falling on your ass."
he rolls his eyes playfully at your poke, correcting himself and removing the skip from his step before falling into line with you.
"anyways so-"
"hyunjin!"
you halt, turning back to see jeongin jogging down the path towards the pair of you.
"chan hyung said you should come back for some final strategy discussions!"
you hear your best friend groan beside you.
"we've discussed our plan a million times before!" he all but whines, stomping his leg like a toddler. "why does he want to go over it again?"
"not our choice, is it? the coach said we have to."
you pat hyunjin's arm as he slouches in defeat.
"it's fine hyune. i should probably go get a seat too or all the good ones will be taken."
"sure," he mumbles, spinning on one foot to sharply turn towards you. "bye-"
you see it happen in slow motion - hyunjin's mouth opening to finish his sentence when a large body collides into him from the back, sending the boy stumbling into you.
but you feel it before you see it - ice cold americano splashing all across the front of your white top, soaking the fabric and diffusing through it in a few seconds.
"sorry!"
you faintly hear a foreign voice apologize, their figure walking ahead without stopping to clearly notice the damage they had just caused.
"holy shit," jeongin whispers, wide eyes looking between you and hyunjin, who is also frozen in his spot, hand slapped across his mouth.
"that bitch."
the culprit is long gone, melting into the sea of people ahead, and you're still too scared to look down and see exactly how much of the drink had landed on you. but you can see hyunjin's now empty cup that had been filled nearly to the brim only a few seconds ago.
"yn-" hyunjin's voice is only a whisper, and from the horror painting his face you would have thought he had seen a ghost. "shit, i'm so sorry-"
"no time for that," jeongin interrupts, recovering first, and you turn to look at him. "hyunjin did you carry an extra t-shirt or sweatshirt with you?"
the boy shakes his head.
"just your luck," jeongin mutters as he shakes his head. "i have my spare jersey from last year. yn you can borrow that."
it's like a switch goes off in hyunjin's head as he stands straight, his horror slowly morphing into annoyance.
"that won't be necessary-"
"do you want her to freeze to death?"
"well obviously not-"
"then there's no time to waste."
"why can't we ask chan hyung or someone for their jersey? maybe-"
"i have my bag with me right now. do you want to go back to the lockers and explain to hyung what you were doing drinking an ice cold americano ten minutes before a match?"
hyunjin's mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, searching for something to say before he slumps in defeat.
"yn are you fine with this?"
you shrug. you really didn't have a choice.
you didn't want to agree seeing the miserable look on your best friend's face, but the drink was really starting to soak through the cloth and the cold it brought was not welcomed by your bones. you could feel the goose bumps lining your skin.
and so you find yourself accepting the jersey from jeongin, trying to reassure hyunjin it wasn't his fault. but the boy wouldn't even meet your eyes.
"thanks jeongin."
he flashes you a reassuring smile before pulling hyunjin and the two are on their way, leaving you to walk to the washrooms alone.
and it isn't until you're in one of the stalls that you really realize it's jeongin's jersey, and it has his name printed on it in big bold letters.
oh.
it's jeongin's jersey, and it smells like him - the same pepper and vanilla mix you had caught on to the at the party.
it's jeongin's jersey, and it falls around you perfectly, but it's nowhere near as nice as it would look on him - highlighting all those muscles you had felt that night.
it's jeongin's jersey, and you're wearing it at his game, something you once used to do for yeonjun.
it's jeongin's jersey, and-
shut up!
you have to physically slap yourself, shaking your head as the sting spreads across your skin.
something was wrong with you. this wasn't that big of a deal. he was just helping you out. he probably doesn't even care.
yeah. he doesn't even care. that's right. it's okay, you shouldn't be flustered about it either, you think, shoving your own top into your bag and marching out determinedly. you were not going to let yang jeongin and his nice smelling jersey cloud your thoughts.
you were here for hyunjin today. he would have your full attention. you were going to support him and then go for lunch without thinking about-
"for fucks sake watch where you're going!"
you yelp in surprise as you face plant into a hard body, stumbling back in shock. it really wasn't a good day for you.
"i'm so sorr-"
"yn?"
you freeze.
no way.
"what are you doing here?"
no fucking way.
"...yeonjun?"
he's right there. in front of you. hair slightly tousled from when you crashed into him and eyes wide as he stares at you.
"yeonjun what-"
he saves you from your rambling by stepping closer, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"what are you doing?"
"is that yang jeongin's jersey?"
of course he noticed.
you want to turn right back around, dig your grave, and bury yourself alive.
"yn. are you fucking wearing jeongin's jersey right now?"
"no?"
you wish you were six feet under the ground.
"stop lying-"
"bye! gotta go!"
you push him aside, running down to occupy the first empty seat you see in the crowd of spectators, losing the boy somewhere at the back.
fuck. your. life.
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#stray kids#skz#stray kids x reader#skz x reader#stray kids smau#stray kids fake texts#skz smau#skz fake texts#jeongin x reader#jeongin smau#i.n x reader#i.n smau#kpop#kpop x reader#kpop smau#stray kids fluff#skz fluff#skz smut#stray kids smut
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Making Him my Houseboy
This is Rod, my boyfriend. I was head over heels for the bodybuilder when we started going out...but that all changed when he moved in. Now, it's painfully obvious that he's just using me for a free room and beer.
Rod refuses to get a job. He insists that he needs the time to work out, but I've only ever seen him lounge around the house while I pay the bills. He barely even bothers to thank me for all the cooking or cleaning I do for him. It's like I'm his goddamn maid or something!
The first thing he says to me when I walk through the door is "Grab me a beer?" before holding out his palm expectantly.
He's a selfish partner, but Rod has no clue who he's dating. If he knew he was in a relationship with a warlock, I'm sure he'd treat me with more respect. I've got a lot of power, and I can easily fix his faults. I'm determined to turn him into real husband material.
Rod is going to have to change, a lot.
After reviewing some ancient manuscripts, I notice a spell that will supposedly make him into the "ideal household partner." The text seems a little vague, but it's worth a shot.
During my lunch break, I lock my office door and begin the ritual as the book describes. It doesn't take long to complete, but I have to wait until the workday is over before I can go home and see if Rod changed.
Stepping through the door after a long day at work, I immediately check the couch, but Rod isn't there. Looking into the home gym, I notice it's empty too. Those are the only two places I've ever found him.
"Babe, I'm home!" I call warily into the house, "Where are you at?"
"In the kitchen, babe!" his deep voice announces.
The joy in his voice throws me off. Nothing about the way he speaks sounds like my boyfriend. Rod hates using pet names, and he never set foot in that kitchen.
I nervously step towards the voice, and what I see in there almost gives me a heart attack!
Rod, my hyper-muscular and annoyingly masculine boyfriend has my frilly cooking apron on his built frame. I've never seen him smile with his teeth and yet his face beams with joy when I come in.
"Welcome home, honey. How was your day?"
This is already the most conversation we've had in a week. He's not the talkative type at all. He's not really the type to do anything other than pump iron, drink beer, and occasionally mess around in bed.
"It was good," I manage to say, "What have you been up to?"
"Well," my boyfriend chuckles, "This pie is for you, honey. I know how much you like it, and it's fresh from the oven. I just finished cleaning up the kitchen. It was a huge mess."
"Oh, so, you clean now too?" I gasp.
"What are you saying?" he playfully chides me, "Of course I do, babe. You deserve to come home to a clean house after a long day. Now, give me a kiss."
"Ok," I breath before stumbling his way.
Rod pulls off his rubber gloves and catches me before I fall into him, pulling me into a sweet peck on the lips. I sink into his arms, feeling his hard pecs beneath the apron.
The old Rod never kissed me unless he wanted something, but This Rod is clearly different. That spell was very effective.
"You must be tired, babe," he purrs into my ear, "Get comfortable. There's snacks in the living room, and I'll make you a drink."
I stumble to the couch and sink into the spot where I normally find Rod. This transformation has been hot, but I still have whiplash from all the sudden changes in him.
"Tell me about your day, honey!" he insists as he pours out my favorite wine.
"It was the usual 9 to 5: nothing special," I explain, "But it was payday, so that was nice."
I have no idea how to talk about myself, let alone my work. It's not like Rod ever used to ask me about either of those two things.
"I'm sure it was exhausting," Rod smiles as he delivers my drink, "You know, I'm so lucky to have you. You're going to be a big-shot one day, and I'll be right behind you like always."
The comforting words are so unlike him, but it's s turning me on to see him leaning into a new role as my submissive housewife. I'm really starting to like this house-broken Rod.
"Enough about me," I say, "Tell me about your day, sugar tits."
Rod's normally stoic face actually blushes at my comment. He'd never been this bashful.
"Let me grab the laundry while I do," he sings back in baritone, "I need to finish ironing your clothes for work tomorrow."
Rod swiftly lumbers off to the washer and dryer in the back of the house. I doubt he even knew where those things were this morning, let alone how to use them, but he returns with a basket of my shirts and underwear, setting up the ironing board like he'd done it a thousand times.
"It's a little embarrassing but I was pretty lazy this morning. I mostly laid on the couch and drank some beers, but around lunch time I had this insane boost in energy," he explains as he presses my shirt.
"Really?" I feign cluelessness.
"Yeah, it was the craziest thing," he adds with a bright smile, "I just had so much motivation all of the sudden, so I tossed the beer out, got dressed and did some grocery shopping."
"You went grocery shopping?" I snicker.
"Yeah, I had no idea where anything was, but I got the stuff on the list plus some extra for the pie."
"I didn't know you could make a pie."
"Me neither!" he threw his hands up in surprise.
"That's a productive afternoon, babe," I praise.
"It was, babe," he smiles back lovingly, "I'll get started on dinner in an hour or two, if that's ok. I'd like to hit the gym still tonight. I've got to push myself to keep this body looking good for you."
Rod flexes an already massive arm. He had never been one to show off, but I liked the idea of him wanting to look his best for me, like a good trophy husband should.
"That's alright, babe," I reply, sinking further into the couch, "But I am getting hungry over here."
"I'll speed up," he promises, quietly focusing on folding the rest of my dress shirts, "All the housework is just about done so after dinner, I'll be all yours."
"That's how I like it," I chuckle.
Rod is the perfect house-husband now, and we are finally equally devoted to each other. I can't wait to get him out of that apron after we eat. He's never let me top before, but I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more of that from now on.
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Casual
Cody is the ultimate fuckboy. He prides himself on never getting attached and only using others for sex. A path of broken people and torn relationships is left wherever he steps foot, and he just doesn't seem to care. He was a horrible boyfriend, but he was my friend regardless. In my defense, we had known each other since grade school, and I can confidently say that this is a recent development. The worst part of it all is nobody else seemed to care (aside from those he hurt of course) about his dating behavior.
I tried to be a balancing force in his life, as much as I could, hoping that I could be a good influence on him, or at least prevent him from doing as much damage as possible. I tried to steer him on the right path, using our friendship to hopefully help him understand, but all my pleas fell on deaf ears. Usually, I was the first to know if Cody had entered a new relationship, but I stopped receiving those all-too-common relationship updates from him for months. Knowing his habit of being a serial dater, it seemed far too suspicious that something hadn't happened in all of this time.
In addition to ensuring Cody doesn't implode by ruining every relationship he had, it was also my plan to make this summer the best of my life, and that meant changing everything. I have only dated one guy, and that resulted in an incredibly underwhelming breakup and an even more underwhelming friendship afterward.
Our gym days had been a sort of ritual between the two of us forever, I always did cardio, while he did weights. We used this time to catch up on each other's days and make plans, all intermixed with some exercise. As one of our many rambling conversations soon circled to the topic of relationships, I used the moment to bring up my grievance with him, in the sternest way I could. Balancing seriousness with a friendly air, I said, "It is wild how you manage to be so bad at keeping a relationship." He replied, "Remind me, you've been with how many people?" With an immediate, "Oh, one!" Keeping up with the banter, I quipped, "But, I mean, at least my one relationship still likes me after." Even as the words left my lips, I knew I had crossed an invisible line. Cody's look at me only proved my thinking, as I glanced over to a blank stare.
The moment suddenly felt intense. I thought I had hit too deep, even gone too far. I steeled myself and prepared a response, but as I did, I noticed a smile appear on his face, soon replaced by a full-faced chuckle. As the sudden shift in emotion gave me whiplash, I could only manage a light laugh, but I felt his strong hand pat my back, as he said "I mean, if they hate me so much, they should take it up with me, but they all knew what they were getting into." The seriousness of his response was dulled by his kind demeanor, but his words hit hard.
He always had that effect on people, where his words never seemed to match his face. I always thought it was a quirk of his, but at this moment, I became aware of just how effective it could be. His disarming smile made it impossible to hate him for long, and his way with words always got him out of whatever jam he found himself in. As if nothing had happened, he said, "You wanna go on the treadmill?" Whether it was a strategic olive branch, or him just genuinely not caring, I did not care to know, I grabbed my water bottle and followed behind him.
As our workout drew to a close, I sat to cool down, and scrolled through my socials as Cody still migrated around the gym. He would soon place himself right between me, and a mirror on the wall. Looking up from my seat, I said, "Why arent you sitting down?" As if he took offense to the statement, he responded, "I have to admire my hard work first." Knowing that this was the least ridiculous thing he could have said, I replied, "Y'know what, knock yourself out." Before I could even properly go back to scrolling through social media, it became obvious why he chose this position, as he lifted his shirt to admire himself in the mirror, and chose to close the distance between us.
Cody had always made it obvious he had feelings for me. But due to my general aversion to dating and knowing his dating habits, there was never a chance for anything to happen. Despite all of this, he flirted as if we had never seen each other, which always yielded interesting situations. This felt like a nice shift from things, and I soon reassured myself, thinking that maybe I did actually get through to him, and all of these months were him reflecting on things. While I most definitely was going to exaggerate my role in this process, despite the true cause, it was fun to think about.
There were many days like that afterward, with quips and banter, and our friendship remained strong. He invited me to the park, an event that seemed very date-like, but one that was incredibly pleasant nonetheless. Weeks filled with the usual late-night texts, sudden house walks, and constant snack trips, things felt so familiar, so, safe. I reveled in this moment, as with our return to college, life would get busy, and we would inevitably fall out of touch, meeting in hurried coffee rushes, or quick workout sessions.
For now, there was peace, and I appreciated it whenever I could. After lounging my day about, I received a sudden text from Cody.
"Come to the gym," He texted.
"What do you mean, it's literally closed," I responded.
There was a second of hesitation, but a speech bubble quickly followed with an,
"I know."
It was weird, but he's had stranger ideas, and so I followed along, wanting to see what situation he had conjured up today. I arrived at the gym only ten minutes later, as it was a quick walk from my place. As I approached the door, I noticed it was already ajar, and in the parking lot, a single black car was parked at the far end. "Cody," I thought to myself. I entered, and the few lights that were on illuminated a path to the far back. With a tinge of paranoia overtaking me, I looked around to see if the cameras were on, but to my surprise, they had all been blacked out. When I finally reached the back, Cody was standing there, expectantly.
In a cool tone, he said, "I've been thinking about what you said a while ago, I do need to get my act together, I wanna do better." A look of surprise came over my face as I replied, "How so, and why does it involve us being here so late?" My question was met with hesitation, a moment of silence, but even that felt like an eternity. Breaking the lull, he responded, "Let me show you." He was serious, there wasn't even a smile to join his words, he wanted me to know he meant what he said.
Things felt different this time, as Cody closed the distance between us, I felt an indescribable heat and urgency emanate from Cody, as if everything in this moment was his world, and was waiting for my word to let loose. I had been able to resist his charms for years, but this moment felt, different. It was as if everything had aligned for this to happen, but it was just right. "I know you can't stand my dating habits, but I did it all to try to replace my desire for you.
My body gave away my feelings in a way words could not, and I leaned onto Cody and laid a kiss on his cheek. I whispered, "I should've done that from the start." The kiss elevated the heat of the moment, and a sharp intensity came over Cody, desire and joy mixing, as he assessed just how he was going to have his way with me.
Suddenly, I felt my knees hit the ground as his warm hands moved expertly around my chin, bringing my gaze up straight to him. "There's a reason I haven't been seeing anyone because it's always been you." His words lit a dangerous spark, and I could not resist anymore. But just as the moment was set to hit a fever pitch, a noise outside brought us back to reality. As the sounds of footsteps drew close, we rushed out the back door, and ran to the forest behind the gym, an escape route we were used to navigating for years. It was exhilarating, it felt like, in this small rush, we were back to being kids again. As we approached the other side, we watched our breaths for a moment, and after looking around to ensure we hadn't been followed, we walked up onto the sidewalk.
The walk was calm and serene, with few words spoken, but many thoughts still communicated. I felt my cheeks redden, a blush overcoming me. Cody took notice of it, but only his eyes gave away his knowledge of things, as he continued conversating as usual. In a second, as if he finally had his chance, he asked,
"You wanna go back to my place?"
It was obvious what his offer entailed, but there was a curiosity nagging at me, and I just had to resolve it. "What are we?" I asked. It was a brave question, I could have gravely misjudged the moment and ruined the friendship right here, but I felt bold, and it was a time for big steps. The usually calm and hesitant Cody became fiery for the moment, responding, "We're whatever you want us to be." It was clear what he intended with this, but it was my turn to hesitate. With uncertainty meandering throughout me, I replied, "Let's keep things casual for now, then." "Fine by me," he shrugged.
His arms went over my shoulder, bringing me close to his chest, where I could feel the intensity of his heartbeat. The rest of the walk back was silent. Where once there was small talk and expectant words, it was now a walk of resolution, one of completion. Finally arriving at his, I splayed myself on his bed, and turned on a movie, as he went to the bathroom to take a shower and change. Even though I snuck a peek (of course) things were relatively PG, likely due to me being too exhausted to actually capitalize off of him being in the shower.
I looked around his room, a place I had been to many times, and once I had seen change countless times over the years, as new aesthetics came in, and old looks went out. It was fun to see all of this change, and made me admire just how long our friendship had lasted. Just as I thought that the situation that I now found myself in could put the whole friendship in jeopardy. I had just told him I wanted to "keep things casual." Which I immediately regretted, not knowing what response he even wanted. With my overthinking taking up every moment, I couldn't truly enjoy the fact that my hot friend wanted to date me.
Taking in how I even got to this moment, things seemed so complex. The guy who I had been lecturing for ages on how to be a better boyfriend, somehow wanted to be with me? It seemed like one of those perfect coincidences like the stars aligned in my favor just this once. I was going to take it in stride but still was mired over what he wanted out of all of this. With my thoughts all over the place, it seemed fortuitous that the person to take me out of that lull would be none other than Cody.
His return from the bathroom resulted in him only in his boxers and a sweater, his bulge already noticeable as he walked out. As he sat down, I resisted the urge to drool on the spot. He sat right next to me and started watching TV. I could not resist the urge, and immediately laid my head on his waist, feeling his bulge just inches from my head. Both of us were making moves, but in a way that allowed us deniability, it seemed that we were each taking my words to heart.
We continued watching, only getting ten more minutes before Cody decided to lift off his sweater, revealing his muscled chest. He knew exactly what he was doing at the moment, and as I had to shift my head to accommodate him taking his sweater off, I was now face to face with his toned body. I had to admit, he knew exactly what times he was hottest, and this was definitely one of them. I was mesmerized by him, and he knew he had me enamored.
I decided to still resist, wanting to beat him at his own game. I sat close to him, resting my head on his shoulders, and laid my hand on his bulge, while watching the movie innocently. It was my bravest moment, but I felt his cock pulse under my hand in response, meaning I had clearly succeeded. Cody kept his cool for now, but his face was going flush, it was clear that his body was going to betray his mind when it came to how he felt, and that was most apparent when it came to his dick.
His bulge was getting more noticeable, and it was clear that this movie was no longer the focus of the night. I looked over and met with bedroom eyes from Cody. As his bulge grew, I knew what I was being beckoned to do, but I, always the tease, wanted to extend the heat. I laid a kiss on his cheeks, "You seem so excited to watch a movie with me," I quipped. A strained look came over his face as if he was simply waiting for the go-ahead.
I only gave him kisses, but he returned them with a special intensity. Small pecks became deep kisses, and we began feeling each other up and down. The moment could have gone further, the feeling was there, and the moment had aligned. To my surprise, however, Cody would be the one to stop it in its tracks. Separating from the kiss, he said,
"Please, just stay the night."
I was awoken by the smell of eggs and bacon cooking downstairs, and my nose guided my path to Cody cooking in the kitchen. It was obvious I made the right decision in staying, as Cody was set to dote on me every second he could. Hypnotized by the delicious-smelling food, I could only sit and grab a plate, as Cody said, "Take as much as you want, I made plenty," I confessed, "You are truly my favorite person." "I know," he replied.
I lounged about, enjoying my day by doing absolutely nothing. Even on Cody's bed, I felt a comfort that I hadn't experienced in a long while. Things just felt, right. As Cody ran errands, I watched TV, changing between reality shows and trying to beat commercial breaks. He would return occasionally, and always lay a kiss on my head or, if I had gone into one of my many naps of the day, simply leave a snack for me as he left.
As the lazy day drew to a calm evening, I stood up to go home. I had walked to his with none of my things and had to steal even the clothes I was wearing from his closet. Deciding that I had to go get my things, I stepped out, leaving a note for Cody on his return. Instead of the note greeting him, it would be me, as when I opened the door, none other than Cody was standing right there, having returned. He noticed me holding my stuff and putting things together in a second. Instead of letting his feeling be known through words, he simply dropped everything, and grabbed my waist, laying a deep kiss on my lips. As he drew away from the kiss, he said, "You don't have to go."
His disarming smile once again clouded everything, as it felt as if I couldn't say no. I said, "But none of my things are here." He immediately replied, "We can get it and you can come back." As I finally put the pieces together, I understood what he was truly asking. He had long wanted us to live together, and this was the moment.
I had lived by myself for years, and there would be worse people to live with, so I finally responded, "Y'know what, I can just use your stuff." Cody broke into a full smile from this, and he closed the door behind him and began kissing me continuously. The only moments we stopped were to come up for air, as we took off each other's clothes then and there, leaving on only the more base layers. I felt his bulge press against his shorts and decided to play with him a bit.
Maintaining the kiss, I brought the distance between us closer, pressing straight into his bulge. As I did, a jolt seemed to go through Cody, as he bucked against it, temporarily breaking the kiss. Grabbing me tighter he said, "You do these crazy things, and don't expect me to respond?" Before I could respond, he had lifted me up on his shoulder and was carrying me to the room. Seeing the kitchen and hallway move around me, without my legs being able to do a thing felt, different, but sexy nonetheless.
Finally reaching our destination, he took care as he entered the doorway, and finally getting inside, rushed to throw me on the bed, to which I exclaimed "Hey!" He quickly replied, "Your whole trip here wasn't allowed to be amazing." I giggled at this, and got up on my knees, beckoning the still-standing Cody over to the bed with a finger. He walked over in a sultry manner, and as the distance between us closed once more, I felt up his body, admiring every bit of muscle as I made my way down.
I took him by the waistband, and pulled him onto the bed, resting my body right beside him, able to feel every breath hit me, as his heartbeat pounded against his chest. It was a singular second of peace, we both knew where things would go from here, but in this moment, we were just laying by each other, without a care in the world.
The feeling was nice, but I decided it was finally time to take this to the next level. I moved our bodies closer to each other, and took his face into my hands, laying a light kiss on his lips. He took this for exactly what it was and returned the favor. With that, things heated up faster and faster.
After I initiated things, Cody truly let loose, our hands taking off what little clothes remained on the other's body. His dick, as if it was waiting to be released, bounced up from his underwear, and as I noticed, I could only laugh. "You really wanted this, didn't you?" I asked. "More than you could even imagine," he responded. Instead of taking off his underwear immediately, I teased his prominent bulge, guiding my hands up and down, and was met with a deep sigh in response. Taking a hand to his chest, I moved my hands down, taking deliberate slow care to every point on his chest, to which Cody took my arm to guide me further down once more.
Now noticing the position he had me in, Cody quickly took control, shifting my body under his, and taking my wrists in his hands, a steely stare meeting my eyes. Once again, there was hesitation, as he assessed what to do. Taking advantage of this, I asked with a chuckle, "What? You didn't think you'd get this far?" Instead of a response, however, my words were met with a sudden kiss, his lips pressing into mine, hard. The intensity of the kiss sent a flash throughout me, and his bulge now pressed against my thigh, as if it was waiting for permission to be let out. As a flurry of emotion came over me, I could only muster a single response.
"I'm all yours."
He moved like a man possessed, laying hot kisses throughout my neck, and moved my thigh up, in a moment, he moved down and began eating me out. His tongue worked expertly, and I could only moan in response, pleasure surging throughout me. A fire came over his eyes, as he knew he had me exactly where he wanted me. With a flourish, he took off his underwear, and his cock was finally freed. I gawked at his size, unaware that someone's dick could be that big.
I took the initiative, taking it in my hands and jerking him off. It was now his turn to respond with a low grunt, his deep voice bucking against the pleasure he felt. Taking things into his hands once more, he grabbed the lube from his dresser, and wet his cock. As his tip entered me, I felt a wave of heat overcome me, as my body responded to him entering me.
Soon, he was fully thrusting into me, his cock filling me up entirely. Shocks of pleasure strike through me as he continued fucking me, with me only being able to make small moans, each thrust silencing me again. We fucked for what seemed like hours, trying each and every position. Each time I thought we were done, he would cum again, setting the cycle anew once more. Load after load filled me up, and soon I became numb, after being fucked to my limit. Cody, still full of energy, kept going. I found myself wanting to keep going, for him, and didn't want this moment to end.
I felt as if the world around me was blacking out, with my only focus being Cody's warm face, laying kisses all over me as he continued pounding me. In one final thrust, I was sent to true climax, and everything became hazy. Cody's voice would be the thing to break the fog. I focused on his words with his voice being a familiar sound to my ears.
"I'm addicted to you, did you know that?" He asked.
On the verge of blacking out, I replied,
"I always did."
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Rickmas Day 4: Darkest Night
Character: Metatron (Dogma) Relationships: Metatron & Reader Warnings: attempted suicide, depression, suicidal ideation
Based on A Light in the Night
Read on Ao3 or below:
You couldn’t say what it was, exactly, that led you to where you were. All you knew was that there was a darkness surrounding you, and it had led you to this spot, on the railway bridge in the dead of night, waiting for one of the heavy duty freight trains to pass by. They were big, they were fast, and there were no passengers, so you wouldn’t be inconveniencing anybody.
A light on the horizon told you a train was approaching. You heard its horn announcing its approach. You put a foot up onto the ledge. Then, just as you were about to push yourself up…
“No, you bloody don’t.”
A pair of hands grabbed you by the shoulders and pulled you back.
Not him again.
“Let go of me, Metratron!”
You fought against his grip, and you weren’t sure whether angels were naturally strong or maybe he spent a lot of his eternal life at the gym, but his grip was iron-tight. The train approached, oblivious to the struggle overhead as it passed beneath the bridge, and you cursed Metatron aloud for stopping you.
He kept his grip on you until the train had passed, and only when you reluctantly stopped struggling did he let you go.
“You’re a bloody nuisance, you are!” the angel cursed as he released his grip on you and you turned around to glare at him.
“I’m a nuisance?!” you scoffed. “You’re the one showing up when you’re least wanted and disappearing from memory when you’re done messing with my life!”
“The only one messing with your life here is you, [Y/n]! Do you think I like this, having to reveal myself to stop you from doing something stupid?”
“I never asked you to!”
“You’re not the one who asked!”
You scoffed. “Sure. If God’s so bothered about me killing myself, why doesn’t He fix my brain, huh? No - don’t tell me. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Thou canst not beg divine intervention to battle thine own demons. Blah, blah, blah.”
“If God fixed all your problems, you’d learn nothing, [Y/n].”
“Learn?!” you repeated, your voice raised, tears in your eyes. “What the fuck kind of lesson am I supposed to learn?”
Metatron sighed in frustration. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Then what is the point of you?!” you yelled, jabbing him in the chest with your finger so aggressively that he actually took a step back.
“I have to keep you safe,” Metatron insisted.
“What, because of the bloody scion thing? Don’t make me laugh. I have the slightest sliver of a trace of Jesus’s DNA. Big fucking whoop. So, what, you keep me alive long enough to breed and carry on the bloodline, is that it?”
“No!”
“Then what is it? Why are you keeping me alive, Metatron?”
“Because God needs you alive —”
You let out a huff of frustration.
“— and because I need you alive!”
There was a long silence then, as you stared at him, stunned. Metatron sighed and ran his palm down his face. He stepped back, and sat himself down on the ledge across from you.
“I’ve watched you your whole life, you know.”
“I know,” you said shortly, your arms crossed defensively. You began to shiver in the cold night air.
“You have so much potential, [Y/n]. You could be… so much more. This - this darkness you feel inside you - I’ve watched you fight it for so long. You can beat it, I know you can.”
“…Do you know, though? Can… can angels see what the future could be?” you asked hopefully.
Metatron shook his head.
“I can’t see the future, [Y/n]. I can only see you.”
“There must be something you can do. What good’s a guardian angel if all you can do is pull me off ledges and take away the pills?”
“Is that not enough?”
“I want… I want to never get to that point in the first place. I want the darkness gone.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“No, but… you can help, surely?”
“How?”
You shrugged, then sat down next to him. He noticed your shivering, and in the blink of an eye, his jacket was around your shoulders. You smiled.
“Like that. You can help like that.”
You looked up at him.
“Will you walk me home? I don’t want to forget yet.”
Metatron stood and offered his hand to you. You took it gratefully, and noticed that even in the cold of the night, he was radiating warmth.
“I hate that you have to forget,” Metatron said bitterly as you meandered slowly in the direction of your home. “I wish you could always know I’m here for you.”
You chuckled. “I didn’t know angels had wishes.”
“I wish for a lot of things, [Y/n]. I wish I could drink alcohol, for one. But mostly, I wish I could dispel the darkness you carry with you.”
“You’re my light in the darkness, Metatron. That’s all anyone can ask for.”
He looked at you, a curious frown on his face.
“You never cease to amaze me, [Y/n].”
You looked back at him, and you chuckled at the way the almighty Metatron was confused by a simple human such as yourself.
“And you never cease to save me, Metatron. We make quite the pair.”
“That we do, [Y/n].” He squeezed your hand lightly. “That we do.”
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𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐌𝐄 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 | 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐍 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐒
summary: your relationship hits a rocky patch and a fight tests your love.
warnings: angst, cursing, mentions of alcohol
note: based on 'just give me a reason' by p!nk. wrote this between the hours of 1 and 5 am, peak night owl behaviour. also I left the ending up for interpretation so you can imagine your own :)
word count: 2.0k
Right from the moment you met, Quinn had your heart.
With your mothers having been teammates once upon a time they decided to reunite. You were invited to the Hughes’s home and introduced to Ellen’s sons; Quinn, Jack, and Luke. You were drawn to the eldest Hughes boy immediately. Quinn was different than his brothers. While Jack and Luke were quite rambunctious, Quinn was reserved. His darker features attracted you quickly.
You guys connected that day, exchanging numbers. Quinn asked you on a date not a while later and the two of you began dating not long after that. The pair of you worked well together, your odds and ends balancing together.
You let yourself be vulnerable with Quinn. He saw the parts of you that weren’t all that pretty, the parts of you that you’d always desperately wished could be fixed. But with every touch, he fixed them.
It was your mom that warned you about being in a relationship with someone with such a profession, something she knew from first-hand experience. A profession that requires late nights, weeks out of town, and endless dedication. You assured her, and in turn, yourself, that you knew what you were getting into. You knew what dating Quinn meant, and you were willing to sacrifice a lot for him.
You had yourself convinced that it was fine. That you were okay with the “system” you and Quinn had set up.
When it began to change between the two of you, neither of you was sure of it. It was gradual and took a minute for both of you to see, but when you did it was painstakingly obvious. Empty sheets now lay between you, cold. Quinn’s loving words were now few and far between. Deep and meaningful conversations were replaced by the painfully dull small talk you’d had a million times.
Quinn’s practices began to run late as he worked on perfecting his game, followed by time at the gym spent becoming more agile and lean. Plans for date nights fizzled out, and boy's nights became more of a priority for him.
It was now painfully obvious what had happened. Somewhere along the way, hockey had become his main priority. It sits far above you. Somewhere along the way, hockey became less of his passion and more of a soul-sucking, energy-consuming task that leaves the stressed and unhappy version of Quinn behind for you to deal with. Something you can no longer withstand.
It was starting to take effect on you now and your friends noticed. It didn’t take much convincing for you to send your boyfriend a quick text while he was at a game letting him know you’d gone out for the night. You left no indication of when you’d be home because truly you didn’t know, nor did you have a plan.
Out at a downtown Vancouver bar, one you knew Quinn and his teammates would never step foot in following a game, you spilled all your repressed emotions out to your friends. You told them every detail. You weren’t sure whether you wanted advice or not but you got some anyways.
“Listen, none of these boys know you’re taken and I’m sure any one of them would be happy to take you to the men's bathroom and give you what you’ve been needing.” Your friend Alicia says.
“Absolutely not, do not cheat on him.” Your other friend Georgia says. “I think you guys just need to talk it out. I don’t think this is the end of you guys. Y’know… you’re not broken just bent.”
You contemplate Georgia’s words the rest of the night, your first drink coincidentally becoming your last. You spend the rest of the night listening to your friends' woes, babysitting them as they got drunker and drunker.
It was well past three when you sent them on their way and headed back to yours and Quinn’s.
You shoved your key in the lock, attempting to unlock an already open lock. He had left it unlocked, not knowing when you would come home. Quinn, trying to stay awake until he knew you were home safe, had only just drifted off to sleep on the couch. He jolted awake at the sound of your keys jingling around.
Eventually, you discover that the lock was already open, cursing when you enter the home. Quinn watches you take off your heeled boots, cursing once more when you roll your ankle after stumbling out of your shoes.
Quinn glances at the clock on the wall which reads quarter to four in the morning. He rubs his eyes, gets up from the couch and comes to the hall. You stay oblivious to your boyfriend, tossing your keys in the dish, and shrugging off your leather jacket onto the floor. You suddenly spot Quinn in your dark living room, leaning against the back of a lounge chair.
“Christ, Quinn. You scared me.” You say, setting your purse down on the table in the front hall.
“Where the hell were you?” He asks, his tired voice scratching your ears. You can sense the anger in his voice, but you’re slightly confused as to why.
“I was at the bar… with the girls… you knew that, Quinn.” You say, your voice coming out slightly condescending.
“Yeah, but the bars close at 3 in Vancouver.” He says, pointing to the clock. “It’s almost 4 in the goddamn morning, y/n.”
“We went out after, walked around.” You tell him. That was true. You and your friends, after getting kicked out of the bar at closing time, went walking in downtown Vancouver, before finding a park and sitting down in the play structure to vent about your problems.
Quinn groans, rubbing his face. His exhaustion is noticeable in his dark circles and drooping eyes.
“Quinn you could’ve checked my location, it’s still on for you.” You tell him.
“That’s not the point, y/n!” He exclaims. “You didn’t call, you didn't text… nothing! I didn’t know if you were safe or not or when you were gonna come home.”
A pang of guilt washes over you. You could only imagine the roles being reversed, not knowing where he was and whether or not you were going to get to sleep next to him that night or not.
“Y/n, I’ve been up all night waiting for you. And I have practice tomorrow.” He says.
The guilt that was just there washes away as he says those words. “God, enough with the fucking hockey.” You groan, walking into the bedroom.
“What the fuck did you just say?” Quinn asks, following you down the hall.
You begin to change out of your ‘going out outfit’, discarding your skirt and flimsy top to the floor. Under any other circumstance, Quinn would love to see you like this. But the anger was clouding over any other emotion he would possibly be feeling right now.
“It’s always about hockey with you Quinn!” You shout slipping into sweat shorts and a t-shirt, purposefully not putting on one of the many ones you stole from Quinn. “That’s your main fucking priority.”
“Well yeah, it’s kind of my job.” He says.
Before you can counter him, he speaks again. “You know what, I’m too fucking tired and you’re too fucking drunk for us to be arguing right now.” He says, heading over to his side of the bed.
“I am not fucking drunk.” You hiss.
“You’ve been out at a bar for the past six hours, y/n.” Quinn reminds you.
“I wasn’t drinking the whole time, dick.” You say. “I need a drink.”
You head out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. You can hear Quinns’ bare feet padding on the wooden floor, hot on your trail. “Are you serious?” He asks. You ignore him, going into your liquor cabinet, and pulling out a bottle of white wine.
“Is this a game to you?” Quinn asks, leaning on the counter.
You pause from unscrewing the cap and look up at your boyfriend. “No Quinn it’s quite the fucking opposite, I’m sick of playing fucking games.” You say.
Quinns’ brows furrow together, not understanding what you mean. Your pent-up rage, the rage that had been forming over the past few months, now was finally bubbling to the surface. It makes it hard for words to form, your little squeaks coming out with no words as you search for the right ones.
“You don’t love me anymore.” You finally manage out.
Quinns’ expression is even more confused now, but now contains a note of hurt. “What are you talking about y/n?” He asks softly. “Of course I still love you.”
Quinn reaches out for your hands but you pull away. “Quinn…when you’re not at practice or a game, you’re out with the boys. I actually cannot remember the last time we had a proper date. And- and when’s the last time you called me dreamgirl?” You ask, mentioning the pet name he would call you. “And I don’t want to break up-”
“Woah, who said anything about breaking up?” Quinn interrupts, stepping towards you.
“Quinn I feel like I’m living with a stranger!” You shout, your hands flying up. “When’s the last time you held me? Hm? When’s the last time you came home after a roadie and instantly scooped me up, carrying me to the bed? I mean, fuck, when was the last time you kissed me? And I mean really kissed me and not the sorry excuses of a peck you give me before you leave me again?”
This renders Quinn speechless as he actually tries to remember the last time you two were intimate. His teeth are grinding together, his chest going up and down with every heavy breath he takes.
“I just can’t do this anymore.” You tell him softly.
“Then tell me what you want.” He responds, matching your tone. “Do you want this to end?”
“No, god no, I already said I don’t—”
“Then what do you want, y/n?” Quinn asks, his anger reappearing. “Because I am trying so fucking hard right now. With everything! With hockey, the entire fate of the fucking franchise is on my shoulders right now. So please, tell me what it is that you want.”
“I want my boyfriend back!” You scream. Tears spill over your waterline. They stain streaks on your cheeks, landing on the hardwood beneath your feet. You step over to Quinn, standing right in front of him. He doesn’t back down like you expect him to. “I want to feel loved by the person that’s supposed to love me.”
You’re jabbing at his chest, and looking into his eyes, you notice tears beginning to form.
“I want to come home and know that you’re happy to see me. That I am a source of joy. I don’t want to have to worry about it being awkward between the two of us.” You continue, now pounding your fists on Quinns’ chest. He takes every hit allowing your anger to spill out. “I just want you to love me, that’s all I want. All I fucking want is to be loved. Please just…”
Your words melt in sobs, Quinn gripping your hands and pulling you into his chest. He holds you tightly, sobs wracking your entire body. You grip onto Quinns’ t-shirt, holding yourself steady as your knees threaten to give way. He keeps you steady, placing soft kisses on the top of your head.
The sun now started to raise on the two of you. The morning sun paints the sky a pale orange, a stark contrast to the energy within the walls of your home.
#quinn hughes#quinn hughes x reader#quinn hughes imagine#nhl#nhl imagine#hockey#luvzegras#vancouver canucks#hughes#hockey imagine#nhl blurb
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Mastelist. Chapter 1. Chapter 2.
SUMMARY | Hes your baby daddy but he’s also part of the mafia- the boss at that. He left you without saying anything but leaving a note explaining how it was the best for you guys and he would miss you. Then disappearing completely out of your life never being seen again a month before you found out you were pregnant.
PAIRINGS | mafia boss father Bangchan x mother!female reader
RATING | 18+
WARNINGS | suggestive parts in the middle but not to detailed, swearing
NOW PLAYING | Too Sweet: Hozier
LENGTH | 3,377
It was your normal Tuesday, you woke up at around 6:00 like usual on weekdays. You got your stuff out for the shower and your outfit for the day. As you were moving things around on your night stand that you hadn’t rearranged since you first set it up after moving 3 years back, you saw a little piece of paper. You being curious as to what it could be you picked it up and opened it, your hands started to tremble as it was the note. The note that had the very words that broke your heart.
You were on your way for work super excited since your day off was tomorrow and you’d be able to spend the rest of your night with your boyfriend. That meant you got to stay up all night long and wake up tomorrow at 11 but your excitement was later ended when you got home. You checked in every room for you boyfriend of 5 years now but you couldn’t find him nowhere. It then hit you that his car wasn’t in the driveway so he must still be in the office or worse one of those mafia meetings.
Your boyfriend was a boss, but not any boss. He was a mafia boss and although you hated it but, you loved it at the same time. Having a mafia boss as a boyfriend meant protection for life nobody messed with you when they found out who you were dating. But you didn’t really care about that as much as your mother protested against your relationship with the boss you couldn’t help but rebel agaisnst her wishes. After all you loved him he was your first everything since you guys started dating at 17 and 16.
He was your first love, first kiss, first boy you liked, first man to embrace you, first man to tell you that he loved you since your grandfather passes away younger than he should’ve and your father was a piece of shit. Not to mention he was your first time but he was also your last in all of those things.
You decided to just shower since you thought why not since you were at work all day and it’ll be good to unwind and relax. Even when you got out the shower he wasn’t there you went to sit on the couch and watch some tv as you walked past the kitchen to go to the livingroom you saw a piece of paper on the counter but you didn’t bother with it since you thought it was nothing. Even after an hour he still wasn’t home you decided to go to the gym for about two hours by time you got back home it was already 9 but also raining so you rushed back in the house still not seeing his car.
You took your third shower of the day which you only do if you go to the gym which is usually once in a blue moon. You got settled back in your night dress and decided to go make dinner since you were hungry and figure he would also be hungry since he had been out since 7 AM. As you stepped foot in the kitchen you came across the paper again as you went towards it and picked it up to throw it away you then seen the paper had a lot of hand written writing on it.
You decided to read it since you noticed it was your boyfriends hand writing and when you read the full note you immediately trembled and wanted to juice burst into tears.
The note read “hello my sweet girl I don’t what time your reading this at but I just want to say sorry for all of this. Sorry I couldn’t be a better man for you, sorry I couldn’t be there when you woke up every morning and when you went to sleep most nights. I’m so sorry that I can no longer play the leading role in your life, I’m not good for you but your to good for me. I’ll always love you and you’ll always be the only women in my heart for as long as I’ll be alive. Sorry that I have to end our relationship like this but I truly hope you can move on in life and find a man who’s good for you. I may be stuck up on you for as long as I can live but I truly want you to be able to move on find a good man who can make you his wonderful wife, give you his beautiful children because they’ll take after you. With all do respect goodbye y/n.
A month later you kept throwing up once you woke up and your realized your period was late so your best friend said that she’d buy you a pregnancy test and so she did. You took 3 tests and they all read the same thing POSITIVE. You cried all night and day threw your whole pregnancy wondering how could you be a single mom and that the baby would constantly be a reminder of the man who had left you with a huge wound in your heart. When you finally gave birth the baby girl looked just like him when he was a baby.
You would always giggle with his mom over his baby pictures when the two of you were together but seeing that baby girl didn’t make you giggle it made you cry tears for days some were sad a lot were happy. You were just happy that she came out healthy and oh was she full of energy as she grew up just like her father. You struggle sometimes to be her mother because a lot of the stuff and things she did reminded you of him.
You wanted to toss the note but you just couldn’t since beside your daughter it was the only thing you had left of him. You threw the paper back where you got it and undressed yourself to get in the shower. As you were about to enter your bathroom you received a text. Unknown number •is this Ms.L/N?• you felt that it was really weird that you got such a message so you responded back •why do you ask and who’s asking•. You then threw your phone on your bed and went to take your shower.
Why you got out the shower you dried off and quickly got dressed you then remembered the text you got so you opened up your phone and seen they texted you back •I want to meet up and talk about some important business we can meet up at a local café if you don’t feel safe about things• you didn’t know what to do but you took up the offer since it was a public area. •Alright fine meet me at le café at 9:45 am I have to drop my daughter off at school and I’m being something to my mother•
The person like your message then texted back •Would you mind waiting there for 15 minutes since I’m not free till 10:00?• you didn’t mind to wait •yeah sure• they replied back quickly •okay thank you I’ll get us a booth now and do you mine to order me an expresso?• you really didn’t mind •yeah sure what do I say when I get there since your booking the booth?• it took them about 5 minutes to reply back •sorry I was booking the booth I put it under your name• •okay I’ll see you then mysterious person•
You had finally put the phone down around 7:36 which made you a few minutes late to wake your daughter up but that didn’t matter since you don’t drop her off till 9 am. When you woke your daughter up she looked at her clock and realized it wasn’t 7:30 on the dot like usually “mommy why’d you wake me up late?” The little girl questioned you. You smiled and replied “sorry I was busy something” she then nodded her head in an understanding way jumping up out of her bed getting her clothes out. You left her room since she knows how to get her own clothes out and get ready for her own shower after all she is a big girl now.
About twenty- five minutes later she comes out of her room all dressed for the day wearing a pretty floral outfit. Your daughter grew up to be very pretty and cute maybe because she looks like her father. When she came downstairs she could smell her favorite food for breakfast cooking. You were only able to cook for her on Tuesdays since you didn’t have work every other day she would eat different cereals.
Todays you made her waffles with a home made batter, 4 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of sausage, a scoop of grits, and some scrambled eggs. She may be 6 but she can eat a lot that’s something she got from both you and her father. She ate all her food within 15 minutes and after that you guys were out the door. When you dropped her off to school you happened to see the little girl again and she just so happened to see you as well. You didn’t see her coming but all of a sudden you felt a little girl hugging you legs. Following her was the the women who always brought her there. She kept on apologizing even after you said it was alright and you told her that you had recently ran into her at the ice cream shop with her father Mr.Bang.
The little girl looked at you puzzled “how do you know that my daddy’s name is Mr.bang when you guys didn’t talk that day?” You looked at her feeling that you were in some deep crap “well me and your father have run into each other multiple times even though they weren’t very good interactions.” She looks at you with bright look “so is that why you kept rolling your eyes at him and he just stud there like he was full of regret?” She questions you and you look at her and say “yeah sure that… anyway I have to go I hope to see you again soon sweet thing.” You guys then wave goodbye to each other.
When you got to the café they asked what was the name under and you told them your name. They then lead you to a booth to the further back and asked you what you wanted and you told them an expresso and a cup of green tea. After 5 minutes they brought you the drinks and you continued to wait for the next 10 minutes. When the booth opened you were annoyed with who decided to reach out to you then sit in front of you like they had the right to after all they’ve done.
It’s you” you say as you roll your eyes. “It’s me” he says in husky playful voice. “Mr.Bang since when did you drink coffee you say confused and intrigued that you didn’t get to see such a huge change in him since he always hated it. “Since I’ve been stressed and up all night Mrs.Bang” he says back in a husky tone.
You snort almost busting out in laughter “It’s Ms.L/N we were never married, anyway what did you want to talk about?” He lowers his head and says in a low town that “we never had the chance.” You tilt your head “what was that I didn’t quite catch it” He looks up at you and says “nothing I didn’t say anything anyway I was wondering about something.”
You look at him with a questionable face “alright speak while I’m willing to hear you out, I’m all ears.” He looks at you then intertwines his fingers and rests them on the table “who’s her father” You look at him puzzled wondering if you should tell him the truth or lie but you didn’t want him around nor in her life because you didn’t know if he would leave again so you decided to lie. “Not yours so it shouldn’t matter and for your information my daughter isn’t business she’s a human being.”
He nods his head “darling if you planned on lying to me at least make it more believable like come on Yerim bang. Last time I recall I was the only man you’ve ever been in bed with plus she has my last name and if her and my daughter go to the same school that means their around the same age. Six years old.”
You get mad at hearing him say his daughter meaning the other little girl he was with the other day at the ice cream shop “see you already have a daughter why do you have to worry about mines just worry about your own” you say slight loud with it being obvious you annoyed. He smirks a little “listen she is also my daughter that’s what I meant when I said we needed to talk about business because she’s my business as much as she is yours.” He bites back a little furiously
You scoff “Christopher bang the audacity you have to say that she your business as much as she is mine. SHES NOT YOUR DAUGHTER BECAUSE YOUR NOT THE MAN I SLEPT WITH TO CREATE HER OKAY.” You strike back slightly loud. You can see the hurt on his face it hurt you but you didn’t care he then says “SO WHY THE FUCK IS HER LAST NAME BANG?” He yells raising an eyebrow.
You slam your hands on the table “because that’s her fathers last name idiot.” He looks at you puzzled “see I am her fucking father you big small liar” angered.
You look at him mad and cross your arms “well you wanna know the truth Mr.bang” you ask raising an eyebrow. He nods his head oddly fast so you come up with the biggest fatest lie but it somewhat makes sense. So you nod your head slowly then lean forward “well to be honest with you Yerim is only my daughter not yours” you stop then continue. “When you decided it was a good idea to leave me I booked a flight for the next morning to Australia” you looked away for a quick second then looked back at him.
“When I booked my flight I took my best friend with me since I didn’t want to go alone. When we arrived she hit me in the head and asked me ‘what was I doing out her in this man home town looking for him when he clearly left you.” He cut you off “that’s not-“ you cute him back off so you could continue your story. “Her words hit me and really got threw to me and really wondered what am I doing her looking for a man who left in a house he brought all alone. So she suggested why don’t we go out to a club so I could get my mind off of you and I thought that was a pretty good idea.”
You took a deep breath as the next words came out of your mouth “when we went there about 20 minutes of being there this very handsome man walked up to me while I sat at the bar and sat with me. He complimented me and ask what was my name so I told him my name was y/n l/y and he said on nice to meet you y/n my name is Junseo bang. At first I thought so weird but then I didn’t care. He brought me some drinks took me to the dance floor we danced for a while then he said why don’t we get out of here”
He looked at you with a shocked but her hurt face and it semi broke your heart but you couldn’t back down so you finished talking “we went back to his house and I wasn’t really drunk so I knew where to go when I needed him. Anyway when we got to his house at first he gave me a glass of water and turned the tv. He put on of very good show until sensual scenes started to pop up and that made us keep looking at each other until we both ended up making a move on each other.”
You paused for a second then finished “I ended up on top of him we made out a little then we ended up tumbling to his bedroom while we took off each others clothes once we got into his bedroom the rest was history. You know how babies are made so I don’t think I have to tell you the rest to that beautiful night. Anyway a few days later I started to get morning sickness and me and you hadn’t had Intercourse for about two days for about a week before you left so I knew it wasn’t you but after I slept with him two days later I started throwing up and my period was late so I decided to take a pregnancy test. It came back positive so I went back to his house and told him since me and my best friend planned on staying there for the week.
You look at him while rubbing your hands on your legs “when I knocked on the door he was surprised to see me again but he smiled and asked what I was doing there and stepped aside to let me in then again he handed me a glass of water then I told him at first he was stuck and shocked at first then he nodded his head and sat back. But then he told me that he would come back to Korea with me and he would live there with me threw the pregnancy and our child’s birth so when I flew back to Korea he flew back along with me best friend. Anyway I have to get back to my moms I promised her I wouldn’t be gone for to long and if you don’t believe me I’ll send you a picture of her birth certificate and pictures of her and her father together.”
He looks at you for a second “I would like that actually.” You didn’t expect him to say that you expected him to except it but you already knew what you had to do “okay I’ll send them later I’m going back to my mothers house Junseo is there waiting he’s supposed to be taking her to the park school and he just likes to talk to my mother.” What you were saying wasn’t a lie except he’s not her father but it was true that he was there for you threw all this time and still is today.
You stood up and bowed to him then took your leave on your way out you quickly texted your best friend Junseo about what happened and he flew straight to your house to wait for you. When you got to your house you explained every little thing that happened. “Ok so whats the plan because I know you have one.” You look at him with a sneaky smile “ I’m going to print out a copy of her real one and since the real one is blink for the father’s signature your going to sign on the copy.”
He looked at you and smirked “that’s actually perfect and we’ve always taking pictures with each other because I’m her favorite uncle.” You couldn’t help but burst out into laughter when he said that because she would always beat him up. About two hours after that you took a picture of the fake birth certificate and sent him a little over 10 photos of the two together whether she was to beat him up or if she was actually enjoying time with him and the ones on her birthday all he replied with was a shallow •oh I see I’ll leave it be then• and he actually did or so you thought.
#stray kids bang chan#bang chris#skz bang chan#smut#bang chan smau#bang chan fluff#bang chan smut#christopher bang#bang chan#skz imagines#skz scenarios#skz#stray kids series#stray kids scenarios#stray kids smut#skz stay#stray kids#stray kids social media au#stray kids bangchan#stray kids soft thoughts#stray kids soft hours#stray kids thoughts
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am i nice to you?
~ bakugou katsuki x fem!reader ~ tags/cw: aged up bakugou, angst, drunk reader, unrequited love, established friendships, ~ wc: 1k ~ And I sit on the curb 'cause it's the prettiest night, With no one else in sight - Drunk Walk Home : Mitski ~ "Why doesn't he like me?" "Cause he's an idiot."
Part one is here x
Bakugou finds you sitting on the curb in the middle of the night while coming home from the gym. He hadn't known it was you when he stopped; he just stopped because what kind of person is he if he drove past a woman sitting in the gutter? But as he shouts at you from within his car, he realises who you are.
"Why didn't you call me?" he pulls up the park break. "I gave you my number for this exact reason!"
"Bakugou?" your voice is hoarse.
"Yes, we’ve done this bit before now why are you outside!?"
Katsuki throws open his door but reaches back into the car and retrieves a jacket. He doesn't check for traffic as he steps into the street, gait purposeful in order to reach you before you're swept into the night. You sniff again, using your hand to wipe at the tears that have frozen to your skin and by the time you look up again, he is standing above you with a jacket held out.
"Why are you in the street?" his tone gruff.
"Because the stars are out and i wanted to go star gazing." You lie.
And he stares at you, right brow raising in question. You stare back, bottom lip tucked between your teeth as you fight a frown. He notices your dress, pretty and black but way too short to be worn in the dead of winter, and then your tiny handbag and high heels that had been kicked off.
"Are you-"
You burst into tears, unable to hold them back and cry into your hands.
Katsuki winces, unable to deal with emotion, but for you, he'll try. Crouching down to your level, he wraps his jacket around your shoulders and sits beside you on the dirty curb. He doesn't know how to do this and has never needed to comfort someone before, but you desperately need someone, so he sits there while you cry. He lets you lean your head on his chest and cry until you're wheezing.
"Okay, you need to stop." Katsuki frowns, pushing at your shoulders. "you're going to hyperventilate."
You don't stop.
Falling back into the grass, you cry into the night sky. Blubbered words are shouted into the sky, heartbroken sobs echoing through the desolate street as you empty your soul to the universe and classmate sitting beside you.
"Why doesn't he like me?" you ask quietly, hurt in every word.
"Cause he's an idiot," Bakugou replies, knowing you hadn't asked him the question, but he has the answer.
"You don't even know who I'm talking about." your retort is slurred.
"I know it's the guy you wore this all for." he lightly kicks your bare foot. "He's stupid."
This is his attempt at comfort.
"He is stupid", you agree, tone lifting slightly. "but he's so nice to me." you sigh, hands clutching the dress at your chest.
"You're crying in the street; how nice can he actually be?" Bakugou frowns, bending forward to pick up your shoes and bag from the gutter. "Come on, I'll drive you home."
You shake your head and sniff. "I don't want to go."
Katsuki knows you're drunk, knows you're probably gonna hurl anytime soon, but he needs to get you out of the cold before your fingers and toes freeze off. He turns to you, bag and shoes in one hand and reaches for your shoulder.
"Come on, let's go." he encourages you to sit, hand slipping between your shoulder and the grass below, but you don't move.
"Can you just sit with me?" Katsuki has never heard anyone sound so small, so torn apart. "Please, 'Suki."
Bakugou pauses at the nickname.
"You're going to get frostbite." He mutters, dropping your belongings in favour of tugging his jumper up and over his head to drape over you as you lay on the earth.
You look at him, a frown etched into your pretty face and tears welling in your red eyes. His heart breaks at how pathetically gorgeous you look. How, even after sobbing your eyes out, you can still manage to hold him in the palm of your hand and bend him to your every whim.
"Five minutes" is the answer to your plea, and he lies beside you.
Shoulder to shoulder, you rest on the road verge and stare into space. Katsuki can hear your sniffles from beside him and feel your body move with each shaking breath. He doesn't know what else to do, how else to comfort you in a platonic way, how else to make everything go away, so he does what he thinks he should do.
Slipping an arm under your shoulders, he hauls you into his embrace, and when no protest comes from you, he guides your body to lay against his. He lays your head against his chest, your arms following his instructions to wrap around his chest and legs tangling with his; you feel warm. Warmer than you've felt in a while. Bakugou's hands glide up to the base of your neck, sliding into your hair and anchoring in the roots.
You lift your head to face him and find him looking down at you. The hand not in your hair skims over your jaw, cupping your face with a gentleness you never knew possible. You had never been held like this, with such tenderness and reverence as if you were something out of this world.
A shaky sigh leaves you.
"Am I nice to you?" Katsuki asks softly.
You nod.
Katsuki ghosts his thumb over your cheek, swiping up the remnants of the tears that escaped your diligent wiping. You stare up at him, galaxies swirling within your glassy eyes, and it takes everything in him not to lean in and kiss you. His muscles tighten at the impulse, soul pushing him forward to make contact, to seal the fate of your friendship into something more with a simple peck, but he can't. He can't make that move after you have poured your heart out to him. It wouldn't be fair. So, he pulls back from you. Breaking contact and sitting up to collect your things.
"Five minutes is up", he murmurs, returning to collect you. "Let's go"
He watches your face fall, hope fading from your eyes as you sit up.
God, he was an idiot.
a/n: the way i relate to this song is unreal. I remember sitting on the side of the road once throwing up and crying my eyes up all because a guy I liked didn't like me back but I didn't have bakugou come and get me, I had to pick myself up and walk to the train station alone lmao
#💐http tokki#it’s 12am pls be nice I’m tired and need to upload this#katsuki bakugo x reader#bakugo katuski#bnha bakugou#bakugou katsuki#bakugou x reader#katsuki x you#katsuki x reader#bnha fanfic#katsuki fluff#bnha bakugo katsuki#katsuki bakugou x you#bakugou angst#one shot
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