#can't wait to see him in more things again!

[uniquecutie-puffs]

Heartstring & Hellfire: Chapter 02

Fanart of Heartstring & Hellfire by @lazyemmy

G O L D E N

In the underworld, all demons had gathered, making way for the trembling, lone surviving female demon flight attendant. Her legs shook beneath her as she walked toward a towering platform, throne of the King of Demons. Whimpers escaped her lips, echoing in the eerie silence, as thousands of demonic eyes followed her.

She halted at the base of the stairs leading up to the throne. Frozen in fear, she hesitated.

A deafening growl erupted.

Her demonic markings flared red. An invisible force seized her, lifting her off the ground and slamming her down before the throne of Gwi-Ma—the King of Demons. Weakened from lack of soul consumption, he appeared as a massive inferno, only his gaping, flaming mouth visible.

"Let me guess. They got away again?" he asked, eerily calm.

"The Hunters... they're too strong," she whimpered.

"I understand."

"You... you do?" she blinked, surprised by his compassion.

"I understand you're WEAK!" Gwi-Ma roared, launching hellfire at her. Her screams pierced the air as she burned alive.

"Pathetic! Useless! All of you!" he bellowed. The demons trembled, terrified of becoming his next victim.

"Don't you idiots understand? Once the Hunters turn the Honmoon gold, it's over for us!" he snapped. Above them, the Honmoon, a celestial phenomenon had pulsed, glowing gold, expanding steadily.

A soft, melodic pluck of a bipa echoed.

"There once was a mighty demon king," a lyrical voice chimed. The demons turned toward the sound. A male demon in a black hanbok stood atop a hongsalmun gate. "Stop me if you've heard this one."

"He was in total control. He feasted on souls. The world trembled when he roared."

The demon floated down, a massive demon tiger trailing behind him. The crowd parted, not in reverence, but in fear.

"But then some Hunters sang a song. Now he just starves all day long. Can't touch a soul, his fire's gone cold. Just a whisper in the dark."

~"Will he let the fire go out?” “Is this the end of him now?” “Dying king with a crumbling crown?” “Will he let the fire go out?"~

The singer reached the foot of the throne. Gwi-Ma’s mouth smoldered. "I let you keep that voice, Jinu. And you dare mock me with it?" Four more demons materialized behind Jinu.

"I’m not mocking you. I’m here to help," Jinu said. "It’s time for a new strategy. We fight the Hunters where they least expect it."

He gestured dramatically. The five of them hovered up to the throne platform.

"Go after the source of their power. The fans."

The five struck a pose.

"A demon boy band?" Gwi-Ma blinked. Then laughed, a massive roar of flame and noise. The crowd forced laughter. "What makes you think that will work?"

With a snap, Jinu transformed his crew into stunning, charismatic idols. The demons gasped in awe.

“Yeah. That's totally gonna work.” “Yeah. 100%.” All other demons below agree with the transformation, others are even astonished with their new look. 

"Okay. I know you, Jinu. In 400 years, you've never done anything that didn’t serve yourself. What do you want?" Jinu’s smirk faded. A flash of painful memory, a woman and a child. Gone in an instant. "The memories. I want them erased."

The concert ended. Fans exited the arena, buzzing about the gold shimmer on the Honmoon. In the underground lift, the three Hunters and (Y/n) celebrated.

"Did we just see gold?!"

"Yeah, I can't believe we're doing it."

"It's so exciting!"

"Okay. You know what this means boys. It’s time to release that song."

“Yes! It's finally time!”

“We're gonna turn it gold. Yay!”

“The moment we waited for.”

“Yes!”

But Rumi coughed unexpectedly. (Y/n) swayed.

"Whoa. That was weird." Rumi had coughed unexpectedly in front of them. 

“Whoa!” (Y/n) exclaimed as she suddenly felt woozy, as all the boys held her steady. 

"Good thing we're taking a break."

"Yeah. Sounds like you both need the rest."

"Yeah. Just need a little water."

"Did someone say water?"

“Hi, Bobby.”

The lift doors opened. Staff swarmed in, led by Bobby. Meeting the proud smiles of their manager, Bobby.

"Water! Now! What a show! That guy in the demon suit exploding into confetti? Amazing!"

"Yeah... ‘special effects,’" Miro said, sharing a look with (Y/n).

"Social numbers are off the charts! (Y/n), since your manager's on vacation, I’ll cover you," Bobby said.

(Y/N) walks beside the boys and has someone adjust her robes and take off some of her accessories.

(Y/n) smiled kindly. "Thanks, Bobby, but you don't have to—"

“You really are an angel, (Y/N). But I promise you that everything is fine and I can manage it well. As long as you are with the boys.” Bobby said, reassuring the worried girl of his capabilities. 

“So, to celebrate, I booked you all a week-long staycation at the fanciest, most exclusive relaxation resort in Korea.” As a reward for the success and topping the charts yet again, Bobby organised a staycation at a fancy resort for them. But they promptly denied it.  

The boys exchanged glances.

"Sorry, Bobby. We’ve already got the hottest ticket in town."

"What?"

"To our couch! Couch! Couch!"

“Bobby, you should go enjoy the resort. This tour has been grueling for everyone.” Rumi said to their manager. 

“Yeah. You deserve it.” (Y/N) Continues as she agrees with what Rumi said to Bobby. 

“Me? Ah, no. I couldn't possibly.” He tried to deny it at first but accepted it in the end. “Just kidding. Robe me. I'm a 34 short. See you in a couple weeks, boys and (Y/N)!” Since the resort is now available, Rumi states that he should go to the resort instead. Bobby promptly got a robe and face mask on.

“Bye, Bobby!” All four of them greet the manager with farewells. 

As he left, he paused. "(Y/n), you okay? You look pale." Bobby questions, pausing her exit to follow the boys. Granted she didn't feel all that fine the past few days but since she didn't want any to worry about it due to it may have been over work and the stress for the concert. 

“Yeah, I feel fine, it may have just been the over workload and the stress. But I promise to get some rest.” (Y/N)  smiled brightly in order to assure Bobby and the other staff members behind him. (Y/N) then caught up with the boys on their way out. 

The group left, excited for two weeks off. “All right. Two weeks of vacation.”  

“Yes. Vacations.” Rumi said while smiling deceptively like he was up to something the others didn't know about. 

In the middle of Seoul Korea is a building owned by Hunrix themselves. If it was not obvious to the giant Huntrix logo brightly lit on top of the tower. This was the home of the members of the Huntrix but what the public doesn't know is that this was also the home of (Y/n), who just lived below the top penthouse. 

The elevator opened to show all three boys still in their robes arriving home. While (Y/n) went home first to change clothing. 

“Mmm! I can't wait to eat kimbap and stare at the ceiling.” Miro said dreamily at the prospects of rest and food. 

“I already picked a movie for us. It's actually a list of 700 two-second videos to watch, all about turtles.” Zane said fast, while in the background Rumi can be seen hyperfocusing on his phone about something.  “Mm-hm.”

“Sounds super boring. But (Y/n) loves turtles, I'm so down to watch with her here.”

“Let’s do this.” Rumi said gleefully as he pressed the button that said ‘launch’ on his phone screen, where a new album cover of all three members of the Huntrix wearing black armor with golden chain accessories. While (Y/n) was positioned besides Rumi on the cover was dressed in an all white tube top and high waisted skirt with a gold jacket that resembles the jacket worn by the boys but only it was cropped and it also features her signature wings behind her ears and the tips of the wings were colored blue, purple, and pink to represent the three boys in her life. A new single by Huntrix featuring (Y/n) was released to the public, a new song entitled ‘Golden’.

Rumi then went to their vast giant walk-in closet where all their previous concert and hunting outfits were all stored. He stops in front of four specific outfits that were worn by the four in the cover of the song. “It's time.” He said, smirking to himself. 

“Couch! Couch! Couch!” Chanted by both Miro and Zane while holding various foods towards their couch in front of a floor to ceiling window overlooking the city. As they plop down on the most comfortable couch they have. Both sighed in relief as the tiresome weight already had been lifted from their shoulders. “Couch!”

“Ah, yeah. That’s the stuff.”

“So relaxing.”

“Yeah.”

Rumi's head was then seen lifting behind the couch with a giant smile on his face. “Hey. Have a good break?”

“Huh?” Both boys relaxing on the couch were baffled by what Rumi just asked them.

“What? No. We literally just sat down!” Miro declared. 

As Rumi then further stood up on his two feet making his costume more visible to the other two boys and even smiled wider. “Why are you in your new costume?”

“Rumi, you didn't.” The two tried to convince Rumi but in reality they were convincing themselves that their rest was not interrupted. 

“Did you announce the new single?” Miro had this annoyed look on his face.

“The promo starts tomorrow - - tonight?” While Zane looked like he was about to cry.

“Tonight?”

As Rumi showed the boys their own costumes to wear, both tried to convince Rumi to let them have their break. 

“Rumi, no!”

“No!”

“But the pajamas! Time alone with (Y/n). But no! No!.”

Both boys were now sobbing and crying out ‘No’ but knowing their leader it was already too late and they could kiss their vacation time bye bye. The elevator doors open only for (Y/n) to come in her white nightgown as she was looking at her phone, her angel wings on the sides of her head were visible since it indicates comfortability with the boys. 

“Hey! Ugh, guys did you know someone had leaked the promotion and the song for Golden on social media?” She query the boys only to meet all three dressed in their ‘Golden’ outfits, with both Miro and Zane slumped down and crying behind a smiling Rumi, who was also holding up (Y/n)’s own ‘Golden’ jacket, tube top and skirt. 

“(Y/n) help us.”

“(Y/n) save yourself.”

“Well, I'm out. I seem to forget that I left the stove on. I should probably go home.” (Y/n) tried to run out back to the elevator, but a hand on her left shoulder stopped her. She slowly turns her head left to see Rumi's face as chills run down her spine by his unnerving smile towards her. 

“Where do you think you're going, (Y/n)?” Rumi demanded from her while he kept on smiling. The silence that followed was frightening to both (Y/n) and the other two boys. 

The elevator doors opened once again showing Bobby walking towards the group. Both Miro and Zane were still sobbing while (Y/n) was hugging herself beside Rumi looking traumatized as her wings were still visible, making it so that Bobby will assume it’s part of the look. 

“Boys, oh! and (Y/n), you won't believe this!”

“Bobby!” Miro uttered dejectedly.

“No more relaxy time!” Zane voiced out down heartedly. While Rumi was standing confidently and smiling, as (Y/n) was quietly standing beside him, traumatized by what just happened. 

“Your new single is on fire! Everyone's listening to it.” Bobby said frantically happily to the four in front of him. Which caught the attention of the three.

“Yay!” All four of them cheered together. 

“So let's go promo!” Bobby then changed into his own version of the 'Golden’ outfit consisting of a black blazer with gold design with black slacks.

HUNTRIX: GOLDEN

C O M I N G  S O O N

A countdown is promoted in every phone of fans waiting for it to reach zero. In the background of the countdown was a gold light surrounding the upper bodies of both Rumi and (Y/n).

“New single?”

“New single?” Everyone in the streets can be seen excited for the new single to be released. 

“New Huntrix with (Y/n)?”

In a giant screen in the middle of the street the music video starts to play. The lyrics song of redemption, friendship, and rising from the dark. All four ran into the light together.

Rumi, laying down on a bed with a golden streak from a semi opened door hitting his face. Miro, seated in a window seal as golden light comes from the sky. Zane, leaning against school lockers as golden light shines from the windows. 

(Y/n), curled up in a corner in a room filled with nothing but darkness, with her head hiding in her lap hugging her knees, as a golden light comes from above.

All four of them, with the golden light from the sun shines on them as they freely drive, with Miro as the driver, Zane in the passenger seat, and both Rumi and (Y/n) seated in the back seat. 

As fans eagerly wait for the start of the music video, the whole crowd counts down in Korean from 5… 

4… 

3… 

2… 

1… 

~”I was a ghost, I was alone (hah)

어두워진 (Eoduwojin) (hah), 압길 속에 (apgil soge) (ah)”~

~”Given the throne, I didn't know how to believe

I was the queen that I'm meant to be (oh)”~

~”I lived two lives, tried to play both sides

But I couldn't find my own place (oh, oh)”~

“~Called a problem child, 'cause I got too wild

But now that's how I'm gettin' paid, 끝없이 (kkeuteopsi) on stage”~

~”I'm done hidin', now I'm shinin'

Like I'm born to be”~

~”We dreamin' hard, we came so far

Now I believe”~

As the video shows each of the boys having a door opened to them as they are guided by the golden light. While (Y/n) was shown that golden light fills the empty space but then the light was blocked by three figures, she lifts her head up to see all the boys with their hands reaching out to her. Blinded by the golden light behind the boys, she could still see them smiling down at her, renewed by this she took the hand in the middle while the other two helped her stand. As all four of them ran into the light Together as one. 

~”We're goin' up, up, up, it's our moment

You know together we're glowin'

Gonna be, gonna be golden”~

Multiple tweets are then shown talking about how amazing the new single, how amazing Huntriz is, how unbelievable it is to feature (Y/n) in a different light with her angel wings looking more realistic on her, and then fans debating whose hand (Y/n) took. “You see my head bobbing?”

~”Oh, up, up, up with our voices

영원히 깨질 수 없는 (Yeongwonhi kkaejil su eomneun)

Gonna be, gonna be golden”~

“Tell us about that new single?” A live interview set up in public where both the Huntrix and (Y/n) talks about their new collaboration song.

“Golden. It's the story of us.” Miro started

“It's a song about who we are, and where we're going next.” “As well as how our friendship will continue to stay strong.” Both Rumi and (Y/n) continued.

“And the first live performance is tonight!” Zane said excitedly as a presentation behind them emphasized the first live performance of Golden. 

“It's the beginning of a new chapter for us.”

~”Oh, I'm done hidin', now I'm shinin'

Like I'm born to be

Oh, our time, no fears, no lies

That's who we're born to be”~

Thousands of fans chanted and cheered in front of the building of World Cable News for the upcoming performance.  

“For the whole world. We're so excited to show you what's next.”

Bobby double checked everything with the staff so that the live performance will be perfect. 

Miro and Zane in their shared dressing room can be seen laughing and taking selfies with each other.

But with (Y/n) and Rumi in two seperate dressing rooms. Can be seen upset about something. 

~”Waited so long to break these walls down

To wake up and feel like me”~

(Y/n) hunched over the table sadly looking into the mirror in front of her and lifting one her feathers to see some already turned black, as Rumi leaned against the wall between him and the other boys wearing a robe looking dejected. As he walked towards the mirror letting go of the robe his demonic purple patterns showed around his arms and chest, (Y/n) slowly pulling down her skirt to show her lower neval a different kind of red demonic patterns can be shown. 

~”Put these patterns all in the past now

And finally live like the boy they all see”~

~”No more hidin', I'll be shinin'

Like I'm born to be”~

With a deep breath from the both of them and renewed strength, fixing their appearances. Both went out of their dressing room to see each other and (Y/n) holding her hand out to Rumi. Which he took and faced her while lovinly looking her in the eye, silently communicating to one another and smiling together. 

~”'Cause we are hunters, voices strong

And I know I believe”~

~”We're goin' up, up, up, it's our moment

You know together we're glowin'

Gonna be, gonna be golden

Oh, up, up, up with our voices

영원히 깨질 수 없는 (Yeongwonhi kkaejil su eomneun)

Gonna be, gonna be golden”~

All four of them can be seen practising their live performance as fans continue to cheer from outside the station. 

“(Y/n) and Rumi's voice!”

“I can't wait to hear them both live!”

Bobby with the camera crew and the other staff can be seen also dancing to the new song. Because of that he also accidentally hit a nearby camera man. “Ah, sorry.”

~”Oh, I'm done hidin', now I'm shinin'

Like I'm born to be —”

Rumi was surprised to choke during his singing so he tried to clear his throat. As for (Y/n), she suddenly felt a burst of pain in her abdominal area and put an arm around it but stopped as she covered her pain, so that no one from the boys would be worried. 

“Huh?”

“You okay?” Miro asked in concern for Rumi, as Zane looked worried also with Rumi none of them saw (Y/n) quickly holding abdomen in pain. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's take it again. From the top.” Rumi tried to convince everyone that he was okay.   

~”Oh, I'm done hidin', now I'm shinin'

Like I'm born to be —”

All four of them started the practice from the top to perfect the performance for the fans with Bobby still dancing in front of them. Rumi once again coughed out of nowhere as the music stopped. 

“Um, Rumi, are you okay? Do you need some water?” Bobby asked out of concern to one of the boys he considers as one of his own. 

Rumi, still shocked about his voice choking, can't accept it until he remembers about his patterns. “I just need five. I'm gonna take five.” He said before walking out of the stage. 

“Five minutes? We go live in ten!” A concerned female station staff said. 

“Um…”

Both Miro and Zane looked at one another in worry but (Y/n) was already looking in worry to the direction Rumi went.

“I'll go with him, Bobby, just to check on him.” (Y/n) announced as she ran after Rumi before anyone could say something, she was already gone. 

“Okay, I can handle this. I'm not having a nervous breakdown. Visualized there's not 10,000 fans at the door screaming and sounding scary.” Bobby trying to convince himself while smiling nervously.

“Mayday! There's 10,000 fans at the door screaming and sounding scary!” Two security guards, afraid for their lives, said into their walkie talkies as fans surrounding them kept on screaming and wanting to go inside of the station. Both guards were hugging each other for protection against the fans, one of them even took a picture for evidence for hazard pay. 

Rumi ran back to his dressing room removing the harness between his jacket, as he slowly walked to the mirror pulling down the zipper in his tight white shirt. Rumi was shocked to see that the patterns increased, growing towards his throat.

“My voice? Ah, no. No.” Breathing heavily he couldn't accept with what's happening. 

A knock was heard from his door. “Rumi, is everything okay? Is it about that?” (Y/n) asked genuinely concerned since she knew about his patterns.

Rumi looked back at himself in the mirror and hastily fixed his outfit back. “I'm okay, (Y/n). I promise, I just need time for myself.”

“Oh, okay. I'll tell Bobby and the others then.” She said hesitantly, putting her hands and forehead on the door that separates her and Rumi. “Rumi, you know that I'm always here for you about anything. I'll always be here for you.” She said before walking away to inform the others that the live performance needs to be cancelled and rescheduled.

Unknown to (Y/n) and the others, Rumi had left the station by the emergency exit, conveniently avoiding the eyes of the crowd of fans. As Rumi began to run away from everyone, from the pain, from the loneliness, and from everything. 

He began to remember a memory from his childhood that he tried to repress. A song he was thought to sing whenever he felt like he was letting everyone down and that his fears and weaknesses are showing. He could hear his younger self sing echoing in his ear.

~”We are Hunters, voices strong.”~

~”Slaying demons with our song.”~ 

A young Rumi singing in front of a grave while Celine made braids around his hair. 

~”Fix the world and make it right.”~

~”When darkness finally meets the light.”~

“Celine, do Hunters kill all demons?” A young Rumi asked as his little mind contemplated the meaning and words of the song. 

“Yes.”

“So everything that has patterns?” He asked as he lifted up his sleeve to show two purple patterns on his right arm. 

“Cover those up. You only have those because–” She said while fixing young Rumi's sleeve to hide the patterns. 

“My dad was a demon?”

“You're not one of them, Rumi. You're a Hunter, like your mother was.” Both of them looked to the grave stone in front of them. “When the Honmoon is sealed, all demons will be gone from this world. And so will your patterns.”

“So these will be gone?”

“Yes. Those will be gone. Rumi… tomorrow there's someone I want you to meet, my daughter. She will be living with us starting tomorrow and I want you to be kind to her.”

A young Rumi naively believed in what she said, now is more determined to seal up the Honmoon. While excited to meet someone that can be potentially a friend. 

THE NEXT DAY…

“Rumi, this is (Y/n). She's an angel, protector of the Hunters and the world. Angels have existed even before Hunters were known. She will be living with us from now on.” Celine explained as she had her hands on the shoulder of a 10 year old (Y/n).

Rumi was in aw when he saw (Y/n) with wings on her head while dressed in a cute floral white dress. “Hi, I'm (Y/n). It's very nice to meet you Rumi. I… I hope we can be the best of friends.” She said while holding her little hands out to Rumi for a handshake which he was hesitant to take since he was flustered with how cute (Y/n) was. 

“Me… Me too. Let's be best friends.” He said as (Y/n) smiled and giggled at him.  

Rumi kept on running and running even passing by the arena where their last concert was held. 

Rumi as a teenage boy leaning against his bedroom door covering his growing patterns. Behind the door was Miro and Zane asking him to accompany them to the bath house. 

“You always say no, Rumi.” Zane complained

“You're so modest. It's just the bathhouse. (Y/n), I can understand since she's a girl but...”  Miro was his usual sarcastic self.

“Maybe some other time. You guys go ahead.”

“Everytime.” “Mm-hm.” Both Miro and Zane sighed but went to the bath house anyway.

Celine was seated on the kitchen island reading the newspaper in the Huntrix home. Rumi, knowing that the boys were now gone, wanted to ask her something that was weighing on his mind.

“Maybe they'll understand. Like (Y/n) did.“ He inquired about telling the boys. 

“No, Rumi. Nothing can change until your patterns are gone. And (Y/n) she's different from the boys.” She firmly said looking him in the eyes. 

As Rumi reached the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in korea. Breathing heavily and feeling restrictive by his jacket, taking it off and dropping it behind him. As he walked towards the edge of the building overlooking the city of Seoul. He tried to sing again. 

~“No more hiding, I'll be shining.”~

~”Like I'm born to be!”~ 

He was trying so hard to sing out his heart.

~”Cause we are Hunters, voices strong.”~

~”And I know I believe!”~

But try as he may, his voice just kept on breaking into coughs. He couldn't help but cry out his heart. As he dropped into his knees triggering the Honmoon to shine.

“How am i supposed to fix the world, fix me, protect (Y/n), when I don't have my voice?” He tried to ask someone for an answer to his questions. 

“Why now, when (Y/n) and me are so close?” As the Honmoon continue to shine in it's bright blue hue. Rumi can feel the rising frustrations building inside of him. 

“Why?” He asks, feeling helpless. Which didn't feel right for him.

“WHY?!” Rumi's voice turned for the first time demonic as he punched into the ground in anger as a red streak began to flow around the Honmoon. Shocked by what he saw he couldn't breathe normally afraid of what may come as the Honmoon returned back to its normal colors. But the hunting voice of his child self began to sing reminding him of his duty. 

~”We are Hunters, voices strong.”~

Rumi covered himself back with his jacket due to the cold temperature as the elevator doors to their home opened. Where he was greeted with Miro and Zane waiting for him. Words didn't need to be said as the both of them comforted Rumi, who let out a sigh of relief. But then, noticed someone was missing. 

“Where's (Y/n)?” He asked the other two.

“She's not with you?” Miro asked Rumi in concern.

“She went after you, after she informed everyone that the live performance needed to be rescheduled.” Zane informed Rumi as the familiar ding from the elevator doors shows a concerned (Y/n) hugging herself. 

“Guys, did Rumi come hom– Rumi!” (Y/n) sighed in relief and hugged Rumi. As he hugged back, Rumi couldn't help but hugged her tighter and inhaled her comforting scent, which caused the other two boys feeling left out and jealous joined in the hugging session. But what the boys didn't notice was how uncomfortable and in pain she was.

Previously back to the station…

As (Y/n) walked back to the stage area and went towards where Bobby was. 

“Bobby, we need to reschedule the live performance. Rumi isn't feeling well and I don't think it’s best  for him to push himself right now.” She said firmly to Bobby and to nearby station staff.

“But… But. No. You are right (Y/n). My boy's health comes first.” Bobby was surprised at first at what she said but knowing that the boys and (Y/n) are his top priority agreed with her. But then one of the male staff came running in and stopped in front of Bobby and (Y/n), as he took a deep breath and spoke.

“Rumi is gone. It seems like he went out of the emergency exit.”

“What?” Both Zane and Miro said as they walked near to Bobby and (Y/n) as they heard what the male staff said.

“Rumi is gone? Then what about the live performance?” Zane asked.

“It's going to be rescheduled. Bobby, I trust that you can handle things here?  Miro and Zane, both of you go back to the tower and wait for Rumi there if he comes home.” (Y/n) gave them tasks as she tried to walk towards a different exit only to be stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist, and it was Miro.

“Wait. What about you (Y/n)? What are you going to do?” He asked in concern for her well being. 

“I'm going to look for him. I have been with him since we were kids, I know him better than anyone else.” She said to Miro as she put her hands on his to let him know that she will be fine on her own. 

“I promise that if I don't find him within the hour. I’ll come back home.” She assured him and her smile. As Miro let her go he couldn't help but felt something would go wrong but trusted her too much to stop her. 

As (Y/n) ran around nearby places where Rumi could have gone. Minutes had already passed as she stopped to rest in a deserted park and sat on a bench. She couldn't help but think back to her and Celine have a serious talk about Rumi's patterns.

Years before...

As Rumi walked back to his room and locked himself there for the rest of the evening until the boys returned back from their trip to the bathhouse. (Y/n) showed herself to Celine who was still reading the newspaper. 

“You know Celine, if you could give the boys a chance. I believe they would still accept Rumi for who he is.”

“We already discussed this (Y/n). When Rumi was born with the patterns I made a promise to her that I would love and protect Rumi. You would know that since you were there.” A memory flashed of Celine holding the hands of Rumi's mother, the woman she loved and took her last breath. While an older (Y/n) who silently cried over the loss of one of her friends, was sitting at the side of the bed lovingly holding a baby Rumi in her arms. 

“I know that very well. But you could never know how deep a friendship like theirs could overcome.”

“Then what about you? When are you going to open up that an Angel like yourself has lived for over a thousand years. And when one Hunter die's it's time for you to be reborn as an infant.” Celine countered back to what (Y/n) just said. As silence fills the place, Celine already knows the answer to her question.

“Rumi's patterns must be hidden from the boys and your secret must be kept only between us for your safety. You and I both know the value of your soul.” Celine said as she left the Hunrix tower to go back home. 

And (Y/n) couldn't help but lay down on the couch, thinking about what Celine just said and she rested her right hand on her navel.

As (Y/n) stood up from the bench thinking of going back to the tower and waiting for Rumi there with the others. A sudden burst of pain made her kneel to the ground and wrap her right arm around her abdomen and her left hand dig into the ground. Suddenly the pain vanished but with shaky hands (Y/n) reached into the left pocket of her skirt to retrieve her compact mirror, only to see some of her feathers from her wings were turning black. 

“No. No. No. No” (Y/n) was starting to panic as she tried to block out the noise.

“Please, no. I thought I was free from him. Please.” (Y/n) couldn't take it anymore.

“NO!” Just like Rumi, (Y/n) pounded both her hands onto the ground. A powerful surge of red streak flowed throughout the Honmoon before it returned back to its normal color.

(Y/n) Still shocked by what happened just let it go and dusted herself off and went to the direction of the Huntrix tower to go back home. 

As the elevator zoomed up to the highest floor, (Y/n) couldn't help but felt cold and hugged herself. When the doors opened she was surprised to see Rumi already there. (Y/n) sighed in relief and hugged Rumi, as the other two boys joined in for the hug she suddenly felt the pain resurfaced once again but hid it from the boys. 

After the hugging session between the boys and (Y/n), Miro and Zane had let Rumi and (Y/n) change their Golden outfit to comfort wear, where Miro lent her one of his shirts since the boys didn't want to part yet with (Y/n). All of them are now seated in the dining room eating homemade garak-guksu, a thick noodle soup made by (Y/n) herself. 

“I… I'm sorry about the show.” Rumi didn't have any appetite despite his favorite being anything that (Y/n) cooks for him. 

“Rumi, it’s okay. I'm sure everything will be fine. Bobby can handle it” Zane being the ever positive one in the group, comforted Rumi knowing that they all put each other first before anything else. Until his phone rang with Bobby calling him. 

“Hi, Bobby!”

“Boys, I can't handle this!” Bobby expressed his concerns and stress in a very unfortunate time. 

“There's thousands of disappointed fans, and the network is losing their minds.” Because of what Bobby just said to the phone, it made Rumi even more guilty for causing unnecessary trouble for their manager. (Y/n) seeing this reached out and held his left hand to show him comfort. 

“Okay, this is why you pay me 3% and I got commissions for representing (Y/n). Okay, back off! My boys and (Y/n) will sing when they're ready.” Bobby finds courage to fight back at what is presumed to be staff from the network. Miro having enough of it ended the call seeing that it only hurts Rumi more. 

“It's okay. We can reschedule another live show within days.”

“I… I don't know if that's going to be possible. My voice, it's in trouble.” Rumi hated having to say that knowing that Hunters are supposed to never show their weakness. 

“Wait, in trouble? Then why did you push the ‘Golden’ release?” Miro genuinely asked Rumi for the reason for their vacation to be cancelled. 

“Because we're so close, and it's so important.” Giving out his reason for releasing it early despite promising the boys their well deserved break. 

“But not as important as your health, Rumi. You… All three of you are important to me… To each other. So we shouldn't prioritise our duty over wellbeing.” (Y/n) Said firmly to each boy but mostly especially to Rumi as she squeezed the hand she was holding. 

“Okay, how do we handle this?” Zane wanted eagerly to help Rumi both out of care but also of concern that without Rumi's voice the Honmoon could be in danger and how it is important to Rumi as well. 

“What do we tell the fans? Maybe we should call Celine?” Zane suggested. 

“We know what she'd say, Zane.” Miro rolling his eyes at the memory.

“Oh, right.” Clearing his throat. 

“We are hunters. Voices strong. Your faults and fears must never be seen.” Both boys imitated the way Celine repeatedly said to them during their training days. Laughing at the absurdity of how many times they heard that line. 

“Whoa. You sound exactly like her.” Miro complemented Zane for his imitations. 

“Yeah, that's how she says it."

“No. We gotta hide it and fix it.” Miro suddenly said to Rumi in seriousness.

“For sure. We have to hide it. Mm-hm.” Zane totally agreed with what Miro said. Rumi thinks about what they can do as he looked at (Y/n) eating peacefully and was there as a calming presence for each of them. 

“Rumi, why don't we take a break? We'll skip the Idol Awards this year and–” Zane suggested knowing that the stress and over work is maybe getting to Rumi. Who then cut him off. “No. No way.”  

“It's our most important show. It's when we strengthen the Honmoon for the entire year. And where (Y/n) will be able to ward off all demons with her light. We can't skip it. we just can't.” Rumi is resolute and will not waver on it. Due to the significance of the Idol Awards to the Honmoon. 

“Not when I'm so close.” Miro and Zane shared a look then looked at (Y/n) who was looking at Rumi with sadness in her eyes, also looked at both boys and gave them a nod with a small smile. 

“Hey, we'll get through this. We can get through anything. Together.” Zane said, putting a comforting hand on Rumi's right shoulder. 

“Okay. We have two weeks to fix Rumi's voice. Any ideas?” Miro voiced out while looking at Zane knowing that the youngest male had already thought of something. 

“I do have one idea.”

“Just one?”

“Actually, 57, but let's start with my favorite. Don't worry. It's totally legit.” With that final declaration of Zane. Dinner turned lighter, filled with laughter and warm conversation. Afterward, they cleaned up and parted ways for bed.

As each of them departed towards their respective rooms, (Y/n) couldn't help but wonder how to talk with Rumi about his patterns and maybe it was time for her to open up to the boy's but before (Y/n) would even think of it more. 

But before she could dwell on it, a ripple of energy pulsed through the Honmoon. The elevator dinged. She ran to the window. No visible cracks or rifts.

“Must be fatigue,” she whispered and went to bed, knowing she’d be joining the boys trip tomorrow before her scheduled variety show that Bobby reminded her.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping Hunters and the lone Angel, red cracks silently formed in the Honmoon and through the gap stepped five demons, cloaked in black hanbok and wide-brimmed gat, resembling ancient jeoseung saja, grim reapers of legend.

For them to enter into the human world to fulfill their evil plan to dominate the world. 

But perhaps the world wasn’t their true target…

Author's Note:

Hello! Everyone, I hope chapter 02 has exceeded your expectations. :) I was supposed to post this yesterday but I was busy with my little sister's college graduation for the whole day.

I hope you loved it, so don't forget to like, reblog, and comment down anything including any critics if you have any.

Thank you all for the continued support for Heartstring & Hellfire.

T A G L I S T

@gremlinartstudio @enerofairy @zoeyella1-4 @daisy56789 @0eye0 @sirenetheblogger @akariis4snowball @crescent-z @any-maybe @shoopershtar @bitchpleaseeeeeeeeee @foxinspace @selenescribes @onebraincellsaday @hoo-hoo @kitsune-05 @princessbonniebubblegumsblog @scarletsssarchive @bugworldsworld @redrage71890 @kashasenpai @hisashifrey @akiqvq @aespaminjeong @greensunflowerjuna @eyesdontread @eliengoddes @fandomgoddes05 @yirengbam7089 @themostdelusionalgirl @baby-bread-in @graceluvseilish @lynvriee @zomqiez @strayharmony943 @nevermorekisses @hikari-michiko @lizzymizzy-blogg @lovingyeet @chibiduck @hisashifrey @reni502 @queenofviolenceandnerds @gasoline-eater @tagmepls @gl00muraaii @prettylittlelavvy

[athenalvss]

Hey, you know, the young justice show, right? I was wondering if you can make one with like hot bombshell batmom and she visits dick at young justice league's base and like Wally and all the rest of the guys, start flirting on her.

YOUR MOM IS SUCH A MIL- ( batmom )

Summary: You didn't want to attract attention, you just wanted to spend a few minutes with your oldest son.

batmom!reader, Dick grayson

open request - dick grayson masterlist

There weren't many occasions when you went to visit Dick, the boy still lived in the mansion but perhaps spent a few weeks away busy, since the young Justice was created, and Bruce decided that his protégé was ready to work as a team, the weeks began to feel longer.

So once or twice, when your schedule wasn't jam packed with charity events, Wayne Enterprises meetings, or nights spent patrolling with Bruce, you'd indulged yourself in a quick trip to Mount Justice. Sometimes just to see him for five minutes, to leave him a gift, or other times, like today, with a small, foilwrapped box filled with those coconut cookies Alfred taught you how to make.

What you didn't expect was to cause a little chaos in the group of teenagers as soon as you set foot inside the place.

"Isn't that Mrs. Wayne? Look at her shoes, Z!" you heard someone whisper.

"It can't be his mother, she's not old enough," said another.

"Maybe the league sent her to show us something, I'd like it to be her locker room."

You turned with a friendly smile, letting your dark glasses slide down the end of your nose. "Hey girls, how are you? I'm looking for Robin."

M'gann's eyes widened, dropping the rag she'd been wiping the table with. She'd seen you several times in the magazines she'd bought about the world of entertainment, or on television when there were galas and all the cameras were waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Wayne to arrive. You were definitely more imposing in person. Zatanna giggled nervously. Her friend's mom? She was truly dazzling, and Artemis simply crossed her arms, sizing you up and down with a raised eyebrow, trying to hide her surprise at your arrival.

"I knew it was you!" Zatanna exclaimed, delighted. "Wow... Mrs. Wayne, it's a pleasure."

“And a sight,” Artemis muttered under her breath.

Behind you, a burst of speed announced the arrival of Wally, his hair tousled and his expression ecstatic. "I knew it was your perfume" he said breathlessly, stopping right in front of you. "How are you, Mrs. Wayne?"

You smiled at him with the same warmth you used years ago to serve him hot chocolate in the mansion's kitchen. "Oh, Wally boy, I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. How have you been?"

Wally smiled like he'd won the lottery. "Better now, definitely better now that I see her."

Dick arrived just in time to stop the conversation before it escalated, as always. His gaze flicked from you to Wally and back to you, visibly irritated… and blushing. "Flirting with my mom again? Go away."

Wally threw up his hands as if he were innocent of it all. "Hey! I'm not flirting, I'm being cordial, polite, im appreciating your mom, bro"

"Take your words back, she doesn't want you to like her," Dick muttered, crossing his arms. "Do you realize she's my mom? You son of a b-"

"Boys..." you interrupted, your voice soft, but enough to silence both of them immediately. You walked over to Dick and gently smoothed back a strand of his unruly hair. "Don't fight with your friend over me. I came to visit you, and it's too early for a jealous scene."

"I'm not jealous!" he said, almost indignantly.

"Okay, enough with the drama," Wally came up from the side, his expression pleading. "Can I get a pity cookie?"

"I don't know... Are you going to keep staring and saying things to my mother?" Dick snapped.

"Only the truth."

"Then no."

M'gann appeared at the side of the table, smiling curiously. "What are the cookies made of?"

"It only have coconut and love," you replied, opening the box and showing the perfectly arranged cookies.

Zatanna came over too, intrigued. “Wow. Did you make these?”

"Some of them are mine. Others… Alfred, obviously the best ones are Alfred's."

Wally sniffed from a distance. “Is that… coconut with white chocolate chips?”

Dick squeezed the lid of the box tightly. "Don't even think about it.

"You're cruel," Wally replied, turning to you with an expression that sought mercy. "Could I at least touch the box?"

"Do you want to have both hands?

Wally paused for a second, assessing the threat and still, he reached out. "It's worth the risk."

Dick growled. "Don't touch the box."

But it was too late. You had taken a cookie and offered it to him yourself.

Wally grabbed it like it was an Olympic trophy. "I promise that... well, I don't really promise anything," he said, and brought it to his mouth before Dick could swat it away.

Dick sank into the armchair with a dramatic sigh. "Can we go back to the part where my mom came to visit me and not steal the show?"

"What's your mom's fault she's pretty?" Conner asked before popping a cookie into his mouth, completely ignoring Dick's glare.

That was the last time you visited Mount Justice at Dick's request. He truly loved you, but he preferred you not to go there. From then on, you'd see him at the mansion. Or he'd come looking for you after a mission, but you never returned to the Mount.

But never say never, even though it wasn't common for you to visit the new facilities. In fact, you hadn't done so since your son asked you to years ago.

But this time it was different. It was necessary for you to go there since your husband had asked you to carry classified information and couldn't leave the computer, so you were the only person trustworthy enough available to carry the sensitive file.

Although your clothes were more sober than before, you were still yourself. You liked comfortable clothes that didn't look like you were at home, something elegant that allowed you to feel confident. But even though you made a great effort with your appearance, the common room fell silent as soon as you entered.

"Who... is that?" Bart whispered, stopping mid-comment about video games.

"Oh, Nightwing and Robin's mom"M'gann approached to look at the situation."Hello Mrs. Wayne!"

"Wow, is that their mom?" Jaime asked, his eyes wide.

You just smiled, politely and distantly. Greeting the team was quick, efficient, maternal, yet professional. You handed the sealed envelope to Kaldur, and when you saw Dick appear in the hallway, you gave him the same gentle smile as always.

"I didn't know you were coming," he said to you in a low voice as he approached.

"Bruce didn't have many options available to him," you replied. "So here I am."

"Yes, it shows, Mom."

You spent a few minutes talking with him. Not much. Just enough to catch up. You asked him if he was eating well, if he was sleeping at least five hours, if he was talking to Alfred more often. He pretended to be bothered by the questions, but he didn't take his eyes off you; he had a pending visit at the mansion.

When it was time to leave, you walked back toward the Zeta Tube without rushing. Dick accompanied you for a few meters.

"Thanks for coming," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "I know you don't like being in the middle of all this."

"I don't mind," you said. "I just don't want to inconvenience you."

Dick smiled faintly. "You don't. At least the rest didn't show up."

You stroked his face with your fingers, just like when he was ten. "You have a good team, and you're doing a good job."

Dick blushed, as if he hadn't expected to hear that from you. He looked down and nodded. "I'll call you tomorrow" he promised.

"I hope so." And you were gone, the sound of the Zeta Tube filling the room for a second, and then, nothing. Silence.

Just at that moment, the side door opened.

Wally and Conner entered, carrying bags of food and chatting animatedly. They both stopped when they saw the blue light trail from the portal dissipate.

"Who left?" Conner asked, putting the food on the table.

"Was it... a visitor?" Wally raised his eyebrows, turning to face the group. "Don't tell me your mother finally came!"

Jaime nodded, trying not to laugh. "Three seconds ago. He was here."

Conner turned to Dick. “Was that your mom? She looks… prettier than last time.”

Dick glared at him. “Conner…”

But it was too late.

"Yeah, dude. Your mom's such a milf" Wally said cheerfully, as if he'd just made the most harmless comment in the world.

Dick froze for a second, until he exploded. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

"THAT'S A COMPLIMENT!" Wally shouted, backing away.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Dick launched himself after him without a second thought.

Wally was already running, but he was laughing. "Say it with pride, bro!"

The shouting moved away through the corridors at an absurd speed.

Conner looked at the rest of the group. "I just said she looked pretty."

Tim sighed. “Can we just agree that no one else talks about our Mother? Thanks.”

“Still… your mom is gorgeous,” Cassie murmured with a smile.

And from the hallway, an angry voice shouted, “DON’T CALL MY MOTHER A MILF!”

[theorphicangel]

tuning in for sukuna sunday :p would love to see possibly an argument with kuna that ends in him sleeping on the couch. can be angst fluff or anything rly 🙂‍↔️🫶

hiiiiiii!! thank you so much for submitting a sukuna sunday thought!! arghhh i loved writing this, i missed writing for grumpy kuna <3333

hope u enjoy!!

it's been back and forth since this morning.

sukuna doesn't know if you woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning or if his dream self must have pissed you off but you really have it out for him.

you nitpick at his clothes strewn across the apartment, the way he leaves his breakfast dish in the sink all day, how he always asks you where he's left his keys before he leaves for work which leads to a whole rummage. every. single. day.

you snap and your agitation (which is rare) makes him equally as angry causing the two of you to throw words at each other like knives. you both end up showing late to work which pisses you both off even more.

after a couple of hours sukuna makes the grave mistake of thinking that the argument was behind him. it was stupid. petty even. and it was way too early in the morning to even discuss or take seriously. hell, he can't even remember how it started in the first place.

it's stupid and by the time he returns home you'll have forgotten about it and go back to normal.

right?

wrong. now that mistake leaves sukuna staring at the living room ceiling feeling like a dickhead. upon reflection he realises that he should have taken your words much more seriously. the last words that you said to him before leaving for work this morning.

'oh. and you're sleeping on the couch tonight.'

'like hell i am, woman' he had replied with but by then you were already half way out of the door.

but you were smart enough to return home before him and lock yourself in the bedroom so he had no choice but to resort to the couch. he was tired. sweaty. and angry. the worst three combinations to experience.

he had waited until midnight thinking that you would at least come out for something. food. water. shout at him. but alas you never emerged. he watched the beige door and it's golden knob waiting for a twist or the sound of a lock but it never came.

sure he heard you shuffling around or coughing and occasionally laughing at something stupid on your phone. from this he concludes that you're still alive locked in with your favourite snacks and whatnot.

you're living the life of luxury in your king-sized bed and sukuna resorts to...

whatever the hell this is.

his calves hang over on the armrest, the blanket barely covers his chest, there's something digging in his back, the pillows aren't comfortable enough for his head and if he even shifts a limb he knows he's tipping off entirely.

and of course the last thing that sets him off is not being able to find the remote for the tv so he can't even distract himself with his favourite show and finding multiple popcorn kernels instead.

that gives sukuna enough rage to rise up and head to the bedroom door. he gives three loud knocks, uncaring if you've already drifting off to sleep.

'oi. i'm sick of this shit. whatever you want i'll do it.... just let me back in to sleep.'

no response.

sukuna pauses to see if he can make out your light snores but he hears nothing. so you're definitely awake.

he knocks again with a heavy fist. he's tired and he knows you are too. 'i know you're trying to be petty but i don't even remember what we were arguing about it was stupid.'

still no response.

maybe he's saying the wrong thing. if anything you're the type to want sukuna to do the impossible (which is to take responsibility for his actions) and with a sigh sukuna muses over his words and runs a hand over his forehead.

' okay, i do remember. i was stupid and i was wrong and bla bla bla okay? whatever you want i'll do. you win. you hearing me or what?'

he hears a slight shuffle behind the door.

so he is getting somewhere.

'i'll do anything, baby, just let me in and sleep with you.'

sukuna perks up at the sound of another shuffle. before too long he hears the sound of your voice. 'so you'll do anything?'

it takes sukuna a couple swallows before he replies. fuck, he knows he's basically making a deal with the devil. 'yes i'll do anything.'

anything to not have his back ache and his pillows propped up properly and the sheets covering him properly and of course...the comfort of being next to you.

there's a long pause as you ponder over his words and it takes all of Sukuna's patience to not to break the damn door down himself.

'so you'll buy me food?'

'brat i do that shit anyways.'

'oh okay, so what i'm hearing is that you don't want to come back in?'

'i'll do that.' he replies.

'and you'll clean the house by yourself for a month.'

sukuna groans.

'two months.' you add on and sukuna learns to shut up.

'whatever.'

and finally sukuna hears sweet victory. the sound of a door unlocking. as he expected you were standing there all fluffed up in your comfy clothes and blankets while he was shivering out in the cold ass living room.

he moves to enter but you block his path. sukuna holds in another groan before you change your mind about letting him in.

with beaming eyes and a sweet smile as if you hadn't terrorised his entire day today you ask for a favour.

'can i have a kiss first?'

'you and your greedy ass.' he mutters but he leans down and peppers your lips with a kiss anyways.

[suksatoru]

rabid royals

{prince!itoshi rin x princess f!reader}

summary: despite being arranged to marry his older brother itoshi sae, rin can't keep ignoring the way he feels about you forever. your reciprocation of his affections only makes the tension thicken and fold in a way that couldn't be ignored, and chaos was only inevitable by the time sae realized what was going on between you and his little brother.

warnings: arranged marriage, angst (but we THUG IT OUTT), fem!reader, brief sae x reader, rin is basically a lovesick puppy no one make fun of him, infidelity, cursing, & if you've read the prologue for this, it appears again as a flashback!

word count: 11.2k (asjadkj this took me wayy longer than expected !!)

Rin had been in his older brother's shadow for as long as he could remember. He was always one step behind, always lacking in some sense, always coming close, but never close enough. Ever since they were little kids, Rin had always borne the label of second best like a bad costume he couldn't take off.

Sae's always been destined for greatness, Rin was sure of it. Not only did his older brother possess an unbeatable mindset for himself and the Itoshi name, one he'd polished and carved expertly for the world to see, but Sae had the talent and skills to back up every ambition he wished to pursue. No matter how impossible a task or business deal seemed—if Sae was the one at the center of the ordeal, it was sure to go his way no matter how the situation fared before he entered the picture.

Despite it all, it was the small bits and pieces of him, the aspects of a person that made them human, which Sae lacked considerably.

A good husband, even just a decent one, would go and make sure you're okay. The words lie heavy on the curve of Rin's tongue, but he swallows them down the moment Sae's sharp gaze cuts to his.

"Rin, go check on her, will you?"

A wordless nod from his younger brother is all he gets in return, and Rin leaves Sae's room right after to go look for you.

Five doors down from his own room and three rooms down from his brother's was where you resided. It was decided that once the wedding was over, you would move into Sae's room with him. Rin knocks once on your door, waiting for your usual gentle voice to call him inside. He stands outside patiently, but after a near minute passes with no response, he knocks again, thinking you didn't hear him the first time.

"Y/n?"

Rin's hesitant call of your name is met with silence once more. His hand finds the doorknob, and he frowns once he realizes the door is unlocked. With a single, fluid motion, he twists it open and steps inside, only to be met with your empty bedroom.

His gaze sweeps over everything in front of him—the crumpled sheets and comforter of your bed, the little trinkets and gifts from your homeland littering your dressers, the assortment of necklaces laid out on the floor, and the empty spot beside the door where your outdoor boots usually resided.

Ah. So that's where you were.

A crease forms between Rin's brows when he realizes your hat is still hanging from your bedpost, and he grabs it without a second thought before he exits your room and closes the door behind him, heading straight towards the manor's gardens outside.

You didn't take very good care of yourself. You were still young—clumsy in getting adjusted to the new world you found yourself thrown into, and Rin can't even fault you for it. Who he's wished to reprimand many times is Sae, who doesn't seem to care about your well-being in the slightest. It was beyond frustrating to see Sae take no interest in the woman who would bear his children and take on the Itoshi name, but Rin's not sure what he expected from someone as emotionless as Sae. He'd imagined the one exception to Sae's coldness would be his own wife, but it seemed even you weren't spared.

Rin used to understand his brother better than anyone. They'd always come to each other when things got tough, and to Rin, it felt like he could face the whole world and win if Sae was by his side. But in the past few years, in which his nii-chan had gotten further and further into the political world outside the walls Rin was raised in, was when they finally began to drift apart. Rin simply didn't understand Sae's logic anymore. His principles and basis on seemingly everything had been flipped like a switch. Before, when they were children, Sae would spend every minute of his day with Rin, doing tasks for their parents together and spending time just being brothers. Now, the elder brushes off any attempt Rin makes to spend time with him, labeling it as a waste.

If Sae wasn't able to take good care of you, thanks to his persistent tendency to be isolated all the time, couldn't he have asked Rin to marry you instead? The marriage between you and Sae was purely political, so did it really matter which brother you married? At the end of the day, it was a union between kingdoms, not people. The bitter thought that he'd make a better husband himself is one Rin pushes down almost instantly in silent shame.

Stupidly enough, Rin had fallen for you. The sight of your smile and the echo of your laughter were the things to make his heart stutter—the things that allowed him to feel what love was like. But Rin believed his only option was to reject his heart, because to go after you was to wage war on his own brother.

Rin's fingers dig deep into the soft material of your hat as he approaches the glass doors leading outside. He takes a quick glance at his reflection in the manor's hallway mirror, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his way, before opening the door that led outside.

The chill that hit his face was unexpected as it was biting. Every gust of wind carried traces of snow, and they curled around Rin slowly, gliding through the air leisurely and wrapping him in a cold embrace.

You're a little ways down the main pathway parting the middle of the garden. Rin ducks back inside the manor and grabs a shawl hanging from one of the closet's hooks before leaving the manor and tightening his own coat around him.

"Y/n," he calls out gravely, and when you turn around, whatever thought was forming in Rin's mind is forgotten within an instant when your eyes meet his. He tightens his grip on the shawl and your hat, suddenly feeling himself get warm despite the cold that surrounded him.

Your cheeks are tinted a rosy red, and there are dozens of snowflakes hanging from the strands of your hair like it was the most natural place in the world for them to be. Plump lips are parted in surprise at his sudden appearance, and there are puffs of cold fog slipping past your lips as you wait for Rin to gather his thoughts.

"It's... It's cold. You should wear this." He murmurs, holding out the hat and shawl for you as he avoids your gaze. Rin can't stop himself from imagining the way your eyes must be widening in surprise, or the way your mouth must be forming that 'o' shape you make whenever you're particularly bewildered, and he can't stop himself from turning anyway to look at you, because when was the last time he's gotten to be this close to you without Sae or anyone else in his vicinity?

"Oh—sorry, sorry! I promise it wasn't snowing when I first came out to walk. I must have been too deep in thought to notice when it first began to fall," you assure with an embarrassed smile. Rin doesn't respond, his lips merely settle into a firm line before he raises the shawl in his hands and wraps it around your shoulders, twisting the fabric and pulling it close to ensure no cold seeps through.

"You need to be more careful, you'll get sick." He mumbles, lips twitching downwards into his usual frown before he digs his fists into the pockets of his coat, blowing another stray strand of hair from his face as you look down at the shawl he put around you with a gentle smile.

"I promise to remember next time, Rin. Thank you."

Rin huffs quietly in response with a short nod. Your eyes are drawn to one of the stray snowflakes that had fallen right over the gentle curve of his cheekbone, and you have to resist the urge to brush it off of him.

"Good," is all he says afterwards, his eyes flitting towards you hesitantly before they instantly dart away. In his mind, Rin blamed his horribly obvious and skittish movements on the cold before straightening his back and quietly bidding you goodnight.

Normally, Rin's steps were short and confident—never slow and always with a destination in mind. But as Rin turned away from you, his steps seemed to falter, like he wanted to say something more, but he ended up not saying anything else and walked back to the manor instead. Your eyes stay trained on his back as you nudge your nose against the comforting yarn of your scarf.

Your gaze doesn't leave Rin until he disappears inside. You lick your snow-coated lips to ease some of the tension you felt thrumming through you before turning back to the garden's pathway.

Rin looked breathtaking in the snow. His pale skin blended into the winter wonderland outside the Itoshi manor seamlessly, and his chiseled green gaze only seemed sharper in the moonlight. You noticed the way the snow seemed to swirl around him, too. You wouldn't be surprised if it was Aphrodite herself swirling a finger around Rin's figure and sending the snowflakes in a spiral that revolved around him and him only. Rin was just that beautiful.

Since the Itoshi manor was located up North, the land was in a perpetual state of winter, which also meant the garden they had outside had plants and flowers made for the everlasting cold; it was an environment they could thrive in. You admire the snow-coated petals of the flowers and how, despite the harsh conditions around them that would've already killed any regular flora, they stood tall, petals resilient and flourishing despite all odds.

The wedding was set to take place three weeks after you'd moved into the manor. It's been about a week since you've arrived, and the past few days have been filled with you visiting all sorts of people—the head chef, dressmakers, florists, and even the royal jeweler—to help prepare for the big day.

Sae wasn't there for any of it.

Frankly, you weren't too upset by it. He was busy beyond belief with securing the last details of his arrangement with your home nation. Marrying you was only a portion of the alliance, as there were still a dozen other things he had to review and arrange. Sae didn't have time to waste on something as trivial as choosing what color flower assortments each table should have as a centerpiece.

You tried to tell yourself it didn't matter—you shouldn't be this bothered. The servants were exceptionally kind to you, and you had even taken quite a liking to your personal handmaid (she was an older woman with a gentle soul, always sneaking you pastries and sweets from the kitchen to snack on just because she could), and Mr. and Mrs. Itoshi liked you well enough. Truthfully, you were being taken care of like a princess by everyone. Especially Rin, who sought you out every day with the simple intention of wanting to be near you. Sometimes, he wouldn't even make his appearance known to you; he lingered nearby, quietly and hopefully, just in case you wanted company.

But it was during the night, when you went to bed alone in a bedroom that felt too big for just one person, when you truly began to realize how lonely you felt.

Marrying someone made them your person. If Sae wasn't interested in forming any real relationship with you, then, well, you wouldn't have someone to call your own.

The thought of being alone frightens you more than anything else.

You couldn't really be alone with Rin around. Not when he doted on you every day, silently but steadily. But how long would that go on for? How long was it until he got married? The prospect of Rin marrying someone else sends a sharp pain straight through your chest, one that causes you to physically recoil and flinch before you shove your face back into your pillows with a groan.

No, seeing someone else marry Rin was something you never wanted to happen.

The night passes by in a blur, and so does the next morning. Eventually, you're heading towards the kitchen with the head chef—laughing softly at an old story she's telling you about the Itoshi brothers.

"They used to be very picky eaters—the oldest sir especially. When he was eleven, he sent his younger brother's birthday cake back to the kitchen because the frosting was vanilla, apparently not to his liking at all."

You have to stifle your laughter as you try and imagine an eleven-year-old Sae Itoshi getting upset over Rin's birthday cake not being the right flavor. Your lips twitch downwards as you think about how much their relationship has changed over the years—actually, you're not sure if you've even seen the two exchange any sort of pleasantries with each other. Not even once.

"Now, dear, I'll leave you to the cake taste testing—just call me in when you're all done. The spoons and napkins are laid out for you, so please enjoy what the bakers made. If you have any complaints, feel free to let me know at the end so I can pass on your message!"

You send her a tight-lipped smile, nodding your head and trying to hide your disappointment at being left alone once again.

"The sir is inside to help as well. Good luck!" She bows before her departure, and you still at her words.

Sir?

Sae had left early this morning to travel to a nearby city for a day trip of sorts, so that meant...

When you open the kitchen doors, Rin is sitting on a stool, staring intently at the assortment of cake slices placed on the table in front of him, and his head raises when he hears the door open a moment later.

It clicks closed behind you, and you stare at him wordlessly. For a moment, Rin thinks he may have crossed a line by asking the chef to assist you today with the cake testing after hearing you were doing it alone, but then your lips stretch into a smile so bright it makes something in his chest ache.

"Rin! You're here!"

You shuffle over to where he is, and Rin blinks rapidly as you drop yourself into the seat beside him. You're wearing a cozy sweater and plaid skirt to match, both a deep brown that complement you stunningly. Your hair is pulled back with a matching bow, and although this outfit is much simpler than what you usually wear, Rin is aching to let you know how pretty you look.

He has a feeling no one else has told you today.

"Hello," he murmurs, and the tips of his ears turn pink from the subtle scent of your shampoo, which is intoxicatingly sweet. Rin watches you get settled silently, grateful you seem happy to see him. Mindlessly, your finger reaches out to swipe at the frosting of one of the cakes, and you lick it with anticipation before your eyes shine with satisfaction.

"Yummy! So, you'll be helping me out today?" You grin, and Rin huffs, crossing his arms over his sweater. You note that his hair looks fluffier in the warm golden light of the kitchen, and his demeanor seems to soften at the sight of your smile.

"Yeah... Nii-chan is busy, like always, so I... I just don't want you to be alone."

You pause at his words, and his honesty cuts a little closer to your heart than you want to admit. You let your hands fall in your lap, taking a moment to let his confession sink in.

He doesn't want you to be alone.

"...thank you."

Rin's eyes widen a fraction when you scoot your stool closer to his, but his attention is quickly redirected when you pull a plate towards the two of you to begin—the air is tinged with the sweet smell of sugar and fruit, the atmosphere is domestic and calm, and Rin finds himself melting into the moment.

The next hour is filled with the two of you trying a variety of cakes. There were nearly thirty plates on the surface of the table, all spongy soft, decorated with heaps of creamy frosting, and layered expertly.

Rin wants nothing but to be good company for you, but he's not quite sure how to. He grew up with only one person close in age to him, and that was Sae. He didn't have any friends, only his nii-chan. But as they got older, the rift between them grew until it was an ocean—one Rin was sure to drown in if he ever tried to cross it. Losing his brother like that made Rin's heart retreat, and he's never made a connection with someone after Sae. He knows he doesn't talk much, and he's not as interesting as his brother, but...

"Rin, you're spacing out again!"

He's snapped out of his trance when you call his name, turning to see you laughing as you hold a spoonful of cake to his lips. Rin blinks owlishly before mumbling a sheepish apology under his breath and scooting closer to you.

"You want me to try this one?" He questions with a raised brow, and you nod enthusiastically.

"This one is really good! The cake is so tender, like a cloud on my tongue, and the chocolate is super rich. But, if you ask me, these strawberry wedges in the frosting are the best part." You grin, and Rin makes an attempt to smile in return—it's wobbly and unsure, but it feels right to smile at you.

He parts his lips for you, and you feed the bite to him. The realization that your mouth had been on the very same spoon makes him clamp down on the spoon in embarrassment, but then his taste buds get a feel of the cake, and his eyes widen a bit.

"Oh... this is really good."

"I know!"

After that, you feed him every bite right after your own. The sheer variety of cakes is what surprised you the most—there was dark chocolate, coconut cream, peppermint, honey lavender, and toasted coconut—all made with love and dedication. All made for you. Your chest feels warm and light at the thought.

Finally, there was one slice of cake left untouched. Tucking a leg under you, you reach across the table to grab it, pulling it towards you and Rin .

"This one is called Blackberry Elderflower," you comment, taking the label off the plate as Rin's brows furrow in thought.

"It looks okay, but I'm not sure if it can beat our first-place cake." Rin says firmly, and you can't help but laugh at the accusatory glare he offers the slice of cake in front of you.

"It was delicious! It had the perfect balance of sweetness, and those strawberries were heaven-sent, I'm sure of it." You grin, and Rin grunts in response, nodding his head.

Rin is the one to reach for the spoon this time. He carefully slices into the cake before bringing the bite to your mouth, hovering it over your lips before speaking.

"Remember, this is the last flavor. Savor the taste and consider it carefully—what we think about this one decides the final cake." Rin says, and when you nod with parted lips, he places the bite in your mouth and watches you carefully.

"Hmm. Alright, your turn."

You take the spoon gently from his grasp and dig it into the cake. Despite being perfectly capable of feeding himself each bite, Rin made no move to stop you.

His tongue darts out in anticipation, and he chews slowly once it's in his mouth. You try and fight back your smile as you watch his eyes suddenly widen, almost comically so. Rin's lips twist into a scowl as he's left completely appalled that another flavor actually managed to beat the chocolate cake you two were initially infatuated with.

"This is delicious." he mumbles in defeat.

"Uh huh! This is the one."

You're smiling again, picking up the cake's label and flipping it over to read the list of ingredients neatly printed on the back. Your legs swing back and forth on the stool you're sitting on, and Rin takes a moment to look at you. Really look at you. He only has to blink once before coming to his undoubtable conclusion.

Sae is really stupid sometimes.

If it was Rin marrying you instead—good gods, he'd abandon everything for you. He would take such good care of you; he knew he would. Truthfully, he was ready to bend his own body backwards and break every bone he possessed if it meant he'd get to see you smile. It took his breath away every time—because your smile gave him hope like no other.

Your cheeks are round and full with cake, and you let out a pleased hum as you swallow. Rin can't tear his gaze away from you—you're so close and just... there. It's impossible for him to do anything else but admire you. You're sitting close, close enough where if he shifts, his knee would bump against yours under the table.

You turn to look at Rin, and he's already looking at you.

His gaze is sharp, intense in a way that you haven't seen before. Not since...

He murmurs your name quietly, almost ashamed of himself, almost, and your heart leaps to your throat in an instant when his hands twitch in his lap, reaching for your face.

His fingers are soft and hesitant as they brush against your jaw silently in question. When you make no move of protest, stilling and watching him with round eyes instead, his index finger nudges your jaw towards him before he cups your cheek so tenderly that you nearly shiver.

"Rin..." you whisper, and he only tugs you closer. Rin's eyes are filled with a desperation you haven't seen before—a hunger that hasn't been satiated in too long, and he's trying to stop himself from moving any further. His other hand grips the kitchen counter as if he's physically trying to ground himself.

His hold on you softens, and he's close enough to where his nose is just about to bump against your own. Rin swallows the lump in his throat and stares at you silently with his mind screaming at him, because he has never wanted something in his life before so badly.

"What are you doing?"

Sae's voice cuts through the air like a knife, and Rin lets go of you in an instant, reeling back like he'd been physically struck at the sound of his older brother's voice.

Sae stands in the doorway, one hand still perched on the door he'd just opened and his gaze trapped on the two of you. He squints, eyes narrowing and lips settling into a thin line before Rin suddenly moves away from you. His chair drags loudly against the floor as he does, and he looks upset.

If Rin's mad, you're not sure if it's at himself for letting it get this far or if it's at his brother for interrupting. Again.

Rin's murmuring under his breath about how there's somewhere he needs to be, pushing past Sae before he has a chance to even say anything, and moving straight for the exit. He's barely a blur of green before he's gone within seconds, leaving you and Sae alone in deafening silence.

Sae is still in his uniform. It's pressed as pristinely as usual, with his shimmering silver sword hanging low on his hip. He regards you silently before speaking up.

"Did you two decide on a flavor?"

If Sae's angry, he does a remarkable job at hiding it. His voice is just as even and calm as it always is, but there is something terrifying simmering in his gaze—something as hot as molten lava, and it's threatening to boil over. Your lips part, but when nothing comes out, you have to take a moment to collect yourself.

"Yes, but I... I'm sorry, I didn't—we were just—"

"Don't worry. Rin will get over his little crush on you soon enough."

Now you were stupefied. You stare at him, rendered speechless, and he stares back in silence. Sae makes a mental note of how you kind of look like Rin when he's about to cry—his brother would make the same face when they were younger. Parted lips, wide, glossy eyes—and since the one thing Sae absolutely cannot stand is crying, he sighs through his nose and looks away.

"Come with me."

He beckons you over with two fingers, and you practically scramble out of your seat to follow him. He's halfway down the hall when you're out the kitchen door—and you have to walk as quickly as you can to catch up. Keeping your head low, you don't say anything.

Sae stops short in front of his bedroom door, fishing out a small golden key from the breast pocket of his uniform before inserting it into the doorknob and opening the door. He holds it open for you, and you walk in silently, stiff as a board.

There were no personal touches in Sae's room. It's large, larger than your own room—and it feels even emptier, too. It was also spotless, but you expected nothing less of him. The moment Sae grabs your hand is sudden and you have no time to react before he places the key in the palm of your hand.

"This is the key to the master bedroom you and I will share. You can come here anytime before the wedding to move in all your stuff. I'm rarely ever home, so there's no need to worry about me getting in your way or anything like that."

His tone is clipped and sharp, leaving no room for negotiation. You nod your head slowly, turning the key over in the palm of your hand as you observe it. Sae walks over to his dresser, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a small, velvet box—he opens it a moment later before handing it over.

"This is for you."

You open it, and inside is the most beautiful ring you have ever seen. It has a thin golden band with an elegantly cut emerald gem resting on the hilt, one that glimmers spectacularly in the dim light.

"It should be to your liking. I had my royal advisor pick out the best one he could find." Sae hums, watching you carefully as you slip it onto your finger. The band alone must have cost a fortune; forget the gem—you can feel the sheer quality of it by touch alone.

"Thank you."

Your voice is a little breathless, your eyes weary, and your head bowed. Sae looks back towards his desk, where a number of scattered documents resided on top.

"Don't thank me. I didn't do anything."

Then again, with the riches Sae had, this ring probably meant nothing to him.

"All right, you can leave now."

Sae's back is turned towards you a moment later, and he busies himself with the documents on his desk. The way he doesn't spare you even a glance more lets you know just how important Sae found you in the moment. You stand there for a moment, swallowing the lump in your throat and holding the small velvet box close to your chest.

He hears you shift behind him as you start heading towards the door. Your brows are bunched together, and a plethora of emotions explode in your chest. You're confused with his reaction to you and Rin's proximity, angry at his constant avoidance, and just... sad.

You take your leave quietly, but Sae's voice, softer than you've ever heard before, catches you on the way out.

"Good night."

You don't have the strength to respond without your voice breaking, so you close the door quietly instead.

Maybe you should feel more remorse for feeling nothing for Sae and everything for his brother. But you yearned for Rin. Quietly, passionately, and undoubtably.

Sae didn't understand the way either of you felt—he thought Rin's feelings for you were some form of a minor crush, but you knew it wasn't as simple as that. It never had been.

Sae may not have known it, but he didn't stand a chance with you since the night you first met Rin.

flashback ⋆˙⟡

You had arrived at their family's magnificent manor in a simple satin gown, a bowed head, and a broken heart.

Initially, you had no idea what the Itoshis looked like, didn't even know their names, and spent most of the evening indulging in mindless chatter and eating small pastries instead of getting to know your betrothed. It seems like he wasn't interested in marrying you either, since he never bothered to come down and introduce himself.

No one stayed with you, mingling throughout the party and getting drunk on different sparkling drinks instead, and you found yourself gliding down the long halls of the Itoshi manor like a ghost. You walked with no destination in mind until you heard the gentle melody of someone playing the piano. Magically, at that.

The angelic sound seemed like a safe haven for you in the perpetually dark night, and you followed the music with tentative steps.

Soon, you found yourself in front of a tall, oak door and bowed your head through the frame to peer inside. A strand of hair fell in front of your eyes, and you pushed it away before your gaze fell onto the boy playing the piano inside. You couldn't see his face, only his back faced you. Pale, slender fingers play the instrument in front of him like it was his destiny, and after all the rage and heartbreak you felt throughout the day leading up to that night—a rare serenity of calm filled the empty hollowness in your chest, warming you entirely.

The boy looks to be about your age, and he remained entirely entranced by the piano in front of him as the pads of his fingertips danced—you watched his skilled fingers perform stunningly for no one at all. Well, besides you—but Rin didn't know you had been watching him. Not until he heard you sit on the piano stool beside him, smiling shyly with eyes twinkling in the dim moonlight that spilled through the glass panes.

His heart skipped a traitorous beat when you asked him to teach you how to play. His lips parted, as if you'd rendered him speechless. And you had.

"I... who are you?"

"No one important. Tell me, what's your name?" You questioned softly, curious eyes peering up at Rin with a shine he'd never once seen before. He tells you his name and asks you for yours in return before repeating it to himself quietly.

Rin didn't tell you how he forbade everyone, even his own family, from entering his music room. He merely slid a few inches over to give you more room and explained the history of how the piano came to be before placing his palm and fingers over yours.

Rin taught you a simple tune he came up with on the spot that night. It only spanned a few keys and held a slow tempo so you could follow along easily, but it was inspired entirely by the feeling he felt in his chest the moment he saw you smile at him.

He held his breath as he watched you play on your own only an hour later, a rare smile gracing his features. There was something about the way you treated his piano, careful fingers pressing down on the keys like they were glass—like they were alive and you were afraid to hurt them—before the tension eased and ebbed out of your form with time.

You'd arrived at the ball at six and spent a little under an hour at the actual event. You had spent the rest of the night with Rin's hands splayed over yours.

Sae was late to his own party for no reason in particular, arriving in a pristine suit and his bright pink hair gelled and styled for the occasion. To say he was intrigued to learn you'd been missing for the majority of the party from your mother and father's panicked expression was an understatement.

The first ten minutes with you gone? Sure, it made sense. You could have been in the bathroom or in line to get some sort of refreshment. After thirty minutes, he decided maybe you're out getting fresh air on the manor's balcony, or perhaps you're strolling through the gardens and giving the forgotten flowers outside some much needed attention. But once your time being missing hit the hour mark, his mother approached him and told Sae to go get his brother, who also hadn't come down in a while.

Sae knocked on Rin's music room door twice, tapping his foot impatiently outside as he thought about your whereabouts. Perhaps you did go to the manor's balcony for some fresh air, but maybe you fell off the twenty-foot railing and were lying dead somewhere. For some reason, the thought doesn't seem to stir much of anything in his chest.

He realized he'd been waiting outside the door for far too long and twisted the doorknob with an impatience he didn't usually allow himself to feel.

It took Sae a moment to understand the sight in front of him. Rin, smiling softly with his hand over yours, and you—hair pinned back to reveal lovely eyes and painted lips stretched into a smile so magnificent that Sae actually had to blink in order to confirm the graceful sight was indeed real.

And then it just clicked. Neither of you saw him, neither of you recognized the true identity of each other, so he took a step inside. The tension in the air shifted, and finally, you noticed him.

"Rin, just what do you think you're doing with my wife?"

When it came to avoiding people he didn't want to talk to, Rin had the qualifications of a professional. His lean frame allowed him to push through crowds of people easily without making a disturbance, and he was sneaky—taking advantage of all the spots he used as a kid when playing hide-and-seek with his brother to seemingly vanish into thin air whenever you got too close.

It wasn't that Rin wanted to avoid you; no, that wasn't it at all. He was just sure that he wouldn't be able to hold himself back if he saw you again. It didn't make sense how someone like you could end up with someone like Sae—it was absurd and horribly unfitting.

He's been doing his best to fill his time with things that don't remind him of you, but it's difficult. Dueling with the guards isn't helpful because he finds himself getting distracted and tripping over his own feet when he gets a glimpse of you passing by in one of the manor's windows above, sitting in on Sae's meetings is far too boring for him, and all the servants in the manor were busy preparing for the wedding—everywhere he turned, he was surrounded by the mere mention of your name, and it was maddening.

Accepting the fact that he can't not think about you, Rin makes the decision to expand the song he taught you the first night you two met.

He'd spent the majority of his day in his music room, playing and scribbling down every note on his sheet as the song progressed and grew into something beautiful—he was spinning the little melody he taught you that day into a full number that was playable, and he imagined himself performing it for you one day.

Maybe you'd lean your head on his shoulder while he played, or maybe you'd ask him to teach you the song—both possibilities are enticing, and Rin can't help but wish they were true.

There's something wrong with him. He shouldn't be thinking of playing the piano for you—he shouldn't be thinking of you at all. But there's no point in even attempting to stop himself, you'll intrude on his thoughts whether he likes it or not.

"You're so stupid," Rin mumbles to himself, pulling the piano cover down and resting his cheek against the cool surface with a sigh. The song was done now, he'd played it over more times than he could count and until his fingers ached—but it was ready.

He uses his pen to write your name in the title spot at the top of the sheet, and after looking around to absolutely ensure his brother wasn't hiding somewhere in the shadows, Rin draws a small heart right beside your name.

It's as if every time Rin does anything regarding you, Sae emerges from the depths of hell itself to find him, and the sharp bangs that sound against Rin's door a second later seem to confirm his suspicions.

"Rin! Shit, get out of there now, we have a big fucking problem—"

Rin stuffs the sheet in his music folder in an instant, kicking back his feet and getting off the piano stool within another second before swinging open the music room's door.

Sae is standing on the other side, and Rin can immediately tell something is wrong. The bags under his brother's eyes are heavier and more prominent than usual, and his hair is a bit of a mess, seemingly because of how much he'd been running his hands through the pink strands.

Rin has never seen his brother look like this. Sae was the calm one, the one more composed than everyone else in the room, and the one who had absolute control. But now, seeing his brother's clenched jaw, the frenzied look in his eyes, and the incoherent words he mutters under his breath as he drags Rin by the elbow and back into the music room has him dumbstruck.

"Nii-chan, stop. What the hell happened?" Rin hisses, tugging his arm out of Sae's grasp as the latter slams the door shut behind him. Sae knows how much Rin despises having other people in his music room, so the fact that he disregards that fact entirely and barges in anyway lets Rin know his brother isn't in the right state of mind.

"The wedding's off—I made a big fucking mistake. Her parents are going to demand she go back home, there's no doubt. And when that happens, we're going to lose our biggest trading partner yet. I don't know what—"

"Off? What the hell are you talking about? What did you do?" Rin snaps, watching Sae's fists coil harder—and before his brother can punch something out of rage—Rin stands in front of him and grabs hold of his shoulders.

"You need to tell me what you did. How am I supposed to help if you won't tell me what's going on?" Rin questions, and Sae pushes his brother off roughly, looking away in anger. His brows are pinched together, and it takes him a moment to get the words out, but they're as clear as day once they leave his lips.

"I got another woman pregnant."

Rin stills, and for the first time in his entire life, he sees the heat of regret in his older brother's gaze.

"I don't even know who it was. Whoever it is—she left the baby on the goddamn doorstep of the manor and fled. There's only some shitty note left behind telling me to deal with it. Shit, I'll find that woman and kill her if I have to. Who the hell does that?" Sae murmurs, more to himself than to Rin, as he sits down on his piano stool with an exhausted sigh.

"Who's going to raise it? The servants can't, it needs an actual mother of royal lineage—all the women I had relations with were lower class, never noblewomen—it will be virtually impossible to find a new wife that would accept a boy who isn't a hundred percent royalty, not when we're about to lose our biggest trading partner yet. I have my month-long trip to Spain two days after the wedding is supposed to happen—I can't miss that either, it's too important." Sae sighs, and Rin stares at his brother, speechless.

"You don't know who the mother of this child is?" is all Rin can manage to say as Sae shakes his head no.

Wordlessly, Rin sits beside Sae on the piano stool. He stares hard at the ground, and Sae sits beside him with his head in his hands. He was obviously stressed out, but Rin has nothing to say. This was his older brother's fault—and he had messed up badly.

Unbeknownst to them, on the other half of the manor, you're peering into the small bundle lying in one of the servant's arms—you can already tell what's going on. The baby has a full head of unmistakable pink hair, and everyone around you is panicking.

"Can I hold it?"

She looks up at you suddenly with wide eyes, smiling hesitantly while using her free hand to pat your shoulder comfortingly.

"Of course, dear. Are you feeling alright with all this?" The woman questions softly, and while her touch is gentle, her eyes are concerned. You shrug wordlessly, smiling at the baby in her arms.

"I'm not sure what to feel right now. But this baby didn't do anything wrong, so I'd like to hold it. Though I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. Do you know which it is?"

"It's a boy." She says softly, lowering the baby into your arms as you hum.

He looks just like Sae. With delicate pale skin, tiny green eyes, and a little frown tugging down his lips—you know in your heart that this was his son.

You don't know what's going to happen now—you were never given a choice with this wedding, but you know there was no world where your parents would have you marry Sae knowing he had been seeing other women casually enough to produce a baby.

For now, you simply snuggle the little bundle closer to your chest with a quiet sigh, pressing your body further into the cushions of the couch as the sound of chaos around you turns to static.

It's been nearly a week since the surprising arrival of the Itoshi heir, and the day of the wedding was only getting closer. Unfortunately, it seemed like the entire manor was buzzing with panic and stress.

Mr. and Mrs. Itoshi have already formally apologized to you, but you had yet to see Sae. There was no time to inform your family back at home about the news, because by the time they received the letter that the wedding needed to be called off, they would already be here at the manor for the wedding. There was absolutely nothing that could be done to stop them in time.

Right now, you're rocking the baby boy back and forth in your arms, humming quietly and yawning to yourself, wondering what Rin must be up to.

There was a chance he'd attend the emergency council meeting scheduled for tonight after dinner to figure out what to do with the baby and you—you'll have to finally face Sae, but you're almost... relieved you don't have to marry him. Yes, of course the entire situation was disastrous—but while everyone around you seemed to be spiraling because of the news, you found yourself able to catch your breath for once.

"How can such a cute baby cause so much chaos..." you mumble to yourself as his nimble little fingers play with one of your bracelets. You wondered when he'd get a proper name and who would take care of him when you ended up leaving—the reminder that you had to go also reminded you that you'd have to leave Rin behind, too.

Rin. You'd remember him forever.

You arrive to the meeting early, since you didn't have much else to do after lulling the baby to sleep. The meeting room in the Itoshi manor is lavish and large, designed with high ceilings and glass panes that shimmered in the sunlight. There are about fifteen chairs lining both sides of the long table, each cushioned and empty. Well, besides Sae's seat, where at least a dozen envelopes and a hundred documents were laid out in front of him. He hasn't noticed you yet, too busy with the mountain of work in front of him, but when you place the ring box he'd given you in front of him, he looks up.

"It's okay," you start before he can say anything, and you watch his body stiffen at your words before he sighs. He rubs a tired hand across his forehead before speaking.

"I stopped when I knew you and I were arranged to get married. I just didn't think..." he trails off, and you can hear the bitter resentment in his voice.

"It's okay." You say more firmly this time, before awkwardly patting his shoulder in an attempt to soothe him. Sae looks up and watches you with narrowed eyes, silently questioning if you were some sort of a saint. He half expected you to slap him, yell at him, something, but you just stood there in front of him, quiet and in deep thought.

"I don't know what will happen," you start, and he raises his eyes to meet your gaze as you continue.

"—but I know you're under a lot of stress. You work very hard; I've only ever seen you working since I've arrived, so I hope your council finds a solution that works for us both." You conclude, and as the others begin to enter the meeting room, you don't wait to hear Sae's response before you move to take your seat.

The royal council members are the first to arrive in a hurry. They're discussing a number of things as they find their seats and immediately recapture Sae's attention, swarming him. A few relatives enter the room with Mr. and Mrs. Itoshi before Rin finally makes an appearance.

He seems a bit overwhelmed by all the noise and people clamoring into one room, and your heart rate quickens at the sight of him. Rin looks even more handsome than usual, sporting a dark sweater that complemented his hair and a simple pair of pants to match. You can see his gaze sweeping over the room before it lands on you, and his back straightens once he sees you.

Maybe Rin sees the silent plea in your eyes, the need to not be alone, because his feet shift towards your direction before he moves and takes the empty seat right next to you. He doesn't say hello, and neither do you—but having Rin next to you is more comfort than you could have hoped for in a time like this.

You try your best not to look at him, but your body betrays you, and your gaze finds him anyway. Rin looks up the same moment you do—bringing about a single second of the most intense eye contact of your life before you both look away in embarrassment a second later. Sae watches the entire scene unfold in front of him with his brows pinched together in thought.

You were three years younger than Sae and two years younger than Rin. You were all in the same general age range—but Sae knew he had much more real-world experience than you and Rin did combined. You, being a girl, and Rin being the youngest, just meant you were naturally both sheltered and innocent. Unfortunately, Sae was forced to grow up quicker, and he knew how horrible the world could be.

Sae cared more for Rin than he let on. Of course he knew he could have had his brother marry you instead—truthfully, it would have made his life easier. But Sae had no idea what kind of person you were. If you were anything like the royal women he knew, you'd be a snob: you'd be selfish, unkind, and have your own personal agenda—all the things he didn't want Rin to encounter. Sae had no interest in subjecting his brother to such filth. He knew he was heartless, but Rin's heart bruised far too easily.

You were different than what Sae expected. He wanted to find something about you to criticize or to frown upon. Something he could flesh out and show Rin saying, 'Look, she's not good for you.'

But when Sae watches his little brother's sly attempt to hold your hand under the table without anyone noticing, he can only sigh quietly in resignation.

"Alright, let's get this meeting started. There are a few major things we can clear now, so let's do that."

Quickly, the murmurs of everyone's prior conversations faded as Sae cleared his throat and stood up.

"The wedding doesn't need to be called off," he starts, walking around the table as his royal advisor quickly raises his hand with an exasperated sigh.

"Sir, with all due respect, there's absolutely no possibility her parents will allow you to—"

"That's not what I'm saying. The wedding will continue, but it won't be mine."

Sae rounds the table, approaching you and Rin with relaxed steps. Rin feels you go rigid in his hold, and he does the same once Sae comes and stands behind you two. Before either of you can react, Sae's hand is under the table and snapping around Rin's wrist—pulling it out from under the table as he holds up your intertwined hands for everyone to see.

The look of absolute mortification on Rin's face almost makes him smile.

"It's a good option. We'll have these two think about it and let us know what they decide later, but it'll most likely work out. I'll allow it, since these two can't seem to keep their hands to themselves or their eyes off of each other. It's disgusting how obsessed they are with one another."

You and Rin look towards Sae, identical faces of absolute bafflement: you both stare at the elder with wide eyes, flushing with embarrassment at his bold move. Sae doesn't spare either of you another glance as he turns towards the other council members, who mumble their agreement at the prospect.

Sae lets your intertwined hands go before heading back to his seat. You don't dare to look at Rin now—you always knew there was a possibility of you marrying him, but you never thought it would actually come to pass. Now you needed to talk to Rin more than ever before anything was confirmed. He sits there, stiff as a board and silent just like you, but he doesn't let go of your hand. If anything, his grip tightens just the slightest bit.

A serious look crosses over Sae's face as he sits back down, and everyone seems to be holding their breath as they wait for Sae to address the real issue at hand.

"The boy... he's going to be a problem. No one will marry me knowing I have a half-blood son. I'm sure you all know how picky people are with keeping their royal bloodline pure and all that. But that means he won't have a mother, and I won't be here often enough to raise him."

The murmuring starts again at once, concerned whispers flooding the room instantly as everyone tries to come up with some sort of a solution. Suddenly, a voice from the back rises.

"Could we put it up for adoption?"

There's an uproar of protest as everyone turns to the voice in bewilderment. The council member sinks into their seat with embarrassment, apologizing profusely for even suggesting the idea—but Sae doesn't seem bothered by it at all. His chin is perched on his fist, and he merely sighs before leaning back in his chair.

"It's a possibility if we can't come up with a solution. Stop being so rowdy and give me a better idea instead of complaining."

Some people were suggesting having the boy be raised by the servants in the manor, but Sae was insistent on making sure he had a proper mother and father. Mr. and Mrs. Itoshi were too old to take care of a baby—so that was out of the options, too.

You and Rin could take care of it. If anyone's thinking it, no one has the courage to voice it. Sae considers the idea silently as everyone discusses solutions noisily around him. He knows he can't speak the possibility into existence yet—he didn't even know how Rin would react to possibly marrying you; it seemed like too much to dump a baby into the picture too. Sae was running out of options, that was certain, but he wasn't going to force anything onto Rin until you two had talked.

Sae glances up to look at you and Rin. Both of you sit side by side, with neither of you speaking. Rin's brows are furrowed, and he seems to be in deep thought. You look nervous, peering up every few minutes with a small frown at every obnoxious suggestion said in regard to what to do with the baby. At some point, Rin's hold on your hand had become considerably tense, and you brushed your thumb over the back of his hand in an attempt to comfort him.

There was also the possibility that Rin didn't want to marry you. The entire situation was becoming far too messy, and you could feel yourself sinking further and further into your seat. After another hour of arguing that led to nowhere, Sae ended the meeting curtly and stated there would be another meeting some other time. Now that everyone had been dismissed, they were beginning to file out of the meeting room to leave. You look over at Rin hesitantly, only to find he was staring at Sae. You couldn't make out his expression nor what it meant.

"Do you want to talk to him, Rin?" you question softly, and Rin swallows the lump in his throat before nodding slowly. You gently pull your hand out of his grasp; his touch lingers on you for a second longer before you pull away completely, and you blend into the crowd a moment later and disappear out the exit with everyone else, leaving Rin and Sae alone.

You had absolutely no idea what would happen now.

Marrying Rin? It almost sounded too good to be true. But what would happen to Sae's son? There were far too many factors to consider.

With not much else to do, you found yourself walking down the manor's hallways in an attempt to try and clear your head. There was an inordinate amount of things going on, and you needed to take a step back and think about what you wanted to do.

You liked Rin. You liked him a lot. But you had no idea how he felt—you two had never once discussed what was between you, and you can imagine he must feel just as conflicted as you did. You knew there was something between you two, but would Rin ever want to go further?

It wasn't an appropriate time to go look for Rin now. The sun had set hours ago, and it felt like the manor was asleep with the lack of people you saw in the halls. With no other idea on what to do, you head back to your room.

You would just have to find Rin tomorrow. Getting ready for bed, your movements feel more sluggish and slow than usual. There's a gnawing feeling in your chest that won't go away—telling you that you're not going to be able to sleep peacefully until you talk to Rin. You're not sure how you'll be able to rest with so many issues untied, but there didn't seem to be anything you could do about it now.

Rin was most likely asleep now since it was so late. You could knock on his door and check since he was only a few rooms down, but you quickly shake away the thought with a sigh. Slowly, you untie your hair from your usual updo, take off your makeup, and slip into a simple nightgown. The soft fabric hugs you in a warm embrace, and after brushing out your hair, you walk towards your bedside table to blow out your candle when you hear a sound.

It's muffled and soft, so quiet you almost miss it at first. You don't move, listening closely to see if you can hear it again, and just when you think it's gone away, it starts up once again.

Slowly, you lower yourself onto your knees and allow your head to dip low enough where you can press your ear against the floor. You hear it much clearer now; the gentle vibrations coming from Rin's piano are as distinct as they are marvelous—blending together as naturally as watercolors.

The revelation that Rin was awake in the music room right beneath you is startling.

You've never heard him play at this time of night before. The melody he strings together has you sinking onto the ground completely, and the sound of his music is just as soothing and magical as you'd remembered. You picture Rin's slender fingers moving about the piano as artfully as they did the night you first met him, and you let yourself stay on the floor for a few minutes longer to listen.

By the time he starts up his next song, you've already grabbed your candlestick and started your path downstairs towards his music room.

There was no way you'd be able to sleep knowing Rin was awake—there was no use in even trying, because you were sure you'd end up staying awake to listen to him play anyway. Your footsteps are hurried and purposeful, and while you're not entirely sure what you'll say to Rin once you find him, you know you can't wait any longer to see him.

You open the door as quietly as you can, slipping inside and gently locking it behind you. You watch Rin's fingers come to a slow stop, and you move forward until you're standing right beside his piano stool. You're holding your breath, clasping your hands together nervously as he turns to look at you.

"Hi, Rin." You offer with a hesitant smile.

"...Hello."

He moves over wordlessly to make space for you to sit beside him, and you make sure to keep a little more distance than usual between you two once you're seated, only because you're not sure how Rin felt. His response is immediate—brows pulling together as his lips tug into a small frown, but he doesn't say anything, just quietly watching as you carefully place your candle on the edge of his piano's top.

The warm glow of the candle highlights every feature of yours in a fiery gold, and Rin's eyes widen a bit when he sees your hair is down. You're in a simple nightgown and not wearing any makeup either, and he's positive his heart is stuck in his throat. The soft curve of your cheek looks far too kissable in the candlelight, and he inhales sharply when you finally turn to look at him.

"I heard you playing from my room and couldn't ignore it." You smile, and Rin makes a small sound of embarrassment in the back of his throat once he realizes he must have kept you awake. Before he has the chance to apologize, you speak up.

"I wanted to talk to you either way; I don't think I'd be able to sleep until I did. But if it's too late for you, or if I'm interrupting—"

"No—no, I just... came here to clear my head. Couldn't sleep either." He mumbles quickly, discreetly moving the music sheet with your name written at the top back into his folder and out of your sight as you smile, relieved. Rin notices it doesn't reach your eyes, and he tries his best to mask his concern. His brother always told Rin he had a horrible poker face, so Rin does his best to school his expression into something neutral.

"Do you want to marry me?"

Okay, maybe Rin would have been able to appear as calm and collected as Sae usually does if you hadn't asked him that question outright. He becomes flustered in an instant, stammering as the tips of his ears turn a bright shade of red. He tries to string together enough words to form a coherent sentence, but after an entire ten seconds of stuttering, he simply clamps his mouth shut to avoid any further embarrassment before he takes a steadying breath.

"Yes."

You lean back a bit at his words, almost as if you weren't expecting them.

Rin's never been good with communicating how he felt. He often found himself retreating when his emotions got too overwhelming or confusing—facing them head-on was something he's always struggled with, but he wants nothing more than to lay his heart bare for you to understand. He watched his brother slip away because they couldn't talk, couldn't voice their thoughts when they were upset, and Rin didn't want to lose you because of his inability to trust—so he tries his best.

"I feel happy when I'm around you, it's as simple as that. I would never say yes unless I knew what I wanted—I was... I was mad at myself when I found out you were marrying nii-chan. It wasn't something I wanted. I'm not well versed with all the business stuff he does, and I know he's in a tight spot, but he would never ask me to marry someone I didn't want to. We can figure this out together, you and I—there's really no one else I'd rather be with than you."

Are you sure, Rin?

Rin had said yes to his brother then, and he's saying yes to you now. He's never been more sure of anything in his life. His future, his hopes, and his dreams all depended on what you said now.

You're already looking at Rin when he looks up to meet your gaze. Your eyes are glossy, and your smile is just as sweet as he remembered it to be. He can't stop his lips from twitching at the sight—can't stop looking at your lips at all. And when you lean forward, you can just barely hear the hitch in his breath.

"Can I kiss you?"

You whisper the question softly, but Rin doesn't have the strength to respond. Instead, he leans forward to meet your lips. They brush over your own once, tentatively, before his hand moves to cradle your face. Carding his free hand through your hair, his mouth molds against yours.

The kiss was gentle and timid, undoubtedly imbued with every bit of love you and Rin felt for each other, and there wasn't a single other place either of you would rather be than in each other's hold.

seven years later ⋆˙⟡

Akio stands outside his parents's bedroom door, shifting from one foot to the other before turning to look at his two younger siblings behind him. Haru and Akie are yawning, still clutching onto their blankets and stuffed animals tiredly, but they smile lazily as they peer up at their older brother.

"I can't believe you two followed me." Akio huffs, irritated, but Akie merely nuzzles into her older brother's arm with a yawn.

"You were loud. And we wanted to come!"

"Let me go in first. You guys can come in after, kay?"

The pair nods, and Akio slips into the bedroom as quietly as he can, letting the door click close behind him. It's already six am—there was a chance you and Rin were still tired, but the little pink-haired boy was ready to start his day. Slowly, he approaches the bed, poking your cheek once to confirm you're asleep before huffing and lifting one leg up and over the bed.

He crawls onto the heap of blankets, squeezing himself into the small spot between you and Rin on the bed easily as the latter stirs in his sleep. You must sense the little boy, because your eyes flutter open a moment later.

"Oh, good morning." You smile with a sleepy giggle, pressing a gentle kiss onto Akio's cheek as he huffs, snuggling into your side.

"Ma, it's six already. I can't believe you guys are still sleeping." The little boy murmurs, turning to look at Rin with a scowl—adorably appalled at the peaceful expression gracing his features.

"You're an early bird—but me and your papa like to sleep in. He's very tired, you know?"

Akio mumbles something into your chest, winding his arms around you in a bear hug as he pokes Rin's stomach with his foot.

"Dad's going to teach me how to make eggs for you. And the twins. But I really just want to make them for you."

You laugh quietly, but the sound is still enough to wake up Rin. Akio quickly rolls off of you, poking Rin's cheek with his finger as he slowly begins to wake up.

"Wake up, lazy."

"Go away."

Akio winds his arms around Rin either way right after, and you watch Rin tiredly pat the boy hanging off his back. The door creaks open a little further, and you see your twins heads poke through right after. Rin finally manages a small smile, sitting up and pressing a kiss to your forehead before beckoning the rest of the children inside.

They come in squealing, immediately hopping onto the bed and climbing onto you and Rin. Your husband yawns, circling his arms around any kid he could get his hands on while closing his eyes.

You pepper everyone's faces in good morning kisses, and after Akio's made sure he's disrupted you and Rin's sleep enough, he drags himself and the twins outside to brush their teeth and get ready for the day. Once they're out, you bring the blanket around you closer and brush your nose against Rin's.

"Hi."

"Hi, pretty."

Rin's touch is gentle as he cradles your cheek, and you both spend a moment simply staring at each other, admiring the face you've come to love more than life itself. He pulls you into his chest, breathing you in as you slump tiredly into his embrace.

He taps his pointer finger against your waist slowly, and every tap was to the rhythm of the song he'd made for you so many years ago—just as he did every morning.

a/n: oh my god...it's done...hollllyyyyYYY MOLY this took me a while but yay i'm so happy with it!! :D sae's kind of a deadbeat i'm sowwyyy 😞 rin and reader are happily married and sae's prospering overseas and doing business :p maybe one day he'll settle down, but who knows!! thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed it :))

tags: @rroxii @tsukimoon-chan @rainychi2 @cheriiepies @jukiamae @hotdogkongmalaki @theogfruitl00psmunch3r @danhoneyyysblog @mfreedomstuff @introspectiveintroverthere @ocean-mochi @kajironunaji @minasgirl @jiavirie @literallyn0ne @ankol-heap @ysvanielle 

[hellsquills]

Not luck, not fate, but a secret third thing (you)

Some sea grunks, resurfaced memories and bittersweet confessions. Good-old hurt/comfort, enjoy!

● ⊛ ◯ ⑧ ◯ ⊛ ●

It's a nice autumn afternoon on the coast of Salvador, Brazil, but Stanford Pines is a little too busy to notice. This time it isn't because he's nose deep in a book or asleep on top of his desk from pulling an all-nighter. Nope, Stanford's full attention is focused on picking the perfect gift for his niblings in this gigantic toy store.

In his defense, the store is indecently big. How many kinds of toys have been invented in the last three decades? Too many, that's for sure. Many of them are just copies of copies of copies of old tabletop games that they used to draw themselves on paper or make up with a simple deck of cards. Very few of them seem original enough to be worth the money, and even those don't catch Stanford's eye. In addition, who's to say the kids can't find those same games on the Internet? It seems like that place has everything.

He sighs. He has lost track of time, surely Stan has already picked his gift. He's good at gift-giving, more than his grumpy façade will let him admit, and he has known the kids since birth. As much as Ford wants to try and think of something by himself, he needs help. Not an answer though— he'll just ask him a couple of questions to rule out some options, and then he'll go back to his solo search for the perfect game.

Walking down the stairs to the first floor, Ford is delighted to see his brother immediately— the last thing he needed was having to navigate the swarm of customers until he found him. He walks up to where he is; he's turned around, but he seems to be checking out some stuffed toys. Ford ponders whether he should've started there, but given the apparent infinite amount of plushies both kids have, he had ruled out this option first. Maybe he'll revisit it later.

“Hello. What are you looking at?” Ford asks in a low voice, not wanting to startle him. He stands to his right and looks at the object in Stan's hands: an 8-ball. Not even an electronic version —seemed like that was the fate of every toy these days—, but an actual, classic —or maybe now old-fashioned— 8-ball. Ford smiles at the familiarity.

“An 8-ball? Really? It didn't even cross my mind. Do the kids like this type of artifact?” He looks up at Stan, and his smile drops. Stan's eyes are fixed on the ball, but they're vacant. Something's brewing in his mind. “Stanley, can you hear me?”

A blink is all the response he gets. Ford feels the familiar anxiety rising in his stomach, but he pushes it aside for later. Now it's not the time.

Step 1: Repeat what you said, a little louder.

“Stanley, can you hear me?”

Step 2: Make some slight movement in his peripherals.

Ford lifts his hand slowly, and waves softly around.

Step 3: Get into his field of vision.

Since he can't physically stand in front of him, Ford slowly reaches for the 8-ball, pulling slightly to see if his twin will react. With no resistance, he takes the toy away and puts it on the shelf next to the other magic balls. Stan lowers his now empty hands and lazily blinks away his thoughts. Ford exhales, thanking his luck for not having to go through step 4, and waits for his brother to do his usual routine post-remembering something.

Some more blinking. Eyes more focused. A little head movement, from the front to the left, and then to the right. Acknowledgement of his surroundings. His hands find each other, rubbing small circles on his left one. Now, Ford may intervene.

“Stanley, can you hear me now?” he asks in a soft voice.

Stan turns to him. He looks lost, but present. He nods.

“Do you know where you are? Who I am?”

“Yeah, yeah. Ehm— I'm Stanley Pines, you're my twin brother Stanford, and we're sailing together around the world. It's 2014. I— we have two niblings, Mabel and Dipper, and we...” He closes his eyes tightly before opening them again. “We were looking for some gifts for them.”

Ford smiles and confidently puts his hand on Stan's shoulder, relief washing over him as he looks at Stan's now fully focused gaze. “Exactly right. Great recollection.” He looks at the ball on the shelf. “I suppose a new memory surfaced. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really, and not now. We have to find a gift for the kids.”

“The gift can wait until later. Let's go home and rest for a while. I told you you should've slept more this morning, you were tossing and turning all night.”

“Ugh, fine. Only if you stop mother-henning me.”

“Good choice. Let's head home.”

● ⊛ ◯ ⑧ ◯ ⊛ ●

“Do you want to talk about the memory?” Ford asks, handing the other a cup of hot chocolate.

“It's not that important, honestly.”

“You were paralyzed in the middle of the shop. Only the important memories render you motionless, otherwise you would've simply had a headache.”

“Yeah, I mean... It was nothing traumatic, really. Not like the last few ones, at least.”

“Well, it must be important regardless. Please, share it.”

Stan sighs. Ford smiles in response: after over a year together and dozens of returning memories, he has gotten to know Stan pretty well in moments of stress. As much as he complains and tries to push him away when he's down, Ford knows that Stan wants someone to share his thoughts with, even if it's just to get it out of his chest. The eldest enjoys being on the receiving end of such trust and never declines the opportunity to be of help. Even if that implies enduring Stan's dramatic demeanor every single time.

“Okay, it isn't that big of a deal.”

“You say that every single time.”

“This time I mean it. And don't say 'you also say that every time'.”

“I won't, then.”

“No, seriously. It's fine. I had an 8-ball like that on the Shack— well, a few, because tourists will buy anything. Anyways, the first day the kids arrived, I guess I didn't cause a good impression— which, you know, fair. But, um... after I closed the shop, I went upstairs to say goodnight to them, and... they were talking. About their first day there. Did you know the gnomes tried to make Mabel their queen?”

“Really? They haven't found one yet?”

“Why, did they try to get you?” Stan asks with a side smile.

“Oh, they sure tried. Fiddleford had to rescue me.”

“A hillbilly in shining armor, huh?”

“In shining mount, more like. He came into the clear screaming like a maniac, sitting in some sort of six-legged robot with a flamethrower. I've never seen so much rainbow puke at the same time, the gnomes were so scared that they promised never to bother me again.”

“Hah, I guess that explains why they'd hide from me whenever I went into the forest.”

“I suppose. But sorry about the interruption. Please, continue with your memory.”

Stan clicks his tongue, rolling his eyes. Ford smiles again. All for the drama.

“Where was I... right, I heard them talking when I went to say goodnight. So, they were talking about their first day in Gravity Falls, and how they didn't really... trust me much. Which, fair enough, I don't blame them. So Mabel had the idea to ask an 8-ball whether they should stay or run away, and... they ball said stay. So they did.”

“Well... that's lucky, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. But, you know, it kinda sucks that they really didn't know whether they wanted to stay with me or not.”

“Well, I suppose after being abducted by gnomes, they were somewhat frightened−”

“Nah, it wasn't that. The gnome stuff they thought it was fun. It was me who was the problem. And this isn't some self-deprecating thing or whatever, before you say that. I heard what they said, and they just didn't trust me. They stayed because of a stupid toy.”

Stan sighs, taking a sip of his chocolate. Ford does the same, mainly to have some time to think about how to formulate his next words. If everything was exactly as Stan said, there was no discussion. The kids didn't trust him —which was fair, considering his life before the portal reopening—, and they did something that a kid would do. It wasn't any different from flipping a coin on a tough decision, but it certainly was hurtful for Stan to know how they felt. Having met the twins, Ford would've never guessed that they ever doubted how much Stan cared about them, but apparently they had a tough start in their relationship.

“There's another thing,” Stan adds, his voice barely a whisper below his previous tone, but enough for Ford to notice. “And this is going to be just sappy, but since you wanna know everything, I guess I'll tell ya.”

“I'd love to hear it,” Ford replies in an instant. It's not everyday that Stan shares more that he'd ask him to, but he cherishes those moments. It's a nice reminder that, little by little, their trust is growing stronger.

“This is... stupid. But uhm... when you came back, I guess I was a little jealous of how much the kids liked you right away. And I'd see the 8-ball and think: 'damn, they didn't even need a magic ball to decide. They just... loved you. Which is good, don't get me wrong, but... I guess I was being selfish, but I hated it. You just showed up and they were immediately talking to you and wanting to spend time with you, and meanwhile I've been there since they were literally born and they didn't even think they were safe with me when they arrived. It's... stupid, I told you, and childish, because I know the kids like me. But I don't know... Why did you make me talk about this, man? This is your fault.”

Ford watches as Stan takes another sip of his hot chocolate, this time trying to cover his face with the mug and looking away. Grave mistake: now Ford has a direct view of his ears, which are red from embarrassment.

“Stanley... I get what you're saying, but the situation couldn't be further from the truth.”

“What, are you gonna tell me they pulled an 8-ball on you too?”

“No.” Ford chuckles. “But I believe that you think the kids liked me right away because of... what exactly about me?”

“I don't know, everything. At the end of the day, you're the better−”

“Don't,” Ford cuts him off, his voice now devoid of any trace of laughter. “Don't even say it. We've talked about this.”

“Right,” Stan says in a whisper. “I meant, you were impressing them from the start. Like that lightbulb you put in the kitchen that makes your skin softer or whatever. I found them laying on the table one day like they were sunbathing, they loved that crap. I couldn't even make them feel at home.”

Ford inhales, forcing his now tense shoulders to relax. Even though he now understands the way Stan is looking at the situation more, his conclusion is the same.

“Stanley, if you think an advanced lightbulb or some games here and there were the reason the kids warmed up to me, you're very wrong.”

Stan scoffed. “Really? Please, enlighten me.”

“Before that, before the family gatherings and before I got to know them better. Do you know why they liked me?”

“Mh-hm.”

“Because we are brothers. And more importantly, because I am your brother.”

“Okay, yeah, twins seeing twins, great. That doesn't mean anything.”

“It means everything, Stanley. It did to them. If I had come out of the portal and you had told them to step back, to get behind you and to get away from me, they would've never approached me the way they did. To them, I would've been not only a stranger, but a... bad guy.”

“Okay, fine, if I had told them to stay away, they would've been scared of you for a while, maybe. But you would've stayed with us anyway. You're family, they would've approached you sooner or later. Dipper would've bombarded you with questions about the journals anyways.”

“Possibly, but that would've simply been out of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. I would've been a professor to them, at best. But I never would've managed to fit into this family.”

“You were already in it.”

“I was your family, not theirs. We both know family doesn't end nor begin with blood.” Stan looks down, as if digesting his words. “What I mean is... those kids trusted me because I was your brother. Moses, Stan, I literally punched you as I saw you, and you didn't even tell them to get away from me. They saw me hitting you, and yet they trust you so much that they were willing to accept me into their family too. Don't you see it? It was you who made it possible. Because even if it took time, they trust you with their lives. And that made it possible for me to have a clear path into their lives.”

Stan nods, still looking down, his elbows resting on his knees. With a deep inhale, he sits straight, facing his brother, his expression somewhat defiant.

“I need to stop telling you shit, you always get too sappy for your own good. I'm just adding fuel to the flames.”

Ford smiles for the umpteenth time today. He's growing used to having a smile on his face a few times a day. He wouldn't mind living like this for the rest of them. He takes a sip of hot chocolate and Stan follows, vainly hiding a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you too, Stanley.”

[sadboyeddie]

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠’𝐬 𝐎𝐟𝐟 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐨𝐛: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐀 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰

Summary: Bob has a little fun and things escalate

Warnings: (MDNI 18+) Fem!Reader, No Use Of Y/N, CNC, Non-Con, Dubious Consent, Masturbation, Come Play, Somno

A/N: This is from Bobby Boys POV and it gets darkish. Pretty tame compared to how I want this to go but still. This isn’t as long as the other chapters. I was having a tough time with this one so I hope it’s worth it. I did enjoy writing from Bob’s pov but let me know what you think.

WC: 2.5k

When Bob arrives back at the Tower he's greeted with silence. 

It's not too late but everyone has retired to their own rooms for the evening. 

If he's lucky he probably has about half an hour until you make it back, so while he waits he heads back to his room to grab some clothes and place your torn panties under his pillow.

But before he deposits them he takes a strong whiff of the material, groaning at your scent as he feels his cock starting to grow hard in his jeans. He presses down on the growing bulge before getting back to what he was previously doing; grabbing his clothes and heading to your room. 

As much as he wants for you to come back and catch him in your shower, again , he decides to make it quick this time. Plenty of time to fool around later. 

When you enter your room it's with a warm blissed expression; you're practically glowing, and Bob feels a sense of pride knowing that it was him who done that.

It takes you a second to realise he's sitting on your bed, back against the headboard with his knees to his chest watching you intensely with a small smile.

You slightly jump and let out an adorable squeak, a deep crimson covering your face as Bob clears his throat. He was tossing up whether or not to let you go about your business unaware of him but he loves to see you squirm. 

"Bob!" Your voice is loud and unsure, eyes not able to make contact as you try to scold him. "What are you doing here?"

He can't help how amused he sounds when he responds, "why wouldn't I be here?"

You stare at him in disbelief before averting your gaze once again. "Because it's my room?" You emphasise, "yours is down the hall."

He does his best to pretend like he doesn't notice your uncomfortable squirming, the scent of both of you slowly starting to dribble down your thighs. Thankfully he's wearing his comfy sweats and they hide his erection pretty good. 

"You've never complained before," he pouts and puts on his best sad voice. "I c-can go."

In an instant he sees your stance falter as you look to him slightly apologetically. Works like a charm.

He does feel a little bad manipulating you but you didn't have to make it so easy. And besides, he knows what's best for you, even if you don't. 

"I'm," you take a breath before continuing, "I'm sorry, sweetheart." 

He perks up in his spot, smile gracing his face, you let out a small smile of your own while watching him. 

"You can stay," you speak softy, moving over to your drawers. "But I'm going to have a shower."

"Don't be too long," he grins as you huff out a small laugh. 

While you're in the shower, Bob lies back against the pillow; getting comfy under the blankets, making sure to give you the pillow he was grinding against last night, the one he made sure to smear his pre come on. A sigh leaves his lips as he gets comfortable before slipping his hand under the covers and palming his prominent bulge. 

He bites back a groan as he presses more firmly against his cock, thumbing over the head as he feels the wet patch staining his sweats. As much as he wants to come he decides to wait for you to return. He has something special planned. 

Thankfully he doesn't have to wait long before you're stepping out of the shower, skin still red and slightly damp. The urge to lick the remaining droplets of water sliding down your face is overwhelming but he's surprisingly able to hold himself back. For now.

"Feel better?" His question is full of innocence but he relishes in the way you swallow around nothing, looking a little nervous as your eyes look anywhere but at him. 

"Yep," you nod and slide into bed beside him, but far too close to the edge. 

He lets out a small whine and a deep frown, not hiding his displeasure. This wont do at all. 

"C'mere," He turns to his side and reaches over to grab your arm, you let out a weak protest but he is far too strong for you to fight against. 

He manhandles you until your back is pressed against his chest, barely any space left between you. He knows, judging by your small gasp, you can feel his hard cock digging into your hip but he pays it no mind as he wraps his arm around your stomach, hand coming under the material of your shirt to rest on your soft skin, grip tight so you can’t move away.

"Bob-" your alarmed and confused voice starts to protest but he cuts you off with a soft hush. 

"Shh," he presses a gently kiss to the back of your head, "jus' go to sleep."

Thanks to his enhanced senses he can hear your heart going a mile a minute, can practically feel the gears turning in your head trying to think and overthink everything that is currently happening. But he can also smell you. Smell the instant you started dripping into your panties. 

"I said go to sleep, honey," his voice is sleepy but there is a tone behind it that has you forcing your body to relax, within a minute you’re soft and pliant in his hold, a pleased groan vibrating from his chest against your back. "Good girl."

The praise is whispered against your hair, quiet and barely there but you hear. 

30 minutes pass and he is pleased with how quickly you fell asleep, your body always responds so well to him. Almost like he's been training it.

With practised ease he slowly retracts his hand from your stomach, enjoying the small sounds you let out in your sleep. He places his hand on your hip, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles, taking his time to make sure you don’t wake up.

He’s noticed that when you sleep beside him you often sleep a lot heavier, not needing to be so on guard all the time. A warm feeling of adoration and something else, fills his chest, thrilled knowing that you feel safe with him. As you should. He’ll always protect you.

He slowly presses his hips forward, biting back a groan at the delicious pressure of your body against his cock, hard and leaking in his sweats.

He sits up on his elbow and as gently as he can grips the waistband of your shorts before slowly starting to ease them down your legs.

Once again he has to manhandle your pliant body; much easier to do when you’re unconscious, being careful not to jostle you too much. He doesn’t need you to wake up right now and spoil the fun.

Once your shorts are by the foot of the bed he leans down and places a soft kiss to your exposed shoulder, he rests his lips against your skin and closes his eyes as he takes in a deep breath, letting the smell of your body wash ground him.

Your body moving against his and rubbing against his cock snaps him out of his trance, a small whine tumbling from his mouth.

“Tease,” he mumbles as he lays back down behind you, bringing his hand to hold firmly against your stomach.

With slow cautious movements he begins to grind his hips forward, pressing his cock against the back of your thighs.

He thrusts his hips a few more times, allowing himself to get lost in the pleasure, before he slides his hand down your stomach; fingers briefly running across the waistband of your panties before dipping them inside.

You let out a soft sigh at the feeling but show no indication of being awake. He wastes no time pressing his finger against your clit, you subconsciously buck your hips forward, seeking out more of his touch.

He smiles into your hair as he slides his other hand between your neck and the pillow, moving it so it rests warm against your chest.

You subconsciously nuzzle against his arm and his heart swells in his chest at the action. You’re so cute.

As he continues his lazy pace grinding against you he slides his fingers further down, spreading your folds and teasing over your slick entrance.

His nostrils flare as he takes in your scent, sweet but with a hint of him. Even after your shower you couldn’t remove him completely from inside you. Good .

He rubs his digits through your slick; spreading it around, he lets out a grunt at the wet sounds he’s making between your legs. Sliding his hand upwards he spreads your slick over your clit, thumbing against the swollen bundle as you let out a needy whine.

His patience is starting to run thin the closer he gets to his climax, he begins to speed up his pace a little while increasing the pressure of his thrusts.

Your sounds of pleasure are becoming more frequent, the soft whimpers falling from your lips spurring him closer to his own release. He slides his soaked fingers back down between your folds before pushing a finger into your tight hole.

You let out a gasp followed by a whine at the intrusion, he stills his movements completely and uses his senses to check if you’re awake; after a breath he thankfully realises that you’re still dead asleep. Something inside him snaps with that information.

He wonders if he could fuck you while you sleep, never waking as he empties himself deep inside you.

Unfortunately that will have to wait for another time.

He resumes his movements, plunging his finger inside you until you’ve taken him right down to the knuckle, he starts to build up the thrust of his hips as he slowly pulls his finger out before pushing it back in; beginning a gentle rhythm.

With the hand that is on your chest he moves it down slowly and dips it into your tank top; he takes a handful of the soft tissue of your breast before thumbing over your hardening nipple.

As he feels his climax approaching he pulls his finger from your pussy and underwear in one swift movement before reaching for his sweats and shoving them down his thighs, he strokes his cock once, twice, three times, making sure to spread your slick over his hardened member.

He runs the tip of his cock against the back of your thighs, smearing his pre come before pushing forward and sandwiching his cock between your legs.

His head falls forward against your shoulder and he lets out a choked moan at the snug fit. The sensation of your damp panties against him mixed with the tight squeeze of your thighs has him forcing back his orgasm, not wanting this to end just yet.

You’re still blissfully unaware of what’s happening, at least your mind is; your body is responding entirely to his actions.

You start to subconsciously grind and clench against his cock, small whimpers falling from your lips as you seek out your own pleasure.

The warm clenching of your thighs is what snaps him back into action; he slides his fingers back into your panties but this time he plunges two digits inside before starting a quick pace.

He pinches your nipple between his fingers as he starts to thrust his hips, his pre come leaks against your thighs helping his actions to become more smooth. His pelvis hits against your back as he thrusts deep and hard against you, the bed starting to rock with his movements.

Every time he pulls his fingers out the head of his cock rubs against them, if he move your panties to the side he could probably run his tip through your folds.

He saves that idea for next time as he continues his harsh pace, matching his hands to his hips movements as he snaps forward. You let out a breathless whine every time his palm slaps down against your clit, the sensation driving you closer to the edge.

You cry out in your sleep, back arching and thighs squeezing tight as you reach your peak. You clench around his fingers making it slightly more difficult for him to continue fucking you. Not impossible though.

His cock starts to throb as his balls tighten, the sounds you’re making tied with the grip your pussy has on his fingers push him towards his release.

With a small struggle he pulls his hand free from your panties and pulls his cock from where it’s wedged snuggly between your thighs, a small disappointed sigh leaving his lips, but with a few quick strokes he lets out his own debauched moan, eyes flickering gold as he spills his seed over your thigh, painting you in his come.

Small whines fall from his lips as he continues to stroke his sensitive cock, milking it of all his come. Once he’s sure there’s nothing left to give he lets go of his softening member and places his hand on your hip, fingers trailing through his mess.

Your whining has quietened down but you’re still panting for breath, he can feel your heart beating madly against your chest where his hand still has a tight grip on your breast.

Once your breathing has evened out he scoops some of his come onto his fingers before lowering his hand back between your legs, he nudges the material of you panties to the side before fucking his come into your fluttering, overused hole.

You let out a high pitched whimper at the intrusion, subconsciously trying to move your hips away from the oversensitivity, but with him against your back and hand holding your chest there’s nowhere for you to squirm.

He ignores your slightly pained whines, he knows what you can handle , as he continues to push his seed deep inside you. He gathers some more before repeating the process.

A small almost soundless sob leaves your lips, the uncomfortable feeling getting too much and he reluctantly pulls back. He presses a few kisses to your shoulder in a form of apology as he rests his hand back on your hip.

“S-Sorry, honey,” he nuzzles his damp forehead against your shoulder. “Can’t help myself.”

You seem to relax at the sound of his voice, making him let out a pleased hum.

He pulls his sweats back up as he tucks himself away, deciding against putting your shorts back on; it’ll be more fun that way. He drags his fingers through the left over come on your hip before a sick idea passes through his head. He gathers up the rest of the slick and brings his fingers to your mouth, it doesn’t take much for him to push his stained digits past your lips and onto your tongue.

You let out a muffled sound and swallow around his fingers, he pushes down against your tongue, using it to clean himself before you sleepily take the hint and start sucking.

He buries his face against the back of your head, inhaling the smell of your conditioner as you lick between his fingers. Even while asleep you’re so receptive of his touch.

You were made for him.

You let out a soft muffled sigh around his fingers and the gentle action lulls him into a deep sleep.

He’s eager to see where things go tomorrow.

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[with-my-calamitous-love]

crashing into him tonight / he's a paradox

o. dazai x f! reader

after an argument, your boyfriend makes it up to you the best way he knows how. angst/smut, comfort, some emotional distance on dazai’s part, fingering + oral + light edging (fem receiving). he is so guilty as sin coded i can’t explain it. replayed tlou II and this came to mind.

song: guilty as sin

there's a lingering ache in your chest as he explains himself, cocoa brown eyes studying you the way your frown seems to deepen at each word. you can read between the lines enough to know that he is frustrated- crossed arms, a tired tone, and an unusual lack of playfulness that masks any and all residual hurt. but a part of you wishes he'd be just a little bit more worried by how much he's pissed you off, this time around.

"sweetheart." he starts again, his words somewhat dismissive, but with a soft gentleness feathering behind them, reserved for you. "i don't see why this upset you so much."

a spike of anger pierces your throat. your words slow down, as if explaining instructions to a child. "you're telling me you're going to be away for weeks, or even months somewhere in europe. and you can't tell me why?"

the crack in your voice doesn't go unnoticed by either of you. he continues again, unwrapping his arms and moving closer to you. "i told you, i'm going to be back as soon as possible. you know me."

"do i?" tears prick your eyes, unable to raise your voice anymore. "theres just so many secrets, osa. i'm just supposed to do what? wait here till you come back? if you come back?"

"when." he quickly corrects you, a calculated confidence that only comes from years of living on the wrong side of the law.

still, your doubt comes from worry. worry comes from love. "how can you be so sure?"

the calmness of his features makes the walls in the room pulse achingly. you're in fear for his life, for this mystery he refuses to unravel for you, and he seems perfectly rational. though, something in his lips quivers slightly, telling you that deep down? he's probably also afraid. he's just hiding it from you.

"what if you die?" you whisper, vulnerable enough to let him wipe your tears away. he does understand why you're upset, better than most would. he of all people knows how losing someone can ruin you.

he tilts your head upwards, making sure you're looking at him. "i don't plan on dying, bella."

"no one ever plans on dying."

"well-"

"shut up."

your quip draws a half-hearted chuckle from his lips, and a bitter, tear stained smile from yours. he presses a kiss to your forehead, lips lingering for a moment to remind you that he is there. he wonders to himself if he's allowed to cry, or if he's buried that part of him so deep down that it can only emerge during moments where he's alone.

he's known for the longest time that this would catch up to him. that the crimes of his past would be uncovered, despite his promise to be a good man. he's thrown his life to the wolves and ocean rocks, and he can count the things he's done right on one hand. holding you in his arms, in his life, is one of the few things he hasn't turned to death.

soon, he'd be tracked down again and taken to meursault. but the selfish part of him can't tell you that. he assumes that someone in the agency, someone with a better conscience than him, will sit you down and explain to you the situation. he imagines you not angry, not sad, but disappointed. and for him, its all the more reason to escape and return to you.

he pulls back to press his forehead to yours. he hopes you can't tell how his hands shake. he really is scared.

"i'm sorry there are things i haven't told you." he speaks just below his breath, like his words are intended for your ears alone. "but i promise i'll be back. and when that happens, i'll explain everything."

your head tells you the obvious: that you should be more skeptical, more angry, more wary of him. but your heart, which is so much louder and stronger, whining with a simple premise: that you're going to miss him.

you're caught between the two, so all you do is nod. he knows you aren't satisfied with his answer. but he's on a timer, but he's doing everything he can to stop the world from spinning so he can spend it with you.

as if on instinct, he starts kissing you all over your face. he keeps your cheeks cupped in one hand, tilting your head upwards as he moves down to your neck. you exhale, this time not out of bitterness, but out of relief. right now, only his actions are talking, and he wants to take all of you and savor it. he isn't sure how long he'll have to wait to see you again.

he guides your body onto the bed shivering as he feels your hands grasp his broad shoulders for stability. in an instant, his hands are on the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head and discarding it like its unnecessary. he wants to feel your warmth, your skin and bones, to remember why he needs to return home.

in an instant, his and your clothes are off. and he’s positioned himself between your legs, whispering praises into your ears like this was a tryst. he spreads you open, admiring how wet you’ve gotten simply from his carefully selected words. he could tease you about it, but he thinks it’d be too easy.

✧.* ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚ ✧.* ✧.* ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚ ✧.* ✧.* ⋆.˚ ☾ .⭒˚ ✧.* ✧.*

“fuck! oh~ osamu- ah!”

he has two fingers buried into you, up to his knuckles. he’s deliberate with his actions, alternating between careful, slow strokes and rapid bursts of quick thrusts that make your toes curl.

he’s good with his words and his mind, but he’s relentlessly proved that he’s fucking amazing with his hands. he watches as your body tenses with pleasure, reeling from how deep his slender fingers can reach. he adored the way your warm, wet walls greet him, enveloping him like blobs of clay.

your bedsheets are ablaze, screams of his name rolling off of your tongue. he catches a glimpse of the way your breasts have seem to radiate in the warm glow of sex, and he can’t help but reach down and take a nipple into his mouth. he moans around it as he feels you clench around his digits further, and he rewards you with a sensual rub to your clit. he makes sure you can see his tongue swirling over your nipple in circles, alternating between sucks and scrapes with his teeth before moving to and lavishing the other.

“are you still with me, love?” he breaks away from your skin momentarily, honeyed eyes looking up at you. he waits for you to say yes, but he knows the answer. based on your involuntary back arches and your moans bordering on crying. he’s dragging this out, and you can’t blame him for it, either.

“osa, i’m gonna cum.” you whine, hoping he sees how glossy your eyes are. he’s well aware, and he reaches up with his free hand to caress your face.

he’s been worshipping you all night. but it wouldn’t be him if he wasn’t torturing you somehow. “hold it for me, bella.”

a pleasured groan escapes your lips, as he works lips down your body, upping the ante. you don’t have the energy to argue with him, not when he’s about to suck it all out of you.

he’s mean, spreading the lips of your pussy with his thumb, watching your fluids run down the pretty pink walls. he knows you can feel the warmth of his breath, mingling with the cold air of the room.

keeping you spread, he drags a long, tantalizing lick up your pussy, keeping his tongue flat against the surface. he grins at the way he needs to physically hold your hips down, or else he won’t be able to enjoy his meal.

“easy.” he whispers, pressing a loving kiss to your clit, triggering your second heartbeat. “let me take care of you.”

his words are that of a gentle instruction as he starts to eat you out, switching between flat, broad licks and teasing, quick stripes. he shakes his head slightly, smiling to himself as he tastes your juices. its a conscious decision to ignore that he won’t get to eat your pussy again for at least another few months, so he’s savouring what he has now.

he laps at your pussy like he’s starving, licking up every drop like wasting it is a sin. he reaches up to grab one of your tits, giving it a lovingly rough squeeze before refocusing on the task in front of him. his lips wrap around your clit, sucking while he re-integrates his fingers.

the coil in your abdomen is ready to burst at any moment. you’re throbbing, mind an unable to form any other coherent sentences, other than the one you cry out:

“please let me cum.” you beg, and some may call it pathetic. but dazai isn’t the type to leave you unsatisfied.

but he has his fun first, pretending not to hear while he continues eating you out like his final meal. you scream his name out so he and the neighbours hear you.

“i heard you, bella.” he laughs, fingers continuing to work you while he pulls away to speak. “you’re gonna cum for me, yeah?”

“oh, yes!” you sob as he redoubles his efforts, determined to have you cum in his mouth while he swallows each drop. he swears to himself he’ll choose this over anyone else. he’ll choose you and him, your love religiously.

he knows he’s done it when you let out sharp gasp, grabbing his hair while your back arches once more. he happily laps up your pretty white juices, even licking his fingers clean after.

he sits up on his knees to watch the way your body shakes and shivers from the high. he cups your pussy, feeling the residual wetness, both of you well aware that you have a long night ahead.

“you did amazing, my love.” he praises, simply repositioning himself. he lets you tuck away the bangs on his forehead, sticking with sweat and possibly other fluids.

for a moment, you simply stare into each others eyes. theres something utterly holy about the way he holes you, even as he prepares to take you once more.

the pleasure had been so intense, the previous conversation had been almost entirely forgotten. almost.

“osamu?”

he looks uo at you, lingering on your rosy lips before making eye contact. “yes, belladonna?”

you gulp the lingering ache. “you better come back. to me.”

his stunned for just a moment before his swollen lips curve into a smile. “you have my word.”

[levigarden999]

Hii levigarden999!! I’m kinda new to your blog and just saw that your requests are open, so I thought I’d send one in hehe 😅 I’m not sure what your rules are, so I really hope this idea isn’t too bold or anything!

So I was thinking—what if the reader (who’s never kissed anyone before) asks the BLLK boys for help practicing how to kiss? 👀Soo like—they’re kinda caught off guard at first but go along with it hehe 😅 The kiss starts slow and gentle, super sweet… but then it gets a lil more teasing. And before you know it, they’re totally taking over 😳 One hand finds your waist, the other brushes up to your throat, and the kiss just keeps getting deeper and more intense. Your knees give out a bit, so they pull you onto their lap real quick—aaaand yeah… it gets heated fast 👀🫣 Just sayin’… things escalate 😏💋 Maybe it turns into a drabble—or if that’s too much, totally okay to just pick one character you like! I really don’t mind who 💗

Thanks for reading this! Your blog is super fun, and I’m excited to see more of your amazing writing 💕💋 Please take care and rest too!

practicing ⋆.˚ michael kaiser x reader

⋆.˚ notes : thank uuu anon (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) you brought a wild animal outta me cuz i think i went a bit wild with this lmao

⋆.˚ warnings : smut , +18 , dry humping , f!orgasm , virgin!reader , experienced!kaiser

for as long as you could remember, you had watched from aside as michael kaiser, your best friend, made every single girl fall for him. you two had been close for many years, so you knew his charm better than anybody.

however, you two were completely platonic. of course, kaiser was incredibly good looking and you knew it, but there was no attraction or anything between the two of you.

kaiser was currently lying on your bed while scrolling through his phone. you were standing there next to him, looking down at him deep in thought, not even realizing that you were just staring at him. it was nearly embarrassing to be best friends with someone who had so much experience with dating while you hadn’t ever done anything with anyone. no first kiss. no first time. you've barely hugged a boy.

”what?” he asked without raising his gaze, interrupting your zoning out session.

you flinched away from your thoughts. ”uh- nothing. just thinking”

you felt embarrassment already rising to your cheeks and tinting them to a shade of pink.

”thinking of what?” kaiser smirked as he placed the phone down on the bed now. he laid on his side, an eyebrow raised.

you pursued your lips together. you knew you had had this conversation many times before - the one where you whined about your lack of experience with boys while he tried to give you tips on how to get any guy you wanted. the tips hadn't worked, yet.

”the fact you get a new girlfriend every month while i practically haven’t even hugged a boy, ever” you stated with a sigh.

 he snickered and stood up as well.

”really? that’s what’s bothering you? lame, always the same shit” he mocked, obviously playfully.

you rolled your eyes brattily. ”not my fault i’m starting to think that no guy would ever want to date me because i have no experience in anything”

kaiser scoffed, an amused look on his face. ”i guess you have a point there. you haven't tried my tips?”

you huffed. "yes, i have tried your tips, mr. dating advisor. the thing is that they're shitty and they don't work! i guess i just need more confidence, which is tricky, because with no experience, i have no confidence"

he snickered again, obviously amused by your little breakdown. he placed a hand over his forehead, his stupid smirk widening.

"well, sounds like you're in a paradox situation. can't help with that, i'm afraid" he shrugged, while reaching back for his phone.

however, you weren't done.

"wait!" you exclaimed. kaiser turned back to you, and he was surprised to see the now determined, a little more hopeful look on your face.

"maybe i could... practice with you"

kaiser blinked. "what? practice what, exactly?" he asked, once in his life speechless and definitely caught off guard.

you felt the blush in your cheeks deepening as you shrugged. "well, kissing. if you... help me practice, maybe i'll get more confident and then i'll get a boyfriend. we're friends, it's not like it's weird or anything" you mumbled.

kaiser blinked again, but after his initial shock, a chuckle left his pretty lips.

"okay, genius. i'll practice with you"

kaiser stepped closer to you, a pale hand suddenly grazing against your soft cheek. your heart began to pound faster and you somehow felt the words getting stuck in your throat. were you really about to kiss your best friend?

kaiser’s blue, nearly seductive eyes looked into yours, that damn smirk sending shivers down your spine.

”you sure?” he asked, voice quieter, lower. you nodded.

before you knew it, kaiser’s lips were against yours. his mouth moved in a skilled, but soft and caring manner, not leaving you much opportunity to even try to dominate him. his thumb brushed against your cheek as his other fingers tugged your hair behind your ear.

you slowly felt yourself getting lost into the kiss. his lips were so soft and his mouth was so warm – the gentle yet firm movement of his mouth sending you someplace else.

”you wanna continue?” he murmured softly against your mouth, not exactly breaking the kiss. you simply nodded.

with that, kaiser continued. your lips slowly got used to the new sensation, and it wasn't as hard as you thought it would be. you just tried to match his movements as best as you could, and it started to feel natural. it felt... very nice.

however, suddenly you felt something wet poking against your lips. his tongue. you let out a soft yelp, a little surprised by the fact he wanted to take it further - but maybe it was part of the practice, right?

though kaiser pushed his tongue into your mouth, before you could even allow to let him in. it wasn’t a question – it was a demand, a need for him to feel your tongue against his. a soft moan escaped your lips as that warm wet muscle tangled against yours and twisted in your mouth, as if it was seeking to taste all of you.

your hands found his shoulders, your own lips becoming more and more passionate, trying to match his hunger and force. you had a hard time keeping up with him, but with the sloppy, smooth movements of his tongue and lips, you felt yourself melting. your body started to tingle, your every cell becoming more alert as the warm sensation spread through your every fiber.

the pleasure and pure lust of it all was making you feel weak. it felt like you were starting to nearly lose balance from the way he was making your head spin and thighs tremble. you had to clutch to his shirt.

”kaiser, i-” you began with a shaky breath.

however, as if kaiser knew exactly what you were saying, he grabbed your hips, sat down on the bed and swiftly pulled you onto his lap with your thighs straddling him.

”don’t worry, i got you” he groaned.

you felt his growing erection in his pants, throbbing and bulging and visible from the pants he was wearing. kaiser immediately continued to devour your mouth, his large hands finding your your ass under your tiny shorts, fingers grabbing and tugging on your flesh.

you whimpered, your hips involuntarily grinding a little and settling perfectly on his hard cock. he grunted as well, the warmth of your pussy making his cock twitch through the fabric of both of your pants.

you slowly, with trembling hips, began to grind. your clit subtly rubbed against his rock hard shaft as you looked for friction. you felt kaiser letting out a breath against your mouth, his kisses becoming a bit uncontrolled for a moment.

his hands found your hips again and he began to guide you, making your movements even greedier. a louder moan fell from your lips as you felt the friction and heat growing between you. you felt a wet stain forming in your panties, your untouched folds so slick the wetness would soon probably fall down your thighs.

kaiser’s lips left yours, now instead planting kisses on your chin, jawline, neck, then collar. you continued to grind against him, hands clutching onto his shirt harder.

he couldn't believe how damn addictive you felt against him. kaiser really wanted to just simply and innocently help you, he really had no intention to bring this this far. but since the first moment your clumsy yet eager lips tried to match his movements - kaiser knew he had lost. he felt himself wanting more of those soft whimpers you let, wanting more of that skin, those lips, that body, everything. he wanted to devour you.

however, for the first time, kaiser didn't mind losing. he very happily lost to this sensation if it meant having you. you were incredible, even with no damn experience. he was absolutely leaking and twitching right now from the way you moved.

”k-kaiser… i think i’m…” you whimpered, eyebrows furrowing in desperation as a trail of sweat fell from your forehead. you felt your thighs trembling, lungs asking for more air meanwhile your grinding became more frantic and uncontrolled. a wave of an orgasm was quickly forming in your abdomen.

”shh, i know, just keep holding me-” he murmured against your neck, teeth subtly grazing and biting on your skin as he kissed you there. you did as he asked – hands gripping his strong shoulders now as you whined his name.

only a couple seconds later, the orgasm hit you. your hips twitched, whole body trembled as you pathetically whimpered and hiccuped on top of him, coming undone from his mere bulge.

when you came down, your hips still did lazy, deep rolls against him, your body enjoying the feeling of your passed orgasm finally allowing your muscles to rest and mind to recover. your mind was dizzy as you finally looked down at him, your lips still parted and panting as you calmed down. you didn’t expect your first orgasm with someone else to be so intense – it made you feel like a horny animal who desperately needed the release to feel like a human again.

you felt satisfied, relaxed, a little drunk but good. and most of all, tired.

however, just when you were beginning to lift yourself off from kaiser, he grabbed your hips again, forcing you back down. you whimpered, the hard cock still poking against your now sensitive clit.

”confident enough to leave now, are we? you think i’m done with you?”

[gothicpaperback]

THE WAY HE CARES | SIX | JOEL MILLER x READER

<<< PART FIVE | MASTERLIST | PART SEVEN: COMING SOON >>>

wc: 3,7k | rating: 18+ for eventual smut | Joel Miller x You | Enemy Pregnancy

summary: Joel Miller has been my pain-in-the-ass neighbour for years. we argue more than we speak and when we do speak, it's usually through gritted teeth. but when my doctor tells me my fertility’s running out of time, panic sets in. I want a baby and I don’t have the luxury of waiting around for Mr. Right. Joel's a damn good father to his daughter, Sarah. that much, I can’t deny. so one night, fuelled by nerves and just the right amount of wine, I ask him the unthinkable: get me pregnant. no strings.no romance. just biology. i never planned on falling for him. but nothing about Joel Miller ever goes according to plan.

while the story is first person narrative, the OC female character is YOU. she is not named and barely physically described aside from being able bodied and having hair long enough to grab.

tags/warnings: neighbours, enemies to lovers, comedy, smut, sexual tension, mentions of fertility and reproductive issues, mentions of drugs and alcohol, self pleasure (male). i will add more tags as they become relevant.

specific chapter smut warnings: sexually charged dreams

taglist: @himboelover | @harrypotteranna23-blog | @isabella-rose-trastamara | @ro4nix | @sunndroppp | @harriedandharassed | @la-vie-est-une-fleur29 | @titlee78 | @olafsmiles2020 | @sophiagladiator | @sunnytuliptime

THE WAY HE CARES | SIX

After that moment that dreams begin.  

In the dream, we’re never arguing. Never rolling our eyes or slamming doors. It’s like my subconscious has rewritten our history in soft light and warmer tones. Last night in my dream we were on the couch and he had his hand on my thigh, just resting there with his fingers splayed possessively like I was his and he didn’t need to prove it.

And then the dream morphed and we were naked on my couch. Joel was on top, strong body crushing me into the cushions as be fucked me hard. His body glistened with sweat and his dark hair was falling into his eyes pitched black.

"Come on it and I'll give you a baby," he growled in my ear. 

I woke up to my blasting alarm, aching and annoyed because in real life Joel and I are friendly with one another but it's hardly anything you could qualify as sensual. 

Can swing by after 7. Sarah made extra brownies you want some Your garbage bins are still out

I guess it's confusing because I don't really dislike Joel anymore. He's not my best friend or anything close, but he's kind. We've tried the turkey baster process five times now. 

Five disappointing months.

And each time it fails I keep waiting for him to change his mind or to tell me he's tired of trying. But he doesn't, he shows up and we get to work. 

He remembers his phone now because after that last episode there was no way he was going to borrow mine again. But aside from that we don't interact much outside the occasional wave when we find ourselves at the mailbox. 

Sarah is busy with her final exams and going away for the summer with her Mom on a European trip. She's been talking about it non-stop whenever I see her. It makes me think of what I'll do with my own kid one day. I can't afford Europe summers but I can afford camping, water parks, beach days. I can give love and patience and everything I never had growing up. 

At work, I try to stay focused and bury myself in email chains and contract redlines and caffeine. I try to think about other things than my dwindling fertility. But Ben keeps appearing and not just in my office but in my dreams as well, like he and Joel are vying for my subconscious. 

With Ben in my dreams it's feverish kissing in the mailroom, fucking me over my desk after our coworkers are gone for the night. Its more degrading, more urgent.  It makes me blush when I see him in real life.

We met his first day and ever since then we've found ourselves in the same meetings, passing by the same offices, using the annoying copier that never collates properly. And each time we talked more and more until I started looking forward to seeing him. 

Now he shows up to my office almost every other day with some new excuse.

“Need someone to look over this signature line.”

“Just wondered if you had a spare staple remover?"

"There's fresh coffee in the break room." 

Today, it’s a signed vendor contract that he could’ve dropped with the front desk but instead, he leans against the edge of my desk like he has all the time in the world.

I look up. “If you keep finding reasons to come here, people are going to assume I’m the actual mailroom.”

He grins. “Maybe I’m just hoping you’ll accidentally staple my tie to the desk.”

I snort. “Kink unlocked.”

Ben laughs, and there’s a softness to it that makes my stomach flutter. He’s the kind of guy who smells like good cologne and remembers your coffee order without asking. 

“I don’t mean to bother you,” Ben says, shifting his weight. “I just like talking to you.”

I hesitate. It would be easy to flirt back. And I do, a little. Just a little because at the end of the day I am a single woman.

“You're not bothering me...yet," I say, teasing but not unkind. "And I like talking to you too."

"Yeah?" Ben smiles, eyes sparkling. "There's other places to talk other than work.”

And just like that, the air shifts and he lingers a moment's longer, waiting to see if I’ll bite.

And I want to, but I can't. Not when I'm in the process of having a kid. I don't even know if Ben wants kids. And that's the sort of thing that comes up years into a relationship. That's time I simply do not have. 

I need to pull back. 

“Thanks for the contract,” I say, deliberately glancing back at my screen. “I’ll make sure it ends up somewhere official.”

He gives me a mock salute. “Guess I’ll see you around.”

When he leaves, I stare at my monitor, pretending to read, but my brain’s running in twenty different directions.I like the way Ben looks at me like I’m someone worth orbiting. I like that he’s warm, funny and uncomplicated. 

But I don’t want easy right now. I want a baby. I want my cycle to cooperate. I want one solid chance before the numbers work against me.

Joel might drive me insane, but he’s already proven himself to be a good dad and Sarah is the proof. And I value his presence, he's been there for me during my hard times with this, steady and dependable. 

I trust him.

I should’ve known better than to check my mailbox on a Sunday morning. That was my first mistake. The second was making eye contact with Mrs. Shellstrop while doing it.

She appeared out of nowhere like a heat-seeking missile in orthopedic sandals, clutching a clipboard and wearing that terrifyingly determined smile that says: You will do what I ask. Or I will bake guilt into a casserole and leave it on your porch until you crack.

“Oh, there you are, sugar!" she called across her driveway, trotting toward me with all the grace of a mall walker on a mission. “I was just telling Frank you’d be perfect.”

“For…?” I asked warily, holding my junk mail like a shield.

She tilted her head, the way a cat does before it bites you. “For the Fourth of July Neighbourhood Spectacular! You know, games for the kids, potluck, water balloon toss, bake sale, the works.”

Ah. That.

“I didn’t realize I’d been nominated.”

“Oh, nobody was nominated,” she said brightly, already scribbling something on her clipboard. “You’re volunteering.”

I blinked. “Am I?”

“Of course you are. We’re all pitching in and you seem like the type who knows how to show up and follow instructions. You look very organized.”

 I was too slow to protest, and before I could think of a graceful escape, she was steering me up her walkway with a bony hand on my arm and a pen already thrust into my palm.

“Now, we’ve got the bouncy castle, the water station, cleanup duty, and ooh! You’d be wonderful for the crafts tent.”

“Crafts?” I echoed weakly, scribbling my name next to a column that I hoped didn’t mean glitter wrangler or finger-paint monitor.

“Oh, not that one.” She snatched the clipboard back before I could read what I signed. “We actually need someone to help run the lemonade booth.”

“That sounds… manageable.”

She beamed. “Exactly. It’s the easiest job and you'll have shade, too." 

Still, I smiled tightly. “Great. Looking forward to it.”

Mrs. Shellstrop patted my arm with the satisfaction of a woman who’d just manipulated a Supreme Court nomination. “That’s the spirit. I knew you were one of the good neighbours.”

She trundled back inside humming something that sounded suspiciously like a war anthem. I stood on her porch, blinking against the sun, wondering what I had just agreed to. 

I get a text message one afternoon, all caps from Joel but it's clearly Sarah using his phone. Joel won’t allow her to get her own cell phone until she’s sixteen (something I strongly agree with) so sometimes I open my phone affronted with a legion of emojis.

I MADE COOKIES AND THEY ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 YOU HAVE TO COME OVER NOW BEFORE DAD EATS ALL OF THEM 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

Before I can respond, she sends a photo: a slightly lopsided tray of chocolate chip cookies, golden around the edges, some clearly stuck together. But charmingly so.

I smile in spite of myself.

On my way

I’ve been popping by more often to their place, most of the time at Sarah’s request. It doesn’t feel strange anymore or intimidating. I know his main level by heart, I know where Joel keeps extra coffee filters and toilet paper. I know his favourite spot on the couch (by the window) and I know that Sarah’s room is decorated with stickers and photos.

The kitchen smells like sugar and browned butter when I knock. The door swings open and Sarah beams at me like I’m the guest of honour at a party she planned in secret.

“You actually came!” she grins, tugging me inside. “You’re just in time. Dad made coffee and I didn’t burn the house down.”

Joel’s voice drifts from the back of the kitchen. “I would like it on the record that I supervised the oven.”

“You sat on a stool and scrolled your phone,” Sarah fires back, hands on her hips.

Joel appears a moment later, drying his hands on a dish towel.

I feel my pulse spike because I can’t seem to forget those couch dreams. 

Come on it and I'll give you a baby. 

I flush at the memory and immediately shove it down. His eyes meet mine and there’s a flicker of something unreadable before he nods.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I echo, tucking my hair behind my ear.

I sit on a bar stool and Sarah hands me a cookie with all the pride of a Michelin-starred chef. I dutifully take a bite.It’s warm and melty and somehow both crispy and soft and is it possible to make love to a cookie?

“Damn,” I mumble around the mouthful. “This is amazing.”

Sarah does a little victory dance. “See? I’m a baking genius.”

Joel snorts. “You followed a recipe.”

“And made it better,” she declares, and turns to rummage in the pantry. "I'm the one who put m&m's in it." 

You agree that the m&ms make it iconic as Joel leans against the counter, arms crossed. “Haven’t seen you around.”

I nod, licking chocolate from my thumb. “Work’s been busy.”

His gaze lingers. “Yeah?”

"It's the busy season," I shrug. “Mary won't stop showing me photos of her kids and Ben keeps finding reasons to stop by my desk so I’ve had to invent a fake filing system to stay sane.”

Joel’s face shifts just slightly. His mouth tightens as his brow twitches. 

“Ben,” he repeats.

“Mm-hmm.” I don’t look at him. “He's funny. Great hair.”

“Funny's overrated.”

I glance at him then, and for a half-second, he’s glaring at the sugar container like it personally offended him.

“Oh my god,” Sarah groans, suddenly appearing with a bottle of sprinkles. “Dad.”

Joel’s eyes flick up. “What?”

"You haven't even offered her a drink? What kind of host are you?" 

Joel's eyes sweep over to me. "You want a coffee?" 

Sarah looks at me, stage whispers, "I'm sorry my dad has such bad manners.”

I laugh. “Classic Miller.”

Joel glares at me now. “You want a coffee or not.”

"Yeah, I do," I say grinning. "I'm parched." 

I see a curl of his lip that he tries to hide as he turns from me and pours me a cup. I take another bite of cookie and nod emphatically. 

"Sarah these are like, the best cookies I've ever had. I'm not even a huge cookie person either." 

Joel returns, pushing a black coffee my way. "Milk? Sugar?"

"Both please." 

Sarah grins like Christmas came early. “This is great. I should start inviting you over every week. Or like, every day. You could be my official taste tester.”

“I don’t think your dad wants me here that often,” I say, trying to keep my tone light.

But Joel’s voice is quiet when he replies, head in the fridge as he reaches for the milk. “Didn’t say that.”

That slows me down. Sarah raises an eyebrow. Joel is looking in the cupboard for the sugar so I can't exactly read his face. 

“I mean,” I say quickly, “you might get sick of me.”

Sarah rolls her eyes. “You’re the only neighbour who we've had come over this much. You’re basically family now.”

The word hits me right in the gut: family.

I swallow. “Well, I’m honoured.”

Joel has turned back now but I can't look at him. He pushes the milk and sugar my way but suddenly I'm very aware that this moment is feeling intimate and it shouldn't. 

I stand a little too fast. “I should probably head back.”

Sarah pouts. “Already? You didn't even have any coffee.”

“I know, I'm sorry. I just forgot I have stuff at home I have to do.”

Joel’s watching me now. His arms still crossed, jaw clenched.

“Ben waiting on you?” he asks.

I freeze for a second too long. It's a weird thing to say and a weird tone to say it in. 

Sarah looks between us, eyes narrowing slightly, the gears in her teenage brain clearly turning.

“Nope,” I say, reaching for one final cookie to take with me. “But I’m sure he’ll come up with a reason to stop by my desk again soon.”

Joel just nods once. Tight. Controlled.

Sarah sighs, clearly sensing the weird energy but trying to salvage the moment. “Thanks for trying my cookies.”

“They were incredible,” I tell her, smiling. “Keep me posted if you open a bakery.”

I open the door and just before I step outside, Sarah calls after me, “Next time, stay longer.”

I glance back.

Joel’s watching me. Intently. Like he’s trying to work something out.

"See ya,” he says finally, voice low, before he turns his back and heads into the next room. 

The nausea came first.

Not like the kind I’d had before. Not bitter or heavy or anxious. This one was soft, curling at the edges of my mornings like a whisper. Then came the sore breasts, the sensitivity, the strange metallic taste that lingered no matter how much water I drank.

 It felt… different this time. Like my body wasn’t playing tricks on me. Like it had finally decided to hold on instead of let go.

I kept it to myself at first, memorizing each shift in my body with quiet reverence. I didn’t want to jinx it. But every day, the hope built like a bubble behind my ribs.

Three days before my period was due, I cracked.

I texted Joel:

“Can you come over tonight? I think…I think this might be it.”

His reply was instant.

“I’ll be there.”

He showed up just after sunset with the porch creaking under his boots like always. He looked cautious but hopeful, like he didn’t want to let himself believe it either.

“Hey,” he said softly, stepping inside, his eyes searching mine. “You feelin' okay?”

“I feel… I don’t know. Good. Different.” I laughed a little, brushing a hand over my stomach. “Hopeful I guess?”

Joel smiled then, a small, private thing. “You sure you wanna test this early?”

“No,” I admitted, “but I can’t wait anymore. I need to know.”

I took the test while he waited in the living room. I made him promise not to come in.

Three minutes.

Three minutes felt like an eternity.

I sat on the edge of the tub, the test clutched in my hand. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. I was already picturing it: what I’d say, how I’d tell him, what it would feel like to finally win this one battle against my body.

When I finally looked down, the line was stark. One. Not two. Negative. Just that word again, silent and final.

My breath caught. For a second I forgot how to stand. I can't believe I asked Joel to come over for this test. I was so sure, so positive the stick would turn pink. I wanted him to be here to celebrate. I even bought champagne. 

I'm pathetic. 

I stay in the bathroom too long. I feel time moving past me like wind under a door. But I can't move. Then comes the soft knock.

“Everything okay?” Joel’s voice. Careful but still holding on and it hurts to hear that thread of hope.

By the time I come out, face washed, eyes a little less puffy, Joel’s standing in the kitchen, arms folded loosely across his chest.

I cross the room and hand him the test. I can’t say it. I don't want to hear it out loud. His fingers brush mine as he takes the plastic test. He looks down and doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to. His jaw is set, and he exhales slowly, like the air has been knocked from his lungs.

“I was so sure this time,” I whisper. 

He nods. “Yeah, me too.” He sets the test down gently on the counter, like it might break, and then he looks at me in a way that's all soft and concerned. “You want me to stay?” 

Normally I would want to lick my wounds in private but the disappointment is raw and messy and tangled with too many other things I still need to unpack. 

“Maybe just… for a little bit,” I say, voice thin.

Joel gives a small nod. “Okay.”

He follows me to the couch and sits with me in silence, close enough to feel the warmth of him, but not close enough to touch. He lifts a brow and gestures toward the kitchen without moving.

“You keep the wine behind the pasta, right?”

"Yeah."

He goes to grab it like he’s done it a hundred times, not like he owns the space just like he’s comfortable in it. He comes back and raises the bottle. “You want?”

I nod.

He pours two glasses and hands me mine. He comes to sit beside me on the couch, closer than necessary but in a way I appreciate.  No touch, no comfort-hug, just his presence quiet and solid. And, somehow, that’s worse... or better. I don’t even know anymore.

“I’m sorry,” he says, after a moment.

“It’s not your fault,” I say, swallowing. “It just didn’t work. Again.”

He nods, then glances over at the test still sitting on the counter like it might bite. “It’s not the end. Doesn’t have to be.”

“It feels like it is.”

Joel doesn’t argue. Just lets the silence stretch between us while we sip. We sit in silence for a while. The TV is on but muted, casting flickers of light across the living room.  He finally speaks, low and gravel-edged.

“Don’t mean it won’t happen. Just… wasn’t this time.”

I nod, eyes stinging. “I know.”

He shifts beside me, leans back against the cushions. His arm brushes mine. I feel the warmth of him, steady and solid. 

“I really thought it was different,” I say. “I was already imagining the name. Isn’t that pathetic?”

He shakes his head once. “Ain’t pathetic. Just means you wanted it.”

There’s a beat of quiet. My throat feels full. Then, softly: “You think maybe I was stupid to get my hopes up?” I ask.

Joel lets out a slow breath through his nose. “No. Not stupid.” He hesitates. “Hope’s the only thing that makes any of this worth it.”

I hum absently, eyes still wet. 

"You know,” he starts again, careful, “I’ve seen Sarah scrape her knee and cry for a solid half hour. But then she gets up the next morning and runs twice as hard.”

I look at him. “Are you comparing me to your kid?”

He smirks. “I’m saying you’re tougher than you think. And you’ve got more tries in you.”

God, why does he have to say it like that? Like he believes in me more than I do. I bite my lip, blink rapidly, and mutter, “Thanks. But I don't think you do.”

"Says who?"

"I asked you for one donation. And now this is five. I can't keep bothering you-"

"It isn't a bother." 

I glance at him. He’s looking straight ahead again, but his hand is close to mine now, close enough I could grab it. He doesn’t reach for me, but he doesn’t move away either.

"We'll keep doing this until it works," he murmurs. "Don't worry." 

After a few seconds, I lean into him. Not much. Just enough that our shoulders press together.

He doesn’t say anything. But I feel the smallest shift, his arm settles along the back of the couch behind me, his fingers barely grazing my shoulder.

We sit like that for a long time. And though nothing is fixed, I feel a little less alone.

i'm really glad that so many of you are commenting and sharing and letting me know what you like. i would love if it you would keep doing that! i really love writing a softer joel. i like to think that pre outbreak joel would have been more laid back, happier and sweet like this.

out of all my stories this is the one that has been easiest to write so please expect some more frequent updates soon

xx

💋💋💋💋

[svtiddiess]

Photographs

Pairing: Pi Cheolin!Dino x Chunsuni!reader

Genre: fluff, established relationship, drabble

Rating: sfw

Word count: 0.6k

Warnings: none!

Note: This was originally supposed to be a Mingyu drabble, but @chanranghaeys bet I turned it into a Pi Cheolin drabble, so here we are. Why Pi Cheolin? You gotta ask @chugging-antiseptic-dye for that.

Click!

You smile to yourself as you snap a photo of the sunset over Seoul. The hike to get here was no joke, but seeing this view makes it all worth it.

"Take one of me too!"

You spin around to see your husband striking a variety of poses. Giggling, you start snapping away, trying to keep up with his ever-changing stances. And of course, he finishes it off with his signature 'eyes of love' pose.

"Let me see!" he says, eagerly reaching for your phone once he's done.

You sigh internally, already knowing what's coming as you hand it over. Sure enough, his brows furrow as he flips through the photos, clearly dissatisfied.

"Can you take them again, please? I don't look good in any of these," he complains with a frown.

"I think you look great in all of them, Cheolinie," you reply with a grin.

"My mouth looks weird here," he says, swiping to one. "And I'm posing weird in this one," he swipes to the next. "And I blinked here!" he adds, swiping again.

"And yet, you still look handsome in every single one," you say sweetly. His cheeks flush as he smiles shyly.

"Just a few more? Please, my Chunsunie," he pleads, slipping off his sunglasses and giving you those irresistible puppy eyes.

Even after all these years of marriage—and having known him even longer—you still can't resist that adorable pout.

Smiling with a sigh, you take the phone back and start snapping more pictures. His face lights up, and he plants a soft kiss on your cheek before returning to his spot, adjusting his fishing vest, and striking new poses.

Peeking around the hallway, you spot your husband on the phone. Being the CEO of BOMG keeps him busier than you'd like, but no matter how hectic things get, he always makes sure to carve out time for you.

Seizing the perfect opportunity to test out your new camera, you spring into action. Quietly sneaking closer, you line up your shot.

Click!

Cheolin spins around at the sound, startled, clearly not expecting you there. But his surprise quickly melts into a smile when he sees you giggling. Wrapping up his call, he walks over to you.

"And what is my sneaky link up to?" he chuckles, wrapping his arms around you.

"Taking pictures of you," you grin.

"Let me see," he says, reaching for the camera.

"Nope!" you tease, pulling it away.

"Aw, c'mon~" he pouts, making another playful grab. Laughing, you eventually let him take it.

His brows knit together when he realises there's no screen.

"It's a film camera," you explain with a grin, watching as his frown deepens.

"So I can't see the photos right now?"

"Nope. You'll have to wait until they're developed."

He stares at the camera, pouting again. You cup his cheeks and coo softly.

"I got it so you wouldn't stress about being perfect in photos. You're already perfect. The moments where your smile is a little awkward or your eyes are half-blinked—those are the ones I adore the most. Because I don't just love the polished version of you. I love you, just as you are—even in your awkward moments."

His eyes grow teary as he looks into yours, filled with love and gratitude. Leaning in, he presses a tender, lingering kiss to your lips.

"How did I get so lucky with you?" he whispers, voice thick with emotion.

"Well, you did have to fight the village elder to court me," you tease, making both of you laugh.

"And I'm glad I did," he says before pulling you into another kiss.

Taglist: @tinyelfperson @gyuguys @stay-tiny-things @unlikelysublimekryptonite @miyx-amour @iamawkwardandshy @codeinebelle @brownbunnyb @do-you-remember-summer-127 @sclovreina @theidontknowmehn @toplinehyunjin @gyuhao365 @mysticfairies @cherrylovescheol @cookiearmy @4shypotato @lxnnrobin @sashaaahh @xueisaaa17 @aeriyell @eshia16 @dreamingofpcy @archivistworld @kyeomiis @iwannakisspoutycheol @foxiesgf24 @livelaughloveseventeen @kwanniehae @ateez-atiny380 @junnhuisworld @horangipower17 @cheolsbb26 @scoupshawty @shuas-winnie30 @amaranthar @cherriecsc @shadowkoo @winterisnt @combinatoright-blog @my-neurodivergent-world @senxgwha @mangssunshine @abibliolife @lovetaroandtaemin @poutsoonie

[bluestareyedweakness]

It's the day before The Dagger's mission and they are all on the aircraft carrier. Maverick is alone in his bunk, knowing that this could be last thing he ever does. He goes into his pocket and takes out a polaroid. It's of him and Ice when they started dating just after Top Gun. They're in Ice's jet, squeezed into the pilot seat, practically sitting on each other while kissing. He looks at it and tears gently trickle down his cheeks, he holds it close to his chest until he hears a knock. He gently puts the picture back in his pocket, trying desperately not to ruin it and says that the person can come in.

The door opens but blocks Maverick's view of the person. He wonders if it's an Admiral that Cyclone ordered to come and tell him off for some petty reason but he recognises the way they walk and the quietness of their footsteps. He slowly moves to get a look at the person, seeing glimpses of a scarf and grey hair. His heart races but he tries to slow it down. He's nearly able to see who it is but instead of moving he just sits there waiting.

"Maverick" says the person softly.

Maverick's heart races. He'd know that voice anywhere.

"Ice!" screams Maverick, shooting out of bed. Ice tries to enter but before he gets the chance Maverick jumps into his arms like a child.

Ice stumbles back but manages to become stable again. He holds Maverick tighter than ever, tears rolling from his eyes. Eventually, Ice lies Maverick on the bunk and kisses him until he's breathless.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you off"

"You did that at home, Ice! About 10 times!" laughs Maverick

Ice smiles "Well one more won't hurt"

Maverick playfully rolls his eyes and kisses him. They hold each other and smile, as giddy as they were when they could finally announce their relationship.

"Get your things Mav" says Ice softly

"Why?"

"Because your moving to my bunk."

"But Ice I can't just-"

Ice puts his finger over his lips

"No arguing, Mitchell."

Maverick giggles and pulls him close

"Yes sir"

💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙

It's the day of the mission and Ice wakes up alone. He looks for Maverick but sees a note in his messy writing. He reads it and looks back to the table where he sees Maverick's wings. He picks them up, holds them close and looks up at the clock. He's still got time.

Ice throws on the nearest jumper and trousers he can find and starts frantically searching the carrier. He starts losing hope as each corridor leads to a dead end. He leans against a wall, realising that he might never see Maverick again.

"He's in there, Uncle Ice." is suddenly spoken from behind him.

Ice turns around and sees Bradley.

"What did you call me?" asks Ice shocked

"Uncle Ice" states Bradley matter of factly. "Well that is what you are isn't?"

"Yes" Ice manages to stumbles, "But you haven't called me that in years."

"I can stop if you'd rather I could-"

"No don't" interrupts Ice, stunned by what's happening. "I like- I-"

Ice stutters. He knows what he wants to say but he has no idea how. It's been years and their relationship is practically non-existent. He doesn't want to say anything that could ruin the moment.

"Come home safe, Bradley" says Ice quietly.

Bradley looks up, eyes subtly gleaming, "I think you mean Baby Goose."

"Of course" whispers Ice while gently laughing "Come home safe Baby Goose... please."

Bradley looks at him and smiles, for the first time in years.

"See you later Uncle Ice" stumbles Bradley regretfully as he walks away.

"I love you Bradley!" shouts Ice without even thinking.

Bradley stops and looks back. He gently smiles before walking away.

Ice tries to compose himself before running towards the room Maverick is in. He sees him gathering his equipment and just stands in the doorway. He takes out Maverick's note and starts reading it.

'It was kinder this way but I want you to know that I love you.'

Maverick slowly turns around and sees Ice holding his note.

"Was this all you were going to leave me with Mitchell?"

Maverick stands there, stumbling over words.

"Ice... I thought it was kinder for-"

"For us not to say goodbye as it would cause to much pain?"

Maverick looks down and nods.

"But you could leave me with the pain of not seeing you one last time?" says Ice gently, he knows Maverick meant well.

He moves to sit down on the bunk and Maverick follows nestling in his side. Ice sees the tears that are falling so he moves Maverick onto his lap and cuddles him.

"I just couldn't bring myself to say goodbye to you." whispers Maverick, his tears falling harder. "I never want to do that Ice. I never want to say goodbye to you."

Ice holds him tighter and wipes away his tears while trying to hold back his own.

"I get it Mav" says Ice softly "And I don't want to say goodbye either. But I've got to at least kiss you before you go. Do you understand that?"

"Of course I do." says Maverick blinded by tears. "Cause I've got to do it too."

Maverick instantly kisses him and for a very long time. They wrap their arms around each other and tears fall from both of their eyes.

In the middle of this an announcement is made, telling Maverick to get to the deck. They stop but still clutch each other's hands.

Maverick starts to stand up, as slow as he can make it.

"I've got to go."

Ice gently nods, tears still falling while Maverick wipes his away.

"Come back." whispers Ice shakily.

"When have I never not come back before?" giggles Maverick, despite crying.

Ice smiles a little. Maverick does have a great track record of surviving dangerous things.

Ice stands up, runs his fingers over his lips and kisses him one final time. He reluctantly lets go off his hand and lets him walk off.

Maverick slowly walks away but he stops in the middle of the corridor. He looks back at Ice and sees him sobbing. He uses all his strength to restrain his natural instinct to run and kiss him. He turns around and walks away despite his soul being torn in two.

[favfics13]

Seventeen Recommendations Part 4 (2025)

Amnesia by @sailorsoons

Summary: Choi Seungcheol has never been the type to commit to relationships - casual is more his thing. You’re fine with that - except you and Seungcheol seem to be terrible at casual when it comes to one another. 

Whispers of Desire by @cherriegyuu

Summary:when you cut a deal with the demon king, the man who shows up to help is nothing like you imagined

Up In Flames by @shadowkoo

Summary: When your sister calls with an emergency, you drop everything to house-sit while she’s out of town. What she forgets to mention is that her fiancé’s friend, a handsome stranger who might have saved your life earlier, is already expecting to stay there too. Awkwardly sharing the space, you manage to get through two weeks with Seungcheol—only to unexpectedly cross paths again when he saves you from another dangerous situation outside your therapist’s office. Seungcheol, a wildland firefighter, is back in the city taking his leave and debating whether to join Station 17 or return home. While sorting out his own issues, he keeps finding himself in situations where he has to save you—the fiery, stubborn little sister of his best friend’s fiancée who has a terrible habit of calling him the most obnoxious nicknames ever. Despite your resistance to being rescued (and his denial of how much you affect him), the sparks between you two continue to ignite. As you grow closer, it’s only a matter of time before everything goes up in flames.

Camera Man by @smileysuh

Summary: He’s this big, strong, business major and frat president- but right now, he’s putty in your hands… and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t feeling extremely powerful from this.

You Think You Might by @daechwitatamic

Summary: Seungcheol agrees to be your fake boyfriend at your sister’s destination wedding, under the condition that it “stays there”. You didn’t expect it to hurt when he holds you to that promise.

Tumble Day by @shina913

Summary: Sure, a man doing chores is hot. But a man who does the laundry, folds it, and puts it away? Absolutely irresistible.

XOXO, Yoon Jeonghan by @svtswhorehouse

Synopsis: with your it girl reputation on the line in regards to the latest gossip girl blast, you have no other choice but to own your mistakes and fall at the feet of the very person behind your impending doom.

Befriending Tigers by @nothoughtsjustfic

Summary: “You won’t admit it to anyone, but you’re pretty enamoured with the tiger striped father-son duo from the very first moment.”

Hanging By A Moment by @haologram

Synopsis: it's been a few years since you've been home for your birthday, and wonwoo can't wait to see you...right?

Slacking Off by @goldenhourology

Summary: being technologically averse, yet a complete control freak to your core, you tend to annoy senior IT specialist, jeon wonwoo, to no end. but after an apology brings you two closer together, wonwoo finds himself reaching out to you more often than not. on and off slack. despite what you two had originally perceived, you find yourself thrown into feelings that neither of you could've ever prepared for.

Lip Tint Stains And Hair Ties by @shineesbackbitches

Summary: “He locked his gaze in front of him, unable to gather the wits to gauge your reaction. His round glasses had slipped further down his nose than he preferred them, but he made no effort to correct their resting place. Wonwoo’s vision had always been complete garbage, and the time he spent focused on video games had not served his eyesight for the better. His glasses were cute though, and you’d told him as much the first time he wore them around you. Overall, he felt neutral about his frames, but being able to clearly see the board at the front of the classroom, the leaves on trees, and the smaller details of your face he hadn’t noticed without them were enough to convince him to wear them consistently. (“Since when did you have like, individual eyelashes?” “You mean like, how everyone does?” “… Huh.” “You knew people have individual lashes. Wonwoo, you knew people have individual lashes, right?”)”

Warning Signal by @hannieoftheyear

Summary :In a treacherous turn of events, your most recent mission gets tangled with Wonwoo's, the last person you'd want to partner up with. As the lives of your targets get more and more intertwined, and your plan gets more complicated, memories of the past and feelings you thought you could put aside threaten to ruin the mission.

No Face by @smileysuh

Summary. Wonwoo is even more gorgeous than you’d ever imagined the anonymous No Face being, and this time, when you close your eyes to listen to the cam boy moan, you imagine your history partner above you, his hand down your pants as he rubs you closer and closer to the edge. 

Glass Towers by @mr-cha-n

Summary: City lights are beautiful, but they're nothing compared to the spark between a hopelessly optimistic architect and his no-nonsense boss. He hopes.

Cinnamon by @daechwitatamic

Summary: You finally decide to try and move on after years of waiting for Mingyu to return your feelings. But when you start bringing your new boyfriend around more often, things with Mingyu get... difficult.

What Do I Call You by @haologram

Synopsis: your best friend is a man of many facets - a creative architecture student, a skilled football player, a wonderful friend and a sought-after lover. not that he'd ever truly glance anyone's way, especially not when his heart has always been set on you.

Dessert First by @highvern

summary: You've got a great life. Your wedding planning business is booming, your clients are great, and you're finally over your ex-boyfriend after years of pining. Or you are, until the universe decides to test if those three things are actually true.

Glimpse Of Us by @gyubakeries

Still Yours by @cherrynpink

Save The Date by @goldenhourology

Summary: 5 weddings in one year. 5 dates you saved for you and your boyfriend to attend — before he cheated. and now, you had to force your best friend, vernon, to go with you. but after losing a bet, mingyu agrees to take vernon’s place and be your date. this wasn’t how any of this was supposed to go, but you guess you could settle going with your only one-night-stand from college.

The Admirer Was Right in Front of You by @mylovesstuffs

Summary: Mingyu’s been in love with you forever but you’ve never seen him that way, or so he thinks. So he writes you anonymous letters, sends gifts, leaves clues—seven days of hope that you’ll catch on without him spelling it out for you. But every time you get close, you guess everyone but him. 

Clarity by @hannieoftheyear

Summary: Mingyu doesn't want to pay you any mind. To him, you're just another girl that'll get her heart broken by his dumb best friend. Why would he care, right? He shouldn't care about the crying sounds he hears from his bedroom when his friend stands you up for the girl he's actually in love with. And he shouldn't be getting close to you. He shouldn't dread the day his friend decides to end things with you and bring someone else home. He shouldn't be wishing to have met you first.

Winner Takes It All by @cheers-to-you-th

Summary: It's no secret that Kim Mingyu is a whore. The question is, why won't he fuck you?! or Your journey of attempting to seduce your friend, Kim Mingyu

Apartment no.17 by @kwnnies

Summary: moving to a new apartment seemed like an exciting thing, a breath of fresh air maybe; only then your peace is disturbed by the likes of an old friend and his extremely attractive roommate.

On The Clock by @sailorsoons

SUMMARY: Modern problems call for modern solutions, including naming a random stranger in the book store as your boyfriend to avoid an embarrassing encounter with your ex. The problem? The stranger is Vernon and he’s not supposed to be a stranger at all - he’s your coworker, and now everyone at the office - including your ex - thinks you’re dating. 

Vice;Grip by @daechwitatamic

Summary: You both knew why you were there. You both knew what you needed out of it: just sex, just fun. The just of it failed to last. You know precisely the first time it was different, the first time it wasn’t for fun. You needed the same things as always: his mouth hot on your skin, his hands roaming, the feeling of him emptying your mind and pushing every bad feeling out like there wasn’t room for them anymore. But for the first time, you didn’t want those things for enjoyment. You wanted them as a salve. Make it not hurt, you could have asked him. Or, at least, make it hurt in a way I choose. 

Objection, Your Honor by @mylovesstuffs

Carat Bay by @camandemstudios

Cherry F(l)avoured by @gyuhao5

Summary: Whatever Seungcheol has, Jeonghan has.

[seungsoftly]

asking you out while in college ― enha maknae line

୨୧ genre: drabble/fluff ୨୧ wc: 2.58k ୨୧ contains mentions of financial situations

livi's note ♡ haha sorry about taking so long to finally post part two of this drabble guys, my other ideas that i had brewing clearly wanted to be seen first! this will be formatted like the first part, but i have since discovered that prefer the look of my fics in the small text, so both parts of this drabble will be my only works in the regular, larger text. also, i can't believe how close i am to reaching 100 followers! thank you guys so much for your support, and i think we can get there by the end of the month! (okay i'll stop yapping, let's get to the fic now)

୨୧ taglist: @simjaexy

→ kim sunoo

like most other college students you knew (except for the few that you’d heard about that were here fully from their daddy’s money), you didn’t have much money to spare when you wanted to do nice things for yourself that you didn’t technically need. but you were also similar in the fact that you still wanted to go get your nails done and look all pretty.

in all fairness, it was something that you’d bribed yourself to study for midterms with, that if you got over an eighty percent on all of your exams you’d get your nails done to make you happy and satisfy the girl that laid deep within you.

the rational part of you had hoped that you’d just barely miss the mark, not disheartening you, but keeping you from wasting money on your nails of all things. that mindset was thoroughly upset when you opened your college portal to check said exam grades and clapped your hands together in delight, having passed all of them with flying colors.

all that studying like those aesthetic girls that you watched on youtube to make you want to study really did work, you thought to yourself as you scrolled through your pinterest, which was full of pictures of – yet again – aesthetic girls. except this time it wasn’t their notebooks and pens and highlighters you were looking at, it was their nails.

you spend at least an hour just scrolling through pictures, wanting to find a couple of perfect-looking sets of nails that you could save for your nail appointment.

but the one thing about getting your nails done was that you had no choice but to lean towards more simple styles. you were on a college girl budget, and that meant that you had just enough money to spare to go to the cosmetology school at your college to get your nails done. this wasn’t something that you were able to afford to see a professional for, at least just yet.

eventually you found a few designs that you thought were doable, some simple almond-shaped french tips with a little bit of shimmer rubbed onto them. you saved those pictures on your phone to show whatever student you got to do your nails, and moved on with life for now, the next open time slot for cheap beauty services saved in your phone as tomorrow.

time passed rather quickly, and soon you ended up on your way to the cosmetology building, the walk only about five minutes from your dorm. it was simple and clean, and you were grateful for that. things looked much better when they were actually kept up on campus.

there were already a few other students there, milling around as they waited for an available cosmetology student to help them with their service of choice. it felt oddly cozy for a space full of salon chairs and white tables, and that calmed the few nerves buzzing alight in your stomach at the new experience.

sunoo’s first glimpse of you made him automatically want to be the one to help you with whatever you were here for. he couldn’t really explain the full reason as to why, but you just had a vibe to you that really drew him in. you didn’t seem to be occupied, so he just walked straight up to you.

“hi there, i’m sunoo! what are you here for?”

you were startled a bit when he first walked up to you, but that bright smile of his quickly melted through the shock.

“oh, uh hi there. my name’s y/n, and i’m here for the nails service.”

“perfect!” he exclaimed, “that’s my specialty! just follow me to my table and we can start talking about what you want done with them!”

sunoo just seemed like such a sweet person to you from the beginning. it was so easy to talk to him, and he was also incredibly talented at doing your nails. they looked exactly like the picture that you’d show him when he was done, and you got a whole gossip session about what was going on around campus while he did them too.

so you kept finding ways to come back. using up all of your pens and highlighters before buying new ones that you kept seeing in videos, finding a way around needing to have a coffee from the nice cafe on campus  every day, just to save up that extra bit of money that it cost to see the bubbly man again and get to talk with him.

he was pleased that you kept coming back too. sunoo had never absolutely loved doing a session with anyone before you. yes, he did love doing things like that, it was the exact reason he was here right now in cosmetology school, but he always loved the nails more than the person that they were on.

with you, he loved everything. getting to chat while he worked hard at painting and filing and buffing down your nails, learning all the new gossip from your department while he shared about his. and most especially the compliments that you gave him and his work when he finished.

it was around the fourth time that you’d come in that he grew bold enough to think of saying something after he finished up your nails.

“you know, i’ve really looked forward to each time you’ve come back y/n,” he smiled. “but i would also really love it if i got to see that pretty face of yours outside of me making your nails pretty for you.”

you clutched said pretty nails to your chest, face beaming as you responded. “well i’d be honored to actually be able to look you in the eyes when we spend time together now instead of looking at the top of your head.”

the two of you delved into giggles at that, exchanging phone numbers before you got up and waved at him as you exited the building, happy with your nails and the new number in your phone.

→ yang jungwon

you’d always been involved in student government from the moment that you could have. that last year of elementary school when they suddenly announced elections, you already had posters made for your bid for president. in middle school you always headed the meetings, talking in front of all the other members, even those who were in grades higher than yours. same in high school.

it was just something that felt right to you, and something that people began to know you by. you became the girl that was always there, always doing something to help the school and put more text on her college applications. it didn’t hurt to have a good reputation and even better activities in your opinion.

but when you got to college, you weren’t in charge of it all anymore. you weren’t mad. in fact, you almost felt relieved about it. you no longer had to hold the weight of the whole student council on your shoulders. now, you just helped to support it.

but at the same time, you felt bad for jungwon, who was the person that had taken over your role of having everyone rely on you. the boy was so nice in the little conversation that you’d had with him, but he also seemed insanely busy and focused and motivated. not many people could be like that and survive for more than a few weeks without burning out.

he seemed to always be in the office, working on things for the school every waking minute. and somehow he still seemed to get perfect grades and even chat with his group of friends. it was crazy to just think of. in a way, jungwon’s drive was your motivation to keep pushing through your own classes and workload, even when you got tired of it or didn’t understand.

to jungwon, you seemed like the most amazing person in the world. you were the only person that actually did their job on the council and you even kept offering to help him with his own work. god, if only he could clone you and have you be the entire rest of the council. his life would be so much easier.

the thought of asking you out didn’t even cross his mind until one late night when it was just you and him organizing papers for the university staff to pass out in the following week, every other member having ditched the two of you already on some lame excuses that they had plans or had to study for a test or go to sleep so they could be well-prepared for their tests tomorrow. jungwon knew better than not to see past these excuses, but they weren’t really doing anything to help while they were there, so why not let them scamper off, thinking that they’d actually convinced him that they had other places to be that were important.

you and him would often talk to each other on nights like these, trash talking the others and laughing at the other’s imitation of one of their excuses and how they’d scurry out the door afterwards. before tonight, he’d never seen you as more than a friend, someone that understood him on a friendly level, someone that related to him just a little bit, but not too much.

but seeing your smile as he cracked another joke about the people that had strangely landed positions on the council alongside you two, and hearing that joyous laughter that he’d pulled out of your mouth made jungwon want to be around you more, want to get to know you better.

he wanted to go eat dinner with you, sitting across from you at some fancy restaurant as you talked about your day and chatted with him outside of this council building. he wanted you to call him those fuzzy nicknames that made him tease his friends when they were called that by their own girlfriends.

“hey y/n,” he quietly mumbled to you, clearly acting shy about something all of a sudden. you paused counting the papers you were holding, turning to make eye contact with him, which made him realize that he was going to have quell the nerves that just started buzzing in his body and just say what he wanted to say to you. “i haven’t really come to the thought of it until now, but i really want to know you outside of this building. and if you’re okay with that, i want to ask you to dinner tomorrow night.”

all of his worries were even further abated when you smiled, face glowing and a cheerful expression on your face.

“oh absolutely jungwon! i’m looking forward to dinner and getting to know you more as well!”

→ nishimura riki

all you’ve heard over the last couple of days was that nishimura riki was a dance prodigy and someone that was like no other from his generation. it honestly made him sound like someone who loved hearing about himself and bragging that he was better than everyone else.

or at least that’s what you were pretty sure of considering how that was exactly how all the other star athletes and students on campus acted. they barely answered any of the questions that you had spend good time on putting together, instead promoting only themselves and not helping people understand more about what had gotten them to where they were now.

that’s why you had such a love-hate relationship with the job that you were working on campus. it was an engaging job, which gave it that edge to working as a tour guide or in the bookshop, but it required you to also work with some of the most egotistical people that you’d ever met in your entire life.

currently, you were walking over to the dance studio that ni-ki and the dance team held their practices at, pacing yourself at that speed of walking that you only saved for when your emotions needed a bit of an outlet but you didn’t have a very large time frame to let them out. this would suffice until after you got done interviewing him.

you could hear the music booming through the door when you arrived, entering the small building quickly and already spotting the man you were here to interview.

he was almost flowing along with the music that was blasting from the speakers in the studio, body moving in sharp lines and smooth patterns. as much as your mind hated the idea of complimenting someone like him, you’d never seen someone so in their element before.

sure, the others that you’d interviewed were talented at their respective sports, skills impressing you, but never entrancing you like ni-ki just had as he moved to the music.

god, you had to snap out of this and stay professional, you thought, mentally slapping yourself on the wrist for getting distracted.

once the music came to a stop, ni-ki clapped all the boys practicing alongside him on the back, exchanging those confident chuckles as they all gathered their things and headed out of the studio in waves, completely passing you by.

“you must be y/n,” ni-ki walked up to you, voice quieting from the loud tone that it had been only a moment ago. “here to interview me for the school paper, right?”

“yep!” you gave him the typical blunt response that you gave every other person you’d interviewed before him, hoping that he’d just go along and answer the questions that you had lined up and make it easy and quick for the both of you.

“from what i’ve heard about you,” he whispered, “you’ve definitely got a whole list of questions for me typed up. but i think it’d be a lot more interesting to see some action from you instead of just some questions.”

you were confused. what exactly did he mean by that?

“i can hear the gears turning in your head, y/n. i mean that i’m going to teach you a little something, and then you can write about that for your little article,” his voice lilted playfully. “i promise it’ll be fun.”

“alright, fine,” you grumbled, just wanting to get this over with.

but as the music played and ni-ki guided you and your body in a way that you’d never truly moved before, you weren’t so sure that you wanted to leave so soon anymore.

ni-ki had turned out to be a real gentleman, asking you every time he had to touch you to make a little correction and complimenting you with every move that you got down. you really were enjoying this now.

meanwhile, a huge weight had been lifted off ni-ki’s shoulders. he’d always had to keep up the nonchalant attitude that he’d somehow got placed with, but now he had someone that knew him for something other than acting like he was all cool and didn’t care much about things.

this was the first time in a while that he’d felt like he could go all out in the dance studio, having loads of fun teaching you a little something. and since this was so meaningful to him, he wasn’t going to just let it end now.

“you’know, this has been really fun for me, y/n. how about another lesson sometime?”and of course you just had to say yes. you needed to keep learning that dance after all. (wink, wink)

divider credits to @uzmacchiato

© seungsoftly 2025 please do not copy, repost, or translate

this is a work of fiction and is not intended to depict any accurate representation of any members of enhypen. please do not take this as real.

[em-harlsnow]

based on the TikTok challenge prompt and your recent post saying Ian is also a jealous partner (I agree btw!). Debbie begs mickey to trick Ian by doing the my “current” husband trend for her TikTok and Ian just being like cut the cameras I don’t play like that

I've been asked to do this by soo many people and I'm sorry I'm so late to answer it! I was a bit behind on TikTok trends so I wasn't fully familiar with this one, but now I've seen it plenty.

Debbie's sort of been regretting putting Ian and Mickey on her TikTok. Sure, the videos got a lot of attention and made her plenty of money, but now it's all people want to see. Every time she posts, the top comments are always asking for a proper introduction to Mickey - even though she thought she already did that - or more funny/cute videos of the couple.

It's even worse if the camera catches one of them walking around in the background of one of her videos. Suddenly no one will care about what she had to say and all the comments go wild over Ian and Mickey. It's annoying, but she can't keep ignoring her fans. She has to make more content with them, if only because it brings in money.

She proposes a specific trend to Mickey, one that Ian can't know about. Debbie tells Mickey to do a video with her and Ian and start by introducing Ian as his current husband. If Ian doesn't notice initially, Mickey has to repeat it until he does. Debbie thinks he'll notice.

She tells Ian something different. She tells Ian she'll be asking them both a few questions about what they do or don't do to each other. Like if they'll check each others' phones, have each others' locations and so on. Ian agrees, despite again establishing that it's because she's paying them.

On a Tuesday, she sets up the camera in their living room and presses record.

"Hey, everybody!" Debbie says, putting on a more cheerful voice than she usually has. She pointedly glances at Mickey, signalling that it's his turn to speak.

For once, Mickey was actually pretty happy to be a part of her videos - he clearly wanted to piss Ian off - so when he speaks in that tired, reluctant way which he usually does in her tiktoks, it's an act.

"Hey." He grunts. "I'm gonna be answering questions with my current husband, Ian."

Ian furrows his brows. Debbie continues to avoid suspicion.

"Yes, so the first-"

"Wait, wait." Ian cuts her off. "What d'you mean?" He asks Mickey, slapping his hand against his chest. "'Current husband'. What does that mean?"

Mickey shrugs. "You are my current husband. You're currently my husband."

Shaking his head, Ian scoffs. "No, what the fuck? What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Guys, I wanna film this today." Debbie pleads, trying not to laugh.

Ian ignores her. "I'm not your current husband. I'm your only husband."

"Yeah, my current husband. My husband as of right now, in this moment." Mickey explains, looking at Ian like he's stupid.

"Your husband as of always, asshole. You're not fucking divorcing me." Ian states, emphasising his words with a pointed finger. "Ever."

"Okay, well, you're still my current fucking husband. I don't get-"

"What, you're gonna have another one?" Ian snaps.

"Another what?"

"Another fucking husband? Are you planning on having another husband?" Ian asks, speaking quickly and angrily.

"No." Mickey says, rolling his eyes.

"Then I'm not your current husband, am I? I'm not your first husband, 'cause there isn't gonna be a second." Ian huffs. "I'm your only husband forever." He adds, pouting.

Mickey breaks, then, splitting into wheezing laughter.

"What's so fucking funny?"

"You're an idiot." Mickey says, still laughing. "It's a trend-"

"You're not supposed to tell him!" Debbie says, throwing her arms into the air. If he'd held out a little longer, they might have seen Ian turn red with annoyance. It would have made great content.

"We did the thing! I can tell him now." Mickey says. "It's a prank thing, on that app. You say 'current' whatever and see what you do." He explains, grinning about it. "Clearly you get mad."

Ian huffs, folding his arms across his chest. "I wasn't mad." He mutters. "You're my current husband then, bitch." He says like he's trying to get Mickey back.

"I thought we were husbands forever." Mickey mocks, tugging on Ian's bicep to unfurl his arms.

"Not if I divorce you." Ian grumbles, shoving Mickey's head playfully. A small smile is starting to glimpse his mouth.

Mickey snorts. "Yeah, but you're not gonna do that." He says, getting closer to Ian's face.

Finally letting himself smile, Ian gives in. "Guess not." He mumbles, placing a small peck of a kiss on Mickey's lips.

It becomes many small pecks immediately and Debbie groans.

"For fuck's sake." She mutters, standing up to get the camera. "Stop it. Why d'you have to do shit like this all the time? Just go upstairs and fuck or something."

She ends the video and storms off to the kitchen to watch it back. At first, she thought she would edit out the part where Mickey told Ian the whole prank, but upon watching it, it's actually pretty funny. None of the other TikTok couples she's seen do the trend have the behind the scenes stuff in their videos. Maybe if she leaves it in, it'll set her video apart from the rest. Then she'll go really viral.

There's also a moment where it feels like neither of them really remember the camera is there. Debbie hasn't posted a video yet where it's just them without any performance for the camera. Her fans will eat it up.

So she doesn't edit it. Even leaves in the part where she tells them to stop kissing and go upstairs. Eager to post it, she doesn't show it to Ian and Mickey first. They're busy, and they weren't picky the last time she recorded them. Uploading it to TikTok, she presses post and waits for the comments to come in.

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TOP COMMENTS

(stellaforstar) when debs says go upstairs she sounds like a parent telling her kids to go to their room lmaooo

(iamtheonewhoknocks) 'my husband as of right now' Mickey's funny bro 😭

(jonsnow) 'why do u have to do this shit all the time' lol how often does this happen??

(bellabella) the way ian immediately clocked it

(jasonmendoza) aggressive green flag

(Hermione) right in front of my salad???

(flowers) does no one else think this is weird?

--(hotdogstick) [replying to flowers] how?

--(flowers) [replying to hotdogstick] because calling your husband 'current' anything just screams you're gonna break up in like a month. and everyone saying it's cute r weird because why is he so mad?

--(hotdogstick) [replying to flowers] it's literally a joke and he was barely even mad

--(bearman) [replying to flowers] u must be fun at parties

--(flowers) [replying to hotdogstick] I don't care if it's a joke 🤷‍♀️. I still think it just shows they won't last

--(debsgallagher - original creator) They've been together since they were teenagers and have been happily married for a year, I don't think they'll be breaking up over a joke.

(fluffy) may this type of love attack me

-> I hope everyone enjoyed!

[inksandpensblog]

observations and conjecture on the Beta short

spoilers ahead

I watched it through once, I'm watching it a second time for this, and the first thing I notice on this round is that this seems to be placed between Angry Birds and Stickpage, as far as the timeline.

Dark does the hands-on-hips-satisfaction pose that we saw him do in ep. 11 multiple times in this short.

Chosen notices the scenery first, and isn't even looking at Dark when he waves Dark over to look at it with him, but Dark notices Chosen's attempt to draw his attention anyway.

Dark does the "you thinking what I'm thinking" pose first but Chosen is right on his heels, and they show fire at the same time.

When they slam into the ground, Dark is hyped, while Chosen simply dusts off his hands. What I find interesting is that, as soon as Dark notices Chosen dusting off his hands-- basically cartoon shorthand for being finished --it's almost like he immediately looks for something else to go destroy. Chosen doesn't seem to have a problem with continuing, but it's interesting that Dark seems to not want to stop.

Chosen notices that Dark is still destroying stuff in the background, but is content to let Dark continue on his own while Chosen instead fiddles with the game mechanics he's just discovered. His first build is abysmal but that's okay. Dark comes back to see Chosen with the build, Chosen shows it off and seems to communicate that he's discovered there's more they can do here.

Picking up a dropped item by accident was how Chosen discovered there's more they can do here, so I find it interesting that Dark makes no attempt to pick up any dropped items here; especially since Dark technically interacted with a dropped item before Chosen did, as one of the first things he did on arrival was kick a dropped item away.

Despite not engaging with the game on the same level that Chosen is, I also find it interesting that Dark doesn't dismiss what Chosen is trying to tell him immediately. He does take a closer look at Chosen's build, before moving to destroy it anyway.

The next interaction, oh boy. Chosen becomes protective of the build, and I can almost hear them saying "no wait, don't destroy it" "AUGH, why not?!" and Chosen…can't really think of a reason why not.

Dark notices that Chosen hasn't followed him, but this leads to him flying into a floating island and tumbling a truly incredible distance and into the nether XD boi what kind of momentum. (We also learn that he's lava resistant.)

He takes a moment to assess where he is, notices enemies, and gets excited. Not the same kind of excited he's been up until now, this is being fueled by something else.

(Also we learn that he can self-explode too. Good to know.)

Chosen's second build is surprisingly good.

He reflexively lasers whatever made the noise behind him. He doesn't seem that torn-up about it, but I find it interesting that the next time he encounters an entity (the chicken) he tries to avoid it. At least I think that's what he was doing? Anyway it leads to him discovering fall damage, which he also seems to notice doesn't affect the chicken. Indeed, the next time he jumps from a great height he slows his fall before landing so he doesn't take damage!

(Also he eats with his pac-man mouth, theory ruined /j)

I'm totally seeing the lava/water parallel. (I'm also noticing that Dark didn't have his hand ignited while he trailed it through the lava, whereas Chosen's hand is still lit when he trails it through the water.)

…I think Chosen…shakes a little bit, as he adjusts and slowly sits back to watch the sunset.

Chosen doesn't seem to register the falling sword as a threat at all, he seems more nonplussed than anything. Dark returns with his spoils only to discard them all once he's with Chosen again. Notably, this time Chosen seems to mourn that respite is over now.

Dark is more hyped than ever, it seems that having actual combat has proven even more fun than simply just destroying stuff. Chosen follows without protest, but not before contemplating the space once more and deciding to bring a block with him.

[delopsia]

Hello!!!! I love your work! Esp your Rhett Abbott ones. Congratulations on the 2K! May I request horseback riding with Bob Reynolds? Something involving lots of angst and mutual pining and then a confession? If thats okay 🥺

I am so sorry for what happened here...oh my god. I couldn't come up with anything angsty and then...well...🧍‍♂️oops 🍑Come join the Fernwell Creek Farms Event! 🍑 Horseback Riding — Send any kind of thought or request for your date(s) Warning for major character death. Please check the very last tag to reveal who dies 😅

It's one of those things that have been around for so long that you don't remember what life was like without it. Thinking back on it now, the events of your life have all been categorized by, Before Robert, and After Robert, broken apart by a much smaller, meeker reference to 'The Accident'.

Middle school days spent looking forward to squeezing into a half-occupied lunch table together and then wasting the afternoon in each other's bedrooms, under the guise of homework and non-existent class projects.

Someone's parents should have figured out that no child has that many projects, but somehow, you got away with it. Maybe they would have, if The Accident hadn't shaken apart your routine and plucked him right out of your life.

As suddenly as he disappeared, some couple of years post high school, he showed up again. With the same sweet smile and those soft spoken words that never fail to put you into a trance. It's as if nothing happened. He simply skipped forward in time and waited for you to catch up.

And, yeah, in hindsight, you should have been more alarmed about the things he muttered to you over cheap coffee and stale pastries. Experiments and a void, and superpowers that surpass those of ancient gods.

It wasn't your fault.

In your head, he was just your Robert. The boy who stole glances at you when he thought you weren't looking and found dumb excuses to hold your hand. And to him, he was the same old guy he'd always been. Nothing had changed. The only indication that you were no longer children was your bodies themselves, aged with the years. Fine wines fortunate enough to reunite on the shelf.

And so, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that something like this would happen.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Bob's voice breaks through the haze. "I'm so sorry, I'm so—"

"It's not your fault," you hear yourself speaking, but you can't feel a thing. A loud ringing overlaps your senses, your skin vibrating with it.

Coldness rushes through your veins, your arm struggling to lift, but despite the protest of fading muscles, your hand finds his cheek. Tears spill over like a waterfall, wetting his reddened face and dripping from his jaw.

"But it is!" He wails. You're vaguely aware of how he's pulling you closer, blood gushing from your belly as he thumps his forehead against yours. Closer. You can see the veins in his eyes like this. "I love you! You're—you're not supposed to hurt the people you love!"

"You didn't know I was there." Such a strange feeling it is. Dying.

In the back of your mind, you know that you should be angry. But the emotion doesn't arrive. All used up for this lifetime. Maybe they evaporated in the blast. If the color of the world weren't fading, perhaps you would have time to figure out which it is.

You don't care to look down. There's no sense in peeling your shirt back and looking at the gaping wound in your stomach, the disproportionate consequence for sneaking in and trying to surprise him. The flaws of new powers with equally new triggers.

Bob's saying something to you. His mouth shapes around familiar words, throat vibrating with their delivery, but they no longer make sense. Echoing, fading into the darkness that eats up your sight.

Three words click into place. You don't understand why it took so long to hear them, but you're content to utter them in return.

"I love you, too."