#don't worry guys he's. well maybe not fine. but he'll live <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[sparky-is-spiders]

I don't think I'm going to get today's prompt out on time either. Sorry guys...

I can offer a snippet instead?

Warnings for:

Dissociation (Jon is. Jon is really really out of it.)

Mild mention of blood (he has a giant bleeding chest injury the entire time)

There's one line that could be interpreted as suicidal ideation.

Drifting, close to drifting, but not there yet. The pain is too sharp. It sits heavy over his heart. The world around him is a distant mirage, faded into nothing in the face of his injury. It has devoured all his perception. He doesn't understand why it won't fade away too. Surely it should kill him? Surely he should go numb to it too? Surely he should at least pass out? From very far away, there is a sound. Or perhaps the shape of one? Everything hurts. There is something warm on his cheek. (blood without slickness, the only thing that wasn't pain). Everything hurts. There are words too, maybe, but they are soon lost to him utterly. Everything hurts. And finally, singing above the pain and the warmth and the words that might not be, the knowledge that true eyes are upon him now; that he is Seen, and Known, and now he can finally rest. Jon slips away again.

[just-a-creep-babe]

Are your requests still open? I'm not sure about your time zone so I hope it's ok if I ask how would you think relationships with the creeps would be realistically? Like how would Jeff, Masky, Ej, and Ben act if they were real and actually interested enough to date someone? I was just interested in your interpretation since I really enjoy how you write them! ✨

I feel like I’ve maybe gone over a few of these points before but I can’t remember for certain 😬

Either way, I hope none of these were too repetitive!! And tysm!! 🥰🫶

Requests are closed but commissions are open!

Masterlist: x

Jeff the Killer

It’s no secret this guy’s crazy egotistical

So as soon as he sees someone he’s interested in, it's like he just needs to have them

They’re an ego boost; a prized trophy that further proves he’s better than everyone else

He almost doesn’t see them as a full person, but more of a commodity

Really, it doesn’t matter whether or not they want the relationship—as far as he’s concerned, he knows what’s best for them

And, coincidentally, what's best for them is him

He's a super controlling partner

Literally the embodiment of your body, my choice

Part of him expects his s/o to pliantly conform themselves to his every whim and desire

But the other part secretly thinks it’s super hot when they talk back to him

He's always liked the feisty ones, and it gives him the perfect excuse to put them back in their place~

In terms of emotional intimacy, his partner really shouldn't expect much

Jeff mentally blocks all of that kind of stuff out, and he thinks people who are open about it are weak

At best, he'll ignore his partner's efforts to connect with him on a deeper level

And at worst, he'll belittle them and use their vulnerabilities against them as a manipulation tactic

So it's overall best to keep some amount of emotional distance from him, in all honesty

The plus side to dating Jeff is that he's super protective

To the point of it being suffocating, so it isn't all that much of a positive, but I digress

Since he sees his partner as his possession, and since he's very protective of his things, he'll be damn sure nothing bad happens to them

And everyone better damn well know that they're off-limits or he will remind them by carving it into their skin

At the end of the day, Jeff primarily wants sex, first and foremost

And secondly, he wants someone that'll inflate his ego; either by being a pretty piece of eye candy by his side or by constantly gushing over him and blowing smoke up his ass

Deep down, he does want someone to care for him—someone he could love and trust, and who would protect him as much as he'll protect them—but he's way too emotionally damaged to even admit he wants that

He definitely doesn't make it easy to love him

BEN Drowned

Honestly, a relationship with him would be relatively chill

All he really wants is someone to fuck and hang out and game with

He does have a dark side, which manifests as possessive/obsessive behaviors and manipulative tendencies, and a good dose of neediness to top it all off

But it's to be expected

And, really, if his s/o just behaves and gives him all of their love and attention, then it's not like they have anything to worry about, anyway

As long as they game with him every night for at least 3 hours, have sex with him a minimum of 4 times a week, answer his texts within 10 minutes, and never spend more time with someone else, then everything's fine

He's prone to spying on them through their devices, especially if they don't do the above-mentioned things to his liking

And he'll use anything in his arsenal to ensure that they stay wrapped around his little finger

Like I said, super needy and manipulative

He'll fuck with their self-esteem, their worldview, their perception of the people around them until they can't imagine living without him

He'll become their world; he wants their life to revolve around him and him only

And if things don't go his way, it'll only get worse

Much worse

He's not above eliminating anyone he's jealous of, or even isolating his partner until they don't have a choice but to accept him back into their lives

He will fully turn psycho if he, for whatever reason, thinks that he might be losing his partner

But until that time comes, until the relationship reaches that point, it'll all be smooth sailing

He's smart enough to know just the right amount to push things to keep the relationship afloat for as long as possible

Which, despite being one of the chillest partners on a surface level, quickly makes him one of the most dangerous ones when things go south

He'll stop at nothing to keep the person he likes

And his partner will never be any the wiser of the darkness that lurks behind his easy-going intentions

They better hope they never reach the tipping point that reveals his true nature

Eyeless Jack

He's actually the chillest creep to be in a relationship with

Unlike the others, Jack firmly clings to those remaining scraps of humanity within him

If he hadn't been transformed, he'd be a perfectly fine and well-adjusted member of society

So a relationship with him would be like, well, any other relationship with a normal person

He has his emotional hangups here and there, and he isn't perfect; he struggles with communicating his feelings and intentions, and he can close himself off when he's following down

But that's par for the course as far as relationship difficulties go

The biggest issue that'll come up that probably doesn't have a Buzzfeed article to help you out is dealing with his demonic side

But even then, he's gotten fairly good at controlling himself, so it'll never be too disruptive—as long as his partner keeps an open mind about the whole thing

He'll be more possessive, and he'll get jealous more easily, but he'll never lash out at his partner because of it

If anything, if he smells someone on his partner, he'll just want to scent them—so all he needs is some physical contact to reassure him

He can get insecure about his nature from time to time, but again, a bit of reassurance goes a long way

Honestly, the most dangerous thing about dating Jack is probably his urge to mark his partner

Marking a human has a few... complications, to say the least

He's naturally bound to get more possessive and much more sexually needy, which could lead him to injure his partner

But, you know, that's just part of the risks that come with dating a demon hybrid

A relationship with Jack has its ups and downs, which honestly might get more intense than a regular human relationship, but even then, a lot of humans are far crazier than Jack, even despite his nature

Even though he deals with some pretty powerful entities, he'll make sure his s/o is safe at all times—no one will ever be able to hurt them

And even though he's a cannibal, he'd probably be too protective of them to take a nibble out of them

Like, sure, he'd love to taste them—and he'd be willing to bet they taste divine—but even if they'd be open to trying it, he wouldn't want to risk it

Overall? 10/10, can not recommend dating this man enough

Masky

Masky's very hot and cold in a relationship

The stress of work combined with the physical and mental strain of being in Slender's proximity all the time does not make things easy for him

He's prone to lashing out, closing himself off, abusing whatever substance he can get his hands on, and generally spiraling out of control

Which does not make it easy for his s/o

Since Slender took an interest in him when he was still fairly young, he's almost always had symptoms of the Slender Sickness, so he's not super experienced with long-term relationships

Meaning that alongside dealing with his mood swings, his partner will also have to guide him through the ups and downs of dating

Which is just a whole extra set of difficulties his s/o will have to face

Being in a relationship with Masky really isn't easy

But the thing is, when things are good with him, they're really good

It's like he only knows how to operate on extremes; his lows are incredibly low and his highs are intoxicatingly high

When he's on a high, he'll make his partner feel like they're on top of the world

Nothing can get in the way of pleasing his partner; not time or money or even the boundaries of the law

He'll shower them with attention and affection, he'll take them on once-in-a-lifetime experiences—he'll make them feel truly heard and loved

Their connection will be like none other; he'll make them feel like they've conquered the world together

But when he's on a down, honestly, his partner might just be better off ignoring him until he gets better again

Which could take weeks or even months

But ultimately the distance will likely be better than being around him when he's going through it

Because although he isn't proud of it, he may get violent and even abusive without necessarily meaning to

And once he snaps himself out of it, he'll be upset to the point where it'll make him spiral even lower

And once he's over it, he'll be right back to gift and love-bombing them all over again because it's his way of apologizing and making sure he won't lose them

As great as things could be with him, and as addictive as he might get, his partner should keep some kind of distance from him—for their own sake

[slamdunk-headcanons]

You sleep on his chest

I'm so glad that someone asked Akagi and Kogure headcanons because their definetly the most likely to be wonderful boyfriends and husbands. They deserve a lot of love! Thank you anon-chan who sent this wonderful ask. Part 2/3

Akagi Takenori

You are studying at his house.

Akagi is one of your best friends and he has a deep respect and admiration for you.

He's secretly in love with you but he thinks you're too much for him as he's a big guy who runs around the court with a orange ball in his big hand and you are a delicate angel with a deep personality, refined taste and a fascinating intelligence.

You've been studying really hard with his help because you want to get good grades to go to a good university (maybe try something abroad). But at the same time you have to deal with your house rotine, personal issues, and it's been particularly stressfull lately.

So you feel exausted.

It's close to 10'clock and Akagi notices your little head bumps and your heavy eyelids.

"We can stop for today, ___-san. You look pretty tired. I will take you h-"

"No Akagi, I'm fine", you answered rubbing your eyes with energy. "And I already asked you to stop using "-san" with me. It's weird. We're friends".

"So I'm going to make some coffee and black tea for us, ok?" "ok." "You can go watch something on the TV while I prepare everything" "Ok"

But as soon as you sit on the couch, it takes you just a few seconds to fall asleep. When Akagi notices the TV isn't on, he comes to see what's wrong and finds you asleep.

He calls you a few times, but you don't answer. So he sits beside you in the couch and calls you again. But you're sleeping deeply, so he starts to worry of what he would do. You sleeping at his house sounds so wrong (what would your parents think?), but he'll have to carry you all the way home ans this sounds WRONG TOO because he'll be touching you for SO LONG...

In your sleep, you start mumbling his name and he just FREEZES. You move, trying to find a more comfortable position and end up sliding down. As Akagi is at your side, you fall into his chest.

AKAGI IS ALMOST HAVING A HEART ATTACK AT THIS POINT

There's so much information going around Akagi's head that he just stay frozen. "I'm desonoring my promise to her parents and to HER that I'd never do something wrong with her AND HERE I AM TOUCHING HER LIKE THIS I'm an awlful person I'd never deserve her BUT I DON'T WANT TO WAKE HER UP she looks so tired and she's sleeping so peacefully..."

You wake up half an hour later still laying on Akagi's chest. You jump out of the couch when you realiuze you fell asleep ON AKAGI'S CHEST. He was there quiet, totally still, his hands on his legs, just serving as a support for you... As he always did in everthing.

"Oh my God, I'm SO SORRY, Akagi-kun! I was so careless and lazy to fall asleep during study, AND EVEN OVER YOU, I'M SO SOR-"

"____, you are tired! You fell asleep. That's normal. Now, I'll take you home. You have to rest or our studying will be useless. Your mind have to work well during the exams. Let's go"

He walks you home in a strange silence. You can't even dream that he can't stop thinking about you and your touch. He loooved to feel your heartbeat against his chest and the calm rythm of your breath.

Will he ever have the courage to say how he feels?

Kogure Kiminobu

You were invited to go to Shohoku's basketball team horror movie night at Ayako's house.

It's Friday, so your day at school was busy. You try to study for two hours after class as you are going to the movie night and could not study at home during the night. So you were tired and feeling sleepy.

You were not a big fan of horror movies because you always thought that everything looked so false that you never felt frighten watching them. But you find it kindda interesting

Kogure, your best friend who secretly loves you, notices you are sleepy during the movie. So, at the end, he offeres to pay a taxi for you because you both lived at the same street and it was far from Ayako's house.

Kogure helps you to get into the car. When you are both in, he tells the taxi driver your adress first. "You should rest more, ____-chan. You look really tired. Take this weekend to rest."

You nod, feeling your eyelids heavy. You barely process Kogure's words. The last thing you feel is your head falling to your left side...

Kogure is SHOOK. His whole face is a tomato.

HOW HE COULD EVER THOUGHT THAT HE WOULD END UP THAT NIGHT WITH HIS BEST FRIEND/CRUSH SLEEPING ON HIS CHEST???

He keeps his hands down while trying to calm his breathing, so the frenetic movement of his chest won't wake you up. So he foccus on your breathing and try to breathe in the same rythm.

When the taxi stops, he gently holds your shoulders and lift you up, putting you sitting straight on the car seat. You're so sleepy that you didn't even noticed you were sleeping in his chest.

Kogure pays the driver and asks him to wait. "I will walk her to the door".

When Kogure comes back, the taxi driver says gently: "You have a beautiful girlfriend." Kogure blushes again. "She's not my girlfriend". "Oh really?" he is sincerely surprised. "You two would make a good couple. Why don't you ask her out on a date?"

Kogure looks down sadly. "I don't want to lose her..."

[ideas-4-stories]

NOOOOOOOO I LOST THE AU I WROTE FOR YOU 😭😭😭 I LITERALLY SENT IT AND TUMBLR SAID "NETWORK ERROR". L FOR THE WIFI. L. Not cool I'm literally crying I thought that AU was genius. It was a Teacher!Buggy AU with Crocomom and Dadhawk. + Shanks co-parenting Luffy with Crocodile. That note was so long I literally spent like 45 mins writing it here on your ask and it was just. Gone. Or I think it did. Why does life hate me. I'm just gonna be brief with this cuz I still think it's golden lmao. Croco and Mihawk work long hours so their kids (Luffy, Zoro, Perona) have to wait for a few hours until they're picked up by their parents. The school doesn't have school buses bc I said so (no I am not cruel it's just out of my budget /j). So Buggy takes the responsibility to keep them comfortable and entertained while they wait. Croco and Mihawk meeting this charming (and clown looking) blue-haired guy and they start courting him. Shanks gets dragged in on the courting bc of Luffy. Also he was already courting Buggy. I didn't write their process of courting I basically skipped and went,, their wedding will take part in a Goth castle. And the design are all sunshine and rainbows (literally). Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Vivi, Zoro and Luffy being in a class along with other kids. Franky, Robin, Jinbei and Brook are in higher classes. Chopper is atom. Not here in the world yet. Perona is like, 2-3yrs older than her brothers so. Yeah *awkwardly shuffles* (I love perona I swear-). Implied Zosan. Some rando: but you didn't imply shi— Me: Shhh I did. *gaslighting*. Law is also there in the classroom with lower grade strawhats. He's suffering. He only attends 3 days a week tho, he's mostly homeschooled bc of his sickness. He's homeschooled by Cora. (You can pry Law and Cora from my cold dead hands. You can separate them when I dissolve into ashes). Don't worry as he gets older his sickness is cured. Ofc he's cured by Cora. He's saved by Cora in every universe. In every AU. Every Era. Every life they will ever live. I will die on that hill– *applies the nobody dies/everyone lives tag on this AU* let my babies be happy pls. Let my man Cora live and travel the world with this emo boy (Law). Doffy isn't real, he can't hurt anyone. Ace is there. Sabo is there. Every One Piece character is out there somewhere. They're like hidden stones and you have 0.02% of finding them. I thought I was just making a Teacher!Buggy AU but then it turns into a Modern!AU for everyone. Let's gooooo. Sora divorces with Judge and remarry with Zeff so now Sanji lives with all his brothers and his sister. They get separate classrooms tho, and reiju is perona's age so she's besties with her. (I do not play by canon's rules with ages bc i live in my own world) They both tease their brothers (Sanji and Zoro) about their crushes on each other. The heart crew is there. Bepo is a dog, a very fluffy one. Kuina is alive. Kaya is there, same classroom with Usopp. I have no idea how to continue this lmao, but I do hope you find this interesting bc Buggy is 100% great with kids and probably teaches well bc he is a big nerd and makes lessons interesting. (Also, the whole reason why I wrote this instead of letting the idea slip through my mind like the others is bc the image of two goth men courting a clown looking mf was funny to me. So here we are lmao. The way I wrote this makes Shanks look like he's the person they let into their open relationship twice lol I'm so sorry 😭😭)

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

That's really sad, I really like this idea (though I see Shanks and Buggy more as siblings, but I understand the idea of Shuggy) It's fine that this became about so many people, I really like this.

Teacher!Buggy sounds so cool, you know that he's the flashiest and maybe one of the craziness of the things he'll do to get his students good things that will boost their learning. He knows that every kid might not have the same learning paths as others.

How many classes does this man teach? Who knows, too many for how much he gets paid. All teachers needs to get paid more.

I would think Jinbei and Brook being other fun teachers in the school, like Tom could be as well!

I really like this idea, and the imagine of two gothic men trying to court a clown-looking mf is really funny to me as well.

[thissliceofnonsense]

Donnie likes Magic... at least in the beginning. (First episode Donnie notes)

(All my Donnie-magic-arc notes from my rottmnt show notes. LOOK I HAVE EVIDENCE :3. This is mainly for future reference.)

Okie, Donnie's first words in the show are him using his science to support his brothers and be overdramatic.

Donnie has tech in his shell for when April needs a ride, meaning that, again, he is constantly making tech to help others, along with his own interests.

(Also the way he flies? So overdramatic princess-y. I love him. And I can't take screenshots for some reason. Sadness. )

They do have rehearsals for 'if they come in contact with humans'. So.... do they worry about that? Also, Donnie never goes to them. I can relate. Things I find unnecessary that I take away from my 'writing time' are things I try to avoid at all costs.

Donnie screaming 'Fibonacci' or just being happy and showing off his tech makes me so sparkly inside.

(I'm not even five minutes into the first episode.... this might take awhile)

Donnie's tech does not work, he tries but it does not work a ton. Which I love. Our favorite/ special things not working, or just not being that great is something I relate to a lot/ want to see more in media. It's the thing we base our lives on. It HAS to be good. Otherwise, what's the point of our existence?

Yes... I kin Donnie.

All of Donnie's lines are immediately iconic in my brain

Donnie again tries to make things better with his tech abilities

When Donnie 'insults' his brothers. ('You guys are fools') He'll say something positive about it later. ("You beautiful fools') he's basically doing /pos all the time.

Donnie, upon finding the hidden city, says "Exactly what I expected." (At 11:37) Meaning that he is a cryptid theorist confirmed. He has theorized about the existence of mystic beings since before they found the hidden city.

(I will do another "Why Donnie dislikes mystic powers" later, because this gives me the notion that Donnie dislikes mystic powers the same way some physicists dislike quantum mechanics or the Copenhagen interpretation of it. It doesn't make sense. It contradicts and he can't figure it out, that wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for his brothers immediately getting it. In the AU, I would have an 'episode' where their mystic powers start making Donnie inconsequential. They already don't listen to him most of the time. And now his tech doesn't help anymore....

anywho that's for later, back to episode one!)

According to Donnie's calculations, they are in a 'Tertiary metaverse'.

A google search revealed nothing on that. But ..... DONNIE HAS CALCULATIONS FOR THESE SORTS OF THINGS, AAA-

Donnie loves Draxum's lab. Specifically, the color scheme and the style. These two would get along so well.

Donnie has high grade titanium, how did he get high grade titanium?

(my headcannon is that he goes on 'shopping trips' with his siblings, mainly April, sometimes Mikey. And he steals things.)

DONNIE IS NOT AGAINST MAGIC IN THE FIRST EPISODE WAT.

He seems awed. At 14:41 he says "it's like mystic and science had a baby"

OKIE OKIE, here's my headcannon.

Originally Donnie was a science person (obviously) but he was like - "well there's no definite evidence that cryptids and magic AREN'T possible. I mean... black holes and quantum mechanics make no sense. Science does wild things sometimes, why can't these things exist? And you know what? I'm going to prove it!"

But then he actually SAW mystic powers and everyone else doing really well with it. Replacing him. And while his prior experiments with the crystal have led to good results in tandem with his goggles, but when he tries afterwards, it doesn't work. (Because mystic powers are based on emotions and he's frustrated.) That's weird. Science should lead to definite, predictable results.

So *character arc*

His tech is constantly on the fritz in this episode. Mainly his tech bo. Maybe that's a newer piece? His battle shell seems to work fine. I think that may be one of his first pieces of tech, and the flying part looks like what would become Shelldon in the future.

AND, I think he gets better at making his tech in the future, while still making mistakes :D

Plus, his tech being on the fritz, makes his whole "they care more about what I can do for them than me"/needing to be useful, and fix things, mean that much more.

Also also, I'm basing above off of the fact that the siblings like his tech, but don't trust it, and they often don't exactly listen to him that often ('DONNIE NOT HELPING!') Which I feel like would hurt after some time. Also this post.

Donnie goes to his phone after his achievement of his tech bo working, he's probably documenting his success + photo archives + data points.

Mikey gets bored of the Villain banter really fast. Donnie wants his own world to keep working as it does and just coast along with his family while still 'spending time with them' (I can HEAVILY relate... or maybe I'm just projecting, but wanting to be in your own world while being around others is literally my whole life in a nutshell.)

Mikey's mystic weapon is a cackling fireball gremlin that is absolutely uncontrollable. Everyone (including Donnie) thinks it's REALLY COOL

[pjsk-writin]

Hi! The Akito thunder req was SO CUTE. Could you maybe do something similar with the rest of the boys? Your writing always brightens my day! Please make sure you’re taking care of yourself!

AWW well ty, im glad to hear that !! I am, I hope you are too!! and I hope you like this!! <3

♡ THUNDER - Toya Aoyagi, Tsukasa Tenma and Rui Kamishiro x Reader

Toya:

Toya both loves and hates storms. He hates them for stopping his performances with VBS, but he loves them for the background sound they make while he reads

You were at his house when the storm hit. He sighed, looking out the window before glancing to you

To his surprise, you were shaking as you stared out the window with wide eyes. He wasn't able to tell what was wrong until thunder hit and you jumped

Well, that explains it. You were scared.

He stood from his seat by the window, walking up to his bookcase and picking a random book. He then walks to you, wrapping his blanket around your shoulders

"Hey, don't worry, you're safe." He sat beside you, wrapping an arm around you as he opens the book. "I'll read to you a bit. Will that help distract you from the rain?"

Whether it does help or not, that's up to you, but he spends the rest of the night reading the book softly, holding you closer every time thunder hit

When the storm clears, you apologize to him. He simply pats the top of your head with a smile, "You're fine. I enjoyed reading to you, anyway." He now does this every single time a storm hits <3

Tsukasa:

Tsukasa is not that fond of storms. They prevent him from practicing, and how can a future star shine when he's drenching wet?

You were at his house when the storm hit. Once the first roll of thunder sounded, he groaned, standing from his seat before looking to you

He was about to make a comment on the rain, but one look at you showed you were trembling. He realized that thunder just hit, and the realization is confirmed with the next roll of thunder

So, you were scared of thunderstorms. No biggie for this guy!

He rushes in front of you, taking your hand in his while giving you a grin. He proudly places a hand over his chest, dramatically posing

"My lovely co-star, never fret! This future star will save you from the terrifying thunder!" He starts to recite a show, his voice somehow louder than usual

He continues to recite shows for the rest of the night, a one-man show who would pull you into a hug whenever thunder hit

When the storm fades, you apologize. He shakes his head, grinning at you as he does yet another pose. "It's alright, my lovely co-star!! I will always enjoy doing shows for you!" He will definitely perform shows whenever for you, but specifically during heavy storms <3

Rui:

Rui actually likes rainy weather, he finds it fun to splash around. The only downside is that most, if not all, of his robots would short circuit if he takes them outside-

You were at his house, specifically his workshop, when the storm rolled in. He clicked his tongue, looking out the window with a hum before turning to you

You were trembling, eyes trained on the window before you flinched at the next wave of thunder

Ah, so it turned out that you were scared of thunder. Interesting

He stands by your side, his project long forgotten as he leads you out of the workshop. He takes you into the living room, where he collects a bunch of pillows and blankets

"Well, I'm sure that place isn't the best for you right now. Let's see...We can build a pillow fort, if you'd like?"

Keeping true to his own suggestion, the two of you build a pillow fort. There were multiple times where you almost knocked it down due to you jumping in fear, but he simply chuckles and fixes it

When the storm fades, you apologize. He shakes his head, smiling. "Don't worry dearest, it's alright. I thought a pillow fort would be nice for now, but you can pick what we do next time." The pillow fort is always there for you, but he'll do whatever you need him to do during the storms <3

[eternal--returned]

hello Bill Abbott: I appreciate your passing around my books in jail there, my poems and sotires. if I can ligten the load for omse of those guys with my books, fine. but literature, you know, is difficult ofr hte average man to assimilate (and for the unaverage man too); I don't like most poetry, for example, so I write mine the way I like to read it.

poetry does seem to be getting better, more human, the clearing up of the language has something to do with it. (w.c. williams came along and asked everybody to clear up the language) then I came along.

but writing's one thing, life's another, we seem to have improved the writing a bit but life (ours and theirs) doesn't seem to be improving very much.

maybe if we write well enough and live a little better life will improve a bit just out of shame. maybe the artists haven't been powerful enough, maybe the politicians, the generals, the judges, the priests, the police, the pimps, the businessmen have been too strong? I don't like that thought but when I look at our pale and precious artists, past and present, it does seem possible.

(people don't like it when I talk this way. Chinaski, get off it, they say, you're not that great. but hell, I'm not talking about being great.)

what I'm saying is that art hasn't improved life like it should, maybe because it has been too private? and despite the fact that the old poets and the new poets and myself all seem to have had the same or similar trouble with: women government God love hate penury slavery insomnia transportation weather wives, and so forth.

you write me now that the man in the cell next to yours didn't like my punctuation the placement of my commas (especially) and also the way I digress in order to say something precisely. ah, he doesn't realize the intent which is to loosen up, humanize, relax, and still make as real as possible the word on the page, the word should be like butter or avocados or steak or hot biscuits, or onion rings or whatever is really needed. it should be almost as if you could pick up the words and eat them.

(there is some wise-ass somewhere out there who will say if he ever reads this: "Chinaski, if I want dinner I'll go out and order it!")

however an artist can wander and still maintain essential form. Dostoevsky did it, he usually told 3 or 4 stories on the side while telling the one in the centre (in his novels, that is). Bach taught us how to lay one melody down on top of another and another melody on top of that and Mahler wandered more than anybody I know and I find great meaning in his so-called formlessness, don't let the form-and-rule boys like that guy in the cell next to you put one over on you, just hand him a copy of Time or Newsweek and he'll be happy.

but I'm not defending my work (to you or him) I'm defending my right to do it in the way that makes me feel best. I always figure if a writer is bored with his work the reader is going to be bored too.

and I don't believe in perfection. I believe in keeping the bowels loose so I've got to agree with my critics when they say I write a lot of shit.

you're doing 19 and ½ years I've been writing about 40. we all go on with our things. we all go on with our lives. we all write badly at times or live badly at times. we all have bad days and nights.

I ought to send that guy in the cell next to yours The collected Works of Robert Browning for Christmas, that'd give him the form he's looking for but I need th emoney for the track, Santa Anita is opening on the 26th, so give him a copy of Newsweek (the dead have no future, no past, no present, they just worry about commas) and have I placed the commas here properly, Abbott?

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Charles Bukowski ֍ "Christmas poem to a man in jail." what matters most is how well you walk through the fire (1999)

[growling]

ep 2:

natsume spotted

i feel so bad for ranpo rn......... he's so stressed over always knowing more than anyone else and also not knowing why. the burden of being the most correct person in the room. also you're 14

can i hug him. then pat his 99999 IQ head

"there's something everyone else gets that I don't. i don't get it. i'm scared. it's like the world is filled with monsters, monsters that only I don't understand. im all alone, living in a world of monsters" ranpo has found a loophole to my allegedly low empathy low sympathy brain chat i am in pain someone stop him :(((((....... and then pat his superior head and lick the tears off his cheeks

is this an allegory. for a. something.... in particular........ maybe................ im not gonna say it but like............. yknowwwwwww....................................

now wait until fukuzawa finds out ranpo actually doesn't have any ability he's just that powerful. he'll go into shock he'll have to recover for multiple years

ooooooh wait is he pretending to not know?? so he can make ranpo think that he can control it with the glasses and once he takes them off he won't have to think about it or worry so much. is that what you're doing old man......

oh yeah he is :)))))))) sooooo cool of you fukuzawa since it still works even 12 years later in the present. you fixed him

"everyone is stupid except for you. they are losers and they suck. mere children who don't know shit. they are all IDIOTS and you are gods specialest little princess" "oh they are?? but-" "shut the FUCK up let the magic work you're distracting the spell child. source trust me bro" "what the fuck are you talking abou-. oh wait i see it now...." "yes child. they're all clueless babies that have zero brain this is why they can't despise you its because they're too stupid. dw about it babe" "okay <3 yay <3"

well that was a..... very particular method indeed! i think it fixed him though so it's more than fine

ranpo supervillain laughter let's go boyyy your issues have been cured. it's a miracle

oh yeah thats what i was thinking would happen xDDDDDD >w< he's just now telling everyone else they're dumbass babies. it's ok he can do it. it fixed him anyway where is the problem huh

"i see! you're all babies! the world isn't creepy at all! youre all just stupid little idiots! i have to protect all these silly children!" yes so true

he's been fixed. anyway got to the intro which was in the half of the episode so now im going to sleep and restarting tomorrow its kinda late....... tired...... thx ranpo for existing

im back >:3

rain code chapter 2 moment. the guy looked very punchable anyway nothing of value has been lost

oooooh natsume dissapeared. wonder if fukuzawa knows him yet at this point or not, i mean it looked as if both him and mori knew of the catman but i think this is after he bodyguarded him.......

he turned into a cat and just walked out didnt he

"a detective must be armed" armed detective agency youtuber shocked face thumbnail roll credits

i don't think that was a convoluted explanation. so brilliant ranpo i am cheering and clapping and crying

oh my god ranpo. so fucking cool of you you can do whatever you want forever. go get that audience boy. make it cinematic. start cackling like a disney villain. you are superior to everybody else in this building and perhaps the country. maybe even the world..... "i am the deus ex machina, here to solve the case at the very end of this play! basically, im gifted and a brilliant detective"

stop facepalming old man aren't you proud of edogawa the ranpo. aren't you. he's doing fantastically

AND he sat on the throne. 10/10

whats up Natsume

and he's commanding the police. him living his best life starts now. all of his demons have been expelled he's poggers now

ranpo is just too cool for any of us. he's too damn cool for this world look at him just fucking kill it every second on screen

and yeah the blonde guy was sus. he got suspicious amounts of screentime indeed

"not just any detective, the best detective" so true ranpo tell them!!

blonde guy tried to fake his own death huh?

is he gonna make a youtuber apology or kill himself for real this time

no fukuzawa he doesn't have to know. don't tell him yet shshshshshhhh

witnessing the birth of ranpo's massive fucking ego in real time

its no use fukuzawa lmao youve already said he's gifted there is no going back. he's not gonna listen for about 12 more years get used to it. he's gifted now

"if the police are going to suck up to me, now's the time to do it! the ability to solve crimes instantly is a godly power that can threaten the police's jobs. I can't wait to ride in the police car!" I love him. and his little cop simp lmao

ranpo's on that high............ goofy little man........

ooooh the theatre drama's not over yet a guy actually got murdered this time- AND it's a locked room!!! get ranpo over there give him that enrichment

do not tell me ranpo just got in a car with that police officer simp. i do not like the look in that guy's eyes get away from the child. is he trying to like, just get him as far away from the crime as he can so that he won't solve it in time or is this a stranger danger psa

i wonder how ranpo would actually react if he did believe fukuzawa just lied to him these few minutes ago. would he take it well or would he start eating his own organs

anyway 10/10 the hardest episode ever since francis mall adventures

anyway bsd season 4 let's go gamers

ep1:

still waiting for chuuya to get unbooked. notify me immediately once he gets unbooked i can't take thsi

oh hi fukuzawa. put his wrinkles back on ffs

fukuzawa and ranpo flashback episode pretty please??

LET'S GOOOOOOO

oh oda's the assassin?? killer baby

ranpo voice heard my waters are cropped

i do not accept ranpo being the same age/older than oda. i will not accept this. let oda be like. 30+ or whatever

whys ranpo giving me ouma vibes in this outfit

ranpo don't care sunglasses emoji

oh yeah i had the feeling the secretary was the killer from the moment ranpo walked in lmao. now danganronpa execute him

coolest kid you've never met

good for ranpo for getting kicked out of the police after exposing all their shit as a teenager

snitch ranpo we love to see it it's okay if he does it he can do whatever he wants forever he's never been wrong in his life

orphan lore

oh he's 14 now. baby

"well done for today-" "that's it?? you're talking to a 14-year old who lost his parents his job and his future. thats all you got??" yes ranpo go fight for that sympathy points make that old man cry and shake from guilt

he's so sillyyy......... "*2 seconds after walking out the door* help me mister bodyguard i don't have work or a place to stay im going to die" yes ranpo go fight for that house and income pluck that old man out of everything he got (morally correct). i love how it literally works and fukuzawa says yeagh sure every time

with every single minute ranpo is on screen. i swear. with every single damn frame of that guy he gets more and more npd. like. that is a narcissist. you wrote a narcissist and made him the coolest most swag guy in the anime. and that's not even mentioning that guy's massive fucking autism and adhd

is this gonna be like rain code chapter 2 where where-

fukuzawa sweating voice damn that kids a genius and also deeply deeply unnerving why is he so op in the smarts stats what happened in his early childhood to ruin him forever like this

and ranpo's utterly clueless to that too he just thinks everybody else is an idiot or just acting real weird and hiding what they know for some reason.

"ive only just met you so i don't know much but- *lists his entire fucking biography*"

LEAVE THE BOY ALONE YOU KNOCKED HIM OVER FUKUZAWA YOU MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL ALWAYS BE A CRUEL AND WICKED PERSON YOU WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH YOU HAVE NOT AND NEVER WILL CHANGE IN A MEANINGFUL WAY. CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO THIS...............

oh ok he apologized. but can he ever truly be forgiven........

the hat :)

new sonboy acquired

[mypoisonedvine]

𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗲 | tom (make up) x reader

𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 | you and tom have been two peas in a pod for your entire lives: tommy and birdie, partners in crime. you only fell in love with him a few years ago, though. maybe he'll notice sometime before you die of old age... but probably not.

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 | 15.8k (oops)

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 | smut (18+ only, dry humping, handjob, unprotected sex/loss of virginity, fingering, oral f receiving), alcohol consumption and tobacco use, best friends to lovers, angst, pining, fluff, tom and reader lacking braincells, extreme cornish, protectiveness/jealousy, There Was Only One Bed, I can't stress enough how fucking stupid these two are, truly no braincells detected in this entire fic

(title's after the song by the greeting committee <3 will always be the song that makes me think of tom the most)

YOU DON'T NEED TO SEE THE MOVIE TO READ THIS! plot of the film is totally discarded lmaooo

author's note part 2: there's a moment where the reader mentions that sometimes people think her and tom are siblings, she does not necessarily mean that they look alike! she means that they ACT like siblings and could be related through adoption or marriage-- her appearance isn't described and it's left open-ended for anyone to insert themselves ❤��

before we get started, I'm including a convenient cornish dictionary for you all to use if you're not already familiar with the dialect! other terms might pop up but they'll be explained in the text

teazy - acting grumpy or throwing a tantrum; something you might say to a kid having a fit or an adult who is being childishly negative

tuss - insult referencing male genitals; similar to 'knob' or 'dick' in UK and US english

my 'ansum - common, platonic greeting for men ("my handsome")

my bird - common, platonic greeting for women

rich - lovely, endearing, or beautiful

diddy? - a phrase used to mean 'is that true?' or 'really?'; diddah? and issuh? mean the same thing

wasson? - a greeting; short for "what's going on?"

jumping - very angry

hanging - terrible, gross

scat - (NOT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING lol) to push or fight someone

geek - a quick look; you can 'take a geek' at something

“Leave off, m'fine." Tom crinkled up his nose as he tried to brush your hands away, but you fought to keep dabbing the cuts on his face with the washcloth.

"Fine?  You look like you lost a fight," you frowned.

"Well, we won the match, so," he smiled, but winced when you went back to the cut just above his eyebrow.  “Fuck off, that hurts!”

“Couldn’t hurt as much as it did when you got it,” you insisted.  “C’mon, it’ll scar if you don’t let me clean it up right.”

“So?  I thought the lasses liked scars,” he grinned.  “Makes me look tough.”

“Makes you look like you got your arse handed to you.”

Tom really wasn’t built for rugby.  Though he certainly wasn’t in bad shape, he was the slimmest of all the guys he played with; he was fast, he had that going for him, but the poor kid got pummelled every time he played.

“Wish you wouldn’t go out there,” you mumbled, one of those rare times that you admitted how much you hated seeing him get hurt.

“Wish you wouldn’t worry about me when I can take care’a meself,” he replied.

And that was how it had always been— Tom was just reckless like that, and you had to try to reign him in as best you could.  You could remember so many nights spent this way, you trying to scold him enough that he might be a little more careful; but considering you’d been doing this since you were just little kids, you eventually gave up on trying to stop him and just decided to be there when he needed a little comfort.

You might’ve always been Tom’s greatest comfort.  So many things in life are uncertain, temporary, fleeting.  Not you; you’d always been there, as long as he could remember— even longer, really.  And not just because he had a shit memory from all those rugby concussions.  

“Aren’t you worried you’ll look beat up in all our holiday photos?” you asked him, speaking quietly since you were so close to his face to treat his injuries.

“Why’d that bother me?” he shrugged.  “You think I’m gonna be lookin’ at me own stupid mug in photos?”

“Don’t say that,” you shoved him on the shoulders as he laughed, leaning back into the couch.  “You’ve got a nice mug, if you didn’t get it all mucked up.”

“You think m’pretty then?” he cooed sarcastically, putting his hand under his chin and batting his eyelashes; you giggled and shoved him harder, this time knocking you both back until he was laying on the couch and you were on top of him.

“Yeah, pretty daft,” you replied, and he snorted.

“Fuck off,” he rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms around your back.

“Lemme go, need to get a bandage for your face,” you explained as you squirmed.

“Nuh uh,” he denied your request, “not letting you up— sorry, birdie.”

“Tommy!” you whined through a laugh, struggling harder against him, but he just held you tighter and grinned down at you.  Giving up, you made a pouty face and rested your chin on his chest.  He mimicked your expression, mocking you until you frowned for real and gave up, turning your face again to lay your cheek down on his shirt.

He gave you a kiss on top of your head, and you let your eyes fall shut.

“Maybe just a little rest,” you decided, your voice already slurring— you were more tired than you thought.

“Mhm,” he agreed, brushing his fingers over your hair.  “Just a little, huh?”

You nodded groggily.  

“Alright— sleep tight, birdie…”

You were only tired because you’d been up way too late, packing for your trip to St. Ives with your and Tom’s families.  Joint vacations were nothing new to the two of you— actually, his parents and yours had been taking trips together since before the two of you were born.  There were pictures of you and Tommy, chubby little babies in your mums’ arms, riding on the London Eye; you’d watched a home video a few times where you were playing in the sand together at a beach in Valencia.  You weren’t sure why they felt the need to fly all the way to Spain for beaches when there were plenty here in Cornwall… but, case in point, this trip was going to be a much more relaxed (and budget-conscious) one: a roadtrip across the county, a couple rooms at a beach-side inn, and some much needed time in the sun for the next week.  Tom promised to teach you how to surf, though you weren’t sure you’d be able to figure it out anyways— but you looked forward to trying.  Really, you looked forward to Tom’s hands on your waist as he tried to help you find your balance.

Truth be told, despite being secretly in love with him since you were fourteen, you never really expected anything to happen with Tommy.  You were like brother and sister— even his parents treated you like a daughter, and vice versa— and you’d always been so close.  There’s always that fear of confessing to someone you’re close with and ruining the friendship, but this was even worse than that.  If you lost Tom, you’d lose everything.

So, it wasn’t sad— there wasn’t a lot of pining anymore, not many nights spent gushing into your diary about it and then crying yourself to sleep because he got a new girlfriend or something.  It was peaceful now, the one-sidedness of it.  You loved him, he didn’t notice, everything went on as usual and that was it.  You kept dating other guys, though Tom never liked any of them, and he dated other girls that you pretended to get along with until they split after a couple weeks.

In fact, dating was the topic of the hour as you and Tom sat in the back of his dad’s suburban, trying to entertain yourselves on the long drive to the beach resort you’d be staying at.

“That girl Dani,” you remembered, focusing most of your attention on a sudoku from the book you’d brought for the trip.  “She was fit— why’d you break up again?”

“Too clingy,” Tommy shrugged, not looking back at you; he was toying with the friendship bracelet around his wrist, the one you’d made for him at summer camp when you were eleven with blue and yellow and black chevrons.  Since you gave it to him, you’d never seen him without it, which is why the colours were all faded and dirty now, and why you were glad you made it adjustable all those years ago… he certainly outgrew the original size by now.

“I thought that was Claire,” you recalled.

“Oh, her too,” he nodded.

“This seems to be a problem for you,” you noticed, “clingy girls.  What does that even mean?”

“Means they get, like, possessive,” he clarified, holding his hands up almost like a motion of choking someone.  “Wanna know what you’re doing all the time, want a text every half hour— it’s too much.”

“That just means they like you, Tommy,” you rolled your eyes.  “You shouldn’t dump girls over that.”

“They usually dump me,” he corrected.

“What?!” you squeaked, before you cleared your throat when you noticed what your utter disbelief might imply.

“Guess they just get, I dunno, jealous?” he explained, crinkling his nose as he reached up to scratch the back of his neck.

“Jealous?” you repeated, looking away from the page in front of you for the first time.  The way he was looking at you— head tilted to the side, one eyebrow raised and mouth in a small frown— you realised what he meant.  “Of me?”

“Well, yeah,” he mumbled, “I mean, we spend so much time together.”

“But we’re just friends,” you noticed.

“That’s what I try to tell them!” he insisted.  “I mean, I say that you’re my best mate and all but I don’t even think of you like that— c’mon, I’d never…”

You looked back at the half-solved sudoku, letting out a sigh that you hoped you could pull off as frustration with the number grid before you.

“Guess they don’t believe me,” he concluded, “or they don’t care.”

“They must think it’s bound to happen one day,” you posited.  “That we’ll get together, I mean.”

“Yeah— but don’t you think if it was gonna happen, it would’ve happened already?” he pointed out.

You bit your lip.  “Yeah,” you agreed curtly.

"Hey— whatever happened to that lad with the crooked teeth you liked so much?" Tommy asked.

"You'll have to be more specific," you huffed, keeping your eyes trained on your puzzle.

"He had specs and a freckle right on the end of his nose," Tommy continued.

"Oh yeah!  Frank," you reminded him of the boy's name.  "What, did you actually approve of him or something?"

"Course not," Tommy scoffed.  "Jus' wondering, 'cause you used to go on about him all the time— 'bout how he was so wonderful and all." Tommy rolled his eyes, just to make sure it was perfectly clear that he didn't approve.

"Erm, well," you stalled, "yeah, haven't talked to him in a while."

Tommy wouldn't buy an excuse like that from you, he knew you far too well.  Leaning in, he titled his head to try to get a view of your face.  "Did something happen with him?" he pressed, and you swallowed.

"Yeah, I mean— nothing really," you shrugged, "he just got upset that I didn't wanna take things too fast, I guess.  Called me a slag and threw my phone— didn't crack, though, got lucky there—"

"Diddy?" Tommy spat, his anger obvious on his face.  He sat back up when you nodded, taking in a deep breath through his nose.  "Shoulda told me, would've scat 'im down and beat his face in.  Can't be talking to my birdie like that."

Your heart skipped a beat.  His birdie.  

"And throwin' your phone, too?  Bleddy tuss," Tommy sneered, shaking his head as he looked out the window, like he was trying to calm himself down.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you get especially Cornish when you're angry?" you giggled.

"Only twice a day, birdie," Tom laughed.  

Did anyone ever tell you that it turns me on?

“We’re here!” your mum announced, and you looked up to see that the car was turning in to a roundabout driveway.  Tom excitedly leaned against his window, looking up at the hotel.  “Wow,” he breathed.  “Look!”

He guided you to lean in right up against him, pressing your cheek to the glass so you could see the tall building.  It wasn’t a skyscraper or anything— this wasn’t that kind of place— but it was at least ten stories, with white bricks on the outside and seafoam-green shutters on each window.

With the car parked, Tom and the dads were going through the boot while his mom ran to use the loo and you and your mom checked in.

You weren’t really paying attention, honestly, while your mom gave the woman at the front desk a credit card for incidentals and all that.  The interaction only piqued your interest when you heard her confirm— “three rooms, then?”

“Yep,” your mum agreed.

“Three?” you repeated, looking up at her.

“Yeah— your dad and I, Gary and Marie, and then another room for you and Tom.”

You cleared your room.  “Tom and I get our own room?”

“You think us old geezers wanna be kept up all night by your giggling?” she snorted.  “Figured you two could entertain yourselves just fine, give the grown-ups some space.”

Before you could decide how to react to that, the opening of the front doors got everyone’s attention.  Tom looked ridiculous trying to carry as many bags as he could— all of yours, plus his and his mom’s— and you snorted as you watched him waddle into the lobby with all of them.

“What floor are we on?” he asked, the strain in his voice apparent and hilarious.

“Ten,” you informed him, and he groaned.

“Kidding!  Three,” you chuckled, “and there’s a lift.”

“Aw, Jesus,” Tom grumbled as he walked past you, struggling under the weight of the bags.  “You’re tryin’ to kill me, birdie.”

“I didn’t tell you to carry all those,” you rolled your eyes, looking at the concierge again as Tom turned the corner to find the lift.

“Is that your boyfriend?” she asked, continuing before you could answer.  “You two are adorable.”

“O-oh, er— no, actually,” you stammered, “just a friend.”

“Oh!” she mumbled.  “I see, my apologies.”

You looked down at your phone for just a second, only to hear your mom make a strange noise— a little giggle, and you saw her and the woman at the desk looking at each other.  “What?” you asked your mum.

“Nothing, dear,” she dismissed.

“What?!” you hissed, groaning when she hid a cheeky smile but said nothing.  “You’re so weird sometimes, mum…”

“Anyhoo,” the concierge mumbled, “you’re all ready to go!  Three king bed rooms, third floor, ocean view—”

“Wait, wait,” you interrupted, “all the rooms have a king bed?”  She nodded.  “Just a king bed?”

“Well… there’s a couch,” she offered.

You deflated slightly.  “That might be a little strange.”

“Oh,” she hummed, “well, I could change your room if you’d like.  But they won’t be connected anymore…”

“That’s fine,” you shook your head.

“Okay, there’s a room with two twins across the hall,” she explained, reading from her computer screen.

Ugh, a twin was gonna be uncomfortable, but so would just one bed.  “That’s fine, thank you.”

She clicked around on her keyboard for a bit, and right as she looked up at you again, Tom appeared from around the corner again.  “All done,” she announced, “I’ve changed your room for you!”

“You what?” Tom choked.

“She’s just changed our room for us,” you explained to him.

“Ah god,” he panted, laying his head against the wall while he caught his breath.  “Birdie, I just put all the bags away…”

You sighed, and the woman piped up again.  “I could still change it back for you, if the bags are too much trouble.”

“Please,” Tom breathed, and she nodded and started up with the keyboard again.  Rolling your eyes, you brushed past Tom flippantly.

“I’m gonna change,” you announced.

“Goin’ up to the room?” he asked.

“No, I was going to strip in the hallway and hope nobody walked through,” you replied snarkily.

“I was just gonna give you the key, birdie,” he smirked, pulling the plastic card out of his pocket.  You chewed your lip, regretting being so rude.

“Thanks,” you mumbled, taking it from him and moving along to the lift.

~

You’d only brought one swimsuit, the new one you’d bought just for this.  Maybe you’d had this crazy idea somewhere in the back of your mind that if you wore a tight little bikini, you’d finally get Tom’s attention and he’d stop seeing you just as the little girl he’d grown up with.  If you’d been a little less emotional and a touch more logical, you would’ve checked the weather first.

Yes, it was a beach, but it was still an English beach… the sky was grey and cloudy, and without sunlight, the ocean breeze was less refreshing and more chilly.  Very chilly, in fact, when you had hardly anything on like this.  You were trying so hard to act natural, to lay there on that chair on the beach and look as gorgeous as possible for whenever Tom came out, but it was so cold… every few seconds you were tensing up your jaw to try to fight off a shiver.

He came down a couple minutes later, wearing his swim trunks, but since he was apparently smarter than you, he was also wearing a half-zip jumper and a t-shirt underneath.  You pretended not to see him coming and laid still, only reacting to his presence with a polite wave when he was too close to ignore.

“Not gonna get much of a tan in this weather,” he noticed with a laugh as he sat next to you.

“I’m not tanning, I’m… relaxing,” you explained.

“Want me jumper, birdie?” he offered.  “You look freezing.”

“I-I’m fine,” you insisted, but your teeth chattered.  Next thing you knew, he was peeling it off over his head anyways— his shirt stuck to it and started to lift, too, exposing his stomach.  He managed to get the jumper off, though, and pulled it down over your face as you laughed and resigned yourself to your fate.  “Tommy, stop it,” you whined, batting his arms away so you could put the garment on yourself— he’d been trying to force it on you and accidentally trapped your face in one of the sleeves.

When you finally navigated your limbs through the borrowed sweater, popping your face out and breathing in a deep breath of fresh air after being stuck inside the cotton for a moment, you saw him looking at you… different.  Just a little different, but different nonetheless.  You wrinkled your eyebrows together at him, and he shook his head with a little laugh, and it was all back to normal again.  “Should keep you warm,” he mumbled, turning back to the view of the ocean and bringing his feet up onto the chair.

“Thanks,” you nodded, watching him lift his hands up behind his head and sigh.

For a while, you two laid there in silence, the sound of the ocean waves and seabirds like a quiet, slow song.  If you weren't thinking constantly about whether or not Tom was looking at you, you might've been able to relax enough to fall asleep.  Apparently Tom wasn't all in his head because he dozed off within a couple minutes, and after that, you decided to get up and explore the beach a bit.  There were little shops dotted here and there, a gelato stand, a cosy open-air pub playing music over their speakers.

You stopped to watch some boys playing volleyball on the beach, and one of them seemed to notice you staring— and he smiled at you, just before he served; you had to be careful not to make yourself look stupid by suddenly smiling down at the sand and toying with your hair, but you desperately wanted to.  He was cute, and tall and, you know, shirtless.  They all were, but he probably looked the best that way of any of them.

He ended the round with a spike right beside the net, and his side of the court cheered while the others groaned and complained to each other.  You clapped for them, and the boy looked at you again; he said something to his friends, and with the ball still under his arm, he jogged over toward you.

"Hey," he greeted with a sideways, pearly-white smile.

"Hi," you returned.  

"Did you like watching us play?" he asked, glancing back at the net for a second.

"Yeah, you're really good," you nodded.  "Are you a real team or somethin'?"

"No, god no," he laughed, "we just play for fun.  Not many sandy beaches to play at in London."

"Oh, you're visiting from London?  What part?"

"Southeast," he replied.

You nodded.  "Oh…"

There wasn't much you could say to that because you didn't know anything about London; he chuckled, apparently realising just that.  "I guess you're from around here?"

"Sort of— an hour down the way but, yes, I'm from Cornwall," you agreed.

“You’ve got an interesting accent,” he noticed with a smirk.  “It’s cute, actually.”

“Oh, y’think?” you smiled shyly.  “Always heard growing up that a Cornish accent made me sound like a dumb farmer or somethin’.”

“It works on you, though,” he decided.

"Oi!  Come back and serve!" one of the boys by the net called, and your new friend turned his head around.

"Go on without me," he told them, tossing the ball over.  "I'm talking to, er…"

He looked back at you, and you stammered out your name; he repeated it back to you with a smile.

"I'm Devon," he told you.

"Well, hi, Devon," you smiled.

Aaaaand, just in time, you heard Tom’s voice calling after you: “Birdie!” he shouted from down the beach, and you turned and sighed as you waved back.  

In a moment, Tom was beside you, slipping his arm around your shoulders.

"Where'd you run off to, my lover?" Tommy asked with a tilted smile, but he didn't give you a chance to answer before he looked over at the other young man and back at you.  "Who's the emmet?"

"My name's Devon, not Emmett," the Londoner corrected, and you hoped your polite laugh would break the tension.

"No, Devon, 'emmet' is Cornish," you explained.  "It's what we call tourists."

Except, ‘incomer’ is what you call tourists.  Emmet is what you call annoying tourists.  And you knew Tom was annoyed by him because he was hitting on you.

"This your girl, then?" Devon asked Tom… a little straightforward, but that's just how Londoners are, maybe?

"What's it to you?" Tom wondered.

"Er—" you interjected immediately, "no, actually, Tom's just a friend," you coughed, knowing that even though it was a way to greet a good friend around here, Tom surely intended for it to be misinterpreted.

"Bloody hell.  Can't tell what you people are saying," Devon grumbled, and you spoke up before Tom surely asked what 'you people' was supposed to mean.

"Anyways, point is— Tom and I are good friends, known each other since we were kids," you continued.

"Really?" Devon pressed.

“Yep," Tom replied with a beaming smile, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and pulling you closer to him, "she’s been me best mate since we were wee babes,” he beamed.  

“A bird’s your best mate?” Devon scoffed.  “Sure you’re not bent?”

“I’m bent?  You’re the one spendin’ all your time with a bunch of blokes with no shirts on, mate,” Tom defended.

Devon stepped forward and you had to jut yourself in between them to keep it from getting too heated.  “Okay, lads, let’s settle down, then—”

“Be careful,” Tom warned Devon, and you jabbed him with your elbow as punishment.

“I said to stop it, alright?” you hissed at Tom.  “Doesn’t matter, Tommy.”

“Yeah, Tommy,” Devon snickered, and you literally had to lean all your weight onto Tommy to keep him from trying to dive right over you to pummell the bellend.

"Let's go," you informed Tommy as you scoffed at Devon.  Wrapping a hand around Tom's waist, you guided him to walk with you back down the beach, away from the possibility of a fight.

Tommy could find a fight anywhere— even on the beach on holiday.  It was a real talent of his.

"You're horrible!" you whined as you punched Tom on his side.

"What did I do now?" he groaned.

"You scared that boy off, he was cute and he was flirting with me."

"Exactly!" Tommy emphasised, and you rolled your eyes.  "He turned out to be a wanker, anyhow, you heard him making fun of our accent, didn't you?"

"I think he was just making fun of your accent," you frowned.

"We've got the same one," Tom noticed.

"Well— just stop doing that!  You always do that."

"Sorry, birdie,” he shrugged, not seeming especially sorry.

You sighed and decided to let it go, because it wasn’t worth the argument.  “What’s next, then?  Think I’ve had enough of the beach.”

“Pub?” he suggested, and you laughed.

“Hardly late enough for that, don’t you think?” you snorted.

“Okay, dinner first, then pub,” he offered instead.

“That’s better.”

~

There were a few pubs along your walk back from dinner, but only one that had the rugby match on; so, of course, that was the one Tom picked.  It was almost entirely empty when you came inside, and since the match had gone to commercial break, Tom decided now was the best time to run to the loo.

“Order me something?” he requested.  “Whatever you’re getting.”

You nodded and he dashed off down a hallway.  Sitting at the bar, currently unattended with no other patrons but yourself, you looked up at the telly on the wall and caught a couple seconds of a car commercial.

“Can I get you anything?” 

The voice made you turn your head away from the telly, and you were surprised to find a boy your age on the other side of the bar.

“Oh, erm,” you choked, “just something on tap?  M’not picky.”

“There’s a stout we brew right here in the neighbourhood,” he suggested, “you might like it.”

“Sure,” you shrugged, “and one for my friend.”

“Great,” he smiled, bending down below the bar and reappearing with two pint glasses in hand.  You watched him as he tilted the glasses and filled them from the tape, admiring his tan skin and longer hair— he had that surfer look about him, in a Cornwall sort of way.

“Aren’t you a little young to be tending bar?” you noticed.

He laughed, revealing some dimples in the process.  “And you’re one to talk?” he shot back.

“I’m old enough to be served, aren’t I?” you challenged.

“Well actually, I was gonna ask for your ID,” he admitted, “but, you’re cute, so I decided to let it slide.”

You looked down as he set your drink on the bar for you.  “Thanks,” you hummed.  You tried it, giving him a nod of approval when the taste hit your tongue— it was pretty mild, and sort of grapefruit-y somehow.

“In town for holiday?” he assumed.

“Yeah,” you nodded, and he clicked his tongue.

“Too bad,” he shook his head.  “When are you going back home?”

“Thursday.”

“And where’s home?” he asked.  “You sound local.”

“Yeah, I am,” you agreed, “about an hour north.”

“Liskeard?” he guessed, and you shook your head.  “Launceston?”

“Closer,” you smiled.

“Bradworthy?”

“Oh, too far…”

“Holsworthy,” he grinned.

“Got it,” you nodded.

“Seems like it’d be easier to just drive up to Westward Ho! wouldn’t it?” he tilted his head.

“I try not to go anywhere that has an exclamation mark in the name,” you explained, and he chuckled a little.  

“I guess that’s fair,” he shrugged, “and it’s a good thing you came here anyways.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because now I get to look at you,” he cooed.

You took a sip of the beer to hide your warming face.  When you brought the glass back down, he laughed at you softly.

“Got some foam on your nose, my bird,” he warned you, reaching forward to wipe it off with his thumb.

“Oh, th-thanks,” you stammered, watching him put his thumb to his mouth and suck that bit of foam off while he kept looking at you.  What a flirt!  Do it again.

Tom came back from the washroom and sat on the stool next to yours, thanking you for ordering his beer for him before he took a large drink of it.

"O-oh," the bartender choked, and you knew that look— the ‘shit, you've got a boyfriend’ look.  

You sighed.  "Hey, um— this is my friend, Tom," you explained.

"Wasson?" Tom greeted him, nodding his head quickly in acknowledgement.

"Not much, mate," he replied, "Cade.”

“Tom,” he answered back as if he didn’t already know that, not going so far as to shake hands since Tom was holding his glass and Cade was holding a rag to wipe down the bar.

“She was just telling me you're only here for a spell,” Cade recalled, “which is a proper shame.”  

You smiled shyly.  “Oh, yeah, well, I wish our holiday could be longer, too.”

“Always the prettiest maids just here on holiday,” Cade nodded, looking at Tom.  “You know how it is, don’t you?  You’re from a holiday town, too, I heard.”

Not quite as popular as your current location, but yes, vacationers would occasionally appear in town.  You’d never noticed this ‘girls visiting from up-country are prettier’ principle, but your eyes turned to Tom expectantly.  “Uh, yeah,” Tommy nodded.  “Yeah, I know how it is.  And half of them have boyfriends back home.”

It made your heart sink a bit— what you would give to have one of those.  Or to have Tommy say no, the prettiest bird’s right here with me now.  Or both.

“But that doesn’t stop all of them,” he added with a laugh, and you rolled your eyes.

“You’re awful, Tommy,” you shoved him lightly.

“Yeah,” he agreed, licking his bottom lip.

Cade gestured at Tom’s rugby union shirt— “You play?” he asked.

“Yeah, sometimes,” Tom nodded, “you?”

“I just watch,” he shrugged, pointing at the telly in the corner.  “Cooped up in this pub all the time, anyway.”

“That’s no excuse,” Tom chided, “gotta get out there and get roughed up!”

“That’s what surfing’s for,” Cade smirked.

“Okay, now I’m definitely not going,” you shook your head.  “I don’t wanna get roughed up by the ocean!”

“I said I would teach her,” Tom informed Cade, “now look what you’ve done.”

“Sorry,” Cade laughed, “you’ll be fine, and you’ve come at just the right time of year for it.”

“That’s what I said!” Tom agreed.

Oh god, were they actually getting on alright?  Would Tom give his approval, finally?  

You sipped your stout and let them go on about rugby and football teams for a while, letting yourself get your hopes up that Tom would actually like a guy who liked you— and sure, he was a barkeep in your holiday spot, not exactly the foundation for a serious relationship, but it would be nice to have a little fling without worrying that Tom would end up beating him up.

Tom was the one who made fun of you sometimes for being a virgin, anyway.  He never meant it— actually, when he occasionally took the time to be serious, he assured you better than anyone else that it was perfectly normal and fine to still be one.  But still, you weren’t exactly trying to hang onto it much longer.  Tom told you to wait for the right person; but you’d been waiting for him for way too long.

Watching the match together, you and Tom put down a few pints and laughed at some stupid old inside jokes— Cade tended to stick around, chatting with you both, when there weren’t other customers to serve.  You caught him glancing at you a few times, and you liked how you felt when he looked at you like that— desirable, maybe even grown up.  You and Tom had been friends since you were little, after all, and since he treated you the exact same way he always had, sometimes you still felt little around him.  But you weren’t.  It was good to remember that.

The match ended— Cornwall won, thank god, or you’d be babying Tom all night after he drowned his sorrows in something stronger than the local stout.  He still drank a little too much to celebrate, but less too much.

Enough that he had to go to the loo again, though, at which point Cade was suddenly right by you again.  “Your friend’s funny,” he smiled.

“Yeah,” you agreed, “he’s not always that loud, but, yeah, he’s never been very subtle.”

“And he’s just a friend?” 

You rolled your eyes.  “Yes,” you insisted, and you focused your tone on your annoyance and not your disappointment.

“Just checking!” Cade returned defensively.  “How long have you known him?” 

“My whole life,” you sighed.  “Can’t remember a time without him.  He’s just… always been there.”

Cade nodded.  “That’s nice, wish I had a friend like that.  People come and go a lot in a place like this.”

“I bet,” you offered sympathetically.  “And your girlfriend?  Does she come and go, or stick around?”

“What?  I don’t have a girlfriend,” he frowned.

“Just checking,” you winked.

“Why, you think I should get one?” he raised an eyebrow.

You shrugged.  “If you can find one…”

His eyes dragged over you, his smile fading slightly; you pretended not to be totally overwhelmed by it all.

“Cade!” a voice shouted from the back, and an older woman poked her head out of the kitchen as Cade turned his head.  “Come back here an’ clean up!”

“I will, mum!” he called back, before returning his attention to you.  “Listen, I’d better get back to work— but you could come by tomorrow?  If you wanted.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, “I think I’ll find the time.”

“Tom can come too, of course,” he added, leaning closer to you on the bar, “but… I’d rather have some time alone with you, if that’s alright.”

Reaching up to scratch your shoulder, you bit your lip to hide a smile.  “Okay, yeah—” you set your hands back down on the bar when you saw the way he was looking at you, “yeah, I’d like that, too.  I’m sure Tommy can find some way to entertain himself for an hour.”

Cade’s hand landed on yours suddenly, giving it a quick squeeze while he winked at you.  And then he threw the rag over his shoulder and disappeared into the back.  You pursed your lips and exhaled through them; it had been a while since you had butterflies like that.  

Tom came back around the corner, leaning beside you on the wooden bar, and you giggled when you saw how red his nose had gotten from the booze.  “Tommy, you look like you’ve stuck your face in blusher,” you noticed.

“Aw, really?” he scrunched up his nose, wiping it with his hand.

“You can’t wipe it off!” you laughed harder.  “Cade’s gone to the back to work— wanna go on a walk, take a geek at the rest of the neighbourhood?”

“Sure,” he agreed, letting you take his hand and pull him along with you out the door and around the pavement.  You walked in silence for a few moments, glancing at him once, before you just had to bring it up.

“So, Cade was nice…” you trailed off.  You looked at Tom expectantly, wearing a hopeful smile, but you hadn't even said anything yet before he expressed his dissent.

“No, no way,” he shook his head, ignoring your protests, “not good enough for you.”

“What?  Tommy, what’s wrong with him?”

“What’s wrong with him?” Tom repeated.  “Birdie, what’s right with him?”

“I thought you liked him!” you whined.  “He was so nice to you, and you talked rugby for ages!”

“Was looking at you funny,” he shuddered.

“Well, I’d hope so,” you rolled your eyes, “doesn’t that mean he’s interested?”

“That’s what you want, creepy guys drooling all over you?” Tom snorted.  “Come on, let’s go— I don’t want you seeing that sod again.”

You groaned, but let him drape his arm over your shoulders and guide you away.  “You shouldn’t be so protective, Tom… this is why everyone thinks you’re either my brother or my boyfriend.”

“If it keeps the boys away from you, I don’t care what they think,” he decided.  You rolled your eyes as he pulled your head down with his arm, enough that he could plant a kiss on top of your head.  “There, now they’ll think I’m your boyfriend, how about that?”

“You kiss me all the time,” you laughed.

“Eh?”

“On the head,” you clarified.  “You give me kisses on the head, doesn’t make you my boyfriend.”

“Guess not,” he agreed.  

Halfway along your walk, you passed a park which Tom decided would be the perfect place to share a cigarette— actually, he was just going to smoke it himself, but you made him share.

“Remember your sixth birthday party?” he asked, seemingly out of nowhere, after a drag.  “You tripped and sprained your ankle running in the backyard that day, but you stopped crying when we gave you your presents.”

You laughed at the memory.  “God, I barely remember— but yeah.”

He handed the cigarette to you and you rested it between your lips.  “Do you remember what I got you?” he continued.

“A Barbie,” you recalled, “wasn’t it?  She was some little princess or something, can’t remember now.”

“Yeah,” he nodded.  “Well, I want you to know that before I gave her to you, I took her out of the box and took her clothes off.”

“What?!” you snorted, making a cloud of smoke 

“I had to know!” he laughed.  “I put them back on and put her back in the box and everything first before I gave her to you.”

“Yeah, I think I would remember getting a naked Barbie, Tom,” you scoffed, and he carefully plucked the cigarette from your fingers and took it back.

“Right, well—” he stopped to inhale, and then let it out as he continued— “she had plastic panties on anyway.  Wasn’t worth it,” he shook his head.

You dropped your forehead into your palm.  “The fuck are you talking about?” you giggled. 

“Just that time of night where you feel like confessing things, I guess,” he shrugged.

“Any other secrets you’ve been keeping from me?” you pressed.  “Any other childhood toys of mine that you violated?”

“Took a geek up the skirt of a Cabbage Patch Kid or two,” he added, “but that’s about it.”

“Well, we all did that,” you rolled your eyes, and he grinned at you.

“Oh, I knew it,” he purred, “I think you were just as much of a pervert as I was.”

“Yeah?  But you’re still a pervert,” you accused.

“Maybe,” he relented, “but at least I’m not a prude.”

You looked away quickly.  “M’not a prude, Tommy…”

“I know, I know,” he soothed, handing you the last quarter of the cigarette, “you’re just picky.  And you should be.”

He suddenly laid his head down on your lap, making you tense up a little bit and wonder where you were supposed to put your hands.

“Nobody deserves you anyway,” he mumbled, closing his eyes as he adjusted himself to get comfortable on the bench.

“Well, that doesn’t really solve my problem, does it?” you said, speaking a little quieter.

“What’s the problem?” he wondered sleepily.

You sighed, holding the cigarette in your mouth as you reached down and carded your fingers through his hair.  He hummed and smiled a little.  “Nothing,” you dismissed, and he started to breathe slower and slower.  

You finished the cigarette over the course of the next however-long-it-had-been, absent-mindedly touching his head and playing with his hair, and only noticed that Tom had dozed off when you felt a wet patch under his mouth on your legs.

“Eww, Tommy!” you whined, shoving him off of you as he tried to wake up.  “When I said I wanted guys to drool over me, this is not what I meant.”

“Sorry, love,” he laughed, wiping the side of his mouth with the back of his hand.  “Think that’s our cue to go back to the room and go to bed, eh?”

~

He didn’t say anything before he got in the shower, so you didn’t know what to expect when he got out: was he going to suddenly realise there was only one bed?  Had he already and just didn’t care?  Were you supposed to protest, or act like it was no big deal, or what?

When he emerged from the steamy bathroom in his pyjamas— aka, just his fuzzy plaid trousers, the ever-present friendship bracelet, and the chain on his neck— he found you standing in the middle of the room, staring at the singular bed, and gave you a confused look.

“I guess you saw when you brought our bags up,” you mumbled nervously.  

“Eh?”

“The bed.”  You motioned towards it, and he wrinkled his eyebrows together.

“What about it?” he shrugged.

“There’s only one of it!”

“Oh,” he nodded, “yeah, guess so.”

“So, we’ll have to share,” you helped him reach the obvious conclusion.

“Oh,” he said again, “you think it’ll be weird?”

“I mean, I figure,” you shrugged.

“I’ll take the couch,” he insisted.

“No, Tommy, let me,” you pleaded.

“You jokin’?  I’m supposed to let a maid sleep on the couch?”

“Didn’t realise you were such a gentleman,” you frowned, crossing your arms.

“Aren’t I?” he smirked.

You felt bad about it, but he was already putting a spare sheet down on the sofa while you were getting through your nighttime routine.  Leaning out of the bathroom, toothbrush sticking out of your mouth, you caught a glimpse of him laying there on the couch with one arm up behind his head and the other holding the book he’d been reading as of late— one of those fantasy novels that were much too violent for you.  He looked past the top of it to smile at you, and you popped back in to wrap up.

You were just wearing a baggy old t-shirt that was just long enough on you to cover your red panties, which you felt mostly not-weird about wearing around Tom, though walking past him to get to bed made you shiver a little bit.

“G’night,” he offered.

“You too,” you replied quietly, and he reached up above his head to switch off the lamp.

Sure, it was you who had worried about the whole bed-sharing thing in the first place, but that was only because you were pre-emptively worrying that he would worry about it.  It was sort of a lose-lose: if he was against it, then you’d feel dejected, but if he was fine with it, it was another way for him to rub it in that you could hold him but never have him.

Still, now that you were alone in this big old bed, you couldn’t help but think that at least it was nice you could hold him… but he was all the way over there.

You chewed your lip, trying to stay quiet.  You made it about thirty seconds.  “Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“Think you’ll fall asleep alright on that?” you wondered.

“Should be asleep in a couple minutes, once you’re quiet,” he replied.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” you mumbled.  You made it a whole minute before you spoke again.  “Tommyyyyy,” you whined.

“What!” he snapped.

“I can’t sleep, I feel too bad!” you pouted.  “Just get in the bed?  We fall asleep together all the time!  What’s the difference?”

“Difference is it’s all night,” he explained, “haven’t done that since we were eight— and you kicked me in your sleep!”

“Are you seriously going to sleep on that musty old sofa, and leave me alone here in the king bed, just because you’re still mad at me for kicking you?”

“Not just that,” he mumbled, “you snore, too.”

“Shut up,” you groaned, “just come over, won’t you?  I’m cold anyways…”

He paused as he considered it.  “There’s room for me?”

“Tons,” you promised.

You heard him throw the blanket off of himself, and you smiled instantly.  In a moment, he was diving into the bed, and you laughed as the mattress creaked; he laid next to you on his back, and you reached an arm around his torso while setting your head on his shoulder.

He smelled so good after his shower, clean and woodsy from his deodorant, and his curls held their shape despite being wet still.

“Should’ve known you’d be like a barnacle soon as I got in here,” he chuckled.

“I said I was cold,” you reminded him, hugging his waist tighter.

“Night, birdie,” he whispered after he kissed the top of your head.  With him holding you, you were asleep in an instant.

It was one of those dreamless sleeps that went by quickly, like you’d only shut your eyes for a few minutes.  You would’ve thought it was still the middle of the night when you woke up, if it weren’t for the sun coming in through the open window.

Specifically, you woke up because of a long sigh right by your ear, making you blink your eyes open quickly and start to stretch your legs out under the sheet and blanket.  You were on your side, and Tommy was pressed right up on your back, his arm draped around your torso.

He sighed again, and you felt him shift around against you.  Most importantly, you felt something hard and hot on your lower back.   Eyes going wide, you jolted as you felt him rock his hips against you again.

"Tommy," you whispered, hoping to wake him up.

"Mm," he hummed, smiling against your neck, and you shuddered.

"Tommy!" you hissed, and he snorted as he woke up suddenly.

He pulled back and all but jumped away from you.  “Shit, I—” he mumbled, sitting up as the bed creaked; god, his face was so red, he looked adorably flustered and a bit terrified.  “I’m sorry, birdie, I swear I wasn’t trying to—”

“It’s okay, Tommy,” you insisted, sitting up with him, “it’s not a big deal.”

“What’d you say?  It’s not big?” he choked.

“No!  Tommy, it’s—” you stopped yourself from saying what you wanted to say then.  “I know that happens to guys in the mornings…”

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck nervously, “happens when we’re in bed with pretty girls, too…”

Before you could wonder if there was something to read into there, he spoke again.

“I’m fucked,” he groaned, running his hand down over his face, “what’s the time?”

“Ten ‘til 9,” you informed him following a glance at the clock on the nightstand.

“We’ve got that breakfast soon, we’re supposed to meet downstairs in five minutes,” he recalled.  “And I can’t get dressed ‘til he’s gone away.”

“How do you normally get rid of it?” you wondered, watching him look at you for a second before looking away again.

“Well…” he trailed off, clearing his throat.

“Well?” you pressed.

“Y-y’know,” he stammered, “it’s— er— fuckin’ hell, birdie, can’t say it with you lookin’ at me like that…”

“C’mon, Tommy, I know you wank off,” you rolled your eyes, “you and every other bloke on the planet.”

“But I can’t do it with you here!” he yelped, and a pang of self-consciousness hit your chest.  Were you that horrible of a sight that he wouldn’t be able to finish with you nearby?

“I-I’ll leave then, give you some space,” you offered.

“Birdie, I’ll know you’re just outside the door, that’s not gonna help,” he frowned.

“Well shit, Tommy, where’dya want me to go?  Fuckin’ Launceston?”

“No, shit, that’s not what I meant,” he groaned, reaching up and covering his face as he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips.  “You’ve just got me all messed up— s’not your fault, I mean!  I just don’t know what m’gonna do now…”

You bit your lip, glancing over at the flowery wallpaper on the opposite side of the room, then to the window and its view out over the beach.  “I mean, maybe… maybe if it would help, I could…”

“Jesus, birdie, don’t say you’re gonna wank me off or somethin’,” he pleaded with a concerned tilt of his head, and you stammered as you tried to remember what you were going to say.

“No, I— I was gonna say you could…” you began again, “er— I mean, before, while you were asleep, you were… it was…”

“What?” he pressed, leaning a little closer to you, and you chickened out.

“Nevermind, sorry,” you shook your head, “you should just get dressed— nobody’ll notice it.”

That was a lie: if it looked as big as it felt, a family of four could go camping under the tent in his shorts at this point.  “No, c’mon,” he pleaded, scooting a little closer to you, “won’t make fun of you or nothin’, just wanna know what you were gonna say.  You know I can’t run down to breakfast with my willy tryin’ to jump out, yeah?  Like, ‘hey mum an’ dads, pass me the eggs, then— don’t mind my fuckin’ blood sausage under the table—’”

You laughed, pushing him on the chest— but he just moved closer, again, looking right at your face.  You felt oddly exposed to him, even though he should’ve been the one feeling like that considering the circumstances.  “Fine,” you relented, “I was just… thought maybe you could— well, it could help you if you, um… just… pressed up against me, again?  Like you were before?  And you could, er…”

Dropping your voice to a mumble just above a whisper, you watched your hands clutch the spotted quilt in lieu of meeting his invasive stare.

“You could… grind on me, a bit,” you finally completed, so quiet that you barely heard yourself.  But he was a few inches away— he must’ve heard you.  Literally, he must have, because you couldn’t say it again.

“Eh?” he grunted, and you rolled your eyes.

“C’mon, Tommy, you’re not deaf, are you?”

“No, m’just… you wan’ me to rub me stiffy on you?” he realised, tilting his chin down and raising an eyebrow.  Leave it to Tommy to throw all the subtlety to the wind and just say it outright like that, ignorant to the way it made your cheeks burn and your throat catch.

“I-I mean, I don’t want you to,” you denied quickly, “I just thought it might go away if you did.  Means to an end, right?”

“Yeah, means to an end,” he agreed, clearing his throat.  “Just feel a little weird about it, birdie, I mean… it’s you.  You know I love ya— don’t wanna be rude to you or, er, disrespectful—”

“It’s not,” you promised, “I’m offering— and it’ll be quick, right?”

“Er, yeah,” he coughed, rubbing the back of his neck again, “should be…”

“Okay, then, should we?” you asked, sheepishly raising your eyebrows as you looked at him.

“I mean, fuck, birdie,” he laughed nervously, “I think you know we shouldn’t.”

But you both already knew that you were going to, and the thrill of something so forbidden titillated you further.

“Lay down then, yeah?” he instructed you softly, and you turned back onto your side as you felt him press up to your back.  His arm slipped around your front, the one with your bracelet on his wrist, and you could feel him breathing by the back of your neck as he brushed your hair out of the way.  “This alright?” 

You nodded, and he held you a little tighter; you felt it then, brushing up against your lower back.  You were getting sweaty from how warm it was with him pressed up on you under the thick covers, yet you still shivered.

He hummed quietly, his hand moving down your hips so he could hold you steady.  And he rocked into you again, more confidently, a shaky breath falling from his lips.  

When his forehead rested against the back of your shoulder, you felt your back arch slightly; and then you could feel the ridge under the head of his cock, you could feel it when he moved in one, long stroke and you bit your lip, arching your back deeper.

“Shit,” he grunted quietly, and he started to move a little faster right after he said that.

After just a minute or less of that, you were beyond desperate to have him inside you, you couldn’t stop thinking about what it would feel like— about how he would stretch you open, how he would moan for you as he filled you to the brim.  If he wanted to, right now, he could just lift up your shirt a bit and pull your panties down without saying anything, slip inside you in one go; you were soaking wet, he’d slide in so easily…

“Fuck, birdie,” he breathed, “roll over.”

His verbal command was a bit moot, since his hand was already on your shoulder, gently pushing you to lay on your back.  He hovered above you for a moment, and you looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Spread your legs,” he whispered; you’d only been waiting years for him to say that to you.  You did it unquestioningly, and he slotted himself between them with a low groan.  When he pressed his cock up against your aching cunt— through so many frustrating layers of pyjamas— he shut his eyes and tossed his head back for a second.  It was so perfect, his face in bliss like that, the morning sun peeking in through the curtains and making his curls shine golden-blonde.  He looked fucking beautiful.

A little gasp jumped in your mouth as he started to thrust against you again, each stroke of his hips rubbing right over your clit and making his chain dangle over your face.  You almost felt guilty, for a second, with the little engraving of Saint Thomas right there, like he was watching you do this.  “Sh-shit, Tommy…” you hissed, catching yourself before you moaned aloud when he rocked his hip harder against you and your whole pussy clenched.  If only he could feel that now— if only he could feel around his cock how desperately you needed him.

He descended down upon you, burying his face in your neck.  His hair tickled your cheek, and you fisted at the sheets to stop yourself from reaching up and holding onto him— that would be too much, too needy, right?  It was just supposed to be a means to an end, after all.  “Can I kiss you here?” he asked under his breath.

“Er, why would you do that?” you wondered.

“Just— thought it might make it go faster,” he justified.

“Y-yeah, Tommy, s’fine,” you nodded.  Do whatever you want to me.

He latched on right away, a mess of lips and tongue and teeth all over your neck; everything in you fought to keep your moans down, because you didn’t want him to know how much you loved this, how close you were to coming without even doing anything… without even taking your clothes off!

“Are you close?” you asked him softly, feeling him nod.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, and his heavy breathing cooled your skin where it was still wet with his spit.  “Just a little longer?”

“You’re not gonna give me a hickey, are you?” you whispered.

“Not if you don’t want me to,” he replied.  

“Just— make it quick, Tommy, we’ve gotta be downstairs soon,” you reminded him.

“Right, yeah, m’gonna come,” he promised, sending another chill over your body.  One of his hands moved down, holding your thigh as he thrusted faster and faster— fuck, the headboard was about to hit the wall.  Just as you looked up to see it slam once, you saw his free hand reach up and grab onto it tightly, blocking the impact with his knuckles.

“Tommy,” you breathed, an involuntary reaction to how deliberately sexy that was.

“Say it again,” he requested quietly.

“Tommy,” you repeated, and he grunted right against your ear— he didn’t stop moving entirely, just slowed down quite a bit as he rutted on you.  

“Fuck,” he sighed, panting.  You swallowed, feeling wonderfully strange knowing that must be it, that he just came— because of you.  His weight sank down onto you, making you let out a little squeal from the air rushing out of your lungs, and he laughed quietly.  “Sorry,” he mumbled, lifting himself up and hovering above you again, “didn’t mean to crush you…”

“S’all fine, Tom,” you promised, closing your legs as soon as you had the chance— before he could see that you’d soaked through your panties.

“Oh, ‘Tom’, eh?  Gettin’ formal, are we?” he grinned.  “Now that you’ve got me to bust in me trousers, we’re not so friendly anymore?”

“Shut up,” you laughed as you pushed him aside, swinging your legs off the bed so you could get up.  “Gonna use the loo and then I’ll get dressed.”

“What?!” he croaked.  “You kidding?  Of course I get to use the loo first!”

“Not if I get there before you,” you challenged, jumping up and trying to race him across the hotel room.  He beat you, but only by playing dirty— he ran up behind you and grabbed you, spinning you around as you kicked and laughed and squirmed in his grasp.

two weeks later

Moonshine on the bay had become a tradition on nights like this, when the warmth of summer was creeping around the corner, ever since you were both fifteen and in desperate need of some rebellion.  Now, without the illegality and all, it had lost some of that titillating appeal, but you still loved going out so late and meeting him at your secret spot.  It had the perfect view of the water at night, not that it was a particularly scenic section of the sea since it was mostly cargo ships and docks and all that, but under the flickering old street lamp and the tall field elms, it was almost romantic.

Tommy was currently still standing while you leaned back on your hands, brandishing the liquor he’d secured for the evening.  “For you,” he offered you the opened bottle with a smile, and you took it, but waited for him to take a sip of his first.  He did, and you saw his lips curling as he drank.

“How is it?” you asked, and he stopped drinking to cough a bit.

“It’s hangin’!” he grimaced.  “But it’ll do the job.”

You took a sip while he sat down next to you, and made a face of your own.  “Ah fuck!  That’s terrible!  Where the fuck’d you get this?”

But you knew what he meant when he said it would do the job— one sip was already warming your chest, and the next, though just as disgusting as the last, made you feel tingly at the tips of your fingers.

With your bottles halfway finished, you two sat up in the grass and watched the lights of ships go by slowly in the night.  “Had a date last night,” you blurted out suddenly, just to make conversation.

“Really?  With who?”

“You remember Jack Meyer?”

“God, I wish I didn’t,” he sneered, “what a knob.”

“Could you stop insulting all the guys I go out with?” you frowned.

“Stop going out with knobs and I will,” he bargained.

“Anyways, he was nice,” you announced firmly.  “Took me to the cinema and bought me a popcorn.”

“What size?” he asked.

“Medium.”

“Cheap bastard,” Tom grumbled.

“Shut up!  I’m trying to tell you that it was a nice date!” you yelped, pushing him on the shoulder.  “We actually, um… well, maybe I shouldn’t tell you.”

“What?” he wondered.

“I mean, I tell you everything— you tell me everything.  You told me when Sharon Caldwell let you feel her tits in eighth grade, and you told me when you lost it to Annie— what was her name again?”

“Annie Shaw,” he finished for you.

“Right… so, point is, I figured I should tell you what happened with me and Jack, right?” you wondered.  When you found the courage to look over at Tommy, his expression was… intense.  Almost angry, a little terrified.

“Don’t tell me you gave it up to him,” he pleaded, leaning in a little closer.

“God no!  I just wanked him a bit.”

"You did what to 'im?!" Tommy yelped.

"W-well, I dunno!" you backpedalled quickly. 

“Aw, birdie, you can do so much better than him,” he groaned.

“Okay, maybe so, but he’s the one I wanted to go out with.  And he was nice and he made me feel— I dunno, pretty?” you mumbled, afraid to sound too girlish.

“Come on, you can’t go rubbing off any guy who calls you pretty,” Tom scolded.

“This isn’t just any guy!”

“Yeah, it’s Jack Meyer.  In fourth year he swallowed a penny and it never came out!”

“Believe it or not, Tommy, it's not fourth year anymore,” you frowned.  “Things are different.  We’re older.  I’m not a little kid— and I’m tired of being treated like one!”

He sighed slowly, taking another swig of the booze.  “I guess that’s fair,” he relented.  “Still… can’t stand thinking about you doing that to some guy.”

"Why?"

He seemed confused by your question, and gave you a look.

"Why can't you stand thinking about it?" you interrogated.

"I… I don't know…"  He coughed a bit, clearly wanting to change the subject, but you kept staring at him as you waited for an answer.  “I guess it’s just that,” he began again, “I worry because it’s Jack, you know?  He’s a little aggressive with girls— or, he was back when I knew him.  He didn’t… pressure you into it, right?”

You thought back to the night before, and how it all happened.  “Erm, no,” you decided, “not really.”

“Not really?  What’s that mean?”

“Well, he didn’t make me do it,” you explained, “but he was… showing me how, ‘cause I didn’t know.”

“Sh-showing you?” Tom repeated.

“He, erm, he took my hand,” you remembered, feeling your heart start to race as you looked at Tom closely.  “And he put it… he put it right here.”

It was the liquor that made you do it; you pressed your hand up to the front of his trousers, feeling him getting firmer under your touch already.  He jumped a little but didn’t stop you.

"He told me to take it out for him…" you continued, voice wavering as your whole body was suddenly shivering from nervousness, and started to open his trousers yourself.

“Birdie,” Tom gasped, and you looked up to his face again.

“Do you want me to stop?” you asked him point blank.  He didn’t say anything.  “Can I keep going?”

His mouth was open slightly, and he was breathing heavily through it; he nodded.  You unzipped his fly and reached in, navigating the opening of his boxers to get his cock out.  

Of course, you’d felt it before, but you’d never seen it.  It was as beautiful as a cock could be, you thought: tanner than the rest of him for some reason, flushed at the tip, still just starting to poke out from his foreskin with a teal vein running up under your palm.  Biting your lip, you wrapped your fingers a little tighter around it.  “H-he told me to stroke it, like this,” you stammered, moving your hand gently and slowly from the base to the tip and back— then again, and again.

Daring to glance up at Tom’s face again, you saw him watching your hand with a dumbstruck expression.  You twisted your hand slightly as you reached the tip and he groaned.  "Birdie…" he sighed— his voice wore some impossible mixture of arousal, confusion, scolding, disappointment, and desperation.  It made your knees weak.  Good thing you were still kneeling on the ground, so it didn’t make much difference.  You were so sloshed that standing up would’ve been a bit of an effort, anyway.

“When I was doing it right,” you continued, “he’d tell me I was bein’ good for him… it made me feel weird when he said that, but good.  You know?”

“Y-yeah…” he choked, hissing through his teeth.  

It went on that way for a little while, just his panting and the crickets chirping; though there was clear fluid leaking from the tip of his cock, you thought it might not be enough, so you pursed your lips and let your spit dribble down onto him so you could spread it out with your hand.

“Christ,” he groaned, “Jack taught you that, too?”

You nodded, and he growled a little— the sound made your chest tighten up (as well as a few other places).  His cock was starting to bob against your grip, and his breathing was faster and heavier with each stroke.  "You're close?" you noticed, and he nodded, chest heaving as he stared down at what you were doing to him.  "You can come, Tom.  I want you to."

"Shit," he hissed.  "Shit, jus' don't stop then."

And you didn't, in fact you moved your hand even faster, until it was just a blur and he was bucking up into your palm desperately.

"Ah, fuck!" he gasped, and come started to spurt from his pulsing cock, landing on his shirt and your hand.  "Fuck…"

You watched his face as it tilted back, his eyebrows knitted together, his mouth parted in a little moan.  Your hand was still moving, and his jumped up to grab your wrist and stop you.  Then it was still, and silent, except for him breathing like he'd just run a marathon.

After a moment, he tilted his head down again and came back to reality; he instantly looked mortified.  "God, birdie," he choked, "I made a mess on you— m'so sorry, let me get it…"

He tried to wipe the come away with his shirt, frantically cleaning your hand up as best he could.  "It's fine, Tommy," you giggled.

"No it isn't, I've got your pretty hand all dirty now…"

Examining his focused expression as he wiped up the smears of come, you bit your lip slightly.  You did feel guilty for making up that whole story about a date with Jack Meyer that never did— and never would— happen, but it worked.  You’d never lied to Tommy like that before, but you decided to blame it on the liquor and not your desperation.  

In the two weeks since your holiday, nothing untoward whatsoever had happened between you and it was driving you crazy.  You didn’t even talk about it!  You, of course, thought about it every day— well, really every night, when you touched yourself and tried to remember exactly how his voice sounded in your ear.  That was what drove you to this, to getting drunk and making shit up for a chance to touch him.

"Kiss me," you said suddenly.  He looked up at your face, and you just stared at each other for a second.  

His hand dropped yours— it was clean now, or clean enough at least— and moved up to hold your face.  You sighed slightly; his thumb stroked your cheek and he smiled at you.

He gently tilted your head down and met you halfway, pressing his lips to your forehead.  Your chest deflated and your eyes fell shut.  So this is what heartbreak feels like.  It's not as bad as I thought.

"That better?" he asked as he pulled back, moving his own face down so he could look up at you with a tender smile.  You nodded, willing yourself not to cry in front of him now.  

You were throwing yourself at him and he was throwing you away.  "We'll always be friends, won't we?" you asked quietly.

"Aw, birdie— of course," he cooed, pulling you into a hug.  You clutched at his shoulders, digging your nails into handfuls of his ratty old Nirvana t-shirt.

He rolled back onto the grass and pulled you down with him, making you laugh and try to get away— but he wouldn't let you go.

"We'll always be friends," he promised again, "'cause otherwise who'd keep all those awful boys away from you?"

"Shut up," you rolled your eyes.

"I will," he sighed, relaxing his grip on you slightly.  "I'm gonna ease up on you, I think.  Let you date somebody if you want— even if he's a tosser.  'Cause you're right, you're not a little kid anymore.  And it's not fair to you."

You swallowed, laying your head on his chest.  You'd never actually wanted him to let you date someone else… you just wanted him to finally love you back.  But maybe this was the best you were going to get.

~

“Go, Tommy!” you cheered from the side of the pitch, though he surely couldn’t hear you through all that.. rugby-ing.  Rugbing?

Whatever— point is, you clapped and hollered anyways as you watched him run all over the place, narrowly dodging being tackled a few times.  You winced when he got taken down from the side by one of the biggest guys out there.  Tommy had a high pain tolerance, but you’d rather not see him lose a tooth or something.  What a waste of a perfect smile that would be.

For all their efforts, Tommy’s team lost by just a few points; it was just a scrimmage, hence why there was basically no one else here but you and the actual team members, so you hoped he wouldn’t be pouty the rest of the day after losing.  He didn’t seem to be, from what you could tell this far away— he was shaking hands and bumping fists, sweaty and streaked with dirt and grass as he chugged from his water bottle.  It really should not have been as attractive as it was…

Before you got caught ogling, someone caught your attention: “Hey,” one of the players jogged up to you, and you blinked up at him blankly, not sure who he was.  You’d definitely seen him before, you remembered his dreads and… overall massiveness.  But you weren’t sure what he was talking to you for.  “You’re here with Tom, yeah?”

“Oh, yes,” you smiled.

“He said you’re an old mate of his,” the player went on.

“Mhm,” you nodded.

“Sweet of you to come cheer him on,” he laughed, “even though it didn’t seem to do him much good today.”

You shrugged.  “He loses a lot, but he always gets back up.”

“I’m Rhys, by the way,” he offered.  “I’d shake your hand or somethin’, but I’m pretty filthy at the moment.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you laughed.  “Surprised you haven’t gone to the showers already, that’d be the first thing I’d be doing after getting that sweaty.”

“Well, I was gonna,” he explained, “but, well, I was afraid you’d be gone before I got back.”

You raised an eyebrow, wondering what that meant, and he continued on.

“Listen, I asked Tom, but I figured I should ask you… er…” he stalled as he smiled nervously.  “Have you got a boyfriend or anythin’?”

“Er, no,” you answered.

“Issuh?” he laughed.

“Yes!” you insisted.  “You think I’m lying or something?”

“I think it’s a little too good to be true, that’s all,” he explained.  “Girl like you shouldn’t stay single too long.”

You kept waiting for Tommy to come ruin it— to come rescue you.  You glanced over, and you saw him look back at you, but he just smiled and kept working on the laces of his cleats.

“So, I guess I should ask for your number before it’s too late, yeah?” Rhys continued.  You were pulled out of your thoughts, looking up at him and dropping your mouth open as you hoped for some words to come out.

“Oh!  Erm,” you began, “well—”

“It’s okay if not,” he promised, “but, you know… I’d like it.  So I can call you sometime or something— maybe I’ll have worked up the nerve to ask you out by then.”

Your cheeks were warm, but so were the backs of your eyes.  You never thought you would miss it, Tom running up and putting his arm around you, shooting whatever guy you were talking to a glare that made everyone feel uncomfortable; you glanced over at him again, watching him chat and laugh with some of the other guys.  He was just going to let this happen, wasn’t he?  And so were you.  “Yeah,” you finally blurted out, “sure— got your phone now?  I’ll put it in for you.”

“Great,” he smiled, pulling his phone out of his pocket and handing it to you.  “Wow, that went surprisingly well.”

“Are you that surprised?” you laughed as you added yourself as a contact.

“These things don’t normally go right for me,” he explained.

“For you?” you glanced up at him incredulously.

“Now, don’t give me an ego,” he chuckled, and you laughed with him.

You quickly held his phone up to take a selfie with your tongue sticking out, adding it as your contact photo.  “There you go,” you handed it back to him, and he looked at it with a wide smile on his face.

“Aw, that’s rich,” he said, and you bit your lip.  “I really should hit the showers now, but, I’ll call you?”

“Okay,” you smiled, “I’ll answer.  Probably.”

He waved at you as he left, looking down at your contact in his phone one more time with a shake of his head, before disappearing into the little tunnel through the stands.

You told Tom you would wait for him until he was all done, but god, he was taking forever getting cleaned up.  In fact, everyone else had left when he finally came out in his change of clothes and found you leaning against the cement wall outside the practice facility.  “Fuck took you so long?” you groaned as he appeared.

“You know how long it takes to wash off after a match like that?” he laughed.  “You wouldn’t have walked home with me in the state I was in.”

“Okay, fair enough,” you sighed, “can we go now?” 

“Well, um— actually, I have to get my bag from the locker room…”

“Oh my god,” you whined.

“Don’t get teazy, I just have to pack up all my gear,” he scolded.

“I’m coming with you,” you insisted, “and helping you carry it so we can get fuckin’ home already.”

“Fine, fine,” he laughed, starting back as you followed along with him.  “Lucky for you, it’s empty.”

“Aw,” you faked a pout, “no sexy rugby boys to look at?”

“Just me,” he smiled— and fuck, he was joking, but it scared you for a second.

There was a little awkward pause while he guided you around the bend into the locker area, left surprisingly clean after the boys were finished; it was only Tom’s locker open, with his things all strewn about, and you sighed.  “Look at the mess you made…” you breathed, starting to help him clean it up and get his things together.

“Rhys finally asked you out, then?” Tommy grinned, elbowing you lightly.

“O-oh, yeah,” you breathed, “erm, well— he just got my number, no date yet or anything.”

“Well, it’s a start.  I didn’t want to give him your number for you, but he asked me for it— actually, he’s asked about you a couple times now.”

“You think he’s good enough for me?” you asked.

“I mean, I dunno,” Tommy shrugged, “I don’t know him that well.  But he seems nice enough— figure you can decide the rest.”

You sighed, nodding a little.

“If he tries anything, though, you let me know and I’ll set him straight, alright?” he added, and you laughed.

“Alright, I will,” you agreed, kneeling down to get some of his clothes from off the floor and stuff them into the duffel.  “Not sure how you’re gonna do that when he’s got a metre on you and maybe twenty pounds of muscle—”

“Shut up,” Tom scoffed.  “You know I can take any guy down if it’s got to do with you.”

Your throat caught, and you stood up again.  "Tommy, listen, I actually— I wanted to… talk to you."

He cleared his throat, looking nervous as he rubbed the back of his neck.  "Yeah?  You're all good, right?  Everythin's okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," you nodded, leaning back against the lockers, "I just… I was thinking about you."

He stepped up closer to you, close enough that your heart started to race.  "Oh… what about me?"

"Well, about us," you clarified, "you and me— I want… erm…"

"Hm?"

"I just— you know how we sometimes…?"

He leaned his head in a little closer, waiting with raised eyebrows for you to get to your point.

"That thing we do, sometimes?" you started again.  "I wanna… do it again."

He nodded, like he understood, but then paused and moved his mouth over to the side.  "You wanna go to the cinema?"

You laughed, more out of frustration than amusement, and tilted your head forward to rest on his chest.  "God, Tommy…"

"What?" he laughed.

"I— I want—"  

You couldn't look up at him as you said it.  You took a deep breath and tried to compose your bravery.

"I want us to touch each other again," you finally rushed out.  You waited for him to say something, or do something, but he didn't.  “Like when we were on holiday,” you recalled, toying with the hem of his shirt.  “And that night on the bay…”

“God, birdie, I— I dunno if I can do that again,” he breathed, and you felt your eyes start to burn a bit.

“Really, Tommy?” you sighed.  “I’m that… repulsive?  Or is it Rhys?  ‘Cause all he’s done is get my number—”

“N-no,” he groaned, “shit, m’not makin’ any sense.  I can’t do that again with you because it’s too hard, okay?”

You looked up at him, knitting your eyebrows together.  “What’s too hard?”

“Touchin’ you like that,” he whispered— even now, the way he said made your spine tingle— glancing down from your eyes to your lips and back, “and havin’ to act normal again.  Not bein’ your boyfriend.”

Of everything you thought he might say then, you never expected that.  You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling, even when you bit your bottom lip.  A laugh broke out through your grin, and you had to cover your mouth to try to hide it.

“Jesus, you’re laughin’ at me now!” he lamented.  “I finally tell you and you laugh at me!  You’re heartless, you know that?”

“No, Tommy, v’got a heart— and it’s all yours,” you promised, standing up on your toes to peck him on the cheek.  He gave you a confused look, and you laughed again.  “You don’t get it do you, still?  I’ve fancied you for ages— proper in love with you, really.  Kept askin’ you to do all that stuff ‘cause, well, you’re all I think about anyways.  Thought you were just doing me favours.”

After a pause, he finally laughed with you.  “Am I a fuckin’ idiot, then?  You’ve had it goin’ for me all this time and I didn’t notice?”

“You’re a little stupid,” you mitigated.  “I think I was being pretty obvious.”

“Yeah, and what about me?” he noticed.  “I’ve been all over you forever— kissin’ and huggin’ you, cuddling all the time— you didn’t notice that I think you’re fit?”

You shrugged.  "You've always been like that."

"Yeah!" he emphasised.

"Ohhhh," you nodded, "hm.  Okay, we're both a little stupid."

“Birdie,” he smiled, and your heart melted, because he’d never said it quite like that before.  He leaned in and gave you a kiss on the cheek.

“You can really kiss me, you know,” you told him, and he pulled away just enough to look at you with an impossible-to-read expression.  “I-if you want,” you mitigated suddenly, and he smiled at you, then laughed.

“Aw, fuck, Tommy,” you turned your head to the side, “you’re awful…”

He put his hand on the side of your face, gently turning you to look at him.  “Yeah,” he agreed.  And then he moved in closer and kissed you— properly, finally.  You shut your eyes, your chest emptying with a sigh; his other hand held your face then, too, and you reached up to hold his wrists.  Your right hand felt the worn-out old bracelet that he still wore, and you couldn’t help but smile a bit against him.  He smiled, too.

“Tommy,” you sighed, reaching out and grabbing him by his belt to pull him closer.  He pressed his forehead on yours, looking down at your hands working on the buckle shakily. 

“Birdie, c’mon,” he gasped, “not here—”

You pouted a little, and he laughed.

“We waited all this time and you can’t wait until we get home?”

“Yes!” you whined.  “I need you…”

“Shit,” he groaned, kissing you again— but just for a few very passionate seconds before he pulled back once more.  “We’ll go home and I’ll do this right, I swear.”

“Why can’t we just do it here?” you wondered.

“Because if you told me some guy had taken your virginity in a rugby practice field locker room, I would kill him,” Tom frowned.  

You laughed.  “Fine, fine… let’s go home.”

~ 

Thank god his parents weren’t home.  You didn’t want to try to be quiet.

He had you in his bed the second the door was shut, kissing you voraciously as he helped you undress and tore his own shirt and trousers off.  For a guy who was just preaching patience, he was pretty hasty all of a sudden.

When all you had on were your panties, he set his arms straight to hover over you and stare down at you, looking a little dumbstruck.  You almost felt self-conscious enough to try to cover your chest, but he smiled at you and you felt a little better.  “You’re so… fuck, birdie, you’re pretty.”

It was a simple compliment, but it felt incredibly powerful when he said it like that.  He was in his boxers, and it wasn’t too much more skin than you’d already seen while swimming with him and such, but it was different with his massive hard-on making a visible imprint in the patterned cotton.  

Gently, he spread your legs, and tightened his jaw at the sight of the wet patch on your underwear.  “Oh, fuck,” he sighed.

“I always get like that,” you admitted quietly.  “Should be easy for you to fuck me, right?”

“Yes, yeah,” he agreed, “but m’not gonna fuck you yet.”

You frowned a little, and he laughed as he kissed you again.

“I told you I’m doing this the right way,” he insisted, “it’s your first time.  It’ll hurt if I just go for it.”

He leaned back and sat up, bringing his hands down to the waistband of your panties and gently dragging them down your legs; you felt gooseflesh spread all over your body.

“Oh, darling,” he whispered as he opened your legs again, looking right at you now.  You squirmed a little, but his grip on your thighs was tight.  “I need you to tell me now if you’ve changed your mind about this… ‘cause I can already tell I’m gonna have a hard time stopping once I start.”

Your heart skipped a beat, but you were sure, you were so sure.  “I haven’t changed my mind,” you promised.

“I won’t get mad at you or anything,” he assured.

“I know— I’m sure,” you breathed.  Wondering if you should return the sentiment, you asked, "You're sure you wanna do this?  With me?"

"Birdie, I've wanted to do this with you since I knew what this was," he smiled.

"And you don't mind that I've never…"

"No, birdie, I don't mind," he laughed.  "Think it's perfect actually.  Couldn't let any other lad be your first.  Couldn't let any other lad touch you like this."

You bit your lip.  “You were gonna let me go out with Rhys,” you reminded him.

“I let you give him your number.  We hadn’t even gotten to you going out with him,” Tom corrected.  “And I was acting fine as best I could but I was really jumpin’, birdie, thinking about if something might happen with you two— something like this…”

You whined as you tugged on his shirt, hoping to hide your face in his neck, but he pulled his face back so he could look down at you with a smile.  "Tommy, please," you whimpered.  

"Please, what?" he encouraged.

"Jus' need you…"

He kissed your neck again, making your back arch and your hands grab onto his shoulders, and pressed his hips down against you.  You whined at the feeling of his erection through clothes, but opened your eyes in confusion when he pulled back again just a moment later, hovering over you.  "Say my name when I make you come, yeah?" he instructed, and you nodded.  "Try it on for size just once, why don'tya," he encouraged with a smile.

"Tommy," you smiled back, and he kissed the tip of your nose.

"That's m'girl," he praised, before crawling back down, kissing a trail over your stomach, moving his hand up your thigh.

He just kept his face right up close to you, watching his finger swipe through your folds, then watching it gently circle your clit.  You whimpered, and felt your insides flex on nothing.  Apparently, that made him want to give you something to clench on— he gently slipped his pointer finger past your opening, and you let out a long sigh.

“So warm inside,” he observed.  He pulled the finger back out a second later, putting it in his mouth and humming happily.  He put his mouth on you at the same time that he put the finger back in, along with a second; that was a lot to take in, and your back arched up off the bed instantly.  He mouthed at your clit, swirling his tongue around while his lips created this wonderful pressure; you had to grab onto his hair, and thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind.

Eventually, he did have to break away for a second.  "Wondered how you'd taste," he admitted with a sigh.  

"Well?" you prompted.

"Taste like 'eaven, birdie," he purred.  "Sweet little pussy— an' it's all for me?"

"All yours," you nodded, and he growled a little as he dove back in.

The tip of his tongue slid right up from your opening to where your clit was swollen and throbbing— he pushed his tongue flat against it and you whimpered loudly.  He started to really fuck you with his fingers then, rather than just letting the natural movement of your hips force you to ride them; they curled inside you, hitting a spot that made your own fingers curl into fists in his hair.  You didn’t want to hurt him, but he didn’t mind getting his hair pulled, apparently, and just moaned lowly against you.

The pressure started weighing on your gut after a while, your pussy tensing up on him faster and faster until it was just bearing down on him unendingly.  “Fuck, Tommy,” you gasped.

“C’mon, birdie,” he mumbled against you, “wan’ you to come.  Go ahead and come for me, yeah?”

You called out his name one more time, and it all spilled over at once; he shut his eyes tight, letting you pull his face right up against you by his curls as your hips bucked and grinded on him.  You sobbed weakly, and when it was suddenly too much, he broke away and pinned you down for a messy kiss.

It left you even more breathless than you already were.  When he pulled back, his eyes were a little glazed over and his lips and chin were a lot glazed over; he gave you a crooked smile.  “Taste how sweet you are?” he purred.  You wouldn’t call it sweet, really, but it still turned you on like crazy to hear him say it.

“Please, Tom,” you gasped, grabbing his shoulders, “you’ll fuck me now, right?”

He nodded, and you let out a sigh of relief.  “Sure you’re ready?” he asked, laughing when you groaned and punched him on the arm.

“Course I’m fuckin’ ready!” you snapped.  “God, Tommy, you always give ‘em all this rigamarole first?”

He shook his head.  “Just you, birdie… it was always just you.”

Kissing you again, his breath changed as he reached down to push his boxers out of the way and kick them off to the floor.  The way it felt to have his bare skin against yours as he lowered himself down was… euphoric.  Warm and soft and smooth, and when he wrapped you in his arms, it felt like he could just absorb you entirely.  You wouldn’t mind it if he did.

He'd prepared you so well that there was only one quick sting of pain when he pushed inside you— though just that was still enough to make one tiny tear roll down your temple, which he kissed away softly.

"Are you alright?" he whispered.  You nodded.  "I need you to tell me, birdie."

"I'm okay," you promised through a sigh.  "It hurts a little, b-but please don't stop."

"You're sure?"

"Please!"

He pushed his hips flush with yours and you gritted your teeth, though everything in you relaxed just a moment later; and all that was left was the fullness, the warmth of him, the way his eyes sparkled as he looked down at you.  "You're so beautiful," he whispered to you, and you bit your lip.

"I love you, Tommy," you mumbled weakly, and he planted one soft kiss on your mouth.

"I love you too, darling."

He carefully began to move, needing to reach down with one hand to keep your hips steady.  Your moans were shaky at first, but got louder and more even with each movement.  

"You're… so deep," you breathed.  "Tommy, I— I didn't know anything could be so deep in me."

"Well, I am," he grinned.  "I'm right… here."

He pressed down on your stomach, right on the spot where the tip of his cock reached— and your eyes rolled back.  "Ohh, god," you whined.

"You feel it, love?" he cooed.

"Yes, yes," you groaned.  "Fuck, Tommy, why didn't you tell me you had a perfect cock?"

He laughed a little, leaning down to kiss you on the jaw.  "Guess it never came up."

"Does it always… is it always like this?" you wondered.  "It's so good, does it always feel this good?"

He shook his head, kissing your forehead and then trailing down your nose and cheek.  "No, it's not always like this," he answered quietly.  "Not for me, anyway.  It's never been like this."

His lips met yours again, and you reached up to weave your fingers into the hair at the back of his neck.  He groaned a little, moving his hips faster, and you smiled.  "Do you wanna fuck me harder?" you asked.

"Fuck," he mumbled, "I— I could.  Do you want me to?"

"I can take it," you promised.

Picking up the pace slightly, he held you tighter; and you felt each impact a little harder, the sound of his skin on yours echoing around the room.  “Like that?” he asked.

“Yes,” you answered— you meant it more neutral than it came out, it sounded proper pornographic the way you said it, and he smiled.  “More, Tommy, please?  Jus’ want more…”

He hissed but did as he was told, latching onto your neck with his lips as he let something a little more animalistic take over, making you cry out and hold onto him tighter.  “Beautiful,” he grunted, “you’re so beautiful, birdie— you sound beautiful.”

“It’s just ‘cause you’re making me sound like this,” you sighed, clutching at his back, too overwhelmed by pleasure to worry about scratching him up.

“I’m giving you a hickey this time,” he informed you.  “You want my mark on you, don’t you?”

“Yes,” you admitted, “always, Tommy— fuck, always wanted it.”

“‘Cause you’re mine, yeah?”

“Always,” you whimpered.

“A-ah, shit— when it’s time, I'll pull out, okay?" he offered.

"No," you whined, wrapping your legs around his hips.  "Tommy, please, want it inside…"

"Birdie," he breathed roughly, "if you say things like that, I-I'll come too fast."

“Don’t care,” you whimpered.  “Promise you’re gonna come inside me.”

“F-fuck,” he groaned, “erm— yeah, m’gonna come in ya, okay?”

You choked out the shortest sob of joy.  “Please, please— fuck, I’ll come again…”

“Yeah, fuck, c’mon then,” he praised, “just say my name, birdie— I wanna hear my name.”

“Tommy,” you cried, feeling him gasp against your neck as another wave of heat spread over your body; feeling him flex inside you right as you hit your own peak was so perfect.  You could’ve never described your emotions in that moment with words, but they found their way out anyways: you started crying, instantly.

“Don’t cry, birdie, shh,” he soothed quietly, wiping your tears away with his thumb.  “C’mon, darling, don’t cry—”

“N-no, Tommy,” you sniffled, “I’m just happy— I’m so happy, I swear…”

So he let you cry, and held you close to him; he didn’t leave until you fell asleep, even though he said he was just going to get you a washcloth and a cup of water and come right back.  He played with your hair and kissed your face, and just talked about all the normal things you usually talked about— as in, everything.  But this time, it was actually everything, no more hidden feelings.

You didn’t remember falling asleep, but after one of those dreamless sleeps that went by quickly— like you’d only shut your eyes for a few minutes— you woke up tangled with him and his sheets.  Turning on your side as best you could, you looked at his sleeping face and smiled to yourself.  He woke up just a bit later, cutting your staring short, and smiled back at you.

“Top of the morning, my ‘ansum,” you greeted as you pinched his cheek.  He laughed and batted your hand away, hiding his face from the sun under his arm.  

“You kicked me in your sleep,” he grumbled.

“So it’s all over, then?  Final straw, you’re finally getting rid of me?” you joked.

“Mm, I thought about it,” he snorted, making you laugh.  He popped his face up again and started to kiss your face all over.

“Tommy, stop,” you whined.

“You can’t make me stop now,” he pointed out, “it’s one thing to get your best friend to stop kissing you, but your boyfriend?  Nah, m’not stopping.”

You laughed, his hand on your waist pulling you closer to him only making you feel more ticklish and squirm more.  You only stilled when he grabbed your face and gave you a real kiss, and everything seemed to slow down quite a bit.  You kissed him back, properly, reaching up to weave your fingers in his hair.  “So, you’re my boyfriend, then?” you noticed when you broke away.

“No, I think we’re still just friends,” he nodded, and you laughed and shoved him on the chest.  

“Might as well be, everything we did before sayin’ we were only friends,” you admitted.

“I’m whatever you want me to be, birdie,” he promised.

[familyvideostevie]

Could you do a Steve harrington request where the Henderson!reader is avoiding him because of Nancy so when they break into the Creel house, she offers to get Eddie food so Steve is antsy when they go to find them at Skull Rock worried she might have fallen for Eddie?

i've never done henderson!reader before, but here is my attempt for you, doll! let me know what you think < 3 | 1.4k, fem!reader, jealous!steve, a litttttle angst but fluff in the end, mention of patrick getting vecna'd, eddie being a good pal, language, some gentle fudging of the s4 timeline

Steve knows the last thing he should be worrying about is why you're avoiding him, but he can't help it. Every time he and Nancy enter the room you slip out of it. You're quieter than normal, hardly joking with him and sticking to Dustin and the kids more than normal. But his head is buzzing with keeping everything straight and worrying about how he's going to keep you and Nancy and Robin and everyone safe. Maybe you're just feeling a little out of the loop -- after all, you'd only moved to Hawkins last fall to live with your mom and brother. Dustin had done his best to fold you into the group, and while Steve thinks he and Robin have done a good job at making you feel welcome, all that got you was a ticket to some bullshit happening in an alternate dimension.

So, he's staring at you as you all walk up to the Creel House and wondering how he'll get you to talk to him. Robin notices and leans over.

"Did you ask her out and she turned you down, or something?" Steve shakes his head. He'd planned to do exactly that before Chrissy Cunningham got Vecna'd, he'd even asked Dustin about it -- who said, "Weird dude, don't ask me about that" -- but, well. Shit got in the way. Such is Steve's life.

"Go talk to her," Robin hisses.

"I've been trying," Steve whispers back. He makes eye contact with Nancy she lifts her chin in a silent question. Steve's eyes bounce to you and you're watching the interaction but quickly turn away to jog up to the house. "Shit," he says. "Hey, wait --" He's about to come after you when the radio crackles in Dustin's hand.

"Henderson? Henderson, I need backup here, dude! They're onto me!" You surge over to grab it from your brother.

"I'll be there soon, Eddie," you say into it. "Stay hidden."

"Hurry up, other Henderson!" You hand your flashlight to Dustin and cuff him gently on the head.

"I'll take a bike over there," you say to everyone, already heading back down to the street.

"Woah, woah, woah," Steve says, something in the back of his mind not liking the idea of you going to defend Munson alone. "I'll come."

"No, Steve," you say, not looking at him as you mount the bike. "I'll be faster alone and we'll hide better this way. Plus, you guys need the time together." You shoot a glance at him and Nancy and before he can begin to ask you what you mean you're speeding off down the street.

"What the fuck," he says. "Why did we let her do that?"

"She'll be fine," Dustin calls. "It's just Eddie."

"That's what I'm worried about," Steve mutters.

"Can we get into this creepy house, already?" Max calls.

__

You know as you're pedaling that there's no way you'll get to Eddie in time, but you could not bring yourself to ask Steve to drive you. He's your friend, they all are, but the last few days have been making your head spin. Dustin had spelled everything out for you when you moved to Hawkins but you'd never thought you'd see it yourself. You thought that it would be smooth sailing, a chance to get to know your little brother better, and maybe go out with his cute friend, Steve.

But there's Vecna to worry about and the looks that Nancy and Steve keep exchanging and you think maybe it's better to not get involved with that and focus on the very real, very scary shit happening in front of you. You skid to a stop above the boat house and see that Jason and his cronies are already down there looking for Eddie.

"Shit," you whisper. You ditch the bike in the bushes and try to creep down the slope but then Eddie comes bursting out, the jocks on his heels. You crouch down and watch, trying not to blow your cover but looking for an entrance to help Eddie.

But then everything happens so fast. Eddie gets in the boat and the boys swim after him and then Patrick rises into the air and it's dark but the moon is shining bright and you can't look away as you see the worst thing you've ever seen in your life and promptly throw up in a bush.

Eddie makes his way back to shore and spots you, rushing over with abject horror on his face.

"What the fuck just happened?" he says hoarsely. "Did you see that?" You can only nod and he reaches out to run his hands along your arms. You realize belatedly you're trembling.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, I saw them and I waited but then Patrick --" your voice breaks. "Oh my god, Eddie, you've seen it twice."

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't want to dwell on it?" He rubs his hands down his face. "Let's go, Harrington and Dustin will kill me if those letterman asshats find you." He grabs you and you start running. As soon as you get your hands on the radio, Eddie finds the frequency and you hear Dustin shouting.

"Do you copy? Do you copy? Are you okay? Where is my sister?"

"I'm here," you say, grabbing it from Eddie. "We're fine."

"Is she there? Give that to me, Henderson," Steve calls, and the line crackles. "Munson, do you know where Skull Rock is?"

Eddie laughs, an exhausted but pleasant sound. You can't wait for this to be over so you can be friends.

"Spicy, Harrington," he says.

"Just get there, dude. Be careful." Steve sounds pissed, and you're sure you're missing something. But Eddie just sighs, the laughter gone.

"Are we actually heading to a rock shaped like a skull?" you ask, but he just starts walking.

__

If he's honest, Steve is freaked the fuck out. He has no idea what happened to you and Munson and how you got away from Jason. He's walking, almost running, ignoring Dustin as he tries to tell him they're headed in the wrong direction, everyone else trailing behind them.

"Steve, can I level with you?" Dustin says, a little out of breath. "Man to man."

"What do you want, dude?" What if you got hurt? What if you got into a fight?

"I get that you're obsessed with my sister--"

"I am not obsessed with her--"

"But you're moving way too slow. Y'know, maybe she's into Eddie, he's pretty cool --"

"Do you think she's into Eddie?" Steve says. Dustin is laughing at him but he doesn't care.

"I don't know. I don't talk to my sister about this shit, dude." Dustin pats him on the chest and continues on. "Make a move!"

"Shithead," Steve calls.

"Hey!" He hears your voice and the tension melts off of his shoulders. You sound fine. Maybe Munson took care of you, he thinks sourly. The trees clear and he sees you hugging Dustin. You look alright, tired, but no black eye or bloody lip that he'd been afraid of. Munson, for what it's worth, looks fine too.

"You okay, buddy?" you ask your brother, giving him a squeeze. He gets embarrassed and lets you go in favor of hugging Eddie. Steve hovers and you can see the rest of the group making their way up to the rock. Patrick's crumpled figure flashes before your eyes again and you surge forward into Steve's arms.

"Are you okay?" he says softly, holding you tight to his chest. "What happened?"

You breathe him in for just a moment. "I got there too late and hid, but then Vecna got to one of Jason's friends and he..."

"You saw it?" Steve gasps. "God, I'm sorry, baby, that must have been some scary shit." His hands are running up and down your back. A smile creeps onto your face and your cheeks heat.

"Baby?" you say, pulling back from his chest a little to look at him.

"Oh," Steve says, "well. Yeah. That okay?" His eyes flicker back to where Eddie and Dustin are talking and it clicks. He thought you and Eddie were a thing? But then...you look back and see Nancy eyeing the two of you with a smile. Well, shit.

"Yeah, Steve," you say. You reach up and run a hand through his hair before you give him a swift kiss on the cheek. "That's okay. Baby."

"Oh my god, someone call Vecna to put my eyes out!" Dustin yells.

"Not funny!" you and Steve yell at the same time.

want to be added to my tag list for full-length (non-ask) fics? send me a message and specify for steve, eddie, or both! reblog, send feedback, requests open, masterlist here!

[nervousgardenerkid]

Tears for Fears

a/n: AHHHHH ITS HERE ITS FINALLY HERE!!! PART THREE TO THE OTHER WOMAN SLAYYYY🥳🥳don't worry! there's going to be a part four and it's going to be the last one :) i decided to do a part four cause i didn't want this one to be SUPER long i'm sorry😭😭i hope you guys enjoy and credit to the gif owner! <3

The car ride to the creel house was quiet and tense. All the playful energy that any of the group had was now long gone. The sun was setting and it painted the sky a beautiful orange color. Steve stopped the vehicle in front of the screen house, your heart dropping when you see Lucas, Erica, and Max make their way out.

You grab the sleeve of Max’s jacket causing her to stop and look at you.

“You be safe, okay? Don't let him get you.”

She gave you a sad smile and nodded her head wrapping her arms around you. She wipes away some tears before pulling away and looking up at you.

“Don't do anything stupid, you're kinda all I have left.”

The three of them left the car and you watched from the back window as they walked toward the house until they were out of sight. You look down at the bat that’s resting between your feet and jump when Robin takes a seat next to you.

“How are you holding up?” she asked.

You let out a chuckle. “Scared shitless right now. I hate that the kids are alone, one of us should be there right?”

“I don't know, I feel like it's an all-hands-on-deck situation. Ya know?”

You nod your head. You know all too well, you look at robin and feel yourself smile.

“You really dressed for the part, didn't you, cadet?

She fake salutes you.

“Reporting for duty. I feel like if I die today I should die in style.”

“No one is dying today,” Dustin says while looking over at you two. “I'm serious, we're all gonna be fine.”

Eddie appears behind Dustin and places a hand on his head, shaking him around a bit.

“Yeah, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to agree with the kid this time.”

You gasp. “Eddie Munson is agreeing with Dustin Henderson?”

“You hear that? I think hell just froze over.” Robin laughed out loud.

You glanced over to the front of the trailer patting on your thighs before standing. You were steady as you made your way to Nancy and Steve, throwing your arms around both seats as you leaned toward the middle.

“Are you sure this is a good plan, Nance?”

She looks over at you and furrows her brows.

“I just feel like we shouldn't have left the kids alone at the creel house. I have a weird feeling they're going to need backup.”

Steve glances at you and clears his throat. “Robin said she feels like we shouldn't be doing this.”

You're frozen to your spot. If two people are feeling uneasy about this should any of you guys be going in? Maybe you can all regroup and come up with a new plan? A million thoughts are running through your head before Nancy's voice rings through your ears.

“We're going to be fine. We can’t back down now, everyone’s lives are on the line. I wouldn't go through with this plan if we had time to come up with something better. This is our only option.”

You and Steve both look at her knowing that she's not going to back down. You don't blame her one bit, if Vecna showed you a vision where your loved ones died you'd be dead set on the plan too. You sigh, ignoring Steve's gaze on you through the rearview mirror, and sit back in your original seat. You're lost in your thoughts until Eddie sits next to you and smiles at you.

“So, you still feel confident about this?”

You consider telling him the truth. You want to tell him how you're not so sure that any of you should be doing this, how you and robin have this terrible feeling sitting in your stomach, but you don't. You don't want to feed Eddie any more fear than what he already has so you lie to him and you make sure it's the best damn lie you've ever told.

“Are you kidding me? Like I said Munson, I've done this three times already. What's another round of saving the world?”

Eddie chuckles and shakes his head. You're a good liar, he'll give you that. He decides not to call you out on your lie, he knows you're just as scared as him, maybe even more.

“Can't believe you've been saving the world while teaching me some calculus on the side. I guess I owe you big time for saving my ass from monsters and the wrath of Mr. G.”

You chuckle and shrug your shoulders. Everything he says is going in one ear and coming out the other. You look back at the window again knowing the Creel house is long gone, but you still hope to see the kids safe walking into the building.

“You're worried about them huh?”

“They're just kids, Eddie. They shouldn't have to go through this, and I know they aren't mine but there's this part of me that needs to protect them.”

He nods understanding what you mean. Sure he doesn't know Max or Erica all that well, but seeing them so desensitized to something like this breaks his heart.

Steve parks the trailer and for the first time, you all notice it's completely dark out now. You all sneak out of the trailer and sneak into Eddie's, thanking the universe that the darkness hid you all from onlookers. You all walk towards the makeshift rope that's made of sheets and look up into the Upside down. Steve drops his backpack on the floor and tugs at the sheets.

“Be careful.” You mumble to him.

He looks over at you and sends a small smile your way, he doesn't even care that he's staring death in the face anymore. You finally talked to him.

“Here goes nothing.”

Your heart pounds as you watch Steve climb through the enormous hole in the ceiling and disappear within a second. He does a flip, landing on his feet effortlessly reminding you of a cat, and looks up at the group shrugging his shoulders.

“Wow, what does he want us to do, applaud?” Robin mumbles mostly to herself. You and Nancy let out a giggle and cover it with a cough. Your attention is drawn back to the hole as Steve grunts while throwing a mattress down on the ground for everyone to land on.

“Alright, let's go.”

Robin squats down intertwining her fingers together to give Nancy a small boost. You smile at the quick friendship the girls made and watch as Nancy makes her way through the portal landing on the mattress with a small oof. You try your hardest not to roll your eyes as Steve helps pull Nancy up, leaving only inches between them.

You and Dustin grab the bags that are on the floor and launch them up giving each other a high five when they land on the mattress Steve laid out. Eddie makes his way toward the sheet and lands on the bed with wide eyes. He's looking up at the rest of you guys smiling at how cool this would be if it wasn't a life or death situation. One by one each of you makes your way to the upside down with you being the last one. You land on the mattress still not used to the feeling of traveling through some weird portal to another dimension but you'll wrap your head around it eventually.

You sit up a bit and look between Eddie and Steve's outreach hands, both of them ready to help you up. You look up at them and notice them staring at each other silently asking each other what they're doing. Robin rolls her eyes and grabs you by the collar of your shirt and pulls you up to her.

“Get your head in the game lover boys, we're literally about to save the world! Fight for the girl after this.”

Your cheeks get hot and Eddie and Steve are stumbling over their words claiming they just wanted to help you up. You each walk out of the trailer getting ready for your parts of the plan before Steve turns around to face you, Dustin, and Eddie.

“Hey, guys, listen,” Steve starts. “If things here start to go south at all, you abort. Okay?” Draw attention to the bats, keep them busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna.”

He looks at Dustin and Eddie. “Don't try to be cute,” His eyes lock with yours. “and don't try to be a hero or something okay? You guys are just-”

“Decoys,” Dustin says while rolling his eyes. “Don't worry, you can be the hero Steve.”

“Absolutely,” Eddie chimes in. “I mean look at us, we are not heroes.”

You snort. “Speak for yourselves. I've saved all of your asses at least once.”

Steve chuckles at your response and begins to walk away from the three of you. It finally sinks into your head that this could be the last time you see him. With the terrible feeling in your gut only getting worse you can't help but run after him and grab his hand. Steve turns around to face you, his facial expression giving away the little shock he's experiencing.

“You have a bad habit of losing fights.”

“Really? That's what you want to say?” he whispers.

Tears are welling in your eyes as you shake your head. “Don't lose this fight, Steve. Please.”

He pulls you into his chest and gives you a tight hug.

“I'll see you when we win, okay?”

You pull away, wiping the tears that managed to escape, and nod your head.

“I’m still pissed at you,” you say over your shoulder while walking back to Eddie and Dustin.

“Tell me about it when this is over!”

You smile at Eddie and Dustin grabbing the bat you've had since the beginning of all of this shit and look back at your friends who are walking away from you.

“Hey, Steve?” Eddie shouts.

Steve turns around to face him.

“Make him pay.”

-

You, Dustin, and Eddie all work together trying your best to cover every window the trailer has. Dustin is running around giving you as many boards as he can while you're drilling them into the trailer.

“So,” Eddie says, appearing behind you while hanging you a screw. “You and Harrington?”

“Pretty sure that ship has sailed,” you mumbled out while stepping back and admiring your work.

“No, yeah. That's cool, I was just wondering is all.”

Dustin stood next to you two and made a face at Eddie.

“Dude, are you trying to see if she's single while our lives are on the line?”

Eddie and Dustin bicker back and forth and you tune them out while walking around the trailer to see if you guys missed any spots. Once you saw every nook and cranny was covered you went back to your original spot, resting your hands on your hips. Thunder booms across the sky as a flash of red follows close behind.

“Not bad,” you mumble to yourself.

“Not bad at all.” Dustin follows. You're standing between the two as you all look at each other and smile. A chuckle escapes Eddie as he throws an arm over your shoulder.

“Now for the fun part.”

The three if you burst into the trailer trying not to disturb the hive mind. Eddie stands in the doorway in shock as he looks at the beautiful sight before him.

“Jesus Christ….” he trails off.

Dustin chuckles at his older friend as he takes a step forward toward the object that was calling his name.

“It's like…she was destined for an alternate dimension.”

A small laugh escapes from you as Eddie reaches for his guitar with a smile on his face.

“What do you say you two? Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?”

Eddie turns around to face you both and you take a step forward.

“That a rhetorical question?”

Eddie smiles at you both as he puts the guitar strap around his shoulder and slings it so that it's resting on his back.

“Let's do it.”

-

“Uh, I don’t mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we've seen this tree before,” Robin says in a shaky voice.

“That's impossible.” Nancy says trying to catch up to her newly made friend.

“That would suck, right? If Vecna destroyed the world cause we got lost in the woods?”

“We're not lost, Robin.”

She let out a nervous chuckle and walked ahead of Steve and Nancy.

“Robin, hey,” Steve said.

“Watch out for the vines! Hive mind, remember?”

“THANK YOU!” Robin shouted while sprinting away from them.

“Ah, don't worry about her, she's just stressed. You know, scared.” Steve said quietly.

Nancy chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”

The two of them walked in silence. They weren't really sure what to talk about but they also kept an ear out for Robin in case she ran into trouble.

“It's just…” Nancy started.

“She's a super klutz?” Steve finished.

She let out a laugh and nodded her head.

“She did tell me it took her longer to walk than most babies.”

“I really shouldn't laugh. When I was a baby, I actually crawled backwards.”

“Crawled backwards?” Nancy questioned.

He nods his head. “You know, I’d push back on my hands like this,” he said while making a beeping noise. “Always in reverse, you know?”

Nancy stays silent trying her hardest not to laugh. She missed this, a part of her will always miss Steve and how…easy it was with him. It all just came naturally, well, not all of it.

“Come on, it makes sense. Push to move right?”

“No, no, it doesn't make sense.”

Steve shrugs his shoulders. “Well, it did to my tiny Harrington brain, and to y/n.”

A beat of silence passes.

“Actually, I think she laughed at me too.”

“Smart girl.”

Steve chuckles at the thought of you.

“Of course, it made sense till I backed myself up down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good.”

Steve swears he can hear your voice saying that explains so much, or maybe it was Nancy but he just wanted it to be you. Either way, he responds.

“I think it does. I think, like, right off the bat I'm super confident, but I'm also an idiot.” His mind trails back to the arguments you two have had these last couple of days, the two of you too wrapped up in the end of the world to talk it out like usual.

“It's a brutal combination,” Nancy says.

“The good news is, if I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, you know?”

Nancy nods her head agreeing with him.

“Do you think she meant anything when she told me not to lose?”

“Besides not dying?” Nancy chuckled.

Steve shook his head not listening to what she was saying.

“How did I not see it? This whole time, she's been in love with me and I never knew. Now, I might lose her to Eddie. Eddie of all people! I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a cool guy, and has nice hair. Not as nice as mine but it's nice. I just never heard her talk about him.”

Nancy looks at Steve. “What do you usually talk about when you hang out?”

Steve shrugs his shoulders.

“I'd usually talk about my dates, or about some girl who gave me her number at work-” Steve stops talking and stands frozen in his spot.

“Something tells me you just had an epiphany.”

Steve groans quietly and starts to walk again. “I'm such an idiot.”

“At least you're learning.”

More comfortable silence is shared between them as they keep their eyes on the ground trying their best not to step on the vines.

“Thank you,” Steve said quickly.

“Thank me?”

“Yeah.”

“For?”

Steve smiles at her and for the first time, it's almost a normal smile. There's a little love behind his eyes, not as much as before and his hand isn't yearning to hold hers, but part of him still wants to, and he might even start to grasp at the fact that Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington are a ship that set sail a long time ago.

“For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago.”

Nancy’s heart drops at the subtle mention of the messy breakup. She doesn't tell anyone but she regrets ending it that way, Steve was so good to her and he didn't deserve to have his heart ripped out like that. She knows she should've been sober and a conversation should've been shared, but life had other plans.

“I needed it,” Steve said. “It was life-changing, and now I'm crawling forward.”

Nancy wears a bittersweet smile on her face. She's happy for Steve, he’s moving on as he rightfully should, but now it's confirmed that it's an end of an era. Long gone are the days of Steve and Nancy and she's scared of what the future holds for them. Will they even be friends or will they both always have a soft spot for each other?

While Nancy is lost in her thoughts Steve is lost in his. He can't help but wonder if maybe he met you a little sooner, would things be different? Would he have even been friends with Tommy and carol? Would he have ever met Nancy? Hell, maybe none of this upside down shit would ever even exist. Steve knows that he wouldn't change a thing in his life besides a few handful of things but he silently hopes that somewhere in another universe he meets you sooner than later.

Steve glances at Nancy out of the corner of his eye and clears his throat. He still has so much to say to her and he's tired of holding things in only to regret not saying them. What better time to tell your ex that you still have hope you'll get back together while being partially in love with your best friend?

“Do you remember the dream I told you about?”

Nancy and Steve stopped walking and stared at each other.

“About the Winnebago? Seeing the country with my six little nuggets?”

Nancy smiles at him, a real smile. The kind that reaches her eyes and lights up even the darkest room.

“It's all true. Every last word.”

No. Nancy thinks to herself. It's not supposed to be like this, things were going so well.

“But I left one part out.”

“Stop it, Steve.”

“It's the most important part.”

“Steve, stop it,” she whispers.

“You're there.”

Nancy is at a loss for words. It's like Steve took two steps forward and one giant step back.

“You've always been there.” And it's true. When it came down to it like really came down to it, Steve knows that there's always going to be a Nancy-shaped hole in his heart. Maybe it's because of how things ended between them or maybe it's because she's genuinely the first woman Steve has ever truly loved, but he can't seem to let her go. He knows the tighter you hold onto someone the more they begin to slip away but he can't stop, and Steve is at a fork in the road cause, on one hand, he wants Nancy back. He wants to show her that he’s matured and has his head on his shoulders, on the other hand, he wants you. He needs you.

Nancy never gave Steve the love he deserved. You've always told him that and recently it's all you've been telling him. Hell, even Nancy told him herself! You've always been there for him in ways nobody else has and Steve treasures you for that, he just has a shitty way of showing it and he hates himself for that.

Nancy looks down at her feet refusing to meet Steve's eyes and she can tell from the quick change in the atmosphere that it's finally sinking into Steve's head.

Nancy Wheeler no longer wanted anything to do with Steve Harrington. She hates to say it, she really does but if she has to break his heart all over again for him to fully move on and stop self-sabotaging potential relationships, then she will.

“HEY, GUYS?”

Nancy jumped back from Steve and looked at an out-of-breathe Robin with concern on her face.

“You guys! Awesome news!” Robin panted out.

“Looks like we weren't going the wrong way after all.”

-

“I just had a crazy realization,” Eddie said from the top of the trailer. You catch the wire that Dustin throws up at you and set it aside to help him up.

“Oh really?” You grunted out. “What's that?”

“So the songs save us from vecna right?”

“That's the theory, yeah,” Dustin said while standing next to you.

Eddie puts his hands in the air and lets out a chuckle.

“Why didn't we get a list of everyone's favorite songs before we came here?”

You and Dustin stand in silence.

“I mean, sure we can't all carry a walkman, but if we hear the lyrics of our favorite song that's kinda like a get out of jail card, right?”

“Damn…” you mumbled.

“What song would save you?” Dustin asked, looking at Eddie.

Eddie held up his guitar. “I'm about to play it.”

Dustin and Eddie turn toward you silently asking. You shrug your shoulders.

“Probably head over heels. What about you dusty?”

“Never-ending story.”

You let out a groan. “I'll pay you to not sing that song again.”

“What does she mean again?”

You let out a gasp and look between Dustin and Eddie with a smile on your face.

“Don't!”

“He doesn't know?!”

“Know what?”

“Of course, he doesn't know! Why would I tell him that?!”

You let out a laugh and shake your head. “Don't worry rockstar, I'll tell you later.”

Dustin glares at you muttering under his breath while he gets everything ready for the plan. Everyone goes back to doing their own thing and Eddie stands beside you and clears his throat.

“So, head over heels?”

You hum. “That, or everybody wants to rule the world.”

“I'm guessing you're a tears for fears fan?”

“The biggest actually. They're geniuses!”

Eddie snorts and shakes his head. “I wouldn't say all that now.”

“Well, we're all entitled to our own opinions!” You threw an arm around his shoulders and gave him a little shake while laughing. “Even if they're wrong.”

Eddie playfully rolls his eyes and plays with the strings of his guitar. “I heard they're having a concert a couple of towns over.”

You sigh. “Yeah, I tried getting some but it's impossible.”

Eddie smiles at your answer. “What if I told you that I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows some other guy, who knows a guy that can score some tickets?”

You laugh a genuine laugh. “I'd say you're full of shit.”

“Well, how about you find out after all of...this.” He said while gesturing to the upside down. “I promise to make it worth your while.”

Your cheeks heat up and you look down at your dirty shoes with a smile on your face.

“If I didn't know any better, I’d think you're asking me on a date.”

Eddie nervously scratches the back of his neck and shrugs his shoulders. “Figured I'd give it a shot since we could be dying.”

“Seriously?” Dustin scoffed. “We're in the middle of saving the world and you're asking y/n on a date?! Do you not have your priorities?!“

“I'll bring you back a shirt.”

Dustin stayed silent for a moment before nodding his head.

“Have fun on your date you two. I expect her home by 9.”

“The concert starts at 8.” Eddie chuckled out.

“Did I say nine? I meant tomorrow. Actually, you can just keep her.”

Eddie glances at you and lets out a small cough. “So what do you say? Friday at 8?”

You bite your lip, part of you wants to go with Eddie. Hell, he's made this whole thing feel normal so far, but what about Steve? You're pretty positive nothing is going to happen there, especially now that he's with Nancy. You don't want to use Eddie as some kind of rebound, that's the last thing you want. You'd be lying if you said you didn't have some kind of feelings for the infamous dungeon lord. He was funny, never afraid to say what was on his mind, and he was so nice to look at.

“Yeah, Friday at eight.”

Your attention is quickly taken away from each other when you hear Dustin talking into the Walkie.

“Copy that. Initiating phase three.”

Dustin looked at the two of you and nodded his head. You grabbed your bat ready to hit the bats that would soon be coming toward you and Dustin grabs the outlet that was resting on the trailer and plugs it in.

“Let's hope they hear this.” You mumble under your breath.

Dustin turns one of the knobs on the amp and nods his head toward Eddie giving him the go. Eddie takes a shaky breath and pulls off the guitar pick necklace that he always wears.

“Chrissy, this is for you.”

taglist <3 :

i tried tagging everyone but tumblr is being weird and didn't let me :( i hope u guys can still read it

@drxwstxrkxy @steveismyboi @555stargirl555 @fujiihime @stevesdick @hcloangcls @louweasleymalfoy @kiki17483 @sweetcreatue98 @spideyjass @keerah19 @freezaz123 @eighthwvnder @hann-an @sammararaven

[arlecchno]

mission accomplished [ scaramouche x reader ]

eighteen | be your date

prev masterlist next

things started to change a lot when you're finally back to the real world, especially your relationship with the guy you're supposed to hate the most.

warnings: swearing, yun jin calls you babe, just reader and scaramouche being awkward and also yun jin being a 'very' good friend lmao

a/n: god i need to stop updating so often because now this series is already halfway finished and it's only been less than 3 months... i don't want ma to end quick T-T so maybe i'll start posting once a week now. happy reading!

grammatical errors may occur so please let me know if i've made any mistakes!

it has been an unusual week for you.

for the first time in two months and a half, viktor was avoiding you.

it first started when you two had mass comm together a few days ago. he always used to be so cheerful and always full with conversations that you barely even hear what the professor's always teaching in his lectures.

but he completely changed when you returned to class, and had progressively stopped talking with you as the week goes by. he only ever talks with you if you were the one who initiated small talk, usually answering with a simple reply, and decides to never talk to you again for the rest of the class.

things started to change even more when he slowly distances himself from you. from sitting next to you in every mass comm class for the past two months, to not even being in your sight now, always sitting far away from you.

you had tried confronting him, of course. but somehow, he never fails to escape from you. from you searching for him in a crowded room, all the way to chasing him in the busy hallways of campus, but to no avail.

so, you did the only thing that you could do right now.

ask his girlfriend about it.

“viktor? avoiding you?” yun jin asked curiously, sipping on the cup of latte she bought at the campus cafe.

you had dragged yun jin to the campus park to discuss on the topic you've been trying to get an answer from. none of you had any classes for the rest of day, so you have all the time in the world to interrogate the young woman about her fellow partner.

you nodded, looking at her intensely. “he never talks with me now, and the only time i get to see him is when i catch glimpse of his face in class.” you said. “i never manage to catch up to him since he always comes in after the professor arrives, and always leaves the second the class is dismissed.”

“so you're asking me about him, because i'm his loving girlfriend?”

“uh, i guess so. i just want to know why he's avoiding me all of the sudden when he's the one who's most eager for me to get back on my feet and come to class.”

yun jin cleared her throat, avoiding your gaze to look at the autumn leaves. “well, in all honesty, he's also been avoiding me.”

you quirked up an eyebrow. “really?”

“it's happened a couple of times during our relationship, where he just... ignores everyone. i've asked about it before, but he merely shrugged and ignored me for the next few days.” she paused, looking back at you.

“it's as if he's living in his own world, where no one else exists, just him.”

you hummed, not knowing what to say for a moment. “is he.... you know?” you asked, hoping that yun jin would catch on what you were trying to imply.

at this, yun jin jumped on her seat. “no! no, he'd never hurt me.” she commented, emphasising the word. “there are just times where he completely ignores me and every other human being, and then comes back all of the sudden, as if nothing's happened. i've grown accustomed to it by now, just... give it a few days, he'll come back like normal.”

“you sure he's not causing you any trouble?”

“yes— don't worry about it, luna, we're fine.” she looked at you, assuring that nothing bad is going on between her and viktor. “besides, you're supposed to be preparing for this weekend, not worrying about viktor.”

you rolled your eyes at her. “seriously? that's what you've been thinking about?”

yun jin pouted, crossing her arms. “come on! this is our last year, and i don't want you to miss out on this.” she tried convincing you.

“aside from that...” she trailed off for a second, before continuing her sentence. “who're you bringing to the ball?” she asked mischievously, raising her brows up and down with a smile on her face.

“you mean a date?”

yun jin's smile faltered and huffed at you. “of course i'm talking about a date! what else would i even be suggesting?”

you sighed, looking back at the scenic view of the busy but calming campus park. as autumn is approaching to an end, most of the leaves on the trees have fallen, preparing themselves for winter to come by.

winter is the signature season of snezhnaya. with its long term and never ending snow, winter is something that everyone in the nation always look forward too.

it's no doubt that you're one of them too. with the season coming, you always look forward to continuing on this path of life, whether it'd be bad or not.

“i don't have a date.”

those five words was all it took for yun jin to jump out of her seat to sit next to you on the picnic bench. “you're kidding me, right?”

“why would i lie to you? and it's not like i won't have fun if i don't have a date, i've been single my whole life.” you looked at her, in which she glared at you in return.

then, an idea popped in her head. “isn't that ivan guy single? you should ask him out.”

“what?”

“ivan, that roommate of yours. you told me that you two came from the same uni before transferring here, surely you know enough about him now that you're living with the man.”

slowly registering her words, you widened your eyes and glared at her. “no way! we hate each other!” you said furiously, though your flustered face was very opposed to what you were saying right now.

yun jin raised a brow, smiling mischievously at you even more. “really now? ‘cause all i've seen over the past week is you two being lovebirds.”

“excuse me?!”

“what? am i not right? i see the way you look at him, and i see the way he looks at you. if it's not love, then i don't know what is.”

you covered your mouth in astonishment, and maybe just a tad bit of embarrassment.

it had been a weird week for you. ever since you got sick that one time, scaramouche has been acting different towards you. it's not entirely in a bad way, but you're sure it's not exactly in a good way either.

unlike the usual times he's spent time with you, with him throwing around three insults at you at the very least of each conversation, this time, he's been treating you very differently.

he's started to stop with his crucial actions and bashful words towards you, and he's now being exceptionally quiet, only ever replying with a word or two before going off with his own business. sure, you are not one to complain now that he's stopped making your life a miserable mess, but it's not wrong to at least ponder about it.

your views on him have also changed too.

you used to think he was the most useless man alive, and that he was the most ruthless bitch in the police department, but as time passes during the duration of your undercover case with him, things have changed by a lot.

he's not the grumpy man like before, who'd always stomp at quite literally everything whenever something doesn't go his way. he's not the guy who'd shit on you every chance he gets anymore, and he has stopped being the guy you've known so damn well.

he's now this weird, nice guy that's always treating you nicely.

you also see him as less of a burden, and more of a friend now. you two have gone a long way from being sworn enemies, so it should be time to change your title from enemies to friends, or at the very least, acquaintances.

you appreciate the little things he does for you, and repay with whatever you can, whether it be staying up with him during long nights to work on the case, or just spending time with him on the couch and watch stupid shows or movies just to shit on them together, you really wouldn't trade it for the world.

“seriously? you're off on your own dreamland right now?” yun jin asked in boredom, snapping her fingers at you.

shaking off your thoughts, you cleared your throat. “i'm not going with him.”

“babe.” yun jin said in a serious tone as she placed her hands on your shoulder, turning your body slightly so that you were facing her. “this is a once in a lifetime thing. i desperately need you to have a date, that is my personal and only request for you. besides, do you even know any other guy in campus that is not ivan?”

you slowly shook your head in defeat, looking down on your lap.

“then there you have it, ask him out by tomorrow. go big or go home, child.” she said, the embarrassing and stupidly dramatic nickname rolling off her tongue easily, as if you were her actual kid.

you give a thought.

maybe it won't be bad, you ponder to yourself. well, he technically has been nice to you for the past week, so it'd probably be less awkward if you ask him out to the ball since you guys barely argue now. and, you also can investigate on the case with him while you're at it, so it's definitely the perfect plan.

“...fine, i'll see what i can do.”

yun jin grinned giddily, shaking your shoulders violently with her hands. “thank you, thank you luna! it's gonna be sooo great!” she beamed, dragging out the 'so' in excitement.

“what?”

“let's go to that grad ball together.”

scaramouche crossed his arms, raising a brow. “i thought we were going together? you know, for the case?” he asked confusedly, looking at you from his desk.

the ravenette was currently doing some work on his desk in the small room, and you were leaning on his doorframe, staring at him expectantly.

“no, um, i meant like...” you paused, hesitant on finishing your sentence.

scaramouche leaned back on his chair properly, still looking at you with a confused look. “well? what did you mean? spit it out already.”

rubbing the back of your neck in nervousness, you avoided his eyes. here goes nothing, i guess.

“we should go together... like uh, a date.” you mumbled, voice barely a whisper, but it was enough for scaramouche to hear and slightly jump on his seat.

“w–what?”

“w–well, i mean like, we go there together... like normal people, friends— yeah, friends, that's what i meant to say! go as f–friends, y'know?” you quickly covered up in a sputtering mess. the idea of a date instantly being dumped to your butt.

how did you even manage to fuck this up so bad? it was not even that hard to begin with, yet you couldn't even do it properly like you're supposed to.

scaramouche flushed red, crimson creeping up his cheeks. he shyly looked away from you and shifted in his seat, fumbling for the right words to say. “i, um– i don't mind if i'm gonna be uh... be your boyf– date, i mean.” he stuttered, silently cursing himself for doing so.

you widened your eyes in pure shock. “h–huh?”

“you said we should go together as a... date, right?”

rubbing the back of your neck again, you fixate your eyes on his door instead, looking at it intensely as if it's the most interesting thing you've ever seen. slowly, you nodded, heart pounding from the embarrassment you're facing.

and maybe because scaramouche was looking a little too attractive to your liking.

the ravenette hummed, clicking on his pen to continue on with his work. “then, sure. i'll be your date, i guess.”

“really?” you asked, face still confused as to why he's suddenly so obedient to your request.

scaramouche shrugged, continuing on writing from where he left off. “if you have any doubts then i'm gonna call it off. this is your last chance, i'm not doing any of your stupid ideas after this.”

you pushed yourself off from his doorframe and quickly brought your hands up in defense. “n–no! please don't do that, this'll be my last ridiculous request, i swear!” you clasped your hands together.

his indigo eyes fixate on you, and he clicks his tongue. “no need to go all begging for me, i'd do anything you want me to if you ask properly.” he said, and you stared at him in return, before you looked down to the floor.

“...thank you, scara.”

“it's nothing.”

“see you tomorrow morning?” you asked, looking back up. he was still gazing at you.

scaramouche hummed, a soft expression on his face, contrary to his signature scowls and frowns. “yeah, pack whatever you need, we'll use my car.”

you smiled, and turned to the hallway to leave.

“y/n.”

“hm?” you looked over your shoulder.

scaramouche was in his seat, his hand still gripping the pen. if you look close enough, the grip he had on the pen was so strong that his knuckles were starting to turn white, and the pen was on the verge to break in two.

“i look forward to sunday.”

smiling at him again, you replied. “me too.”

and then you finally left, leaving scaramouche in his room with the door wide open.

your loving smile was all it took for the pen is his hand to snap, the ink splattering everywhere on his desk and paper, in which he breathed out a few curses as he hastily cleaned everything up.

looks like he's got to redo that paper all over again.

ooooo we've gotten to the point where their relationship starts to blossom mmm so excited to see what's next

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[kreiitsuuuu]

🌼 TIRED AND BURNT OUT

𖧷 in which; where zenitsu, giyuu, kyojuro, mitsuri, and kaigaku, comfort their tired and burnt out gn! s/o

Zenitsu Agatsuma

Drops whatever he was doing or stops whining to go on and check up on you.

As much as he loves you comforting him whenever he was in a bad mood or was injured, Zenitsu also loved doing the same thing for you

Either you were pushing yourself too hard to the point that everything felt like a chore and a burden to do, or you just didn't feel like doing anything due to tiredness.

He understands your current condition and will probably help you relax and get comfortable within his embrace :]

Cuddles <3 cuddles are always nice and warm with this boy. Perhaps chaotic also, on some occasions

Tells you how much he loves you so much, and how you literally don't need to push yourself too hard. I mean, you have him! If you needed help, he'd try his best :D

He'd whisper ridiculous, corny, yet enjoyable pick-up lines he made up on the spot to at least make a smile crack outta you, maybe even a laugh :]

Zenitsu would be the type of guy to run his hand onto your face, and then place a soft kiss to your lips without muttering a single word yet will also be the same person who would be red all over if you gave him a single compliment.

He's such a dork <3

Don't wanna get up and be productive? Will stay in your futon the whole day with you, if the two of you wanted to

As much as he was a loud, and annoying person to others, you had never treated him ill and that's what made him fall for you

His self loathing vanished, as your love helped him up and on his feet.

" Y/n, are you feeling alright now? "

" I always feel alright when I am in your arms, Agatsuma. "

Ok, that definitely caught him off guard which made him a flustered mess <3

Giyuu Tomioka

Giyuu isn't much of an active person himself, so seeing you all tired and burnt out worries him since he's used on seeing you so active and running around the place to do missions or just simple chores

Of course, being the kick butt awesome yet no energy boyfriend he is, Giyuu insisted that you rest.

There was no budging his words, as he was already pulling your hand to join him in your futon

As much as his face showed no interest, he really did love pulling you in his embrace. Glad and relieved you're alright.

Though, he will give you a few words about stopping once in awhile to rest. Everyone has their limits, even him.

I think he's not the one who usually makes the first move, but in this current condition of yours, he'll try his best to comfort you and make you rest to the fullest :]

Little forehead kisses <3

Hand holding!!! Reassures him a lot that you're still with him, and god he is so glad he has not lost you.

So much of his friends and family was lost, and he couldn't bare to lose you as well.

If you had a mission or just a random chore that you haven't done yet, Giyuu will go fulfill it in your stead.

Please rest haha he's very worried for your health :(

" I brought some soba for us to eat, come, I'll feed you "

" But.. I can feed myself. Plus, I'm not sick, Giyuu.. "

" No, I will feed you. "

Don't even try to fight him, he will be upset (and you don't want that) (probably)

Kyojuro Rengoku

The two of your were both suns who lights up eachother's lives but at this time, you were a moon and you needed the light of your life to be with you.

Kyojuro caught you as you were about to fall face first unto the floor due to tiredness

That would've been a nasty fall!

Very worried about your entire well being, but you assured him you'll be fine. Just needed a handful of rest

If you needed anything, he'll be just around the corner :D

Do you want food? He's already cooking!

Need someone to hold you? Well, he's always up for it!

Want to work and burn yourself out more? NO >:(

Your stubbornness can't win against him, well, you're thankful. Since you can go a little too far from your limits and end up hurting yourself in the process.

Honestly, Kyojuro was like a nice, friendly, daily message for you. To not over-do yourself, and have a little time for yourself from time to time.

Of course, the world needed saving from demons, but you can't save them now that you're not saving yourself now, hm?

OH OH It's like a normal occurring by now, but he always gives you a hug outta nowhere and then quickly peppers kisses unto your face <3

" Darling! Are you feeling alright now? If not, then I wish you a speedy recovery as always! "

msjfhdmmg I'm sorry but I swear this man would like hum you to sleep as you rest in his embrace like!? ₍ ᐢ..ᐢ ₎

Mitsuri Kanroji

Hear me out ok I swear

For what all I know, I seriously think Mitsuri would be the type of girlfriend who'd pamper and spoil you so much on a regular basis, and will still do the same to you if you were tired but more tame and comfy.

She isn't the love pillar for nothing

Kisses! So much! Especially on the lips! Mwah mwah <3

Will not allow you to do anything that'll tire you out >:( get some rest already

Cuddles are also a must, can't spend a single night without them :] it's always a need

FOOD. food. Where do I even get started

Mitsuri would literally buy you a mountain of food to eat.

You want ramen? Sure! Mochi? Already one step ahead of you! Dango? Like the mochi wasn't already a sign..

On a more serious note though, Kanroji would give you daily, friendly reminders to take care of yourself more.

Otherwise, who'd be left with her if you were to be gone :(

Take care of yourself! That's an order!

" Love! I already told you that I'm doing the dishes!!! >:( "

" .. But it's.. only one..? "

" I don't care! Let me do it instead, go! Shoo! Rest! Wait for me at our futon and let's cuddle :D "

Kaigaku

Man has already been tired of a certain blonde when he was human, now you're the replace for them

That's a joke, and Kaigaku cares for you and your health seriously. Especially since you were not a demon like him.

Instead of giving you a small, nice wording on how you should calm down and tone your work down, he instead – gives you a lecture.

Surprising? No, it was most likely expected.

Though, over his harsh and rude wording, he really does worry about your well being

He just gets a little tongue tied when talking kindly, so his usual resort to this is speaking negatively.

Kaigaku will stop, of course, and actually attend to your tired form now.

" You moron, what did I tell about overworking yourself to the goddamn bone? "

" What was it again..? Hm, I don't recall such things. "

" Y/n. I will drop you to the ground and you will wail in pain. "

Your teasing wasn't really a stranger to the raven haired male.

In fact, it was a welcomed action.

This man wouldn't really be the type to give affection, but on rare occasions like this, he'd give you a kiss or two on the cheek

Maybe even a peck in the lips if you played your cards right. This mostly makes him flustered, though.

Reassuring hugs were always his favourite, because he gets to hold you close in his embrace, all to himself

Selfish and peachy.. who would've thought you'd get yourself a power combo like this?

💌 A/N: school is making me go oonga boonga so i made this for myself haha im tired #sorrybutnotreally also check this fucking cool art my friend made me im crying look

𖧷 it's zenitsu and my oc (lemon) as a fumo plushie bye i love my friends so much

🌼 MASTERLIST [#1] | MASTERLIST [#2]

[flxffyclvuds]

【Ｋａｒａｏｋｅ　ｎｉｇｈｔ！】

Tokyo revengers x Gn!reader Fluff and tiny angst

Warning: mild spoilers, implementation of character death

I’ve been wanting to do some karaoke w/someone but Covid :(( Also thank you to: @kyleikie and to @crown5 for giving me courage!!! ＼\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／

Mikey

He would tag along with you, but he probably won’t sing for most of the time :(

The reason he won’t sing is that he knows he’ll have a low score from him screaming the lyrics-

he’s a sore loser-

Though, if he's in the mood, he would try to serenade you either with his favorite song or yours! :')

"What do you mean I only got 53???" Mikey pouts at the screen, mumbling cuss words under his breath. "I- you were screaming on the mic the whole time ;-;"

When he's not singing, Mikey would just stare at you with a small smile, enjoying seeing you smile.

It was a nice change of space from the chaos he does with his gang :3

Sneakily records you singing and brags about to Emma

“See? [name] prefers spending time with me than with you!”

"Uh huh... Sorry to break it to you, but I'm actually on a call with [Name] right now making plans right now” Emma does a shooing motion to her brother.

Now… he misses your voice. Oh how he would do anything to hear you again. If only he could change the past like Takemichi... He's stuck with the criminal gang he was leading.

Baji

Believe it or not, he’ll probably hit those high notes- averages between 90-100, unlike his grades and mine

He would be the one to invite you to karaoke with Chifuyu after an exam to destress, but that rarely happens since he would go burn down cars or pick a fight ^^;

He would be so excited to sing and always ask to be the first one to sing- adorable-

He does have trouble with finding songs in the the book

"Hey do you know where's ___? What do you mean they didn't add it!?!?"

“The song was recently released dumbass”

Don't tell anyone but he remembers the songs you pick a lot when singing

Chifuyu likes to watch the chaos unroll from the two of you screeching as a form of battle... good thing he brought earplugs

You look back at the old karaoke building you used to go with your friends. Chifuyu held your hand and rubbed it in a soothing manner. Though many years have passed, both colleagues never forgot about the times they would sing until their throats were dry.

Yeah... those were the time when all of them could act like children and not part of a gang. It was fun to be in one with all the amazing people Chifuyu met, but living as a normal kid felt great.

Kazutora looked at both of you from behind, not knowing what to say. Guilt filled his heart, if only Baji was alive, maybe they could all sing together. He slowly brought both of them into a warm hug.

“I wish we could’ve sang one more time together”

“Yeah… me too, me too…”

Mitsuya

Aww, you want to bring him to do karaoke? Of course you can! He'll call his parents first<33

There would be times when his sisters would go with you guys though!

Don't worry! They are surprisingly well behave for siblings-

The little kids would do chaos when you least expect it sadly-

“What does this button do?”

“Luna! Don’t press the button!!!”

“You mean this one?”

Safe to say you and Mitsuya tried to fix the tv without getting in trouble-

The girls couldn’t get out of the house to your karaoke nights for a month-

If your regular nights ended early, you would get a taste of his fine cooking<3

Probably has an apron that says “don’t bother the chef-

Okokok- back to singing-

He has a mellow voice when he sings, the opposite of when he’s mad-

Man be hitting those high notes like no one could- Ariana who?

He likes to sing as a form to release stress.

Especially after dealing with dumbasses (affectionately)

Ring… rring…

The designer picked up the phone. And answered “Hello, this is Mitsuya Takashi, how can I help you?”

“Yoo! I was thinking about going out to go singing! Wanna join me and Draken?”

“Taka!! Let’s go sing tonight!!! It’s going to be a blast!”

' [name]? '

His heart beats faster than before he was about to answer excitedly before remembering a small detail. Right, they’re not here anymore.

“Hello? Are you still there?”

“Oh- uh- I would love to join you guys”

His lips quiver with every words that slips.

"Alright!! See you tonight!"

"yeah, see you.."

He slumped down in his chair with a hand going through his hair. A sigh left his lips before looking at the ceiling.

' Where are you [Name]? '

Tagging: @wilczachannn @aphroditesgarden @ze-maki-nin

[tartagliad]

HII! I like your writing!! I can see requests are open. Do you take requests for au's? If so, do you mind making short fic/headcanon about what the boys will be as a prince of their nation and the reader dating them?~~ I passed by a tiktok with a prince version drawing of them so I thought it would be cute wah. You can choose any of the characters! If you can't make it, don't worry, I won't mind! Thank you and take care!! <3

Ahh, I still don't know how to write AU's... and that is why I'll do it. This'll be a challenge and a new thing to learn.. so if u guys write AU's or understand them, pls let me know if I did something wrong... alright, let's get to the headcannon :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dating The Prince

summary: What is like dating the lovely prince from your nation :)

fem! reader, prince Diluc!

Genre: fluff

warning: none

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dream of every living girls in the nation, dating the lovely and charming prince Diluc

It's not uncommon when every girl is almost fainted every time they see the prince walk in the village and waved at them

But little did they know the prince is already dating someone

And who is that person..? It's you of course

You came from a normal and happy family

Your family runs a boutique actually, quite famous in fact

Everyone loves your family's work, even the royalties liked it very much

That's where you met Diluc, he was ordering some clothing for his next visit to another nation

It was an honor when you found out he wanted something and your mother decided it was your turn to make the clothing set

You were scared at first.. I mean, hey.. it's the prince, you were scared that you ruined it or made something that made him disappointed

But your mother determined that you will make the greatest outfit that he'll ever seen, and so you work on it

Using high-quality materials and techniques that your mother told you, carefully ensemble the pieces together, and voila... it's finish!

When Diluc finally arrives, your mom showed him and that face of his... unforgettable

HE REALLY LOVES IT

Your mother told him that was your work and not hers

Diluc gives you his thanks and one day he'll invite you and your family for dinner

Who would deny it, of course you accept it :D

When the day arrived, you were really nervous... you wear a slightly dark blue dress, with heels and a bracelet, simple

For you is simple, but for the lovely prince, stunning

Diluc give you a little tour around the castle and have a chat with you

Ngl, he really loves and enjoy talking with you

And every time you laugh, he can't help but made his heart beat so quickly

He met a lot of girls, mainly because his parents want him to get married so he can took the throne of his father

But with you, he is more than willing to talk and be with you

And that's when both of you grew closer and started dating

At first you thought it was a dream, but no... it's real

All the girls from your nation really wanted to be in your position

Some of them asked you how the prince treated you

Questions always popped out of their heads and wandered around you and be your friend...?

You didn't trust most of them because they probably gonna make a scene out of it

Long story short, both of you are a really romantic couple

Diluc always told you that it's fine to wear casual clothing instead of a dress, well.. you have a dress that is simple but good enough so you can enter the castle

Diluc loves to bring you to a near by lake, the place was so calming and there were a lot of flowers

Both of you would spend some time there and probably have a picnic UwU

When he has time, he will come and maybe have a dinner at your home with your family

He's really kind and warm to your family, he even helps your parents to clean up the dishes or table after dinner even though your parents said he didn't have to

His parents also loves you too, taking care of his son with full of love and helping him when he needs anything

His parents are happy that he finally found someone that he's happy with

Now? well, I assumed you already created a dress for your wedding :D

Both of your parents have discussed about it and now, both of you are gonna get married in a few months

Everyone in the village are happy for you and support your relationship with the prince

And both of you lived happily ever after

"My darling, thank you for coming into my life, you've made my life brighter by your presence. I love you and by this, may I propose this love of mine by claiming this ring finger? I wanted our love to last forever until we are in the heavens and the people in our nation remember our story."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(A/N: How was it? I hope you all enjoyed it, if I miss something or write something wrong, let me know, I'm still new to AU's, so bare with me...^^ thank you and take care!!)

[peachyysugaa]

gravity

– nasa operator!sim jaeyun x astronaut!gn! reader

miles of sky and space doesn't stop gravity from pulling him to you.

genre: strangers/coworkers to lovers, fluff

wc: 2.7k

warnings: 3rd person pov, probably inaccurate astronaut/nasa lingo sorry i'm a chemistry major LOL, one curse word, couple of time skips, food cw

a/n: yea it's another fluff one-shot 😎 finally a jake one-shot! i hope y'all enjoy this i took a while to write this but i'm p proud of how it turned out despite no proofread.

♞──────────────────────────♞

time on earth: 3:43 am

one of nasa's star rookies sits inside the mission room, monitoring the ISS diligently. today, sim jaeyun was assigned to keep watch on their astronauts as well as the station itself. it's supposed to be a reward for performing well on the latest calculations, but he can't help but find it a little boring. he flips through the cameras quickly, as if trying to find something new.

'yeah right, like anything happens in space,' he mumbles in his head. adjusting his thin glasses and stretching his chair to feel just a tad bit more alive, jake takes a look at one of the three astronauts on board as they float to the window. it seems to be l/n y/n, a rookie who excelled at their simulation tests and the one they say has stars in their eyes themselves.

the astronaut peeks over their shoulder surprised. they make swimming motions to reach over the intercom, which makes jake laugh a little. finally, they push the button and make a reply. "yes houston, this is l/n. is something wrong?"

the astronaut peeks over their shoulder surprised. they make swimming motions to reach over the intercom, which makes jake laugh a little. finally, they push the button and make a reply. "yes houston, this is l/n. is something wrong?"

the astronaut peeks over their shoulder surprised. they make swimming motions to reach over the intercom, which makes jake laugh a little. finally, they push the button and make a reply. "yes houston, this is l/n. is something wrong?"

now jake hadn't planned this far, but since he was already doing it, he might as well go through with it. "do you miss earth?"

he can see through the cameras that y/n wasn't expecting that question as their eyes widen. someway somehow, jaeyun was able to see the stars in their eyes everyone gushed about. maybe it was even better because they were actually living with the stars in space at the time.

"i-i don't know if we should be talking about this, but yea, i do miss earth," they finally reply. "not that being in space isn't fun! i just can't help myself especially since i can see the planet spinning in front of my eyes..."

it's silent for a bit, making the astronaut worry. "h-hello? houston?"

jake blinks before shaking his head and hurried to reply. "y-yes! sorry, i was just caught up in how lonely you sound?"

again, an awkward silence stills. the nasa operator curses to himself, realizing how awkward he must have made it and scrambling to fix the mistake. "i'm really sorry i didn't mean to overstep my boundaries!" he rushes. "my name's sim jaeyun, by the way. people know me better as jake."

"sim jaeyun? rising star sim jaeyun?" they owlishly repeat.

"that's me," he states back, rubbing the back of his neck. "i guess you've heard my name."

he sees the astronaut nod in camera before they're absentmindedly spinning circles midair. "you're my age, and you're already working in nasa headquarters. quite a feat would spread around, you know?"

jake laughs and shakes his head at their comment. "you say that like you're not star rookie l/n y/n."

at the sound of their twinkling laugh, jake's eyes perk up to capture the joyful astronaut holding their stomach on the cameras. "i can tell we're a lot alike, jake," you say with a smile stretching across your face.

it turns out he likes hearing his name off their lips albeit via nasa intercoms. calming down the beating of his heart, jake starts off the first of many late night conversations. "so would you like to hear what's happening on earth?"

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ゜・・゜゜・*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

time on earth: 2:26 am

"—and layla was having such a good time meeting other puppies at the park this morning!" jake laughs out with the rookie astronaut laughing with them on the other side of the intercom, separated by thousands of miles in between them. they've been talking like this over the system for weeks now, practically a little over a month. safe to say, the nasa operator was developing feelings for them, perhaps already smitten. sunghoon in the other unit said something about being whipped?

"i wonder how she would react seeing my puppy," they reply.

"when you come back to earth, the first thing we'll do is have them meet on a puppy playdate," he tells them earnestly.

"just layla and rosie on a date? what about us?" he could hear the smirk in their voice even though they weren't next to him.

"i-i-huh? what?" jake stammers. he heard the smirk, but did he hear the words properly? for one, he's not sure they know what he looks like. does that matter to them? without realizing it, his hands are taking off his glasses and fiddling with them.

"are you nervous?"

"hah, what makes you think that?" jake asks nervously.

"jake, i can hear you playing with your glasses."

"shit," he curses, and an endearing giggle is heard on the other side.

"i like you, let's make it a date between us too," he hears, his face gradually becoming hotter.

the chance to confess to his crush is literally handed to him on a silver platter, but he's too busy acting like a middle schooler trying to give chocolates to the person he likes. it's unusual for him to feel like this, his heart's beating way too fast for him to think, and he has to cough to calm down.

"it's a date then." a happy hum is the response he gets, which does nothing to calm the beating of his heart but ignites a new warmth in him. "hey, wait a minute, do you even know what i look like?"

"i kinda remember, but does that even matter?"

"i don't know what if you don't like my face?"

"please, my roommate told me you're on par with that sunghoon guy, and he's known as the prince of his division."

"yeah, but-"

"don't take this the wrong way, jake, but shush." he's sure that if they were here in person, they would put a finger on his lips. it seemed like a(n) y/n thing to do based on the time they've gotten to know each other. "i don't care what you look like. the connection we have together is enough, don't you think?"

he knows they're right, but it doesn't stop the sassy compliment from tumbling out of his mouth. "well, we have a connection and i know you're pretty and smart and funny."

perhaps it's just the color of the screen, but jake swears he saw a blush on their face. it makes him proud after he had somewhat embarrassed himself earlier.

"good night, jake," y/n playfully scoffs at him.

"good night, y/n."

'what a night,' jake thinks to himself with a stupid grin spreading across his face as he prepares the systems for the person on the next shift.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ゜・・゜゜・*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

time on earth: 9:18 am

today is the day. today the pod that stayed at the ISS for 3 months was coming back to earth, and everyone was on their toes. jake was currently scanning the computer calculations from any errors, clutching the paper and burning holes in it with his eyes.

"you good there, bro?" he doesn't need to lift up his head to know that it's sunghoon.

"i have to make sure these are perfect," jake replies in a tone that screamed don't-bother-me.

he feels his coworker's hand pat his shoulder in reassurance. "relax, jake. they'll get here just fine."

jake's whole body sighs when he takes a deep breath. "yeah, i know. i'll just check one more."

his friend offers a comforting smile and one more pat before leaving him to perform his own duties for the landing.

for this last check, jake takes it upon himself to calculate the angle in which the pod enters the earth's atmosphere by hand as a safety precaution. his head jumbles with all the physics equations necessary as his hand complains by cramping from how fast he's calculating.

upon finishing, he looks at the two final numbers side by side. "same to the 5th decimal place," jake affirms to himself.

"great, does that mean you're ready to turn it in, mr. sim?"

turning around abruptly to the sound of the voice, jake finds his supervisor and rushes to grab all the papers for presentation. "yes, ma'am!"

a smile graces her face as she takes the materials from him and flips through the calculations. "good work," she finally says. "our astronauts will get home safely thanks to you."

it's like a weight lifted off his shoulders when he hears those words. jake lets out a sigh of relief once his supervisor walks away and tells him to wait for further instruction. he folds into his chair, thinking about how soon he'll finally be able to see y/n in person.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ゜・・゜゜・*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

time on earth: 9:45 am

"everyone, standby!" jake's supervisor announced. the whole command center took a deep breath as they tuned into the astronauts, soon to be leaving the ISS via pod.

"l/n, song, johnson, do you read me?"

"loud and clear, houston," y/n l/n replies in crisp audio.

"get ready to launch then, atlantis ii."

"copy that, houston." the sounds of buckling and buttons flicking can be heard on the other end as jake's palms sweat.

"3... 2... 1... launch!" and they're detached from the ISS, launched into the endless ocean of stars and dust that is space.

"coordinates and angles, houston?"

"atlantis ii, the speed, angle, and coordinates at which you are to enter..." and jake hears his checked numbers be repeated to them. "...you'll be dropping in the gulf of mexico."

"copy that, houston. ready to enter earth's atmosphere in 3... 2... 1... entering!"

the audio delivers the rough shaking as the temperature regulation beeps steadily.

"your temperatures are in the right range, atlantis ii."

it's a rough 5 or something minutes, jake's not sure of the time. he just knows his armchair is having a field day with all the gripping he's doing. he can hear the shaking of the pod driven by the weight and the acceleration of gravity once it takes its pull on the astronauts' pod.

"prepare for impact, atlantis ii!"

everyone is rising up to see the camera pan to the oceanview team who waits for the pod to enter.

"initiating parachute!" and there! the pod appears on the command center's screen in high definition, the mic picking up some of the breeze of the mexican gulf. it enters the ocean with a large plop! and everyone is standing up and cheering.

"successful landing, everyone! congratulations!!"

sunghoon is coming to jake and lifting him out of the chair, engulfing him in the joy that comes from returning the astronauts home. he didn't realize he was staring stupidly at the screen with a blank look and still sitting.

"dude, we did it!" at the sound of his friend's voice, jake mirrors his friend's smile and they embrace each other.

"we did it!" jake replies. soon, he'll finally be able to see y/n in person.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ゜・・゜゜・*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

time on earth: 8:04 am

the next day when he clocks in for work, it's calmer and more exciting. jake can feel it in the atmosphere as the nasa operator walks through headquarters.

he makes his way towards the rehabilitation center for their astronauts, his heart unable to calm down the rapid rate of beating. he hears it before he sees it: the bell-like laughter jake was so familiar with, the one he associated with late nights. his feet is pulled towards the sound like gravity, his strides getting longer and his steps having a bounce to it.

jake hears his name being called happily, and he turns to face the voice with an unstoppable grin before taking steps towards the astronaut going through rehabilitation.

"hey, gravity got you bad, i see."

they laugh joyfully. "i'll be good in about a month or 2—i'm pretty quick at this."

"i have no doubt about that."

the two are silent for a bit as they do a few more crunches, jake crouching down in front of their feet to meet them. it's nice and comfortable between the two as he helps them go through their exercises.

"so about that date..." he starts off, watching as their eyes sparkle like stars upon hearing his phrase. his mouth starts to hang a little, loosening up to have words spilling out without his complete knowledge. "wow... your eyes really do have stars in them..."

they stop as they finish a crunch and reaches out to close his mouth with an eye roll. "close your mouth first, sim jaeyun."

"okay, but what about that date?"

"we're getting it. just wait a week or so when i can walk properly," they say with a teasing smile. jake can't help but to smile back.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ゜・・゜゜・*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

time on earth: 2:57 pm

the only thing keeping his nerves calm is layla. the golden retriever was far from nervous as she sat wagging her tail happily with her tongue out.

"jake!!" he hears from the voice he's come to love listening to over the past few months. looking up from layla while holding her leash tightly, he spots the person he's been waiting for and he's mesmerized, left breathless by what he sees.

a light summery fit adorns their figure as they dash towards him with a puffy pomsky dog equally excited. their smiles are bright and sparkles adorn their eyes as usual, but it doesn't make the effect any less beautiful. they slow down, owner and dog panting a little.

immediately, layla gets up from her sitting position to greet the new guests, starting to sniff the two of them.

y/n laughs as they squat down and let the golden sniff them and their hand before giving her warm pets. "hi layla! i'm y/n, and this is rosie."

the two dogs sniff each other in circles, but soon enough they're bouncing and pouncing each other as if they've been best friends since litter days.

"they're getting along so well, and we haven't even gotten to the park yet," y/n comments with a giggle.

"should we get going?" jake offers. they reply with a nod and holds their leash in one hand, grabbing jake's with the other.

if he's taken by surprise, he doesn't show it, but inside, his heart is pounding more than ever before and his head is screaming in joy. the pair walk together hand-in-hand towards the park with two even happier pups prancing ahead of them.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ゜・・゜゜・*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

time on earth: 4:31 pm

the two dogs are getting a bit tired, it seems, as they walk back to jake and y/n who were talking comfortably, y/n's head rested on his shoulder.

"look who's back from playing," y/n says as they ruffle rosie and layla's head, jake following suit.

"let's go get some ice cream for us and puppucinos for them?" jake suggests.

"ooh! that sounds good!" the pups seem to like the idea too, wagging their tails once more and looking at their owners with puppy eyes. jake thinks he's surrounded by three pairs of puppy eyes as he shakes his head in endearing disbelief.

"let's go then."

once they get to the shops, order, and receive their foods, the four of them sit down and enjoy their treats. the owners laugh at their dogs when they see them lap up their puppucinos with so much excitement and vigor, getting the cream all over their faces.

as the sun sets, it casts its glowing light onto the astronaut-in-rehabilitation, making jake's eyes move onto them. he notices a smudge of ice cream at the corner of their lips and without thinking moves in to kiss it off. y/n blinks their starry eyes at him, reminding him of their first "meeting" over intercom and camera screens.

"i like you," he blurts out. "can i... kiss you?"

"i thought you would never ask," they reply with a wide grin, leaning in to press their lips together before he does.

it's like gravity pulls them towards each other because they can't ever seem to get enough of one another, no matter how far apart they are.