#finally saw barbie on monday

[thiscoffeelooksbiracial]

[superhaught]

Sweetest Girl (Chapter Two)

Pairing: Regina George x Reader

Warning(s): discussion of disability

Word Count: 2200, Part 2/?

Author's Note: I was able to finish chapter 2! I'm sorry for the massive delay since positing any writing, it's been a time recently. I'll keep doing my best but pls don't hold it against me if I don't post for a while again. I still care about Regina so so much. Thank you to bestie @sapphicantics for helping me go back to this and reading it first :P

Summary: Reader goes over to Regina's house to work on some more chemistry lessons.

Part 1

Friday’s chemistry lecture was cut off by the dismissal bell and the teacher frustratingly called out as students were already busting through the door, “quiz on Monday! Don’t forget and study hard this weekend!” 

You were packing up your notes when five perfectly manicured fingernails rapped on the corner of your desk. 

You looked up and met the blonde's eyes. 

“So quiz on Monday, can I get some extra tutoring this weekend?” 

You nodded slowly, “do you want me to come to your place?” 

“I do.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t want -“ 

“I already told you, yes. Stop being so weird about it. Tomorrow. Come over around lunchtime. My mom will feed us then we can work.” 

You bit your lip and then nodded again, “okay.” 

Regina gave you her version of a smile and then flicked her hair behind her shoulder as she left the classroom. 

You saw that the teacher had been watching your exchange.

“It’s working,” they said, “whatever you’re doing. Her homework was better.” 

“You definitely can’t tell me that.” 

“Just keep it up. She’ll be okay.” 

You smiled and nodded, hugging your books to your chest and leaving the classroom. 

After a twenty-five minute walk, you were standing at the end of the driveway to the George residence. 

You looked up at the massive house in awe. It was clearly a new build. Likely custom-designed by the Georges. Two stories. Huge yard. You imagined an underground pool and a deck with a built-in, year round jacuzzi in the back. A movie theater and second kitchen in the basement. A yoga room with a Peleton for Ms. George. Master bath with a soaking tub. 

You were afraid to go in. 

You stood outside and stared for a minute longer before finally walking up the driveway (not made of asphalt or cement, but pristine white rocks). You walked past Regina’s Jeep, a Mercedes, and an Audi all parked (as well as a children’s Barbie Jeep abandoned in the lawn, belonging to Regina’s younger sister you assumed). 

You giggled at that. You imagined Regina either beaming with pride or fuming with rage at the idea of her little sister wanting a matching car to Regina. 

Taking a deep breath, you knocked on the front door and waited for a moment, hearing a faint “get the door!” from inside.

Regina opened the door, “hey, did you find parking on the street?” 

“Oh, I didn’t drive.”

“Someone dropped you off then? Do you have a ride home after?” 

You shook your head, “I walked.” 

“What the fuck?” 

A woman called out from inside the house, “Regina! Language!” 

Regina clenched her jaw and inhaled slowly through her nose, flaring her nostrils. 

“It’s not a big deal,” you responded quietly. 

Regina rolled her eyes, “I’ll drive you home when we’re done, Jesus Christ.” 

“You really don’t have to drive me home, it’s okay.” 

“Shut up, it’s literally nothing. Now come inside you weirdo.” 

You followed Regina in, and the interior of the house was even more grand than the exterior. 

You didn’t have much time to take it all in before Regina’s mom was pouncing on you and pulling you into a hug then holding your shoulders and examining you head to toe, “well aren’t you a cute little thing!? I love meeting Regina’s new friends.” 

“She’s my tutor mom.” 

“Cute and smart, then! Well I hope the two of you become friends, Regina needs good influences in her life.” 

“Mom.” 

Ms. George raised her hands in mock-surrender, “Sorry! I’m just trying to be helpful, my goodness.” 

You tried to force a smile and fidgeted with the zipper of your jacket awkwardly. 

“Did you make us snacks?” 

“Oh yes!” Ms. George trotted back into the kitchen and came back with a tray stacked with a variety of finger foods and fruity little drinks complete with excessive garnishes. She passed the tray to you, “here you ladies go. Study hard!” 

“Thanks,” Regina didn’t wait around any longer before starting up the staircase to the second floor and expecting you to follow behind.

“Um, it was nice meeting you!” You directed to Ms. George, “you have a beautiful home.” 

“Thank you sweetie-“ 

“Hurry up.” Regina cut her mom off while standing at the top of the steps with a hand on her hip.

You rushed up the rest of the steps and followed Regina into her room. She immediately went to her floor-length mirror and adjusted her hair while you set the tray of snacks down on her vanity. 

“Not there,” Regina snapped, as if it was obvious.

“Where then?” 

Regina pointed lazily toward the ottoman at the foot of her bed and you obeyed, setting the tray down and then helping yourself to a handful of homemade trail mix. 

Regina came over and sat down on her bed and grabbed a single celery stick to eat. 

You must have made a face that Regina noticed because she raised an eyebrow at you, “what?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Why are you making that face?” 

“Oh, nothing, I just don’t like celery.” 

“You don’t have to eat it.” 

“I know, Regina.” You could feel yourself shrinking as your shoulders slumped. 

“It’s like negative calories so.”

“Well, actually…” 

Regina narrowed her eyes at you.

“Nevermind. So, do you want to work on material for the quiz?” 

Regina threw herself backwards and collapsed into her duvet in exasperation, “ugggghhhh!” 

“That’s why you wanted me to come over, right?” 

“Well duh… I’m just tired.” 

“I’m sorry.”

Regina propped herself up on her elbows and looked at you, “for what?” 

“That you’re tired?” 

She scoffed, “you don’t need to be sorry about that. See? You’re too nice.” 

You shrugged, “I guess it’s just something people say.” 

“Oh? So you agree, then? That niceness is a facade that people use to disguise their true feelings?” 

You shook your head, incredulous, “I didn’t say that.”

“Are you really, actually sorry that I’m tired or are you just saying it, then?“ 

You took a beat to think and then answered emphatically, “I am actually sorry. It’s called empathy. I feel bad that you feel rundown, and if you aren’t up for studying today, I would understand.” 

She raised an eyebrow again in her classic fashion, “I guess I just really don’t understand that. Why would you feel bad that I’m tired? And why wouldn’t you be upset if I wasn’t in the mood to study after you put in the effort to walk all the way here?” 

“I don’t know why, that’s just how I feel. What should I say instead? I don’t care that you’re tired, suck it up I’m here to make you better at chemistry?” 

“Maybe you should,” Regina shrugged. 

You shook your head, “I don’t want to say that. That’s not helpful to anyone. Are you going to retain any of the content we go over if I push you to do it when you don’t feel good?” 

“How do you know I’m not lying or just complaining for the sake of it? Maybe I need to be pushed.”

“Fine, give me a reason then. Why are you tired?” 

Regina thought about it for a minute, then her voice came out surprisingly quiet, “you know the accident from last year? The bus thing?” 

You nodded. 

She sighed, “It’s been a long recovery. I don’t usually talk about it with anyone.” 

“You don’t have to talk about it with me if you don’t feel comfortable, but… I am here if you did want to. Talk about it, I mean.” 

Regina didn’t say anything. She started to pick at the skin around her fingernails. 

You recognized the behavior right away because you do it too. Without thinking, you moved to sit across from her on the bed and reached out, clasping your hand around hers. 

The blonde stared at you shocked. 

“Shit, I… I’m sor-“ you began, starting to pull away. 

She didn’t let you go, “It’s okay. Don’t apologize.” 

The gesture must have cracked her armor, if only a little. She shrugged her shoulders and explained, “the accident injured my neck and back so I’m doing physical therapy twice a week for that and I’ve been diagnosed with something called POTS. So my heart is all fucked up or something. I'm exhausted and in pain most of the time even though I'm taking like six different meds every day.” 

“That sounds really hard.”

“But I feel like…” her voice failed her. She frowned, cleared her throat, and started again, “I feel like I shouldn’t complain about it… wouldn’t be cute to bitch about it when everyone…” she lowered her head and stared at her comforter, “when everyone thinks I probably deserved it.” 

You frowned and squeezed her hand, “do you think you deserved to get hit by a bus?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe. It feels that way sometimes. Like I was supposed to learn some kind of lesson from it. Like I was supposed to suddenly be a better person and be grateful and be an inspiration or whatever. But that’s like some biblical bullshit. And I’m not a better person. I'm still just me but now my body doesn’t work and people don’t even bother pretending to like me anymore.” The dam had burst. The corners of her eyes started to sting with painful tears. “I’m not grateful. I don’t think what happened to me was an inspiration or whatever. I just wish I wasn’t sick and I wish that people didn’t expect anything from me.” With that, she retracted her hands from you, quickly wiped her face with her sleeves and she continued to look anywhere but right at you.

“Regina, thank you for sharing that with me. I want to help you as much as I can.”

“Why, though?”

“Because I want to.”

Regina met your eyes again, scrutinizing you. Trying to find deception that wasn’t there. 

When she finally gave up she just said, “I don’t understand you.”

You laughed, “I’ve gathered that.”

She smiled and then rolled her eyes.

“Hey, do me a favor, okay? Go change into something comfy and then lets just watch something for a bit. Whatever you want. We can recharge a little and then see about studying, and if it doesn’t happen, it’s okay.”

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes.”

Regina breathed a sigh of relief and then visibly relaxed before getting up and walking to her large closet. She came back out a few minutes later, having changed into baggy sweats. She wordlessly sat down at her vanity, tied her hair up in a loose bun, cleaned her makeup off and then replaced her contact lenses with glasses. 

You smiled to yourself while watching her. She caught you looking over in the mirror and you quickly looked away before seeing her reaction if any. 

When she came back to the bed, laptop in hand, she said, “I’d usually never let anyone see me like this.”

“Well, then I consider myself lucky. Unless you don’t plan on letting me leave here alive now that I’ve seen you ‘like this,’” putting air quotes around your words.

“Cheeky…” Regina smirked and sat back down on the bed next to you, constructing a pile of pillows against the headboard to lean on, “you wouldn’t know until it was too late, though.”

You smiled as she continued.

“I guess I just don’t really care right now.”

“Well, I’m glad that you feel at ease with me. Not that you’re any less pretty than before.”

“You liar!”

“What? I’m not lying!”

“I’m not pretty right now. I’m all puffy and my hair is gross and I have my stupid glasses on and I’m wearing my mom’s old college sweatshirt.”

You shrugged, “you are pretty, Regina. You have freckles, I didn’t know that. And your hair looks cute like this, the little strands framing your face… I don’t know, you look pretty to me.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at you and then shook her head, “okay, whatever. Let’s just… watch something now.” She redirected her attention to opening up streaming on her laptop, “have you ever seen Real Housewives?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Oh my god. Okay I’m catching up on New Jersey right now, I’ll try to fill you in.”

You smiled and nodded. 

She started the show and slid a little closer to you so that she could rest the laptop on both of your laps. 

You ended up watching the show all evening, only interrupted by Ms. George bringing some dinner upstairs for you both along with Regina’s meds.

“Sweetheart, you look… comfortable.” Ms. George remarked, her tone unmistakably judgemental. 

The corners of Regina’s mouth downturned just slightly.

“Yeah you know we just decided to have a relaxing night. No need to be all done up.” You smiled, “thank you so much for bringing us food, Ms. George.” 

The woman was thrown off and you felt victorious.

“Oh, of course. I’ll… go get you girls some popcorn.” Ms. Geroge left and shut the door behind her. 

Regina released a breath she was holding and whispered, “thank you.”

“For what?”

“For… for what you just did.”

You shrugged and took a bite of food, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Regina’s eyebrows raised and then she just laughed in disbelief before turning the show back on and saying, “you continue to surprise me…”

Next Chapter

[no-phrogs-in-hats]

Grape Juice Stains

Larissa Weems x fem!reader

Warnings: brief implication of sex, hurt/comfort, angst, feelings of worthlessness, fluff

A/N: Completely self-indulgent. This is based on some recent events that happened to me, only I don't have a Larissa and I'm a cashier instead of a teacher--and it was with the Barbie movie, not a night on the town I'm okay I promise<3

In your opinion, it was a good morning–for a Monday. You woke up, ate breakfast, remembered to take your medication, and finally showered after days of struggling to even get out of bed. As you got ready for the day, you danced around the bathroom to ABBA with serotonin and confidence rushing through your veins.

With your makeup finished and hair done, you pulled on your new pair of pants and blouse, going downstairs to make your lunch. The quarters assigned to the Nevermore staff were small, but comfortable. You had spent many nights in this very kitchen with Principal Weems, letting dinner go cold as you ate a different meal. 

You were ready ten minutes early–a rare feat since you had started working anywhere. With the spare time you had, you scrolled through social media–Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram. The last two made you sick to your stomach with anger.

It was your idea to go out to Jericho Friday or Saturday night with the other teachers. Finals were right around the corner and the students had been running circles around everyone. Despite your efforts, everyone turned you down. You weren’t too fazed by it. You and Larissa ended up going out to a new restaurant in Burlington and you wouldn’t have had it any other way. But looking at your social media feed made you burn with hatred and fury.

Anger was the only thing that you could feel–anger and hurt. What was wrong? Was it something personal? Did they not like your company? You knew that you were sort of a black sheep to your coworkers–people you considered your friends at times. You had always felt a little out of place, and perhaps your relationship with Larissa did alienate you a bit. But you were always told you were pleasant, fun to have around, a joy to know. 

“Sorry, I’m gonna be out of town over the weekend.”

“Oh, I can’t. I’m so sorry! My parents are gonna be in town.”

“I’ve been absolutely exhausted all week! I’d like to recharge and catch up on grading. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay! Don’t worry about it!” you had said. Each, and every time. 

You took a deep breath and exited out of Instagram, shaking it off. You wouldn’t let this ruin your day. Realizing the time, you grabbed your water bottle filled with juice and dashed out the door, ready to greet your students at 9am. 

That was, until you were half-way to the castle and your bottle slipped out of your hand and the lid popped open on the pavement. Looking down, you weren’t surprised to see your new, pristine white pants stained pink with droplets of grape juice.

You had been worn thin for the past few weeks. From unruly students to coworkers who had no consideration for your feelings, this was the last straw. Despite the fact that students and staff alike were walking around, you finally broke down. Sobs raked through you, chest heaving and body shaking as you looked at your ruined pants and broken water bottle.

__________

“Where is she?”

“I heard someone say they saw her crying in the courtyard.”

“I hope she’s okay.”

“Obviously she’s not, she was crying.”

“Sometimes I cry for fun.”

“...what?”

A knock on the doorway brought the students from their conversation. Principal Weems stood there, confused. “Erm…where’s Ms. L/N?”

“That’s what we’re wondering,” a student answered. “Class started fifteen minutes ago and she’s not here.”

“Apparently she was seen crying in the courtyard.”

“Oh,” Larissa chirped. “Well, I’ll have Mr. Lang come in to substitute.” 

__________

Larissa made the trek up to the staff quarters, knocking on your front door softly. With no response, she took out the key you made for her specially and unlocked the door.

“Darling?” she called out, setting her keys down on the kitchen counter and creeping through the house. After checking the living room upstairs she walked down the hallway and opened your bedroom door slowly. “Sweetheart?”

You simply hummed in response.

“What’s wrong?” she asked before kicking her heels off and climbing into bed behind you. “Talk to me, please.”

Tears pooled in your eyes again and your voice cracked. “No one likes me here, Larissa.”

Her heart broke. “Oh, sweet pea,” she cooed, holding you close against her front, “that’s not true.”

“Yes, it is,” you sniffled. “They went out without me. After telling me they couldn’t go out. And then posted about it on Instagram and Snapchat. And then I spilled grape juice on my white pants and they’re ruined! Larissa, I–I–”

You couldn’t get any more words out as Larissa turned you over, holding you to her chest and allowing you to cry into her neck. “It’ll be okay, darling. Everything’ll be okay.”

When you calmed down, you pulled away and smiled softly as she pressed a kiss to your forehead. “I want you to know that you belong here. When you didn’t show up for class today, your students were so worried. They love you. I love you. And every teacher who went out without you Friday night is, frankly, an asshole.”

“I know,” you mumbled. “It just…It just hurts, is all.”

“Do you want me to fire them?” Larissa joked.

You giggled. “No! No, it’s okay.”

“Oh good,” she sighed. “Because it would be hell trying to replace that many teachers.” 

Around eleven, she managed to coax you out of bed after you had fallen asleep, making you lunch before taking you outside. In the small backyard, your stained pants sat on the cushioned chair that sat at a small table. A bucket of water was on the grass and you looked confused.

“When you fell asleep, I went into Jericho to the general store,” Larissa said. “I got some packs of grape Kool-Aid so we can dye your pants.”

“I love you.” You looked at her with all the love and warmth in the world. How you managed to get Larissa Weems, you didn’t know. But never in your life had you felt so loved, so cared for, so wanted. 

Larissa smiled and pulled you in for a kiss. “I love you too, sweet pea.”

[nicistrying]

Monday 24th July

Saw Barbie with my sister in law yesterday! We loved it. I was kinda devastated we couldn't get photos in the box bc the queue was so big but I guess I'll just have to go and see it again 🤷🏼‍♀️ so that was a nice little break for both of us bc we are both stressed af.

I'm working night shift tonight so got up at 5 and stretched, fed Mags, had breakfast and worked out. I did full body as I didn't want to just do legs and fuck myself up for the rest of the week at work but I also didn't want to do arms & back and look weak in front of the contractors tonight bc you know they're all gonna be men 😂 I need to look somewhat capable bc being 4ft10 and looking about 16 makes me look like I should not be supervising. So just did a bit of all sorts to tire myself out. It felt so good!

Although yeah I did a few weighted bits that felt a little off and then remembered the 'stay out of the gym' section of the IUD info leaflet. Woops 😬 no pain or major discomfort though so I think it's okay. Isn't it insane what the human body bounces back from? Like 5 days ago I was laid up on the couch almost crying in pain and super tender and crampy and faint. Went back to work the next day and now am so back to normal that I did a full workout completely forgetting it was even there. Well done, body 💪

(On that note, flex for @thisgingersnapped50 as I'm finally feeling strong again!)

Sent off another job application for a food poverty charity which I would loove to get if they'll have me. Fingers crossed 🤞 Maggie helped me apply 🥺

And then back to bed for a nap. Just got up and had some pasta, now off to work 7pm-7am 🤢🤢 It's gonna be fine. It means I don't have to work Tuesday which is our busiest and most stressful day, and instead I can just crack on with whatever needs doing by myself tonight while the engineers are working. Wouldn't mind an early finish though 😬

[bootlegpancake]

Hugs N' Horses

The aftermath of P learning he is going to become a father.

A short drabble from P's point of view. Spoiler warning for Lies of P.

Category: Family, Romance, Angst

As far as P remembered, his life has been anything but ordinary. Waking up to the destruction of Krat, dying at least twice in every three hours, and experiencing other unimaginable horrors have become a typical Monday for him. Getting traumatized was his breakfast and facing the impending doom was like going to work. 

Ever since he got violently thrown into the present timeline, he had been fighting different skirmishes. These challenges P found to be much more complicated and difficult to overcome. 

He couldn't just stab people he deemed evil. He no longer had his Legion Arm to break doors, a painful lesson he learned when he tried to punch open a wooden door and ended up cracking his knuckles and injuring his wrist instead. 

No longer he had to be the extreme people pelaser. He now had friends who genuinely cared about him and not just asked for favors. He somehow managed to be in a relationship, a feat that surprised him the most. 

It took him almost two years, and in his opinion, he managed to settle in just fine and he was grateful for all the blessings he received. He still has a lot of things to learn and get used to, but he adjusted to this world the best he could. He thought nothing major could happen now that he has not faced before. He was prepared for anything.

Or so he thought.

When he learned that his girlfriend was pregnant with his child, he felt so many emotions and thoughts whirling inside him that he thought he was going to black out. The wave of emotions he recognized first were high levels of happiness. He hugged his girlfriend as close to him as he could and whispered his genuine astonishment of them finally starting their own family. He was already very eager to meet his child and he could barely contain himself to not start jumping up and down in joy.

He let out a content sigh and buried his face into the crook of his girlfriend's neck. A family. He was going to be a father. A concept that was very foreign to claim for himself, but definitely not unwelcome. The second wave of emotions he felt, was of anxiety. Is he prepared? Will they be okay? Will his child love him or will he mess up and his child will end up resenting him?

During the trip back home, he kept fantasizing about the possible future scenarios that would come by. Throwing a barbecue party with his family, him frying hamburgers on the grill, and talking to his neighbor while his and the neighbors kids are running around.

Did... did he want that? He would rather supervise his child playing rather than talk to the neighbor whom he doesn't even know much about. The moment he had that scene in his head, he immediately remembered the movie Pet Semetary where the poor little baby's life ended tragically early. He shivered and discarded that thought. He won't invite the neighbors. He risks burning the hamburgers but he won't let his child play unsupervised.

The next scene he had in mind was with Ria,  who is standing by the stove cooking, and him, running outside in the backyard playing football with his son or playing dress up Barbie with his daughter and-

Wait, football? He doesn't like football!

He blinked rapidly as he realized he was just conjuring up a scenario of his possible future based on one of the films he saw on tv on a random night. Wait, is this a dad thing? Does he have to always play in the backyard with his child? Does he need to organize barbecue events? Did he play football when he was-

"Our lives are going to change a lot, huh?" Ria quietly disengaged his train of thoughts. He broke his staring contest with the glove compartment and instead looked at her. She had a serene thoughtful look on her face.

"Yeah." He agreed just as quietly, with a smile on his face, "I will have to learn to love football."

"What?"

"And we'll have to buy a grill set for barbecue."

"Wha- why-?"

"And buy Barbie dolls, just in case."

"Okay, first things first-" she slowed the car down and made sure it was okay to tear her gaze off the road before she looked at P, bewildered, "Why do you need to learn to love football?"

"It's a dad responsibility." He answered innocently. "Isn't a dad supposed to play football with his son?"

"Where on Earth did you get that idea?"

"From those movies I watched on TV."

She snorted a laugh and indicated a left turn, "Sweetie, that's just a movie, that doesn't really reflect reality. Besides, what if we have a girl?"

"Then we'll play with her Barbies." He said immediately.

"Yeah, that's also something that doesn't sound right. Not every little girl is into Barbie dolls. I used to be into Transformers and Beyblade." She chuckled.

"But then why do a lot of movies show us activities like this?"

She switched lanes again, "It's a generic idea to just mimic how our parents raised us, and you watched older movies, where these activities were very common. Dads playing football with their sons and  having barbecues  in the backyard were very common father-son bonding activities back then. How much do you remember about your father? Do you have memories of you two doing some father-son bonding?"

P thought back to how his father interacted with him back in his timeline and frowned.

"My father always told me that I am very precious to him."

"Oh, sweetie, that's very-"

"He also upgraded my ergo-fueled heart regularly with quartz, so I could fulfil the tasks he gave me."

P didn't pay much attention to it, but his mind faintly registered that Gloria slowly parked the car and turned all her attention to him. 

"And then sent me to die thousands of times, never once saying a thank you or giving me affection. The most I got was a pat on the shoulder."

There was a pregnant pause in their conversation. P was facing his girlfriend but kept his gaze on the steering wheel, while the brunette woman was looking at him intently. After a little while, she broke the silence.

"I am terribly sorry you had to experience that. I wish you had better memories with your father." She softly held his left hand in her own and that broke his stupor and looked into her brown eyes. "We can't change what happened to you but what we can do, is shape our own family in the way we want to."

He gently squeezed her hand, "I want to hug my son or daughter all the time. I don't want them anywhere near danger." His gaze once again landed on the steering wheel as his mind whirred, "I want to be there for them. I want to be there for you." He felt a sting in his eyes, and he felt his nose getting a bit runny. His voice was also shaking as he continued, "I know what it's like to keep yearning for attention and only receive breadcrumbs. I don't want that any of my children to ever feel that." He barely registered that Gloria unbuckled her seatbelt and embraced him, his face was now buried in the crook of her neck. He embraced her back tightly and as he spoke again, his voice was slightly muffled by her shoulders and his tears were running freely from his eyes.

"I am so scared of failing you and our child in any way."

Gloria smiled warmly and nuzzled her face against his head, "You won't fail us, sweetie. We might have hiccups on the way, but we're here for each other." She gently ran her fingers through his silky hair, "Figures you're nervous about being a bad dad and you're already a better one than your own. I couldn't have wished for a better man to start a family with."

He felt a warmth in his chest and his lips formed a fond smile and he hugged her tighter,

"Thank you, Ria. And I feel incredibly blessed and grateful to have you in my life."

 "We'll just have to learn as we go." She gave him a reassuring smile and wiped his tears with her thumbs, "We'll do what will feel right to us and our little one." 

The former puppet's eyes gleamed as he responded, "I like that plan."

She gave him an affirmative hum and a small peck on his lips, which he reciprocated happily. His mood now significantly much lighter, he cradled her face in his hands and continued an earlier train of thought, 

"I know we don't know anything about our little one yet, but can we still buy a football and a Barbie doll just in case?"

"You just want to play Barbie dress up, don't you?"

"No, not really."

"You're already human, Pino, you don't have to lie to me."

He sighed, giving in.

"... I really like that pony from the Hugs n' Horses set." 

That made the brunette laugh out loud and kiss her raven haired partner on the lips. Still giggling, she brushed her nose against his.

"Well, who am I to say neigh to my beloved partner?"

"Oh my god."

"I am just saying. When it comes to you, I don't horse around."

"Darling, that was terrible. Even by my standards."

"Well, get off your high horse then, sir."

"Ria, stop hogging away my bad pun and dad joke privileges."

"Well then, you just have to bear with me, or get out of the car and hoof it."

The former puppet sighed and buried his face in his hands. 

Later that week, P found the Hugs N' Horses box set with a cute pink bow on it on the breakfast table.

[secretadmirations06]

This is a short story I had to write for a personal response to text for English (well I got to decide between an essay or not so I chose short story). It’s a story I completely made up based off of the picture above ‘Like Son’ by Robert Gawthmey. I wanted to share it :)

I also listened to this song over a few times while writing if y’all wanted to listen to it while reading

WARNINGS: mentions of a passed parent if that is a hard subject for you

Why can’t you hear me?

Deafening silence filled my father’s study as he shrunk down in his seat. He knew I was right, he knew what he’s done, my father was merely oblivious to it and I finally had the courage to speak up. It took him 7 weeks, almost two whole months, for him to recognize how broken I was too, he wasn’t the only one who lost her, and it was only because I was sitting here now with hot tears running down my face begging for him to hear me. I couldn’t do this alone anymore, I’m not strong enough for this. Ever since the accident, the day our world came crashing down, my father had completely shut out everything and everyone, leaving me the weight of keeping it all together. That day turned into a nightmare that plays on repeat in my head, no matter how hard I try, it just won’t go away.

It was a calm Monday morning, I had woken up earlier than usual to watch the sunrise with my mother, it had become a weekly ritual she insisted we all do to welcome the new coming week. She always created an essence of beauty in everything she did, my father often stated it was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her. I remember this sunrise being one of the most colourful ones I ever witnessed. I looked over at my mother seeing a sparkle in her eyes as she watched the new day form in front of her, while my father took endless amounts of pictures to capture the moment so it would last forever. At the time, it hadn’t occurred to me just how special this moment really was, I was more focused on how tired I was. She left the house later that day to buy some groceries to make her favourite pot roast for dinner while father and I played a few rounds of cards. I had almost finally won a round when the house phone rang. The news I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Everything seemed to turn dark that day, we lost our light, how was I supposed to move on? There was no more joy in our household, her loud giggles wouldn’t be heard when my father came up with a terrible joke, I wouldn’t come home from school to hear her singing along softly to the radio, she wouldn’t be pulling me out of bed with a bright smile to welcome the new week anymore. Suddenly, all of those became past memories, it physically pained me to imagine any of it without her. It’s been almost two months, father lost his job, he only ever moves from his and mother’s bed to his study, otherwise I rarely saw him anymore. Most of the time I was alone, not a person to talk to. I'm sure my father has heard me crying myself to sleep some nights but chose to ignore it so he wouldn’t have to face it with me. He didn't even realize that I had been flunking in school either, I can’t remember the last time I showed up, I couldn’t, I had to take over at home because it was just us now. I got two part-time jobs while also balancing school work and grief. I taught myself how to do the taxes, I did the grocery shopping and the cleaning, I made sure my father and I got taken care of because if I didn't, who would? I was so exhausted and he was unbeknownst to it all, he had no clue of the stress he was putting me through. I've tried to talk to him but he just doesn’t hear me. He refused to do anything but dwell on something we have no control over anymore and the pressure was too much for me now. I missed my mother as well and I needed this man to be my father again. He sat there with guilt ridden all over his face, saying nothing, I don’t think he even knew what he could say after everything.

So here we are, sitting in our field on an early Monday morning, my father had walked into my room and insisted I get up with him. Tears pricked my eyes as we welcomed a new week into our lives. I couldn’t help but smile as I took in all the beautiful colours, the air falling to a peaceful silence as I looked over at my father who had that same sparkle in his eyes my mother once had. I understood him through the silence, it was going to be alright. He had finally heard me.

[ic3qu33n]

Today is my 40th birthday.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was 7 my dad bought me Hollywood Hair Barbie right before my 8th birthday.

I had to beg him cause at the time (the 90’s) it was almost $30 dollars and back then my dad only bought me used dolls from the swap-meet. But one day my dad finally caved and on a Friday when he got his check, he told me it would be an early birthday present. I was so happy. I played with my doll all weekend.

Then Monday arrives, its time to go back to school. All I thought about was that doll. My friend had just shown me cool ways to braid my hair and all I wanted to do was go home and do it to the doll. But when I came home, she was nowhere to be found. I looked all over where I could have left it.

At that time my younger sister Vicky was 3 (about to turn 4) and stayed home with mom. I remember asking her over and over again if she touched my doll. She swore “no I never touched it”

Well my mom and dad had a polaroid camera that they took a lot of our childhood pictures with. This is how I found the truth. Well it wasnt til days later that I saw pictures of my sister Vicky holding my doll. Pictures of her and our little dog Junior. I was so mad. That was my doll, why did she think it was ok to touch what was mine. Of course I confronted her and showed her and my parents the pictures with her holding my doll… but she still wouldnt say what she did with it.

Almost two weeks had gone and still no sign of my barbie. Vicky stuck to her story that she didn’t touch it, even though we had the picture now.

Anyway, one day my mom told me to bring her all my old shoes that didnt fit anymore because she was gonna donate them. So I went looking under my bed and finally found my barbie... along with scissors and all her hair had been chopped of.

I remember I cried so much. I was so angry because Vicky took something that was mine and destroyed it. I got so hurt and bitter by the situation that I never asked for any barbie or dolls again. I feel like the little girl in me was so hurt she changed and grew up. Vicky ruined the only doll I ever really wanted. I stopped collecting any kind of doll or toy that Vicky might over on.

I must have talk about this doll enough in the past that my love, Chris remembered the story. So on my 36th birthday September 8th in 2019 he found my doll. Again I cried. This time this doll wasnt just the “coolest” doll but the most sentimental doll I own. I will for ever associate my sister Vicky who passed away in 2013, to this doll and this gift meant more than anyone will ever know.

Its weird because I remember the hurt I felt when I found my doll, but it reminds me of her. I miss my sister. She drove me crazy but I would give anything to just tell her I love her and show her this doll. ❤️

[yessadirichards]

‘Gran Turismo' and ‘Barbie’ neck-and-neck at box office

JAKE COYLENEW YORK

“Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story” and “Barbie” are in a dead heat for the box-office crown, with the video game adaptation just edging Greta Gerwig’s pop sensation, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Sony Pictures reported that “Gran Turismo” opened with $17.3 million over the weekend, while Warner Bros. estimated that “Barbie,” in its sixth week of release, took in $17.1 million. Those totals could change when final ticket sales are counted Monday.

Due to a few wrinkles, it's all but certain that “Barbie” sold more tickets than any other movie Friday through Sunday, even if “Gran Turismo” is claiming the checker flag.

One reason: It was an usual weekend in multiplexes. U.S. movie theaters held the second annual National Cinema Day on Sunday, with $4 tickets to all films and showtimes at nearly all of the country’s theaters.

“Barbie” was expected to be easily the top draw during the discounted day, with a particular boost coming from repeat viewings. With a domestic total of $594.8 million in ticket sales, “Barbie” has passed “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($574 million) to become the year’s biggest domestic hit. With $1.34 billion worldwide, “Barbie” will also soon surpass the leading $1.35 million worldwide tally of “Mario."

National Cinema Day is meant to lure moviegoers to theaters during a typically slow period — and recoup the lost ticket revenue by selling a lot of popcorn. Last year's event drew 8.1 million moviegoers, making it the busiest day of the year in theaters. Warner Bros. estimated that “Barbie” would gross $7.8 million on Sunday, which would mean almost 2 million people saw the film that day.

So what was the top movie in theaters this weekend?

“Barbie,” says Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros. “Without any question.”

Though “Barbie” is the weekend's top draw, “Gran Turismo” has a slight — and somewhat debatable — edge in gross earnings. In its weekend totals for “Gran Turismo,” Sony is also factoring in a hefty $3.9 million from preview screenings held before Thursday, along with $1.4 million in Thursday previews. Such accounting, while common practice for Hollywood, has stretched the definition of an opening "weekend.”

“We’ve made a big issue of it only because ‘Barbie’ has had incredible holds,” says Goldstein. "To take away the number one, which would make it five weekends at number one since it opened, kind of doesn’t feel right for the ‘Barbie’ filmmakers who really deserve the accolades.”

Sony executives declined to comment.

Either way, it's a so-so start for “Gran Turismo," which cost about $60 million to make. But the film, about a young man whose love of the PlayStation video game helps turn him into a real-life racer, has gone over well with audiences. Moviegoers gave the Neill Blomkamp-directed movie an “A” CinemaScore.

The ongoing strike by actors and screenwriters has taken away the studios' ability to promote films with their casts. To help spread the word on “Gran Turismo,” Sony held several weeks of preview screenings and fan events.

“Obviously, every movie is in pursuit of being the number one film," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. "But at the end of the day, ‘Barbie’ is just an out-and-out smash global blockbuster. No matter how you slice it, ‘Barbie’ is always going to be a winner no matter the outcome of this weekend. Sony, left without stars to go out and promote the movie, had to rely on the audience becoming the marketing voice.”

Last week's top film, the DC Comics release “Blue Beetle,” slid to third place in its second week, with $12.8 million. The Warner Bros. film has made $46.3 million in two weeks, making it another misfire for DC.

Christopher Nolan's “Oppenheimer” trailed in fourth, with $9 million in its sixth week. Like its “Barbenheimer” sibling, the Universal Pictures release has played remarkably well beyond the point at which most films fall off in theaters. “Oppenheimer” has passed $300 million domestically and reached $777.1 million globally.

A handful of other new releases also hit theaters. MGM’s high-school comedy “Bottoms” got off to a strong start in limited release, grossing an average of $51,600 per location in 10 theaters. The Liam Neeson thriller “Retribution" debuted with $3.3 million in 1,750 theaters for Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.

“The Hill,” a sports drama starring Dennis Quaid, launched with $2.5 million from 1,570 locations for Briarcliff and Open Road. And “Golda,” starring Helen Mirren as the former Israeli prime minister, debuted with $2 million in 883 theaters for Bleecker Street.

According to Comscore, the North American box office is now just $70 million shy of breaking $4 billion for the summer. After an up-and-down season that saw some major releases like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," “The Flash” and “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One” fall short of expectations, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have spurred a comeback. If the box office manages to reach $4 billion for the summer, it would be the first time since 2019.

[myaquariusheart]

28/7

I have not written in so long I know. I haven't been motivated and just felt like a loser writing here but I feel like I'm going to miss the memories if I don't speak about them. I went to Portugal with T and it was honestly the best holiday ever, we went to the Algarve and had the most beautiful time and I will never forget it. I went on a jet ski and explored caves, we went out every night and met the most interesting people and made memories I will never forget. It was amazing and I just loved it. I also had my graduation a few days ago and I can't believe I did it. I was literally stressing that I didn't think I was going to graduate and I did it. The last few months have been good, I'm in a really good place right now and I am grateful for everything that's happening I'm just de-motivated and also am enjoying doing nothing but I need to get out of it and start living a little and be less lazy. I also went to Wireless with Cake and I saw 50 Cent live and I also saw DBE and it was just an amazing environment and concerts I've been to. I was singing my heart out and screaming tomorrow Me and Cake are going on a double date and then a Love Island event on Monday and I'm so excited. This is also the most broke I have ever been in my life but it's not that hard, I just have to survive the next 10 days and then I am treating myself to a nice Shien package and that's gonna be it. I cut my hair really short this month and I'm having mixed feelings about it. The first few days I was feeling really not confident and ugly but I'm getting used to it and it's looking better if I style it right. I'm planning to grow out my hair naturally, not dye it and then when it's long year I'm going to dye it all ginger and it's gonna look amazing because it's gonna be on my virgin hair. So I need to just wait and its an end of an era. Hair holds memory that's what I keep seeing and that hair has been through a lot, not going to lie. I didn't want to let go of that hair but that hair just reminds me of a insecure, messy time that I went through with like I, A, S and all of them. I need to just let go and now I have a new destiny and a new rosta which I could never have imagined. I have insta now and TikTok and its actually become really bad because I'm just addicted to TikTok and I need to get off it. I also really want to start going out more and dressing up and going to restaurants, I don't even need to buy a whole meal I just wanna look pretty and have a good night but unfortunately I'm not even allowed or even have friends to do it. T is going Italy for summer and Cake is busy most times. Maybe I need to make a new friend but where will I find her. I'm actually going to manifest a new friend that goes out with me and can always have fun, lets see if it happens Lmao. Anyway Z has also passed his driving and I'm so proud of him. I need to work on my CV and start applying to some teacher roles but like I said I just don't have any motivation and mostly just can't be bothered? That is my mood and I need to snap out of it. I almost forgot to mention that the Barbie movie finally came out and we all went to watch it. It was super cute, on TikTok and online everyone was raving about how it was so emotional but it didn't hit me like that mostly because I'm not a white blonde woman, and it just wasn't emotional for me. It was more funny than anything. Guardians of the Galaxy made me literally cry 6 times during that film so I'm not sure.

[stillgeekingout]

part 2~

I finally actually read all of pride and prejudice, it was great everyone was right lol. also I made character playlists for it for sara’s bday but I also just like them

speaking of playlists. ingrid and I went back to working on our narrative playlist project and we are now hopelessly invested in it lol. all of the playlists are done as of last week but more things to come. also I put together a box of props based on the characters for ingrid’s bday but also for me (are you sensing a theme lmao)

I wrote a song!!! I have always wanted to and never succeeded but I did do it and I think it’s good. I probably won’t ever do anything with it but it exists. maybe in 30 years I’ll write another one. or maybe sooner if we do our OLS thing

we went to a couple of Musical Mondays at a theatre near us and sang in their open mic competitions (and didn’t win but it was fun)

I thought last year was concert year but this was truly concert year. concerts I saw this year: lucius w/ingrid & my mom which was CRAZY good and we were super close and then they came into the crowd and stood right in front of us, aly & aj with ingrid, muna in atlanta which was my first time going to a concert alone (it was still fun but I prefer not going alone), twice in atlanta with shannen and ingrid, black midi with ingrid/sara/sara’s dad lol, and tessa violet w ingrid and the people we made friends with in the crowd (this one was also really small and cool). we started listening to chappell roan like the week she was in orlando and it was already sold out rip. also darren came to orlando but I didn’t go to that either bc it was his christmas show and I don’t care

I lost my beloved yellow water bottle in an airport :’(

I feel like I didn’t really go feral over any tv/movies this year? we watched not dead yet and taskmaster but idk there weren’t any new-to-me shows that I got super into. I was underwhelmed by barbie…. nimona was good and I’m glad it exists but it didn’t Hit Me the way I think it hit other people

one of my parasocial relationships got to the point where even I was like ok this needs to stop

on the flip side my other parasocial relationship is going great on bluesky lmao 

my sister was in indonesia the whole year! :o I miss her a lot! in september we were the depression bros

I saw snow for the first time!! we went on a roadtrip to virginia and north carolina to see friends

got addicted to fb marketplace and got 2 new armchairs (and the infusion tea couch)

ingrid and I took spanish in the fall but the teacher was bad so I didn’t learn very much spanish

our roommate stayed for a second year, she is chill

shannen moved farther away :( but we still got to hang out

we did 2 friend group powerpoint parties

I guess I can’t not say it…. the eras tour took over my entire social media feed which first gave me fomo and then it was fine and then annoying but it did make me start talking to hannah and now we are friends outside of ingrid :)

also this was My Year for taylor’s versions, speak now and 1989 are The Ones (even tho I don’t prefer the new versions)

ingrid and shannen FINALLY finished corey & sherlock. and I read it and it was fun despite also being A Time because it fell during my depression month rip

rory was born!! the first baby in my Vicinity in a looong time

obligatory bullet point for muna bc I love them… I’m still not a podcast person but I listened to so much gayotic this year. yeehaw silk is my roman empire

saved it for the end: my goal in 2023 was to write a lot of my rough draft and I did it! we went to see manatees, we went to st augustine multiple times, I read seasons of real florida & braiding sweetgrass (until I had to return it to the library lol) and I researched weaving and made a connection through an infodump match blog and drew an insanely detailed castle map… working on this book is occasionally stressful but mostly it’s just fun!

did a lot of writing in the beginning of the year and then stagnated for a while and then I was looking for a distraction from work hell and rainbow convinced me to do nanowrimo on a whim and I completed it!

I was in a writing group with someone I used to rp with on forums when I was like 13. WILD

anyway 2023 was a lot but a lot of good things happened too. I hope this year to stress less about work and just focus on what I can control, like my house and my book etc. my mom keeps saying “ready for what’s in store in 2024” so I made up a mcelroy year title for her which is “20 what’s in store: the adventure awaits”. personally idk if I want an adventure this year so I’m sticking with fungalore hearing my wish to get a lot of writing done. if you made it this far I hope you have a year of human connection, restful sleep, and good snacks. peace and love <3

I was gonna be like "would you believe it's my 10th one of these" but apparently tumblr has a CHARACTER LIMIT now????? why would they nerf me on the year I decided not to worry about how long it was

anyway I guess I'm splitting this in 2 so reflections on 2023 part one~

let's start with work bc then I want to be done with it: I spent all year doing trainings (& 2 conferences) and researching and preparing to apply for an advisor position if it ever opened up. it did open up in spring, I applied and did not get it, the new advisor was not good and got fired, I applied again having done much more training and still did not get it, I applied for a different advisor position trying to triumphantly leave my office and did not get that either. so now I’m still in my same position working under the person who beat me for the job but this time with a bunch of extra responsibility that I gave myself trying to prep to be promoted. lol. if I sound very bitter it’s because I am :)))) 

all that being said, I do still mostly like my job from day to day. and I still want to do advising, probably. if they’ll ever hire me for it

related to work but less bitter: I had mostly good relationships with my coworkers. one of them was pregnant for a lot of the year and just had her baby last week and I’m very excited to meet her (we went to her baby shower despite all her friends being Very Christian lol it was a time) (this coworker is uhhhh A Lot but it’s complicated lol). I got to be on the hiring committee for another coworker which was a cool experience and also she is very nice. got closer with another coworker who I previously had kind of a tenuous relationship with (and now she works fully remote so it doesn’t even matter) (jk)

another thing I did in my quest to Be Hireable was basically take over supervising the student leaders (work study students) at work. shoutout to esteban, isa, aar and sheri lol

I have inherited my mother’s trait of getting attached to problem children. there are several students who are a recurring Thorn In My Side but also I’m rooting for them

last work thing that is only tangentially a work thing: I became the advisor for GSA at my campus and now I have a bunch of queer college students under my wing. a few of us walked in pride which was my first time being in the parade and it was wild. also we had an event for trans awareness week and I am proud of them for coming up with it :)) more exciting things to come this year. feels good to have a little corner where I can provide support in the face of so many attacks from the FL govt

let’s get the other big bad thing out of the way! my mental health was shit lol. I briefly was doing virtual appointments with a therapist in the spring but it mostly just made me feel weird and untherapizable. (as in, I didn’t feel like I was getting much out of it but I think part of that was that it was zoom calls from my car on my phone during lunch breaks) although it did lead to me leaving my phone outside of the bedroom at night and putting timers on my apps which I think have been net positives even if they haven’t made as much of a difference as I hoped. 

the aforementioned job stress was a huge part of it, the application process lasted like 2 months and then they left me on the hook after the interview for Multiple Weeks which was. a bad time.

another part of it was I was alone a lot on weekends and I’m not very good at using my time off to do fun and nice things when I’m by myself, usually I end up just stewing in my brains. I did try to get in the habit of occasionally going to these nice gardens near us so maybe I will do that more this year also.

also health related: got my first mammogram this year. it was uncomfortable but fine. also got my first pap smear which was QUITE PAINFUL AND UNPLEASANT but I did survive it

also tangentially health related: I tried a few times throughout the year to do yoga. for a lil bit I was doing it with some coworkers after work once a week. some of it I did with some people from the carry on discord. it was very intermittent but better than nothing at all!

last health thing: my dad’s siblings had an Exceptionally Shitty Summer. one of his sisters died, another of his sisters had an extreme staph infection and was in the hospital for weeks, and one of his brothers had a mini stroke and possibly also a heart attack? the latter two are doing okay now but it was rough for a minute there

ENOUGH BAD STUFF I turned 30 this year! three full decades on this earth

Ingrid got her work authorization and a job and later in the year her green card!

I paid off my car (and also my car is having a lot of minor problems but that’s just… having a car)

I made a few financial mistakes (messed up our taxes, accidentally got a best buy credit card) but they are hopefully still fixable and overall we still saved money by the end of the year. we tried to keep a budget for a while but it was hard to keep up with. we also tried to join a credit union but their customer service was really weird

made a halfhearted attempt at local politics (went to a few protests, one city planning thing, and one socialist alternative meeting)

stay tuned for part 2 since tumblr hates me apparently

[1percentcharge]

Could you explain the reasoning behind all the horror high characters names?

ok but im putting it under a readmore cuz im gonna go over literally all of them

seesaw- name was sort of a joke inspired by the "is it called saw bc you see it" thing and bc seesaw is a noun. I mightve picked a different name for her did I know I would get attached to these ocs lol

candy- reference to how brundle ate a lot of sugar and candy bars immediately post-telepod. recently found out it was the name of a supporting character in earth girls are easy so I guess i can't help being the most genius name-picker ever/j

Frederica- just a female version of freddy. I could have gone with winifred or something but in middle school i had a math teacher i liked named frederica so

Billie- just female version of Billy. btw, her last name is macher bc fin already has the last name loomis.

Hallie- named after Halloween

Crystal- named after camp crystal lake

Noel- wanted a christmas-themed name. I picked Noel specifically just bc I liked it

Allie- works on 2 levels: Fin and Allie (duo): finale, and Allie Ive: alive

Starlet- what young actresses are called and I thought it sounded pretty

Audrey III- let's be real I couldn't have named the daughter of audrey II anything else

Bee- bc of bees ofc! Plus it sounded cute.

Cary- just Carrie but masculine.

Fin- like FINal girl

Barbie- sounded cute and the doll association fits with her pink hearts aesthetic. plus, two syllables and starts with B like Bubba.

December- I love month names and the shining takes place around then.

Clay- I asked for names associated with death and someone recommended it. Probably also works w his love of porcelain dolls.

Monday- I like week names and she was slightly inspired by Wednesday addams (or more generally her family was inspired by the addams)

Jay- jay n doe like jane doe aka unidentified female corpse. the N stands for Nicole.

Ruth- there's a character in scanners called ruth and I like the name

Whitney- reference to when Patrick Bateman talks about whitney houston (music reference name seemed to make sense)

Augusta- 1) auguste is a type of clown 2) augusta is the capital of maine 3) im pretty sure the loser club fights pennywise in august 4) my birthday is in august :)

Meg- like the nickname for megalodon. Her real name is Pearl which has an ocean association and a teeth one (pearly whites, fitting bc she's part shark)

Gnathan- pun of nathan + gnat

Joy- reference to orin's delight in harming his patients and use of laughing gas

[1kook]

disney+ & bust

this is part of my netflix & chill collection !

summary; There’s a pounding on your door a little past noon, so hard and rough, that you almost think it’s the police finally coming to catch you for all your years of illegally pirating Phineas and Ferb. It’s not. It’s just a really drunk boyfriend wailing for your forgiveness at the door.  warnings; arguments, feelings of insecurity, bit of asshole jk, smut in the forms of degradation, dumbification, choking, fingering, spit kink, self punishment, unprotected but [ passionate ] sex, jk losing his cool, return of mean jk, he is actually an emotional mess in this one wtf miscellaneous; ANGST, anniversaries, the L word😳, app developer kook, rip ‘pretty girl’ </3, we all become phineas and ferb stans word count; 13k !!

notes; me: *writes couple who’s whole arc is being silly* y’all: MAKE THEM SUFFER GIVE US ANGST!! u ask I deliver so now we all suffer 😐 ngl it was hard writing this fic n u might notice there’s some parts that seem weird n that’s bc this was TWO fics w diff wording but I ended up mixing them bc I’m insane. still had a lot of fun! felt like I challenged myself!! not proofread bc when I say we suffer we SUFFER

please let me know what you think!!! a simple ask goes a long way <3

previous part: kissanime & foreplay

Approximately one week after The Bullet Bestie’s rise to prominence, Jungkook grows annoyed with it as his weirdly competitive nature rears its ugly head the more and more orgasms that little vibrator coaxes out of you. It turns on a weird switch in him, something slightly stuck up and snooty that he’ll never admit to out loud but is there nonetheless. By the following Friday, The Bullet Bestie is nestled deep in your garbage can and Jungkook’s back to pleasuring you with his tongue and fingers alone.

He had those moments in him, the ones where he liked to think he was better than any and everyone else, and occasionally they manifested against inanimate objects like a bullet vibrator.

Despite his polite and generally soft exterior, you catch glimpses of that cocky spirit more than anyone else. Over the past year, you’ve come to realize that Jungkook’s personality was like a coin that had been left out in the sun too long. He had this sweet and reserved nature you saw most times, a kindhearted boyfriend who adored you almost as much as you adored him. He was your angel whom you knew had a heart of gold, even if you were slowly bringing out his more childish tendencies. You knew him like the back of your hand, knew what his mom’s favorite color was and how he liked to stack the plates in his cabinet according to size and make. It was a side that was rusted from years of being out in the sun, basking in its adoring warmth, and you loved every inch about it.

And still, there was this other side to him you rarely saw. This cocky asshole who hid beneath the soft smiles and careful hands, making his appearance only through sly smirks and a tongue prodding against the inside of his cheek. He was a braggart, a man who knew his greatness yielded for no one and wanted that fact shoved down everyone’s faces. This Jungkook, this other side that never saw the light of day, was like the Hyde to his Jekyll. An unexpected, almost mean side to him that only dared make his appearance when his exhilaration was at an all-time high. Like when he was fucking you into another dimension, or kicking your ass in Mario Kart, or like now, when he was receiving an award at an annual tech ceremony.

On the eve of your one year anniversary, Jungkook’s company invites him to an awards ceremony for other web and app developers like him. It’s a grand event, filled with all the biggest nerds in the developing industry here to present the baby nerds with awards. Jungkook lies somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, both a seasoned player and a rookie all at once. He spends the night tolling you around in a floor-length gown and fangirling over all the “legends” in the room.

You know next to none of these people and none of their accomplishments but still pretend you respect them to hell and back. By the end of the main dinner, you’re sympathizing with Barbie’s ever-smiling features because your cheeks feel sore.

Towards the end of the night, Jungkook wins that random award— okay, who were you fooling? He wins the Platinum Mobile Standard of Excellence Award, recognizing him for all the hard work you’ve seen him put in this past year. It’s probably the highest recognition he can receive at this point in his career. It was an esteemed award that was bestowed upon only the most innovative developer of the year among tech companies, something Jungkook had briefly mentioned he always wanted. It’s basically the equivalent of placing first place in his field, but given Jungkook’s competitive industry and his young age, you think it’s like telling all these old Facebook lords to suck his big fat cock. (But that was your job when you got home.)

He gives a short little thank you speech, promising to work hard and own up to this title. The people around you are swooning, obviously endeared with his soft puppy dog features and melodic voice. They don’t know him like you do, don’t know that uppity twist to his grin like you do. It doesn’t slip off his face even when he steps down off the stage, arms wide open as he comes barreling towards you. Even with you in his arms, the congratulations that are thrown from every direction ring loudly in his ears and swell that ego of his.

The night goes like that for the most part, Jungkook’s acquaintances approaching him every few minutes to rain down their praises. He goes a little crazy at the open bar after a while, shoving the gold trophy into your arms as his beloved work seniors whisk him off for drinks. You don’t mind because you resigned yourself to a night of playing Jungkook’s perfectly perfect partner anyway, watching him politely mingling with his coworkers. Despite his earlier success, you know he won’t brag about it verbally. No, he’ll wait until the two of you get home—your place or his—and remind you how amazing he is with a quick snap of his hips.

As you said, he’ll never boast aloud.

However, that doesn’t mean you won’t.

“That’s my boyfriend,” you explain to the seventh person that greets you that night, excitedly pointing to where said boyfriend was slowly losing all sense of self by the bar. You don’t know anyone here beside Jungkook, and you’re pretty sure no one in their hammered minds is going to remember who you are anyway, so a little gloating never hurt anyone. “He won the ‘I’m Better Than Everyone Else’ award tonight,” you emphasize to the tipsy woman beside you who only laughs at your exaggeration. You assume she’s like you, accompanying one of the many developers here, because as soon as you finish boasting about Jungkook she moves to brag about someone too.

Truth be told, you spend the whole night re-analyzing the Zootopia movie you saw on Disney+ the other night in your head. So if the little fox fellow didn’t control himself would the city have fallen to ruins? Why was the useless sheep girl so evil and bitter? Why was there an unreal amount of romantic tension between the fox and the rabbit? Whatever, you’ll have to rewatch it some other night, and with your new Disney+ account, you could watch it anywhere you wanted to.

Now, you had never bothered to purchase a Disney+ subscription or even tried to swindle Jungkook for his password before. As far as you know, Disney+ was filled with old tv shows from your childhood, sitcoms that made you laugh when you were ten. There’s nothing wrong with that, but personally, you were a firm believer that that which was perfect should not be touched once finished; in other words, you were utterly terrified you’d rewatch an old episode of The Wizards of Waverly Place, only to find out the same joke you’ve been regurgitating for the past ten years doesn’t actually go that way.

However, the harsh reality was that Disney+ was good for a few things. Ugh, you hate when giant corporations provide decent services. Aside from Zootopia, you’ve watched about every animated media on there as well, all of which you replay in your mind as Jungkook has the time of his life with these nerds, knocking back champagne glass after champagne glass.

Anyway, the night ends a little past midnight, and Jungkook who is buzzed on alcohol and high on exhilaration ends up calling an Uber for the two of you. Your apartment— the new one he had not only helped you hunt for but also helped you move into, greatly cutting the cost of movers out with those glistening biceps and thick thighs —is still going through her rebellious phase where the potted plants are trying to take over, courtesy of Kim Namjoon. So for now, there’s a potted plant in an awkward corner that both of you stub your toe against on your way to your bedroom.

You’re thinking Jungkook is going to go to town tonight, given the fact he’s on Cloud 9 and has had his ego stroked by a bunch of dudes for the past couple hours. Maybe you guys can try out the hot role-playing scenario you saw on GirlsWay a few weeks ago, or the handcuffs you impulsively bought from Amazon one Monday night. Or maybe, and this one really makes you flutter, he’ll let you fully take the reins for once.

All those lewd fantasies end up being for naught because just as you shimmy out of your gown (with the help of his hands, of course) and turn to climb him like a tree, he’s on the other side of the room getting your makeup remover out for you. And also talking. A lot. And way more than usual.

“Did you see him, babe?” he sighs, dare you to say, dreamily, handing you the cotton pads as he begins pulling a million pins out of your hair. Slowly and with a lot of confusion, you pull your fake lashes off and begin cleaning your face. “He was amazing.”

“Uh-huh,” you say, having absolutely no idea who ‘he’ is or why Jungkook is so in love with him and not you at this very moment. “But so were you,” you add. Perfect. Stroke his ego and then stroke his cock.

Jungkook sputters at your praise. He’s carefully placing your hairpins on your thigh, cheeks flaming red every time he leans over you. “Was I?” he murmurs, voice sweet in that cute little way it always gets when he’s downed one too many shots of whiskey, enough to be buzzed but not enough to be wasted.

You turn and the pins clatter to the floor and across the bedsheets. “Yes,” you confirm, ignoring his sad huff at the mess you’ve made. Instead, you grab him by the collar of that pink button-up he taunted you with all night. “You were fucking incredible and I think incredible men deserve to have their dick sucked.”

Jungkook laughs at your vulgar statement, holding you gently by the hips as you climb into his lap. “Is that so?” The soft, shy persona is gone now, replaced by the gentle stirring beneath his dress pants. You nod hurriedly, plopping down on his lap and running your hands through his styled hair.

“Yes,” you confirm, kissing the corner of his mouth. “Luckily for you, I know this nymphomaniac who would gladly gobble up your cock at your every command.”

He snorts just as you push him into his back, nose adorably scrunched up. “First of all, you know I hate that word,” he chuckles, finally gracing you with a sweet peck that only makes you want him to fuck you into the fifth dimension. “Secondly, please don’t ever say you’ll gobble my cock up ever again.”

Something inside of you squeals with excitement as he rolls the two of you over, firm body pressing down on yours. “Oh, baby,” you groan, lazily throwing a leg over his hip. Jungkook grins and then decides to entertain you for a few minutes with a sloppy kiss.

You say a few minutes because just as things are heating up, he pulls away. He smiles apologetically. “As much as I’d love to be here with you, I actually have an early morning tomorrow.”

You frown at the sudden change in events. “Huh? They’re gonna make you work the morning after a Gatsby party?” you gasp, sitting up as he gets off of you. With every step he takes away from the bed your heart breaks a little more. “They can’t do that— that’s illegal!”

From the doorway he levels you with a comically raised brow. “No, it’s not.”

You scamper after him down the hall, watch the muscles in his back flex as he pulls his suit jacket on. “You can’t work on our anniversary— that’s illegal!” you offer instead.

He stops at your front door, feet squeezed back into his shoes. “Baby, it’s not,” he rolls his eyes, leaning down to peck your forehead. “It was either I work in the morning or work at night,” he explains, giving your messy hair a soothing caress. He’s looking at you with those eyes, the ones that make your heart lodge itself into your throat and make life a tightrope experience. There’s a devastatingly lovesick part of you that wants this moment, this kind face, to be engraved into your mind for the rest of your life. You want this to be the first and last thought you have and nothing else: just Jungkook’s adoring gaze on you for the rest of time.

The moment ends too soon when he flutters one last peck against your lips. “I’ll be done in the afternoon, okay?”

You pout. “Okay, your place?” you huff, making sure to get one last octopus squeeze around his waist. He nods. “Promise you won’t be late?”

The corners of his gaze soften. “You know I won’t,” he smiles, leaning down to bump your noses together playfully. “Can’t stay away from my pretty girl too long. Besides, I have a gift for you tomorrow.”

It’s with that sentiment and a hammering heart that you let him go. With Jungkook gone, there’s really nothing for you to do now. You took the next two days off in preparation for your anniversary sex, so you don’t have to head to sleep early like usual.

With nothing else planned, you decide on rewatching that Zootopia movie that had plagued you all night, ready to dissect every plot hole to hell and back. You don’t think Jungkook’s seen this movie yet so you add it to your long list of animated movies you’re forcing him to watch.

Part of you is actually really surprised Jungkook left. Well, kinda sorta, very, but not really. Jungkook was a good boy, that much was obvious. He took his job seriously, and if his job wanted him to come in at the asscrack of dawn, then he’d come in before the sun even rose. He was a goody-two-shoes, but even so, you were occasionally able to bring out that darker side in him.

Jungkook working, like actually working in an office setting, was pretty rare though. The dude had a chill job that let him stay home most of the time, and essentially clock in whenever he wanted. Every now and then you were able to convince him to stay, tucking him beneath your body or the covers, depending on the night, and refusing to let him go the morning after.

Once he had eaten you out until the wee hours of the day, ravenous between your thighs, and then went to work the next morning like he hadn’t broken you. Another time you had persuaded him into watching every season of the 2017 DuckTales reboot through the night. When the alarm had rung in the middle of the season finale, he had simply gotten into your shower and gone off to work.

So maybe you were a little confident in your skills, and Jungkook slipping between your fingers tonight was a huge bummer. But there was no use crying over spilled milk, you tell yourself, flinging your bra off somewhere in the corner as you snuggle back into your sheets. You’re ready to tear this Zootopia movie apart, scene by scene.

Even though your apartment is a little cold, you’re comforted by the fact Jungkook will be here to keep you warm all day tomorrow.

All men do is lie.

Despite his promise to come home early the next day, Jungkook ends up lying. The meeting he had been in all morning— the same one that had stopped you from getting bent like a pretzel the night before —drags on well past noon. Then, Kim Namjoon, AKA Jungkook’s favorite senpai in the entire world, catches wind of Jungkook’s success last night and absolutely has to take him out to lunch to celebrate.

You scoff, glaring down at your phone and the impulsive messages you’d sent out an hour ago when Jungkook had first texted you telling you he would be late.

You whirl around to stomp off in the direction of his living room, where all of yours and Jungkook’s favorite foods were growing colder by the minute. You had spent the longest time carefully laying them out, making sure the fried chicken was closer than the pizza but not closer than the breadsticks. Truthfully it’s a nightmare. There are about eight stomach aches worth of food sitting on his coffee table, the greasy stench makes you gag and will certainly stick to your hair for weeks, but none of that mattered because it was all for your beau.

Your very late beau who was making you grow more and more agitated with each minute that passed. Ugh! How inconsiderate of him to test your patience on a day like this. You didn’t want to be upset with him, but this was your first, real milestone as a couple with him. You had wanted to spend the whole day cuddled up, maybe finally tell him how much he really meant to you— definitely not waking up alone with eyeliner crusted eyes and an aching heart.

Deciding you’re being a little too dramatic, you head into the bedroom to calm down. This was fine, you tell yourself, carefully laying out the damn near harlotrous lingerie you had yet to put on. Jungkook would come over soon and everything would be A-okay.

Except for the part it’s actually F-not okay because soon it’s nearing sunset and the food has gone cold so you’ve stocked it into the fridge, and the pretty sheer bra has a wonky wire that’s two seconds away from piercing through your heart, but that doesn’t even matter because Jungkook being late for your all-day anniversary celebration has already ripped it to shreds anyway.  

You plop down on the couch in defeat, impulsively opening up the Disney+ app to cry through another episode of Phineas and Ferb. You’ve abandoned the satin robe that came with the lingerie in favor of donning a big t-shirt that smells like him and makes your heart hurt even more. The setting sun paints the living room in muted oranges, the chirping of birds outside the soundtrack to your lonely day.

You end up watching some other cartoon on Disney+, avoiding the Marvel section because you had promised Jungkook he could be there when you lost your Marvel virginity. Well, at least one of you was good at keeping promises, you think bitterly. For a second, you think about randomly watching one of the infamous MCU films out of order just to spite him. But then you think of that soft puppy gaze and how disappointed he’d be in you.

Whatever! It wouldn’t ever match up to the way you felt now.

Anyway, you circle back. When you’re five episodes into Phineas and Ferb you hear the doorknob rattle.

You sit up just as the door swings open, visible from your spot on the couch. He meets your gaze almost immediately, big doe eyes caught in the act. What act? You’re not really sure. In fact, you don’t even know what you’re looking at when he walks in because he’s drowning in shopping bags. His lips twist into a grin. “Honey, I’m home,” he says playfully.

You don’t laugh.

Jungkook frowns, dumping all his bags down at the entrance before waddling over towards you. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks, coming to stand before you and cupping your face in his hands. He’s towering over you, so tall and gorgeous but for the first time, you’re not dazed by his beauty.

“Kook, you said you’d be back hours ago,” you say slowly, avoiding his gaze. You try to keep the frustration out of your voice, but you’ve had hours to dwell on it now, and those annoying cartoon characters, though charming at first, had only served to multiply your annoyance.  

Jungkook blinks, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “I mean… yeah. But I got you presents?” he beams, glancing back at the mountainous pile he made by the door. You look over too. There are some luxury bags squeezed in between other shops you like, the occasional jewelers' logo on the side.

You stand with a sigh, sauntering off into the kitchen with him on your tail. “I don’t want presents,” you mumble, reaching to pour yourself a glass of water. You’re briefly aware of how childish you must seem. Jungkook hovers behind you.

“What? Yes, you do,” he says. “You had an entire wishlist on my Amazon of things you wanted.” It’s his turn to level you with an unreadable expression, slowly crossing his arms over his chest.

Your frown only deepens as you turn to match his stance against the counter. While it may be true that you did indeed have an entire list of impulsive items on his Amazon, that didn’t necessarily mean you wanted them all. Sometimes you just wanted to stare longingly at a pair of satin gloves without actually buying them. You don’t know how to explain this much to him. “They’re not…” you stop with another deep breath. “Forget it. Thank you for the presents.”

Now it’s Jungkook’s turn to question you. “What,” he says in an unimpressed tone, padding over to you before you can escape back into the living room to watch the entire princess movie collection on Disney+. “No, tell me what’s wrong.”

For some reason, that’s exactly what you don’t want to hear. “Jungkook,” you say flatly, narrowing your eyes at him. “You come home six hours after you said you would without telling me why, and normally I wouldn’t care, but today was supposed to be a special day for us.”

Jungkook reels at your bluntness. “Babe, I was out getting stuff for you. I know it’s our anniversary— that’s why I wanted to treat you,” he responds, oddly condescendingly like you’re a child who doesn’t understand what exactly he was doing.

You brush his hands away from your shoulders. “Yeah,” you huff. “Now I know that. But I spent all day waiting for you,” you stress, chest puffing as you grow more and more agitated by his inability to understand you. God, can he let you go now? At least a bunch of animated, geometrically drawn cartoons won’t question you like this and make you feel as childish as he was.

When he doesn’t say anything else you stomp back into the living room, snatching up your phone from its forgotten spot against the couch. “I’m going to bed.”

At that Jungkook seems to kickstart back to life. “What? ___, it’s barely six,” he says as he follows after you into your bedroom. You ignore him, shuffling beneath the covers. In all actuality, you’re going to bed to mope and watch more animated family shows, maybe cry under the guise of the plot just being so sad. Jungkook sits beside you just as you click back on to finish off your episode. “Baby, I don’t get it,” he sighs. “You’re always talking about how much you want this or that, and I go out and get you it all but now you’re mad?”

You bite down on your lip, eyes lasered in on the pictures moving before you. “Jungkook, just forget it.”

“No,” he says, more sternly than he’s ever been with you before. “If there’s a problem, tell me.” There’s a heavy pause, and then he says, “don’t make me waste my time guessing what’s wrong, okay?” 

“Waste your time?” you scoff, sitting up with pinched brows that you find match his. “I’m not trying to waste anyone’s time— in fact, that’s hot coming from you, Jungkook.”

He rolls his eyes. “What are you even saying? You’re mad because I took a little long getting presents, for you, might I add,” he huffs, plopping down on the edge of the mattress beside your knee. “You’re always saying you want this and that, but you can’t handle me going out to get those things? Do you hear how weird you sound?”

You whip the covers off of you. “Me talking about things doesn’t always mean I want them,” you defend.

Jungkook snorts. “Yes, it does,” he says. “Anytime you ramble about stuff for minutes like a little kid it’s because you want me to buy it for you.”

You blink. “Like a little kid?” you repeat, stunned by his comparison. Granted, you always knew you were the more childish of the two, but you never thought that would equate Jungkook thinking of you as a child. Something red and nasty flares in your chest. “Well sorry,” you spit, crossing your arms over your chest defensively, “sorry we all can’t be perfectly mature golden boys who would never see the light of day if I constantly wasn’t dragging them out.” You know it’s a somewhat low blow, especially because Jungkook’s told you before how his introverted tendencies were a sensitive issue growing up, but you can’t help it.

Jungkook groans, dropping his head into his hands. “Baby, don’t do this now,” he warns, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. “Stop acting like this.”

“Like how?” you spit, “like a kid?” Jungkook says nothing, leveling you with a blank stare from the corner of his eye. You roll your eyes, phone falling off your lap. Another episode of Phineas and Ferb had started, the corny opening tune filling the space between the two of you. “At least now I know what you think of me,” you mutter over the guitar riff.

“Oh my god,” Jungkook blurts, sitting up wildly. “Of course I’m gonna think of you as a stupid little kid, look at you,” he seethes, gesturing at the phone beside you. You flinch. “All you do is watch kids shows and whine whenever I wanna watch anything normal adults watch. You complain every single day about the most normal things, like your job? Why should I fucking care that you’re working a dead-end office job in a field you didn’t even study for— that’s not my problem, __!” he snaps, eyes narrowed into little slits. “I just won an award last night,” he says suddenly, voice back to its regular volume. “I’m at the height of my career and I’m only going up, but I can’t even enjoy that because I have to come home and cater to you,” he finishes, a loud scoff punctuating the final word.

You had never imagined Jungkook finally bragging about himself would be at your expense.

A beat of silence passes, the angry glint in his eyes quickly fading away the longer you don’t say anything. You sniff once, turning your head idly to the side where Phineas and Ferb is still blaring loudly from your phone speaker. Picking up the device, you throw it across the room where it hits his closet door with a terrifying bang the breaks the silence.

The sound snaps Jungkook out of whatever shock he’d been in. “Baby…” he says slowly, carefully, like you’re a caged animal that’s just escaped the zoo.

“I’m going home,” you say, also a little too calmly. You saunter over towards his closet where your shattered phone screen glares up at you as you yank a pair of sweats off a hanger. Jungkook is still frozen on the edge of the bed, watching you with wide eyes as you move about the room.

It’s when you’re in the hallway leading downstairs that Jungkook finally snaps out of his daze, scampering behind you as you descend the stairs. “Baby,” he rushes out, loudly bounding down after you, “___, wait,” he gasps, catching you by the kitchen counter collecting your keys. “I-I didn't mean that,” he rushes out, eyes wide and frantic as they flicker over your expression. “I don’t think that—I don’t, baby, please, just… let me explain, please.”

“Jungkook, let go of me,” you respond, shaking your wrist in an attempt to release yourself. He’s not even holding you tightly— he never would—but the sound of your heart pounding in your ears makes your movements jerky and erratic. “I wanna go home.”

“No,” he chokes, cornering you against the counter. “No, baby, please just listen to me, I-I—“

“You what, Jungkook?” you snap, placing a hand on his chest and forcefully pushing him away. He lets you, stepping back with a wobbly bottom lip. “You need to tell me how you’re too good for me? How much I hold you down because I wasn’t lucky enough to get a job like yours straight out of college?” He says nothing, swallowing roughly as you jab a finger into his chest. “Well let me tell you something,” you snarl, chest heaving, “I may be childish and a huge complainer, but I’m not stupid enough to let someone walk all over me like this.”

With that, you make your great escape. Truthfully, you don’t want him to see the tears in your eyes as you yank his door open, stomping down his steps and in the direction of the nearest bus stop. The door opens right after you tug it shut, painting your shadow across the sidewalk. There’s the scrambled sound of house slippers against the concrete that follows you down. “Go the fuck back inside,” you snap without missing a beat.

Sensing your obvious anger, he pauses before he can reach you. “Text me when you get home?” he calls out quietly.

“No,” you respond.

You would never admit to anyone that you spend the entire night eating a tub of mint chocolate ice cream. It’s disgusting and makes you gag, but it’s the only one you have in your apartment. And of course, it was brought over by none other than Jeon Jungkook himself a few days ago. Even when you’re trying to comfort yourself over how mean he was, on your anniversary night no less, you’re plagued by thoughts of him everywhere.

As much as you want to brush his words off, put on that cool girl exterior you’ve maintained since high school, there’s something different about this situation. You guess it’s impossible to brush off such hateful words when they come from someone you love and adore so much.

Were you too childish? You had always believed that side of you was what made your relationship with Jungkook so perfect. The two of you meshed well because of your differences, like yin and yang. So how had he been able to so easily deconstruct every inch of that balance in a matter of a few seconds? Was this perfect reality all in your head this whole time?

You want to tell yourself it was just a heat of the moment outburst from Jungkook, give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s never snapped at you like this before. Of course you’ve fought a couple of times in the past year, but neither of you had ever stooped as low as you did yesterday. Furthermore, the insecure part of your brain says he obviously felt this somewhere in his heart to bring it up at all. What he had said to you wasn’t something someone could make up on the spot.

You don’t text him when you get home, partly to spite him, but mainly because you had left your phone at his place anyway. You know he tried calling you last night because the call log is synced up to your laptop. He called on and off for about thirty minutes before he probably found your phone in his room. Whatever, he can mope in his regret for all you care

—is what you wanna say, but the longer he goes without showing himself to you the more your insecurities and hurt fester. Was this it? Was this the end of what was probably the best year of your life? It’s too painful to think about, to even consider the possibility that Jungkook might have gained a new insight last night and decided, hey, maybe this is for the best after all.

You drown yourself in an ungodly amount of sugar for breakfast, your laptop blaring yet another episode of Phineas and Ferb on the dining table. Muscle memory has you making Jungkook’s favorite pancakes before you can stop yourself, and by the time you do realize, you’ve resigned yourself to the blueberry smell anyway.

There’s a pounding on your door a little past noon, so hard and rough, that you almost think it’s the police finally coming to catch you for all your years of illegally pirating Phineas and Ferb.

It’s not.

It’s just a really drunk boyfriend wailing for your forgiveness at the door. You open the door with a fright, jumping back when he slumps forward and almost crashes face-first into the floor. “You didn’t call,” Jungkook cries, leaning a little too much of his weight onto you when you reach out to steady him.

The thundering of your heart slows upon registering it’s him. “Kook?” you frown, nose pinched at the ungodly stench of alcohol wafting off his clothes. “Have you been drinking?” you ask even though the answer is staring you right in the face (and in the nose).

He groans, staggering deeper into your arms. You blindly push the door shut behind him, resigning yourself to this new situation while your pancakes grow cold in the other room. “Baaaby,” he slurs, letting you guide him into the living space. He’s unceremoniously dumped onto the couch, half-opened eyes gazing up at you. “Let me,” a hiccup, “explain.”

You won’t lie. There’s a very obvious sense of discomfort sitting in your chest, torn between two paths that you don’t wish to choose between. His skin is warm and flushed like he’s just walked all the way here in this morning sun. You step over to the window that faces down onto the street below. There’s no sign of his car; you would have killed him if he ever tried to drive in this state.

“Did you walk here?” you ask instead, deciding there’s no need for one singular path, not when you can walk straight down the middle, both cleaning him and grilling him at the same time.

Jungkook’s response is delayed, head lolling from side to side as you help him out of his sweater. His skin is sweaty beneath, scorching to the touch. “Uh-huh,” he groans. Jesus, you sort of assumed but him confirming it really set things into perspective.

By no means did you and Jungkook live on opposite ends of the earth. On a good day, a drive from your place to his took about ten minutes. But walking? Easily an hour. Had he walked all the way from his place, drunk on top of that?

You brush his hair away from his face, his eyes fluttering shut at your touch. His lips are pouty yet chapped, dehydrated from the sun and the alcohol he reeks of. “Sit up for me,” you instruct, scampering off to your room for chapstick and water.

“Anything for you,” Jungkook wheezes, throat probably dryer than a desert. When you return, he’s two seconds from face planting into the coffee table and breaking that pretty face of his. You catch him with a hand on his shoulder, keeping him balanced. “Tell me what to do,” he chokes out, voice hoarse.

“Just need you to drink some water,” you say, pressing a cup against his lips. He drinks it, but a drop still dribbles down his chin.

“No,” he groans, catching your wrist in his hand when you reach up to apply some chapstick on him. “Tell me what to do,” he stresses, “to fix this. Fix us.”

His words make you pause, the tube of chapstick hovering over his plush lips. “You don’t have to do anything,” you respond quietly, trying to finish the application so you can pull away.

Jungkook doesn’t let you go. You try to look away, but there’s something about him that looks off. Maybe it’s the raw skin under his eyes, red and swollen. Or the sad droop to those same eyes that hold you captive. Or maybe it’s the subtle tremble in his hands, the fingers that hold tightly to your wrist, not to keep you there but to ground himself. “I don’t wanna lose you,” he rasps out, shakily bringing your hand to his mouth, where he presses one airy kiss to your knuckles. “Tell me ho-how to fix this and I’ll do it,” he pleads, a vulnerable look in his eyes.

Unable to withstand the sheer amount of agony on his expression, you look away. “___, please,” he chokes out, stumbling off the couch in his drunk and desperate haze until he’s kneeling in front of you. “I can’t… I can’t,” he sniffles, tears clouding those pretty eyes you’ve come to love so much. “I don’t know who I am without you.”

You clench your jaw. “You’re Jeon Jungkook,” you murmur, slipping your hand out of his hold to run through his hair. It’s knotted and a little too greasy, two things Jungkook would usually never allow. “This year’s Platinum Mobile Standard of Excellence Award recipient,” you remind him, trailing your thumb across his cheekbone when he turns to look up at you with those big Bambi eyes. “Sweet and shy, but you love being rowdy with your friends. You love movies and TV and organizing your shirts according to fabric type. You work harder than anyone I know and never complain. You date me, even though I’m a huge child,” you smile sadly.

“No!” he jumps, turning that frantic stare back into you. “Y-You’re not— it’s not,” he stammers, words still slurring together. “I’m a liar,” he cries, resting his forehead on your knees. His shoulders shake. “I don’t deserve you,” he weeps quietly. You place a hand on his shoulder. “Y-Y-You make my life so much better, ___, so colorful and fun. I-I wish I knew you in high school,” he admits, “maybe I wouldn’t have been so emotionally constipated now.”

“You’re not,” you reassure him softly.

He disagrees. “You bring out the best,” he hiccups, “the best in me.” Your heart skips in your chest. “I-I love you, you know that?”

You sputter, eyes wide at his sudden confession. “I… love you so much, y’know? I think about you ev-every night, ___,” he rambles, eyes dreamily gazing off into some miscellaneous spot on the wall behind you. “I can’t get you out of my head. Like you're a song, o-on repeat but it’s not annoying because it’s my favorite song, and I could listen to it for the rest of my life, y’know? My favorite song, I know all the words b-because it’s all I think about! I love... My love… I love you so much.”

“Kook,” you rush out, cheeks flaming as you try to pull him away from where he’s slumped over your legs. His passionate speech has you abuzz, body tingling everywhere until you feel overwhelmed, head spinning like you’re on a rollercoaster. “Let’s get you to bed.”

He nods sleepily, seemingly coming down from whatever alcohol induced rampage has allowed him to walk for an hour straight in this searing heat just to confess to you. “Y-You don’t have to say it back,” he continues to stutter as you guide him through the living room on wobbly legs. “I just-I just— can I?” he babbles. “Can I love you, ___?”

You pass through the kitchen space, where whatever you were watching on Disney+ is blaring loudly. It distracts Jungkook for about two seconds before his attention returns to you. When you don’t answer, he presses on. “Is that okay?” he asks, whirling around to face you, catching your shoulders in his hands. He towers over you by the entrance to your bedroom, dark curls tickling your forehead. His eyes are dark and glazed over, both in tears and an emotion so raw and unfiltered it squeezes around your chest until you can’t breathe. “Is it okay for me to love you?” he murmurs softly, knocking his nose against yours.

Your cheeks blaze. “Yes, th-that’s fine, Kook,” you blubber, placing a hand over his chest, where his heart is also hammering away. “Just need you to go rest now, okay?”

He nods sleepily, nudging your nose with his one last time, like a soft almost-kiss, before letting you push him into the room. “Yes, yes,” he breathes, his body finally crashing from his adrenaline spike. He flops down onto the bed unceremoniously, dark waves fanning across your pillows. You try to wiggle him out of his shirt, but it only gets about halfway up his chest before he blindly reaches for the covers. His legs stick out awkwardly, clad in the sweatpants you’ve come to associate with him.

When he’s all swaddled up in your blanket he finally goes limp, tiny snores leaving his lips as he dozes away from reality. You sigh, pressing a palm to his forehead. He’s still warm and clammy, but at this point, there’s nothing you can do but wait for him to sober up.

With a final kiss to his forehead, you leave the room, closing the door behind you before sliding against the wooden surface. There’s a trapped bird in your chest, wildly flapping its wings in an effort to get out, and it’s all stupid Jungkook’s fault in the next room. Stupid Jungkook who demolished and remodeled your heart all in less than twenty-four hours. It doesn’t calm down, even when you rush off into the kitchen for a glass of water, or when you try to immerse yourself in some other show on Disney+. It stays beating against your ribs and your chest until you’re forcing yourself to sit down on the couch and process.

He wakes up a little before dinner. You hear him from the living room, where you’re flicking through the options on Disney+ for the nth time that day. You’ve seen the first fifteen minutes of about twenty different series and movies by now, always growing antsy and abandoning them early on. The only reason you know he’s awake is because the shower turns on for a few minutes, and then his bare feet are heard padding across the hallway back into your room.

By the time he resurfaces in the living room, you’ve resigned yourself to just more Phineas and Ferb, nonchalantly watching the silly cartoon. (Except you’re anything but nonchalant, and your heartbeat rings in your ears.)

Jungkook hovers by the door, clad in a pair of shorts he’s left here before, and a t-shirt you stole from him. “Hey,” he says quietly, lingering by the doorframe. You nod back in response. “Can I watch with you?” Again, another nod.  

Slinking over to the couch, he’s rather careful as he sits down, leaving a few inches of space between the two of you. You don’t even think he can see the screen of your laptop until he murmurs, “he’s my favorite character,” when Perry the Platypus appears on the screen.

You hum. “Thought you didn’t like these kids shows?” you ask. You don’t mean it to sound as petty and backhanded as it comes out, but that’s really no one's fault but his own.

Jungkook’s breathing tightens beside you. “No,” he admits, “I don’t. Only watch them because I know you like them.” You contemplate pausing the episode and engaging in a real conversation with him, but at this point, you’re very tired from the events of the last day. Jungkook doesn’t press either, just shuffles more comfortably beside you.

You get about five minutes in, quiet chuckles shared between the two of you, before he strikes. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” he says, so hushed you almost don’t hear it. His hand is resting in the space between you, pinky brushing against yours. “About… being late. And the presents.”

You inspire slowly. “That wasn't even the problem, silly,” you brush off. From your peripheral, you see Jungkook’s slow nod. “I didn’t want any presents,” you mention, “I just wanted you.” You look away from the screen immediately after, pretending like the spot on the ceiling is actually really interesting.

The two of you fall into silence, the animated characters on your screen rapidly chattering away. “Oh,” Jungkook says after a moment.

You roll your eyes. They’re moist but you don’t want him to see. “Yeah, oh,” you parrot back softly, relaxing into the couch again. “Did you eat the food I left out?”

Jungkook shuffles beside you, the soft lull of the speakers soon being cut as he reaches over to pause Phineas and Ferb. A couple of seconds pass and then he’s leaning into you, head resting on your shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes again, placing a palm over the hand he had been teasing for the past few minutes. “I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong.”

His voice is so soft and sincere, it makes your chest ache. You try to burrow your face against your opposite shoulder, try to hide the stray tear that escapes out of the corner of your eye. “It’s fine,” you brush off, voice choked off and hoarse.

Jungkook leans up, pecks your cheek so tenderly it makes you go mushy. “No, it’s not fine. I acted like a know-it-all and said something way out of line,” he murmurs, raising his head to look at you. His hand feels warm over yours. It’s the touch you craved all day and yesterday, the warm feel of his body against yours. You’re embarrassed at how easily you melt into it. “You’re the best thing that has happened to me in a long time,” he tells you, holding your hand close to his chest. “I had no right to say those things to you.”

You sniffle, resting your head against his shoulder now. His heart beats loud enough for you to hear. “Was it true?” you mumble. “Do you really think of me like that?”

He shakes his head, his soft breaths fanning across your forehead. “No, never,” he answers. “I think you’re incredible. My brain was just trying to justify my dumb anger.”

You nod, even if you don’t believe it just yet. But that was a conversation for later, you suppose, sometime in the future when you aren’t on the verge of tears and threatening to crumble apart at the simplest word that leaves his mouth.

“I should have come home like you wanted, thought about my words before saying them,” he says, snuggling closer to you. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop,” you sniffle, covering your face with your free hand as he presses a kiss to the vein that runs over the back of the hand he’s holding captive. “Now it just sounds like I'm just being inconsiderate of your gifts and a crybaby.”

Jungkook kisses your temple softly, gently. “Don’t think about the gifts,” he says. “Just tell me what you wanted to do, doll.”

His voice calms you, has you like putty in his arms. “Watch movies,” you mumble, toying with a thread on your couch cushion. “Be with you.”

He hums. “Then we’ll do that,” he says, reaching for your laptop again. The screen nearly blinds you when it flickers back to life before you, Jungkook’s low breaths against your ear making it near impossible for you to process the titles on the screen. “You liked Disney+?”

Belatedly, you nod. “I like the animated movies,” you admit quietly, the anxieties of before slowly melting away, even more so when he slides his arm around you, pulling you close against his chest.

Unlike other times where he’ll critique the hell out of such childish films, Jungkook says nothing as he starts up the Zootopia movie instead, the same one you had wanted to show him before, right from the beginning. “That bunny looks like you,” you murmur when Judy Hopps first appears on the screen.

Jungkook snorts. “You say that about every cartoon bunny.”

You turn your head to glance at him over your shoulder. He meets your gaze with a small smile you return. “It’s because you’re so cute,” you say softly, lips twisting playfully when his cheeks grow scarlet.

He knocks his forehead against yours, eyes fluttering shut. “Not cute, just lucky,” he chuckles. “Lucky enough to have you.” Your heart turns over in your chest, threatening to burst out of your rib cage at his words. You try to turn in his arms. Before you can say the words that have been sitting on the tip of your tongue for months now, he’s beating you to it once again. “I love you,” he confesses in a hushed whisper, no alcoholic influence. 

Something inside of you blossoms, eyes wide as he chastely kisses you. He pulls away without you ever reacting, too caught up in surprise to kiss him back properly. He stays close, curls tickling your forehead as he leans over you. “You don’t have to say it back, I just wanted you to know. I love you,” he says again, long lashes blinking down at you. “So much. It makes me feel like a stupid teenager again, going to the mall to buy a gift for my crush.” He laughs sheepishly, reaching down to tangle your fingers together. “Is that okay?” he asks quietly, pressing a kiss to your knuckles.

It mirrors the confession he’d given you that morning, those slurred words and teary eyes. It had been difficult to pinpoint the legitimacy of it before, the meaning scrambled by his hazy mind. But with him staring at you like this now, like you single-handedly plucked the stars from the sky to put them in those sparkly eyes of his, it makes something inside you ache.

Still, you choke on your own spit. “I-Is it okay for you to love me?” you sputter incredulously, realizing the oddity of the same question he’d thrown at you earlier. But now, you’re both sober and you can really tear apart that sentence. Jungkook nods a little too seriously for your liking. “Are you crazy?” He blinks in confusion, brows pulling together as you slowly but surely lose the last bits of your sanity. “You’re an idiot, Jeon Jungkook,” you huff, “a stupidly handsome, rich, walking dream, idiot who goes out with stupid girls like me.”

“Not stupid,” he murmurs, closing in on you again as he finally understands the truth behind your masked insults. He smells minty and like his favorite body wash of yours.

“No,” you deny. “You’re actually, like, insane. You have a bachelor pad, make enough money to sustain an entire litter of kittens, look and talk like every teenage girl’s dream boyfriend— but you mess it all up by dating evil, conniving hoes like me who lose their shit over Disney cartoons.” He says nothing, watching you with an amused grin as you talk over yourself, basically regurgitating his statement from yesterday except it kinda seems plausible now that you’re over it. “It’s stupid. No, you’re stupid. No— I’m stupid.”

Jungkook chuckles, kissing the corner of your mouth gently. “Done?” he says, a dimple appearing on his cheek. You could kiss it away, but you need him to know the amount of stupidity in this room was astronomically high. “You’re not stupid, baby,” he says. You level him with a look. “Well. You have your moments.”

“Moments?” you repeat, standing up in a hurry that has him flopping down beside you. Your laptop is lost somewhere on the cushions, the voices faded as they grow farther away. “I am so stupid. I called Namjoon a whore for taking you out for lunch!” you cry. “I am the stupidest person in the world.”

Jungkook cackles, standing up beside you. “Yes, yes, you’re my stupid girl,” he teases, tapping the pout on your lips playfully. “So stupid she slanders herself instead of just telling me she loves me too.” He bumps your noses together, dark eyes staring at you almost daringly after his claim.

You fold soon enough. “I love you,” you mumble, “even if I’m too stupid to say it.”

He rewards your confession with a kiss, pulling you into his arms soon after. He sighs, almost wistfully. “Whatever shall I do with my very stupid girl?”

After exactly three minutes of feeling safe and loved in his arms, he abandons the living room in favor of leading you back to your room, where he pushes you down against your mattress. You cling to him, leaving him positioned over you at an angle. His chest presses against yours, arm curled around the back of your head. “Gotta get up, baby,” he laughs.

You shake your head, caging him in your arms. “Nuh-uh,” you murmur, legs wiggling when he places a hand on your hip.

Jungkook chuckles, pressing a kiss against the side of your ear. “Your movie is still playing in the other room,” he reminds you, thumb drawing soothing circles on your hip. You don’t release him, his mindless touch only encouraging you to keep him close. “Babe?”

You say nothing, relishing in the comfort of Jungkook’s presence. His hair smells good and feels even softer against the side of your face. The cotton shirt he found is crumpled beneath your fists, dark blue pattern wrinkling. Finally coming to terms with his new home, Jungkook eventually relaxes into your hold with a sigh.

“Alright,” he hums, patting your hip as he repositions himself more comfortably. “I get it. My pretty girl must’ve missed me, huh?” You nod, soaking in every detail about him in this moment. Jungkook shifts, the hand on your hip suddenly falling over your thigh instead. “Or should I say my stupid girl?” he purrs, hand slipping between your thighs. “My stupid, little girl?”

A gasp catches in your throat when he runs his fingers over the front of your panties. Your legs kick out wildly at the sudden touch, toes curling at the hands you dreamt about all day and night. “Oh,” you pant, each brush of his fingers feeling better than the last.

“What?” he says, mouthing against the side of your neck. His tongue feels warm, but the trails of saliva he leaves have you shivering. “Too dumb to speak?” he scoffs, biting down against a particular spot on your neck. You whimper, unsure if it’s because of his hands or his mouth.

“N-No,” you try to sneer back, fingernails digging into his skin through his shirt. His hands are getting braver now, the pad of his pointer finger dancing over your engorged clit. The sheer material of your panties certainly doesn’t help, each touch feeling like it’s being magnified three times over. And if it felt this good with underwear, you can’t even begin to imagine how it’d feel without.

You don’t have to ponder for long, because soon after Jungkook is slipping his hand beneath your waistband, touching your sensitive pussy head-on. “Kook.”

He uses your momentary vulnerability to ease himself from your hold, finally recoiling enough to smother your mouth with his. You moan in surprise, thighs quivering as he gets to work circling your hardened bud sans your panties. Jungkook isn’t the least bit kind as he kisses you ruthlessly, likes he’s trying to compensate for something with his movements. When he finally pulls away it’s with an obnoxious pop and cherry red lips. He huffs, glancing down to see where he’s got his fingers pleasuring you.

Your thighs are squirming back and forth, closing around his hand every few seconds. Jungkook snorts. “Huh, look at that,” he mutters, trailing down until his fingers are gliding over your quickly sopping folds. “Stupid girl is good for something.”

Your cheeks burn. “Kook, I’m not—“

Jungkook levels you with an unimpressed glare. “Not what? Not stupid? But I could’ve sworn you just spent the last few minutes saying you were,” he drones meanly, landing one light slap against your cunt that makes your hips buck.

You bite down a whimper. “I was just…” you trail off, eyes rolling back when he teases one finger against your opening.

“Kidding?” he supplies. “Well, I wasn’t.” Your heart stutters in your chest, eyes growing wide as he finally pushes himself off of you, propping himself up with an elbow beside your head. His gaze is dark and unrecognizable. “I think you’re so fucking stupid, doll,” he sneers. “And what are you gonna do about it?”

You should have seen this moment coming, the manifestation of that shiny side of the coin finally reaching its full potential.

While Jungkook wasn’t exactly shy about his interests, he certainly wasn’t tripping over himself to tell you every new kinky thing he wanted to try. You sort of guessed he had some interest in this sort of play a few weeks ago when you watched the Barbie movie at his place. A lot of that night had branded itself into your three am wet dreams, but there was one particular moment that stood out to you. That was you, on your knees, with him condescendingly patting your head. Or just last week, you vaguely remember the term slipping through his lips as he pleasured you with The Bullet Bestie.

The thing about Jungkook was that, until last night, he would have never admitted, or so much as even thought, that he was better than you. That was fine because you would say it enough for the both of you anyway. Did you think Jungkook was amazing, an absolute diamond among these measly rocks? Absolutely. (Were you slightly biased because you were his girlfriend? Skip.) However, you also had this insane evil villain complex that made you want to brag about everything you possibly could, especially if that meant bragging about your boyfriend.

Realistically speaking, he was better than you, that much you could look past yesterday’s anger to admit, and not even in a stuck-up, conceited way; he had a really good job, an architecturally amazing house, and a hot girlfriend. Meanwhile, you had a mediocre job, an okay apartment, and an insanely sexy Calvin Klein boyfriend, half of which he had pointed out yesterday. Regardless of how powerful that third factor was, he still outnumbered you three to one.

Sue you, Jungkook was amazing. Anyone could see that! Except, maybe, himself.

And if the only time Jungkook would openly brag about his greatness or establish how much better than you he was, was in a post-fight, sex-induced setting, then you were more than happy to be his punching bag. So long as it was on your terms, and not as a result of his weirdly bottled up feelings.

(Yeah, you would have a long talk about that tomorrow.)

But for now, you pout up at him, clamping your thighs shut purposefully. “You’re stupid too,” you defend, “stupid and mean.”

Something in his expression changes. Suddenly, he’s moving at superhuman speed as he snatches his hand out from where you had previously trapped him between your legs, yanking you up by the front of your shirt. “Mean?” he mocks. “Isn’t that what you always wanted?” You shiver, fingers wrapping around the wrist that holds your sweater. “Wanted me to be mean and push you around like a little rag doll?”

Jungkook looks at you for another two seconds, before he’s slowly pulling away from you, leaning back on his knees. His tongue is pressing against the inside of his cheek, jaw tightening from the movement. “Baby,” he says so quietly it instills a prickle of fear in you, tainted with delicious excitement.

“Yeah?” you whisper, sitting up tentatively as you watch him, He was a bit frightening, like a wild animal about to devour you whole.

Jungkook rolls his neck, the joints in his spine cracking as he begins tugging off his shirt. You salivate at the sight, too focused on the sinewy muscles of his body to catch the dark gaze he levels your way. He throws it off to the side, his sleeve of tattoos that wraps around his bicep and begins to crawl down his chest wonderfully unobstructed now. “Eyes up here,” he says and you quickly meet his gaze. He leans forward, muscled arms coming to cage you against the headboard. “Stupid little sluts don’t have the room to make such comments,” he rasps out, unamused expression adorning his normally soft features. “Don’t you think so?”

“I-I don’t know,” you stammer, leaning away as he comes closer and closer, eventually just turning your head to the side to avoid that emotionless look. It’s the wrong move, and Jungkook lets you know as much by forcefully digging his fingers into your cheeks and turning your face back around to meet his gaze.

A hand grabs beneath your knee, tugging harshly until you’re flopping down onto your back with a squeal. You settle with his knee pressed hotly against your core. Jungkook stays towering over you. “Dumb little girls who make me watch cartoons,” he spits, tracing a hand over your chest, molding your breasts beneath his hands roughly enough to make you gasp. “And watch little animal movies on Disney+. Aren’t they just so stupid?”

“So stupid,” you concede, subtly shifting your hips for some desperately needed friction. Jungkook snorts, finally granting you your wish with one rough slide of his thigh against your core.

“I agree,” he says, and surprises you with a hand around your throat as he leans in to properly grind his thigh into you. “All they’re good for is being dumb little sluts with good pussy,” he murmurs darkly, thumb pressing into the side of your neck forcefully. “Sometimes, they don’t even do anything,” Jungkook continues, his other hand on your hip hauling you higher up his thigh. You mewl, soaked panties rubbing roughly against your folds. You miss the soft swirl of his thumb, the gentle prod of his fingers. Even so, you can’t deny this change in Jungkook is doing something to you, riling up a part of you that you hadn’t known existed. Maybe it’s the horniness from yesterday that was left unfulfilled, the one year anniversary sex that was put on pause. “Just lay there and take it, too fucked out and dumb to say anything.”

His fingers loosen for the briefest of seconds and you gasp for breath. “That’s terrible,” you whimper, rolling your hips up into his thigh, so close to his swollen cock.

Jungkook chuckles without an ounce of humor, pressing your foreheads together as he helps grind you to completion. “Isn’t it? I think that stupid little girl is cute though.”

“I’m sorry,” you blurt, vision spotting as he tightens his hand back around your throat. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you moan, stomach tight from all the stimulation.

Jungkook hums, slowing you down with a tight grip on your waist. “Hm, what are you sorry for?” he croons, pink lips pulling into an evil smile. “You said you weren’t that stupid girl, __.”

You shake your head, trying to roll your hips up again but he’s holding you too tightly now, rendering you immobile beneath him. “I am,” you choke out shamefully, grabbing at the hand on your hip in a feeble attempt to remove it. “I am a stupid little girl.”

Jungkook smirks, leaning down to slot his mouth over yours. “That’s right,” he murmurs, “nothing but a dumb little slut.”

You shiver, opening your mouth when he slides his tongue against your bottom lip. He’s not the slightest bit nice, and more messy than usual. He pulls away with a bite to your lower lip, meeting your trembling gaze with that same unrecognizable glint in his eyes. “Come on, dummy, keep up,” he snarks before devouring you again. You try to, you really do, but he’s moving like an animal today, despite his slow and drunken movements from that morning. So you end up with his saliva dripping down your throat, clinging to the corners of your lips as he begins slowly grinding you against his thigh again. He flashes you a wicked smile, pearly teeth on display for you as he glances down at your messy appearance.

“Are you gonna touch me?” you ask, lower lip trembling at the thought after your desperate rutting. Jungkook purses his lips together in thought.

“Mmm,” he hums. “Don’t know yet.”

You whine. “Jungkook, please,” you whimper, wrapping your legs around his waist. “I need you.”

Jungkook chuckles, running his hand up your waist and taking your shirt with him. He slips his fingers beneath your bra, pushing the wire over your chest as he mouths at your neck. “Cute,” he says. “Can’t do it yourself?”

You tremble, chest arching into him as he rolls your nipple between his fingers. “I-I can,” you gasp. “Just feels better with you.”

Jungkook follows your statement with a nip against your skin, tongue soothing over it right after. “Why? Because I do everything better than you? Even make you cum better than you?”

Your cheeks heat up at his blatant ego rearing its head, hands carding through the hair at the nape of his neck. You say nothing, and that only eggs Jungkook on. “Come onnn,” he teases, finally, finally rolling his hips down onto your core. You squeak, head falling back against the pillows as you’re granted the one thing you’d been chasing. “Say it.”

“Say what?” you ask, voice wobbly as he continues to slowly rut against you, the front of his shorts pressing against the soaked crotch area of your panties. “Oh, oh, Jungkook,” you whine.

Suddenly he bites down harshly, teeth digging painfully into your skin. You yelp in surprise, pussy throbbing at the pain that shoots throughout your body. Jungkook pulls away and doesn’t bother soothing over it as he leans up to capture your jaw this time. “Say you’re a stupid little slut who can’t do anything without me,” he purrs, kisses too soft for the words he says.

Your mind blanks, torn between the humiliating phrase he wants you to say and properly checking him in his place. In the end, it’s with a twisted need to please him that you’re repeating the words back to him. “I-I’m a stupid slut,” you whimper, fingers digging into his shoulder blades as he continues pushing you right along the edge. The rope pulled tightly in your core is slowly being pulled apart, threads hanging on for dear life. “Can’t... can't do anything without...”

“Without who?” he asks, reaching down and untying the front of his shorts. “Can’t do anything without who, baby?”

“Without you, without you,” you cry, bucking your hips up against his, the combined movements of both your bodies making you shake like a leaf. “Ah, K-Kook,” you wail, hips stuttering as your orgasm finally swallows you up. Your panties quickly grow wet and icky from your own arousal that pools between your thighs. Jungkook lets you writhe beneath him as you chase your high, mouth sucking a pretty blossom against your jaw.

You know better than to expect the night to end here, especially after seeing the glint that had been in his eyes as he watched you unravel.

He leans close, let’s his nose brush against yours as you catch your breath. “So perfect for me,” he groans, slotting his lips against yours. You can barely keep up with him, languidly going along with his hot tongue. “Perfect, perfect girl,” he murmurs, a stark change from the less than friendly adjectives he used just moments before. “Tell me you love me?” he says softly.

You nod, mind fuzzy as you wrap your arms around his neck. “Love you,” you exhale, letting your fingers knot in his hair. Your proclamation does something to him, makes him grind the front of his cotton shorts hard against you. For someone that was often rough and brutal with you in bed, he sure was sensitive to the mushiest of things.

“Don’t deserve you,” he huffs, hot breath fanning across your skin. He switches gears fairly quickly. “Tell me you hate me,” he begs hoarsely, rutting against your soiled panties. “Tell me I’m a piece of shit and you could do better without me,” he pleads, voice too airy to be another one of his usual sex-induced thoughts.

You shake your head, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he rolls his hips. “It’s not true,” you whisper, “I love you more than you’ll ever understand.”

Jungkook groans, suddenly winding back and tearing your ruined panties down your legs. You gasp in surprise, letting him haul you about in his blind, self-inflicted rage. “Stupid, stupid,” he huffs, though at this point you can’t tell who it’s directed at. With your underwear out of the way, he wastes no time plunging his fingers back into your cunt, bypassing the tight ring of muscle around it without any of his usual care. “You should hate me,” he snarls, lips pressed against your ear.

You moan, back arching at the sudden pleasure that blossoms between your thighs. “I-I don’t,” you gasp, toes curling.

Jungkook groans, the sound traveling down your spine and straight into your pussy. “Stupid girl,” he huffs, slipping an arm around you to pull you so close until you can’t breathe, chests lined up together. His skin is warm to the touch, scorching almost. “Fuck,” he groans, curling his fingers inside of you. You whimper and moan, incapable of staying still beneath him as he tortures you with a thumb to your clit. “Tell me you hate me,” he seethes again.

Despite the fog that’s settled over your mind, you still manage a resolute shake of your head. “N-no,” you cry, digging your nails into his back. They run dark red lines over his skin, making him hiss at the sting.

Whatever punishment he’s trying to put himself through is falling through with your refusal to admit such a thing. It aggravates him even more, your adamant stance on loving him so, and he’s retracting his fingers before you can cum again. “Please,” he chokes, face tucked into your neck. He’s sloppy with his movements; as he pulls his shorts down and kicks them away, he nearly suffocates you with his weight. “I don’t deserve you, ___, please.”

“I love you,” you whimper for lack of explanation. Jungkook leans back, that same madman gaze in his glossy eyes. He’s looking at you in disbelief almost, pouty lips puckered and swollen. Your hands slip from around him, falling on either side of your head.

Like a cobra he strikes, collecting your wrists in one hand he pins above your head. The sudden movement has him leaning in close, lips brushing over yours. His lashes are coated in a wetness he refuses to acknowledge, looking at you like you drive him insane. “If you ever try to leave me,” he whispers, jerky breath fanning over your skin, “I’ll lose my mind.”

He loves you so much it aches.

“I won’t,” you whimper, feeling your own eyes well up with an emotion that consumes every inch of your being. “I’ll never leave you, you stupid, stupid boy.”

A faint smile crosses his features at your words, lips quirking to the side. You relish in it for all of two seconds before he’s ramming his cock into you, your sensitive walls spawning around him. You sob loudly, eyes rolling back into your head. Your legs instinctively hook themselves around his waist, digging into the base of his spine as he rolls his hips into you.

You feel full and complete like he belongs there in this moment and every moment after this. It makes your heart constrict painfully. Jungkook’s soft groans follow your more unraveled noises, the vulgar slapping of skin on skin the underlying melody to it all. “Ffffuck,” he spits, greedily swallowing your moans up. You whine, arms bucking in an effort to hold him close. But he’s determined in his act of restraining you, long fingers tightening around your wrists until they hurt. “I warned you, didn’t I?” he huffs, snapping his hips into you.

Your walls clench around his hard cock, the drag as he exits sending shivers throughout your body. Jungkook’s body towers over you, glistening in sweat as he nails you into your mattress. “Remember what I said?” he asks, voice but a shuddery exhale. You shake your head numbly, overwhelmed by the rough drag across your walls. “All those months ago, when you first came over,” he adds. The hand on your hip abandons its post to cup you beneath the jaw, palm pressing sinfully against your throat enough to block the tiniest of airflow. “I’ll fuck you and keep you forever,” he murmurs, voice deeper than the pits of hell. He licks a fat stripe over your cheek like you’re nothing but a sweet for him to devour. “Do you remember that, pretty girl?”

You nod jerkily, hips arching up into him when he thrusts into you again. It’s a memory that replays in your mind every so often, your first night with the man you had planned to humiliate over a mere misunderstanding, now your boyfriend of one year. “Want that,” you gasp, tears blurring your vision when he begins picking up the pace. “Wanna be y-your pretty girl forever.”

Jungkook groans, kissing the corner of your mouth. His thighs are some magnificent beings, keeping his pace consistent even as he loses himself in his overwhelming need to kiss you. “Always,” he manages, soft lips pressed against yours. “I won’t ever let you leave.”

A shriek tears itself from your lips as he picks up that harsh piston, releasing your jaw to hold both wrists above your head. It makes his curls dangle in front of his eyes, covering that beautiful dark gaze. It makes his thin little necklace swing back and forth too, though it’s too small to actually touch your face. The rhythmic swing has you hypnotized, just like everything else about Jungkook.

With the length of his hair, you’re left staring at his lips, pulled taut between his pearly white teeth. The word from before sits heavy in your chest, begs to drip from the tip of your tongue. But he’s moving too fast and too hard, scrambling your thoughts until all you can think about is the cock plunging into your heat. His name falls from your mouth like mindless blubber instead, arms thrashing as your second orgasm swallows you up. It sends you crashing, body spasming as the sheer euphoria waves over you slowly and then all at once.

“Perfect,” he grunts, leaning down to slot his mouth against yours, “my perfect girl.” Your cum makes the sound of his hips erotic, the loud squelching following your panting. Still sensitive from your high, your body unconsciously tightens around him, keeps his cock from fully leaving. It brings a soft whine out of Jungkook, one he tries to muffle against the side of your face.

“Inside,” you whimper, even though your body feels like jelly beneath him. “Cum inside, Kook, please,” you beg.

It only takes a few more thrusts into your leaking hole for him to finally reach paradise, hips stuttering when that first shot of pleasure hits him. “Fuck, fuck,” he growls, wildly snapping his hips into your achy cunt. You moan, feeling just about brainless at the overstimulation. His cum leaves you full, almost makes your belly bulge from it. When he’s done he doesn’t bother pulling away, simply slumping into your limp form. His cock, though quickly softening, serves as a plug for the cum threatening to spill out of you.

There’s a muted noise coming from the other room, the faint sound of the mail slipping through your letterbox, the quiet chattering of the street outside. And of course, the loud blaring of your laptop playing the Phineas and Ferb theme song. Jungkook registers it at about the same time as you, a soft chuckle leaving his lips.

He pushes off of you soon after, leaning on his palms over you. He’s got that molten look on his eyes, the heat of a thousand suns burning behind those irises as he looks at you. Like he can’t get enough, even though he’s just about taken everything there is to take. “Love you,” he murmurs quietly.

A drop of sweat rolls over his forehead, clinging to the end of his eyebrow. You reach up and brush it away, let your hand trail down his face to cup his cheek. Immediately he leans into the touch, eyes falling half shut. “Love you more,” you respond.

“Impossible,” he scoffs.

Soon after you’re both stumbling out of bed, clothes haphazardly shrugged back on as you drift through the living room. There’s a thin, hot pink package sitting at the door, just having slipped through the letterbox; the stark Sexuality Unleashed logo is printed on the visible side, so you have to wonder what Doyeon could have possibly ordered this time that could be so thin. The laptop is awkwardly sandwiched next to a throw pillow, barely open a crack. Jungkook retrieves it, sets it on his lap as you scamper over to the couch.

“More Phineas and Ferb?” he asks quietly. He hates it, you know he does. And still, he wants to watch it with you.

You nod. “Please.”

He isn’t so concerned with the plot as you, clicking some random episode to start. You snuggle into his side, quietly singing along to the opening. After a moment, Jungkook speaks again. “Phineas and Flirt?” he offers cheekily.

You roll your eyes. “That might’ve been your worst one yet,” you sigh, trying to drown out his indignant huff by focusing on the screen.

“I don’t exactly see you coming up with these,” he points out, obviously feeling wronged.

Without missing a beat you say, “Disney+ and bust.”

epilogue

commercial break one ; the resolution

Copyright © 2020, 1kook on tumblr. absolutely NO reposts allowed.

[ncssian]

A Favor: Part Twenty-Seven

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: working a full time job + part time job tutoring english + applying for scholarships + still having free time left is a lot harder than i thought it would be. which is my way of saying this chapter should've been done a week ago lol.

i call this my goodbye chapter b/c goodbyes are made.

***

As Nesta brings the last of her things into the cabin, Azriel takes the last of his stuff out.

Standing beside Cassian, Nesta watches Azriel shut the trunk over the final box of his belongings. With all the extra stuff he stole from the cabin, it almost seemed like everything wouldn’t fit into his tiny car, but here he is. Ready to go.

He dusts off his leather jacket and approaches her and Cassian. “This is goodbye,” he says, coming to a stop before them.

Nesta once thought this would be the happiest day of her life, second to her wedding day. She should have predicted that her rightful joy would be extinguished by sentimentality.

Cassian claps Azriel on the shoulder, the two brothers having already said their goodbyes in private. Still, Nesta can see a little sorrow in Cassian’s eyes, as if he also got too used to having Az around all the time.

Azriel, the dick, reveals nothing through his eyes. Neither does Nesta.

The two of them look at each other awkwardly for a moment, and then he comes in to hug her. Nesta hugs him back, arms crossing around his broad back, but it has the same stiffness as two Barbie dolls being made to kiss each other.

When Azriel tries to pull away, Nesta clutches him to her with surprising strength. “I know about the picture,” she says lowly in his ear.

“Too late to take it back now.” She might feel him smile on top of her hair.

Nesta lets go of Azriel swiftly, having had enough physical contact with him to last a year. “Drive safe, so Elain can find you in one piece,” she orders.

Azriel grimaces at that, reminded of what waits for him in Velaris. Whatever Elain decides to give him, it’ll probably be deserved.

“I’ll get going then.” Az starts backing away, and Nesta hears Cassian sniffle. She looks toward her boyfriend in concern, but he circles his huge arms around her shoulders and pulls her back to his chest before she can catch him getting teary-eyed.

They watch Azriel get in his car and drive away. Nesta waves until the car disappears fully into the thickness of the surrounding trees, waves until her arms are too tired to keep going.

Once Az is gone, she turns in Cassian’s embrace and jumps up into his arms. Her legs hook around his hips and his hands fit themselves under her thighs. She smiles and tells him, “Let’s go home.”

Ten minutes later, they find themselves sitting in the silence of the kitchen. It’s the quiet of a house adjusting to a missing person, and Azriel’s absence is tangible.

Cassian is the first to break the silence. “Do you think he’s past city limits by now?” he asks as he stirs his coffee.

“No.” Nesta turns the page of her book, focused on reading. “Not if he stopped by Gwyn’s before leaving.”

She hears Cassian stop stirring. “What does that mean?” he says.

Nesta looks up at him and shrugs. “It means he probably wants to say goodbye to her.”

***

“One charge of assault, one for battery, and one huge lawsuit against my company,” Rhys reads aloud from the file in front of him.

Cassian waves a hand in dismissal. “Just make it go away like you always do.”

Rhysand’s near-violet eyes narrow with barely restrained rage. “Cassian. You shattered an employee’s hand.”

“Hey, O’Connell.” Cassian strolled up to him early last Monday morning. The underground parking lot was near empty at this hour, since most workers wouldn’t come in until nine. “How was the rest of your weekend?”

O’Connell looked up from getting his bag out of his car, clearly surprised to see Cassian willingly make small talk with him. “It was good,” he answered lightly. “You left Velaris early, though.”

“Yeah, about that.” Cassian came to a stop by O’Connell’s car and held out his hand, catching the car door before it could be shut. “I had to take my girlfriend home.”

O’Connell looked confused, but nodded along. “That’s nice. Can you—?” He gestured at the car door, indicating to Cassian to let go.

Cassian didn’t. “What hand did you use?”

“Excuse me?”

“When you touched her,” Cassian clarified. “What hand did you use when you touched her?”

O’Connell’s look of confusion morphed into one of contempt. “What the hell are you talking about, man?”

“Nesta Archeron.” Cassian straightened up, hand tightening over the top of the car door. “Your old college friend.” Realization dawned across O’Connell’s face, but he still hadn’t answered Cassian’s question.

“If you don’t tell me now, I’ll have to take my pick.” Cassian clicked his tongue in disappointment. “You’re left-handed, aren’t you?” He snatched up O’Connell’s left hand, and in a flash O’Connell was pressed up against the car, his hand pinned to the doorframe.

“Hey, wait, what are you—” O’Connell protested.

The sound of a car door slamming shut on a hand was louder than Cassian expected. It was the crunch of bones and muscle followed by immediate screaming.

“It could have been worse,” Cassian said flatly over O’Connell’s cries of pain. “It could have been your tongue, since you like talking shit so much.”

Cassian blinks out of the memory. “So what if I did?” he shrugs in response to Rhys.

“You are a member of my inner circle,” Rhysand fumes. “Keith O’Connell is a respected figure in our industry and a higher up from Vanserra and Co., and the head of our Milan outpost, but you saw fit to take out justice on him without asking me first.”

“You had nothing to do with it.”

“That is not up to you!” Rhysand jabs a finger at Cassian. “What will our shareholders think when they hear about this? What will the board members say?”

Cassian is starting to get irritated now. “They won’t find out, because you won’t tell them,” he says firmly. “We both know you’ve covered up worse things to fit your agenda, but it’s a problem if I don’t want a creepy bastard working under my jurisdiction?”

Having learned most of his business tricks from his father, Rhys is no perfectly clean CEO himself. He would’ve done far worse to O’Connell if it was Feyre in Nesta’s place, and he would have ended it all with a speech about how abusers and their sympathizers have no place at Night Court Inc.

The thought only inflames Cassian more; maybe he’s still riding off the anger of O’Connell making Nesta cry.

Tempering his feelings, he tells Rhys, “When you’re done shutting O’Connell up,” because Rhys would do it no matter how angry he pretended to be, “make sure Nesta never finds out about this.”

Rhys sits back in his chair, a bitter smirk pulling at his mouth. “Afraid she’ll be horrified of what a brute her sweet boyfriend is?”

Cassian nearly snorts at the image of Nesta recoiling at a broken hand. She’d probably call him weak for not shoving O’Connell into a ravine. “No,” he answers tiredly. “It’s not violence that offends her, but if she finds out it was in her name… I don’t want to put that on her shoulders.” Which is a shame, because in any other situation Nesta would love to hear about the unfortunate circumstances that led to O’Connell quitting his job.

Rhys lets loose a long sigh. “Damn, you both scare me.” After a few moments, he asks, “Now what are we going to do about Milan?”

***

Life after moving in with Cassian passes by quickly, and before Nesta knows it, she’s completed her second year of law school.

As for the boys who were some of her first friends and drinking companions, back when Nesta barely knew the definition of a friend—today they complete their final year of law school.

Nesta fans herself with the pamphlet she was handed at the beginning of the graduation ceremony, trying to stop the harsh morning sun from melting the makeup off her face. The audience is packed like sardines onto one huge field, and the announcer on stage hasn’t even reached the last names that start with D. Eris, Justinian, and Isaac are all near the bottom of the alphabet.

“Do we really need to be here today?” Nesta murmurs to Emerie, squirming in her metal foldout chair.

Sitting at her right, Emerie throws her a scolding look. “Don’t be like that. We’re never going to see these guys again.”

Nesta sincerely doubts that, considering how none of the guys are moving more than a few hours away. But her uterus is raising hell right now, even though her new meds have put a stop to her periods. Paired with the ache in her back from these terrible chairs, she’s about to call it quits and go straight home.

“Nesta!”

She whips her head to the left, finding Elain striding through the row of chairs to reach the empty seat beside her.

Like watching the Red Sea part, everyone in the row pulls their feet back and makes themselves as small as possible so Elain can have a clear walkway.

Nesta moves the purse she used to save Elain’s seat aside, and Elain drops her butt onto the little foldout chair like it’s a throne.

“A little warm for an outdoor ceremony, don’t you think?” Elain fans her face.

“You didn’t have to come all the way here, you know,” Nesta says.

“Eris made me. I haven’t talked to him since I broke up with his brother, but I think he wants to look like he has a lot of friends here.”

“Yeah, that checks out,” Emerie mutters from Nesta’s other side.

Elain seems to take notice of Emerie for the first time, and her Southern charm turns on like a switch. “Oh my, I don’t think we’ve met.”

Elain introduces herself and Emerie does the same, smiling and nodding politely, and Nesta can’t even decide if she likes this crossover because she’s too busy massaging her aching abdomen.

A string of “Excuse me, sorry!”s go up in the row they’re sitting in, and a moment later a familiar face plops down on the chair to Emerie’s right.

Gwyn leans over Emerie and holds a bottle of Advil out to Nesta. “This is all I could find in my car, babe.”

Nesta releases a sigh of relief and snatches the bottle. “It’s perfect, thank you.”

Elain’s gaze moves to the medicine, then to Gwyn. “You must be Gwyn.” She offers a smile. “I’m Nesta’s sister, Elain.”

Gwyn’s eyes widen imperceptibly, and Nesta realizes she should have warned Gwyn that Elain would be here.

Going off how Gwyn’s been acting the last few weeks, Nesta can only assume that she influenced Azriel’s final decision to move away, whether directly or indirectly. Nesta doesn’t even know much about what happened between the two of them during their weird sex deal, considering that she and Gwyn promised to never discuss such horrible things with each other.

All Nesta knows is that Azriel is Gwyn’s closest male friend, and close friends that have also slept together probably don’t want to bump into each other’s exes without warning.

“Are you here to see Eris graduate, too?” Elain asks.

Gwyn looks like a deer caught in headlights. “Who? Oh—no, I’m just here so we can drive to brunch together after.” Her voice gets quieter with each word, and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Nice to meet you,” she adds in a murmur, her face a furious shade of red. She quickly looks forward at the stage as if the graduation ceremony is the most fascinating thing ever.

Elain doesn’t note the odd behavior, instead refocusing on the Advil pills that Nesta pops into her mouth and swallows dry. “Are you still hurting?” Elain says, furrowing her thin brows. “I thought you got that problem fixed.”

Nesta tries not to snort as she accepts the bottle of water that Emerie wordlessly passes her. “You can’t ‘fix’ endometriosis, Elain. That’s not how it works.”

“Oh. Well how was I supposed to know that?”

Nesta slides unamused hooded eyes to her sister. Before she can retort anything, Emerie elbows her hard. “Look, it’s Isaac!”

She refocuses on the ceremony, cheering and clapping half-heartedly as Isaac takes the stage. It’s not that she doesn’t care about her study buddies; it’s just that she feels like shit right now.

Justinian follows suit a few minutes later, grinning and waving when he spies Emerie cheering for him. Gwyn is distracted on her phone through all of it.

The Advil has finally started to kick in when Nesta murmurs to Elain, “How is Azriel adjusting to being back in the city?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Elain answers innocently. “I haven’t seen much of him since he returned.”

“Just spill it,” Nesta says. “Azriel wouldn’t tell me anything, so I’m assuming he’s humiliated about it.”

Elain sighs, delicately pushing her hair behind her shoulder. “He came to me to talk. I heard him out, and then we went back to his apartment for coffee, and then I took my fabric scissors and cut out the crotch from all his pants.”

Nesta raises a brow. “All of them?”

“All of them.”

Nesta shrugs, turning back to face the stage. “It’s good enough. I could have done worse.”

“Then it’s a good thing you’re not me, isn’t it?” Elain snips.

Nesta won’t say it, but she supposes she is a little happy for Elain. In fact, she thinks this might be the first time Elain has stood up for herself instead of letting Nesta handle it.

After the ceremony is over, Emerie goes off to congratulate Isaac and Justinian. Gwyn follows so she can get away from Elain, and Nesta, being sweaty and overstimulated and more than ready to leave, settles for waving her arms and grinning at the boys from across the field.

She’s about to say goodbye to Elain and make a beeline for the parking lot when she spots a head of shining red hair approaching her. No—make that two heads.

Eris looked unbearably snooty as he received his degree, likely smug with the fact that he has a comfortable job at a family friend’s corporate law firm lined up for him after he passes the Bar. Nesta admits that she’s a little disappointed in him: after all his talk of working hard and being the smartest person in the room, he ended up riding his father’s coattails to a disgustingly high salary. But maybe that is hard work for him, considering that there was such a ruckus in the Vanserra family when he chose to go into law instead of business.

As for Lucien… Well, Nesta really has no idea what the kid does, but she knows he looks good, better than the last time she saw him. An early summer tan makes him glow in comparison to his brother, while lean forearms are revealed under the rolled up sleeves of his dress shirt. He looks comfortable in a way he wasn’t at Thanksgiving all those months ago.

Even with his ex standing just a few feet away.

“Elain,” Lucien greets her with a foxlike smile.

Elain rolls her eyes in response and turns to Eris. “Congratulations on graduating, hun. Now that we’re even, kindly delete my number from your phone and never call me again.”

Even? Nesta raises a brow, wondering what that could possibly mean.

“I take it this is goodbye?” Eris tells her.

“I’m already leaving,” Elain says sweetly. She blows a kiss at Eris, then Nesta. “Feel better soon,” she chirps at her, before striding away in her pastel pink heels.

Very jealous of Elain getting to escape before she can, Nesta calls after her, “Hot date to catch?” She’s wearing the signature perfume she usually does when meeting with a man.

Elain tosses over her shoulder, “Something like that.” Her purse swings as she disappears around a corner to the parking lot.

Nesta watches her go with envy, and when she turns back she finds Eris already looking at her. Meanwhile, Lucien still has his eyes glued to the spot where Elain disappeared.

“You feel sick?” Eris asks her.

“No thank you, I have a boyfriend,” Nesta replies on instinct.

Eris scoffs once in indignation, then twice. “Don’t flatter yourself,” he says with disbelief. “I can care about my friends, you know.”

“You want her,” Lucien mutters.

Nesta’s eyes snap to Lucien, who seems to be acknowledging her presence for the first time today. “And what do you want?” She tilts her head at him, intrigued at having a new playmate. He’s less predictable than Eris, at the very least.

Lucien looks at her and offers a sheepish smile. “Nothing you can give me.”

Eris rolls his eyes at the both of them, clearly regretting bringing his brother along with him. “I’m already bored of this conversation,” he laments. “I’m out; the D.A. is here and I want to say hi. Find me when you’re done, punk.” Eris bonks Lucien on the head with his rolled up diploma and starts walking away, only pausing to extend a mocking bow to Nesta. “We’re not over yet, Archeron,” he calls as he leaves.

Now it’s Nesta’s and Lucien’s turn to roll their eyes.

With only the two of them left, Nesta feels obliged to ask awkwardly, “So… how’ve you been?”

Lucien’s gaze slides to her. “I didn’t know you were Elain’s sister,” he says.

She huffs a laugh. “I didn’t know you were her ex at first, either. Does it matter?”

Lucien’s mouth turns down in thought, but he doesn’t answer her question. “I’m doing good,” he says in response to her former question instead. “I’ve been living the nomad life, traveling around with friends, roadtripping in a van.”

But would you come home for Elain? Nesta can’t help but wonder.

She didn’t know Lucien had dated Elain until after her first meeting with him, but even then it had been something of a throwaway detail. Elain dates lots of guys, and falls in love with even more of them. She seemed to barely remember Lucien’s name when Nesta first brought it up in front of her.

But for some inexplicable reason, Nesta genuinely likes Lucien. A part of her recognizes something similar in a part of him, and it makes her sad to imagine him being stuck on a girl who won’t think about him twice.

“Take my advice,” Nesta tells him bluntly, “and move on if you haven’t yet. Staring after Elain when she already broke up with you will get you nowhere.” Elain isn’t the type to ever look back, and she never falls for the same man twice.

Lucien just looks at Nesta with a blank face. “I broke up with her,” he says.

Nesta’s mouth falls open.

“And,” he adds, “I was staring at her ass.” He starts walking backwards to his brother, giving Nesta an innocent grin as he leaves. “It was nice meeting again. See you in another six months.”

Nesta is dumbfounded watching him go, not knowing what to do with this new knowledge. As far as she knows, no one has ever broken up with Elain except for Azriel—and that ended in Az losing all of his pants.

It only occurs to Nesta that she shouldn’t have let Lucien get away with that ass comment when Emerie and Gwyn suddenly appear at her side, each of them interlocking an arm with hers. “You feeling better?” Emerie inquires cheerfully. “Ready to go?”

Nesta nods slowly, forcefully putting Lucien Vanserra and his too-sly demeanor out of her mind. He isn’t her problem right now. Summer is already here with a vengeance, and she’ll only have so much free time with the people she loves most. So she chooses to focus only on them.

Tugging her friends closer and squeezing their arms, Nesta asks, “Where are we eating?”

***

a/n: this needs sooo much more editing lol i could have done a lot more with this chapter if i wasn’t constantly tired and pressed for free time. sorry y’all :/

tagging: @hellasblessed @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @valkyriewarriors @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @everything-that-i-love @cassianscool @swankii-art-teacher @wannawriteyouabook @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy @poisonous-bloom @observationanxioustheorist @gisellefigue08 @courtofjurdan @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @wolfiixxx @cass-nes @seashade @royaltykxx @illyrianundercover @queenestarcheron @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies @humanexile @that-golden-lyre @agentsofsheilds @mercy-is-alive @cassiansbigwingspan @laylaameer01 @verypaleninja @maastrash @bow-dawn @perseusannabeth @dead-on-the-inside666 @jlinez @hungryreadingaddict @anidealiveson @planet-faerie @shallowhighwaters @ghostlyrose2 @chosenfamily-valkyriequeens @rarephloxes@readiajin @nessiantrashh @live-the-fangirl-life @ifinallygavein @xoblivisci @sjmships @jungtaekwoonie-is-life @lysandra-tiara @lanyjoy-13 @post-it-notes33 @loosingdreams @fromthelibraryofemilyj @18moneytoad @dontgetsalmonella @champanheandluxxury @togreblog @arinbelle @ladygabrielli1997 @meridainthedisneyland @moodymelanist @pixieelea @teagoddess99 @mystic-bibliophile

[potionsprefect]

Away in D.C

Pairings: Ethan Ramsey x Victoria Clarke

Word count: 3.7k

Summary: Ethan has to leave for a medical conference and the family learn to deal with it.

Rating: General Audiences

Category: angst, fluff

He ended the call and put his phone down, running a hand over his face.

It was confirmed he was needed in Washington D.C for a 4 day medical conference.

“Confirmation?” Victoria said from her spot on the bed.

Ethan looked at her. “Yes, 4 days in Washington.”

Victoria gave him a small smile as she moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. “We’ll be okay. You’ve had to do this before.”

“That was when they were really small. They’ll remember this one.” Ethan replied.

“It’ll be ok. I’m here and I’ll make sure they have the best time whilst your away.” Victoria said leaning in to kiss Ethan’s neck.

“I really don’t want to go though.” Ethan sighed.

“I know you don’t baby. But you have too. It’ll be over before you know it.” Victoria said.

The older the twins got, the harder it was to leave them. The last time Ethan had to go away for a conference, the twins weren’t old enough to remember. Now they were at an age where they would realise Ethan wasn’t around and it would hit them hard.

“Come on, let’s go tell them.” Victoria said getting up, gently grabbing Ethan’s hand pulling him up. The two made their way downstairs where their two young children were playing with their toys.

“Hi Mommy, Daddy.” Luke smiled up at them. Lily was concentrating on her Barbie dolls.

“We’ve got something we need to tell you. And you’ve got to be very grown up about it.” Victoria said sitting down and pulling Luke into her lap, Ethan did the same with Lily.

“What’s wrong?” Luke asked, noticing a change in mood.

“I’ve got to go away for a few days. I have something really important to do.” Ethan said.

The twins looked between Ethan and Victoria, Lily cuddling against Ethan the more she looked at him.

“Is it to do with work?” Luke asked.

“That’s right. But I’ll be home before you know it.” Ethan said.

“And I’ll be here to make sure you’re both okay. We’ll have the best weekend ever.” Victoria replied.

Luke smiled although Victoria could tell he was forcing it but Lily seemed to be taking it the hardest. She buried her face into Ethan’s shoulder, his arms tightening around her tiny waist, holding her close.

Victoria could sense that Ethan would talk to Lily so she turned to Luke. “How about we go find Jenner?” She suggested. Luke jumped up at that and raced into the kitchen. As Victoria followed him, she briefly looked back and could hear soft sobs coming from Lily.

“I found Jenner!” Luke exclaimed as the golden retriever licked his face making him giggle.

“Thats great. Mommy needs to ask you something.” Victoria picked him up and sat him at the kitchen table. “Are you okay with Daddy going away? It’s okay if you’re not, Mommy’s here to help you.”

“I know he’ll be back. Daddy always comes back.” Luke said, pretending to race his car along the kitchen table.

“It’s great that you think that. Lily’s a bit upset by it all so you’ll have to be extra nice to her and we can both cheer her up. I know! Shall we make a list of things to do this weekend and then we can tell Daddy all about them when he comes home?” Victoria suggested.

“Yeah!’ Luke grinned. Victoria grabbed a notepad.

“How about we have a pyjama day on Saturday? We can watch all your favourite tv shows and films?”

“Yeah! And can we have pizza?”

“Why not? How about ice cream as well? And on Sunday I’ll cook you your favourite meal.” Victoria said.

“Yes spaghetti!”

Victoria laughed as she made notes, this also included time on their climbing frame in the garden and going to the park as well as endless amounts of cuddles.

“Mommy will Lily be ok?” Luke asked.

“She’ll be fine. She’s just a little sad that Daddy’s going away but he won’t be long.”

Back in the living room, Ethan was comforting Lily who was holding onto him as if she didn’t want to let go.

“I don’t want to go away either Lil. But Mommy’s here and she’ll look after you.” Ethan forced Lily to look at him.

“I don’t like it when you’re not here.” Lily said.

“I don’t either sweetpea. But sometimes we have to do things we don’t really want to do.” Ethan replied stroking Lily’s hair.

“Like when Mommy makes me eat vegetables?”

“Yes exactly like that.” Ethan chuckled. “I’m gonna miss you too, but we can FaceTime with Luke and Mommy every evening. Does that sound okay?”

Lily nodded, a smile forming on her face. “When do you go?”

“I leave tomorrow night and come back Monday evening. I promise you the time will go very quickly. How about we do something tomorrow before I leave? Just you, your brother and me?” Ethan suggested.

“What about Mommy?”

“I already asked Mommy and she said it was a great idea.” Ethan smiled. Truth be told, Ethan knew Victoria would say yes because it would mean her having time to herself.

“Okay.” Lily smiled throwing her arms around Ethan who hugged her just as tightly back.

“Shall we go and see what Luke and Mommy are up to?” Ethan asked.

“Okay.” Lily replied. She hopped off Ethan’s lap and headed to the kitchen, Ethan following shortly behind her.

— — — — —

Ethan made his way down the stairs, luggage in hand and set it down by the front door. It was pitch black, the outside being lit by the street lights.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at the airport?” Victoria asked coming out of the living room.

“No it will just make the goodbye even harder.” Ethan sighed wrapping his arms around Victoria.

“Try not to have too much fun.” Victoria smiled leaning against his chest.

“Impossible without you.” Ethan chuckled slightly leaning down to press a heated kiss to Victoria’s lips.

“Text me when you land.”

“Of course. I better get going.”

As if on cue, the kids ran into the hallway, throwing their arms around Ethan as he bent down to hug them.

“I’ll miss you both so much, promise me you’ll be good for Mommy?” Ethan looked at the twins.

“We will. Promise you’ll think about us?” Lily looked at Ethan, green eyes staring into blue.

“All the time, I promise.” Ethan smiled. Ethan gave the twins one last big hug before standing up and opening the door. “I’ll see you all in a few days.” Ethan headed out the door.

“Bye!” The twins and Victoria chorused before they shut the door.

“Go to the window and wave to Daddy.” Victoria instructed. The twins ran into the living room and climbed onto the sofa waving as the taxi pulled out the driveway and round the corner.

Once the car was out of sight Luke went back to his racing car whilst Lily flopped down onto the sofa and cuddled her teddy.

“Come on, let’s get you into bed.” Victoria picked Lily up who rested her head on her shoulder.

“Mommy pick me up too!” Luke said holding his arms up. Laughing, Victoria picked him up and carried them up the stairs.

It didn’t take the twins long to get ready for bed. As they were brushing their teeth, Lily asked “Mommy can I sleep in your bed tonight?”

“Is your bed not comfy enough?” Victoria knelt down so she was eye level with her daughter.

“It is. But Luke and I don’t want you to be lonely.” Lily sighed.

“We don’t?” Luke said, a mouth full of toothpaste. Lily nudged him, silently urging him to play along. “I mean yes we don’t!”

“That’s very sweet of you. And I don’t see why not.” Victoria smiled.

The twins grinned as they finished brushing their teeth and made their way to Ethan and Victoria’s bedroom.

“Did you both enjoy your day at the petting zoo with Daddy?” Victoria asked as she tucked the twins into Ethan’s side of the bed.

“Yeah we saw lots of animals.” Luke said.

“He even bought us something from the gift shop.” Lily replied.

Victoria smiled as she listened to their stories of today. It wasn’t long before both of the twins began to drift off to sleep and with a final kiss on each of their foreheads, she quietly crept out the room.

Victoria tidied up the living room and turned on the TV. She watched a few episodes of a new crime drama that was airing, until she felt exhaustion creeping up on her a few hours later and decided to go to bed.

Victoria slipped on her pyjamas and brushed her teeth before quietly making her way into her bedroom. Her heart swelled at her two young children cuddled up against each other fast asleep.

As Victoria hit the pillow, her phone lit up with a notification.

Landed safely, speak to you tomorrow x

Smiling, Victoria fell asleep.

— — — — —

The early morning sunrise woke Victoria up the next morning. Luke and Lily were still fast asleep as Victoria quietly got dressed. When she went back into her bedroom she gently roused the twins from their sleep.

“No Mommy I’m not awake.” Lily pulled the duvet over her and Luke.

“Sounds like you are to me.” Victoria chuckled.

“It’s too early.” Luke whined.

“Okay, I guess I’ll just eat all the pancakes.” Victoria pretended to walk away.

“No I’m up, I’m up!” Lily jumped out of bed and ran to Victoria, Luke not far behind her.

“Okay then let’s go make some pancakes. Do you want to hold my hand?”

“No we’re big now we can do it ourselves!” Luke replied.

The three made their way downstairs to the kitchen, Jenner jumped up and licked the twins’ faces making them giggle.

“Mommy can we have blueberries with them?” Lily asked.

“Of course you can.” Victoria smiled.

“Daddy let’s us have syrup as well.” Luke said.

“Luke! That was meant to be a secret!” Lily cried.

“Does he? Well I’ll be having words with Daddy.” Victoria pretended to be stern.

“Don’t be angry with Daddy Mommy. He was being kind.” Lily looked up at Victoria.

Victoria crouched down so she was at her height. “I can’t stay mad at Daddy for too long.”

The twins giggled and Victoria dished them up their pancakes, which they ate at lightning speed.

“Can we go watch a film now?” Luke asked.

“No Luke we have to get dressed and brush our teeth, right Mommy?” Lily sternly told Luke.

“Actually Mommy has decided we can have a pyjama day today, but you do need to brush your teeth.” Victoria said.

The twins raced upstairs and quickly brushed their teeth before they hurried back downstairs.

“What film do you want to watch?” Victoria asked.

“The Lion King!” The twins excitedly said. Victoria chuckled as she put the DVD into the player.

Victoria sat in-between the kids who snuggled up against her. As the film played, Victoria phone pinged, it was a message from Ethan.

How are you doing?

Smiling Victoria replied all okay, watching the Lion King for the millionth time.

I usually watch that with them, guess they’re missing me.

They’re not the only ones.

“Who are you texting Mommy?” Luke asked noticing Victoria was looking at her phone.

“Daddy. He wants to know if you two are ok.”

“We are! But tell him I miss him.” Lily said.

“I will sweetheart.”

The twins continued watching the film as Victoria text Ethan. Has the conference started?

It didn’t take long for a reply. In 5 minutes, are the kids behaving?

Victoria laughed a little as she text back. They are, and they miss you a lot.

The three little dots appeared at the bottom of the screen before Ethan’s message popped up. I miss them too. And you as well.

Victoria’s heart swelled at the comment. She knew Ethan wouldn’t be away for long but she missed him terribly nonetheless.

Luke and Lily continued to cuddle up against Victorias side as the film played out. The last time Ethan went away they weren’t old enough to realise but Victoria definitely noticed a change in mood between them and the minute Ethan walked through the front door, their tiny faces lit up.

Victoria knew they would have the same reaction when they reunited with Ethan on Monday.

— — — — —

Sunday soon rolled around and Victoria was currently reading a medical journal as Luke and Lily played with their toys.

“Make way for Captain Destroyer as he captures the Barbie palace!” Luke enthusiastically said as he crashed his action man into Lily’s Barbie palace.

“No! My Barbies! What did they do?” Lily hugged her Barbies to her chest to protect them.

“They’re mine now!” Luke went to grab them.

“No! Mommy!” Lily looked at Victoria.

“Luke leave her alone.” Victoria looked up from her book.

“But-“

“I’d think carefully about what you’re about to say.” Victoria said sternly.

Luke huffed and threw his toy onto the floor. “I’m bored.”

“I know. How about we build a fort? I used to make them all the time with Uncle Will and Auntie Sarah.”

“Yeah!” The twins jumped up.

“Okay. The first essential for a great fort is blankets. Can you go find some for me?” Victoria asked.

The twins eagerly ran out the room and up the stairs as Victoria took some of the cushions from the sofa and moved some of the furniture so it was closer together. The last time she has made a fort was when she was a kid. She had forgotten how fun it was.

“We’ve got them!” Lily said running back into the living room.

“Where’s Luke?” Victoria asked, noticing the young boy wasn’t with his sister.

“I’m under here!” A muffled voice said. Victoria pulled the blankets off him chuckling.

“Why don’t you put them under there and I’ll grab some fairy lights.”

Victoria headed upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms and found some old battery operated fairy lights. She brought them downstairs and hung them around the fort so there was more light.

“Wow it looks so cool!” Lily said looking round.

“Are these the kind of forts you built with Uncle Will and Auntie Sarah Mommy?” Luke asked.

“Yes. We used to build forts all the time as kids. Although Uncle Will didn’t like it when we brought lots of pink things in there.” Victoria laughed.

“Have you and Daddy ever made a fort together?” Lily asked.

“Ah well, I’ve always tried to persuade Daddy but so far I haven’t been able to. Maybe the three of us can persuade him one day.”

“How did you and Daddy meet Mommy?” Luke said cuddling up against Victorias side, Lily doing the same.

“I met him when I first started working. Although he didn’t really like me at first.” Victoria put her arms around her children.

“Why not?”

“He thought I was annoying and I thought he was very grumpy.” Victoria said which made them giggle.

“But Daddy is always so funny.” Luke said looking bewildered as if his Dad could be anything but fun.

“That’s because you two are his angels and he always saves his best features for us three.” Victoria tickled them making them laugh. “I know. Shall we take a picture and send it to Daddy?”

“Yeah!”

Victoria grabbed her phone and held it up. “Say cheese!”

“Cheese!” The twins grinned.

Victoria looked at the photo. “What do you think?”

“Great!” The twins beamed. Victoria sent the photo.

“How about I get started making the spaghetti?”

“Yes!”

Victoria chuckled as she headed out into the kitchen, As she put a pan of water on to boil her phone lit up with a notification.

Wishing I was with you x

— — — — —

Much later on in the day, the twins were fed and bathed and were in their pyjamas watching TV.

“Look who’s calling.” Victoria said holding her phone up in front of the twins. Their eyes lit up when they saw Ethans name.

“Daddy!” They cried when Victoria accepted the call and Ethan’s face popped up on the screen.

“Hi guys! How are you?” Ethan smiled.

“We’re good. Mommy helped us build a fort and then we ate spaghetti!” Luke said.

“I see. And how is Mommy?” Ethan chuckled.

“Mommy’s fine.” Victoria smiled.

“We miss you Daddy.” Lily said in a quiet voice as she cuddled her teddy.

“I miss you too sweetheart. I wish I was with you.” Ethan smiled.

“You’ll see Daddy tomorrow night Lil.” Victoria cuddled her.

“Daddy are you having a good time?” Luke asked.

Ethan laughed at that. “As good as can be.” He then went on to explain everything he had been doing even though Victoria could tell he was exaggerating. However, that didn’t matter when she saw the excited look on her children’s faces.

Victoria could tell the twins were getting tired so she suggested ending the call, promising them Daddy would be home tomorrow night. She carried them to bed, gently kissing them on their foreheads.

“Wait.” Luke suddenly said as Victoria was about to shut his bedroom door. She watched him get out of bed and head to his dresser and pull out a framed photo. On closer inspection, she realised it was a framed photo of them as a family.

“Why have you got that?” Victoria asked.

“So I don’t miss Daddy too much. And so he doesn’t get lonely.” Luke snuggled against the picture.

Victoria’s throat became thick with emotion and she felt tears forming in her eyes. Blinking them away she quietly crept out the room and once she shut the door, she let the tears fall.

It was remarkable to see how grown up the twins were. Naturally they were sad, Victoria wasn’t expecting anything less and some of the time, she knew the smiles were hiding that they were missing Ethan. But they had been so mature over the last few days and Victoria was proud of them.

She knew she was raising them well.

— — — — —

After another day of parks, food and endless amount of cuddles, Victoria, Luke and Lily were in the car on their way to the airport to pick up Ethan. Ethan’s flight got in at 8 and Victoria made sure she left with enough time to spare. The twins were in their pyjamas, Victoria deciding they could win that battle but were wrapped up in their coats.

Luke and Lily were so excited that Ethan was coming home today. In the morning, they went out and bought some of Ethan’s favourite foods, the twins made him a welcome home card for him to see when they arrived back. They managed to tire themselves out at the park in the afternoon, Luke even went down for a nap but Lily refused (‘If I fall asleep Mommy I’ll miss seeing Daddy so I have to stay awake.’)

5 minutes before they arrived at the airport, Lily had begun to doze off.

“Go to sleep Lil.” Victoria said as she pulled into the airport carpark.

“But Daddy…” Lily yawned as she shut her eyes.

“Will be here when you wake up.” Victoria said smiling at her. She pulled into an empty space and got out the car, heading to Luke’s side first helping him out of the car then gently lifting Lily out of the car, pulling her close as the little girl laid her head on her mothers shoulder.

“Can we go now Mommy?” Luke asked tugging on her hand.

“Yes, hold my hand.” Victoria said, Luke obeyed immediately.

The family walked through the airport, heading to the board where the arrivals were updated.

“Can you see Daddy’s plane number?” Victoria asked Luke as the young boy looked up at the board.

“No. Where is it?” Luke said.

“I can. It says it’s arrived.” Victoria pointed up at the screen.

“Does that mean Daddy’s home?” Luke’s eyes lit up.

“Yes sweetheart Daddy’s home.” Victoria smiled.

The family moved towards where the arrivals would filter out. The automatic doors kept opening and closing, passengers reuniting with loved ones.

“He’s not coming!” Luke said looking up at Victoria.

“He will, you just need to be patient.” Victoria ruffled his hair, glancing at Lily who was still fast asleep in her arms.

More and more people walked out until Victoria saw the one face she had been waiting for. Luke had seen him too.

“Daddy!” Luke ran to Ethan, the latter knelt down to greet his son, pulling him into a tight hug. Victoria couldn’t make out what they were saying to each other but her heart swelled at the reunion.

Holding Luke’s hand in one and pulling his suitcase in the other, Ethan made his way over to Victoria.

“Someone tried desperately to stay awake all day but inevitably fell asleep.” Victoria chuckled gesturing to the sleeping Lily.

“I don’t mind She’ll have the best reaction when she wakes up.” Ethan smiled pressing a short kiss to Lily’s head then pressed his lips to Victoria’s.

“Good to be home?”

“Definitely.” Ethan replied. He picked Luke up and with suitcase in hand, the family made their way out of the airport. “Pass me the keys.” Ethan said once they had reached the car.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind driving.” Victoria asked.

“I want to. It’s the least I can do.” Ethan smiled.

Victoria didn’t argue with that. She put Lily in her carseat then climbed into the front. Ethan’s hand found hers, lacing their fingers together.

“So tell me. How boring was the conference?” Victoria grinned as Ethan found the interstate.

“Almost as boring as all the other ones. I certainly won’t be going to anymore anytime soon.” Ethan chuckled.

“I’m glad. We’ve missed you. They’ve been good as gold though.” Victoria smiled as she looked behind her. Luke had also fallen asleep.

“I knew they would. And it wouldn’t be a trip away if I didn’t have a present to bring back.”

“Another piece of memorabilia.”

“Of course.” Ethan laughed. “It’s good to be home though. My place is right here.” Ethan squeezed Victoria’s hand.

Smiling, Victoria relaxed back in her seat as Ethan drove their family back home where they belonged.

— — — — —

I have all the feels after writing that 🥺🥰

Thank you so much for reading! Let me know if you would like to be tagged or removed

Tag list:

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@choicesficwriterscreations

[tinyboxxtink]

Return To Sender

Ok so I was eating a corn on the cob earlier and it made me realize how similar it is to.....other things. So this came out. Yes, a corn on the cob prompt.

Don't judge me. Or do. Just enjoy.

PART 2

You had been working at SVU for several months now, and you loved every moment of it. Especially the moments with the ADA, Rafael Barba. You couldn’t deny you became enamored with him the moment he walked into the squad room on your first day. But you kept your little infatuation to yourself; at work anyway. When you would go home to your childhood best friend and current room mate, they’d ask you to spill details of your day, and many of those details included Rafael.

This one particular evening, Amanda had invited you out to eat with the squad. You hadn’t exactly “bonded” with anyone yet, and it was a welcoming gesture that you happily accepted. To your delight, the “squad” included Rafael! You desperately tried to hide your excitement as you followed Amanda to the back of the restaurant where the gang already had drinks and a calamari appetizer.

“I uh, I didn’t realize we were going fancy,” You sheepishly stated, after greetings of welcome were exchanged.

“I didn’t think Fazolli’s counted as ‘fancy’. Liv and I come here all the time” Rafael shrugged.

“Any food that doesn’t come out of Styrofoam containers is fancy to me, counselor,” You bit back with a bit more attitude than you meant. Rafael raised an eyebrow at your sudden bold demeanor.

“Ah. Well, I suppose we could take up a collection plate for you to eat something,” he smirked back as he sipped his scotch.

“Rafa, don’t be a dick. If you need a spot sweetie I got you, i invited you,” Amanda gave you a sympathetic look.

“I don’t think she’d have any trouble getting any guy to buy her anything in here,” Sonny chuckled, gesturing to your outfit.

Okay, so you were younger than them; Significantly younger. You couldn’t help it you were a child prodigy, graduating college at 18. And instead of being a rocket scientist, you used your many scholarship offers to go through the Police Academy AND Law School, because you wanted to use your smarts to help people. So yes, you were quite younger than the rest of them. Probably a big reason this was the first time you had been invited out to their “Grown Up” dinners.

You glanced down to the outfit Sonny was referring to; nothing fancy. Although you had to admit it showed off more cleavage than any of them were used to seeing on you. You blushed and pulled your jacket over your top and grabbed a menu to cover your red face.

“Thanks, I think,” You muttered a small thanks to Sonny, to which he winked back. Good lord maybe this wasn’t a great idea. You flipped out your phone and texted your roommate, begging them to help you get through this. You discreetly dictated the progression of the evening, like a play by play in a football game.

However as the night went on, you became more and more comfortable with your coworkers. They really were wonderful people; and the three drinks you had didn’t hurt either.

“Damn Y/N, I didn’t realize you were so funny!” Fin laughed, recovering from one of the jokes you had continually kept in the conversations all night.

“Oh yeah, Clown College is one of the most prestigious degrees I have in my collection,” You nodded your head as if in a subtle bow.

“That’s right, you’re like a child genius aren’t you?” Liv asked; she had definitely noticed that when she went over your resume to hire you.

“Emphasis on child,” Rafael muttered with food in his mouth. The group stopped laughing and glanced at him with perplexed looks.

“Really man?” Sonny asked with a hint of defense in his tone.

“Oh it’s fine, old man river is just upset he's not the center of attention for once,” you smirked at him without missing a beat. He huffed and muttered grumblings in Spanish under his breath while the rest of the table chuckled in amusement. Nobody had dared to mess with the big bad DA in social settings, he was scary enough in the courtroom.

You were so engrossed in the little cat and mouse game you were playing with the man you’d been obsessed with for months that you had forgotten you were in the middle of a conversation with your roommate. Your phone finally began vibrating on the table, causing Amanda to notice.

“Someone waiting on you?” She asked. “Boyfriend maybe?”

“Or a sitter, perhaps?” Rafa once again tried the young thing, but he was a bit more drunk than earlier and his quip made no sense.

“That would mean I HAVE a kid, counselor. Which I do not.” you rolled your eyes.”Or a boyfriend,” you added with a smirk. Oh God why were you being so brash NOW? Reign it in there, Don Juan.

You quickly jotted a text to your roommate letting them know you were ok and that the evening was going significantly better by the moment, and you’d tell them more when you got home later.

Not a second after you hit SEND did Amanda’s phone go off in her pocket. She looked at it with an amused smile.

“Uh how sloshed are you, newbie?” She giggled, starting to read the text.

Your face drained of all color, your expression frozen in fear. Oh God OH GOD she’s going to read that, let’s just say, ADULT detailed text you had just sent. You watched her expression go from amusement, to confusion, to absolute delight as she looked between you and Rafael. The rest of the table looked at each other in confusion, as she added “Ok ya’ll listen to this,”

Was she SERIOUS? She was going to read this intercepted text of your most private thoughts ALOUD to all of your coworkers?!

“Oh um, Amanda you know I really don’t think…” You tried going for her phone while looking at her with pleading eyes.

“Ok Ok, you’re right. I’m just teasing girl,” She smiled as she patted you on the back, and you started to relax back into your chair. That is, until you heard Sonny’s voice next to you:

“Oh my God the way Rafael is sucking down his corn of cob definitely confirms my thought of him giving EXCELLENT head,”

Your head spun so fast you swore it might have twisted off like a Barbie doll as you saw your phone was left unlocked and open on messages right on the table, and Sonny had just read a text you had sent your BFF earlier!

The entire table fell silent, Olivia had done a spit take as Sonny was talking. You couldn’t bring yourself to look up at ANYONE, you just snatched your phone off the table and stuck it in your lap while glaring holes into the floor. Should you leave? You should probably leave. Would it be worse if you left?

“Wow Y/N I am so sorry, I just...I ain’t the smartest guy and sometimes I read stuff out loud without thinking and I...I shouldn’t have been lookin at your messages,” You heard Sonny’s soft apology, but it sounded so far away. Oh God, were you having a panic attack?!

Suddenly, you hear a boisterous laugh that knocks you back to reality. You lift your head slightly from your lap to see Rafael laughing and shaking his head.

“So that’s why you're so mean to me, carino,” he smiled, dying down his laughter. “You have a crush on me!”

Oh good God, you’ve had nightmares go better than this.

“Wha-- n-n-no, you’re mean to ME, counselor,” You found yourself shooting back at him like a five year old.

“Oh good lord, just make out already!” Fin laughed, the others followed suit. The two of you locked eyes and blushed before quickly looking anywhere else but each other.

“Um...you know maybe I should go, I have court early tomorrow,” Rafael cleared his throat, gathering his belongings.

“Let’s all just agree the last 10 minutes never happened, yeah?” he proposed to the group, who all nodded back with amused smiles.

“I’ll see you all on Monday,” He nodded to the group as he got up from the table, walking behind your chair.

“....And for the record, I AM excellent in that area,” He whispered in your ear. Your face turned hot, your core tingled. Your head whipped around to confirm what he had just said, but he was already out the door. Did….Did you just make that up in your head?

You glance at the now three remaining dinner mates, huge smiles on all of them back at you.

“Well, I guess you’re welcome then!” Sonny laughed, Amanda hit him in annoyance.

Yeah. That had DEFINITELY just happened.

[kooktaebear]

If Only I Knew

Status: ONGOING (this is my first AU AHHH I’m excited to write the next couple of parts, but I hope this story gets a lot of love :~>)

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Summary: Y/N abruptly moved to Seoul after spending 21 years living alone in her hometown, Busan after the death of her parents. She now discovers through her best friends that drama can be a lot to handle, but as she starts to meet new people, she discovers that she had completely forgotten an important part of her past.

Warnings: mention of guns, blood and violence,

Genre: angst, WHOLE LOT OF FLUFF, slow burn

Word Count: 3.2k

Part One:

I step out of the bus and a gust of cold wind hits my face as I board the train. Why did I think of not wearing enough layers in the middle of winter? I take my seat and look out the window to see the number of people who are about to board the train. I grab my phone and start listening to ILYSB. I like LANY, their music is perfect for travel.

I know this isn't such an interesting event in my life since I know that many other people have flown to see Seoul, capital of Korea but hey, give me a break. I’m finally going to meet my best friends after living alone for 4 years. This is what pays to be travelling, a provincial girl like me? I doubt I would ever survive the city life.

As a 2 hours pass, I wake up to hear the advisory that I’m about to reach Seoul.

I look out the window, close my eyes, and whisper.  

"Mom, Dad, I made it to Seoul."

I lost both my parents during a hostage that happened in our own home. My mom happened to answer the door and was shot first. The culprit saw me and asked me to go get my dad. At first I was confused, but it so happened that there was an issue with the family business and this guy was after the money. I was 13 at that time but I still couldn't figure out why something like this had to happen to our family. However, as soon as my dad had agreed to the terms of the killer, he pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger. I closed my eyes to prepare myself for the pain that comes next but instead, I felt warm liquid on my hands and felt something heavy fall on me, it was my dad. I screamed at the sight of both my parents suddenly vanishing from this world, a sudden pain struck my chest and I couldn't breathe. I fall to the ground slowly losing my vision as I see the blue and red lights of police cars approaching my house.

"Miss? Are you okay miss?" the person right next to me calls my attention and brings me back to reality, "Oh, yes I'm fine. Have we arrived?" I look around to see almost everyone out of the train. "Would you need any help getting off? Are you new to the city?" the lady asks me. I shake my head and give her a smile as I head down the aisle to the exit.

I follow the rest of the passengers to exit the station as I turn my phone on to contact Jennie and Lisa, my two best friends. Their parents had offered to get us three an apartment we could all share just so that they could both keep me company. Lisa and Jennie aren't sisters if you were wondering, they just had agreed to live under one roof with me and I'm eternally grateful for that. Not to mention they’re idol trainees.

"Y/N?" I turn my head to see Lisa's straight black hair, "Lisa!!!" We both jump around and giggle, "Wait but where's Jennie?" "Oh, she's getting us another cab because your arrival got delayed." She helps grab my luggage and we both start catching up with each other, as if we’ve never spoken in weeks. This was the first time I had ever seen both Lisa and Jennie in person, all our moms were best friends when they were younger too but since we couldn't visit them often, we met and talked through video calls.

"Well if it isn't our beautiful foreign friend Y/N." I turn around and meet Jennie’s eyes, "JENNIE!!!" I run to hug her and Lisa joins in and I finally don't feel alone anymore. "Girls, the cab is waiting outside, we better hurry." On our way to our new apartment we were all catching up with each other as if we really didn't talk as much already. "Oh hey, Y/N you have to make sure that you're ready to go to school by 7am okay?" Jennie cheerfully said. I was so confused, school started at 8am so why would I have to be ready an hour before school when our place was literally like 10 minutes away. "Wait why do we have to be ready an hour before school? I know our place is like 15 minutes away from school. It's not like you guys take that long to fix yourselves up right?" Lisa and Jennie smiled at me suspiciously, "Well....Y/N you know, you may not know everything about us yet..." "What's there not to know? I've known you guys since the moment I was able to talk." Lisa elbowed me softly, "We’ve got new friends! Like actual men type of friends." My eyes opened wide despite the tiredness I've been experiencing,

How could these two end up befriending guys and just suddenly "forgetting" to tell me about it when they know and are fully aware that we all don’t normally interact with the opposite gender?  

"Fine, I'll be ready by 7am on Monday." I say as I roll my eyes, "YAYYY I'M SO EXCITEDDD!!!" both of them scream.

Ugh, 30 minutes have just passed since I arrived in Seoul and I'm already experiencing stress.

As soon as we got off the cab, both my friends had rushed to bring down all my belongings so that I could finally take a look at the place we rented out. Jennie reaches her hand out to me and in her palm, my key to our place. "Hey, have you guys figured out how we'll be getting to school on Monday?" Jennie giggles, "Y/N, you’re lucky we attend the same school. But the guys will pick us up! Plus..they promised to bring Jungkook." Jennie winks at me and flashes me her brightest smile.

Jungkook? I know I've heard that name somewhere, but I just can't remember where.

"We're here!!" The elevator door opens, "Apartment 735" I mutter to myself. I walk along the brightly lit corridor. "732....733...734..." I continue counting, "735!!" The girls rush to my side, "Y/N, this is your first time in our apartment, so you'll have the honor of opening the door with your key" Lisa says with a smile. I reach out for my keys, close my eyes and take a deep breath before turning the key to unlock the door. I hear the light switch turn on and I open my eyes. The apartment was beautiful. I walk in to see the kitchen, it has a small island where I could serve meals to my friends. I honestly enjoy cooking to relieve myself from whatever stresses me out, whether it be school, people or something about football. I’ve loved sports for as long as I can remember but it gets frustrating since I could be quite competitive.

I walked into the next room and I saw our living room, there was a large L-shaped sofa sitting in front of a huge television. In between the sofa and TV, I saw a small wooden table that is most probably multipurpose as being both a study desk and a place to put our snacks when we binge on shows during our free days. Beside the sofa I see a balcony that showcases a beautiful scenery of the city. I walk out and feel the cold breeze on my cheeks, I look up to the sky and I see that the sky had a welcoming gift for me as well. The stars greeted me as they shined brightly upon the night sky and I just can't help but admire the night sky. To my right, I see a bean bag that fits 2 people. I plop down to the bean bag and stargaze for a while.

Mom? Dad? I know you can hear me, I promise I'll make you proud, I'll succeed here in Seoul and become a great doctor.

"Y/N?" I snap back to reality and see Jennie’s head appear, "You haven't even seen your room yet! Come onnnnn!!" I stand back up and follow the girls in another small hallway, there I see 3 doors. "So basically, it's not that we don't want you to have your own room but we wanted one room to be our sort of walk-in closet because I mean who has not dreamed of having one?" I open the first door I see and the place is indeed full of clothes. There were 3 closets in the room, each of the closet doors have our first name initials on it to indicate who owns which closet. I laugh at my best friends, we all enjoy watching all those Barbie movies where they have spectacular closets and I guess you can say that this is the closest we can get to our childhood dreams.

I walk out of the room and take a few steps into the hallway. Lisa rushes to get past me and hold the doorknob, "Okay Y/N, this room is a little different. I know it's not really our style whatsoever but we created a study room." I scrunch my eyebrows, "A study room? Really now? For all of us or for me?" Lisa tucks a stray hair into her ear, "Well, more for you than for us since we know how hard you work and how much more you'll be working to get into med school. But it's a double purpose for a practice room for us too!" I take a step back to look at both my best friends and their grinning faces,

What did I do to deserve these two psychos in my life?

I call them in for a group hug, "You guys, I know you want to make me feel like there's nothing missing anymore in my life and I love you guys for that. I hope you all still remember I'm not a robot though and even if I'll be working hard to get into med school, I'll still be around to party and experience what any normal teenager should be experiencing." I hear Jennie sniffling at my right, "Aw Jen" I rub her back soothingly, "We know that Y/N, we just want the best for you too. We'll always be here rooting for you any time." We all take a step back, "Okay!" Lisa says, "Guys, it's our first night in our own apartment and we're already crying." Everybody laughs, "So I guess this last room is our room?" "It sure is." Jennie opens the door and I see three twin beds side by side. Just like our "walk-in closet" our first name initials are hanging above our head, brightly lit to recognize who owns which bed. I see my initial on top of the bed that lies in between both Lisa and Jennie's.

I drop my luggage off at our closet area and plop back down into the bean bag on the balcony. I take a deep breath in and close my eyes.

This is the start of my new life.

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"Take my hands now, you are the cause of my euphoria"

I woke up to the sound of Euphoria, my favorite song in the whole wide-

"WHEN I’M WITH YOU I'M IN UTOPIA"

And of course, the voices of my two best friends singing their hearts out and getting the lyrics messed up.

"Y/N!!! Come on!! It's your first day of school. Did you forget about our breakfast plan?"

Right. Their so-called "breakfast plan" before school. I stand up from my bed and stretch a little before I start making my bed. I stop by the closet first and pick my outfit for today, I pick out a tied crop top, white sneakers, and jeans. I grab my bathrobe and head to the bathroom. I step into the shower and play some music that would help wake me up and get ready for the day. As I continue to wash my hair, I hear a knock on my door, 

"Y/N! Are you done?!!" 

I roll my eyes. Jeez, they finally got themselves guy friends and now they're going crazy about finishing on time. I wrap a towel around my head to dry my hair. I head back to our dressing room and open my luggage. As I look for my blow dryer and straightener, Lisa barges into the room, 

"Y/N Y/L/N, you seem to be too relaxed this morning. You have 30 minutes left to get ready and if you're not ready by then I'm going to drag you to the car." "Don't worry Jen, I'll be done on time. Now can you please stop bothering me so that I can start dressing up?"

I quickly blow dry my hair and put it up in a messy bun. With the remaining time left, this is the best I can do to tame my natural curls. I look at myself in the mirror and check to see if something is missing. I reach out to get my makeup bag and I put on a little blush and add a little lip tint. I search through my accessory bag and look for my small stud earrings. I get my glasses from the table and look at myself in the mirror once more. I'm ready for my first day of school. I leave the dressing room and meet my best friends in our kitchen. 

"Oh my goodness Y/N, let's go! We're already 5 minutes late." I grab the schoolbag I prepared last night before heading to bed and leave the apartment. We head to the basement by elevator since Lisa got her license just recently. "Wait Lisa, if you had your license already by the time you picked me up, why did you guys use a taxi to pick me up?" "Oh, uh..I was too lazy to drive that late at night so I just got us a taxi." She starts the car and we head to the exit.

It was my first time ever seeing Seoul in the morning light, the sun hit the skyscrapers so beautifully that it was as if the city was welcoming me as their new citizen. Numerous cars were already out by the time we hit the road because of the rush hour most of them were experiencing. Our school, Seoul National University was just 10 minutes away, our apartment was located a couple blocks away As I was looking out the window, I saw some sort of diner come into view. It looked huge for my definition of a diner since I always saw diners as small joints made for meals, but this diner was different. As Lisa pulled up in the parking area I could see a little bit of the inside, students like us were dining in there as well and there seemed to be a game room on the other side of the dining area.  It's around mid-February so the breeze was still cool, Busan was a little warmer during the winter so I had to find a way to adjust to the cooler weather in the city. As my friends and I make our way to the entrance, I notice three heads that turn our way. As we enter the diner however, the smell of freshly made bread, waffles, and eggs hits me and I feel my mouth water. I've been starving and I couldn't wait to try whatever the diner had been serving.

I see three boys in a booth and I make eye contact with one of them, the weird thing is...I felt butterflies in my tummy. I've seen those eyes somewhere, he feels familiar which is of course impossible because I've never met these people in my entire life.

I've never had any guy friends at all. I've always thought about making my parents proud and everything so I focused on getting good scores on all my tests so that I could get into med school. This is all so new to me...having friends of the opposite species. I mean okay, I've watched rom-coms and movies that revolve around love, seeing your friends being treated the way I see couples act in the movies is something I never thought I would be interacting with boys at this point of my life.

"Y/N? Earth to Y/N!" I snap back to reality as Jennie calls my attention. "This is Jimin, Taehyung and the guy still sitting in the booth is Jungkook." Jungkook? I think I know a Jungkook from back home but it's still pretty hard to remember a lot of things. "Sorry, I'm being rude." Jungkook stood up and walked to me, "Jungkook." He held out a hand for me to shake, "Y/N." I say in reply. As our hands touch, there's a familiar warmth that gives me goosebumps. I quickly try to mask the reddness in my cheeks. We all take a seat in the booth and based on the impression of these boys, they seem like athletes. "Hey Y/N," Jimin says, "You should try their Bacon and Waffles here. They sell out like crazy in the mornings." I take a quick glance on the menu and scan quickly for the meal Jimin was talking about. I raise my hand excitedly to call in the waitress to take our orders, "1 Bacon and Waffles, 2 Pancakes and, 3 orders of the Waffles and Chicken all with Orange Juice on the side." The waitress says, "Thanks." I give her a smile in return.

I glance back at my friends after giving the waitress the menu I was holding, Jungkook and I make direct eye contact, his big brown doe eyes, another flood of goosebumps crawl on my skin as he turns away to talk to Taehyung. Why is it that Jungkook looks at me as if he’s seen me before?

The waitress returns with the orders and I start to take a bite off my first meal of the day.

“So Y/N, how was your first night in the city?” Taehyung asked as he picked a strawberry off one of the pancakes, “I stayed up in the balcony just looking at the city lights, the stars were very bright last night. I couldn’t stay up for so long though, it got really cold.” “Y/N loves gazing at stars, she used to try to make Jen and I see the stars in Busan every time we video called.” Lisa says giggling, Jimin gasps and turns to point at Jungkook while eating his waffle, “Jungkook used to drag us out of our homes just to meet at a park to stargaze!” Jungkook shyly looks away and takes a sip of his juice, “Yah” he finally speaks, “You make me sound like a really weird kid Hyung” I laugh at his statement, “Don’t be too embarrassed Kook, looking at the stars are my favorite past time” He tenses up with the nickname as he looks at me, I realize I just gave this guy a nickname on the first day we met. Shit. “Uh, is it okay that I call you Kook?” He nods in return as a smile crept onto his face.

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