#going from the later chapters where hes more like a puppy to that one proposal scene is such a whiplash

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

honestly rigarez is such a funny character.

the way he went from confidently and flippantly going "what's your relationship with the divine emissary? i hope it's an intimate one 😈" and "i may not love you, but i promise to fulfil my duties as a husband. so i suggest you don't bring that knight as part of your dowry"

to

"hello sister-in-law... 🥺💐"

im going to hack up a lung laughing

[sunlightmurdock]

In Too Deep | Six | Jake Seresin x mom!reader

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist

Synopsis: Jake Seresin had sworn he was never going to be a father. He liked his life the way that it was, child-free, stress free and chaos free. Free being the key word. After falling for you, it becomes clear that Jake is in for an attitude adjustment, whether he likes it or not.

Warnings: no smut, maybe allusions to sex at various points, swearing, fluff and teeny bits of angst if you squint, Jake and Riley prepare to bond over their bad dad issues 🫶🏼

…

“Have a good day today!” Jake calls.

The car door swings shut behind the perpetually angry little girl and Jake sighs. He pulls the car away from the drop off zone and glances back to check that she got in okay. He hadn’t mentioned any of this when he called you last night. Only the good parts. Like Jax speaking more, playing at the park, finding the worm. Calling him dad for the first time.

He glances back at the little boy through the rear view mirror. He’s big enough now to not be rear facing, and grins at Jake as their eyes meet.

“Park?” He asks, tilting his head slightly like an excited puppy. Jake’s lips quirk softly, it’s hard not to smile when Jax gives him that huge smile.

“We’re gonna go see Uncle Rue first, but we can go to the park later.” He explains to him as the car pulls out onto the road. School drop off has always been a point of contention between you and Riley, so today is nothing different, your kid just isn’t a morning person.

But, she has barely said a word since her dad dropped her off yesterday and Jake’s not sure where he stands. The line between being negligent and nosy seems blurred when it’s a kid like Riley.

He can’t stop thinking about her attitude towards him. You’ll never agree to a future with him if it jeopardizes a relationship with one of your children, and he wouldn’t want you to. But god, he wants a future with you. More than anything, actually. Sleeping in your bed, spending time with your children — Jake feels closer to you as these past four weeks draw to a close than he ever has before.

He dreamt last night about what it would be like to marry you. Jax was a little older in the dream, and he was the ring bearer. He was beaming, and you were overjoyed at the sight of your little boy in a suit.

Riley, a foreboding and absent presence in his dream. Something missing from the perfect day that weighed in like a big grey cloud. He would want her there in real life, but he would want her to be happy to be there. Jake knows that if he proposed to you now, Riley’d be furious.

Plus, the two of you haven’t even been together a year yet, he’s not sure how you would take all of this future talk. If, a year ago, you had told him that he’d be driving your kid to school and thinking about marriage — he would’ve laughed in your face.

Jax balanced against his side and a backpack slung over his other shoulder, Jake’s juggling keys, a toddler and a water bottle in his hands as he lets the door swing shut behind him. Payback’s brows raise just slightly as he sets his coffee down on the coaster and leans back against the leather armchair that he’s situated in.

Rueben can’t pretend not to be taken aback at how quickly Jake seems to have mastered the daddy-daycare act. But then, given that this is the same man who taught himself piano in under a week just to spite Rooster, Rueben should’ve known better than to second guess Jake. He has always made everything look easy.

“Look at you,” Rueben teases, leaning forwards and smiling as Jake hands him the wriggling toddler. He sets JJ down on his knee and coos a hello towards him as Jake offloads everything that he’s holding and huffs out. “You’re a natural.”

“Doesn’t feel that way.” Jake mumbles tiredly as he sinks into the armchair opposite his friend. He smooths a hand over his forehead and tries to relax, stretching his legs out.

Rueben cocks an eyebrow at him and catches Jax’s hand seconds before it has time to dip into his still hot coffee. “Trouble in paradise, buddy?”

“Daddy.” Jax points at Jake and turns his head to look at Rueben. He points again to make his point clear. Jake stares across at the little boy and sighs softly.

“Well, that’s new.” Payback comments, brows raised. He glances between Jake and the toddler, then sets Jax on the ground so that he can stretch his legs.

“I don’t know what to do, I mean — they’ve already got a dad, and he’s gonna be pissed if he finds out that his kid is calling me daddy — but he’s never around!” Jake goes into defensive mode right away. Payback just sits there and watches, keeping one eye focused on the toddler as his friend rambles and rants in front of him.

With two daughters and a wife who is infinitely more intelligent than him, Payback has been a good listener for a long time. He just sits back and lets Jake go for as long as he needs, nodding his head as he tries to keep up with the pace of the panicked speech.

Jake finally stops with a slow inhale. He glances down towards Jax and takes note of the confusion on the toddler’s chubby features, then starts to wonder if he was even making any sense at all.

“Where’d Hangman go?” Payback taunts, giving a soft shake of his head. He looks Jake over like he’s really looking for the guy he used to know.

Unimpressed, Jake rubs tiredly at his temple. “Huh?”

“I mean Hangman’s worried about who he’s going home with tomorrow night and how much protein is in his lunch. I don’t know who this guy is, but Hangman would hate him.” Rueben’s just teasing, he’s smiling at Jake and it’s just a comment. He doesn’t mean anything by it. Jake glances down to the kid in front of him and then at the ground.

“Tell me about it.” Jake mumbles.

Payback scrunches his brows slightly, “Alright, man. What’s going on? — You’re weirding me out with all of this doom and gloom.”

Jake takes a quick look around him. It’s a Wednesday morning, right after the school run. There are plenty of toddlers in here, and adults having chats. It’s just that Jake and Payback are the only ones here that are men. Jake wouldn’t have been caught dead here when he was Hangman.

As much as the callsign was made to taunt him, Jake grew into it. He became Hangman. Confident, suave, independent. If he’s not that, he’s not too sure who he is.

“You’re right,” Jake’s shrug is cold and unattached. He won’t look at Jax as he speaks. Rueben stares right ahead at his friend. “This whole thing. You’re right, it’s just not me.”

There’s a long pause. As much as he wants to check on Payback’s reaction, Jake can’t bring himself to lift his gaze from the polished tile under his shoe for fear of meeting Jax’s gaze. There’s no way he can look into those big, round eyes and admit that he’s quite simply not enough.

The coffee shop chatter carries on around them. Jax carries on between them, toying around with the action figure that he has been clutching all morning. He crashes it into Payback’s knee and makes an explosion sound. Rueben smooths a hand tenderly over the little boy’s back.

“Jake.” His tone is dead serious now, and quiet. It’s his dad voice. Jake recognises it. He’s seen Payback gently scolding his kid enough times to know that that’s what is happening now. Rueben sits forward slightly and covers Jax’s ears with his hands. “You say that shit to me again and we’re going to have a problem.”

Jake looks up and frowns at him. “What?”

“You don’t get to quit because you’re freaked out. You do that to these kids and I swear to god, I’ll never talk to you again.” Payback swears, still covering the toddler’s ears. Jax doesn’t even seem to mind, playing calmly with his action figure and kicking his legs.

Jake adjusts the cap on his head and checks around him again. He’s fidgety and agitated, chewing at the inside of his cheek. “You don’t get it.”

“I don’t? — You think that I don’t get scared shitless like three times a week that I’m not good enough for my kids? — I’m terrified of screwing them up, but I’m here, and I’m doing what I can.”

“It’s complicated. They’re not,” Jake pauses to glance down as Jax wriggles around in Rueben’s lap, struggling to try to get down. “They aren’t mine.”

Knowing better than to fight against a toddler that has already made up their mind, Rueben moves to that Jax can get down. Right away, Jax brushes past him and heads for Jake. He stands between Jake’s legs and leans into his thigh, holding up his action figure for Jake to see.

“Daddy, look.”

Jake smiles softly and scrunches his nose just the slightest bit. Jax grins at the attention and presents the action figure closer to Jake, almost swinging it into his chin. The toddler seems to remind himself to be more gentle as he leans in against Jake’s chest. Jake squeezes at his sides, making the toddler squeal and squirm in front of him. He lifts him up and sets him down on his knee.

Rueben stares across at Jake.

“It’s complicated.” Jake insists as he smooths a hand over Jax’s wild hair to tame it. Jax taps Jake’s arm to make sure that he’s watching and flies his action figure around in front of them.

“Not to me,” His tone is gentler this time, he’s relaxed as he watches Jake and the kid together. They look so natural together. Payback motions and Jake covers Jax’s ears without question, gently kissing the curls on top of his head. “He doesn’t know who his dad is and who isn’t. He knows who’s there for him.”

“Yeah, well Riley knows and she hates me.” Jake answers back. JJ squints across at Payback, seemingly aware of the fact that they’re discussing something that they don’t want him to hear. He quickly goes back to playing with his toy.

“That’s what kids do — look, Jake, I can sit here and tell you about how much kids are going to break your heart, but,” He stops to sigh, smoothing a hand over his facial hair. He glances quickly between Jake and the oblivious kid sitting on his leg. “If you’re going to leave, man, just go ahead and do it.”

Jake’s brows scrunch together just slightly.

“But you don’t get to come back.” Payback explains calmly. He looks at Jake, deadly serious. “You leave those kids and you’re gone for good. Are you good with never seeing him again?”

Jake takes his hands away from Jax’s ears and squeezes his sides softly. The toddler turns and squeals excitedly, grinning up at Jake. It’s scary, sure. But it’s scarier to imagine not seeing this face every day, that cute little smile and hearing those excited giggles.

And god, he’s never loved anyone like he loves you. These past three weeks have been hell without you, he has been counting down the days until you’re back with him again. Never seeing you again isn’t even something that he had considered. His crisis of faith is cut short as his phone rings loud in his pocket.

He slips it from his jeans and takes the call, pinning the phone between his ear and shoulder as he keeps Jax steady in his lap. “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Riley’s stepfather?”

Luckily, with the day off, Payback was more than happy to take Jax for a while. Jake quickly yanks his cap off of his head and tugs his fingers through his hair, swallowing the lump in his throat as he steps through the doors of the school. Riley’s sitting on a chair outside of the principal’s office, scowling at the floor with her arms across her chest.

The principal is crouched in front of her, trying to talk to her calmly. Riley’s silent, staring at a dirt smudge of the floor.

“Riley?”

The principal stands and turns, extending an open palm towards Jake swiftly. “Ah. Mr. Seresin. A quick word in my office, please?”

It’s clear immediately that Jake has never done this before. He doesn’t bother taking a seat, even when Mr. Anderson settles behind his desk and motions for Jake to do so. He swallows nervously and asks if Riley is okay.

The principal watches Jake’s reaction calmly as he explains what happened. Disbelief comes first, it crosses his face clearly but his Navy career has taught him better than to voice his disagreement out loud.

There just is no way that Riley would have cursed at a teacher. Jake is sure of it. He’s sure of it because he is pretty confident that if Riley knew any curse words, she would have already directed a few of them at him.

She has always been a delight in school — you were always bragging about how great she was doing in her classes.

Jake pinches the bridge of his nose as the principal explains further. Great, so not only is he annoying Riley with his mere existence, but he’s screwing up her future now too.

“We aren’t going to suspend her.”

Jake sighs in relief and leans his head back.

“Y’know, this is the first time that it has happened and we’re confident that it won’t happen again. But, um, Mr. Seresin— I really hope that you don’t think I’m overstepping here, but,” He pushes his round glasses up the bridge of his nose as he stands. Jake gets the feeling that he won’t like what’s coming next. “I’m not sure that you’re really qualified to get Riley through this time in her life. Maybe you could talk to her mother and—“

All semblance of being calm and composed flies out the window as Jake cocks his head at the geeky looking brunette behind the desk. The principal swallows softly and stops talking.

“I’ve got it. Thanks.” Jake bites.

Long day after fucking long day. Only seven more of them until you’re home and he’s no longer outnumbered. He lets the door to the office slam behind him as he steps back out into the reception. “Put your coat on, let’s go.”

“Not cold.” Riley argues, slinging it over her arm and grabbing her backpack. She walks for the door before she even has it over her shoulder. Jake turns to follow her but stops as he catches sight of a familiar face. There’s a blonde walking along the hall with a lanyard around her neck saying substitute.

It takes him a couple of seconds, standing there and trying to place where he knows her from. Then it clicks. The smiling face leaning over Alex’s shoulder the other day. His lips part as he looks back towards Riley.

“Oh, shit, Riley.”

…

We

@hotch-meeeeeuppppp

@frenchtoastix

@wildxwidow

@vienna

@hopeless-romanticnamed-s

@indynerdgirl

@marantha

@jostyriggslover96

@percysaidnever

@coldmuffinbanditshoe

@diamond-3

@galaxy-moon

[asterrrific]

lee chan x reader

Idk what to title this

Dino x reader (ft. 95z)

Warnings: none, just loads of fluff

unedited so i apologize for any grammatical errors or whatever. i made this bc a sudden idea came to me🥹

---

It was around 1am when y/n felt herself sway in her seat.

Books, answersheets, pens, sticky notes, her laptop, and a variety of snacks to keep her awake but failed were scattered at desk. It was the last week of the first semester and she's trying to rush all of her academic backlogs.

Such is the life of a senior student leader with other commitments. Always the last to catch up with academic requirements and classes because of her duties.

She shook herself awake, forcing her hand to continue writing. Her eyes were drooping, but she persevered.

"Get it together, y/n. One last chapter THEN you can go to bed." she willed herself.

But she's been staying up for weeks now. Dark circles are more than evident under her eyes. She's lost weight as well, and she's been easily stressed nowadays.

So it was hard to battle sleep.

"Bub?" came a familiar voice. Normally, she'd get excited and awake whenever she hears the endearment, but tonight, she's a dead man.

Chan cups her cheeks gently, stilling her from swaying in her seat as she battled sleep. His eyes strayed to her paper, words not evident, but random squiggles she perhaps thought were answers.

"Baby, you're not even writing answers anymore." He chuckles lightly as he takes away the pen from her hand. Y/n tries to grab it back... weakly.

"No, I can make it... I'm almost thereeee." she whines, eyes half closed, trying to reach for her pen. Chan keeps one hand on her cheek while the other puts the pen away.

"Y/N Baby, it's been three weeks. You've been busy since the start of the month. Your body is probably hating you right now. Let me take care of you please?" Chan gently prods, almost whispering.

Y/n and Chan's friends have all been concerned about her state. She's NEVER had decent sleep since the start of the month, BARELY eats her meals and snacks on time, and RARELY goes out with them.

It worried them so much that even Chan excuses himself from practices earlier than the rest now so he could monitor y/n.

"But I need all these. I wanted all these." she counters.

"I know, bub, and I appreciate that and I'm so so proud of you... but what's the whole point of achieving all these if you're gonna lose yourself in the process, hmm?"

At this, y/n's eyes flutter open, now aware of where this is going.

She knows damn well that he's right. But she just can't help but panic sometimes, knowing that the rest of her classmates have already submitted theirs and she's probably the last one left, although she's been given a grace period.

"Let's go to bed, please? It's already Sunday. We can sleep in. You can get some rest, and I'll be with you since we won't have practice. We can do anything you want except these academics. Please, baby? Have time for yourself too?" Chan barters. He tries his best at making puppy eyes at y/n, hoping his aegyo would work on her like it does with his hyungs.

Y/n sighs as she leans her forehead on Chan's. He closes his eyes and nuzzles his nose gently on to hers, then giving it a small kiss later.

"Whatchu think, bub? Like my proposal?"

"Fine, you win. But only because I'm so so drained now. How do you do it, Channie? How do you get things done and not get guilty and tired at all?" she asks, eyes closed.

"Who told you I don't get tired and guilty? I do. I just don't show it that much." He admits.

"Why though?"

"Because I don't want to worry any of you guys."

Y/N looks at Chan, his eyes on hers, his hands finding their way back to her cheek.

"I've learned to handle myself earlier on because of the nature of my career. And the hyungs helped me a lot too. If you'll allow me, I can help you work that out as well. Because I love you and I am concerned and I want to take care of you the way you derserve to." he lovingly explains.

Y/n smiles sleepily, allowing her whole body to lose its tension. She drops forward to surrender to Chan, who giggles on the floor as he catches her.

"There's my baby girl." he coos, as he sits up, caressing her hair carefully. She snuggles closer to him.

"Oh my God, I've been craving this for a whole week. I really DO deserve this." she exclaims, making Chan laugh lovingly.

He adjusts to carry her towards their shared bedroom in y/n's apartment. Gently, he lays her down before climbing in after her. Y/n immediately attaches herself to him the minute he settles in.

Chan lets y/n lay her head on his chest. He showers her head with little kisses while he rubbed random shapes on her back, lulling her to sleep.

"We'll talk more in the morning bubs. Get some rest, hmm?" Chan says, grabbing a blanket to tuck them both in.

"Mmkay..." y/n sleepily agrees.

Chan was about to close his eyes when his phone rings. A call.

"Hello-?"

"WHERE'S THE UPDATE, CHILD? IT'S BEEN TEN MINUTES. ARE YOU HOME YET?" comes Seungcheol's prodding voice. Apparently, because of his worry for Y/N, Chan forgot to update his hyungs who were still probably hanging out together after practice.

"Sorry, hyung." Chan fumbles, as he sets the call on video, showing y/n on his chest, hoping it'd serve as an explanation.

"You got us worried here you know? How can we have ber when- Oh my God, am I seeing this correctly?" asks the older male.

Chan chuckles as he brings the phone back to his face.

"Yep. She almost fell from her seat when I came in. That's why I wasn't able to call. Sorry."

"No, it's okay. What's important is she's getting rest now goddamn... she's hard to take care of sometimes. Proud of you for being patient with her, Lee Chan." Seungcheol salutes from the other side.

"Did I hear right?" Comes Jeonghan's voice as he and Joshua comes into the picture. The three eldest are like real brothers to Chan and even y/n. They worry for them like real siblings would, that's why Chan can always go home earlier than the rest, so he can care for y/n too.

And when y/n is with them, they surround her protectively, along with the other members especially when they're out, since fans can get really pushy sometimes.

"Finally, she's getting sleep. I hope tomorrow we can go out too." Joshua sighs.

"Nope. I promised her we can sleep in and we'll do whatever we want- except those freaking acads."

"Then maybe we could go there instead? We'd bring snacks for her and whatever else she needs. Tell her in the morn-"

Joshua and the other boys stop when they all saw y/n stir in her sleep. Chan immediately caressed her hair to lull her back.

"Channie?" she blinks, trying to lift herself away from him. The boys on the screen signal him to end the call and just message instead but y/n sees them.

"Oh..." she starts as her eyes adjust to the screen.

"Heyyy, y/n! We were just checking in. Go back to sleep." Seungcheol smiles.

Still really tired and sleep drunk, y/n hums. Chan smiles as he helps her lie back down.

"We'll message tomorrow Chan. Get some sleep too. It's been a long day." Seungcheol orders, his leadership shining through the older brother figure that Chan sees in him.

Chan does a salute as the call ends. He puts the phone on dnd on the bed side table and snuggles lower to cuddle with y/n, already going deeper in her sleep.

---

The next morning, Chan wakes up first. Y/N is no longer on him, but is still asleep soundly next to his chest. Her arms wrapped around his middle while her legs tangled with his. He blinks as rays of light sneaks through the blinds, and smiles as his eyes start to focus on the sleeping beauty next to him.

Gently, he carefully carressed her face, using his finger to trace out her freckles that he loved.

Y/n hums and stirs, and Chan freezes for a second. Slowly like a cat basking in daylight, she stretches, hitting Chan's chin on the process.

This was enough to wake her up.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Channie." she goes, caressing the spot she just hit.

Chan laughs it off as he catches her hands, kissing them both gently.

"It's good morning first before that, my love." He says, pulling her close and settling his lips to the top of her head. With a contented sigh, he inhales her scent like his morning coffee.

"Good morning, bub." she giggles. It was music to his ears.

"Good morning, bub. How was your sleep?" He asks, brushing her hair away from her face and tucking strays behind her ear.

"It was good. Really good. I think I dreamed of the oppas..."

Chan laughs loudly at this, his laugh tickling y/n's ears. God, how she loved his laugh.

"It wasn't a dream, my love. They called last night and you saw them." he explains, pinching her cheeks softly then booping her nose.

He was overflowing with love for her so early in the morning, and he couldn't stop himself. Especially now that y/n has finally gotten some rest that she so much deserved.

"Oh they did? So they're coming over?"

"Uh huh. Later in the afternoon."

Y/n reaches over to Chan's side, where her phone was also placed. He gently holds on to her waist as she lifted herself on top of him.

"It's 9am..." she announces.

"Wanna have breakfast? Or brunch?"

"Uhm... I still kinda wanna sleep more." she admits sheepishly as she sinks back to her place besides Chan.

"Then let's sleep more."

"How about the guys?" she worries. "We might oversleep. How are we gonna prepare?"

"Well, I could tell them to come for dinner instead so we could still have more time to sleep and prepare after. What do you think, bub?" he asks, pulling her close.

Y/n takes her time to answer, and stays silent. It fooled Chan into thinking she fell back to sleep.

He was about to snuggle closer and go back to sleep when suddenly, y/n jerks up, her head hitting the same spot on Chan's chin she already hit earlier.

"Owwwww" they both say in unison.

"I'm so so so sorry bubby." She frantically says, laughing. "I was going to try to kiss you!" she worries.

"Double that then." he teases her, tending to his aching chin.

Y/n caresses the spot, then kisses it. She then locks eyes with Chan.

"You can hit my chin one million times and I'd still be head over heels for you after." he whispers.

"I'll kiss all your pain away a million times more then." she whispers back.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because you just did. Why ARE we whispering?" she giggles. Chan sighs.

Gently, he grabs her face in his hands, and softly lands a kiss to her forehead.

He stayed there for a bit, savoring the moment. Y/n closes her eyes and runs her hands on Chan's arms, enjoying the vulnerability and sweetness of the moment.

"I love you-" they say in unison again, after Chan breaks off. They laugh again.

This time, it was y/n's turn.

As they giggled at their antics, she pulled Chan by the collar of his shirt, and gently crashed her lips on his. It took him by surprise, but he quickly adjusts, burrying his hands into her hair and softly playing with them as he returned the kiss.

"God, I love you." He speaks first as they broke it off to catch their breaths. He peppers her face with little kisses, making her smile.

"I love you..." she replies, kissing the top of his nose in return. Chan pulls her back to his chest. His heartbeat drumming loudly, lulling her back to sleep after all the fluff.

"Go back to sleep, my love. We've got a lot of time." he tells her. Y/n nods, loving every moment of her rest. Her deadlines flying out of her thoughts.

---------------------

a/n: guyyyyys it's been so long since i last wrote something here😭 uni has been so stressful lately. Maybe that's why I wrote this in this light and theme. I badly need a Dino in my life too.

Anyways, I want to write more😭 someone give me prompts or something.

And as always, if you loved this as much as I loved writing it, please leave a comment or reblog so other people would see my works too🥹👉🏻👈🏻🤍

lot's of love,

aster🫡

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 98: Ad Hoc World Building

I would like to make a retraction. Last time, I said Corrin and Azura could just return to Valla using the lake warps. This is incorrect. In the Conquest chapter The Black Pillar, it is mentioned that only Corrin and Azura can use this warp. For some reason. That is never explained. Presumably because they’re from Valla, but why that matters I do not know.

This leads me to a big problem I have with this game. Its plot and word building are ad hoc, made up on the spot to smooth over plotholes. The game needs Corrin to return to Valla via the canyon later, so it has some random line about the lakes not working. It can’t have Azura explain the plot, so there’s some dumb curse that prevents her from saying anything. The game needs Corrin, and only Corrin, to know about Garon, so there’s a random crystal ball that breaks immediately.

It’s bad writing.

Revelation Chapter 9: Wanderer

The chapter begins with Garon monologuing about how Corrin knows about the game’s plot now. Fortunately, his evil plans will kill Corrin soon enough mwahaha. Lissa overhears this and decides to tell Xander. Camilla stops Elise and encourages her to hang back and watch how things unfold, even though she admits that Garon isn’t acting right.

Corrin’s team climbs up the Eternal Stairway and runs into some Faceless. Who happen to actually be Wind Tribe soldiers, because this plotline was recycled from Birthright. Kaze kills them, Iago laughs, yada yada yada. When Corrin arrives at the Wind Tribe, the game says that Kaze only beat them up. With a knife. Something tells me they aren’t getting up anytime soon. Fuga shows up and says he heard Corrin wants to destroy both Nohr and Hoshido. Fuga doesn’t believe Corrin’s claim that the real bad guy is an evil dude no one knows about that she can’t tell anyone about, because Fuga isn’t a fucking moron.

Rinkah shows up randomly and joins Corrin because of her life debt. Fuga decides to give Corrin a test to see if they’re trustworthy. Now, the opening cutscene of this chapter uses the map from Birthright Chapter 9, and the plot is largely recycled from that chapter, so naturally the fight is a recreation of Conquest Chapter 20. Welcome back to Fuga’s Wild Ride, fuckers!

After the battle, talks about Sumeragi and Yato and how it can kill gods and gives us Hayato and sends us to go to Izumo blah blah blah we’ve seen this before.

Support: Keaton/Nyx

C: Keaton tells Nyx to eat meat so she grows up big and strong.

B: Keaton brings her pork. Nyx explains that she is cursed and will not grow up. Keaton is confused by where all the food goes. Does he not understand excrement?

A: Nyx explains her entire backstory. Keaton finally gets it. He tells her she can act like a kid and not get in trouble, something she has no desire to do.

S: Keaton asks what Nyx wants more than anything. Nyx says an adult's body and a normal life. Keaton proposes.

Review: Keaton is painfully dumb in this one.

Support: Kaze/Xander

C: Xander and Kaze discuss their first meeting. Xander reveals he was hesitant to kill Kaze because executing such a graceful man would have been dishonorable.

B: Xander challenged Kaze to a duel. During their duel, Xander notices that Kaze's expression has changed since their original fight. Kaze explains he is now fighting for companions, instead of his country, which is easier. Apparently, he wasn't fighting for companions in Hoshido.

A: Kaze and Xander's duel ends in a draw. Xander admits that, unlike Kaze, he has doubt in his actions. Kaze helps Xander push forward on the path he believes in (the path that leads to Kaze's friends, brother, and country dying at Xander's hand). The two warriors say it has been an honor to fight together.

Review: Not bad, but I was left wanting more.

Support: Peri/Silas

C: Silas informs Peri that she has a bad reputation. Peri gets upset.

B: Peri says, and I quote, "I'm so mad, I could slice up a puppy!" Silas says he talked to Xander about Peri and decides to not antagonize Peri because Xander likes her. To himself, Silas decides to tell Xander to reign Peri in.

A: Silas offers himself as a victim for Peri. When Peri attacks, he blocks every blow. Silas realizes why Xander keeps Peri around, because she's strong and also because Xander is a piece of shit. Silas makes Peri agree to work her agression out on him, rather than the servants.

S: Silas proposes but tells Peri not to kill his family's servants.

Review: I really, really don't like Peri. She's a black hole of bad writing that makes every character who doesn't chop her head off complicit.

Support: Jakob/Selena

C: Jakob criticizes Selena for shopping and points out she's bought too much to carry back. Jakob refuses to help carry and Selena chases after him.

B: Jakob reveals he tricked her into being angry because spite is the most efficient fuel in all the world. Selena sees through this and figures out he ditched her because he's a jerk.

A: Jakob asks what drives Selena. She says there's no point in being anything but the best. Selena compliments Jakob's knitting.

S: Jakob says that Selena is the best at being loved by him. Selena demands she be the only one he loves.

Review: Jakob and Selena have a good dynamic, but this one's plot is a bit lacking.

[janumun]

Afbranden Chapter 13: A Future (With You) [Last Chapter]

Pairing: Theo/Female Reader, [past] Arthur/Female Reader Rated: NSFW/18+ Words: Approx. 3100

Warning Tags: infidelity, explicit sexual content, hurt and comfort, eventual second relationship, Arthur main story spoilers, sad with a happy ending, vaginal fingering, oral and vaginal sex

Summary: Slow fractures creep across what you considered a happy, loving relationship; the inevitable break bleeding into your and Arthur’s lives, sure and sinister until it’s finally too much. The woman Theo holds untoward affections for finds herself lost and he… he is unable to stay and watch from the shadows as he has, all this time.

Go to Chapters: 1-10 | 11 | 12 | 13 (End)

Tagging: @tell-that-to-my-feather, @shookspearewrites, @iotona, @crystal13unny, @ikevamp-shrine-2, @otomebebe

9 months later

[A cottage in the countryside of Brabant]

Her hair’s grown much in length within the past several months, Theo observes, as she seats herself by the vanity to undo the braids the children she’s taken to teaching — during their time away from France — wove through for her. Perhaps she doesn’t care to cut it because of how it amuses her tiny pupils, to ‘dress’ her up during their breaks in between lessons. He’d once teased her about it; how his little puppy seemed to have adopted a litter of her own, to which she’d responded with a raised brow, a lopsided smile and a very sensual: Like this beautiful man I’ve got on my hands, one so very smitten with me?

She’d winked then before drifting straight out of his grasp. Leading him into a dance; she’d wished to get caught, she breathed against his lips, once he did. Nipping her moans along with the gentle brush of teeth, testing at her lower lip before he kissed her full.

It seems foolish, almost a time long past, to remember how he'd proposed they temporarily move back to his homeland while the Comte sorted matters in Paris. To have dealt with that frisson of fear, of her rejection, if she turned him down. If she didn't want him by his side, anymore... but she hadn't. She'd smiled, so joyous, and kissed him before she uttered her assent in a laugh she pressed against his cheek.

Now, fond of the place as she’s grown, she insists on being entirely foolish, thanking him for bringing her along to where he’d spent most of his childhood. Declaring they simply must visit his home once more sometime within the next year. His heart she’d taken for her own as if once more with the way she’d eased herself enough to speak of a future, with him. It was a foreign experience; to hear of another’s dreams no matter how minuscule they seemed and plot his path against hers, aligning themselves.

“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. Aren’t you, Theo? Although I wish le Comte hadn’t arranged return tickets for us.”

“Vincent’s letter mentioned they’re well. He also mentioned how none of them can wait to see you again.” He flashes her a knowing smirk. She laughs.

“I’m sure they’ve missed you too, especially Vincent. I can’t wait to see his reaction when he receives our gift.”

The entire day they’d spent within the nearest town, picking souvenirs for the mansion residents she’d stressed on buying. None of her hard-earned money she planned to keep for herself, for they’d find ‘better use’ in their gifts to their friends.

The sound of King’s eager bark gathers his gaze toward where his fur friend paws at her for attention she more than generously provides. Theo can’t help the grin that pulls at his mouth to witness the exchange. “My hondje seems far too fond of King than she does of her own master.”

She hums in thought at the assessment. “Perhaps… the master’s been rather out and about to give proper care to one he insists is his favorite partner. If you’re not careful, she might just make better friends with King.” His little traitorous friend seems content to bark his agreement before trotting out of the room in high spirits.

Theo snorts at the absurd notion; moving to haul himself off the bed and steal towards her. Heaving his scarf aside, he tosses it onto a nearby chair, stepping behind her. Sharp gaze fixated upon hers within the mirror. He reaches a hand out to ease her free hair over to one shoulder, dragging his palm, slow, across the exposed flesh. She, predictably, shivers; it sets the blood raging tighter within his veins. “Oh? Are you trying to fish for attention?”

She tips a hooded gaze over her shoulder, pink tongue darting to slick a quick path against her lip. Theo's own digits twitch upon her in response. A slow, torturous drag of her chemise off her shoulder.

A smooth delicate finger she moves to tap against her parted lips, “You seem well-aware so why don’t you do something about…” Carding fingers tight through her hair to angle her face upwards, he dips, letting his mouth slip against hers. One brush turning into another. Several kisses: soft, biting, chaste... then wet. Her hands are within his hair, jolting him closer; her hums pleased and delighted, breathless. It pilfers the air from his own lungs to hear the sound of her happiness.

As if he could — no he would — never tire of feeling her skin against his own. His heart, his body and desires ache and beg to flee in her direction every single time he moves to touch her. Each one: burning and singeing his soul like the very first time he'd put his hands on her. Consuming him bit by bit, with each single sound, each important gaze that seeks to find his in her love and lust and begs for him. An insatiable greed for this one woman; the bottom of a well he doesn't see in sight.

She bites down at his lower lip, her voice spills on a needy Theo, more. His entire rationale is bitter ashes in the wake of this one woman, at her mercy and he wants her — wants her as ruined as she has him, the devil within soughs in possession.

Hauling her off of the vanity’s chair and into his arms the second she tries and tests his patience; desperate lips moving against each other. Theo moves to sink his own bite into the plush of her lip — well-earned — her hold around his neck spasms at the stimulation.

Before she taps at him to be let down, impelling his body soon after onto the settee behind. Clambering on top of him, she cements an eager knee on either side of Theo’s thigh. Sinking down upon firm muscle, bunching the fabric of her gown, to expose her own. The warmth of her, damp beneath panties as she gyrates her hips against him. “Greedy,” he muses, his smile wide, — as if he is anything but — fingers threading secure through her hair before he tugs her mouth back against his, sweeping the taste of her onto his tongue.

Her restless digits rush down the line of buttons on his shirt as she moans against him; Theo hauls her tight into himself, catching up her wrists within a fist he pins to her breasts. She makes a sound of protest so needy, it tows a dark burst of laughter from his chest. Meeting her gaze, he holds it firm, flexing fingers in one warning squeeze, so she knows, “Not before I do, snoepje.”

Rebuked once, he tips his mouth back towards her jaw, her neck; dragging gossamer skin in between the bite of gentle teeth. The scrape of fangs he lets settle on her, she feels in each single searing kiss. His name’s a low, desperate prayer across her lips, nails digging into his fist demanding he kiss her. And he goes, to silence those garbling sounds of hers, sealing his mouth against hers till she jerks forward within his grasp. “Theo… Theo, I need you.”

The way each word seeps in desperation, a different kind; the bite of fingernails into flesh each time she moves to tug him closer…

Tongue testing one last sweep against her wet lips, he draws back to capture her gaze — warm in affection and lust so consuming, he feels his own arousal, uncomfortable, beneath the tight placket of trousers.

He’d held her close; he’d kissed and pleasured; drunk from her numerous times they’d lost count along with the sounds he’d pilfered right from her throat…. short of making love to her. Theo had no intention of drawing her into his bed, in that manner, any time soon, not if she wasn’t ready. He was a patient man, used to the test of endurance, but the way she looked upon him, as if her own breathless heaves were blanketed only through his body against hers, he had to halt and listen.

Shaping a palm against her cheek — she’s incredibly warm, he wants his mouth back on her soon — he asks, “Are you sure?”

Her answer is a sweet, gasping sound; a nod and the imprint of her lips as she tips her head, into the palm he holds against her cheek. “...More than I’ve ever been in my life. I want to take you… entirely.”

Theo's heart very nearly gives with how she coaxes his undoing, effortless, disastrous thing; how her affections — and comfort within their love — sifts through to the surface in a smile so vivid, he very nearly releases hold upon hard-bunched control within but this — her assent to be his, all of her…

“That’s a good response, hondje.” Mouth pulling apart on a grin, Theo teases a thumb against her own flushed smile as if he wishes to make sure it is true. Sweeps her back against him, forearms folding beneath and buckling the plush of her thighs as he lifts her. Theo basks in the taste of her high squeal of delight as it presses into his mouth before tossing her onto the sheets. “Don’t expect any mercy, hondje. Tonight, I’m not letting go even if you beg me to.” He can’t drag his shirt, fast enough, off of his back before discarding it, brusque, to the floor.

A happy, dazed smile framed by the glow of her cheeks; locks scattered as if floret vines across his pillows: she’s nothing short of exquisite art herself. He bites back the words before they tumble free off a traitorous tongue.

“I have a greedy lover on my hands, Theodorus van Gogh.” She quips his words right back at him.

Palms sinking into the mattress on either side of her body, he offers her a grin of his own. “Never denied it, hondje.” His hands are upon her, bunching the fabric of her nightgown in a drag up against her body. Tossing crumpled fabric and her bra off the side. Until she is entirely his to admire and touch; his breaths punched into a deliberate inhale to curve the path of her exposed collarbones, the swell of her breasts — the softest of grazes of fingernails across the tip has them puckering hard beneath a shuddering gasp.

If he’d been told she’d be here within his arms, that she’d be far more devastating — beautiful — beneath tracing fingertips, more so than he’d ever envisioned within vivid dreams; Theo might’ve laughed at the very notion of such folly. Dreams had always been just so; beautiful swathes of visions he’d been chasing after, since his humans years, stubborn as he was and now, not dead, as a creature of the night. That she chooses to relinquish herself to him of her own will, as if choosing to fulfil his dreams... He’s in love with this woman. It’s hard to think of any other state of being when she is beneath him like this: open affection across that crooked smile.

Theo breathes her in; a fortifying breath. Fingers following trail of a hungering mouth upon her, he hooks her legs apart, pressing into the space in between. A low gasp of discontent and desire breaks the air, “Theo—”

“Hands where I can see them,” he directs, harshly. Dark, sapphire gaze meeting hers — flushed — in between her legs, he tucks her panties to the side. And halts: the sight of wet folds, glistening with her arousal, flushed, erotic, his cock throbs at the sight and scent of her, it nearly drives him insane.

Eyes flickering her way, he quirks a brow — eyes on me — before he drags a broad swipe of tongue against her folds. Her jaw falls open, head thrown back onto a startled moan, shattering onto a hitched squeal as he hauls her closer. “This… is in the way,” he mutters, bunching her underwear to tear apart. “Don’t you dare look away.” The warning’s a low, rattling sound of lust, Theo tracks a harsh bite into the soft of her thigh to affirm that threat in place. She listens, trembling gaze returning to watch, a fist she presses into her mouth to bite, smothering her moans.

The entirety of her being as if made to hound and steal his senses. He withdraws his attentions back to how her pussy weeps; his own arousal tightens and burns with the urge for release. Moving forward to bury his face into her, his tongue steals a quick, angled path across her — she shivers but otherwise, remains obedient.

Good girl: he chuckles. Secretes his praise into her slit, Theo kisses and sucks a path across her. Nosing at her clit as he moves to curve his tongue into her. Her hips jump along with the groan that claws free of his body at her drenching his mouth, her taste, liquid addiction. His fangs, scrape against her and she moans a distant, broken sound. High, pitching higher, he moves to push two fingers into her depths. Her body immediately clamping onto the sensation with an obscene squelch.

Theo moves to wrench himself away from the intoxication of her body, pressing an open-mouthed smirk onto her mound. She’s whining as if a broken, wrecked thing; eyes clouding over and begging for release, the sight shoots straight to his groin. Adding a finger to the mess of her, scissoring into her walls; withdrawing slow before he thrusts in deep. Curving tapered digits up into her spasming walls to rub at that one specific spot he finds makes her clamp hard, scream loud.

Her breaths are labored, breaking apart the syllables of his name into three wonderful, fucked-out garbles — she could sound much more ruined, he knows she will — until she makes of his name, a senseless Th-eee-o. He relishes it, traipsing open mouthed kisses across her heaving belly, a twisted sound of laughter leaves the confines of his chest at her next scream. “You’re slurring your words, lekker ding. Don’t think I can decipher your whining like that.”

Her eyes are as round, as the formation of her mouth into an O as if she means to retort… before he breaks her for himself. Trapping his fingers as he hooks them into her depths, grinding against her spot, her voice flees entirely. Soundless cries and tears, her incessant shaking the only response of her body to her orgasm.

Trembling fingers reach to frame his face, weave through his hair before she heaves him onto her mouth, pressing heated breaths against his tongue and he lets her — for a few moments of reprieve. Extracting himself out of her — she whines into his mouth — before he draws away, smearing the tips of slick digits against her lips. Painting her glistening for himself before he sweeps in to sample.

She tastes just as — better. Divine, his mind whispers — than what he’d conjured within fever dreams; her body’s pliant beneath his touch and she is his, a primal part within snaps, rejoices.

Her fingers clutch into fists across his chest before she knocks him back gently; Theo lets her glide along with his own descent onto his back as she moves to trap him in between her legs. Unbuttoning his pants before those coveting digits reach into and palm at his cock; his palms convulse across the flare of her hips as she raises herself. Positioning his cock in between her thighs, gaze skewing to meet his.

“Sit on me— Godver!” He clenches out in between grinding teeth, fingers trailing across the slope of her ass to settle upon the small of her back to push. And she goes, thankfully, down. Theo’s unable to tear his gaze away from the sight of her nether flesh parting around him, drenched, tight, a feral growl singes free of his throat along with her choked whimper.

The erratic movement of her breasts along with her urgent thrusts upon him, streels his gaze and fingers, rolling the dark tips of them until she breaks onto a pleading whisper. Scraping fingernails across his scalp when he pitches his mouth across her nipple, sweeping a broad lap against the hardened peak. Squeezing at the soft flesh, a palm he forces down against her spine to guide when the symphony of her rhythm falters. Theo’s almost addicted to the sound of her voice around the syllables of his name, making and breaking apart. “T-That! This feels… i-insane!” she gasps.

“Insane? So it feels good then.” The smirk he feels pulling around the release of her peak to nip in between her breasts. She yelps, the torturous, wet squeeze of her pussy around his length dragging his own grunt.

“S-So…” She breathes, shatters, head tipping back in pleasure but he’s there, gathering a palm at the back of her head to pull her gaze towards him. Keeping her from withdrawing too far. She tries and frowns, around her breathless sounds — fails — before attempting words. “So… very aware and — ah — modest t-too.”

Her palm caressing across a firm pectoral before she finds her own target and pinches at his nipple in between middle and index — the pleasure that jolts through him at her audacity blooms white-hot just as her stuttering phrases, coiling into his groin.

“Buckle up, hondje.” He grins, fierce, riled; tongue sweeping a path against glistening teeth as he folds his hands beneath the give of her ass, lifting — she whines her protest — and tosses her back towards the pillows. Sweeping just as soon after, inhuman brisk reflexes sanding in, he fists a hand beneath the back of her head before it meets the headboard. Fixating a firm grasp across her arm, knees knocking her thighs apart to hold her down hard. Theo snaps his hips forward, entering her on a swift thrust, she screams to her God on her next, fractured breath.

“Your words are pleasant to hear, snoepje. Make me want to prod at you.” Letting her head roll onto the down of their pillows as she sobs out broken, beautiful sounds, he feels his own release rising imminent within his groin. “But you sound sexier when you can’t form them, let alone gather sane thoughts.”

Looming over; every single propulsion brushes against her clit and she’s pretty and ruined beyond measure as she unfurls her arms towards him. Securing his head within the crook of her shoulder, as if she’d never let go. Theo breathes his final warning, hot against her neck, “Sing louder, mijn liefje.” Tongue sweeping a desperate, wet path against her skin before he plunges aching fangs into her, just as her walls flutter and drench in a tight hold around — she listens, obedient, and screams her release.

The light streaming in is merciless against his closed lids and her fingers are restless, feathering patterns across his chest; he catches her wrist within a loose, languorous fist before dragging it up to his mouth in a nip. “....My hondje’s got the energy to play so early in the morning?” Meeting her wide-eyed, contrite gaze as he tips his head at her, half-draped across him.

“I am… sorry?” Wriggling the digits of her captured wrist before she smiles.

He beams, unkind; the Devil. “Don’t apologize. I’ve got energy to spare.” She releases a choked sound of disbelief, gathering his palm within her free hand just as he's moving to slip it in between her legs.

“Thank you, no. I am sore and satisfied.” She breathes, feathering a kiss against his captive fingers. Angling a sanguine brow at him. “Perhaps this afternoon…”

He laughs then, a surprised, unrestricted burst of happiness. “As soon as we’ve had breakfast, I’ll need my sugar, knabbeltje.” He amends. She returns to peppering open-mouthed kisses across his neck, his face — he almost considers asking her to give way before his heart does. Almost.

But she is merciless, a finger traces familiar patterns right across his heart. “What are you doing?”

“Writing. Words. Since you’re fond of them.” She skews a loving grin his way, dangerous—

Gathering herself up above him before she drops in for a kiss. Murmuring her words against his mouth, the truth of her heart, fracturing his own to fall into her palms. “…Ik hou van je, Theo.” Brutal, cruel but she's still just his.

I love you, too. More than life, more than I’ve ever loved and I will, for as long as my heart continues to sound its renewed beats. Across centuries and through time, schatje, I will.

Go to Chapters: 1-10 | 11 | 12 | 13 (End)

End Notes: Thank you all for joining me for this long, almost an entire year long journey. This story has been so very dear to me and I'm delighted I got the chance to share it with you all. And for Nana, who let me run with this spark of idea, starting with some soft loving wisps for Theo and the prompt she requested:

I am so sorry, Nana and thank you for letting me write this, ILU2!!

Ahem, friends, you can find the rest of my stories within my master-post here.

[vivianweasley]

Pride and Prejudice (Chapter 6)

Summary: Your father is Lucius Malfoy’s cousin, and after the war, it was really difficult for you to find a job because of your last name. So your mother and Mrs. Weasley came up with a crazy idea. A fake marriage between you and Fred Weasley.

Last Chapter! (I combined the last chapter and the epilogue cuz they are not too long.)

Pairing: Fred Weasley X Malfoy!Fem!Reader

Warnings: food mention, mention of divorce, people pretending to choke, proposal.

Word Count: 1.8k

Disclaimer: photos used in the header are from Pinterest. Credit goes to the original owners.

Please do NOT repost or translate my work on any platform! Thank you! Reblogs and comments are always welcome:)

Pride and Prejudice Series Masterlist

Fred walked downstairs, noticing a faint smell of apples in the joke shop. “So are we selling apple juice now, Georgie?” he joked.

But George looked confused, “What apple juice? I could only smell caramel-” And then the answer finally came to George, “Amortentia!”

Fred followed George to the shelf displaying amortentia and immediately realized a firecracker just exploded next to this shelf, causing at least four bottles of amortentia to break and the love potion inside to spill.

George waved his wand and cleaned up the mess, but a satisfied smirk soon appeared on George’s lips, “Strange. Didn’t know you liked apples this much.”

“Shut up and go back to work!” Fred raised his voice, covering for the fact that he’s a complete mess now. 

That fainting smell of apple that’s still lingering in the shop also had a dash of the scent of book pages in it. And this combination could only remind Fred of one person. 

You.

The person whom he married out of a dare. The person who he fell in love with during the process. The person who just walked out of his life.

George noticed the change in Fred’s expression. How defeat was now written all over his face. “Mate, you need to do something. You can’t just let her walk away like that.”

“What can I do?” Fred sighed, “Maybe she’s been waiting for this all the time.”

George sighed with Fred. This wasn’t like his brother. Soon the lingering smell of amortentia caught his attention, and a brilliant idea popped into George’s mind. “She has feelings for you too, and I can prove it to you!”

~

You pushed open the door of the joke shop. George just called you claiming that there’s an emergency, so you rushed to the joke shop immediately after work.

George approached you with a small glass vial, “Y/N, this is the new perfume I just made. I need your opinion.”

So this is the emergency??

You looked at George, couldn’t decipher what his smile meant. But you did know one thing. In fact, everyone who went to school with the twins should know the rule: be careful of what they handed to you. So you stepped away from that vial and asked with caution, “When did the joke shop start selling perfume?”

“Oh, we are always trying to expand our business,” George noticed how you became alert, so he added, “I swear to Merlin, this is not a prank!”

Still finding his smile suspicious, but for Merlin’s sake, you still decided to take the vial.

“Does it smell good? What does it smell like?” George asked carefully.

“Hmm...” The perfume did smell very good. You could smell the sweetness of cinnamon, a dash of gunpowder, but it also smelled so familiar. It smelled like...Fred’s cologne? “George, I’m pretty sure someone else has already made a perfume like this.”

“Really? How so?” George felt his heart beating at his throat, so scared that you might say another person’s name.

“Isn’t this just Fred’s cologne?” You were finding this unbelievable. How could George not recognize his own twin’s cologne?

“Oh really!!” Hearing a definitive answer from you has made George so happy that he pulled you into a hug. “Got it! Thank you for your opinion! You’re the best!”

“You’re welcome...?” Watching George being so happy that he could start dancing at any minute, you were beginning to think that the chemicals in the perfume were toxic. How could making a plagiarized perfume make a man so happy?

~

Two days later, you apparated to the joke shop again. It was raining outside. Maybe the weather was trying to set the tone for what was about to happen next. After taking a deep breath, you knocked on the door of the twins’ apartment, the apartment that you called home for the past year.

Fred opened the door, letting you in without saying a word. You tried not to look at him so you could appear indifferent and won’t be affected by his expressions.

“Here’s the divorce document,” you said as you took out all the paper in your bag. He took the documents and flipped through the papers quickly, still not saying anything at all.

You couldn’t tell if his silence meant he’s also not ready to say goodbye or he just had nothing to say to you. But you tried not to overthink as you continued, “Oh, before you sign it, you still have one wish left. What do you want me to do?”

“What if I said,” he finally looked at you, his eyes capturing yours, “I don’t want you to go?”

His words were like a drum in your ears, rendered you speechless. Before you could fully process what he just said, Fred continued, “It might sound crazy, but for the past few days, I realized I just couldn’t imagine a life without you anymore.  I know I’ve lived 20 years without you perfectly fine, but now that I’ve had you in my life, I don’t ever want to live without you again. I know I could be insensitive sometimes, and I probably did something stupid that made you mad in the past year, but I’m willing to change if you tell me to.”

“All I’m trying to say is,” he took a deep breath and continued, “Please allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. And please don’t divorce me.“

You finally let out a soft laugh. That’s Mr. Darcy’s line in Pride and Prejudice. You remembered reading this part to him during Christmas, and you couldn’t believe that he actually memorized this line.

Fred panicked when you weren’t talking, “But of course, if you really want to, I wouldn’t stop you. I-“

“You know, you don’t have to use your last wish on this,” you stopped him, “I was going to say yes anyway. But If you insist, that won’t be a problem with me.”

Fred’s eyes widened as he processed your words, “Wait, does that mean-“

You answered his question by pulling him down and pressing a kiss on his lips. He was shocked by your sudden action but soon kissed you back with his hands finding your waist and pulling you closer to him.

So this is what it feels like to kiss him, and it’s so much better than how you’ve imagined it would be. It started a soft kiss but soon became more passionate, as if you were making up for all the time you two spent on being oblivious.

“Should’ve done this earlier.” A smirk appeared on Fred’s lips when you finally pulled away.

“Idiot,” you rolled your eyes, but your cheeks were still heated.

He chuckled before giving you another soft peck on the lips. His hands were still resting on your waist.

“And you’re still this idiot’s wife.”

～(warning: people pretending to choke, food mention)~

“Y/N, there’s a Mr. Weasley looking for you,” the receptionist raised her eyebrows and smiled at you.

“Thanks! I’ll be done in a minute!” You quickly finished the last sentence and looked at Luna from across the table with your puppy eyes.

She chuckled, “Alright, you can leave early today.”

“Thanks, Luna, you’re the best!” You flicked your wand to pack up your bag before running to the door.

“Tell Fred I said hi!” you heard Luna’s voice behind you.

“I will!”

A month after your fake marriage ended, you quit your job at Whizz Hard Books. You didn’t want to work in a place that wouldn’t accept who you really are.

Ginny introduced you to Luna Lovegood and The Quibbler. You immediately fell in love with the whimsical ideas and style of The Quibbler, and Luna gave you a new job as you two hit it off very quickly. So this is where you work now. No need to hide your background and use a fake last name. This place accepted you for who you are.

Fred was at the door, opening his arms when he saw you running to him. “Happy one-year anniversary, darling!”

You giggled as you ran into his arms, “and this time, it’s real.”

“Yep,” he pressed a kiss on your forehead, “ready?”

You nodded, and the next second you two apparated to your favorite restaurant.

The dinner was delicious, and for dessert, Fred ordered your favorite cake. But when you were enjoying the cake, you suddenly felt something hard inside. This was extremely dangerous, for you could’ve swallowed it if you weren’t paying attention. You were just about to complain when you finally realized what it was.

It’s a ring!

You were surprised. Was Fred trying to propose? But last time you checked, you two were still legally a married couple.

But this also seemed like what he would do on your one-year anniversary. You were sure he was waiting to see your surprised face, and an idea soon came to you.

You pretended that you were trying to pick up your spoon because your elbow “accidentally” swept it down on the floor a few seconds ago. When you were sure Fred couldn’t see you, you slid the ring on your finger. Then you got up and took another bite of the cake like nothing out of the ordinary happened.

A few seconds later, you started coughing. Your brows were furrowed as your hands reached for your neck like you just choked on something.

Fred was freaking out, knowing that he’s the reason behind all this, “Darling, are you alright?”

The only response you could produce was a few glottal sounds and you looked like you were almost crying.

Fred ran to you as fast as possible. He wanted to help, but he had no idea what to do as his brain was in an absolute mess now. The only thing he could manage to do was apologizing again and again, “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have done that. Baby, I’m so sorry…”

The noise you two were making attracted the other customers’ attention, and you saw a waiter approaching you with his wand, trying to help. You knew it’s probably time to stop this prank.

“Are you talking about this?” You finally stopped acting and waved your left hand in front of him.

Fred’s expression froze, still trying to recover from the terror of accidentally hurting you. After a few moments, he finally realized, “Wait, does that mean…”

“YES!” You chuckled.

Fred’s furrowed brows finally unfolded as a bright smile appeared on his lips. He picked you up and spun you around, “She said YES!”

The crowd around you was clapping and cheering while your husband was cheering himself as well.

You giggled, “Freddie, you know we never went through with the divorce, right? So technically, I’m still your wife.”

“I know, darling, but I figured that I owe you a proper proposal,” he said while pressing multiple soft kisses on your face, “Plus, I just want to make this official. I love you, darling.”

“I love you too,” You smiled as your lips found his again, “I love you most ardently.”

A/N: I can’t believe I really finished this series asdfgfgjk Thank you guys so so much for reading, reblogging, commenting, and liking this series. I can’t tell you how much your support means to me❤️

Series Taglist: @ifilosemyselfagain @theweasleytwinsgirl @bookworm06 @unabashedbookscollector @txtdreamss @sagittarius-flowerchild  @rsheridan @ovrwd @anywherebuthere @allaroundaddict @jeminila @secretsofageek @magical-spit @freddieweasleyswife @lilypad-55449 @hufflepuffzutara @honey-honey-5644 @kyloren-peterparker @treblebeth @kyloren-peterparker @fred-sux @rodrickmalfoy @liliputbahn @its-yasbxtch @daydreamgirl8​ @305weasley​ @awritingtree​ @lucymfer​ @bberree​ @malfoy-wife15   @weasleyxmalfoyxstyles  @justfollowtheroad​  @nojamsonmytoast​  @amc723​ 

(If your name is bolded, Tumblr wont let me tag you. And I’m really sorry if I forgot you!)

(General taglist in reblogged post cuz it can’t fit in one post)

[thearvariblues]

And They Were Roommates - Chapter 1

Slimmer Than Yennefer’s Waist

***

“I just wish he just fucking did it already, you know?” Lambert muttered, leaning against the bar counter.

“Yeah, I know,” Eskel nodded, wiping another glass dry. “He’s like a lovesick puppy.”

“And you don’t have to live with him,” Lambert groaned as he watched Geralt “help” Jaskier pack his things on the tiny stage at the back of the bar. The help consisted of Geralt doing all the work while Jaskier just stood there and watched, smiling like an idiot.

“Yes, every fucking day I see them like this, I thank all the gods I know for that,” Eskel agreed.

“Hey, Geralt!” Lambert yelled. “Aren’t you fucker supposed to be helping us close the bar? Or are you too busy playing a roadie?”

Geralt lifted his middle finger, not even looking up from Jaskier’s things.

“Fucking unbelievable,” Lambert snorted.

“By the way, aren’t you supposed to be helping, too? Because it seems to me like I am doing all the work here.”

“I’m giving you moral support or something, jeez,” Lambert sighed, rolling his eyes.

“And that prevents you from doing anything else, or…?”

“Ugh, fine. Whatever. Whose bright idea it was to close almost right after Jaskier’s gig ends, anyway?”

“You mean whose bright idea it was to plan a gig that ends at midnight,” Eskel replied. “Although there were so many people here tonight that I’m starting to think Jaskier’s really good. Probably.”

“If you have any doubts about that, don’t mention them to Geralt. He’ll gladly explain to you that Jaskier is the best thing that happened to rock music since fucking Queen.”

Eskel paused.

“Doesn’t Geralt only listen to death metal? Power, if he’s feeling particularly soft.”

“Yeah, I said rock, not metal,” Lambert chuckled. “Besides, Jaskier loves Queen.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Yeah, it’s absolutely disgusting.”

“That he loves Queen?”

“No, I mean what Geralt’s doing.”

“Well… Yeah,” Eskel chuckled, but then he suddenly paused, blinking. “Uh-oh. I think he told him something.”

“What?!” Lambert turned back to the stage, his ginger curls whipping around his head.

Jaskier was just standing there, utterly baffled, staring at Geralt with his mouth wide open. Geralt, meanwhile, was red as a beetroot, clearly trying to come up with something to say and failing.

“Oh, no, don’t you dare,” Lambert muttered. “Don’t you dare back off now, I won’t spend the next two years listening to your lovesick bullshit!”

“You don’t even know what he told him,” Eskel remarked.

“Don’t care,” Lambert shrugged. “Oh. Oh, yes. Can you see that? Jaskier’s coming closer!”

“Oh, fuck, it’s happening,” Eskel gasped, leaning against the counter next to Lambert. “It really is happening.”

“No no no, Geralt, don’t you fucking dare run away, you moron.”

“Yes, Jaskier, stop him, that’s a good boy.”

“Of course he was gonna stop him, that queer bard has been madly in love with him for years.”

“Are you allowed to say queer?”

“Jaskier calls himself that!”

“Fair point.”

“Besides, I am… Oh, god. It really is happening!”

“Jesus Christ, I can’t believe it.”

That was the moment when Jaskier and Geralt’s lips finally met in a careful, almost shy kiss.

“Yes!” Lambert yelled, jumping up and down. “Fucking finally, you hare-brained dickheads!”

Geralt pulled Jaskier closer with one arm, using his other hand to give Lambert another middle finger.

“You gotta admit they’re kind of sweet, though,” Eskel chuckled when Jaskier jumped up, wrapping both his legs around Geralt’s waist.

Lambert rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. But if I ever start being sappy like this, just promise you’re gonna kill me.”

“Oh, Lambert,” Eskel sighed. “With pleasure.”

*

Precisely six months later, Lambert was sitting on his couch, staring at Geralt in utter disbelief.

“What the fuck do you mean you’re gonna move out?!”

“I’m sorry, I really am,” Geralt sighed, taking another sip of his beer. “But we knew this roommate situation wasn’t gonna last forever, didn’t we?”

“Oh, fuck of. We’ve been living together for how long? Since your divorce. That was what, four years ago?”

“Five.”

“Even better,” Lambert snorted. “Not forever, my ass!”

“Look, Lamb, I can give you… three rents. So you have time to find another roommate or… a cheaper apartment to live in, I don’t know.”

“You know where you can shove your fucking three rents, don’t you?” Lambert growled. “Am I really that insufferable a roommate, Geralt?”

“No. Well, you’re very… yourself,” Geralt smiled.

“Thanks a lot, mate, really appreciate it.”

“Lambert. It’s not you. I just… I just want to live with my boyfriend, really.”

“Yeah, and I get it, but I…” Lambert sighed. “I fucking love this apartment, I really do, and now I’m gonna have to give it up. I could never afford a place like this on my own.”

“You just need to find another roommate, Lamb.”

“Hate to break it to you, honey, but chances that I find another person willing to put up with my bullshit are slimmer than Yennefer’s waist.”

“You know, you could just say you’re gonna miss me,” Geralt smiled.

Lambert sighed again, but then he raised to his feet and went to the kitchen. When he came back, he was holding a bottle of scotch and two glasses.

“I am gonna miss you, Geralt,” he said, placing the glasses on the table with a soft clink. “Wanna get utterly wasted one more time?”

“With you? Always,” Geralt nodded, finishing his beer.

*

Geralt’s task to speak with Lambert was a walk in the park in comparison to what Jaskier had to go through.

“So… You want me to move out, basically,” his roommate said.

“I didn’t say that, dear heart,” Jaskier sighed, pouring them another glass of wine. “You’re more than welcome to stay, it’s just…”

“It’s just that I’d have to live here with you and your boyfriend. No, thanks.” He ran his fingers through his long black hair. “It’s fine, really. I’m sure I can find a place to stay.”

“Geralt’s not gonna move in immediately, of course. I was thinking… perhaps next month?” Jaskier shrugged. “I can even help you with the apartment hunting, if you want.”

“That’s sweet of you, Jaskier, but there’s no need. I’m sure I can do it on my own,” he said, adjusting his long skirt to cover his feet. “Damn, it’s fucking cold today, isn’t it?”

“Just put on some socks.”

“You know I hate socks.”

“Fine, freeze to death, then, if you want. Just… Listen, I want to help. To compensate for kicking you out!”

His roommate smirked.

“You just wanna ease your conscience, that’s all, babe. Stop it, for fuck’s sake. I’m gonna be fine. I’m just gonna miss my friend, that’s all.”

“Oh, honey, but you can still see me whenever you want!” Jaskier said quickly. “Just stop by for a glass of wine, or we can meet at Geralt’s bar!”

“You mean Geralt and those other two’s bar.”

“Eskel and Lambert. Geralt’s adoptive brothers.”

“Yeah, those two. The scarred one and the asshole one.”

“You could meet them if you wanted, you see.”

“No, thanks. Knowing Geralt is probably enough, I don’t need to meet his family, too.”

“Well, you’re gonna meet them at the wedding whether you want it or not, so–”

“What fucking wedding are you talking about? Jaskier! Did he propose and you didn’t tell me?!”

“Relax. I meant a… potential future wedding I absolutely haven’t already planned every detail of.”

“Jesus, you’re incredible, Jaskier,” his roommate laughed. “Hey, I have a question. Couldn’t you like… you move in with Geralt and leave this apartment to me so all I’d have to do would be to find another roommate?”

“I wish,” Jaskier muttered, licking his lips. “But I told you Geralt lives with his brother Lambert, remember? And he insisted on leaving that apartment to him.”

“Lucky bastard. Think I could convince him to let me move in with him?”

Jaskier blinked, mouth falling open.

“Aiden!” he gasped. “That’s a fucking brilliant idea!”

Aiden groaned finishing his wine in a single one gulp.

“Oh, well. Looks like I’m gonna meet one of Geralt’s brothers, after all. Lucky me. Just remind me, Lambert is…”

“The asshole one.”

“Fucking great,” Aiden said, lifting the hand holding his glass. “In that case, more wine, please. I don’t want to face that idea sober.”

[readyplayerhobi]

Flower | 37

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff

; Word Count: 5k

; Warnings: Discussions of IVF, sperm donation

; Synopsis: You finally decide to take a dip into the world of online dating and find the Flower dating app. One of the top matches for you proves to be a guy who looks to be your complete opposite; tattooed, pierced, a metalhead and oh…incredibly handsome. What happens when you throw caution to the wind and reach out to him?

; A/N: Thank you for the reception to the last chapter! :D I think that was the most comments/feedback in a long time for Flower haha. It means a lot to me to have your comments like that <3333 I hope you enjoy this one, perhaps it’s not really what you were expecting. I changed the last few around and the characters had decided this was the way they wanted to go! (it might sound silly but honestly, characters have a life of their own!)

; Flower Masterpost

-

“Meeps!” Hoseok’s calls from the hallway, catching your attention from where you’d lined up all your baking ingredients on the counter. “I’m heading out.”

Placing the glass bowl down carefully, you wipe your hands clean before heading out and smiling at him brightly. He’s got a dark denim jacket on alongside his new favourite black leather biker style boots, looking suitably rocker and even more sexy. Maybe you had a thing for those boots.

You don’t let him know this though, just watching as he pats his pockets to check he has his phone and wallet before a concerned expression takes over his face. Chuckling, you reach out to tap his hand, revealing the car keys he’s panicking over and causing his cheeks to fluff a pretty rose.

“Thanks. Do you want me to bring you anything back later? I can swing by the store on my way back home once we’re done?” Shaking your head at him, you squeeze at the hand you’re still touching and give him a thankful smile.

“No, I’m good. We’re going to order in later. Maybe that Japanese place that we ordered from the other week or something. Thank you, though. Enjoy yourself, okay? Text me when you’re going to set off.” Hoseok nods before leaning forward, giving you a quick kiss before he’s out of the door. 

Standing for a moment, you overhear the sound of his car starting up before turning around and heading back into the kitchen. Grabbing your phone, your fingers tap at the screen as you let the girl’s know that the door is open for them to just walk in. Almost as soon as you’ve sent the message into your group chat, you’re distracted away by the bark from Ciri at your feet.

She’s still pretty small, only a little bigger than she’d been three months ago when Hoseok had proposed, but you think that just makes her look cuter. Thankfully, she’s been very easy to train so far and she’s currently sat so prettily as she looks up at you, big eyes staring intently at your hands.

Another short, sharp bark makes you laugh as you glance at the stuff you’d gotten out to bake with. Crouching down, you stroke her fur and make baby noises to her until her tail is sweeping the floor rapidly.

“Ciri-billy, I haven’t even started yet! You can’t eat them as they are now. Have some patience my darling.” You don’t know why you call your pets the nicknames that you do, or even where the names come. They just tend to pop out of your mouth when you’re talking to them and you just roll with it.

It’s caused Hoseok to laugh more than once to hear you call Kasumi your chicken or Ciri your little pudding. Particularly given you don’t call him by many pet names, instead just using his name or Hobi. Occasionally he’ll get a ‘babe’ or a ‘sweetheart’ but it’s not too often.

“Soon my bub.” Giggling, you give her a final stroke before standing back up and facing the counter. Quickly opening Spotify and beginning the playlist of your favourite songs, you keep your phone within easy reaching distance while looking over the recipe you’d printed out earlier in the day.

It takes only minutes for you to become entranced in what you’re doing; careful measuring of ingredients and the delicate balance of mixing them to create a wonderful treat. Only what you’re making today isn’t for yourself, or even your best friends.

No, they’re for Ciri. You’d found a recipe for grain-free dog treats and you’d decided to try making them. Part of you couldn’t quite believe what you were doing, particularly for a dog, but you would enjoy seeing Ciri enjoy them all. It wouldn’t surprise you if Hoseok decided to try and eat one himself.

You’re so involved with baking and singing along to the music that plays through the Bluetooth connected speakers in the kitchen, obviously something that Hoseok had bought because you’d considered it pointless, that you don’t hear the front door opening. It’s only when you turn to put some of the finished treats onto the wire trays that you’ve lined up that you realise when Chungha is suddenly standing in front of you.

Shrieking, you jump and have to battle to not drop all the freshly baked goods onto the floor while cursing up a storm. Almost immediately she moves to help you, apologising profusely as she yelps when grabbing a falling dog treat, her face twisting as it burns her fingers.

“Oh fuck! Chungha, shit. Are you okay? Oh my god, come over here.” Tugging her to the sink, you turn on the cold water and shove her hand under it, ignoring her whine of pain as the cold water interacts with her burn. The two of you focus on making sure it’s okay, even resulting in you going to grab the first aid kit Hoseok had bought a year ago when a sudden voice interrupts.

“What is going on here?” Two sides of wide eyes turn to Soyeon, letting her see the medical stuff you’ve haphazardly thrown on the side as you’ve looked for the burn ointment you could have sworn was in here. A glance at the treats causes a small ‘o’ to form on her pretty lips before she leans against the counter, elbows on the top.

“Ooh, baking mishap?” Teasing you with a grin and a wiggle of her brows, you nod before handing Chungha the tube you’d finally found. She gives you a smile of gratitude and applies some to her hand, her lips pursed into an adorable pout as she concentrates. You’re so busy concentrating on watching her that you almost miss Soyeon’s hand as it reaches out to the wire trays.

“No!” Shouting, the word causes her to jerk in surprise as she snaps her hand back with almost obscenely wide eyes. Cringing, you realised that you’d perhaps been a little bit too loud and give her an apologetic wince.

“Sorry. I just...they’re not for us. They’re for Ciri! I found a recipe to make some treats for her so I thought I’d give it a go. Think I made enough for her?” Brow raising, you chuckle while gesturing to the ridiculous amount. Perhaps you’d bought a little too many ingredients and gotten just a little excited in it.

There’s no way you could feed Ciri all this before they went off. She’d end up getting sick, and you hated having to clean that up. Which meant you couldn’t because then Hoseok would have to clean it up and you know he’d whine and pout the whole time.

“I can take some back for Mandu?” Soyeon offers, referring to the cute golden labrador that Jungkook and her had adopted two months ago. They’d gotten her from a shelter as a puppy and Jungkook had been the one to pick her name, unsurprisingly choosing something food-related given mandu was Korean-style dumplings.

“Sure, I’ll make sure you can take some back for Eevee too,” Glancing to Chungha, you gesture over to the box on the other counter. “For us though, I did make us some triple chocolate cookies! Not entirely sure how many are left because Hoseok was being a locust.”

That gets a snort from them all as you separate the dog treats so that all three dogs will get an equal amount before washing your hands. Chungha puts the kit away and takes out two glasses from a cupboard before handing one over to Soyeon. The two take a glance inside the fridge before filling them up with fizzy lemonade.

As far as you knew, that was just what Hoseok liked to drink with one of his alcohols. It made it more like a soft drink or something.

Grabbing the box of cookies, you head into the living room and sit on the couch with a leg curled up beneath you. Your best friends follow and sit as well, looking over at the television where Netflix has been paused in the show you’d been watching. One of what was considered to be your worst traits was that you took far too long to watch the ‘popular’ shows, which is why you’d finally started watching Breaking Bad way too late.

Hoseok had been bugging you to try and watch it for years now but you’d just never been interested.

“Ooh, you’re getting to a good bit.” Chungha comments, reaching forward to grab one of the cookies out of the box and munching on it. A soft noise of happiness leaves her as she chews, her butt wiggling as the flavours melt on her tongue.

“Shh, I already have to put up with Hoseok doing that. I don’t need you doing it too,” Pursing your lip into a pout, you cross your legs and grab the sleeping Pikachu cushion from your side before hugging it. “I’m going, to be honest with you as well, I don’t really like this. I don’t get the hype.”

As expected, both of them look at you with shocked faces that make you want to laugh. You don’t know what it is about going against the grain but the reactions you got never ceased to amaze you.

“Are you kidding? Breaking Bad is like...television perfection! The character arcs are just...urgh, exquisite.” Brow raising, you watch as Chungha continues to wax poetic about the show while Soyeon nods along and interjects now and again in support.

“Well, I think it’s pretty boring. And I don’t like Walter. He’s an asshole.” More shocked looks cause you to reach out and take the PS4 controller, exiting the show and moving on to look through the large list of shows and films Netflix had on offer. Without any input from either of them, you settle on The Umbrella Academy.

You’d already watched both seasons but it was something easy to have on in the background while you all probably talked instead. 

“How’s wedding planning?” The question comes from Soyeon, who lets her head drop onto the back of the couch. Kasumi is laid out next to her, probably purring contentedly as her soft fur is stroked and she gets all the scratches and love. Ciri is currently curled up between Chungha and you, her tail hitting your thigh gently.

“Good, good. We’ve chosen a date and booked the venue so...we’re going to get the invites done as soon as we can. Before we get onto picking stuff for the actual ceremony and all that, we’re going to book the honeymoon. Priorities, you know. I think we’re leaning towards Argentina for two weeks at the minute but that might change.” You were adamant on exploring the world with Hoseok and Argentina would be your first foray into South America.

Which wasn’t much really considering you’d only ever visited Italy and Thailand so far. But still, when the opportunity arose then you would grasp it firmly.

Chungha finishes off her cookie before brushing at her mouth delicately, “Have you bought one of those wedding planner’s? Where it lists out all the stuff for you to plan and add in ideas and stuff?”

Nodding, you smile at her before gesturing over to the bookcase to the right. Alongside the books, video games, figurines and plushies that had accumulated over time was the binder that you’d purchased only days after getting engaged. Part of you was still trying to get your head around the fact that you no longer had a boyfriend but a fiancé. 

And in a couple of months then you’d have a husband. It was odd to think about.

“Ah, it’s all exciting to think about.”

“It is, but I don’t have much more to tell you at the minute, to be honest. We haven’t decided much more apart from that and I haven’t looked into anything else. I’m trying not to overwhelm myself, you know? Go slow.” That gets them both nodding in acknowledgement before they look around.

“Where’s Hoseok gone today?”

“Oh, he’s gone to a concert with Taehyung and Yoongi. Some...weird prog-rock band or something. He’s been playing some of the songs lately and they sound odd but he’s into it so,” You shrug with a wry twist to your lips, causing them to snort. “I doubt he’ll be home before midnight, to be honest, so...we have the house to ourselves, ladies!”

“I mean...I’m pretty sure the most exciting thing we’re going to do is just eat food or something. Which is probably all we ever do when we’re together. You guys are not good for my waistline.” Soyeon groans, patting her flat stomach and you give her a droll stare.

“Really?”

“Yeah?” Chungha backs you up and you can’t help but laugh in amusement, giving her an equally amused stare. She’s just as skinny as Soyeon is but you can’t bring yourself to argue with either of them. Everyone has their issues going on after all.

That thought makes you frown and you reach out to Soyeon, clasping her hand tightly as you watch her with concern. Your sudden change in demeanour causes her brow to lower, gaze skittering away from yours given how intense it was.

“You’re okay, right? There’s nothing wrong or anything you’d wanna talk about?” The sincerity in your voice makes her smile softly, her free hand coming to rest against your own and squeezing it gently.

“I’m okay, I promise. It was just a joke, honestly.” Twisting your lips slightly, you stare deeply into her eyes before nodding slowly in acceptance. After spending so long hating yourself, you didn’t want to let your friends feel even an iota of the self-hatred you had. Especially when they were so pretty anyway.

“So err...while we’re still talking about moderately serious stuff, I have something to ask both of you. I mean...well it’s kinda weird that I’m asking you both but I figure I should ask you to get your permission before asking them.” Chungha is babbling and you tilt your head in question, brow creasing as you wonder what on earth she’s trying to get at. She seems nervous given the way her fingers play with themselves and her eyes skitter away from your direction.

“Dahyun was supposed to be here, you know that, but she’s ended up having to go see her grandparents as her grandma is sick right now. Otherwise, she’d be here too. So...we’ve decided that we want a kid. And we’re looking to adopt, we’ve put our names down and everything but it takes a while to even get approved for that. But we also would like to have a baby as well. Like...one of ours. I know Dahyun, in particular, is quite eager to get to experience pregnancy because she’d always dreamed of having a baby but as you can guess, being lesbians we don’t have the option of getting pregnant so easily.” Now your eyebrows have lifted high, probably almost to your hairline as you listen to Chungha’s nervous words.

It doesn’t surprise you that they’re wanting to have kids now. They’ve been together for a while as well, and you know that they’ve been considering whether or not to get married. For the moment though, they’d just registered themselves in a civil partnership, unsure whether they wanted to go through the whole wedding thing just yet. Though you did not doubt that they would eventually go for it.

Kids were the next logical choice for them, and you felt excitement bubbling in your stomach at the thought of Chungha being a mommy. Even if you didn’t like kids, it didn’t mean that you weren’t excited for your friends when they wanted to have them.

You could imagine that it was a bit more stressful for Chungha and Dahyun as a lesbian couple, as compared to a heterosexual couple. The more you thought about that actually, the more unfair it seemed. People were getting pregnant all the time by accident, but your best friend had to go through so much effort to get the same result.

“So, we’ve looked into IVF and all that stuff. There’s not just IVF, there are other methods too. But if we’re spending money on it then we’d rather have the best chance of success, you know? I’m not explaining it very well but I’m not a scientist either, we’ve researched it a lot and had a preliminary appointment either way. I just...have something potentially awkward to ask.” She pauses at that, her face twisting into a picture of nerves and hesitation.

A glance at Soyeon has you catching eye contact, but neither of you says anything and decide to let Chungha go at her own pace. You have an idea as to where she’s going with this, but you feel that she should at least be allowed to get there on her own.

“So, we can use sperm from a sperm bank, right? It’s all checked over and vetted, but it’s really expensive. And I know that sounds rich considering we’re wanting to have a baby and the last thing they are is cheap, but we’re trying to look at all our options for the moment. What I’m trying to ask in a long-winded way is would either of you be okay if we asked Hoseok or Jungkook to maybe donate? I know it sounds awkward given we know them and you’re both dating them but they can get everything tested and I’d feel a little easier if we knew the sperm donor, you know?” A grimace takes over her mouth, causing you to frown as you reach out and squeeze her leg in reassurance.

“Hey, there’s no need to apologise. I think we’ve all been friends for long enough that something like this can be discussed without ridicule or negative emotions, right?” Looking to Soyeon, you feel relief as she smiles and nods in agreement. “I’m excited for you to start a family! You know I’m not one for kids so I can’t say I understand the whole process you’re going through but I can assure you that I’ll support you and Dahyun the whole way. In terms of a donation...well it’s up to you, Soyeon, and Jungkook. Hoseok literally can’t.”

Glancing between them both, you make a scissors gesture and watch in amusement as both their eyebrows rise in realisation. It wasn’t something you’d discussed with them before, even if Hoseok had been fine about it, mainly because you’d felt Hoseok’s health and your sex life weren’t things to casually talk about. But you felt it important at this moment to make sure Chungha knew that you weren’t being callous.

“Oh? That makes sense though, you’ve never wanted kids and it doesn’t surprise me that Hoseok doesn’t want them either then. So that leaves Jungkook, huh?” Soyeon chuckles, leaning back against the couch and stroking at Kasumi’s ears gently. You wonder what she’ll say, given it’d mean her best friend having Jungkook’s baby before she does. 

Some women wouldn’t be on board with that, and you suppose it’s a sign of how much Chungha loves and trusts you both that she’s querying you both with this. On the other hand, you have complete confidence that if you both turned her down then she wouldn’t be offended and they would instead use a sperm bank as she’d said.

Chungha turns more to Soyeon, playing with her hands as her nerves ramp up. It must be affecting Ciri because the dog sits up, tilting her head and staring almost in concern at your friend. Smiling, you scoop Ciri into your lap and scratch behind her ears until her back leg is going.

“You can say no, I won’t be offended. Nor would Dahyun, if she could be here. We don’t expect anything. I just wanted to ask you both first because I felt it’d be rude of me to just go to him instead of querying with you two. You’re my best friends and they are your boyfriends after all. Also, Jungkook can definitely say no too. Once again, we don’t expect him to agree if he’s not comfortable with it. I just...wanted to ask, you know? We kinda considered all of Hoseok’s friends because neither of us has many male friends and we’d love to be able to have a better idea of the donor’s personality, a more detailed medical history and everything. Plus, with us having to do everything medically then it helps to make it a little more ‘normal’ for us. He doesn’t have to be involved in the baby’s life if he doesn’t want to be, otherwise, I’d just like for him to be known as an uncle. In the future, we’d tell them who their sperm donor was if Jungkook was okay with it and they wanted to know.” You find yourself nodding, appreciating the fact that Chungha and Dahyun have thought this through.

While Soyeon might agree to let them ask Jungkook, there was every chance that Jungkook might not want to agree anyway. Maybe he doesn’t like the idea of another woman having his baby, even if he won’t have any rights to it. Some people didn’t like things like that. Or maybe he just didn’t want to, for whatever reason.

The fact that she was making it clear that Jungkook and Soyeon were both allowed, even encouraged, to say no if they felt uncomfortable at any moment settled you. You didn’t want to think that your friends were being forced or coerced into something just because they felt that they had to do it.

“Would it be cheaper though? I mean, I’m assuming they’d have to do tests and stuff to make sure he’s not got any diseases or genetic things that they ideally don’t want to pass on? Doesn’t that cost a lot?” Chungha sighs and nods, her lips turning down slightly.

“We would, but the difference is that I doubt we’d have to do those tests often. So if he agreed then we’d have the tests done but then after that, we don’t pay anything else. The sperm bank that was recommended to us is $1000 for just one vial of sperm. So if that doesn’t work then we have to pay out again. And I’m not saying we wouldn’t pay Jungkook, we’re both willing to offer but the idea of being stung for that much for a tiny vial is painful.” The price makes your eyes bulge while Soyeon’s jaw drops.

“Holy shit! A thousand dollars for something he just washes away? Fucking hell, he’s wasting thousands every time he jacks off. Oh my god, that must be the most expensive thing I’ve ever had in my mouth then.” Snorting, you bite your lip in amusement as you consider how many times Hoseok had ejaculated with you. Though you doubted the man was getting anywhere near a thousand dollars, it was still mind-boggling to know that the price tag on a cumshot.

“It’s ridiculous, right? I mean, okay it’s not really because obviously, they have to do all those tests and stuff. But still! You can understand why we were shocked. Either way, if you or Jungkook says no then we’re going to go that way. I want you to know that we’re not laying all our eggs in one basket. No pun intended there.” That makes all of you chuckle, the mood lightening up as you do so.

Reaching forward to the box you’d placed on the coffee table, you grab another cookie before handing more out to the two of them. Each takes one with a grateful smile before biting into it.

“I’m okay with it. I’m not sure whether I want kids or not and I think we’re just taking it as an ‘if it happens then it happens’ approach. So, to me, I’m not bothered if Jungkook says yes. Plus, you’re my best friend and I’d much rather you have a baby where you know the dad and can get more information from him. And oh my god, Jungkook would make such good babies. They’d be adorable and he has the sweetest personality!” Soyeon squeals, shaking the cookie around in excitement as she imagines his metaphorical children.

For a moment, you imagine it as well and can’t help but smile. You certainly hoped that his babies would all get his big, emotive eyes alongside his endearing personality. Before you can comment on it though, Soyeon continues.

“I will make it clear though, that he doesn’t have to say yes. He might not be comfortable with the idea of having someone he knows having his kid. Or he might not like the idea of not being involved in their lives in a father kind of way. On the other hand, he might turn around and say that he isn’t bothered at all and will give you as much as you want. But I want it to be up to him. Thankfully, I’m not a hugely possessive person so I’m not bothered by the idea of his kids with someone else.”

Watching Chungha’s face carefully, you can’t help but smile at the palpable relief that spreads over it upon Soyeon’s words. That smile vanishes though when you see her eyes glisten, the unshed tears forming fast and causing you to gently put Ciri onto the floor before you’re scooting over to her. Wrapping your arms around her, you make reassuring noises.

You’re not one to get emotional, nor can you handle other people’s emotions, but your best friends are different. They’ve been in your life for long enough by now that you feel the urge to care for them, to listen to their worries and soothe their fears. Seeing Chungha, who is normally so strong, starting to cry at Soyeon’s words makes your stomach hurt.

“Hey, hey!” Soyeon gushes, rushing over to the other side of Chungha until you’re all in some kind of weird cuddle fest. It just makes Chungha let out a laughing sob, the sound thick as the tears slowly start to fall.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know if I was doing the right thing asking you both this. I know it’s something so big and important. You might have told me to fuck off and got angry with me at even thinking of it and I was so scared that you’d be annoyed by it. I mean, how many other people are going to ask their friends if they can have some of their boyfriends’ sperm to knock up their partner?” Wiping at her tears, you tut softly as you try to erase the eyeliner and mascara that’s begun to smear as well.

“I mean, it is a slightly odd ask. I think we can both agree with that,” Soyeon nods in agreement, running her fingers through Chungha’s hair. “But we’re your best friends. You didn’t demand this from us, you gave us a choice and made it clear we can deny it. I’ll be honest, if Hoseok hadn’t got the snip then I would’ve said no. I’m not personally comfortable with the idea of someone else having his baby. But I know that you would have accepted that choice and not tried to push me. Same as you’ll accept whatever decision Jungkook makes.”

“Yeah, she’s right. We love you, and we know you love us which is why you felt you could ask this of us. I’m more than happy to help my best friend start her family and I know that Dahyun has made you happier than anyone else has over the years. If everything works out then I’m going to be the coolest aunt ever.” Grinning brightly, Soyeon manages to succeed in making Chungha laugh softly.

Getting up, you rush off to the bathroom before coming back and handing her some tissue and make-up remover wipes to clean up her face. A brief smile of gratitude is given to you before she proceeds to scrub at her face.

“You’ll both be great auntie’s. Even if you’re not going to be hugely into the whole thing.” She’s looking at you then, wry amusement in her eyes as her lips twist slightly. Feeling heat spread in embarrassment at her words, you shrug and murmur an apology.

“Don’t worry, we won’t push anything on you. That is, even if it manages to happen. Who knows, maybe we’ll get approved for adoption super quick and we go through that first instead? I have no idea what’s going to happen.” At that moment, Ciri decides to make her presence annoy with a shrill yap.

Looking down at the floor, you chuckle at the sight of her annoyed face that she got pushed off the couch. Reaching out, she jumps up and wiggles herself so that she’s half on Chungha and half on you.

“Okay, I think we’ve had enough emotional and in-depth talks for today. Or at least, for this hour. How about we put on YouTube and just start watching animals being funny? Cheer us all up.” Reaching out for the controller, you exit Netflix as Soyeon nods.

The conversation isn’t quite over, you can tell that much, but you know that for now it’s just being put onto the back burner. You don’t have much more participation you can give the whole thing given you’re not being involved in it, but you’re sure that Chungha and Soyeon will talk everything out much more in-depth before Soyeon asks Jungkook.

It’s an important topic but given Chungha’s emotional nature right now, you don’t want to push it any further just yet. Instead, you figure it’s time to lighten the mood a little before any more serious talk can be had.

“Find one of those TikTok compilations, they’re so funny.” This comes from Soyeon as she points at the screen.

“What? No way, you have to watch like 20 TikTok’s to find one funny one. Vine was so much better.”

“Those are fighting words.”

[kjhmyg]

rough edges pt. 6.5 (m)

pairing: jungkook | reader genre: college!au, badboy!jk, fluffy too :( warnings: swearing, drugs  word count: 1.5k

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / part 6.5 / 7 

author’s note: a short filler chapter.

RE asks tag

Suga’s drink lands on the table with unnecessary force, earning some stares. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” 

After a text from Jungkook asking to meet, he figured it would be nothing more than a good lunch with his buddy. But as Jungkook settles into his seat and opens his mouth, the older boy closes his eyes in disbelief. 

Jungkook expected nothing short of absolute resistance from him. “She won’t get in the way." 

"She already is." 

"What’s that supposed to mean?" 

Suga lowers his voice, eyes wandering to the bouts of people walking around the mall on this lovely Tuesday. "Let’s not pretend you weren’t about to run off with her and have ten children a few weeks ago." 

Jungkook’s eyes shift uncomfortably, fingers mindlessly drumming the armrest of his chair. "I wasn’t thinking straight then." 

"Yeah because of her.” He stresses the last three words. 

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with Y/N the last time.” He gives Suga a questioning look. “What’s with the sudden hostility towards her now?”

“That was all fun and drinks.” He states, like it’s obvious. “Also, don’t lie to me and tell me she can handle what goes down at the club. What really goes down." 

"I’ll keep her out of it.”

“How?" 

"She can stay in the office and help out with our accounts and inventory." 

He watches Suga think it over, knowing it’s a sure win for him after now that he’s brought up the accounts. It’s the one thing he hates with a passion and they alternate the task every week. But with you around, he wouldn’t have to set eyes on those numbers anymore. Or liaise with the grumpy old man who supplies them toilet paper. 

“I’ll think about it.” 

Jungkook smiles in victory. “Don’t front, you actually like her.” 

“She’s alright.” He sighs. “I’ve said it before, I don’t care that you’re dating. But I’m still worried about you.” 

“I’m feeling better now and I promised I’d get my shit together, didn’t I?” 

“Kyun’s on to you, you know?”

Jungkook’s quirks a brow at him curiously, edging him to go on. 

“The dip in your deals.” He says. “That’s the reason RM joined us. You need to watch him.” 

“Not like there’s anything I can do about it,” he shrugs, “half of my buyers switched over.” 

“That’s what I said to him.” Suga looks at Jungkook like a dad giving advice to his son. “He’s willing to let your numbers slide but you need to prove yourself and show up more. He wouldn’t have sent RM on campus if you hadn’t ghosted your buyers back then.” 

Jungkook presses his lips into a thin line and scratches his head. “Sorry. I’ll keep up. I promise.” 

“Don’t let her distract you from doing your job.” 

“It’s not her fault.” He sighs, “I’m just…”

“Lovesick?” 

“Shut up man.” He kicks the older guy under the table and they laugh, mostly out of embarrassment for Jungkook. Then he shakes his head until the smile on his face goes off, staring at nothing. “I love her.” 

Suga observes his little brother, worrying it might be harder to keep the two of you apart than he thinks. “Love is a strong word.” 

“Well I feel very strongly for her.” Jungkook says matter-of-factly. 

“Dude, I get it. She’s sweet, kind, caring, cute, has this vibe that makes you always wanna be with her and⎼” 

“And you better watch it ‘cause you’re starting to sound just like the voice inside my head.” 

“And it seems like she loves you too.” He finishes, making Jungkook smile. 

“You do get it.” He grins proudly, thinking about how excited you’d be if you knew just what Suga thinks of you. 

“But…” Suga continues, crossing his leg over the other and pauses, choosing his next few words carefully. “She might not even be the one.”

“What are you trying to say?” 

“I’m saying, you’re still in your honeymoon phase. Everything looks and feels great now. But shit happens and sometimes relationships don’t work out in the long run. Feelings fade. I don’t want you to risk what you’ve got going on now for something that might not even exist in future.” 

The words hit Jungkook hard. He can’t even bear to think about what would happen if you weren’t together anymore. 

“Real talk alert.” Jungkook laughs bitterly. Suga looks at him, unimpressed at the lame attempt to brush his feelings aside. 

“Just think of it as another one of your casual relationships. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment.” 

He knows that’s impossible. Your relationship is vastly different from the ones he’s had before this. Even with the ones he dated exclusively, he’s never felt the same way as he does for you now. To reduce your entire relationship right now into nothing more than a fling, would be heartbreaking not only for you but for him as well. At this point even calling you his girlfriend doesn’t seem to do your relationship justice. He nods but it’s only to get Suga to stop. 

“Alright, let’s go.” Jungkook gets up, a sudden change in mood. 

“Where to?” 

“Just come with me.” 

Past the rows of retail stores, they head into a separate section of the outdoor mall which houses sports stores and other recreational studios. Large see-through windows allow passer-bys to view inside. Jungkook comes to a stop in front of one of them and Suga follows behind, stopping just short of bumping into his back.

“Amazing.” Suga says, staring approvingly at the ongoing class. Of course, then he spots you in one of the rows and realises why he’s here. “I love pilates.”

“It’s a yoga class.”

“Oh whatever, it’s hot.” 

The class moves from a downward facing dog to a puppy dog pose, bottoms in the air, chest and chin on the mat. “Goddamn.” 

“Dude.” 

“What? You brought me here!” He reasons, “We already look like perverts standing in front of this window, I might as well enjoy it.” 

“You’re so embarrassing.” 

“Y/N has her ass up, face down right now, are you not staring too?” 

“Shut the fuck up.” Jungkook mutters under his breath, eyeing groups of people walking past them. 

Rolling his eyes away from Jungkook, he watches you, and your butt, and thinks about what Jungkook proposed earlier. “You sure about this?” 

Jungkook turns to him. “Yeah.”

“I don’t know, buddy.”

“Please? It’ll only be temporary.” 

Suga presses his lips together. “Only for a couple of months?” He asks and Jungkook nods. By then you’d have gotten a new job anyway, he’ll make sure of it even. 

“Alright fine,” he says, but before Jungkook can celebrate he holds a finger up to stop him, “but on one condition ⎼ I’m not babysitting, you come in for work together so you can keep an eye on her.”

Jungkook slaps him on the back as a way of saying thanks. “No problem.” 

It’s a nice surprise, leaving class to find the both of them standing there, waiting for you. Hana tugs the back of your top, wary of Suga’s presence. He doesn’t seem to notice her though as he eyes the hug you give Jungkook. 

Without Jungkook telling you they have some good news for you, you would’ve never guessed with the way Suga remains looking indifferent. 

“Remember what you said about working at the club?” 

“Yeahhh, what about it?” You ask slowly.

“You’re in.”

“What?” Hana and you simultaneously say, though hers was more in shock. 

She gets ignored as you squeeze Jungkook’s hands and start bouncing on your toes. “Really?” 

“You start tomorrow.” Suga says. “Don’t be late.” 

You nod enthusiastically, moving in to hug him but he stops you and takes a step back. Seconds later you gasp, then smile timidly at him. “Can I start the day after instead? I have some papers to complete.” 

“Already going against the boss before you even start?” He shoots you a look which tells you he’s less than impressed at your antics and that cute face won’t get you any special treatment. Shaking his head, he looks at Jungkook. “Whatever man, you deal with this.” 

“Thank you!” You yell at his back as he walks off in the other direction. Then you wrap around Jungkook, resting your chin on his chest. “Did you do this?” 

“Mhm,” he nods, “but it’s only temporary, got it?”

“Okay. Thank you.” 

“I’ll pick you up and we’ll go together.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

He scoffs, though he admits it sounds nice when you say it. There’s something quite exhilarating about all this. Now, you get to be near him while he works, though, you still haven’t figured out what the plan is and Hana will most likely grill you about it later. 

“You’ll just be helping us with some admin stuff. We’ll discuss your pay later, probably have to have you sign a contract but we’ll see. No need to dress for a club but make sure you get some sleep before that okay? And make sure you have dinner.” 

Pinching both his cheeks and bringing his face down to yours, you give him a peck on the lips. 

“Yes boss!”

[horansqueen]

Stuck With You - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: I Want You

🡪chapter 1  🡪chapter 2  🡪chapter 3  🡪chapter 4  🡪chapter 5  🡪chapter 6   🡪chapter 7  🡪chapter 8  🡪chapter 9  🡪chapter 10  🡪chapter 11 🡪chapter 12 🡪chapter 13 🡪chapter 14 🡪chapter 15 🡪chapter 16 🡪chapter 17

College Enemies To Lovers AU

characters // masterlist // instagrams // mood board

Any time I need to see your face I just close my eyes and I am taken to a place Where your crystal mind and magenta feelings taken shelter In the base of my spine, sweet like a chica cherry cola

I don't need to try and explain, I just hold on tight And if it happens again, I might move so slightly To the arms and the lips and the face and the human cannonball I need to, I want to

Come stand a little bit closer Breathe in and get a bit higher

Ooh, I want you I don't know if I need you But, ooh, I'd die to find out Ooh, I want you I don't know if I need you But, ooh, I'd die to find out

But a look, then a smell of perfume It's like I'm down on the floor And I don't know what I'm in for

click here to be on the update list

NIALL

                                                      My phone had been ringing and beeping constantly in the past hour. Every time I checked, though, it was a new call or message from Mandy and I was desperately trying to avoid talking to her. I knew I wouldn't be able to run away from her for too long but I was determined to at least try. I marked all her text messages as 'read' and got out of my car again, getting inside Lewis' apartment building for the second time on that day.

I felt nervous and I was not sure why, but I kept twisted the insides of my jeans pockets as the elevator moved up. My heart skipped a beat when I glanced at the spot where Devon and I kissed but I swallowed my feelings and quickly walked out of the elevator. It didn't take long for Lewis to open the door and when I walked in, I noticed he had cleaned up everything. I was impressed, especially when I remembered the mess we had made, but I didn't mention it.

"You know you don't have to come visit many times a day, mate." Lewis pointed out before his lips curled. "No need for me to get used to your ass in this apartment, your girlfriend messaged me and said it was too expensive for her."

I wanted to point out that she was not my girlfriend and never would be but the words got stuck in my throat and I decided it was better to ignore it and not fuel the fire. I took my hands off my pockets and passed one in my hair with a sigh.

"Look, Devon really needs a place to stay."

"I thought you'd be happy to keep her with you in your room." Lewis wondered with a frown.

I took a seat on the other couch, close to him and shook my head. "She wants out, okay." I explained, shaking my head slightly before sighing again and leaning my back on the couch. "I mean, she really wants to leave."

Lewis stared at me, frowning slightly more, and finally moved his upper body closer. "That's how much you love her?" he asked in a soft tone, making me shrug. "Enough to let her go?"

"Don't say stupid things."

"No, you say stupid things, Horan." he added a bit louder. "Instead to love her enough to let her go, why don't you love her enough to be honest with her? I've seen the way she's been looking at you. She's literally waiting for you to make a move."

"I've hurt her enough already okay?" I replied a bit rudely. "She wants out and if that's what she wants then that's what she'll get."

This time, Lewis didn't answer but he rolled his eyes at me, letting his back fall on the couch. "You're a fookin' idiot."

"Thanks, I know."

"You let one girl fuck you up, and then you fuck the others. Nice move." he replied again with sarcasm.

"Fine, sue me!" I let out, now getting angry. "I'm just here to ask you to send her a message again, and tell her you'll charge her half of the rent you proposed first."

Lewis raised his eyebrows at me, blinking a few times. I knew he was getting annoyed but I didn't care. "Why would I do that?"

"I'll pay you the other half." I explained, closing my eyes. "But you can't tell her! Ever."

My friend stared at me and I knew he wanted to add something about the girl that broke my heart and fucked me up to the point where I rejected any form of romantic love, but he didn't and I felt grateful for that. It's not like I was not aware that it was not a normal thing. I knew people fell in love, fucked up other people, hurt them, got their heart broken... and started all over again. Most people had this urge and this need to love and be loved, knowing they could get hurt but hoping they won't. I didn't have that need, because I felt like the happy times were not worth the pain. I couldn't lie and say Devon didn't make all my principles falter, but I was trying hard not to do to anything about it, despite how bad I was craving it... how bad I was craving her.

"Propose her a ride to school every morning." Lewis finally said, taking me out of my thoughts. I blinked a few times and frowned before shaking my head. "Seriously, do it." he continued. "If you do that, I'm good with you paying half the rent and not telling her."

I stared at him for a few seconds before looking down. I liked the idea but I was not sure she'd agree to it. I also was pretty convinced it was a bad idea. How could I stop feeling all these things for her if I spent time with her every single day? Anyway, the reason she wanted to move out of our room was because she didn't want to be around me anymore, and picking her up for school every week days sounded counterproductive.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" I finally asked, looking up at him as he got up but totally resigned to do what he asked me to do.

"Because even if you pretend the opposite, it really matters to you." Lewis confessed, making something stir in my stomach. "So, we have a deal?"

I got up too, glancing at the hand he was holding out before looking up in his eyes. I would never tell him, but if Devon agreed to let me give her a ride to school every morning, it would make my heart lighter. As much as I hated to admit it, I took so many decisions with my heart recently that there was no doubt I'd end up in deep shit very soon. Did the fact that Devon was about to move out make me change my mind? Would it turn me into the pathetic human being I was whenever she was near? The same one I used to be around my ex girlfriend right before and even after she broke my heart?

"Deal." I just let out firmly, grabbing his hand and shaking it hard once before letting it go.

"I want my money every saturday and you're the one driving here to give it to me, making it your problem."

"Ever heard of bank transfers?" I asked with a scoff.

"I want it cash."

I knew he just wanted me to come over and I understood why but I was too mentally exhausted to argue and maybe it would also give me the chance to see Devon. I should run away from here and break all the deals I had made with Lewis but I couldn't. I was tired to fight, I was tired to repress everything I was feeling in hope it would disappear.

"Okay, but you don't ask for the money in front of Devon."

"Who do you think I am? An idiot?"

I chuckled but rolled my eyes before nodding, grateful for what he was doing. It was tough to push away someone who made me feel so many things. It felt like every fiber of my body, everyone around me, and even fate and destiny made it impossible for me to stay far from Devon. I knew deep down that I couldn't stay physically away from her forever. It felt like my own body was going to rot or die if she'd stay far, and I knew it was a stupid example but those were the only words I could come up with. Perhaps it was not really that. Perhaps it was just that my heart would stop beating, but either way, I was not ready to let go. Not completely.

I wanted to thank Lewis for everything but just as I was about to, someone knocked at the door, making me jump slightly. I moved away to let Lewis pass but when I heard the voice on the other side, I felt my heart jump in my chest.

"Lewis, are you there?" Mandy's voice let out in a soft tone. "I forgot something last night!"

I placed my hand on Lewis' chest as he walked past me and looked up in his eyes, shaking my head. "I'm not here." I mouthed, making him frown and throw his hands up.

"You're gonna have to face her at some point, right now is perfect." he replied in a whisper, walking up to the door and opening it before I could think of something else to do or a good place to hide.

As soon as her eyes met mine, I pushed my hands in my pockets and her face lighted up.

"Niall, hey, tried to reach you all day!"

"Yea, sorry my.. phone was on silent." I lied, sending her a small smile. "I was about to call you back as soon as I left."

"I just feel very lonely today." she pointed out, sending me puppy eyes as she took a step closer, putting her hand on my chest. "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?"

My eyes roamed on her face for a few seconds as she gripped my shirt. I knew looking at her should make me feel something, but nothing happened. It was not because I was used to her, or because I had had too much sex encounters with her, no. It was simply because I felt nothing for her and probably never felt anything except lust. The fact that i didn't feel any desire for her anymore was a shock and my lips parted as I blinked a few times.

"I'm busy... tonight." I cleared my throat and took a step back, turning to Lewis to hug him lightly and tell him goodbye. I could feel Mandy's eyes on my back and it suddenly made me feel uncomfortable. When I turned back to her, she raised her eyebrows and I smiled. "Do you need a ride?"

"Yea, thank you! Let me just grab my bra really quick."

I frowned, turning to Lewis who just shrugged as Mandy disappeared in the hall only to reappear a minute of two later as she pushed her bra in her purse. I didn't ask because I didn't want to know and as we left, I glanced at Lewis' phone and moved my chin in its direction. He just nodded and I followed Mandy to the elevator.

I watched as she leaned against the wall in the exact same spot Devon and I had kissed but closed my eyes as images invaded my brain, appearing behind my eyelids like a movie I could never get tired of.

"Are you okay, Niall?"

I got out of my thoughts, trying to push away the thoughts in my head where Devon was straddling me and I was kissing her lips gently after a claustrophobia crisis, to turn to Mandy. "Yea, I'm good."

We walked together until my car and I drove in silence. She put her feet up on the dashboard and I felt my lips curl into a small grimace at how annoyed it made me but when I parked, I turned to her with a serious face.

"Look, Mandy, I think we need a break."

"A break?" she let out before chucking. "Niall, we're not dating."

"I know I just.. I can't do this anymore."

She tilted her head to lean it on the bench before turning her body slightly my way. She sighed low and a sad smile appeared on her lips before she licked them. For some stupid reason, it made me think of Devon. Again.

"It's because of that girl, right?"

"No." I lied, shrugging both shoulders and looking away, making Mandy laugh.

"I didn't even name her and you knew who I was talking about." she pointed out, making me grimace again. "It's okay, Niall, I see how you two look at each other. I didn't think she was your type but hey," she shrugged. "I get it."

I stared at her for a few more seconds, just trying to process what she was saying and when I frowned, she started laughing, rolling her eyes.

"Don't make this face! What did you expect?" she asked, an amused smile spread on her lips. "It's not like I was in love with you or anything!"

Without waiting, she got out of my car and I finally did the same. We walked together near the building and when we were about to part, I turned to her and sent her an uncomfortable smile.

"So... bye?"

She laughed again, shaking her head, and took a step closer. "I'm really gonna miss your ass." she let out, pinching it and making me tense immediately. She got on her tiptoe and pressed her mouth on mine, taking me my surprise, before taking a step back and raising her eyebrows. "Bye!"

I stood there, motionless, a sensation of relief washing over me as some of the stress I wasn't even aware I had disappeared suddenly. I pushed my hands in my pockets and when I turned back to get inside, I noticed Devon not so far from me, staring at me. My lips parted and my heart dropped when I realized she had seen what had just happened with Mandy and I was tempted to tell her it was not what she was thinking but instead, I swallowed my words as she walked closer.

"Your friend Lewis messaged me." she explained, glancing in Mandy's direction before looking back in my eyes.

I looked down at her, my eyes roaming on her face and lingering a bit too long on her lips. Why couldn't I get her off my mind? Why was it so tough for me not to grab her and kiss her right here and right now?

I started thinking about my ex girlfriend and the feelings I had whenever she was near, and it made me realize how different the two emotions were. The way I loved my ex girlfriend was needy, pathetic and ugly. The way I would do anything she wanted just because I was scared she would leave, the way she made me jealous on purpose, or simply did anything she wanted without caring if it would hurt me. I fell in love with someone who used me and it was for that same person that I had given up on love. Even now, after months of her breaking my heart, she still had an impact on me. She was still controlling me without even knowing. I was letting what she did to me ruin my life and I had no idea how to get out of it.

"Oh yea?"

"Mmhm, he said he cut the rent in half, and I think I can afford it."

"Alright." I just said, sending her a small smile.

"You don't seem surprised." she asked with a frown, tilting her head.

"No I mean, I know Lewis, he's cool." I shrugged, sending her a sincerely smile that she slowly sent back.

The way Devon made me feel was different. She made me feel good in a way I was not sure I understood yet. I could relate to her, and even if she didn't talk much about herself, she still let me in, somehow, by allowing me to look at her art and tell her how it made me feel. She allowed me to kiss her whenever I wanted and push her away after, as if she was always ready to give me a chance... a chance that I never had the guts to take. I was just realizing that maybe I was wrong and she was leaving.

"Oh, by the way, one of my friends has a mattress he doesn't need, so if you're interested, I can bring it to Lewis' apartment this week?"

Her eyebrows raised and her lips curled on the right. "Really?"

"Mmhm, oh, and since you don't have a car, I propose a ride to school every morning, how's that?"

This time though, she shook her head. "No, I can't accept that."

"Come on, I drive near there every morning anyway for breakfast, so it's all good."

It was not a complete lie but it was not the whole truth either, but I didn't care.

"No really, I can't."

"So you can accept Lewis cutting half the price of the rent, and a mattress from a guy you don't know, but when it comes to accepting my rides to school, it's too much?" I asked jokingly, a bigger smile on my face.

It made her chuckle and roll her eyes. "Fine!" she gave in, making my heart jump in my chest. "But let me pay you, okay?"

"Okay, but I decide the price." I explained, taking an other step closer. Her body was so close to mine now that if I moved, It could brush against hers. "I want that painting."

"My.. my painting? The one I wanted to throw away?"

"Mmhm," I admitted, nodding gently. "I want you to sign it, and give it to me. In exchange, you get rides and breakfast every mornings of the week."

She shook her head slightly, still smiling, and brought her shoulders up, near her cheeks. It was so endearing I almost kissed her right there.

"Niall, this painting is horrible. It'll never be worth anything."

"Deal?" I asked, ignoring her short rant.

Her traits softened and I brought my hand up, running my thumb on her cheek gently. I didn't know why I was doing that, I didn't know why I felt the need to touch her. All I knew was that feeling her skin against mine brought in me a feeling I was trying so hard to suppress, and I immediately felt the need to write a song. I let my arm fall back on my side, realizing she was not smiling anymore. Her lips were parted and she just nodded very slowly.

I suddenly got scared of everything this could imply. Would I just close off again and hurt her? I knew it was a possibility. I knew I could wake up in the morning realizing my mistake and turning into the cold hearted man I was with her only a few days ago. What would happen, then?

"Okay." she whispered. "Deal."

[who-am-i-no-one]

Emma. (2020)

I watched this movie in late January. After multiple viewings and re-reading the book, I have a lot of thoughts about this adaptation.

It seems rather strange, given that Emma is part of my holy trinity of Austen novels, that I didn't watched the most recent adaptation earlier. I think it was mostly due to my initial impression that Anya Taylor-Joy's otherworldly looks didn't quite match what I had in mind for the titular character. I decided to give this version a try after watching Queen's Gambit. Not sure that Anya's looks will ever grow on me, but she did impress me as a young actress who seemed to have a maturity beyond her years.

Long story short: really wished I had seen this movie earlier! It is absurd and heartfelt at the same time, imo, the version that best imbues Austen's humor. It is now my favorite adaption, with the possible exception of Clueless, and I'm not quite sure how much of that is just nostalgia.

From the casting to the direction to the script to the costumes to the set to the soundtrack, I could tell the creative team really put a lot of love into this project. It's always a joy to watch something that's made with love and made well.

Direction

Autumn de Wilde's directing is quite good. I would never have thought this was her first feature. She certainly has a unique and colorful style, which is probably to be expected for such a famous photographer.

Funnily, while watching the movie I kept thinking it reminded me of early Hollywood romantic comedies like Bringing Up Baby (incidentally one of my favorites) or The Philadelphia Story, and then reading interviews and seeing that she had tried to bring in some of that style of humor made me feel rather validated. Also the servants' reactions were awesome!

Absolutely loved the fact that they decided to show that Knightley and Emma were in love with each other very early on in the story, with Knightley more aware of it. I've read some people complaining about the surprise of Emma's being in love being ruined. But come on, did anyone reading two chapters into the book think it wasn't going to be the two of them together in the end?

Loved how much of Knightley's point of view we got in this movie. This is one repressed pinning man. I can totally see this Knightley riding ventre a terre from London in the rain because he thought Emma was heartbroken.

The only gripe I had was the lack of Frank and Jane's subplot. As it seems they shot some scenes for that, I assume it was the director's discretion to take them out. I remember thinking while watching the movie that they must have expected the audience to be familiar with the story because some things just didn't really get explained or extrapolated on a lot. If you hadn't read the book it'd be 30 minutes or more into the movie before you put two and two together and figured out why Mr. Knightley is always at Hartfield.

Script

The script takes most of the dialogue directly from the book, which is awesome. I love Austen's writing because there is a certain musicality to it and retaining that in large part for the movie really made it better for me. The deftness with which Eleanor Catton moved dialogue from one scene in the book to a totally different one in the movie was quite brilliant. Everything flowed so well.

The scenes that differed from the book were also excellent - namely, I really loved the Jane/Knightley duet, the infamous nosebleed and first kiss scenes. 💖 I thought the screenwriter used those changes to quickly establish plot points and character arcs well.

Costume/Hair

Not a Recency expert so can't say much about the costumes and hair as far as period correctness but from reading other reviews it seemed like they were very true to the period. Obviously appreciated them taking the time to show the audience how men got dressed in that time (purely for research purposes obviously 😜).

Emma's dresses were all quite beautiful. I especially loved the black evening dress, the pink one with the roses and the proposal dress. Also loved the little pop of red shoes that went with the proposal dress. As someone who wore red shoes with her wedding gown I heartily approve.

Absolutely loved how Emma's curls unwound as her life unravels. Similarly think they must have done the same for Knightley to a lesser extent. His hair during the card playing scene at the Westons was quite terrible.

Set

I! Loved! Hartfield! It looked just like a doll house. Really most of the sets looked good enough to eat. So much pastel. Reminded me of French macarons.

I liked how everything in Donwell Abbey was shrouded in Holland covers. Makes a good point that Knightley barely lives there at all, that his home has been with the Woodhouses for quite a while now. Which, of course, makes his sacrifice at the end just a little bit less of a sacrifice?

Soundtrack

Isabella Waller-Bridge's music really meshed well with the tone of the entire film. The male and female opera singers, sometimes sounding as if they are bickering with each other and other times seeming to be in duet, was a brilliant touch. The folk music was a little jarring at first but really grew on me.

Johnny Flynn's end credits song "Queen Bee" is amazing. I love that we get Knightley's perspective at the end with a song written and sung by Knightley. It's a lovely coda to the movie. And now, if the next Austen hero doesn't write one for his SO I'm going to think him a very poor sort of lover.

Cast

Anya's Emma was really great. I'm glad they allowed Emma to be her bitchy self. Lol. I haven't watched the 1996 and 2009 versions in a while but I distinctly remember them making Emma too nice. I recall writing after watching the Garai version that Emma was actually mean and they should have let her be mean! If she's not a brat in the beginning, how will we see her change for the better later on? I love what a snob and how manipulative this Emma was and so assured of her place in her little society but still had the vulnerability of almost an imposter's syndrome which I feel most people can relate to.

Her chemistry with Johnny Flynn's Knightley was off the charts. Pretty much every scene they had together I half expected them to reenact the library scene from Atonement lol.

Mia Goth was a wonderful Harriet. She really captured Harriet's inexperience, naivete and diffidence. The orgasmic sounds she was making during the gypsies attack scene were awesome. Although, I could probably have forgone a few of Harriet's scenes for more Frank and Jane.

Not sure why they made Mia go brunette since the book specifically mentioned Harriet was fair? Perhaps having all three leads as blondes was just a bit too much. I'm also not sure if I liked Harriet's ending as I really don't think Emma, even in her most contrite mood, would invite further friendship from a tradesman's daughter and soon-to-be her husband's tenant farmer's wife. This seems a piece of modern day wishful thinking on the part of the creative team.

Bill Nighy was so good as Mr. Woodhouse. He made it so believable why everyone would do everything in their power to accommodate his whims. The gag with the screens was too funny. He was able to sketch out a lonely quirky old man who is afraid to lose those close to him in very limited screen time. Absolutely loved the scene where Emma was heaping blame on herself and he just sat with her in sympathetic silence.

Miranda Hart's Miss Bates was excellent as well. She has long been one of my favorite British comedic actresses but she can also do drama well. Her reaction to Emma's teasing on Box Hill and her forgiveness of Emma later brought me to tears.

Josh O'Connor's Mr. Elton was deliciously creepy. The carriage proposal scene was at once a little scary and hilarious. I actually liked the portrait scenes a little less because I found the acting there slightly affected and veering into 1995 Mr. Collins territory. But as Austen described Elton as having "a sort of parade in his speeches", this was much more forgivable. Really loved Mr. Elton's determination to eat cake during the Eltons' visit to Hartfield.

Tanya Reynolds was an excellent Mrs. Elton and in very little screen time was able to bring to life this meddlesome nouveau riche. Adored her little shimmy during the ball.

Amber Anderson's Jane really looked as if she were in a decline. Callum Turner did a good job as a slightly restless, mischievous and immature Frank Churchill. I did feel his looks were a bit too modern but that's just my personal view.

Given how many scenes they had I thought they used the time they had pretty well with furtive glances and sly smiles at each other to establish the relationship.

Connor Swindells was such a love sick puppy as Robert Martin. Did this role ever get cast in other adaptations? I don't seem to recall at all.

Special shoutout to Oliver Chris's John Knightley. Absolutely had me in stitches.

And last but never the least, Johnny Flynn's Mr. Knightley:

To preface, I will never not fall for Mr. Knightley in any version that I watch. And really, get yourself a good looking enough actor with good enough chemistry with Emma and good enough acting chops and you should have a fairly successful Knightley.

I judge all my Knightleys by the Box Hill scene. And up to that point in the movie, I really liked Johnny Flynn's Knightley. He was playful and sexy and jealous and slightly bitchy as well. The duet scene was lovely because I always appreciate a man who can play instruments and sing well. The sexiness and chemistry of the dance scene was off the charts. That's all well and good. And like I said before, given any well cast actor, I probably would have liked them in those scenes as well, just as I've liked Northam's and Miller's Knightleys.

But, the Box Hill scene absolutely blew me away. To make sure I was not just biased towards the last Knightley I saw on screen, I did go back and compare each version's Box Hill scene and I am, actually, even more blown away. Some of it is a credit to the directing and script, but a large part of it is Johnny Flynn's acting in that scene.

As far a script and directing, the set up to the fight scene was fantastic. Loved Anya's expression changes after she makes the joke. Loved Miranda Hart's Miss Bates as she realizes what Emma meant. The silence that followed. Knightley's shocked face and how sympathetic he was to Miss Bates. Can probably write a whole thing just about this scene alone.

I loved the fact that Knightley had an internal struggle as to whether or not to approach Emma and reproach her for her behavior. I know the book has him tell Emma about his struggle but that just doesn't work as well for me on screen.

During the scene you can just tell how frustrated and disappointed in her he is even though he tries to keep his voice low. But the way he reprimands her does not at all feel lecture-y and I feel like part of it is because it seems like he starts to lose control a little bit as well. His voice starts to crescendo as she stubbornly refuses to admit she was in the wrong and culminates in "badly done, indeed!" with actual fingerpointing. Yikes.

Then he losses steam and looked regretful, almost devastatingly so, at his own outburst and perhaps felt that he was losing her by giving this speech and looked as if he would have said something more - an apology or some words of comfort to soften the blow? - but didn't.

This remorse and the struggle at the beginning really bookended the scene for me.

Absolutely loved his Knightley, and, really, him as an actor after that.

The proposal scene as well was very good. His delivery was just really good. The way he said "If I loved you less then I might be able to talk about it more." with some regret and then closing his eyes as if he can't believe what he just said. Soooo good. Also, he cries very pretty, lol.

The delivery of the three "yes" during the kiss scene as Emma asked for confirmation that he really was ok with giving up his house to come live with them was also brilliant. It just kept getting softer and softer but he never breaks eye contact. Absolute chef's kiss. His closed eyed little smile of content after Emma kisses him just made me melt into a puddle.

Yup, overall I'd say I rather liked his interpretation of Mr. George Knightley. 😜

I did wish they hadn't giving him such sideburns but after watching some Emma interviews I can totally understand. If he didn't have the sideburns there'd be more complaints about how young this Knightley was. He's got such a baby face.

...I seemed to have written an entire essay on this movie...yeah, I just have a lot of feelings and thoughts about this version...

[stellar-starseed]

Closer Than That

Group: Stray Kids

Pairing: Changbin x reader, Jisung x reader, polyamory

Summary: Your best friends happen to be 3racha, but Changbin was your closest friend from childhood. When things start to take a different turn in your relationship, you’re left wondering which way is up.

Word Count: 2,280

Chapter: 14/14

Other Chapters: Master List

Warnings: 18+; sexual content, language

Chapter 14

Jisung moped around for months and avoided any group activity where you may be involved. He was miserable. He wasn’t able to get into any groove and his recent songs were all sad songs. One of the producers told Jisung to snap out of whatever his bullshit was. He resented that statement. But he also knew he couldn’t continue like this. He took off his headphones and shut down his computer. He needed to settle things.

You were so relieved to spend time away from everything. You hadn’t had time off of work in nearly a year. It was nice to spend a day at the beach with your boyfriend. After hours of playing and kissing and floating around in the water, you and Changbin laid on the sand covered blanket under the setting sun.

“Princess?” Changbin started. He was nervous and he didn’t want you to smell it on him.

“Yeah, baby?”

“I love you.” He said almost chickening out. He leaned down and kissed the tip of your nose. You giggled and told him you loved him back.

“I want to marry you.” He blurted out before he could think about it. He couldn’t look you in the eye and he played with the corner of the blanket. You were shocked as you looked up at him. A smile began to grow on your face slowly but oh so wide.

“I want to marry you too, my prince.” You poke his side.

“Ah,” He wiggled and couldn’t hold back his smile. “I know I should have a big ring for you, but I wanted your real ring to be perfect. So, maybe we can pick that one out together?” He pauses and you nod with a smile, biting at your lip trying to contain your excitement. “But I did get you something.” Changbin pulls out a ring with your birthstone and takes your hand. He begins to put it on your ring finger but stops and looks at you for approval. You laugh and nod. Changbin nods back, sighs, and slips the ring on your finger.

You immediately wrap your arms around him and kiss him. You fall back on the sandy towel and fight over who should be in control of the kiss.

Jisung stood at your door for a few minutes as he wondered if he should really be there. He didn’t deserve a chance just like Changbin said months before. He couldn’t handle it, he fucked up. He should’ve never been so hasty, giving you that letter. He should’ve sucked it up and stayed with you. He would rather have half your heart and feel your love than none of it. Just that thought crushed him.

“I miss you.” He said to the door in front of him. He was immediately embarrassed when your neighbors walked by smiling and waving. He waved and smiled as well. He knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again and looked down on his key ring. He didn’t have your key anymore. “Fuck!” He growled at himself and stormed off.

When Jisung returned to the dorms, Felix was the only one around. Jisung plopped down on the couch next to him. Felix offered a warm smile and pat Jisung’s thigh.

“No Felix approved baked goods?” Jisung questions. Felix chuckles.

“Not today, mate.” He shakes his head. “I think there might be some left over brownies. The guys went out before I finished making them yesterday. Not sure they knew they were there.”

“Good.” Jisung pushed himself off the couch and headed for the kitchen. He found a single brownie with a bite mark in it at the bottom of a very large container. He walked into the living room to show Felix.

“Who does this?” Jisung says as he grabs for the partially eaten sweet. He takes a bite and has a seat on the couch again.

“Are you eating your sorrows?” Felix questions. “You seem a tad mopey.” Jisung nods and continues eating with a pout.

“Do you want to help me make more?” Felix questions. Jisung thinks about it for a moment.

“Can we make cookies instead?” He asks with puppy dog eyes.

“Of course.” Felix says and he heads for the kitchen. Felix calls out directions to Jisung as he walks around the kitchen.

“I thought I was just going to watch.” Jisung grumbles.

“You said you would help.” Felix gives Jisung his brightest smile and pats him on the back. “You’re doing fantastic. These might be better than mine.” Jisung tried to hide his smile as he continued mixing what was turning into dough.

Several cookies and a romantic drama later, Jisung began to sigh and shift in his place.

“Wanna talk about it?” Felix caught on.

“I want to talk to her.” Jisung crossed his arms over his chest. “I need her to know how much I care. I don’t want it to end like this.”

“Didn’t you tell her how much you care in your letter?” Felix reached for a cookie.

“Stupid fucking letter.” Jisung’s head fell to his hands. “I want to tell her myself she means so much and I’d rather be with her than without her.”

“But I think the time passed for that right?”

“I thought so but the longer I wait the more excuse I give myself to say that.” Jisung stood up. “I want to go see her.”

“Isn’t that where you were? She’s not at home mate.”

“Right.” Jisung took a seat and sighed. “I’m going crazy. I need to talk to her to let her know before it really is over.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jisung.” Felix said solemnly.

“I have to try.”

“But what about her?” Felix said sternly. “What about Changbin? You hurt her. I’m sure you hurt him too.”

Jisung was surprised to hear this from Felix. Felix has always put things lightly and he was there for Jisung through this whole process. Hearing Felix take on a serious tone and defend the others almost made Jisung mad. His blood began to boil as he thought about his own pain through this.

“What do you know?” Jisung spat as he got up and left.

Felix sighed and shook his head. He put his half eaten cookie down and sat back on the couch. This wasn’t going to end well for Jisung and he didn’t want to stick around to see the car wreck this may become.

“Relationships suck.” Felix said to himself.

“Why do you think I don’t do them!” Chan chimes in and he turns the lights on.

“Except you’re always trying to get into Changbin and ______’s.” Felix laughed. “Everyone home?” He questions. Chan shakes his head.

“Just me and Jeongin who stopped for ramen.” Felix nodded.

“Hannie alright?” Chan plops down on the couch and offers candy to Felix who gladly takes a couple.

“I don’t think so, mate. He wants to tell her he still wants to be with her.”

“Seriously?” Chan sat up straight. “You know where Changbin is right now don’t you?”

“Fucking proposing, bro. I know. I tried to talk him out of it.”

Somehow Jisung snuck past Chan on his way out hearing Chan ask about him made him cringe. Everyone’s been walking on eggshells and he didn’t like it. He needed to end all of this once and for all. He hoped that if you gave him a chance, just listened to him, that you’d understand and want to fix things too.

Jisung waited outside your apartment until he saw your car pull up. He hoped harder than he had ever hoped before that Changbin wasn’t with you. The Gods must’ve been in his side tonight because Changbin was nowhere to be found when you walked up. Jisung took that as a sign he was doing the right thing. He was nervous but decided to shake it off because even the universe wanted him to be here.

“Hey, ______.” Jisung said. You were startled by him as you had been admiring the ring on your finger.

“Hey...” you were taken aback. “What are you doing here Jisung? Is everything okay?”

“No, it isn’t.” Jisung started. You immediately unlock your door and let him in. He didn’t look well. You got him a glass of water and sat next to him on the couch.

“Breathe.” You tell him. He does as you say.

“I love you, jagiya.” Jisung starts once he’s gained some composure.

“What? Well, I love you Jisung, but we’ve been down that road and I’m not going there again.”

“But I need you to know why.”

“You were pretty clear in your letter.”

“I was jealous.” He pleads. “I felt worthless.” His eyes fill with tears and he tries to reach for your hand when he notices the ring.

“Jisung, I can’t do this.” You pull away from him and stand up. “We had our chance. I asked you never to do that to me again. You promised me you would never just up and leave me like that. You fucking ghosted me Jisung. You did that.”

“Are you getting married?” He questioned.

“Yeah.” You smile down at your ring. You were going to have to get used to this. It seemed sudden, and then it didn’t. Everything about it felt right. Changbin was it. You looked up at Jisung.

“I should be thanking you. I realize what I have with Changbin, and I’m sorry if you ever felt anything but love from me. I really am, Jisung. I love you still. I just had to move on when you broke my heart.” You placed a hand on his cheek and rubbed your thumb over his soft skin. He leaned in to your touch and you gave him a sad smile.

“I hope you find someone who makes you feel the way Changbin makes me feel.”

Jisung returned your sad smile and you offered the couch in your studio to him. He gladly took it and fell fast asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

You sent Changbin a message letting him know what happened and where Jisung was. You decided to just head to bed since work probably wasn’t the best idea.

It was weird to think the attraction between you and Jisung was so intense from the very beginning. All just to fizzle out. It was weird to think of how he would fit in your life moving forward. But as you drifted off to sleep you started to realize you wouldn’t stop loving him as one of your best friends.

Changbin let himself into your apartment. He checked on Jisung who was peacefully sleeping and snuck into your room.

“Jagiya,” he whispered. “I’m here, Princess don’t try to kill me.”

“Binnie?” You whispered in your groggy sleep voice. He chuckled and affirmed with a hum. His arms found their way around your waist and you both settled in.

“Everyone knows about the engagement.” Changbin whispered.

“I knew you couldn’t keep it a secret.” You laughed.

It was Jisung’s turn to dream about you. He dreamt of that day you met in the café to make up. His dream wasn’t as vivid. It was very clearly a dream, but Jisung was ready to enjoy his moment with you.

He was sad when he was watching his dream from the outside, but as soon as you walked in he lit up. He saw his own face light up at the sight of you and he felt excitement all over again. He could smell you and he nearly tasted you in the kiss you shared before leaving the cafe altogether. Jisung heard himself promising you that he wouldn’t leave you like that again. ‘Never’ he told you.

Jisung woke up feeling the weight of his actions. He recalled Felix’s advice not to talk to you about his lingering feelings. He was just being selfish and he just began to realize it. The faint memories he had of his dream in an almost blurry faded state, made Jisung wonder if he had been living in a fantasy. He wasn’t fantasizing his love for you and he wasn’t fantasizing the loneliness he felt, but maybe he was expecting too much from it all. Nothing is perfect and maybe his relationship with you was as perfect as it could get. Maybe he made too much of the little jealousies and the bad feelings.

You woke up earlier than usual and decided to make breakfast for the two sleeping beauties like old times. You walked around the kitchen and began your work on a hearty breakfast.

“My Princess.” Changbin says next to your ear as he wraps his arms around you from behind. You smile and lean back into him. When Changbin starts in with kisses in your neck, you turn in his arms to kiss him. You feed him a sausage and smack his butt as he heads to sit down.

Jisung finally made his way out of the studio when you and Changbin were about half way through with your breakfast. You noticed Jisung’s form entering quietly and get up to fix his plate.

He smiles at you and takes a seat next to Changbin. He’s hesitant to start, but tries not to make things awkward.

“Like old times.” You smile at them. “I hope we can be okay, Jisung.”

“Of course.” He says with his mouth half full. “I’m sorry I made it awkward and I’m sorry that I hurt you. Both of you.”

“That you, Ji.” You walk around the breakfast counter to give him a tight hug.

“Thank you.” Changbin says seriously with a nod and pats Jisung’s back.

It wasn’t what you expected when you started dating your best friends, but you couldn’t really complain about how you ended up at this point. Things felt right.

———————————————————————————

I hope you enjoyed!

While this has come to an end there will likely be at least one deleted scene to come from this in the future.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay golden. ♥️

[babyboyblasty]

Chapter 7

It wasn't long before the smell of the yakisoba noodles Bakugou and Todoroki were making got to the noses of the self proclaimed bakusquad who were all lounging around in the common room ‘studying’. Or more like the yakisoba noodles /Bakugou/ was making since all Todoroki did was wash the vegetables after he nearly cut his fingers trying to chop a carrot. It wasn't Shoto's fault he got distracted by the sight of Bakugou putting on an apron. A pink one at that. The blonde just looked so... domestic and 'home-ish' that Shoto could have severed his entire hand in favor of appreciating the very rare view and not even notice. But Bakugou sure did and after yelling at the guy to watch what he's fucking doing, Todoroki got bannished to just sit down while Katsuki chopped the vegetables himself. Not that Shoto minded. He didn't mind just observing.

Mina was the first to pop her head in through the cracked open kitchen door, followed by Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima all one on top of the other. They walked in once they saw it was them. "Kacchaaaaaan~ whatcha cookin'?" Kaminari grinned cutely and looked over the blonde's shoulder as Katsuki cooked some pieces of sliced pork in a pan. "Yakisoba noodles" he answered plainly, more focused on what he was doing. Katsuki took his cooking seriously. He was good at pretty much everything he set his mind to and he'd be damned if his food wasn't going to be the best either.

"Mmmm, it smells so good! We should've known right away it was you the one that was cooking, Bakubabe" Mina rushed over to wrap her arms around his waist from behind and rest her cheek on his shoulder affectionately. The quirk that turned their friend into a girl also affected his height so now he was the same height as she was. Plus Mina couldn't seem to stop obsessing over how small his waist was! Katsuki growled back at her for the nickname but didn't bother trying to get her off since he was busy with his food so Mina happily kept her arms around the boy-turned-girl. Kirishima and Kaminari pouted that they didn't think of it first.

"Can we have some too? Pleeeeease?" Kaminari pouted, putting his hands together in a pleading motion. He was trying to look cute but Katsuki just thought he looked dumb, especially with that pencil sticking out of his hair. Bakugou won’t bother asking.

"No."

"Aww, why not? Come on! Just a little. Your cooking is the best, Bakugou. Feed us~" the boy whined and even tried to sweet talk him with a compliment but Katsuki didn't budge even to the puppy eyes the electricity user was giving him. Sero was very impressed. That look always worked on the rest of them. Bakugou sure did have a will of steel.

"You're not getting shit if you don't help, dunce face" Bakugou answered as if it were obvious. Kaminari pouted again and looked over at Todoroki who had pulled out his phone shortly after the others had walked in. "Is Todoroki getting noodles?" he began tugging slightly on Bakugou's apron. It was the one that the squad had gotten him for christmas as a joke that said 'Kiss the Fucking Cook' in white cursive embroidery. Katsuki almost killed them for that but he still wore it. They all had a suspicion that he secretly liked it but just didn't want to admit it.

"Yes" he answered and Kaminari stuttered. "But he's not doing anything!" Kaminari whined. Todoroki looked up at that. "I washed the vegetables" Shoto felt his input provided enough validation to go back to his phone and scroll mindlessly.

"Well, what can we do to help, Bakugou?" Kirishima grinned, coming up next to him with a big grin. The angry teen looked over to see Kaminari, Mina, and Sero also waiting patiently for their instructions. "Just boil the noodles" he settled with after a few seconds then went back to his cooking and the others answered 'you got it' in unison then rushed to do as told. Cooking some noodles in a pot of hot water shouldn't be too hard, right?

Wrong. They overcooked the damn noodles and Bakugou yelled at all five to get out (Todoroki included) and they all left with their tails between their legs. Bakugou did everything himself like an angry housewife, muttering under his breath while he multitasked the entire time. Forty minutes later Bakugou finished and he was walking out with a plate of steaming hot yakisoba noodles for himself and sitting down at the table where the rest were. It smelled so delicious and they watched him eat with pouts and longing looks that Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Grab a plate and serve your-damn-selves. The food's right there, I ain't your mother" Bakugou grumbled and all five immediately ran to the kitchen to get their fill of Bakugou's cooking before the blonde had a chance to change his mind. Believe it or not, it's happened before.

...

After dinner, Bakugou was dragged out his dorm by his friends to go to Sero's room and play video games because according to them, they "haven't hung out in so long" even though it's only been since the quirk thing happened.

"I call dibs on the hammock!" Kaminari announced as soon as Sero opened the door to his dorm and launched himself to lay down on it before Ashido could get her hands on the hammock first.

"No fair! You got it last time!" Mina pouted, stomping over to sit on the floor by Kaminari with a frown and her arms crossed.

"Rules of the game, my friend. You should've called dibs first" the male smirked and winked at her with a very smug expression because he knew she couldn't really argue back against that. Mina responded by giving him a quick shove, causing the other to roll off the hammock and land face down on the carpet with a thud. Mina started cracking up and Kaminari rubbed his forehead with a pout, giving her the stink eye.

The other three paid no attention to their friends' antics as they took a seat. Every time they went to Sero's room it was the exact same thing with those two. They always fought for the hammock and Sero couldn't understand why they didn't just share it. The day he proposed the idea, Kaminari and Mina had only looked at the ravenette like he had grown two heads.

"Come sit by me, bakubro" Kirishima grinned, lighting up the room with that sharp toothed smile of his, and patted the spot besides him on the bed. Katsuki 'tsked' but went forward anyways and sat down besides the red head. Sero was setting up the playstation in the meantime.

"Don't tell me what to do, hair for brains'' Bakugou huffed but there was no real venom behind his words. Kirishima just laughed and that only seemed to annoy the ash blonde even more though. After Bakugou had finished eating earlier, he had gone back to his room to change into what he usually wore to go to sleep. The plan /was/ to do some light studying then head to bed a bit earlier than he usually did so he was only wearing boxers (or more like the boyshorts Momo had made for him since his own boxers had that bit of extra fabric in the front where his junk was supposed to be) and one of his own soft, grey, all cotton t-shirts. He had flung his bra off the second school was over because screw that. Now he knew why girls always complained about those shits. He kept getting stabbed by the underwire the whole day.

As he sat down beside Eijiro and brought his feet up to sit crossed legged like he always did, Kirishima's eyes wandered down without his permission towards Bakugou's thighs. They were thick and muscular but also soft looking. Smooth and a milky white too. No blemishes or anything so completely unmarked like a blank canvas. Kirishima bets that Bakugou could easily crush a watermelon with those thighs if he wanted to. He wondered what it'll feel like to have his head between th- NO! Kirishima snapped out of it right on time and shook his head side to side fast to get rid of those unmanly thoughts. He was entering dangerous territory there because he can't be thinking of his bro like that! 'Bad Kirishima!' he mentally scolded himself. Bakugou, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the gay panic his best friend was going through as he grabbed a hold of Sero’s pillow to hold (definetely not hug, nope, he will deny it completely) against his chest. 

"I call first round with Mina. You're going down, Ashido'' Kaminari smirked as Sero tossed him the controller. "Bring it, boy!" she smirked, grabbing her own control, and then they were racing each other in mario kart with determined faces, each wanting the other to lose and wallow in defeat first; Mina for Kaminari calling dibs on the hammock first, and Kaminari for Ashido pushing him off.

...

After a few rounds, the gang had decided to switch to another game. This one was a three-player one so Sero had connected a third controller and Kirishima, Mina, and Kaminari were playing. Katsuki liked to play video games but not as much as those three and Sero liked it when his friends all had fun so he didn't mind just kicking back and letting them enjoy themselves on his playstation.

The room was filled with yelling and playful banter as Katsuki laid in Sero's bed quietly, just watching his friends. Kirishima had stood up and sat by Ashido on the floor a while ago (which he didn't know why and Kirishima had only stuttered when he asked) so Katsuki had it all to himself. He was feeling a bit sleepy already and he yawned, trying not to fall asleep since he really didn't want to do that in a room that wasn't his. To distract himself, half-lidded eyes went to Sero who was sitting on the floor besides the bed watching his friends in amusement. His eyes lowered until they got to the boy's enlarged elbows where his tape came out of and his eyebrows furrowed. He'd always wondered how they worked. Were they kind of like a tape dispenser? Like was there a huge roll of tape in there? Maybe it was his half conscious mind, but Bakugou ended up sitting up and getting off the bed to plop down right next to Sero.

The black haired boy turned with a bit of surprise to see Bakugou so close but quickly recovered and smiled. "Oh, hey man. Are you having fun?" he asked but Katsuki didn't even answer. He just hummed then crawled over between Sero's legs and sat down slightly sideways, grabbing one of the other boy's arms to bring his elbow closer to his face and study it in curiosity. Sero's face was on fire as he looked anywhere but at the boy/girl sitting practically on his lap holding onto him. Katsuki was so close that Sero was even able to smell the coconut tropical shampoo the blonde used to wash his hair. 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck' Sero thought to himself, trying to distract himself. It was no use though. Up until now, Sero thought that he was fine. Sure, he thought Katsuki was very pretty as a girl, but he wasn’t really affected or anything like that like how Midoriya, Todoroki, and Kirishima were. Those three tried to hide it but it was so obvious to everyone that they’ve had the hots for Bakugou even before the quirk accident happened. Or at least obvious to everyone except Bakugou himself. 

Sero prided himself in being one of the few that wasn’t constantly staring at their angry blonde classmate, but /now/, no matter how much Sero tried to ignore the fact that a pretty, nice smelling blonde girl was technically sitting on his lap, he couldn't. And even as game night slowly came to an end after Bakugou left, then Kirishima, Mina, then lastly Denki, and Sero was left alone in his dorm to sleep, he still couldn’t stop thinking about his friend either. Well shit.

[word count: 2065]

[ktheist]

wizard’s oath [1]

muses. wizard!jungkook x dragonslayer!reader

synopsis.  the friendly neighborhood wizard trying to propose to the infamous dragon slayer in the middle of slaying a dragon? now, that’s classic.

trope. bad girl, good guy but make it magical.

chapters. previous |  next.

words. 1.4k

disclaimer. no dragon was harmed in the making of this drabble.

x

“hey so, listen.” jungkook says, back pressed up flat against the slab of concrete wall that barely covers the two of you, “you know we’ve been at it for a long time, right?”

you throw your gaze at the boy - perhaps he’s hitting 20-something but you can’t help see him as that kid from across the streets who would boast about his wizard-counsel father to you, “i swear to god and merlin and everything you consider magical, if you tell me you want to stop slaying dragons just as we’re about to slay a goddamn dragon, i will obliterate you right here and now, jeon.”

a tree trunk wheezes past the wall straight into the tower a few feet ahead, bringing it down into ruins, followed by a mighty roar, as though to warn you about going against it.

“no. i’m not gonna stop.” he quickly says, bright doe eyes boring into you, “i’m just saying-”

you grab a fistful of his shirt, yanking him with you as you leap to the side and go rolling down the hill just as the slab of wall melts from the burst of fire that pours out the dragon’s mouth.

“okay, that’s great then.” you throw him a fleeting glance - indicating that you’re listening before ducking in hopes the upper grounds would serve as a camouflage. “but can’t this wait?”

the face he makes at your last question reminds you of a kicked puppy. almost in an instant, you want to put down the elven sword and bring him into a bear hug and apologize. but when the booming roar tears through the sky like thunder, you know you don’t have that luxury.

“cover for me.” are your last words before you bolt straight into the dragon, the heat on the soles of your feet gathering before propping you forward and onto the dragon’s back.

the beast cries out in agony when you drive your sword through its scales, swaying sideways, almost throwing you off if it wasn’t for your tight grip on the handle of the sword.

you don’t need call for the wizard. he knows its his cue when he steps in front of the dragon, deep purple hood drawn over his head and half of his face. the only thing visible is his moving lips. speaking a foreign language that’s lost to most of the world.

when the dragon stills, you yank the sword out of its flesh and trudge up the slope of its back, aiming for its head.

you distinctly notice the illuminated circle forming around the dragon as it growls in contempt for the spell jungkook is casting on it. a movement restriction spell. the heat comes back full-force, coursing through your veins and lighting up the hollow in your chest. you take the last leap before landing on its head, sword digging deep in between its slit-like eyes.

it takes you moment to pull the sword out of the dragon’s thick skull, silver blood splattering all over your clothes and face. the dragon tumbles to the ground right in front of the unmoving wizard a heartbeat and a half later while you wipe the elven sword with your sleeve before sheathing it.

“good job, wizard.” you commend but instead of the usual grin he would offer you after every slay, this time, he looks at you with furrowed brows and pressed lips.

“what’s wrong? are you hurt?” you reach out a hand to check his face but instead, he holds it firmly midair before dropping to his knees.

“i know you think of me as nothing more than your neighborhood friend and partner but i when i saw you with that knight last week,” face contorts painfully, he shakes his head as though willing a bad memory away. then he meets your curious eyes with a light so clarifying, his purification magic can’t even compete, “i can’t do this anymore - going out to battles and having the fear of either of us dying. ___. before i regret it, i want you to marry me.”

that’s when you retract your hand out of his grasp as though it’s as hot as the dragon’s fiery breath, “no. you’re insane, jeon.”

you begin to trudge forward, going around the dragon’s carcass to get to the forestline where it’ll lead back to the village.

“that i am but not because i’ve decided to spend my whole life with you!” he calls out, feet padding hurriedly to chase after you.

“jungkook.” you abruptly turn around, making him halt just a few inches away. a sigh escapes your lips when you find yourself staring at his chest, all thanks to his unfair height. you crane your neck, after all these years, it still doesn’t sit well with you that the boy you grew up with had overgrown you by a head and a half, “you’re not thinking straight! i mean, you never even had a lover and now you’re asking me to marry you? that’s absurd!”

“will you be my lover then?” he asks, stars in his eyes.

“not in a million eons!” you almost scream but he doesn’t seem to be affected by the rejection - before he can say anything though, you’ve already turned your back on him. trudging down the pathway.

“you won’t marry me and you won’t be my lover! what am i supposed to do to win your heart?” it’s the delicateness in his voice and the fact that he isn’t following you, that makes you stop in your trek.

“god, you’re such an idiot.” you groan, turning around with your arms crossed over your chest. it’s a struggle to remain mad when he looks at you like a lost puppy but you persevere, “flowers and picnics and taking me to dances - things like that. just because i’ve been holding swords more than i do needles and threads doesn’t mean i don’t want what any girl wants... to be courted.”

by the end of it, you feel like you’re on fire. not the kind of fire that you feel when your powers course through your veins, but the kind that makes you squirm and want to run away out of sheer embarrassment.

“o-oh.” jungkook stutters out as he starts to register your words. “th-then, will you go with me to old hedrick’s party - i know it’s no ball but we can dance and after that, maybe we could go to the field and watch the stars?”

you take your sweet time going over the pros and cons of becoming jungkook’s lover - everyone will know as soon as you show up in a dress with jungkook and at a party at that. your sisters were the ones that are considered the social butterflies.

when you take too long, jungkook starts rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. 

“okay. pick me up at 7.”

his head almost snaps off his neck when he looks up to you so fast. all stars and smiles. “really?”

“and no robes - dress normally, for once.” you add, noticing the way his robes would encase around him like a cocoon. it’s been awhile since you actually see him wear anything but that.

“no robes,” he echoes, agreeing but his eyes light up all the more when he looks like a thought has crossed him, “and no swords either.”

your shoulder line tenses at that. between the two of you, one uses a wand and the other uses an otherwordly sword. and you definitely do not know how deadly spells come out of a twig.

“but what if we get attacked?” you try to reason.

“you seem to forget,” jungkook plants both his hands on his hips, chest puffed with pride - it reminds you of the time when he would stop you in the middle of you coming home from buying breads and begin boasting about his father’s recent achievements at the council, saying he’ll be just like him or perhaps even more powerful, “just because you’re the one who does all the slaying, doesn’t mean i’m any less lethal - i’m the strongest wizard of our time. and a wand is definitely easier to carry than a sword.”

“very well,” a sigh escapes you while your shoulders sag in defeat, “no swords.”

jungkook looks proud - like he just won a fight. with that, you whirl on your heels, a hand held up to wave at him, “well then, better hurry and harvest the dragon’s heart if you want to make it to the dance on time.”

you hear the wizard grumble from behind you as he rushes back to where the dragon lies, withered, complaining about how he really should get himself an apprentice.

x

note. wow i just feel like writing and this happened!

[lasting-inkpressions]

Why not me? (Chapter Five)

Summary: Denali has been single all his life, and has always been secretly envious of everyone around him being able to find love so easily. Rosé proposes the perfect solution for his best friend.

Note: Warning, intense sweetness ahead.

Prefer reading it on AO3?

The faint sound of his alarm clock stirred Denali from his slumber, and he groaned, feeling around for his alarm clock. He really needed to remember to turn it off during the weekends. Sighing sleepily, he turned around only to come face to face with a sleeping Rosé. Denali froze, conscious of the fact that the other boy was still asleep and that they were almost nose to nose. Denali gulped and scooted back a little and turned away from the older boy.

Why was Rosé in his bed? Still drowsy from sleep, Denali wracked his brain for a minute before recalling his meltdown from last night. The little meltdown that had been the result of realising that he just might be catching feelings for his best friend and temporary boyfriend.

And Rosé had been right there for him, never pushing, always patient, just offering him comfort and support. The perfect epitome of a best friend.

And boyfriend.

Why did Rosé have to be so god damn perfect at everything he did?

Before he could even begin to overthink everything again, Denali felt arms snaking around his waist and pull him towards a warm and solid chest.

“Good morning, baby.”

His heart thumped at the affectionate term, his cheeks flushing. He’d heard Rosé call him that a thousand times, but to be lying in bed, in his arms, and have him say it in that deep, sleep husky voice of his? That just hit differently. He squirmed when he felt the older boy nuzzle his neck affectionately, warmth pooling in his belly at how clingy and affectionate Rosé was in the morning. Turning his head to look at Rosé, his heart thumped even harder when he saw the abject fondness in Rosé’s sleepy eyes, and he couldn’t help but smile in response.

“Good morning, Rosie.”

Rosé smiled back as he took in the younger boy’s face, and he stroked Denali’s cheek with his forefinger. “There’s the blush that I know and love.”

Denali bit the inside of his cheeks in an attempt to stop them from flushing even more, slightly embarrassed at how susceptible he still was to blushing. He thought that he had finally overcome that problem when it came to Rosé’s advances, but it looks like that wasn’t the case. Denali turned his head away when he realised how hot his cheeks felt, and Rosé chuckled at the younger boy’s attempt to hide away.

“No no Nali, don’t hide your adorable face from me. Come here.”

The younger boy whined at that, burying his face in his hands immediately when Rosé tried to turn him around, not wanting to give in to his teasing.

Why did the older boy have to have such an effect on him?

“Go away Rosie, you’re annoying.”

Rosé’s whole body shook in his attempt to smother his laughter and the fondness that was rising in his chest. When his attempts to turn Denali to face him failed, Rosé proceeded to climb on top of him, straddling his waist. Taking hold of Denali’s wrists, Rosé pried Denali’s hands part and grinned down at his blushing face.

“Hey there, my cute little boyfriend.”

Denali pouted, just a little ruffled. “I am not cute.” He didn’t really like being called cute, though for some reason when Rosé said it, he found that he didn’t really mind it. Of course, he wasn’t about to let the older boy know that. Then again, Rosé could probably get way with just about anything with him. Denali stuck his tongue out at Rosé and made a face, as if to prove his point. It backfired and instead caused Rosé to laugh, the fondness in his eyes growing before a familiar look took over.

Oh no, Denali knew that look. It was a look he was very much familiar with.

“Rosé, don’t you fucking dare- ROSIE!”

Denali choked out a laugh and struggled to escape from beneath the older boy when Rosé began to attack his sides with his fingers, squirming as he tried to dodge his tickles. “Ro- Rosie, stop it!”

“Say please.”

“Pl- Please... Stop being a brat!”

Stopping for a second to gasp in mock hurt, Rosé resumed to tickle the younger boy.

“Just for that, I’m not going stop until you agree to give me a morning kiss.”

“That’s. Not. Fair.”

“Well?”

Denali tried to control his laughter, but his sides spasmed as Rosé relentlessly attacked his sides.

“Fi- Fine! Okay!”

Rosé stopped once Denali conceded, smiling triumphantly as the younger boy panted, trying to catch his breath. God, was his boyfriend evil.

“I’m waiting for my kiss, boyfriend.”

Rolling his eyes, Denali pushed himself up so that he was level with Rosé and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, ignoring how his heart skipped a beat and how he sort of liked the feeling of Rosé’s morning stubble tickling his lips. The older boy grinned and turned his face, tapping his other cheek. “The other one too.”

“You said a kiss, meaning only one.”

“I changed my mind, I want one on each cheek now.”

Rolling his eyes at the boy’s childish antics, Denali leaned forward again, pressing a kiss to Rosé’s other cheek and pulled away, biting back a smile. “You happy now?” Denali asked. The older boy turned to look at Denali, eyes warm as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss of his own to Denali’s left cheek, then right.

“Now I am. Now come on, it’s time for our date.” Denali raised his eyebrows as Rosé got out of bed, stretching his back once he was out. “Date? But it’s only 9am.” Also, this was the first time Rosé had explicitly used the word date. Usually, he’d just bring Denali out or suggest things. What did Rosé have in mind this time?

“Well yeah, the drive is going to take an hour or two, so if you want to have lunch on time, you better get your butt out of bed.”

“Drive?”

————————————————————————

Turns out there was a carnival set up just at the outskirts of town, and Rosé had thought that it was the perfect place to bring Denali for a weekend date. He also made sure to call it a date this time so that his intentions were loud and clear from the get go, something he hadn’t done the past few times they had gone out. Despite Denali at first whining about having to get out of bed on a Saturday morning and dragging his feet, the drive had gone off without a hitch.

At first, Rosé hadn’t want to tell Denali where he was taking him to, but had relented once he caught sight of the younger’s wide pleading eyes and dimples. He knew that he was doomed to always be charmed by Denali, a curse he was willing to bear for the rest of his life if he could have the boy all to himself. When Denali had found out where they were going, he had squealed in excitement and started to talk about all the things they could do together, while Rosé had nodded along to everything he said.

By the time they neared their destination, it was just past noon. It was little too hot to be walking around under the sun when it was at its peak, so being the ever gracious boyfriend, Rosé had made sure to drive them both to a nearby diner for lunch. The place had been packed with other locals who had the same idea as Rosé, but thankfully they had managed to get a table. They had both decided to share a BLT sandwich and fries, as well as a large milkshake, not wanting to fill up too much before hitting the carnival. Finishing up their food in record time, they both piled back into the car and they had driven the last 30 minutes there.

Once there, Denali was buzzing with energy and excitement as he dragged Rosé from stall to stall, eyeing each booth filled with stuffed animals that he was itching to win. Rosé didn’t say anything, and was instead content with just watching the younger boy bounce around, and relishing in the fact that Denali hadn’t once let go of his hand after they’d left the car. Denali had stopped at one of the booths and turned to Rosé, puppy eyes coming out as he looked at him.

“Rosie, can we try a few games? I want to try winning some prizes.” Rosé shook his head, much to the younger’s disappointment. “Maybe later baby. I don’t think you’d want to have your hands full when you’re sitting in the rides, would you?” Denali contemplated his point for a moment, before nodding. “You’re right, let’s go for the rides first, then hit the games!”

Denali dragged him over to the nearest ride, and all Rosé could do was let himself be led by the boy he loved so much.

They spent the next few hours going on almost every ride, from the tilt-a-whirl to bumper cars and the roller coasters. By the time were done trying out most of the rides, they were both a little tired out. They sat on one of the benches to rest, fanning themselves as best as they could with their hands in the late afternoon heat.

“Hey Rosie, stay here, I’ll be right back.”

Rosé nodded, not questioning Denali as he wandered off. He came back within 10 minutes, his arms loaded with a few carnival snacks and cold slushies. He spread out the food on the bench and passed the icy drink to Rosé, much to the older boy’s relief. Denali was happily pulling at a funnel cake with his fingers and popping the sugary treat in his mouth. When Rosé set the drink down on the bench, Denali tore off a piece of the funnel cake and held it out to the older boy. “Try this Rosie, it’s really good and it’s still warm.”

The older boy looked at the piece Denali held between fingers. He figured that Denali was expecting him to just take it with his own fingers, but he chose to lean forward and slowly take it with his mouth instead, his eyes never leaving Denali’s, his lips grazing the younger’s fingers as he did so. Rosé pulled back and chewed as he watched Denali’s expression morph from an innocent smile to a stunned one.

Rosé may be a patient man, but that didn’t meant he wasn’t going to play dirty.

He winked at Denali as he swallowed.

“You’re right, baby. That is good.”

The younger boy nodded dumbly and went back to his funnel cake, Rosé chuckling under his breath as he took another sip of his slushie.

Denali’s cheeks weren’t pink, but his ears sure were.

————————————————————————

It was well into the evening by the time the two of them were done with the game stalls in the carnival. The two had predictably been competitive in trying to see who could win the most prizes. That was something that hadn’t changed despite their change in relationship status, the competitive streak that they both had. By the time they had finished up at the last stall, both their arms had been overloaded with stuffed toys of all shapes, sizes and colours. They had laughed at each other, and Denali had proclaimed it was a tie. They’d gotten a passerby to take a photo of the two of them holding all the prizes that they’d won together before giving out almost of them to the kids at the carnival, knowing that neither of them would want to keep them all anyways. In the end, Rosé had been left with a stuffed pink teddy bear and Denali a large multicoloured quetzal plushie.

Knowing that there were fireworks happening soon, Rosé tugged Denali towards the large ferris wheel in the middle of the carnival grounds. They’d gotten into the cab and were sitting in a comfortable silence as the cab slowly moved up. Denali was looking out the glass window, eyes reflecting the bright colourful lights beneath them, his face full of innocent wonder. Rosé couldn’t believe how lucky he was to even be able to be in this position where this beautiful boy was his, even for just a short time.

He knew he had offered to be Denali’s temporary boyfriend for a month, but deep inside, he was hoping that it wouldn’t end once their month was up. He didn’t know how he was going to let go of Denali, and whether he even wanted to. As he continued watching the boy with a wistful expression, he resolved that he would do whatever it took to keep him. He could tell that whatever that they had now was developing beyond platonic feelings, and he could see it in the way Denali was reacting to every advance he made. Rosé hadn’t meant for it to go the way that it did, and he had originally wanted to give him up once their month was up. But now that he’d had a taste, he didn’t want to let him go.

Rosé wanted to be able to call Denali his forever.

Denali turned to him, eyes soft and dimples showing. “Thank you Rosé, for everything.”

He swallowed, entranced by Denali’s expression, and nodded as he smiled back. “Anything for you, Denali.” Carefully moving to sit next to him, Rosé brushed a stray lock of hair back into place, causing Denali to suck in a breath.

The air started to feel charged between them, and Denali shifted in his seat, eyes falling to his lap as he hugged the plushie in his arms, suddenly feeling shy at the look Rosé was giving him. There was a beat of silence before he felt calloused fingers tilt his head up, and his brown eyes connected with warm hazel ones. Rosé held his gaze before he leaned forward, stopping just a centimetre away from Denali, as if asking for permission. Blinking slowly, Denali licked his lips, causing Rosé’s eyes to dart down as his tongue flicked out. Looking back into Denali’s eyes, Rosé tilted his head and leaned forward pausing one final second to give Denali a chance to back away, before finally pressing their lips together in a soft kiss.

In that moment, it was as if the missing piece had slid into the puzzle, and everything just felt right.

————————————————————————

Looks like Rosé's finally made up his mind on what he wants, and it looks like Denali might be leaning into it? Who knows.

I really hope this chapter was worth the wait, especially with how it ended. If any of you get cavities, it wasn't me!

[eternalglitch]

Like Father Like Son: Chapter 1

Prologue

Arc 1: Chapter 1

“Ha! Your loss, brother,” Donnie crowed, holding up the complete popsicle stick with a flourish.

Read it on HERE on ao3.

Chapter Specific Warnings: no specific ones (please see the general ones listed in the prologue) 

Chapter One: a Night Like Any Other

“Ha! Your loss, brother,” Donnie crowed, revealing the last complete popsicle stick with a flourish.

Leo glowered at the half of a stick that was left in his hand, his brow furrowed as he stared at the stick like it would give answers as to why it had betrayed him so. “Why did we switch to drawing sticks for pizza runs? What ever happened to a good old game of rock-paper-scissors?”

“Mikey kept losing,” Raph said, already fishing one hand around inside of their collective pizza fund’s jar. “So I figured this would be a little more… fair.”

Mikey, perched on the table next to Raph, rubbed the back of his head, his cheeks flushing a bit as he looked to the side. Raph patted him encouragingly on the head as he pulled his other hand back out of the jar, counting up the coins in his palm.

“Fair? How is this fair Donnie clearly cheated!” Leo complained, jabbing an accusatory finger in Donnie’s direction. “Look at that- that look on his face! He clearly did something!”

“I would never.” Donnie crossed his arms, raising one of his sharpie eyebrows in mock hurt. “And, really, Nardo? You were the one holding the sticks at the start. How would you propose I even did that? Where is your proof?”

“Well, what about ordering it in? What ever happened to that?” Leo pressed, waving his hands around in large, dramatic motions.

Mikey swung his feet forwards as he slid off of the table and landed on his feet with a small bounce. “It’s a pickup special night!” he said. “We get two whole pies for the price of one!”

“And so, of course, we ordered four,” Donnie deadpanned, typing something into his wrist watch. “Now, if you please, I estimate the pizza will be out of the oven in exactly eighteen minutes based on the last twenty times we ordered it, so be on your way now. Shoo shoo, go go.”

“But- couldn’t April-“ Leo kept trying, but Raph pried open Leo’s right hand and pressed the change into his palm.

“C’mon, Leo, the pizza’s gonna get cold. We did this fair and square.” He stared at Leo, putting on his puppy eyed pleading face, and Leo couldn’t exactly say no to that look, now could he.

Leo sighed loud enough to make sure everyone heard it, but tucked the money away in his pouch. “Fine,” he grumbled. Raph patted him encouragingly on the shell as Leo passed by to head for the nearest ladder to the surface. “But I call dibs on the first slice!” he called over his shoulder. He chuckled as he heard a faint “boo” echo behind him.

Leo approached the slightly rusty ladder that lead up to the nearest sewer lid, and glanced up at it. He reached for the first rung but hesitated, considering his options.

“Actually, let’s take a shortcut,” he murmured, unsheathing his sword in one smooth motion. His reflection winked back at him as he drew the sword forwards and started to carefully draw bigger and bigger circles in the air. With a soft crackle, a blue portal snapped into existence, vibrant and brimming with energy.

The only problem was that it was too small for Leo to feasibly fit through it.

“Fine,” he sighed, sheathing his sword. The portal winked out of existence, and Leo started to painstakingly ascend the ladder. “Looks like we’re doing this the old fashioned way.”

It was late, but New York still bustled on, lights making the alleyways and corners appear that much darker. Leo remained there, in that twilight area between the human and the yokai world, with a practiced ease as he ducked into an alleyway and scaled a drainpipe to get to the roofs.

He’d never admit it, but he didn’t actually mind going on these pizza runs. Sure, it was a bother, and he could be watching the Jupiter Jim movie that Donnie had no doubt resumed watching without him right now (of course, Raph would make sure they rewatched the parts Leo missed), but it was sometimes nice to just have some space. The feeling of his feet slapping against the buildings as he jumped from one to the next, the way the moon always looked bigger and brighter at this time… even the distant screeches of the weirdest things New York had to offer, like fake wizards or a small group of mutant silverfish or even that more recent group of flat earthers. It was comforting… it was familiar.

He made it to their favorite pizza place in record time, crouching low on the opposite rooftop as he scoped out the situation inside of the pizza parlor. “Couldn’t just get Hueso’s, could they,” he muttered, squinting as he tried to spy which pizza box set out had their names on it. “Just had to make me figure out how to get the pizza from the “no mutants allowed” area.”

He spotted a stack of four boxes, one with a short word on top that maybe said either Leo or Raph; it was too far away to be sure. “Okay, this time for sure,” he muttered, drawing his sword again.

It was like a video game; wait for the waiter to pass, avoid the chef setting out more pizzas, aim, and… bingo! A blue portal popped up next to Leo and above the pizza boxes. He reached both hands in, fishing around for the edge of the boxes as he squinted against the blinding blue light suddenly right in his face. He felt the edge of the top box and followed it down, snatching the four hot boxes and pulling them against his chest. The portal started to shrink, and Leo threw the money from his pouch into it just before it vanished. They ate here far too often to be banned for dine and dashing.

It was rare to have four pizzas to carry though; normally there was just the one that they all split. Even if it was just paying for two tonight, Leo decided that dad must have been in a good mood. There was no way Raph had enough money for two pizzas stored up, they always ate through their pizza money the second they had any available. Perhaps he was just impressed that his four sons were genetically related to the movie star Lou Jitsu? That was definitely something worth celebrating.

Leo carefully picked up the four boxes, using his chin to press down on them to make sure they didn’t fall. He turned a bit, staring back at the multitudes of roof tops he now had to jump across with precious cargo. The smell of melted cheese was now heavy in the air, and his stomach growled loudly. Leo wilted, slumping over the boxes in his arms. “There has to be a better way to do this,” he said. He glanced at his sword. “What do you say? Two outta three?”

The sword, of course, did not give a response, nor did it apparently feel like going for two out of three. After waving it around and cursing it a lot, Leo had to come to the conclusion that slowly jogging back was the only way to go.

It was painstakingly slow compared to the trip over, and the smell of the pizza made it feel that much more unbearable. Leo was so caught up in making sure his packages were delivered safely, however, that he remained unaware to the presence of two small gargoyles watching him from overhead.

“Hey there!” a voice chirped, and Leo startled, nearly tipping backwards into an alleyway he had just hopped over.

He glanced upwards, eyes flicking from place to place until his gaze landed on what he was looking for. Two small little black bodies, barely held aloft by small wings, greeted him.

Leo squinted at them, perplexed. “Do I know you?”

One of them flew forwards, his sharp little face nearly touching his. “Know us? Of course you know us! We’re Huginn—“

“-and Muninn,” the other added helpfully.

“Right, right. And Muninn,” the gargoyle continued. “And we’re the official henchmen of none other than-“

“Oh, wait, right,” Leo realized. “You’re Baron Draxum’s shoulder pads!” He whirled around, completely missing the slightly offended and proud looks on Huginn and Muninn’s faces as he focused instead on scanning the rooftops while his grip on the pizza boxes tightened.

Was Draxum here? Not that Leo was scared or anything- of course not- but, well, he didn’t exactly dream of fighting murderous mutants by himself.

At this point, Leo realized the gargoyles were still talking, but it was too late to tune in now; if Draxum appeared, he wouldn’t be ideal to fight alone, especially while his stupid sword was on the fritz. The gargoyles had come closer to him now, and were hovering directly in his way. “Sorry, we’ll have a chat later; gotta go!” he shouted, shoulder checking the two gargoyles so they were sent spinning out of his way.

“Hey!” an indignant voice shouted as Leo leaped into the air, scrambling to not drop the pizzas as he dropped and rolled onto the next roof. He ended the roll clumsily on his back, rocking slightly as he skidded forwards on his shell, and had to use forwards momentum to leap back onto his feet. One pizza box slipped and he barely saved it from hitting the ground.

“What, not even a greeting? I thought you’d at least have the decency to stay and exchange a few words!” The voice was right behind him already, and Leo jolted, glancing backwards. Right. They flew, of course he couldn’t lose them so easily.

“Wasn’t he supposed to be the funny one?” the other gargoyle asked from behind him.

Leo started running again, not allowing himself to stop and catch his breath. “Wow, my brothers really ordered rush delivery,” he managed to say in between gasps. He glanced over his shoulder and winced when he saw the two keeping up with his pace. Was he out of shape? No way. It must be him trying to balance four pizza boxes while doing this.

At that thought, his eyes darted back down towards the pizza boxes, and Leo groaned as a very bad idea struck him. “Nooo don’t make me choose,” he whined, legs still pumping as fast as he could go while awkwardly holding everything. “You guys are the worst! Just for making me do this! You hear me?” he yelled over his shoulder at the two pests that were still right behind him.

He grabbed the top pizza box- sorry Raph- and threw it like a Frisbee at one of the gargoyles- Huginn, maybe? Really, they looked kind of the same to Leo. Huginn avoided it, his sharp little face grinning wider than he had already been doing. “Ha, you missed- gah!” He vanished into an alleyway beneath them, this time Donnie’s pizza acting as tribute.

“Haha!” Leo cheered. “Score one for the turtles! Donnie, you owed me for stealing my allowance last week anyways.” His gaze swung to the remaining gargoyle, whose eyes widened.

“Uh,” Muninn squeaked. “Can we maybe talk about this?”

The pizza box hit him in the face, and he tumbled into the alleyway after the other one. Leo paused, leaning over the edge of the building to watch Muninn crash right on top of Huginn, who had been trying to climb out of a dumpster. The force of the fall made the lid swing shut on top of both of them.

“Well,” Leo said, scratching the top of his head. “Talk about taking out the trash.” He glanced down at the remaining box in his hands. It was, not surprisingly, the box with his own name on it. “Aw man, the pizza though,” he groaned. “Maybe I overreacted to two flying rats- er, gargoyles. But they better not make me pay for it. This wasn’t my fault, obviously.” He pondered it for a moment, pacing on the rooftop before the thudding and distant cries of trapped gargoyles made him stop. He crouched down to stare at the dumpster before nodding. “Right. Well, they never need to know about this. If I just say that maaaybe there was like, eight bad guys, or- or maybe even Baron Draxum himself, they won’t even be able to be mad! It only makes sense that I had to make sacrifices!”

“Oh, well, in that case, maybe I can help you out.”

Leo reacted immediately, his hand shooting to his sword’s hilt as he unsheathed it and whirled to face Draxum behind him in one fluid motion. The yokai stared down at him, a smirk on his face, as he stepped down off of the purple roots that had lifted him onto the rooftop.

“I came here to ask you-“

“Absolutely not, I am not facing you on a rooftop again,” Leo interrupted. He glanced down at the last pizza. “Sorry,” he whispered, before he wound his arm back and hurled the box at Draxum’s face. Clearly a pizza box assault was the last thing he was expecting, because the yokai just stood there and took the corner of the box right in between his eyes. The box crumpled and opened just enough for gooey cheese to cover his face, and more importantly, his eyes.

Leo didn’t wait another second; he took off again, gripping his sword tightly as one hand fished around in his pouch for his cellphone. He furiously punched in the numbers and held the phone up by his earhole. “C’mon Raph, pick up the phone, pick up the phone, pick up the phone.” There was a moment where the ringing dial tone continued before Raph’s voice answered.

“Raph! Quick, I need- aaaaand that’s a recording,“ Leo realized as the pre-recorded message he had heard so many times continued. “Why didn’t I call Donnie? He’s the one always glued to his technology, Raph sometimes forgets to charge- whoAH HEY THAT’S NOT OKAY,” he yelped, skidding to a stop as purple roots burst from the cement right in front of him.

His momentum lost, his arms pin wheeled furiously as he attempted to turn and keep going. The roots shot towards him, and he jumped, landing on one before hopping onto the next. A grin grew on his face as he realized that he just had to keep moving, and he did a flip in the air before gracefully landing on the next one. “Annnd he sticks the landing!”

There was a cracking sound, and Leo’s face froze as his phone fell apart with a small tinkle of scattering glass and electronics. A smaller root had spearheaded his phone from behind, puncturing a perfect hole through the center.

“Wha- this was the worst welcome reception I’ve ever experienced!” Leo wobbled as the roots shifted, Draxum appearing just above him on another root. The yokai flicked off the last string of cheese from one of his horns, face almost expressionless as he stared down at Leo.

“There’s nowhere to run,” Draxum said, a smug smile finally crossing his lips. “Now, why don’t you make it easier for both of us and just come along quietly?“

Leo’s eyes darted towards his sword. “Oh, is that what you think?” he asked. “Because I’m just getting started!” He jumped, bringing the sword down on Draxum, who blocked it with one armored arm with ease. His orange eyes narrowed, and Leo had just enough time to brace himself before he was sent hurtling backwards, skipping across building tops like a pebble across water.

Leo finally stopped when he hit an advertising billboard with a cracking sound, denting the metal and sliding down into a seated position. The familiar sound of cars and chatter cut off, a loud ringing sound filling Leo’s head instead. He blinked a few times, opening his eyes to stare up at the clear night sky. To the rest of New York, it was just a night like any other, but right now... “Ugh,” he groaned, pressing one hand to his temple. He felt sick and dizzy, and through a blurry gaze he could see Draxum gliding towards him on his roots. Leo tried to stand, but his legs shook, and the urge to throw up only seemed to grow with each movement. He wobbled, and had to use his sword as a crutch to prop himself up. “I knew fighting him up here was a bad idea,” he muttered.

Through the ringing, Draxum’s voice took on a sinister tone, the yokai approaching Leo slowly, as a cat cornered its prey. “That wasn’t very impressive, was it?” he asked. He tilted his head, raising an eyebrow at Leo. “Want to try that again?”

“No,” Leo managed to get out, leaning against the bulletin board. “But I am willing to try this.” With a shaking arm he used his sword to draw a circle in the air between him and Draxum. The portal burst into life, small, but not small enough that it wouldn’t work. For once, Leo didn’t even care if he got the destination right; he just moved, only able to focus on getting away.  He dived through the portal, arms outstretched as he made a last ditch desperate attempt to get the hell out of dodge. And, for a second, he thought he made it, the familiar sewer air kissing his face as he made it through the portal. He even managed to portal home, too, with what felt like a concussion on top of everything else going on. His brothers would be impressed once they hear about his adventurous night out, Leo thought, woozy but pleased.

He turned to watch the portal snap shut, but then he felt it- a hand on his ankle, nails digging into his skin, a grip tightening and tightening until it hurt and with his already bad balance Leo was easily being yanked backwards, the sword clattering to the floor besides him, and he was being pulled back through his own portal-

He scrambled blindly at the floor, searching for something to grab onto, but he couldn’t reach anything; he needed help-

Where is everyone-

This is bad bad bad-

“Guys?!” Leo yelled, kicking at the hand. He saw stars. “Anyone? Da-!”

And the portal disappeared, almost as if it had never been there.

Only a sword remained, forgotten on the sewer floor.

(Chapter Two ->)