#he was born close to my hometown!

[helenofblackthorns]

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[spookypete-94]

Pregnant by Proxy

SimonRileyxPregnant!Reader

Have had this idea in my head for many, many months. Finally just decided to do it- even if it seems strange to some.

Triggers for medical inaccuracies, language, minor angst, still born mentioned

What triggered it all is you not showing up. Being Laswell’s right hand while she was Watcher, given you the opportunity to assist Task Force 141 on multiple missions. So much, they considered you a part of their team.

Here instead, Simon Riley stood back watching you from afar. He had hunted you down and located you in your hometown. Something he was never ever supposed to do. There was a no contact rule for them outside of their work. Price enforced it for safety reasons. But Simon just couldn’t stand not knowing where you were or what had happened. That was unsafe for him. He needed to see you, needed to make sure you were alright.

“I can’t tell you much, just that she will not be attending this mission.” Laswell spoke from the computer screen during their video call meant to be a mission brief for the 4 of them.

“She ok at least?” Price asked, looking up over the stack of papers in his hands up at the camera.

You had made your mark on all of them… but maybe not as dark or inflicted as you had on Simon.

“Medical emergency back at home. I know you guys are worried about her, but I really can’t disclose anymore.” Laswell’s voice firmer, protecting you.  “She deserves privacy and her time off.” Something you had earned away from them.

Simon couldn’t help but pipe up. “When will she be back?” You are an asset to this team, as much to his spirit.

A heavy sigh from Laswell, “We need to focus on the task ahead.” She was putting up a wall. How dare you leave without relaying some sort of word to him…

What had happened to you?

That was the moment Simon knew he needed to find you. You were at risk, something had happened. Did you get sent somewhere without him and hurt? Are you bruised and bloody? Had someone laid hands on you? Dangerous as you were… Simon couldn’t help feeling that you were fragile. He had seen you in the most intimate of ways on more than one occasion. Perhaps that had changed his perception of the clarity of body. Fragile like clay figurine, porous and breakable. Skin smooth, even though littered with scars in places. Special, is the way to describe you to him. You understood him. An extension of his peace.

So, he finished the mission. Angrier than he had ever been at the end of one. Days drawn out, even though it only took them a week to find their target and take him into custody. It was a success, a record in apprehending someone capable of such violence. Little did the Task Force know, Ghost’s unbridled rage of procrastinating the ability to find you, the result of such a feat.

Price knew something was up when Ghost had turned down the interrogation of the suspect. This was his forte. One of his best qualities of finding intel was beating a man into submission. Glancing with a side eye filled with suspicion, Price then closed it. Halfway knowing what Ghost was up to, the fact that Simon now needed this. He needed to know you were alive.

There were a few times you would tell him stories of your hometown and family after you would connect and lay naked together. He enjoyed it. It distracted his mind while his brain would close his eyes and imagine it. Never once did you tell him where you from or the name of the town… but he had seen it so many times in his mind’s eye, he had just an inkling of where it was hidden.

Imagine his surprise when had finally found you outside your favorite coffee house. A small coffee in your hand… and a swollen belly round in front of you as you slowly waddled away from him. He had stood back near the corner about 3 buildings away from you, following you ever so slowly.

Shock had filled his system. He could walk away now… in fact he fully wanted to bolt and sprint in a different direction. He knew you were safe, alive and clearly thriving… but he had more questions now then when he did about your absence.

Feeling like you were being watched made you turn around. Eyes instantly locked on the black shadow that was following you.

“Simon?” Your sweet voice called to him, filled with confusion and happiness.

“Wanted to see you…” Was all he could mumble out as he approached.

Awkwardly you tried hard to lurch to him, hard to do so when your counterbalance was way off.

“I’ve missed you so fucking much,” a rushed hiss to him, as you tried to lay your head into his chest. It was difficult with how round you were, the babe pressing you away.

His finger guided under your chin, lifting it up so he could see your eyes. Tears welled in them that he brushed back with a thumb. Fucking hormones.

“Missed you,” you repeated. Somehow even through all your emotions, the glow on you was so strong and intense. How beautiful.

Simon remained quiet, while he tried to decide how far along you were. The time frame… seemed possible, but he wasn’t entirely sure. The time away from you seemed so much longer. He wanted to ask, he needed to know this now. Sure, he wanted to run at the same time, but you were important to him. This was important to him.

“Is it mine?” He asked his palm spreading over the circumference.

You stood there unable to speak. It was such a long story. Words hindered, closed off. Instead, you shook your head with a slow no. Regret written all over your face.

Instantly, the rage returned to him. Of course he wasn’t good enough for you. That’s why you left. That’s why everyone eventually does. How dare you be so important to him….

Turning on heel, he pushed past the crowd of people nearby trying to get away from you. Anger blinding him, deafening your calling out.

“Simon!! Wait!! She’s not mine either!!” Trying your hardest to run after him.

What?

He stopped dead in his tracks, unable to turn to look at you yet. The same tears that had stung yours now been transferred to his. Had he really wanted this with someone so bad before?

Your hand pressed into his back letting him know you were still there.

“She’s my sisters… it’s a really long fucked up story, but she is my sister’s.”

Abstract. This whole thing was completely abstract and fucking strange. You were being a surrogate to it all.

“What?” Simon said again, finally turning around, his head looking to the side, still not fully able to look at you yet. He needed clarification, needed to comprehend you hadn’t betrayed him.

“I went on leave because my sister was pregnant and went into labor at about eight and half months…but something had happened. She got this blood infection in her uterus causing a still birth. And when it did, it made things happen to her reproductive organs so she would never be able to carry a baby again…They had to take it all out.” A heavy breath left you, as you started to explain, a shake he could hear in your voice, one that and couldn’t ignore.

He turned back around, finally able to look at you again. To you, it was like the break of dawn and the sun greeting the Earth for the first time. He was listening to you. This whole time you were fearful of losing him… but here he was standing before you. Shining like the sun every morning, a wordless pact.

“My sister… she lost her baby and I saw what it did to her. This is all she has ever wanted was to be a mother, and her chance has been taken from her. So, when the doctor said they had saved some of her eggs…I knew I had to do this for her.” Taking his hand, you placed it back on your belly, sprawling his long fingers over it. “This baby isn’t yours… and she isn’t mine. That doesn’t make her any less important though. Just know I had to do this for her.”

His hand was warm. Radiating warmth into you. It gave so much into you, like you had just spewed out back to him.

Did he doubt you?

“I was on my way to an appointment. Why don’t you come with me and maybe that will help you understand.”

A compromise. Let me make this right.

Sliding his hand across your belly, over to your hand he took it and gripped it, squeezing once in awhile. His quiet assurance. So, you led the way. The sail to his boat, teaching and guiding him.

The room was white. White bed, white paper covering it. White walls. White Floor. So much white it hurt for him to look at. Carefully, he stood next to you, letting you climb on the bed to lay down.

“Where is your sister?” A valid question. He would think if this was her baby, she would want to know details, right?

“Work. I think it still hurts her to come sometimes… She has come to a few in the very beginning, but as it gets closer it scares her.”

A valid response.

“You been coming by yourself?”

A slight shrug of your shoulders. “I have…” That hurt him to know you were doing a majority of this alone.

“How did you…?” He said looking down and looking back up at you.

“Conceive?” Unsure if that was what he was asking or not. “Artificial. They planted the embryo after it was fertilized."

Oh, thank God. The relief written on his face makes you laugh.

“Don’t worry. No one else has been inside me in that way. I would never let anyone, let alone my brother-in-law.” Still chuckling.

“Better not.” The only words he could say in his embarrassment of thinking so.

In walked the doctor, who looked over at the mountain of a man.

“Well, hello. Is his him then?” She pointed to him and looked back at you.

“It is.” A smile radiating back at her, truly at your happiest.

The doctor glanced back over at him. “She has talked about you quite a bit and how much she wished you could be here. It’s hard, what she is doing for someone else, but I’m glad her person is here with her now. Your girl’s quite brave.” Rolling across the floor of the room on her stool.

Simon was dumb founded; you had talked about him to someone else? Did he really mean that much to you too?

“Now let’s have a look.”

Rolling your shirt up, exposing that smooth skin to him one more time. It’s been so long since he had last seen it, and here it had changed so much but remained stunning to him.

The doctor measured it before pulling out the doppler to hear the heartbeat. A soft whooshing noise was instantly recognized, making you close your eyes and smile. It was so surreal to Simon. Like he was on the outside looking in. He had the opportunity to see you in this light… and somehow it still was that way for you too. Knowing you were carrying this baby… but it wasn’t entirely yours either.

“Your niece is looking wonderful. See you at your thirty-six-week appointment. Will be once a week starting then.” Niece… A reminder that you were grateful for this baby, but a deep part of you wished it was daughter.

Somehow, he had made it to the checkout desk with you and hadn’t even realized it.

“Can I list you as an emergency contact?” the question that brought him back to reality. Your eyes were looking up at him, pen and paper in your hand before you wrote his name down.

“Sure,” he said taking the pen and paper, scribbling his number down next to his name. Who said anything about no contact outside of work again?

Ending the day, you brought him back to your home. Allowing him to see more of your personal life. Baring it all to him today. His fragile figurine, safe and protected now that he had found her once more. Never again would you be out of his sights. He will see to fix that, all on his own.

Two hands started at your hips before snaking around, his arms fully embraced you from behind. He lifted up on your heavy belly, taking the weight off your hips. A pleasant groan emitted from you. How good did that feel.

“Such a nice thing you are doing for your sister… but next time, the baby in there is going to be ours.” His mouth hot and heavy next to your ear, before running his tongue from the bottom up. It made your skin run hot and cold all at once, goosebumps in the wake on your skin.

“Going to be such a good mother,” his hand trailing down your belly and onto your thigh before squeezing it. “I want this to be safe and healthy for you all, but as soon as you can… I’m fillin’ you with my own. As many as you’ll let me.” Grinding into you, imagining you swollen with his seed making him aroused.

“I missed you.” You whispered out the thrice time today.

Simon "Ghost" Riley Masterlist

[ybklix]

BROOKLYN BABY

★ pairing: rockstarbf!hyunjin x fem!reader

✦summary: Your boyfriend’s pretty cool, plays guitar and is in a popular band. You love to support him, yet you can't help but feel jealous and insecure at the sight of all his fans and the groupies the rest of the members bring backstage.

✭ content - tags - warnings: MDNI, smut, established relationship, fluff, fingering, oral sex

word count: 3.7k

•masterlist•

♡ inspiration:

a/n: happy late ultraviolence day, my fav album, no one loves her like i do lolol, so here’s a little smth, i'll write more inspired by the rest of the songs omg i love my fav child

Hyunjin was a romantic, unlike the rest of his band members, who enjoyed the excess, success and fame that grew more and more every day. He was in charge of writing each of the songs that thrilled thousands of teenagers since he had such an idealized perception of love and loved to romanticize every detail as well as he was in charge of designing each artistic design of the album because of his skills in drawing and painting, he was a sensitive artist, born under a water sign, trying to give the image of a tough and sexy guy for the good of the band. His position was to be the lead guitarist and backing voice for the lead vocalist, yet everyone in the band contributed vocally, grabbing the audience like no other band in that year in the nineties. The crazy nineties, everyone loved rock and roll with the same intensity as the seventies and this time more styles were explored. Everyone loved your boyfriend's band.

You were lucky enough to meet him when they were still newbies with big dreams performing in bars, where Hyunjin claims to have fallen in love with you at first sight, however, his shyness got the best of him and he didn't dare to talk to you and, it wasn't until a month later that, in a jazz club in Brooklyn, in one of the poetry sessions and nights, almost by fate, he met you again, he couldn't miss the opportunity and finally approached you, he seemed so cute and strangely his face seemed so familiar to you, it was about the handsome guitarist you saw once.

Hyunjin didn't have a specific favorite band, he took inspiration from the greats, he enjoyed everything from Nirvana to Guns n' Roses, to classics like Led Zeppelin, he was frequently talking to you on the phone to tell you about his obsession of the week musically, the most recent one, Chris Isaak. Two months ago he started his official tour around the country, which you couldn't accompany him no matter how much you wanted to, the university stopped you. Yet you still supported him from afar and watched every TV show he went on and every radio station with his interviews, you were so happy for him. His most recent appearance was on MTV, he looked like a celebrity, but he was still your sweet and tender Jinnie. And finally he was coming back to close the tour at his hometown in New York City, where it all started for you.

You, unlike Hyunjin, were more down to earth, honest and not afraid to stand up for your beliefs, so you studied law, with an uncontrollable passion for shy lyrics. In contrast to your parents, both rock and roll lovers, artists, your mother was a tarot amateur and identified herself as a spiritual person, your father a landscape painter, both met at a music festival the same amount of years ago as your older brother's age, a Manhattan novelist; yet you grew up in an environment where support was always constant and your personality developed being totally different from your boyfriend's, bold and daring, born under a sign of fire.

You loved Hyunjin, together you were literally like fire and water, and finally you could see him again after so long, you missed him too much, you missed when his band was still small and you spent days in his apartment watching him play the guitar, how he held you by the waist and kissed your neck while you combed your hair to go to college, every little detail that from one day to another changed.

Because of your schedule you couldn't meet your boyfriend at the airport and you could barely stand in the front row, waiting for them to come out and play. You wanted to go backstage to wish him luck, run into his arms and kiss him, after so long and only surviving on phone calls. But, for the first time you were terrified to be in the crowd and you didn't want to lose your place in the front row next to your boyfriend's position, although you thought for seconds if you should go closer and watch the concert from backstage… you were so indecisive and you never visualized your boyfriend's manager to authorize you to enter… you pouted and in a matter of minutes the venue was filling up more, you noticed how, among the crowd and entering easily, three girls were standing next to you. You couldn't help but notice them, they were wearing skirts and cleavage-baring tops, their eyeliner was sharp and perfect, you felt a little inferior and slightly less attractive for a second.

And the show started, the lights went down, and you heard your boyfriend's guitar, the people started to scream and your heart accelerated, the lights turned on, illuminating individually each one of the four members and, among them was your boyfriend, looking as good as always, his long black hair, his red guitar and wearing a gray sleeveless shirt attached to his body with ripped jeans and black combat boots, you noticed he was wearing the necklace you gave him before he went away from you to start the tour and… suddenly your world came to a standstill, there was only Hyunjin in front of you, doing what he is most passionate about.

Hyunjin, once he started to play, he looked for you with his eyes without stopping until he found you in front of him, his smile got bigger, he was smiling like he had never done in another concert, he felt so full. He winked at you and continued with his show, moving his fingers with agility, a young and gifted guitarist with talent, so did Rolling Stone described him in a small article; a little more than an arduous hour of concert later, Hyunjin finished agitated and slightly sweaty and, among the emotion, the only thing he asked to make the night more beautiful, was to be able to hug you. Until he finally did it, he had to go backstage with the rest of the group, but his manager took care to guide you discreetly to the room behind the stage, at the same time you noticed the same three girls next to you walking next to you, to which you understood instantly that they were groupies, you sighed, you could not help but get upset at the fleeting thought that… maybe Hyunjin has had his own groupie before.

Among the darkness of the venue, you finally found the light, the lit room and, there, your boyfriend standing there with a nervous smile waiting for you, your jealousy vanished in seconds, you couldn't be mad at him, he looked so cute with his little sparkling eyes and a shirt over his shoulders trying to dry his sweat. You ran to him and hugged him no matter how soaked he was, it was part of his routine. You felt his lean frame next to your body and warm chest bump against yours, oh, Hyunjin, you had missed him too much.

“I missed you” Hyunjin spoke, his chin resting on your shoulder, holding you tightly.

“I missed you, too” you replied breathlessly, you were so excited to see him.

You slowly pulled apart and he had to kiss you, so he took your face in his hands and did it delicately and passionately, in such a unique way he knew how to do it.

You both smiled at each other as you pulled apart.

“You should have come with me next time, oh god, the west coast is… so different, I think we should move to California once you finish college, love. They offered me a house in Hollywood” Hyunjin blurted out suddenly excited and overstimulated to have you near him.

You laughed softly at his adorable reaction, the way his cheeks went up, narrowing his eyes more, his smile, hiding his upper lip and showing his teeth, ready to speak again.

“I have an interview for Rolling Stone in a few minutes, but after that I'm all yours, I promise, let's get you to say hi to the guys” Hyunjin spoke softly taking you by the hand.

You happily walked into the place, but your smile faded as you saw one of the girls wildly kissing the lead vocalist, Han, on one of the couches while she was sitting on his lap. Another girl on the drummer's lap as he sat behind the instrument and the bassist talking animatedly with another girl.

“Hey, guys” you said shyly trying not to interrupt something.

The members came out of their trances and greeted you.

“Do you want something to drink?” Hyunjin tried to distract you with a tender smile.

“I'll get it, love” you smiled at Hyunjin giving him a quick kiss on his full lips and headed to the drink table.

Hyunjin made himself comfortable on an elongated couch, alone, and waiting for you.

“And you, Hyunjin, if you had the chance to smoke and chat with any singer who would it be with?” one of the girls came dangerously close to Hyunjin, plopping down on the couch very close to him, placing her hand on his thigh.

You turned around, with the two drinks in your hands and suddenly saw the scene of the girl near your boyfriend, making you squint your eyes in annoyance.

“I don't smoke. I don't know… Steven Tyler maybe” stood Hyunjin uncomfortably and walked to your direction, giving you a tender smile and taking one of the glasses.

“God, his daughter is beautiful, we saw her at that club in L.A., didn't we? A pretty, educated girl” added Chris, the drummer.

“The correct answer is Bon Jovi, he's too good looking, who wouldn't want to talk to him?” commented Changbin, the bass player.

Los Angeles, you thought, just California that Hyunjin told you so passionately about a few moments ago… you couldn't help but think of ideas not good at all, you were jealous, upset and a little hurt. You knew Hyunjin would never do anything to hurt you… or would he?

You looked at him, he understood your look instantly, he knew you as well as every string of his favorite precious guitar and tried to pull you away from them, taking you to his dressing room, ready to calm you down and be more in privacy. Hyunjin knew you were easily angered, you tried to be a cute and docile girlfriend but you couldn't. He recognized your annoyed expression, making him bite his lip undecided what to say.

“Those girls are always with you?” you spat annoyed.

“Y/n…” tried to reassure you Hyunjin.

“Hyunjin have you been with a groupie?” you blurted out suddenly staring him straight in the eyes defiantly.

You weren't thinking clearly, anger took over you, you were aware that it happened every time they finished a concert, or at least you want to think it's like that for the rest of the members who are single, but seeing it with your own eyes made your blood boil at the thought of a girl near your boyfriend trying to seduce him. The life of a rock star girlfriend wasn't for you, you wanted Hyunjin all to yourself.

“You know I wouldn't do that… I waited every day for you, I thought every day about you” Hyunjin replied, taking your glass and leaving it on a small table over there just like his drink.

Hyunjin searched for your gaze, you didn't want to see him, you were behaving a bit childish but his words could be a lie, after all he was a rising star. He grabbed your forearm, squeezing them gently between his large hands and you turned to look at him. His tender but manly face of compassion, his thick eyebrows making the slightest expression of concern, if you didn't love him too much you would have trust issues, but you believed Hyunjin blindly.

You approached up to him and hugged him, he reciprocated the happy gesture, your heartbeats joining and the closeness of your body, Hyunjin was so in love that if there was a way to make you do it clearly, he would do it without thinking. Sex was not enough, he wanted to live inside you forever and he was so passionate about it that he wrote countless songs, you were his muse and the great love of his life.

You stood on your tiptoes and brought your arms up to wrap around his neck with a smile.

“Tomorrow, let's go to your favorite place in Greenwich Village, okay?” you said to him, letting your frustrations pass you by.

Hyunjin raised his eyebrows excitedly and smiled sweetly without showing his teeth.

“I'm dying to go… and to kiss you and make love to you while we play an Audrey Hepburn movie in the background…” he said slowly and flirtatiously, holding you tighter around the waist and leering at you from above.

You laughed softly as you remembered the first time you fucked in his apartment, where he promised a romantic movie date and ended up frantically pounding your pussy as he cummed in you.

Hyunjin leaned further into you, closing his eyes and kissing you fiercely, after a little over a minute, his sizzling kisses suddenly turned you on, making you weak in his arms. You hadn't had sex with Hyunjin for two long months, at this point you thought it was even abstinence, you needed him.

He continued to tease you with his deep, slow kisses as he groped your body and brazenly ran his hands under your dress, reaching down to your bare bottom wearing only panties and massaged your ass hard. You were starting to feel a mess of emotions, but luckily this time you finally had your boyfriend with you.

Hyunjin continued to squeeze you tightly, drawing you to his body and this time feeling that he was the same way you were, aroused. Hyunjin found his way to bring his dominant hand to your entrance, making you open your mouth slightly in a soft moan between the kiss. He pulled inches away from you, almost still almost touching your lips and you saw how attractive your boyfriend looked with his slightly intimidating gaze and fuller lips from your passionate kisses.

“I missed you so much” he said excitedly, nimbly pushing aside the fabric of your panties for better access to your area.

You lowered your hands from his neck and held onto his abdomen. Hyunjin was more turned on by the slight difficulty in caressing your pussy because you were standing still. You felt his long, slender, slightly raspy fingers, due the strings of his guitar, stroking along your tight, compressed folds and you spread your legs wider trying to facilitate his caresses, Hyunjin smirked smugly at the sight of you horny, licking his lips.

“Do you like it, love?” he sighed amused and excited.

You nodded awkwardly and didn't stop looking into his eyes for a second, but your peripheral vision caught perfectly his long arm guided in your area, you were losing more and more strength, every touch of Hyunjin made you lose your sanity, he was so skilled with his hands and fingers, after all he was a talented guitarist, you wanted to fuck him so desperately, to feel filled by him after such a long time. You didn't think about it and your hand also went to his prominent bulge, rubbing it gently, this time driving your boyfriend crazy. You stroked and squeezed the denim, he was so hard and at the same time his cock was so soft and slick, it always felt good.

Hyunjin sped up his rubbing on your clitoris, making you tremble a little, he leaned towards you bringing his foreheads together and looking at you sweetly.

“Do you want me to fuck you with my fingers, my sweet angel?” he said, as you felt his hot, heavy breathing hit your face.

“Yes” you moaned in between breaths.

Your boyfriend smiled sweetly, so innocent almost like he didn't seem to know exactly the distance from your labia to your entrance, slipping two of his fingers easily into your tight, wet hole. He gently fingered you, enjoying your caresses on his erection and being in control of your pleasure, occasionally looking smugly to his right side as you were in front of the mirror, watching your body tremble before him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult for you to stand, so your boyfriend, concerned looked for an immediate solution, looking at his dressing room chair.

“Sit down. Let me taste you, love” he whispered in your ear, gently pulling his hand away from you.

You were about to do so but a voice near you, interrupted you.

“Hyunjiiiin, come out, where are you? The Rolling Stone fuckers are about to arrive” you heard a rather familiar voice shout, as it slowly approached.

Hyunjin opened his eyes in fright, causing you tenderness, followed by a gasp of frustration.

“Shit, I can't show up to the interview like this” he groaned in frustration.

You looked at your boyfriend's large and noticeable erection in his pants, and you again directed your hand on it squeezing it gently and looked him submissively in the eyes.

“Let me help you, Jinnie” you said seductively, stroking his bulge to which he moaned.

“B-but” he was about to protest.

“Shh” you silenced him, giving him a quick kiss and a cocky grin.

And with no time to waste you got down on your knees in front of his cock, you were so aroused, your pussy was throbbing hard and your throat was suddenly dry and ready to be filled with boyfriend's stiff member. You loved giving him blowjobs, his cock was exquisitely long and Hyunjin always knew how to use it with agility at every strategic spot on you, he knew you so well. You nimbly pulled down his pants and underwear finding his well standing and sensitive manhood, your boyfriend whimpered, yes, he was excited to see you too.

You grasped the base of his penis with your right hand and gently held his balls with your other hand, you raised your gaze to Hyunjin, who was pressing his lips tightly together letting himself be carried away by your touches. You ran your hand over his slightly tanned cock, your mouth was salivating more and more and your poor pussy was also reacting for your boyfriend's erect cock. You had forgotten how it was the last time you sucked him off and you were more than happy to be able to do it again. You gently spat on its tip and lubed it further, jerking it off in the process, feeling its slippery, slightly rough texture; Hyunjin was panting hard, letting out deep sighs and moans from his chest, a completely vocal boy.

You stuck out your tongue a little and opened your mouth to flick his big piece of organ on your needed tongue, tasting a little of his nice white precum, until finally introducing it little by little in your mouth, making sure your lips also felt what was yours, Hyunjin's big cock, all yours. He was big and with a very good thickness, always filling your insides to overflowing, to your limit; you had it all with him, he was cute, romantic and gave you the best orgasms.

Hyunjin whimpered at the feeling of the inside of your soft cheeks caressing his cock and immediately held onto your hair delicately without pulling it.

“Aggh, sweetheart, it feels so good” he gasped.

“Hyunjin, where the fuck are you man?” they shouted again.

“Fuck” gasped your boyfriend frustrated by the situation and the tightness of his cock in your mouth.

You also felt the pressure, your blood flow rushing harder and your heart racing, you had to make your boyfriend cum fast; so you started sucking him hard and keeping a little faster pace than usual, back and forth, taking all his swollen and throbbing length expertly.

“Hyunjin” you heard again a call in the distance. “Hyunjin come out, the Rolling Stone magazine people are here.”

“I'm coming” he squealed out loud in a shuddering whimper, completely lost from the stimulation of his cock in your mouth, “I'm literally coming, what the fuck” moaned Hyunjin biting his lip and taking more tightly your hair, intensifying your movements, fucking your mouth wildly.

You felt your boyfriend's climax near, so he didn't hesitate to feel the bottom of your throat, pushing hard on your head until you felt his tickling glans rubbing your throat as your boyfriend gave gentle lunges, you whimpered on his cock, your eyes quickly watered, you couldn't breathe somehow and, after a few seconds, he pushed you away a little. Finally, you saw his head falling back, his thighs quivering and his perfect abdomen contracting as he babbled excitedly and barely understandable your name. Until you felt his glorious shot of cum in your mouth, filling you completely; Hyunjin always cum in one strong shot and then his cum kept coming slowly so you waited to have it all in you. He subtly stopped holding your hair tightly and gently pushed your head off his member; resulting in the obscene image of his shiny, lubricated cock spurting out of your mouth as more of his liquid fell to the floor.

You swallowed your boyfriend's thick, white liquid and stood up quickly, Hyunjin was trying to steady himself and think clearly again, but you recognized that he was in a hurry, that was the main reason you were sucking him fast and hard so he would ejaculate fast and also the reason you tried to quench your fiery desire and arousal, he had to continue being a rock star and doing rock star things.

“Come on, Hyunjin you have to go out” you told him.

Your boyfriend gently shook his head as he stared at you and reacted instantly, rearranging his cock back into his underwear and pulling up his pants, you watched the scene cheekily biting your lip, even without him being hard, you could clearly see the big package your boyfriend was hiding in his pants, you blushed and once again thought of all the fucking groupies fantasizing about fucking him.

Hyunjin took your face in his hands and made you look into his eyes, his sharp dark eyes that made him look so intimidating, if only they knew he was the most tender and you had him in the palm of your hand, so docile and obedient.

“I promise to reward you, okay?” he whispered, pressing a kiss to your forehead, “Thank you for that, love, I love you.”

You nodded softly even with his grip on your cheeks, you watched him lovingly. And you watched him walk away, ready to go back to being the shining star Hwang Hyunjin.

[northopalshore]

Groom Persona Chart 🎂

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Groom (5129) is an asteroid used to interpret your husband. It could also give you details about your union & married life. In a man's chart, it tells you what they're like as a husband.

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In this post, I will be writing down my personal analysis on my own GPC, as well as other observations I've made.

Masterlist!

Post Contents: i. Personal GPC

ii. Extra observations

Personal GPC: northopalshore's husband

Note: I will be writing in a 3rd person pov for this section to make it easier for readers to apply onto their own chart!

Virgo (2° taurus) 1st house

They could seem quite petite or frail when they were younger. He could be quite big for a virgo rising, either height, weight or both. Their faces can be quite appealing or have very attractive features. They might be very critical about their looks or put a lot of effort into presenting themselves as clean & neat.

Libra 2nd house

They may spend a lot of money on beauty products or grooming products. They could spend a lot of their finances into taking care of themselves & their outfits. As a husband, he could spend a lot of money into the aesthetics of his house, cutlery or even on dates.

Jupiter (18° virgo) in 2nd house

They could be very keen to earn money. They may earn a lot of money through their job or through working. Everything they own is something they have worked for, nothing is just given i.e not born financially well off. He could be quite frugal or very picky with what he spends his money on. However, when they do spend they tend to splurge on big purchases. He might have a habit of overthinking his purchases as well. As a husband, he will add a lot of luck & abundance into his spouses' finance. He could also teach her to be more responsible with money.

Eros (13° aries) in 2nd house

They may earn money through their s*x appeal. Their job may involve moving, showing off their s*xual drive or just embodying this energy. They could work as a stripper (You might wanna give magic mike a visit lol). Could be a dancer, a porn star or a singer (if most of what they do involves movement) . I'm thinking of Chris Brown for some reason .

Fama (25° aries) in 2nd house

They could be very popular for their work or their money. They place a LOT of importance on financial gain. People could know them as a go-getter. He could be famous by making money or be famous for their drive, energy or s*x appeal (mars/aries) .

Union (1° aries) in 2nd house

He & his spouse both may be very focused on money when they get married. There will be a joint effort into making money together as spouses. That, or both will come up with ways for one of them to earn more money lol.

Union in Scorpio

They both may be a very secretive couple. You may be protective of your union (marriage). You will want to keep a lot of things going on in your home life under wraps.

Scorpio 3rd house

They may be very close to their siblings. Perhaps they have gone through a lot of difficulties together. He might like to discuss taboo topics or may think about them a lot. He could also be quite an obsessive thinker. He may find it difficult to let go of something he doesn't truly understand. Could also be a very private person.

note: I find that people with these placements are either very private or overly comfortable talking about personal things lol.

Sagittarius 4th house

He may have travelled a lot from a very/relatively young age. Perhaps for school.

Similar placements: gemini, pisces, mars, pluto & uranus 4th house

Note: see where 4th house ruler is to see why they moved.

ex: Sagittarius 4th house, Jupiter in 2nd house. Moving to earn money/for better financial aspects.

IC (5° leo)

He could be very artistic as a child. He may have received a lot of praise for his talents when he was younger.

Mars (14° taurus) in 4th house

He could have moved away from his mother, his hometown or family from a young age. Perhaps because of money or for a better life.

Mars sextile Jupiter

This man has a lot of energy & vigor. He may be more restless than the average person. He may also seem to have a neverending supply of energy & enthusiasm.

Mars conjunct Pluto

He may have issues with obsession when it comes to his possessions. He may have a lot of s*x appeal as well. Perhaps a lot of people may lust over his appearance or his body. He may put a lot of effort into his body. He could possibly have a smoking habit as well.

Pluto (23° aquarius) in 4th house

He could have had to move away alone as a child. This move was a very hard decision to make i.e a lot of things were on the line or his whole life had to change because of this i.e becoming independent, having to do everything alone, away from his family.

ex: this reminds me of the kids in China that had to move to their families residing overseas during the one child policy. They couldn't afford to live with their parents in China for fear of detainment or punishment from the government. So a lot of them had to be independent so young TT.

Pluto trine North Node

This change was a fated occurrence. It was something that had to happen.

Great Attractor (14° taurus) in 4th house

He may attract a lot of adoration from women or mother figures. He is adored for being kind and sensitive. People will like him for his caring almost mother-like nature. He could be adored for his cooking or eating (?) too. He may look very feminine or gentle and people will love that about him.

note: reminds me of mukbangers on YouTube. Adored for eating at home lol.

Capricorn 5th house

He may be quite reserved when it comes to having fun. He could have a problem dividing his time between work & play. He could be an all work no play type of person. He could consider work fun. He has reservations on love or romance, or this area may have been restricted either by him or others. Could have issues expressing himself artistically or is not an artistic person.

5th house stellium

Art, performances, children, theatre or any talent in general may be very important to him or he may as well work with them (because of Capricorn). He could be very creative, very artistic and somewhat flamboyant. He views the 5th house values as his work. He could be a very romantic person. He could be somewhat of a theatre kid too.

Venus (7° libra) in 5th house

He could be a very romantic person. Someone who is very talented & blessed with art. He may be very artistic even as a child. Performance, art and theatre has a spot reserved in his heart. He may have a fair approach to romance but he is also the type to idealise love/romance/art. A loyal lover. As a husband, he will love planning dates & buying flowers. He will do anything to keep the romantic aspects of the relationship alive & well.

Mercury (7° libra) in 5th house

He may talk about romance or read about it too. However since this is the 5th house, it's more likely that he is an avid enjoyer of romantic movies or musicals. He may enjoy love songs, listening to them or singing them. He could prefer witty or fast-paced films. Usually prefer something loud & colourful i.e animated movies, children movies & Baz Luhrmann type of films. Could be very indecisive when it comes to making decisions. He could procrastinate a lot lmao. Certified yapper although I think he'll have a lot of buffering moments.

Priapus (22° capricorn) in 5th house

He could be very s*xualised throughout his career. If he acts, or sings he may be very s*xualised for that. He could play forceful or big D energy types of characters very well.

ex: Reminds me of Jamie Muscato playing Jason Dean (JD) in Heathers: The Musical. Listen to his version of "Meant to be yours". goddamn.

Sun (25° aries) in 5th house

He may have a very extra personality (although it may be a little dimmed or controlled at first since it's in capricorn). He could very much immerse himself in his art or his work. Children might love him i.e popular with children or people who are younger. Very passionate about his art/work/expressions. He could be very prideful/competitive with his work too.

note: I feel like most of these placements tell the same story i.e give the same information.

Chiron (26° taurus) in 5th house

He may have experienced a lot of pain in his childhood, love life or career. He could also have trauma surrounding beauty, food or money. He may love sad songs, ballads or dark paintings. He could express a lot of his art in a dark way. He could have a very healing talent i.e singing, cooking, painting. His voice could be very soothing to others.

Aquarius 6th house

He may have an unconventional job. He may not work a 9 to 5. His work could involve a lot of spontaneous or original ideas, independent movement, and could also be related to computers, videos or the internet. Could work for himself or an independent company.

ex: tattoo parlours, electronic repairing services, apple, google, YouTube.

Groom (6° virgo) in 6th house

This just emphasizes the last placement. He could continue his work even as a husband. He may be working a lot even after marriage.

Groom trine Midheaven

Being a husband will bring him a lot of luck in his career. He could be known for being a husband or a married man.

Neptune (14° taurus) in 6th house

His work could involve a lot of creativity and sensitivity. He could sell dreams, illusions or comfort. With the taurus degree, it's still centred around his voice, cooking, and art. His career may be quite misleading to other people or very mysterious. Perhaps people have a set stigma around his career i.e personal assumptions.

Juno (17° leo) in 6th house

His spouse could share his love for the arts and performances. She perhaps works with art or children could be part of her routine/job.

note: I'm a theatre kid lol! I actually am pursuing a career in the educational field, but there are a lot of signs telling me that I'll end up working with him or be at home most of the time.

Pisces 7th house

He may be the type to long for this almost unattainable romance. Dreaming of fleeting hot summer nights. He may idealise his future spouse a lot. Putting her on a pedestal even.

note: looking at Jupiter & Neptune, they seem to sing a similar tune. Looking at venus, he could be very picky when choosing partners to settle down with. Forever searching for "the one" i.e the person who checks all those boxes in his head.

DC (2° taurus)

He's a lover boy. In love, with love. Has a preference for down to earth, natural beauties. Or romanticises women & the feminine world often.

Uranus (4° cancer) in 7th house

He may marry a foreigner i.e BE a foreigner to his spouse. With uranus in pisces in the 7th house, he'll marry someone from a different country. Someone with a very different status or background (pisces). His spouse may come from a country opposite to the taste of his hometown/mother lol.

note: sorry mother-in-law! Ily tho! He could also sign unconventional contracts.

Vesta (1° aries) in aries 7th house

He could work with his childhood friends or sign contracts with them, own a business with them even. He may have a very friendly connection to his spouse i.e be best friends, or have an almost siblings like relationship.

ex: bickering, and quarreling over small dumb things. We may love to annoy eachother lol.

Alma (27° gemini) in 7th house

The way to his soul is through the mouth. Talking. Long, romantic, dreamy conversations he can daydream about. Words stick to him like glue, it may open a lot of doors in his relationship. If he signs any business contracts it might have something to do with his voice or his writing.

Lust (14° taurus) in 7th house

He may prefer not to have s*x outside of relationships. He may need to feel soul bonding s*x to feel alive. Very private with his s*x life too. Keeps his fantasies them all to himself. Again, he romanticises love, s*x & devotion. He believes you can't have one without the other.

Aries 8th house

He may have gone through many challenges as a child. He could have an obsession with death, or the occult or any taboo topic.

Moon (4° cancer) in 8th house

He has emotions that run deep and fast. Whatever he feels in the moment will cloud a lot of his judgement or his thoughts. He may use physical activities to deal with stress or pent up frustration. He may be quite sensitive & easily hurt. He could crave a deep, soul bonding type of physical intimacy. Doesn't seem to be the type to go against celibacy or at least not without feeling deeply connected to someone. When he feels betrayed by someone, well.. I hope they listen to Nsync because "bye bye bye "

note: sounds like the male version of me ngl

Moon square mercury

He may have some difficulty trying to convert what he feels into words.

Vertex (10° capricorn) in 8th house

His career may experience a lot of rebirths. A lot of trials and error, a lot of experimenting and learning. Perhaps he had a lot of trouble in the beginning of his career i.e lawsuits, rebrands.

Boda (21° sagittarius) in 8th house

He may get married in a foreign land i.e his spouse's home town. He and his spouse may have a karmic relationship. They may have been joined together to learn or teach others something. He could feel deeply connected to his spouse during the wedding. He could have a private wedding, one where only people close to the bride & groom are permitted to attend. There may be dark or gloomy themes in the wedding. His marriage may be very shocking or hated by others. It may be very controversial too.

note: I've always wanted a private wedding, something a little kooky too with slightly gothic themes here & there. It would be great to have a tarot reading corner for the guests lol can you tell I have plans? Beetlejuice, hold our vows! Lol

Harmonia (23° aquarius) in 8th house

He could have a healing presence. People could come to him for comfort, or they may resonate with his sensual energy. People could like to invade his space/privacy at times.

North Node (27° gemini) in 8th house

He could need to learn boundaries in this life (because 8th house is in Aries). He needs to think and act for himself, be more selective and selfish with his energy and people he lets into his life. He could also learn to dip into the esoteric world i.e astrology or tarot. He could learn to be very rebellious too i.e respecting his personal wishes instead of conforming to the norm.

Taurus 9th house

He may not travel that much i.e prefers not to leave his house lol. Although, travelling could bring him financial gain or add beauty into his life/perspective.

Briede (17° libra) in 9th house

He's marrying a foreigner. I feel like this has been a little repetitive, but that's just how it is sometimes. There's a lot of emphasis on certain aspects. He'll marry someone with fair judgement and a lust for life. They may share similar beliefs or philosophies since both Libra & Taurus are ruled by venus (the same planet). She could be very stubborn or may put a lot of importance into knowledge and higer education. She could also love expressing herself with fashion or art. She may move in with him after marriage i.e brought into his home country.

ex: It feels quite strange talking about myself in 3rd person ngl, I hope this is somewhat helpful!

Gemini 10th house

His career could involve a lot of movement. Frequent short trips, talking, creativity, intellect, communicating & fast ideas. He could work in a very fast paced environment i.e the city.

MC (5° leo)

His work involves a lot of creativity & talents. Art, design, acting, children, directing, singing etc.

Part of fortune (24° pisces) in 10th house

He could be very blessed with his career. He may have achieved a lot of his career goals, or he may as well have achieved a lot of his dreams in this profession. Again, could work with dreams, illusion, art and healing. Therapy could be something too.

ex: perhaps.. he could be selling weed lol no, I'm kidding but it sounds like it at times doesn't it.

Cancer 11th house

A lot of his friends may be women. People in his community or group may be female dominant. Could also be his mother's friends. He has a careful approach to making friends or joining a community. He could either act as a mother figure or be treated with care/ motherly by people in his community.

Lilith (18° virgo) in 11th house

He could be very uncomfortable in social situations. People he works with could invite him into different friend groups often most of them may be women (because of cancer). Or his work could lead him to interact with a lot of people/groups and not stay for long lol. He may not have a fixed friend group i.e always moving and switching friends. Could also have to deal with a lot of different groups due to work i.e people, communities.

note: this is mostly because lilith also symbolises rebellion, so wherever lilith is it will sort of add a juxtaposition there.

Saturn (23° aquarius) retrograde in 11th house

Actually. He could have a set friend group. He may have been friends with a small circle of people for a very long time. They may have been through many changes together. Since it's aquarius, he may have just met them randomly one day or through the internet? He might have an unconventional group of friends. His friends may be quite eclectic. Most of his friends could be older than him.

Leo 12th house

He could be quite hesitant to fully embody his creativity or his flamboyant tendencies. He may be fearful of backlash from people around him. He could have issues expressing himself to his truest desire. He may imagine himself acting one way (which is most genuine to himself) but then execute something different or lackluster in his perspective.

My Groom Persona chart:

Extra observations: not from my chart

4th House stellium/cancer°

They are very soft, and caring. The type of person to act as a maternal figure to his friends. People may find him very comfortable to be around. He may have a close relationship to his hometown or his mother. He could be a very talented cook or homemaker.

Union in 9th House/Sagittarius°

The focus of your relationship will be to expand eachother's knowledge and share eachother's culture. Common in interracial couples coming from different regions or countries.

Alma in 12th house/pisces°

He may be very spiritual, and connected to his higher self. He may be very aware of the karmic cycles of life.

Saturn in 2nd house

He will bring stability into your finances. He may have grown up quite wealthy, or money has never been a problem. He could also have worked for his wealth.

Saturn in 7th house

He will bring stability into your love life. He could also be very strict with the type of relationships he wants to be in.

Saturn in 3rd house

He may have trouble communicating his wants & desires. He could also be very mature, and prefer to keep his life/plans in order. He could speak in a very concise manner, speaking only when spoken to. He could place a lot of importance in early education. He could be the eldest child, or he has a significant age gap with his older/ younger siblings. A lot of his siblings could be much older than he is (more than 5 years, usually at least 7).

Sun in 7th house

He may have a career in the business world or may involve contracts at least. He may put a lot of importance into one-on-one relationships. He could be very romantic & loyal.

Sun in 3rd

Certified yapper! He will be very smart & witty. He could be great at debating or communicating. He could work well with spreadsheets, or PowerPoint. He may have a special affinity towards writing or reading books. He may act childish at times, he has this youthful aura to him. He may be an only child, or is very close with his siblings.

Sun in 2nd house

He could be perceived as very charming or attractive by others. He will be very fashionable, perhaps he puts a lot of pride into his outfits or his creation. He could also love cooking or is known for his cooking.

Sun in 1st house

He will be very attractive. Could be a people magnet. He is the type of person who can charm anyone in an instant. He is not the type to hide his personality, or act through a persona. He shows you that what he is on the surface is exactly the same as what's underneath. He could attract a lot of admirers too.

Mars in 2nd House

A lot of his focus will be on making money. He could work in finance, banking, fashion, or beauty related industries. He may be moving around a lot or gaining money through movements/s*x drive. Striping? Lmao

Moon in 2nd house

Money could be very important to them. They may find security in stable finances. Their mother may have been a spendthrift, and perhaps they have gotten a similar habit because of that. As a husband, he will shower you with meaningful gifts very often. He may feel uneasy i.e act erratic when money isn't great. He could work as a chef, or if he is a business man he will sell things that bring people comfort i.e housewares, mattresses, music (if gemini is aspected)

Moon conjunct Venus/taurus & cancer significance in 2nd house

They could be a chef or place a lot of importance into cooking & homemaking.

Note: Your future spouse may have similar traits & placements to the ones you see on your Groom persona chart & Briede persona chart. Of course, it's not going to resemble it 100%. What's important is the characteristics.

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***entertainment & educational purposes only: reader discretion is advised***

Thanks for reading ♡

@northopalshore

[01zfan]

dragon teeth | l. sh

singer!sohee x bartender!reader | 13.8k words

sohee installment of my rock the house seriez. Dragon Teeth makes music that sounds like the album Welcome Interstate Managers by Fountains of Wayne and this fic is heavily inspired by the song Hackensack on that album! hope you guys enjoy!

contains: semi public sex (in a car in an empty parking lot late at night), protected sex, fwb, biting and mentions of cannibalism (NOT LITERALLY), unhappy ending

Sohee unfortunately always had a dream for his life that was bigger than himself. When he turned one and he had his doljabi ceremony he crawled right past the graduation cap, the piggy bank, and ruler to go straight for the microphone. His mom described the party going completely silent. In a room full of doctors and lawyers Sohee grabbed the plastic toy microphone and refused to let go. In the pictures from that day his parents had completely straight faces while holding a smiling Sohee that was gumming on the plastic head of the toy.

Sohees’ family thought he would grow out of his dreams of becoming a singer. They thought that as he grew older and he realized how tough the world truly was he would choose a job that kept a roof over his head and food on the table. He swore that was the reason why his parents moved to a place that was simultaneously in the middle of nowhere but so close to the big city. Sohee believed that they thought that the mundane suburbs and the frigid winters would take away his voice. But he taught himself to tune the instrument in his throat and project his voice through the falling snow and sing through the cold that bit the back of his throat. Sohee did well in school despite not caring for anything outside of singing. He did it as a sign of respect to his parents and to show them that he was fully capable of excelling academically, he just didn’t want to do it. 

When he learned to drive sophomore year of highschool, the first thing Sohee did was get a job at a record store. The record store was at the midpoint between his house and the city. He worked there during the weekends, sitting at the cash register as he did his homework and watched the people coming in and out. The record store was where he met the two other members of his band. Seunghan was the only regular that never bought anything, he only constantly browsed and examined the same records Sohee had in his home. Sohee eventually started a conversation with him, sharing a rhetorical finally made a choice? when Seunghan bought his first vinyl. After playful banter they hit it off, and then a week later came Wonbin.

Wonbin was the one who technically started the band. He came into the record store asking if he could put up a flyer. LOOKING FOR VOCALIST AND BASS GUITAR was typed in the most punk-esque font available with Wonbin’s number as a detachable tab at the bottom. Sohee told Wonbin he knew a guy and the rest was history. The three of them discovered together that they had had an affinity for music and plans beyond their boring hometown (except Wonbin, because he was actually born and raised in the city).

By the time sophomore year was coming to an end Sohee, Wonbin, and Seunghan had a band and they would meet after Sohee’s shifts to practice. 

Being in such a close proximity to music made Sohee believe that he was working towards his goal of becoming a musician. But when his lemon broke down on the freeway and his parents refused to go out of their way to take him to work Sohee was forced to quit. 

He no longer had a job and nothing to remind him what he was working towards. the first weekend he spent at the family dinner table was shrouded in a tense silence. Sohee stared at his plate of jjambbong, wishing that he lived in a place where there were more options than hot stew to try and beat the cold. Despite his inner turmoil, Sohee’s families dishware hit their bowls all the same, dinner did not stop for his pity party. The only acknowledgement Sohee got of his struggle was his Dad clearing his throat from the spice before looking to his son.

“If you’re looking for a job, the new guy stopped showing up a week ago.” Sohee’s dad took another sip of his soup while Sohee clutched his hand tighter around his spoon. “His job needs to be filled.” He said.

Despite having being extremely weak, only weighing 140 pounds when soaking wet with shoes on, and being a blue collar workers worse nightmare, Sohee thought he had the upper hand in the situation. He never once thought for a second his Father was offering him a stable job out of pity. Sohee only ignored the offer, telling himself I’ll take my talents somewhere else. That night he rang Seunghan and Wonbin on his Nokia 7650 and told them they have to get serious about the band. At the top of Sohee’s mental list was making a demo, then right under that was finding an agent and selling a million records then selling out shows. When Wonbin yelled into the receiver With what money? Sohee added getting gigs to the top of the list.

That’s what led Sohee to the stage. Except the stage wasn’t a sold out show at Madison Square Garden, it wasn’t the Apollo Theater or Radio City Music Hall, it wasn’t even the standing room at Irving Plaza. Sohee, Seunghan, and Wonbin were on the small wooden stage performing to the usual Friday night crowd at his local dive bar. 

The three yellow lights that shined on him and his bandmates were blinding. In the beginning when they didn’t know what to do about the lights and they were still nervous about performing in front of others, Wonbin and Seunghan would be so blinded by the light that they would play the wrong notes. They eventually learned to play with their eyes closed, or to move around the stage so the lights beamed on their shoulders instead of their eyes. Sohee however refused to back down to the light, he learned that he had to point his eyes downward and furrow his brows to alleviate the brightness. 

The view of the men in their business suits wasn’t much better than the light blinding him. The way they sat in their leaning bar stools with backs facing the band was almost abysmal. The trio still fought hard for the attention of grown men who couldn’t care less, even if there was less than five feet of space separating them from the wooden stage they performed on. They sang songs to try and get the most amount of tips. Pop was last week, which only earned chump change and boos from the contractors with dirty and rough hands. The week before that was RnB, which only a few seemed to enjoy. What always earned the band the most money was performing sad dreary songs that matched the mood of the bar. Sohee sang the lyrics to an old sad rock song while looking at the exposed asscracks of the swaying drunk men in front of him. 

God this was depressing. 

Sohee didn’t know why he always found himself at this dingy bar. There were plenty of other bars in his hometown, ones filled with young adults that wanted to have a good time instead of middle aged men that hated their lives and were stingy with their pocket change. Sohee’s bandmates knew it too. Each week Wonbin would groan and Seunghan would roll his eyes before saying that place, again? All three of them knew that they’d be better off trying to raise funds for studio time by working for Sohee’s dad. But the hours were even worse than this and they had no skill or the means to do good when it came to manual labor. 

“What other choice do we have?” Sohee would always reason.

(They had plenty of other choices; all three of them knew it.)

But Sohee ignored the shortcomings of the bar for the most part. He told himself there was some sort of midwest-on-the-east-coast charm that no other place had. Because of his hometowns proximity to the big city there was always a sort of disingenuous aura that circled many places the younger crowd frequented. Bars wanted to be like the city without being in the city, and it always seemed pitiful. Also the chance of running into someone they graduated with made all three of them feel physically ill. The important thing was that Dragon Teeth prided itself on being authentic, and there was nothing more authentic than the dive bar off the highway in a rural town that smelled like smoke and served the working class. 

Sohee always told himself he’d miss the bar when he eventually made it big. Maybe he’d reference it in a song or talk about it on a podcast in twenty years or mention it in his autobiography. He’d talk about the perpetually broken jukebox that only played Neon Moon by Brooks & Dunn, the squeaky seats that all leaned to the side, and the pretty bartender that he sang songs for.

You and Sohee came up side by side throughout public school. In a small town, you ended up going to school with the same people your whole life. the people you sat by in kindergarten you would end up seeing at your graduation, with both parties pretending like they didn’t grow up parallel to eachother. So Sohee knew of you, but he didn’t necessarily know you. He knew the basics, like your anime phase in fifth grade, and the indie rock band phase in seventh grade. He knew that you went through a terrible breakup your freshman year, but not as bad as the falling out with your friend group junior year. Sohee knew that you took messy notes but had tidy handwriting and you always had your phone within arms reach.

Sohee told himself he would finally speak to you senior year when you were assigned to the same table first period, because who the hell gives seating assignments to seniors? the proximity he had to you was nothing less than fate. 

Sohee remembered showing up to class early the next day waiting for you to come through the door. He shifted in his plastic red seat a million times expecting to see you trudge through the open door. But when the bell rang and the teacher started doing role call to a half empty classroom Sohee suddenly realized that no senior who had a car would come to a meaningless first period class.

Because of your absence permanent absence in class, Sohee only saw you in passing—another benefit about going to a small public school—until graduation. But there was no way he was going to talk to you and stop the flow of traffic in the double space hallway. What he wanted with you either had to be through a painfully awkward interaction in class that would be interrupted by the teacher or nothing at all. So he let bygones be bygones, he let you pass by him on your way to the classes you actually attended and before he knew it, he had graduated. Sohee saw you with your family for the first time, and he found out through a senior ceremony that you had the same plan he did after graduation—absolutely nothing.

But unlike you, Sohee told himself that he was keeping his big plans a secret. Only him and the other members of Dragon Teeth knew that they planned on becoming a famous indie band that was going to sell out arenas and sell a bajillion records. The only thing that was stopping them was their lack of a demo tape, a record label, and an actual band name (Dragon Teeth was just a stand in, but Sohee was working hard to change the minds of Seunghan and Wonbin). 

Sohee ended up at the dive bar because his band needed the extra funds. Just when the temperature started dropping and the reality of studio cost time started setting in, they remembered that they needed money to run a band.

In the beginning they performed at any bar that would take them. The trio would play whatever songs to get the most amount of money, even if it came at the cost of their musicality. They sacrificed being seen as serious musicians to take song requests, no matter how ridiculous. They jumped from place to place, collectively agreeing that they were becoming skeeved out from the band they were becoming. 

The three of them would’ve never thought that they’d find authenticity at the rundown dive bar off the highway. Initially the three of them thought the place was abandoned. No signage on the bar indicated sign of life other than the flashing WE’RE OPEN sign. 

“Can’t be worse than The Goalpost.” Wonbin said hopefully.

Sohee and Seunghan nodded while leaving Wonbin’s car. They had a plethora of terrible experience at The Goalpost. The three of them frequented the bar due to the amount of tips they would receive, but it always came with a price. There was a time when a girl threw up in Wonbin’s guitar case right as they were done for the night and there were several instances of drunk college students stealing Sohee’s microphone acting like it was karaoke night. The most recent event—and the one that drove them away from The Goalpost entirely—was the random bar fight  over two rival colleges that ended with the police being called and Seunghan getting punched in the face. They silently recalled suddenly being caught in the middle of people screaming while they sang We Are The Champions. Sohee remembered pressing a piece of raw meat to Seunghan’s face thinking it would cure his incoming black eye as they got closer and closer to the bar. The rotting wood of the steps slightly gave underneath their feet, the only thing that willed them forward was remembering the bar owner of The Goalpost trying to take a portion of their earnings.

“Can’t be worse than The Goalpost.” Seunghan echoed.

Wonbin nodded and reached forward towards the door. Immediately when he applied pressure to the rusty handle of the door it leaned so far forward it almost broke off it’s hinges. Wonbin yelped and pulled even harder on instinct, forcing Sohee and Seunghan to quickly press their hands to the chipping wood to keep it anchored to the wall. For a moment the three of them were caught in limbo, with Wonbin pulling on the door while Sohee and Seunghan pushed.

“Just let it lean!” An annoyed voice yelled from inside the bar.

When quiet laughter followed and they realized they made fools of themselves, the three of them took their hands timidly away from the door. They flinched in unison when it started leaning further and further to the ground, but it came to a slow creaking stop with just enough space for the three of them to slink through. The three of them inched past the door, all of them terrified the door was going to give in and close on them.

From outside, it was easy to tell that the bar wasn’t very well lit. Besides the flickering WE’RE OPEN sign and a dim blue light that could be seen through the window there was nothing that could be seen from the outside. But being inside the bar was significantly worse. Anything past his mid-calf was swallowed by darkness. The only indication that they were even stepping on the ground was the slight stick underneath the soles of his shoes. The primary lighting was from the purple and blue hues of the jukebox and the illumination from the ancient tiny television that seemed to be on a permanent rerun of sports. There was a communal remote for the television, sitting atop the bar in front of the limited and extremely vintage six dispenser tap machine (there were plastic bags covering the two taps in the middle, so it was really four). 

Even in the dark, everything looked like it creaked or was sticky or both. There was no stage, there were barely people occupying the barstools and chairs. Patrons were coming and going, all of them passed Sohee and his two confused bandmates as they gravitated towards their seats. Everyone seemed to know where they were going, drifting towards their unofficial assigned seats as they looked towards the television.  They seemed alarmingly content in the stuffy atmosphere of the bar. No one paid attention to the band outside of their run-in with the door. As if nothing happened everyone went back to nursing their beers and sitting around in complete silence.

“This is actually much worse than The Goalpost.” Wonbin said outloud. No one turned in their seats, Sohee swears he even heard someone make a sound of agreement.

“Lucky’s is going to open soon,” Sohee started turning towards the still open door. “if we hurry we might be able to perform there for the night.” He said.

Seunghan and Wonbin nodded, casting one more glance at the dark bar before turning following behind their leader. 

Sohee was so close to escaping. Later that week Sohee would be told by Anton that Lucky’s was packed and there was a large party of people looking for a band to play Taylor Swift. Anton told Sohee that they were throwing money around like it was a strip club while they did karaoke on their open tabs. That night at Lucky’s would’ve bought them studio time three times over, but right as they were about to push through the leaning door you came from the cramped back of house with beer glasses in your hands.

“Is that Lee Sohee?” You said.

Sohee turned around slowly, seeing that his bandmates were already frozen. Sohee was the last of his band to see you in the flesh, standing behind the bar looking at him. You set the beer glasses on the wooden bar in front of you, and for the first time that night he had the attention of everyone in the bar. He was a deer caught in the headlights and you were behind the car, mouth agape before turning into a smile.

“What brings you here?” You continued.

Like a spotlight had shined directly on him, Sohee was at a loss for words. Everyone in the bar still had their eyes on him, even Wonbin and Seunghan turned to look at him. He was blessed that in the darkness of the bar no one could see the red on the tip of his nose or his ears. All anyone saw was Sohee sheepishly look towards his two bandmates before clearing his throat.

“We perform at bars—”

“Our jukebox literally broke last night!” Sohee watched you put your hands on the bar and lean forward towards him. For a moment he’s taken back to first period, how he missed having you beside him all year. “And here you three are the next day—almost like it’s fate.” You said smiling.

You said it’s fate—how could Sohee possibly go anywhere else? 

His bands permanent residence started that night. The Goalpost and Lucky’s didn’t stand a chance when he saw your eyes light up. When you nodded quickly after Sohee offered to add ambience to the bar—despite Wonbin and Seunghans’ clear faces of shock—he knew they would be spending as much time as they could there.

Sohee went from barely seeing you to having you partially at his disposal seven nights a week. He never brought up that he knew so much about you, but he was on the receiving end of your care. Sohee watched you offer free drinks for a year to whoever built a stage for his band to perform on. Within the week the wooden stage was erected and even had enough room and spacing to account for the instruments and cords on the rare occasion Wonbin brought out his electric guitar. 

Sohee wondered if you were keeping your big life plans a secret like he was. One night when it wasn’t busy and you didn’t have to run around to tend to your customers, he leaned over the bar one night and got extra close to you to feign closeness and privacy when he asked you about your plans. You truly seemed taken aback by his question, only giving him a shrug as you pulled on the Brotherton IPA tap. 

”I’m not too sure.” You said while avoiding eye contact. “I haven’t thought about it too much.”

In the awkward silence Sohee realized the rest of his conversation was contingent on your answer. He was grasping at nothing, the moment to talk to you was fleeting as the beer glass was almost filled to the top.

“My band is going to do really well.” He spoke quickly trying to fill in the gap. When you looked up at him from the tap he only doubled down. “We are gonna sell a bunch of records and sell out shows.” Sohee said.

“Oh really?” You asked with amusement. 

Sohee averted his eyes down to the beer glass as you pushed the creaky tap back up to it’s original position. He felt a strong sense of pride having your full attention, you only gave the person who ordered the beer a simple head nod as you stayed focused on him. 

Maybe he was partially at fault for your non-answers. He didn’t know whether to believe your lack of plans or not, but he never had the chance to ask you what you were saving all your money for because he had the tendency to ramble off about his band in your presence. It was especially hard to find the time to pry about your personal life when he only got the chance to see you alone in the confines of your car before proceeding to do what you always did on nights you worked and he sang for you.

Nights when you would close the bar and Sohee would perform—which was almost every night—had almost become a routine. After you gave Sohee the signal for last call his band would perform one final song. After Seunghan or Wonbin thwarted Sohee’s attempt to say the band’s name (tonight it was Wonbin. He cleared his throat obnoxiously into the microphone so feedback was over Sohee saying This was Dragon Teeth) the band would pack up their things and get ready to go. The band would work around the microphone stands and the wires onstage to pack up their instruments while the stragglers left the bar. Occasionally they would get more tips on their way out. Crumpled dollar bills would find their way into Wonbin’s guitar case or placed on Sohee’s hands by sweaty palms. Sohee would replay the gruff keep up the good work kid as he handed the tip money to Wonbin for safe keeping. Only after you turned the lights on would the final person sway out of the bar and bid his drunk final regards. 

Each time the regular lights went up Sohee would have to squint his eyes in an effort to adjust. He’d always be shocked about how abysmal the place looked when everything lit up. The dark brown finish of the bar had countless scratches and water stains from people who didn’t use coasters, the tables were all different colors and uneven on one side at the very least, and every single piece of wall decoration had a yellow tint from age. You were the only redeeming thing in the place and Sohee more often than not found himself looking at you instead of packing his things up. By the time his bandmates were leaving the bar he was only halfway done, instead focused on watching you wipe off the bar counter and tabletops. When Seunghan and Wonbin were making their way to the exit, Sohee was watching your focused face count the tills.

“Sohee.” 

He was never sure if it was Wonbin or Seunghan calling his name, he would just look to them with their instrument cases in hands and defeated looks on their faces as they flicked their heads through the door.

“You coming or what?” Seunghan asked.

All the way to the car, Sohee would act like he would be joining them. But when they made it to Wonbin’s beat up 2000 Honda Accord, Sohee would always have an excuse lined up. Sohee would look his friends dead in the face and lie saying I forgot my mic pack, She’s going to give us our tips,or I forgot to ask her if we are good for tomorrow. Anything to avoid telling his bandmates She’s going to give me a ride home because we have sex in her car every night, remember? 

Without fail, Wonbin and Seunghan would only shrug before loading up in the silver car and heading home. Sohee didn’t know if they thought there was something going on and even if it never got in the way of the bands activities he still felt guilty for it. He was the de facto leader of Dragon Teeth due to him being the main vocalist and the one who was essentially in charge of getting the gigs. Sohee often wondered while waiting for you to finish closing if he would be kicked out of the band in the instance Wonbin and Seunghan found out about you two. They had no reason to give Sohee the boot, but when Sohee felt extra guilty he would always help them load their things into Wonbin’s trunk and make plans for the band the next day.

“Let’s meet at Wonbin’s house around noon and finish writing that song.” Sohee said after slamming the trunk closed.

“I work at the cafe tomorrow.” Wonbin rubbed his eyes with both of his hands before finishing the rest of his sentence. “Not off ‘till one.” He said.

Seunghan was already in the passenger seat leaning it back to take a nap. Sohee nodded before changing the plans to start at three, earning a tired yes from his bandmates. Wonbin got up from leaning against the side of his car car to go inside. The old thing came to life right next to Sohee and he acted like he was considering getting inside. Sohee felt his heart begin to race in its cage, as he watched Wonbin roll down the window and raise his eyebrows at him.

“What are you doing?” Wonbin asked.

His bandmates voice was already deep from exhaustion and annoyance. Sohee knew better than to push his buttons so he gave up the theatrics quickly. He ignored the hammering in his chest to lean down o eye level with Wonbin as his fingers anxiously tapped on the window. He saw that Seunghan’s head was already lulled to the side as he snored loudly.

“I’m gonna stay behind. She closed later than usual so i’m a li—”

“Alright.” Wonbin interrupted Sohee before he could give a half-assed reason why. “Text me when you get home.” He said.

Before Sohee could even reply, he watched Wonbin’s window back up as he was looked behind him to back out of the parking space. Sohee backed away from the car waved goodbye before Wonbin turned out of the parking lot and left completely.

When Wonbin’s taillights were out of sight, Sohee was completely still for a moment. He looked at your lonely car in its secluded parking space then back to the bar. There was fleeting thought in his mind that he should’ve gone home with his bandmates. But he was shamefully uninterested in sitting in silence with Wonbin and Seunghan when he could be sitting in silence with you. So Sohee kicked the rocks underneath his feet and stuffed his already cold hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he started carefully calculating how long it would take you to finish closing the bar.

Sohee eventually meandered underneath the only functioning lamp post in the basically empty parking lot. He knew that after the sun went down the temperature was going to drop, but it seemed to be getting even colder as he stood outside. He prayed for some sort of warmth underneath the flickering light in the parking lot. His jacket pockets provided little to no relief, and the quick vaporized puffs of air did nothing to warm his body. He tried jumped up and down and moving in place, but any warmth brought to his limbs vanished almost instantly. He looked around to the staff exit before cutting his eyes to the three other lamp posts that had burnt out bulbs and offered no illumination in the dead of night. Sohee walked around the concrete base of the singular working lamp post, he wrapped his hand around the cold metal circumference of the lamppost and spun in a circle like a child. He kicked tiny rocks and checked the time on his tiny phone screen—How long did it take to close down a bar anyway?

When the lamp post he stood under started flickering, Sohee felt himself finally start to get nervous. He thought about the odds of being mugged in this dimly lit parking lot. The chances were slim, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Maybe a drunk and disorderly businessman was lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. Maybe there was someone sketchy coming off the highway looking for the perfect victim. Sohee looked around suspiciously, waiting for a culprit to pop out from behind a tree trunk or come out from underneath your car. A shiver ran through his body before he pulled his hoodie up over his head, trying to make himself seem bulkier and scarier than he actually was. Sohee took his hands from his pockets to check his phone again.

After he saw only a minute had passed he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and blew warm air into his hands again. When the lamp post flickered again he looked up, praying silently it wouldn’t go out leaving him in complete darkness. Sohee’s eyes also focused on the bugs circling the light and he wondered if the insects were thinking the same thing. They circled the light like it was a life source, a phenomenon that was a scientific mystery—Did they think the light was leading them the way? Were they following the warmth? Were they blinded? Were they looking for an escape?

“Am I a bug?” Sohee wondered out loud.

“What?” 

Sohee turned around at the sound of your voice. Of course he missed you coming out and didn’t hear your feet dragging on the pavement and of course he embarrassed himself in front of you.

“What did you just say?” You repeated. 

When you were in front of Sohee, he noticed that your eyes didn’t tilt upwards to pay attention to the flickering lightbulb. He figured you were used to things breaking and not working so much to the point that it didn’t even register you two were about to be left in complete darkness. You only continued looking at him, with your hip cocked to the side and your head tilted the same way. For the first time in his life, Sohee wished that the lightbulb would suddenly go out. Something about being in complete darkness in the cold was more comforting than being underneath your scrutinizing stare. But was it really scrutiny if you seemed so happy to see him? You looked at him with wonder, but Sohee still felt intimidated as he started rubbing his suddenly not-so-cold hands together. The lamp post seemed to be intimidated too, because the light that was going to burn out any second started shining steadily, maybe even brighter than before. A shiver ran through Sohee’s body as your face was fully lit for him and he remembered he was cold. You did a once over of him, staying on the pulled drawstrings of his hoodie.

“Nothing.” Sohee shook his head when he remembered he was supposed to answer your question. “Just thinking out loud.” He said.

Sohee was able to see your head cocked to the side in confusion only for a moment longer before you walked past him towards your car. He followed after you, looking down at your work crocs that dragged on the paved parking lot and kicked up rocks. He was surprised he didn’t hear you trudge towards him. The work day seemed to weigh down heavily on your entirely body. He watched your shoulders sag as he went to the passenger side and when he looked at you over the top of the car he could see the shadow of forming eye bags. You ruffled in your purse, moving around things that didn’t need to be in there in search of your keys. If it was any of Sohee’s friends, he would’ve started impatiently pulling at the handle in annoyance and complaining about waiting in the cold. But with you he only bounced on his feet to try and stay warm and looked at you.

He didn’t complain nearly as much as he should’ve while around you. The worst part was that he knew had plenty to complain about. 

Both of you got into the car at the same time. You closed your door first and manually put the lock down. Sohee closed his door afterwards and pressed the automatic button on the door. He shuffled in his seat, trying to become comfortable and force his body to warm up as he rubbed his hands together. while you sorted out your things, Sohee stole glances at you trying not to make his looks obvious. Anytime your head would even tilt towards his general direction he would blow hot air into his hands, trying to cover up what he was really doing. 

Sohee watched you put your water bottle in the cupholder before moving your bag towards the feet space of the passenger side. The two of you had done this enough that you made a routine, you didn’t have to tell Sohee excuse me anymore. He knew that your bag wasn’t going in the backseat because it would be occupied soon, and that your bags temporary residency was the space beside his feet. He moved his feet more than he had to without saying a word, and you slipped your purse in space he made for you.

“Thanks.” You said.

Sohee hummed while turning on the light in the front center of your car. The yellow glow filled the space of your dads old 2003 Forester. You often said it was the best thing he’s done for you as a father, arguably the only thing. The car was a shade of deep green except for the gray scrape in its side from when your Mom got in a fight with a shopping cart and lost, but it ran well and had an insane amount of space in the back row of seats. You seemed to like it too, despite it being completely different from the cars girls your age drove. You often referred to the car as your baby and didn’t take kindly to messes. Sohee (as far as he knew—he didn’t know how many men you drove around and he didn’t want to know) was the only person, besides you, that was allowed to eat and drink inside of the vehicle. 

Sohee was also the only person (once again, he hoped) you let fuck you in the backseat. 

He could already see it in your eyes, no longer low from sleep but something arguably far more tiring. From the overhead light Sohee could already see the shine on the glassy surface of your eye. They did quick looks of his whole body, darting from his neck to his hands that were clasped tightly together. 

Even if Sohee felt the same excitement that was written clearly on your entire person, he still leaned against the passenger side door when you put your elbows on the center console to come closer to him. Anytime you rocked slightly closer Sohee felt excitement and panic shoot up his spine at the same time, causing his hair to stand on end.

This was the part of the routine when Sohee would look shyly away from you and fail to hide his smile. An exhale from you would fill the air of your car and then stillness would overtake it. He imagined in this moment you let your tiring day that you compartmentalized come to the surface just so you could kiss and fuck it away. After that, Sohee would still be looking down where his seat and the center console met while he listened to you move around in your thick jacket to compensate for the sudden heat that came across your body. Sohee would wonder to himself what was in the crack of his seat and the center console, wondering if the plastic Casio watch he stole from his sister was still somewhere deep in there. Sometimes he swore he could hear the short beep from a new hour when your car was too silent. Maybe he was imagining things, because you never reacted to the sound. 

When your hand reached across the center console of your car Sohee had to silently remind himself why he hated this town and his life so much. He drew in a deep breath when you pinched at the sleeve of his thin hoodie in a shy and silent command for him to come closer to you.

This town is nothing.

Sohee turned in the passenger seat and planted his hands on the center console. You turned fully in your seat, pressing against your steering wheel to avoid honking the horn.

It’s so disconnected from the arts.

You both slowly started leaning forward. Sohee could feel you hold the fabric of his hoodie a little tighter. Your fingers pressed into his wrist as you lightly pulled him towards you. 

There’s nothing to do here.

Sohee could see his shadow casted on your face as you two invaded eachothers space more and more. He could see the overhead light of your car swimming in your eyes. He imagined how you two looked from the outside, one of the two sources of light in this parking lot. He wondered if anyone off the highway could see you two, if they wondered what was going on inside of a car at this time of night. Sohee’s hand went from the center console to hold your face. You leaned into his palm as your other hand gripped his shoulder.

I hate it here.

Sohee watched you lick your lips and part them slightly. He did the same and waited for impact like you were an asteroid falling from the sky. Sohee was a Quetzalcoatlus, flying freely in the sky not knowing that he was about to die. 

He heard the deep muffled beep in the back of his mind before he opened his partially closed eyes. Sohee suddenly felt the urge to remind himself what he was doing this all for as he pulled away from you slightly.

“How’d I sing today?” Sohee asked.

His attempt to calm the racing thoughts in his mind pulled you from the moment. Sohee felt sick relief at your rapid blinking as you tried registering his question. Seeing the gears turn in your mind gave Sohee enough time to think clearly and stop his heart from jumping out of its cage. His eyes snapped to the dimly lit backseat of your car as you licked your lips again.

“You did amazing.” Your voice was somehow already hoarse as you reached forward and gently pulled at the top of his zipper. “You know you’re my favorite singer.” You said.

This town isn’t all that bad. The winters were manageable and heavy snow storms are one of the few wonders left in the world. There are decent shopping malls and a brewery that has a good scene. There was a cute two bedroom apartment that was also only an hour from Midtown Manhattan, and an hour and fifteen minutes away from the cheapest recording studio in New York (which was upstate in the opposite direction, but that’s besides the point). 

You looked to Sohee’s face one last time before fully focusing on his hoodie. Sohee looked down to your hands that were barely peaking past the sleeve of your oversized jacket as you slowly started unzipping him.

This small town was a hidden gem in America. They sometimes filmed Hallmark movies here. Maybe if I talked to the right people I could land a job making the soundtrack, or at the very least help the person who makes it.

You pulled Sohee’s zipper half way down before you started reaching for your own jacket. The sound of multiple buttons unclasping at once made Sohee realize he had a job to do. He  started working himself out of his own jacket, a rushed hand pulling his zipper down the rest of the way. You were somehow faster, your jacket was off your arms and behind your body by the time Sohee finally took his hoodie off. He was fumbling with his brown leather belt as smiled and kissed his forehead before clearing the center console to head to the backseat.

He couldn’t get the belt off of him no matter how hard he tried. He swore something was holding his belt together, like a tiny invisible elf was holding on the metal that was in the first hole of his held. Sohee always fumbled in moments like these, when he needed his hands the most they seemed to fail him. For a moment he was transported to an embarrassing moment at his sixth grade talent show where he fumbled while trying to play the piano. When he heard the sound of your pants being pulled off your body he got even more impatient. After letting out a deep breath he went to his shirt quickly, pulling his graphic tee off with one hand and throwing it into the drivers seat. His hands went back to the belt after, and the sound of the buckle finally coming loose filled the car with a clanking metal sound.

“Sohee.” He looked behind him to see you reach forward to put your bra in the drivers seat on top of the Star Wars logo printed to his shirt. “Please hurry.” You whined. 

Sohee had his jeans at his ankles in seconds. He pulled his legs out the same time he was clambering over the center console to follow you. When he was situated on the side opposite of you he regained some of his composure back. He patiently pulled his leg out the rest of the way and tossed his jeans diagonally to lay on top of your bra. He reacted to the sound of his belt buckle knocking your window but you did not. Your eyebrow only twitched slightly as you leaned back against the window, and Sohee’s attention was pulled to you entirely. He looked at your perked nipples poke through the material of your tight shirt and the way it rode up to reveal the tiny bow at the top of your panties.

Sohee settled into the door on the opposite side from you. He developed the habit of following your every move, leading to tension that was so thick you could cut it with a knife. He was unmoving, like you were going to pounce any second and you would pinch the fabric of the clothes you still wore. Sohee wondered if it was a nervous habit of yours, if you weren’t always sure he actually wanted you and you were playing with the hem of your tight shirt to distract yourself from your thoughts. Admittedly moments of silence like this when before you two would fuck in your car was entirely too intimate for casual fuck buddies. When you stared at Sohee and he stared back he got the insane urge to tell you that he knows you, and that he wanted to ell you if you ever bothered to come to your first period class senior year. 

(He also wanted to tell you that lately he started hearing you voice in every song about love and every romance movie. He actually had to do a double take when watching Romance & Cigarettes in Wonbin’s apartment because for a split second he thought you were an extra beside Christopher Walken on the busy streets of Queens, New York. He also swore he heard your voice as one of the little sea turtles when he saw Finding Nemo in theaters with his sisters. This was surprisingly harder to disprove because he couldn’t see your face.

He also wanted to tell you that he would spend an eternity just staring at you underneath the dim light of your car before kissing you in the dead of winter, even if it came at the cost of his career. But Sohee knew somethings, especially that thing was better left unsaid. You would unfortunately just have to suffer through short moments of insecurity so Sohee could keep his sanity. 

Yes, he knew it was selfish, but what rockstar isn’t?)

The overhead light made you look like a dream in front of Sohee, and he hated the shadows in the car for obstructing his vision. When you moved in your nipples poking through your shirt turned to shadows, and he could barely see the way your thighs pressed together. He wanted to see you clearly, he wanted to touch you so badly that he had to remind himself of the other things he wanted in his life.

You started scooting towards Sohee’s side of the car and he had to remind himself he wouldn’t be here in a years time. When you placed your hand on his thigh opposite of your body he told himself that he wanted a Grammy. When you started rubbing the soft skin of his inner thigh everything else left his mind, his mental vision board slipped through his fingers like sand.

You kissed his bare shoulders once and Sohee sighed to lean his head against the back row of seats. He lifted the arm that was in between your two bodies and wrapped it around your shoulder to pull you closer to him. You burrowed deeper into Sohee’s side as your lips travelled from his shoulder to his cheek neck. For a moment you stayed there, your lips found its home where his neck and shoulders met. Sohee felt your hot breath fan the area before your lips poked past your cheek and wet the area. Sohee panic response was fully alert, he bent his neck to the side as a reflex when he felt your teeth press into his skin. With a laugh you showed him mercy, and started trailing your lips up the side of his neck. He puckered his lips and kissed the air the same time you would kiss his bare skin. He already seemed lost, he had to close his eyes to remember who he wanted to become. Focusing on anything but you was embarrassing but it was something Sohee had to do to keep the noises he wanted to make at bay. 

His other hand went to your thigh as he tried maneuvering you to come on top of him. You ignored his obvious advances—to ironically distract himself from you with your body—instead moving your hand painfully slow to rest on top of the bulge in his boxers. You let your hand settle deeper on Sohee’s clothed dick, and like a reflex Sohee’s hand on your shoulder tightened its grip.

“Holy shit.” He breathed.

Usually when you two would mess around in your car after your shift, it was one or the other. Either Sohee would get a handjob that was embarrassingly wet and almost humiliating while you were completely clothed and he was completely naked, or you would ride him while you kept only your shirt on and let the seat back so Sohee could pathetically look up at you. So when you stayed in your shirt, and the backseat of your car stayed upright, Sohee foolishly thought he was only going to feel your walls clamp around him tonight. But he felt your hand tighten its grip around the clothed tip of his dick before you worked through the fly of his boxers. Sohee’s hand that cradled your face twitched and his lips faltered when he felt your hand around his dick.

“What are you doing?” He whimpered and bucked his hips just from your hand wrapping around the base of his dick.

Your eyes were already wet a blown out from want when you started slowly jerking him off. Sohee regretfully kept his eyes on you, waiting for an answer as to why you were torturing him. The routine you two made was important, but you were abandoning it just to revel in his pathetic whines and twitching hips. Sohee moved his gaze down to your glossy bottom lip that smirked before being caught between your teeth.

“Feeling sentimental.” You squeezed your hand around his tip and Sohee shook his head from the torture that hurt so good. “You mind if we have a little more fun than usual tonight?” You asked breathlessly

Fun. You had the habit of calling whatever this was in the backseat of your car fun. You confused him the first time you said it to him. He sat in the passenger seat while you eyed him up and down, you were alot more obvious with your attraction than you were now. You brought him in close before asking Do you want to have some fun, you were alot bolder than too. But Sohee gave you grace, he figured saying fun was the perfect middle ground between the casual hookup and the intimacy he (hoped) you reserved only for eachother. But having fun to Sohee was writing music and singing. Having fun was imagining the future and thinking about the track list for his bands debut album. Watching your hand jump underneath the fabric of his boxers was anything but fun. Watching your chest move in your tight shirt and feeling your lips press hasty kisses to his face wasn’t fun. 

He believed this was attempted murder and you were going to kill him.

“What’s wrong?” Your hold on his dick loosened and against his will, once again, Sohee whined and rutted into your hand. “I thought you liked it when I did this.” You said.

You held your head up from resting against Sohee’s shoulder to look him in the eyes. They were large and filled with worry, and Sohee felt his dick jump in his boxers and his heart lurch forward.

He really needs to start keeping track of how many times you tried to kill him.

“No baby, I like it alot.” Honestly Sohee liked it too much—he believed he could get off from you just squeezing the root of his dick and whining in his ear and looking at him. His hips lifted on their own accord again and Sohee had to lean back against the seat to focus on breathing. “Keep going, it feels so good.” He begged.

Sohee drove his point home by reaching his hand that wasn’t holding onto your shoulder for dear life to press into your clothed heat. Instantly he felt your hips preen towards him, so abruptly that you scooted down the seat. You faltered between your kisses to let out a shaky sigh, and Sohee had to open his eyes to stare at the ceiling of your car. He pressed deeper to draw more sound out of you, and you squeezed your hand around his dick to make him squirm more. 

Eventually the teasing became too much and you gave up trying to kiss all together. You just settled further into Sohee’s side as your hands became more rushed. Sohee’s head lulled against your backseat while you seeped through the thin material of your panties. The deeper and deeper his fingers pressed into you the higher your voice and sounds became. When Sohee finally brought the hand that was gripping your shoulders down to your waist to pull your panties to the side. He wasted to time sticking his fingers into your cunt, but hearing your sudden desperate sounds made Sohee’s fingers became erratic. He was being pulled thinner and you jumbled his brain to such an effect that he couldn’t decide between scissoring his fingers inside of you or trying to hit a spot particularly deep. He started doing both in a foggy lust-filled panic, but even when he thought you were on the verge of stopping him and kicking him out of your car he started feeling your drool leak to his bare chest.

“Oh my God.” You mumbled.

Sohee looked down to see your eyes were squeezed shut. Feeling your hips push into his hand was one thing, but seeing it with his own two eyes was an entirely different beast. You were chasing after something Sohee was giving to you when he wasn’t entirely sure himself what he was doing. He only watched you, hoping to etch the scene into his mind forever. Your walls clenched around his fingers, and Sohee felt more precum leak from his tip onto your already sticky hand.

“Oh my God.” He echoed.

He was convinced you were going to kill him. You were going to kill his dreams and aspirations of making it in New York. Sohee was going to end up becoming the manager at the record store he used to work, or end up working for his father. Sohee would end up disbanding Dragon Teeth and using his portion of the earnings for a deposit on an apartment with you. You were going to take away his voice, the naive glint in his eye, and the God complex the same way his Father did to his Mother. 

“I’m close, Sohee. So close.” You started speeding up your hand and Sohee’s own sounds started slipping past his lips. It was almost disgusting hearing the pathetic sounds bounce off the walls of your Dad’s old car. “Are you?” You asked pitifully.

Instead of answering, Sohee used the last of his crumbling strength to bring his hand that was still holding your panties to the side underneath your chin. He lifted your gaze, and the yellow light of your car bathed your face in a warm glow. The light reflected off of your clammy skin as you looked to him with so much want and desperation. For a moment Sohees’ impeding orgasm was banished to the outer realm of his mind as he took in your furrowed eyebrows and glassy eyes.

Arguably it was more disturbing how he would let you take it all away from him. No amount of awards won or sold-out shows could amount to the transparency in your eyes during moments like these. Everything out on the surface, just for him. He wanted to eat you alive and he wanted you to do the same thing to him, and then he wanted to make a song about it.  

Sohee caught your lips on his, pressing deep into your pout like you always did with him. You somehow tasted like the dingy bar, like the warm air and the stale taste of the aging snacks you neatly set out every night. Sohee wanted to see if he could taste the nearly metallic tap water on your tongue so he pushed deeper. When his tongue broke past your lips your whole body froze. He could tell you weren’t used to him taking the lead, but he was also feeling something in the air tonight. You got used to it and accepted him quickly, the same way everyone who lives here gets used to change.

“Right there, Sohee.” You whimpered against his lips and held onto his shoulder a little tighter, pulling him into you.

He was already dead, and he couldn’t care less. He wanted to be buried in your backyard, or maybe underneath your bed. He wouldn’t mind the smell, he hoped it would be the same for you.

Maybe if he was lucky his future child would become a rockstar. During their future acceptance speech for an award they would thank you two, getting teary eyed as they talked about the sacrifice his parents made. Then the camera would cut to you and Sohee, sitting side by side. Your faces would be all wrinkly and your eyes would be dead from working sleepless nights and worrying if your artistic child would make anything of their lives, but you two would be holding hands the same way you were clutching his his now.

After Sohee pulled away, he saw the drool coat your lips and the single line that dribbled down your face. He pressed his fingers against your walls and your whole body started reacting. You pulled Sohee at an angle into you so quickly that his forehead was pressed into the seat beside your head while you started breathing heavily. He wasn’t used to the manhandling from you, or the sudden display of strength but something in him enjoyed feeling your arm wrap around his waist and clutch his shoulder so easily. You completely gave up giving him a handjob, but he didn’t care. He needed to see you finish. So he let you pull him even more as he tried fingering you from the awkward angle. Now it was Sohee’s breath that was fanning the crook of your neck as he tried craning his head to see your face contort in pleasure. Your hand that suddenly pressed into the back of his head kept him there, and Sohee wished he could’ve told you he needed to see your face. But your moans were louder than any voice he could muster, and the way your walls were clenching around his fingers told him he was running out of time. As a consolation prize Sohee licked your neck before pressing his teeth into the wet patch of your skin and biting down. 

Sohee felt your back arch until your chest pressed against his. He pressed back into you, restricting your movement and keeping you in place as he continued working his fingers in and out of you. The slick noises filled the car and Sohee didn’t stop, even when his wrist started screaming at him to do so. He just kept plunging fingers back into your heat as a new wave of you coated his fingers and your legs started shaking. 

Despicably Sohee silently hoped he would draw blood from your neck, maybe if he ripped out a big enough piece of flesh he would kill you before you could kill him. But your hand that was holding his head in place threaded through his hair to pull him away. He hissed from the pain and the pinpricks of his strands being pulled out but he stayed there, just biting and sucking your skin until your other hand started pushing at his shoulder.

“Too much, too much.” You said weakly.

Sohee let his canines press into the pulse of your neck one last time before he pulled away. He kept his fingers inside of you, pumping slowly just to finally see the final twitches rack through your body. His eyes focused on the imprint of his teeth in your neck, he counted each tooth over and over again, focusing on his canines that dug particularly deep. He felt pride blossom in his chest, physical proof of real pain to distract him from the constant pangs he felt in his heart. But something in him tore when one of your hands went to his wrist to pull him from your cunt while the other ran a hand over his bite mark. Sohee looked at your large eyes in astonishment as you ran your fingers over the indents in the crook of your neck.

“Your dragon teeth almost broke the skin.” You said, still running your hand over the indent. 

Sohee watched your finger stay on the imprint his canines left behind. Sohee felt the aching in his pants again as he licked his lips.

“Sorry.” Sohee apologized while fully getting off of your body. You could do the same to me. Maybe even worse. Just rip my flesh right off the bone next time you get a chance.

He went back to his side of the car as he watched you try and gather your bearings. He looked outside the window, already seeing the fog form on the inside. The cars speeding by on the highway was only a blur, and he imagined himself in one of those cars leaving the town. 

He was still looking out the window when he heard you moving out of your shirt, and just as he looked to you again Sohee saw your chest become free in your dimly lit car. He couldn’t take his eyes off, each time was like the first without fail. He reached across the space to grab you in both of his hands, the flesh spilling out between his fingers. He was caught in your web again, mindlessly kneading and pressing down to try and pull noises from you. He pulled on your stiff nipples, another harsh display of the power imbalance he tried to make right. But when you only moaned from the tug and climbed on top of his lap, you took back the power just as easy. 

The worst part was that he didn’t even know if you knew the power you had over him. You controlled everything in his life when you were in his sights. He swore you controlled the temperature in your car that suddenly raised tenfold and the light that shined perfectly behind your head like the sun. He was blinded worse than he ever was in his life looking up at you. When your hand caressed his cheek he drew in a sharp breath, already feeling the lurch in his heart as you smiled down at him.

“Can I ride you?” You asked even though you both already knew the answer. 

Sohee gave the illusion of a choice by nodding his head and pointing towards the center console. You smiled and reached towards the floor of your car, bringing the foil packet of a condom in his line of sight. 

“You know I never forget.” You said.

Sohee nodded again, swallowing his nerves to try and wet his dry throat. When you backed up on his lap and pulled at the waistband of his boxers Sohee lifted his hips to push them down to his ankles. His dick sprung straight up, red and angry from your accidental edging. Sohee looked from his dick to your mocking pout as you pinched his cheek.

“Sorry I didn’t make you cum earlier.” You said, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Sohee didn’t know how you considered this to be fun as his dick twitched. The overheard light caught the precum leaking from his tip, glistening as you continued to coo at him. Sohee hid in the crook of his elbow with the other hand gripping the skin of your waist. He can do alot of things. He can transition from his chest voice to his head voice seamlessly, he can memorize the lyrics of any song in under a hour, but what he absolutely can not do is watch you put the condom on his dick. He doesn’t know what it is, but the mere thought of it has him pulsing in your hand as your align the bottom of the condom with his dick.

“Look at me Sohee.” You cooed and Sohee pulsed in your hand again.

Sohee shook his head as he felt the latex hug the tip of his dick. Between your hand and the condom he felt the rubber ring, waiting to be pushed down the rest of his length.

“I wanna see you do it.” You said it weakly, the previous teasing tone in your voice completely gone.

Only when you pulled your hands away did Sohee take his arm away from his eyes. He regretted it immediately seeing your completely blown out eyes watch him eagerly. You looked like you were going to bite him any second, you licked your lips like you were getting ready to. Your hungry eyes focused on his veiny hands as he gripped the base of his veiny dick. Just like when he was getting his pants off Sohee’s hands just didn’t seem to be cooperating. The lubricated latex slipped right out of his fingers, and he didn’t apply enough force to roll the rest of the condom down his dick. You didn’t help, you only watched him with amusement as you started running your hands over his body. 

The more gentle you were running your hands everywhere the more impatient Sohee got. When you grazed your fingers over his chest slowly, Sohee clenched his hand around his dick pretending it was you. When you ran your hand down his shoulders he shook his head slightly, feeling something akin to electricity prickle his skin. 

You were teasing him, playing mind games to keep him in the back of your car forever. Maybe this was the night you were really going to kill him. Sohee thought about how he told his bandmates that he was going to be with you tomorrow. He hoped Wonbin would be able to lead the cops straight to this parking lot. They’d bust you right in the middle of your shift while you served IPA’s on tap to businessmen who hated their lives and—

“Sohee.”

He blinked rapidly looking at you, not even noticing you had replaced his hand with your own. You hovered directly over his dick, the same look of worry written across your face from earlier.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized, not sure what for. 

Regardless he said the right thing, the look on your face turned back to the insatiable hunger you always had after closing down your bar.

“It’s okay.” You leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Can I—“

Rob me of all my ambitions? Keep me in this town forever? Kill me? 

“Yes.” Sohee said, moving his other hand to your hip. 

He held your waist with all his might, digging his fingers into your skin until he felt the bone. Your desperation was reflected in the way you held onto his shoulder for dear life, digging your fingernails in until they left indents. Maybe if he was lucky, you’d break the skin. 

You definitely had the chance of drawing blood when you first sank down on his dick. For a moment you were so tight Sohee’s tip prodded your entrance, but when his hand rubbed your lower stomach you relaxed. You took all of him with ease just like you always did. He fit inside of you like a puzzle piece, and your body shivered above his when his dick somehow reached even deeper.

You whined and tipped your head backwards, rotating your hips to feel him in that part of your stomach. Sohee watched the show and used one hand to guide you in a circular motion while the other continued to press into your lower stomach. Your eyes were already screwed shut and you were gasping for air like you were already feeling your second impeding orgasm. There were times you’d have Sohee in the backseat of your car purely for stress relief. During those nights—which was most nights—Sohee could barely form a sentence while you bounced on his dick saying whatever came to your mind. The first time Sohee saw you like that, he had to write a song about it. Ironically, it was the song he’d be working on tomorrow at Wonbins’. So Sohee tried to pay extra close attention to your hips, and the way your body would momentarily freeze when something felt particularly good. He hoped that you would tell him he was your favorite singer, the confession coming out rushed through your swollen lips.

Tonight was different. There wasn’t a sense of fervor in your hips as you chased after an orgasm. Everything was intentional, everything was slow. The way you gasped quietly before loosening your grip on Sohee’s shoulder while your other hand caressed his cheek. You seemed to try so hard to keep your eyes open, as if you were trying to memorize everything about him. When you bent down to kiss Sohee again you didn’t push your tongue past his lips. You continued to give him breathy chaste kisses while grinding your hips against his.

When Sohee saw your eyebrows cinch in frustration, he pressed deep into his seeat to create a small amount of space before driving his hips up into yours. Even if the thrust was small you reacted fully, twitching and bring your chest to rest against his. 

Maybe you really were feeling sentimental. 

Sohee pulled away from your lips to see you open your eyes. He saw that they were glassy like always, but the whites of your eyes looked like they were starting to turn red. Sohee told himself it was because you were tired as he flicked his hips up the same way again. Sohee gasped when you clenched around him the same time you whimpered hopelessly. He maintained eye contact with you and did it a third time. He had to let out a shaky breath of his own when you hung your head from the stimulation.

“Sohee.” You whimpered quietly.

He didn’t say anything back. He would’ve told you about the two bedroom apartment that allowed pets down the street if he said anything else. He only fucked up into you again and closed his eyes in bliss. 

Sohee felt your body collapse against his. Your bare chest pressed deeply into his as he started grinding his hips up into yours. You were no help anymore, you were already a puddle of whines and whimpers and the same breathless declarations of his name. 

Your hand that caressed Sohee’s cheek traveled to the nape of his neck to thread through his dampening strands of hair. You pulled experimentally just like you did every night as if Sohee would react any differently. Each time he would hiss and tilt his head towards the slight pain. Your breath fanned the newly exposed part of his neck, the same place where he bit you. He felt your hesitation, only a timid lick as you burrowed deeper into the crook.

“Do it.” Sohee whispered as he started lifting you by your hips to and bringing you down with the same force.

Bite me. Eat me whole. I won’t have to worry about failing if I can blame my death on you. The greatest musicians die young anyway’s right?

When you still held back, Sohee found a new strength inside of him. He was able to lift your completely off his length, bringing you down the same time he drove his hips up. He was fucking up into you and fucking you down on him at the same time. He heard you hiss from the stimulation as your hand dug into the seat cushion beside his head to steady yourself. Your skin slapping against his filled your car and he could feel it rocking from the movement. He imagined your bared teeth in the crook of his neck, so close to the vein that gave him life. Sohee’s brought his hand across your back to hold you tight against him and pushed your head closer to his neck. He could practically feel the blood pulsing where your teeth would go.

“Do it.” He lamented.

You only hesitated for a second before digging your teeth into his skin. Sohee swore he could feel each individual tooth leaving its indent on your skin. The pain made his adrenaline skyrocket, and Sohee fucked into you with a strength and speed that was new to the both of you. You held on for the ride, and eventually you started finding some of your own strength back. You were bouncing on his dick without the guidance of his hands, and you pulled away from his neck to press your forehead against his.

“Are you close?” You asked, trying so hard to hold on.

“So close.” Sohee answered.

From the tone in his voice you clamped around his dick again. A sigh racked through his body, and the terrible thought of taking off his condom flashed through his mind. His hand went from the back of your neck to your shoulder, holding you close like you were going to break.

“Let’s do it together.” You said quickly.

You planted your feet on the seat and started bouncing. Sohee went from controlling the tempo entirely to being completely at your mercy. He still gripped your hip and clutched your shoulder to feign dominance, but he was moaning pitifully as you continued working him.

“Touch me there, Sohee.” You said.

Sohee wordlessly moved the hand that was on your shoulder to your clit, hoping that’s what you meant by there. The way your pace faltered let him know he was most likely right, but he needed your confirmation. He looked up from his fingers that worked your swollen bud to your eyes. Sweat lined your face, and Sohee swore he saw tears forming in the corners of your eyes. He pressed deeper, and saw you sniffle before catching your lip between your teeth.

“Here?” He asked, eyes wide as he followed your every move.

“Right there.” You answered immediately and screwed your eyes shut. “I’m gonna cum.” You moaned.

Sohee nodded, and let the orgasm he was staving off come to the forefront of his mind. Already he felt like he was ready to explode, he just needed to see you do it first.

“Me too.” He whimpered back as his fingers worked your clit.

Within seconds your hips stilled and your moan reverberated through the car. If you were like him, he was sure your cries would’ve cracked the window. But you only continued to sob out broken declarations of Sohee’s name, and within seconds he followed suit. He taut balls twitched against your ass, and he felt the familiar spill into his condom. If he closed his eyes and focused hard enough there was nothing separating the two of you, and he felt a new wave of cum spurt from his tip. 

He started shivering from the relief, a breathy laugh as he felt the stimulation of your walls still spasming around him. You pressed  a million kisses around his face, and Sohee’s entire body went so limp in your backseat that his lower back cracked. He continued to feel everything, inspiration for a new song and newfound love for his city and the current state of his life. he brought your tired sweaty body close to his and kept you there. 

He matched the rise of his chest to the fall of yours, then matched your breathing completely. You two had become one, laying in the backseat of your car as the flickering lamp posts light finally went out.

After everything, the nothingness always seemed comforting. everything seemed warm. Sohee rubbed his hand up and down the expanse of your back that was already becoming cold again.

“Come with me to the studio next week.” Sohee said.

He spoke to the review mirror that showed him a clear view of the back of your head. As if you knew he wouldn’t have the funds, Sohee watched your closed eyes open quickly as you stared at the side of his face. 

When you pulled away from Sohee’s body he wiped some of the sweat from your forehead. He went to the apple of your cheek, squeezing slightly as you got up from his lap. He worked the filled condom off his dick as you leaned forward past the center console to grab your clothes. You put your bra on and looked back at him briefly before you facing your clothes again.

“Can’t.” You said quietly.

“It’ll be before your shift.” Sohee reasoned

“i’m moving tomorrow.” You said even quieter

Sohee sat up from his seat. The rare life update from you piqued his interest and the way you didn’t face him made Sohee try to maneuver to look at you.

“To the new apartment buildings downtown?” He asked.

You scoffed and shook your head. Sohee shifted forward in his seat again to pull his boxers back up his legs.

“I’m moving to California.” You answered.

Sohee paused, and the elastic from his waistband snapped against his skin. He tilted his head to the side, still trying to figure out why you wouldn’t look at him. In the silence you worked your panties back up your legs and your shirt was resting in your lap by the time Sohee found his voice again.

“What’s in California?” He asked.

Finally you faced away from your clothes to look at Sohee. 

“I don’t know, everything?” You pulled your shirt back over your head and Sohee was still completely still, only in his boxers. “Stores that are open past nine, the arts, other people my age.” You continued.

“I mean, what are you going to do out there?” Sohee asked.

He still didn’t move, even when you put his clothes onto his lap so he could change.

“Well the bartender that works here in the mornings, she wants to pursue acting. She asked me if I wanted to move and I just thought to myself if I don’t do it now it may never happen.” You seemed happy, smiling ear to ear as you thought about your journey that was starting tomorrow. “Her Dad said he’d spot us first month’s rent, and I already found a bar close to our place that’s hiring.” You said.

You somehow did something worse than killing him. In a days time, you would only be a shadow, a figment of Sohee’s imagination. He for some reason felt like the world was crashing down around him while you looked the happiest he’s ever seen you. When he remained unmoving, he saw your eyebrows stitch together as you looked at him carefully.

“You’re not gonna say anything?” You asked.

I just stabbed you in the heart, aren’t you happy? Look, I can even twist the knife too.

Sohee shook his head and put his graphic tee on. He could feel you becoming apprehensive, and he felt himself becoming frustrated for no reason.

“I thought you’d be the type to stay here forever.” Sohee said.

Your eyebrows raised and your head cocked to the side as Sohee’s words sunk in. He could tell you remembered the few times he would refer to people who stayed in their hometowns their whole lives as an insult before you started pulling your pants up your legs.

“I actually take offense to that.” You said.

Sohee started pulling his own pants up, shaking his head to try and make envy leave his body.

“I just think it’s weird you’re moving across the country to become a bartender.” Sohee reasoned. “You’ll be in California not to be a singer or an actress, but a bartender?”

He knew he messed up when you paused buttoning your jeans. You turned to face him completely, your skin still clammy from sweat.

“What’s so wrong with that?” You scoffed before climbing over the center console to the drivers seat. “Everyone has to start somewhere.” 

Sohee followed after you, going into the passengers seat as you dug around in your purse for the keys. He knew he didn’t have the right to speak, but none of this felt fair. He thought that you had the same inner struggle he was having every night he came to see you. But you were fine—in fact you were more than fine—because you were getting out, something Sohee failed to do.

“Couldn’t you just do that here? And save your money?” He asked.

“I’ve been doing it here for awhile. I’ve saved up more money than you think.” Your car came to life when you put the keys in the ignition, but afterwards you turned to Sohee with indignation written across your face. “Sohee I didn’t even know you knew my name until we had sex for the first time. And now here you are telling me how I should live my life?” You said.

Everything was so unfair. He knew more about you than he knew about himself. He wanted to know more, the time you two spent together suddenly felt so short. If he knew you were going to kill him anyway he would’ve dug a little deeper. 

“Did you just expected me to stay in this town and fuck you every night until you left?” You looked to him from your side of the seat, and when he didn’t respond you shook your head. 

“Just until I get enough money for the studio.”

Sohee didn’t know if he was talking about studio time or the studio apartment that he would get if you two didn’t want to move in together right away. Everything in his mind was becoming jumbled, only set clear by your confused voice.

“Then what?” You asked.

Then we both give up our dreams together and settle in life. We get that apartment and we have a child, then we grow old to resent eachother because we held ourselves back just to be comfortable. But maybe our child would become rich and famous and we’d live the rest of our days in luxury.

When Sohee said nothing back to you, he watched you give up. You let out a sigh and your shoulders sagged, and you pulled out of the parking spot and drove on the underpass to Sohee’s house. He thought about Dragon Teeth and how you’d be living in California while he lived in New York pursuing his dream. He thought about the off chance of him staying in this boring town with the hopes that you’d eventually find your way back to the dingy dive bar you worked at nearly every day. Maybe he’d be waiting there for you, or maybe he’d write a song about it, and when you listened on the radio you’d know it’d be just for you.

He wanted to let you know about his plan when you stopped in front of his house but the words couldn’t come out. You still gave him a smile, muttering about how you’d miss him and think about him everyday. Sohee felt the knife turn in his heart as he said the same, already writing the lyrics in his mind to deal with the pain.

[smoooothoperator]

What Was I Made For?

25: Love Of My Life

childhood enemies, forced proximity, accidental pregnancy, enemies to lovers (👀)

Warnings: fluuuuuff, birth, happiness. Third person pov.

a/n: LAST CHAPTER! WOW! I really can't believe this is the end (unofficially, because there's an epilogue and then if you want I can write extra things). I loved every minute I created this story, and I hope all of you loved reading about them❤️

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Monaco is always sunny. And in the first weeks of June, the warmth of the sun bathes the streets from morning to evening. 

Charles finally ended the triple header, with the last race in his hometown where his family and girlfriend were. 

When his girlfriend told him that she wanted to be in Monaco to deliver their baby surrounded by their family and friends, he had a mixture of feelings going around his mind. He was happy that she decided to be in Monaco, so their son Dorian would be born where he was born. But at the same time he felt anxious, not knowing if he would miss the birth of his first son or even not knowing how Dafne was dealing with the last weeks of pregnancy.

The moment he had the last brief meeting with his team after the Monaco Grand Prix, he asked his boss to give him time to be with his family, asking to stay out of the races for what was left of the first half of the season. And just with the nod of his head and a small smile, he knew that his boss was already thinking about it even before he asked about it.

Charles pushed open the door to his Monaco apartment, the familiar sound of the soft click as it closed behind him was barely loud. His body ached because of the time spent in the car during the week, with the adrenaline still running through his veins. The roar of the crowd and the car speeding through the city streets echoed in his mind. Now, standing in the quiet hallway, it all seemed a world away.

He slipped off his shoes, exhaustion starting to creep in. The apartment didn’t have any light turned on, the evening sun casting golden light across the floor. He walked towards the living room and looked around, smiling when he saw the blue yoga ball in the balcony, and his mind created images of how she would have watched the race while doing those exercises the doctor told her, moving in circles on top of that ball.

“Dafne?” he called her, leaving his backpack on the table.

He walked further into the apartment, and that’s when he saw her, in the kitchen with her back to him, humming softly to herself. She was dressed comfortably, her hair loosely tied back, a hand occasionally resting on her swollen belly as she mixed the contents of a pot.

He leaned against the doorway for a moment, simply watching her. There was something peaceful about the scene, with the soft hum of the kitchen, and Dafne standing there, so full of life and beauty. For a second, he wondered how he got so lucky.

“You’re going to burn holes into my back if you keep staring like that” Dafne’s voice broke the silence, teasing but warm. She didn’t even turn around, but Charles could see the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You came earlier than I thought”

“Can you blame me?” he chuckled, pushing off the doorway and walking up behind her. He slipped his arms around her waist carefully, his hands resting on her belly as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Look at what I’m coming home to”

Dafne turned in his arms, her hands resting on his chest as she looked up at him. Her eyes softened at the sight of him. He looked tired, his hair a mess from the helmet and sweat, but there was a tenderness in his gaze that always made her heart flutter.

“You did an amazing race today, my winner” she smiled softly. “When will they give you the trophy?”

“Maybe in a few days” he sighed, kissing her forehead. “Now I have time for you, let’s stop talking about racing. I missed you”

“I missed you too” she smiled, closing her eyes when she felt his lips on her skin. “Even if you stayed here with me during this week we barely had time for ourselves”

“Now we will have all the time in the world, then” he smiled. “I won’t race for the rest of the first half of the season”

“I’m glad” she nodded.

Charles smiled looking at her, pressing a kiss on her lips. His hands lingered on her belly as they kissed, feeling the slight movements of their baby beneath his fingers. When they pulled apart, Charles let out a soft chuckle, glancing down at her stomach.

“How’s our little one? He’s been treating you well?” he asked.

 “He’s been restless. Kicking like crazy today, especially when I started cooking. I think he’s hungry” Dafne smiled, brushing a hand through Charles' messy hair.

“Well, let’s not keep him waiting” Charles laughed.

“What about you?” she asked, pulling back to look at him more closely. “You look exhausted. Go shower, and dinner will be ready when you’re done”

“You’re the best, you know that?” he chuckled, kissing her once more.

“Of course I am” she smirked, laughing softly.

He laughed and shook his head playfully, walking through the corridors of the apartment and going to his bedroom, grabbing fresh clothes to be comfortable and then slipping to the bathroom, taking a fast shower, not wanting to make Dafne wait too much.

A few minutes later, Charles returned, freshly showered, his hair damp and skin glowing from the warmth of the water. He looked more relaxed now, his usual grin playing on his lips as he walked back into the kitchen. Dafne was just finishing plating the food, moving a little slower than usual, but determined to carry on as normal despite her growing belly.

“Sit down, silly” Charles said, taking the plates from her hands and guiding her to the dining table. “You’ve done enough today.”

Dafne chuckled but didn’t argue, lowering herself carefully into the chair. Charles set the plates down, pouring two glasses of water before sitting across from her. For a moment, they both just sat there, a quiet sense of calm filling the space between them.

“Thank you for this” Charles said, taking a bite of the pasta. “It’s exactly what I needed.”

“I thought you might appreciate a home cooked meal” Dafne smiled, taking a bite herself.

He laughed softly and started eating, moaning softly with a wide smile while he ate what Dafne cooked. They started talking about the race, about the previous ones and how the team was working. And after that, they couldn’t help it and started talking about what is coming next.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, his fingers tracing small circles on her hand. “We’re so close now”

“I’m tired, I won’t lie. My back hurts, my feet are swollen, and I can barely sleep. But…” she smiled, glancing down at her belly. “Every time I feel him move, it’s like all of that doesn’t matter. We’re so close to meeting him. I can’t wait”

“I can’t wait either” he whispered. His voice was soft, full of emotion. “I still can’t believe it sometimes. That we’re going to be parents. That we are together. I can’t imagine how the six years old Charles is feeling now”

“I think reality will hit when you’re changing his diapers at 3 a.m.” Dafne laughed.

“Bring it on. I’m ready for all of it” he laughed, so carefree.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the weight of the moment settling over them. Outside, the soft sounds of Monaco drifted in through the open window of the kitchen: the distant hum of the sea, the occasional car passing by, the quiet murmur of life carrying on below them.

“I’m glad we’re here. It feels like the right place for him to be born. Our family’s here, and…” she smiled, looking at Charles with a softness in her eyes. “And you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything” he said, squeezing her hand softly. “You know, these next few weeks are going to be the best part. Just us, waiting for him. I’ll be here, every step of the way.”

“I know. And I wouldn’t want it any other way” she sighed, smiling wider.

“We’ve got this” he nodded.

“Yeah, we’ve got this” she repeated softly.

dafnemorelli

liked by charles_leclerc, pierregasly and 629.517 others

dafnemorelli Last weeks! Can't wait to meet you❤️

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charles_leclerc ❤️

scuderiaferrari Can't wait to see baby Dorian

charles_leclerc

liked by dafnemorelli, pierregasly and 719.317 others

charles_leclerc Last weeks until we meet our son. Can't wait to have him with us🥹❤️

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sharlesperceval Remember when we used to watch how those to argue? And when they had to do the challenges and sponsors meetings and they were all the time throwing beef?

dafneismymom And now they are having a son and they are so in love 🥹

The sun was just beginning to dip toward the horizon, casting a warm golden light over the backyard of Dafne’s parents’ house. Balloons in soft shades of blue, cream, and white floated around the space, with more things with the same shades of blue.

Laughter and conversation filled the air as friends and family gathered around, celebrating the soon-to-arrive baby. Long tables were covered with food and drinks, with a special cake shaped like a race car sitting at the center, a playful nod to Charles' career. 

Charles was near the table, laughing with his brothers and some of his friends, while Dafne was seated on a cozy outdoor sofa, her hands resting on her swollen belly talking with her sisters and friends while she opened the gifts all of the guests came with: adorable baby clothes, plush toys, and tiny shoes.

“You’re going to spoil him before he’s even born” Dafne laughed as she thanked Arhtur.

“We’re just getting started” he joked, winking at her playfully.

The afternoon was a mix of joy and excitement, with everyone catching up, sharing stories, and playing baby shower games. The most popular one seemed to be “Guess the Baby’s Birth Date,” with people writing down their predictions on a chalkboard set up near the gift table.

At one point, Dafne glanced across the terrace and spotted her best friend Oscar and his girlfriend Lily, standing by the edge, chatting and laughing with a group of mutual friends. Oscar, as always, looked effortlessly relaxed, his arm slung around Lily’s shoulders.

Dafne smiled to herself, feeling a wave of warmth wash over her. She knew what she had to do. This was the moment she had been waiting for.

“Charles” Dafne murmured. “I’m going to go talk to Oscar and Lily for a minute.”

“Are you going to ask them now?” he smiled excitedly.

She nodded, her heart racing with excitement and a touch of nerves.

Dafne made her way over to Oscar and Lily, her steps slower than usual but filled with purpose. When they noticed her approaching, Oscar immediately stepped forward, grinning widely.

“Look at you!” he exclaimed, his voice teasing but affectionate. “You’re glowing!”

“And also moving slower than a snail” Lily added with a playful smirk, though her eyes were filled with warmth.

“Trust me, I feel like a penguin” Dafne laughed, placing a hand on her belly as Dorian gave a little kick in response.

“Can we feel him?” Lily asked softly, her face lighting up with excitement.

“Of course” Dafne said, guiding Lily’s hand to her belly.

“That’s amazing,” she whispered, feeling the little movements beneath her hand. Oscar placed his hand beside hers, his smile widening as he felt the soft kicks.

“Dorian’s already practicing for his debut” Oscar joked, looking up at Dafne with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Dafne chuckled, then took a deep breath, gathering her courage. This was it. 

“Hey” she started softly, her voice suddenly more serious but filled with affection. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask both of you.”

Oscar and Lily exchanged a curious glance before focusing back on Dafne, waiting expectantly.

“You two have been such an important part of my life” she smiled, glancing back at Charles, who was watching them from afar with a soft smile. “You’ve been there for me through everything, the good and the bad, and I can’t imagine our baby growing up without the two of you being a huge part of his life.”

Lily’s smile softened, her eyes already filled with emotion, while Oscar looked at Dafne with a mixture of surprise and curiosity, sensing where this conversation was going.

“So… I was wondering if you would do me the honor of being Dorian’s godparents?”

For a brief second, there was stunned silence. Oscar and Lily stared at her, wide eyed, as if trying to process the enormity of the question.

Then, all at once, their faces lit up with pure joy.

“Are you serious?” Oscar asked, his voice filled with disbelief, though the grin spreading across his face made it clear he was over the moon.

“Of course, I’m serious” Dafne said, her own eyes filling with tears. “You’re family to me, Oscar. Both of you are. The moment I came to Prema and you started to talk to me, I felt like you were a brother to me. And… Somehow I want you to be in my family, being Dorian’s godfather”

“You have no idea how much this means to us” he smiled, holding her hand and wrapping his arms around her tightly. “Thank you.”

When they finally pulled back, Lily stepped forward, hugging Dafne tightly. Both girls chuckled softly, hugging each other while moving side to side softly.

“We promise we’ll be there for him and for you, always” Lily smiled.

“I know you will” Dafne whispered, her voice thick with emotion as she held Lily close.

Just then, Charles appeared at Dafne’s side, smiling warmly at the scene. He stood next to Oscar and both of them hugged tightly for some seconds.

“So, what’s the verdict?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“We’re in” Oscar said with a laugh, clapping him on the back. . “You couldn’t have picked better.”

“Welcome to the family, then” he smiled. “This time officially”

The sun streamed through the large windows of their Monaco apartment, the weather of June already making them use summer clothes. Charles was sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table, watching a Netflix show on the TV. Dafne sat on the yoga ball beside him, looking at the baby clothes that were on top of the table, folding and sorting them with a content smile. 

“Look at this one!” Dafne exclaimed, holding up a tiny onesie with a little Ferrari logo stitched on the front. She laughed, imagining their baby in it. “I can already see him driving his own little car.”

“He’ll be a natural. Maybe he’ll win the Monaco Grand Prix one day. Just like his dad” he smiled proudly.

They laughed together, the warmth of the moment wrapping around them like a comforting blanket. It felt like a perfect day, one filled with simple joys and the promise of their future.

But then, just as Dafne reached for another outfit, a sudden sharp pain shot through her abdomen. She froze, her breath hitching slightly.

“Dafne?” Charles asked immediately, worried. “Are you okay?”

“I think so… It was just a little cramp” she smiled, shaking her head softly.

“Are you sure? Should I get you some water?” He was already moving, ready to spring into action, the instinct to care for her taking over.

“I’m fine” she promised him, waving him off. “Just… a little uncomfortable”

But as she spoke, another wave of pain rolled through her, more intense than the first. This one took her breath away, and she clutched her belly, the sudden realization hitting her.

“Charles!” Her voice trembled, eyes wide.

“What?” he frowned confused, already kneeling in front of her.

"I think…" she trailed off, pressing her lips together as she tried to breathe through the discomfort. 

Her mind raced, trying to make sense of the sensation. She had felt Braxton Hicks contractions before, but this… this felt different. Stronger. More insistent.

"I think it’s starting" she whispered, her eyes widening as the realization washed over her. "Charles, I think these are real contractions."

Charles’ heart skipped a beat. His calm demeanor faltered for just a moment before he pulled himself together, taking a deep breath and holding Dafne’s hands tightly.

"Okay, okay. Don’t panic" he said, though he could feel the adrenaline already starting to pump through his veins. "We’ve got this. We’re prepared"

Dafne nodded, but her breathing had quickened. She placed both hands on her belly, wincing slightly as another wave of discomfort rolled through her.

"Let’s time them, yeah?" Charles suggested, pulling out his phone. "Just to see how far apart they are."

Dafne nodded, trying to relax into the ball, though her body felt tense, her muscles reacting to the new intensity of the contractions. Charles took her hand, his thumb brushing over her knuckles as they waited together in silence. After a minute, another contraction hit, stronger than the last, causing her to grip his hand tightly.

"Breathe, love" he whispered softly. "In and out. I’m right here."

Dafne did as he said, focusing on her breath, even though the pain was starting to grow more intense. She knew what was happening, this was the real deal, but it still felt surreal. They had been enjoying such a calm, peaceful day, and now, just like that, everything was shifting.

After a few minutes, another contraction hit, and Charles stopped the timer, taking a deep breath while he kissed Dafne’s forehead.

"They’re about ten minutes apart" he said, his voice steady. "I think we need to get ready."

“The hospital bag is next to the door” she said, groaning softly as she stood up slowly.

He stood quickly, moving with a sense of purpose as he grabbed the hospital bag they had packed a month ago, along with a few extra things he thought she might need. Dafne slowly eased herself out of the ball, standing up with some difficulty as another contraction hit, her breath coming in short bursts.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice filled with concern, though he was trying to stay as calm as possible for her.

"I’m okay" she nodded, though her face tightened. "It’s just… intense."

"I’ve got you" he whispered, helping her to the door. "We’re going to the hospital now, okay? Just hang in there."

Dafne took a deep breath, focusing on the sound of his voice. The contractions were coming faster now, each one stronger than the last, but with Charles by her side, she felt steadier. She knew they were ready for this moment, even if it had come sooner than expected.

As they stepped out of the apartment, Charles paused for a second, looking down at her, his eyes softening despite the rush. 

"We’re about to meet him" he whispered, his voice filled with wonder and excitement.

Dafne smiled through the pain, her hand gripping his tightly. 

"Yeah" she breathed. "We’re going to meet our son."

The drive to the hospital felt endless. The contractions had come closer and stronger as Charles drove through the streets of Monaco, his eyes flicking to Dafne every few seconds to make sure she was okay. Her grip was firm on his hand, her breathing uneven but steady as she focused on getting through each wave of pain.

“Almost there, love” he whispered, his voice tight with a mixture of worry and excitement. The adrenaline was pumping through his veins, but he stayed as calm as he could, trying to keep her grounded.

When they finally pulled into the hospital parking lot, the moment felt surreal. Charles hurried out of the car, rushing to Dafne’s side as she stepped out slowly, clutching her belly. The pain was now constant, waves of pressure rolling through her body one after another.

“We’re here” Charles said as he helped her into the hospital. 

He could see the tension in her face, the way she was gripping his arm, but he wasn’t about to let her go through this alone. He was right there beside her, guiding her with every step.

As they entered the hospital, a nurse quickly approached them, guiding them towards the maternity floor. Charles was barely able to keep up, his mind racing as the reality of the situation hit him all at once. They were about to have their baby.

By the time they reached the delivery room, Dafne was trembling, but she was still breathing through the contractions, and Charles remained by her side, holding her hand and offering words of encouragement. 

“You’re doing really well, Dafne” the doctor said with a reassuring smile. “It’s almost time to meet your baby. We have to wait until you are fully dilated, okay?”

Dafne’s breath hitched at the mention of the baby, her eyes widening as another powerful contraction gripped her body. She clutched Charles’s hand so hard her knuckles turned white.

“Charles” she whimpered, her voice trembling. “I can’t… I really can’t do this.”

“You can” he said, leaning in close, his voice soft but firm. “You’ve been strong the entire time. You’re almost there. Dorian’s almost here.”

She nodded, but the fear in her eyes was still there. She squeezed her eyes shut as the pain began to build again, her body arching with the force of it. The nurse was already getting ready for the birth, setting up the instruments, while the doctor prepared herself.

“You’ve got this. I’m right here with you. You’re not alone” Charles whispered, wiping away the drops of sweat that were running down her temple.

Dafne nodded again, her breathing slowing a little as she focused on his voice, letting it anchor her through the next few contractions. She gripped his hand tighter, her nails digging into his skin, but he didn’t flinch. He knew she needed him to stay strong.

And then, the moment came.

“Dafne, it’s time to push” the doctor said, her voice calm but filled with urgency.

“It hurts too much” Dafne mumbled, taking a deep breath.

“I know” the doctor said firmly. “You’re fully dilated. You just need to push, love.”

The first push was slow, but the pain pushed her past the fear, and she did it again, harder this time. Charles’s hand was holding hers, his voice murmuring calming words in her ear.

“That’s it, love. Just a little more. You’re so close” he said softly, his face inches from hers, watching with a mixture of awe and concern.

She pushed again, feeling the pressure building, the pain unbearable yet urging her to keep going.

“This is your fucking fault!” she exclaimed through the pain. “If you just used a condom… Fucking asshole!”

“I know, love. I know” he chuckled, knowing that she didn’t mean none of that, not anymore. “Come on, push more, he’s coming”

And in that moment, the world seemed to stop.

The room was filled with the sound of a newborn’s cry, loud and sharp as the doctor gently held Dorian up. Charles, with tears in his eyes, could barely believe what he was seeing. The tiny, perfect baby they had created together, finally here.

“Dorian” Dafne whispered through her tears, her voice full of pure adoration. She watched as the nurse quickly cleaned him up, and Charles moved to stand beside her, his hands shaking with excitement.

“He’s… he’s perfect” Charles whispered, his voice choking with emotion as he leaned down to kiss Dafne’s forehead, his hand gently caressing her face. “We did it. God, you are so strong, my love. Thank you, thank you…”

Dafne looked up at him, her heart swelling with love and exhaustion. Dorian’s cry softened as the nurse wrapped him up in a small, white blanket and handed him to Dafne, her arms already reaching for him instinctively. Charles, with his own tears now falling freely, leaned in close, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. 

“Our son” he whispered, watching as Dafne held the tiny, fragile life between them.

“He’s ours” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. Dafne’s eyes were wide as she stared down at their baby. His tiny face, his little fingers, his perfect little features. 

Charles kissed her once more, his hand resting on her shoulder as they both looked down at their newborn son, their hearts swelling with love and relief.

“Welcome to the world, Dorian Jules Hervé Leclerc” Dafne whispered softly to him, her voice full of wonder and joy.

And in that moment, the world outside the hospital seemed to fade away. Everything was quiet. Just them. Their new family.

charles_lelcerc

liked by carlossainz55, oscarpiastri and 819.571 others

charles_leclerc This morning, Dafne and I were joking about me buying her sushi the day Dorian arrives.

Now, I'm posting this while I go back to the hospital after we just welcomed our son to the world.

Dorian Jules Hervé Leclerc was born today, 17th of June of 2025. He's healthy and beautiful, and Dafne is recovering too. The birth was incrediblly quick, it took us by surprise and we rushed immediately to the hospital.

The fact that our son was born today, day 17, feels like a signal that our beloved Jules is blessing us.

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scuderiaferrari Welcome to the world Dorian!

oscarpiastri Lily and I are on our way to meet our godson

landonorris There's no way he's the godfather. What about me?

pierregasly What about you? What about me????

charles_leclerc pierregasly don't worry, you'll be the next one

dafnemorelli charles_leclerc go to hell if you are already planning the next baby. If you give birth to it then we can negotiate it. Bring the sushi. I'm hungry.

charles_leclerc of course, my love❤️

carlossainz55 Congratulations mate! You deserve it so much!

f1academy ❤️❤️❤️

dafnemorelli 

liked by charles_leclerc, oscarpiastri and 927.518 others

dafnemorelli I can't believe that you are finally here. Now that I have you in my arms, holding you close to my heart, I can say that I'm a mother, a proud mom.

I love you, Dorian. I will protect you and keep you safe.

Dorian Jules Hervé Leclerc. 17 of June of 2025.

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soleil_morelli Can't wait to meet him

ericamorelli God he's so beautiful! 

f1 Dorian is so beautiful. We're so happy you two are alright! Can't be prouder❤️

fewawifan OMG BABY DORIAN! HE'S SO BEAUTIFUL! 😭😭

dafneismymom I should change my user name? 

dafnemorelli dafneismymom nah, makes me feel more milf than I already am 

fewawifan omfg 😂😂

charles_leclerc I agree. You are a milf.

charles_leclerc I love you, Dafne. You are the love of my life, can't wait to see how our story continues❤️

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— ♬ "I'll be your gravity, you'll be my oxygen"

— ♬ Chuuya Nakahara x Reader, SFW, gender-neutral reader, depictions of stalking, violence, and obsessive behavior, abandonment issues, Chuuya being deranged when he's in love, 3.5k words, no beta

— ♬ NOTE: I DO NOT CONDONE NOR ROMANTISIZE WHAT IS DEPICTED IN THIS STORY. EVERYTHING IS A WORK OF FICTION. READER'S DESCRETION IS ADVISED.

There's this hollow feeling that swallows one's whole consciousness like a black hole. It's greedy as it feeds on your light and energy. It leaves you empty, like a void. And to feel that void grow within you as it devours all the remnants of your being, it's a painful tragedy. Nakahara Chuuya felt that void in him widen from time to time. That void was born when he lost those who were close to his heart. By then, he learned how to surround his heart with walls. But there's always something unexpected that would tear those walls down and pierce through his heart.

Chuuya struggled with finding his humanity. As much as his mind reminds him that he is human, his soul isn't convinced. As he grew older and learned how unjust the world is, that void slowly ate away the remainder of his 'humanity'. Chuuya still believed there was an uncontrollable monster in him, a monster that claws at the remnants of his control until it takes over him completely. No matter how many good deeds he performed, it would not erase the feeling. And Chuuya has already accepted long ago that he wasn't a good person, and he's not going to waste his life trying to be one.

What does make one human? Was it your anatomy? Emotions? Consciousness? Or Purpose? The answer seemed to be one of the secrets of the universe. Chuuya doesn't ponder about what the answer will be. He's content where he is now, after all, he's been through a lot. Being an executive in the Port Mafia pays a lot and he can afford the luxury he wants. He has bursts of anger out of nowhere but he's getting the hang of controlling it. He has matured greatly but he knows he has so much to learn.

It was a domino effect when you stepped into Chuuya's life. One look, one smile, and everything came crumbling down. He regretted saving your life at first. You just happened to be an unsuspecting victim caught in a conflict between the Port Mafia and another group. You were caught in the gunfire at a restaurant, and you could've lost your life if it weren't for the gravity manipulator. He shielded you from the bullets and from witnessing the rest of the violence. Chuuya won effortlessly against his enemies while leaving a trail of destruction. But instead of focusing on the bloody disaster the man has left, your eyes glimmered at him.

"Thank you!"

You reached to clasp his hands and smile gratefully at him. Chuuya snarled at you as he snatched his hands back. He scoffed at the idea of you thinking he saved you out of the goodness of his heart. He only did that because you were getting in his way! But somehow, he couldn't look away from your glimmering gaze on him. You were abundant of life and he's sure that you weren't exposed to violence on a daily, unlike him. A tiny part of him wanted to keep it that way, you were just an innocent civilian. He may not be a good man, but he's not a cruel person to inflict his brutality on you.

It began with curiosity. Chuuya looked into your background. You worked at that restaurant, a minimum wage job. You lived alone in a humble apartment. From the looks of it, you were comfortable. Anyone who hasn't suffered so much like him would be content with your lifestyle. You seemed comfortable with your life, something Chuuya was a bit envious of. He can scowl and scoff all he wants but there's nothing he can do about it.

The gravity manipulator squinted his eyes and observed more about you. From what he gathered; you looked average. There was nothing out of place. He found out about the places you frequent, where you went to college and even the hometown you grew up in. He felt invested in finding out about your interests. Dare he says, he's impressed with your taste. It may not show in your appearance, but you had an elegant taste. Whether in music, food, or clothing, Chuuya found himself approving of it. 

He may have intentionally followed you when he wasn't busy and noticed you were shopping for wine. Chuuya can't help but gasp silently at how exquisite your choice of wine was. You were looking at underrated but delectable brands of wine, seemingly conflicted on which to buy. The Mafioso watched you look at one of the price tags and staggered back at how much it cost. He can understand that that brand of wine was way above your budget, but he can feel his chest tighten at your deflated figure walking away without purchasing the bottle of wine.

You noticed a small package delicately wrapped in red ribbon on your front door. You raised a brow and reluctantly brought the package inside. Suspicion filled you since you weren't expecting to receive any packages today. But as you unwrapped the ribbon and saw what was inside, your jaw drops. It was that expensive-ass wine you were eyeing earlier! You couldn't believe your eyes as you inspected the bottle. There was a tiny note attached to it.

Enjoy it while it lasts, sweetheart - C

You admit that the message left you both flushed but more suspicious. You took out one of your wine glasses and did a taste test. Your tastebuds screamed with delight at how delectable the wine was. Whoever that 'C' person was, they're most likely rich. They could have some sort of motive to send you this wine. Nonetheless, you enjoyed your evening with that heavenly bottle.

Chuuya had no idea what had gotten into him when he began anonymously sending you expensive gifts at your doorstep. That expensive wine was a random act of kindness that happens once in a blue moon. The limited-edition vinyl of your favorite artist was out of boredom. That expensive watch was only to see you smile as you wore it at work. That silk robe, that perfume, and that diamond ring were only an impulsive decision. Chuuya was hastily spending his money on you, and you kept accepting them not knowing who it was from. That was a stupid move from you, but you're lucky it was from him and not from somebody else.

You're beginning to fall for the 'C' person behind all the luxurious gifts that they send every week. You felt properly spoiled as you kept accepting more and more. You can't help it, it's not like you could afford all of those with your paycheck. One evening, you waited again for another gift from your mysterious admirer (if you can call them that). But what you weren't expecting was the guy who saved you from the gunfire weeks ago, waiting for you at your front door, with a bouquet of red roses. 

Chuuya gulped as he sweats in his expensive tailored suit, he takes in your bewildered gaze on him. He blushed as red as the bouquet before thrusting it towards you.

"...Were you the one sending me those gifts?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh"

You blinked and stared down at the roses. You looked up at Chuuya and gave him a sweet smile before walking over to him.

"That's so sweet of you, but why?"

"I—I was only curious and...and you had good taste"

"Okay. So, what's your name?"

"Nakahara Chuuya"

"I'm [Surname] [Name], do you want to go inside?"

You asked and Chuuya nodded, almost in a trance. He can't help but feel weak at the knees at how you smile at him. The moment you shut your door the Mafioso couldn't contain himself as he pounced at you, capturing your lips into an intense kiss. That evening ended with his and your clothes scattered all over your bedroom floor.

A relationship bloomed afterward. Chuuya took you out on proper dates and continued to spoil you endlessly. What he thought was only curiosity or boredom became a passion for him. Truthfully, loving Chuuya was difficult from the start. He has a temper and often keeps his guard up, and it took time and effort for you to help him be vulnerable with you. It tugged on your heartstrings to find out that under that tough exterior was someone who was starving for affection.

When Chuuya loved, he loved deeply. When he couldn't express his tenderness to the people who meant a lot to him back then, he did with you. With every waking hour, he'll make sure that you feel loved and that you are aware of it. He'd trace every curve of your body and mark your skin with love bites. He'll give you gifts and smother you with his kisses. Chuuya made it his top priority to make you feel safe and secure. He even convinced you to move into his large house so he could keep an eye on you.

It had something to do with his past, but he couldn't stand the thought of you leaving him. So, the gravity manipulator would follow you around on a daily. To your work, to go out with friends, or even at the grocery store. Chuuya was constantly on your tail without your knowledge. He'd disguise himself in various outfits and behave like a normal civilian to not draw suspicion. He'd smile to himself knowing that you're safe from danger because of him.

However, when you got involved in conflicts, Chuuya would take it upon himself to resolve them. That drunk man who kept flirting with you at the bar? He was found with broken bones in an alleyway. That woman who was rude to you at work? She was arrested for a crime she claimed she didn't commit. And that fucking creep that followed you home one night? He was beaten to death with his face disfigured. The Mafioso made sure everything was taken care of and you're none the wiser.

It became clear to him that you have come to his life to fill that void in him. When you wrap your arms around him and whisper sweet nothings against his ear, it brings his body back to life. It revives that hope in him that he thought he had lost. You have made him feel truly human.

Back then, his head was haunting him, and his heart feels like a ghost. He needs to feel something 'cause he's still so far from home. Chuuya hopes that you'll cross your heart and hope to die, promise him you'll never leave his side. Show him what he can't see when the spark in your eyes is gone. You've got him on your knees, he's your one-man cult. Cross his heart and hope to die, he promises you that he'll never leave your side.

'Cause he's telling you, you're all he needs. He promises you, you're all he sees. He's telling you you're all he needs. He'll never leave. So, you can drag him through hell, if it meant he can hold your hand. He will follow you, 'cause he's under your spell. And you can throw him to the flames. Chuuya will follow you, he will follow you.

Lately, you have been getting this feeling like you were being constantly followed everywhere. You were beginning to feel restless about it. When you expressed this to your boyfriend, he would coo at you and pull you into an embrace as he littered kisses all over your face. It would temporarily soothe you until you get separated from him. You'd carefully travel to work and feel the discomfort grow during your shift at the restaurant. You would try to call Chuuya during your break and he'll reassure you with a few words. You had no idea what Chuuya's occupation was, but you had an assumption that he was constantly busy and paid handsomely.

This discomfort developed into paranoia. You couldn't even tell anybody anymore because you're convinced that you would sound crazy. You had no evidence to link the cause of your paranoia. Your senses are heightened as you begin to notice things that you haven't before. All the people you had bad interactions with either ended up severely injured, arrested, or dead in the news. It sent an uncomfortable shiver down your spine. It seemed like you were the cause of their misfortune.

Chuuya was aware of your growing suspicion as he continued to follow you around. That ugly monster in him kept telling him that you'll abandon him sooner and it disturbs him so much that he starts to follow you even more. There wasn't a moment you weren't alone. He needed to prove that stupid monster wrong and that you wouldn't leave him. There was no way, and he wouldn't allow it. He has you now, and he won't let you leave him like everybody else did. If you did, you'd bring the end of him and the world.

On the way home, you kept a cautious eye out. You looked closely at each person you passed by. You felt like you were growing insane with each minute as you entered a discreet alleyway. All of a sudden, somebody sharply tugged on your bag making you twist your body, and your forehead was met with a gun. You freeze, feeling your body run immediately cold.

"Let go of the bag and I won't shoot, yeah?"

The gruff voice of a man said. Your lip wobbled as you shakily released the bag. But before the man could run off, he was attacked with a kick to the face. You stumbled back with a gasp as you watched in horror when the man was being brutally beaten by a smaller man dressed in a leather jacket with a hood over his head. You were unable to make out the shorter man's features as he punched the man's face to the point of almost disfiguring him. You have never witnessed such a brutal attack before. The man who snatched your bag had the upper hand with the gun but was bested by the other who had no other weapon in him but his fists.

You quivered in the corner with wet eyes as the shorter man finished beating up the bag-snatcher. His fists were bloodied, and you could tell that he was used to violence. Fear floods your heart when he starts to approach you with your bag in his bloody hands. The alleyway was dark, and it didn't provide the proper light for you to see the man's face. You had sunk into your knees, prepared to beg if the man was planning to beat you up too. However, you were taken aback when the man gently took your hand and returned your bag. Stray tears fall down from your lash line as the man immediately reaches his bloody hand to wipe them away, smudging some of the blood on your face by accident.

You recognized his touch, and it made your heartbeat stop. You blinked up at the man and reached out for his face. As you pulled his face closer, it revealed none other than your boyfriend, Chuuya.

"Chuuya?"

"You weren't meant to see that, darling"

He says lowly to you. When you draw your hands back, he swiftly grabs your wrists and pulls you close to him. His hands began to caress your hair and cheek.

"I'm glad you're safe"

"But you...you just beat up that man—"

"He fucking deserved it"

Your boyfriend growled making your lips shut. Realizing that he had startled you, Chuuya sighs and pulls you into an embrace, but it does not bring you any comfort.

"Why...? You didn't have to do that, Chuuya"

"I was trying to keep you safe, [Name]"

"You nearly beat him to death!"

"That's what he gets for messing with you!"

You pulled away from him. You could faintly see the look on his face, and it didn't look like the man who saved you from the gunfight long ago. You took a step back, clutching your bag against your body, and preparing to run. Chuuya's jaw was tight as he stalked closer to you, almost like a wolf.

"Chuuya, stop"

"Please, doll. I need you, come here"

He couldn't comprehend the petrified look in your face. You shook your head as you slowly processed what was happening.

"...Were you the one following me around?"

"I needed to, babe. I need to keep you safe"

"Following me everywhere does not make me feel safe, Chuuya"

"It's for the best! I need you, [Name]. And you need me. I can't..."

He trails off as he corners you against a brick wall. Your breath hitches as he places his hands on each of your sides, trapping you. Chuuya gives you a desperate look.

"I can't exist without you. Please, [Name]. I'll...I'll give you anything you want. I'll be anything you need"

Chuuya pleads with his face inches away from yours. You felt deeply disturbed by his behavior as you craned your neck and turned your face away. Chuuya just wants you to come sink into him and let him breathe you in.

"I'll be your gravity, you'll be my oxygen"

Yes, that's it. He'll be your gravity, keeping grounded here on earth and keeping you safe, keeping you from floating away from him. And you'll be his oxygen, the only thing that he needs to stay alive. But Chuuya can feel it, he's losing you. And it's tearing his heart apart so violently that a raw ache filled his senses. You no longer looked at him with those glimmering eyes. You looked at him as if you saw the monster he desperately kept away from you. He can feel it, the ugly monster in him laughing victoriously, laughing at how he lost another. But Chuuya kept grasping on, hoping you'd see through the darkness and see his good intentions. 

However, the longer the Mafioso gazed at your face, he realized that you had made your decision. Chuuya reluctantly pulls himself away. He could see it, the end of him and the end of the world. The moment you looked at him frightfully and walked out of that alleyway, leaving him alone in the darkness, the void in him grew larger. But he knows his heart is still beating, and longing for you, and you only. He'll never learn to yearn for anybody else. So, dig two graves 'cause when you die, he'll swear that he'll be leaving by your side.

Since that night, you ran to Chuuya's house collected every single one of your belongings, and left without wasting a minute. You've decided to move somewhere else, preferably away from Yokohama. You've quit your job and found a new apartment to live in. It was in another city, and it took a while for you to find a new job. All that mattered was that you were out of Chuuya's reach. You felt at ease at the thought he would never find you at your new home and that you would truly be safe now.

However, Chuuya thinks that things never ended. He never ceased to give up. You've never told him to his face that you and he are over, and he took it as another chance. It's not the end, he thinks. It wasn't a hassle to find you, considering the number of resources and connections he had, he found your new home in no time. Chuuya found out about your new job and your newly discreet lifestyle. He finds it adorable that you're trying to hide from him. It will never be over. Chuuya will follow to the ends of the earth. He will still remain to ensure that you're alive.

So, you can drag him through hell, if it meant he can hold your hand. He will follow you, 'cause he's under your spell. And you can throw him to the flames. Chuuya will follow you, he will follow you.

Adjusting to your new environment and lifestyle wasn't easy, so you were naturally stressed. Juggling with the adjustment and hiding from Chuuya drained your energy. So, when you caught a glimpse of ginger hair on the way to work, you almost doubled over. But you sighed in relief when you realized it was just a harmless stranger. You're convinced that you're just stressed when you thought you saw Chuuya amongst the customers you were serving in your new job, you checked again and were reassured that he wasn't hiding amongst those faces. You really think you could use a break because you bumped into a guy on the way home and he had the same azure eyes as Chuuya, you wanted to apologize to the stranger, but he has vanished.

Little by little, the gravity manipulator slowly inserted himself into your life again. He blended into the crowd as he followed you to work. He pretended to be somebody else as you served him at your job. And he would deliberately make contact with you in inconspicuous ways to satisfy his yearning for you. To Chuuya, he's willing to suffer just to have you again.

You can drag him through hell, if it meant he can hold your hand. He will follow you, 'cause he's under your spell. And you can throw him to the flames. Chuuya will follow you, he will follow you. 

©kitasgloves (do not steal or copy)

[nadvs]

i’m ugh i love your take on angst. but twins are usually born early, so when you’re in labor rafes on an away game and you’re going through most of it by yourself

aaa thank you!! omg exactly what i was picturing 🤭

based on this fic

» au masterlist

rafe’s stomach sinks when he gets the phone call.

he’s boarding his team’s jet after an away game. it was the last away game he told management he could do until the birth of his twins, refusing to be out of town when they arrive.

especially because he was traded at the start of the season, moving them even farther away from their hometown. she doesn’t have anyone else close by to help her if she goes into labor.

she’s seven months and three weeks along. the doctors told them multiple births tend to come early. he agreed to do this one last away game, confident he’d make it.

but now, he’s an hour flight away when he gets the call from his girlfriend that she’s having contractions and on her way to the hospital in an ambulance.

he feels like an idiot for taking this risk. for assuming it’d be fine. because now he’s completely and utterly powerless, having to sit on a plane and wait and hope he makes it there before his babies do.

he calls her the second they land, but she doesn’t answer. the call goes straight to voicemail. in the cab, he calls her a few more times. nothing. her phone must have died.

when he runs up to the hospital desk asking where she is, he realizes he’s nearly heaving while the woman at the front desk searches through the system.

finally, he gets a floor and a room number, and he runs up the stairs and through the hallways until he gets to the door he’s been dreaming about coming through for the last two hours.

she looks up when she hears the door creak open. rafe drops the duffel bag strewn over his shoulder and rushes to her. it hasn’t happened yet.

“i’m not too late?” he says, panting.

“no,” she says, looking utterly miserable. she winces as another contraction hits her, squeezing her eyes shut.

“is it hurting?” he grips her hand, her fingers digging into the back of his hand.

she can’t even speak through the pain, trying to breathe through it.

rafe has never felt worse in his life. she’s been here, without him, in pain, all because he made a bad call.

“i’m so sorry,” he whispers. “squeeze my hand as hard as you need to. i deserve it.”

she climbs over the harshest spike of pain, then starts to breathe more evenly as the contraction fades away.

“they keep checking, but i’m not dilated enough,” she tells him. “it’s like my body won’t cooperate.”

“can i get you anything?” he asks anxiously.

“i’m just so glad you made it,” he says.

“i’m so fucking sorry that you’ve been alone.” rafe dips his forehead against her fist closed around his hand.

she bites her lip, her head resting on her pillow. it’s been a nightmare, dealing with the agony and anxiety that she’d be surrounded by strangers during the scariest thing she thinks she’s ever gone through.

her obgyn isn’t on shift, so somebody she doesn’t know will be delivering the babies. she was terrified she’d have to do this without rafe. she looks over at her boyfriend as he kisses her knuckles over and over.

“is this dad?” the nurse says as she comes in.

“yes,” she breathes.

“amazing,” she says cheerfully. “mom is doing great. she’s tough.”

rafe nods, glancing over at his girl, wondering if there’s anything he can do to make up for not being here.

“i’m going to have the doctor on call come in to check up on you again in a few minutes. you still okay without the epidural?”

“yes,” she says.

“just give us a ring if you need us, okay?”

rafe kisses the back of her hand again as the nurse scurries out of the room.

“you seeing how long you can go without it?” he asks, remembering her telling him she was going to only go for the epidural when she was desperate.

“yeah, but i don’t know how much…” she says. “distract me. how was the game?”

“106-88,” he tells her. “easy. they were weak.”

“then why’d you let them get 88 points?” she teases with a small smile.

he stares at her, his gaze heartbroken.

“i’m so sorry i wasn’t here,” he tells her.

“the nurses and doctors have been great,” she says. “they gave me food and water and all the ice chips i could ask for. i’m okay. i was just so scared you wouldn’t make it.”

“i bribed the cab driver to speed,” he admits.

she laughs for the first time in hours.

when the doctor comes to check on her, he tells her she’s still not dilated enough but her blood pressure is getting high, but they’ll keep monitoring.

fifteen minutes later, the doctor checks again and tells her they have no choice but to do a c-section.

it’s all a blur, being rushed to the operating room, prepped for surgery, administered the epidural, feeling the twins kicking her.

once rafe can hold her hand again, he doesn’t let go of her. strangers in scrubs surround her, speaking their jargon, while her strokes her hand with his thumb, whispering to her how much he loves her and how he’ll never leave her side.

their son is born first. they clean him up while delivering their daughter, and when she feels her children resting on her bare chest, she cries in pure disbelief.

rafe kisses her forehead, calling her perfect, their babies perfect, promising that he’ll never leave their side. he can’t believe how close he was to missing this. he’d never forgive himself if he did.

they move to a recovery room. rafe feels helpless watching the hospital staff move through the motions, but once she can rest, the twins swaddled next to each other in a bassinet, he feels like he can breathe again.

in that small moment of quiet, he stands by the bed, seeing the love of his life’s eyelids slowly fluttering after living through such a hard process, seeing the two most perfect babies in the world sleeping next to each other, and tears of awe and happiness well in his eyes.

this is wealth. whatever he thought made him feel fortunate and rich before doesn’t compare to this. the three beautiful beings he’s gazing at right now are all that will ever truly matter to him.

[poithead51]

why do you hate media so much?

matt poitras x fem!socialteam!reader

-

hi y’all this is my first EVER fic so please be nice as i’m starting this new journey. just a lil story based off of a dream i had LMAO

word count: 2.7k

warnings: none, some cursing. just some good old pining with our mp51. reader is 21!

-

“This is where your office will be for the time being. Why don't you put your things down and get comfortable, and l'll come get you in a few. I'll take you to meet Don, Cam, Jim, and the boys."

She nodded and smiled at her new boss, putting her bag down on the chair of her new, albeit small, office. It was probably 10×10ft, but it overlooked the city of Boston in the way she'd always dreamed of. She finally made it - got a position working in media for her childhood, hometown team - the Boston Bruins.

As she paced around the room, all she could do was smile to herself, anxiously awaiting her boss, Angelica, to come retrieve her so she could meet the team.

Boston born and raised, she had always been a hockey fan - specifically a Bruins fan. Brad Marchand's name and jersey number were her laptop password far before he wore the C' on his chest. Jack Edwards' voice was both familiar and nostalgic, as it echoed around her childhood home in the fall, with family crowded up around the TV set watching their B's.

"Y/N, are you ready?" Angelica's voice broke her away from her memories. She grinned as Angelica motioned for her to follow down out of her office and into the Garden. She looked around in disbelief - all of her hard work truly paid off to get here, especially at only 21 years old.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Neely are in an important meeting at the moment. l've made them aware that you are here and ready to start working. We'll go meet Monty and the team now, if that's alright. You can get right on with your first task, the hometown video I mentioned. That's a short and easy one that they'll love to do, and it'll help them get to know you and vice versa. Alright?" Angelica smiled.

"Sounds great." she replied kindly, trailing behind Angelica slowly, as she glanced around the path on the way to the locker room. Her hands started to sweat as they got closer to the door, knowing that Brad Marchand was back there. The other guys too, but mostly Brad.

Angelica knocked on the door before turning to her new hire. *Here goes nothing!" she smiled.

Montgomery comes to the door, a small grin lacing his normally stern face. Angelica speaks again. "This is Y/N, our newest media hire. She hails from Boston University. She gestures to her side proudly, as Y/N offers her hand for Monty to shake. "Mind if we come in and get her started?"

Montgomery laughs. “Sure thing. God knows they're tired of me laying into 'em." He holds the door open for the ladies and clears his throat.

"Gentlemen, we have visitors." His voice booms through the space as he leads the media team to the space the team is sitting.

Y/N glances around. Holy shit. That's him. That's Brad Marchand. And Charlie McAvoy. And David Pastrnak. And Charlie Coyle.

She pinches her own hand to remind herself that this is real life.

Angelica clears her throat to speak. “Hi everyone!You all know me, from the marketing and media team. I wanted to introduce to you our newest member of the media group, who will be working closely with you all as a creator for our social accounts and website. Please give Y/N a warm Bruins welcome."

The team smiles, claps, and Carlo lets out a whoop. Of course he did, she thinks to herself, recalling all of the silly videos of Brandon she's seen over the years on the Bruins pages.

Angelica gestures silently over to her new hire, prompting her to introduce herself. "Hi guys, my name is Y/N and I am so excited to be here. I'm a hometown fan hailing from BU," she is interrupted by a whoop now from McAvoy.

She laughs before continuing. “I'm 21, and just finished my degree in digital marketing a year early. I'II be around you all for the time being creating content for our pages like Angelica said, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know you all. Especially you, Marchy!" she giggles, as laughs, cheers, and boos are heard around the room.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches a slightly unfamiliar face shove Frederic's side with a puss on his face, as Freddy laughs at him. She narrowed her eyes. Who is that?

Monty notices her confusion and steps in. “Alright boys. Does anyone have any questions for Y/N before I let her take over to do her job, since half of you can't do yours?" He scoffs.

Trent starts to speak loudly, as the one next to him lowers his head. "Potsy wants to know-"

“I don't think Y/N, Angelica, or myself want to answer whatever question is going to follow that, Trent.” Monty interjects. “You're dismissed for the day. Practice at Warrior tomorrow at noon, optional skate at 10:30. Do the media and go home." He rolls his eyes, grabs his suit jacket and leaves the room with Angelica, who slips a thumbs up to her new hire.

The room goes silent, with everyone turning to look at their new media girl. She waves timidly before starting to speak. “Alright guys - just an easy one for me today, no hassle. All you have to do is tell me where you come from! What's your hometown. Bonus points for country, state, province, whatever." She smiles. "Anyone want to go first?"

Zadorov jumps out of his seat. "I've been waiting for something like this! I finally can explain my accent." he grumbles as laughs break out throughout the room.

"Alright!" she replies. *This is not mandatory this first go around, but I'd really love it if everyone would participate. I'd love to get to know you and vice versa. You ready Nikita?"

"She knows my name!!!" Zadorov exclaimed, met with cheers and gloves being thrown at him from various spots around the room as the team begins to clean up. As their new media girl turns to leave the room, she makes eye contact with the same player she watched shove Frederic not too long ago. She smiles at him kindly, and he quickly turns around and grabs his things.

She reads the back of his jersey.

51. Poitras.

Oh... The rookie. He's back from injured reserve, she presumes, trying to not read into how quickly he dodged her eye contact and smile.

For the next hour and a half or so, she learns Zadorov hails from Moscow, Swayman from Anchorage, Frederic from St. Louis, and Marchy from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She pretended she didn't know that one already.

She speaks one-on-one with the majority of the team, with the soft spoken folks like Zacha and Peeke slipping out after bidding her a goodbye and brief thank you.

51 never said anything.

She watched as Poitras, who's first name escaped her, waited for Lohrei and Frederic to be done with their quick interviews, and immediately ushered them out of the room upon completion.

No words spoken to the media girl or either of the players, just frantic hurrying out of the locker room.

The whole situation just seemed strange. She tried to rationalize her thoughts, acknowledging that this random rookie didn't know her, and had no reason to dislike her. Maybe he had something going on. A party or shoot to get to, a dinner reservation, or maybe just didn't feel well and wanted to go home and play Xbox or something.

It wasn't her fault. Not on day one.

-

By day 45, it definitely started to feel like her fault.

51, or Matt as she now knows, continued to dodge her constantly - around the office, around the rink, even on his way in and out of the locker rooms. Matt had not done content for media in her entire month and a half long duration with the Bruins. It started to feel personal.

Luckily, she had finally found a rapport with the majority of the team. Marchy, her childhood favorite, became a confidant, always wanting to partake in anything to give him attention. She got a few lip sync videos out of him. Zadorov another she grew close to. But unshockingly, no one came close to touching her relationship with Brandon Carlo. Though truly not that much her senior, Brandon became an older brother figure to her, frequently partaking in her content, chatting with her, and inviting her out with him, his wife Mayson, and their kids.

She had grown so fond of her Bruins family, and it showed in her content. Her silly interviews had started to do numbers on Instagram and TikTok. The Bruins presence on social media skyrocketed, and she began to receive tasks from her bosses to include as many players as possible.

Her newest task? Intro to the new guys.

Of fucking course.

She started with Lohrei. He was the easiest - just wanted to do what he knew he had to and get back to the ice. She liked that about him. Being the same age, they had a similar respect for each other. And sent each other TikToks on occasion.

After Beecher, Koepke, Jones, Zadi, and Lindy #2, Kastelic was next - though not new to the league, only the B's. Though she knew he was from Arizona and is a former Ottawa Senator, she learned Kasty is an NHL nepo baby.

“Y/N... You can't start calling me nepo baby.. it's not like l'm a Tkachuk." Mark rolled his eyes, the girl laughing in response, clutching her abdomen.

"Kasty, as far as l'm concerned, you might as well be the lost third brother. You're just as much of a rat!"

"Oh... That's low..." he cackled.

"Whatever. Get outta here, and send the next guy in!" she called.

"Will do!" Kasty replied diligently, turning on his heels to go out into the hall. She knew Matt was next. He was the only new guy' left. Being a fan favorite, she knew he needed to be in this video series.

What is taking so long??

She crossed her arms and tapped her feet anxiously, waiting for Poitras to come into the interview room.

“Dude, you actually need to grow up. This is part of the job." She hears Mark's voice through the wall. Her stomach sinks. Is he talking to Matt?

She approaches the door, leaning her ear up against it. "Do you really think this does you any favors? You're such a kid. This isn't the minors, Matt." Kasty's voice booms nastily.

She feels the tears well up in her eyes. She had the feeling that Matt didn't like her, but to fight with a teammate over having to be in an interview video? Was she really that bad at her job?

She walks away from the wall when she hears scrambling on the other side. She wipes her tears as Mark comes back into the room, the one and only Matt Poitras trailing behind him. Kastelic rolls his eyes. "Matt hates media, sorry. He needs to be out as soon as possible or he'll start to freak out." Mark leaves, slamming the door behind him.

Matt sighs, running his hand through his hair.

"Sorry, Y/N. Can we just get this over with?" he says, uneasiness audible in his voice.

She takes a deep breath as she turns her camera back on. "Sure thing, Matt. Why don't you tell me a little about your life growing up?"

-

A few days later, she aggressively flops down onto the carlo family couch. "Brandon, I have a genuine question."

Brandon cocks his eyebrow, bringing dinner over to Y/N and Mayson. "This can't be good." he chuckles.

She throws her arms up exasperatedly. "This is not a joke! I need answers.” Brandon ushers her on. “Is there a reason Poitras hates media so much?"

Brandon lets out the smallest giggle under his breath, making eyes at Mayson. The girl continues, solemnly. "Is it me? Did I do something?"

"Oh my god. No. You didn't. Open your eyes!" Brandon all but yells, not wanting to wake up the kids.

She furrows her brow. “Brandon. I've known you for just under two months and here I am, eating dinner on your couch with your family. Poitras won't do much as speak to me, and he avoids me and media at all costs. I don't know what I did to him." she feels her eyes start to water again.

Brandon sighs. “Dude, have you ever considered that you make him nervous?"

"What? He's a professional hockey player Brandon, that makes no sens-"

“Y/N, he has a crush on you. Since day one. It is slowly killing all of us." Mayson starts to giggle as Y/N's jaw drops, Brandon looking very proud of himself.

"What?"

"You have to say something to him. Please. For the rest of our sake. Monty almost killed him last week when he fucked up that drill in practice - he got distracted when he noticed you in the stands with the camera. If you don't say something to him soon, Monty's gonna send him to Providence!!" Brandon laughed, a lot less quiet this time. Mayson, also still laughing, shushed him between giggles.

-

Monday morning, she shows up to practice with her camera, an evil (Carlo) plan in her brain.

Up in the stands, she notices as she catches Matt's eye. She waves and smiles as he skates into Lohrei's back distractedly. Mason shoves him in response, laughing as he realizes he had been looking at the girl up in the stands.

When Monty calls practice, she heads down to the locker room, searching for Matt. She knocks, signifying her entrance into the room. she calls into the room. "Hey guys, it's Y/N. I need Potsy for an exclusive. Boss's orders." She smiles as she rounds the corner, her order met by whoops and wolf whistles.

Matt blushes, giving his team the stink eye as he approaches her. He starts quietly. “What is this for? They know I don't like doing media."

She gives him a soft smile. "It's a silly TikTok. Ranking snacks. You're a hot commodity, Matty, fans want to see you online!" He blushes again, grabbing his water bottle and following her out of the locker room.

They hear a faint "GET IT!" from Pastrnak as the door closes.

-

Matt sits down in the interview space, accepting her phone with TikTok open on it.

"Loosen up, it's just a video. Everyone loves you - they want to see you be silly" She smiles.

He blind ranks the snacks, frustratedly putting cheetos above protein bars after he didn't plan accordingly. He grins timidly as he gives the phone back to her. He pushes his chair back, and starts to get up to leave. “I hope that was enough. I gotta g-”

“Matt, wait." She gently grabs his arm. "Sit back down for a second. I have more questions!"

His face heats up as he sits back down. "About what? I thought I already did my get to know you thing weeks ago." He rolls his eyes unconvincingly.

She giggles in reply. "They're questions from me.”

"Of course they are, you're the media girl. I don't understand."

"No. This is Y/N asking Matt a question. Not the media girl asking the rookie." She smirks. "I just want to know - why do you hate media so much?Did I do something? You did fine when it was Angelica."

Matt sighs. "It's nothing personal, Y/N. I just get nervous."

She smirks again. "Matt, I know it's personal.”

Sighing louder this time, Matt speaks again. “Y/N, whatever Freddy or Kasty or whoever else told you is not true, I have nothing against yo-"

"Matt, I have a crush on you too."

Matt freezes. "What?"

“I know that's why you won't do media. Why do you think I keep asking you to do it anyway?"

"Boss's orders?" He smiles shyly.

"Something like that." She pulls a piece of paper out of her camera bag, scribbling digits onto it. "Here's my number, Pots. Don't lose it, okay?"

She gets up, turns on her heels, and opens the door back to the locker room.

"I'll call you!" He calls after her.

“I’m sure you will.”

-

hope u like it bruins gals :P accepting NON SMUT requests for rn

[mysunshinetemptress]

Leah Williamson x Royal!Reader

Disclaimer: I’m sorry it’s taken so long I hated the first draft so deleted it and went again. It’s not my best but I’ve been so busy with college that I wanted to give you something cause you guys have been waiting ages

The media coverage on the run up to the wedding had been enormous, so much so both you and Leah found it difficult to leave Kensington Palace as swarms of people either the media or fans had gathered just past the gates. You where nervous if Leah saw this all becoming to much and decided to call the wedding off, she was a private person one who had been allowed to live a private life along with her professional career up until you had both been spotted on your fifth date, after that it seems as though the floodgates had opened and although you had tried to close them for her you couldn’t.

Both your family as well as Leah’s had all been arriving in to London getting ready to go out to one final dinner before you became a married couple. You had attended a dinner a few nights ago held in you apartment in Kensington palace with all your friends, this meant all of Leah’s Arsenal teammates as well as England teammates international friends from different teams as well as her hometown friends and others she had picked up along the way, while your circle was much smaller always being conscious of picking the right friends ones who loved you for you and not your title. That didn’t mean you had any less of a good time then Leah you had clicked with her friends so effortlessly the first you had met that she almost always swore she would have married you on the spot each time.

The dinner with your family’s wasn’t much different only it was held in Buckingham palace. Leah’s family included both her parents, brother Aunts and Uncles as well cousins, at this dinner you seemed to have had the bigger circle with you Father and his wife, both your brothers and their wives and then your Aunts and Uncles as well as all your cousins and their partners. You had been ever so gracious though and although Leah’s family had met yours many times over the royal protocol had always been a difficult thing to grasp for anyone who wasn’t born into and so you had stayed by Leah and her family’s side giving them signals of when to do things as well as what to call everyone, that was until the alcohol was brought out and all the protocols went out the window, you smiled leaning back into Leah watching your family’s get on so well, relaxed after showing themselves instead of the stuffy upperclass family they could be in the public eye.

The days suddenly began to feel more real as the last of the preparations for the wedding had finished, Windsor Castle was set to welcome another wedding and the buzz around the Uk had begun to grow, Leah would show you the videos family and friends sent her of you both on coffee cups, masks of your faces and flags to which you would both laugh and tell each other that you would get it for Christmas.

Two days out from the wedding you rang you brother in a panic, it was the middle of the night and Leah slept peacefully as you paced the floor of the living room crying down the phone as fear set in “what if this is all to much for her Will what if she realises how heavy this family is what if she doesn’t love me enough to see past that.” William had tried and failed to calm you down he had been telling you over and over that Leah did in fact love you as well as wouldn’t just leave you but nothing seemed to work until your sister in law took the phone from him. “Y/n love it’s Kate. I need you to breath for me ok and then tell me what’s going on.” You let out a breath sighing before telling her what you had just told Will “oh Y/n, I know it’s hard and I know you worry that she doesn’t love you or that all of this is to much for her but she loves you just as much as you love her, you have shown her from the beginning if she said the word you would drop everything and stand back, you have shown her that if she wants to live this life with you you would be there with her every step of the way. Leah wants to marry you because she loves you, because she knows that no matter how big of a role she is stepping into that you are with her every minute ok.” You let out a quite ok before jumping feeling arms wrap around you “Thank you both of you I’m so sorry I woke you up I’ll see you soon.” Kate smiled “no problem that’s what we are here for goodnight Y/n.” Leah restated her cheek on your shoulder “what’s wrong baby.” You relaxed into her hold “My head was so loud, I’m sorry I didn’t want to wake you.” Leah shook her head turning you around “don’t apologise talk to me I’m here for you no matter what time the clock reads.” “I feel really stupid because I know you love me I do but I worry that this is all to much.” Leah looked at you eyes soft “what is all to much my love.” You felt the tears well up in your eyes “this life, the constant struggle of being a family and an institution, the wait of the crown.” Leah sighed whipping your cheeks free of tears “ with you nothing is to much ever, I wouldn’t have asked you to marry me if I didn’t know what I was walking into and I definitely wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t think we could get through this together.” You nodded pulling back “it’s me and you my girl we have talked about this and if I have to remind you till your old and grey I will ok.” You couldn’t help but pull her into tight resting your head in the crook of her neck “me and you.” You stayed like that a while longer before Leah squeezed you “let’s get to bed.” You nodded before pulling her hand “I want to ask you something first.” Leah nodded pulling you to the couch “anything.” You let out a breath before talking “your achievements both in your professional career and in your career off the pitch in making sure women have a voice and expanding the game, they are your own achievements.” Leah nodded slightly confused “I….Papa wants to give us a dukedom. It’s a title every child of the monarch gets should they wish for it.” Leah squeezed your hand telling you to continue “I don’t want it.” “Y/n you can’t stand back you….what this is crazy you are the voice of so much change and good in this world.” You shook your head “I’m not standing back, I am simply not letting your achievements that you have worked so hard on be over shadowed by a title, you can’t choose if they give us a dukedom you can’t voice your opinions the way you do now and I’m scared they might ask you to stop playing and I don’t want that for you not for a long time, you have so much left to do but if my father gives us a title like that it won’t work in our favour.” Leah finally understood, you where looking out for her once again in a world she didn’t know much about. “Are you sure.” You nodded “I am.” Leah pulled you in for a kiss “ok then talk to him and tell him, I don’t know how much support I will be but I have your back on this ok.” You nodded pulling her up into another kiss before heading to bed.

The day before the wedding you found yourself sat on the kitchen counter writing emails as Leah stood in between your legs tracing soft patters on your back “are you nearly done, I want to spend the next few hours we have left cuddled on the couch.” You hummed pressing a kiss to her head “one more and then you get me until September my love.” Leah sighed resting her head on your chest “fine but the cars coming to pick me up in five hours.” You rolled your eyes at her whining before pressing send and kissing her “all done my love let’s go.”

You stood out in the courtyard talking to Amanda as you waited on Leah to come down with the last of her things to spend the night in the hotel “what time do you leave.” You sighed looking at your watch “an hour tops, I wanted to give you guys enough time to clear before I left didn’t need you guys getting followed.” Amanda nodded “nervous.” You smiled at the older woman “about marrying Le no, about all the people watching yes .” Amanda took your hand “they all fade away the minute you meet her at the alter I promise you will be so wrapped up in each other you won’t realise how many people or cameras there are.” You sighed nodding. Amanda looked at you worriedly “Y/n are you sure your ok.” You let her eyes your own filling with tears “You have been the mum I never got to have, and I never say it enough how thankful I am but I hope you don’t mind that I have looked at you like a mother figure since Leah and I started dating.” Amanda pulled you into a hug “oh love I don’t mind I love you like you where my own and I have since Leah brought you home all those years ago.” You squeezed her tight “I love you too.” The moment was ruined when Leah came running out the door “ok so I think I have everything if not don’t care…hey I want to get in on the group hug.” Both you and Amanda laughed pulling away as you whipped your cheeks “no time I’m afraid my love you are late.” Leah looked at you eyebrows pushed together in worry at your red eyes “you ok.” You nodded quickly “I’m not sad don’t worry just emotional but that’s ok now go so I can marry your gorgeous ass sooner.” Leah laughed pulling you into a heavy kiss “I love you.” You nodded “I love you.”

You stood in corridor staring at a painting of your grandparents “that is probably my favourite painting of them together.” You hummed “they talked about this day ever since you came home going on and on about a blonde girl from Milton Keynes, your Granny had approved of this wedding the minute she met Leah and saw how happy she made you, made me promise I would never tell you not to marry her, my response was by god do you think I’m crazy people that in love kept apart well it’s only ever been written by Shakespeare and it doesn’t end well.” You couldn’t help but laugh “death is a bit extreme papa I would have simply ran away.” Charles laughed “our lives are mostly laid out for us in this world we live in whether we know it or not..my great grandfather was an example when his brother abdicated he was thrusted into a role he was never fully prepared for and one your grandmother is so certain killed him.. the knock on effect was that his line of succession became us..my mother was told from then on that all decisions she thought she was allowed to make would be no more and that she couldn’t just marry any man she had once hoped for.. although she always states it worked out in the end and she ended up living a long happy life with your grandfather by her side.” Charles paused trying to gain your reaction “I am simply king by accident of birth most would say.. our family belief is that god himself has placed me here because I am the only one at this current moment of time strong enough to convey his message to his people.” You scoffed at this, you loved your family but that belief was completely backwards and it was something you had been taught to keep your mouth shut over since you where a child “that meant I myself had to marry right and ultimately I left and the woman I loved couldn’t wait for me. Your mother was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.” You turned facing your father now “she was absolutely breathtaking and it was a plus she came from an aristocratic family as well as her soft nature that won us all over and I knew she would be the one that would help me carry this weight, but we where so different and I realised that although she was breathtaking and kind and a wonderful mother and no matter how much I tried to convince myself I only ever loved her.” Your father turned looking at you as you stated back at him with soft eyes “but I was never in love with her, and for that I am always sorry, she lived no one should ever have to and I am partial to blame as well as those photographs but I am not sorry for the nights we shared together blissfully loved up in one another’s presence Y/n I need you to know that our greatest achievements where our three children and although one of us is here physically to witness this she is just as proud to watch you fall in love, to marry someone who is equally as in love as you someone who makes you laugh uncontrollably that we all stop just to listen, she is at peace knowing you are all happy, we both are at peace.” You took your fathers hand staring at him eyebrows creased together “ I never got to know her and it is something that has always effected my ability to feel how much she loved me, but this entire experience the run up to the wedding to how it will happen tomorrow has shown me that I have always been loved by her just as much as Will and Harry, I don’t hold it against you papa it’s not your fault you couldn’t love her it’s not hers either your heart simply beat for Camilla and I am happy you got that happy ending and now in some way I feel like Mum gets hers too come tomorrow at 1pm she does anyway.” Charles placed a kiss to your hand patting it gently “I wish you both a life time of happiness and that no matter how dark some days may seem to be just know that you have a friend crawling through that tunnel with you trying to get to the same light and it’s always easier if you work together.” You nodded “goodnight papa.” Charles smiled “goodnight peach.”

Leah stud fixing her cuff links on her left a gold cannon and on her right a crown both representing her beloved football team and the other the royal she was most definitely in love with. Jacob knocked on her door “eh mum said you needed something blue for the wedding so here.” Leah looked at her brother shocked “get that way no way in hell am I using anything with that stupid bird on it no no way not funny.” Jacob laughed “I’m sorry I had to, here Y/n said this should do.” Leah looked down at blue ticket “Jacob what is this.” Jacob smiled at his older sister “it’s the parking ticket to London Colony the day you both first met, she said for today you could borrow it since she guessed you wouldn’t have anything else.” Leah looked up at her brother shocked “how…what I can’t believe she has this.” Jacob smiled nodding “quite the romantic wife you got there.” Leah couldn’t taker her eyes off the ticket whispering out a quite yeah.

You stood fixing the tiara that sat on her head before looking at her brothers “what.” Harry shook his head “nothing it’s just you look so much like Mum it’s crazy.” You smiled at him “you think.” William nodded “we do.” There was a knock on the door as James still his head through “Miss Williamson has left for the chapel, it’s now or never your royal highness.” You turned to your brothers “ready.” You nodded picking up your dress “yep.”

Leah stood at the later of St George’s chapel Jacob standing just behind her as she looked at her family in the pews before straightening up as here comes as a classical version of Can’t help falling in love played through the chapel. The song had been chosen as a way to tie in The Queen and Prince Philip after you both found them dancing to it during a late night wonder around Balmoral Castle. Leah felt her lip trembling as she watched your nieces and nephews walk down ahead of you waving to them smiling as she waved them off before freezing as she caught your eye, your father walking beside you proud as ever as your brothers held the back of your dress gently. Leah quickly lifted her hand up to clear the stray tear as she smiled your father before looking back at you “hi.” You smiled at her softly before she quickly burst into tears again. You pulled her softly into letting her rest her head in your neck “I would cry too but I can’t remember if they put the waterproof mascara on and I really don’t fancy having to get through this looking like a panda.” Leah laughed sniffling as she pulled her head back up apologising softly. The Archbishop looked at you both making sure you where ready before he began “We are gathered here today to witness the greatest love story to grace us in nearly a century, who gives this bride away.” Charles stepped forward “I do.” Charles reached over taking Leah’s hand before placing it in yours “Congratulations to you both.” You smiled “thank you papa.” Charles stood back patting your brothers as they took up their grooms men posts behind you.

Amanda had been right the minute you locked eyes with Leah the world had vanished and the friends and family who had gathered to watch had simply disappeared “I missed you.” Leah whispered as you both sat watching the Archbishop hands never letting go of one another “Le it wasn’t even 24 hours.” Leah smiled “yes but every second away from you is torture.” You smiled squeezing her hand “Did you get my surprise.” Leah turned eyes full of love “you surprise me everyday and make me fall more in love with you every second your incredible.” You smiled “and I’m about to be your wife.” You both stood in front of the Archbishop as he finished his speech “repeat after me I Leah Cathrine , take The Y/n Margaret Elizabeth Victoria to be my lawfully wedded wife in for richer for poor, in sickness and in health. Till death do us part.” Leah sighed placing the ring on your hand repeating the words as her eyes never left yours. “I Y/n Margaret Elizabeth Victoria take the Leah Cathrine to be my lawfully wedded Wife in for rich or poor in sickness and in health till death do us part.” Your hand shakes slightly as you slide the ring on to Leah’s hand looking up as she squeezed it “your ok.” You nodded repeating the words “well I now pronounce you Wife and Wife you may now kiss the bride. Leah didn’t hesitate scooping you into her arms before kiss you hungrily. Leah let you go as the chapel erupted into cheers but you couldn’t take your eyes off each other.

You curtsied to your father before making your way back down the isle to the front steps of the chapel to crowds applauding, you waved smiling at them before Leah pulled you into another kiss “hey.” Leah laughed “just giving the crowd what they wanted.” You made your way down the steps getting into the carriage as you both left the grounds making your way through Windsor waving at people before turning up the long walk. “Have I told you how gorgeous you are.” Leah smiled at you “I don’t believe so.” You laughed “oh I’m so sorry worst wife ever “you look absolutely gorgeous my love.” You smiled resting your head slightly on her shoulder “you are the best wife one could ask for my darling.”

Heading through the gates the public part of the day was over as you headed into the main hall to spend the rest of the day with your guests. You had both mingled Leah making sure your where in arms reach at any given moment as your guests congratulated you both on your day as well as wished you look to the future. Finally it was time for your first dance and you couldn’t help but become nervous as you held Leah’s hand making your way to the dance floor. Leah turned flipping off her friends as they began to whistle in delight, Georgia shouting out “Keep it PG Le yeah.” You laughed as Leah pulled you close just before Can’t take my eyes off of you by Frankie Valli.

The night raged on a lot more and became something of a scene once the children had been sent to bed you hadn’t seen the lionesses drink like this since they won the Euros, yourself and Leah on the other hand had decided not to drink anymore scared of forgetting the day. At 5am the hall had finally cleared out leaving just you and your wife swaying to Stand by Me by Ben E King. “This has been the best day of my life you know.” You hummed your head in her shoulder “I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you.” You lifted your head “I can’t believe it either but there was never going to be anyone else.” Leah pulled you into a kiss humming softly “I love you.” You kissed Leah passionately “I know but I loved you first.” Leah couldn’t help but smile “Well I get to love you last.” Leah kissed you again and you would never admit it but you loved this back and forth“Hmm promise.” Leah nodded energetically “I promise to love you till the stars come calling, it’s me and you my girl even after we become simple sparks in the sky.” You pulled apart “I don’t want the night to end in fear that it wasn’t real.” Leah shook her head “if we go to bed now then we get to wake up wives.” You laughed pulling her in for one more kiss “ok Mrs Williamson take me to the Bedroom.” Leah laughed “Gladly Mrs Williamson.”

[maevstar]

| Introducing myself in my fame dr ᯓᡣ𐭩

ᝰ. My name is Maeve Amelie Solace, but people usually call me by “Mae”.

ᝰ. I’m 26yo and I’m an A-list american actress and singer. (I was born in 1997 but I didn’t turned 27 yet).

ᝰ. I started my way on acting when I was 16 when my older brother was doing a play on high school and begged me to participate. I did, and since then I’ve been in love with acting.

ᝰ. When I graduated from high school i moved out from my hometown — Austin, Texas — to LA and entered to UCLA School of Theater.

ᝰ. My first big project in Hollywood was “The Edge of Seventeen” when I was 19-20yo, before that I just worked with small projects, mostly from my uni.

ᝰ. That project gave me more visibility in the industry and I became more well known.

ᝰ. Some of my films: The Edge of Seventeen, The School for Good and Evil (adaptation of the books), Lady bird, Scream 4 (2018), Little Woman, Causeway, We Live in a Time, Challengers, Me Before You, Glass Onion 2, Duna, Anyone but You, Don’t look up, No hard feelings, Don’t worry darling, The outrun, and etc.

ᝰ. Some of my shows: Supernatural (Claire Novak), Looking for Alasca, YOU, outer banks (season 4).

ᝰ. I’ve been nominated for the Oscar 4 times as the best Actress in a Leading Role, but I’m just gonna win the award in the 4th time (2024). Futhermore, i’ve won a lot of awards and nominations like Emmy’s and Golden Globes. In 2022, I entered the list of The Most Influential People by Time Magazine.

Now, my singer career:

ᝰ. My mom is a country singer — not much known — in Texas, so I’ve grew up loving music, and I’ve been writing songs since I was 15, but these never turned into real songs, until 2019-2020, when I recorded my EP’s.

ᝰ. My first EP is called “Minor” and it has 7 songs. I released it in 2019 just for fun, was some songs that I’ve been writing during the years. In 2020 I released more 2 EPs, called “Bittersweet” and “Good Riddance”, with 7 and 10 songs respectively, again, just for fun.

ᝰ. Now, my new coming up project on music is my first Album, called “The Secret Of Us”, it has 13 songs (+ 7 from deluxe) and all of them will have a music video, cause my objective is making a visual album.

ᝰ. With my new album, I intend to go on my first tour.

Fun facts about me:

ᝰ. I know ballet and gymnastics cause when my sister was 8 years old she wanted to learn but was scared to do it alone, so I used to go to classes with her.

ᝰ. I have 3 siblings, Will, Kayla and Austin. Will is 2 years older than me, Kayla is younger than me 4 years and Austin is 8 years younger than me. (Another fun fact is that Austin is adopted).

ᝰ. My s/o is Drew Starkey, I met him in a party at Maddie Cline’s house (2021). Also, Madelyn is my best friend and I’m very close to the cast of the outer banks too.

ᝰ. I’m in fact brazilian. I was born there but my family moved to the US when I was 8 — my father is brazilian but my mom is from us, she was in a trip when met my dad in brazil and blablabla — so I have dual nationality. (latinas are better lol). But when I was 14, I moved again to Brazil and lived there for almost 2 years with my aunt before I came back to US.

ᝰ. When I was 16, I made a YouTube channel with my brother Will and we used to talk about the most random things ever (btw it was a flop lol, this channel just came up when we became famous). (another fun fact is that he is also a well known actor, but more on theater plays than on screen).

ᝰ. When I was in high school, I was planning on going to med school — mostly because of my dad, he’s a doctor (my obsession with greys anatomy might got me inclined to that too🤭) — but then I fell in love with acting (when I was 16, like i said) and never quit. Besides that, I’m still very interested with things related to science and human body, stuff like that; most of things that I know are bc of my dad tho.

ᝰ. I’m polyglot. I speak Portuguese, English, Italian, Spanish and a bit of French and Latin. I also know ASL.

ᝰ. I still don’t know how to ride bikes without training wheels cause no one ever taught me (😭).

ᝰ. I love the sea, beaches, everything related to that, it’s one of my favorite places in the world.

mood boards; mood boards details;

─────── ୨ৎ ───────

[daisynik7]

“Meet Me Halfway” by Black Eyed Peas - fluff for Jean Kirstein please i BEG i love this song so bad

Meet Me Halfway

Can you meet me halfway? Right at the borderline is where I’m gonna wait for you.

Pairing: Jean Kirstein x reader (gn)

Word Count: ~2.1k

cw: red string of fate/soulmates trope, canon universe, canon divergent, spoilers up to Season 4, fluff

Summary: Jean’s red string of fate was loose ever since he was born. It seems like everyone but himself has found their soulmate here on Paradis. It’s only when the scouts finally head towards the sea that his string becomes a little less slack. Could it be that his fated partner is on the other side in Marley, behind enemy lines?

Author’s Note: Hi anon! Thanks for the request for the y2k karaoke party! I’ve been fascinated by the red string of fate/soulmates trope for a while now, so I wanted to try my hand at it here! This is just a little taste of this, maybe I’ll expand on this story in the future. Likes, reblogs, and/or comments are always appreciated, thanks for reading! Divider credits to @/saradika.

The first time they ever see the ocean, they’re speechless, neither of them speaking to one another, taking in the breathtaking view. Cerulean blue shimmers throughout the entire expanse, nearly a mirror image of the clear sky above. It took them a few days to get here and Jean was beginning to doubt just how great this thing called “the sea” could be. He never expected anything like this, though. As if the picturesque scene before him isn’t enough to get his heart racing, for the first time in his entire sixteen years of living, the red string tied around his wrist, only for him to see and feel, finally tightened just the slightest. 

The lore behind the red string of fate is no secret among those living in Paradis. Each child is born with it cinched around their wrist; the other end supposedly tied to their soulmate. Jean’s has been slack since he can remember. That is, until now. While it isn’t as taut as some of his other friends, like Mikasa with Eren and now Armin with Annie, only he can tell the difference. It’s been a running joke since they found out the truth about the other side. Connie teases him and Sasha about it constantly. “Maybe your soulmates are in Marley? How does it feel to be bounded to our enemy?”

Sasha, like Jean, has never felt any differences in her rope throughout her lifetime. He turns to face her, pointing to his wrist, curious if she feels the same. Her jaw is dropped, and when she notices him signaling to her, she closes it, gulping loudly, slowly nodding. 

When they all dismount their horses to explore the water, Jean momentarily forgets about it, focusing only on how cold the ocean feels on his feet, how salty is tastes on his tongue, how incredibly far it reaches, surely farther than his eyes can see. It’s only after their skin starts to wrinkle that they retreat, sitting on the warm sand instead, watching the waves crash onto the shore. He nudges Sasha. “So, you felt it too, right?”

“Yeah, I did,” she answers, hesitant. She caresses her wrist in her other hand, biting her lip.

Connie butts in. “Felt what?”

“Our strings. They’re a little less loose now that we’re here.”

He smirks. “I told you! Your soulmates are on the other side!”

Jean leans back against his hands, groaning. “I don’t want my soulmate to be on the other side. The other side has been trying to kill us for hundreds of years! This is so messed up.”

Sasha hugs her knees, pouting. “I agree. This sucks.”

Connie pats her shoulder. “Hey, you don’t have to marry your soulmate, you know. Plenty of people don’t! My parents weren’t soulmates, and they turned out just fine.”

“But you’re planning on marrying Hannah, aren’t you? Once this is all over?” Hannah is a childhood friend from Connie’s hometown, and the two have been in much more contact recently. 

He chuckles. “I mean, not right now. But yeah, maybe in the future…”

“So your argument makes no sense!”

“This is different though! If your soulmate really is in Marley, I think the universe will forgive you for not marrying our enemy.”

Jean groans again, staring at the glistening ocean in front of him, shaking his head. “I just can’t believe they’re really out there and not here.” 

There isn’t much they can do for now, considering they have no means to get to Marley with the current resources they have. Jean buries it in the back of his mind, trying not to think about it while they spend the next month building a base near the shore. They anticipate a Marleyan ship to arrive soon, scoping the island before implementing their attack to capture Eren, the Founding Titan. What the other side doesn’t anticipate is Paradis being prepared to ambush them to carry out their own plan in infiltrating Marley. The first one arrives when they expect it. With Eren’s Titan abilities protecting the rest of them, they manage to capture the ship easily, taking those on-board hostage for questioning. Sasha, who is usually uninterested when it comes to matters not involving food, is surprisingly invested. She watches carefully from outside the tent, waiting for them to be released from their interrogation. Jean accompanies her, unclear about her intentions until she explains to him. “My string, Jean. It’s tight. My soulmate is in there.”

They haven’t talked about it since, both choosing to ignore it for the time being. Jean’s is still as slack as the first day they arrived here, and if he’s being honest to himself, it’s crosses his mind nearly every day. A small part of him wishes he was experiencing what Sasha currently is.

Eventually, a young man with brown eyes and blonde hair steps out, looking terrified. He glances at his wrist, then his surroundings, landing his gaze on Sasha’s, who’s peeking from behind a box. She gasps loudly upon eye contact, kneeling down to hide completely. Jean does the same, not before noticing the man make a similar expression, surely curious.

Sasha doesn’t say anything more about it, though Jean can tell she’s intrigued. A few days later, like fate, the man who they find out is named Niccolo, starts working at the port as a chef. Sasha is smitten as soon as she takes a bite of his food, and from then on, the two are inseparable. Jean can’t help but feel jealous. 

With all of his friends acquainted with their soulmates, Jean is growing more and more impatient by the day. It takes over two years for Paradis to organize their first trip to Marley and he’s among the first to volunteer, not only to help the scout’s reconnaissance of enemy soil, but for his own ulterior motive to finally find his soulmate. He doesn’t disclose this to anyone, though he’s certain that his best friends have a hunch. 

When they finally arrive to Marley, it’s stimulation overload. They attempt to stick together as soon as they step foot off the ship, though it’s difficult when there are so many new and exciting things to try. It’s especially hard for Jean when he notices his string getting more and more taut with each step he takes deeper into the city. 

They all decide to split up momentarily to explore, agreeing to meet back at the port in an hour. Jean and Connie follow Sasha through the crowded streets. She’s being led by her noise and eyes, searching for the tastiest, most delectable looking treats to try upon Niccolo’s instructions. “You have to try ice cream!” he told her days before they departed and it hasn’t left Sasha’s mind since. She sneaks glances at the small note he gave her, trying to match the words he wrote to the storefronts. “There! I see it! An ice cream parlor!” She rushes towards a colorful shop, pushing her face towards the glass window, drooling. Connie drags her towards the entrance, which dings as they walk through. Jean increases his pace to catch up and the string around his wrist is tight now. He scans his surroundings, trying to see what direction the little rope is pointing to. As he follows his friends inside the shop, it’s unbelievable taut now, and he’s certain that his soulmate is inside this ice cream parlor. His heart races, simultaneously terrified and excited to meet you. 

~~~

A little over two years ago, you notice the string around your wrist feels heavier on you than usual. You’re often teased about your soulmate being an “island devil” on Paradis, considering you’re the only Eldian left in Liberio without a one. In all honestly, it doesn’t bother you, the idea of your destined partner being on the other side. Even if they are an “island devil”, you’d still like to meet them. After all, you’re soulmates for a reason, right?

You spend several minutes each day sitting at the port, staring out towards the sea, wondering what they are like. You ignore the propaganda that’s been spewed at you since birth and instead fantasize about what their interests are. Do they like the same things that you do? What do you have in common, besides the rope that ties you together? How much taller or shorter are they, what color hair do they have? Do their eyes twinkle with kindness the way you picture they do? Will their smile be as charming as you imagine it? You dream about this for over two years, slowly letting the fantasy fade into the back of your mind before you lose your sanity. It’s easy to obsess over something, but it’s hard to get out of it once it consumes you. There’s no guarantee that you’ll ever meet them at this rate, so you go about your life as usual, distracting yourself from any romanticized ideas of your uncertain love story.

Today, you’re behind the counter of the ice cream parlor you work at. You started working here several months ago, hoping to be near the port in case one day, they arrive. The past few days, you convince yourself it’s just your imagination, the gradual tightening of the string. This morning, it’s tauter than it’s ever been before, and you’re certain you’re not making this up anymore; they’re here, they’re actually here. 

There isn’t time to go looking for them yourself, so you begin your shift, itching for the hours to pass quickly so that you can leave to begin your search. Fortunately, you don’t have to. Two people around your age enter the shop first, behaving oddly. They’re dressed normally, though something about them piques your interest. It’s especially alarming at how stiff the string is now, so you inspect each of their wrists carefully, dejected when you don’t see a match. The girl presses her nose to the glass, ogling at the ice cream displayed in the freezer, drooling. Her friend, a boy with a shaved head, tugs her off, apologizing with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry about her. She gets a little crazy when she sees something she wants.”

You smile at them. “No need to apologize. Our ice cream is the best in town, so her reaction is understandable. What would you like?”

The girl blurts out, “Everything!” 

“Sasha! We don’t have enough money for everything!” 

She pouts, eyes flitting across each flavor. “But they all look so good! How am I supposed to decide which one to pick?!”

Feeling generous, you offer, “I can do a sampler platter, if you’d like.”

Sasha’s face brightens. “Really?! You’d do that? How much would that cost? Connie, how much do we have?!”

You wave them off, beaming at them. “It’s on the house. Consider it some good old Marley hospitality.”

They gawk at you, shocked, and it only makes you giggle louder. You retrieve one of your larger bowls and ready your scooper, starting at one end of the freezer. The bell on the front door rings, but you’re too busy to greet the new customer directly. “I’ll be with you in just a moment!” 

It’s only now that you realize how stiff the string is, practically quivering now from being pulled so tight. You look up and see a young man staring at you, holding his wrist up with the same red string coiled around him, an uneasy grin on his face. “Hello.”

You almost drop the scooper into the carton, astonished to have finally found him. “Hi,” you say, heat rushing into your cheeks, taken aback at how handsome he is. “Um, let me just finish this.”

“Jean, you’re distracting our new friend here! She’s giving us all this ice cream for free!” Sasha exclaims, salivating over the bowl overflowing with ice cream now. 

He smiles at you, running his fingers in his hair. “Sorry. Please, continue.”

It takes you a few seconds to refocus back on your task. Eventually, you scoop all twelve flavors into a bowl, handing it off to Sasha and Connie, who dig in immediately as soon as they sit down. You pass a spoon to Jean. “Would you like to try? Before your friends finish it off?”

He laughs, grabbing it. “I guess I should, right?”

“Or I could scoop your own if you’d like. Which one do you want to try?”

He studies each carton carefully, pointing at your favorite flavor by coincidence. “This one is calling out to me for some reason.”

Your heart beats quicker, amazed by this serendipity. “That’s my favorite,” you admit, getting him a scoop.

“I had a feeling it would be,” he replies, beaming.

[10piecechickenmcnugget]

lineup of the main 4 in my empires dungeon meshi au;; more info under the cut (there’s a lot of it. kudos to you if you read all that)

oli: oli is a halfling. his hometown was destroyed in a monster attack after a nearby dungeon collapsed when he was little, however he doesn’t remember this and no one ever told him. he presumes his parents are dead (they are)

he was taken in by a nearby town of primarily tall-men, who were unfamiliar with traditional halfling naming conventions and as such just named him oliver. he doesn’t technically have a last name

he’s been studying bard magic since he was 15. halflings have a lower magic tolerance, so bard magic is the easiest for him to use, although he’s been known to get nosebleeds, headaches, or flat out pass out on occasion. he’s been exploring dungeons for about 6 years

his first death was caused by him getting caught in the crossfire of one of lizzie’s spells.

lizzie: lizzie is a beastkin, and it’s unsure whether she was created artificially or born as such. she was sold around as essentially a circus attraction izutsumi style before escaping when she was very young and finding herself in the same village oli lived in. because of this she was very untrusting and hostile for a while

oli and lizzie were often lumped together as the town oddballs; lizzie did not like oli at first and he still has several scars from her scratching the shit out of him on multiple occasions.

lizzie warmed up to him eventually, and they’ve been best friends for most of their lives. lizzie left the village as soon as she could along with oli so the two of them could pursue magic, as they were both banned from it as teenagers

she quickly discovered ancient magic and took a passion for it instantly, and it’s the main thing she studies. she’s been exploring dungeons with oli for about 6 years

lizzie is surprisingly skilled at staying alive, as she was her party’s only magic user for a long time and they relied on her to revive or heal them (healing magic is not her strong suit)

her first death happened very late into her career when most of her party was wiped out on a lower floor.

joel: joel was born and raised in the town that took in lizzie and oli. he met them both in school and the three of them have been close friends for many years. he moved out with them as soon as they were all old enough because all 3 of them were tired of being banned from pursuing their interests.

joel is not too skilled with magic, preferring combat. he’s spent years and years training and building his skills so that he can protect his party when needed (which is a lot.) he’s the party leader and lizzie and oli trust his skills and judgement.

joel’s first death involved him being drowned by a siren while trying to save oli.

sausage: sausage is an enigma to say the least. no one really knows anything about him or where he came from. oli asked once and received net zero information. everyone assumes he’s a tall-man but it’s uncertain

oli met sausage at a tavern on the island his party moved to in order to explore the dungeon there. they became friends quickly; and lizzie and joel befriended him as well. they invited sausage to join their party once they decided they wanted to go deeper into the dungeon, since he’s skilled in healing magic

sausage seems to get more and more antsy the deeper they go, but they’ve all mutually agreed not to question it

sausage has not died since joining their party, but it’s unknown if he’s died before that.

[eand47]

Chapter I | Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Cry Baby

Summary: You moved to one of the biggest cities in the world - Grand Line to pursue filmmaking career. Soon enough your path will cross with the vocalist of upcoming band called “The Neighbourhood”. At first you decided to be just friends - because it would be easier, but sadly as everything in life sometimes by taking the easy path we regret a lot of things.

Main characters: Portgas D Ace x Reader (female)

Supporting characters: Nami, Usopp, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Law, Deuce, Shanks, Buggy, Sabo, Eustass Kid (more to be add)

Description: Modern AU | Musician Ace

WARNINGS: None for this chapter.

Word Count: 4,5K

NOTE: This is my first time writing a fanfic. English is not my first language so please if there are some mistakes let me know. The whole fanfic was mostly inspired by the song “Flawless” by The Neighbourhood and today as I was feeling nostalgic for the 2014/2016 Tumbler Era I was listening to them and something made me think of Ace (as I think about him 25/8) and I just imagine him singing these songs therefore that is why I named the story “The Neighbourhood”. So I hope you all will enjoy the journey that I will try to write down as good as possible. Most of the chapters will be inspired by songs by The Neighbourhood. I don’t own any of the characters and everything is fiction! This chapter was inspired by the song “Cry Baby” listen to it when you see it mentioned if you want to get to “experience” the story. Enjoy <3

Grand Line – one of the busiest cities in the world. Most people who move here do it to chase a dream, those who were born and raised here carry themselves differently. Autumn has come and the chilly weather could be felt by everyone. The streets were already full of people – some going to work, others to school, and the lucky ones were just enjoying a nice walk around the parks or a warm coffee with a friend. The ringing of my phone woke me up. I picked it up without checking who was calling me.

“What?” I groaned.

“Hey, there” the voice from the other end sounded cheerful as always. “How is my favorite niece doing?”

“Shanks I’m your only niece, and this line is getting kinda old don’t you think?” I scoff at him.

“I just make sure you always know this.” He chuckles.

“Yeah, yeah sure. Now tell me why you are calling me so early in the morning?”

“Don’t you have classes?” He asked sternly.

“I do but not until 1PM. So, shoot, why are you bothering your one and only favorite niece for?” I mocked him.

“I hope you don’t have any plans for tonight as I need some extra help at the bar. There is this famous band in town that is going to perform tonight and they sold out so fast the bar is going to be full, so I would really appreciate some extra help.”

“It’s not like I really have plans, but still can’t you find someone else to help?” I wasn’t really in the mood for work tonight, especially in my uncle’s busy bar.

“If I had I wouldn’t have bother to ask you.” He said and then added. “I will pay you double if you come.”

“Oh you should of start with this.” I laughed.

“I should count on you to come then?” He asked me seriously.

“Yes Shanks I will be there just let me know what time.”

“Well they will start playing around 10PM so be here at latest at 9PM, okay foxy?” he has been using this nickname for me since I was a kid.

“Okay, see you then. Bye Shanks” I didn’t even bother to wait for his goodbye as I hung up.

I looked at the clock next to my bed and it showed me that it’s 9:38AM so I decided to get up and get ready for the day. I have just recently started studying Filmmaking as I took one gap year as I wasn’t really sure what I would like to pursue as a career, but I have always loved filming, so I took the chance and got into a Filmmaking program. With taking the program, I also moved from my hometown so now I live alone, and I love it, even though I miss my dad. But at least I have my uncle close to me.

My love for movies comes from my dad. He is quite popular comedian known as – Buggy the Clown. His stand-up shows are always sold out and he knows how to make people laugh. Another thing he is quite recognized for is this big bright fake red nose that he always wears in his shows, and he always tells people how much his daughter hates it. On the other hand, Shanks is not really my biological uncle, but him and my dad are like brothers so ever since my mother left us, Shanks has been the one to help my father take care of me, always. Shanks has always been like a second father to me, when moving to Grand Line, Shanks even invited me to live with him, but I declined his offer as I wanted to start living on my own. My apartment wasn’t big it was just a one room apartment, but it was perfect for a “broke” student – but both my dad and Shanks love to make fun of it, calling it “the foxy cave”, but I don’t really pay attention to them as they always love to tease me.

I decided to not waste my time lying in bed, so I started to get ready for the day – after I brushed my teeth and did my make up, I looked around my messy wardrobe thinking what to wear today. It is already Autumn so the weather can be quite tricky. I decided to go for some sheer black tights, with a denim skirt and a black polo shirt as I add a lot of silver jewelries to the outfit – I finished it off with some knee length black boots and an oversized bomber jacket. I grabbed my bag as I double checked if I took everything with me and the most important thing - my laptop, as I made sure that I got everything I left.

I still have two hours left before my classes start so I decided to go to my favorite coffee shop. It is close to my university, but it’s a hidden gem for people who like to escape the noise from the busy streets so usually it’s not very busy. As I entered, I went and left my bag and jacket in my favorite corner in the coffee shop, exactly next to the big windows as the lighting is perfect there and I love to just sit sometimes with my back facing them as I just enjoy the cozy atmosphere of the coffee shop and try to ignore the world around me.

“One black coffee, please.” I went and ordered my coffee from the barista, who at this point recognizes me as a regular customer. I paid for it as they handed me the coffee and went to sit back down.

I sat back and opened my laptop as I started to think how I should continue with my script for this week’s assignment. I was so deep in thoughts and work as I didn’t realize I’m almost out of battery. As I opened my bag, I realized that my laptop charger was not there and then it hit me that I forgot it at home.

“No, no, no, nooo” I got up from the chair as I started to look around just in case, but I cursed myself for being so forgetful all the time. “Fuck” I said out loud, a little louder than I intended to. I looked up embarrassed to see if someone heard me, only to see this old woman giving me a disappointed look as she heard me cursing to which I mouthed “sorry”. As I sat down, I saw a guy sitting on the table next to my left side, and I noticed he has the same laptop as me so I decided to ask him if I can borrow his charger.

The guy was sitting a little slouched as he was humming to himself as he was tapping with his finger on the table. He was wearing this orange beanie with a set of headphones on top of it, but I still couldn’t see his face clearly as his messy black hair was covering most of it. As I approached him, I gently tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around and as cliché as it might sound my heart skipped a beat, as the last thing I expected was for him to have such a pretty face. He took off his headphones as he looked questioning at me.

“Hey, sorry for disturbing you.” I apologized as I finally realized that I was just standing there staring at him without saying anything. “I noticed that we have the same laptops, and mine is almost dead as I forgot my charger home and.. um I was wondering if you don’t mind me borrowing yours for just a couple of minutes.” I asked.

“Oh yeah, sure.” He responded to me immediately with a smile, and I smiled back at him. “There you go, just don’t forget to return it.” He said to me with a little smirk as he was handing it to me.

“I-I won’t, I promise” I said as a little blush appeared on my cheeks and nodded.

I went and sat down as my heart was beathing fast. I looked up to where he was sitting at, and I saw him looking at me as he continued to hum something to himself. Quickly I looked away, back at my computer as I could feel my cheeks getting warmer with every second I kept on looking at him. After a few minutes when I finally calmed down and continued to work on my script, I heard one of the chairs next to me moving and someone sitting next to me. I moved my gaze from the laptop screen, and it was him. “Hopefully you don’t mind.” He said it more as a statement than a question with a little smile on his face, I couldn’t find my words as he was sitting so close and unexpectedly to me, so I just shook my head “no”. “Nice. My name is Ace.” He introduced himself as he gave me his hand for a handshake. I noticed that he was wearing some intricate silver rings on his middle and index finger.

“(Y/N)” I replied as we shook hands. His hands were surprisingly so soft.

“(Y/N), that’s a beautiful name.” he repeated it one more time as to make sure he remembers it.

My mouth got dry so I took a sip from my coffee and couldn’t help but wrinkled my nose and furrowed my eyebrows.

“Is the coffee that bad?” He raised an eyebrow at my expression.

“No, the coffee is alright. I just hate coffee.” I shook my head feeling the after taste.

“Then why are you drinking coffee if you hate coffee?” he looked at me curiously.

“That is a question I get a lot.” I laughed. “But – you know what. Honestly, I don’t know, maybe I just want to be “different”.” I made a gestured with my hands as I put them up to my head and shook them when I said “different” as I was referring to one of my favorite movies “Fantastic Mr. Fox” but I knew he wouldn’t get the reference or the joke.

“I think I have this thing where I need everybody to think I’m the greatest.” My jaw almost fell to the floor as he quoted the movie, as he did the exact same gesture with his hands.

“No way – no way you got the reference.” I was so surprised. “No one, and I swear no one has ever gotten this reference when I’ve done it.”

“There is always a first.” He chuckled at me.

“Yeah, you are definitely right about that.” I chuckled as well. I looked at the time and I saw that I need to go, as my classes are starting soon. ” Well it was very nice to meet you Ace, thank you for the charger.” I said as I gave him back the charger and he flashed me with a charming smile.

“Happy to help.” He replied. As I was getting up to go, he called after me and I turned around to look at him. “See you around?” He raised his eyebrow in a questioning way.

Instead of replying to him I just did the hand gesture again and he just laughed at me as he shook his head in disbelief.

*******

Walking up to university I couldn’t stop having a big grin on my face every time I remember the little encounter I just had with this guy Ace in the coffee shop. I really hope we can cross paths again as he seemed very nice, and handsome as well so I wouldn’t mind getting to know him more.

When I reach uni I saw two of my closest classmates and friends – Nami and Usopp sitting on the sofas in the chill aera at school.

“Hello guys.” I greeted them. “What are you doing?”

“I had an amazing idea for my character final goal but I don’t know how to develop it so Usopp is helping me.” Nami explained to me.

“No one can beat my imagination, so she came to the right person.” He pointed at him self with a cocky smirk as Nami just roll her eyes at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway..” Nami looked at me with mischievous eyes. “Are you free tonight?”

“Sadly, no. I’m helping my uncle Shanks with his bar tonight.”

“No, tell him you can’t. I have a better offer. Our friend Luffy invited us to listen to his brothers band play tonight in this place called “The Red Pirates” so you must come.” She emphasized on “must”.

“Yeah, they are super good. We have been to all of their gigs and those guys are soon going to be big name if they get a good manager.” Usopp agreed with her. “So you should definitely come with us.”

“Thank you guys for the invitation – but funny enough coincidence, where your friend’s brothers are playing tonight is also where I will be working as “The Red Pirates” is owned by Shanks.” I laughed at the coincidence.

“Ohh but you will be working it won’t be the same.” Nami whined.

“I know but hey – I can give you some free drinks.”

“Sold.” Both Nami and Usopp said at the same time. I rolled my eyes playfully at them.

“What is the band called by the way? I forgot to ask Shanks.”

“The Neighbourhood. One of the brothers is the vocalist and also the guitarist in the band, the other one is the drum player and there are two more guys. But all of them are very good.” Usopp explained to me and if he says that these guys are good then I believe him as he has a very good sense when it comes to music.

“Well I might not be able to enjoy it with you guys but at least I will be able to hear them.” I said as I shrugged.

“Next time they play somewhere you are coming with us no matter what!” Nami pointed her finger at me with a very serious tone as I just laughed at her and agreed. Then we all got up and headed to class as we didn’t want to be late.

As we were walking to class Nami looked at me and smirked.

“What?” I looked at her confused about why she was looking at me like that.

“What’s with that grin you have on your face?” She teased me.

“Can’t I be in a good mood without a reason?” I teased her back.

“Of course you can, but there is something in that smile that is telling me that something has happened to you, care to share.” She looked at me with curiosity.

“Maybe, maybe not.” I decided to play a little bit.

“Oh come on, we don’t keep secrets from each other.” She whined.

“But I’m not keeping anything.”

“But you are also not telling us something.”

“Nami just don’t want to see us happy.” Usopp whispered to me, only to get smacked by her.

“If you want to tell me something, say it to my face Usopp.” She hissed at him.

“I think I said enough.” He replied as I could only laugh at them.

As we sat down in class and waited for our professor, Nami and Usopp were having a back and forth as usual, so I decided to interrupt them. “Who else is coming with you guys tonight?”

“Zoro – you have met him already. And Luffy and Sanji, but you haven’t met them yet but we will try to introduce you to them tonight.” Usopp informed me.

“Nice, I like Zoro – he is cool.” I said as I have met him already like two or three times. “Nami are you going to be the only girl hanging with them?” I felt a little bad for her, as even tho I knew that they all have been friends for a long time sometimes it sucks to be the only girl in the group.

“Maybe – I asked my friend Vivi if she wants to join as well but she already have made some plans so she is not really sure if she can make it tonight.” She shrugged not like she did really care. “I was more looking forward for you to join us – but you chose work over us.” She pretended to be hurt but she wasn’t the best actress.

“Good thing you chose filmmaking and not acting.” I joked with her as she pushed my shoulder also laughing. As we three were messing around our professor entered and the lesson started.

*******

Time passed by quickly and we were done for the day and this week.

“Geez writing scripts is tiring” Usopp announced loudly as we were leaving the classroom.

“At least next week we are in the same group, and we have to do sound.” Nami said.

“Yeah but sound is actually not an easy task guys.” I said and Nami whined. “But I’m interested in what we should base the story on for the sound – I spoke with some people from the second year and they told me last year it was based on some medieval picture where people were portrayed as someone was torturing them.”

“Wait we have to come with a script for the sound exercise as well?” Nami asked me in disbelief.

“Yes, a script based on the picture we will be given so we can create sound after it to match with it.” I explained.

“I don’t know about you girls, but I love working with sound.” Usopp exclaimed happily as his posture relaxed with both hands behind his neck.

“Thanks God you are in our group.” Both Nami and I said. Usopp just laughed at us, as he grabbed us and embracing us in a hug.

“What are you two going to do without me?” He exclaimed sarcastically.

“Probably find someone else to take over your place.” I poked him on the sides as I escaped his embrace. He let a groan as Nami also poked him as he let her go.

“You both are cruel.” He whined as we laughed at him. As we continued to walk and chitchat, I turned to Usopp to ask him how his producing music was going.

“Actually” he started excited. “Luffy’s brother Sabo asked me to help them with producing a new song so I’m quite excited to work on this project with them as believe me when you hear these guys tonight – you gonna become a fan immediately.” Nami agreed with him as she eagerly nodded her head.

“I’m telling you when Luffy first told us his older brothers are starting a band we were all in disbelief as none of us expected them to be so good, and when they dropped their first EP we were all shocked.” It was so strange to watch Nami speak so highly of someone so I guess these guys should be quite good.

“Bro till this day I can’t comprehend how good of a vocalist Ace is like man really has the talent.” As Usopp mentioned the name “Ace” I wondered if it might be the same guys I met earlier today in the café. As Nami and Usopp were gushing about how good the band was I grew more and more curious.

“Do you guys have some pictures or something” I asked casually, but I wanted to see if any of the members was the “Ace” I met earlier as I remember he was humming and tapping with his fingers something that musicians do quite a lot. Both Nami and Usopp started to laugh, and I got confused. ” What?” I asked.

“They don’t have any pictures across any of their social media, because…” Usopp started to explain but burst out laughing again with Nami.

“Because what?” I got even more curious now.

“Because they don’t want to be known and get famous for their looks.” They continue to laugh.

“Are they really that good looking?” I raised my eyebrow as I can’t imagine the confidence someone must have to say this.

“Well even tho I kinda feel embarrassed to say this as I know them for a long time...” Nami started as she got a little blush on her cheeks. “They are very good looking and hot.” She murmured but we heard her clearly and Usopp started to tease her immediately.

“OHH I’M TEELING THEM THIS” He shout out as he started to run as Nami started to chase him.

“DARE AND YOU WON’T SEE ANOTHER DAY” she screamed after him. I run after them trying to catch up with them.

“Guys stop – wait for me. No one is telling anyone anything.” I caught up to them as we were all out of breath. “Damn all these hours of sitting and editing are starting to catch up to us.” I joked and they laughed. “Can you play something from them, I’m curious to hear them now.”

“Yeah sure.” Nami pulled out her phone to play them to me but Usopp stopped her fast.

“Don’t - let her hear them live fist.” He mischievously suggested to Nami. She looked at him and the me for a second before turning to Usopp.

“I get your point, but let’s see if their “theory” is right. So let’s play her one song as she has no idea what they look like and if she doesn’t like it then we can make fun of them and their stupid theory.” After Nami said this Usopp eagerly agree with her, and they both sat me in a middle of a bench – Nami sitting on my left and Usopp sitting on my right side.

“Here put this.” Usopp put his headphones on my head. “Which song do you plan to play to her?” Usopp asked Nami.

“I was thinking of “Cry Baby” as they wrote that one based on one of Luffy’s crushes.” Nami suggested to Usopp.

“I was thinking of “Wiped Out” as it’s one of my favorites – but yeah “Cry Baby” is a good choice.” Usopp agreed with her. “Play it!”

The song started to play, and the intro reminded me of a nice sunny day at the beach. Then the first verse started.

I think I try too hard

How I look, what I do, what I'm sayin'

I spend too much time explainin' myself

So far, the first verse sounded very catchy. Then the Pre-Chorus and the Chorus started, and I loved the song.

I know I'll fall in love with you, baby

And that's not what I wanna do

I hope you won't ever lie to me

And if you do, I know I won't be your cry baby

Usopp was right about the guy who sings the song, his voice is mesmerizing.

Cry baby, cry baby

We need to cry

And if we do, I know that would be alright

The song finished and I took off the headphones. Both Nami and Usopp were looking at me expecting my reaction.

“Sooo…” Nami nudged me to say something. I looked at Nami, then Usopp before I said anything.

“They better sound as good as in the record when they performed tonight.” Usopp and Nami gave each other a high-five.

“I knew that you gonna like them.” Usopp said excitedly.

“I’m only a little disappointed as I really wanted to make fun of them, especially Ace.” Nami pouted. “But that is good that you liked them now every time them perform you will be tagging along with us as we never really miss any of their concerts.”

“But what did you mean by that this song was written for your friend Luffy?” I asked as I wouldn’t ever guess that this song was written based on someone’s younger brother’s crush.

“Apparently when Luffy was a kid he used to be a big cry baby and Ace and Sabo used to tease him about it a lot and call him Cry Baby, and there was this girl he had crush on, but she was kinda.. you know leading him on so yeah… apparently, he cried over her and that is how the song came to life.” Usopp explained to me, and I just nodded.

“Is your friend better now?”

“Yeah he is fine. He literally forgot about her after a week or so.” Nami brushed it off as if it was nothing.

We sat for a little bit more talking about school when Usopp received a text from his girlfriend Kaya.

“Okay girls I’m leaving you for now. Kaya needs me to help her with something so see you later.”

“Is she not coming tonight?” Nami asked.

“No, she has some plans with her friends, so she is not coming.” He shrugged as he gave Nami and me a hug goodbye. “See you later.” We bit him goodbye.

“So you are telling me there is nothing you can do to not work tonight?” Nami looked at me pleadingly.

“No, I’m sorry Nami sadly not – you know I can’t do this to Shanks especially tonight. But I will be still there – just behind the bar.” I really wished I could of join them, but I can’t turn up on Shanks in the last moment.

“You better make good drinks or else I will complain to the manager.” She joked with me.

“I promise I will make the best once for you.” We both sat for a little bit longer before we hugged goodbye.

******

Before I headed to the bar I decided to go home and change. It took me some time to reach my apartment and as I entered, I took my boots off. I quickly changed to some old jeans and sweater I have. I still had like two hours before I started so I just ate something quickly as I was scrolling around social media. As I was scrolling, something piqued my interest and I decided to check these guys band Instagram, so I went to Nami’s profile trying to find them in her following list. I found them but as Nami and Usopp said they really didn’t have any pictures of them posted, I thought about checking their following list as they were following only four accounts and I guessed it was the band members, but I decided not to – as to surprise myself tonight. I contemplated for a second whether I should follow them or not, but I did anyway. I looked at the time and decided to head to work. I put some comfortable sneakers on my feet as I knew it would be a long night. I grabbed my bag, turned my headphones on and left.

next chapter ->

[mrk236547789]

The engine of the old blue pickup truck sputtered to life, the sound echoing through the quiet, dusty street of the small town. The sun was setting, casting a warm glow on the faded brick buildings and the few people that were out, walking their dogs or finishing up last-minute errands. In the driver's seat, Larry, a burly man with a thick beard and a faded John Deere cap, gave a weary sigh. The day had been long, and the air conditioning in his truck had given out a week ago, leaving him to sweat through his workday. His large belly pressed against the steering wheel, making it difficult to maneuver comfortably.

“I got to lay off the beer and pizza," Larry murmured to himself, patting his substantial belly. But as he pulled out of the gas station and onto the open road, the gentle vibrations from the engine sent a peculiar sensation through his midsection. It was as if his stomach was... moving. He glanced down, but all he saw was his usual bulging waistline. Shrugging it off as indigestion, he turned up the radio and set his sights on the horizon.

The road stretched out before him like a ribbon of black tar, leading to the distant, flickering lights of his hometown. The music grew louder, and so did the strange movements in his stomach. Larry's eyes widened as he felt a gush of something warm and wet spread across his lap.

“I did not just piss myself," Larry exclaimed, disbelief and embarrassment fighting for control of his expression. He pulled over to the side of the road, the truck's engine idling. The smell of gasoline and burnt rubber mingled with the new scent of something distinctly biological. He unbuckled his seatbelt went to the sleeping area behind the driver's seat, and pulled out a flashlight.

Larry looked in the mirror and saw a wet spot spreading on his pants. He went and got back it he driver seat not thinking much about it.

Soon Larry felt a painful pressure building in his lower abdomen. It grew more intense with each passing minute, making him squirm in his seat. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white as he tried to ignore the discomfort and focus on the road ahead. The headlights of his truck pierced the gathering darkness, casting a narrow beam of light that did little to alleviate the unease building inside him.

Soon the pain turned into a burning sensation, and Larry could no longer ignore it. He pulled over to the side of the road, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps. Larry went back to the mirror and saw his newly was lower than it had been. He knew something was seriously wrong. The wet spot had grown and was now spreading down his legs.

He saw a bulge forming in his jeans and the burning sensation get worse and painful. Larry swore under his breath and clenched his teeth, trying to keep the pain at bay. He unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down, and was met with the shock of his life.A head was crowning out of his stomach, the tiny features squished and covered in a slick, shiny film. It was a baby's head, with a mop of black hair plastered to its scalp.

"Oh my god!" Larry shouted, his voice hoarse with shock. His instincts told me him to push “FUCKKKKKKkkk ooooooofff!" The head emerged further, the pain unlike anything he had ever experienced. The baby's eyes were closed tightly, and it looked like it was ready to enter the world. Larry's heart raced as he stared down at the impossible sight, his mind racing with questions and fear.

The baby slipped out.

But before he could call 911 a second head started to pop out, and Larry realized in horror that he was not just delivering one baby, but two. Panic set in as he looked around his truck for anything that could help him. His eyes fell on an old towel in the backseat, and he grabbed it, ready to catch the twins that were about to be born from his own body.

The second baby's head emerged, a mirror image of the first but with a shock of blond hair. The twins were as different as night and day, and the sight of them sent Larry's brain into overdrive. He didn't know the first thing about delivering babies, let alone two at once. But as the first one began to wail, a primal instinct took over, and he knew he had to act fast.

With trembling hands, Larry managed to catch the second baby as it slipped out, the towel barely large enough to cover them both. The twins, a boy and a girl, lay in his lap, crying and squirming. Their cries pierced the quiet night, and Larry felt a strange mix of terror and awe. He had never felt anything so soft and fragile in his rough, calloused hands.

[orchidyoonkook]

Under The Willow Tree | MYG

Title: Under The Willow Tree   

Pairing: Bad Boy!Min Yoongi x (F)!Reader

Rating//Genre: (T) | One Shot, Small Town AU, S2F2L, Implied Age Gap, Slow Burn, Angst, Touch of Fluff, Darker Subject Matter, First Kiss, Silce of Life

Summary: The town outcast shows up in the one place you find solace from it’s residents. The people you force yourself to fit in with, even though you never want to be anything like them. Will he ruin your only place of salvation, or become the most unlikely friend?

Warnings: PG16, some not necessarily positive non-specific religious discussions, people using religion in a negative may, plot twisty, cursing, kissing, semi-apparent abandonment issues, discussions of dead parents and guardians, mentions of alcoholism in a parent, mentions of illness in a parent, yoongi has tattoos and a motorcycle, motorcycle lessons, longing, mishandled emotions, catharsis.

Word Count: 7401

Release Date: April 10, 2023, 4:05PM

A/N 1: This happened due to a writing prompts post I shared sometime in late march. I’m quite proud of it considering I hadn’t planned anything so the entire story was written as I was writing. Very different than my normal writing process. 

A/N 2: Thank you endlessly to @borahae-k​, @katykatmeow​, @here4btsfics​ and @phthartic-fox​​ for beta’ing this. I love you all for your help, support and kindness. 

It happened under a willow tree. A weeping willow.

Your favourite willow, to be specific. Even though there’s just the one.

It’s by the pond deep in the woods behind your house, where you watch ducks swim through the long, wispy branches that just reach its shore. Where you sit at the base, waiting for the sun to set the sky ablaze with colour as it falls into the horizon for another good night's sleep.

The one under which you had your first kiss.

You’d been waiting. Wanting it to be special, with the right person.

But a brief brush of soft, pink lips with the last person you ever expected had you wanting more, more, more.

It’d been a few months since he started coming to the willow. You’d assumed for the same reason you did.

To get away. From anyone and everything.

There aren’t many places in your hometown that allow for privacy, and you imagined he needed it more than anyone. Somewhere far from the residents' judgmental stares that were always nothing less than smothering.

Hailing from a very small, very rural, religious town where everybody’s known everyone for generations, your community is one where you follow in the footsteps of your parents and grandparents before them.

Where your life is already decided for you at birth, whether you know it or not.

Copy. Paste.

Copy.

Paste.

You’re born there; either at home with a midwife or in the one floor hospital down the main road. Raised there; a hand-me-down wearing, bike riding, creek-playing child.

You go to school there; stuck inside the same four walls from the ages of 4 to 18. Get your driver's licence there; from the sheriff after a road test that a 9 year old could pass.

You graduate there; from the same high school your friends, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents went to. Get a job; in town or on a farm, the only two options there are. 

And marry there; before 25, lest you become a spinster, subject to the gossip vultures also known as your neighbours. Then have some kids before growing old and dying, your permanent resting place dug in the same graveyard as everyone else that came before you.

Copy. 

Paste.

It’s a suffocating fate that petrified you to your core. And you’ve known you didn’t want it for as long as you can remember.

You never liked their rules. Didn’t want to become one of them, to do as they do, live the way they live.

You’d skillfully escaped making any true friends as you grew older, but kept the people you could tolerate close enough to not be bored on weekends. They’re all temporary placeholders in your life anyway, people who sound like robots stuck in the same settings. People who would hold you back.

What’s worst of all is that you don’t share the religion they claim to be so hallowed and wonderful. The one that’s unwittingly forced them all into this life of monotonous repetition.

You dream of more. Of life outside this dreaded purgatory.

Of leaving.

But no one ever leaves. They’re stuck here, in this downwards spiral of life you’re so desperately trying to dig yourself out of. It makes you feel like a fraud, constantly pretending to be one of them. Always wearing a mask just to make it to the next day alive, unharmed by them and their values.

It makes you feel like there’s always a pair of eyes watching, waiting for you to mess up and reveal your blasphemous self.

You’re terrified they’ll discover the truth. Terrified of the ostracisation that will come the second they know you aren’t one of them.

You’ve seen it in real time. What they do to people who don’t conform.

Seen how they treat him.

Two years older. Bleach blond hair and a sleeve full of tattoos. A leather jacket he wears like armour with all black clothes to match. And last, but certainly not least, a motorcycle.

You daydreamed about that bike. Taking it and riding far, far away.

The busybodied people of your town never had a kind word to be said about him. Instead, choosing to call him any and every horrible name under the sun.

Beast, bastard, demon, monster, criminal.

Unable to understand him, understand anyone different.

They herd their children away from him in the streets; parting like the Red Sea when he walks by.

As if he were acid.

As if he was evil itself, and not just a young man.

You’ve never even heard him speak because no one dares to talk to him, worried any contact could turn them, seduce them into whatever his sick ways were.  

And you’re ashamed to admit you’re one of them…sort of.

You aren’t worried about speaking to him, you’re worried about what being seen speaking with him will do to you.

You’re someone whose only salvation from complete and total social isolation relies on fitting in.

And even if it kills you to pretend, you only need to do it for a little while longer.

You just had to make it to college. You’d be the first one in decades to go. Their mindset of ‘you have everything you need here so why bother leaving’  having not once in your life resonated.

You can deal with them and all of their beliefs about what you should do with your life for the short hours of school and occasional shifts at the diner, so long as you can escape to your willow tree, you’ll be okay.

The weeping willow in the middle of the forest behind your house is the only one in the area. You never understood why that is, but it’s your oasis away from everything you hate.

The tips of its branches sway rhythmically in the wind, and moss creeps up its trunk. It’s surrounded by dense, plush grass for you to sit on, and after all the years of sitting in the same spot, a little groove in the shape of your body has formed at its base. 

Its canopy protects you from the outside world, creating a space where you don't have to hide. Where you can proudly be yourself without fear. Where you spend as much of your time as you possibly can to keep your sanity intact.

No one bothers you here.

Your mum died years ago from an illness they never diagnosed, her plot in the town’s graveyard long since filled.

And your dad never notices you gone, too drunk in your house up on the hill to care.

So as long as there’s a constant supply of food on the counter and beer in the fridge, you’re free to do as you please.

Under the willow you do your homework and sketch. You take pictures and eat breakfasts and lunches and dinners. You listen to music and dance under the safety of its shade.

Under the willow you read great adventure novels, and dream you’re the protagonists whisked away on grand adventures. Anywhere but here.

Under the willow is your home away from home. Next to the pond, under the stars.

So it’s to your great surprise when an unexpected guest pries open the curtain of flowing foliage one spring afternoon. A bleached blond, leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding, guest.

You don’t see him at first, too focused on the sketchpad in front of you. He steps in, and watches you work quietly, waiting for you to notice him.

You fascinate him. Every other girl in town can be found at one of three places, yet you were never at any of them. Not at the restaurant sipping on a milkshake. Not at the library studying. And not at the church volunteering. 

You’re always elsewhere. 

And he’s finally figured out where that is. 

He was nervous at first. To follow you. You’d never spoken but that wasn’t anything new to him. No one in this town ever did. 

Not to him.

But you don’t look down at him like the others do. Or jump out of the way when he walks by. You don’t tear away from his gaze as fast as the others. You hold on, even if for just a second longer. 

Unknowingly, you’ve captivated him more than anyone else he’s ever met.

So he followed you to see where you vanish off to, not expecting you to go into the forest behind your house. 

For a half second he considered you dangerous, because what on earth could you be getting up to in a forest for hours? But as he trailed the sounds of your footsteps and saw the small clearing with the tree, it began to make sense.

After jumping ten feet from seeing something tall and dark in your periphery, you exhale a large breath when you realise you aren’t in any danger, and shake out the nerves. 

You’d normally worry he was there to hurt you, but something in you knew he never would. Never could. Maybe it was the look he gave as he regarded you. 

Soft. Wistful even.

“What are you doing here?” You ask, wary. The first words you’ve ever spoken to him.

Barely contained inside the limits of the willows perimeter, he shrugs, and takes a long look around your little sanctuary.

And as he does, you get your first real look at him.

He’s handsome. Stoically so. And for only a moment do you wonder about all the stories hidden behind his eyes.  

The ones now focused on you.

“Wanted to see where you disappear to. You’re never in town.”

So what if you were never in town? Why did he care? Wait—How did he know? Does he pay attention to you?

…Why you?

You didn’t think he cared to notice anyone in this town, let alone you enough to know you don’t follow the social expectations of someone your age.

To pick up on the fact that you’re never there at all.

It makes a million things run through your mind—Why does he care about where you go? What about you is so special? Does he even know your name?—before one resounding thought hits you like a ton of bricks.

Can you trust him?

No one else in this town does, but all of their reasons are superficial bullshit.

All you know is you don’t know the first thing about him, and that now he knows about the one place you feel safe.

“That’s intentional,” you say, cautious. Not giving away anything but not saying much either.

“Can’t blame you,” he responds, before checking out the rooftop of bright green and muttering, “Eyes and ears everywhere.”

Those four words alone are all you need. 

He gets it.

“Yeah.”

Maybe you can trust him.

Observing each other for a silent minute, there seems to be an unspoken understanding forming between the two of you.

And he shoves his hands in his pockets, asking, “Mind company?”

You think about it for only a second.

No. No you didn’t.

“As long as you’re quiet. I’m trying to focus,” pointing the eraser end of your pencil to the sketchpad on your lap. “The cattail leaves are the hardest to get the lines right.”

He nods, finally breaking free of his position at the branch's edge. Nearing the base of the tree, he crouches down, about a quarter of the trunk's diameter away from you. It’s close enough to still see each other, but far enough to not bump into one another.

And before nestling in fully, he extends a tattooed hand to you.

“Yoongi.”

An introduction.

“Y/N,” you return, putting your pencil down in the crease of your pad and shaking.

His hand is calloused, the ones you get from years of working with your hands. And strong, a firm grip. The kind you’d want to pull you up if you were dangling over a cliff. 

So many stories contained in a 3 second touch. Yet you find yourself wanting to know all of them.

Releasing, he settles in.

What surprises you most about the whole encounter isn’t his arrival, or speaking to him for the first time, or even the handshake.

It’s that when he’s comfortable, with one leg up for an elbow to rest upon, he digs a book out from the confines of his jacket.

Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island.

Your favourite.

Spring fades into a wonderful summer of late nights and early mornings. Of beautiful blue skies and vivid sunsets you appreciate a little more now that you have someone to share them with.

Yoongi comes almost, if not, every day to the willow. Always a different book in hand. Always one of the classics.

The Iliad, 1984, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Anna Karina, Dracula, Little Women, Frankenstein, Catcher in the Rye, and those are just the ones you can remember because you’ve read them too. Some of them more than once.

You never expected to have anything in common with the boy that sits next to you. But from the little you’ve spoken to one another over the months, you’ve found that you share so much more than just reading habits.

On a warm April afternoon he told you he reads because he loves it but also to escape the daily hell that is your town.

    “Mmm, what’s your favourite?” you’d asked.

    Yoongi was lying down with an arm behind his head, staring into the treetop. Brave New World sat opened and facedown on his chest, his hand resting atop it.

    “Pride and Prejudice.”

    That was the last answer you expected.

    “Why?”

    He lifts his head to look at you.

    “I thought the answer would’ve been obvious.”

After a cold drink on a hot June morning he told you his dreams of moving across the country. As far away as he could get.

    “Just have to save up enough money first.”

    You wondered how he made any. He definitely didn’t work anywhere in town…maybe waiting to inherit?

    Who knew?

    Both on a blanket you’d brought, Yoongi’s lying opposite and beside you, his feet by your hips. He used his balled up jacket as a pillow while you sat in your usual spot, capturing the way the branches swayed in your sketchpad.

    He’d taken to reading to you while you drew, including you in the grand stories he now knew you loved to read too.

    That day he had The Great Gatsby, a story you’d read about 20 times.

    You often dreamed of attending one of his parties. Of seeing the green light across the way, or having a conversation with Nick, why he stayed.

    “Are you anywhere close?” you asked, in reference to his saving goals.           

    “Getting there,” was all he gave.

And on a miserable, rainy night in the middle of August, is when you learned he’s all on his own.

    Sitting beside each other, you both huddled underneath his jacket for what little protection from the rain it could give. Water droplets fell from the tips of his bangs as he spoke.

    “My parents died in a car crash when I was 9, and then my grandma who took care of me, when I was 15.”

    You grieved for him as he told you his story.

    How he had to raise himself.

    Just like you did.

    “I’m sorry,” you’d replied gently. Softly. Knowing how it felt to have no one support you. No one to help you.

    Knowing how it felt to be alone.

    You understood.

    You did, you did, you did.

    Yoongi just stared at the ground, unable to meet your eyes. And you’d wondered if any of the water on his face was salty as he breathed out a quiet and heartbreaking, “Thank you.”  

    It made you question how many kind words he’d heard since his family passed.

    And also incredibly pissed off at the people in your town for how they’d treated him.

    How you’d…treated him.

    A silent promise was made then and there. Never having felt more embarrassed and furious with yourself than in that moment. You’d learned your lesson, and hoped that offering up your own piece of vulnerability might help him feel not so alone.

    Though you watched the rain turn the pond into a canvas of vibration as you did. Words dragged from the deepest parts of your soul, burning the back of your throat as they left.

    “My dad hasn’t been sober a day since my mom died. His eyes are turning yellow,” you said, hugging yourself to stop shaking, convinced yourself it was because of the cold.

    Even though it was August.

    “He doesn’t recognize me most of the time.”

    You closed your eyes, a familiar tang washing over your tongue as you licked the water dripping from your lips.     He gave no response, but an arm found its way over your shoulders and squeezed.

    He understood.

It’s the beginning of September. The air’s started to nip at your cheeks, and the ground crunches a little more everyday with all of the leaves falling underfoot.

The tips of the willows leaves have begun to turn the colour of the morning sun, and by the time mid October rolls around, it’ll look like golden hour every hour of the day.

Yoongi finally tells you about the job he has at a mechanic's in the next town over. He explains how they don’t pay him nearly what they should, but he doesn’t complain because every cent brings him closer to leaving.

Just him and his bike.

You turn sheepish.

“Can I tell you something?”

He sits closer after all this time, more comfortable around one another. Still not enough to touch, not crossing that invisible boundary line, but enough that you don’t have to turn your head much anymore to see his eyes.

Brown and endless.

“Yeah, sure.”

You take a deep breath.

“I kind of always dreamed of taking your bike to get away from here and never come back.” He gives you a look and you shrug. “Seemed the easiest route to take.”

A smile that starts as a smirk turns into a healthy laugh.

“What’s so funny?” You demand. He has to calm himself down a bit before answering.

“You just uhm…don’t seem the criminal type to me, Cattails.”

There’s a flutter of something in your chest at the stupid nickname. For the drawing you did the day you met.

He continues, unaware of the goings on inside you. “Stealing? You? Nah. Not a chance.”

You open your mouth in mock outrage, scrunching your brow and bringing a hand to your chest.

“I’ll have you know I’d make an excellent criminal,” you lie to his face. He knows it too. 

But giving in, you detail the plan you’d always kept in your head for emergencies, heat slowly rising in your cheeks with every word.

“I’d take the key from you when you weren’t looking, duplicate it at the hardware store, and slip it back into your pocket before you ever noticed it was gone. Then go to your place in the middle of the night and be halfway across the country before morning.”

“Oh yeah?” he says with a raised brow you don’t trust.

“Yeah,” you confirm with a little too much faux confidence.

“And where do I keep my key, Y/N? Hmm?”

“Your jacket pocket,” you’d deduced long ago.

“Mmm,” he tsks with a shake of his head. “Nope.”

Oh. Well then it must be,

“Your pants pocket?”  

“Nuh uh, try again.”

Damnit!

You’d never thought much about it. How many places can someone keep a key on them without a bag and it not be in their pockets?

“Ummm, in your wallet?” Far-fetched but worth a shot.

“Ooo,” he blows through pursed lips before smirking at you again, but this one was different. It caused something very deep inside of you to turn to lava. “Good guess, but also no.”

Closing his book and setting it down, Yoongi straightens and reaches inside the collar of his shirt, retrieving a necklace you didn’t know he wore.

It’s small, the key, and almost silver. The colouring is tarnished from years of use, with worn teeth and some lettering at its base.

He holds it against a palm to show you.

“Why there?” You ask, wondering if there’s a reason aside from convenience.

With a sad tug of his lips, he answers. “Bike was my dads. I like to keep him close.”

A tender smile meets your own plush as you stare at the little key, appreciating it more after learning the importance it has to him.

And Yoongi watches you, viewing his ticket to freedom with the biggest eyes he’s ever seen, full of that same compassion and understanding you’ve always given him.

An understanding he didn’t think he’d ever see again from this place.

One he doesn’t know if he deserves.

Before you can respond, he’s taking the chain off and sliding it over your head, hand lingering for a second longer than necessary at your nape.

“Yoongi,” you hesitate.

It’s the first time you’ve said his name out loud.

You like the way it feels on your tongue. Warm, sweet. Like honey.

What you don’t know is he loves the way it sounds coming from you.

You falter. “W-what are you doing?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing?”

“But it’s your key! Don’t you need it?”

“Nah, got a spare in the storage compartment of the bike,” he says, gesturing to the one you now hold in your palms. “This way you won’t have to go through the hassle of stealing it.”

“But I—”

“Keep it,” he cuts you off. “In case you need it more than I do.”

It never leaves your neck.

“You want me to what?” You ask as you walk towards the forest edge, Yoongi trailing on your left.

“Take her out for a spin. See if you even can. You’re the one who has all these grand plans but doesn’t even know how to turn it on,” he explains, referring to his motorcycle.

“Those were just daydreamed plans! I never thought I’d actually use them! What if I crash?”

He was kidding right? He must be.

For all the time you two have spent together, you’ve never spoken or been around one another in public. An unspoken agreement.

What happens under the willow tree, stays under the willow tree.

So to be out in the open? On his bike? You don’t know if you can. Or if you should.

But then you remember a promise you made not long ago.

“You won’t crash,” he says, like it’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

“How do you know? Like you said, I don’t even know how to turn it on,” you hmph.

“Because I’ll be there.”

And maybe it’s the tone of voice he uses, or the fact that you trust him, you find yourself saying,

“Okay, fine.”

Minutes later you’re swinging a leg over the bike, and sinking on to the surprisingly comfortable seat.

“Where do I put the key?” You ask, taking it from your neck and handing it over.

Yoongi puts it in the side of the motorcycle, somewhere close to your knee.

“Here,” he shows as he turns it to the ‘ON’ position.

“Oh.”

What a weird place for an ignition. 

“Mhm,” he acknowledges, then points. “Put your hand on the brake, it’s the part that sticks out on the right hand side. Hold it firmly against the handlebar. Don’t roll the handle bar itself back though, okay? That’s the throttle.”

Doing what he says, you hold the brake tight against the handle bar, murmuring an ‘okay’ under your breath.

“Now hit that button there on the right to let the fuel pump start up,” referring to the button beside the brake near your thumb. You do so.

He checks a little gauge on the side near the ignition. Seemingly pleased, he continues. “And now hit the button on the left to start it.”

Following his words once again, the engine roars to life the second the button is pressed, purring powerfully.

You feel exhilarated and a little terrified. But he’s here. You know you’re safe.

Voice a little louder to combat the noise from the motor, he says, “Okay, now on the left handle bar, grab the clutch. I’ll show you how to move into first gear, and look at me,” your eyes meet his, “do not let go of the clutch.”

You nod, but for extra precaution, he clamps his hand over the one you have holding it. You watch as he bends to put your left foot on a pedal and presses it down till you hear a pop, pushing up the kickstand when he rises.

The bike is heavy, now that you’re the only thing keeping it up right, you can feel its weight. And you understand why they’re designed to be able to have your feet on the ground even when sitting. You’d probably fall over otherwise.

“If you’re uncomfortable you let me know, yeah? And if you get scared just do what you’re doing now with this hand,” he squeezes for emphasis, “it’ll take all the power away from the engine and you’ll just coast until you stop, okay?”

“Okay!” You say, more excited by the minute. Your toes and fingertips are starting to tingle.

“I‘m gonna let go and you’re going to very, very slowly let up on the clutch—not all the way. Just enough that you move at about a pedal bike's pace. Let me jog down the road about 50 feet or so, and then you meet me there. Hold tight to the clutch again when you’re about 20 feet from me and I’ll catch you. Sound good?”

Nodding one more time in confirmation, nerves crawl all over your skin. You can’t describe the new feeling fully, but the closest you can find to it is probably the beginnings of an adrenaline rush.

You watch as Yoongi jogs down the road, throws his hands up over his head, and gives you two big thumbs up.

Taking a deep breath, you slowly release some pressure off the clutch and begin to move forwards. You know your feet are supposed to go on the metal foot rests below you, but you're so focused on not falling or crashing that you just stick them out so they don’t touch the ground.

Halting your left hands release at the speed he said to, you cruise along, wind picking up with your increased pace.

Holy shit!

You’re riding a motorcycle! 

You never thought you could, it was just a dream for so long. Something you kept in the back of your mind just for fun, but now you’re actually doing it! Your driving down the road on an actual real life motorcycle!? All by yourself!?

Turns out all you needed was a little encouragement and someone you trust to spot you.

Aiming for Yoongi, you clamp down on the clutch once again, cutting power to the engine. You drift right into his awaiting hands braced for the impact, and he slides a little on the gravel road before getting you to a full stop.

He presses one of the buttons you did earlier and the bike shuts down, allowing you to jump off.

You’re positively giddy.

“Oh my god did you see me?! I just did that! I just drove a motorcycle! Can you believe it?! I can’t believe I just did that!” You don’t even register what you're saying, too full of excitement to care.

Yoongi can’t contain his grin as he gets the bike standing on its own. Your joy is too infectious not to take part in, and he walks over for a high five to celebrate. 

But to his surprise, you bypass his hand completely and embrace him, throwing your arms around his neck.

It takes only a second before he’s enveloping you with his own, not letting the chance to hold you go by.

“Thank you!” You say, before letting go, not even realising what you did. You’re too busy catching your breath from all the rambling and jumping around, still filled with the remnants of your elation.  

Meanwhile, Yoongi can’t get the feeling of your body against him out of his head. How soft you were. How warm. The way you smelled like a mixture of your natural scent and outside.

And he’s asking, “You wanna to go for a ride?” before he can tell himself not too.

The question makes you pause. Was he serious? Because you can’t think of anything you want more.

Staring at him, your answer is far too gentle for someone who was just screeching with joy. 

“Really?”

He nods, still untrusting of his mouth, confirming with a ‘mhm.’

You don’t hesitate. You want to feel like that again.  

Not a minute later he’s giving you the helmet and securing it tightly. He also makes you wear his leather jacket to protect your torso, leaving him in just an oversized black t-shirt and dark ripped jeans.

Swinging a leg over, he pats the seat behind him.

And you’re glad to have the helmet on because without it he would most definitely see your inability to meet his eye. You can barely focus on anything aside from the sight in front of you and being wrapped in the scent of him. But then he gives a tattooed hand to help you hop on, and says,

“You have to put your arms around me and hold on. Otherwise you might fly off the back when we accelerate,” holding his hands behind him to guide yours. 

What? You didn’t think this far. He—you have t—Ummm, well... 

“Okay,” you answer, voice small, letting your hands be guided. 

Despite the loss of his jacket, he’s still deliciously warm, and the heat in your cheeks increases tenfold with your hands now splayed over his abdomen. 

Lightly defined muscles meet your fingertips through the thin material of his shirt and you do your best to memorize them as he turns on the bike and pulls away from the curb.

He starts slower than normal to make sure you’re alright, but when you give him the thumbs up, he speeds up to just over the limit and you hold tight.

You’ve never felt so free, loving the rush of wind that flows over your body from going so fast. It’s pushing a welcomed cold through the fabric of your clothes as your body temperature has only increased since getting on.

You could go anywhere, do anything. Nothing and nobody could stop you.

You want that. You want it so bad. And he gave you the key to be able to. 

Literally.

But now when you think about leaving, you think about leaving with him. Yoongi driving and you sitting right here on the back, nothing but each other, the road, and hope for the future.

Growing confident enough to release your grasp after a few minutes, you raise your hands in the air, and let the wind catch your fingertips.  A whoop of joy leaves you at this newfound feeling he’s given you. 

Then another, and another, before returning them to their place around him.

Yoongi can’t help but smile the biggest he has in years when hearing your squeals of glee.

Because for the first time in a long time, he feels it too.

Yoongi doesn’t come to the willow for almost a week.

He’s never done that since he started coming. Not once.

And you’re worried.

Where is he? Is he okay? You have no idea.

It’s not like you can go looking for him.

And you two aren’t anything anyway, so you shouldn’t even be this worried in the first place. If he’s safe, or in the bottom of a ditch somewhere.

But you can’t help it.

Just like you can’t help the feelings that have blossomed for him over the months. The feelings you didn’t want to admit to yourself for fear of him not returning them.

Yet there they were, and there isn’t anything you can do about them now.

They make you wonder if you’ll ever see him again.

Six days.

It takes him six days to return. Stomping in, and visibly pissed off.

“What’s wrong?” You ask once he’s close enough to hear.

“I’m leaving,” he says flatly, uncaring. Like you asked him what colour the sky was.  

And your stupid, silly little unrequited heart shatters.

“What?”

“I’m leaving. Taking off. Getting out of here. I can’t do it anymore.”

Piece by piece it falls from your chest and into the depths of your stomach.

“B-but why? What happened?”

“I got fired.”

“Fired?”

“Yeah, fired. I tried all week to fix this one stupid mistake I made,” he explains, smoothing over his creased brow with two fingers. “But it cost more to fix than to keep me around, so they fired me. I don’t have the amount of cash I planned for, but I have enough to make it work. And I can pick up odd jobs on the road if I need to.” He nears, extending a tattooed hand. “I just came to get my key and say goodbye.”

Your hand reaches for it, clutching it tightly. You don’t want to give it back.

Who the hell is this? Because you barely recognize him. It certainly isn’t the Yoongi you’ve come to know.

The wonderfully kind, classics reading, dream-sharing, motorcycle instructing, freedom key giving man.

The one who told you about his grandmother, and his parents. Who read you stories while you drew and ate meals together. Who taught you how to ride his motorcycle.

The Yoongi you fell for.

Your Yoongi.

The person currently standing in front of you isn’t him at all.

He’s the hard, cold exterior, crafted over years of verbal and societal abuse. The one everyone avoids at all costs when walking through town. The person he had to become in order to survive.

You don’t know this person.

And you hate it.

You hate it so much it decides to exit your body in the form of tears. Ones of sadness, frustration, and heartbreak.

He’s—he’s leaving. 

Actually leaving.

This place, it’s people.

You...

The few remaining pieces of your heart plunge to the floor, crumbling to dust as they hit. Nothing but a hollow, empty cavern remaining where it once sat.

“But I–you…,” the lump in your throat only getting bigger when you try to speak. You face away from him.

Don’t let him see you cry.

He’s clearly never felt anything close to what you do for him, so suck it up. Reign it in. You do it everyday. So why can’t you do it now?

You don’t get to feel this way!

Shove it back down, get it down!. Crush it all until it’s nothing.

Make it go away. Far, far away. 

Yoongi’s face is falling while you’re taking deep breaths to calm down.

In all of his rage and despair at his terrible week, he’s forgotten who he was speaking to.

His kind hearted, music-sharing, been through hell and back, kickass girl. The one he can call his only true friend.

He’s such an asshole. He hadn’t seen you for almost a week, which killed him in of itself. And then the second he does, all he‘s able to do is spew the frustration and misery he’s been feeling the entire time you were apart.

Nah, he’s worse than an asshole.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t ha—”

But he freezes at the sound of a small, wet inhale.

You’re crying.

He made you cry.

And a regret bigger than the ocean drowns him.

“Hey, wait, please,” he says, rushing over, but you hold out a hand to stop him. “Please, don’t cry. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

He reaches for you again, and again you stop him. You can’t let him comfort you.

Not when he doesn’t realise he’s become the only person in this whole godforsaken, judgemental hellhole of a neighbourhood wasteland you have.

Your grandparents are dead, along with your mum. Your dad’s an abusive drunk, too far gone to remember he has a daughter. You don’t have any aunts or uncles or cousins to rely on, nor do you have any real friends.

You have no one, aside from Yoongi.

And now you won’t even have him.

So you can’t let him comfort you. Can’t let him see you break.

You can’t, you can’t, you can’t.

Because you don’t know if you’ll be able to put yourself back together without him if you do.

But a quiet, “Y/N, please,” imbued with pain you haven’t heard since a rainy August night leaves his lips. A last ditch effort to get you to look at him, to let him help. 

And it breaks you completely, bursting into a million tiny pieces to match your heart on the floor.

An unrestrained sob falls from your mouth, and he pulls you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you. Yours go to his neck as he drags you onto his lap, gripping tight. 

He holds you through every whimper and hiccup and stuttered inhale and shudder. Through every muttered ‘please don’t go’ and ‘please don’t leave me,’ that escapes, stroking a hand along the back of your head and down your spine, soothing.

He whispers, “it’s okay. I’m right here. It’s okay,” on repeat with the motion. Over and over and over until only occasional sniffles and deep breaths remain.

You hug him tighter as you start to shiver, the warmth created from your breakdown beginning to wear off. Yoongi doesn’t hesitate to slide off his jacket and throw it over your shoulders. An instant cocoon of warm and comfort.

When his hands find their place back around your waist, he dares to speak.

“I got you.”

“I know.” And you do. Your voice is a little wobbly, as you’re unmoving from the embrace, but you most definitely do. 

This is your Yoongi. The one you’ve come to know. To trust. 

Of course he’s got you. 

You use one of your long sleeves to dry your eyes and under your nose. With the nearing autumn weather, you’ve returned to occasionally wearing them.

“I’m sorry,” you breathe into his neck after a long beat of silence.

“What could you possibly be sorry for, Cattails?”

The return of your nickname has a grin threatening to emerge.

“For freaking out. I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“Don’t be,” he says firmly. “I sprung that on you in such a shit way because I was in an even shittier mood. And you clearly weren’t prepared to hear it. I should’ve known better, so don’t you dare be sorry about anything,” he loosens his hold to pull back and look at you. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

You look down, hiding, not wanting him to see you like this.  

“None of that,” he whispers, and brings a finger to your chin, tilting up.

It doesn’t meet much resistance.

Your eyes are still a bit swollen and patchy, but it’s the concern in his that makes you crack the smallest of smiles, if only to see his worry erased.

He already has enough on his plate. No need to add to it.

Not able to offer much more than a quirk of the lip, you’re relieved that it’s enough when he starts to wear one of his own.

It’s then you realise your position. Like the sight of it cleared your brain fog.         

You’re kneeling over his lap, sitting on his thighs, face inches from his. One of his hands is holding your chin up while the other rests low on your waist, your own still loose around him.

So close, yet so far away.

Because he’s leaving.

And that thought alone allows you to throw caution to the goddamn window. It’s not going to matter once he’s gone, and you’ve wanted it to be with someone special.

He’s as special as they come.

Leaning forward, you close your eyes and the gap between the two of you.  

Eyelids fluttering as your lips brush his. Soft, and gentle.

Like him.

You hold only long enough to make sure it counts before pulling back.

It’s funny, really.

It was just a few seconds, but you already find yourself wanting so much more with him. An unfamiliar but welcomed electric pulse finds itself running through your blood at the thought, and it makes you want his lips everywhere. 

Your mouth, your jaw, your neck.

Anywhere he can reach.  

Sparks pool inside you. Sparks and butterflies and fast flowing lava.

You let yourself relish in the glorious feeling for a single moment, before the reality of what you just did sinks in.

And then you’re scared.

Terrified, actually.

To open your eyes, see his face. His reaction.

What if he hated it? What if he’s never felt anything but platonic affection towards you and now you’ve gone and done this?

Sure, he’s leaving. But now that you think about it, does him leaving mean you’ll never see him again?

What if you just ruined everything?

Teeth sinking into the plush of your bottom lip, you take a peek.

For the second time today you feel your heart breaking, this time at the look on his face.

Is it shock? Or worse.  

Disgust?

Doesn’t matter.

“I’m sorry,” you blurt. Not knowing what else to say.

“I’m sorry,” you say again, trying to get out of his hold, but he keeps you there. Unyielding. And you start rambling. “I shouldn’t have done that. You clearly don’t—It’s just that you’re leaving and I—“

Lips on yours shut you up.

It’s fervent and needy and passionate as he pulls you closer by the hips, desperately trying to get you as close to him as physically possible. Your nails drag over his scalp as your fingers snake through his blond locks. They elicit a delicious groan from his mouth that you consume with your own.

It’s the most intoxicating sound you’ve ever heard, and you want more of it. So you do it again, and again, and again.

He moves down your jaw and neck, sucking at the tender flesh near your pulse point, and your mouth drops open at the feeling.

You’ve always wondered, but…you didn’t know it could feel like this.

Every touch, every whisper, every press of his lips to yours feels amazing. He’s pulling pleasure out of places you wouldn’t have thought possible before him. And you never want to go back to not knowing.

The sweetest of whimpers leaves your mouth as he gently bites a soft spot, then soothing the glorious pain he created with the kindness of his tongue.  

Yoongi swears to any god who will listen that he’ll do whatever they want so long as he gets to hear that sound repeatedly and for the rest of his life.

He returns to your lips and says, “come with me.”

You’re so focused on feeling that it takes a moment for his words to land. “What?”

“Leave with me. Let’s get the fuck outta here, and never look back, the both of us. Together.”

Yoongi looks so serious but..

He—he can’t be serious can he? 15 minutes ago he was going on and on about leaving and needing his key back and saying goodbye.

And now?

Sensing your hesitance, he punctuates each of the next three words with a kiss. 

“Come. With. Me.”

It makes your answer arrive without really thinking. You don’t need to think. Not when you know deep in your newly reconstructed heart that it’ll always be the same whether you think about it or not.

So long as you’re with him, you know you’ll be,

“Okay.”

“Yeah?” He questions like he can’t believe it. Can’t believe you'd agree.

You make sure there isn’t a single doubt in his head as you look him dead in the eyes and confirm.

“Yes, Yoongi,” another kiss. “I’ll go with you.”

He pulls you into him for what feels like a million more under your shared willow tree.

Your salvation.

And you know they’re going to be the firsts of many, many more to come.  

Three days later, and two bags packed full of all your earthly possessions, you’re on the back of Yoongi’s motorcycle.

In those three days he’s prepared everything else you’ll need. He’s gotten a cute leather jacket and helmet for you, some reading materials for the road, snacks, drinks. A place by his side for the foreseeable future.

In the same span of time, you’ve given him a home in your heart, someone he can rely on other than himself. Talk to, trust, experience life with.

Something he hasn’t had in nearly ten years. 

Something he never wants to lose again.

He swings a leg over and you unclip the chain from your neck, handing him the key to the bike, to your now shared future.

Driving out of town—straight down Main Street—you watch as all the people you grew up with, who you almost destroyed yourself to fit in with, gawk.

Watch as they judge you for being with him, your best friend. For leaving, and not doing what they all expected of you.

For not being like one of them.

Because you’re not one of them. 

You never have been.

And just like the dust that flies behind the wheels, you feel weightless, not giving a single fuck what they think for the first time in your life.

You don’t have to anymore.

You’re free.

A/N 3: Thanks for reading, loves. Xoxo, - Yoon <3