#he’s probably been texting less and not able to make plans bc he’s busy with her I feel sick | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

infernalodie · 3 years ago

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how about a cassie x older brother reader, where they were super close and he basically took up the role of being their fatherly figure and helped them and stuff, and cassie would never want to disappoint the reader as to her it would be the worst thing in the world. So the reader is in college and doesnt come around much bc they are super busy or something but they return home after hearing everything that happened with cassie and he isnt happy with her as he always saw her as his sweet little sister

I've been waiting for one of these. But I will add a little bit to it to give it more angsty and fluffy vibes

𝐔𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐓𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 || 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝

“𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵? 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨“

Inspo: Jacob Banks - Unknown (To You)

Pairing: Cassie Howard x olderbrother!reader

Summary: Cassie and Lexi had always seen you as a father figure. Both having picked out two sides of you that they have seen. You were the person they wanted to become when they got to your age. Cassie grew a bigger attachment to you, always leaning on you for guidance. So, when you leave for College, it tears her up. You came home less and less, even for holidays. But the one time she messes up, you show up suddenly and bring a world wind of emotions that Cassie hadn’t been prepared for.

(gif used is not mine)

Warnings: Major angst and fluffy near the end

Words 4360

You wouldn’t consider yourself the greatest brother to walk the earth, but you were damn near close to it. Despite not being able to make it home and slowly caring less to make yourself known to your sisters or mother, you always sent gifts with the left over money you had. Willing to show your love and appreciation to them from a large margin of distance. Because it at least showed that you hadn’t forgotten about them and still cared.

Because that’s all you have done for each of the women in that house. You have loved and cared for them. Being the care taker for all them. When your mom was too drunk to interact with Cassie and Lexi, you were there. Staying up late with Lexi, helping her with her homework until she inevitably passed out at the table with a pool of drool around her mouth. From there, you would carry her to her bedroom and tuck her in. With Cassie, you helped style her hair and pick out her outfits for each day of school. Being the supportive brother they needed.

And when you had been planning on leaving to College, you made sure to get your mom sober. Or at least lay off the heavy drinking because if you weren’t there, she had to care for them. Thankfully, she realized this and had taken the initiative to lay off and promise to not get that bad ever again. From what you had been able to gather while being away, she had followed through on that promise.

Everything had been good. Lexi and Cassie had been doing good in school. They had been growing up into young women and you always wore a shocked look when you came home to see them. Taking note to the fact that Cassie seemed to grow a few centimeters and Lexi’s ever growing love for plays. Often sitting there with a beer in hand as they told you all about the stuff going on in their lives.

Safe to say that you were very proud of both of them and you used every minute you had with them fully. Taking them out for diner or just going for a drive. Each holiday was amazing to them because they wouldn’t admit it, but you had become the parental figure to them. The father figure all three of you didn’t have because that rat bastard was probably off somewhere dead in an alley.

But they had taken notice to the fact that you were becoming more drowned in school work and your side job. Making the phone calls shorter, text messages bland, and the visits fewer. They didn’t hold it against you, but they did somewhat resent the fact that there wasn’t anything they could do to help you through it. But even then, you wouldn’t accept their help. Being the selfless person you had always been.

Something had changed. You had felt it all the way in New York. This sinking feeling in your stomach as your phone began to buzz on your coffee table. And that had been when you got the news about Cassie. Booking a flight took less than five minutes and it took you less than 30 minutes to get to the airport.

Suze had waited hours, barely getting any shut eye when you told her you were on your way home. She knew that when you got angry, there was a whole tsunami coming for the person in your path. And just the deep and frustrated tone in your voice from over the phone put her on edge.

Knock, knock, knock!

She practically sprinted over to the door and swung it open. Your tired features fixed into a deep scowl as you moved past your mother. “Where is she?”

“She’s living at Nate’s,” Suze sighed. “I don’t know how long she plans on staying there.”

You hum, scanning the house. Nothing had changed in the months of you not being home. If anything, the familiarity made you repulsed by it. Then again, it could just be your bad move influencing your true feelings.

The appreciation of your childhood home was short lived with footsteps grabbing your attention. Turning to find Lexi, who wore a large grin on her lips. “Y/n!”

For the first time in the past 10 hours, you smiled. Letting go of the handle of your suitcase and opened your arms. Your little sister ran at you and launched herself into your arms. A groan slipped out of your lips as you held her tightly against her.

“Hey there, Loo Loo,” you chuckled. “Good to see you too.”

“Why are you home?” She mused, hopping down to stand in front of you. “I thought you had midterms coming up soon?”

“I do,” you sighed, exasperated. “But I need to talk to our mess of a sister.”

“Oh, she’s at Nate’s place.”

“Yeah.” You jutted your thumb over your shoulder towards your guys’ mother. “Mom told me. When I get back, you can tell me everything going on in your life. I think I’ll be here for a week or so.”

Lexi nodded with a smile, bringing you into another hug that made you smile softly. It felt like forever since you’ve had this type of love and affection. There was something wrong with you for depriving you of this. From receiving love and affection from the people that loved you dearly. You had your own problems, mentally, that had restrained you from even attempting to make any effort to come see your sisters or mother for the past few months.

Suze and Lexi offered to get you set up in your old bedroom while you did what you needed to do. Which also meant, “Get your sister back here, all means necessary.” And you obliged to do so by taking out your old truck that your mother kept in the garage where you raced over to the Jacobs household.

Travelling across town had been fast. Mainly because of the fact that you were dean near speeding through each stop sign and drowned in your own thought. Trying to put together the perfect scolding you could for your sister and not break her down to a sobbing and incoherent mess.

You loved Cassie. You did, truly. But there was a certain line you had set with her and guys. And it wasn’t the super overprotective brother bullshit. No, it was the blatantly obvious one. Don’t fuck your best friends ex.

It felt like you had drilled into both Cassie’s and Lexi mind since they were 14. You had no problem with dating. In fact, you encouraged them to go out there and be who they wanted to be because you would always love them the same. But the line Cassie didn’t just cross one line. She cross ever single fucking one you had laid out.

So, as you walked up the path towards the Jacobs front door, you were trying to keep your cool. Keep the protective side restrained in thick chains and pulled down to the deepest and darkest corner of your heart. While also trying to put together the right words for Cassie to understand.

Knocking on the door, you waited patiently until it finally opened. Cal Jacobs standing at the doorway with a raise brow. “Can I help you?”

“Cassie Howard is here,” you said simply. “I’m her brother Y/n. I need her here so I can take her home.”

But right before the man could speak, the most disgusting sound you never wanted to hear had sounded out through the house.

Cassie moaned.

She fucking…moaned!

That had been the final straw for you as you stormed inside the house. “Kid, if you fucking break anything or touch my son, I’ll call the police!”

“No worries, Cal,” you huffed. “It won’t count as touching him when I break his knees with a bat.”

Storming up the stairs, you walked in the direction of the sounds coming from your sister. Wanting nothing more than to have white noise blasting in your ears instead. But it just worse when you finally stopped outside the room as she was damn near screaming.

Slamming your fist against the door, you growled, “Cassie, get your ass downstairs and out to car or I’ll come in there and break Nate’s fucking head open!” And with that threat left to hang in the air, you walked away and past Cal who stared at you in shock.

You were fuming and your blood was boiling over the fucking brim. It was hard not to just punch something whilst you awaited in your truck. Fingers tapping against the steering wheel impatiently.

But right when you were about to get out grab your sister, her quick footsteps could be heard. Head bowed low in shame as she climbed inside. She felt your eyes burn holes in the side of her head for a few moments before you growled in annoyance.

“You better have a fucking amazing explanation when we get home.” She didn’t respond, not even with a nod. Sitting silently throughout the drive.

She hoped that you would cool off by the time you guys got home. Showed her some type of mercy considering you have been away for almost a year. But she was wishing upon stars at that point because she knew how aggravated you were right now. Just the atmosphere in the air told enough.

And damn, those parental pants hadn’t changed one damn bit since you were gone. It felt so natural and Cassie was unsure if she was glad for it or hating it. But she was glad that you were home, if that even mattered at this point.

When you two arrived at the house, Cassie followed behind you. Scared to even speak in fear that the pent up anger building inside you would burst. It was already reaching its capacity and there was no stopping anyone on the receiving end of it.

Entering, Cassie could even get a breath out before you were glaring at her. “Want to explain what the fuck has happened in the past 2 days?”

Cassie watched as you moved around her and into the kitchen. Silently, she followed and sat at the table as you grabbed yourself a bear. She played with her nails, unsure of how she was supposed to respond.

When no response came, you turned to her and pushed your arms out by your side, indicating you expecting an answer. “Cassie, I have no problem sitting here and waiting all night until you give me an answer.”

“Okay,” she whined. “Maddy and Nate were broken up. Lexi and I got into a fight while we were going to a party and-“

“What were you two fighting about?” You asked, eyes flickering to Lexi, who stood near the doorway.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Cassie finalized tone, stopping Lexi from even speaking was enough for you.

Sighing as you glanced at you mom. “You can go to bed,” you reassured. “I’ve got this. Lexi, sit down because I have feeling that your sister is going to include you somehow.”

Right when Cassie was about to protest, you raised your hand, silencing her. “I don’t want to hear it, Cassie,” you said, sliding into a seat. “Just continue with your story.”

“Anyways, we got into a fight and I got out of the car,” she explained. “Long story short I got a ride to the party with Nate and we fucked.”

Your face scrunched up at the mention of your sister having sex. You don’t think you would ever get used to that.

“And Rue snitched on you to Maddy?”

“Yes!”

“Good.”

There was no explaining the pure look of shock and confusion on Cassie’s face from your simple tone. Especially when you casually took a sip from her beer.

Noticing the look, you raised a brow in question. “What do you want me say, Cass?” You asked.

“I don’t know,” she stammered. “Maybe fucking defend me or something.”

“What is there to defend?” You asked. “You did not only break one rule of mine, but the whole fucking book! And you want me to defend you? Are you fucking high?”

You didn’t mean to be so mean. You knew how sensitive both your sisters were and you knew how badly Cassie could react. But there was no nice way for you to just dance around the problem. Diving in head first was the only way you saw yourself doing this. If Cassie didn’t like that then she didn’t but you sure has hell don’t regret it.

When all you got was silence, you motioned to Lexi, who sat opposite of you. “Do you see your sister going and fucking…” You snapped your fingers, looking to Lexi. “Who’s Rue’s ex?”

“Jules.”

“Jules!” You exclaimed, going right back into your rant. “No, you don’t because she’s learned from what I’ve told and raised you two to be. Women. Actual women who didn’t go and fuck their best friends ex.”

“They weren’t dating!”

“If I kidnapped a child but didn’t hurt them, does that make it okay to the point where the parents will forgive me?” You asked rhetorically as Cassie stared at you with pursed lips. Tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared back you. Hating the fact that your anger and frustration had met it’s wits end that she couldn’t even hope for you stop.

“Of course not because I still fucking kidnapped the kid!” You exclaimed with a wave of your hand. “Just like how you backstabbed Maddy and fucked a psycho piece of shit guy!”

Her lack of voice did make your heart uneasy. When you used to give her these talks, she would speak up for herself. Perhaps she understood where she messed up. But if she did, you wanted confirmation. Not just a quiet sister, who cried under your scolding gaze.

But you couldn’t blame her for feeling a way. You had always held a soft spot for both Lexi and Cassie, maybe Cassie a bit more just because how she reacted. Nonetheless, whenever they did something like this and started crying, you did feel a pain of regret for speaking to them like this. Having them in tears just because you’ve practically raised them. You were the father figure to them that they never truly had.

All you could really acknowledge with Cassie was the fact she had taken her freedom a step too far. Drinking in her freedom like it was wine and spending it like she was rich, which she very much wasn’t. You just couldn’t understand what happened to the sweet girl, who always passed out right next to you on the couch countless nights.

“I don’t know what happened to you Cassie in the time for me leaving, but I don’t like it,” you stated. “It makes me almost believe that nothing I have done or ever said even mattered.”

Everything she had done had been because of you. She adored you every second of every day. She loved you more than the entire world and everything in it. Cassie looked up to you as a beacon of hope and as much as she hated disappointing you, it had been your fault she turned out this way.

For too long, she had been walking over eggshells hoping not to disappoint you, but there was always something that would piss you off. She’d had enough and wanted to do something for herself. People change and people grow and that had been your mistake to think she would stay as the innocent little girl you helped raise.

“I think you forget that you left and abandoned us,” Cassie spat. “People change, Y/n. Especially when you don’t care enough to try and visit.”

“Cassie!” Lexi exclaimed, but her sister was too far gone.

“You’re a fucking dick, Y/n!” Cassie moved out of her chair and marched towards you. “All I have ever done is adore you and loved you. You stopped caring about all of us the instant you left and we can all fucking see it. You stopped needing us when you started showing up less. I fucking hate you and wish you would drop dead!”

Your eyes slightly widened with your sobbing sister turning around running up to her bedroom. A heavy and regretful cloud hovering over you as you stared at the ground silently. Nibbling on your bottom lip with a tiny nod, blinking rapidly.

Lexi didn’t know what to say. In a small and proportion, she did agree with Cassie. But only for the fact that you shouldn’t have expected them stay the same as when you last saw them. They would have to break your rules once and a while and just hope you didn’t catch word.

But she didn’t know what to do or say when you silently stood to your feet. Chugging the rest of your drink and placing it on the counter. Clearing your throat as your eyes flickered to Lexi. It had only been for a moment, but it was enough for her to see the sparkling tears running down your cheeks.

“You should…” You sighed, rubbing your eyes. “Um, you should get some sleep, Loo Loo.”

Silently, she obliged by your word and got up to her feet. But before she could leave, you caught her arm. Wrapping your arms around her where she melted and hugged you tightly. Face burying into your chest with handful grabbing at the back of your shirt.

You pressed a kiss to the crown on her head. Rubbing a comforting hand and up down her back. Which was pretty funny just because she was worried about you, but you were the one comforting her. As per usual, you didn’t let others comfort you even when you likely needed it.

“I love you, Lexi,” you muttered against her. “ I love you and Cassie so much.“

She could feel the wet tears hitting her scalp. Each one she felt made her heart clench, pulling you closer without realizing. “We know, Y/n,” she assured. “We know and we love you too. Cassie has just been tough for everyone in the past few weeks.”

Her reassurances carried on until you were at ease and urging her to bed. This time, she did listen and pulled herself away and gave you the space you needed. You didn’t dare risking the chance of going upstairs just by the chance of running into her.

Once upon a time, the three of you, there was a bond that was unbreakable. When you went over something, surely enough, they were hastily following. They did love you and adore you for everything you did for them and image they had placed on you.

And it was now, moments like this when you could just find your dad and beat him to a bloody pulp for leaving. For placing all this weight on to be the father figure your sisters didn’t need. Because let’s be honest, you weren’t it. You weren’t the right person to be taken as inspiration from and used.

It didn’t feel right with you. Not when you consciously tried avoiding your family during holidays. Making up bullshit excuses like you were spending it with a girlfriend. Which you didn’t have because your stressed out mind wouldn’t be able to add another weight to the pile.

They just didn’t understand the type of weight they had placed on you. The unbearable and tiring weight that left you a crying mess every single day. It had been nothing but you caring about them. You wanted to selfish and relieve yourself from that weight a little longer.

But now being back, placing it back on your shoulders and having Cassie back hand comment, you just realized that you couldn’t be selfish. With how long you’ve been gone, it had taken an effect on her. Probably much worse than Suze and Lexi combined.

Which is why you avoided any interaction with the three women for the remainder of the night. Finding your place of relaxation to be on the couch watching TV. A beer bottle in hand as you blinked tiredly. Silently debating on driving over to Fezco’s and buying some weed off him.

“Hey.” Cassie’s voice nearly made you jump out of your spot. Finding her standing near the doorway with large sweater and sweatpants. Hair unkempt in a naturally beautiful way she had always been able to rock since she was a kid. It looked adorable.

You swallowed the lump in your throat. “Hey,” you greeted. “What’s up? You need something? Want me to drive and grab you something?”

Still the caring brother, Cassie thought as she shook her head from your questions. “Can I sit with you?” She asked nervously. “I can’t sleep.”

You hummed, scooting over to give her some space. She filled that open space and instinctively leaned against you and you automatically wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

A heavy and blank silence fell over the two of you as you guys just watched TV. Honestly, you were unsure of what to say to her. You had said your piece when she got home and already showed your lack of comfort with her being with Nate. But you knew she wouldn’t listen. Once you were gone, she would go running back to him and you had to accept that.

But you did feel like she was doing it to get your attention. It may have not turned out the way she wanted, but you had a feeling she just wanted you to come back and talk to her. Hell, she may have easily been satisfied with a phone call. Nothing she had done had gotten your guys’ mom to call you. So, while she had broken your rule because she did like Nate, she also had you in mind. But that’s what you thought at least.

“You know what I realized, Cass?” You finally spoke and she hummed in response. “It’s not about justifying your existence. It’s not. It’s about you being so scared and so selfish that you have to break me down.”

At that point, Cassie had already felt the back of her eyes stinging with a new fresh water fall of tears. “Second guess everything I do,” you continued. “Am I good brother? Am I showing enough love to my sisters? Can I do this without them? I don’t know. I better ask Cassie. Maybe she’ll know the answer. Where’s Cassie? I need Cassie. Did you like the gift? Was it good? Yeah, I think so too.”

“God forbid I’m secure enough with what I have done for you two and mom that I don’t need to be here every time you mess up,” you said. “Your whole outbursts of me not being here. About me not caring about you guys because I showed up less. Or that I stopped needing you. You just need a reason to be needed. To be cared for and loved like I used to when you were just a kid.”

“Can we leave this conversation alone?” Cassie whispered, pulling away from you. Trying to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

But before she could get far, you caught her hands in yours and turned to her. “Because if I don’t need you Cassie, what the hell am I still doing keeping it contact with any of you?” You asked. “You want control because you can’t imagine the idea that I still show up is because I love you.”

Your own tears began to peak through the brims of your eyes. Sniffling as you shook your head. “I just love you, Cass.” At that point, Cassie propelled herself into your chest and broke down in sobs. You wrapped your arms around her tightly as pressed your cheek to the side of her head. “I don’t need you. But I love you because you don’t see what I see. You don’t see that people love and care for you just like I do. That there’s someone somebody on this planet that just loves you.”

If Cassie was being honest, she wasn’t used to this type of affection. It had worn off over the months of you being gone. With it coming back in full swing, it broke her down into a million pieces. And there you were. Helping pick up the pieces and reassembling everything you could.

“I love the way your mind works, Cassie,” you whispered. “I do. I love the way you see the world. I love the way you think. Your instincts. And I am so fucking grateful for having been able to help you raise you with Lexi. Because everything we’ve been through...that’s what’s made you you. The girl who helped me steal food from the store. The girl who cheered me on when I beat Aaron Jacobs ass. The girl that I love and the girl I fuck with.”

A sob racked your body as Cassie clung onto you tighter. “And I’m sorry, you know?” You cried. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around. I apologized to mom, but I know that I should’ve said it to you and Lexi. I know I fucked up, but I’m trying to do better for the both of you. I’m not the best brother, but I am trying for you.”

Cassie pulled away, pulling your head into her shoulder. Allowing you to let out every regretful emotion and pent up tear that had been held back in New York. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For making you mad at me. I just wanted to do something for myself and it’s my fault.”

You didn’t respond, clinging onto her for dear life. And the night stayed like that, both of you holding onto one another. So much had been let out that night. Way more than either expected. But it was all out there, giving an insight on the other’s thoughts and past regrets. It only drew the both of you closer.

#cassie howard x reader #cassie howard #sydney sweeney #lexi howard euphoria #suze howard #maddy perez #euphoria #euphoria imagine #euphoria hbo #cassie howard x olderbrother!reader #x older brother

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seokjinsonlyone · 3 years ago

Text

this is how i think it’d go if you went to visit bts at work and gave them a little peck on the lips

namjoon:

you’d probably walk into his studio and he’d be at his desk headphones in playing back some beat or revising some lyrics

you’d come up behind him and wrap your arms around his neck effectively stealing his attention away from the track

and that’s when you’d place a nice little peck on his lips

but that wouldn’t be enough for him so before you could even fully break apart he’d already be chasing your lips

he’d roll his chair around to properly face you placing one hand at the back of your neck bringing you back to him immediately slipping his tongue in your mouth

what once was a cute little greeting turned into a sensual experience as he gently massaged your tongue with his

and when he felt like he had his fill of you for the time being he pulled back, smiling, dimples on full display and said “hey, baby.”

the depth of his voice would send shivers down your spine and you would settle into his lap wrapping your arms around his neck picking up where he left off just bc he was done didn’t mean you were

seokjin:

you’d probably end up at hybe headquarters after seokjin called you when he was done with his day to get dinner together

you’d call him to let him know you’re outside and within a minute he’d be in your car

you’d lean over the center console to give him a peck to which he’d immediately complain

“woooowww i’ve been at work all day and that’s all i get”

you’d swallow down the urge to tell him that he not the only one that work in favor of rolling your eyes and pressing your lips to his again for a little longer

that wouldn’t be enough for him though “just one more,” he’d request.

“one more.”

he knew that asking for a kiss from you was a dangerous game

could feel it in the way he melted against you

could tell by the way he seriously thought about giving you one of his rolex watches you jokingly said you’d steal and sell

or one of his cars you said you’d steal and sell

thought about giving you the world just for one more kiss

yoongi:

with yoongi you’d probably enter his studio (he’s always in the studio) with the code he gave you

which the fact that you were the only one other than himself that had the code did inexplicable things to your heart you couldn’t really delve into without feeling like you were gonna explode

anyway you’d walk in the room and he already knew it was you like you said you were the only other one who could freely enter and he’d be at his monitor doing whatever producers do

“hey just gimme one sec”

and you knew how that one went sometimes it was actually just a few seconds sometimes it was a few hours until you had his attention but you didn’t mind you ain’t have anything else to do just wanted some company

you didn’t wanna disturb him too much but you couldn’t help yourself so you walked to him turned his head to face you and quickly kissed him before recoiling to the couch a few feet away

10-15 minutes later he was summoning you over to him, pulling you into his lap, and using his thumb and index finger to trap your chin bringing your lips back to his for a proper kiss

you sighed contentedly afterwards laying your head on top of his as he wrapped his arms around your waist, showing you what he was working on

hoseok:

hobi was usually a super organized person liked for everything to have a place and everything to be in that place

but you were his little chaos and organization was definitely not his top priority when he was with you taking second place to soaking up every ounce of your presence in whichever way you would allow him

so really it was no surprise when he texted you asking if you’d seen his little notebook where he wrote his lyrics and whatever other ideas or thoughts popped into his head

it took a bit of searching to find but you had it and he was very fortunate you liked him it was the only reason you were willing to drop it off before work

you made sure to let him know he was the reason you looked ugly today the trip to his office severely cutting your usual routine and he made sure to let you know that a) you were beautiful no matter what and b) he would make it up to you

it was only your second time at the new building your first time was when he invited you along for their first look at the hybe insight museum so it was safe to say you had absolutely no idea where you were going despite the detailed instructions one of the staff gave you upon entry if you hadn’t run into taehyun you probably would’ve been running around that building for another hour

you were thoroughly unamused with the situation but hobi looked so cute and sheepish when you entered the practice room wrapping his arms around you immediately alternating between expressing his gratitude and regretfulness that you couldn’t help but press a small kiss to his mouth

an action you instantly regretted bc a) it caused him to start pressing kisses all over your face in return b) it caused an eruption of various forms of shouting from the six other boys you failed to notice upon entry

you pushed at his chest as heat flooded your body from embarrassment preparing to leave you were going to be late for work “be good” you told him personally before shouting “have fun!” at the other members

jimin:

your days off hardly coincided with jimin’s days off mostly bc he never really had days off always had to go in for one thing or another

but his days weren’t always jam packed some days like today he had a meeting in the morning and a meeting in the evening and not much else to do besides that

and he was the absolute worst at entertaining himself always needed to find someone else’s business to get into and as the object of his affection you were always his first choice

he tried not to bother you too much when you were busy though no matter how clingy he was and he was awfully clingy

if you two weren’t able to be joined at the hip in your free time you were definitely on the phone and if he wasn’t the object of your affection as well you would’ve started ignoring him a long time ago as it stands he was the best company

anyway he knew you were off today and had no plans other than finding a new anime to start so naturally when he found himself bored out of his mind he was in your ear purring down the line for you to come to him

it didn’t take too much convincing your attention span wasn’t on your side so you couldn’t really get into anything and even though you literally saw jimin yesterday you missed him :\

it’s why you didn’t hesitate to land a peck on his lips upon meeting him again and latching onto his arm firmly as he led you to one of the small practice rooms they had

“so tell me about your day”

you looked him over suspiciously he had that mischievous glint in his eye so you knew he was up to something

and you were right you weren’t more than two sentences in to your answer before he was pressing his lips to yours in a long lingering kiss

“i’m sorry continue”

“um...” your attention span really wasn’t with you and it was hard to retrace your train of thought with your lips tingling and the hairs on the back of your neck raised

you eventually found your mental footing and continued speaking about your day which had more or less turned into you ranting about haikyuu when again mid sentence he captured your lips between his own one hand tracing up and down your spine while the other held your head into place so he could lick into your mouth just the way he liked

“go on” he panted slightly breathless once you finally broke apart

“jimin...” you whined

he giggled at his own antics loved riling you up found it so cute how you couldn’t even try to keep the dreamy look off your face “you like me so much don’t you?” he asked with a self assured grin etched onto his face

you did

taehyung:

sometimes he felt so sorry to you hated cancelling on you because something came up or another thing ran over time

you were always cool with it tho never made a huge fuss of it which he was forever grateful for bc he really did love his job

but he really loved you too

he had to cancel three separate times just this week alone and he was missing you something bad

and even though he really wanted to take you out and do something nice for you like you deserved at this point he just wanted to see you

missed seeing you in person and having you in his arms

that’s how you found yourself on a bench tucked into a quiet corner of the upper garden at a table chairs side by side his hands toying with yours as you caught him up on your week so far

he was kinda obsessed with you and you loved it because having his undivided attention felt so so good

so you couldn’t help but close the gap, briefly pressing your lips to his

the slight blush that took over his cheeks had an insane amount of serotonin flooding your brain you loved him so much

even more so when he surpassed his bout of shyness and unabashedly brought you closer to him and attempted to make up for a week’s worth of lost kisses

jungkook:

sometimes life got busy for the both of you and even though you meant to meet up it just didn’t happen

but once you finished your work week you made it your mission to see him as soon as possible

you’d texted him when you got off and he told you he was finishing vocal practice then going to workout which left you with enough time to stop home and freshen up before he was done

as expected his trainer told you he was in the shower when you popped up so you decided to wait in the hallway for him to come out

“heeeeey what are you doing here”

you looked up from your phone to see your slightly damp very buff boyfriend grinning down at you

almost instantly you were hugging him arms wrapped around his waist before pulling back slightly pecking him on the lips

which set something off inside jungkook a shock ran down his body just from the feeling of your lips pressed against his

“let’s hang out” you agreed immediately “i just need to grab something from my studio first”

he laced your hands together dragging you alongside him and as soon as you entered the room he had you pinned against the door hands on your hips kissing you with far greater ferocity than you could have anticipated

and it’s like jungkook knew he missed you but he didn’t realize just how much until he had you in his arms your lips on his

kissing you felt like home and his introverted self never wanted to leave the house couldn’t even help the groan that escaped the back of his throat as you took control of the kiss and made a mental note to remember to never deprive himself of this pleasure again

one of his hands slid down your thigh lifting your leg until you got the hint to wrap both of them around his waist allowing him to show off his strength and grope you at the same time

“jk,” you said breathlessly, breaking the kiss

his lips were chasing yours the second you broke contact he didn’t care about breathing when a fire was spreading through his body

you indulged him for a few more seconds before breaking apart again

this time his lips traveled down your neck kissing and sucking until you were making the prettiest sounds for him

you felt like you were going to explode his hands were squeezing your butt and his lips were on your neck and you were going to explode

“jk...” you whined again tugging lightly at the hair on the nape of his neck

he made his way back up your neck pressing a hard kiss on your cheek before gently nudging your nose with his “hmmm?”

and suddenly you were staring directly into his eyes big and pretty and filled with stars shining just for you

you were going to explode “let’s get out of here”

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yourmcu · 4 years ago

Text

Emotional Support Mode

Pairings: Tony Stark x daughter!reader

Summary:

in which the reader is the loner, antisocial daughter of Tony Stark and the other Avengers including her father never acknowledge her presence (they thought some sort of interaction made you uncomfortable) so she becomes friends with Friday instead - Tony probs finds out and it’s gonna be all cute n fluffie once he realizes -

Word count: 2,243

a/n: hi just wanted to write fluffy tony :)) also I used they/them for friday’s pronouns

Warnings: angst n fluff, friday’s a bit more advanced (not like they aren’t already but) bc they could almost act like a literal human here.

read it on ao3!

You arrive back at the Avengers facility, shoulders slumped and just tired in general since you have a lot of homework and projects to do from school, most of them due by the end of the week. You also have exams later in the week.

“Hey, Fri,” you huff as you make your way to the elevator.

“Welcome home, Y/N. Where do you want to go?”

Yes, you're very close with the A.I that they started calling you by your first name. “To my room - and uh, will you remind me to read two chapters in my history book after I’m done with all my homework? I also have this project, I just need some measurements later, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure thing.”

“Thank you.”

It’s going to be a long night, you sigh heavily just thinking about it. Now you’re probably wondering, ‘you live with the Avengers! Why don’t you ask Tony and Bruce for help? Maybe Steve and Bucky for your History test?’

Yeah, well... you barely talk to any real person you live with. Maybe it’s you, you always thought you're making the team uncomfortable. You don’t even talk to your own father often which is kind of depressing on your part.

You love them, they’re like your extended family, but it just isn’t working out. Maybe they just don’t like you. Up to this day you still wonder why Tony took you in when you were just a baby (you were a mistake from one of his one night stands) - he had the choice not to.

“I’m assuming you zoned out again. You have arrived to your room five minutes ago.” Friday announces.

“Y-yeah sorry,” you shuffle out of the elevator and swiftly head to your bedroom, closing the door behind you.

“I also asked if I should inform Mr. Stark that you have arrived home.”

“No, no thanks. He’s busy and... probably wouldn’t care anyway,” You mutter the last part as you pile the books you need on your desk. “Can you put my study playlist on, please?”

----

“What time is it, Friday?”

“7PM. I was about to remind you to take a break.”

You get up from your chair and stretch, halfway through the last of your homework which is a two page essay. “You’re too kind, thanks pal,” when you walk out your room to head to the kitchen and grab a snack, the lounge is empty, kitchen empty,

“The team’s on a mission? I thought they had the whole week off,” you say before gulping down a water bottle.

“I checked the security footage: they left about an hour ago. Captain Rogers was talking about getting dinner.”

You put the bottle down. “Oh,” you try to mask your disappointment. This isn’t your first time being alone, they always left you here when they had a mission of course but... well, it’s not like they want you around them. “I’ll - I’ll just make myself something later, then. Not a big deal. I have to study anyway.”

Another hour later, the Avengers are back. They're all conversing happily as they pile in the lounge. Peter's rambling about upgrades for the Spiderman suit while Tony's typing away in his phone, nodding at everything he says. Everyone else is arguing about the TV channels and talking about the new restaurant they ate at.

Rhodey shifts, looking around. “Why do I feel like we forgot something?”

Natasha looks at him, waiting for him to go on.

“I assure you, I brought Mjolnir with me this time.” Thor butts in.

“No not that, what time does Y/N get home from school?” No one answers. It’s not like any of them know. It's natural that Rhodey would be worried about his goddaughter (even if they rarely talk). He turns his head to his best friend who’s now walking away with Peter, an arm around his shoulder. “Tony, where’s Y/N?”

He doesn’t hear since he has his full attention on his protégé.

“I’ll start making this tomorrow, I guess. I still have to buy materials.” You mumble to yourself, but you hope Friday's listening to everything you say just to make you feel less lonely. You swipe the hologram of the blueprint away and place the thick books in front of you.

“I would like to recommend a suitable study plan.” they state.

You rub your eyes, sighing, “I’m already halfway, I would’ve considered it earlier though.”

“This is only a recommendation, feel free to ignore it.”

You push yourself away from the desk and mutter a “go on,”, fiddling with your pen.

“Asking Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barnes would give you more details for your History examination, since the pair were originally from that time period. The same goes for Mr. Banner for your Science examination, I believe he has seven Ph.D’s, you may also approach Vision for the same topic. Mr. Stark has all the necessary materials for your project in his lab. Would you like me to-”

If only it were that easy. It should be easy, the thought alone makes you really nervous. “No, I - I appreciate the recommendation, Friday, but - I think I can do this on my own.”

“But you’re tired and it is almost midnight. I would help you myself but you specifically told me not to.”

They’re not wrong. Your eyes are starting to droop and you barely understand anything you're reading. You're also fighting back tears - why is talking to your family so hard?

“I can sense sadness. Would you like me to activate emotional support mode?”

“Yeah, okay. That sounds great right about now.”

----

“Crap. Guess we lost track of time again, kid,” Tony wipes his hands with a rag while he looks at the time on his computer. “You better get home. I’ll send May a text for keeping you this late.”

“Okay, thank you Mr. Stark. I’m just gonna use my suit-”

“No. Happy will drive you.”

Peter knew better than to argue and insist so he just nods and smiles sheepishly. A minute later Happy came ‘round to take him home.

Tony turns back around. “Friday, make a new project for me please, I’m adding minor upgrades to the Spiderman suit.”

“Not now, boss.”

Oh. He did not expect that. “Excuse me?”

“Y/N is currently opening up. I would like to give her my full, undivided attention. Please come back after fifteen minutes or so.”

Tony doesn’t exactly know how to feel about that. He never sees her outside her room anymore that he kinda forgot she existed tonight - oh fuck, they didn’t bring her to dinner with them.

“Well,” he exhales. “What is she saying?”

“That would be an invasion of privacy.”

“I’m her father-”

“Are you, sir?” Friday’s clever remark makes him stop abruptly.

It’s pretty clear that he’s been a shit father. Not only does he ignore you all the time but he treats Peter way better than his own flesh and blood. The Avengers on the other hand, they were nice people, but just didn’t understand so they try their best to get out of your way.

You were afraid of rejection, afraid to interact, because you had no idea what everyone thought of you. Did they like you? Did you make them uncomfortable? Did they want you around? What about Tony, did he really want a daughter in his life? Because you noticed he’d be better off with a son, yeah, like Peter goddamn Parker.

Tony sighs, walking out of his lab and heads to the mini bar to grab a drink. He needs to think: there's absolutely nothing wrong about you, he just didn’t do his job right, you thought he didn’t care, you thought nobody did. Even Friday is turning against him, doing a better job of comforting and being there for you.

“God, I’m such an asshole,” he mutters to himself, rubbing his forehead. He drinks his last shot and heads to the kitchen. “She still awake?” He calls out.

“She is.” Friday has a bitter tone.

He's hesitant to ask again, feeling really bad for not knowing this simple question - “what’s her favorite beverage?”

----

“How do you feel?”

You sniffle. “Well y’know, better than before. I should probably go to sleep. Thanks, Fri.”

“You’re welcome. Also, Mr. Stark is outside your door.”

“W-what?” You put away your books and straighten up, rubbing your damp eyes. “You’re serious? Okay, uh, let him in?” It's more of a question.

“Alright.”

You turn to face your desk as Tony enters the room, holding two steaming mugs. He sits at the end of your bed, just right next to the chair you're sitting on. “Hi,” he gives you a small smile and hands you a mug.

What’s the occasion?

“What’s this?” You ask quietly before taking the mug from his hands. Tony's being gentle and soft, it's odd but you’re not complaining.

“Green tea with honey. I... I thought I saw you make that stuff once.” He says, not mentioning the fact that Friday told him that.

“Oh, well, yeah,” you take a small sip. He added a bit too much honey but other than that it was good. “I thought you preferred coffee, though,”

Tony shrugs, his eyes glistening when he looks at you. “Wouldn’t hurt to try something new.”

“Did - did you want something, Dad?” You always found yourself awkward, couldn’t even make conversation with someone for long, always wanted to get straight to the point so it could be over with.

He looks like he wants to say something but he just averts his gaze to you, his hands, the floor, then suddenly he leans in and hugs you. Your feel your heart swell and body warm up, it’s a new sensation for you after all, you rarely get hugs from people. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “For everything. I’m such a bad dad, I don’t deserve you. I even forgot you when we went out to dinner.”

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. I had loads of stuff to do earlier anyway, so, but yeah I was just - I just overreact, I’m sensitive. I don’t blame you and the others for not liking me, I know there’s nothing like-able about me, I’m not like Peter-” You ramble, tears now leaving your eyes again.

“Sweetheart, don’t say that,” Tony says as he pulls you closer to him, head resting against his chest while he rubs your back comfortably. “Y/N Stark, you are smart, brilliant - I was just an ass for not acknowledging that.”

“I know you’re just saying that to-”

“Oh, but I’m not,” he now places his hands on your shoulders, getting you to look at him. “Tell me who built their first engine when they were eight?”

You blush, “Dad-”

“No, come on, I wanna hear it.”

“I did.”

“Yes you did. And who made a completely functioning robot at their middle school science fair that blew all the teacher’s minds?”

You’re trying to hide a smile, recalling the memory, “I did.”

“And who,” Tony gets up and walks to the bulky looking thing that you covered with a sheet, pulling it off, “is currently building a computer from scratch?”

“Dad! That’s still a work in progress,” he messily places the sheet back and chuckles.

“My point is, you’re a clever and talented girl, Y/N. Don’t bring yourself down. And you don’t have to be shy around your family, those idiots have been dying to get to know you but since you don’t talk much... they don’t want to force it. We love you,” he says. “I hope you forgive me ‘cause I really wanna make it up to you. I’m not calling Peter in for a few weeks.” Tony sits down beside you again.

You couldn’t believe he’d do that for you. “You don’t have to, if you need him for something then-”

“-then you could help me instead, if you’re up for it.”

“I’m really sorry for being such a lonely freak,” you yawn, getting back into Tony’s open arms. “I love you.”

Tony tucks you in and lies down beside you, “I love you tons, kiddo.”

You snuggle into his chest, feeling his steady breathing while he rests his chin above your head.

----

It's morning. The Avengers are gathered at your open bedroom door.

“Are you getting all of this, Friday?”

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff.”

“Steve turn that shuttering sound down!” Natasha hisses at the super soldier who's doing his task, taking pictures.

Steve almost drops the phone and has Bruce fix the volume for him.

They’re all watching you and Tony cuddle together, still fast asleep.

“Do we have to stay here until they wake up?”

“Unless you have a great way of waking them up, yes. Now shut up.”

“If you think about it we definitely look creepy right now.” Sam comments.

“It’s their fault for having the door wide open all night!” Clint says.

Tony's actually awake the whole time, listening to them bickering. “You have three seconds to get the hell out of here before I make all of you polish my suits.” With that, the team races down the hall, pushing each other to get away first like literal children.

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okaywa · 4 years ago

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Hello can i request a scenarios for Kuroo, Oikawa, Bokuto who is dating with top volleyball player and when they tell it to the team, they just laugh or called him delulu but one day his fem!s/o shows up and the rest of team are like *shocked pikachu face*

Yessss bb!! This is a really cute request :)

Kuroo

With Kuroo I think he’s going to mention you so much that his team thinks he’s making you up to sound cool

He’s always bailing on hangouts bc “I’m hanging out with my girlfriend today.”

“Sorry, can't come to the study group because im studying with my girlfriend.”

“Me and my girlfriend went to this really good place the other day-”

Until finally his team decides to call him on it

“Oh let me guess,” Yaku says. “She goes to a different school?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Kuroo blinks

Even Kenma’s laughing now. “What’s her name then?”

“Y/n Y/ln, she plays volleyball too,” Kuroo grins.

“THE Y/N Y/L/N?!” Yamamoto yells. “Now I really don't believe you.”

“Who’s that?” Lev asks, looking around.

“She’s the top ace in the women’s division,” Yaku answers, squinting at Kuroo.

“And, super hot,” Yamamoto sighs. “I want her to spike a ball directly into my face.”

“I am never bringing her here,” Kuroo decides, watching Yamamoto practically drool.

“That’s convenient,” Kenma mutters under his breath, running away before Kuroo can make him practice more serves.

“Ah, Tetsu-chan!” You wave energetically from across the gym. “Did you just finish your game?”

Kuroo catches you easily when you jump at him to hug him, hefting you up so you can wrap your legs around his waist. He sets you down after a moment, taking in your flushed appearance and uniform.

“Yeah, did you?”

“Yes!” You’re practically bouncing. “We won! We’re going to semi-finals!”

“That’s my girl,” Kuroo grins, accepting your high five. “Us too.”

You wrap him up in another excited hug, rambling about your spikes from your game until someone clears their throat.

“Uh, Kuroo?” Lev asks, poking his shoulder.

“Oh, Lev,” Kuroo steps to the side. “This is my girlfriend, Y/n Y/ln.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” you beam, shaking his hand eagerly.

Lev stammers out some sort of greeting before backing off and running to get Yaku.

“That was weird,” you blink. “Is he always like that?”

Kuroo is smirking mischievously. “Just about.”

“Kuroo! You were being serious?” Yaku stomps over. “Why didn’t you say?”

“I did. Repeatedly,” Kuroo snickers. “But you all said I was lying because she goes to a different school and is out of my league.”

“I mean, she is,” Yamamoto scoffs honestly, stepping forward to shake your hand. “Hi Y/ln-san, I’m a big fan.”

“Back off, you pervert,” Kuroo growls good-naturedly.

After meeting the rest of his dumbstruck team Kuroo drags you down the street to a small cafe for some postgame food.

“So, I’m out of your league, hm?” You ask, nudging Kuroo’s foot under the table.

“Uh, yeah,” Kuroo says. “Was that not obvious?”

Oikawa

After his last less than pleasant relationship he decides to keep you on the DL for a little longer than he usually would

So when he tells Iwaizumi who he’s dating, the guy can’t help his loud laughter

“Yeah, right Oikawa. I get you’re a hit with the ladies but I don’t believe that for second!”

He’s laughing so hard the rest of the team is starting to notice and wander over

“What’d Oikawa say that’s so funny?” Mattsun asks

Iwaizumi straightens up, wiping his eyes while still chuckling

“That he’s dating Y/n Y/ln,” he manages to get out before he doubles over again “And has been for the last few months.”

“Y/n Y/ln as in the number one libero in the women’s division?”

“Yes” Oikawa crosses his arms.

Oikawa glares at Iwaizumi, his expression growing increasingly offended when the rest of his team joins in with Iwa-Chan’s boisterous laughter

“Why would I lie about this? You guys are being mean!”

“I guess we have to start calling you Lyingkawa instead of Stupidkawa,” Iwaizumi wheezes,

Oikawa huffs, “Get back to practicing your spikes before I make you all run a mile.”

Is this the right gym? You look at Oikawa’s text again. He’d sent you his address just in case his practice ran a little late and this did seem like the right place. You peak through the window, grinning when you spot him.

Deciding it’s best not to distract him, you slide into the gym quietly and settle in a chair next to the door.

“Oh, are you looking someone?” One of the players asks.

“I’m okay, just waiting for Oikawa to finish up,” you replyr.

The spiky-haired man nods and then freezes, eyes growing wide. “Oikawa- hold on. Y/ln?”

“Erm, yes,” you smile. “Iwaizumi, right? Oikawa talks about you constantly. It’s always ‘mean Iwa-chan did this’ or “Iwa-chan hit me with a volleyball!” Iwaizumi flushes. “I’m sorry, I didn't think he was being serious when he said you were his girlfriend.”

“Y/n-chan!” Oikawa runs across the gym. “You’re early!”

“No, Tooru, you're running late,” you correct him with a knowing smile, standing up to kiss his cheek.

Oikawa blinks and checks the time, face falling when he sees the time. “I didn't realize.”

“Don’t worry, love, I was expecting it,” you laugh softly.

The rest of his team has walked over during the exchange and were currently exchanging varying expressions of shock and confusion.

“Oh, I’ll introduce you,” Oikawa beams, taking your hand. “Team, this is Y/n Y/ln. My lovely girlfriend!”

You wave, an easy-going smile on your face. After all, Oikawa talked about them so much it felt like you already knew them. “Nice to meet you guys.”

“You’re actually his girlfriend?” A light haired boy asks.

“Makki,” Oikawa scolds. “Don’t be rude.”

“I take it Tooru hasn't mentioned me,” you laugh, shouldering your boyfriend with feigned offense.

“No he has, we just didn't believe him.” Mattsun admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

Oikawa shoos them away after that, insisting he has places to be.

“So,” you hum, now at the ramen shop. “Care to tell me why no one believed I was your girlfriend.”

Oikawa snorts. “Because they think, and I’m dead serious, that you're too cool for me. Being the number one libero and all that.”

“Well, at least they were right about that,” you sigh.

“Not you too!” Oikawa pouts.

Bokuto

Now like Kuroo he talks about you to the team except even more. He is constantly gushing about you and how you both play volleyball and how talented you are

The only reason his team doesn’t believe him is because they can't imagine someone other than Akaashi being able to handle Bokuto

So they think you probably consider him as just a friend and he’s definitely overthinking the friendship y'all have

“So, Bokuto-san, do you have plans?”Akaashi asks as they clean up after practice.

“Yeah! I’’m going to Y/n’s house and we’re watching movies.” He says excitedly

“Y/n, your girlfriend,” Akaashi says slowly. He knows how excitable Bokuto is and doesn’t want the guy getting his feelings hurt bc he misunderstood the situation

“Yes, my girlfriend,” Bokuto replies. “Have I not mentioned that?”

“No, no, you have.” Akaashi hums. “Are we ever going to meet her?”

“Her schedules pretty busy considering she also plays volleyball.”

“Are we talking about Bokuto’s ‘girlfriend’ again?” Konoha walks over with a shit-eating grin. “What position does she play?”

Bokuto perks up, happy to brag about you. “She’s a setter! She’s super good, like one of the best in the women’s division.”

Akaashi pauses, quickly connecting the dots. “Y/n Y/ln?”

“Yeah! You’ve heard of her?” Bokuto tilts his head.

“Uh, yeah, Bokuto-san. She’s the number one setter in the prefecture.” Akaashi says, looking back at Konoha. Akaashi actually enjoyed watching her matches to get ideas for his own setting.

“She’s your girlfriend?” Konoha asks incredulously. “Like, girlfriend girlfriend.”

“Yes, I’ve said that,” Bokuto smiles, walking away oblivious to the doubtful look shared between Akaashi and Konoha.

The entire team knows Bokuto’s got another date after practice because he keeps mentioning it every chance he gets. Akaashi and Konoha share a look every time Bokuto talks about you, 15 times and counting. They’re still convinced Bokuto has completely misread the situation and are tense at the prospect of meeting you.

“Hey, hey, hey! Y/n!” Bokuto yells excitedly, immediately dropping the ball he was going to put away.

He rushes across the gym and sweeps you up in a hug that pulls you off your feet. “I already know where we’re getting food, okay? And I found this milkshake place that looks super yummy.”

“Kou, please put me down,” you giggle, tapping his shoulder. “I'd like to meet your teammates.”

“Oh, right! Of course,” he sets you down, still grinning excitedly. “Guys, this is Y/n. The girlfriend I’ve talked about so much.”

So, he’s actually got a girlfriend, Akaashi thinks with a small smile. He’s relieved that Bokuto hadn't been confused.

“Y/ln-san, its really nice to meet you,” he says. “You’re an excellent server, I enjoy watching your games.”

“Oh, wow,” you flush. “That’s super flattering, thank you, Akaashi.”

Bokuto beams, glad to see you and his best friend getting along. The other teammates file through with their greetings until Bokuto is bouncing with impatience.

“Okay, okay let’s go eat! I’m starving,” he complains, grabbing your hand and dragging you out of the gym.

“Bye, it was nice meeting you all!” You manage to wave goodbye as Bokuto pulls you away.

“So, he’s actually got a girlfriend.” Konoha comes up beside Akaashi. “I’m kinda jealous. She’s a catch.”

“She seems good for Bokuto-san,” Akaashi says thoughtfully. “I’m happy for him.”

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watchmegetobsessed · 4 years ago

Text

VALERIE - Part V. (Harry Styles)

happy sunday loves!! part 5 is here, buckle up bc we are getting down to business here!! thank you so much for the nice feedbacks, it’s always so moving and inspiring to read your thoughts, so please keep them coming! even if it’s just some gibberish rambling, those are the best haha! now let’s jump right into part 5, we are heading into the christmas mood and im so excited for yall to read this part!! enjoy!

word count: 6.1k

SERIES MASTERPOST

masterlist

By the time November nears its end you officially become a couple with Marcus. It happens gradually, two more dates follow your first one, and then on the third one you agree to test the waters of the possibilities between the two of you exclusively.

Marcus is a great guy. He is funny, caring and smart, always listens to you and cares for even the smallest details about you when you’re talking. He is great company and never fails to make you feel appreciated and wanted. Exactly what you’ve been looking for in a guy, Rosa really hit the nail on the head this time.

You easily fall into a habit with him. Fridays are for date nights, sometimes you go for little trips outside the city on Sundays and he never misses a chance to send you flowers throughout the week. He is just the type of guy that’s always there to cheer you up with something whenever the days start to weigh down on your shoulders.

You even have dinner together with Rosa and Steven one Saturday evening, Rosa keeps giving you those ‘I told you so’ eyes whenever Marcus kisses you shortly or places his hand to your waist. You mostly just roll your eyes at her, not wanting to make a big deal out of the two of you, but Rosa knows how long you’ve been trying to find someone.

What’s a surprising turn is that you start seeing Harry more. Intentionally. You have no idea how it happens, but it does and you’re not mad about it. Some days you grab lunch together whenever he is in the neighborhood, some days you go shopping with him when his sister doesn’t have the time. Harry is a problematic shopper, he takes a long time to decide on clothes so usually you are the one that forces him to choose and finish before all shops close.

When he has had a rough week and you happened to call him for whatever reason, the two of you agree to meet up for drinks at his place, then end up playing UNO for hours, slowly emptying out two bottles of wine.

It’s starting to get harder to imagine what it was like when things weren’t like this with him. When you were getting anxiety from just the thought of seeing him or having to talk to him. It’s like the both of you are showing a different version of yourselves to each other and you have to admit you enjoy being friends with him.

He keeps his habit of teasing you and making jokes about you though, but you don’t mind it. He is not doing it in a mean way with the attempt to piss you off, but to make you laugh and start a playful war where you both throw insults at each other until one of you runs out of it and just starts laughing. You feel a kind of dynamic building between you and him that has a way better effect on you than the continuous killing you were doing before.

You can tell Rosa is thankful for the change as well. Whenever she sees you interact with Harry without making a grimace or have that face that screams how badly you want to hit him, she is relieved that she has one less thing to worry about and Valerie will have two amazing godparents who even like each other.

Christmas is always a big parade in your family. Your mom and your aunts always want to celebrate together so in the past few years it has become a tradition to rent a place out that has enough space for the whole extended family and spend three days there from the 23rd to the 25th. This year your dad found a huge cabin in the woods with ten bedrooms and seven bathrooms, just the perfect size for you all. It’s gonna be your parents, Rosa and Steven with Valerie, Aunt Monica, Aunt Teresa with Uncle Andrew, your cousin Etta, her husband Joe and their two kids, your other cousin Lily with her husband Jeremy and their daughter, and lastly you and Harry. Though your mom urged you to invite Marcus along as well, he could join you for longer than a dinner, since he was already set to fly home to his family.

“You sure he can’t stay for at least the first night?” you mom asks on the phone one evening. You’re stirring the sauce in the pan. holding the phone to your ear with your shoulder so you have both of your hands free.

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s fine, he can come for dinner and then leave later.”

“I get it, but it would have been fun if he stayed,” she sighs, clearly disappointed that she couldn’t change what’s already set. If you’re being honest you don’t mind that Marcus is not staying for the night. You haven’t been dating for that long, you feel like it would be a little uncomfortable to have him there the whole time. A dinner is perfectly fine as a starter, since he hasn’t met anyone else from your family other than Rosa and Steven.

“Anyway,” she sighs moving on, “Have you figured it out how you’re gonna get there?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’ll tag along with someone.”

“Well, I think you should ask Harry. Everyone else is pretty packed already. Rosa and Steven won’t have any extra space with Valerie this year.”

You nod, even though she can’t see you. These past years Rosa always offered you a ride for the holidays, but even when they brought her over for just one night their car was jam-packed. No way you’re gonna fit in there so you are left with Harry since Marcus can only come in the afternoon.

“Sure, I’ll ask him.”

You shoot him a text that day and he replies right away that you’re welcomed in his car, though he won’t be able to take you back since he is leaving early in the morning on the 25th since he is flying back to the UK to his family. It’s fine, you think, you’ll just probably just tag along with aunt Monica back to the city, she always gets her a car for these occasions. Though it’s not your ideal option, she is not the best partner for rides, because she is a fan of smoking in the car, but you don’t have much of a choice.

“I’ll call you when I leave, okay?” Marcus tells you on the morning of the 23rd. It’s early, barely seven, but he is up because he needs to work a little today and you are finishing up packing since Harry will be here in an hour to pick you up.

“Sure. Drive safe,” you huff sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at your suitcase that’s still not closed, clothes are sticking out on the side and you’re sure you’ll have to sit on it to pull the zipper.

“See you later,” Marcus says before you end the call.

It’s rather comical how you try to close the suitcase but you only care about the fact that you eventually succeed. Only minutes before eight you are packed and ready so when you get Harry’s text that he is outside you can leave right away.

Seeing you with your big suitcase he hops out of the car and rushes to help you.

“How long are you planning to stay, Y/N?” he chuckles lifting the bag up and you just shrug your shoulders with a smirk. You’ve alway been a heavy packer, no need to try to cover it up.

Harry throws your stuff into the back of the car as you take the passenger seat. His phone is hooked to the car, a playlist of his own playing gently through the speakers and you’re surprised to catch on the Christmas feeling in the songs.

“Are you in the spirit?” you ask when he gets into the car.

“Like to set the mood ahead,” he chuckles starting the car and off you go.

Ridiculous to think about it, but it’s actually the first time you sit in the same car with Harry or see him drive even. The way you two used to be was not quite ideal to have you locked up in such a small place as a car. But now you have nothing against spending the almost hour long drive with him.

“Can you pull out the navigation when I leave the highway? I’m not sure where exactly I need to head,” he asks you, eyes fixed on the road ahead of him and nodding you open the app on your phone so his can keep on playing the music without the voice of the navigation interrupting it.

“Excited to spend your first Christmas with us?” you ask. Though Harry was there at several family events, it’s his first Christmas since becoming Valerie’s godfather.

“I am,” he chuckles, nodding, hands gripping the wheel gently. He is a natural driver, easily working the car, the kind you feel completely safe next to. As Baby It’s Cold Outside comes on a smile stretches across your lips as you start gently bop your head to the song. “I’ve heard crazy stuff about Christmases at your family,” he adds glancing in your way for a second.

“Like what?”

“I remember when Steven told me about his first Christmas with your family. You remember that?”

Searching in your memories you tried to remember when was the first time Rosa brought Steven along. They dated for two years before they got married so it’s been about five years since then, but as you think hard the memory of that specific year pops into your head making you laugh as you nod.

“Oh, yes. The year Aunt Monica almost burned the Airbnb down,” you sigh grinning at the memory. She brought some special kind of cigars that year that were told to be curiosities from somewhere fancy, but they ended up the literal worst quality, flaming bits were falling out them all the time when she would smoke one, almost making the rug catch on fire wherever she went. Best thing is that she was already drunk on the liquor so she didn’t even notice, there was always a person on Aunt Monica duty, following her around, making sure nothing burnt down.

“Steven said he had a moment when he thought about bailing,” Harry tells you and you gasp, because that’s new information.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but like only for a split second after your dad walked in on him naked in the bathroom. That was kind of the last straw. Luckily Rosa could convince him to stay. Guess it all worked out at the end.” Harry smiles as he stares ahead of him.

You can’t imagine a version where Rosa and Steven don’t end up together. They met through a mutual friend not long after Rosa had a nasty breakup with her scumbag ex. Steven was there to put her back together and be her partner as she found herself again. The change and positive impact he had on her could be seen every day and you were so thankful to him for helping your sister find her way out of such a dark place in her life. It didn’t take them too long to start dating and he proposed a little more than a year later. You still remember how Rosa was screaming in the phone when she called you that evening telling you that Steven proposed. They are quite literally a match made in heaven. It’s been your goal in life to find this person in your life though you haven’t had much luck with men so far. Ironically, if you were in a room with every man you were ever involved with in any kind of way, Harry would be the only one you’d want to talk with. If you had to make this exact same choice just months ago you would have chosen to run out screaming.

“Maybe this year it’s your turn to get horrified from us,” you laugh, sinking down a little in your seat as you adjust the seat belt. You’re still quite far away from the cabin, you might as well make yourself comfortable.

“I think there’s not much that I haven’t witnessed yet. I was walked in on at the bathroom once too, but it was your cousin, Etta.”

“When did that happen?” you ask with a heartfelt laugh.

“I think it was last summer at one of your nieces’ birthday party. Luckily everything was already tucked away when she basically barged in.”

“She didn’t miss much,” you tease him with a smirk and your witty comment catches him by surprise.

“Are you saying my dick is not imposing enough to be worthy of peeking?” he asks with raised eyebrows and you’re happy he is driving. His intimidating look would already burn right into your skin by now, but he is forced to watch the road instead.

“I mean, if you want to put it that way…” you continue, but a laugh escapes your lips.

“Take that back, Y/N,” he orders, sneaking a hard look at you before turning back ahead, but you can see the small smile hiding on his lips.

“Or what?”

“Or you might find yourself in a war you don’t want to be involved in,” he warns you, but his words don’t quite have the effect on you he wanted. Because in a heartbeat you find yourself feeling… excited? Thrilled? Even curious about his means behind his words.

“Wouldn’t want to lie, so…” Pretending like you’re sorry you shrug your shoulders as Harry gives you a look that makes your stomach churn. Now either you are gonna have some fun teasing each other or… you just threw yourself into the arms of the Devil himself. Either way, you’re certain Harry won’t leave it in that.

Turning your head to your window you can’t keep your smile contained as you think of the fact that how big of a lie it was. Harry is surely not a guy who should ever worry about any aspect of his manhood. You’re talking from experience.

***

The cabin is absolutely gorgeous, just the perfect place for a cozy family holiday. Hidden from the busy roads with a secure gate and tall trees on both sides, the back of it is facing a majestic view of the valley and the evergreen covered hill in the distance. With an interior straight from the pages of a magazine, you need just a few moments to adjust to your surroundings upon arriving.

“I saved a nice room for you, Harry!” your mother gushes the moment she sees the two of you walk through the front door. You huff in annoyance.

“And what about me?”

Harry chuckles giving you a smug grin. “Guess you’re just second after me.”

“It’s his first Christmas with us, he deserves the better room,” your mom shushes at you, making your eyes roll instantly. It’s still hard to believe Harry has this kind of charm over most people.

After greeting everyone who is already there, your dad, Aunt Teresa and Etta with her family, your mom walks the two of you down one of the hallways that leads to several bedrooms. She stops at the last door with an excited grin on her face as she opens it revealing the bedroom behind it.

You instantly understand why she thought this is the best one. The view is absolutely breathtaking, the gentle noon light is flowing into the room through the floor to ceiling windows, the king sized bed facing them so when you wake up in the morning the first thing you see is the endless sea of evergreens on the side of the hill. Not to mention the room has its own bathroom, not many of the other rooms are blessed with that. There’s a spacious shower that has enough space for at least three people in there and it’s one of those fancy ones that can make you feel like you’re having a shower in the middle of a jungle, mood lights and bluetooth speakers attached to it.

“No fucking way Harry is getting this room!” you gasp as you look around, taking in the luxure your mother is willing to hand over to him.

“Jealous, much?” he smirks, throwing his sports bag to the bed already ruining the neatly made sheets. He does not deserve this.

“Mom!” you huff turning to her, but she has made her mind up already.

“Your room is nice too, don’t worry Honey. Let Harry have this one!”

“I really can’t believe you are taking his side,” you grumble under your breath, folding your arms on your chest as you take one last look at the stunning view.

“Come on, Y/N. He is a guest!”

“He is not! You said it yourself he is family now!” you retort and Harry just laughs behind you, so you shoot him a murderous look over your shoulder, that just fuels his entertainment.

“Don’t be silly. Your room is the second one on the right from here,” she smiles at you. “We are gonna take a walk around once everyone arrives, so get settled by then!” she informs you before walking out.

“Hey,” Harry’s soft voice makes you turn around. “You can have the room if you want.”

Your eyebrows rise at the kind gesture, it’s very not like him, even now in your friendly state, so it’s quite odd that he is willing to switch rooms with you.

“No need,” you shake your head grabbing the handle of your suitcase that you abandoned at the door.

“You sure? It doesn’t matter where I’m sleeping, really.”

“I’m not gonna deal with my mother’s scolding if she finds out I took your room, so you can totally stay.”

Harry chuckles as you head out, but stop at the door to have one last word with him. “Though I might occupy your bathroom, that shower looks nice.”

“All yours,” he grins before you walk out.

***

By 11 am everyone arrives and the once quiet cabin is now buzzing from life, children running around, Valerie’s babbling shoots through the spacious living area where Rosa set her crib up, your mother is already making preparations for dinner while most of the men are circled around the pool table having a beer since no one has to drive for the rest of the day.

“When is Marcus arriving?” Rosa asks, eyes on Valerie who is absolutely destroying something that once were an elephant maybe, but she’s been ruthless with the poor animal, chewing and throwing it around all the time, so it’s not just a grey, fuzzy mess.

“Sometime before dinner. He has some work to finish,” you tell her pulling your legs under yourself on the comfy couch.

“And explain again, why isn’t he staying for the night?” she turns to you with a puzzled look.

“Because he is going home to his family early in the morning tomorrow.”

“Okay, but he could have just left from here, didn’t he?”

“It’s… complicated. It’s better if he just goes back home tonight and then leaves from there in the morning.”

What you leave out of the whole explanation is that you didn’t really invite him to stay the night as well. Sounds horrible and ridiculous but you didn’t think you’d have felt comfortable with him staying. You’ve been dating for only barely more than a month and though things are going well, you felt like starting with just a dinner would be a better idea. Marcus didn’t question why you didn’t offer him to stay, it seemed like he was fine with just coming and then going after dinner.

Does this make you a bad girlfriend? Maybe, but you value your comfort and feelings more than to ruin your favorite holiday with your family.

Just as you mom said, once everyone is settled in their rooms for the upcoming three days, the whole gang dresses up to have a walk around taking the welcoming little path that runs around the cabin and is smooth enough for Valerie’s carriage as well. Your nieces and nephew are quick to surround Harry and nag him to join them at the front, exploring the woods surrounding the path. It seems like he doesn’t mind it and gladly takes part in the adventure, also secretly looking after them so their parents can have a break and enjoy the stroll in hopes the walk tires the kids out enough that they’ll willingly go to bed in the evening instead of whining to stay up late.

You’re walking with Etta next to you as she tells you about Hannah’s latest dance competition when you spot that Harry and Oliver, your nephew, Etta’s other kid are suspiciously whispering around pointing in your direction. At last Olly nods and runs up to you showing a quite thick piece of wood into your hand. You look down at him confused.

“Thank you?” you tell him a little unsure what it’s all about.

“I found it in a bush, I want to take it home. Harry said you’ll keep it for me because you have a good hand for thick and hard sticks.”

You almost choke on your own breath, as Olly just carelessly runs back ahead to join his sister. You immediately look over to Etta in fear that she heard what Harry told Oliver, but luckily she was talking with Joe turning back, not really paying attention to the conversation you just had with her son. If she did, Harry probably wouldn’t live by now.

Speaking of the devil, you look in his way and that annoying, smug grin is right there as he nods in your way saluting before he shows his hands into his pockets and turns back around to catch up with the kids.

That disgusting piece of shit really went into the depth of teaching something secretly dirty to your nephew as a way of payback for your comment in the car earlier. He surely wasn't just joking when he said you’d pay for what you said. And you have a feeling he is just getting started.

***

Aunt Monica is like a legend in your family. She is the oldest between your mom and her sisters, already in her sixties, but in the heart she still feels like she has just turned twenty. She never married, but had several men in her life, love affairs, short flings, but none of them lasted for more than a year.

“Why would I settle when there’s so many fish in the sea?” she once told you, her iconic Chanel sunglasses sat on her nose as she sipped on her martini.

She has worked many jobs throughout her life, she was once a dancer, she waited tables and even worked as a TV host at one point in the ‘80s. She was the true free spirit of the family, her sisters often questioned her sanity, but you think there’s nothing wrong with how she lived her life, enjoying it to the last bit. In the early ‘90s she was seeing a millionaire, probably the only man she would have given her lifestyle up for. Unfortunately, they never married, the man passed away due to his heart problems, however, since he had little to zero family he left basically everything to Aunt Monica. Money, house, cars, business, everything. Being the smart woman that she is, she handed over the business into professional hands but she is still the owner, so the money is still flowing even though she could have lived happily on the money she inherited without ever having to work a day.

She seems a little odd in your family, but she has always been a loving aunt to you, a caring sister and she never fails to take care of her loved ones. She is the one to pay for all these Christmas getaways, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to stay in places this nice.

“What’s all the money for if I don’t spend it on my family?” she always says when someone questions if she is fine with paying for everything. Your mom and Teresa have tried to convince her to let them at least pay for part of it but she wouldn’t even listen to them.

She likes to have her own, sometimes odd ways in life. She definitely has a drinking problem, but not in a dangerous way. You have never seen her completely wasted, she just likes to keep things buzzing and always have a drink on her whenever she needs the extra fun. Because of her past she has the greatest stories about meeting famous people back in the days or how soldiers used to try to win her over when she was just a teenager.

“Oh, those things happened,” your mom told you when one day you questioned if you could believe all the crazy stories Aunt Monica tells you. “She was like… the star of the show. Used to hate living in her shadow, but I can’t blame her for enjoying life and doing the things I was too afraid to do myself.”

Now you’re sitting in the sunroom that faces the amazing view behind the cabin, the Christmas tree is standing tall in the corner, beautifully decorated in white and beige. Valerie is snuggled up to your chest as you gently rub her back and you listen to Aunt Monica tell you about how a literal captain once proposed to her after just three days of knowing each other.

“He was a gentleman, but a beast in the bed, Y/N. I’m telling you, men in uniform are just a different level of satisfaction.”

She sighs deep, taking a sip from her margarita that’s definitely not her first drink, and you just laugh nodding.

“He was begging for me to go to Italy with him.”

“And why didn’t you?”

“Who said I didn’t?” she asks with a pretentious hurt look turning to you and you just laugh. You should have known the story would go this way. “I accepted the offer, only turned down his proposal when we sailed off and then we parted as soon as I stepped onto the land of Italy. Broke his heart into pieces, but I was too busy enjoying the Italian summer.”

Harry comes in and hands you a bottle filled with juice that probably Rosa sent for Valerie.

“Thank you,” you smile at him shortly as you adjust the little girl in your arms and hand her the bottle.

“Young boy, have you ever proposed to someone?” Aunt Monica asks Harry who stops in his way as he was already about to head out, but now he walks back to the sofa where she is sitting.

“No, not yet,” he shakes his head.

“And how do you think you would if the time came?”

You watch Harry think to himself at the odd and quite random question. It’s not really something you would have ever asked him, but now that there’s the chance to hear his answer you are listening curiously.

“Depends on the woman I’m proposing to,” he replies after a few seconds.

“How would you propose to Y/N?”

Your eyes widen as you turn to your aunt with shock all over your face. You definitely didn’t want yourself dragged into this.

“Aunt Monica, that’s--”

“Shush! I’m just asking theoretically. Wanna hear his answer.”

Harry’s eyes wander over to your sitting figure on the sofa as he leans onto the back of the one in front of him. You can feel the heat crawling up on your neck to your cheeks under his burning look and you just know he enjoys how nervous you got from this simple question that wasn’t even asked from you.

Licking his lips he moves his eyes from you over to Aunt Monica who is still waiting for his answer.

“Something romantic, but not too grandiose, I know she doesn’t like being in the center of the attention that much. Maybe…” Tapping on his chin you listen to his words and without even realizing you hold your breath. “Maybe on a hike with a nice view. She would be admiring the view when I get down on one knee and as she turns around I pop the lid on the box.”

What bugs you is that it’s an awfully accurate description of how you’d imagined your proposal. He was right about many aspects, like how you don’t like being in the center of attention. No idea how he nailed so easily, but he did.

Glancing down you pretend to be busy with Valerie who is still peacefully drinking her juice, eyes wandering around the room relentlessly.

“So you really look to satisfy her deepest fantasies, careful about even the smallest details. Women appreciate it,” Aunt Monica nods, completely oblivious to how uncomfortable she just made you feel.

“Thank you, I do like to satisfy women,” Harry cheekily answers with a smirk, eyes locking with yours for a moment as Aunt Monica lets out a laugh at the dirty comment. Before you could bite your tongue a retort slips out of your mouth.

“What a shame you don’t always succeed.”

Harry’s eyes turn from playful to dark pretty quickly and you enjoy the victory over him. Your comment in the car earlier already wounded his manhood, now it’s another stab right into his… crotch. It’s the least he deserves after what he taught poor Olly.

“That I don’t believe. He seems like an absolute pleaser.” Aunt Monica winks in Harry’s way who just smiles at her shyly, but you can tell your comment is still bugging him.

“I think Y/N knows that too herself, am I right?” He tilts his head to the side and you stand your ground with holding his gaze and not looking away.

“Don’t be so sure about that,” you simply say, just when you hear your mom calling out for you. “Would you take her please?” you innocently ask walking up to Harry, holding Valerie out for him. You can tell he is looking for a witty comeback, but he has nothing just yet, so he is stuck with keeping his mouth shut as he takes baby Valerie from you. You gift him with a sweet, but definitely spikey smile before leaving him there with Aunt Monica.

***

Dinner is already almost ready, you’re helping your mom and Aunt Teresa in the kitchen with the finishing touches, Joe and Harry packing out the wine bottles from the rack Jeremy brought them in, the two of them examining the bottles with such professionalism you almost believe they have the slightest idea about what to look for in a good wine.

“Should we open some red or white ones for tonight’s dinner?” Joe asks your mom who is the master chef when it comes to the dinner.

“Red would suit better,” she answers. “Are they sweet?”

“Some, yeah,” Harry nods holding up a bottle and checking the label.

“Great. Monica loves that too,” Teresa chuckles as she adds some salt to the mashed potato.

“And Y/N too,” Harry adds, not even looking up, but he successfully attracts your mom’s attention with his comment.

“She does?” Harry looks up and sees your boiling anger plastered all over your face, so of course he chooses to take it further.

“Oh, yeah. She can drink like a gallon. Wine drunk Y/N is like a whole different person.”

“I told you so many times not to get drunk, Y/N. It’s not too ladylike. When was the last time you saw her drunk?”

“There were plenty of occasions,” Harry exaggerates and you could kill him right there. “Though last time it was the tequila that got her wildin’.”

That damned smirk of his is making your hands curl into fists and for a moment you tell yourself it’s okay to punch him in front of your mother even if she’ll probably disown you for such behavior.

“Y/N! I have told you a million times that you need to know where your limits lie!” she huffs shaking her head at you while you clench your jaw. Back at it with the lessons about getting drunk. She’ll never get over it, not even when you’ll be forty. Why does it matter to her so much? Sometimes she is the one to get you started, but then she gives you the dirtiest looks when you have one too many. She should just get used to it now.

“She surely likes to have fun when she has had a few drinks,” Harry continues smugly. “Remember how much fun you had at Rosa and Steven’s wedding?”

“Oh, God! I remember how drunk you were that evening, I could have killed you!” your mother growls and you roll your eyes at her.

“It wasn’t that bad. There were a lot more people who got way more wasted than me,” you try to defend yourself folding your arms on your chest.

“That doesn’t change that you were too,” she says with a hard look. Great, now she is mad at you for something that happened literally years ago. Kudos to Harry for ruining her mood.

“She wasn’t that bad,” Harry adds and you look in his way with suspicion. “She was a delight when it was time to get her to bed.”

Your mouth almost hangs open, but it seems like you’re the only one understanding what he really meant by that. Luckily, beside you and him, Rosa and Steven are the only people who knows what happened between you and Harry that night, so it’s no surprise no one else catches on the hint.

“You were the one who took her up to her room? Sorry if she was a burden,” your mother sighs and right at that moment you wish the floor would just open up and you could disappear forever. Harry’s satisfied grin is the evidence that he just won another round of this nasty war.

Just as you open your mouth to try and move the conversation to another field you see a pair of headlights pull up to the driveway. Everyone turns to the window as Marcus’ car parks down last in the line. As you step away from the counter you see the confusion in Harry’s eyes about the new guest.

“Oh, amazing! He is here!” your mom cheers, seemingly instantly forgetting about how she was dragging you just a minute ago.

“Who’s here?” you hear Harry ask, but you’re already out of there, heading to the front door to greet Marcus.

Just as you walk out into the cold evening air you see him get out with a warm smile on his lips. You wait for him at the door, arms wrapped around yourself and as he reaches you he places a soft kiss to your lips.

“Hey, how was the drive?” you ask him.

“It was fine. I didn’t arrive too late, right?”

“No, we were just about to set the table. Come on in, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

He takes your hand in his as the two of you walk inside, all eyes immediately turning your way at the arrival of your boyfriend.

“Everyone, I want you all to meet my boyfriend, Marcus. He is staying for dinner.”

Your family members walk up to the two of you, shaking hands and introducing themselves to Marcus who smiles at everyone politely, trying his best to remember all the names and information that’s thrown at him all of a sudden. Everyone seems delighted to have him for dinner, the kids instantly make him promise he’ll play a card game with them after dinner and he happily says yes to the invitation.

You can tell your mom is proud that finally both of her daughters are spending Christmas with a man by their side and you’re almost certain your dad took a liking to Marcus the moment he mentioned he is into fishing.

Everyone seems excited and happy for Marcus, there’s just one face that doesn’t fit in the line of joyful smiles. Harry stands quite far from the two of you and only gets closer when he shakes hands with Marcus. His cocky grin is long gone from his face as he keeps his hard look on your boyfriend who is chatting with everyone. Standing next to Marcus, your hand still holding his, your eyes lock with Harry’s and there’s an unknown, burning feeling in your gut when his hard gaze holds yours. The sudden change and cold act gets you wondering what’s really going on in his mind. He is the first one to look away and you watch him walk into the kitchen and disappear from your sight before you force a smile on your lips and turn back to Marcus.

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yonymii · 4 years ago

Text

2 arabesques

a/n; this one was hard to write bc I did it while having writers block but I hope it's ok!! I love alisa a lot she is lovely and I would marry her if she was real 🥰🥰😍😁😁 also I got very absorbed like, halfway through so y/ns personality is basically me. yes

wc; 3.9k

warnings; cursing,

genre; fluff, strangers/friends to lovers, romance

pairing; alisa haiba x gn!reader

listen to 2 arabesques here!

She reminded you of the old paintings of angels you’d seen in art galleries as a child. It was weird, seeing something so ethereal reincarnate as a university student. She didn’t belong here; she belonged on a pedestal, deserved to be adored. But life was unfair, you supposed, and not everyone could experience the excitement of such an elaborate life. Perhaps that was why she was studying fashion modeling in the first place (whatever that was). You’d probably never know. She had absolutely no idea who you were.

By the time you’d stopped daydreaming, your final class of the day was over and everyone had left. Only you were left in the lecture hall, sitting at the very back with your head resting ontop of your arms, the shuffling of the professor packing up his things quickly making tiny little noises at the front of the room. He left, the door swinging shut behind him, but it wasn’t locked.

It didn’t take you long to pack up, seeing as your laptop hadn’t left your bag in the first place. You swung it over your shoulder after your coat, tucking your hands into the sleeves to protect them from the bite of the wind. It had been snowing when you arrived in the morning, and it took and hour to wake up your fingers to be able to type, let alone write anything.

The hallways were quiet (as usual; it wasn’t as if anyone wanted to stay in school when they didn’t need to). The little shop on the ground floor had a few students in it, but they were in a hurry to leave too. The large exit doors had obviously been open all day and it was absolutely freezing. You were glad you’d put on your big coat in the morning; it was a long walk back to your apartment and you planned on going to a coffee shop before going there.

It had stopped snowing, but the ground was covered in puddles and your boots and feet got soaked in numbingly cold water as you wandered towards the place you usually studied. It was slowly getting darker as you walked and the sun was lowering itself below the tall line of skyscrapers and apartment blocks when you entered the coffee shop and joined the small queue of teenagers and tired-looking adults ordering their drinks.

It was quiet inside but you were thankful for the warmth the heaters provided, and the low hum of voices under the music wasn’t unwelcome; you payed for your drink quickly and went to sit at your usual spot, the two-seater table in the corner. There was a small, dim light hanging above your head and it lit the space in a soft, golden glow, unlike the rest of the coffee shop that was lit by streetlamps outside. The moon was hid behind a building, only half of it visible, but you still found yourself staring at it for an unnecessary amount of time. It reminded you of her; your friend’s friend. The girl studying fashion modeling.

To be quite honest, you didn’t see her that often, so it was a mystery as to why she plagued your mind so often. Apparently, her brother played volleyball for a highschool called Nekoma (albeit not very well), and she was half Russian. Not that it mattered to you, though. You supposed that you’d like her anyway.

Suddenly, you found yourself snapped out of your little trance by the waiter bringing your mug to the table and setting it down a little too loudly. He walked away quickly, avoiding any sort of contact with you, but you weren’t bothered by it. You were focused on your book so the lack of conversation wasn’t disappointing in the slightest. The bell at the door rung again, and because of the small distraction of your drink arriving you raised your head to see who it was, somewhat begrudgingly, despite it being completely of your own accord.

Your eyes were met with a pair of stark green ones that seemed to go right through you; you shivered, not because they were unfriendly. Admittedly, you knew who she was, but your frank lack of energy made it hard to want to communicate with anyone, and so you pretended not to see her, looking back down at your book and swiftly burying yourself in the pages, as if you were trying to hide from her.

You knew your efforts were futile though. She was almost too nice, and it wasn’t like she knew you were already half-asleep and probably weren’t able to form a coherent sentence. At this point, you weren’t even reading. The words were going right over your head.

You heard her footsteps before her voice, and you didn’t even need to look up to know she was smiling. “Y/n!”. Too loud. You tried not to wince to noticeably.

“Hey, Alisa,” you managed to spit a greeting out. You weren’t sure what you thought about her at this point. You were tired, and it was late, and you had so many essays due that you doubted you’d get more than an hour of sleep over the next few days. Yeah, sure, you loved her but you were so overwhelmed you didn’t think you’d be able to handle talking to one more person. Emotions were confusing (especially when you considered yourself to be in love, whatever that felt like).

“How have you been?”, her voice was like silk, and you had to wait a moment to process what she was saying. Alisa continued, “I haven’t seen you since last month! How have you been?” she looked down at your book, then at your bag that barely held all the paper assigments from your classes. She laughed (the same laugh that gave you heart palpitations. This was the reason she wasn’t good for you) “You look busy.”

You laughed (it was sort of forced, but that isn’t the point), “Yeah. School tends to keep you busy,” you paused, adding shakily, “I’m used to it, though. Don’t worry about me!”

The blonde girl frowned as she watched you panic, your eyes darting everywhere but her. It was hard not to worry when you watch someone you consider a friend fall apart in the back corner of a coffee shop. She tried her best to ignore it though, and as soon as you managed to look back at her she continued the conversation.

“I don’t think we have each other’s numbers yet, y/n. Do you mind exchanging? Maybe we could go out together sometime, since i have to get home and look after Lev,” she sighed, and her eyes closed momentarily, “He’s a bit of a handful. For a fifteen-year-old.”

You didn’t have the energy to feel sorry for her but you let her enter her number into your phone, and she listened attentively when you told her yours to make sure she didn’t get it wrong and end up texting a random stranger to make plans. After you watched her leave, take-out cup of coffee in hand, you lay your head on the darkening pages of your book, ear pressed to the paper. You closed your eyes for a moment and then sat up, breathing deeply as you drank the rest of your tea. You closed your book, tucking it into the bottom of your bag and standing up, patting your coat pocket to check that your phone was still in there.

It was pitch-black when you stepped outside, and the streetlamps made you squint and cover your eyes with one hand; your apartment wasn’t too far away but it was cold and taxis were easy. You flagged one down and climbed into the back, sitting directly behind the driver (it made you feel safer anyway), and you put in your headphones.

The drive passed quickly, and as soon as you paid for the journey and exited the car you began to walk briskly up the stairs to your place. Your keys were in the same pocket as your phone, and you pulled them out wearily, pushing the silver one into the lock and turning it till you heard the familiar click.

The door felt extra heavy tonight, and your bag dropped to the floor just as quickly as you dropped onto your bed. The lights were too bright to turn on but the fairy lights lining the walls were fine; you opted for them as you dropped your thick coat next to your bag and shoes. Closing the window from the freezing cold and switching on the little heater, you crawled into bed and let the warmth envelop you. You fell asleep in mere seconds, ignoring the loud vibrations from your phone carry across the room.

Most of the time, when you don’t want to reply to someone’s message or call them back, you just pretend to have not read it or noticed in the first place. It was weird, leaving the notification there, just to remind yourself that she texted you first. When you’d exchanged numbers the previous week, you just assumed that you’d be the first one to reach out. That’s how it had been with every other friend you’d made. You weren’t disappointed; in fact, you were grateful. You hated having to initiate conversations, however you still felt bad for not replying.

It had been five days since Alisa first messaged you, three since the second time, and fifteen minutes since the last. The latest one read ‘I’m coming over. Be about 20 minutes!’.

You sighed, reading it once more and then turning your brightness down. Just because you hadn’t replied to any of her texts didn’t mean you weren’t ok. The music barely reached your ears since you were buried so deep under your covers, but that was fine. You weren’t really listening to it anyways.

There was a knock at the door. You didn’t think that the person on the other side realised how thin it was, but you definitely heard them sigh and let out a string of curses after you didn’t reply. It was Alisa, but you knew that. Nobody else would want to check in on you. The doorknob rattled and you winced; too loud. It opened, a little quieter this time, and slowly, the covers were peeled off of your figure. Alisa sighed (again. How sick of you could she possibly be? You only got back in touch less that six days ago) and looked down at you with disdain.

“You need to get up. Have you missed any classes?” you shook you head in response to her questions. You couldn’t miss classes. It’s not as if you found them particularly difficult. Just a little boring, that’s all.

You closed your eyes, tapping your fingers against the mattress. The blinds had been opened and now the evening light was pouring into your room unfiltered. Alisa grabbed your wrist gently, pulling you up painfully slowly. You groaned, rubbing your eyes and patting her hand to let her know you can sit up on your own.

You opened your eyes somewhat begrudgingly, squinting from the still too-bright light. Alisa was stood at your small fridge, rifling through whatever food was left in there. She pulled out a half-full bottle of milk and a packet of ham. “Do you not uhh,” she paused, “have any… other kinds of food? Or is your diet limited to milk and ham sandwiches?”

“I usually get takeout. Or ham sandwiches. Sort of depends how lazy i’m feeling on that day.” She turned and smiled at you, nodded her head back towards the door. “We can go to mine. I have ‘good’ food there. Lev needs feeding anyways.”. You grinned, “I thought Lev was fifteen?”

“Yeah, but he’s still incompetent. I’ll teach him to cook later, when i’m not taking care of you.”

You looked down at your lap, and then at the pair of shoes on the floor next to your bed. Sliding them on, you stood, looking at Alisa for approval. “You look fine. When was the last time you changed?”

You hesitated, thinking for a moment, “A few hours ago, when i got back from class.” You grabbed the brush on the bedside table and combed through your hair a few times, evening it out from the mess it was a minute ago. “C’mon,” Alisa opened the door, “Don’t forget your keys! I doubt you wanna get locked out, right?”

Alisa’s house was big. She was lucky not to have to live in student accommodation, in all honesty. When you sat down on her large sofa, you heard the voices of two adults nearing. You weren’t sure what to think at this point. You and Alisa barely knew each other, and she’d come to your apartment, dragged you out of bed, invited you into her home where her whole family was.

“Alisa, darling? Have you brought a friend over?”

You saw her nod out of the corner of your eye as she made your meal, humming quietly to the tune of the music. There were loud, fast footsteps in the corridor that her parents had exited and looking up, you saw a lanky grey-haired boy with the same stark green eyes as her. He was almost as tall as the ceiling, and when he entered the room he had to duck to get through the threshold. You assumed this was Lev, Alisa’s high school age brother. Volleyball boy. Whatever. He was unimportant, and you were hungry.

“Ah! Lyovochka! Are your teammates here? Do they want food?” she didn’t look up from the kitchen counter as she spoke but Lev nodded, running back to ask his friends if they wanted food. (He never came back to give any sort of answer, though)

“So!” the sudden appearance of Alisa’s mother was unexpected. She was just as pretty as her daughter, but very obviously older. “What’s your name?”

You stuttered, panicking slightly, avoiding any possible eye contact. You looked to Alisa for help, and caught her gaze as she hurried over, sitting next to you. “This is y/n, mom. We met a while ago but i invited her over for lunch today,” she looked at you and patted your thigh, trying to calm you down slightly, “We might go out to the city later, if that’s okay with them.”

Alisa’s mother raised her eyebrows at your unwillingness to speak; maybe she thought you were being rude, but you didn’t have the capacity to worry about that right now. “Nice to meet you, y/n.” You nodded, slightly dizzy from being so overwhelmed but trying to be as polite as possible nonetheless. Alisa’s dad was stood behind the sofa, a large cup of what you assumed to be tea inbetween his hands.

Alisa stood and ushered her parents away, towards the door. “Were you going out?” they nodded, grabbing bags and phones on the way out, “We’ll see you later, then!” Her father tried protesting, but Alisa reassured them that Lev was completely fine while you and her were here.

Once the door was closed, Alisa looked back at you apologetically. “Sorry about them! They can be a little overbearing sometimes.” she gave you a small smile and pulled out two plates. “I think that’s an understatement.” you replied quietly.

She laughed loudly, earning a smile from you. “I’m glad you’re okay now though.” she looked at you, smile instantly gone from her face. “You are okay, right?” You nodded, and she relaxed, serving your food onto the plates and bringing them round to the coffee table you were sat facing. “It might be a little hot. Wait a bit before you try it.”

You picked up your plate and put it onto your lap, the warmth of it heating your legs, as if the heat of the room wasn’t already enough. Your face felt warm and your hands shook slightly as you reached to pick up the food; you were either hungry or nervous. It was probably best to not think about it too much.

Alisa was staring at the TV that was sat on a polished wooden desk by the wall, her eyes mirroring the images from the screen. From the looks of it, she was watching a documentary on animals in the arctic, probably one you’d seen before. You weren’t looking at it, but the narrator’s voice sounded familiar and when you were little you’d watch stuff like that constantly, sometimes the same one over and over again until you got bored of it then moved on to the next one (which you’d also - metaphorically - beat half to death and then abandon)

After your meal, the two of you were still, to your displeasure, sat it silence. Alisa had turned the show off and was now sat reading a book and you were fiddling with your hands, waiting for her to notice you and let you go home (really, you could leave any moment, but you didn’t want to say anything first).

You stood up upon hearing Lev shouting from what you assumed was his room, and Alisa’s head immediately snapped up. She checked the time on the clock above the kitchen counter, and gasped, looking at you apologetically.

“Gosh! Y/n, you should have told me it was so late! I’ll walk you home.”

You shook your head, and the blonde girl in front of you sighed. “Are you sure? It’s getting dark. At least let me call you a taxi, ok?”. You hummed out a noise of approval and she picked up her phone that had been resting precariously on the arm of the sofa.

As she was speaking to the person on the other end of the line, (a series of yeses followed by her address and then your street. You smiled, tapping your chest and then sliding your arms into the sleeves of your jacket. She opened the door for you and the taxi pulled into her drive as you stepped out of the threshold; you waved at her, thanking her for your stay, and then wandered over to the taxi, sitting in your usual seat (behind the driver) and she only closed the door of her home when the car drove off. Your phone buzzed; ‘text me when you get home safe, ok! -Alisa <3’.

The next month was January.

The holiday season had passed without you seeing Alisa once, except for in a corner shop once, where you pretended not to see her but ended up being approached anyways. That time there was a pink coating her porcelain skin (you weren’t sure whether it was makeup, the cold or an actual blush, but you opted for the last one to satisfy yourself somewhat).

You sort of wished that you’d been able to spend the holidays with her, though. Sometimes, you found yourself thinking about her unconsciously. It was weird, but you ignored it. Stuff like that seemed like a lot of effort to you, and you were not notorious for being invested in relationships, platonic or romantic.

You only had one class today, and after that you saw her in the hallways. She’d obviously had a class in the same building of you, and as usual, you pretended not to have seen her. You just kept walking, coffee in hand, eyes on the floor. Again, like the first time you’d really talked, you heard her footsteps approaching and accepted your fate.

“Y/n! Hey!” she kept walking after you; you buried your face into your scarf and tried to get yourself to stop but it felt like your feet were moving on their own. Why were you ignoring her? You liked her, for god’s sake! You barely knew her, you should be using moments like these to get to know her better! What the hell were you doing?

Her hand landed on your shoulder and pulled you back. By now, the pair of you were outside, and your feet were crunching over newly layed snow. It was coming down thickly, you had to squint to see her properly. She looked tired, and her face was pale in comparison to the pink of the tip of her nose and her ears. It was cold, after all, and she didn’t have a scarf of hat or anything. You wanted to lend her yours; that was what people who were close did, wasn’t it? Why did she look so bedraggled anyway?

“Y/n, seriously, stop.”

You frowned, confused. You looked sad? And why would she care anyways? You weren’t close, and you could see her friends looking on from the steps of the building. The snow was catching in her hair and it felt like time had stopped; she really did look unreal. “I didn’t know you cared about me so much, Alisa. We’re not close, and we barely ever talk.”

It looked like she was about to cry. Maybe it was the cold?

“I don’t need a reason to care about you, y/n!” she reached a hand up to rub her eyes, “I can’t seem to stop thinking about you, and it’s driving me crazy!” she pointed to her friends on the steps, “They know it!” she was shouting now, and the wind seemed to whistle even louder in your ears, “Everyone else seems to know i’m in love with you except you! And i’m sorry if i didn’t make it obvious enough for you.”

At this point your brain was going overdrive to process what she’d just told you. You knew you probably looked stupid just standing there and staring at he but what else could you do? This wasn’t exactly how you’d pictured your evening going, and despite receiving confessions before this one felt different; you felt like your heart was on fire. It burned, and you were out of breath despite standing completely still. Alisa reached out and took your freezing cold hand into her own. She was surprisingly warm, and there were tears dripping off of her chin onto her coat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, you probably never felt the same way. Like you said, right? We barely even know each other.”

You stepped forward (again, it felt like you weren’t in control of your own feet) and with the hand Alisa wasn’t holding, cupped her cold cheek. She looked back at you and you could see her friends out of the corner of your eyes chewing the inside of their cheeks. It was embarrassing to say the least, but necessary. Alisa sniffed, and you looked back down at the ground, shaking your head. “No that’s not what i..” you tried to make your voice louder, “I just didn’t expect you to also feel like that.”

She laughed (it was probably the most beautiful noise you’d ever had the pleasure of hearing) and leaned in so that your foreheads were touching, her pretty smile still adorning her lips. “I’m glad,” she whispered, and the burning of your cheeks felt like a blazing fire across your face.

“Call me later, ok?” you nodded as she moved her face away, hand leaving yours reluctantly. “We can go out sometime. If it’s uhh.. okay with you, of course.” You giggled, and Alisa waved, her friends running after her (also giggling and patting Alisa’s head in what looked like celebration). It had stopped snowing, and the sun was shining through the clouds in a golden evening glow, lighting up the city marvellously. You decided to walk home today.

tags; @chqrryvelvet @wissbby

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lloydskywalkers · 5 years ago

Text

There’s Insurance for That

In which Skylor buys lunch, stops a criminal, and learns the best way to blow up the kitchen electronics section, which is a pretty normal week for her, she guesses. Or, five places the ninja are no longer allowed into, featuring Skylor.

(been hitting a bit of a writer’s block with everything else lately, so here’s this...disaster, i guess?? because these ninja are definitely a disaster in this, but i was having fun so. this is the bed bath & beyond fic btw, in case anyone was wondering gdfkgdh)

1. My. Kazami’s Ramen Place

At this point, sadly, Skylor’s used to it.

It’s around a quarter to noon on a Monday, just as she's leaving the noodle shop for her well-deserved lunch break, when a familiar scream splits the relatively-quiet afternoon air on this side of Ninjago City.

The only reason Skylor does not immediately dissolve into panic at said scream is because she is — also sadly — familiar with the variations of it, and this one sounds less like it’s Lloyd’s “I’m-in-terrible-danger-and/or-pain-again” scream, and more like his “I’m-free-falling-on-purpose-from-the-sky-again” scream. Which is, in and of itself, not entirely concerning. In fact, it’d probably be more unusual not to see Lloyd go falling from the sky at some point during any of the ninjas’ higher-than-eight-feet battles, because somehow that’s become a habitual thing. The sky is blue, fire is hot, Kai uses hair gel — Lloyd is going to drop screaming from the sky at some point this month.

So instead of panicking, Skylor figures she’ll just stand in the vicinity until Lloyd either climbs out of another dumpster, or lands on top of her. Kai doesn’t seem to be around to catch him, so Skylor’s prepared to step up, even though it looks like Lloyd’s got a pretty good handle on landing, at the angle she’s watching him from.

Still though, she muses. You’d think he’d have started actively wearing a parachute at this point.

“Kai suggested that,” Lloyd says, after he’s finally able to stand straight, and he’s not quite as cross-eyed. He frowns at his reflection in a store window as they pass by, scuffing at his windblown hair again. “But it gets in the way, you know? It throws off my backflips.”

“That’s a nail in the coffin right there,” Skylor agrees, leading them across another sidewalk. Lloyd’s attracting a lot of looks, with his bright green battle gi and razor-sharp sword strapped across his back, but fortunately no one’s started crowding them yet. Probably because the razor-sharp sword strapped to his back. “Can’t have your fighting style completely crippled,” she adds.

“I don’t backflip that much,” Lloyd huffs. Yes, you do, is on the tip of Skylor’s tongue, because she’s seen him fight, but she decides not to pick that battle…this time.

“Besides,” Lloyd continues. “I don’t really need a parachute, anyways. I always make sure to aim for like, somewhere safe to land. Relatively safe. Safe-ish.”

Skylor eyes him. “You landed in a dumpster.”

Lloyd bristles in offense. “I did not! It was a perfectly respectable recycling bin.”

“Same thing, if you ask me.”

“Not even close. Dumpsters are gross. Recycling bins you just crash through a whole bunch of cardboard and old newspapers. It’s luxury trash diving.”

Skylor just sighs, shaking her head, and edits the text she’s been tapping out for Kai.

Skylor > found your kid in a recycling bin

Skylor > taking him to lunch bc you’re clearly starving him again

Skylor > he’s alive btw

Kai > oh thank fsm

Kai > tell him he’s grounded

Kai > u never take me for lunch :(

Skylor > maybe if u dropped on me from the sky sometime i would

“Hey, are the others busy?” she asks Lloyd in afterthought. “Like…fighting anyone?”

“Huh?” Lloyd blinks. He then flushes, rubbing the back of his head. “Ah, no. We’d pretty much finished up the fight when I, uh…there was a break-in, on the Bounty? We had the guys all taken care of, but they blew part of the mast up, and it left debris all over the deck, so I kind of…maybe….tripped…”

Lloyd is bright red by the time he finishes the sentence. Skylor wouldn’t feel so bad about it, if she wasn’t doubled over laughing at him in the middle of rush hour traffic.

“You are a trained ninja,” she breathes out, between snickers.

“I know,” Lloyd moans.

“You’re like, part god.”

“I know,” Lloyd moans again, into his hands this time. Skylor has to grab his shoulders and forcibly drag him along down the crowded street, trying not to cringe inside at all the looks they’re getting.

“Kai says you’re grounded, by the way,” she says, as the last of her laughter fades.

That snaps Lloyd out of it. “He can’t ground me,” he scowls. “I’m leader.”

“Stop falling from the sky, and maybe he’ll give it a rest,” Skylor replies, glancing down as her phone buzzes again.

Kai > I’d join u but I’m stuck on prison delivery

Kai > nya’s coming to pick up the demon spawn tho

Skylor > nice I’ve been wanting to buy her lunch

Kai > cruel

“—don’t know what you mean, I don’t fall that often, and most of the time it’s on purpose, anyways—”

Skylor chooses to ignore Lloyd’s slightly-concerning, sulking rambling, and pats his shoulder instead. “Nya’s coming for lunch, too,” she says. “Does ramen sound good?”

“Oh, yeah.” Lloyd brightens, seemingly cheered by the reminder he’s getting food out of this. “It’s been a while since I’ve eaten out.”

“I can tell,” Skylor says, eyeing him. “Cole hasn’t been cooking for you, has he?"

“No, but we put Zane on mandatory break so he could relax a bit, and we’re all suffering for it.”

Lloyd and Skylor both jump at Nya’s voice, not having heard her coming up behind them.

“Nya!” Lloyd beams. “Skylor is — ouch, hey, let go!”

“That’s what you get for giving me gray hairs again,” Nya scolds, digging her knuckles into Lloyd’s hair. She looks up from the hold she’s pulled him into, and smiles brightly at Skylor. “Hi, Skylor. Nice to see you.”

“Hi, Nya.” Skylor gives a little wave, watching Lloyd squirm out of Nya’s grasp in amusement.

“So, ramen?” Nya says, giving Lloyd one last elbow in the side before joining Skylor.

“Yeah,” she says. “I was thinking the place down on seventh, the Sobahouse, I think?”

Lloyd and Nya both stiffen, their steps slowing. Skylor pauses, turning to stare at them in confusion. “That’s not the one owned by someone named Mr. Kazami, is it?” Nya finally asks, hesitantly.

“Uh, yeah, it is, actually,” Skylor blinks. “He’s pretty nice, we go to the same grocer on weekends.”

“Ah,” Lloyd says, carefully.

“Hm,” Nya hesitates.

Skylor looks between the two of them, now completely stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. She really hopes no one is getting pictures of her like this. There are enough flash articles about the rumored orange ninja cryptid on the internet as it is. “Is that…a problem?”

Nya pointedly stares at the sky as if it’s the most interesting thing she’s seen all day. Baffled, Skylor tries the weaker link. Lloyd swallows, avoiding her eyes as he bounces from leg to leg, as if the mere thought of trying to enter the restaurant is terrifying. Which is mildly alarming, because this is the same kid who power-walked straight into a prison full of escaped violent criminals, his psychotic ex, and his undead murderous dad without hesitation.

“We can’t,” Lloyd finally mutters, staring at the sidewalk. Nya elbows him in the side, hissing “weak link” as she does. Lloyd just glares at her.

“O-okay,” Skylor says, unsure. “I mean, that’s fine if you guys want to go somewhere else. I just didn’t know you…didn’t like this place…”

“No, we do,” Lloyd grinds out, and he looks more embarrassed than terrified now, so Skylor aborts her half-formed plans of speed-dialing Karloff. “We just can’t. Go in, that is. We’re not allowed to.”

Skylor stares at him. “You’re not allowed in? Why not?”

“Because,” Nya forces through gritted teeth. “They banned us.”

“They what?” Skylor gapes.

Nya presses her lips together tightly. Lloyd stares very hard at the ground, as if desperately trying to convince himself to keep quiet. Skylor can pinpoint the moment he breaks, his expression contorting as he throws his hands up wildly. “You blow their electrical system up one time—”

“Oh guys, no,” Skylor groans, before bursting into laughter at him for the second time that day. Lloyd looks incredibly unappreciative, his expression scrunching up in annoyance like she hasn’t seen since that one stupid skating match with Chamille, and that just makes her laugh harder.

“We were trying to save them!” Nya defends indignantly. “It’s not our fault they had weak wiring—”

“I just got a little too into it, it’s — it’s Nya’s fault, she’s the one that said it’d be cool if I tried to do shockwave thing like in—”

“That was a mutual thing and you know it!”

“Oh guys, no,” Skylor wheezes into her hands.

“It worked!”

“Poor Mr. Kazami,” Skylor manages, through snickers. Lloyd’s shoulders slump, his upper lip pouting, and Nya crosses her arms, as if refusing to look ashamed.

“It’s not like the other guys aren’t banned from anywhere, either—”

“Alright, alright,” Skylor waves her hands, taking pity on them. “We’ll go somewhere else.”

“Good,” Nya mutters, as Lloyd exhales in relief. Skylor just snickers again, leading them down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. She bites her lip, shaking her head, before a thought occurs to her.

“Wait, what do you mean, ‘it’s not like they aren’t banned from anywhere’?” she frowns. “You guys are banned from more than one place?”

“No,” Nya says firmly, before Lloyd can even speak up. “Forget I said anything.”

Skylor will do no such thing, but she decides it’s in her best interest not to pursue it. Nya is not the sort of person to trifle with, and she does want that ramen.

She gets her answer soon enough, anyways.

2. Ninjago City Aquarium

While Skylor has the early shift on Tuesdays, she does get the afternoons off, which is pretty nice for the most part, if it didn’t mean she’d be bored for the rest of the day. So she hits the grocery store and decides to take the long way home, partially because walking is supposed to be good for you, and partially in hopes that one of the ninja will drop in on her again.

She’s not disappointed.

Granted, a minor explosion going off from inside the Ninjago City Aquarium wasn’t exactly what she was expecting today, but the figures in bright red and white arguing furiously outside the security perimeter are par for the course.

It’s a little odd that they haven’t already rushed in yet, Skylor notes, but with the way they’re loudly yelling at each other in the middle of the street, she figures she’ll find out soon enough.

“No, Kai, it is our civic duty to follow the laws put in place for the safety of civilians—”

“Oh come on, you get brainwashed into a slightly-murderous emperor one time and now you’re a stickler for everything?!”

"One time was enough, Kai!”

“Uh, hi guys,” Skylor approaches the two, hesitantly. “Is everything alright?”

“Skylor!” Kai whirls on her, his eyes wild. “Thank FSM, you’ve gotta help us out — they won’t let us in!” He shakes his fist at the aquarium doors, before springing for the security gate. “Let us in, let us in—”

“Shaking the gate like an animal is not going to convince them, Kai!” Zane pleads, prying Kai away. He shoots Skylor an apologetic glance as he wrangles Kai into a gentle chokehold. “We would greatly appreciate your help, if possible. There’s a low-threat criminal with an unfortunate assortment of weaponry who ran into the aquarium, and we’re legally unable to pursue. If you could try to drive him out, perhaps?”

“I — you — you’re what?” Skylor has the weirdest sense of déjà vu, before it’s lost in confusion. Her head swivels from the frustrated expression on Kai’s face to the pleading one on Zane’s, then to the grocery bags in her hands. She looks back up at Kai, who’s now giving her the puppy eyes. Something from inside the aquarium explodes loudly.

“Sure,” she sighs, handing Kai her grocery bags. “Just one guy?”

“Just one guy,” Kai exhales in relief. “You’re a lifesaver, Skylor, I — hey, are these those snack cakes they made to look like us?”

“Yes, eat them and you die,” Skylor hisses. She turns to Zane, holding her hand out half-hesitantly. “Lend a girl some ice powers?”

“Of course,” Zane nods, letting her take his hand. There’s a brief moment as Skylor melds her power with Zane’s, absorbing the icy force and mimicking it to her own — a part of her notes vaguely that it’s stronger than the last time she borrowed it, but she shakes it off, pulling her hand back and tugging the hood of her jacket up, mentally hoping no one writes another article about the possible existence of a cryptid orange ninja after this.

“Alright,” she says. “Be back in five.”

“Thank you,” Zane says fervently, as Kai sputters, “Hey, why didn’t you borrow my power?”

“Because fire is explosive, and you’ve gotta be banned from here for a reason!” Skylor calls back, ice already misting over her fingertips as she sprints inside the aquarium.

“You’d be surprised,” Kai mutters, after her retreating back.

***********************

“So,” Skylor says, flexing her right hand and wincing briefly. That last right hook she’d thrown at the guy might have been a little too hard, in hindsight. But he was being a jerk, and threatening to set off a bomb near the little seahorses — and it did do the trick, so now the aquarium can have the host of cop cars off its back. Skylor feels pretty accomplished in her good deed for the day, actually. “Why, again, couldn’t you guys have taken care of that yourselves? Not that I minded,” she adds, quickly. Using the ice element had been fun. She’d forgotten what she could do with Zane’s powers.

Kai gives a nervous laugh that’s so fake it almost hurts, especially with the pained expression he makes at the end. Zane just rubs his temple with a hand, looking eternally weary.

“Like I said, we are legally not permitted to enter the aquarium, until…when was it again, Kai?”

“Five years from now,” Kai mutters. “Or whenever the director dies.”

“Yes, five years from now,” Zane repeats, with a dead sort of look in his eyes. “So your assistance was very much appreciated. Thank you.”

“It was no problem, but — wait, hold on, how are you banned from the aquarium for five years?” she stutters. “I mean, I can get Lloyd and Nya with the ramen place—”

“Ha! They told you about that? It was great—”

“Kai, please.”

“—and I can understand Kai, but you, Zane?”

She feels a little guilty for calling him out so bluntly, but it’s Zane. Zane doesn’t just get banned from places, she has to know. And he doesn’t look too upset at the question. Kai looks mildly betrayed, but not that much. They both know Skylor’s point is too valid for him to argue with effectively.

Zane gives another bone-weary sigh. “There is a small chance, that there was a time we were pursuing another villain here, and during that battle, I might have…underestimated the amount of ice I was putting out.” Zane shifts, looking pained. “Which in turn accidentally spread to any bodies of liquid that happened to be nearby at the time, which perhaps were filled with rather expensive aquatic life.”

“You froze a fish exhibit,” Skylor deadpans.

“They were merely in extreme hibernation,” Zane grits out. “They would have been fine, had Kai not tried to fix the ice.”

“Hey, it made sense! I could melt it quickest!”

“Except you didn’t just melt it, did you? No, you had an entire fish fry—”

“The poor fish,” Skylor says, staring at them blankly. “What were they?”

“Like, these rainbow fish, from way up north, I think?” Kai says. “I swear I didn’t make it that hot.”

“The water was boiling, Kai!”

“You fish murderer,” Skylor says, the corners of her mouth trembling with the laugh she’s holding back. Kai glares at Zane, then her, then Zane again.

“I didn’t freeze them solid.”

“Whatever the cause of their death, they died, and we’re banned now,” Zane says, hastily. “End of story. Would you like to take this back to the Bounty, Skylor? I know the others have been wanting to see you, and we can at least offer you tea in thanks.” He eyes the grocery bags Kai’s still holding. “Unless, of course, you wish to return home…”

“Nah, tea sounds good,” she smiles. “Besides, I bought the snack cakes for you guys to try anyways. They’ve got little squashed ninja faces in icing on ‘em.”

“You’re the best,” Kai says, looking somewhat relieved, and oh, he definitely ate one while Skylor was in there. She’s going to have to pay him back for that one…

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she says airily, figuring she’ll take her revenge later. “You can tell me more about the fish massacre on our way back. By the way, Pixal wouldn’t happen to have heard this story, would she?”

Zane gives her a look, and she almost feels bad about it. “I’m going to regret inviting you, aren’t I.”

“Maybe,” she grins. “Jury’s still out.”

3. An Entire Drugstore Chain

Wednesdays are always busy at the noodle shop, for reasons Skylor has yet to figure out. Fridays she understands, but the middle of the week? Nothing kills your drive like knowing you’re going to do this all over again in a day.

It’s good money for the shop though, she reminds herself as she locks up that evening. Any money is good money for the shop, because her stupid dad made sure she’d have a real hole to dig herself out of there, but Wednesday money is always especially good. Even if she ends up leaving the shop late and can’t get the noodle smell from her hair for the next three days.

Normally, she’d trudge home and crash into bed after these kind of shifts. But tonight is different, because she stayed long enough at the Bounty yesterday to get invited to game night, and once you’ve promised the ninja you’re going to bring snacks for Monopoly, you can’t just say no. Not unless you want Lloyd to shoot betrayed glares at you the rest of the month.

Besides, she’s promised Kai she’ll sneak out to the movies with him afterwards, and she can’t just go breaking that promise. Plus, she’s not heartless enough to deny Cole cake when he’s got the most spectacular black eye she’s seen all year bruising up around the left side of his face.

“Lucky hit,” Cole grumbles, after she’s been caught staring too long. She hasn’t wanted to ask him about it, since it seems a sensitive subject and he’s already taking the time to help her pick up (carry) all the snacks. But it’s impossible to miss, even in the dim streetlights they’re walking under, and Skylor cares about her friends, thank you very much. “We busted some drug dealers today, and I got too relaxed.”

“They normally really aren’t any match for you, to be fair,” Skylor offers.

“They weren’t this time either, that’s the sad thing,” Cole says, scrubbing a hand through his thick hair as they wait at the stoplight. “This was all on me. I kinda deserved it.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Skylor tries to console him, even though the ugly red at the edge of his eye says otherwise.

Cole gives her a bleak look. “Jay made a joke, and I laughed at it. And then I got hit across the face with a baseball bat, mid-laugh.”

“Ouch,” Skylor hisses through her teeth. “Never mind, that’s bad. Was it a good joke, at least?”

“No, that’s the thing,” Cole groans, as the light finally turns red, allowing them to cross the street. “It was terrible. And I still laughed hard enough not to notice a bat coming for my face.”

Skylor grimaces. “You were just being a good friend, I guess,” she says, and Cole snorts. “Like you are to me, right now,” she continues, glancing ruefully at the shopping list she’s been sent. “I was going to say I had it handled, then I actually looked at everything you guys asked for.”

Cole laughs sheepishly. “Yeah, that’s…that’s us, I guess. Sorry about that. We’re paying for it all, don’t worry.”

“What?” Skylor blinks. Oh no, no way. The ninja have done enough for her, the least she can do is cover a couple bags of popcorn and like ten things of M&M’s. “No, I got it. I owe you guys, anyways.”

Cole bristles. “No way. We owe you, if anything. The amount of times you’ve covered our tab at the noodle shop?”

“How about the amount of times you’ve saved my noodle shop?” Skylor shoots back. “That outweighs a few measly tabs.”

“The only reason we had to save it was because we were there in the first place,” Cole points out. “We’re danger magnets.”

“I’m sorry, I’m the daughter of Chen, remember?” Skylor huffs. “I can attract enemies all by myself.”

“Not as many as we do,” Cole says. “Also! You helped us beat Chen, and get Zane back. We’re eternally indebted to you.”

Skylor narrows her eyes. “Only after I stabbed you all in the back. So I eternally owe you.”

“Bold of you to assume we haven’t all stabbed each other in the back at some point,” Cole scoffs. “Trust me, you’re nowhere as bad as Lloyd — he like, single-handedly ruined our whole month by letting a bunch of snakes out.”

Skylor pauses at that, torn between refuting his argument and asking how in the world Lloyd, of all people, could possibly manage to wreak enough havoc to—

Actually, she doesn’t have any trouble believing that at all. But to be sure— “Lloyd let the Serpentine out? All by himself?”

Cole looses a bit of his fire, and scuffs his shoe awkwardly across the sidewalk. “I mean, we did give him a pretty hard time when he was like, eight years old and homeless and starving, so uh, it might’ve been a little...provoked.”

“FSM’s sake,” Skylor mutters, staring at the sky and trying not to be surprised, because she really shouldn’t by now. “I can’t believe you guys are all still alive.”

“Neither can we, if it helps,” Cole shrugs, grinning. “But you know, technically—”

“If you make another ghost joke, we’re skipping the cake section,” Skylor says, firmly.

Cole sulks. “Jay would’ve made a ghost joke,” he mutters.

“Jay also got you hit in the face by a bat, so his judgement is questionable as it is,” Skylor shakes her head. “Oh! There’s a drugstore right here, wanna hit that instead?”

“Sure,” Cole says. “As long as it’s not…oh.”

Skylor makes it another three steps before she realizes that Cole’s fallen behind. Confused, she turns to stare at him where he’s frozen on the sidewalk, looking up at the bright red drugstore sign and biting his lip.

“Everything okay back there?” Skylor says, wondering if he didn’t get hit in the head harder than he’s let on. Cole nods, but he also takes several steps back out of the streetlight, hiding himself from view of the store.

“Here’s an idea,” he says, suddenly. “How about we go anywhere else.”

Skylor stares at him, a sinking feeling in her chest coupled with the slowly-growing-familiar sense of déjà-vu. “Cole.” He doesn’t meet her eyes, and Skylor sighs. “Please tell me you haven’t been banned from somewhere, too.”

“It’s not just me, Lloyd and Jay also got banned,” Cole snaps, before realizing his mistake and ducking his head.

“You’re kidding me,” Skylor says flatly, looking back at the drugstore, then to Cole. “This is like, the shadiest drugstore on this side on Ninjago. How?”

Cole mumbles something under his breath, and Skylor strains to make it out. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I kind of, um, threw Lloyd through their wall,” Cole mutters again, looking as if he’d like very much to disappear entirely into the street side. Which is funny, because—

His sentence finally registers, and Skylor blinks rapidly. “Wait, you what?”

Cole’s eyes widen, and waves his arms quickly. “Not like — not like Garmadon-throwing him through a wall! He was fine after.”

Skylor has a brief, bizarre kind of moment to digest the fact that there is a distinction for throwing the youngest of their team through a wall, before Cole continues.

“I was aiming for the window — that one right there, see? The robbers were already on the move, so Lloyd was like ‘launch me, Cole’ and I said ‘great idea’, but we were also maybe high on adrenaline at the time and I forgot how much of my lava punch I had going, so I overshot and ended up smashing him through their wall, a little bit.”

“You smashed him through their wall. Just a little bit.”

“Hey, it worked. He took out all five guys in one go and only had a tiny concussion after—”

“How do you even have a tiny concussion—”

“I still don’t get why they were so mad, I mean we stopped the robbery! Sure, half their storefront wall sort of collapsed afterwards, but like, we got their money back.”

“So that’s why they were closed six months for renovations,” Skylor groans into her hands.

Cole crosses his arms, glaring stubbornly at the store’s sign. “It wasn’t six months,” he protests. “It was only like, four. I don’t see how that gives them the right to ban us for life.”

“For life—” Skylor can’t decide if she wants to laugh at him, or cry because her list of places she can hang out with the ninja is shrinking faster than she’d thought possible. She finally blows her breath out, rubs a hand across her face, and glances back down at the shopping list.

“You aren’t banned from the one on eighth street, are you?”

Cole bites his lips. “We’re uh, banned from all of them. It’s a chain store, so…”

“Of course,” Skylor sighs. “Walmart it is, then.”

And if anyone pesters them about being late, she’s going to ask how many times, exactly, somebody’s smashed Lloyd through a wall. Because really. This is getting ridiculous.

4. Bed Bath & Beyond

Thursday is normally her day off, but whatever she had for dinner last night gave her freaky dreams, so Skylor ends up puttering around the shop early that morning just to take her mind off it. It’s a bit overcast outside, and the forecast predicts rain, so Skylor’s already making plans to curl up in her bed and watch movies all day, and maybe get a bit of laundry done.

She should know better.

It’s a commonly known fact that the ninja, Kai especially, would do pretty much anything for their pseudo-little brother. Skylor’s actually heard Kai, on multiple occasion, threaten to die for Lloyd, then immediately try and make it reality. No one ever really appreciates that, Lloyd especially, but Skylor can give him credit for trying.

However, it’s a commonly overlooked fact that Lloyd would do anything for his pseudo-older siblings. It’s an even more commonly overlooked fact that Lloyd is the spawn of satan, and was raised at a boarding school for future villains and terrible children. Combined, these two facts mean that while you should definitely fear Lloyd trying to die for you, you should probably fear him trying to look out for you more, because it’s likely going to end with somebody dead. Or at least the total disruption of your plans for the day, as Skylor opens the shop windows to come face with an absolutely terrifying expression on Lloyd’s face, followed up by a deadly calm “Kai came home sad last night.”

Skylor scrubs at her eyes, and thinks, it’s too early for this.

A while back, when she was still stuck with her jerk of a father, Skylor might have found Lloyd’s part-Oni expression of doom intimidating. Now, however, she just rolls her eyes, and sticks one of the little ‘50% Off!’ stickers she’s been putting on rice cakes across his forehead.

“The dog died in the last movie we saw last night,” she explains, as Lloyd sputters at her.

He pauses, nose wrinkling. “Oh,” he says. “Boo.”

“Yeah,” she says, stepping back and allowing him to neatly front-flip through her window. Darned show-off kid, she thinks despairingly, watching him land perfectly on her freshly-waxed floors.

“Well, you’re good then, I guess,” he says, expression lightening. “That makes sense. How many movies did you make it into this time, by the way?”

“Only four this time,” Skylor sighs, turning to plaster the rest of her stickers on the nearly-expired rice cake packages. “We caught the beginning of that new superhero movie, then the opening fight of some spy movie, and the middle of that one horror movie with the dolls.” Lloyd shudders. “Yeah, Kai wasn’t a fan either. Anyways, we made it into this new romance one, but we ran into a theater employee on the way in and Kai had a guilt attack, so we stayed until the end of that one.”

Lloyd tsks. “Oh, Kai. And he’s so sold on his bad boy image.”

“One day he’ll embrace the fact that he’s just a big softie,” Skylor nods. “One of these days.”

“Yeah, when hell freezes over,” Lloyd snorts. He glances around at the empty shop, then back at her. “Hey, today’s your day off, right?”

Skylor gets a sinking kind of feeling in her stomach at that, alarm bells going off in the back of her head. “It might be,” she says, warily.

“Good,” Lloyd grins. “You should come to Bed Bath and Beyond with us, then.”

Well, she wasn’t expecting that. “Why…would you be going there?” she asks, blankly. Do they have a secret ninja weapon bargain bin she’s been missing out on? Is Bed Bath & Beyond secretly hosting an illegal crime ring she’s been unaware of? Does she need to return the shower curtain rings she bought there last week on basis of being a good citizen?

“Zane froze the blender solid before practice this morning,” Lloyd explains, his mouth twisting a bit. “We were making smoothies and someone accidentally brought up the Never Realm.”

“Ouch,” Skylor winces sympathetically. She’s still not heard the entire story of what went down during the ninja’s jaunt out of realm, besides a whole lot of panicked texts from Pixal and half-explanations from Kai, but she knows it wasn’t fun, especially for poor Zane.

“Yeah,” Lloyd sighs. “So now our blender is dead and we can’t make smoothies anymore, so we’re buying a new one before Nya can start strangling people. Wanna come?”

Skylor eyes him shrewdly. At face, it’s an innocent enough request. She’s certainly been invited to worse places than a household furnishings store, and picking up a blender is quite possibly the simplest thing the ninja have ever asked her to do. Which probably just means it’s going to go horribly and the store’s going to blow up ten minutes in, but hey, Skylor’s day was looking pretty boring anyway.

“Sure, why not,” she shrugs. “Lemme stick the last of these on, and I’m in. Just — hey, no, I’m selling those!”

Lloyd freezes in place, the rice cake package dangling from his fingers. He gives her the most pathetically sad-eyed look she’s ever seen, and not for the first time, Skylor finds herself wondering how this is the same kid who runs a highly-skilled ninja team of unimaginable power.

“Just the one,” she finally relents, because Skylor is a spineless weakling when it comes to puppy eyes, apparently. Lloyd beams, snatching the cakes up happily. “And just because you look like a starving vagrant again.”

“I do not,” Lloyd protests, through a muffled mouthful of rice cake. “I’m just super in shape. I’m jacked as heck.”

Skylor rolls her eyes. “Sure you are, you — hey, I said just one!”

***********************

So Skylor ends up at Bed Bath & Beyond on her day off, five minutes after the store’s opened for the day, and already wishing she’d slept in later.

Nya brings her coffee, though, and their bright-eyed enthusiasm at reclaiming their means of smoothie-making is infectious, so Skylor finds herself in high spirits as they walk through the store doors, almost to the point where she lets Lloyd go for stealing all her rice cakes.

However, she’s already let him get away with too much as it is, so Skylor decides to take her revenge by ruffling Lloyd’s hair, before informing the sales lady that it’s her “darling little brother’s thirteenth birthday, and he’s finally outgrown his kiddie bed, could you point us to the big kid ones, please?”

Lloyd’s attempts at strangling her are thwarted by Nya as the lady smiles airily, before pointing them to the back, and Zane has to drag Kai along with them before he suffocates on the laughter he’s choking back.

“Family shopping trips are always so much fun,” Jay remarks, as they browse the bedding section, having been successfully distracted by the animal-shaped pillows. They’ve already had to flee the lamp section, after Lloyd and Jay started having a little too much fun, despite Kai’s despair over being robbed yet again of a new lava lamp.

“One day,” he mourns. “One day, I will own another.”

Skylor pats his back consolingly. “I’m sure that’s what everyone else whose lava lamps got smashed by a giant stone colossi say.”

“I still don’t see why we can’t invest in a cappuccino maker,” Nya pouts, as they pass the coffee appliances section. “Look, there’s one on sale, too!”

“Because you can and will abuse the use of it, and then someone will end up going to the hospital for extreme heart rate elevation,” Zane glares pointedly at her. Skylor smothers a laugh as Nya scowls.

“I’m not that bad,” she grumbles under her breath, only for the others to all chime “ice cube incident” in unison. Nya goes a dark shade of red and glares at the floor as if she’s capable of lighting it on on fire with her eyes, but she doesn’t argue back.

Skylor doesn’t even want to know.

“Alright, here are our options,” Cole announces, when they’ve finally fought their way to the blender shelves. “We can get the same one we had, just a little smaller, or we can get this other one that’s half-off.” He squints at both tags. “Having looked at our bank account recently, I vote the half-off one.”

“No way,” Jay argues. “Do you see how small that one is? I can’t make my triple-espresso energy-drink smoothie with that!”

Lloyd stares at him in concern. “That’s…probably a good thing?”

Jay glares at him. “You’re one to talk, Mr. night owl.”

“I’m with Jay, that one’s way too small,” Nya says. “It won’t do.”

“What, and the other one’s better?” Kai shoots back. “Look how cheap it is, I could break this thing in my sleep.”

“The online reviews for both are perfectly fine,” Zane adds, half-heartedly, as if he already knows they’re all going to ignore that particular statement.

“What about this one?” Jay says, his eyes lighting up as he gestures to the extra-large, fancy blender. “Think of all the smoothies we could make, Cole. Think of the milkshakes.”

Cole pinches the bridge of his nose. “We are not investing in some fancy blender, just for you to complain it’s too complicated five seconds in.”

Skylor crosses over to the blenders, glancing at both. “I mean, you could always just return it…later…” She trails off, realizing that everyone’s suddenly gone deadly silent. She looks up, and starts as she comes face to face with the store manager, who is frozen in place, his mouth half-open as he stares at them with wide eyes. Behind her, Skylor is highly aware of six ninja going similarly still, all utterly quiet.

“You,” the manager finally squeaks out. “You are’t supposed to — you can’t be in here, not again—”

“On second thought, let’s get a blender next week,” Cole says, quickly.

“Yeah, I can live without smoothies a little longer,” Jay agrees, rapidly paling.

Skylor’s at a loss. “What’s going—”

Before she can finish that sentence, Kai and Nya both have hands on her arm and pull, hauling her along as they break into a dead sprint for the exit.

“Explain later!” Kai yelps, dodging employees as the manager shakes his fist at them, his yelling following them through the doors.

“I filed six restraining orders! Six!” he shrieks as they slip out. “Do you know how long that took?! Two of them don’t even exist in the legal system!”

Skylor doesn’t miss the incredibly unsubtle fist bump Lloyd and Zane share, nor the near-tears sigh of despair from Cole.

She really, really doesn’t want to know.

***********************

Except that maybe she does, so there’s nothing stopping her from asking as they walk home, having bought smoothies from the corner store instead (that they are not banned from, which Skylor is starting to think might be miraculous).

“I don’t know why I’m surprised at this point, but how did you get banned this time?” she asks them, after a particularly long sip of smoothie. “Did you demolish half the store there, too?”

The ninja are silent for a moment, all refusing to meet her eyes. Then—

“It was Jay’s fault,” Cole declares.

Jay whirls on him, his expression wounded. “I trusted you,” he whines. “And you — you bed bath and betrayed me.”

“Because you bed bath and blew up the bedding aisle!”

“It was the kitchen electrics aisle, give me some credit.”

“Oh, because that’s so much better.”

“It is, do you know how hard I’d have to be trying to blow up the bedding aisle? It’s all weighted blankets and like, silk and stuff, no conduction at all—”

Skylor returns to her previous stance on not wanting to know, sips her smoothie in silence as they break into loud arguing in the middle of the street, and hopes once again that no one’s getting any pictures of this.

5. Jamanakai Village Candy Shop

Friday’s her busy day, so Skylor’s spared any chaos other than a jammed mixing machine for the day. It doesn’t come to a head until Saturday, when she cautiously accepts the ninjas' invitation to scout out potential terrorist activity in Jamanakai.

The terrorists turn out to be punk kids who got a little too obsessed with the idea of the Golden Master, which is an unfortunate choice of role model for them, when they have to face up to the ninja. Zane just looks mildly annoyed though, and Lloyd stares into the sun for a full minute before rolling his eyes, so the kids make it out alive.

“We weren’t going to kill them, geez,” Jay says. “Maybe just…lecture them, a bit.”

“Oh yeah, lecture them,” Kai scowls, cracking his knuckles. “The Golden Master, are they kidding?”

“To be fair, they don’t have the same experiences we do,” Cole points out, but he doesn’t look too opposed to the knuckle-cracking, either.

“No harm was done,” Zane says, a bit wearily. “We should simply let it go."

“I dunno, I say we should’ve hung them from a roof for a bit,” Lloyd says, evenly.

The other ninja all cringe in unison, except for Nya, who smothers a coughing sort of laugh. Skylor stares at them, bewildered. “Why would you hang them from a roof?”

“Not sure,” Lloyd says, his lips twitching. “Probably because crime doesn’t pay, muchacho, or something like that—”

“Alright, alright, we get it,” Kai says hastily, clapping a hand over Lloyd’s mouth.

“The guys would know,” Nya smirks, ignoring the looks of utter betrayal she’s getting. “That’s what they did to Lloyd, wasn’t it?”

“Nya, why,” Jay moans into his hands.

“You — hung Lloyd from a roof?” Skylor repeats, thrown for a loop. “Why on earth would you do that? What if he like, fell and died?”

“He was fine,” Cole assures her, hastily.

Lloyd is quick to protest, glaring at them. “No I wasn’t, it was literally scarring! Look, I got this scar from scraping my arm when I fell — oh, wait, oops, that one’s from the Never Realm, it’s this one here.” Lloyd winces as he finishes, suddenly looking contrite as he shoots Zane an apologetic look. “The Never Realm one was from Boreal though, don’t worry.”

Zane looks down, his face shadowed. “It was still my—”

“Nuh-uh,” Jay cuts over him, wagging his finger. “Remember the rule?”

Zane hesitates, looking as if he’d very much like to remember no such thing, but he finally slumps, relenting. “Scars dealt to each other while under the influence of malicious possession by person and/or ancient malevolent artifacts do not count, regardless of extenuating circumstances or deep inner psychological issues that may be brought to light during said influence,” he quotes dully, on a defeated sort of sigh.

Skylor doesn’t know whether to be impressed at that, or depressed that it needed existence in the first place.

“Exactly,” Jay nods. “Which means that any scars from you, Zane, or Lloyd — oh, and Kai, I guess — and Cole, technically, with the Hypnobrai that one time— wow, that’s, hm, that’s a lot of us.”

“If you count the dark matter, we’ve all been possessed,” Zane says, drily.

“Not me!” Kai says, mock-cheerfully.

Jay shakes his head. “Nobody got scars while we were on dark matter! I checked.”

“Why are you saying it like we were on drugs or something?”

“Speak for yourself,” Lloyd scowls. “I’ve still got that stupid ankle one.” He glares at the offending ankle, as if it’s personally disappointed him.

“That was the Overlord, not us,” Nya reminds him. “And uh, your dad, technically.”

Lloyd’s scowl just deepens, his eyebrows tilting downwards hotly. “If I had a dollar for every scar that’s from my dad…”

“I hear you,” Skylor sighs. “Dad scars are the worst. They really know where to hit.”

“Right? It’s always personal with them,” Lloyd shakes his head. “Dads are the worst.”

A beat passes before they both realize the others have fallen quiet. Her and Lloyd blink, and Skylor fights back the urge to cringe at the looks they’re now receiving.

“Well,” Jay says, bleakly. “This is a, um, miserable turn.”

“Hey, hey, no sad faces,” Lloyd scolds, reaching for Kai’s face, which is indeed sporting a pathetically teary-eyed kind of look. “Get that look off your face, off, off—”

“I’m not — stoppit — I’m just— hey, stop it— that’s my face, you brat—”

“Guys, c’mon, cut it out, you’re making a scene,” Cole scolds, pulling them both apart. “How about we stop and get ice cream before we go, okay? To like, cheer us up. Because that was completely depressing, no offense, guys.”

“None taken,” Skylor says, as Lloyd nods in agreement. Cole looks relieved, even if Kai’s still looking a little weepy, and he directs them down another street, heading toward a brightly labeled ice cream shop. Skylor can see tiny rows of candy inside, and there are a bunch of kids gathered around the little stand the owner’s set up at the door. It’s a cute place, all in all — the candy looks good, and it seems pretty cheap.

So it makes zero sense that Lloyd, of all people, would suddenly go painfully tense in the middle of the street, and refuse to take another step forward.

“I can’t go in there,” he whispers.

Skylor’s having that sense of déjà vu again. The rest of the ninja trade confused glances.

“Uh, Lloyd?” Kai says, hesitantly. “They sell candy in there, you know.”

“I know,” Lloyd grinds out, his teeth clenched painfully together. “I’ve been in there before.”

“You have?” Cole frowns. “You — oh.” Realization dawns in his eyes, and he’s suddenly biting his lip, holding back laughter. “Oh, I forgot.”

“Forgot wha—” Jay looks between the two of them, then back at the shop, before something sparks in his eyes as well, and he doubles over in laughter.

“Shut up,” Lloyd hisses.

“Why are we laughing at Lloyd,” Skylor finally sighs, as Kai and Zane break into barely-stifled giggles as well, and Nya rolls her eyes.

“So, um,” Lloyd swallows, shifting anxiously from side to side. “You know how I said they hung me from a roof? There might’ve, uh, been a reason for that.”

“Of course there was,” Skylor says.

“I kind of threatened them, a little bit, and uh, tried to steal half their shop, one time.”

“Of course you did.”

“Lloyd,” Nya sighs. “That was forever ago.”

“I stole from them,” Lloyd bites out. “If I show my face in there again, they’ll kill me."

“I highly doubt they will resort to murder, Lloyd,” Zane says, flatly. “Besides, you did not actually succeed in stealing anything, because we caught you and hung you from a roof. Remember?”

“Yeah, and then I came back with the Serpentine, and made it worse!” Lloyd exclaims. “Just go in without me, I’ll sit out here and cry.”

“We’re not just gonna leave you outside,” Kai rolls his eyes. “C’mon, let’s mend some old wounds. Just go inside and apologize.”

“I would literally rather die.”

“Lloyd, seriously.”

“I’ve done it before, don’t test me.”

“Lloyd.”

“You can’t make me, I’ll fight you—”

“Alright, alright, we’ll find a different shop!”

***********************

“Okay, I have to know,” Skylor finally asks, as they pass the outskirts of the village, heading back to the Bounty. “How many places are you all banned from, in total? Because this is ridiculous. I can’t take you anywhere.”

“I mean, you can’t take us anywhere even without the bans, anyways,” Cole says wearily. “To be fair.”

“We’re not that bad,” Lloyd protests, only to wilt immediately under Skylor’s stare. “There are just…a few places…”

“Zane, how many is it now,” Nya asks, rubbing her temples.

Zane is quiet for a moment, slowly ticking off his fingers as he stares upwards. “Did we ever decide if that one museum counted?”

“The vote was yes,” Jay mutters.

“And the Explorer’s Club, did we decide that one?”

“I’d say that’s a pretty hard ban,” Lloyd winces.

Nya huffs, crossing her arms. “I still say it doesn’t count, because like, everyone’s banned from there, with their stupid stuck-up membership requirements.”

Zane takes this into account, his eyebrows furrowing. “That leaves us with…seventeen places we cannot return to, I believe? Unless I missed one.”

Skylor’s left wordless, gaping at them. She knew there was a lot, but seventeen—?!

“I’m almost a hundred percent sure we’re also banned from the Never Realm,” Kai points out. Zane gives him the iciest look Skylor’s ever seen. Kai simply shrugs. “What? Just stating the facts.”

Lloyd frowns. “I don’t think we are? I mean, Akita wouldn’t—”

“Oh, Akita wouldn’t,” Jay cuts over him, a gleam in his eyes. “Would she, casanova?”

Lloyd goes scarlet, sputtering. “I told you, she kissed me! On the cheek! I just stood there, you can’t—” He buries his face in his hands, and despite her amusement (and rampant curiosity, because this is Lloyd and kissing), Skylor feels bad for him. “I can’t believe I ever told any of you about that,” he whines, sounding tragically upset with himself.

“You were the one having a mental breakdown over it,” Nya reminds him, almost gently. “You need to work on setting boundaries, bud.”

“It’s not like I didn’t tell her I had horrible issues with romance!” Lloyd throws his hands up, frustrated. “Because I did, in painfully honest detail—”

“And yet you refuse to open up to me about it,” Kai says plaintively.

“Turn into a dog for a bit, you might get lucky,” Lloyd grumbles.

Skylor doesn’t want to know. She really, really doesn’t want to know. “Well,” she finally says. “I do know one place you aren’t banned from.”

They all look up at her, and Skylor shakes her head. “You fly me back to the shop in time for dinner, and noodles are on the house tonight.”

Six faces brighten considerably. “Seriously?” Cole says. “Skylor, you’re an angel.”

“Seriously, the best person ever—”

“Our favorite cryptid orange ninja there ever was—”

“Yeah, yeah, keep flattering me,” Skylor sighs, trying not to smile, and failing woefully.

She doesn’t know why she still hangs out with these people, getting banned from everywhere in the city. What a bunch of nerds.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #nya smith #jay walker #cole brookstone #zane julien #skylor chen #i really have no explanation for this at all #except that i wanted to give skylor more love than i've given her #my fic

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epochofbelief · 4 years ago

Text

Breath Control Chapter Two

here’s chapter two... unfortunately had to repost these first three chapters bc Tumblr deleted them or something!!

TWO

“Feyre. Have you done any work for the past hour we have been sitting here?”

Elain’s voice barely managed to penetrate my thoughts. I looked down at my textbook and shook my head. I had very bad cases of a hangover and a sour stomach. And embarrassment. And a broken heart.

Thriving.

“Will you please just talk to me?”

I’d met Elain at the library an hour ago, both of us planning to get some serious homework done before the week got started. I’d managed to tell Elain a little of what had happened last night but she hadn’t pried until now.

“I don’t think I can talk about it.”

She huffed out a breath. “Feyre. If anyone knows what it feels like to have a broken heart, it would be me. So maybe I could help if you’d just talk to me.”

That’s right. Elain’s ex-boyfriend, Grayson, had broken up with her unexpectedly over the summer. Elain, positive he would be the man she married, and subsequently being denied admissions to the nursing schools she was trying to get into for grad school, had been in bad shape for a couple of months. I wasn’t sure if she was really okay now, or if she was just better at hiding it. She’d attended Mortal University for her undergraduate degree and had wanted to stay there for her masters--and hadn’t gotten in. Luckily she’d applied to Prythian’s school and had been accepted, but it wasn’t where she had wanted to end up at all. Away from her friends and our father, she’d started nursing school at the same time I’d started my sophomore year and I was pretty sure I was her only friend.

Looked like she was my only friend, too.

I sighed. Then explained. Tamlin and Ianthe all over each other. My public humiliation. And Rhys, unexpectedly driving me home and taking care of me, which was probably the most unexplainable part of the entire night. I hated it, but Tamlin’s behavior had hurt me but not surprised me. I’d barely said two words to Rhys the entire time I’d been at Prythian. We had a big swim team, about sixty people strong. Rhys and his friends--Cassian, Amren, Azriel, and Mor--were all in the middle distance group. Tamlin and Ianthe were sprinters. I swam distance, for the most part. The different training groups and large numbers made it difficult to bond with every single team member, so I didn’t know Rhys or his group at all.

“Are you talking about Rhysand Night? That boy is hot.”

I did a double-take. That was a very brazen statement coming from Elain. “When have you ever even seen him?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I’ve been to your swim meets, you know. It’s easy to tell who has the best body and face from the stands.”

I groaned. “He saw me puke, Elain! I drunkenly poured my heart out to him. He must think I’m some kind of idiot. And now I am friendless on the team. Friendless. Especially after Rhys tells all his friends how pathetic I am.” I leaned over and put my face on my textbook. “I should quit now and cut my losses.”

Elain whacked me on the arm. “You most certainly will not quit! That beautiful boy was just--”

“Feyre?”

I stilled. If I hadn’t recognized that voice last night, I definitely did now. Positive my cheeks were a flaming red, I slowly sat up.

“Hey, Rhys,” I said meekly, my hand coming up in a very awkward wave. I shoved it back down.

“You ladies talking about beautiful boys? Surely no one around here, right?” He asked smoothly, folding his arms and leaning against a bookshelf.

Thank God Elain blushed for me. “Nobody you’d know.”

He raised his brows and I prayed he hadn’t heard anything else. “Hey, I was going to text you. . . Then I realized I didn’t have your number. You left your wallet in my car last night… I didn’t find it until this morning. It’s in my backpack. I can go grab it and bring it to you.”

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t even realized it was gone. “No, no, I’ll come with you. You don’t have to make another trip.” And ignoring his protests I jumped up and took off through the shelves. For some reason, I didn’t want him anywhere near Elain when she was casually throwing about the word “beautiful.” I scoffed. He wasn’t that attractive.

I was halfway through the stacks when I realized I didn’t actually know where I was going. “Uh…”

“All my friends are over there. Are you sure you don’t want me to just grab it for you and bring it to you here?”

I stopped in my tracks. I had the feeling he knew I wasn’t in the mood to speak to anyone right now. A mood I had been in for the past few months, but. . . I blew out a breath. “Um. Yeah. Thank you.”

He squeezed past me, and for a moment I found myself so close to him I could feel his body heat as he turned and sidestepped through the narrow space between me and the shelves. I could have sworn he was holding his breath as he passed, and I had to crane my neck to see his face. Our eyes met. I shivered.

Then he was gone. I blew out another breath and slumped against the shelf behind me. What was wrong with me? I’d been broken up with Tamlin for less than twenty-four hours and I was already noticing other guys. Disgusted with myself, I stared at the titles across from me.

Rhys was back in less than a minute, my wallet in his outstretched hand. I took it from him, taking extra care not to brush his hand with mine. “Thanks.”

I made to turn around and return to the safety of Elain’s aura when he reached out and brushed my shoulder. “Are you doing okay? You know, after everything?”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Rhys. You already made sure I got home okay.”

He crossed his arms. “Yeah but I’d kind of be an asshole if I didn’t at least check in. Now tell me. Are you okay?”

His gaze didn’t falter from mine as he looked at me. His gorgeous face was serious. He was really asking. He wanted a genuine answer. Good or bad, he wanted to know.

“No.”

And when I turned around, he let me go.

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

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Elain and I spent six hours in the library and I skipped out on the girls’ team dinner, claiming I had homework. I spent the evening locked in my room, dreading the inevitable moment when I ran into Ianthe, who was, after all, my roommate. Bitch, I muttered under my breath.

It was eight o’clock and I had no plans for the rest of my evening, so I changed into my pajamas and flopped on the bed. Fully prepared to spend the night binging a TV show, I retrieved ice cream from my fridge and got under the covers. An hour into The Witcher, I got a text.

Rhysand Night: You’re going to practice in the morning, right?

I frowned. He was clearly texting the wrong person. And how did he have my number?

I opened the text and discovered that he had texted his phone from mine last night…

Me: I was planning on it

Rhysand Night: Just checking. I know you may not feel like going right now, but I don’t want to see you getting in trouble

Being a part of a college level swim team meant twenty hours of training a week. Practice at 5:30 in the morning most weekdays and again in the afternoon. I didn’t know why Rhys felt the need to check on me--missing practice meant getting chewed out by the head coach. If you missed more than one practice, you got suspended. No way would I blatantly take that risk.

Me: I’ll be there

I shut off my phone and went to bed.

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

I barely dragged myself out of practice the next morning. And the morning after that. And the morning after that. For two weeks after Halloween, I ignored Ianthe as much as humanly possible. She made no attempt to apologize. Tamlin had even kept his distance. I showed up at practice, swam (albeit poorly), went to class, went to practice, and went home. I was reaching new levels of anti-social. Elain was busy with study groups and classes and Nesta wouldn’t be in town for another week. She worked as a flight attendant and split her time between our father's and her and Elain’s shared place.

I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything besides school and swim. The fact that I had wasted a year of my life on Tamlin Spring was tearing me apart from the inside out. And breaking up with him had made me realize all of the things I had wasted my life on for the past year. Why was I pursuing a degree in exercise science when I loved literature and art? Why had I put all my effort into one friendship with a bitch who had stabbed me in the back at her first opportunity? I had no other friends on the swim team I had chosen during my recruitment process, thinking it was the “place for me.” I was in the wrong place, had chosen the wrong people, and was aiming for the wrong future. The worst part was, it was all my fault. My blindness had seeped into every part of my life and I barely knew who I was without my overbearing boyfriend and the friend who had steered me around for my entire college experience.

On Thursday morning, over a week and a half after the Halloween party, Coach King texted me to meet him in his office after my classes for the day were over. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since. An impromptu meeting with Coach King usually implied a fate worse than death. At this point, I deserved anything he had to say to me. My grades had fallen in the past few weeks (I had failed a test on Monday and two quizzes since then) and my training had continued to worsen.

My suspicions proved correct when I arrived for the meeting and Coach King started explaining the reason he had called me to his office. He mentioned my grades and my training and the fact that I had barely spoken or shown any signs of life at practice for days. He wanted to know what was wrong. He wanted to know what he could do to help. But mostly, he wanted me to fix it--fast. Then he told me he was moving me to the middle distance training group.

“Wh--what?!”

Moving training groups in the middle of the year was unheard of. Potentially season-ending. If he was moving me from distance to middle distance, he was most likely saying I wouldn’t travel or compete for the rest of the year. It took time to adjust to a new training regimen.

I tried to protest, but he told me he had made his decision and felt I was more cut out for middle distance events anyway. The adjustment wouldn’t be too drastic. And he wanted me to take the rest of the week off and start fresh on Monday.

That’s the thing about college athletics. Coaches can be great coaches. They can get a team from nothing to something quick if they know what they’re doing. Some can even do that and help their swimmers develop as people, too. But for most coaches, when it came down to it, weakness was weakness, no matter the reason. And I was currently the weakest link on the team. Coach King had to do something about it and this was apparently the best he could come up with.

I mumbled something to Coach King about seeing the sports psychologist and trying harder at the new practices. I felt certain he had vague ideas about the couples on the team, so he probably knew about my Tamlin situation. I didn’t feel the need to mention it to him. I left his office and made it all the way down the five flights of stairs and out the back entrance into the cloudy, chilly afternoon before I allowed myself to cry.

I had messed up my life so royally that I had no idea how to fix it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Coach King kicked me off the team in a matter of weeks. We had a travel meet coming up, and I felt certain that I wouldn’t make the cut. I’d be stuck at Prythian U while all my teammates that I had developed no relationship with would travel.

Head down, I was rushing to my car as my tears fell when I ran headfirst into a warm body.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry--”

“We have to stop meeting like--Feyre.”

“Rhys.” I kept my eyes on the crack in the parking lot pavement at my feet.

“Are you okay?”

“You’ve got to stop asking me that question! I know you don’t care! Let me deal with this by myself.” I made to push past him but he followed me to my car anyways.

“Feyre. I do care. I’m your teammate. And it doesn’t seem like anybody else on the team is lining up to ask how you’re doing, so I’m here to do that. I want to help you.” Something in his voice made me pause, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Just fuck off. You don’t even know me.”

He threw up his hands as I struggled to unlock my extremely old Volkswagen with the key fob. My tears and anger were making it very hard to open the door.

“For God’s sake, Feyre! Would you stop being so damn difficult and let someone help you? You’ve been a ghost at practice these past few weeks and Coach King just told me you were moving to my training group.”

I unlocked my car and wrenched it open. “Leave me alone.”

Rhys grabbed my car door and refused to let me close it. I glared at his stupid, gorgeous, violet eyes. “I bet you like this. An excuse to just give up, get yourself kicked off the team. Much easier than having to face Tamlin at practice everyday, much easier than having to make new friends.”

I narrowed my eyes. And slapped him across the face.

He touched his cheek. A spark of satisfaction lit up against the confusion and depression that lived within my gut. I had surprised him. And shut him up.

“Wow. I guess I deserved that. But you know I’m right.”

And the fact was, I did. He had said out loud what was going on deep inside me, what I was dangerously close to giving in to. I was shocked someone I barely knew could even begin to fathom what was going on so deep within my brain that I had yet to admit it to myself. But most of all, I was angry. Angry that this boy thought he had some sort of right to me pouring out my heart to him or at the very least accepting his help. He wasn’t a captain. He had no jurisdiction over me.

“Fine! You’re right! Are you happy now?” I wanted to wipe the smug look off his face. I cast around for something, anything to make him understand even a little bit what I was feeling. “Any other accusations you want to spit at me to make me hate myself more than I already do?”

His smirk fell. Satisfied once more, I thought he’d let me leave, but he held fast to my car door.

“Tell me what to do to help you. Tell me and I’ll do it.”

I blinked. I thought he would yell at me some more. I hadn’t expected such an open offer, more raw and entreating than anything Tamlin had ever said to me.

I hated that my year with Tamlin had made me think that a guy treating me nicely was a rare commodity. I deserved to be treated with more kindness than Tamlin had ever bestowed on me. I knew that, and yet--I didn’t know how to accept that kindness anymore. I was now so deeply confused about myself, my team, and Rhys that I merely stood there, staring at Rhys without really seeing him, and contemplating the nature of my existence for the past year.

Rhys, appearing to come to the conclusion that I had nothing to say in response to his entreaty, cleared his throat. “I know there’s a team party this weekend, as per usual. But my friends and I are going to hang out ourselves and stay sober since we have a meet the weekend after. I want you to come. In fact, I insist.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he kept talking. “If you don’t show, I’ll tell the captains you haven’t actually been sick or studying during the past two team meetings you’ve missed. I’ll text you the address. Come. Please. We won’t talk about Tamlin or anything difficult. Plus, you should probably meet your new training group.”

That was right. Rhys and all his friends were in the middle distance group. I’d be subject to all of them starting Monday.

And because I couldn’t think of any excuse, because I couldn’t have the captains knowing the concrete truth about my absences, because maybe somewhere deep within me desired help, I agreed.

#feysand #feyre x rhysand #acomaf #a court of thorns and roses #fanfiction #acotar fanfiction #feysand modern au #feyre archeron #rhysand #high lord #night court #elriel

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buckleyydiaz · 4 years ago

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if you weren’t just an online love part 2

moreid, 900 words, on ao3 here

Oh shit.

Derek blanched as he realised that the team around him had begun to introduce themselves while he had been panicking, and were all waiting for him to say something.

“Uh- Hey man,” Derek began, still too shocked to properly respond. “I’m Derek Morgan.”

Spencer, despite clearly recognising him, seemed much less startled by his presence. That made sense though, as he thought about it, Gideon had probably told him about the team, and Derek had mentioned that he was aiming to get into the BAU when they were together.

That just made Derek angry - if it was the former that was the reason Spencer expected him, then Spencer still had his number, he could have at least sent a text in warning, or if it were the latter, then it seemed slightly unfair of Spencer, knowing that Derek worked there, before he had even applied to the BAU, to start working there, especially after essentially breaking up with Derek because of it.

But it wasn’t the time to be angry, that could wait until he wasn’t in front of the team. Maybe he could go to the gym during his break or something, let off some steam, but until then, he’d act as if nothing was wrong.

Unfortunately, he suspected that adopting that act now would do nothing to help save him from an interrogation from Elle, who had been looking at him, inspecting him, ever since Spencer walked through the door.

As the brief introductions were completed, Derek returned to his desk, not particularly optimistic that he would be getting any more work done than he had been before.

Derek hoped he would be able to talk to Spencer privately, even just briefly, to see what he was planning on saying if anyone were to ask, what his side of the story was. Unfortunately, given the way Garcia and JJ had latched on to him, Derek suspected Spencer wasn’t going to get any time alone soon.

He tapped the end of his pen on his desk as he absentmindedly watched JJ and Garcia taking Spencer for a tour through the offices, busy thinking of ways to get the boy alone. There was no way that they would let Derek steal Spencer away, so he needed an alternative.

Derek wondered if Spencer would even want to be around him, if he wanted to acknowledge their past but keep it a secret, move on, if he wanted to pretend it never happened, or maybe if he would be interested in beginning to rekindle their relationship.

Although he wouldn’t voice it, Derek hoped it was the latter.

But in his consideration of their past relationship, Derek did achieve something other than wistful ideation. He had a plan, one which hinged on two variables - that Spencer hadn’t changed his phone number, and didn’t have Derek’s number blocked. The first of those was unlikely - Spencer was seemingly allergic to new technology, only updating when things no longer worked or he was forced to. The second? Well Derek wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t changed numbers since the break up, and at the end, he would be lying if there weren’t some drunk, desperate texts pleading for Spencer to agree to try and make it work. Messages that were never responded to, that Derek wasn’t even sure had been read.

Regardless, he had few, if any, other options, so trying a text would be the way to go.

Derek cringed as he pressed on Spencer’s contact and saw the messages he had sent, now over a year ago, that begged Spencer to take him back. He should have known it never would have worked, that Spencer wouldn’t want him back, and that even if he did, drunk texts would probably stop that.

He slowly tapped out a message on his phone, carefully trying to articulate what he wanted to say, something much easier said than done. Spencer had always been the one who had a way with words.

Derek Morgan: hey spencer, i know this is kind of awkward, but i was wondering if we could chat later today

Derek hoped it sounded casual enough.

Thankfully, the world seemed to have taken pity on Derek, just in this instance, because he saw Spencer reach for his phone in his worn old messenger bag.

Spencer Reid: I think that is a good idea. Do you want to wait until the end of the day, or meet sooner?

Well some things never changed. Derek was weirdly glad to see that Spencer had still maintained his oddly formal form of texting, to see that not everything has changed.

Derek Morgan: idm, im fine with after work if u wanna meet up then, bc i think ur gonna have trouble getting away from baby girl and jj :p

It frustrated Derek to no end trying to text Spencer as though everything was over for him, because even though Spencer was likely unaware of it, Derek’s heart was being pulled back by him.

He hated it. He thought he had moved on, but apparently not, and Derek knew that seeing Spencer every day was not going to make things easier.

Spencer Reid: Okay, that sounds good. Let me know where I should meet you.

He could do that, he could work out the details, and there it was! Crisis one, soon to be averted.

Crisis two however? Elle and her endless meddling and nosiness. That was still to be dealt with.

Christ. Was Derek ever going to get a break?

#moreid #derek morgan #spencer reid #fanfiction #criminal minds fanfic #fanfic #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #fandom #Criminal Minds #criminalminds #spencer x derek #spencer #derek #Sperek #derek x spencer

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solalunar-eclipse · 4 years ago

Text

Scars You Can’t See - Chapter 2

Chapter title: Escape (from the city)

Word count: about 3500

Some small word choice has been edited.

If you’re here from the updated first chapter, please scroll down to the bolded line! The story continues there.

Previous | Next

Rouge looked out the window cautiously, sliding along the wall and peering around the window frame. She snapped the curtain shut a second later, spinning to face the others. Her eyes were wide. “Crap. They’re here. G.U.N. is here. They want the file- and us, probably. Chaos...I wonder if they want to ‘disappear’ us like in those spy movies.”

“Now who isn’t helping?” Omega said snarkily, aware that Shadow seemed to be on the verge of an actual panic attack.

Rouge glowered at him, before ignoring his comment entirely. “Alright, we probably have a few minutes, max, before they break down the door and try to get us. Omega, start packing. We need nonperishable food and water in case we can’t show ourselves in public, and we’ll want money. Hang on to our office supplies, too- we might need those. I am going to talk to Shadow and try to help him out a little. Good? Be ready to go in five.”

She sat Shadow down on the couch. His body was shaking slightly and his breathing was unsteady.

“Okay, hon, what’s got you so stressed?”

He shivered silently, refusing to speak- he could be very stubborn when he wanted to be.

Rouge rubbed his back cautiously. “Talk to me, Shadow. Just talk. We can work on solving everything later, but you’ve got to get it out there so that I can help. Please?”

Shadow gave in. Again. His friends were far too good at getting him to open up- words spilled from his mouth faster than he could say them, crashing into each other. “It- it all started when I had to carry the guns again- they were barely tolerable during the invasion, but now all they do is remind me of that day- I can’t help but remember that it was them who did it all to me…”

His voice was tight, but he fought past it. “It makes me sick thinking about it, and the idea that they could do that again. But- they have the power, I don’t want everyone to hate me...what if- what if they do it, tell the world lies about me to retaliate for outing them, and Tails, Silver, Sonic can’t look at me the same? What if they believe G.U.N.?”

Rouge kept her hand on his shoulder, not sure of what else she could do. The bat knew she had only scratched the surface of his struggles, and it was already painful for her to watch. “They won’t! They would never, I can tell you that. Right now, though, we have to focus on making sure we get the word out about this so that G.U.N. can’t do it again, alright? One step at a time. Then we’ll deal with whatever comes next. And I promise Omega and I will always be here for you, no matter what.”

“If you say so...okay.” Shadow sighed. He could deal with this more later. Right now, the agents were here, ready to hurt his friends. They had to run, and Rouge and Omega would support him through everything. That could hold him together. For now.

Omega appeared in the doorway. “Are you ready to go? I do not wish to be turned into scrap metal.”

“Yes.” Shadow said, his voice slightly stronger. “Let’s get out of here.”

------------------------------ STORY CONTINUES HERE ---------------------------------

The three jumped into the high-tech convertible from earlier- now plus two impressively packed suitcases- and peeled out of the garage at full speed. Rouge was driving, since Shadow still wasn’t at a hundred percent. They could all hear the G.U.N. agents shouting behind them as they drove wildly away, but Rouge forced herself to focus on the road despite them.

The hybrid picked up his phone, knowing what he had to do next. It didn’t make this any better, though.

He dialed the number.

“Hello. This is Shadow.”

“Hi, Shads! What’s up! You busy?” an instantly recognizable voice chirped.

“I am in fact busy at the moment. That is why I am calling.”

“Aw, really?” Sonic sounded disappointed. “I was gonna ask if you could come over and race.”

“I’m afraid I cannot. Rouge, Omega and I are currently trying our best to not be captured by about twenty angry G.U.N. agents, so racing is… not an option right now.”

He heard a gasp from the other end of the line. “What?! Wait, what happened? Is there anything you need?”

Shadow smiled faintly- that was Sonic, always looking out for others. “Omega stole some files on my sister and her death. We spoke to G.U.N. beforehand, and they refused to do anything about their actions or even admit wrongdoing, so. We’re calling them out on it by finding proof of what they did.”

“They wouldn’t apologize? For that?!” Sonic yelled. “Jerks! I can’t believe you work for them!”

“Well, I strongly suspect that we are all fired, so that solves that problem.” Shadow replied dryly.

“Good! But you should’ve quit- show them who’s boss! If you need a place to stay while you’re taking them out, you can come crash with us, y’know.”

“That is a kind offer, Sonic, but I’m afraid I must turn you down. G.U.N. is already going to come in and question both you and Tails, and I don’t want you getting in any more trouble than you need.”

Sonic groaned. “Ugh, this whole thing sounds like one of those overly complicated super-secret missions you guys always go on. Or used to go on, whatever. There isn’t any butt-kicking in any of this- wish there was some dude I could beat up and then it’d be fixed.”

Shadow’s smile grew wider. “If only.” Then it faded. “I hope you understand why I won’t be able to tell you where we’re going or what our plans are from now on. The less you know, the safer you are. Despite this, don’t let G.U.N. take you or anyone else anywhere. You might not come back.”

He heard the skepticism in Sonic’s voice. “Seriously? You think so?”

“I know so. Be careful, Sonic. These people aren’t crazy geniuses- they’re ruthless destroyers. Trust me. And...we’re all going to shut down our phones. We could be tapped or tracked at any time. We’ll only call in from public phones or the like.”

“Oh, chaos….this really is serious, isn’t it?” Sonic’s voice was small. “Hang on, put me on speaker.”

Shadow did. “You’re on now.”

“Guys?” Sonic said. “You’re all awesome- I know you’re gonna make them pay. Just don’t die on me, we need you for movie night.” he said, only half joking.

“We will do our best.” Omega replied.

“Tell Knux I love him, ‘kay?” Rouge shouted.

“Will do!” Sonic replied, giggling.

Shadow took him off speaker and told him so.

“Sonic…stay safe. Please. I know you like to be the one who saves the day, but not this time, alright?”

The hero sounded tense. “Fine. But if I don’t hear from you guys for three days, I’m gonna start freaking out. You hear me?”

Shadow laughed bitterly. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. I’d hate to come back and find your house destroyed.”

“Yeah…” Sonic said weakly.

The hybrid sighed. “I suppose I must go now. Tell everyone else, alright? I’ll confirm what you say via text before I shut down my phone.”

“Okay. Bye, Shads- talk to ya later!” Sonic made an effort to sound cheerful.

“Talk to you soon.” Shadow said, and then he ended the call.

Rouge grinned. “Awww, that’s sweet. Done talking to your boyfriend, Shadow?”

“He is not my boyfriend!” Shadow roared, blushing. “We’re only rivals, Rouge, get that idea out of your head now!”

“Suuure~” Rouge said, laughing at Shadow’s embarrassment.

They became serious again quickly, however. Rouge hadn’t quite managed to lose the agents yet. She drove through two alleyways (“I just cleaned the car yesterday…” Omega complained), ran several red lights, and played one horrible game of chicken with a streetcar before they were able to get away.

Shadow had nearly had multiple heart attacks by the time that was over.

He heard his phone ping with a message while he was in the middle of switching off the other two. Of course Rouge had the latest iCall 11, while Omega had a 10 that Rouge had gifted him.

Shadow himself had a Candystripe (shameful, he knew, but they were easier for him to use), and that was at least partly why the group always messaged through Entropy.

He opened it up to see Sonic’s ten texts.

sanic: hey guys shads just called

he & rouge & omega are running from gun

they stole some important files about maria (sorry about the name drop shadow)

& gun got stupid mad

they wouldn’t say sorry or do anything about what they did to her either

so i really wanna beat someone up for that ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭

team dark is kinda scared for their lives now bc of gun so we can’t text them for a while or anything cuz they’re turning off their phones

oh and knux rouge says she loves u

i’d make a joke but tbh i’m actually freaking out a little rn

this sounds crazy i kno but it’s true

milesperhour: Wait, what? Are you serious??

andknuckles: Rouge, stay safe, alright

Don’t get hurt

Shadow smirked. “Your boyfriend wants you to stay safe. He’s worried.”

Rouge blushed. “He’s sweet, isn’t he?”

notclairvoyantjustpsychic: WHAT

CHAOS THEY DID NOT

edgehog: Yes, they did. Unfortunately. I’ve passed your message along, Knuckles. Please don’t scream, Silver.

Goodbye for now. We’ll get in touch later.

Shadow shut off his phone after that, but not before he saw one last private text.

sanic: i’m gonna miss u shads…. T-T

Shadow sighed quietly as he and his friends drove out of the city. He and Sonic had grown pretty close, and the blue hero was the only person outside of Team Dark whom he truly trusted.

He would most definitely miss Sonic as well.

...

Once the three had driven for the rest of the day- Omega took over once Rouge got tired- they pulled off into a small motel out in the plains of the United Federation.

A neon “Vacant” sign flickered faintly as the wind rushed through the golden fields. The sign for Cloud 9 Motel was faded and weatherbeaten, and there was only one other car in the parking lot. The sandstone-colored building was shaped like a blocky U, the front desk vaguely visible through clouded windows.

Shadow walked over to the motel doors and pushed them open, pulling out some money to pay for a room. Omega went with him- the robot needed to charge, and Rouge wanted some privacy for a minute.

The bat found an old pay phone off to the side and took a turn calling Knuckles. She stood there quietly, watching the sunset as she waited for him to pick up.

“Hi, sweetie.”

“Rouge?! It’s you?” She heard him shout away from the phone. “Sonic! Tails! It’s Rouge calling!”

She smiled quietly, but couldn’t quite bring herself to laugh. “You’re with your friends, hm?”

“Yeah- we’re figuring out what to do.”

Rouge frowned. “Don’t do anything- didn’t Sonic tell you what Shadow said? This is dangerous!”

Knuckles scoffed. “Dangerous? I led the Resistance against the Eggman Empire! Don’t talk to me about danger!”

Rouge facepalmed. She loved Knuckles so, so much, but he could be such an idiot sometimes.

“Yes, but the difference is, Eggman launched full-scale attacks that you could plan for. G.U.N. will not hesitate to shoot you in the back as you hang out with your friends.”

“People would do that?!” Knuckles shouted. He was still awfully naive about the world, and Rouge tended to forget this occasionally.

“They absolutely would. I need you to promise me that you, Sonic, and Tails will stay out of this.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “And Omega and Shadow?”

“I see you’re even worried about him, hm? Well, don’t worry about us- we’re used to dealing with these guys.” Rouge snickered.

Knuckles groaned. “I don’t hate Shadow, I just don’t really like him either. And he’s in danger too.”

“Thank you, hon.” she said honestly, appreciating that the echidna was starting to care about her friend. At least a little.

“I should probably go soon, but we’re currently at a motel in the middle of nowhere- I can’t tell you which one- and we’ll start planning our next move. Talk to you later, alright?”

“Talk to you later. Love you…” Knuckles said nervously. She could practically hear him blushing on the other end.

“Love you too, Knuckles. Bye!”

She hung up the phone and leaned against the glass wall of the booth, already missing him. He was really such a kind person underneath all that bluster, and that’s what she’d fallen for in the first place.

She looked up, noticing that Shadow left the building. He walked across the parking lot and opened up the door. “You’ll see him again soon, Rouge. All we have to do is get this footage and then we’ll be back home.”

“I know, it’s nothing.” she said softly.

The hybrid stood awkwardly for a moment, before quietly extending his arms. The gesture looked incredibly strange, but Rouge knew what he was trying to do and really appreciated it. She hugged him tightly and smiled. “You’re a good friend, Shadow.”

He held her a little tighter. “Take a look at yourself- you’re willing to go to Chaos-knows-where just to help me find some old video.”

She pulled back and smiled at him. “That’s what friends are for, right? Now let’s go check out that room.”

Shadow scuffed at the ground, sighing loudly. “Before you go in, you should know I used false names for all of us- the woman at the desk didn’t seem to know who any of us were, though she did say I looked like Sonic.” He didn’t seem pleased with that.

“I called Omega ‘Theta’ because it was the first idea I had. I haven’t given you a name yet because I thought you’d want your own…...less lame one.”

“Good...but what’s yours?” Rouge asked, smirking.

“I was on the spot.” Shadow couldn’t meet her eyes. “I used Apophis as my name. The ancient mythical chaos snake. It sounds so formal….”

Rouge grinned but held in her laugh for his sake. Shadow, despite his emo appearance, was definitely a nerd.

“My name should be….Ruby. Like the gem.”

Shadow looked confused. “Why?”

“Because of my name, silly. It means ‘red’ in French, and rubies are red.” Rouge said lightly.

“Oh….I suppose that makes sense.” he muttered, looking a little bewildered.

They went up to the room and discovered that Omega had already plugged himself into the outlet in the wall. He looked up when Rouge and Shadow walked in. “This electricity is subpar, but it will suit my purposes.” he informed them.

Rouge couldn’t help teasing him a little. “What, does it taste bad or something?”

Omega would have rolled his eyes, if he could. “No. It is simply weak and limited so that you organics do not electrocute yourselves.”

The bat surveyed the room critically, noting the lack of certain furniture. “Really, Shadow? You know Knuckles is going to pound you into the ground if he finds out we shared a bed.”

“It was cheaper.” Shadow called flatly from the closet, over the noise of his attempt to put away the suitcases. “We don’t have an endless supply of money, and I can sleep in the desk chair if you have an issue with this.”

“No, no, I’m fine.” Rouge replied. “Besides, he knows that I’ve never been into that kind of thing. Or dating you, no offense.”

“Agreed, and none taken.” The hybrid came back out and sank down onto the bed. “Omega, would you mind pulling up the schematics of the G.U.N. facility we’re trying to break into? I know you were heading in that general direction, but where is it, and how would we get inside?”

“Processing. You know, you are very lucky that I downloaded all schematics early on in our work with G.U.N..”

“Very lucky that you got lost once and then refused to have it happen again, you mean,” Rouge shot back.

“We do not speak of that incident. Ever.”

“Alright, alright, now where are we breaking in?” Shadow snapped, his quills bristling. He looked tense, Rouge noticed. She sat down next to Shadow and gave him a quiet look to try and calm him down. He sighed.

“Schematic loaded. Accessing…”

Suddenly, a three-dimensional map of the facility appeared in the room, along with an address in the lower right corner of the display. Rouge patted Shadow’s back once before getting up to survey the map- as a thief, she was the most experienced and therefore the authority on breaking and entering. And stealing, of course.

“So,” she said after a moment, “we’re definitely going in through the side door. While the vents are more classic, they’re also a greater hazard and Omega wouldn’t fit. Sorry, Omega.”

“That is fine.”

“So, we’ll grab a couple of delivery uniforms- and we will return them, don’t worry-” she added, for Shadow’s benefit. She knew he didn’t like doing anything that would hurt people just trying to get by.

“-and then we can get inside through that door. We’ll navigate the halls and head straight to the video storage rooms, which are here.” Rouge pointed to a specific area of the map, which Omega helpfully enlarged. “We’re going to need to split up and search them quickly. Most likely, the video will be on a VHS tape, so that’s what we’re looking for. G.U.N. is nothing if not organized, so they’ll probably just have a box labeled ‘ARK Files’. Everyone clear?”

“Yes.”

“Affirmative.”

“Now then, there are guards on a rotating schedule that pass by the same area every fifteen minutes. We’ll need to avoid them and move quickly, because we don’t want to be seen. I know we could take out two guards if necessary, but we don’t want any of them radioing in to the security center and setting off an alarm.”

“I will remove any threat before it becomes too big to handle, no matter what.” Omega declared.

“I’m not sure that’s the point of a stealth mission, Omega.” Shadow replied, a small smile on his face.

Rouge noticed that this was the first time he’d smiled properly in a while.

“Alright, now let’s get some rest. We’re going to need it for the next few days.”

“The next few days?” Omega asked. “Why are we not attacking them tomorrow?”

“Because they’ll be expecting us tomorrow, Omega- all of G.U.N. is going to be on high alert.” Rouge said, exasperated. “We have to lie low for a while, make them drop their guard.”

Shadow sighed. “I can’t stand waiting, but if it means we’ll be safer, I suppose we have no choice.”

“Good.” Rouge replied, going into her “team mom” mode. “Now. Rest.”

It was strange for her sometimes, being the leader of the team. Shadow and Omega both acted younger than her, even though their ages were incredibly confusing. Shadow was either five, fifteen, or fifty-five, depending on how you counted, and Omega was essentially ageless. Yet somehow she, at eighteen, was the team leader in most situations.

She certainly didn’t mind it, though.

As she lay in bed at night, her attempts to sleep were quickly foiled by the hedgehog next to her. Shadow could not lie still.

“Are you always like...this, Shadow?” she asked, trying her best to be polite.

“...no…” he mumbled quietly, turning away from her.

“This is a really stressful time for you, isn’t it?” she asked gently.

He lay there for a moment.

“Perhaps.” he said finally, his voice flat.

Rouge thought about what to do next.

“Omega, what’s the length of your charging cable?”

“Twelve feet. Why do you ask?”

“Get in.”

Shadow sat up quickly. “Wait- what?!”

Rouge smirked. “Get in, Omega. It’s time for a team hug session.”

Shadow attempted to protest, but Omega climbed onto the bed anyway and lay down on the hybrid’s other side.

Rouge watched Shadow, feeling relieved when he began to relax. Omega’s computers were whirring away softly, providing a steady background hum that pushed her friend to sleep.

He sighed, murmuring quietly. “Good night, Omega. Sleep well, Rouge.”

“Night, boys.” she said.

“I will keep watch while you both sleep. Just in case.” Omega replied.

Shadow’s eyes began to close. “Heh. Thanks…. Omega……”

Rouge shut her eyes as well, pleased with herself. This was her team, and they were going to kick G.U.N. to the curb. But that could wait for tomorrow- right now, it was late, and she could rest. Finally.

#shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e 123 omega #team dark #scars you can't see #introducing team sonic!#and also silver #shadow likes to pretend he's okay but he's really not #rouge and shadow are 100% ace #also just to clarify sonic and shadow really aren't dating #but they're definitely close to crushing at this point #sol’s fanfiction

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fizzypunks · 4 years ago

Text

its a date but its not a date

fandom: My Hero Academia/ Boku No Hero Academia word count: 3.8k/oneshot rating: t summary: hizashi takes shouta to a little festival and insists its not a date... just pure fluff bc <3

ship: Aizawa Shouta/ Hizashi Yamada | Erasermic

note: this reads better in AO3 because it keeps formatting for italics, which tumblr does not!

AO3

___

Yamada Hizashi wasn’t a timid person – it wasn’t even a quirk thing, it was just his nature, and it was something he was proud of. Sure, he’d been called loud and obnoxious, and some have been less than kind about his quirk when it’s gotten out of control. His quirk control wasn’t great for a very long time, but none of what he’d been called or heard had really changed the way he carries himself, and that includes his extroverted nature.

He was, however, a panicked person, when it came to matters of interest .

Love.

Whatever .

And, because love was the one thing that made him think twice about what he says, what he does or doesn’t do, that has landed him in the exact predicament that he’s facing right now.

Hizashi tapped his pen against his essay, the half filled pages of his stationary blurring together into a mass of lines and half-assed penmanship. He’d been staring at it for the past five minutes, when he’d given up on trying to ignore his annoying problem.

Shouta .

It’s been getting harder to ignore the stupid pull of something he’s recently identified as yearning that comes every time he thinks of his best friend. Stronger than any hurricane gale, it pulls in every thought he has until there are no more to be had. Just Shouta, and his messy hair, and the eyes he thinks are pretty despite always being so blood-shot.

Hizashi groans, faintly feeling heat spill across his cheeks. “God, why must I be so fucked?”

It’s not like he’s even asking him out on a date – no, he’s not bold enough to do that in their last year and semester of school– there’s no need for distractions like that right now, whatever outcome may or may not come from it…. no, he’s just asking to take Shouta to the Autumn festival at the park, because Shouta should do something fun and get out of his room and not explode from stress.

The poor guy has been spending all his time studying and stressing and sleeping even less , so of course Hizashi would want to help his friend out and get him to relax.

Yeah, that’s what it was – one friend asking another friend out because stress is bad.

That doesn’t change the nervous skip in his heart right now, as he sits at his desk and thinks about…

Hizashi groans again, tipping back in his chair and hooking his foot against the back of his desk so that he’s less likely to tumble. Theoretically, at least.

Why does it feel so significant right now? He’d asked Shouta to do countless things with him! He’d gotten him to agree to go to the movies a bunch of times, and to a party or two, and, most recently, he’d even been able to rope him into going to a karaoke club! He didn’t sing, they left earlier than he’d planned, but Shouta had fun!

Hizashi narrowed his eyes at the white ceiling and the ceiling fan that whirled past his vision, playing with the very edge of the wooden panel that kept him from tumbling onto his carpet.

This wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but somehow it did.

It felt like a declaration, no matter how he phrased it in his head, and he doesn’t understand the logic behind it.

Fine. Whatever! I’ll just ask, and be blunt, and do it right before I leave so there’s no room for thinking, and it’ll be okay!

Something like, “Hey, Shouta, let’s go to this festival! It’ll be so much fun! PLUS, I think you’ll look cute sharing cocoa with me!”

Hizashi’s eyes widened, his foot slipped in that one moment of lost focus, and he fell –

“ Fuck!”

It was a little too loud, bordering on quirk use, but he had other problems to think about beside that .

He rubbed the back of his head.

“Man…”

If he can’t even imagine it the right way… how was he supposed to actually ask? It would be pretty stupid to try when he knew he could act a little too carelessly and, potentially, damage the good friendship they had going on.It was probably better left un-asked.

Unsaid, un-asked, and out of mind.

It was most certainly not out of mind, that is clear.

Shouta is sitting across from him, half-mast eyes scanning the copy of his English text book in a way that looked a lot more performative than informative. Their booth was tucked more toward the back of the cafe, and it would normally be a bit more secluded and quiet, but midterms brought students from the woodwork and into any coffee-scented establishment, which their happened to be.

What great luck.

All around them was the sound of machines grinding coffee, books being shifted around, and light conversation in between bouts of half-silences – and a heavy vale of constant movement that proved to be less than ideal for studying, despite all the students trying to do just that .

It was to be expected this time of year, but it was still enough to bother Shouta. He concentrated better with silence, and he happened to be struggling a lot more on English than he does on his other subjects.

Hizashi, thankfully, understood the material enough for the both of them and then some, and already finished his homework – the papers in front of him were notes, ready to be explained the moment Shouta needed it, with hand-writing that was still pretty bad but…

For Shouta, he’d made an effort. The result was somewhat-legible scribbles lining the papers, and when he referenced it, Shouta didn’t have to ask too many questions about, “what is this right here?”

“I’m not going to pass.”

Hizashi turned his eyes to Shouta, like he hadn’t been trying to find a reason to look at him longer. He was wearing a big, thick red scarf, which his hair was somewhat tucked into. He didn’t look up, he just kept his eyes on his text book. His irises weren’t moving on the page.

“Oh man, don’t say that! How’d you think you’re gonna pass if you don’t believe in yourself?”

“It’s because I don’t believe in myself.”

Hizashi grabbed his warm cocoa and took a sip, if only to busy his hands with something . “Shouta! I don’t like this type of negativity!”

“Well, you’ve chosen the wrong friendship then.”

“Or, maybe, the right one!”

Shouta looked up, and Hizashi held his gaze. His eyes had been given a break over the past few days of written work, so the redness that often lined them was almost completely gone.

His skin looked soft too…

His hair, it was fluffy and cute, also..

“Hizashi?”

He’d been staring and not talking and he leaned back into his seat like a magnet to metal. He started laughing, holding his drink up to his face. “Well, maybe I can cheer you up! What are friends for, right? And maybe it will turn that attitude around, ya think?”

“You’re not making any sense?”

Hizashi hated that it was true but there’s no going back now – his mouth was ten steps ahead of him anyway, and not even he could stop it.

He smiled widely at Shouta. “I mean, maybe I’m here to make sure you don’t stress yourself out so much! You always do so much but never check yourself, and I’m here to fix that!”

Shouta huffed, head bobbing just a bit. Then he smirked and Hizashi had to concentrate on his breathing. “And how do you propose you’d do that?”

Oh, it was so easy – this was the opportunity the gods gave him after seeing him fall on his ass just a few days before.

Hizashi leaned forward, and set his elbows down on his notes, a hot cocoa between them. “One word. Festival .”

Shouta’s eyebrows quirked down just a bit, and he tilted his head to the side, his hair tilting with him. “Festival?”

“What do ya say? The park next to my neighborhood has one this weekend, and it’s free, and there’s food, and I really wanna go!”

Hizashi grew pink at the admission, fought against the urge to cover his mouth, but Shouta didn’t comment.

Then, a little surprisingly, instead of arguing or finding reasons why it wasn’t logical to take time away from studies so close to exams, he gave him a smile.

A small, intentional, Shouta smile. “Sure.”

Hizashi tried to not sound over-enthused – just nodded his head and almost squeezed his cup too hard. “Yes! I finally got you to agree to do something!”

“You always get me to do things.”

“Yes, and I did it again!”

Shouta rolled his eyes, and turned his attention back down to the English he’d never really understand.

Hizashi was certain he looked fine. He wasn’t sure if it was great , but it was probably fine, and whatever.

Beside, had many other things to worry about, that were a lot more important than whether or not his shirt matched his shoes. Like, for one, how he still couldn’t quite shake the feeling of significance .

It was back, that nagging intrusion into his thoughts that insisted that something was supposed to be different this time. As he looked over his outfit in his body mirror, pulling over his heavy, long jacket, he had to remind himself that there was nothing different about today. Even if he really, in his heart, wanted there to be something different.

Huh.

So maybe the difference was the amount of yearning – Hizashi sighed, thinking about his feelings last year and comparing them to now.

He huffed, a huge sigh finally making itself known.

Yeah, the feelings he had now were bigger and grander than they’d been last year and they threatened to take over his life if he let them…

Hizashi sighed, rubbed his hands over his face, and pushed his hair back only to reveal his pink, flustered expression to its fullest.

“Sweet lord, have mercy on me! I am an idiot with a crush!”

He collapsed onto his bed and waited out the last of the thirty minutes before Shouta was going to arrive at his door.

Shouta knocked, and Hizashi was already ready – his heart doing flips like he’d never experienced, but oddly enough, it didn’t feel bad. It felt exciting, and loving, and when he opened the door to the crisp autumn air, it felt like home .

Stop that!

Shouta, for all his questionable outfits, looked nice . And he always looked nice, but now he was wearing black boots, and brown khakis that somehow sort of matched Hizashi’s own, and a black tee underneath a black jacket.

He never went anywhere in the cold without a scarf, either, and today was no exception. A red variety was ceremoniously draped around his neck, loose enough to not be covering his face.

Hizashi tried not to beam, but felt the shape his eyes took at the other and knew it wasn’t working. “Ready?!” He asked, a little too loud.

“Yes… you said it was close, right? At the park?”

Hizashi nodded, stepping out and slipping his hand into a pocket to make sure he had his keys and wallet. Confirming quickly, he shut the door behind him, again, with a little too much enthusiasm.

He was buzzing . Some type of energy that he normally had built up in him, that he normally kept pretty good reins on, was taking over –

He was so excited, but, even more – he was just happy .

He looked to Shouta, and smiled, and then led the way down his steps and onto the quiet street. The sky was clear, save for some cloud further down on the horizon. The trees were starting to make themselves barren, and the smell of wood burning fires started to break out as soon as the sun hit its peak.

The neighborhood, secluded and at peace, was quiet, and Shouta walked beside him in comfort.

Hizashi never struggled to say anything, and now is no different – except it is, when he thinks he’ll say something dumb like “hey i like you so much, you make my world right, also I love you. ”

He can’t say that.

But he really, really wants to.

He’s wanted to for years, and he’s almost said it more than once, and now he’s let the silence build around them…

Shouta often takes mercy on him, and so he did it again this time. Their pace was slow and there was a little bit of space between them, and he sighs. “This is really nice.”

Hizashi smiles, keeps his eyes on the road as it winds forward. “I’m glad you think so! We’ve stressed so much, it’s a good weekend getaway, don’t you think?”

Shouta laughs – it’s more of a chuckle, but it’s a laugh where Shouta is concerned. “Yeah, you’re right. I needed this, a lot, I think…”

They reach the corner, looking for cars that weren’t coming. The crest of trees a few blocks ahead could be seen above rooftops, and that’s where Hizashi fixes his gaze. “Me too,” he says softly, and leaves it at that because he’s always on the verge of too many words.

“You seem really… energized.”

Hizashi fumbles with his hands, pretending to warm them up and not like he’s nervous. “When am I not!”

Shouta hums, and it’s so deep and close that it makes Hizashi wish he could just…

But then Shouta reaches out, and grabs at the hands Hizashi is cradling in front of him, blunt and to the point. He takes Hizashi’s left hand and slots their fingers together in his right, and Hizashi knows he can feel the clamminess…

He looks back, sputtering, his heart erratic, “Shou – wha– I’m –”

Does he know this is messing with me?

And Shouta, in that calm, stupid way he always carries himself, smiles. “Maybe that’s what I’m here for.”

He squeezes their hands, and Hizashi must look confused because Shouta laughs.

“You always try to bring me up, so I think I can help bring you calm… You seem nervous, so,” he looked at their hands, swung them just a bit for emphasis. “Calm.”

Hizashi feels every bit of himself crumble, falls away like a cliff against a storm, and smiles because it’s all he can do. He blushes and he can feel how it spreads, and he doesn’t say anything because every sentence ends in I love you .

The festival was a pleasant and home-y affair, and after they’d gotten there, they’d learned that it was quite bigger than either of them anticipated. Though it was still a neighborhood one, hosted by the local families and park itself, it was still filled to every corner.

They’d gotten there during the peak of the sun, but it quickly descended as they wove in and out of the scattered foot traffic. The air was crisper where the lake sat in the center of the park, and the trees casted half shadows around the food and merchant vendors.

They were walking around for less than an hour before the lanterns and torches were starting to light around them.

Shouta still held Hizashi’s hand, and once he’d accepted the lovely fact, he’d loosened up enough to feel like his mouth wasn’t going to get him into trouble.

“Wow! Shou! Look!” He pointed out, across the deep blue lake, to the hovering lights that surrounded it.

Shouta hummed warmly. “It looks very nice.”

Hizashi was still smiling, still enamored by the lights as they floated out across his vision – the way the cool air from the dipping sun brushed against his skin and somehow made all the warmth in him that much warmer.

He quickly cast his eyes down to Shouta, and found him looking at him.

Hizashi’s ears burned and he looked away really fast, heart thumping deep in the cage of his chest.

Oh don’t you dare say it. Don’t you DARE.

“Um…” He said softly, intentionally because otherwise his quirk might get the best of him – he didn’t know if he was embarrassed by his enthusiasm, or by the way Shouta was watching him, but it all went away when Shouta tugged them along the side of the lake.

It’s a few more moments before Hizashi gathers up the right words to say – the ones that aren’t gushy and filled with emotions he’s certain Shouta wouldn’t reflect.

“So!” He starts, looking around now that they were near the cluster of food stands. The air was filled with burning wood, meat, sauce, alive with the sound of simmering and laughter. “Want food? My treat! We can’t walk away without trying everything at least once!”

“I didn’t know you were rich enough to do that.”

Hizashi chuckled. “I’m serious, though. Whatever you want!”

Hizashi ignored the eyes tilted his way, right before leading off to Hizashi’s right. Hizashi turns around enough to look at the little stand and it’s cloth menu.

It was a takoyaki shop, with different bao, and there was no line.

Hizashi smiled, and it was his turn to tug Shouta forward. He couldn’t really look at him, not just yet any way, but he could hear the light lilt in his voice when he ordered from the kind eyed older man at the register. Hizashi made his order quickly, and paid, and they walked away with various stacks of food.

It wasn’t even a question where they’d go, and they found a spot under a tree to sit with their food.

The grass was cut, and the little hill they sat on overlooked a great deal of the sprawling festival that surrounded them. Up here, the voices that surrounded them, the chatter, the laughter that Hizashi was not interested in, was duller – muted, and when Shouta hummed in hungry appreciation at his bao, it made his heart ache all the more.

He snuck a look to his right, graced by the mercy of Shouta closing his eyes. He’d just taken a bite, had unravelled most of his scarf to do so, and was now enjoying it for all it’s worth.

Hizashi’s eyes softened at the sight.

God.

And Shouta opened his eyes, in his direction like he just knew.

Hizashi looked down and took his bao. “This looks good! I should eat like this more.”

“You should take me to more festivals, too.”

Hizashi choked a bit – he recovered fast, and cast a glance toward Shouta. “Sure thing!”

This feeling...

Maybe this is what he had been feeling – the lead up to whatever moment this was. The way Shouta really took the time to look at him, not through him. Like he was paying attention.

Maybe…

Hizashi held his oversized bao in both hands and looked forward. It suddenly didn’t feel like such a bad idea to speak. To say whatever it was that he was going to say, because for Shouta, it would always be okay…

Didn’t make him feel any more at ease, not with the stupid thought in his head that maybe he was misreading whatever today was. Who knows, maybe Shouta always paid attention to him like this? And sure, the hands thing… that was new, but maybe Shouta just really likes holding hands but he needs to be comfortable with the person, and now after three years he’s finally comfortable with Hizashi?

If you’re gonna say something…

“Hey,” he started.

Say it now.

“I’m having a really good time.”

He doesn’t take his wide, blown-out eyes from the festival. It was dark enough that every lantern stood out like little stars, and the breeze was so nice…

“If you want… we can, um, do this again. I’ll find another festival, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be free this time, but I’ll try! And I’ll see if I can sneak in some home made food too so we can spend more money on like, cute stuff from the merchants. I saw this plush down there, actually, and it was a cat , so maybe –”

No, Hizashi wasn’t a timid person – but, still , it was probably for the best that Shouta was the first one to move. He grabbed Hizashi’s hand, urging it away from the bao so that he could hold it again.

He’d pulled his attention to the forefront, and his eyes to finally meet his, and he realized that Shouta had moved so much closer…

The dark of his eyes was so close, and he was smiling …

“You talk a lot when you’re nervous.”

There wasn’t a way to hide the flush, so Hizashi looked down, feeling too open. “I’m sorry…”

He couldn’t see his eyes, but he could see his smile. “I like it, though.”

“What about if I say I like you... Will you still like it?”

Please…!

Shouta didn’t leave him any time to doubt.

“It makes it a lot easier… for me to say I like you, too… yeah, I’d like it…”

Hizashi’s entire body was fireworks – explosions and exclamations and that same buzzing energy that gripped him every time he thought of Shouta. He grinned, and looked up to see Shouta was just as embarrassed and flustered as he was.

He’d normally have to look away, but he assumed he had permission now, and…

God you’re so pretty…

His eyes, his eyelashes, the way his eyes bend against his smile and how he’d never seen him smile like this before…

Hizashi abandoned the bao in his lap and pushed away the hair that framed his face, slowly, not sure if it was too much to hold his face –

“I’m – I’m sorry, can I?”

Shouta nodded. “And you can kiss me too, in case you weren’t sure…”

That was all the reason he needed.

He’d had so many reasons, so many countless reasons he loved him...

He cupped his jaw, still acutely aware of the way Shouta was still holding on to his hand in the grass –

It was cold, that was true, but right now he was warm with nerves and excitement and love , and he leaned in –

His breath, so warm –

His lips, so soft –

And neither of them were particularly experienced or daring, so after a few seconds when he finally parted their lips just a bit, they pulled away, just enough to speak.

“Mmm, you taste like bao,” he said, and then wished someone was there in his brain to stop whatever dumb shit was trying to get out.

Shouta just laughed. “So do you.”

The rest of their night was spent on that hill, kissing and talking and, eventually, finishing their food. When they finally left, Hizashi found that plush cat at the vendor near the entrance of the park and gave it to Shouta. Shouta blushed, and Hizashi glowed with comfortable warmth, glad that he can now get cute things for his boyfriend.

#erasermic #yamada hizashi #aizawa shouta #aizawa #writing #oneshot #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #long post #xpost #prompted for fluff and autumn...#my discord server is so nice ahhh #fluff

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seducemefanblog · 4 years ago

Text

Snatched SamxMika

So uhh I had to take down my old tumblr (Seducemefreakk) bc of my mom. But I have decided to go behind her back and get on tumblr with a new email.

So I’m going to repost my old fanfiction :33

As I exited the cafe, I heard the jingling of the bells located above my head. At that moment I turned back to glance at the glass panes on the eatery’s door. As I did I gave a small wave goodbye to Suzu. After my small farewell, I turned my gaze back towards the road, awaiting my Uber. I felt bad for leaving our outing early, but I wanted to see Sam. But I mean could you blame me? He’s been extremely busy with work lately. Constantly working late into the night, most of the time in which I’m already asleep. We’ve barely seen each other. And today was like any other: him leaving for work bright and early. That meant that I was alone for the day. I figured tonight would be like any other work night for him recently. So instead of staying by myself all day, I made plans with Suzu. It had been a while since we had hung out anyways.

Suzu and I met promptly at The Pink Lady Cafe at 7:00pm. We had been chatting, joking, laughing and basically having an all around good time until about 7:45. When suddenly something in my back pocket buzzed. I immediately recognized what the buzzing was coming from, and swiftly grabbed my phone from my back pocket. I unlocked it to a message from Sam “ Hey, doofus. I’ll be home early today. Hopefully…at about 7. Have you eaten? “ I slightly smiled not only because he always made sure my needs were met before his but also just from seeing his name pop up in my notifications. My mind began to trail off... “It’s crazy how much I love him. Come on, who am I kidding? I love him so much it almost hurts.” I thought. I continued to let my thoughts linger for just a moment longer before I quickly opened my messages and replied “ Sorry! I have… but feel free to get whatever, I'll try to be home soon. Love you <3”

And that’s how the story of a very frightening night began: Me wanting to go home to my loving incubus, while waiting for my ride home during a typical chilly night. As I stood under the streetlights outside the Pink Lady Cafe my phone buzzed. I looked down to see a notification “Your uber has arrived.” I began to look around for a grey prius. I quickly spotted it, and made my way closer to the edge of the sidewalk in anticipation to get home. It speedily pulled up to me and I watched as the passenger window rolled down it’s window. As I peered in the car, I saw a man in his late 30’s , unshaven, and looked to be an all around slob. But before I could consciously think about his disheveled appearance, a skeptical voice spoke up “ Are you Mika?” I nodded and he motioned towards the backseats in his car, silently instructing me to go in the back seat. I obviously obliged. I pulled on the car door and quickly sat down and buckled up.

During the ride, I kept noticing how he would glance at something in the rear view mirror. I just told myself he was looking at what was on the road behind us. But I quickly began to realize he wasn’t looking at the road, he was looking at me. Once I noticed this, I told myself that it's a little out of place but not something to be frightened about. Yet I remained cautious. I averted my eyes from the window to the driver's seat. As I did I really began to take in his looks. My gut began screaming that something was wrong. Yet, I tried to remain calm, I just kept telling myself I was overreacting. When my thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the lack of movement, the car had stopped. My eyes began to dart around my surroundings to figure out why. They immediately checked the traffic, no red lights, no stop signs, no pedestrians, there was no reason for us to be stopped. That’s when it went from just my gut screaming at me but also the alarms in my head. Then I heard a voice, and my eyes darted towards it. In less than a second I pinpointed where the voice was coming from. The driver's seat. I looked at the man sitting in the seat as he spoke “We’re out of gas... “ followed by a seemingly forced sigh. My foreboding feeling throughout my body was growing more intense by the second. Almost unbearable. I decided to get out of the car, if something were to happen I didn’t want to be stuck in such a small space with little room to defend myself.

The driver followed suit, and leaned against his car about 8 inches away from me. I tried to brush it off as him just getting out to see what he could do. Though I did instinctively take a couple steps further away from him. He was leaning on the back seat’s window while I stood in front of the passenger window. I took a quick glance at him then took out my phone to text Sam. “Hey, it may take a bit longer. The uber ran out of gas. I should be home soon, hopefully.” While I was busy looking down at my phone, I failed to notice the driver sidle up beside me. As I looked up I flinched, clearly shocked to see him so close. But before I could shift my legs to move further down the car away from him: He gripped onto my raven hair and in just mere second covered my mouth. Preventing me from both getting away and screaming for help. He began to drag me forward towards an alleyway, I squirmed desperately trying to get away. I kicked and hit, which was returned by my hair being pulled harder towards the alley-way. I could feel the hot fearful tears run down my face. Everything was happening so fast I couldn’t even think.

As we entered the alley-way he roughly pushed me onto the ground. Now towering over me. I looked up at him to see a wicked smile. A smile you’d see in a horror movie. He slowly began to walk towards me as I began to desperately crab crawl away. But was abruptly stopped by my back crashing into a big metal trash can. He was getting closer, my mind still racing with fear and panic. I couldn’t think straight. Instinctively my arms began to rummage around for things to defend myself. I didn’t find anything! I began to look harder for anything: metal, glass.. ANYTHING. It didn’t help that it was almost impossible to see through my blurred eyes and hard to feel with my trembling hands. As I was looking around frantically Sam popped into my mind. As he did sensible thoughts began to fester. Within seconds I heard myself call out “Aomaris!”

Within a mere seconds the frantic air had changed into a serene state shortly followed by a bright light. I quickly covered my eyes with my shoulder, waiting for the light to disperse. As the light died, I looked up from my arms to see Sam and his shocked expression. I watched as his eyes darted around looking for me, and when he found me his eyes went gold for a mere second before turning back to their original emerald green hue. His gaze had only lasted a second before being interrupted by a scarily familiar voice “What the HELL?”

Sam immediately tracked down the voice to the man, now shaken to his core. But before Sam could let his rage take over the man had run. Sam stood in place for several seconds, internally fighting all of his instincts to go after the guy. Once he had made up his mind on what he should do, he had appeared in front of me within a millisecond. He immediately wrapped me in his arms, petting my hair in an effort to calm me. I laid my head on his chest tightly gripping the green shirt under his vest. I tried not to cry, but I couldn’t help it. He must have known because I heard him mumble in my ear “Shh...it’s okay. Let it out..”

And I did, I broke down. I sobbed so hard my voice became hoarse and quivered so much you’d think that there was an earthquake. But Sam didn’t let up, just pulled me closer to his chest. My sounds were swallowed by his green t-shirt. I could feel his warmth despite the cold metal of his dog tag pressed against his cheek. I still don’t know how long we sat in that alley way. I do know that overtime my weeping had slowled, and he used that as an opportunity to get us home. Sam made the executive decision to go through a pentagram. I felt him take a smidget of energy from me. I didn’t fight it, why would I? I could feel myself slowly falling through the ground. I knew what he was doing, he didn’t have to say it. Within a second I felt myself now sitting on the stone steps located in front of my home.

He slowly let go of his grip around me and gently took my hand in his before standing both of us. He had a grip on my waist making sure to keep me steady, since he was still unaware if I was injured. Though when he was sure I was secure on the ground he slowly let go. I watched as he felt around his pockets until he found his keys. I watched as he took them from the inside of his vest and used them to unlock our front door. As the door swung open he again gently gripped onto my hand, guiding me inside.

As I passed through the door letting it swing shut naturally, I took in the familiar smell of my air refresher still plugged into the wall. Sam looked back at me, I could tell he was concerned, but he wasn’t going to show it. I looked up at him beginning to wonder what was going through his mind. Sam’s complicated to say the least. It’s hard for him to express himself, so usually I speak up first. And I did. “Are you okay?” Sam looked deeper into my eyes, probably wondering if I was seriously asking him if HE was okay... I was correct. He quickly conveyed his feelings to me on the situation “ You’re asking me if I’m okay?” he responded sarcastically. I stood still waiting for him to continue on. “Seriously?” He scoffed. I stood there taken back by his tone. “He could have hurt you! Why’d you wait that long to summon me!? “

His voice was now significantly raised and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. I mean was he practically screaming it. He was mad, not at me but at himself. I knew that probably didn’t even notice his temper. “Sam..” I mumbled. Even in his self-loathing state he was still able to give me his undivided attention. He aimed his stare towards me. I used this as an opportunity to make him aware of the level of his voice. “Sam…” I began, while fidgeting with my hands. He still stared, waiting for me to finish. “Sam.. you’re kinda-sorta yelling…”

He looked down and pressed his two fingers against the bridge of his nose while simultaneously letting out a heavy sigh. I looked down to my fingers still fidgeting with them. But my gaze was soon steadily placed on him by the sound of his voice. “I...I d-didn’t mean to yell at you like that.. It’s just who knows what that DICK…” he took a moment to calm himself before continuing. “ bag would’ve done to you.” He looked up at me then breathed heavily out his nose, as if he was letting off steam. I slowly made my towards him and gingerly wrapped my arms around his neck while gently pecking him on his lips in an effort to calm him down.

He let out a content sigh and wrapped his arms around my waist. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he didn’t know how to say it. I lifted my head to look up to his emerald green irises. He returned the gesture and proceeded to look deeply in my eyes, as if they would help formulate the words he had trapped inside his head.

He took a breath in signalling to me that he was going to speak. His eyes lingered a bit longer before looking down to the floor as if in shame. Then he spoke... “ I’m sorry for yelling at you, I-I didn’t mean to… I just… “ He nuzzled his head on my shoulder shortly followed by a muffled voice. “ I just want to protect you..” I removed my arms from around his broad shoulders, and instead wrapped them around his form and placed my head on the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped around me tighter and I happily returned the gesture.

“Sam… you do protect me.” He lifted his head to look at me. “Do I?” I simply just stared back at him thinking out my words carefully before speaking “Sam, of course you protect me. Tonight could have been so much worse if it wasn’t for you. Mmm-kay, you hear me? You DO protect me, I have no doubt in that.” He sighed and removed his hands from my waist and instead took one of my hands. Which confused me.

“Hm?” I shot him a curious look. “Come doofus it’s getting late, let’s get you to bed.” I glanced at the clock on the wall and then cocked my head at my incubus. “What? “ He said amused. I responded teasingly “Since when do you go to bed at 8:30?” He shrugged “Maybe I’m just tired.” I looked at him closer, trying to see if he was joking or if he was actually tired. As I inspected him I came to realize he probably was tired, and I suddenly felt bad for him having to use his energy to save me. But I quickly shut those thoughts out.

“Long day? “ I replied empathetically. He simply nodded tiredly. I sighed contently then said “ Then let’s go to sleep, dork.” He dramatically rolled his eyes before chucking. Still hand in hand he began to walk and I happily complied to follow behind. As we reached my bedroom we both silently agreed to change before heading to bed. We both began to strip from our day clothes back to each other. I turned my head slightly to look over my shoulder.

As I did I found myself admiring a very muscly back. And at that moment I thought “damn he’s ripped” . And I mean ripped. At that moment he finished changing and turned back to look at me, and as he did I immediately turned my head away from him, I could feel the way my face had heated up from being caught. I hurried up and tried to get dressed to prevent myself from becoming a blushing mess. As I slipped my shirt on, I heard a snicker behind me- along with a familiar sound of ruffling sheets. As I was done getting dressed by then I turned around to further inspect the noise.

I turned around to see Sam in bed, comfortable under the covers. He flashed me a goofy grin and motioned for me to join him. I quickly accepted his invitation. As I laid down next to him he put his arm and me. I eagerly laid my head on his chest, resting my hand in the same place. Soon enough his breathing slowed, signalling to me he had fallen asleep, and before I knew it I followed after.

#seduceme #seduce me #sam incubus #aomaris #incubus #seduce me the otome #seduce me sam #sam seduce me #seduceme sam

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watchmegetobsessed · 4 years ago

Text

VALERIE - Part IV. (Harry Styles)

hello loves!! thank you so much for the feedbacks on the previous part, i love to see your thoughts at reactions so please keep them coming for the upcoming parts as well! i was informed that the posts weren’t showing up under the hashtags bc i had an extrernal link to the spotify playlist, so that won’t be available in the next parts, but you’ll always be able to find it in the masterpost if you’d like to give it a listen! those were the songs i listened to while writing the story! now, i dont want to keep you up any longer, here is part 4, one of my personal favs, and im excitedly waiting for your feedbacks on the post! have a wonderful reading!

word count: 4.5k

SERIES MASTERPOST

masterlist

Valerie is curiously watching her dad work on the portable bed they’ve brought over for the night, her little hands clutching onto Rosa’s shirt as she is telling you all about the list she has made for you. It’s not a long one, but you try to focus on every word she says, making sure you won’t mess anything up.

“I put an X behind the important ones,” she explains pointing at the paper and you nod, eyes roaming down on the few X’s on the list. “The other ones are just suggestions, things I thought you should know.

“Got it,” you nod again, biting into your bottom lip. Bath time, feeding, sleep time, everything is covered in the list and you’re happy she even mentioned the smallest details. Some things might be natural for her as she’s been doing it for months, but it’s your first time completely alone with a baby. You surely don’t want to mess this up, especially because you want her to trust you and let you look after Valerie more often. They deserve a break now and then.

Steven finishes the bed and backs out a few stuffed animals along with two blankets into it, making it look cozy and familiar for Val.

“But most importantly,” Rosa starts and you look her in the eyes. “Call us anytime if you need help or want us to take her home, and I mean it.”

“Not gonna happen,” you shake your head, earning a sigh from your sister.

“Y/N, I’m serious. We are thankful for the help, but it’s not your duty, alright? Just call us anytime, really.”

Nodding your head you flash a smile at her, knowing well nothing on Earth is gonna make you call them tonight. Okay, maybe there are some cases when you would call, but those are quite unlikely to happen.

She hands Valerie over who curiously eyes you before grabbing a handful of your shirt and making herself busy with the fabric.

“It’s gonna be fine. Have a great night, you deserve it,” you smile at them. Steven straightens up and curls an arm around Rosa’s waist as they watch Val in awe, clearly a little worried they are gonna spend an entire night without her, but you can tell they also can’t wait for some alone time.

“Alright, we should get going,” Rosa sighs and stepping closer she kisses Valerie’s head and then your cheek as well. “Have fun with your aunty! We’ll be back for you in the morning, Sweetie.”

She runs her hand over her little head and Valerie smiles at her happily, completely oblivious to what’s really happening. The joys of being just a baby!

Steven says goodbye to her as well and you all head to the door.

“So, we’ll be here around eight, she is usually up by six. Do you want us to pick her up sooner?” Rosa asks standing at the front door.

“Sooner? I was about to tell you to sleep a little longer, you don’t have to come so early.”

“But we don’t want to take away your whole day, you need to rest too,” Steven explains, worry all over his face.

“Stop worrying about me, I’ll be fine. Just enjoy your night off! Come on, I’m throwing you guys out, time for the sleepover to start,” you tell them, shushing them out the door.

It takes some time to finally get them to leave, but they eventually do. Then it’s just the two of you, alone for the first time.

“Ready for your first sleepover, Val?” you ask her, standing in the hallway of your apartment. She just stares back at you, saliva drooling from her mouth but even that looks cute on her. “Alright, let’s do this.”

You braced yourself for the worst. Thought about all the possibilities how the evening would go, but you hoped they wouldn't become reality. Unfortunately, baby Valerie had different plans for the two of you.

The first hour goes by fine. You feed her, have a little play time, reading her favorite book to her, but slowly, you notice her losing interest in anything and everything. Soon enough, you see her face distort into a grimace and a few moments later she starts crying and it’s straight downhill from there.

Nothing can get her to stop. No food, no toy, absolutely nothing. You clown around, trying everything that pops into your mind that would calm her down, but it doesn’t seem like she is about to stop anytime soon.

You start to panic. Rosa told you how fussy she is because of her teeth coming, but you didn’t think it would be this bad. When she’s been crying for an entire hour straight, for a split second, you think about calling Rosa.

“No, not gonna do that,” you say, while Val is still screaming in your arms. “Valerie, what do you want? Tell me and I’ll give it to you, I promise! Just please stop crying!” you whine desperately, but, no surprise, no answer comes from the screaming babe in your arms, just more tears, puffy eyes and red cheeks from all the crying she’s been doing.

Trying to rock her into calmness you are moving around in the apartment when you hear your phone ringing. You instantly think it’s gonna be Rosa, wanting to check in on you, but how are you gonna answer the call when Valeries is screaming from the top of her lungs? She’ll come to pick her up straight away, no doubt about that.

Rushing into the kitchen you are relieved to see that it’s just Harry calling you.

“It’s not the best of times, Styles,” you sigh as you answer the call and put him on the speaker, leaving the phone on the countertop, so you have both your hands free for Valerie.

“Hey, I was just-- what the fuck is happening?” he asks hearing the deadly cries of Val through the line. “Is that Valerie?”

“It is! I’m looking after her so Rosa and Steven can celebrate their anniversary, but she just wouldn’t stop crying! I don’t know what to do!”

You’re absolutely desperate. It’s so bad you can feel your throat closing up, nearing the edge of your patience, tears threatening to roll down your cheeks, but you tell yourself only one of you can cry at a time and Val has taken that spot quite some time ago, not even giving you a moment to let loose.

“Text me your address, I’m leaving now,” he orders and you snap your head towards the phone.

“What? No, Harry--”

“Just text me the damn address, Y/N!” he barks and the line cuts off right away.

Your desperation pairs with shock now, not knowing what to think about this short, but quite eventful conversation you just had with him. It takes you a few moments to collect your thoughts, but you end up sending him your address.

Nothing changes in the twenty minutes while you are waiting to hear anything from Harry following your text to him. Valerie keeps crying with three seconds of pauses when she takes a few deep breaths only to start screaming once again. Aside from the headache she is causing you, it’s becoming pretty impressive how long she’s been doing it. You probably would have fainted by now, but it seems like Valerie is running on an endless battery.

“You are really making it hard for me to be a cool aunt, Val,” you mumble, the baby still in your arms as the tears keep rolling down her face. Your light grey shirt is now soaking wet, both from her tears and your sweat from the anxiety she is giving you, mixed with some other things you choose to ignore where they came from.

The doorbell makes you jump, but Valerie doesn’t even bat an eye at the sound, she just keeps going.

“You need to teach me how to have this much energy,” you mumble under your breath as you walk over to the door.

Opening it you find yourself staring up at Harry who is wearing a brown coat, dark jeans and a black hoodie. If you had to guess what he was doing on this weekend evening you would have said he was out with friends somewhere, picking up girls, but he surely doesn’t look like he was anywhere else than his home, the clothes are hanging messily on his frame, like he just threw them on in a rush.

His green eyes look straight at you at first before moving over to the crying child in your arms. You fully expect him to say something along the lines of “this is the kind of effect you have on others” comment, but it seems like he notices the fear and despair in your eyes and he keeps his mouth shut.

“I honestly have no idea what to do,” you choke out and the tears start flowing from your eyes as well, making Harry have to deal with now two crying human beings.

“Oh my, please don’t cry, I can’t take two crying women at once,” Harry begs as he steps inside and shuts the door behind him. Turning to face you he reaches for Valerie, you hand her over to him, hoping she would magically stop the crying, but she clearly couldn’t care less.

“Why, can you take one?” you ask with a bitter chuckle as you wipe your cheeks.

“Not really,” he admits, making you smile. “So what have you tried?” he asks as he starts swaying and rocking Valerie in hopes of getting her to stop, but not even Harry’s charm stands a chance with her right now. Deep down you’re happy you weren’t the reason she got so fussy and upset, would have been pretty awkward if she stopped the moment Harry took her into his arms.

“Literally everything,” you huff, shoulders falling forward. “I went over the list Rosa gave me, tried everything, but she wouldn’t stop. She’s teething, but this is… It seems like there might be something else maybe?” you tell him worried that something serious might be behind her behavior. You really don’t want to call and bother Rosa, but you are nearing the point where you’ll give up and ask for help.

“Maybe she needs to be changed?” Harry suggests holding her up, giving her butt a sniff, but you roll your eyes at him.

“You don’t think that was one of the first things I did? She is as clean as she could be. Maybe I should just call Rosa,” you sigh in defeat reaching for your phone but Harry snaps at you.

“No! Don’t, we can figure this out. Steven has been so excited to have a night off, we can’t ruin this for them. Come on, we have to have the slightest parenting skills and solve this without them.”

Nodding you agree with him, but you’ve completely run out of ideas.

“So what do you suggest?”

You can see the gears turning in Harry’s head as he is trying to come up with a plan, but it’s not like either of you have any experience with babies. The idea of calling Rosa is starting to burn in the back of your head, fear of failing this challenge taking over your thoughts.

Then Harry looks at you with a look that screams that he has an idea. You’re just about to ask what came into his mind when all of a sudden he starts to sing.

“Well, sometimes I go out by myself and I look across the water, and I think of all the things what you’re doing and in my head I paint a picture…”

You instantly recognize Amy Whinehouse’s iconic song, the one that’s also behind Valerie’s name, you know that for sure. Rosa was obsessed with the song growing up, she would sing it on the way to school, in the shower or while making dinner. You weren’t surprised she chose this name for her first daughter.

What surprises you that Harry sings like a literal angel. He hits the notes perfectly, nailing the lines like not many can and you listen to him with parted lips, eyebrows raised. This was the last thing you expected from him, but then again, it’s not the first time Harry has surprised you through the years of knowing him.

Valerie stops for a moment, her hiccups shaking through her body as her tear-filled eyes look up to Harry, and you both think this is gonna be the moment when she finally calms down, but he doesn’t even reach the chorus before she starts crying again, a defeated sigh erupting from him.

“Maybe she wants it instrumental,” you suggest and Harry gives you one of those ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ looks as you leave to run down the hallway, right into your bedroom.

“How am I supposed to make it instru-- what the hell, Y/N?!” He gives you a weirded out look when you return with a guitar in your hands. “Since when do you play the guitar?”

“Since like… eighth grade,” you tell him as you sit on the couch and holding the guitar on your lap you try to find the right accords. “I told you, you know nothing about me.”

Harry nods with a surprised but amazed look on his face as your fingers strum against the chords. It takes a few minutes but you figure it out and glancing up you give a questioning look to Harry.

“From the start?” you ask and he nods his head, continuously bouncing up and down to try to calm Val down.

You start playing the song and soon enough Harry joins you with the singing, the two of you perfectly nailing it even without any practice.

“Stop makin’ a fool out of me, why don’t you come on over, Valerie?”

Maybe it’s the guitar, maybe it’s the singing or maybe the fact that the song has her name in it, but by the time you reach the halfway point in the song Valerie’s crying slowly starts to fade. You instantly share a look with Harry, but don’t stop, fearing that she might start again if the music stops.

Her tear soaked cheeks smooth out as she is not screaming anymore and you can actually see her irises finally, her long lashes are sticking together from the salty tears and you know it’s gonna take some time for her to regain her normal state, but at least the crying has stopped.

“‘Cause since I’ve come on home, well, my body’s been a mess. And I’ve missed your ginger hair and the way you like to dress…”

You tear your eyes off Valerie for a second, letting yourself wander over Harry’s features as he sings. He slightly furrows his eyebrows focusing on the lines, so his forehead has a few creases on it. His lips form the words so clearly and elegantly, you wonder how often he sings. Is it something he only does when he is on his own or he likes to perform as well?

The only time when you heard him sing was at the bar when the two of you slayed the karaoke machine with that Avril Lavigne song. You were smashed by then, you remember that he had a nice voice but it was the last thing you paid attention to. Besides, he was kind of equally drunk as you, it was all for just fun, but now is a completely different situation.

It’s no surprise Valerie finds his voice soothing, you’d probably stop whatever you were doing if you heard him sing. There are people with a good voice and then there are the ones that not just have a good voice but also that small something, that extra magic in them that makes you melt as their voice caress your ears. Harry is definitely the second case, for a moment you forget where you are or why he is there singing. It’s just his voice and the gentle strumming of your fingers on the chords.

At the end of the song he starts repeating Valerie as the song slowly fades into nothing and you both stare at the little girl in his arms, clearly afraid she might start crying again. Unfortunately, your reservations become valid when you see the corners of her mouth curls down and you and Harry share a shocked look immediately.

“What else can you play?” he urges as Val whimpers in his arms, letting you know she does not appreciate that the singing has stopped.

“Shit, shit! Um, something from ABBA?” you propose and Harry nods quickly, not even asking which song you know, so you take it as a sign that he probably knows all of them.

The first song that comes to your mind is Andante, Andante and you don’t hesitate to start playing again, just in time. Valerie was just about to start crying again, but as soon as the melody hit her little ears she calmed down and listened to it with tired looking eyes.

“Take it easy with me, please. Touch me gently like a summer evening breeze…” Harry sings the words and you can’t hold a smile back as he, once again, hits the notes just perfectly without missing a beat.

You’re convinced there’s not one person on Earth who has never heard a single Abba song, most of the population knows them by heart, but somehow you couldn’t really imagine Harry to be a person who knows the lyrics to the songs as well. But he does and sings it without messing it up even just once. It’s hard to imagine a younger version of Harry singing ABBA songs when they come on the radio, but the more you think about it the more the picture paints itself in your mind.

Valerie lays her head to Harry’s chest, stuffing her thumb into her mouth as she listens to the performance. She is probably enjoying the vibrance of his voice shaking through his chest and maybe this is what brings her the peace she’s been looking for all this time. Your heart skips a beat at the sight of them.

Harry glances at you, eyes so soft you melt under his gaze. However nerve wrecking it was to have Valerie scream for hours, she is still the cutest little thing ever as she rests her head on his chest, her long blinks giving it away she has definitely lost most of her energy.

You don’t dare to stop the singing and playing. When you near the end of a song you quickly think of something else and whisper it over to Harry, who then gives his feedback on it with either a nod or a shake of his head. Most of the time he knows the songs you suggest so the show continues without a stop.

Half an hour passes by when you see her eyes slowly closing. You still don’t stop though, only when Harry tries to listen to her breathing and he realizes that it was completely slowed down. She is out.

“Holy shit,” you breathe out quietly, your fingers feeling numb from the playing. You haven’t had a guitar in your hands for this long in a while, probably for years. Harry shares your relief, his throat has completely dried out and he is happy to finally breathe evenly, not just sneak a few breaths in between lines.

“And now what?” he mouths as he is still gently swaying around with the sleeping Valerie in his arms. You put the guitar aside and check if she is for real asleep. Her long lashes are spread out on her puffy cheeks, gently snoozing into Harry’s chest as if she weren’t screaming for dear life just an hour ago.

“Let’s put her down,” you whisper and nod at him to follow you.

Reaching your bedroom you only switch your bedside lamp on so the light doesn’t wake her up. Pushing the stuffed animals to the side you grab the blankets and let Harry do the critical job. Leaning down he oh so slowly starts to pull her away from his chest, careful not to move too suddenly, it all feels like in those action movies when they are trying to get through the lasers without triggering the alarm. One bad move and the screaming threatens to start again and that’s the last thing you want, after all you’ve done to calm her down.

You don’t even realize it but as you watch her little head reach the mattress you hold your breath, almost wincing upon seeing Harry’s hands slide out from under her sleeping frame. As if you wait for something to go wrong, both of you freeze for a moment, expecting her to start moving around and wake up, but she stays still.

Eyes snapping up to Harry, you exchange a look and then you both head to the door, careful not to make any noise that can possibly shake Valerie up from her dreams.

“This was more tiring than running a marathon,” he huffs, throwing himself to the couch and you do the same next to him.

“Have you ever run a marathon?”

“No,” he confidently answers and you look over at him with a puzzled look. “But I can imagine how tiring it is.”

You let out a chuckle, letting your eyes close for just a little bit. You haven’t even had the chance to realize how much this whole struggle with Val sucked the energy out of you, but now that you’re half lying on the couch it hits you all at once.

“I should get going,” you hear Harry mumble, clearly just as tired as you are, but he doesn’t move.

“Mhm,” you hum, feeling yourself drift to sleep.

Neither of you moves and it doesn’t take a whole five minutes for the both of you to completely doze off.

The next time you wake up you feel an arm curled around your waist and someone is definitely pressed up against you while your back is against the back of the couch. It takes you a couple of moments and some blinking to realize it’s Harry you are all snuggled up to and the reason why you woke up is because Valerie is crying again.

“Shit,” you mumble to yourself, mind still groggy from the sleep as you push yourself up on the couch. Just moments later Harry’s eyes flush open and you’re not sure it’s because of the crying or because you moved next to him. His arm slides off you as he looks around a little confused about his surroundings.

You don’t have the chance to think about how the two of you ended up cuddling on the couch, though it lingers in the back of your mind. Basically crawling over Harry you rush into your bedroom where Valerie is lying in her bed crying. It’s a different kind of cry, not like the one you were stuck with for hours before and you know she must be hungry.

“Ah, come on, little girl. It’s alright,” you coo at her scooping her into your arms. She immediately cuddles to your chest hiccupping against it, her little hands fisting your shirt. You leave to go to the kitchen and feed her, but just as you’re about to step out of the room you bump into Harry.

You bounce back from his chest, but his hand immediately reaches for you and grabs your arm, holding you in case you might fall back.

“Sorry,” you breathe out, thoughts still foggy a little. “She’s… hungry,” you explain, but he is standing so close to you, you can feel his body’s warmth and it instantly ignites the memory of being pressed against his side on the couch just moments ago and you can’t stop yourself from inhaling a shaky breath.

“Let me help,” he croaks out and the two of you walk into the kitchen. Putting on her bib you hand her over to Harry who sits with her on his lap on a stoop as you get the baby food, warm it a little before joining the two of them and you slowly start feeding her.

“What time is it?” you ask realizing you have no idea how long you two have been asleep on the couch.

“It’s three am,” Harry answers before smiling down at Val. “Good job, Val!” he hums watching her take the spoon into her mouth.

You finish up feeding her, then give a try at burping her even though Rosa said it’s not necessary anymore. She just hums to herself so you head back to the bedroom, her eyes already threatening to close. By the time you put her back to the bed she is out again, so no private show is needed this time.

Walking out of the room you see Harry putting on his shoes and coat. For a split second you feel disappointed that he is leaving, but then your rational side puts you to your place. Of course he is leaving! Val is fine now, there’s no other reason for him to stay, right?

“Harry,” you softly say and he looks at you. “Can you please not tell Rosa and Steven that I needed help with Val?” you quietly ask, though there’s no doubt your eyes are practically begging him.

“No way I’ll ever admit to Steven that I sang ABBA to his child, so don’t worry about it,” he chuckles making you smile as well.

“Thank you. And for helping me as well. I was really close to giving it up,” you admit folding your arms on your chest as Harry stands at the front door, hand on the door knob as he is looking back at you.

“No problem. Now you owe me one,” he smirks and you can’t hold yourself back from rolling your eyes.

“Sure,” you say with an airy chuckle. “Good night, Harry.”

“Good night, Y/N,” he smiles at you sweetly before opening the door and walking out.

You take his place at the door and watch him walk down the eerily quiet hallway. He turns back to you one last time waving in your way and you nod back smiling before he disappears around the corner.

Closing the door you lean your back against it, taking a deep breath. Your eyes wander over to the couch where you and Harry were sleeping not so long ago. The feeling of his arm around you is still burned into your mind and you breathe in shakily as a memory snaps into your head of the exact same thing, only years earlier.

You lied almost exactly like that in his hotel room that night. His strong arms wrapped around you as you had your head laid on his chest, listening to his heartbeat that was slightly faster than the normal. Though you were still quite drunk, this feeling imprinted into your memories, because you felt so safe with him. Like nothing could ever hurt you if he was there with you.

Unfortunately, that feeling faded into nothing when you woke up in the morning quite fast. But this time, instead of disappointment and disgust, the only thing you still feel is the emptiness at the lack of his touch.

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misfitjohnnys · 5 years ago

Text

unintentional; trying to hold it in but the pieces are falling

You’ve worked hard for everything you’ve gotten and Mark Lee is a soft twist in your busy life, but you know hiding part of yourself eventually always bites anyone in the ass.

Word count: 21k - part 3/5

Reader x Mark Lee

(M)

masterlist // warnings

Mark had arranged a special trip to make sure he dropped you off at the airport and you got on the plane safe and sound. You could see the sadness in his face. You wished you could stay with him longer, but maybe it was time to jump back to reality. That was what vacation was, right?

a/n: this chapter contains smut

You sighed and thumbed over his hand in yours as you made your way to the airport. You knew how dangerous it was for him to be in public like that with you, especially on the day of a show in the city they were playing in. He brought his mask and hoodie specifically for him to be able to walk you through to check in. It felt nice; him making sure he was there to check up on you. He didn’t have to, but you could tell how much he wanted to even at risk of his own safety.

You dreaded getting out of the car when you pulled into the parking spot, sitting in your seat and wishing you were glued there. His driver was extremely understanding thankfully, because you felt like you sat there forever. You looked over at Mark, still holding his hand and seeing the soft, sad smile on his face. “I’m really gonna miss you.” You smiled back at him, sighing again and you wanted to kiss him, so you did. It was probably wrong and extremely troublesome if anyone saw you, but you hoped the black tinted windows were enough to hide it.

His mouth felt warm, but he was tense. You let his hand go and reached up to cup his cheeks and relax him. His hands went down to your waist, holding you for what felt like it would be the last time. You thought for a moment, hoping to relax him, you wanted to say something to make him feel at least a little better. You pulled away to look at him, seeing the melancholy in his eyes.

“I’m gonna come visit you, okay? I promise. Maybe after all this, after the funeral and everything is over.” It wasn’t entirely a lie and it seemed to calm his nerves, smile peeking through. Your heart was wrenched at the thought of leaving. It was the last thing you wanted to do, but you knew you had to.

“Promise?” You could tell he had more to say, but he couldn’t. Mark was too sweet and understanding to ask you to stay, you knew that. You nodded, seeing his grin grow wider. You were thankful he didn’t seem like he was going to cry, it felt too early for that and you were begging yourself not to get worked up enough for tears, you couldn’t let that happen. The last week had been like a dream you didn’t want to wake up from. The outside world didn’t exist for a while, but you knew it eventually had to end. You walked hand in hand through the airport, Mark’s mask on his face and a hat on to cover himself, but it still made you nervous in case he would get caught. He rolled your bags and you kept your personal bag on your shoulder with your wallet inside. You’d hardly even used it the last few days, letting the time pass. You spent most of your money on flights and rides online anyway, so checking your wallet wasn’t the biggest priority.

Mark brought your bag up to the check in and you could see his frown, picking it up with less effort than it took you, which made you giggle just a little bit. He was such a gentleman and that made you happy. You showed the woman at the counter your ticket and it almost didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel like you were about to leave him, and you wished so desperately that you didn’t have to. You walked with him again holding hands, making your way to the final stop to be inside the airport where you couldn’t exit again, wanting to savor your last few seconds with Mark in a tight hug, his arms around your waist and his face nested in the crook of your neck. You sighed softly, kissing his ear because it was the closest piece of skin in view. You were surprised to see how empty the corridor was, looking around and feeling like he was safe enough at the moment. It was incredibly not busy, so you pulled his face up, smiling at him and seeing his eyes crinkle.

He was a little shocked when you pulled his mask down to his chin, leaning in for just another soft kiss, plush pouty lips against yours as if it were the last goodbye. You hoped it wasn’t, you had to keep positive.

You hugged once more, tight arms around tense bodies, but it felt good nonetheless and tearing away felt like hell. You waved him off and stepped forward into the line, feeling his eyes on you and a pout staying on his face before he hid it with a mask. Thankfully nobody was around to see, you really hoped he was in the clear on that front.

You glanced back through the windows as you walked through the doors, watching Mark walk away sadly as you reached into your bag to grab your wallet and present your ID at the counter. You went through it, furrowing your brows when you saw that something was missing, but you couldn’t quite place it. It looked just slightly emptier, shaking it off and pulling your ID out. You presented it and made your way through to your gates and bag checks. You wished Mark was with you, but you’d been in the airport five times so far in the last week alone, so you could easily do that, but you wished you had his company again and it hurt just a little to know that you didn’t know when you’d have it again.

You decided to clean out your bag after it all got emptied in the check. You had so many unnecessary things over the last few months in it and it never occurred to you to clean it. Hopefully it would distract your mind. You emptied your bag, noticing that the NCT keychain you were used to having on your keys was gone. You remembered ripping it off right after the first night with Mark, knowing it would add to the suspicion, but you wished you had it to remind yourself of him again. You remembered tossing it in your suitcase, but didn’t remember seeing it as you packed up. It was odd and even though you ended up breaking it, you weren’t quite ready to part your ways with it yet.

You finished pulling the trash from your bag and neatly reorganized it, waiting for the plane to board when you got a text.

I miss you already :( I really hope I get to see you again

Your heart ached, sighing and figuring out what you should say to him. You hated being away from him and it had just been a few minutes. You were shocked to even see a text that soon, but it felt nice, nonetheless.

I miss you too, i really want to plan something asap bc I had so much fun, we should definitely hang out again before you leave okay??

He took a little while to respond and it seemed slightly dry. You hoped he was okay and part of you felt like your confidence was a little too high in that moment. He was already missing you and you felt important still. You hoped it would stay like that and you’d make a huge effort to make sure it did. You didn’t want to lose contact with him, but you’d never been in the position before. Normally you were the one who let friendships and relationships die, but you didn’t want to ruin this one, even if it wasn’t serious enough yet.

I really hope you can

You sighed, gripping your phone tightly in your hand. It felt like all you had left of Mark. You thought up a response, quickly typing it out when you heard that your plane was boarding.

Don’t forget about me, okay?

You bit your lip, walking up to the podium to present your ticket and get onboard. You felt your phone vibrate as you walked through, smiling when you saw who it was. You answered the phone, grinning and letting your phone open up a FaceTime. On the screen you saw Taemin, Ten, Lucas, and Mark grinning into the camera. Your heart was swollen, and you tried your best to make your way to your seat. “Hold on guys, I’m gonna get my headphones really quick!” You sat down, pulling your headphones out as you watched Lucas out of the corner of your eyes making faces at himself in the phone’s camera.

“We’re gonna miss you!” Lucas told you, giggling. You hadn’t gotten the proper time to say goodbye that morning, spending all your time with Mark made you kind of forget about it. You felt a little bad. You got your headphones in, hiding your phone screen and grinning into the camera.

“I’m gonna miss you all so much!” You reminded them, giggling as you saw Ten rip the phone out of his hands. “I had such a good time with you guys, I’m so glad I met you!”

“Okay, so, you live in LA right?” Ten asked you, bright grin shining on screen.

“Mm, yeah!” You nodded, waiting for what he was going to say. He always had something funny to add to a conversation, you loved hearing him speak.

“Well, you know, we have two shows in California, you could meet up with us and Mark could get laid again and-“ Your cheeks heated up and you saw Mark grab the phone, eyes wide and nervously smiling into it as he looked at you.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry.” You could hear Ten laughing, Taemin joining him loudly as Mark tried to regain his composure. “They wanted to tell you goodbye.”

“Bye bye!” You heard Taemin yell, Mark smiling and pointing the camera toward him, who was waving excitedly at you. “I’ll miss you!” Taemin made your heart soft. He was one of the most fun people you’d met yet in your celebrity life and you hoped you could definitely hang out with him again, but from what you knew America wasn’t a place he was often. It made you a little sad. You had to make plans to see them, smiling at yourself and sighing when you saw how happy they were, so excited to have made a friend. You were glad you’d met them, even if only for a brief period of time, they helped you vacation more than anyone else ever had. They felt like friends more than yours even had and it was an overwhelmingly warm feeling in your heart. You hoped you’d stay close and continue your friendship, even from so far away. Maybe you’d visit them in Korea, you weren’t sure, but you’d hoped. You knew Ten was mostly promoting in China and with the information you knew, you hoped he and Taemin would continue their happy relationship. You knew so much about them just in such a short period of time. It was nice.

“Babe?” You heard Mark call for your attention, pulling you out of your own thoughts. The pet name rung in your ears so nicely.

“Hm?” You smiled, giggling at his soft cheeks and smile. He was beautiful, such a wonderful face to see on someone who seemed to care about you so deeply so quickly.

“Be safe, okay?” Your heart felt like it would burst, making you slightly teary eyed. “Talk to me if you need anyone, okay? Even if you have to call me at the funeral, I’ll be here for you.” He made your head turn to mush, wishing you could embrace him again, feel his warmth cradling you through hard times. You nodded, grinning so wide it hurt.

“Thank you.” You nodded, sighing and just seeing his content face, sitting calmly in his hotel room. You had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the end in that moment.

“I’ll be here for you, okay?” You nodded in assurance, seeing his soft shy smile appear once again when the room quieted down. You heard the flight attendants start to speak, pulling you out of your conversation and you frowned just a little knowing you had to hang up. “About to take off?” He asked, nerves pulling on his face again and you nodded. “Okay, call me when you land.”

“Good luck with your show tonight, alright?” You nodded once more, telling him your final goodbye before you had to turn your phone on airplane mode, sighing as you hung up and set it down. You hoped to take a nap through your flight. It was a longer flight than the others because of the distance and it made you sad not to be able to talk to Mark, but you’d be in touch with him in just a few hours so you were thankful.

The plane ride pulled anxiety out of you, making you take one of your Xanax for a nap. Thankfully it worked, cradled up with your phone in hand for comfort and an airplane blanket. Your headphones were stuffed in your ears, playing music to ease you into sleep, nodding off easily after takeoff.

It was easy after that, waking up when the turbulence got high and pulled you from your dreams. You were landing soon and the first thing you wanted to do was text Mark, waiting for the plane to touch down and allow it. You were quick to get texts on the way out, seeing multiple messages from Irene, Mark and three unrecognized numbers. You grinned, knowing exactly who they were.

So the funeral is in two days, I’ve rearranged some appointments for outfits and got a headstart on your speech. Interviews for new management are being arranged as we speak. Text me when you land down and I’ll send a car. See you soon. Good luck! Everyone misses you!

You were sure everyone at work was kind of glad to have a break from you. Even if they did enjoy you as their boss, you weren’t going to deny being high strung and a bit overwhelming at your job. Things seemed to have gone smoothly and without many issues, thankfully from Irene’s participation and eye for knowing exactly what you needed to happen. She always made sure things went well, and you almost felt bad for ditching her, but she liked the fact that you were having a good enough time to be distracted from work for so much longer than intended. She didn’t know exactly what had even gone on and you were almost scared to tell her, but you’d handle that in person. You typed a quick message to her as you made your way into the airport to go back home. It felt like you’d been away for months, but hopefully you’d enjoy being back at least just a little bit. The moment was bittersweet.

Hi honey, it’s Ten! Good luck with everything sweetie, we’re here for you <3

We wish you the best and I hope to see your face again! Come jopping with us soon ;) -TAEMIN

It’s Lucas!!! You made this tour a lot of fun so far! Thank you!!!❤️~

Mark’s texts made your heart race, sighing and feeling stars in your eyes as you read all four of them. It made you happier than it should have to see a quadruple text.

Hey how’s everything?? I’m worried sick about you i hope you’re okay!!

I hope you’re not too busy to talk to me when you get back home but i totally understand if you are??

i don’t wanna seem crazy i promise lmao but i want you know we’re here for you!

aaaahhh!! sorry for texting so much i swear I’m not normally like this !!!

You had your own fair share of obsessively texting people, so it didn’t bother you even a little bit. He made you feel so special and you wished you had more time with him. You immediately called him, shocked to speak with him for an hour, giving him live updates on everything as he got ready for the show, just enjoying hearing each other’s voices even if the conversations were filled with nothing important. You liked him way more than you probably should.

The days following were heavy, filled with grief and much more paperwork and filling in at work than you thought in a time of heartache. You weren’t used to texting much anymore, trying to keep yourself composed in the crisis of the day, but you were thankful when the funeral was over. You spent almost every second of your free time keeping up with Mark, just excited to see exactly what he was up to, even catching up on his lives and seeing him text you back so quickly. The boys still seemed happy and that’s what made you a little more grounded. You’d thankfully found a replacement and it hurt your heart, but you did what you had to do. You made sure to cut checks to family members of the deceased, hoping to keep them afloat a little better. You always did what was best for your restaurant and you could tell it was what kept you so successful.

The funeral was beautiful, a perfect way to commemorate Hannah’s hard work and appreciate her as a person, giving your condolences to the family members and made sure to memorialize her in the best way possible. It ached your heart that you didn’t have Mark with you, repeatedly reminding him that you wished he were there, and he had no hesitation telling you how much he wished he were with you. It made it all a bit easier. The boys texting you made it easier too. They’d send a couple texts every few days, and even though they weren’t as thorough as Mark, you still felt important to them.

Days went by and turned to weeks, getting back into routine and making sure all the locations were still perfectly good to go. It was more work than you thought it would be, but you managed; making sure everyone was back on track and you were shocked by how much time had passed by. You were easily able to keep up with Mark and the rest of SuperM through social media, but you wished you were hands-on with them again, hanging out when you saw pictures of them out and about. It warmed your heart to see them having fun, but it didn’t stop you from wishing you were there with them as well. You almost cringed at the fact that you and Mark FaceTimed almost every night before bed, but it made you feel warm in the moment. He made you so happy and you were falling for him way faster than you ever thought you should. It didn’t take much with him and you could tell he felt the same way, setting yourself up for something that almost felt forbidden, but you didn’t care. He distracted you from the hard times at work and from the reality of business meetings and he was a very easy escape. You felt like you were his too.

It came up on two nights before the last tour date of the year, sighing in bed after a stressful day of work and you wanted more than anything to be with him. You bit your lip, pressing the call button and being sure to get him on the line. He answered with a bright smile, as always. “Hey babe.” You had to stifle a giggle, sighing happily as you got ready for bed, in your pyjamas and setting your phone on the bathroom counter to do your nightly skincare.

“Hey!” You grinned, looking over at him as you grabbed your facial soap, rubbing it into your skin. “How are you feeling now that the tour is almost over?” You asked, smiling happily and seeing him sigh in content.

“It’s uh, a little sad.” He shrugged, pushing his black hair out of his face. He always looked so good when his forehead was out, you noted. “I don’t want it to end, you know? I really like touring in America, it feels almost like I’m home, you know?” He pouted softly, sighing as he laid his head into his pillow, fingers running through his hair again. You’d noticed he did that a lot on FaceTime. He was a fidgeter, he liked to have something to do. “I wish you were here.” He reminded you. You hadn’t heard him say that in a few days, so it was a nice surprise. It really felt like you were in a long distance relationship, nagging at your heart because it had only been a little over a month and you wished so desperately that you could’ve gone through it all with him, but things happen for a reason, or so you hoped.

“You’ll be back though!” You reminded him, grinning and trying your best to stay positive. You wished you could’ve seen him before that leg of the tour ended and it was nagging at you that you should’ve visited again, but the time never came up and it made you sadder than anything. The first leg of the tour flew by much faster than you thought possible. You didn’t have time to see him, but you hoped that even if you couldn’t see him before he left, it wouldn’t be long before he was in California and you’d be in his arms at least once again. Thankfully NCT had been doing a lot of American visits, so you’d have your time again, you hoped.

“Yeah.” He nodded. He was silent for a moment and you could tell he was thinking, trying to find his words. You let him take his time, but his silence was more than deafening.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, stopping after you finally wiped your face off, biting your lip and worried about him. “Is everything okay?”

“Well,” Mark sighed, a small smile playing on his face. “I actually.. Was going to see if I could come see you.” You were shocked a little, eyebrows raised and slightly narrowed in concern. You swallowed, not even sure how to react to his confession. Your silence made him nervous, speaking up once again. “I mean, uh, the last concert is the day after tomorrow, so, um, I might have some time to visit because I, uh, have to be in Spain a couple days after, but I’ll be back in New York for the Macy’s Day Parade,” He grinned, knowing he was telling you information that he wasn’t allowed to tell you. It made you feel good that he trusted you, pulling your lips into a smile in the disbelief of him wanting to come to you, but you held back your excitement even though the words were ringing in your ears. “So I’ve got a couple days to hang out.”

“You sure you want to visit me in the midst of all that?” You giggled, resting your elbows on the counter to get closer to the camera. You could see the faint blush on his cheeks as he nodded. You were more than shocked that he was actually planning a trip for you even when he was so busy. You didn’t know what to say.

“Only if you, um, think I can.” He wanted to work around your schedule, and it was thoughtful, so, of course, without even thinking too hard, you gave him an answer.

“Absolutely.” You nodded, giggling even harder with excitement. Even if you didn’t have the time, you would make time around him because your happiness mattered just as much as your success, and Mark had been your main source of happiness for the last few weeks. You’d mostly kept to yourself aside from him and you were suffering just a little bit from the vacation still, but you didn’t at all regret going, seeing his face perk up and his eyes disappear into a smile. He was more than excited, you could tell.

“You’re deadass?” He asked, grinning even harder. You didn’t hear him swear as much anymore, so it was pleasant to hear. You hardly ever heard anyone but Taemin curse so it felt even more real to hear him say those words. You wouldn’t let him know that though.

“Uh, duh!” You nodded again, giggling even more and feeling butterflies in your stomach at the thought of him visiting again. This time it would be in your city. It was nice to have the upper hand again and you were thinking about all you could do together. You wanted him to visit at least one of the stores you owned, so that was exciting, but you also wanted to show him the small spots in LA that you’d found. It wasn’t your favorite city, but it was a great place to make a living and you’d done it, finding comfort in little hideouts for enjoyment that you definitely wanted to share with him. He was just as important to you even if things had moved so fast, you trusted him to come into your personal space and you could tell he appreciated that.

“Buy your plane ticket and I’ll pick you up from the airport!” You told him excitedly, returning to the mirror to put your moisturizer and facial creams on. You had a hard time containing breakouts with the stress, especially from smoking, but you worked around it. Mark didn’t seem to mind.

“You’d do that?” Mark asked excitedly, grinning and pumped that he’d see you even sooner than he thought.

“Yeah, I get to drive you around now, how’s that feel?” You joked, seeing his eyebrow crook and seeing a smirk on his face.

“That’s hot, yeah.” You blushed, shaking your head at his stupid comment. “Got an independent one to drive me around. Got me a little badass!” He smirked playfully, raising a brow.

“Shut up.” You laughed, hearing him join you. He took a big sigh, feeling your own heart beat fast in your chest as you saw him relax, making your own way to bed. You bit your lip, sitting down on your own bed. You thought for a moment, wondering where exactly he planned to stay. You hoped it was with you, so you had to ask. “Hey, so,” You started, searching for your words. “Are you wanting to like, stay at my house?” You asked, biting at your lip again out of nervousness and you saw him flush a little, nerves returning. You’d never had anyone romantically interested in you stay at your place, so it was only normal to be scared, but you had a feeling it would be fine with Mark. You moved fast anyway in your friendship, so you thought it wouldn’t be a problem, but it still worried you.

“I mean, like,” He cleared his throat, running his fingers through his hair again. He was nervous that you asked that way and you almost regretted it until he spoke up. “I won’t if you don’t want me to, but, uh, that’s what I was thinking.” You grinned again, feeling a slight tug at your stomach as you looked around your room to see a little bit of kpop paraphernalia. You’d have to make a note to put all of that away in the next two days. “Un-unless you don’t want me to!” He started, beginning to ramble on. “I mean I can find a place to stay, I don’t think it would be a problem, I mean, I could get a hotel room and you could come stay there with me so we could see each other because I don’t really know your living situation but-“ You cut him off with a laugh.

“No, you’re staying here.” You told him, nodding and biting your lip again. “You can sleep in my bed,” You saw him relax, sighing happily. You hadn’t had anyone in your bed in quite a while and they had all been friends or Irene, so it almost scared you. “I don’t bite.” You were glad you didn’t have a roommate in the time being.

“I mean,” Mark started, making you roll your eyes.

“Okay I might bite sometimes, but only if it’s wanted.” You joked playfully. He laughed in return, blush plastering itself across his face through the screen. Mark had a way of making your stomach flutter.

“That’s kinda, uh, dirty.” He teased and you weren’t sure you wanted to get into that conversation with him, the arousal only slightly making its way down to your core. It could wait, you wanted to wait for Mark, and you hoped it would come again that you’d share another intimate moment. Sex with Mark was incomparable, but he didn’t need to know that over FaceTime.

“Shut up.” You laughed, shaking your head. “If you’re coming then I need to get some rest to get my shit together tomorrow.” You both laughed again, sighing into the pillow underneath you. You could tell he was getting ready for bed too and it was weird to think that he was only across the country and it was much later for him, but you loved that you were on the same sleep schedule for now, it didn’t matter where you were.

“Yeah, I probably need to turn in too.” He had a dopey smile played on his face and you admired it, seeing him relax into the pillows and you hoped nobody was around to see how whipped you were for him. It was embarrassing to think, but you knew it would be fine. Everyone else was probably sleeping already.

“I guess we should say goodnight then?” You said softly, seeing his eyelids get a little heavy. He was tired, but he had a hard time sleeping if he didn’t talk to you before bed. That was sweet.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’ll see you in two days, okay?” He asked, perking up for just a moment, voice slightly groggy. It was hot for him, but maybe you were just thinking about the fact that you could be with him again. It made you a little more excited than it should’ve even if it wasn’t just about sex. Being with Mark was the fun part; the intimacy was an added bonus.

“Okay.” You nodded, giggling happily as you sighed into bed, you felt warm, cozy and excited to see the boy you couldn’t yet call your boyfriend, but it meant the world that he was coming over. You had to get the place ready for the visit, but that was the least of your worries. You hoped he’d still like you if he saw you in your normal setting, it didn’t feel unlikely that he wouldn’t; you’d be a little more stressed but also more comfortable, so maybe it would work itself out. “Goodnight then, yeah.” You smiled through your thoughts.

“Mm, I miss you.” He sighed, eyes dreamy and heavy with sleep. You heart felt like it would beat out of your chest.

“I miss you too.” You spoke softly, looking into the camera to get the same dopey smile from him.

“Goodnight, baby.” He told you, the pet name the perfect end to your night before hanging up with the biggest grin of your life. He made you happy, almost too happy. You clutched your phone to your chest after he hung up, finally relaxing into the pillows. The sooner you could rest, the sooner you could prepare to see Mark. It made the night go a bit more smoothly. Sleeping was easier that night than it had been since you were away from each other and for that, you were more than thankful.

You’d woken up exactly 8 hours later, more rested than you could ever remember feeling, even without an alarm. You’d luckily given yourself night shifts two days in a row, so the morning was your time to get the place ready. Your heart rate spiked every time you remembered that you hadn’t ever been in a position that you’d had someone you were romantically interested in at your house, so the was new and uncharted territory scared you, more excited than you expected as you boxed up your more obvious merchandise and tried to still make your home feel lived-in. The place looked almost barren without the decorations and you realized you were probably in over your head for still trying to hide part of you.

It was mostly your albums going into the extra bedroom. You figured leaving a poster and a few knick-knacks on your shelves wouldn’t hurt. They were low-key enough to not seem suspicious and part of you felt like maybe it was time to confess to Mark, but you weren’t going to risk it beforehand because you wanted him to come over so badly. You wouldn’t let anything ruin that. He bought himself a flight for right after checkout the day after the concert, so you’d be picking him up right after your shift and with the time zone difference, it worked out perfectly.

You missed him more than you thought imaginable, dusting around the place and catching the little spots your housekeeper managed to miss as you rearranged a little furniture to make the space more movable. To be honest, you knew your apartment was in great condition, but you had a lot of nervous energy and cleaning seemed like the best way to get it out in a positive way.

You pulled out your best candles and put the rest of your casual decorations you’d been meaning to hang on the walls, setting them up to where they looked perfect. You stepped back to admire your work, confident enough in your place to where Mark would enjoy it. You were lucky, the place was beautiful when you bought it, so you never were ashamed of bringing people over, but Mark made you a little more nervous than others for obvious reasons. You hoped it was perfect for him.

As you made your way to work, the smiles wouldn’t leave your face. The sun was shining bright in the afternoon and hot even with the crisp Los Angeles air around you and you were thankful because Mark said that the weather had been terrible each place they’d gone on tour so far, you were glad to give him just a bit of relief. The sun beamed down on you through the windows as you smoked down a cigarette on your room’s balcony. You’d smoked so much less than usual lately and the pain of losing a friend had subsided. You were starting to feel like yourself again and were hopefully on your way to making your habit less intense. As you made your way to work, you thought about Mark and what it was going to be like to hold his hand as you drove, and it made you grin stupidly. You sighed, turning the radio up and enjoying the breeze through the windows because in a little over 24 hours, you’d be seeing Mark’s bright and smiling face. It made the separation from him so much more worth it.

Two shifts away from him landing down. The first one was a breeze with what felt like no issues whatsoever, immediately going home to cuddle in your bed and sleep only one last time alone before Mark was there. Dipping your fingers into the waistband of your pyjama pants, you thought about Mark and it almost felt wrong, but you liked the time for yourself and the thoughts about him were too enticing to ignore and the nerves of him visiting would settle with the assistance. You were looking way too forward to the visit to say you weren’t even dating, but you were hopeful either way.

You woke up the next day with extreme butterflies in your stomach. You wore a nice outfit to work and spent extra time on your face just in case things got a little too jumbled together in your schedule. You’d gotten up earlier than you should have, preparing the house just a bit more and finishing up your laundry. Things had to be perfect and your nerves were intense, but not negative. Much less scary than when you left to see the first concert. It felt like it had been ages since it all started, reminding yourself that the friendship and love interest was all still relatively new, so you couldn’t jinx it just yet. Work was a breeze, easily filling the place with full bellies and a light enjoyment all around the customer tables. Maybe it was just the excitement of what was to come after you got off. Your life was going perfect, better than you ever thought it could as of late.

You were a little too excited to clock out, quickly shutting the doors and helping to get everyone out and cleaned as soon as possible. Mark texted you a few hours prior that he was getting on the plane and he would be landing sometime soon. You excitedly helped bus the rest of the tables and got dishes done, making a smooth closing easy. You were mopping the last floor when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket again, grinning when you saw Mark’s text.

I’m here!! we just touched down so I’ll be waiting for you in a little bit!!

You quickly locked the doors after made sure that everyone clocked out and was ready to leave. You went outside, jogging excitedly to your Mustang and hopped in, nerves shaking you up only slightly as you started it up. You’d get to the airport just in time to pick Mark up after he left the plane and got his bags. You couldn’t stop the smile on your face as you made your way there, excitedly running inside after parking.

You waited inside on a bench for a couple minutes and felt a soft tap on the shoulder, sweet laughter filled your ears as you were pulled into a sweet embrace, Mark’s face nuzzled into your neck and his soft breaths made you feel dizzy. You couldn’t believe he was in your arms again and it almost felt like you were meeting for the first time again. You held him tight, not wanting to ever let go and let the fantasy end. It still didn’t feel quite real. You giggled, pulling away slightly to get a glance at him, but you were met with a masked face with a hat on to cover him, which you definitely understood the reasoning to, but you wanted to quickly get somewhere more private to greet him in a way you felt was proper. You tugged his arm along and pulled him with you, his free hand dragging his luggage as you made your way down the escalators out to the car. The airport was loud, so it was hard to talk to Mark anyway, but you could feel his eyes boring holes into your head, glancing back and each time seeing his cheeks making his eyes disappear into crescents from his smiling.

“I cleaned my house for you.” You told him as the place quieted down, seeing his eyebrow quirk up.

“Someone trying to impress me?” Mark joked, grinning somehow wider. “I’m actually really excited to see your place and not have tons of people around me and in the same house.” He sounded relieved and you were slightly concerned for a minute. It flashed in your mind that it was probably really hard for him to deal with that many people around him at all times. You knew a little about their housing situations, but he’d talked about it just a bit.

“You all live together right?” you asked, thumbing over his hand and you heard him sigh.

“Yeah, kinda.” He shrugged. “There’s twenty-one of us, right?” You heard him hesitate and you realized that this was the first time that Mark was really opening up, but it was also the first time he wasn’t in close proximity of the other members and not even in the same town as them for the first time since you met him. And you’d only been around when he was in a group of seven, so the reality of how they were living was more concerning than you’d thought about before. You nodded. You could tell Mark was gathering his words. “There’s technically ten of us in 127, which I know you know is my main promoting group,” You nodded again. “but nine of us live together. Nine. Ten of us lived together before one of our members, his name’s WinWin, went to China with WayV,” You heard him sigh, furrowing your brows and almost feeling terrible for him. It wasn’t often you thought about that kind of thing, but it was becoming obvious that it was something he dealt with daily.

“That.. is a lot. It sounds overwhelming.” You turned to him with a frown, just wanting to comfort him. “Well, you get to have a small getaway, right?” you tried to reassure him, seeing a sad smile creep on his cheeks, pulling his mask down in the dark empty garage.

“Yeah, I’m really excited about it.” He sighed happily. “It’s going to be a really nice escape.” When you walked up to your car, seeing the Mustang had his jaw dropping. It was nearly as if he’d just laid eyes on a Lamborghini. “Is this your car?” He asked, grinning when you unlocked it with your keys, letting go of his hand to open the trunk for his bags. “Holy shit, I’ve got myself a badass.” He pulled the mask off of his ear, grin shining brightly and setting his bag in the trunk, admiring the car.

“I guess so.” You shrugged, looking the vehicle over and not thinking a huge deal of it. It was an upgraded model you got straight off the lot and you took great care of it, so you were proud, but it wasn’t as big of a deal as Mark was making it out to be. “I like it, it takes me places.” You teased, raising a brow at Mark, who was inching his way closer to you. You hoped the parking garage was private enough because you grabbed Mark by the jacket and pulled him flush to you, just close enough to where your faces were an inch from each other.

“You take me places.” He told you, closing the space between the two of you with a firm kiss, lips sliding against yours like his life depended on it. The words fluttered in your stomach. You felt good, like you were an escape to the life he was so used to living. You loved that Mark made you feel so detrimental with every kiss he gave you, his soft hands finding place on your sides, gently thumbing over the fabric of your shirt. You pulled away with a grin, seeing his shy smile and a bright blush on his cheeks.

“The only place I’m taking you is home.” You told him, biting your lip and seeing him shy away again.

“Okay!” Mark laughed nervously, biting his lip and hugging you tightly, sighing into your neck. “I’m so glad to see you.” You felt your heart race, pulling away so you could get in the car.

“Are you hungry?” You asked him, grinning and wondering if he was properly taking care of himself since he was so busy.

“Starving.” He told you, making his way over to the passenger side. “Maybe you should show me your way around Los Angeles?” He smirked playfully, slipping into the car and admiring the inside.

“Like a date?” you joked, grinning as he settled into the seat and shut the door.

“I’m all yours.” Mark softly smiled, reaching over to gently lay his hand on your lap. It surprised you how affectionate Mark seemed to be in comparison to how he seemed in videos you’d seen of him and he was definitely more of an open book than you’d thought. He’d told you much more than you’d ever expected to hear from him, and it made him seem so vulnerable. You had one hand on the steering wheel as you reversed out of your spot, making your way out of the parking garage before you tangled your fingers with his, opting to drive with your left hand. Holding hands with Mark was sweet, his clammy fidgety hands between your fingers made your heart warm and the heat rise on your cheeks. “You’re actually a good driver.” He told you, bright smile flashing. You rolled your eyes and thought of all the times that your friends had told you that you weren’t.

“Don’t let my friends hear you.” You told him, grinning. “They all think I want to star in Tokyo Drift or something.” You earned a soft laughter, thumbing over the back of your hand.

“My friend Johnny drove us around in Chicago once and I almost threw up. I wouldn’t tell him that though. I mean he’s a good driver! He was just too excited to show us around.” The mention of Johnny’s name made your heart rate spike again, swallowing hard. “You also have a nicer car, so that might help.” He made you laugh, rolling your eyes again.

“I paid incredibly too much for it right off the lot, but it was my dream car for a while.” You told him, looking over to see him still starry eyed.

“At least you can drive.” You snorted at that, grinning at his childlike ways. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t drive, but you were sure he definitely didn’t have the time to learn and with the abundance of drivers he had it seemed weird for him to take himself around. “Taemin tried to drive us once here and our manager literally made him get out of the car so he could drive. Man was heartbroken.” You snorted harder, thinking about Taemin pouting and being forced into a passenger seat.

“Does he drive at home?” You asked, biting your lip because you already kind of knew the answer.

“Jongin said he’s terrible. But yes, he does drive.” He said through giggles. You sighed, pulling up into the street you lived on before skillfully parking into a spot in the garage, making Mark raise his eyebrow at you, slightly impressed. “See? I could never do that!” He grinned again. The awe he had in his eyes when you did anything blew your mind, making your chest tight and you felt like a teenager inviting your boyfriend over when your parents weren’t home. It wasn’t the same kind of forbidden, but it was close.

You walked Mark up the stairs, slight small talk between the two of you as he ranted softly about being so tired. You knew exactly how tired he was, you knew he was between two groups that were touring back to back and you just wanted him to rest, but he was making it seem less tiring than it was. You soothed his mind as you listened to him rant. He seemed to need someone to do that with who was outside of the situation, so you were happy to be of assistance. He was sweet and didn’t want you to worry, but you were mostly just glad you could be in his arms again. You didn’t know how long the fling would last, so you would savor it as long as possible, carefully walking him to the front entrance where he looked awestruck again, observing the many different lights and decorations around as you unlocked the door with your keys, seeing him bite his lip. He looked a bit nervous, like he was doing something he shouldn’t. Which was partially true.

“I cleaned for you.” You warned Mark.

“You said that already.” He laughed before squeezing your hip.

You grinned as you opened the door up, his fingers tangled with your left hand as he followed you inside, eyes beaming around the place as he took it all in. You felt him let go of your hand, slight confusion on your face before you felt arms around your waist, pulling a smile to your lips as the door shut behind you. You felt him hold you tightly from behind, his chin resting in the crook of your neck and sighing softly into your hair.

“I really missed you.” He told you. You could feel the warmth of his face against your skin and it felt intoxicating, relieving you of the stress from your last few hectic weeks. “I, like, think about you all the time, everyone tells me to shut up.” He spoke softer, just holding you in his embrace for a while longer, loving the contact and you wondered how you’d gotten so lucky. This amazing boy walked into your heart and was having a hard time leaving and for once, it wasn’t your fault. You hadn’t done anything special, but there he was, thousands of miles away from home and in your apartment to spend time with you before who knows what scheduling he had in the near future. It was unreal.

Mark had fallen asleep quickly after laying down in your bed with you, promises of he was sorry for being so sleepy as he thumbed over your hips through your oversized t-shirt and he couldn’t quite get it through his mind that you didn’t actually care at all. It was nice to be laying in bed with him, not a worry in the world and you weren’t at all concerned about work, everything had gone much smoother in the last few days than you expected and you were making quite a bit of money and saw pretty good reviews, so all you had to focus on was Mark sleeping peacefully in your bed for the next few hours, dozing off right next to him, his head laying on your chest. His kind, sweet innocent nature made the room a thousand percent cozier.

You woke up with Mark’s nose nuzzled into the crook of your neck and his arm uncomfortably laid over your body. The first thing you did was snort, seeing his messy hair and his open mouth. You hoped he was dreaming well, clearly sleeping peacefully enough to knock the blankets to the edge of the bed and push the pillow he was supposed to be laying on off of it. You hadn’t seen him sleep that hard yet, but since the stress of the SuperM tour for that segment was off of him for a few days, you knew he needed the rest before he headed home for practice and then to Spain. You gently moved yourself off the bed, trying your hardest not to wake him and replace your body with the extra pillow before softly covering him up.

You sighed peacefully, looking at him sleeping heavily on the bed, seeming to not have woken him up as you slipped onto your balcony to smoke, putting a cigarette to your lips before taking a deep breath in. You looked back in through the window to see Mark still sleeping sweetly, cuddled around the pillow you left him, a smile gracing your lips as you took a seat on the balcony, looking over the city. It was just before dawn and it had been a while since you’d taken the time to appreciate the sky. Mark helped you slow down. You never once thought that someone could change you, but he brought you new surprises each day.

You had your knees pulled to your chest while the cool breeze passed over you. It never got too cold in Los Angeles, so sitting out was nice even in winter. You took a few drags from your cigarette, watching the stars glisten and wondered how you got so lucky as you tried to pull yourself awake from the nap. You yawned slightly and a small gasp left your lips when you heard the balcony door open, quickly turning back to see a yawning Mark with his eyes hardly open. He shot you a smile and rubbed his eyes, taking a seat next to you. “Good morning.” He spoke softly, eyeing the cigarette in your hand.

You grinned at him. “Sleep well?” You asked, seeing his sleepy grin. “You were out pretty hard. I didn’t think my bed was that comfortable.” You teased, taking another drag. You didn’t miss how he eyed it.

“Yeah, it was probably the best nap I’ve had in about 6 years now.” Mark laughed, wrapping his own arms around his knees, yawning again. “You’re comfortable.” He teased, sighing. “You sleep okay? I woke up and you were gone.”

You shrugged in response. “I slept fine, yeah.” You nodded. “You sleep like a rock.” His laugh could bring daises back to life.

“I guess I needed it.” Mark was still eyeing your cigarette, furrowing your brows as you followed his eyes. “Do you smoke a lot?” He asked, eyes innocent.

You were embarrassed, swallowing softly. “I-I guess I do.” You answered honestly, shrugging and taking another drag. “Probably more than I should.” You’d cut down a lot, but not enough to be rid of the habit.

Mark nodded. “Did you, uh, ever-“ You knew what he was about to say, you’d heard it a million times and it hurt you each time someone said it, you just wished it didn’t have to come out. “Think about quitting?” You knew that in his line of work, he wasn’t really allowed to smoke, just like everyone else he was around. It was Mark’s second strike since the PDA in the bowling alley, and it made you nervous.

“Not-not really. I’ve put it down a few times, but honestly it’s just relaxing.” Your face was red, and you felt awkward, looking down and taking another drag as you sighed. Mark swallowed, blinking and scooting closer to you and you could see him biting his lip from the corner of your eyes.

“Oh, okay, um,” Mark started, but the damage was already done. “I’m sorry, that was, um, kind of rude.” He sighed again, fiddling with his fingers. “I-I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to, you know.” Mark told you. You responded with a nod, but just needed a moment to cool down over it. You were frowning a bit, just trying to finish your cigarette. You had to give it to him, he was good at taking his foot out of his mouth. You just wish it hadn’t gone in.

“I get it a lot.” You shrugged, keeping your eyes away from his. You hated being embarrassed about it, especially since you knew everyone who tried to get you to quit was right, but it was an easy way to relax and you didn’t like that people told you what to do. “I just don’t like to be reminded of stuff I don’t like about myself.” You both smiled at that, earning a shrug from Mark.

“You can say that again.” He grinned, looking over at you. You put the cigarette out, smiling over at him. He reached over, gently stroking your cheek with his thumb before gently pecking you on the lips. “It doesn’t bother me that much, I’m just not used to it. Nobody around me smokes. It’s just-“ He shrugged again, making you smile. “Different.”

You both got up from the balcony ground, making your way inside. “Let’s go shower, you sweat in your sleep.” He laughed. “Which makes me sweat, so.” You teased him, grinning.

“It was a long day, okay.” He shook his head, already tugging off his shirt and tossing it over his shoulder. You took a slight look, biting your lip softly and tugging him into the bathroom by his wrist.

“That was like, the most fancy shower I’ve ever been in.” Mark giggled softly, drying his hair off with one of your plush towels. You shook your head, smiling at his antics. You’d just had slightly messy, but definitely sweet sex in the shower and he was just thinking about your bathroom. You had to admit, you did have a really nice shower and you loved it but hearing him talk about it filled you with a sense of pride. “You’ve got like, a really nice house.” You rolled your eyes at him.

“Come on, your place has got to be nice, you’re an idol for god’s-sake.” You saw him shrug, smiling back at you.

“I mean, it’s nice, but you’ve got this place to yourself.” He told you, looking around your apartment, wide eyed with a towel around his waist. You tried not to stare, but you liked the way Mark looked and you couldn’t deny it. “This is like, the perfect bachelor pad.” You snorted at him.

“I’m not exactly a bachelor.” You teased, seeing him gasp and cover his face, his bashfulness showing through.

“I can’t tell if you’re saying you’re not single or what you’re trying to get at.” He pouted softly, soft smile showing through. “Because,” He stepped closer to you, wrapping his arms around your waist. “I think we’re kind of, um, exclusive.” You couldn’t help your grin, already knowing the truth behind his words, but it was nice to finally hear it from his mouth.

“That was like, the most nervous way to ask me to date you.” You were in another big shirt already, not bothered by him seeing you so casual. He’d seen you at your worst at that point, so you kissed him, your hands placed softly on his cheeks, closing your eyes and feeling his body pressed close. He had basically just told you that you were practically dating, so you had to honor him, knowing it was hard for the situation, but you were willing to settle with that for now. You’d known each other for only a short amount of time at that point, but it was exciting to kind of know where you stood.

“Well I mean, it’s the end of the decade, you know, why not do something crazy while I can?” Mark was looking shy, a blush tinting his cheeks.

“Yeah, why not?” You shrugged, teasing. “I like that you’re willing to take a risk with me.”

“Well, I’ll be in the states quite a bit next year,” He started, grabbing your immediate attention. “Like, I will be here, a lot.” He emphasized. “And I think it’s kinda, um, stupid to ignore the fact that this could work.” You swallowed, blinking and excited to hear what was coming next. “So, I thought, why not? You know? I just think it’s worth it to try.” He smiled again, unable to stop his excitement from showing. Your head was spinning.

“I definitely think you’re right.” You nodded, sighing happily and kissing him softly again, wrapping your arms around his neck. “So I think you should get dressed and we should go on our first date.” It was still slightly dark out, but since you had the nap it felt much later in the day. You shrugged. “Or, you know what?” You piqued his interest.

“Yeah?”

“We could order in, watch a movie, and make out all morning until we fall asleep.”

“That sounds much better.” You saw Mark go to your room, open his suitcase, and pull out a shirt and some shorts, cutely pulling them on. He looked so shy as you watched him, smiling like an idiot and trying to hide himself.

“You don’t have to be so shy, you’re like basically my boyfriend right now.” You teased, grinning and flipping through the subscriptions on your TV as background noise.

“Ah, right now?” He laughed, trying to tug on some socks on one foot, raising a brow at you. “I’m only your boyfriend right now?” He smirked, finally fully dressed and making his way over to your bed, laying sweetly at your side.

“Shut up.” You teased him, running your fingers through his wet hair. He looked around your room, admiring the simple decor and grinning when he saw a small collection of NCT things around your desk. You’d left them there to hopefully make him smile.

“So someone’s become my fan.” Mark joked, seeing him eye the few remaining albums around your shelves. He had no idea that the rest of your memorabilia was in another room, so you’d let him have that one. You were silent for a moment, if only he knew. “Whose photocards did you get?” He laughed, looking back and quirking an eyebrow back up at you. You shrugged playfully, enjoying that he seemed to feel full of himself.

“Well, I got one for Johnny, a Jungwoo, and two for you.” You saw him grin widely at the last part, smiling to himself. “I also have some SuperM albums on the way, I thought you’d enjoy those unboxing if you were here.” You shrugged again, not missing how happy he seemed to get.

“Hm, I think that would be a great date.” Mark joked, grinning widely. “I hope you got my face.”

“I did, because I love your face.” You smirked teasingly, “But I also got Taemin, Ten, Lucas, and literally all of your faces. I bought them all.” You snorted and Mark couldn’t help but to laugh loudly. You didn’t really have the time before you met him to buy your albums because of all the work you were doing to prepare you for your trip, so meeting them was really working in your favor. “You’ve gotta get some kind of paycheck from me, right?” He was enjoying the praise, you could tell.

“I just want to be with you, I don’t need anything from you.” Mark spoke with the sweetest smile on his face. “But, I do like that you care so much.” He shrugged, sitting up and reaching out for your arm. “Come on, let’s go check out Netflix and make ourselves sick on takeout. My treat.” You happily stood up, wrapping your arms around his waist and easily following behind him with your head on his back as he tried to make his way around your house. He was checking everything up and down, being nosy, but you didn’t care. It was his home for the next few days and you wanted him to come back, so it felt like his place too. Mark was your boyfriend for now, at least. You’d enjoy it while you could. “Ah man, this place is crazy!” He spoke in giggles, excitement evident in his voice. “Like I said, our place is nice, but nothing like this!” He admired the beautiful chandelier work, flipping your dimming light switches, and decided to mess with the crystal door handles. He was like a little kid in a candy store. You’d made the place elegant, especially for work parties and personal investment meetings, so you were proud of how it had come along, it was nice for Mark to feel the same way too. “Ya’ll got a pool?” He snorted.

“Yeah, actually, there’s a community pool on the fourth floor, it’s heated too.” You shrugged, hearing Mark sigh happily.

“God, that sounds so nice. We’ll have to go before I leave.”

You pouted in response, not wanting to think about him leaving, you had other things to do and not worry about anything but each other and spending as much time together as you could. You each needed it more than anyone could imagine.

Mark was rather silly, he got bored of the movie he picked super easily, he’d seen the Xander Cage movies so many times that he said even his members got annoyed with it and he was sure to tell you that Donghyuck and Dongyoung were the main ones who said something about it, you noted how cute it was that he used their birth names, it made you feel even closer. He was being sure to show you his music videos, giggling at himself each time he saw himself on screen, making sure you were paying attention and you didn’t have the heart to tell him you’d seen them already even though you were positive he’d just play it off as you liking him.

You’d learned his favorite videos so far were The 7th Sense and Superhuman and was sure to point out that Ten and Taeyong were in each, pointing them out and singing along excitedly. “We have such a fun time filming the videos, they’re the best part of the job.” He told you, trying to keep still as he tangled his legs along with yours on the couch. “We film all over the world, too! We get to travel so much, it’s unreal.” He was grinning like an idiot, pride overwhelming his speech. “Ten was actually supposed to be in 127 with me and Taeyong, but he got hurt and now he’s in WayV with Lucas and-“ he sighed happily. “We’re all just one huge, like, massive family.” The smile on his face was bright, excited to show you each video, trying to figure out your sound system and dancing in his seat.

“You’re so cute.” You reminded him, running your fingers through his hair when he laid his head on your shoulder. He was small and fragile, definitely someone who liked being taken care of but wouldn’t admit it. “You care so much about them.”

“I really do, I didn’t think I’d like literally everyone in a 21 member group, but we all get along pretty well.” he made sure to tell you, checking his phone and you didn’t miss his lock screen picture, a photo of 127 right after the end of the Neo City tour. It was a picture of them all in Vancouver where Mark was from. You recognized it easily. You were keeping up with them more than before, so you were extremely up to date. “We’re missing Jungwoo right now, so it kind of sucks.” He frowned. “And we don’t interact much with Wayv right now, but hopefully next year we’re all gonna be back together again!” He said hopefully, grinning and responding to his texts. You’d seen quite a few unanswered messages, but you wouldn’t pry.

“There’s really 21 of you?” You asked, feeding into his excitement.

“Uh, yeah, it, uh, gets kinda crazy when you get into it, but like, we’ve got 21 in the entirety of NCT,” He laughed, turning his body toward you to fully explain. You knew the explanation well enough to tell anyone, but you’d listen excitedly. He told you about it before, but each time he talked about it you listened, starry eyed and willing to let him explain. “I was in NCT Dream for a while, then I kinda, like, graduated, and now it’s just the younger ones, so I kinda got kicked out.” He laughed again, shrugging. “I miss it, but SM has so many plans for me and I’m just here to follow along and I’ve debuted like ten times at this point.” He was exaggerating, so you were going to play with him.

“Ten?” You snorted, laying your legs across him on the couch as he pulled up some NCT Dream videos, watching him instead as Chewing Gum was the first one playing on the YouTube playlist.

“Well, I debuted four times, but that’s not the point.” Mark was laughing now, giggling as he was eyeing the TV. “God! I look so young! That was only a few years ago!” He shook his head, eyeing the video.

“You’re only 20 now, so you’ve grown a bit. I mean, look at how different Renjun and Jeno look!” You grinned, hoping to pull excitement from him. Mark looked at you with wide eyes and his jaw dropped.

“You know the members?” He asked excitedly, blinking and in disbelief. You could play dumb, you’d learned it was a bit more fun that way.

“I pay attention.” You shrugged with a giggle, seeing Mark sigh happily, grin not leaving his face. “My boyfriend is in NCT, I’ve gotta learn a bit about them, right?”

Mark nodded, shrugging playfully. “That’s dedication, I knew I picked a good one.” You couldn’t find it in you to feel guilty because of hos excited he seemed to be. You both shared giggles, feeling him scoot closer and wrap his arms happily around your waist and hug you tight, happy to have someone care so deeply about him. “It’s so exciting, I-“ You felt him tense a little, getting a bit more serious. He sighed heavily, shrugging.

“What?” You prodded, running your fingers back through his hair.

“It-It’s nothing.” He stilled, arms staying around your waist and his head still laying on your chest in the embrace.

“It-It’s just, um,” He sighed again. “I’ve never really dated anyone before, it’s just.. really exciting.” He was bashful, you could feel his cheeks pull into a smile, a small giggle coming from his lips.

Your cheeks were burning up, kissing the top of his head to make sure he didn’t feel too awkward. You didn’t care that he was inexperienced like that, it didn’t bother you. It felt nice that he was opening himself up, you liked being the new experience. “It’s okay, I promise.” You reminded him, moving his hair out of his face as he came back into reality from his confession. “I’ll make sure you’re comfortable.”

“You’re just, like, amazing.” He was sighing again, this time of relief and you couldn’t stop your own giggle. “And Everyone dates quietly sometimes, but I’ve never had that, really. Like Johnny’s dated a couple people, Baekhyun’s had a few girlfriends, Jongin too, Lucas dated people when he was younger, so now it’s like,” He groaned, obviously slightly embarrassed and he talked a lot when he was nervous. “I’ve got someone.” You were blushing again, loving the way he was confessing; so cute when he was bashful. You heart was beating heavy in your chest, glad to just be making someone so happy. It felt good to you too, finally having someone who you never thought in a million years would be in your home, making sure you knew he was yours. You didn’t expect that conversation to come up out of your knowledge of his members, your guilt being pushed into the back of your mind. You didn’t care at that point, just glad to have him so excited. Maybe you’d confess soon, it almost felt right, but the moment was good, and you didn’t want to change it as he picked his head up, happily pecking your lips and you could easily see the bright blush on his face, giggling when you finally met eyes.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mark Lee, you are a sap.” You both grinned, pecking his lips once again. “And I like you a lot, so I’m happy to have you as my someone too.” His smile was bright enough to put the streetlights out of business.

“Good, because hopefully you’ll see a lot of me this year.” He snorted, kissing you sweetly again, slightly parting his mouth and you couldn’t help but to laugh. “And I’m excited to see a lot of you.” He spoke against your lips.

“Someone’s eager.” You teased, letting him get entry on your mouth, his soft tongue swiping along your lip and easily moving your legs to lay you under him on the couch, soft laughs coming from the both of you as you kissed passionately. His hands made their way up your sides and squeezed softly. He made a soft noise as his fingers felt your skin, raising goosebumps in their wake, easily thumbing over them. You didn’t mind his pent-up frustrations, rather enjoying that he was riled up all because of you, especially since you hadn’t seen him in a few weeks. You liked being his center of attention, you couldn’t deny it.

Mark kissed down your neck, his soft breaths making it evident he was still nervous to be so close, but eager to please you. “Is this okay?” He asked, he always did. The sun was peaking golden in the mid-day even with the lights off. You loved seeing him praise you silently in the glow. He left soft nibbles on your skin, pushing your shirt up just below your chest, his hand smoothing over your ribcage and kissing just above your collarbone. You moved your leg and pressed your thigh between his, giggling at the groan that came out. “Baby,” He soothed, not missing how he softly ground on your skin, loving the attention you gave him.

He moved back up to kiss your lips, soft hands roaming around your thighs and playing with the hem of your shorts. He gently cupped between your legs, kissing you harder as he humped down on your leg through his shorts. The friction was nice and warm, just enough to get you going. Mark was like an eager puppy, loving the not-quite-enough touches.

His finger pressed down between your folds through your shorts, his lips eager to get more leverage, tongue trying to gain access as he steadied himself. For some reason it was really hot that he was using you to get off, you hadn’t quite experienced that before and with Mark it was such an innocent way for him, he was sensitive and you hadn’t seen each other for a while, so the need was obvious. He was panting into your mouth after a moment of grinding on you, whining softly and you couldn’t help but giggle, kissing him back with fervor. You loved the way he felt against you as he slid his fingers under your shorts and underwear, playing gingerly on your clit with the tips of his fingers.

“Mark, baby,” You spoke against his lips, you could tell he was close, his face was hot, and he buried it into your neck as he kept his hips moving, his fingers trying their hardest and making you choke a little on your breaths. “Fuck,” It was a sweet scene, the neediness in his body as you let him use you. His fingers didn’t stop, losing focus and making your vision blur until he stilled his body, heaving breaths in as he reached his high, nearly collapsing onto your body as he whined. You giggled at how spent he was, running your fingers through his hair. You weren’t too worried about getting off, as he was clearly needing it more than you, especially since he spent 98% of his time surrounded by people and he was a pretty hormonal guy, so you understood. He was silent for a moment, trying to come back to reality and you knew the groan from his throat meant he wasn’t proud of himself. He moved his hand back to your thigh, his body warm. He was silent for a moment when you felt him tense up.

“Oh god, oh man, I can’t believe I just did that.” Mark groaned again, pouting and not facing himself toward you. He turned over and laid next to you side by side on the couch, hiding his face in his hands with an obvious stain in the front of his shorts. You could see his embarrassed smile under his wrist, turning over to giggle and scoot closer to him.

“Don’t be shy,” You teased, tapping your fingers against his hand, trying to get him to come back to you. “I liked it.” You admitted, biting your lip and seeing his eye peak from under his hand.

“You did?” He was giggling again, pouting softly and he looked so cute, you couldn’t help it.

“Yeah, I like it when you’re needy.” He groaned again, covering his arm with his face as you tried to ignore the heat in your core.

“God, I sound like a teenager.”

“Mm, a hot teenager.” You both laughed, making you think again, knowing that wasn’t what you meant. “Maybe I shouldn’t say that.”

“Yeah, maybe not.” He was finally laughing again, turning over to lay his arm along your side, tickling your hip. He kissed you much softer this time, his lower lip poking between yours as his fingers made their way back down, grinning into his kiss as they pressed into the waistband of your shorts, slipping underneath to work on you again. You gasped softly into his mouth, moving your leg over his hip as he got better access. He slipped his fingers down and teased around in your arousal, a gasp pulling from his throat when he felt how turned on you were. He stayed for a moment, rubbing at your clit to get you going again before he pressed two digits inside, groaning into your mouth at how wet you were, his thumb rubbing back over your clit. It didn’t take much to get you off, leaving you panting into his mouth and his soft fingers working themselves on you. “Good?” He asked, working you through your orgasm and smoothing over your folds to bring you back to earth.

“Mm, it’s always good with you.” You assured him, wrapping your arms around his neck and pecking his lips once more. “But you should probably change, I’ll wash your dirty clothes.” You grinned, seeing him nod. “I saw that interview where Johnny said you wash your clothes when you can, so let me take care of you.” He was rolling his eyes immediately. He regretted every interview he’d ever done all at once.

“Alright, alright, don’t embarrass me more, okay.” He teased, sitting up and wishing you to follow him to get his clothes in order.

Things were easy with Mark, much easier than your other relationships, for some reason he had much lower standards and it didn’t take much to amuse, entertain, or impress him. He was adorable and you loved the fact that every time you spoke he had stars in his eyes as if you were the amazing one and the all-famous perfect person of his dreams. You worried vaguely about your future and how you’d end up, but you wanted to have fun for the time being and worry about the craziness later. Luckily you both had the money to see each other pretty often, you would just have to find the time. After seeing his schedule for the year though, you weren’t too worried. You’d have so many opportunities to see him and it made the idea much better.

There was only a hint of sadness once you had finally come to his last night of visiting, you’d spent most of your time relaxing and doing Mark’s laundry to almost rehabilitate him from the hectic tour life, but you also spent 6 hours in Dave & Buster’s together in Hollywood after a very thrilling street show of lookalikes where Mark threw two hundred dollar bills into the tip jar. The Willy Wonka cried, so it was safe to say you enjoyed your time with him. It was your last night together and you wanted to make it special, so of course you were laid in bed finishing the most recent season of Stranger Things.

For some reason, you had also ended up in two groupchat text messages, one with SuperM that somehow always seemed empty when you texted in it, so that was vaguely disappointing, but you did enjoy the chat with some of the guys from 127, a shocking twist, and that one always was very fun. The chat included you and Mark, Jaehyun, Yuta, Johnny and Taeyong, so the combination was always very interesting. You had to hide your excitement when you finally got to talk to them but talking to them normally really made you realize how they were normal people, just like Mark. It felt like a fantasy. You loved being included in the fun and finally having more conversations with Taeyong was nice. You liked him a lot, you thought.

You couldn’t quite tell what it was, but Baekhyun especially didn’t seem to be bothered with you and it only slightly got to your head, but you realized that it wasn’t easy to please everyone. You knew he’d been through a lot in his time and you were sure he knew how dangerous the whole dating thing was and since you and Mark were trying to keep under wraps, maybe it was best if they weren’t all too involved.

So, there you were, tangled up in Mark’s arms as he responded to the “foreigners+yong” groupchat. Johnny named it with pride, he was amused and Taeyong liked it too. They’d thoroughly explained the name to you, and you listened, just enjoying that they were amused by telling you that Jaehyun lived in America for 4 years and where the others were born, you didn’t mind at all.

You sighed into Mark’s chest, thumbing softly over his torso and smiling when he giggled at how it tickled. “God, you’re so cute.” You reminded him with starry eyes.

“Text that in the groupchat, they’ll for real never believe it if you don’t say it.” He teased, smirking as you rolled your eyes at him.

“I don’t have to say everything in a group chat.” You teased him back, grinning when his smile was shining. You sighed happily, laying your head back on his chest. “Mm, let’s order pizza.” You suggested.

“God, yes, I’m starving.” He groaned happily, tossing his phone away from him on your bed. He told you how much he liked your bed and you wished he could stay in it forever, but hopefully it wouldn’t be long until he could again. “And we should order, um, dessert too, because, yeah.” He was giggling again, kissing the top of your head. “Gotta splurge on the last night in paradise. My treat.” You snorted in response, shaking your head and pulling his phone back up to grab it and call for delivery. He didn’t mind showing you his phone and yours was on the charger across the room, so you pulled up Uber Eats and as you were placing the order, you saw a text message from Baekhyun saying to call him when he could.

You’d seen him ignore a few phone calls in the day, opting to deal with the backlash the next day after his flight back home, so you didn’t think much of it. Mark was tapping his fingers on your back to whatever rhythm he was humming as you placed the final order, handing him his phone back. “Baekhyun texted you.” You told him, smiling and seeing his shrug.

“Yeah, he’s been, um, kinda weird since the first leg of the tour ended, I’m not sure what’s up with him.” Mark shrugged, obviously not bothered by Baekhyun’s actions. You figured you shouldn’t be either.

“He said he wanted you to call him.” You heard Mark sigh with a pout, looking down at you as if it was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll, uh, call him before we go to bed, I wanna savor this moment and, um, not really think about work.” Mark was smiling. You of all people understood that more than anyone, so you were happy to let him do it. Mark was the one person that helped you forget about work and realize that sometimes living is more important, so you liked that he felt that way sometimes with you. He often told you that Johnny had to force him to focus on his happiness, so you were glad for that, but inside you knew it was nice to have someone like a partner tell you as more than a friend.

Baekhyun was pacing around the EXO dorm, alone. He’d debated on calling Mark for days to confirm scheduling for interviews and photoshoots with SuperM. He wanted to let Mark have his relaxation, but when it got around to him that the younger boy was hanging out with you, his anger rose high in his chest, not believing that he was still in the position to break the two of you up and he hadn’t done it. He was waiting for Mark’s text back, hoping he would come to his senses and stop ignoring his job.

Yes, Mark was technically on a short break between his schedules, but Baekhyun for some reason was the only person managers and the agency were calling to confirm the scheduling for SuperM and he was maybe getting really antsy about it, but he was annoyed that you were still parading one of his members around without him knowing your secret. He was even more annoyed that somehow you’d ended up in a groupchat with them and everyone seemed to be fine with it, even Taeyong who knew about what you were doing.

Baekhyun wasn’t new to the game, he knew how often people pretended to know nothing about them just to get closer and needless to say, it pissed him off and he just wanted everyone to be truthful and let them decide on their own terms if they wanted to pursue anything upon them knowing. Hell, even Jongdae was fine with a non-idol fan time after time and he was even getting married to one, but that was only after his own choice and decision on the matter. Baekhyun groaned loudly, noting that it was nearing four in the afternoon and he hadn’t gotten a response from Lucas or Mark.

He paced around, grumbling to himself and wishing he didn’t have a secret to tell; it was nearly eating him alive and he hated keeping secrets.

He sent Taeyong a text, knowing he’d landed back in Korea just a few days ago and he was supposed to be headed to Spain soon after days of rehearsals with the rest of 127.

Where the hell is Mark?

Baekhyun didn’t mean to be so aggressive, his junior didn’t deserve it. Back at the SM Building, Taeyong was definitely getting back into practice mode for the following 127 tour, he was always practicing for the next thing and Baekhyun knew that. It only took a few minutes before Taeyong responded. Baekhyun had the younger boy’s practice schedule practically memorized by that point.

He’s still in America!! Don’t worry, he’s okay! 😁

Baekhyun didn’t care that Mark was okay. Well, he did, but he had to care more about his new job as a leader above all. Baekhyun audibly groaned, tossing his phone on the couch and trying his best to calm down. He shook his head, annoyed and carding his fingers through his hair. He took a breather before picking his phone back up to respond.

Is he with you know who?

Baekhyun didn’t like being so vague, but he couldn’t risk someone seeing Taeyong’s phone by chance and getting a little too curious, he couldn’t risk anyone else knowing. It would be a PR nightmare if it got out that Mark was with you. Baekhyun didn’t know who was near, so he tried to be subtle. He wasn’t very good at being ominous when he was annoyed.

ummmmmm, I’m at practice, I can call you in a minute and we can talk about it 🥰

Taeyong was always really good at calming them down, always sending little emojis to relax them and Baekhyun couldn’t even try to be mad. He was disgruntled because Taeyong seemed to not be so worried about the situation, but Baekhyun had been in the dating position before and with EXO and their crazy scandals and multiple under-the-table dating situations, he could understand why Taeyong wouldn’t understand what kind of position he was in. What he didn’t know was that you and Taeyong had become somewhat friends and Baekhyun would be furious if he found out. Baekhyun just waited for the call, hoping that Taeyong would tell him it would all be okay. He was a leader himself, so maybe he would be able to help smooth things over. But Baekhyun knew. Baekhyun knew where Mark was if he wasn’t with the other part of his group and somehow the other members being so nonchalant about it annoyed him even further.

Baekhyun hadn’t even told Jongin yet about what he knew. The only person he’d really told was Jongdae and he didn’t offer much help, obviously having more important things on his own plate than a possible dating scandal that didn’t involve him. He’d been through the ringer enough and didn’t care anymore, but Baekhyun couldn’t let anyone else know because he didn’t want to seem like he was messing up his leader position already and he couldn’t afford that. Chanyeol knew and was busy with his own schedules, which was a pain in the ass because he was usually the only one who could calm Baekhyun down. He didn’t offer much more than an ear to listen when he called after the situation went down in Chicago, which wasn’t Chanyeol’s usual game. He appreciated the listening and small attempts to calm him down, but it still didn’t help the stress he was under.

Taeyong - Mobile popped up on Baekhyun’s screen and he gasped when he saw it light up, quickly scrambling to answer.

“Taeyong!”

“H-hi hyung!” Taeyong responded through heavy breaths. The background was silent, so Baekhyun hoped he was in a safe spot to talk. “What-what’s up?” Taeyong was nervous and Baekhyun could tell. He didn’t want to scare the boy, but he wanted to know what was going on.

“Mark’s still in America?” Baekhyun asked with a huff, hearing silence take up the conversation. He continued. “With-“

“Yeah, yeah he is..” Taeyong had cut him off, sighing. “He-um, stayed back to hang out, relax, spend a little alone time before we head to Spain, then back to New York, um, you know, just taking a break.” Taeyong cleared his throat, not knowing what other information to offer.

Baekhyun was pursing his lips, listening to Taeyong talk. He was frustrated, but he didn’t want to take it out on the boy. He had enough on his plate with worrying about 19 other members. “Does he know?”

Taeyong sighed again. Baekhyun tried to keep his cool.

“Does he know that he’s been getting lied to? Does he know yet?” Baekhyun repeated himself, hearing Taeyong sadly breathe through the speaker. Taeyong knew exactly what he was talking about. Taeyong was fully aware that Baekhyun was discussing your neglect to tell Mark about your knowledge of them, about the lightsticks and keychain he found in your bag and the pin nobody knew about. He’d had to hear all about it in their few moments alone in the last bit of the tour. Baekhyun wasn’t exactly quiet about his annoyance, and Taeyong was quite a bit weirded out by it, but Baekhyun was his friend so he was going to let him vent as much as he needed to.

“No..” Taeyong was quiet for a moment, silence speaking louder than words. “I-I haven’t told him.. nobody knows..” Taeyong swallowed, feeling like he needed to make a comment to hopefully calm his senior down, maybe just a little. “Mark’s just.. so happy..” He said quieter, hoping Baekhyun would understand. “Don-don’t tell him yet. Just-let him have this for a minute maybe, I-I guess I understand if you have to, but he’s really enjoying himself and.. we really like them together..” The last part fell off Taeyong’s tongue and he quickly realized he’d spoken too soon, he was in trouble.

“We?” Baekhyun scoffed, feeling a little angrier as the moments passed. He understood that Mark should be happy, but it wouldn’t stop pulling in his gut that he needed to tell Mark the truth. Taeyong felt like crying.

“We’re all, kind of, in a text with them.. Me, Johnny, Yuta, and Jaehyun,” Taeyong heard Baekhyun huff over the phone and he felt his chest get tight, he hated that Baekhyun, his senior he looked up to so much, was so upset by the situation. He just wanted everyone to be happy, Baekhyun couldn’t blame him. “We all get along well..”

“So more people know? Did you not tell them either?” Baekhyun scoffed, slumping himself on the sofa with his fingers pressed to his temples. He was going to be sick if he heard any more come from the conversation blowing up.

“I-No, no I didn’t..” Baekhyun could practically hear Taeyong pouting, he felt bad for nagging the poor boy, especially since he’d done it so much on tour and it was almost out of his ability to stop it, but he could have at least helped. Taeyong had a good head on his shoulders and for the most part his advice was looked up to and people listened to him, but he didn’t know Mark nearly as well and the guy seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders, but Baekhyun wasn’t sure anymore.

“Okay, well,” Baekhyun sighed, loudly. “I do have to tell him; otherwise it’s going to eat me alive.” Taeyong gulped again.

“I-“ Baekhyun expected a rebuttal, but Taeyong didn’t come back. “I understand, hyung.”

“I’m sorry.” Baekhyun didn’t know why he was the one apologizing, but he hated upsetting Taeyong, he hated upsetting anyone, he just wanted things to go smoothly, but they never did. He was realizing that very quickly.

“I really do get it, I wouldn’t want to be lied to either, but,” Taeyong sighed again. “Let him down easy, Mark might be a little crushed, he might be okay, I don’t really know. He’s fragile though.” Taeyong warned, much quieter than the rest of their conversation and he just wished that Baekhyun would think it over. Baekhyun was their leader after all and he called the shots. “I don’t think I have the heart to tell him.” He was honest, at least.

“Well,” Baekhyun hissed softly. “Let’s hope he’s been told, otherwise he’ll have to do some thinking and making some important decisions. For all we know, maybe he knows.”

“Okay, I understand.” Taeyong was very compliant, definitely knowing what kind of position Baekhyun was in. Baekhyun made the decision to stop the conversation immediately not to grill the boy any longer because he didn’t want to crush the poor boy’s feelings toward him. It was silent for only a moment before Baekhyun chimed in, cheerful as ever in comparison to the previous conversation.

“So, um, any idea where Lucas is?” The pair snorted over the phone, Taeyong tsk-ing through the speaker.

“Ten probably didn’t tell you his phone ended up in a lake after a very serious game of truth or dare, huh?” Taeyong was laughing, making Baekhyun finally enjoy something he was being told. It wasn’t ideal, but it was very Lucas of him.

“Oh my god.” Baekhyun laughed louder. “Okay, well I’ll just talk to Ten, then. Thank you.”

“No problem, hyung.” Taeyong was sure to sweet talk. “Call me if you need anything, okay?” It was sweet for him to offer, but Baekhyun had all the information he needed for the time being.

“So, you all ready and packed?” You asked Mark with a pout. It had been nice waking up and Mark had even packed before he got out of his pyjamas, so he embarrassedly was going to end up wearing his usual sleep shorts and a white t-shirt to the airport. You liked how comfortable he was with you and how dorky he was for closing his suitcases prematurely before realizing he should have changed, but he wasn’t going to risk opening the perfectly packed bags. You were busy sorting out a work issue so you couldn’t stop him before the damage was done, but it seemed fitting for Mark’s goofy personality.

“Unfortunately.” He pouted back, crawling back into bed with you and under the covers. You still had a few hours to kill before needing to bring him to catch his flight, so at least he would be comfortable, pulling the blankets over the two of you and practically wrapping himself around you like a koala in regret of having to leave. He’d forgotten to call Baekhyun back, but he had a plan to do it once he got through customs and waited for boarding. He liked leaving work behind sometimes, even if it got him in trouble, but he understood when you couldn’t do the same.

“So, are we going to cuddle until we have to leave, or?” You teased him, kissing his forehead and grinning at how giggly he got.

“I mean, I guess, until I get bored or something.” He was smiling even bigger, looking up at you with stars in his eyes. So, you both did just that, laying together and trying to remember to make sure Mark had grabbed everything he could’ve possibly brought. He made sure to remind you that he was always forgetting things, but he was actually fully prepared, so it made the last few hours uneventful. “But at the same time, it’s nice to just lay here with you.”

“Sappy.” You taunted, scooting down the bed and nuzzling into his neck.

“Yeah, yeah.” He laughed, squeezing you tightly and sighing softly into your t-shirt. “You don’t mind though.” You both laughed, sighing again.

“I absolutely do not!” You reminded him. “I love spending time with you and hearing all the cute things you have to say.” You shrugged, feeling how warm he felt, his heartbeat racing in his chest. You stayed quiet for a moment, just staying in each other’s embrace, enjoying the sweet silence as you lay together. “I like your voice.” The silence was different after your last statement, words hanging off the tip of his tongue as he idly fiddled with the fabric of your top.

“I-um.” Mark started to speak, his words catching in his throat. “I love you.” It came out all at once, no warning. His voice was firm, but shaky and you were more than taken by shock, swallowing and trying to process the words you’d just heard. He just told you he loved you and it had you staring at the wall, feeling like you couldn’t breathe, heartbeat pounding in your ears.

There was nothing that could’ve prepared you for the feeling you felt to hear that come from Mark.

It was an odd silence, from the both of you, taking in the weight of the confession and you tried to come up with a half decent response. You loved Mark, you loved spending time with him, but you hadn’t quite thought about it in that way, you were definitely feeling close to being in love with him, it just wasn’t something you predicted, maybe you thought it would fizzle out and the dream would end before you got to that point in your relationship. It didn’t feel like that moment would come.

“You-uh, you don’t- you don’t need to say it back I-“ Mark cut your thoughts off, pulling you out of your head. You needed to hear it; he was the king of making you feel better. “I just thought I should probably tell you, like.” He laughed softly. “I’ve never really done this before, obviously.” He was smiling again; you felt his cheek press against the top of your head. You picked your own head up, pulling away to look at him, his smiling face with the brightest blush on his cheeks. He was almost too cute. You leaned up to him, pressing a firm kiss on his mouth. You didn’t need to say much to him, just being with him was enough, you could sort your feelings out later, but you needed to let him know you were still in it as long as he was.

“I like you a lot.” You reminded him, squeezing him tight into a hug and pecking his lips once again. You wanted to say it back so badly, but you weren’t sure, you needed to think about it at least for a minute and reevaluate your feelings to make sure it was right. “I really do.”

“And that’s fine.” Mark was giggling softly, as if a weight had been lifted from his chest as he scooted up the bed, leaning his head against yours and sighing. “We can talk about it later, okay?” It seemed like he was taking the words out of your mouth, relaxing into the his position and trying to calm down from his confession.

“Okay.” You nodded, biting your lip and trying not to seem too excited. But you were definitely excited, and your feelings were overwhelmed. You thought for a moment about what the right move would be, but you found nothing. “Wanna have sex?” You asked, biting your lip. It felt right and you both couldn’t help from giggling like children.

“I-um, yeah.” Mark nodded, kissing you once again. “Yeah I do.”

Of course, you were intimate one last time before he left, it only felt right.

Once you both pulled yourselves back together, after some heartfelt kissing and getting back dressed, you knew it was time to start heading out to grab a bite to eat and make your way to the airport to separate for who knew how long. Soon he’d be in Spain, then right back in America, so it wouldn’t be too bad. Plus, you doubted contact would be a problem, Mark was a pretty good texter and you’d had enough conversations on the way to lunch and the airport that you were full of conversational topics for probably the next month.

“And here’s your stop.” You pouted softly as you parked in the airport lot, seeing Mark pull on his face mask and hat to return to his idol life. It was amazing how well you two kept quiet to the public, much easier than you thought it would be. People from your part of Los Angeles paid attention to themselves for the most part unless celebrities were specifically supposed to be somewhere. He leaned over and gently kissed you before tugging the mask over his mouth.

“Walk me in!” Mark said excitedly, nudging your arm and his eyes showed he was grinning like a fool. “We’ll get a couple more minutes together.”

You rolled your eyes. “Fine.” You didn’t hate airports, but you weren’t the biggest fan of them, plus it was dangerous in case someone recognized him leaving, and you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself, plus it was daylight. However, you’d do it for Mark. You parked, getting out and helping him grab his bags of, thankfully, mostly fresh and clean laundry. At least you could be useful for something to him.

You walked with your arms by your sides, just in case, and walked one of his bags as he had the other.

He still hadn’t called Baekhyun yet and that worried you just a little, but you wouldn’t comment on it, it was his business. And sure enough, as you finished checking his bags in, Mark’s phone was ringing again. Mark sighed heavily as he glanced down at the name, shaking his head. He had 2 missed calls from his senior from the night before, but he was waiting until the last possible moment and it seemed like, as if he was on queue and ready. It was time. Mark sighed sadly, finally picking up the phone.

“Hey,” Mark started, swallowing and trying his best not to be annoyed that he was being brought back to work prematurely. “Yeah, I’m at the airport now, my flight leaves in an hour.” His voice flowed smoothly and he knew he was in trouble, but he would try to lighten the blow by being forward and polite.

You worried slightly, but you had to trust he was alright. He sighed heavily.

“Yeah, I’ll call you as soon as I land down.” He was nodding again, pursing his lips together and waiting to stand in line to go through customs. You heard Baekhyun speaking quietly over the phone. “Noon, tomorrow.” You weren’t sure what was being said, but you could tell he wanted to get off the phone already and hug you goodbye, checking around you to make sure nobody was around, and he wasn’t being followed. It came with the job you guessed. “Okay, I’ll see you then. Bye, hyung.” Mark groaned as soon as he was off the phone, looking back up at you with a sad smile. “Back to work, I suppose.” He snorted, sighing again.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?” You said softly, admiring how even with a mask on, he still looked adorable. He answered with a nod. “Tell the guys I said hi.” You both snorted. You hadn’t gotten a chance to meet anybody but the members in SuperM, but you hoped your friendship would hold.

“I’ll see you later.” Mark nodded again, stepping forward and hugging you close, warm and inviting as if leaving was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Hey, Mark.” Your voice spoke up before you could stop it. You’d been thinking about Mark’s confession all day and came to the realization quickly, but it was hard to register you were going to say it. The words hadn’t really come out so quickly with anyone ever. “I love you.” You announced quietly, ignoring the heat of your face. Mark sighed, but this time it sounded much more relieved. You did love Mark. You suddenly wanted to shout it from the rooftops. It had been stuck in your throat for longer than you wanted it to, and Mark felt like fresh air and it was all so new, but you just had to find the words and the right time. That was it. It felt so early, but not early enough all the same.

“I love you too.” He whispered before walking backwards into the line of checking himself in. You watched him glance at your lips as he walked and you so badly wanted to run forward to kiss him, but the situation made it impossible. You’d hold out. “I’ll see you soon! Promise!” He shouted half-heartedly, finally separating from you and going through the doors for security. You couldn’t wait to see him again.

Taeyong could stop the heartbreak, he knew he could, but he didn’t know if he had the heart to crush Mark like that. He knew how much Mark liked being truthful, up front, and honest, but Taeyong could see and got told often how much fun he had with you and how much he liked you, so he didn’t know how to either bring it up or stop Baekhyun from doing it. Taeyong was going to do it when Mark got back; he made up his mind to get to him before Baekhyun did, he thought he could bring the blow easier than someone with such pent up anger about the situation. Mark would be farther away from you and maybe take it better and Taeyong could help calm him down, so that was his plan.

But Taeyong was a bit too late. He thought Mark would get picked up by their drivers and go immediately to the shared dorm, not get picked up by Baekhyun himself. Taeyong was too busy with his own schedules to even think of that possibility.

It was a long flight, Mark had been too preoccupied and giggly to get any rest, excited for how his future was going, especially leaving the two of you on such a good note. He was feeling amazing, almost too good to be true, but he would try his best not to jinx it. He took the liberty of making a playlist to remind him of good times with you and the songs that made him feel excited throughout the last few weeks. He felt cheesy for it, but it would entertain him and keep his mind busy.

The flight felt like it was going by fast, watching movies and letting his mind drift off to his fun time spent. He finally felt like he’d had a vacation, a real one without cameras or the people he was always with. He felt relaxed and excited for how he’d be spending his next few weeks. He knew he had the parade with 127 in New York, but even just the thought of being close and on similar time zones again was keeping him so excited. The fact that he had another show with SuperM in February to come made it even more bearable because he knew he’d be close to you and he was already planning all his visits in advance.

Mark felt good and in control for the first time since he debuted. It was a relatively foreign feeling, but he wouldn’t change it for the world. Mark was pretty stoked, to say the least. He sighed happily as he watched his movies and had a few drinks with nobody bothering him on the plane. It was safe to say he thought it couldn’t get any better. He was absolutely sad to leave you, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before he saw you again.

Mark kept checking his phone, going through the pictures you’d taken together and grinning at the stupid selfies and off-guard pictures he’d gotten of you. They were going to be what kept him grounded, he knew it. He sighed happily, trying to at least get a nap in toward the last quarter of the flight, knowing it would be nearing midnight in the states and Baekhyun was famous for taking people’s time and rewarding them with lunch. He didn’t know how much sleep he would get in, but the jet lag would probably make it worse.

When Mark woke up, he was a little more than surprised to see the how bright the light was, signaling that he would be landing soon, and he’d be back at home. He was well rested, but something in his gut didn’t feel right. He hadn’t talked to you through the whole duration of his flight, unfortunately the Wi-Fi wasn’t working, and it was finally starting to settle inside of him how much he missed you, even if he’d just spent days with you and he’d see you again soon. As soon as he stepped off the plane he would be back to work and it hit him that his fantasy world was over so quickly. He frowned a bit, sighing and staring out of the window until he landed, his earphones playing the playlist as he tried to relax. He always forgot how much he hated sleeping on a plane ride, waking up made him feel restless and anxious.

Deboarding made Mark feel a little more easy, grabbing his bags and sighing as he walked out. He figured he was just sad to go back to work, sad to be stressed out again, and sad to be back on an intense schedule, but he knew with time he would get over it; get back into his routine and feel good about it all again. He made his way out of the plane, walking through the airport he knew so well to grab his bags and get back home. Maybe being home and cozy in his bed would make him feel better. Or he’d pout for a few days while on his schedules. Either was possible.

He walked outside after grabbing his bags, a yawn pulling from his mouth when he saw the cloudy skies and tried to make his way out of the airport. Jet lag was going to be a pain in the ass after being in the states for so long. What kind of car did Baekhyun drive again? He thought, sighing heavily when he heard a horn beep from a car he recognized as his senior’s, hoping nobody would approach or stop him. Mark didn’t want to be bothered at that moment, especially by fans.

Mark heard one loud “Lee Mark!” that pulled his attention, only one fan that waved at him and quickly scattered away. He shot them a soft smile and wave, thankful that it wasn’t going to be an issue. He didn’t know if he could handle an issue. Baekhyun got out of the vehicle, quieter than Mark had ever heard him, and he helped Mark put his bags in the trunk, giving him a silent and small ‘welcome home’ to be more welcoming, but as soon as he realized that Baekhyun was too quiet, he knew something was up. Baekhyun was nowhere near a quiet person, usually excited and bubbly and talking about anything and everything when he saw anyone. Mark was in trouble. He didn’t know what for, but the way Baekhyun’s face stiffly smiled at him, something was definitely wrong. He had a feeling he should be quiet, but the silence was deafening as his elder slipped into the vehicle.

“Um, hey-hey hyung.” Mark shot him a soft smile when he got in, trying to ease the weight of whatever was going to happen. He knew it was something bad, his gut nagging at him.

“How was your trip?” Baekhyun’s voice was harsh behind the words, making Mark gulp. He didn’t know if he should answer truthfully or not, because neither seemed like the right way, but he wanted to remain truthful. He wasn’t aware of Baekhyun’s feelings toward you, but he knew ignoring his work responsibilities for a relationship he wasn’t allowed to be in wasn’t his smartest move with his leader and responsibilities.

“It was actually, um, really nice, yeah. I had a good time. I relaxed.” He said honestly, dancing around the subject. Mark tried to smile again, looking forward and trying to ignore the heavy beating in his chest.

“Well, I-“ Baekhyun cleared his throat, almost an annoyance in his scoff. “I’m glad you had a good time, but you could’ve been a little more responsible.” Mark gulped again, hearing the obvious bite in Baekhyun’s tone. Mark felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, but he knew it would be better to ignore it for the time being. Whatever it was could wait, he was technically dealing with business. Baekhyun sighed and Mark could tell he was trying to calm himself down. “Why don’t we-why don’t I take you to lunch?” He asked the younger boy. “My treat.”

“That-um, sounds like you’ve got something scary to tell me.” Mark laughed nervously, scratching the hair on the back of his neck in hopes that he was wrong. He wasn’t.

“Yeah, well.” Baekhyun scoffed again, shrugging and Mark knew he was about to be crushed. He was hoping to be grilled about being responsible, he hoped that he’d just get chewed out; he could handle that. He knew he’d been loosely handling his schedules and been a bit sloppy, so he was okay with getting a good talking-to. His stomach hurt, nerves building in his abdomen and the last thing he wanted to hear was that he had to break it off with you; he wasn’t sure he could handle that. You’d been the source of his happiness and an escape for weeks now and he didn’t want to lose it.

Baekhyun had brought Mark to one of his favorite restaurants, trying to ease the blow of what he had to say a little. Mark hated to be let down and every time he thought about the possible bad news he’d be getting, his heart would start racing a million miles a minute and his tension had Baekhyun resisting. He went against his better judgement because he knew he would get angry, but he switched to a subject he knew would perk the boy up. You.

Baekhyun listened half-heartedly hearing him talk about you because he pushed to know what actually went down while Mark was ignoring him in America. He wanted to be told the truth and it came gushing from Mark’s mouth. Baekhyun had no interest in you at all, in fact he was actually pretty pissed that Mark did have such a good time and it upset him to have to rain on his parade because of something you could have controlled. Mark had clearly attempted to forget about the conversation they were supposed to be having, trying to focus in on the food and being optimistic when Baekhyun actually asked about you through gritted teeth. He ignored the undertone in his voice and spoke excitedly at the mention of you.

Mark was focused on the hole in their conversation for a few moments finishing his main course when he heard Baekhyun go quiet. The two of them sitting in an awkward quietness was eating Mark up and when his senior was tapping his fingers on the table, he knew it was time to speak up. “So-“ Mark cleared his throat. “What-what were you gonna, um, talk to me about?”

Baekhyun sighed heavily, he’d prolonged the conversation and heard Mark drone on about you for long enough. It was time. “Your friend.” Mark choked a little. He knew the subject would be about that, but the way Baekhyun brought it up felt weird. He was just talking about you and Baekhyun was the one who asked about you in the first place. What had changed so quickly that Baekhyun was suddenly changing his bad news to being about you.

“Wh-what’s it about?” Mark tried to ignore the pounding in his chest.

“I really don’t think you should see each other anymore.” The ball dropped. Baekhyun deadpanned, lips pursed in slight annoyance at the statement that had to come out of his mouth, holding back what he really needed to say. “It’s not what you think is going on, and I’d really like to save you from the seriousness of dating as an idol. It isn’t pretty.” He continued. “Things get dangerous, people aren’t nice. You can’t risk things like this for people. I mean for god sakes we have a dating ban for a reason.” Baekhyun scoffed. Mark had debuted four times; he was well aware of how dating and stuff like that went in the contract and maybe he had been a little careless in telling so many people, so he vaguely thought that’s what Baekhyun was talking about.

“I-I know, but,”

“I’m not finished, there’s more to this than you think.” Baekhyun didn’t know why he couldn’t find the words. Maybe he just really didn’t want to let the boy down. He sighed, trying to gather his thoughts. “People-“ He sighed. “People just aren’t what you think they are, okay?”

Mark’s eyes narrowed. He could tell Baekhyun was avoiding what he wanted to say. “What is this..actually about, hyung?” Mark swallowed, knowing exactly where the conversation could lead. Baekhyun was fishing into his pocket, grumbling quietly under his breath and tugging something out before tossing it on the table. Mark was even more confused now. Sitting in front of him was a broken NCT keychain and a photocard of Baekhyun’s face. The very ones he had taken from your suitcase and wallet. Maybe it was an extreme violation of your privacy that Baekhyun suddenly felt very aware of, but he had to have something to back himself up. “I don’t understand, what is this stuff?” Mark said seriously, raising a brow and eyeballing the items.

“I found this in your friend’s belongings.” Baekhyun shrugged, leaning back in his chair. He was being cryptic, and Mark didn’t like it.

“Stop saying it’s my friend, we’re dating.” He spat, the first time he’d gotten stern with anyone. Mark was continually more and more lost.

“Your friend,” Baekhyun repeated firmly. “This keychain was in the suitcase in the room you two were staying in when you graciously had someone follow us on tour when that’s strictly forbidden. It was broken off to obviously hide something. The photocards however were in the wallet from the desk, along with a Lucas one, so it seems highly unlikely that it was just coincidence. It’s from the Exodus album, so it can’t really be played off as a SuperM album card they just so happened to pick up for fun just by chance, it was pre-planned. I’m not stupid; I can put two and two together.” Baekhyun was generally a good guesser, speaking entirely too formerly and rehearsed to a T, and unfortunately he was correct. You had broken the keychain off and you weren’t proud of it, but that keychain was way past your mind the second it was off of your wallet and you hadn’t even noticed the missing photocard at all. “And dating?” Baekhyun scoffed. “You’ve known each other for like two months, give me a break.” He words felt harsh and Mark gulped. He couldn’t believe that Baekhyun would have gone through your things. It didn’t seem like his type.

“You…went through a suitcase that wasn’t yours?” He scoffed. “Were you, like, trying to find something?” Mark was irritated and there was no hiding it.

“I was, actually.” Baekhyun stated firmly, not caring what Mark had to say about it. He’d found his footing and was ready to throw it all on the table. “Something seemed fishy and I shouldn’t have done it, but it led me here.” The older shrugged. “You know what else was in that suitcase?” He asked, tapping his fingers on the table.

“What?” Mark asked angrily, rolling his eyes and he couldn’t believe someone he trusted so much was basically spitting in his face.

“Literally every one of our lightsticks.” Baekhyun squinted a little, not really liking the attitude Mark was giving him. “There was one for everybody and the only one I ever saw outside of it was the SuperM one. It’s not a good sign, man. You’ve been getting lied to and you got trapped into dating a fan, without even knowing. It’s happened to so many of us, dude and it’s devastating, like-“

“I-I-I-“ Mark sighed. “I honestly, like, don’t really believe you.” It was the first time Mark ever talked back to his senior, earning a soft laugh from him.

“I know you don’t, I’m not dumb.” Baekhyun shrugged, thanking the waiter when he’d dropped off the dessert and check. “But if you trust me, I know what I’m talking about. I looked into your friend’s Instagram and found some posts, stuff saying about how much you’re loved and all three of them, the ones that that threw the first party you went to, all bias you and Lucas. They got deleted but I have screenshots.” Baekhyun moved to pull his phone out but Mark quickly stopped him. Mark could swear he felt his own heart break.

“Don’t-don’t show me.” Mark shook his head, looking down at the table. Maybe Baekhyun was right. Mark couldn’t believe it; he didn’t want to. He was just stunned to hear that you’d been lying to him for months. He hated being lied to, everyone knew that, and he wanted to have just a simple relationship and when he thought he finally had it, the idea was slipping through his fingers. He didn’t want to be in the situation at all, he didn’t want to disappoint Baekhyun, he just wanted a little happiness and suddenly, he was very aware of how much trouble he had caused. He was scared, angry, confused. He didn’t know what to do.

“I have them if it eases your mind. It’s your choice.” Baekhyun shrugged, taking a sip from his drink and sighing. He wanted to let Mark process, maybe he’d feel better. “If it makes you feel any better, Taeyong knows and he think’s everything’s peachy, so.” Baekhyun shrugged, sighing.

“Wait, wait wait.” Mark scoffed. “Taeyong knew? And he didn’t tell me?”

“He didn’t want to hurt you, he liked how happy you were.” Baekhyun said honestly. “I didn’t really want to tell you either, but aren’t you glad you know?” Mark tried hard not to be appalled at the question.

“I-um,” He sighed. “I wish I could say yes, but, like, a part of me feels like I wish I didn’t.” Mark spoke honestly before he groaned, putting his face in his hands. “I’ve literally always been told I’m so naive and this really tops the cake.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Baekhyun asked, trying to push the solution on. Mark didn’t like figuring things out like this, but Baekhyun was ridiculously stubborn and he was going to want an answer before they left the table even if it was hard on him.

Mark was beyond answering that question, sitting in silence and ignoring the dessert on the table. He’d wanted it so badly before, but now his stomach was deceiving him. “I, like,” He sighed again. “I really don’t know.” In his head, the situation could have so easily been solved had you been honest with him, but he was there across the world, without you to talk to about it and you had to absolutely have been sleeping. He knew you had to go to work after he left and he hoped you’d had a decent shift, but he couldn’t lie and say he wanted to talk to you about it. He didn’t. He was the master of avoiding those kinds of situations, but he just needed some time to think. “I kinda think I should talk to Taeyong.”

Baekhyun nodded, shoving the plate of dessert toward Mark.

“No, thanks.” Mark shook his head, sighing and unlocking his phone to see that you’d texted him a few times. He didn’t have the heart to look right then, his head was much too fuzzy and he didn’t want to be mad at you so soon, but it felt like his whole world was crashing down in front of him even if it was all so new. He should’ve taken the time to realize that such an issue so soon should have been the end of it all, but he felt so wrong. He felt disgusted with himself. What would everyone else think? He’d put his friends in danger by introducing you in the first place. The room was spinning slightly and he didn’t know what to do.

“Let’s get you home.” Mark could only nod, following Baekhyun out after he signed the receipt.

The ride home was way too quiet, Baekhyun only turning up the radio to break the silence. Mark stared out the window and felt like a child having a tantrum, but he didn’t have the energy to do anything else. Mark shot Baekhyun a quick “thanks” when he pulled up to the dorms, letting him out and Baekhyun went home himself, hoping to at least hear from Mark soon about how he felt. He didn’t expect much, he did just crush the guy. Only time could tell what would happen.

#nct #nct smut #mark lee smut #mark lee #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct angst #superm ten #tommowrites #nctfic #unintentional

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